Chapter 328: One Word Decides Life and Death

Hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Xu Xianchun naturally had no hesitation.

Xu Xianchun was very clear about his own position — since His Majesty had spoken such words now, he naturally had to go do it.

So he waved to the Embroidered Uniform Guard beside him, and the guards charged straight up, swiftly pressing Zhang Shun down, pulling off his official hat, stripping off his official robes, and dragging the man directly away.

As for whether Zhang Shun wanted to speak or shout, it didn't matter — because the first thing they did when they charged up was to stuff his mouth shut.

Before His Majesty, saying whatever you wanted was impossible; you had no chance to speak.

Xu Guangqi watched from the side, hesitated slightly, then walked before Zhu Youxiao and said, "Your Majesty, taking the man just like this — shouldn't we at least give a reason? Otherwise it will easily invite criticism."

"I came here not to investigate cases, nor to reason with them." Zhu Youxiao said expressionlessly, "If you must have a reason, then arrest him on the charge of negligence in disaster relief for now."

"As for the other matters, we'll talk after an investigation. If he did well and there's nothing worth investigating, I will naturally clear his name."

After hearing this, Xu Guangqi felt somewhat helpless, but he truly had no way to defend Zhang Shun. Because standing before him was His Majesty, and there was one thing His Majesty said that was right — he had not come to reason, nor to investigate cases.

When the Emperor came in person, there was no such thing as evidence or lack thereof — as long as there was suspicion, one could be arrested. As for whether such things actually happened, wouldn't a quick investigation reveal it?

That was Zhu Youxiao's thinking right now. As for whether anyone would make a fuss — Zhu Youxiao simply didn't care.

On this land there were people plotting rebellion and people exploiting the common folk; Zhu Youxiao couldn't be bothered to wait for them. If anyone wanted to make trouble, then let them make trouble all they liked.

Looking around, Zhu Youxiao said directly, "Enter the city. Have Qi Jin take over the city defenses, and summon the Guard Commander of Jizhou Guard to an audience."

Xu Guangqi understood this arrangement well — it was nothing more than preventing any military units from causing trouble. Taking over the city defenses first stripped them of the means to make trouble. Seizing those officers of Jizhou Guard was also the classic tactic of capturing the ringleader first,

Without their leaders, naturally no one would cause trouble. As for whether these people had problems — that would be determined after investigation.

Although on the surface they weren't being arrested but summoned to an audience, in reality, once these people arrived, they would be directly placed under house arrest, with no room for negotiation whatsoever.

And they wouldn't dare not come — if they didn't, that would be defying the imperial decree, and they could simply be executed on the spot.

"Your servant will make arrangements immediately." Xu Guangqi acknowledged.

The whole procession rolled into Jizhou in grand style, and at the same time, word spread quickly.

Zhang Shun was arrested on the spot, all the officials of Jizhou, great and small, were taken into custody, the city defenses were swiftly taken over by Qi Jin, and all affairs of Jizhou, great and small, were likewise taken in hand.

One should know — Zhu Youxiao had brought quite a number of people on this trip. Besides the two Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat, Xu Guangqi and Huang Kezuan, there were also numerous civil and military officials, with people from all Six Ministries in attendance.

These were all major figures; taking over a single Jizhou was no difficulty at all. There was nothing tangled or overwhelming — in their eyes these were all small matters, nothing that couldn't be solved. With authority to crush things down, it simply wasn't a problem.

After entering Jizhou City, auditing the treasury and reviewing personnel — all matters proceeded steadily.

In the yamen of Jizhou City, a petition board was also hung out, telling the local people that the Emperor had come to seek justice for them. Whoever they were, whatever grievances they had, they could all go to the yamen to file complaints.

For a time, Jizhou City was churning with undercurrents.

As for trying cases and investigating matters, Zhu Youxiao naturally couldn't do it himself — it was presided over by Grand Secretary Huang Kezuan.

The man was a Minister of the Ministry of Justice, after all — nothing could stump him. And now that Xunzi's Legalism was being promoted, he struck darkly and ruthlessly; there wasn't a soul in all of Jizhou City who wasn't afraid.

Assisting Huang Kezuan were Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, Zhang Yu, and others. All of them were young men, brimming with heroic spirit, always eager to make their mark — naturally they performed with great zeal.

Under such circumstances, Jizhou City quickly got moving, while Zhu Youxiao found himself with leisure time.

But this leisure didn't last more than a few days — as one matter after another was dredged up, some things required Zhu Youxiao's personal attention.

Zhu Youxiao didn't mind that either — squeezing out money always took some effort.

