Quick Wear: Random Cheats

Chapter 208 Soul Scattered, Heaven-Mending Stone (19)

"They've really mastered the principles of loyalty, filial piety, propriety, and righteousness!"

"Among the civil and military officials and nobles, how many are still loyal to me? Speak boldly, I can bear it!"

Having thoroughly read history books, Emperor Yonghe, who knew that reforms and changes would inevitably lead to trouble, and that a thorough investigation into corruption would also lead to trouble, was not at all surprised that they would have this plan. After all, they had done similar things before.

Burning down a warehouse with a fire dragon was a common occurrence.

Wherever they investigate, burn it down!
At the end of the previous dynasty, Ma Wang caused trouble in places relatively far from the capital until Emperor Huisi realized the true colors of the officials and ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to thoroughly investigate corruption. Only then did Ma Wang and his entourage proceed unimpeded to the capital.

They simply misjudged the nature of King Ma.

Instead of treating the surrendered officials and generals well and keeping their promises, they subjected them to severe torture, and then the surrendered officials and generals made contact with foreign tribes.

The Ma King's army was quickly routed due to their collusion with outsiders. Fortunately, Emperor Taizu raised an army and prevented the invasion of the savages.

"It's hard to say, because there aren't many people who are actually involved in the planning and know about it. In fact, most of the civil and military officials and nobles are kept in the dark. Most of them just know what to do to oppose you and resist the new policies."

It is limited to the first level.

This could trigger planned local unrest.

Those who knew about the plot to assassinate the emperor and the plan to treason were less than one in a hundred, and most of them had been colluding with foreign tribes since the previous dynasty, transferring benefits, smuggling, and making huge profits.

Betrayal is rarely sudden or instantaneous; it might happen to an individual, but never to a family. No family would immediately betray its country simply because its own interests are harmed. The only possibilities are either that they were never truly loyal, always teetering on the edge of treason, or that they knew perfectly well that if their actions were discovered, they would face the wrath of their entire family and clan.

There can't be too many families like this.

It's also impossible to publicize the secret so widely.

Those who were exposed have already been killed.

Moreover, the plan was carried out in secrecy, which meant that very few people would know about it. Some of those involved didn't even know what the plan was; they only received orders to complete one of the steps, while the core steps were carried out by assassins.

"Please protect my safety. I need them to successfully carry out the regicide plan before I can find a way to weaken their power under that pretext. Also, I need you to write a list of traitors so I can arrange loyal men to kill them and take over the border defenses in various places."

The plot to assassinate the king can be allowed to proceed, but allowing foreign enemies to invade is unacceptable; it must be nipped in the bud.

Otherwise, countless civilians would have died or been injured.

Whether Emperor Yonghe truly thought so or felt that Ding Shui cared more about the people and said it on purpose, in the end, one must judge a person by their actions, not their intentions. One cannot judge a person by what they think, but by what they actually do.

Therefore, Ding Shui was quite satisfied with Emperor Yonghe's attitude and plans, as they aligned with her values ​​and beliefs.

Therefore, they are naturally happy to provide support.

A loyalty table of all civil and military officials, including border garrison commanders, was quickly compiled and imprinted in Emperor Yonghe's mind, subjecting to real-time updates. After all, human hearts are fickle. When the benefits are great enough, hearts may waver; when the threat is great enough, hearts may waver again. Therefore, loyalty must naturally be updated in real time; otherwise, it would be like trying to find a sword by marking the boat where it was moored!

In addition, Ding Shui would also record the specific reasons for changes in loyalty, so that Emperor Yonghe could decide whether to kill or arrest.

At this point, it can be said that both sides are ready.

Now it's up to us to see who has the better skills.

Three days later, the assassination plan specifically targeting Emperor Yonghe officially began. That night, they added some lead oxide to Emperor Yonghe's dinner. This substance was indeed poisonous, but it required long-term consumption. Small amounts would only cause drowsiness, which was exactly what they wanted.

Just in case, they also sent people to change the incense in the Zichen Palace, replacing sandalwood with calming incense.

Immediately following was the fire in the palace.

And there were assassins who tried to kill him.

Although they wanted to burn Emperor Yonghe alive, there was a certain risk involved. So, their final plan was to kill Emperor Yonghe first, since he had taken lead-white powder and inhaled calming incense and was unlikely to resist.

Then they burned his body until it was charred.

Anyway, no one dared to dissect the emperor's body, and once Emperor Yonghe died, the capital would naturally be under their control, so there was no need to worry about anyone questioning the autopsy.

Emperor Yonghe watched the entire process.

