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Chapter 496 Do nothing except yourself

He was not necessarily the first to learn of the incident, but he was the first official to express a clear stance on the incident. Without conclusive evidence, several individuals from Guangdong and Fujian were imprisoned on the charge of accidentally injuring others, but the individuals from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who had the same suspicion were spared.

But just making a statement is not enough. If you want to severely punish the murderer with the Ming Dynasty Law and have the effect of killing chickens and serving as a warning to those who support the New Deal, you must make an ironclad case. The key is how to get these candidates to personally admit that they accidentally killed someone.

If you want to do this, you must force the emperor to issue an order to reduce the fame of these officials. Just relying on the hard work of officials is still not enough. Encouraging the candidates who came to Beijing to take the exam to cause trouble became the only effective way.

After all, no emperor in hundreds or thousands of years has ever been too strict with the examination system. The entire imperial examination system itself was used to maintain imperial power. In other words, scholars all over the country were forcibly pulled into the ruling class by the imperial examination system, and the impact on the whole country was huge.

In the eyes of the courtiers, no matter how enthusiastic Emperor Jingyang was about implementing the New Deal, he always attached great importance to scholars. Even if he knew in his heart that he was being plotted, he could only seek compromises as before in order to take the overall situation into consideration, but this time he might benefit from it. One party becomes the loser.

Political struggles happen all the time and at any time. If you walk by the river without getting your shoes wet, there should be no victorious general. Having won so many times before, it is normal to lose once now.

For the courtiers, finally winning a victory can greatly boost their morale and play a very positive role in continuing to compete with the New Deal and protect their own interests in the future, but that's all.

The loser will not get everything, and the winner will not get everything. This is politics. No matter as noble as the emperor, you cannot escape this system. It is necessary to suffer some losses, so as not to always think that the emperor is the biggest and the emperor is the second, so he can do whatever he wants.

It's a pity that they all thought wrong, including Wang An. I am not a politician at all, nor an emperor, nor a ruling class that benefits from the existing system, but a destroyer and mourner sent by God.

When the ability is not met, pretending to be weak and compromising is a last resort. Once you have accumulated enough strength, you will immediately tear off the mask of kindness. You will not tell any truth or follow any rules, and you will do whatever you want.

"...Your Majesty, if you want to use the army, you need the approval of at least 9 general staff members. It may be difficult to be % sure in a hurry." Hearing that the emperor wanted to forcefully lift the table, Wang An was not only deeply surprised but also deeply uneasy.

At this time, there were more than 4,000 people from all over the country gathered in the capital, and their entourage, family members and merchants were even larger. Once a riot breaks out, it will be difficult to suppress it in time just by relying on the soldiers and generals of the Jin Yiwei and the Wucheng Military and Horse Division.

The army closest to the capital was Li Ruzhang's army. Unfortunately, in order to allow the army to develop smoothly, the emperor reached an agreement with the courtiers to hijack the imperial power and wrote it into the Ming Dynasty Law.

The emperor was not sure that he could win more than two-thirds of the support among the 13 general staff officers. If he went back on his word and forcibly summoned the army into the city, it would have a very serious negative impact on the future of the court. No one wants to deal with someone who does not keep his word. Play together.

"There is no need for an army. It only takes two or three hours for Yuan Keli to lead the marines into the city. Everyone on the list must be sent to the palace within four hours. Those who cannot be declared will be arrested!"

The so-called participation in the launching ceremony of the new warship and the inspection of various factories and palaces along the way are all used to deceive others. The real intention is very simple.

The first is to find an excuse to leave the capital so that some people can relax more; the second is to meet with Yuan Keli and ask him to send marines to take the shipping yamen's grain ship and secretly go to Tongzhou to gather and wait for the next order. With the emperor's face-to-face instructions, Wang An, the chief official of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, also tore off his mask of always being gentle, submissive and polite, and personally led the Jin Yiwei Tiqi and Dongchang Fanzi to launch a large-scale manhunt in Dongcheng, which is part of Daxing County.

The commander of the Jin Yiwei, Wang Zhizhen, was also neatly dressed and personally led the Fusi of Beizhen and some of the soldiers and horses of the five cities to do the same thing in the Xicheng area under Wanping County.

As long as there are people on the list who visit one by one and show the emperor's decree, they will be taken away on the spot whether they like it or not. Those who complied with the order were sent to the four-wheeled carriage and treated with courtesy. Those who were reluctant or talked too much were tied up and then gagged, and still sent to the four-wheeled carriage.

At the time of Shen Zheng, there were horse hooves and dust and smoke on the official road in the east of the city. Groups of Marines wearing black uniforms, iron helmets on their heads, and carrying long and short muskets on their backs rushed towards the Chaoyang Gate like lightning.

The five city soldiers and horse commanders who were responsible for guarding the city gate were now controlled by Li Shi, the admiral of the Yuma Supervisor Warrior Battalion who was holding the emperor's handwriting. They removed their horses and lowered the drawbridge to open the city gate.

The army camp that had been stationed outside Chaoyang Gate also started to move at this time. A dozen low-carriage four-wheeled carriages drove out, each with a short body and two large wheels behind it. Field artillery. After a short communication, the carriages and guns were all handed over to the Marine Corps.

At about the same time, a string of water boats came from the Queen Mother Xiao River in the south and docked at the pier outside Dongbianmen. But those who got off the boat were not the taverns and civilian husbands, but groups of black-clad soldiers.

They did not enter the city on a large scale, but led by Zou Yi, the supervisor of the Fourth Guards Camp of the Royal Horse Guards, and rushed along the city wall in the north and south directions, taking over all the city gate guards along the way.

The family of Shen Yingwen, the Minister of Punishment, lived in Fufang, Xi'an, just outside the Xiyuan Palace wall and very close to the imperial city. It was very convenient to go to and from court. But at this time convenience became inconvenience, and the first batch was patronized by Jin Yiwei.

"The situation is over, the situation is over..." When he saw Wang Zhizhen, who was fully armed, he did not get angry or cry, as if he had expected it, and there was not much surprise in his expression.

"Shang Shu Shen, it is inconvenient for the emperor to dismount from his horse and salute at the end of his life. Your Majesty has ordered that Shangshu Shen enter the palace immediately to see the emperor. There must be no mistake!"

Wang Zhizhen carried out his orders very thoroughly. Not only did he wear a helmet and armor, but the cavalry were also fully armed, as if they were facing a powerful enemy. Seeing that the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment was so righteous, no villain took the opportunity to act arrogantly, and immediately treated him politely with fists clasped in his arms.

"Commander Wang, please wait a moment and allow Shen to go inside and change his clothes."

Shen Yingwen had indeed expected what was happening now. When he took those Guangdong and Fujian princes into custody in court, he knew that the emperor might see through them and take revenge. After repeated weighing, I still feel that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

In the end, he lost the game, mainly because he didn't expect the emperor's reaction speed to be so fast, his determination to be so decisive, and his moves to be even more unexpected. There is no longer a verbal battle with the Confucian scholars, and there is no longer an exchange of interests, but the direct use of force.

(End of this chapter)