Watching Xu Guangqi walk in, Zhu Youxiao asked, "Judging by your expression, my dear minister, it seems the situation is not optimistic?"

"These people have gone too far — they all deserve death!" Xu Guangqi said slowly with a grim face, "Your servant had people audit Jizhou's treasury, and none of the accounts match up at all."

"Everything on the books can't be found in the storehouses — on average, over sixty percent is missing. The grain in the storehouses is all old, aged grain, not a single grain of new harvest. The disaster relief grain allocated by the court was all swapped out for old grain and bran chaff."

"These people feeding such things to the common folk — utterly audacious, running wild without restraint! This Zhang Shun deserves death!"

Zhu Youxiao turned to glance at Chen Hong and said, "Bring a cup of tea for Minister Xu, to help him calm down."

"My dear minister, you're not young anymore — why is your temper still so fiery? You are a Grand Secretary of the court's Grand Secretariat, the Second Grand Secretary. If you were truly angered into some mishap by him, that would go down in the history books."

After hearing this, Xu Guangqi realized he had been too agitated. He sighed and said, "These past few days your servant walked around the outskirts of Jizhou City and looked at the disaster-stricken common folk in the surrounding areas."

"They have no food to eat and no clothes to cover themselves; collapsed houses haven't even been dug through, and in many places you can see corpses of the dead still unburied. If this continues, an epidemic will likely break out. These local officials can do nothing but line their own pockets!"

The more Xu Guangqi spoke, the more agitated he became, saying with some indignation, "The gentry in the city are seizing the people's farmland while the iron is hot, hoarding goods and cornering the market, driving up grain prices so the people can't afford to buy food; the people can only sell their land, their fields, even their own sons and daughters. These gentry all deserve death!"

Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Guangqi and said, "The parent-official of a region determines the region's atmosphere. Zhang Shun was committing corruption, so naturally the others followed his example."

"In times of disaster like this, the common folk are treated like pigs and dogs. If court officials could impose restrictions, crack down hard on hoarding and market manipulation, crack down hard on the selling of children and land annexation, these people wouldn't dare do anything."

"But when officials lead the way in corruption, they naturally follow suit. As for placing hope in their consciences — I have never once entertained that thought. Though they prattle on daily about benevolence, righteousness, and morality, and study the books of the sages, when faced with such an opportunity, all they see is money."

Hearing these words, Xu Guangqi's heart sank deeper and deeper. He found that his own thinking seemed to be shifting, and he began to seriously contemplate Xunzi's philosophy.

Human nature is inherently evil; the desires in the human heart are greater than the restraints of morality. Relying on morality alone to restrain the desires of the heart seemed an impossible thing to achieve.

Ritual and law worked at certain times, but at more times they seemed not to work. Zhang Shun was a court official, a jinshi who passed the three examinations in two rounds — he too had studied the books of the sages and earned his position through examinations.

Previously he had felt that Confucianism couldn't save the Great Ming, and had turned to convert to Catholicism; now it seemed the situation was even worse than he had imagined.

Xu Guangqi couldn't help but raise his head and look at His Majesty, a shock stirring in his heart.

For His Majesty to see through the human heart so thoroughly at such a young age — truly remarkable!

As for Xu Guangqi's admiration, Zhu Youxiao didn't even look at it; his mind was not on that at the moment.

Glancing at Xu Guangqi, Zhu Youxiao said, "Find Huang Kezuan as well and discuss it together. I believe he must have many matters to handle on his end too, and many words to say."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Guangqi promptly acknowledged.

In fact, many things were plain as day — as long as you arrested the ringleaders and then investigated down below, nothing could be hidden.

The key question was whether you wanted to investigate.

Whether you could investigate.

Whether you dared to investigate.

If a minister were dispatched to investigate, then there would be endless complications — first came the attacks; these people would find fault with the minister, dig up his dirt, spread rumors about him, do whatever it took to drag his name through the mud. There would also be those in the court protecting them and destroying evidence, and you would have no recourse.

But these common tricks of officialdom were useless against this Emperor — he didn't play by the usual rules, arresting people outright and then investigating afterward.

No one could restrict the personal freedom of officials, but this Emperor could. As for rumors being spread about himself — he didn't care. If those people were truly pushed to the wall, they could even resort to killing an imperial envoy to achieve their ends.

Don't say such things are uncommon in officialdom — in fact, when faced with life and death, anyone would choose to gamble. It wasn't as if they had never killed imperial envoys before; they would just pin some random label on it afterward — even "unaccustomed to the climate, died of illness" — any excuse would do.

