Civil and military officials of the Manchu dynasty, begging me to ascend the throne

The white clouds are long and the sky is blue.

Even the wind seemed to become very weak, only slightly blowing the hair on people's foreheads.

For seventeen consecutive days, the stone platform at Nanjiekou was crowded with people, watching the heads being chopped off one after another.

Some prisoners committed capital crimes and were executed by the executioner Ling Chi with one knife after another.

The scene in Lingchi was the liveliest that day. Even children no more than seven or eight years old were sitting on their parents' shoulders, looking forward eagerly.People crowded around, all staring at the executioner's knife.

Every time a cut was made, someone clapped their hands and applauded. The loud clapping attracted people's attention.

The bright red blood spread on the ground of the high platform. The person holding the knife had a steady hand, just like cutting a fish. The rising and falling of the knife was accompanied by the living person's wailing and breathless breathing.

Often by the afternoon, the people who were asked to be killed that day were already dead.The stone platform was already covered with blood. The clerks took buckets of water from the well and poured it here to wash away the blood on the high platform.

This year is your Majesty's third year on the throne. It can be said that the world is at peace, there is no war inside and outside the country, the country has reduced taxes to benefit the people, and the world is full of vitality and vitality.

It is spring again, and the capital once again welcomes many scholars from all over the world.

The new year's imperial examination is about to begin.

Under Jiang Yi's policy of worshiping Wen and attaching great importance to the imperial examination, Daxia was finally able to conduct the imperial examination for two consecutive years to select talents and replenish the number of officials in the government.

This incident is one of Jiang Yi's greatest political achievements today.

Relying on this incident, he successfully captured the hearts of most scholars both inside and outside the court.At the same time, Jiang Yi's control over the court situation has been further strengthened.

Now each ministry has new officials loyal to him.

Unlike those old-timers in the government, these fresh new people respect Jiang Yi much more.

As long as he uses both kindness and power and tries to win over them, these people will be his right-hand men.

As for the secret methods of the veterans in the court, Jiang Yi could only turn a blind eye.Now that he had asked these people to give up their positions, he sighed deeply. Although he was reluctant in many ways, now was indeed not a good time to take action against this group of people.

It's not a good idea to catch all the fish in the lake.

Even Jiang Yi, who is now confident, has to admit that today's court is ultimately led by these veterans who have been in the officialdom for decades.

If these people put down their work, there will probably be chaos in Daxia within ten days.

After all, the number of talents in the imperial examinations every year is becoming scarcer. Jiang Yi rubbed his brows and thought.

Since his father stopped the imperial examination for seven or eight years, most of the new officials in the imperial court were elected through nepotism, or in small places, they were mostly bought.

Jiang Yi knows that this is indeed not good, and now he has banned buying officials from the Ministry of Personnel.

But this is the mess that his father has left behind over the years, and it won't be easy to deal with it for a while.

The more he thought about it, Jiang Yi only felt bored and impatient, and there was a lump of air in his heart, neither up nor down, which was very disturbing.

A few days ago, he listened to his confidant Chi Shilang and made drastic changes in the court to several high officials.

Most of these people had dirty tricks behind their backs, but they ended up leaving their tail behind and were secretly caught in the wrong by the red guards.

After Jiang Yi learned the news, this group of people could basically be considered dead.

In front of Jiang Yi, who has a strong sense of moral integrity, these crimes are not an exaggeration, let alone Ling Chi, and I am afraid that he will die hundreds of times.

When Xie Yao came to Chongguang Hall with the evidence of the officials' crimes, Jiang Yi was already furious.

The reason why he suppressed them was simply to uproot them and completely clean out these scum from his court.

"It's really abominable. How can you behave like this and be worthy of a scholar?"

The minister Jiang Yi scolded had just been executed at the street corner today.

As for their family members, they were mostly exiled to remote states and counties, keeping them away from life in Kyoto.

Why didn't it harm the family?This can be regarded as Jiang Yi's last mercy.

All the officials and their female relatives were exiled, and this time they were exiled to Suizhou.

Suizhou is poor and the sky is full of yellow sand. I don’t know how these people will live such a hard life.

