Chapter 454 Wanting to incriminate
Late at night, several streets in Bianjing City Night Market are still brightly lit, but the flow of people has decreased a lot.
At this time, all the officials were already riding in cars and sedans to go to the palace to attend court.
In the past, when officials met, it was inevitable to smile and say hello.
Today, the officials are not as lively as in the past, and their faces are very serious.
After Zhao Xing ascended the throne, he killed many officials, but most of them were local officials who were causing trouble in clearing the land.
Not many Beijing officials were killed.
Of course, Zhao Xing's killing of civil servants has made all civil servants unhappy.
But the Song Dynasty did not have an ancestral system that said it would not kill civil servants. From Taizu to the Supreme Emperor, there were records of killing civil servants. They had no way to refute this.
The Supreme Emperor's temperament was much softer than that of the previous emperors, and the civil servants had a tacit understanding to form an ancestral system that would not kill civil servants.
They not only instilled in the Supreme Emperor the concept of not killing civil servants, but also discouraged him from killing civil servants.
It managed to last for more than thirty years, but was destroyed by Zhao Xing.
Therefore, when faced with Zhao Xing's killing of civil servants, their rebuttal was very pale.
If it could be maintained that no officials were killed until the Supreme Emperor abdicated, even if previous emperors did not have this rule, they could still refute Zhao Xing through filial piety.
However, this time Zhao Xing arrested so many officials at once, and he wanted to kill them all. Now all the officials could not sit still.
Zhao Xing had a legitimate reason for killing civil servants before.
As long as they are more careful, even though they are not as good as before, they will not be killed easily.
Now Zhao Xing looks like he is killing the tyrant, how can they hold back.
If they continue to let it go, they will either listen to Zhao Xing honestly and obey Zhao Xing's orders, or they will accidentally offend Zhao Xing and lose their lives.
Yesterday, those officials went to see Zhao Xing to plead for mercy, but Zhao Xing scolded them back, but that didn't mean they gave up just like that.
It's just that they didn't realize the seriousness of the matter at first, thinking that Zhao Xing was just angry and they would let him go if he begged for mercy.
So there was no discussion at all.
After leaving the palace yesterday, various small circles of officials in the DPRK and China contacted each other and reached a secret agreement.
Zhao Xing must be stopped this time, otherwise their lives will be difficult in the future.
Some people felt that it was inappropriate to punish so many officials at once and they could not let Zhao Xing do whatever he wanted.
But regardless of their purpose and starting point, their goal is the same, which is to force Zhao Xing to compromise.
Even some of the old ministers in the court who had already served as officials but still stayed in Bianjing came to court today.
Soon, the officials arrived at the side entrance of the palace.
At this time, the side door of the palace was wide open, and there were not only the Imperial Guards standing at the entrance of the palace, but also two officials from the Yushitai.
These two officials are responsible for monitoring the clothing of all officials. If anyone is inappropriately dressed, he will be impeached.
All officials have long been used to it, and no one cares about it.
However, when they entered the palace, many people noticed something was wrong.
When officials go to court and enter the palace, there is another step, which is a body search.
This search is not strict at all, just to see if you are carrying any knives or anything like that.
After all, officials sometimes work alone. If someone has bad intentions and wants to harm the official family, it will be difficult to prevent them.
They have all experienced it in the past, so naturally they will not be surprised by this.
It's just that there is an extra stool at the place where the eunuchs are being searched today. A eunuch wearing the clothes of a chief eunuch is sitting on the stool, holding a tea cup in his hand.
Many people recognized this person as Liu Sanshi, the eunuch-in-charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
When Liu Sanshi saw the officials coming in, he said to a group of eunuchs surrounding him: "Go and get busy."
"Yes!"
The eunuchs bowed and began to search the officials.
"Ms. Yang, something is wrong." An official next to Yang Shengkui said.
Yang Shengkui looked at the smiling Liu Sanshi not far away, frowned slightly and said: "There is indeed something wrong. This Liu Naiguan is in charge of the eunuchs in the inner court, why is he here?"
At this moment, there was a sudden sound of metal falling to the ground, and the officials who were secretly guessing rushed over.
"This lord actually brought a dagger into the palace. What is his intention?" the eunuch who was searching asked.
The official who was being searched was an official in his sixties. Hearing this, he pointed at the eunuch angrily and shouted: "This dagger does not belong to me at all. It is you who framed me!"
"What's the fuss about?"
At this moment, Liu Sanshi came over.
"Liu Neiguan..."
The eunuch hurriedly stepped forward and said: "During the search, a dagger fell out of this man!"
"Nonsense, it's obviously you..."
"Bringing a murder weapon into the palace with the intention of assassinating His Majesty, someone comes and takes him down!"
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Liu Sanshi gave the order directly without waiting for him to finish.
The Imperial Guards on the side quickly stepped forward, held down the old man, and dragged him away regardless of the old man's loud defense.
"Ms. Yang, is this the news?"
The official next to Yang Shengkui said with a trembling voice.
They knew the old man, who was one of the officials who was preparing to die in the hall today.
"Yes." Yang Shengkui nodded calmly.
"Ms. Yang, then we..."
The officials surrounding Yang Shengkui panicked. When the news leaked out, the officials actually ordered people to frame the blame directly on those officials who had remonstrated with death.
In full view of everyone, sharp weapons were found on his body, which is a capital crime.
And this kind of thing is simply impossible to argue with.
"Why are you panicking? Your Majesty thinks that this can stop the world from talking? On the contrary, it is helping us. Look at the faces of those in the admonishment courtyard." Yang Shengkui said with a smile.
When everyone heard this, they looked over and saw the officials of the Admonition Yuan, whose faces were ashen and angry.
"The people in Jianyuan are most interested in fame and reputation. There will be a good show next." Yang Shengkui sneered.
Since ancient times, speaking as an official has been an official position that offends people. Officials in the Remonstration Yuan are all trolls, not only criticizing the officials but also criticizing their families.
Almost everyone in the Jian Yuan is an incorruptible person. This does not mean that they have no selfish motives, but for these officials, their reputation is more important than anything else.
If Zhao Xing does this, everyone in the court may compromise, except for the officials of the Admonition Yuan.
The officials of the Jian Yuan always look for trouble, and now that Zhao Xing has taken the initiative to give them evidence, how can they let it go?
"Go on, remember to search carefully!" Liu Sanshi inspected the officials and said calmly.
"Yes!"
The eunuch in charge of the body search responded quickly.
Then several more people were found to be carrying daggers.
"Hunjun, Hunjun."
"I want to see the Supreme Emperor, but His Majesty has been deceived. If this continues, the Song Dynasty will perish!"
The officials all understood and cursed loudly when they were taken away.
They are not afraid of death, otherwise they would not offer themselves to die as admonitions. However, they are completely unacceptable to be slandered and be stigmatized even after death.
Some of the remaining officials looked ugly, some looked sad, some looked angry, and so on.
Liu Sanshi didn't care about this. After the officials finished searching, he said calmly: "My lords, it's getting late. Go to court as soon as possible. Don't waste the time."
(End of chapter)