Chapter 55. The Tragic Scholar (2)

Zhu Youxiao looked expressionless and fell to his knees. The civil and military officials who were begging for mercy felt a burst of disgust in their hearts, these sub-ministers, on weekdays in the court, were full of famous clan righteousness, and they would force themselves to play to the death at every turn. In front www.biquge.info of these hundreds of thousands of people, except for kneeling to plead or closing their eyes and pretending to be dead, none of them put forward the slightest useful suggestion.

But now we still need to deal with the group of scholars in front of us, if they are not severely punished, how can the majesty of the Son of Heaven exist. Thinking of this, he sorted out his words, turned around, pointed to the soldiers who kowtowed in front of him and begged for mercy, gritted his teeth and said loudly:

"I lost my mother since I was a child, and the Rongke clan raised me for many years, and now that I have ascended the throne, why not let my family be rich? How dare you question my decision? If you are dissatisfied, you will even affect the people, push their houses, destroy their fields, and cut off their livelihood? Is this the book of the sages you read? ”

At this time, the scholars no longer had the courage they had just now, crying that they and others were sincere to the country, but they just listened to the rumors, were enthusiastic, and did bad things with good intentions. There is no disrespect for the emperor.

The civil and military officials were also pleading, asking Zhu Youxiao to take it lightly for the sake of the scholars' patriotism.

Looking at the begging civil and military officials below, Zhu Youxiao stared at Liu Yixiao again and said:

"Lord Liu, you tell me what to do with these people."

The decree issued by himself has been sealed back for two consecutive times, and the most opposed one is this Liu Yixiu, who is greatly dissatisfied with Zhu Youxiao, so he is now forcing Liu Yixiao to express his position in front of thousands of scholars. Don't you want to befriend these thousands of scholars, I want you to say how to punish them yourself.

At this time, Liu Yixiao looked at Zhu Youxiao's compelling gaze, and felt annoyed in his heart, with his many years of experience in officialdom, he didn't have to think about it, he knew that the emperor was deliberately cheating himself, but now he had to face this matter, and after thinking for a while, he said:

"Your Majesty, if the scholars say disrespectful words, they must be severely punished, otherwise how can they show the majesty of the national law. And in the eyes of the ministers, he gave each of the troublemakers twenty rods. In the Criminal Department, the case of the common people suing the scholar will be tried immediately, and if there is anyone who steals chickens and dogs, he will be imprisoned according to the law. Those who bully men and women, kill people and set fires, are decided. ”

The latter sentence is a decisive decision, which sounds domineering, but it is actually dispensable for the scholars, even if they have done murder and arson, they have already dealt with it cleanly, even if the criminal department really deals with it, with the network of their own and others, they can't find out anything.

It's just that this cane twenty is a bit difficult for them to accept, you must know that Daming's talent is not kneeling when he sees officials, not to mention this kind of ugly thing of cane punishment in public. For a while, the scholars below were mourning.

"Lord Liu, when does the sin of insulting the emperor only need twenty rods?" Concubine Zheng said coldly on the side.

As soon as these words came out, the civil officials and military generals naturally frowned. I don't understand why this Zheng Guifei is so hard today. It is said that with her current embarrassing status as the imperial concubine of Wanli, Taoguang is the best choice. Today's tossing is like this, do you have to pierce this Ming sky to be happy?

The scene was quiet for a while, although the officials were extremely dissatisfied with Zheng Guifei's aggressiveness, but now when Zhu Youxiao was angry, no one dared to be this bird.

As for the group of scholars kneeling on the ground, not to mention, it was because of their unreasonable treatment of Concubine Zheng that the emperor grabbed the handle and almost killed his group of people on the spot.

Liu Yixiao gritted his teeth and arched his hand at Concubine Zheng and asked:

"I don't know what the concubine thinks she should do."

At this time, Liu Yixiao was also in a dilemma, not only to appease the scholars, but also to give the emperor an explanation, and when he heard that Concubine Zheng was pressing, he directly kicked the ball over.

Hearing this, Zheng Guifei was stunned, just looking at Liu Yixiao's embarrassed expression just now, her heart was secretly cool, she had fought with him for many years, and she rarely saw him so cowardly, so after he put forward a plan, she retorted with her mouth, hoping to be embarrassed by him, but she didn't expect this Liu Yixiao to seize the opportunity and kick the ball to himself.

Although I am not happy that these scholars are so arrogant, they don't even pay attention to the emperor. But if you really want to kill them all, then you, the imperial concubine, will definitely die, and you can't die. It is estimated that in the history books of later generations, she will also be a demon concubine who kills Zhongliang.

You must know that the current Ming Dynasty is not the time when the country was first founded, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was ruthless to scholars, and dared to peel and fill corrupt officials, and in several shocking cases in the early Ming Dynasty, tens of thousands of scholars were involved at every turn.

Taizong Zhu Diye was even more ruthless, and the world-famous Confucian Fang Xiaoru directly came to the Ten Clans, and the Tenth Clan was Fang Xiaoru's friends and students, and for a time killed those scholars one by one.

Just as Concubine Zheng Guifei hesitated, Zhu Huiyan on the side walked to her side and said:

"Niangniang, although these scholars are at fault first, the imperial brother is kind-hearted, and he must also remember that they are confused by rumors and can't bear to be punished heavily. However, even if these people are not punished, it is only because of the grace of heaven, which does not mean that they are not guilty, according to my Ming law, the guilty can directly take off the fame on their bodies. ”

Zhu Huiyan had always had a good impression of the scholars, and he also imagined that one day, he would be able to marry a talented person with a reputation all over the world, but he didn't expect that the scholars would dare to openly insult the concubine and resist the emperor's order just now.