Even during the Wanli era, an imperial envoy sent by the Wanli Emperor was directly killed on the spot. The reason given was even simpler — the envoy had oppressed the common people too harshly, and out of righteous indignation, the people beat him to death. The local officials simply failed to stop it, and such incidents occurred one after another.

Zhu Youxiao didn't believe the matter was that simple. Would ordinary commoners dare to do such a thing? Without local officials behind the scenes fanning the flames, it would have been utterly impossible.

Without local officials making the first move, how would the common people dare to attack and smash an imperial envoy? Even if they did dare to strike an imperial envoy, couldn't the local officials have protected the envoy's life?

In truth, it was the local officials themselves who had struck the fatal blow, then casually pinned some charge on the people.

But now that he, the Emperor, had arrived, no one dared to do such a thing. Whoever dared to incite the people to make trouble would be rebelling against the Emperor himself.

Moreover, after arriving in the locality, he had redressed wrongful cases, punished corrupt officials, and opened the granaries to distribute grain to disaster victims. Under such circumstances, even if someone spoke ill of him and tried to incite the people to riot, no commoners would follow them in making trouble.

If anyone did stir up trouble, they would be rebels plotting treason — and would be dealt with directly.

Soon, Huang Kezuan arrived.

Huang Kezuan's face was also full of anger at this moment. Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, he said directly: "Your servant pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Enough, no need for ceremony." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said: "When we're out on the road, there's no need for so many formalities. Sit down and speak — have some tea."

Only after Huang Kezuan had also taken his seat did Zhu Youxiao speak: "It seems my dear minister is also quite indignant."

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the prisons of Jizhou are all full — reportedly all riotous mobs. After Your servant's investigation, these people are all disaster victims who, unwilling to endure the exploitation of the gentry, ran to the yamen to lodge complaints. In the end, they were all arrested. Some were even injured — their legs broken."

"Zhang Shun's persecution of the common people is so urgent and vicious it is utterly outrageous! An official like this deserves death by slow slicing! I beg Your Majesty to issue the decree — Your servant is willing to carry out the execution."

Zhu Youxiao looked at Huang Kezuan with some helplessness, then said softly: "You two are Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat — there's no need to be so angry. Isn't the very reason we came here this time to resolve such matters?"

"If Zhang Shun is to die by slow slicing and you, a Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, go to supervise the execution — that would be a matter for the history books." At this point, Zhu Youxiao smiled.

In truth, Zhu Youxiao knew in his heart that what these two men said was genuine, and the things they had uncovered certainly did exist.

However, a large portion of their attitude was probably an act. As Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat, they had risen and fallen in officialdom for decades. To put it bluntly, they had surely seen all manner of such things before.

The reason they displayed such fury was nothing more than to show their hatred of corrupt officials. Much of this was performed for the Emperor's sake — to express their loyalty, and to make him believe they were loyal ministers.

Still, Zhu Youxiao would not expose them. This kind of performance was something he was happy to see.

So Zhu Youxiao said: "How have the other officials of Jizhou Prefecture conducted themselves?"

"Birds of a feather." Huang Kezuan said directly: "Basically all of them are in league with Zhang Shun. Those who refused to collude with him were mostly dismissed from office by him under various pretexts. There are also two who have begged leave to stay home due to illness — presumably unwilling to collude with him."

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said: "Then bring them back and see whether they have any evidence in hand."

"As for giving the people a plan, you must act swiftly and urgently. Also, prepare grain and open the granaries outside the city as soon as possible. Xu Guangqi, you will mobilize the soldiers of the original Jizhou Guard to help the people with disaster relief. I will also have Xu Xianchun of the Embroidered Uniform Guard cooperate with you, and Chen Sihai of the Military Law Office under the Staff Office will cooperate with you as well."

"Let them work in peace on disaster relief. If anyone dares to oppress the people, they will all be dealt with according to military law. The Embroidered Uniform Guard will supervise the work — if anyone shows up but doesn't put in effort, they will all be severely punished."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Your servant will make arrangements at once." Xu Guangqi hastily agreed.

"As for those gentry involved in lawsuits — those who should be sentenced will be sentenced, those who should have their homes confiscated will have them confiscated. As for those who hoarded and stockpiled grain, arrest them all and interrogate them severely, making them hand over all their grain."

"If they merely hoarded grain, then they hand over the grain and pay a fine. If they have other cases against them, they will all be severely punished without leniency."

As Zhu Youxiao spoke these words, his expression was calm and his tone gentle, yet every sentence decided the life and death of countless people, sending chills down the spines of all who heard.