The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 73: Emulating the Ancestor Hongwu Emperor
The next morning, the entire capital seemed to be shrouded in dark clouds, and the sky was also overcast.

At about the hour of Mao, the dawn began to appear, and the dark clouds in the sky suddenly turned red as if they were on fire.

This is the famous fire cloud, a type of morning glow.

As the saying goes, "Don't go out if there is morning glow, but you can travel thousands of miles if there is evening glow." Such weather seems to indicate that something big is about to happen.

All the civil and military officials in the court looked at the red light all over the sky, and a solemn look appeared on their faces.

"Pa pa pa pa", the whip sounded nine times, and the dragon chariot slowly came from the red light in the sky.

"Long live the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor", this time the cheers had a bit of the flavor of submission.

Wanli looked at the red clouds in the sky, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and he smiled evilly to himself.

He looked more and more evil, almost scary.

After all the civil and military officials stood up, he did not look at the ceremonial officer of the Honglu Temple.

Because today he was not here to discuss matters with the ministers.

He glanced around slowly, then pretended to be angry and said, "I followed the example of my ancestor, the Hongwu Emperor, and left the palace incognito to understand the people's sentiments.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I reached Banqiao Hutong near the Jinyiwei Yamen, I encountered an absurd and bizarre incident that was outrageous to everyone.

At the feet of the emperor, in front of the imperial city, next to the Jinyiwei and various government offices, someone was actually trying to rob a woman!

Is there no law in the Ming Dynasty?

Some people talk about benevolence, righteousness and morality when they speak, and serve the country and the people when they keep silent. Why does no one care about such lawless things?

Are your righteousness and morality just for me to hear? Is your dedication to the country and the people just an excuse to control me?"

As he spoke, he really got a little angry, and his voice became louder and louder.

After more than two hundred years of ups and downs, many things in the Ming Dynasty have changed beyond recognition.

For example, the laws and regulations of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be used to govern ordinary people, and even the emperor of the time, but not to govern the powerful people in the court.

Many people in the Ming Dynasty court were arrogant and lawless.

For example, things like forcibly abducting women are common among the people and no one cares about it.

Therefore, anyone with a little power, or relatives and friends of powerful officials in the court, would forcibly seize beautiful women from the common people.

This is not a joke, it is true. The abduction of women became more and more serious in the Ming Dynasty.

In history, during the Chongzhen period, King Yi of Luoyang ordered the royal guards to close all the city gates and rob houses one by one, and he abducted more than a thousand women!
This kind of thing seemed to be commonplace among the court officials at that time, and King Yi was not punished at all for it!
For a dynasty to have such a mess of laws and regulations, it would be strange if it didn’t perish!
These bastards are full of talk about morality and justice, and they always say they are working for the country and the people, but behind the scenes they are lawless and do whatever they want.

Do you still want to take advantage of my youth and ignorance?

Wanli simply stood up and shouted angrily: "You don't care about this kind of thing, what do you care about? Are you only caring about me?

If you don't care, I will. I will sit in the Zheng family cloth shop and wait to see who dares to be so lawless.

As a result, someone really came to rob, and it was at noon, in broad daylight!

I just spoke up to stop them and they were about to beat or even kill people!
What Zhang Mansion Manager, what Xin Ye, they are nothing, they don’t hold any official position.

How dare they be so lawless as to abduct women in broad daylight right in front of the imperial city?

Even if I do something a little bit unruly, you guys make a big fuss. How can you pretend not to see such lawlessness?

You guys are controlling me, right? I have to follow the laws of the Ming Dynasty and the imperial ancestral teachings in everything. But you guys can do whatever you want, right?

I just tried to intervene and nearly lost my life!

The eunuch Zhang Cheng and the prince of Wuqing Marquis Li Wenquan actually pretended not to know me. A lot of the East Factory guards and the Beijing camp garrison came.

This is clearly a rebellion!
Is the Ming Dynasty in such a mess? "

That's what happened.

There is obviously something wrong with Zhang Cheng and Li Wenquan.

Li Wenquan is the little emperor's uncle, how could he not know the little emperor?
Zhang Cheng often sees the little emperor, so why is he pretending not to know him?

These guys really want to rebel!
They probably discovered that the little emperor had left the palace in disguise, so they took advantage of the situation, pretending not to recognize him, and wanted to kill the little emperor!
These guys are so brave.

Wanli is just spreading rumors!

He deliberately stopped to take a breath and looked at the reactions of the civil and military officials.

