Chapter 442

Inside the hall, as Jing Sheng Di's final sentence rang out in a fierce roar, most officials fell silent like cicadas in winter, heads bowed, not daring to look upon their sovereign.

When donations were first made, the premier and cabinet ministers contributed five hundred taels each, the six ministries and nine senior officials three hundred taels each, and thereafter according to rank: one hundred taels, fifty taels, twenty taels, ten taels, five taels……

The reason they donated so little was, firstly, naturally to display integrity; civil officials differ from military merit, possessing ancestral estates passed down through generations, and thus could not simply produce several thousand or tens of thousands of taels at once.

More importantly, the Da Han Empire at that time already showed signs of impending collapse.

Many officials in Shenjing were busy gathering silver, preparing to flee south to avoid disaster or to present tribute to a new dynasty, hoarding their wealth, and naturally would not spend money on the Da Han Empire—a ship clearly about to sink.

Including military merit holders, although they had money, their donations were also not large; otherwise, thousands of officials would not have managed to raise less than two hundred thousand taels.

After a long silence, Jing Sheng Di drew a deep breath and declared coldly:

«Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe and others, having repeatedly received heavenly grace yet failing to repay it, corrupt and lawless, deceiving the sovereign and superiors, actually plotting rebellion—truly wolf-hearted and dog-lunged, lacking lord and father, disloyal and unjust, their crimes are heinous! »

«Issue the edict! The chief culprits, Liu Ba'nü and others, who plotted the assassination of senior ministers, threw Shenjing into chaos, and conspired to endanger the state, belong to the foremost of the Ten Evils; they are to be executed by lingchi immediately, without delay. »

«The mansions of the Duke of Shan, the Marquis of Pingyuan, the Fang household, and the four Jiangnan families—grandfathers, fathers, sons, grandsons, brothers, and those living together, regardless of surname, as well as paternal uncles' sons and brothers' sons, without distinction of household registration, aged sixteen and above, whether suffering from serious illness or disability, shall all be beheaded. »

«Those fifteen years old and younger, as well as mothers and daughters, wives and concubines, sisters, and the wives and concubines of sons, shall be given as slaves to the households of meritorious officials, with their property confiscated by the state. »

«Fang Congzhe and the officials involved in the case, anyone whose embezzlement exceeds one thousand taels…»

Jing Sheng Di paused, his stern face showing not a trace of a smile, his eyes like blades.

Regarding the successive incidents of palace coercion, faction-forming, assassination, corruption, and officials' misconduct in Shenjing, he was truly furious to the extreme!

Originally he had intended to rectify officialdom, using measures that should not be hasty nor overly harsh, allowing matters to ease gradually and be resolved slowly.

But he did not expect that his leniency would be met not with understanding and repentance, but with public clamor and even more intense, reckless plotting of harm.

After these events, he came to realize that the officialdom of the Da Han Empire had thoroughly rotted in large parts.

To truly cleanse officialdom, mere talk is utterly useless; a large-scale purge is required, and one must resolve with iron and blood to reshape order!

No wonder, in the dream of the Taizu, the Qing could eventually seize the Central Plains, and the Han house lost the world!

With these parasites, how could the Da Han Empire not perish?

Even if not for Zi Jie, that meritorious official who answered the dream and repeatedly won victories abroad, I would probably already be close to hanging myself from a crooked tree!

Since they seek to harm my dream-answered worthy minister and to overturn my rivers and mountains, they cannot blame me for thereafter forgetting the bonds of ruler and subject!

Thinking of this, Jing Sheng Di's gaze sharpened, his voice cold as the wind of the deepest winter, and he slowly said:

«…Fang Congzhe and the officials involved in the case, anyone whose embezzlement exceeds one thousand taels, shall, according to the ancestral statutes, be flayed and stuffed with straw, then hung at the Western Market as a warning to future officials! »

When Jing Sheng Di spoke these words, it was like a gust of hurricane, causing the officials present to have their minds go blank, nearly silent as absent sparrows, their fearful eyes turned toward the emperor behind the imperial desk, his countenance cold and severe.

Death by lingchi?

Punishment extending to the family?

Confiscation of property?

More importantly, is it that all those who embezzled over one thousand taels are to be flayed and stuffed with straw, then hung at the Western Market?

If the first three items could barely be tolerated, this item of flaying and stuffing corrupt officials is something the officials simply cannot accept at all!

Not to mention that the officials involved in this case hardly have any embezzlement below one thousand taels—are we to subject over a hundred people to such cruel punishment?

Just saying this comes from the dregs of the ancestral statutes, which had only just been abolished with difficulty; if we now revive it, wouldn't everyone in the future have a sword hanging over their heads?

On deeper consideration, the emperor is treading the old path of the Taizu emperor's 'severe punishment to curb corruption,' which is to drag history backward, cling to the obsolete, stick rigidly to the past, and act contrary to reason!

Due to the extreme shock, the hall fell into a deathly silence, where even a dropped pin could be heard, and for a long while no one spoke.

Jia Jing stood to the side, his expression unchanged.

The so-called 'flaying and stuffing with straw,' also known as 'flaying and grasping straw' or 'flaying and binding straw,' involves an extremely bloody execution process.

Flaying means the executioner will use a sharp blade to start from the criminal's spine or buttocks and completely peel off the entire skin.

The stuffing with straw means the peeled skin will be filled with straw and lime, then sewn into a human shape.

After making the skin-straw effigy, some are hung for public display, but the more common practice is to place it beside the seat of the succeeding official in the court hall, to achieve the most direct deterrent effect.