Three Kingdoms: I will act as a substitute for the Hunjun

Chapter 203 Destroy the First Family
All the civil and military ministers in the palace were familiar with this down-and-out old man who was being escorted in. He was none other than Yuan Wei, the current head of the Han Dynasty’s most aristocratic family, the great Situ Cheng!
Some people already knew through various channels that something happened to the Yuan family last night, but many were still in the dark, so they couldn't help but be surprised when they suddenly saw Yuan Wei's appearance.

Although there were no court meetings during His Majesty's southern expedition, they would see Yuan Wei from time to time, and there were even government orders issued from the Grand Situ Mansion.

Despite Yuan Shu's rebellion, the Yuan family was still safe and sound. Many people took it for granted that the Yuan family was a political roly-poly, worthy of being the first family, and so powerful that even His Majesty did not dare to tamper with it.

Therefore, the influence of the Yuan family has not been reduced at all because of Liu Ming's previous reprimand and punishment of Yuan Wei. In the eyes of many people, the status of the first brother of the family has become more stable, and more people are fawning over the Yuan family.

However, now, they finally saw the behemoth of the Yuan family fall, and the arrogant Situ Cheng became a prisoner bound by Wuhua Da.

Yuan Wei glanced at the familiar hall and the familiar colleagues in the hall, sighed silently, and lowered his head.

There is nothing to say about whether he is a successful king or a defeated bandit. What is more important is that his tongue has been cut out, so it is impossible to say anything harsh.

"The Yuan family is unfaithful, unfilial, benevolent and unjust, and has failed me." Liu Ming said sadly, "Even if Yuan Shu rebelled, I did not severely punish the Yuan family, but they did not want to repay the imperial court or repay my kindness. , but took advantage of my absence in the capital to brazenly raise troops to rebel. "

When Liu Ming said this, he glanced at everyone in the hall with a cold face.

Everyone immediately started whispering.

"What? The Yuan family raised troops to rebel?"

"Not just Yuan Shu, but the entire Yuan family?"

"The shouts of death and screams last night must be because they are rebelling!"

"Rebel, the Yuan family is finished this time!"

……

"Quiet!" Lu Qiang, the regular attendant, shouted loudly.

Only then did the palace become quiet again.

"Yuan Wei not only incited others to fight against the imperial court, but also ordered Yuan Shao to lead his troops to Beijing to seize power. Fortunately, I noticed it in time and quelled the rebellion last night." Liu Ming continued, "And it has been found out that Yuan Shu and Sun Jian were the ones who instigated the rebellion. The Yuan family pretends to be a loyal and benevolent family, but in fact it is a very evil family.

"Prince Xingcheng Wang Yun, tell me what crime the Yuan family should be sentenced to?" Liu Ming said and looked at Wang Yun.

Wang Yun's back is now soaked with cold sweat. A few days ago, Yuan Wei summoned several big families to secretly plan. Fortunately, he was not too ambitious and did not follow the Yuan family. Otherwise, among the screams that echoed through Kyoto last night, there might have been someone. He belongs to the royal family.

Hearing His Majesty ask himself, he hurriedly went out and said: "Your Majesty is wise, the Yuan family's sins are unforgivable. A few days ago, Yuan Wei, a thief, undermined Your Majesty's new policy at a banquet. He also falsely passed on the imperial edict and said that Your Majesty transferred Yuan Shao to lead his army back. Jing, I think that this thief was paving the way for rebellion and wanted to win over us, but he made a mistake. We are loyal to Your Majesty, how can we join in the rebellion with him? "

Half confession, half expression, and a bit of testing.

Wang Yun secretly glanced up at the stage and saw that His Majesty's face was cold after the Long case, neither happy nor sad. He quickly changed the topic to the main topic and said: "The crime of treason is against the Yi tribe."

At this time, Yang Biao also came out and said: "Your Majesty, the Yuan family is the head of the world's aristocratic families, but they have not set an example for the aristocratic family. Instead, they are plotting to rebel. They have set a bad example and have a very bad influence. I suggest that the three tribes of Yi and Qi will be affected."

