Chapter 453 Loyal ministers and traitorous ministers
"Your Majesty, Mr. Zeng, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, wants to see you!" a chamberlain reported.
"Let him in!" Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"Yes!"
The chamberlain withdrew, and after a while, Zeng Qingxuan, the minister of etiquette, walked in.
Zeng Qingxuan is now just over forty and can serve as the Minister of Rites. He is relatively young among the third-rank officials in the court.
"I pay my respects to Your Majesty!" Zeng Qingxuan saluted.
"No courtesy!" Zhao Xing waved his hand and said, "What's the business of Zeng Aiqing coming here?"
"I have something secret to report!" Zeng Qingxuan said.
"Huh?"
Zhao Xing was startled when he heard this and said: "You all stand down!"
"Yes!"
Except for Sanshui, the maids and eunuchs in the palace retreated.
"Tell me what's going on!" Zhao Xing said.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Yang, together with the chief officials of various ministries and many officials in the court, are preparing to go to the court tomorrow morning to dissuade Your Majesty from releasing the arrested officials. Some of them are even preparing to die to remonstrate in the palace tomorrow morning!" Zeng Qingxuan said.
Zhao Xing took a deep look at Zeng Qingxuan when he heard this.
He naturally knew the actions of Yang Shengkui and others, but he didn't know that these people were prepared to remonstrate to death.
It was not a big deal that two officials of Zhengshi Hall were hanged in Zhengshi Hall.
But once an official remonstrates in court in the morning, it will be different.
You know, most emperors in history were afraid of officials dying for remonstrance, even emperors like Zhu Yuanzhang who killed officials without blinking an eye were afraid.
To describe it as fearful is not quite appropriate, but rather to be cautious.
Officials' remonstrances will be heard as loyal ministers in the eyes of everyone.
After all, people are afraid of death. To persuade the emperor directly to death is not a loyal minister.
Since he is a loyal minister, it means that the emperor has a problem with this issue.
Once it spreads, not only will it lose the hearts of the literati, but it will also lose the hearts of the people.
Of course, there are also emperors who are afraid of being infamy.
Therefore, generally when the emperor hears someone's death wish to remonstrate, he will eventually compromise.
Even if Zhao Xing doesn't care about his posthumous reputation or what those scholars think, he can't help but care about the people's hearts.
If everything in the world is peaceful, he doesn't have to care.
But the existence of the Wizard Cult forced him to care.
Once the people's hearts are in turmoil, the Wizarding Cult will take the opportunity to stir up trouble, fearing that it will cause a lot of trouble.
But what he was more curious about was Zeng Qingxuan. This person came to report this matter at this time. He was either a loyal minister or a treacherous minister who wanted to use this matter to gain power.
The possibility that this person is a loyal minister is very small. Even if he is not selfish, he will feel that what he did this time is wrong. If he is a loyal minister, it is impossible to tell him this.
Therefore, Zeng Qingxuan is a treacherous official. It is inappropriate to say that. It should be said that this person is ambitious and wants to use this matter to gain his favor.
However, Zhao Xing does not reject this situation.
He remembered that when he was watching dramas in his previous life, he had seen Qianlong and Ji Xiaolan saying that He Shen was greedy for money and that he knew it, but apart from being greedy for money, everything else He Shen did agreed with him.
Zhao Xing couldn't understand it at that time, and he didn't really understand until he became emperor.
For a country, loyalty to traitors is actually relative.
In fact, it still depends on whether the emperor is fatuous or not. If the emperor is wise, there will naturally be no soil for treacherous ministers to rule.
On the contrary, if the emperor is wise, those loyal ministers will become a hindrance to the emperor's rejuvenation of the country.
Again, loyalty does not mean virtuous.
The kind of loyalty required by ancient emperors was actually stupid loyalty, the kind of loyalty that the emperor had to let his ministers die and the ministers had to die. It was the kind of die-hard loyalty that knew the emperor was fatuous but loyally defended him. For Qianlong, Heshen's greed for money was just a trivial matter, but Heshen's actions were in line with his wishes, that is, he was a loyal minister.