Nowadays, the most famous figures in the capital have changed. They are no longer the officials of the cabinet. Although His Majesty did not choose the chief minister, he relies heavily on the cabinet ministers.

This popular figure does not have a high official position, just the third rank.

But the power he holds is beyond the reach of most people in the court.

Not only was he holding half of the Ministry of Ceremony in his hand, but he was also holding a red guard in the other hand.

No one who is well-informed today doesn't know that Xie Yao, a colleague of the Red Guard, almost lives directly in the Chi Mansion.

These days, whenever this person goes to the Ministry of Etiquette to see Mr. Chi, everyone would avoid him as if they were meeting Yaksha Yama.

It’s no wonder that everyone avoids and fears the red guards.

This is really because the red-clothed guards under Xie Yao are simply crazy.

These days, for seventeen days in a row, several people were beheaded at the market entrance every day.

Those people had been chatting and laughing with everyone in the government office the day before, but they were 'captured' by the red-clad guards in the evening.

While their colleagues were still trying to find out the reason for him, within a day or two, this person was already beheaded at Caishikou.

And there is more than one adult like this.

There were almost 40 people.

Among them, the one with the highest official rank was Wang Ti, the former Minister of Household Affairs, a serious first-rank official in the court.

Even the worst one is still a seventh-grade civil servant.

This made the officials in the capital couldn't help but tremble, fearing that they would be the next ones called away by the red guards.

But it seems that this is the case, and the reputation of the Red Guard is three points higher than before.

When the guards dressed in red and riding horses walked in the capital, people were in awe. In the past, the playboys who wandered around the capital and were unruly did not dare to provoke the guards in red.

In some cases, this group of aristocratic children is also the compass of Kyoto.

Who can be provoked and who cannot be provoked depends on them at the first level.

The former Red Guard was nothing more than a nuisance.

Since the late emperor, no matter how powerful the red-clothed guards were, they were only able to gather information and assist the Criminal Department or Dali Temple in solving crimes.

As for presiding over cases, they are even rarer to almost non-existent.Because of the special position of the red guards, emperors in the past dynasties were unwilling to hand over the real important tasks and the most important cases to the red guards.

Basically, the Ministry of Punishment is the presiding judge, and cases below the third grade can be presided over by the Dali Temple.

Therefore, the arrest of people by the red guards this time has caused a storm in the capital. Everyone is talking about it, and there are many complaints from the unjust people.

At the very least, it is just that this matter is inconsistent with etiquette and loses the dignity of a great country;
Heavy responsibilities have begun to be reported to the red guards for interfering in government affairs with evil intentions and

This fight is different from the past. It is neither an internal fight among literati, nor a fight among courtiers for rights and interests, or for parties and ideals.

On the contrary, everyone purely wanted to exclude the red guards.

Return all those praises and achievements, and His Majesty's trust and rights to the court.

In the eyes of the courtiers, this matter was regarded as a 'willful' act by His Majesty. He was not prudent at all and did not take the overall situation into consideration.

But while the courtiers were at the court meeting and attacking the red-clothed guards who could not attend the court meeting, especially Xie Yao, they seemed to have forgotten one thing.

Today, the Red Guards are in the hands of Chi Zhongjun.

There are many unruly people in the Red Guards, and the new leader of the Red Guards, Xie Yao, was originally very capable and earned His Majesty's trust.

Now, can the young Minister of Rites fully control the Red Guard?

Everyone has doubts about this matter in their hearts. In addition, although the red guard is now in the hands of Chi Zhongjun, he is a civil servant after all, not a military commander such as a commander or a commander.

Everyone thought that he should stand on the same front with his colleagues who were also civil servants, instead of the red-clothed guard who was holding it in his hand like a floating cloud and mist.

But everyone's ideas were completely disappointed at the meeting.

The Chi Shilang originally only thought about the red guards, completely ignoring that he was a civil servant and should have the same opinion as his colleagues.

At the court meeting, Chi Shilang also brought out the evidence of some adults. His majesty was so angry that he had already thrown seven adults into the prison of Dali Temple before the court meeting ended.

This allowed the officials in the current government to fully understand Chi Shilang's position.

