Chapter 67 Blade’s edge (2)
The officials who were kneeling below watched all of this. Their faces were white like paper and their bodies were trembling. All the civil and military officials took this into their eyes. They knew that these people would fall for sure. Sure enough, the moment the person next to the dragon chair acted, it was a fatal blow!
Moreover, things weren’t that simple. Things like embezzling the state treasury could never be done by one person. Even if Dai Lu wanted to do it alone, it would be impossible. No one at court was someone easy. At a place like the state treasury that bore the interest of the whole country, if Dai Lu wanted to stuff his own pocket, those green-eyed (jealous) people of the court would’ve cut out his flesh first!
Therefore, while Dai Lu who was the head of the Ministry of Revenue was trembling, several people in the middle of the court was also trembling. If something happened to Dai Lu, they would follow suit!
Sharp-eyed people would have noticed that the people who were kneeling were the ones who clamored the most for yesterday for Zhao Zimu to be punished. At this moment, their heart skipped a beat and they secretly glanced to the person standing next to the dragon chair and couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty.
It was just a stretch of the hand if the Prefecture of Arrest wanted to investigate something. Furthermore, how many officials were clean? Besides, if you want to live clean and honest after becoming an official, it would be going against the whole bureaucracy. If he wasn’t stuck at the bottom rank, he wouldn’t be able to stay an official for a long time and it would simplify the matters if he was just driven away.
All crows are black, if one wanted to be a crane in a flock of crows who possess a body of white feathers, it was better to get you out of there sooner!
- All crows are black, evil people are bad all over the world
If you pull a radish out, it will have mud. Thus, this matter definitely wouldn’t involve only one person!
Not long after, emperor Jinghui’s face turned white from blue and then from blue to white, making the officials’ heart also be hung in their throat. Suddenly, emperor Jinghui raised his hand threw what he was reading towards the few people kneeling in the hall.
“Disgraceful things!” Emperor Jinghui roared angry, “Zhen entrusted zhen’s country to you and you took care of it like this?! Each and every one holds a sinecure, put on a hypocritical show of cordiality and only know how to study meticulously to hollow out zhen’s country. Is Great Liang zhen’s or yours?!”
- Zhen: I, used by the emperor.
“Your Majesty, forgive us! This subject is terrified!” All the officials knelt down. They felt uneasy and some even shivered. When the son of heaven gets angry, there would certainly be a river of blood.
“Each and every one of you talk nicely normally, saying that it is all for the country, for the people and for zhen and to let zhen be encouraged. Sometimes, when zhen wanted to use the money, zhen still has to look at your faces. However, what about you? Now, you let zhen feels that zhen is a joke!”
“Your Majesty, calm down. This subject is guilty!” There was another panic clamoring with strong fear in the voices. If the emperor felt that someone regarded him as a joke, then he would definitely make the person worse than a joke.
All the officials that had attended the court for a long time knew that although this emperor of theirs looked muddleheaded, what muddleheaded things did he do after governing for so many years aside from being engrossed in women and wine and favoring Lin Qing?
Moreover, the fierceness when he seized the throne was still vivid in many people’s minds. Otherwise, how could there not even be a prince of first rank in the dynasty? The few remaining princes of the previous emperor had also long been to send to some recess in mountains to guard the borders of Great Liang by emperor Jinghui. Now, it seemed that the court was about to shed blood again.
- Wangye: the prince of first rank were usually title bestowed to the sons and brothers of the emperor when he becomes an emperor.
“Servants, drag all these people out and give them twenty beatings. Then, throw them into the prison of the Prefecture of Arrest. Those whose houses should be ransacked, ransack. Those who should be beheaded, behead. This matter shall be handled by the Prefecture of Arrest and no one else may interfere!”
“In addition.” Emperor Jinghui looked around at the ministers who had fallen to the ground and said, “The head of the Ministry of Appointments Wang Fanzhi and his three immediate generations will be executed and the extended families outside of the three generations shall never enter the bureaucracy again!”
Wang Fanzhi was the head of the Ministry of Appointments, sir Wang, whose mind had long gone blank. Only a bit of his soul was left. He had never thought that he would be brought such a calamity by his son! No room for a leeway! Everyone at court shook their head in secret. No wonder he was like this. After all, his son committed the crime of treason!
Executing down his three immediate generation was normal. If he had to blame, he could only blame that he got a son who brought calamity to the father. If it was their own son, the officials would presumably want to stuff him back in their wife’s belly and rebuild him, otherwise, they would let him die in the belly before he was born because this was too big of a calamity! If he was a bit more able, even the nine generations would be brought on calamity because of him!
All the officials at court reflected on whether their child had been in touch with that unlucky son of the head of the Ministry of Appointments recently. It would be the best if he hasn’t. If he has, then he would be put on house arrest in the ancestral hall to let him repent and reflect. No matter what, should not let him act ostentatiously lest he brings the household calamity!
Compared with the conspiracy to commit treason, the charges of the other two were relatively minor. Therefore, emperor Jinghui didn’t choose to handle them at court. Instead, he handed them over to Lin Qing. However, could they be well in the hands of Lin Qing? Obviously not.
Wang Fanzhi was dragged out of the hall like a puppet. In front of everyone, two warriors of the Forbidden City holding a rod beat him like a dead fish till his flesh was lacerated and badly mangled. The miserable scream floated from outside of the hall to every corner inside the hall, making the legs of the officials who had a guilty conscience almost gave away and their heart beat crazily!
Everyone knew that this was the fury of emperor Jinghui, but it was also the display of power of the person standing next to the dragon chair. He was dissatisfied, dissatisfied with the difficulty that those people brought to him yesterday. He didn’t want to be silent anymore. Therefore, he raised the butcher’s knife and borrowed emperor Jinghui’s hand.
The one feeling the most painful now was Situ Yaohua because the people kneeling in the hall and the one being beating outside were his people. However, he couldn’t do anything now!
Although, he didn’t know about these things beforehand, but it couldn’t be said that he was completely ignorant.
When the water is clear, there will be no fish. As long as they don’t go overboard, Situ Yaohua could choose to turn a blind eye or wait until he gets the throne to get rid of them one by one.
However, what he didn’t expect was that not only were these people extremely daring and did things far beyond what he had imagined, they were also caught by the people of the Prefecture of Arrest!
The always dignified and steady expression of Situ Yaohua couldn’t be maintained. He resentfully casted a glance at the person next to the dragon chair. Unexpectedly, he met the gaze that Lin Qing happened to cast at him. Situ Yaohua’s mind went blank.
Lin Qing’s eyes narrowed. From the half-opened eyes, a light poured out like blade; cold and sharp!
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