Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 97: Execution of Wang Yue

The capital city was still filled with the sound of imperial guards' horses' hooves, and the work of confiscating property and arresting people was still ongoing.

The Jinyiwei Prison, the Censorate Prison, the Ministry of Justice Prison and the Shuntian Prefecture Prison were all filled with criminals.

The gold and silver seized from the house searches were transported to the Royal Bank every day and stored there in the name of the Royal Tax Bureau.

Originally, including the glass craft ordering fees paid by Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling and the profits of the Royal Industrial Company, the total income of the Royal Tax Bureau was only more than 500,000 taels.

In other words, Zhu Houzhao's total assets were only more than 500,000 taels of silver.

But since the house searches, the Royal Tax Bureau's revenue has been rising rapidly.

Every head of a scholar-official involved in the regicide and treason case that was chopped off brought Zhu Houzhao no less than 100,000 taels of silver in income.

Sometimes, from an economic perspective, every death brings in huge fiscal revenue.

However, these gold and silver items were only a small part of the proceeds from the confiscation of property. The majority of the proceeds were countless lands and fertile farms.

Zhu Houzhao expected that this confiscation of property would bring him enough benefits. After all, he and his empire needed resources to become stronger.

"Your Majesty, Liu Jian and Xie Qian have both been escorted to the capital!"

On this day, not long after Zhu Houzhao finished exercising, Ma Yongcheng found Zhu Houzhao and reported to him the latest situation of arresting the rebels.

When Zhu Houzhao heard that Liu Jian and Xie Qian were escorted to Beijing, he ordered: "Bring them, Wang Yue, Li Dongyang, and Zhang Yu to the Qianqing Palace. I want to interrogate them personally!"

At the beginning of the Si hour, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Wang Yue and Zhang Yu were brought before Zhu Houzhao.

At this time, the five people said nothing and just knelt obediently in front of Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao also came closer and said, "I still remember in May, when the late emperor passed away, you, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, cried more miserably than each other! But who would have thought that you would actually murder the late emperor? Now I just want to ask you, do you regret it?"

After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, the five people remained silent.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao could not help but roar: "Answer me!"

"Your Majesty, why do you need to ask any more questions? Since the truth has been revealed, we have become treacherous ministers who killed the king. Your Majesty, just skin us alive!"

At this time, Li Dongyang spoke first. At this time, Liu Jian looked up at Zhu Houzhao with a smile on his face: "Regret? I am doing this for the people of the world and for the Ming Dynasty. How can I regret it? The late emperor was indeed kind and wise, but he was gradually deviating from the way of a wise ruler. If he had occupied the throne for a long time, the world would undoubtedly be in chaos. Now, I only regret that I misjudged your majesty!"

"Your Majesty, as Lord Liu said, you have brought disgrace upon our reputation and ruined our entire family. I only regret not being able to kill you and choose another wise ruler to take your place!"

Xie Qian also echoed this.

Xie Qian also knew that once his crime of murdering Emperor Hongzhi was exposed, he would surely be put to death. He was too lazy to beg for mercy and only expressed his dissatisfaction with Zhu Houzhao from the bottom of his heart. In his opinion, if Zhu Houzhao had not wanted to frame them, they would not have been discovered, and they would still be wise and good ministers. Even if they were defeated by political enemies in the future, they would just retire and return home.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh: "How can I ruin your reputation? You ruin your reputation by yourself. You can only blame yourselves! If you don't want others to know, you must not do it. The late emperor treated you well, but you still regard the late emperor as an enemy. It shows that you have always been nothing but a group of extremely hypocritical villains. How can you be qualified to talk about ruining your reputation!

I know you want to kill the previous emperor so that you can control me. In your eyes, I am just an ignorant boy, but you made a wrong calculation! Although I am young, I cannot be bullied! That day, in the Qianqing Palace, although you cried bitterly, you did not behave in a loyal and righteous manner. Not to mention me, even ordinary people can see through your tricks!
Ma Wensheng only questioned it, but your good friend Liu Daxia jumped out to accuse Ma Wensheng, and you helped Liu Daxia to suppress Ma Wensheng's questioning voice. You three cabinet elders have great power! If you don't investigate, naturally no one dares to investigate this matter! Even Zhang Yu, the dead eunuch, saw me, the Queen Mother and you crying, but he didn't help me and the Queen Mother first, but came to help you first, and advised you to mourn!

Zhu Houzhao walked up to Zhang Yu and said, "Zhang Yu, answer me, at that time, you only had the three ministers in your eyes! And you didn't take me seriously. You only thought that the Queen Mother and I were just a pair of orphans and widows, insignificant. Take care of the feelings of the ministers first, so as not to make the civil officials dissatisfied. Who is the ruler of the Ming Dynasty? You eunuchs have started to serve as slaves to scholars!"

Zhang Yu never thought that Zhu Houzhao would notice such a detail. For a moment, he could only prostrate himself on the ground: "I am guilty! I should not have looked down on Your Majesty!"

"You are guilty! But you are so brave!"

Zhu Houzhao came to Wang Yue and said, "Wang Yue, you have cleared yourself quite well. From the beginning to the end, the death of the late emperor had nothing to do with you. But later you dared to compete with me. What? Do you want to turn me into Emperor Wenzong of Tang? You old fool, don't you think that I am not comparable to Emperor Wenzong of Tang, and I am not someone you can bully!"

Wang Yue was quite calm: "I dare not compare myself to Qiu Shiliang (the eunuch who controlled Emperor Wenzong of Tang), and I dare not bully the emperor because of my age. It is obvious that the emperor favors the treacherous and wants to put me to death. Otherwise, how dare I do this! But now that I can't escape death, I just want to advise the emperor. If the emperor really wants to do something, he must be careful not to repeat the mistakes of the previous emperor. The people standing behind you seem to be loyal to you now, but who knows what will happen in the future!"

Zhu Houzhao did not expect that Wang Yue would not forget to trick the "Eight Tigers" until his death. He thought that it was obvious that Wang Yue really hated the eunuchs around him.

Zhu Houzhao looked back at Ma Yongcheng and Liu Jin, and saw that both of them were angry. He guessed in his heart that Wang Yue's words must have irritated Ma Yongcheng and Liu Jin.

However, Zhu Houzhao also admitted that Wang Yue was right. As an emperor, he was sitting at the top of the imperial pyramid, which meant that he was destined to have no one he could always trust. But he did not think that because of this, he could not rule the empire for a long time. Moreover, if he wanted to rule the empire for a long time, the first thing he needed to do was to severely punish those political enemies who had opposed him.

Fighting violence with violence is the most effective way to ensure security, and this has been the case since ancient times.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao only said: "We will talk about the rest later. At least now it is you, Wang Yue, who has betrayed me. Come! Take Wang Yue away. Next, first cut Wang Yue into pieces by slicing him 3,600 times! Order the eunuchs to eat the meat that is cut off, and order all the eunuchs above the rank of Junior Supervisor to watch it as a warning to others!"

Thanks to my book friend Leng Yue Jian Mang for the 1000 starting coins reward. Thank you to my book friend Ning Xie Tian Xia Bu Xie Qing for the 200 book coins reward. Thank you to my book friend Chao Xue Xue Chi for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to my book friend V Meng Zhi Wu Xian V for the 3000 starting coins reward.

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(End of this chapter)