Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 264 As long as you don’t seek death, I will protect you from death.
late at night.

Long Live Mountain.

At this time, at the foot of the mountain to the north, an empty field had been simply arranged as an execution ground by Zhao Junchen and his men.

Zheng He and Wang Jinghong wore python robes, rode in the chariot given by Zhu Di before, and arrived at the outskirts of the execution ground one after another with great posture.

The two greeted each other after getting off the car.

Wang Jinghong whispered: "The Emperor is furious. This time, there will probably be three to four hundred palace officials and emissaries from the 24 yamen of the inner court."

"That dog slave Huang Yan is really disgusting. He dared to deceive the emperor. He ended up being quartered by five horses today. He really deserves it!"

Zheng He got angry when he thought about this and answered in a deep voice.

Back then, he was ordered by Emperor Zhu Di to inspect various imperial estates, but he was deceived by the illusion of prosperity created by Huang Yan's men.

While the two were chatting, the young eunuchs Xing'an and Jin Ying, who had been waiting here for a long time, quickly stepped forward to bow to the two eunuchs.

Zheng He looked at Xing'an and Jin Ying with kind eyes, and said slowly: "It's not easy for you two to get to where you are today, but you must live your life doing errands for His Majesty, and don't commit the crime of deceiving the emperor for your own selfish desires."

"I sincerely follow the teachings of Governor Zheng."

Xing'an and Jin Ying quickly bowed.

Seeing that the two of them were very sensible, Wang Jinghong couldn't help but mention something: "Without His Majesty's trust, we, the lieutenant general, are nothing. You must remember your identity and never forget it at any time! Remember, Any time!"

"Thank you, Duke Wang, for your instruction!"

Xing'an and Jin Ying bowed again.

Zheng He nodded and said, "Just step back."

Xing'an and Jin Yinggong claimed so, bowed and slowly stepped aside.

After a while, other eunuchs came to see Zheng He and Wang Jinghong.

the other side.

Xing'an and Jin Ying looked at Zheng and Wang with envy.

"Duke Zheng is really lucky. He completed the feat of sailing around Rao Dadi without any damage, and became the first eunuch in the history of this dynasty to be awarded the title of 'Three Treasures Eunuch'."

Xing'an whispered: "Although Duke Wang is slightly inferior to Duke Zheng, he is still beyond our reach."

"Who says it's not the case? With the title of 'Three Treasures Eunuch', Duke Zheng has a rank and salary equivalent to that of a first-class marquis. After His Majesty succeeded to the throne, he has increased Duke Wang's salary to the same as that of a second-class marquis." .If Duke Qing returns from his voyage, he will definitely become the great eunuch second only to Duke Wang."

Jin Ying said with envy: "As middle-ranking officials, we will never be able to achieve the achievements of Duke Zheng in this life. Duke Qing and Duke Wang are our role models."

Xing'an turned to look at Jin Ying and asked excitedly: "You also want to go to sea?"

"Be careful! Thunder, rain, and dew are all gifts from heaven. Wherever your majesty points your finger, we will go."

Jin Ying lowered his voice and said: "This time His Majesty ordered us to come to watch the execution. His intention is very clear, that is to make us remember our duties as lieutenants."

After a while, Zhao Junchen, together with eunuchs Li Xing, Liu Jingzhong, and Kang Ping, led the Jinyi guards and escorted more than [-] chamberlains and palace servants headed by Huang Yan to the execution ground.

Zhao Junchen looked around and saw the lush greenery on Long Live Mountain and the dense crowd of people standing outside the execution ground at the foot of the mountain. He couldn't help but sigh.

In the early years of Yongle, when Zhu Di ordered the construction of the Forbidden City, he used the dregs from the demolition of the Yuan Dynasty palaces and the silt from the Forbidden City moat to build a mountain of earth on the basis of the Yanchun Pavilion of the Yuan Dynasty, which became the "township mountain" of Da Nei Feng Shui. The mountain is across the street from the Shenwu Gate of the Forbidden City, so it was named Long Live Mountain (later known as Jingshan Park).

Because craftsmen piled coal here when the palace was built, Long Live Mountain is also called Coal Mountain.

At this moment, all the eunuchs and palace officials of the ninth grade and above among the twelve prisons, four divisions, and eight bureaus of the inner court were ordered to be present to observe the execution.

In addition to Qingyao, Wang Yan, Wu Yixin (Yi Shiha) and other internal officials on foreign missions, the Sanbao eunuchs Zheng He and Wang Jinghong and other great eunuchs in Beijing also came to the execution site.

"His Majesty's decree, Huang Yan deceived the emperor and ignored the emperor. He committed a heinous crime and was sentenced to the death penalty of being quartered on five horses."

Kang Ping shouted at the top of his lungs, then read out Huang Yan's three capital crimes, namely, deceiving the emperor, colluding with foreign ministers, and abusing the people, and then asked Zhao Junchen to lead people to execute him with five horses.

After Huang Yan was cut into pieces, Kang Ping read out Zhu Gaoxu's punishment for Huang Yan's accomplice in the inner court - Xiaoshou. The charges were the same as Huang Yan's, including deceiving the emperor, colluding with foreign ministers, and abusing the people.

As a result, more than 300 palace servants and chamberlains were beheaded by the royal guards.

Due to the large number of executions, there were only about fifty Jinyi guards responsible for executions.

Therefore, Xing'an, Jin Ying and other hundreds of spectators witnessed the horrific scene of more than 300 people falling to the ground six times.When Huang Yan was first cut into pieces by five horses, many of the servants and palace officials were so frightened that their faces turned pale. After the more than [-] people who followed were killed, more than [-]% of the people, including Jin Ying and Xing'an, either couldn't bear it. I started to vomit non-stop, or I was so scared that I peed my pants.