Most of these guys believed it!
What he said was originally 70% true and 30% false, and most of the false part was a trap he had set up in secret, which no one else knew about and naturally had no reason to suspect. This way he could justifiably kill people.

He feigned rage and said, "Zhang Cheng and Zhang Xin have both confessed. There's more to this matter than meets the eye. Marquis Wuding Guo Dacheng is the mastermind behind this. They knew beforehand that I was going to emulate the Hongwu Emperor and leave the palace incognito to investigate the people's sentiments, so they dug a trap for me to fall into."

This seems even more true. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that the little emperor encountered such a thing as the rape of a commoner girl as soon as he left the palace.

Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials in the court were filled with realization.

Seeing this, Wanli pretended to grit his teeth and said, "Tell me, what would our ancestor, the Hongwu Emperor, do if he encountered such a thing?"

This!
What would Emperor Hongwu do if he encountered such a thing?
Just one word, kill!

Anyone who is implicated, no matter if they are important officials in the court, dukes, nobles, or even royal relatives, there is only one word: kill!

Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials in the court were filled with horror.

The little emperor is also trying to emulate Emperor Hongwu!

Wanli suddenly said coldly, "I will follow the example of my ancestor, the Hongwu Emperor. If you have any opinions, please raise them. Anyone who wants to intercede for Zhang Cheng, Wuding Marquis Guo Dacheng, Wuqing Marquis's son Li Wenquan, etc., please stand up now."

Is there something wrong with us?
At this time, he still stood up to plead for those who were rebelling!
The little emperor is obviously ill again. Anyone who stands up to plead for him will be treated as an accomplice!
The entire court, civil and military officials, was in complete silence.

They really didn't dare to jump out and oppose the little emperor at this time.

There was nothing we could do. The young emperor had recalled all the troops from Beijing.

There are now 60,000 to 70,000 troops inside and outside the imperial city.

In this situation, what could the little emperor do if he just killed them indiscriminately without any care?

What's more, there is solid evidence that Zhang Cheng, Guo Dacheng and Li Wenquan were committing rebellion and treason.

The other party has already confessed, and they are still pleading for mercy?
Looking for death!
Seeing that no one dared to speak, Wanli pretended to be impatient and waved his hand, saying, "Dismiss the court."

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the dragon chariot, blending into the red light in the sky.

Is this all?

Of course not.

He also had to take the opportunity to deal with Zhang Siwei's gang. Zhang Cheng and Wuding Hou Guo Dacheng alone were not enough. If he wanted to play tricks on him, he had to do it big.

Although this rebellion could not implicate more important officials from Zhang Siwei's faction, he had already made preparations.

Immediately afterwards, he summoned Lu Yi to the imperial study.

In the red light all over the sky, Lu Yi couldn't help but show a trace of awe when he saw Wanli.

The imperial prison is almost full. How many people does His Majesty want to kill this time?

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli asked, "Did Zhang Cheng confess?"

This guy is still hoping for a lucky break.

Lu Yi shook his head helplessly and said, "No, he won't confess even if you beat him to death. I'm afraid Zhang Cheng won't be able to withstand the fighting if we continue like this."

Then let him recruit something else.

Wanli said without hesitation: "Don't ask him whether he is plotting a rebellion. Ask him how much money the Minister of Works He Qiming made by colluding with him when he renovated the imperial palace."

When the imperial palace was being renovated, the Minister of Works He Qiming secretly conspired with Zhang Cheng to make a fortune.

He knew about this last year, but he never took any action.

If there had been no case of treason, Zhang Siwei's faction would have definitely frantically obstructed him from dealing with Zhang Cheng and He Qiming, causing great trouble.

Now that he had the pretext of treason, things were different. All the civil and military officials in the court dared not get involved or say a word. He took this opportunity to deal with Zhang Siwei and his party, a senior official in the court.

As for whether Zhang Cheng would confess, this should not be a big problem. The torture in the imperial prison is no joke. Zhang Cheng would refuse to confess to rebellion and treason, but there is no need for him to risk his life for something like embezzlement of money.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Lu Yi to bring the confession.

At this moment, Zhang Cheng was really unable to bear the torture. As long as it was not a matter of rebellion, he would confess as soon as he was asked.

Compared with rebellion, his conspiracy with the Minister of Works He Qiming to embezzle the money for repairing the imperial palace was no big deal, so he naturally confessed without hesitation.

After receiving the confession, Wanli immediately issued an order to have the Minister of Works He Qiming thrown into prison!

(End of this chapter)