Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 69: Officials knocking on the palace gate? Threatening me?

The officials came out of Cao's house, and the more they thought about it, the more they felt something was wrong. Could this matter be over? The death of a respected minister who had served in four dynasties was the best opportunity to force His Majesty to give up the investigation of land annexation. How could he just let it go?

"We can't gather at the Cao family's mourning hall, but we can go to Fengtian Gate."

"Yes, if ordinary people have grievances, they can beat the drum to make it known. So can we!"

"Let's go together. We must make His Majesty severely punish the Jinyiwei."

As a result, all the officials went to Fengtian Gate in a mighty procession, knelt in front of the gate, and requested to see His Majesty and demanded that His Majesty severely punish the Jinyiwei. Some of them were so angry that they even called for the abolition of the Jinyiwei.

More and more officials joined the ranks, and soon, more than 200 people knelt in front of Fengtian Gate. Yang Guifang, who had just returned from Cao's mansion, saw these people coming to force the emperor to abdicate, and cursed them in his heart.

He hurried to the Qianqing Palace and saw His Majesty discussing with Xu Youzhen, Li Xian, Shi Biao and others, who looked very anxious. He bowed respectfully and said, "Your Majesty, I...I messed up."

"No!" Zhu Qizhen raised his hand to indicate, "Your denunciation in front of the Cao family's mourning hall is a masterpiece that will be remembered for ages, and it is extremely satisfying. It is better for them to kneel in front of the Fengtian Gate than in front of the mourning hall."

Xu Youzhen looked at Yang Guifang and said, "How about you go and scold them away again?"

Yang Guifang smiled bitterly and spread her hands, saying, "At the Cao family's funeral hall, they used the dead, and I also used the dead. After all, we all have to save face, and we can't let Cao Gong die in peace. Now the situation is different, and I can't scold him anymore."

Shi Biao said anxiously: "I will take the Jinyiwei to drive them away."

Li Xian quickly waved his hand to stop them: "They are here for you Jinyiwei. If you go, won't you just add fuel to the fire?"

"All the officials are knocking on the palace gates because of me." Zhu Qizhen snorted coldly, "If I can't settle this matter, the land annexation will be abandoned halfway, and my personal rule will be even more distant."

The anger suddenly became heavy. This civil servant disturbance might be more terrible than the mutiny of military officers.

"Jin Ying." Zhu Qizhen called out, "Go and tell them what I want to say. Tell them that I know what they mean and I will think about it carefully. Tell them to go back first."

"As you wish." Jin Ying bowed.

……

In front of Fengtian Gate.

More than 200 people knelt there, including two bigwigs of the time, Wang Wen, the Minister of Personnel, and Yu Shiyue, the Minister of Punishment. The chief eunuch, Jin Ying, came in front of the crowd and began to persuade them.

He had a very good attitude and spoke earnestly, saying that the adults had worked hard, His Majesty knew your requests, and that the matter would be resolved, so you should go back first.

These official words are just nonsense. How can the kneeling ministers not see it? They are all experienced officials. How could they be fooled? Yu Shiyue, the Minister of Justice, shouted loudly: "If I don't get the imperial edict today, I will not retreat until I die!"

Eunuch Jin Ying had no choice but to return to the Qianqing Palace to report. Zhu Qizhen's face became even more solemn after hearing this, as he knew that today's test would be difficult.

"Your Majesty, I will lead the Jinyiwei." Shi Biao said, "They are all a bunch of spineless people. If the Jinyiwei draw their swords, they will be scared to death."

Zhu Qizhen pondered for a while and nodded: "First, take the Jinyiwei to surround them, but don't do anything, just scare them away."

Shi Biao took the order and left with full confidence. However, Zhu Qizhen knew that if the Jinyiwei took action today and someone died, the Queen Mother would definitely stand up and it would be difficult to deal with the aftermath.

"Your Majesty, you can use the Royal Guards to drive them away." Yang Guifang said, "But Shi Biao is not important enough. You need someone with enough weight to help Your Majesty take the blame."

What he meant was that someone could stand up and drive away all the officials, and finally, His Majesty would punish that person. But at this time, where could he find someone who was influential enough and could stand up?

"Don't panic, let them kneel first." Zhu Qizhen stood up slowly, "The Queen Mother is probably watching the show right now."

...Kunning Palace.

The Queen Mother was lying lazily on her side with her beautiful curves, as she was listening to a report from Sun Jizhong, Marquis of Huichang.

"Yang Guifang? Yang Rong's youngest son is a talented person." Her beautiful eyes flashed with sharpness, "What a pity, he stood on the side of His Majesty from the beginning."

Sun Jizhong also nodded in agreement: "Indeed, the curse he uttered in front of the Cao family's mourning hall is enough to be passed down to future generations! Haha, but he also cursed all the officials directly in front of Your Majesty. Now Your Majesty is isolated and helpless, how will he face the anger of all the officials?"

The Queen Mother slowly sat up, her mature and cold eyes flashing with brilliance: "I am also looking forward to it! If he gets impulsive and uses the Royal Guards, then I will have to make my appearance."

At this time, the maid Shuangxi came in hurriedly to report: "Empress Dowager, the commander of the Jinyiwei led the Jinyiwei to surround the Fengtian Gate. However, they only surrounded it and did not take action."

"Your Majesty is not stupid!" The Queen Mother snorted coldly.

"Empress Dowager, shouldn't you get ready?" Sun Jizhong said with a smile, "I don't think Your Majesty can hold on for much longer."

"No hurry!" The Queen Mother chuckled. "How can I appear without seeing some blood?"

Sun Jizhong understood and immediately made arrangements. He was the one who arranged all the officials to come to the palace today.

……

Fengtian Gate.

Shi Biao looked at all the officials. He knew he couldn't do anything, but he could at least write down their names, right? So he ordered the Jinyiwei to take the notebook and write down the names.

The purpose was obvious, which was to tell all officials that their names were recorded and they would be punished later. However, the actual situation exceeded his expectations.

The kneeling officials signed their names actively, and some even signed the names of their colleagues who were not present. There were originally about 200 people, but when the list was handed in, there were more than 500 people.

Shi Biao is numb!

These nerds are really not afraid of death.

"Things have come to this point today. You must not retreat! If you retreat, how can you face Lord Cao? Even if you die, how can you face the late emperor?" Yu Shiyue shouted again.

All the officials understood what he meant. If they didn't get things done today, His Majesty would definitely settle accounts with them later. I don't know who it was, but he rushed to the gate of Fengtian Gate in anger and cried loudly: "Your Majesty, how long are you going to indulge the Jinyiwei?"

When the others saw this, they also started to cry. Yu Shiyue even banged his head and hands against the door while crying, looking like he was in great pain.

More than 200 grown men were crying loudly, but it was just howling, without tears. The crying was fake, just to create momentum, and the inside and outside of the palace walls were drowned out by the crying.

Shi Biao was not afraid of fighting in battle, but now he was really scared when facing more than 200 men crying. He could only rush back to the Qianqing Palace to report.

Zhu Qizhen frowned after hearing the report: "It's not over yet, is it? You want to force me to use the sword, right? Then I will kill again until the blood flows like a river."

Xu Youzhen, Li Xian, and Yang Guifang hurriedly tried to dissuade him. At this time, Zhu Qiyu, the Prince of Qin, asked for an audience.

……

Ps: I’m asking for votes. The book will be put on the shelves in the next few days. I’ll update it frequently once it’s on the shelves. After it’s put on the shelves, the daily number of words will start from 10,000.

(End of this chapter)