Yang Biao was also uneasy. The Yuan family had always been the representative of the first aristocratic family in the court, so the Hongnong Yang family could be regarded as the second aristocratic family. This pattern has been in place since the time of Yang Biao's father, Yang Cizhi.

In addition, in order to increase their influence in the court, the two families often advance and retreat together, and they often communicate in advance about their stance on major events.

Yuan Wei went to various aristocratic families to talk to each other. In fact, he wanted to win over Yang Biao to his side, so that when he took action in the future, the resistance would be much easier.

Now that the Yuan family has fallen, the Yang family naturally cannot be buried with them. They must take a clear stand and step on the Yuan family a few more times to express their loyalty to His Majesty.

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

……

One by one, the ministers came out to announce that the three Yuan clans should be destroyed according to the law.

Liu Ming nodded to express his satisfaction. These people were not stupid to reach their current status. They could still tell the basic level of their eyebrows.

"The criminal Yuan Wei, the Yuan family is in trouble today all because of your greed and your selfish desires!" Liu Mingdao said, "The civil and military officials in the entire dynasty wanted to die for you, but you died unjustly. Come, Yuan Wei will be killed. And everyone in the Yuan family was taken to the Minghan Terrace to be beheaded, and all the civil and military personnel went to watch the execution!"

"Ah - ah - ah -" Old Yuan Kai burst into tears and wanted to defend himself, but was unable to speak. He was so anxious that he stamped his feet on the spot, and two warriors escorted him out.

Liu Ming took the lead to walk out of Quefei Hall, followed closely by the civil and military personnel, and went straight to the foundation of Minghan Terrace.

Minghan Terrace is the site of the original Jiade Hall. Liu Ming killed Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty and burned the Jiade Hall with fire, turning it into ruins. The charred corpses and these ruins were buried underground.

In order to prevent Jiade Hall from ever seeing the light of day again, or even disappearing from people's memory, Liu Ming decided to build a high platform on its old site, the Minghan Tower. Yuan Wei was responsible for supervising the construction in the early stage. The drawings were finalized not long ago, and The foundation has been laid.

At this moment, five rows of people were kneeling beside the pit in the foundation. They were all members of the Yuan family, and Yuan Wei was placed at the front.

Liu Ming stood facing the wind, standing beside him, with hundreds of civil and military officials behind him.

Gao Shun is today's supervisor and beheading officer. Currently, his official position has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In the future, he will be responsible for defending the capital. Now it is time to establish his authority by beheading the Yuan family.

"Get ready!" Gao Shun shouted.

Behind the kneeling Yuan family members in the first row, there was an executioner standing on each side. At this moment, they all raised the ghost-headed swords at the same time. Under the reflection of the morning sun, the cold light shone, shocking the hearts of the people.

"cut!"

"puff!"

With a beheading order, the ghost-headed knives fell together, hundreds of heads rolled down into the pit, and blood spurted everywhere.

The executioner raised his foot and kicked the dead body into the pit, and then dragged the second row of criminals to the edge of the pit.

The second row witnessed the death of the first row with their own eyes. At this moment, everyone was shaking with fright. Some shouted for mercy, some burst into tears, and some remained silent, just shivering, but they were so scared that they peed. Most of them are these people. "Behead!" Gao Shun's voice sounded, the Ghost Head Sword fell, and another batch of Yuan family members died.

Next is the third row.

The faces of all the civil and military officers who were watching were pale at this moment, and some couldn't help but fight with each other, almost wanting to leave first.

Most people have never seen such a tragic scene, especially those civil servants who are good at writing and playing dirty tricks. But when they face such a bloody murder scene, their courage is suddenly dampened a lot.

The once arrogant Yuan family has become a dead soul in the blink of an eye. Many people feel that this reality is a bit unreal, and the changes are too fast, which makes people dizzy and unable to react.

