Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 99 Kneeling before the Tomb of the Former Emperor
Zhu Houzhao never considered himself a good person, let alone someone who would repay evil with kindness.

Although he was law-abiding and grateful in his previous life, he was never willing to allow himself to be wronged.

During the days when Emperor Hongzhi's funeral was held, three cabinet ministers, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, requested to not kneel before the late emperor's coffin on the grounds of cold and drizzling winter weather in order to demonstrate their authority as assistant ministers and also to test themselves.

At that time, Zhu Houzhao, who was keeping a low profile, wanted to clean up the inner court first and then the outer court to avoid obstacles from the outer court when he was cleaning up the inner court. Therefore, he agreed to the requests of Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and Xie Qian and tolerated the provocative behavior of these three cabinet ministers.

However, Zhu Houzhao did not forget the provocation of these three cabinet ministers, nor did he forget the disrespect they indirectly revealed towards the late emperor.

Not to mention that the current Emperor Zhengde inherited Zhu Houzhao's emotions, even as a later generation of Ming Dynasty enthusiasts who respected Emperor Hongzhi, he could not tolerate others' disrespect for Emperor Hongzhi.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had to make Liu Jian and the other three ministers kneel down and return the gift they owed to Emperor Hongzhi! At the same time, he also wanted them to suffer in front of Emperor Hongzhi's tomb!

However, Xie Qian did not want to kneel now, and Zhu Houzhao could not help but laugh: "Okay! Wang Yue intended to harm me, I will sentence him to 3,600 knives! And you, Xie Qian, harmed the late emperor, which is equivalent to harming my father, and you are unwilling to kneel, so naturally you will not be forgiven easily. I will double the sentence and sentence you to 7,200 knives!"

Seven thousand two hundred dollars?!
Xie Qian couldn't help but be stunned!

Xie Qian couldn't imagine how horrible it would be to cut himself 7,200 times!
Before Zhu Houzhao could call for someone to take him away, Xie Qian kowtowed again and said, "Your Majesty! I know my crime. I am willing to kneel in front of the late emperor's mausoleum for two days and two nights! I only ask Your Majesty to give me a lighter punishment because of my sincerity!"

"Your Majesty, please give me a lighter punishment!"

Liu Jian and Xie Qian also kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao and begged for mercy.

"Everything depends on the late emperor's will. Let's wait and see if the late emperor will appear in my dream!"

Zhu Houzhao hurriedly ordered his men to drag Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian away, and ordered: "Ask the Jinyiwei Qianhu Liang Ze to lead people to watch them at the imperial mausoleum. If they dare to move, nail their legs to the ground!"

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhang Yu again: "Since you have only had the cabinet ministers in your eyes from the beginning, then you should kneel with them. After all, they are your real masters!"

Zhang Yu cried and yelled when he heard what Zhu Houzhao said: "Your Majesty! I know I am guilty! I deeply regret that I was blind and ignorant that day and should not have disrespected Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager, but I am your servant, not a servant of their cabinet!"

"Take it away, I don't want to waste time talking to you!"

Zhu Houzhao then ordered the Jinyiwei to drag Zhang Yu away as well, and ordered: "Pass the order, take Liu Wentai to the imperial mausoleum as well and make him kneel!"

……

At that time, in the afternoon of that day, when the cold rain was drizzling on Bijia Mountain, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Zhang Yu and Liu Wentai were taken to kneel in front of the tomb of Emperor Hongzhi located here.

It was the twelfth lunar month, and it was raining like ice and snow. The temperature was so low that people could feel the cold to the bone.

These six people, who had always been used to enjoying a good life, had never suffered such hardship. As soon as Liu Jian arrived here, he began to shiver and shouted that he wanted to go back.

Li Dongyang also said with gritted teeth: "This is going to freeze to death!"

Xie Qian was even more sad: "I'm afraid of the cold, I'm afraid of the cold, I'm from the south, I'm really afraid of the cold!"

Zhang Yu just hunched his back.

Liu Wentai recited as if he was reciting a medical book: "Kneeling in such a freezing place will only let the cold penetrate into your bones. At the very least, you will catch a cold, and at worst, evil wind will enter your body and kill you in pain! I, Liu Wentai, do not want to suffer this!" Naturally, the Jinyiweis didn't care whether the five men were willing or not, and they forced them to kneel on the ground.

The five men did not dare to disobey, after all, they knew that if they did not kneel they would be nailed to the ground.

Liu Jian knelt on the ground and suddenly felt as if a knife was constantly cutting his knees, making him feel like he was kneeling on a needle board.

Li Dongyang suddenly stood up and shouted, "It's really cold, I can't kneel!"

However, after seeing the knife in Liang Ze's hand, Li Dongyang had no choice but to kneel down.

At this time, Xie Qian did not stand up, but just shrank his neck and kept sobbing.

Zhang Yu kept crying out in pain!
Liu Wentai continued to cry, "I don't want to die like this, I don't want to die like this!"

These five men were all quite old, and they were not ordinary people. Kneeling in such a cold wilderness was naturally more painful for them than being cut into pieces.

But this is the punishment they deserve.

And what they don’t know is that this is just the beginning for them.

At night, when the wind was cold and chilly, the five people became terrified because they had participated in the murder of Emperor Hongzhi. They instinctively felt that the wronged spirit of Emperor Hongzhi was watching them in the dark.

When a sound similar to wailing sounded, Liu Jian shuddered: "Emperor, is that you?"

When Li Dongyang heard Liu Jian's question, he couldn't help but think of the fact that if the late emperor hadn't promoted him, he would still be struggling to gain experience in the Imperial Academy. He felt a little guilty for a moment and immediately cried, "Late Emperor! I'm sorry! I'm guilty! I'm guilty!"

Li Dongyang kept kowtowing.

Xie Qian was a little scared at first, and now seeing Li Dongyang kowtow in fear, he was also frightened and trembled, and began to cry, without any of the majesty of the former cabinet minister: "Emperor, please don't blame me. Although I am guilty, I didn't mean to harm you. Besides, you were not the one who was poisoned by me. If you want to blame someone, blame Zhang Yu, blame him, it was he who harmed you!"

"Don't try to exonerate yourself! I didn't dare to harm the late emperor. If you hadn't promised that it would be okay, how could I, a eunuch in the inner court, dare to harm the late emperor!"

Zhang Yu also hurriedly defended himself. It was pitch black all around him, and he was really afraid that the ghost of the late emperor would haunt him.

"That's not my fault alone. It was Li Dongyang who analyzed that this would not be discovered. Late Emperor, if you want to blame someone, just blame Li Dongyang!"

Xie Qian pointed at Li Dongyang and shouted towards the tomb of Emperor Hongzhi.

"Emperor! I am innocent. I was not the first to want to kill you. It was the Prime Minister who said that you have been the emperor for seventeen years and that you should be buried before the crown prince grows up. Xie Qian also said that it would be better to do something big, so I gave him advice!"

Li Dongyang said in a sad tone.

Although there were no so-called ghosts around except the Jinyiwei guards who were guarding them, the five men were all frightened. They kowtowed and begged for mercy, and told everything they had done.

Seeing this, Liang Ze, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, couldn't help but shook his head. He never thought that these eunuchs who were once high and mighty would be so scared now. On the contrary, the Embroidered Uniform Guards who worked under them had done nothing wrong and were not afraid of ghosts knocking on their doors. They still stood at their posts calmly.

(End of this chapter)