Chapter 79: Beaten to death with sticks
In fact, there was no need to wait three days. On the day Li Dongyang was arrested and sent to Jinyiwei Prison, countless officials had already blocked Ma Wensheng and others' way and began to ask Ma Wensheng and others to plead with Emperor Zhu Houzhao to release Li Dongyang. It was said that it was a request but in fact it was a coercion. It was the entire civil service. The group is forcing Ma Wensheng and others to ask Zhu Houzhao to release Li Dongyang.
This phenomenon was very common in the late Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and the Donglin Party used this trick:
That is to force the cabinet ministers to put pressure on the emperor, and many cabinet ministers cannot please each other. To please the emperor will naturally be attacked by the entire civil servant group, and to please the civil servant group will naturally make the emperor dissatisfied. In this way, the emperor can only rely on eunuchs. .
But many times, cabinet ministers are still willing to choose to please the entire civil service group.
First, they are civil servants themselves and sit on the side of the civil servants. Second, if they offend the emperor, they will be dismissed from office at most, but if they offend the entire civil servant group, the consequences will be even more serious. Zhang Juzheng is an example.
Of course, Ma Wensheng and others at this time naturally did not know who Zhang Juzheng was, nor did they know that Zhang Juzheng offended the civil servant group and was forced to starve his family to death. However, at this time, they saw so many officials reprimanding him, Jiao Fang and others for being eunuchs. The traitorous officials also made him aware of the power of the Qingliu Civil Service Group.
Ma Wensheng had never thought of breaking with the entire civil service group. He even felt wronged by being accused of colluding with the eunuchs, but he knew that what he said now was meaningless and he could only let a bunch of officials point at him and scold him.
I don’t know whether the Zhuoliu civil servants had a congenital inferiority complex in front of the Qingliu civil servants, just like the ordinary college students in later generations before key college students. Even if Ma Wensheng is now a first-class official, even if he used to be selfless, decisive and ruthless in rectifying military attachés and the army. , but now I don’t know how to control them in front of these so-called imperial officials.
Jiao Fang, who was born in Hanlin, did not have such a mentality. She couldn't help but want to go and angrily scold these Qingliu officials who did not take herself and Ma Wensheng seriously, but she was pulled back by Ma Wensheng:
"Meng Yang, stop! These people are all Qingliu, either in the Hanlin or the Coron Metropolitan Procuratorate. You will need to lead the future reform. Your offending them at this time will be harmful to the New Deal, and will not be beneficial to your personal career!"
Jiao Fang retreated helplessly.
At this time, Xu Jin also came up and asked: "What should we do now? It's a trivial matter for these people to call us traitors, but they have been blocking the palace gate in such a dignified manner. If Your Majesty knows about it, how can His Majesty be lenient!"
After Ma Wensheng waited for the nitroglyceride tablet under his tongue to disappear, he gritted his teeth and stood up resolutely, shouting: "Everyone, please go back first. Your Majesty only sent the chief assistant to prison out of anger. We will go back again." Palace, convey your request in front of the emperor and plead for the chief minister, please do not stay here, lest the situation expands to the disadvantage of the chief minister and you all! "
"Bah! You want to pretend to persuade us to leave, and then ask for credit from the emperor. Don't think that we can't recognize your trick of Ma Wensheng. If you Jin Yiwei don't let the chief minister go today, we will be unable to kneel down!"
An official named Xin Yi spat directly at Ma Wensheng and then shouted loudly.
As a result, all the officials responded and knelt on the ground.
"If the Jin Yiwei doesn't let Master Chief Fu go, I won't be able to kneel down for a long time!"
"If the Jin Yiwei doesn't let Master Chief Fu go, I won't be able to kneel down for a long time!"
"If the Jin Yiwei doesn't let Master Chief Fu go, I won't be able to kneel down for a long time!"
……
Ma Wensheng could only spit on his face and couldn't say anything else.
Jiao Fang and Xu Jin were furious when they saw this, but it was hard to accuse them now.
At this time, Gao Feng led a large group of forbidden soldiers to appear and surrounded the palace gate inside and outside.
Ma Wensheng was shocked when he saw this, and asked Gao Feng: "Eunuch Gao, what are you doing?"
Gao Feng did not answer Ma Wensheng's words, but quickly stood on the right side of Ma Wensheng and others.