Soon, everyone in the Yuan family was beheaded, and corpses were soaked in a pool of blood in the foundation pit of Minghan Terrace, almost covering the entire pit.

"Your Majesty, all five hundred and sixty members of the Yuan family have been executed." Gao Shun reported.

"Give the heads of Yuan Wei, Yuan Ji, and Yuan Shao to the Chief Criminal Department, and spread the word to all the ministers and families in the world, so that everyone in the world will know the consequences of rebellion." Liu Ming said solemnly.

Wang Yun, the Chief Minister of Justice, hurriedly stepped forward and said, "I respectfully obey the imperial edict."

"We also published a list of the Yuan family's crimes to all states in the world, letting the world know that the Yuan family's troubles today are their own fault." Liu Ming continued.

"I respectfully obey your orders." Wang Yun continued.

Liu Ming turned back to look at the ministers behind him and said: "All the beloved ministers have seen the fate of the Yuan family. I hope that all ministers and your families will be loyal to the court, loyal to the law, and loyal to their duties. Don't be confused for a moment. The whole family was left with corpses everywhere.”

"I will obey His Majesty's instructions!" When the ministers saw that His Majesty's warning was so severe, they did not dare to neglect it and knelt down to express their stance.

"The Yuan family has four generations and three nobles, and their disciples and old officials are all over the world, which also creates conditions for them to form cliques and pursue private interests." Liu Ming continued, "The root cause is that the Yuan family controls the two fields of education and recruiting scholars. I decided to popularize education and establish a rural The schools, county schools, and state schools have been assigned to Grand Sikong Cheng Yang Biao before. I wonder if Yang Aiqing has made relevant plans."

As soon as Yang Biao heard His Majesty calling him, he hurriedly stepped forward and said: "We have already made preliminary plans. We will refine them tonight and submit them to Your Majesty tomorrow."

In fact, he had already made this plan and carried it with him, thinking of presenting it to His Majesty in the court today. But now it seems that his plan must be changed.

His original plan, whether it was a township school, a county school, or a state school, was still in the hands of aristocratic families. But now as long as you are not blind, you can see that your majesty is attacking aristocratic families, and he has made it very clear. This is one of the reasons for the expansion of the Yuan family. Under such circumstances, if you let the family control the popularization of education, wouldn't you be on the edge of a knife?

Even if I stay up all night tonight, I have to change it again. This plan must highlight my loyalty and ability at the same time, otherwise not only will it be useless, but I will even get into trouble.

"Concerning the selection of scholars, I have decided to abolish the inspection and examination system." Liu Ming said and glanced at everyone. As expected, all the civil and military officials showed doubts.

The imperial examination system has been implemented for so long and has become deeply ingrained. It is regarded as a taken-for-granted system throughout the world, and most of the civil servants in front of them came to power through this system. Naturally, they feel that there is nothing wrong with the imperial examination system.

Now when I suddenly heard His Majesty say that he wanted to abolish the imperial examination system, I suddenly felt that something vaguely maintaining my status was suddenly broken.

Such a reaction was expected by Liu Ming. The platform on which officials relied to become famous and rise to power was instantly dismantled, and it was normal to feel a little sad.

However, with Liu Ming now threatening the power of the Yuan family, no one dares to stand up and oppose it. Now is the best time to implement the New Deal. After this stage, all kinds of wrangling will occur.

"What I mean is to select outstanding talents through examinations, which is to allow the world's talented people to compete fairly." Liu Ming continued, "We not only examine the mastery of hundreds of classics, but also understand the knowledge of agriculture, water conservancy, and The degree of familiarity with common knowledge such as commerce, law, and arithmetic, and more importantly, the ability to govern the country through policy questions."

As soon as he said this, the officials immediately started whispering among themselves, because most people discovered that if you use your majesty's idea to select scholars, most of them will probably lose the election.

