Chapter 76: His Majesty's Wrath Erupts

Under such circumstances, Chen Hong naturally gathered a group of helpers outside. Handling small matters posed no difficulty for him.

With the Emperor's support, Chen Hong's position would only rise higher and higher, and the number of people he gathered would only grow.

This affair was excellent proof of that. Once he delegated the matter, Chen Hong handled it very well.

Zhang Laosan's affair could be called a fuse. As long as this fuse existed, he could ignite a large bomb.

As for whether the Emperor doing such things seemed unseemly for one of his stature — that depended on the time and the matter.

In Zhu Youxiao's view, given his current predicament, what was the point of playing at imperial dignity?

Playing at imperial dignity any further would just make him a fool.

Just like at the end of the Qing dynasty, when the Emperor stubbornly clung to the face of the Celestial Empire. And what was the result? What face was there?

They lost face both inside and out.

Given the Great Ming's current situation, if they still wanted face, they might as well wait to die.

Zhu Youxiao had no such thoughts anyway — what time was this?

Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures.

Besides, who would dare investigate a case all the way up to the Emperor?

Even if something did go wrong, it would be Wei Zhongxian and Chen Hong who had deceived him. What did that have to do with him?

Look at Emperor Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang — how did he do things? When he launched a rebellion case, whether you had actually rebelled or not, anyone who displeased him was simply done away with.

The Qing dynasty's literary inquisition was the same — they just swept everyone into the net.

He had no interest in wrangling with the Donglin Faction right now, and even less interest in investigating people one by one. Anyone who opposed him would simply be struck down. That was Zhu Youxiao's thinking.

As for whether innocents might be caught in the crossfire — how could he worry about that much?

What an Emperor feared was never collateral damage; what an Emperor feared was having no one working for him.

In Zhu Youxiao's view, people would soon come to work for him.

The Donglin Faction was hardly without opponents — those opponents wished nothing more than for every last Donglin member to die.

As for the School of Principle, Zhu Youxiao paid it no mind either. He was about to promote the School of Mind, namely Li Zhi's teachings.

There were plenty of supporters of the School of Mind as well. In their view, the Donglin Faction were heretics, and heretics deserved death even more than infidels.

Over the years, the School of Principle had openly and covertly attacked the School of Mind — suppressing them went without saying. More critically, they had also physically eliminated adherents of the School of Mind.

How did Li Zhi die?

With one doctrine established there, and with him throwing his full weight behind suppressing the other, Zhu Youxiao believed many people would switch sides — after all, no one had much in the way of principles.

Zhu Youxiao had never held a high estimate of the moral bottom line of the Great Ming's gentry. They had been willing to attach themselves to Wei Zhongxian and even built a shrine to honor him while he was still alive — where had their principles gone?

Logically speaking, for scholars to fawn over eunuchs was itself an act utterly devoid of principles. If they could do that, what couldn't they do to him, who was an Emperor?

When the Later Jin invaded, how did these people behave?

Didn't they surrender where surrender was due, and take office where office was due?

He was the legitimate Emperor, the Emperor of the Great Ming — so for them to pledge loyalty to him was hardly improper.

As for those who had no wish to enter official service, as long as they didn't rebel and stayed quietly in the countryside, Zhu Youxiao couldn't be bothered with them either.

"Your Majesty, Wei Zhongxian has arrived." At this moment, Chen Hong walked to Zhu Youxiao's side and spoke in a soft voice.

The Tianqi Emperor had been pondering matters alone a great deal lately, and Chen Hong was afraid of disturbing him, so he spoke very carefully.

As one who served at His Majesty's side, Chen Hong was deeply aware of things. The current Emperor was nothing like the late Emperor — the things he did, though Chen Hong dared not speak of them, he knew well in his own heart.

At the slightest misstep, he estimated he would be dragged out and beaten to death, with no one to speak up for him. So Chen Hong chose his words very carefully.

Zhu Youxiao nodded lightly. He already knew why Wei Zhongxian had come, and directly gave the order: "Let him in."

Before long, Wei Zhongxian walked in from outside.

Clutching the trial records in his hands, he knelt respectfully on the ground and saluted Zhu Youxiao, saying, "This servant Wei Zhongxian pays respects to Your Majesty."

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and asked directly: "What business brings you here? Have the Three Judicial Offices finished their trial?"

Wei Zhongxian hastily replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, an unexpected development has occurred. This servant dared not decide on his own, so he has come especially to report to Your Majesty."

As he spoke, he raised the trial records in his hands. "Your Majesty, here are today's trial records. During the trial, Yao Zongwen claimed that this servant had framed him. However, this servant has in his possession the confession of repentance Yao Zongwen wrote while at the Eastern Depot."

"Li Ruzhen, fearing the might of Heaven, repented sincerely and spoke the truth in the courtroom. It was indeed he who wished to frame Xiong Tingbi, so he sought out Liu Guojin and entrusted the matter to him. Liu Guojin, who bore a grudge against Xiong Tingbi, took Li Ruzhen's silver and privately conspired and colluded, bribing other Censors to frame Xiong Tingbi."

"However, according to what Feng Sanyuan said, although he accepted Liu Guojin's bribe, the reason he framed Xiong Tingbi was not because of Liu Guojin's bribe, but because someone had instructed him to do so."

"That person is Zou Yuanbiao, the Left Chief Censor of the Censorate. Zou Yuanbiao, Gao Panlong, Yang Lian, and others all came from the Donglin Academy. They formed cliques, conspired for private gain, and purged those who disagreed with them — Fang Congzhe was driven out by exactly such means. Because of the late Emperor's case, they reached a settlement with Fang Congzhe. As long as Fang Congzhe resigned and returned to his hometown, they would let him go and no longer pursue his crimes."

As Wei Zhongxian reached this point, he suddenly heard a sharp crack — a teacup shattered to pieces on the ground before him.

Fragments flew everywhere. Wei Zhongxian shrank his neck and hastily pressed his head to the floor, speaking urgently: "Your Majesty, please calm your wrath!"

Zhu Youxiao was now beside himself with rage. He stared at Wei Zhongxian and thundered: "Is this true?"

Wei Zhongxian hastily replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, with such a grave matter, how would this servant dare to lie!"

In an instant, the great hall fell silent.

Everyone knew that His Majesty was truly angry now.

A pack of ministers, for the sake of power and profit, made private deals among themselves and paid no heed whatsoever to the late Emperor's case.

Shouldn't the death of an Emperor be investigated to find the truth? Shouldn't it be clarified exactly what had happened?

They actually dared to promise Fang Congzhe that as long as he resigned, they would not pursue him.

In doing so, they were using the late Emperor's name to purge those who disagreed with them. Where was their loyalty to the state or to the sovereign?

Of course, Zhu Youxiao had known all of this for a long time, and was perfectly clear on it in his heart.

But at this moment, he had to be angry — and moreover, he had to be greatly angry.

"Wei Zhongxian!" Zhu Youxiao suddenly raised his voice considerably. "I am entrusting this matter to you to investigate. All the prisoners from the Three Judicial Offices are to be transferred to the Eastern Depot. The Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, having failed in his supervisory duties, is stripped of office pending trial; Zou Yuanbiao, Left Chief Censor of the Censorate, is stripped of office pending trial; Yang Lian, Right Assistant Chief Censor of the Censorate, is stripped of office pending trial. Order the Embroidered Uniform Guard to proceed immediately to Fang Congzhe's hometown and escort him to the capital in chains!"

"Playing politics, wielding power, forming cliques for private gain — this time, I will investigate it all thoroughly!"