Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 87 Tiqi appears in all directions
Zhu Houzhao ignored Li Dongyang and only ordered: "Throw Li Dongyang into the imperial prison for the time being and keep him under strict supervision. I will issue a special decree to execute him when the time comes!"

Zhu Houzhao turned his head and looked at the officials present, and immediately ordered: "Draft an imperial decree to add Xu Ru, the Minister of War, to the cabinet, to transfer Jiao Fang to the position of Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace, and to appoint Xu Jin as Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace. Xu Jin and Duke of Yingguo Zhang Mao are ordered to impose martial law in the capital immediately! No civilians are allowed to leave the city! To prevent the rebels from escaping!"

Zhu Houzhao then gave another order: "Make another order. Order Jinyiwei Guo Rong, Dongchang Ma Yongcheng, and Xichang Gu Dayong to mobilize troops to capture and execute the rebels. At the same time, strictly investigate Shao Daxia. Order the Ministry of Justice to issue a wanted notice and offer a reward for his capture. Once his identity is discovered, his ten clans will be executed. If the troops are not enough, you can temporarily borrow troops from the regiment camp!

"Order Taiping Hou Zhang Jie, Imperial Horse Supervisor Eunuch Gao Feng, and Royal Taxation Bureau Director Xu Jing to lead the imperial guards and the taxation team to confiscate the property. All proceeds from the confiscation will be given to the Royal Taxation Bureau, and no omissions should be made! All land, real estate, shops, and people will be registered and temporarily belong to the Royal Taxation Bureau!"

"Order Wang Yangming to lead the Juesheng Guard Commander to escort Shaanxi Provincial Inspector Lü Zhong and the military officers on duty in Guyuan to Beijing! Order Shaanxi Governor Yang Yiqing to assist. Anyone who dares to protect them will be charged with treason!"

Send an order to Zhang Yong, the governor of Fengyang, and have him arrest Liu Jian, Xie Qian and others and bring them to the capital for trial! No mistakes can be made!"

Zhu Houzhao issued a series of edicts, most of which were naturally preparations for dealing with rebels such as Liu Jian, Wang Yue, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, while the last edict was for the people of Guanzhong.

Although Zhu Houzhao now only knew that the people in Guanzhong were killed by the Tartars, he could guess without thinking that the killing of the people in Guanzhong must be related to Li Dongyang. Otherwise, how could the people be massacred at the same time as Wang Shu and his team were massacred? Moreover, the Tartars could easily enter the pass and go deep into the interior to massacre the people and leave calmly, which could only mean that the powerful officials in Shaanxi not only colluded with Li Dongyang, but also with the Tartars.

The only officials with real power in Shaanxi now are Governor Yang Yiqing and Inspector Lu Zhonghe. After all, the eunuch in charge of the garrison has not yet taken up his post.

Now, Zhu Houzhao learned from Ma Yongcheng that Yang Yiqing had helped them escort Zhang Yu to Beijing, which ruled out the suspicion that Yang Yiqing was colluding with Li Dongyang and the Tartars.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao could only suspect that Lü Zhonghe was colluding with Li Dongyang and the Tartars, so naturally he had to arrest Lü Zhonghe and others and bring them to the capital first.

"According to the order!"

Ma Wensheng, Liu Jin and others bowed and responded.

Soon, the entire capital city began to jump again like boiling water at 100 degrees. From the palace to the outer city and even extending to the capital, the officials and soldiers who made up the entire empire's violence machine became busy, arresting people, confiscating properties, and killing people!
When the emperor was angry, millions of people were killed. The Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao officially started his brutal mode!

The twenty officials just killed were just the beginning.

And now is the highlight!

The first group of clean civil servants were imprisoned in the imperial prison.

This group of clean-liu civil servants are the real power network of the three cabinet ministers. Many of them are even censors and poets of the Imperial Academy. They are the most backbone of the clean-liu and the main force that has always controlled the government among the three cabinet ministers.

Executing them now will naturally help to eliminate the power of the three cabinet ministers and lay a good foundation for the new policy.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao first decided on this group of civil officials.

Gu Dayong then reported, "Your Majesty, this Imperial Academy lecturer Hong Rui is Xie Qian's favorite student, and the Supervisory Censor Liu Yu is Liu Jian's favorite student. Like Chen Yuanren who was beaten to death before, they are the leaders of these clean civil servants, and they are the most hateful! The West Factory has also found a lot of their crimes, such as letting slaves commit crimes, seizing people's land, and killing entire families. There are countless crimes. I have solid evidence here!"