At this time, accompanied by Guo Rong, Liu Jin and others, Zhu Houzhao appeared in front of Chen Liren, Xin Yi and other officials who interceded for Li Dongyang.
Zhu Houzhao asked directly: "Who just spat on Ma Gefu and made him foam in the face? Come forward!"
Seeing so many sergeants appear, and Zhu Houzhao's reputation for killing officials has long been spread in the court, therefore, these Qingliu officials consciously fell silent after seeing Zhu Houzhao appear. Now that Zhu Houzhao asked, they did not hesitate. answer. Zhu Houzhao glanced at Guo Rong and said: "If you dare to vomit, you dare to take it!"
Guo Rong directed the two royal guards to hurriedly drag Xin Yi out of the etiquette department.
It was impossible to hide the fact that these Qingliu officials gathered outside the palace gate from Zhu Houzhao. As soon as Zhu Houzhao learned about it from Gao Feng, he hurried over and happened to see these Qingliu officials humiliating Ma Wensheng and others.
Zhu Houzhao was in a bad mood, so naturally he would not give these people good things to eat. What's more, for the future New Deal reforms, he also had to support the civil servants who obeyed him, so as to ensure that some civil servants who were determined to innovate were not like Wanli. That would completely lean towards the civilian clique.
Therefore, when Xin Yi was dragged out, Zhu Houzhao directly ordered: "Beat him to death with random sticks, just here!"
"Yes!"
Guo Rong hurriedly ordered people to push Xin Yi to the ground, and the Jinyi guards began to beat him with sticks.
Xin Yi panicked when he was dragged out. He didn't expect that he just cursed Ma Wensheng but was discovered by His Majesty. And from the looks of it, he meant to be severely punished by His Majesty.
Therefore, when he heard that Zhu Houzhao wanted to beat him to death with a stick, Xin Yi shouted directly: "Your Majesty! Although my behavior just now was reckless, it was also caused by hating the treacherous minister in power. Your Majesty cannot punish me for this!"
"Your Majesty, although Xin Yi behaves erratically, he is still young and has no intention of offending the emperor. I hope your Majesty will forgive his death penalty!"
Seeing this, Ma Wensheng also hurriedly begged for mercy.
Zhu Houzhao ignored Ma Wensheng and only said: "I have already made it clear that anyone who does not give Ma Gefu face will not give me face! Those who humiliate Ma Gefu will humiliate me! It has been less than two months since I made this edict. You guys. He knowingly committed the crime! It shows his evil intentions!”
As soon as Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, Jin Yiwei hit Xin Yi with the stick in his hand!
Snap!
ah!
This Xin Yi screamed: "Your Majesty, please spare my life! I know the crime!"
Of course the stick didn't stop.
One stick after another was struck at Xin Yi's body, beating him until his skin was torn and his flesh was torn. Only then did he realize the consequences of offending Ma Wensheng.
Not long after, Xin Yi was beaten to the point of breaking his femur and died of excessive blood loss.
And at this time.
Zhu Houzhao had no intention of stopping, and just continued to ask: "Who called Ma Gefu and others traitors? Stand up!"
The Qingliu civil servants who were present had lost half of their courage when they saw Zhu Houzhao appearing. Now that they saw Xin Yi being beaten to death, they suddenly lost their courage. Now how could they dare to admit that they had called Ma Wensheng and others traitors? The leader Chen Yuanren was even more conscious of being the leader. Buried lower.
Zhu Houzhao had already noticed him. After giving Guo Rong a look, two guards in golden uniforms came up to Chen Yuanren.
But Chen Yuanren immediately waved his hands and said: "It's not me! It's not the minister! The minister didn't scold him, it was him, Zheng Yushi scolded him first!"
The Zheng Yushi replied directly: "You are slandering me! It's obviously you! Your Majesty, I can testify that it was Chen Yuanren who scolded the first assistant, and it was he who first knew that the chief minister was arrested, and then called us to surround the chief minister to plead for mercy. ! ”
Zhu Houzhao rolled his eyes helplessly: "Drag them all down and beat them to death with sticks. I'm too lazy to tell who scolded them first!"
Thank you to the book friend Jiujiujiu for the reward of 100 starting coins. Many thanks to the book friend Qinghai Jinhu for the reward of 200 starting coins
(End of chapter)