For Zhao Xing, he needs someone ambitious to deal with the diehards in the DPRK.
It is sometimes easier for ministers to deal with ministers than for him, the emperor, to deal with them.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xing asked: "Since Zeng Aiqing came to report, there should be some countermeasures, right?"
"Returning to your majesty, these people want to commit suicide in the main hall and bring your majesty into injustice. It is an unforgivable crime. However, it is a bit troublesome to deal with it, and ordinary methods are not applicable. I do have a way, but..."
"I don't want to know what method you are going to use, so I will leave this matter to you. I only ask that no one will die in the court tomorrow morning. Can it be done?" Zhao Xing said lightly.
"Yes!"
Zeng Qingxuan was overjoyed when he heard this and said quickly: "But I need the cooperation of the internal affairs department."
Zhao Xing turned his head and said, "Sanshui, follow Zeng Aiqing's instructions and cooperate with him no matter what he wants to do."
"Yes!" Sanshui responded.
"If you do it well, I will reward you heavily. If you do it wrong, you will know the consequences yourself." Zhao Xing said lightly.
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"Your Majesty, don't worry, I will definitely handle this matter well." Zeng Qingxuan quickly assured.
"Sanshui, you send Zeng Aiqing off." Zhao Xing ordered.
"Yes!"
Sanshui looked at Zeng Qingxuan and said with a smile: "Shilang Zeng, please!"
After the two of them exited, Zhao Xing pondered for a while, asked someone to bring Yan Kuan over, and then continued to deal with Zha Zi.
After about a stick of incense, Sanshui came back and whispered Zeng Qingxuan's arrangement.
"This is a ruthless man. It would have been better if he had taken refuge earlier."
After hearing the compliment, Zhao Xing felt a little pity.
If Zeng Qingxuan had taken refuge earlier, many things would have been much simpler.
Originally, he wanted to train Yan Kuan into a minion, but Yan Kuan was too timid.
He was wary of asking him to do anything, let alone asking him to deal with those officials.
However, Zhao Xing also understood that the reason why Zeng Qingxuan came forward now was because he arrested so many officials at once and saw his determination.
Zeng Qingxuan must have had concerns before, worrying that he was not firm enough and that if he surrendered, he would eventually be treated as an outcast.
"Do as he says." Zhao Xing said.
"Yes!" Sanshui responded.
At this time, a chamberlain came in to report that Yan Kuan had arrived.
Zhao Xing asked someone to bring Yan Kuan in.
"I pay homage to Your Majesty!" Yan Kuan saluted.
"The charges of those officials in the prison must be investigated as soon as possible and cannot be delayed for too long. Do you understand?" Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"Your Majesty, although the Imperial City Department has provided evidence, it will take some time to verify the evidence. This cannot be done quickly." Yan Kuan became anxious after hearing this.
He knew without even thinking that some of the so-called evidence was forged.
It's not that those people have no problems at all, but according to the evidence provided by the Imperial City Division, half of them are guilty of capital crimes, and the rest must be exiled.
You must know that there are more than thirty officials, and they are all ranked Chaoyang. If all the officials of the Song Dynasty had such serious problems, the Song Dynasty would have died long ago.
Although he knew it, he didn't dare to expose it. However, the evidence had to be verified to confirm whether it was true or false.
If it is found to be false, then there is something wrong with the fraud on the part of the Imperial City Division, but it is none of his business.
If Zhao Xing really followed Zhao Xing's wishes and closed the case quickly, and if problems were discovered later, he, the main person in charge, would be doomed.
"There are all certified materials, and there can be no fake ones. This matter is currently in great turmoil, and I need to get the results quickly. Do you understand?" Zhao Xing said calmly.
"I understand." Hearing the impatience in Zhao Xing's tone, Yan Kuan didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore.
(End of chapter)