Only Zheng He, Wang Jinghong and other people who were used to seeing life and death did not lose their composure.

The next day.

Suburbs of Beijing.

On the campus.

Following five consecutive gunshots that sounded like the explosion of a firecracker, Zhu Di used an all-metal five-round flint blunderbuss to kill the tied-up Dali Temple Qing Lu five times.

The civil and military ministers who were watching the execution were all shocked by Zhu Di's heroic appearance.

They never expected that Zhu Di, who had previously shown himself to be old and frail, would hide so deeply.

Only then did all the civil and military officials realize that Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, father and son, had performed a great drama.

After Lu Zhen died in anger, Emperor Zhu Di retreated behind the scenes, and Emperor Qianxi of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Gaoxu stepped forward.

He first announced the first decree in front of all civil and military officials.

"Although Xiong Gai, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, is a master of power, he believes that he is dedicated to serving the public and is excusable. He is allowed to reinstate his official position and make meritorious service."

Among the crowd, Xiong Gai, who had long since changed into official uniform, knelt down and kowtowed, shouting: "I accept the decree and thank you!"

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Gaoxu announced the second decree.

"Twenty-three people including Pang Delin, the right minister of the Ministry of Justice, Xu Benmin, the prime minister of the Right Temple of Dali Temple, and Liu Chun, the supervisory censor, worked as an accomplice to help Lu Zhen frame the high officials of the imperial court, and were sentenced to death by execution; Qianhu Ji Gang of the Shenji Camp deceived the emperor and was sentenced to be executed by execution. "

"The property of the above-mentioned criminal officials was all confiscated. The homes of more than 16 accomplices implicated in this case were all ransacked. Among their family members and servants, all those aged 16 and above were exiled to the Nurgandu Division of Construction and Construction Bureau. 16-year-old The following persons will be raised in almshouses until they reach the age of [-], and then they will be allowed to fend for themselves."

After hearing this decree, all the civil and military officials shouted in unison: "Your Majesty is merciful!"

Who dares to say that Zhu Gaoxu is unkind?
If it had been during the Hongwu period, all the family members and servants of these officials who were implicated would have been executed or exiled by Lao Zhu, and at the end they would have been demoted to official slaves, making it difficult for them to stand up again in this life.

Later, Zhu Gaoxu announced the third decree.

"The former commander of the Shenji Battalion and the current commander-in-chief of the Central Military Commission of the Fifth Army Governor's Office, Wu'an Hou Zheng Heng, deserved death according to the law because he blindly promoted discipline. In recognition of his hard work and meritorious service, I deprived him of his title to compensate for his crime, dismissed him from his post, and demoted him to a commoner."

"The current commander of the three armies of Beijing, Guang Ningbo and Liu Tuan, as a Shangguan directly under Ji Gang, committed negligence and were dismissed from office."

"As Ji Gang's father-in-law, Anyuan Hou Liu Sheng, the Central Military Governor of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, knew clearly that Ji Gang was doing evil and harming the people and grassroots officers and soldiers, but he did not report it to the court. He committed the crime of harboring and should die according to the law. I remember his hard work and merit, and I am especially gracious to him. He should be spared death, be deprived of his title as punishment, be dismissed from office and demoted to a commoner."

Anyuan Hou Liu Sheng, Wu'an Hou Zheng Heng, and Guangning Bo Liu Tuan bowed down in unison and shouted: "I, Liu Sheng (Zheng Heng, Liu Tuan), thank your Majesty for your kindness!"

The joint recommendation system in history was established in the Qin and Han Dynasties and was used until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu believed that this system had its own reasons, so he did not intend to abolish it. It was inevitable that Zheng Heng, Marquis of Wu'an, would lose his official position.

Ji Gang and Huang Yan committed the crime of deceiving the emperor and should be punished according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

As Ji Gang's father-in-law, Liu Sheng would have been killed during the Hongwu period.

Didn’t you see that during the Hongwu period, the right prime minister Wang Guangyang was sentenced to death by Emperor Taizu for harboring a guilty minister?

Now that Zhu Gaoxu wanted to achieve military merit in Liu Sheng and others, he exempted them from the death penalty and only dismissed them from office. This was undoubtedly a great grace.

However, Liu Sheng and Zheng Heng lost their marquises who could be passed down from generation to generation, and became common people from the high-ranking governors and governors of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.

Only Guangning Bo Liu Tuan was dismissed from office and was lucky enough to retain the hereditary earl title.

Especially the Yongle nobles who were knighted for their military merits did not expect that the two marquises and one uncle could survive. This was completely unexpected.

Zhu Di treated his enemies and those who betrayed him with great murderous intent (cruelty and cruelty), which was known to all the generals in the army.

Now that they learned about the punishment of Emperor Qianxi Zhu Gaoxu to Liu, Zheng, and Liu, all civil and military officials unanimously believed that Zhu Gaoxu was a good emperor who missed old friendships and was loyal.

Although Liu Sheng and Zheng Heng escaped death and were demoted to common people, there was still hope as long as they could survive.

Although they were deprived of their titles and demoted to commoners for their crimes, and their children within three generations were unable to take part in the imperial examinations to gain fame, the laws of the Ming Dynasty did not restrict their children from being called to join the army.

And Zhu Gaoxu's operation undoubtedly sent a good signal to the nobles and generals of the Ming Dynasty - as long as you don't seek death, I will protect you from death.

(End of this chapter)