A group of secret guards were also watching.

The one who was assassinated was an illusion constructed by Ding Shui.

As the assassins believed they had successfully assassinated Emperor Yonghe, and with the flames already rising with the help of some accelerants, Emperor Yonghe finally breathed a sigh of relief and asked Ding Shui to take action. Ding Shui, of course, simultaneously extinguished the flames and brought down the fire, working in two ways to quickly and completely put an end to the fire in Zichen Palace.

Even the palace itself suffered little damage.

It can be restored with a little repair.

Then, of course, Emperor Yonghe appeared, arrested all those assassins, and began arresting other people as well.

Arrests were carried out both inside and outside the palace.

"I really didn't expect that so many people would want me dead. There was collusion between people inside and outside the palace, and the Empress and the Dowager Consorts were involved. Fortunately, my sons are still young and none of them have left the palace to establish their own government offices."

Otherwise, I'm afraid...

This is terrifying. I used to only suspect that many emperors were murdered, but now I feel that I can confirm that most emperors were murdered.

The collusion between insiders and outsiders is especially terrifying.

Although Emperor Yonghe had suspected something was amiss and had made considerable preparations beforehand, the betrayal of so many people was something he had never anticipated. Without Ding Shui's help, he would have been severely injured, if not killed, and while he might have escaped it once, he might not be able to escape it every time in the future.

That's why he was so horrified and chilled.

The betrayer who chilled him the most was undoubtedly the Empress. Although he had learned from Ding Shui a few years ago that the Empress had harmed several of his children and concubines.

I felt somewhat distant from it.

But he never thought of punishing her, such as deposing her as empress or crown prince. At most, he would give her a warning and remind her to behave herself and not make things difficult for herself.

Unexpectedly, she was already eager to become Empress Dowager and participated in the plan to assassinate the emperor.

The assassins' entry into the palace was related to the Empress.

The lead white frost was placed in the soup sent by the Empress.

"As the saying goes, cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents. What you're going to do is not just cut off their livelihood, but may even take their lives and property."

It cost the lives of some people's entire clans.

I thought you should have realized long ago that there is no kinship or love on the road to power, and there has never been a reform without bloodshed. If you want to avoid bloodshed, you can only compromise or fail; there is no other possibility.

We should hurry up and clean the house.

Then announce the external plans!

Ding Shui's initial plan was actually slightly milder than Emperor Yonghe's. She wanted to use a combination of harsh measures followed by incentives, proceeding gradually. First, she would unite with the royal family and nobles to search for several large gold and silver mines overseas, diverting everyone's attention to foreign countries. Then, she would announce a policy of establishing vassal states overseas.

Encourage overseas expansion and create several success stories of wealth creation.

There's no need to worry about major powers not paying attention to the situation overseas.

After completing these tasks, we can gradually promote policies such as unified taxation for gentry and commoners, merging land tax with poll tax, class-based taxation, and inheritance tax. At that point, opposition will likely weaken slightly, and a large number of people will feel powerless against the system and be willing to sell their land.

Then take the money from selling them and go out to try your luck.

At this point, if it were revealed that unifying the world would bring benefits such as rejuvenation and godhood...

That would reduce the resistance even further.

However, after Emperor Yonghe learned about gold, silver, copper, and iron mines around the world, he became less willing to engage in the practice of enfeoffment. At least, he was unwilling to grant away those resource-rich areas, hoping to keep them under the control of the imperial court, that is, to keep them in his own hands.

So he decided to take the risk.

Instead of resorting to empty promises and offering easy profits, they plan to eliminate all opposition forces, accumulate strength over time, and then bring regions rich in or valuable mineral resources under their control.

And then there's the rest, which we simply can't manage.

Then distribute it to the other people so they can have some soup.

Ding Shui was not the one in charge, and from a national perspective, Emperor Yonghe's choice was riskier and would involve a large-scale massacre that would result in many more deaths.

But success is indeed more beneficial to the country.

Therefore, Ding Shui had no reason to refuse.

They only hoped that he would not expand his influence, and even more so, not use the lives of many people to entrap law enforcement. Then Emperor Yonghe agreed, and Ding Shui did his best to cooperate.

"I naturally understand these principles; I was just feeling a bit emotional for a moment. Sigh, I'll need your help to extract those people's memories, to create a projection of their schemes, even the process of their schemes and the words they uttered, as you mentioned earlier. Tomorrow morning at court, I plan to hold a public trial for them, and then depose the Empress and the Crown Prince!"

There are some things that Emperor Yonghe can turn a blind eye to.

