Chapter 417: The Fading Sun Over the Forbidden City: Zhou Kui Offers Up the Crown Prince

Scholar Zhou left the military police on site to clean up the remains, and had Cao Huachun lead the others to continue the inspection.

Along the way they passed many more palaces, and on most of the roof beams hung concubines who had hanged themselves.

When the city fell, the palace was in chaos, with palace attendants scrambling to flee for their lives—no one paid any mind to these former masters hanging from the beams.

Some palace attendants would lower the concubines' corpses from the beams, move them onto the beds, and cover their faces with quilts—that counted as a burial.

Most concubines had no one to tend to them at all; at the push of a door, one could see bodies suspended in the air, swaying gently.

The corpses' necks were stretched long, their faces ashen, eyeballs bloodshot and bulging, some with tongues lolling out.

As the group walked, Scholar Zhou ordered burials along the way, and soon the military police were insufficient—forced to summon two hundred more from outside the city. When they reached Kunning Palace, Scholar Zhou pushed open the palace doors; no bodies hung from the beams, but a pervasive stench of death still filled the room.

Entering the West Warm Chamber, sure enough, something lay on the bed, its face covered by a thin quilt, clearly human-shaped, flies covering the coarse cloth.

Zhou Kui's face was already pale, tears streaming down his aged cheeks.

Scholar Zhou waved his hand, and a military policeman stepped forward to lift the quilt, revealing Empress Zhou's corpse—a blast of putrid stench rushed out, forcing the surrounding military police back several steps. A purple-black ligature mark circled the neck, clearly death by hanging.

"Fenger, it was your father who harmed you!" Zhou Kui could no longer hold himself up, kneeling and wailing.

The military police wrapped Empress Zhou in the quilt and lifted her, moving her together with the other concubines to await burial.

Scholar Zhou instructed: "She is the Empress—by ritual law she should be buried jointly. Move her to rest alongside Chongzhen's body."

"Yes." The military policeman acknowledged, carrying Empress Zhou's corpse out of the palace.

Lei Sanxiang said indignantly: "Why a joint burial? If you ask me, that dog emperor and dog empress should both be ground to ash and scattered to the winds!"

Scholar Zhou said: "This is what's called winning people's hearts. Right now the capital is ours, but ten thousand troops cannot hold the vast prefectures and counties of Beizhili. Toward the old dynasty's remnants, even if we don't win them over, at least we can't offend every last one of them to death."

Lei Sanxiang waved his hand impatiently: "I don't understand all that."

Scholar Zhou said: "Put it this way—though Chongzhen acted tyrannically and did many things that angered heaven and man,

the Ming court's rules were strict: the harem could not interfere in governance, and many of those misdeeds had nothing to do with her, the Empress.

Now that she's dead, if we humiliate her further, wouldn't it make the King look too narrow-minded?"

Lei Sanxiang's tone softened: "Fine, that counts as a reason, I suppose."

The group left Kunning Palace heading west, walking toward Cining Palace.

Zhou Kui had cried himself to exhaustion, supported by two military policemen as he trailed behind.

Lei Sanxiang pointed behind him: "Isn't that bastard the Empress's father? I hear he's no good at all!"

Scholar Zhou swept a glance behind him and said coldly: "Accounts are settled slowly. No rush."

Hearing this, Zhou Kui immediately stopped crying, his expression terrified, his legs failing him even more, his whole body going limp as mud.

After walking a bit further, Zhou Kui remembered something, suddenly struggled to rise, scrambled ahead in a few steps, and knelt at Scholar Zhou's feet.

"I report to Your Excellency—this old minister knows the whereabouts of the former crown prince. This old minister is willing to hand over the former crown prince in exchange for a way to live! I beg Your Excellency to grant this!" He then kowtowed without cease.

"Your Excellency" in the Great Ming was mostly used to address one's parents and elders; used toward an official, it was the utmost flattery.

Zhou Kui called him "Your Excellency" right off the bat, showing he had lost all shame in begging for his life. As the former dynasty's imperial father-in-law, with his daughter's corpse barely cold, he turned around and sold out the crown prince—essentially handing over his own grandson—utterly shameless.

Even Bi Ziyan and Cao Huachun, fellow officials who had surrendered, cast looks of disgust at him.

After a moment, Lei Sanxiang sorted out the kinship relations among them and said with mock sarcasm: "That dog emperor having an old father-in-law like you—he must have cultivated eight lifetimes of good fortune!"