As Gu Dayong spoke, he handed Zhu Houzhao a stack of confessions about the two men provided by the Western Factory.

Zhu Houzhao took a look and saw thumbprints and tear marks on the paper. He could tell that the victim had been severely persecuted. He said, "Then these two will be torn into pieces, and the rest will be beheaded immediately! Execute now!"

Gu Dayong took Zhu Houzhao's order and hurriedly went to the prison with a group of soldiers. At this time, the clean officials who were taken to the prison regained their courage. Among them, Hong Rui, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, was a candidate for the Hanlin Academy. His father was Hong Zhong, the governor of Guizhou. He was even more confident and comforted the other officials:
"Don't be afraid, everyone. Although His Majesty favors treacherous ministers and doesn't hesitate to kill Mr. Chen and others, and now he has put us in prison, I believe that the officials outside will not abandon us! They will definitely plead for us!"

"What Minister Hong said is very true. Although we are forced to go to prison, the officials outside will not ignore us. Even if they do, the worst that can happen is that we will lose our jobs. Rather than going along with the corrupt, it is a good choice to resign and return home!"

Censor Liu Yu said.

At this time, Gu Dayong led a group of officers and soldiers into the prison and shouted directly to Hong Rui and others: "Open the door!"

Seeing this, Hong Rui could not help but smile at Liu Yu. He thought that the court officials had finally forced the emperor to release them, so he felt a little proud and thought that the emperor would not be able to do anything to him and other clean civil servants.

However, after the door was opened, Gu Dayong said one more sentence: "Cuff them all, change them into prison clothes, and take them to the execution ground, especially Hong Rui and Liu Yu. Put shackles on their hands, feet, and necks!"

Hong Rui was shocked, thinking that Gu Dayong wanted to lock them up for trial, and he could not help but yell, "We are all civilized people, why are you chaining us up? It is really insulting. You don't need to lock us up, we will go to trial ourselves!"

"A bunch of traitors and rebels dare to call themselves civilized. They have no respect for their king or their father. Catch them!"

Gu Dayong roared, and the officers and soldiers came over, put handcuffs on Hong Rui and others, and dragged them out of the prison directly.

Hong Rui and others were all scholars, so they naturally did not have as much strength as the officers and soldiers, and they could not struggle either. They were led to the execution ground like pigs and sheep.

"How hateful! How hateful! I never thought the treacherous eunuch party would be so powerful. Not only have they put us in prison, they have also humiliated us. Now it seems they are forcing us to admit that we are traitors. They are forcing us into a desperate situation!"

Liu Yu couldn't help but shout: "Everyone! We are all pure people, how can we allow these turbid people to insult us? We must not resist to the end and must not succumb to evil!"

"Yes, we are all loyal people, how can we be insulted by them!"

Hong Rui also agreed, and he was even more certain that he would just scold Liu Jin. After all, the emperor was not present, and he could use this opportunity to gain fame. Moreover, he was the son of a high-ranking official, so he didn't have to worry about being beaten to death, otherwise his father's disciples and old friends would definitely not agree! Moreover, the emperor only said that Ma Wensheng could not be scolded, not Liu Jin.

Not only Hong Rui thought so, Liu Yu also thought so, and he had even thought of how to curse Liu Jin.

But when they arrived at the execution ground, Liu Yu and Hong Rui found that there were no officials from the Three Judicial Departments, nor people from the Embroidered Uniform Guards and the Eastern Depot. There was only one inner court eunuch, Gu Dayong, and several officers and soldiers, as well as ten horses and cavalrymen on horseback.

"Prepare for execution!"

Gu Dayong looked at the sundial and gave an order. Then, several executioners went up to the execution ground one after another and stood at the designated positions. At the same time, the ten cavalrymen also appeared in the center of the execution ground on horseback!

No matter how dumb Hong Rui, Liu Yu and the others were, they could tell what was going on. They panicked immediately. Hong Rui even shouted, "Wait, what are you doing? Are you going to kill us? You are lynching us. We want to see His Majesty. We want to see His Majesty! My father is the governor of Guizhou and the chief censor. My mentor is Xie Gefu! You can't kill me, you can't kill me!"

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(End of this chapter)