But there are some things that obviously cannot be done.

For example, he could barely compromise with some of his concubines who caused his death, or even his less important children, but if they wanted his life, there was no room for compromise; they had to die.

Therefore, after reflecting on his experience, he made plans for tomorrow.

That means deposing the empress and the crown prince.

Although the crown prince was innocent and unaware of the plot, how could he continue to hold the position of crown prince when his own mother attempted to assassinate the emperor? He will likely remain under house arrest indefinitely!
As for the others who participated in the plot to assassinate the king.

Of course they all have to die, regardless of whether it's the Empress Dowager or anyone else.

What followed was a massive purge, affecting tens of thousands of people both inside and outside the palace and throughout the capital.

But all the evidence is conclusive and beyond question.

The following day, many people went to court in fear and unease, only to see Ding Shui display the memories of those who plotted the regicide, as well as projections of their plotting process.

I only found out what happened last night.

And no one dared to plead for them anymore.

After all, who would dare plead for mercy for the crime of regicide?

This only happened in the imperial court, or rather in the capital. Emperor Yonghe wanted to find unstable factors and purge the entire capital, so he let them carry out the regicide plan a little too easily.

He wouldn't dare to be unrestrained on the frontier.

Almost simultaneously, he dispatched a large number of people with secret orders to carry out two major actions. The first was to directly take down the border generals in various regions who had already been turned against him, and select loyal and capable replacements.

At the same time, they should also directly disclose the evidence of their collusion with foreign enemies to prevent their soldiers from mutiny.

But where exactly is that evidence of the crime located?

It was provided by Ding Shui, of course.

Even if all the evidence is destroyed, Ding Shui can still access their memories and project them onto a screen.

Even years later, many people still believe that videos cannot be faked, let alone now. Therefore, with the release of various pieces of evidence and projections, there is no longer any obstacle to taking down the border generals who have been turned against their cause.

The second thing was to confiscate the property of certain families, including, but not limited to, those who colluded with foreign powers, engaged in smuggling, or planned to let barbarian tribes from beyond the Great Wall enter and plunder.

Similarly, they directly released the evidence.

The videos were played repeatedly as they were being escorted to the capital for execution.

Despite their dissatisfaction with Emperor Yonghe's new policies, most people still held foreign collusion and treason in contempt, and no one dared to defend them. Furthermore, the fact that the people Emperor Yonghe sent along the way displayed various miraculous abilities directly deterred many from further rebellion, leading them to immediately cease their efforts and compromise.

Just kidding, if you can bring back memories and show them to everyone, what secrets can you hide?
Moreover, those who carried the five-colored jade pendants displayed various magical abilities, which led many people to regard them as gods and angels, directly increasing the effectiveness of their propaganda of the new policies in various places by more than a hundredfold.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for the gentry to be misled or misinterpreted.

It can be said that almost all the overt and covert methods they used to employ have become ineffective. Under these circumstances, it would be foolish to continue to resist.

They understand the principle of lying low and waiting.

This nationwide operation cannot continue indefinitely. Although there have been some losses, loopholes can always be found in the future to make up for them. There are always ways to circumvent policies. It may not be as convenient as before, but it is still better than a head-on confrontation.

If all else fails, they can wait until the current emperor dies and the new emperor ascends the throne, then use deception to abolish the policies.

The most important thing right now is to ensure that the family line continues unbroken.

So naturally, they all compromised!

But in any case, after killing more than a thousand officials, more than eight thousand minor officials, and more than one hundred thousand people, and confiscating a large number of families, merchants and officials, and seizing land, gold and silver and assets worth nearly two hundred million taels of silver.

The new policy was finally implemented perfectly.

The burden on the landless poor was greatly reduced, and the national treasury revenue increased significantly. At this time, Ding Shui also provided more advanced shipbuilding technology, telegraph communication technology that had never appeared before, and a series of other advanced technologies.

The entire Daqian region has entered a period of rapid development.

At the end of the same year, the Qianxiang Kingdom invaded from the south. Although the Quanrong barbarians from the north no longer had an inside ally, they still decided to enter the pass. After all, the previous preparations and mobilization could not be in vain. They had to enter the pass and plunder to make up for their losses!

However, Emperor Yonghe had already replaced all the border generals with loyal and patriotic men, and the national treasury was full. Therefore, by the beginning of the following year, the situation was no longer one of invasion, but rather one of gratitude for the blessings of heaven.

Heaven has gifted us two decent plots of land.

They also gave us over 400,000 prisoners as a bonus, so now the infrastructure work can be done without having to conscript laborers.