They started by promoting filial piety and integrity, and then were recommended by officials with status to serve in various positions. Some of them were talented, but the larger situation was that officials protected each other and family interests were exchanged.

Some truly talented people, even those with great reputations, may not be able to be recommended. This is why the government's recruiting mechanism is in place.

As far as officials in the DPRK are concerned, there are very few people who can completely read the classics of various schools of thought, and it is even less likely that they can study knowledge about agriculture, water conservancy, and commerce and trade. They are considered to be seriously inconsistent with their status as scholars.

In other words, if you want to be selected as a scholar, you must first learn to farm? Do you even need to know how to do business?
Many people become officials just to get rid of the pain of farming. Unexpectedly, His Majesty now means that if you want to be an official, you must first cultivate good land! They feel awkward no matter what they think.

At this time, Cai Yong stepped forward and saluted: "Your Majesty, our great Han Dynasty relied on Confucianism to rejuvenate the country. Confucianism is the head of hundreds of schools. If you get Confucianism, you will be the leader in all the schools in the world. Why not use Confucianism to select scholars?"

Cai Yong was a well-known Confucian at that time. He naturally felt that Confucianism was the most noble knowledge. This was also the situation in the Western Han Dynasty when hundreds of schools of thought were dismissed and Confucianism was the only one that respected Confucianism.

Liu Ming looked at the ministers and found that many Confucian scholars looked approvingly towards Cai Yong.

Liu Ming said with a smile: "Only when a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend can we flourish forever. One voice or one theory can only imprison people's thoughts, thereby affecting their ability to create and innovate."

Another civil servant came forward and said: "Your Majesty, farming and commerce are humble industries that only the head of Guizhou engages in. How can they be used as a basis for recruiting scholars? Doesn't this violate knowledge?"

"There is no despicable profession in this world. It is just an excuse made up by the superiors to confuse others because they do not want to work." Liu Ming sneered, "I hereby officially declare that as long as it is an occupation permitted by the laws of the Han Dynasty, there will be no despicable profession." There are no distinctions between high and low. I personally plow the fields every spring to encourage farmers. Besides, I have issued an order to promote trade. How can trade still be a humble industry? "

Liu Ming's words were like a thunderbolt that shocked everyone into speechlessness.

What? Your Majesty wants to plow the land himself?

How can you do this? He is the king of a country!

"Your Majesty spends thousands of gold to do the work of farming. It is really a shame for you." Grand Sizong Lu Zhi said with tears in his eyes, choking, "It's all because of the lack of dedication of the ministers, which has led to the decline of all industries. Your Majesty has to work hard." Labor.”

Lu Zhi was also a well-known Confucian scholar and a master of Confucian classics. His views on Nong Hua and others basically represented the thoughts of most people in the court.

Although it was not stated explicitly, the implication was that the emperor was not doing his job properly and was lowering his status by plowing the land.

Wang Yun also stepped forward and said: "Yuan Wei deserves to die. Farming and crop management are all his duties, but he let your majesty do it himself. It is not a pity to die for this thief. Now that the world is in chaos, and we are about to strengthen the majesty of the royal family and your majesty, please also ask your majesty Suspension of this policy of lowering one’s status.”

Immediately afterwards, all the ministers tried to persuade Liu Ming not to go plowing the land in person. They felt that it would be an insult to the majesty of the royal family and the status of the emperor. Some said that His Majesty's dragon body had not recovered very soon and it was not appropriate to do such hard work.

"From the words of the gentlemen, I can see that you are just one of a kind." Liu Ming waved his hands and said, "Excuse me, if no one plows the land, where does the food you eat come from? No one weaves the cloth, and the clothes you wear come from. Where did it come from? When the government was short of food, they levied it without restraint, but why did they ever think about it?

"How can a great cause related to survival be said to be low? There is no high or low in the industry, it is just a different division of labor. How are you different from those who farm, raise sericulture, and do business? You are all a brick and tile of this great country. "

Liu Ming just said that we are all screws of the revolution.

(End of this chapter)