Zhou Kui's old face flushed red with embarrassment, and he could only smile along awkwardly.

Scholar Zhou said coldly: "Where is the Zhu Ming crown prince now?"

"Your Excellency sees clearly—he is at this old minister's residence. This old minister specially ordered men to keep him under watch, only to present him to Your Excellency at the right moment! This old minister will immediately send men to bring the former crown prince here in bonds."

Scholar Zhou continued: "Chongzhen had three imperial princes. Do you know the whereabouts of the other two?"

Zhou Kui hurriedly said: "The other two are Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Cizhao. According to the crown prince, the two left the palace together with him, assisted in their escape by Gong Yonggu—but when the city fell, Gong Yonggu's entire family burned themselves to death, and the two princes' whereabouts are unknown…

However, this old minister is willing to investigate—this old minister is willing to search for the new dynasty! I will surely drag out the other two former princes!"

"You?" Scholar Zhou gave a disdainful snort. He pondered a moment, then said to the military police battalion commander beside him: "Send a squad of men to follow this old scoundrel to his residence and bring the former crown prince here. Mind you—do not treat him harshly!"

The military police battalion commander detailed a squad of soldiers to accompany Zhou Kui out of the palace.

The rest continued toward Cining Palace, and only when they arrived did they find its gates tightly shut, with what sounded like voices within.

Everything the group had seen along the way was rotting corpses, so the sudden sound of human voices struck them all as novel.

Scholar Zhou said to Cao Huachun: "You were a eunuch of the former dynasty and know the harem well. You go call out to them."

Cao Huachun clasped his hands in acknowledgment, trotted to the palace wall, and called inside: "Are those within the palace the attendants of Empress Zhang?"

No sound came from within the walls.

Cao Huachun glanced at Scholar Zhou, then called again: "This servant is Cao Huachun. With this servant are Zhou, Director of the Daxia Governance Hall, and Lei, Regional Commander of the Daxia New Army.

The Xia army's discipline is strict, and we have not touched a single thing in the palace. I beg Her Ladyship to open the palace gates."

After a long while, the great doors of Cining Palace creaked open. Lei Sanxiang craned his neck to look, and saw several dozen eunuchs and palace maids in the courtyard square, all clutching wooden staves and other weapons, huddled warily in the corners by the walls.

The military police entered, preparing to seal Cining Palace with strips, when a palace maid blocked them, saying: "By Her Grace Empress Yi'an's decree—should a single person approach the doors of Cining Palace, Her Grace will take her own life at once!"

Lei Sanxiang muttered: "Who's she trying to scare, that stinking woman!"

But though he said it aloud, he truly was daunted.

The former dynasty's imperial clan—especially the womenfolk—were the greatest taboo when outside officials entered the palace precincts. If one got entangled with them, it was easy for those with ulterior motives to accuse one of usurping ambitions; at the very least one would shed a layer of skin.

He didn't care whether that damned Empress Yi'an lived or died—he was afraid that if the stinking woman killed herself, she'd pin it directly on him, claiming she'd taken her life because of his rudeness. Then not even a hundred mouths could explain it away.

Scholar Zhou also found it troublesome. Fortunately, he had come prepared, having specially selected six common women of clean background.

Scholar Zhou gave the order: "Cao Huachun, you lead these six maidservants inside to attend to her. If there is the slightest misstep, you will answer for it!"

Cao Huachun nodded and bowed repeatedly, leading the maidservants cautiously to twenty paces before the gate, where he asked Empress Zhang's attendants to relay the message within, and only then led the maidservants inside.

Zhou and Lei stood a hundred paces outside the hall, waiting.

Lei Sanxiang said in confusion: "Second Brother, why are you so courteous to these Zhus?"

Scholar Zhou said: "The one in the palace is Empress Zhang—the wife of the Tianqi Emperor, Chongzhen's sister-in-law. She's not a Zhu by birth.

Compared to Empress Zhou, Empress Zhang's maternal clan, though also corrupt, was only modestly wealthy."

In the final years of the Tianqi reign, it was she who conveyed the decree and set the plan, letting Chongzhen ascend the throne and toppling Wei Zhongxian—no matter how you look at it, she did merit the people's gratitude." Lei Sanxiang muttered, "The eunuch dog Wei and that dog Chongzhen—which one was worse is hard to say."