As a royal princess, of course, she couldn't tolerate it, so she helped come up with this idea when she saw Concubine Zheng Guifei deflated. It does not alarm the overall situation, but also can deter this group of arrogant scholars.

Hearing Zhu Huiyan's words, Zhu Youxiao's eyes lit up, and he said to the civil and military officials:

"I have only been on the throne for two months, and I cannot bear to kill too much, so let them be spared their sins! There will be a next time, and I will not be spared. ”

In the praise of the emperor from the scholars and hundreds of officials, Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said:

"The state has national law, and all scholars here have their fame revoked, and they are not allowed to be appointed as officials for the rest of their lives. Through this incident, I feel that now my Ming scholar does not know how to be an official for the time being, and I decided to cancel the qualification of the Beijing master for ten years. Cancel the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty for the next three years. ”

Hearing that Zhu Youxiao was going to cancel the three-year imperial examination, the officials below were shocked for a while, and this Zhu Youxiao actually expanded the matter even more under Zhu Huiyan's proposal. Canceling the qualification for the three-year imperial examination, isn't this to make this group of scholars here become the public enemy of the scholars of the whole world?

However, this punishment is not unacceptable for many people, at least for the generals and nobles, and it does not hurt them much. Not participating in the imperial examination for three years is nothing more than giving his children and nephews one less chance to take the imperial examination, but they can lose thousands of competitors in this Beijing division.

It's not good that the power of the generals and nobles will rise sharply in the future. Perhaps we can take this opportunity to suppress the civilian bureaucracy, which has always been strong.

The soldiers below were even more frightened and cried, canceling their fame, and their future lives might fall into hell immediately. In this Ming Dynasty, which is glorious as a scholar, they will immediately lose the inheritance of their family and the respect of the people if they do not have fame, let alone become officials.

For a while, there was another cry for mercy, and it was more painful to lose their fame than to kill them directly.

In the midst of the begging for mercy from the civil and military officials and scholars, Zhao Lanxing, the servant of the ministry, walked to the side of Hou Guoxing and Ke Baba, bowed deeply and said:

Mrs. Ke, Hou Qianhu, the scholars have indeed offended the two of you in this matter, and I ask you to bear with me. Hou Gongzi, you are also a prisoner of the country, and you should know the pain of ten years of hard study. Please also persuade the emperor to take back his fate.

Looking at Zhao Lanxing, whose eyes were swollen like lanterns, Hou Guoxing was speechless for a while. Your sister, now you know that I am a prisoner of the country. However, seeing that this person dared to resist Concubine Zheng at that time, he should be a very covered-up official, and he didn't dare to offend at the moment, so he arched his hand and said:

"My lord, the students don't want things to get to this point, but now that the emperor is angry, how can he persuade the students!"

At this time, Yang Lian on the side also came over, bowed deeply to Hou Guoxing, and said:

"Hou Qianhu, all the mistakes are my fault, this official was prejudiced against you before. Today you sacrifice your life for righteousness, and prove your innocence to the people of the world by your death. Just now, he tried to block the emperor's order, which really embarrassed me! I hope that you will help this group of poor scholars. If it is successful, Hou Qianhu is the benefactor of these thousands of scholars. ”

Looking at the two people in front of him, Hou Guoxing couldn't hold the shelf, so he could only bow his hand to the two of them and say a few polite words, then walked to Zhu Youxiao's side and said:

Although the emperor's affairs are excessive, they are also a heart for the country, and they hope that the emperor will be light.

At this time, Liu Yijing on the side looked at Hou Guoxing and pleaded, and also said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Your Majesty, Hou Qianhu, as a victim of this matter, can also put aside personal grievances, plead for the scholars, and hope that the emperor will be dealt with lightly. Give them a chance to mend their ways. ”

The other civil and military officials naturally pleaded for a while.

The officials even gave full play to their tongues, complimenting Zhu Youxiao's generosity loudly, and singing praises to Hou Guoxing's retribution with virtue.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao stared at Hou Guoxing and said softly:

"Hou Qianhu, these scholars slandered me so much, and reversed right and wrong, causing you to almost die, why do you ......?"

"Your Majesty!" Hou Guoxing bowed deeply here and said:

"After ten years of suffering, the minister also knows that my Hou Guoxing's honor and disgrace are small, and the country's society is big, so directly taking away their fame will make the country lose too many good officials. Wechen believes that after this incident, they will also understand the way of being an official. ”

Hou Guoxing put on a face for the sake of the country and the famous clan, regardless of personal honor and disgrace. The scholars behind were naturally complimentary, scolding themselves and others for being blind and confused by rumors.

"Just let them go like this, where is my majesty!"

Zhu Youxiao frowned and was a little unhappy. What these scholars are doing today is too high-flying.

"Your Majesty, according to the minister's humble opinion, it is better to add an article according to the sentence proposed by Lord Liu, and let this group of scholars build the houses that they have knocked down, destroy the farmland, and make up the wheat seedlings themselves. The smashed stalls should be made up by themselves, so that they can also see the suffering of the world, so as to lay the foundation for the future officials. ”

Hearing this, Fang Congzhe's eyes lit up, and he arched his hand to Zhu Youxiao and said:

The emperor, the ministers agreed with the proposal of Hou Qianhu. As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step......

Hou Guoxing's words, although the scholars were unwilling to accept it, but at this time it was also the best solution, that is, Zhu Huiyan heard the method proposed by Hou Guoxing, and his eyes showed a strange look.

Under the repeated pleas of hundreds of officials, Zhu Youxiao agreed to the method proposed by Hou Guoxing, and the scholars each had twenty rods. Three days later, everyone went to the old site of the Hou Mansion to help the farmers rebuild their homes. If there is no one, or a person who cheats and cheats, his fame will be cancelled directly, and he will not be an official for eternity.