Chapter 99 Kneeling before the late emperor’s mausoleum
Zhu Houzhao never considered himself a good person, let alone someone who repaid evil with kindness.
In his previous life, although he obeyed the law and was grateful, he never wanted to let himself be wronged.
On the days of Emperor Hongzhi's funeral, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, in order to show their majesty as assistant ministers and to test themselves, applied not to kneel in the late Emperor's Zi Palace on the grounds of the cold winter rain.
At that time, Zhu Houzhao, who was keeping a low profile, wanted to clean up the inner court first and then the outer court, so as to avoid the outer court stumbling upon him when he was cleaning up the inner court. Therefore, he agreed to the requests of Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian and tolerated these three pavilions. Chen's provocative behavior towards himself.
But Zhu Houzhao did not forget the provocations of these three cabinet ministers against him, nor did he forget the disrespect they indirectly revealed towards the late emperor.
Not to mention that the current Emperor Zhengde inherited Zhu Houzhao's emotions, even as a later Ming Dynasty lover who respected Emperor Hongzhi, he could not tolerate others' disrespect for Emperor Hongzhi.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao must ask Liu Jian and other three cabinet ministers to kneel down and return the gifts they owe to Emperor Hongzhi! At the same time, we also want them to suffer well in front of Emperor Hongzhi’s tomb!
However, Xie Qian didn't want to kneel now, and Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh: "Okay! Wang Yue tried to harm me, and I sentenced him to three thousand six hundred knives! And you, Xie Qian, harmed the late emperor, which is equivalent to harming my father. And if you are still unwilling to kneel down, you will not be spared lightly. If you want double the amount, I will sentence you to seven thousand two hundred knives.”
Seven thousand two hundred dollars? !
Xie Qian couldn't help being stunned!
Xie Qian couldn't imagine how terrifying it would be to have seven thousand two hundred cuts on his body!
Before Zhu Houzhao could call someone to take him down, Xie Qian hurriedly kowtowed again and said: "Your Majesty! I know that I am guilty, and I am willing to kneel in front of the late emperor's mausoleum for two days and two nights! I just hope that for the sake of my sincerity, your Majesty can , give me a lighter punishment!”
"Please, Your Majesty, give me a lighter punishment!"
Liu Jian and Xie Qian also kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao and begged for mercy.
"Everything depends on the late emperor's will. Let's see if the late emperor will give me a dream!"
As Zhu Houzhao spoke, he hurriedly ordered people to drag Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian down, and ordered: "Liang Ze, a Qianhu guard in golden clothes, led people to watch them in the imperial mausoleum. If they dared to act rashly, their feet and legs would be nailed to the ground." ! ”
At the same time, Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhang Yu again: "Since you have only had eyes for the cabinet ministers from the beginning, then you should accompany them to kneel, after all, they are your real masters!"
When Zhang Yu heard what Zhu Houzhao said, he immediately cried and yelled: "Your Majesty! This old slave knows that he is guilty! This old slave deeply regrets that he was blind and ignorant that day. He should not disrespect the Emperor and the Queen Mother, but this old slave is your home." You are not a servant of their cabinet!”
"Keep it going, I'm too lazy to talk nonsense with you!"
As Zhu Houzhao spoke, he asked the Jinyi guards to drag Zhang Yu down, and ordered: "Pass the decree, take Liu Wentai to the imperial mausoleum and kneel down together!"
……
At that time, in the afternoon, when the cold rain was pouring on Beacon Mountain, five people, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Zhang Yu, and Liu Wentai, were escorted to kneel in front of the tomb of Emperor Hongzhi located here.
It was the twelfth lunar month, and it was raining like ice and snow. The temperature was so low that it could feel bone-chilling.
These six people, who were accustomed to enjoying good things, had never suffered like this. As soon as Liu Jian arrived here, he started to tremble and shouted that he wanted to go back.
Li Dongyang also said with chattering teeth: "I'm going to be cold to death!"
Xie Qian was even more sad: "I'm afraid of the cold, I'm afraid of the cold, I'm from the south, I'm really afraid of the cold!"
Zhang Yu only had his back bent.
And Liu Wentai was like carrying a medical book on his back: "Kneeling in such a cold place will only make the cold air penetrate into your bones. At least it will be infected with wind-cold, and in severe cases, wind evil will enter your body. It will hurt to death! I, Liu Wentai, don't want to suffer this." What a sin!" Naturally, the Jinyi guards forced these five people to kneel on the ground regardless of whether they wanted to or not.
And these five people did not dare to disobey. After all, they knew that if they did not kneel, they would be nailed to the ground.
Liu Jian knelt on the ground and suddenly felt as if a knife was constantly cutting his knees, making him kneel on a needle board.
Li Dongyang suddenly stood up and shouted: "It's really cold, I can't kneel down!"
However, Li Dongyang had to kneel down after seeing the knife in Liang Ze's hand.
At this time, Xie Qian did not stand up, but only curled his neck and kept sobbing.
Zhang Yu kept shouting that it hurt!
Liu Wentai still cried: "I don't want to die like this, I don't want to die like this!"
These five people are not young, and they are not ordinary people. Kneeling in such a cold wilderness is naturally more uncomfortable for them than having them cut into pieces.
But this is the punishment they deserve.
And what they don’t know is that this is just the beginning for them.
At night, when the cold wind blew, these five people all felt frightened because they participated in the murder of Emperor Hongzhi. They instinctively felt that the evil spirit of Emperor Hongzhi was watching them from the dark.
When a sound similar to a whine sounded, Liu Jian shuddered: "The late emperor, is it you?"
When Li Dongyang heard Liu Jian's question, he couldn't help but think of the fact that if the late emperor hadn't promoted him, he would still be struggling to gain qualifications in the Imperial Academy. He felt a little guilty for a moment, and immediately cried: "The late emperor! I can't help you! I can't help you!" Guilty! I am guilty!”
Li Dongyang kept kowtowing.
Xie Qian was a little scared at first, but now when he saw Li Dongyang kowtowed in fear, he was so frightened that he trembled and began to cry. He had lost all the prestige of the former cabinet minister: "My late emperor, don't look for me, I Although you are guilty, I did not want to harm you, and you are not the one who poisoned me. If you want to blame, blame Zhang Yu, blame him, he was the one who harmed you!”
"You don't have to absolve yourself! I wouldn't have dared to harm the late Emperor. If you hadn't promised that it would be okay to harm the late Emperor, how could I, a eunuch in the inner court, dare to harm the late Emperor!"
Zhang Yu also hurriedly defended himself. It was dark all around, and he was really afraid that the ghost of the late emperor would haunt him.
"That's not my fault alone. It was Li Dongyang's analysis that he would not be discovered if he did this. Late Emperor, if you want to blame, just blame Li Dongyang!"
Xie Qian pointed to Li Dongyang and shouted towards the tomb of Emperor Hongzhi.
"Late Emperor! I am wronged. I first thought of killing you. It was the chief assistant. It was the chief assistant who said that you have been the emperor for seventeen years. Before the prince has grown up, you should be buried in peace. Xie Qian also said that it would be better to do something big, so I made some suggestions for this! ”
Li Dongyang said mournfully.
Although there were no so-called ghosts around except for the guards who were guarding them, these five people were all frightened. They were all busy kowtowing and begging for mercy, and told everything they had done. come out.
Liang Ze, a member of the Jin Yiwei Qianhu, couldn't help but shake his head when he saw this. He never thought that these high-ranking pavilion husbands in the past would be so afraid now. On the contrary, the Jin Yiwei who were working below were not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. Each and every one of them still stood at their posts calmly and calmly.
(End of chapter)