Scholar Zhou smiled helplessly: "The situation was dire at the time. Tianqi had no sons, and if Chongzhen hadn't succeeded, the state would have fallen into great chaos.

Empress Zhang was but a woman deep in the palace, knowing no other princes of the blood—she could hardly take the throne herself.

Letting Chongzhen ascend was choosing the lesser of two evils."

Lei Sanxiang had nothing to say, and after stewing for a long while, said, "So by that logic, she counts as a good person?"

"In this capital, a veritable vat of dye, Empress Zhang is almost a moral saint... Haven't you noticed how many eunuchs and palace maids she's taken in?" The two swept their gaze around the palace walls, seeing only teenage palace attendants huddled in corners like a nest of frightened puppies, warily eyeing the Xia constables.

"When the city fell, those eunuchs and maids with connections and means all fled. These young ones couldn't get out, so they could only wait to die in the palace. Had Empress Zhang not taken them in, they'd likely be rotting corpses by now."

Lei Sanxiang said, "So this old woman did do one good deed."

Seeing the two men's gazes fall on them, the palace attendants shrank back even tighter. One young maid, trembling, pulled a sheet of paper from her bosom, wanting to offer it but not daring to.

Scholar Zhou noticed: "What is that? Present it."

A constable stepped forward, took the paper, and presented it to Scholar Zhou: "Hall Director, it's one of our leaflets."

Scholar Zhou took it and saw the leaflet was folded neatly—clearly it had been carefully preserved.

This attack on the capital had barely involved any siege. Time was short, and it had rained before the assault, so the leaflet campaign had been largely ineffective. The common folk had been scared half to death by the Xia army entering the city, and maintaining public order had cost Lei Sanxiang tremendous effort.

Now this young maid produced a leaflet—clearly a gesture of surrender and submission. Even if only for show, Scholar Zhou had to play the part fully, so he turned to her with a kindly expression and said, "Rest assured, the Xia army is a righteous host. Your lives are safe. Do you have any relatives you can go to?"

That whole group of palace attendants nodded.

The Ming court was very strict about where palace attendants came from—they were almost all selected from towns around the capital, such as Baoding, Hejian, Zhending, and other places.

Though the attendants had no kin within the city walls, they were hardly without somewhere to go.

Scholar Zhou said to the constable battalion commander, "Take these attendants out of the palace. Give them good food and drink, tend to any wounds, then send them by fast horse to their respective homes." "Yes!" the constable captain acknowledged, dispatching a squad to usher the attendants to their feet and out of the palace.

Lei Sanxiang said with dissatisfaction, "This is also winning hearts?"

Scholar Zhou laughed: "Exactly! When these people return home safely, their families and fellow villagers will ask, 'Child, how did you get back?' And they'll say, 'The Great Xia army brought me back. They didn't mistreat me—they even fed me.'

The local gentry and landlords around will also learn from the palace attendants' mouths that our policies are lenient, that we haven't tortured or plundered wholesale, and that we've treated the former dynasty's imperial kin with courtesy. Once the surrounding prefectures and counties know we are a righteous host, won't they surrender at the sight of our banners?

Words spoken from these attendants' mouths are worth more than ten thousand newspapers we could print."

Lei Sanxiang said, "Fine, but I just feel that with this one not killed and that one shown favor, it's not very satisfying."

Scholar Zhou said, "Our forces are insufficient. To gain a firm foothold in the capital region, we must make our friends many and our enemies few. Not only must we be gentle with the former dynasty's imperial kin, we must pacify its officials and, above all, win over its old generals like Zu Dashou. At least for the next few years, this must be so. These matters are stifling and unsatisfying to carry out, but one who seeks only satisfaction will never sit securely on the realm. His Majesty knows you, Third Brother, are not the man for this work—that's why he sent me."

"So those corrupt officials—they're just let go?"

"Who said let go?" Scholar Zhou said slowly. "Punishing the chief culprits is the protocol set by Grand Secretary Ye. I'll pick a few to make examples of tomorrow. Tempering severity with leniency is the true way of kingship. Besides, Third Brother, have you not heard the saying about settling accounts after the autumn harvest?"

Lei Sanxiang shuddered: "When you talk like that, I feel a chill running down my back."

As the two were speaking, the doors of Cining Palace opened, and Cao Huachun emerged with four maidservants, walking all the way to Scholar Zhou and kneeling: "Elder Zhou, Lady Yi'an is in good health and sends this servant to thank the Minister for his kindness in protecting the palace attendants.

