unclear

Chapter 694: Conquering People with Force
"My dear ministers, please stand up. I am not a bloodthirsty person, but the law is unforgiving. As nobles of the court, if you cannot repay the emperor's grace and comfort the people, but only know how to haggle for your own interests, or even commit treason and kill the emperor and his father, what is the point of keeping them? Do I have to demonstrate to the people of the Ming Dynasty what it means for officials to protect each other?

As for the fact that their ancestors had made contributions to the Ming Dynasty, they would naturally be recorded in history books and passed down through the ages. But this could not serve as a shield for their descendants, and there was no such thing as offsetting merits and demerits.

On the contrary, knowingly breaking the law should be punished with a heavier penalty, and the whole family should be sentenced to death, without public display, but the three clans will be implicated, their property will be confiscated and they will be sentenced to hard labor, and they will not be pardoned. Dali Temple, Ministry of Justice, and Chief Censor, is my punishment in accordance with the law?"

When the student was in Guihua City, he used his mouth to deceive the King of Shunyi. When the teacher was in the Yangxin Palace, he was also busy talking to the powerful people in the court who were qualified to attend the imperial meeting. Standing on the commanding heights of the law, he rejected all objections and wiped out the four top noble families with his mouth.

In the official battle report of the Battle of Xinghe, the reason why Zhang Bingzhong and his three guards were all killed was that they were escorting the emperor out of the border and fled in the middle of the battle, and were surrounded and annihilated by the Mongolian army.

Afterwards, more than 400 members of his family and subordinates were implicated, and all were captured by the warriors of the Imperial Horse Guard and Sun Chengzong's troops. However, a mutiny occurred on the way to Beijing, and the escorting army had no choice but to shoot and kill, leaving no one alive.

In the eyes of the people, this matter was handled properly. The border generals who fled in battle were already guilty of capital crimes, and the one who was betrayed was the emperor, so it was reasonable that the family would be affected. They were dead, and no one would speak up for them.

But it is not so simple in the imperial court. Any official with a normal IQ can see that this battle report is full of loopholes.

Even if Zhang Bingzhong really escaped from the battlefield, he was surrounded by the Mongolian army. The three frontier troops he led were all elite soldiers of Datong Guard. How could none of them escape? There was no detailed record of cleaning up the battlefield afterwards. It was only said that the army was on the move and there was no time to clean up the battlefield. They were burned and buried on the spot with the Mongolian corpses.

It is even more unreasonable that the family members mutinied and were killed during the escort. That was an army that could fight with only 5,000 people against tens of thousands of people without losing. Was it necessary to use such a large-scale war to suppress hundreds of people, the elderly, children, women and children and leave no one alive?
But before they could raise any questions, the ministers of various ministries and cabinet ministers saw dozens of confessions at the imperial meeting, and then all their doubts were resolved and they kept silent.

Zhang Bingzhong's death was not a pity, he actually colluded with the Mongols and led his troops to besiege the emperor, intending to repeat the Tumu Fortress Incident. Obviously, the plan failed, and many Mongolian leaders and Ming nobles, including himself, were killed in battle by the army.

But there is no way to prove the truth. In addition to the capture of many Datong border generals, many Mongolian generals were also captured at the same time. They all knew the general details. The most fatal thing was that letters between the two sides were found in the home of Su Nang Taiji in Guihua City, which was 100% conclusive evidence.

The reason why the emperor fabricated the lie of his defeat and death and erased the plot of treason was not only because he did not want to make his family scandal public, but more importantly, it was for the sake of stability. He did not want to cause the border army generals to feel insecure.

There was nothing wrong with this approach, and it was in the interests of the court, and no one intended to appeal for Zhang Bingzhong. But in addition to Zhang Bingzhong, four other nobles in the court were also implicated, which made it impossible for the court officials to sit idly by.

If this loophole is opened and the emperor is allowed to break the rules and act recklessly, the unlucky ones today may be the nobles, and the unlucky ones tomorrow may be the court officials. This is not a question of different political views, but a question of maintaining the normal operation of the system and protecting the interests of the majority of officials. Duke of Wei Xu Hongji, Duke of Yingguo Zhang Weixian, Marquis of Yongkang Xu Yingkun, and Earl of Xinjian Wang Chengxun, two of these four are first-class dukes, and the Duke of Wei's family is even more noble, and is treated the same as kings of different surnames.

The Imperial Ancestor Instructions is a set of family rules written by Emperor Taizu for his descendants. It is the family rules of the royal family, but it includes five families with different surnames: Xu Da, Duke of Wei; Li Wenzhong, Duke of Cao; Tang He, Duke of Xin; Mu Ying, Marquis of Xiping; and Guo Ying, Marquis of Wuding.

In other words, these five noble families were regarded as family members by Zhu Yuanzhang. Since they were subject to the royal family rules, they naturally had to enjoy the royal welfare.

The so-called etiquette is not as simple as the rules for greeting each other, eating, dressing, living and traveling. It is a complete set of social behavioral norms that divide people into different levels for the purpose of management.

Changing the rites and laws is equivalent to changing the social structure, which is tantamount to demolishing the foundation for the vested interests. Therefore, whenever someone wants to deviate from the constraints of rites and laws, they will encounter very strong and heartfelt resistance, even from the emperor.

"The Zhu family's ancestors did not start with Taizu. Since he was able to write the "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions", why can't I rewrite one to replace it? Don't mention the ancestral instructions anymore. If everyone follows the ancestral instructions, we should not be sitting in the hall wearing silk and satin now, but eating raw meat and drinking blood, and farming with slashes and burns like our ancestors.

Think more about the law. From now on, those who obey the law will regard me as their king, and I will regard them as my subjects. Those who do not obey the law will regard me as their enemy. I have demonstrated many times how to deal with enemies, so I will not repeat them. "

But at this time Emperor Jingyang was no longer an emperor in the traditional sense. He had the support of more than 100,000 invincible soldiers in the navy and army, and the royalist officials widely distributed in the court and various prefectures were united. His power was almost as great as that of the founding emperor.

At the same time, he became more and more domineering, never taking Taizu and Taizong seriously, and even disregarded the ancestral teachings. He also established new rules in front of all the ministers, which can be summed up in eight words: those who follow me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish!

Forget about the law. The emperor had changed the Ming Dynasty law so much that even the Dali Temple Minister could not recognize it. In fact, there were two legal systems in the Jingyang Dynasty. Outside the court and among the people, the traditional Ming Dynasty law was still followed. In the court, when encountering major events, the emperor's words were the final word.

It doesn't matter if you don't agree, just keep your opinion and do what you need to do. Those who are passive or resign because of this will be investigated by the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang in a minute, and they can only leave if they have no bad record in their tenure.

This move may seem simple and crude, but it is very effective. For officials who have been in office for several years, from Beijing officials to local officials, who can be completely clean and not afraid of being investigated?
This is equivalent to putting your life and property in the hands of the emperor. Not only do you have to work hard, but you also have to work according to the emperor's intentions, otherwise your family will be destroyed. Then you will be lashed out by the newspapers, and you will be infamous for eternity, and you will have no fame or fortune left.

(End of this chapter)