I also vaguely understood His Majesty’s position.

For a moment, everyone in the court was trembling with fear. Under Chi Shilang's severe reprimand, no one dared to speak out to argue. On the contrary, the momentum of the ministers was suppressed by him alone and fell down.

But after the court meeting ended, this gentleman became a living target in the court and government offices, a being that everyone talked about and even hated.

Some people secretly wanted to stumble Chi Shilang, some people suppressed their temperament and lurked in the trend, and some people went back to the house to write a derogatory document and submitted it to His Majesty along with the memorial.

Jiang Yi, who was in the Chongguang Hall, sat firmly on the high platform and looked at everyone's expressions quietly.

Or a hateful face, or a sinister look, or a humble sigh, or a frown of sorrow.

It turned out that there were already some statues of sentient beings above the imperial court.

Either sad, angry, happy, or angry.

Everything was seen in Jiang Yi's eyes and reflected in his heart.

It's like watching a wonderful drama, unlike "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Everyone has their own thoughts and opinions.

Only Jiang Yi himself stood at the highest point, looking at everyone with sadness and joy.

He knew that Chi Zhongjun was doing this on purpose, deliberately being so high-profile in the court, and deliberately attracting everyone's attention and resentment to him.

This made Jiang Yi, who seemed to be seeing flowers in the fog, now see the court situation, the people, and the courtiers who were already very familiar with him more realistically, as if each character had been properly photographed. It's like he's about to step onto a high platform.

This made Jiang Yi a little uneasy, feeling scared about the ending, but also a little happy in surprise because of this change.

but……

He thought: If this is what Chi Qing wants to bring to him, then he can just watch it quietly.

He thought: At least, I am here this time and I can protect him.

At least this time, he would protect him.Jiang Yi thought firmly, and a certain part of his heart suddenly became loose.

After this great court meeting, Chi Zhongjun completely touched the threshold of the pinnacle of power.

For example, in the past he was still a hot newcomer in the court, a minister and official with a promising future.

Now, his identity and image have completely changed.

He has become the target of public criticism throughout the capital.

Countless overt spears and hidden arrows will stab straight at him, and countless eyes will stare at him closely, just like staring at a dangerous death row prisoner.

Everyone is afraid of the madmen in red clothes under him, and even more afraid of His Majesty's almost unconditional support for Chi Shilang.

Three days later, the memorial to impeach him floated into the Chongguang Hall like flying snowflakes and landed on Jiang Yi's desk.

But there was no movement from above. His Majesty acted as if he had not seen their performance and said nothing.

Even though someone raised this matter at the court meeting and impeached Chi Zhongjun in person, Jiang Yi just made peace with him.

Although he did not clearly indicate which side he favored on this matter, His Majesty's neglect of the impeachment seemed to indicate his attitude.

In addition, in the past few days, there has been a steady flow of rewards for Master Chi from the palace.

Even a blind person can know which side His Majesty is leaning more deeply in his heart.

Precisely because of Jiang Yi's seemingly vague but yet very clear attitude, the situation between the DPRK and China began to become tense. Although both sides have not taken action yet and seem to be doing well on the surface, there are already some hints of trouble. .

For example, in the Ministry of Rites, Chi Zhongjun, who is the Minister of Rites, also has a superior, Mr. Liu Weiliu, the Minister of Rites.

This old man comes from a standard scholarly family and is a scholar. He relies on his ability and qualifications to securely hold the position of Minister of Etiquette at this age.

Such an old man has become an old fox after being immersed in the court for so many years.

Mr. Liu Wei is naturally unwilling to take sides, which is obviously not a good thing.

But now he is serving in the court after all, and has to deal with various ministries. In addition, he also has many old friends who are serving in the capital, and among them there are inevitably high-ranking officials like him.

When these factors are put together, this old man has to think more carefully and be more cautious.

Moreover, Mr. Liu can be regarded as Chi Zhongjun's immediate superior. These conversations now can be said to be the boss's instructions to his subordinates, and they can also be regarded as Liu Wei's thorough understanding of this young man.

And Chi Zhongjun has never been a mediocre person. He naturally understands what the boss is asking him for this time and why?