Her Ladyship says the old state has fallen, and she dares not burden the new dynasty. She wishes to shave her head and become a nun, to keep the lamp of Buddha burning forever and trouble herself no more with worldly affairs.

This servant, following the elder's instructions, has kept two maidservants to attend to Her Ladyship's daily needs."

"Mm." Scholar Zhou thought to himself that this Empress Zhang knew how to read the room.

These six maidservants were Scholar Zhou's eyes and ears. Empress Zhang voluntarily keeping two of them was her active acceptance of Great Xia's oversight.

It was, in effect, her surrender.

At the same time, Empress Zhang, residing in the imperial city, would have her daily food and drink procured by the two maidservants through the Xihua Gate.

Scholar Zhou asked further, "Are there any other palace dependents in Cining Palace?"

"Only Lady Zhang alone. Within the hall there are two maids attending her, and counting the elder's maidservants, only five people in all." Scholar Zhou felt both relief and a headache.

The relief was that, on the surface, Empress Zhang was the only surviving female member of the imperial clan, making management and oversight convenient.

The headache was that Chongzhen had killed too ruthlessly and the imperial kin had died too miserably. If this black pot weren't shed as quickly as possible, it would surely be hung around Great Xia's neck. Scholar Zhou looked at Bi Ziyan: "Minister, you've seen and heard everything today clearly, I trust. I hope you'll write a full account of your observations to attest to our innocence." Bi Ziyan understood—once he wrote such an account, it would hardly stop at proving innocence; Great Xia would inevitably wield it as a weapon of public opinion. Though he had surrendered, immediately taking up his brush to attack his former master would damage his reputation too greatly. He didn't want to do it, yet dared not refuse, so he could only reluctantly agree. With that, the inspection of the Forbidden City was complete, and Scholar Zhou and the others exited through the Meridian Gate.

On the way, Cao Huachun recounted what had happened in Cining Palace on the day the city fell.

At the time, Empress Zhang had received Chongzhen's edict to hang herself and had already resolved to take her own life. But unexpectedly, a palace attendant found one of Great Xia's surrender leaflets, believed it true, and at the very last moment saved Empress Zhang.

It was fortunate that Empress Zhang had always treated her attendants with great kindness—had it been any other lady, she might not have earned such devotion from her servants.

After being saved, Empress Zhang's resolve to die for the state greatly diminished. Moreover, the palace was everywhere filled with eunuchs wielding clubs and fighting over valuables, and in the harem there was even a mad emperor running about with a sword killing people—chaos reigned everywhere.

Cining Palace sat at the westernmost edge of the Forbidden City, with its own independent walled courtyard. It was not near any palace gate, and ordinarily few attendants passed by—in this time of turmoil, it had instead become a refuge.

Empress Zhang thus took in these palace attendants who had nowhere to go, and so it had remained until today.

After hearing the tale, Lei Sanxiang commented, "So by that account, this old—this Lady Zhang really is a good person."

Cao Huachun bowed: "Lady Zhang is benevolent and steady, and has long held a reputation for virtue throughout the six palaces."

As the words ended, the party had already exited the Forbidden City through the Left Side Gate beside the Meridian Gate.

Scholar Zhou turned back for a long look and said with feeling, "It's good she survived. Let her see for herself how our Great Xia differs from their Great Ming!"

The Forbidden City occupied an enormous area. The party had entered at dawn, taken a cursory tour, and by the time they emerged it was already dusk.

The former Ming bureaucrats and hereditary nobles had waited outside the imperial city all day in the flesh, exhausted and dizzy.

But there was no helping it—Scholar Zhou and Lei Sanxiang could not spend the night within the imperial city, so both their entry and exit required witnesses.

After the two emerged, Great Xia constables fetched sealing strips and began sealing the gates.

Seeing the seals affixed, Scholar Zhou finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After exiting the Chengtian Gate, the constable battalion commander walked to his side and whispered, "Hall Director, the former dynasty's crown prince has been brought." He then pointed into the distance. Scholar Zhou looked and saw Zhou Kui standing behind the ranks of former Ming officials, bowing and scraping with a fawning smile. At his side he held the hand of a child in coarse cloth garments, who was continually wiping away tears.

In an instant, Scholar Zhou understood Zhou Kui's intent.

Zhou Kui hadn't come forward immediately and had dressed Zhu Ciniang in commoner's clothes—all to conceal his identity.

Handing Zhu Ciniang over to Great Xia in private meant Great Xia could kill him whenever it wished.

In the annals of history, only one line would remain: "On the day the city fell, his whereabouts became unknown."

But at this moment of dynastic transition, when the sacred vessel changed hands, countless eyes were fixed on the capital. To do things thoroughly and cleanly was far too difficult. Moreover, a crown prince well used could also be an asset to Great Xia.

After pondering for a long while, Scholar Zhou said, "Bring him up."

Zhou Kui led Zhu Ciniang forward, and the former Ming officials and nobles around them changed expression at once.

They did not know Zhu Ciniang, but they all knew Zhou Kui—anyone he would personally lead by the hand before the assembled officials was certainly of no ordinary status.

Scholar Zhou smiled warmly and said, "Child, what is your name?"

Zhu Ciniang glanced at his maternal grandfather; Zhou Kui guiltily avoided his gaze: "Just tell the truth."

"My name is... Zhu Ciniang..."

The words were not loud, but they were like a fifty-pound mortar shell plunging into water, instantly sending up towering waves.

"What?"

"He is the Crown Prince?"

Before the imperial city, the officials whispered among themselves.

"Vice Minister, did you not once visit the Eastern Palace—have you seen the Crown Prince?"

"The Crown Prince was still an infant then; children grow so fast, how could anyone recognize him?"

Zhu Ciniang was born in the ninth year of Tianqi and was barely four years old, not yet sent out of the palace for study, raised deep within the palace. All the officials knew the Crown Prince's title, but only the Classics Colloquium and Daily Lecture instructors had ever so much as occasionally seen him.

Scholar Zhou asked a few more questions, and Zhu Ciniang answered timidly. Though clever, he was after all only four, having just begun his schooling. Seeing that Scholar Zhou was kind, he said to him, "Sir, do you know where my imperial father is?"

Scholar Zhou did not answer, but instead reached out and took a piece of sesame candy stick from the gendarme battalion commander, broke off a small piece, and placed it in the child's hand: "Eat it." Zhu Ciniang glanced at his grandfather, and after receiving permission, put it in his mouth and smiled: "So sweet."

Scholar Zhou said, "Come with your uncle—your uncle will take you to find your imperial father."

"Really?" Zhu Ciniang was overjoyed, and looked again at his grandfather. Zhou Kui nodded, and Zhu Ciniang relaxed, letting Scholar Zhou take his hand and lead him away. Scholar Zhou ordered people to settle Zhu Ciniang in a secluded residence, and also ordered soldiers to deliberately march him past the former Ming officials.

All the officials craned their necks, watching eagerly.

The Vice Minister of Rites suddenly said, "It is him, it is him indeed! Truly the Crown Prince!"

"Ah? Truly the Crown Prince!"

The assembled former officials were all stunned; some looked up to the sky with long sighs, others secretly wiped away tears.

Now that Chongzhen was dead, the capital had fallen, and even the Crown Prince had been seized by Great Xia—many former officials' hopes of restoring the dynasty were extinguished along with it.

After the Crown Prince had left, Scholar Zhou clasped his hands toward the south, his expression solemn, and said gravely: "I respectfully request His Majesty's decree!"

His subordinates brought out the decree that had long been prepared, and Scholar Zhou unrolled it to read aloud: "Decree of the King of Xia—"

He deliberately drew out the syllable, and the assembled former officials, realizing what was happening, knelt one after another to hear the decree.

Only when everyone had knelt together did Scholar Zhou proclaim in a clear voice: "The Zhu Ming dynasty lost virtue and abandoned the Way, bringing years of warfare to the northern borders, beacon fires rising on all sides, and the people plunged into misery. Great Xia raised its banner to end violence and quell disorder, and to give the people rest.

The former dynasty's heir apparent, Zhu Ciniang, is young and innocent, having never participated in state affairs, and should not be harshly punished. He is hereby enfeoffed as Duke of Song, granted residence in the capital, with an annual stipend of one thousand dan of grain. Therefore this decree is issued, that all may know."

This decree was written by Ye Xianggao. Enfeoffing the former imperial family was standard procedure during a change of dynasties, its purpose being to reassure the people and let former officials submit in peace rather than rebel.

Once the political situation stabilized, if the little Crown Prince happened to die suddenly, no one would care. Even if the King of Xia were benevolent, the little Crown Prince's fate was house arrest for life. Though many in Great Xia's court and country wanted the entire Zhu Ming imperial family slaughtered, this was not the time to kill them.

The situation in the whole of the Northern Metropolitan Region was like a pot of boiling oil; what Great Xia needed to do was turn off the fire and let it cool. To pour cold water on it at this very moment would blow up the entire stove.

Sure enough, after Scholar Zhou finished reading the decree, the former Ming officials all shouted long life and thanks for the favor, their voices notably more unified.

After rising, the officials' fear and unease had greatly diminished.

By now the sun was setting in the west; the sky was half sunset glow, half stars—a scene of exquisite beauty.

Scholar Zhou said: "Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Censor Cao (Cao Yubian); Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Minister Bi (Bi Ziyan); Bureau Director of the Ministry of Revenue, Director Shi (Shi Kefa); Hanlin Academy Lecturer Ni (Ni Yuanlu); Hanlin Academy Junior Compiler Yang (Yang Tinglin); and Director of Ceremonies brush-holder, Eunuch Cao (Cao Huachun)—let these six remain. The rest of you gentlemen may take your leave."

The officials breathed sighs of relief and withdrew one after another, with some casting sympathetic glances at those who remained.

After everyone had left, Scholar Zhou invited them to rest and confer at a temporary official residence in the capital.

The officials who remained held posts both great and small, belonged to different offices, and were not particularly familiar with one another—there was even Cao Huachun, a palace eunuch. They all stared at each other in bewilderment, unsure what Scholar Zhou had up his sleeve.

Fortunately, these men were all among the rare incorruptible officials in the capital's great dye vat. With upright conduct, they feared no shadow, and so they were not particularly afraid of Scholar Zhou's invitation, proceeding calmly.

The temporary official residence was arranged in the Hanlin Academy offices south of the Chengtian Gate and east of the Thousand-Step Corridor. The group walked and arrived quickly.

Scholar Zhou led them into the main hall, seating them according to host and guest, and also called out Huang Daozhou, the Director of the Qingping Bureau's Shuntian Prefecture office, to sit with them. Soldiers brought tea and lit whale-oil lamps. Scholar Zhou was the first to clasp his hands and say: "All you gentlemen present were capable officials of the former Ming—honest and dedicated, single-minded in service to the state. I deeply admire you."

They all returned the gesture with clasped hands, murmuring that they did not deserve the praise, while the confusion on their faces grew even greater.

Cao Yubian glanced at Huang Daozhou.

Huang Daozhou was a jinshi of the Tianqi era who had served in the capital. When the Yuan Chonghuan treason case erupted, Second Grand Secretary Qian Longxi was implicated, and Huang Daozhou, pleading for Qian Longxi, was dismissed along with him by the enraged Chongzhen and reduced to commoner status.

Huang Daozhou's ancestral home was Zhangzhou, Fujian. Zhou Qisu, the Director of the Qingping Bureau, had long known of his outspoken remonstrance and unimpeachable virtue, and so not long after Huang Daozhou returned to his hometown, Zhou Qisu actively recruited him, bringing him into the Qingping Bureau, where he rose by merit to Deputy Director.

Had Huang Daozhou not been overseeing the Qingping Bureau's affairs in Shuntian Prefecture, Scholar Zhou could not have grasped the situation of officials in the capital so quickly.

Cao Yubian had served at court alongside Huang Daozhou and recognized him at a glance.

And because Cao Yubian served in the Censorate, being in the supervisory line of work, he could tell from Huang Daozhou's half-smiling, faintly cold and sinister bearing that the man also held a supervisory post in Great Xia—and one with no small authority, at that.

Presumably, before Scholar Zhou had called them to discuss matters, he had already had Huang Daozhou investigate every one of them to the bottom.

They heard Scholar Zhou say: "Our dynasty is newly established, and its laws and discipline have yet to be set in order. Without punishing corruption, the people's anger cannot be appeased; without purging treachery, the rule of law cannot be upheld. Today I have invited you gentlemen here precisely to discuss this matter together.

Wen Tiren, Zhang Yixian, Zhou Kui, Wu Zongda, Xue Guoguan, and Zhu Guobi—these six traitors have committed the most heinous crimes, and the accumulated resentment against them in court and country runs deepest.

If we begin with these six and execute them according to open justice, what do you gentlemen think?"

A gust of evening wind poured into the hall, the lamps flickered, and all present felt a chill.

Yahei

Pink Round

Pen