As Xie Sheng and Shi Kefa knelt down, Shen Tingyang, Xie Bi and others also knelt down to apologize.
When Li Chengdong saw that everyone had knelt down, he wanted to kneel down with them, but Zhu Yuanzhang signaled him not to do so. After a burst of joy in his heart, Li Chengdong stood up straighter.
Zuo Xianmei on the side was also shocked when she saw this.
She had previously planned how Zhu Yuanzhang would force Gao Jie and others to surrender, but she did not expect that Zhu Yuanzhang did not even produce evidence. He only asked Gao Jie twice and forced Xing Shi and Xie Sheng to confess. She could not help but secretly observe Zhu Yuanzhang.
When she saw that Zhu Yuanzhang's expression was as usual and could not tell the difference, she turned her attention to Xing Shi and Xie Sheng.
However, Xingshi and Xie Sheng both bowed their heads and knelt on the ground, their bodies trembling slightly. She couldn't tell the truth from the lie for a moment, so she secretly looked at Zhu Yuanzhang who looked calm.
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be calm, but in fact, his heart was filled with sadness and helplessness.
Especially when he saw Shi Kefa, Shen Tingyang and others, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger in his heart.
But he knew that now was not the time to punish them, so he suppressed his anger, and then glanced coldly at the people present.
When he saw that Xing Shi and Xie Sheng were trembling after kneeling on the ground, the trembling was a bit stiff and rhythmic, so he knew that they were just pretending.
Presumably, the two of them should have had this plan in advance, and because Xing had a secret in his heart, he recognized the matter first, so as not to aggravate the conflict between them when the matter was exposed.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, and on the grounds that Gao Jie was dissatisfied, he asked General Li to be escorted in by someone bribed by Xie Bu.
When Mrs. Xing saw the man, a flash of panic flashed in her eyes. She was about to wink at him, but when she saw Zhu Yuanzhang's sharp gaze, she immediately lowered her head.
As Zhu Yuanzhang expected, that man blamed brother Xie Sheng for everything.
After listening to the man's story, Xie Sheng's face immediately darkened.
Xie Bi on the side was even more angry. If Zhu Yuanzhang hadn't been in front and Xie Sheng had not stopped him secretly, he would have rushed forward to fight Gao Jie.
After Zhu Yuanzhang took everything under his eyes, he asked Li Wu to summon the next witness provided by Cao Hu, and at the same time summon the people involved in the case just mentioned.
Unexpectedly, before the second witness had finished speaking, several people mentioned by the first witness had been taken to the small courtyard outside the hall.
It turned out that in order to avoid an accident, Zhu Yuanzhang not only asked Yang Qi to lead the Jin Yiwei to monitor important figures on both sides, but also secretly ordered Li Chengdong to seal off a one-mile radius of Shi Kefa's residence.
Those few people were the main force in this operation and had been operating near Shi Kefa's residence, so they were caught by the Jin Yiwei.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at those people from a distance, and then called them in one by one for interrogation.
As the interrogation deepens, more and more people are involved, and they are all confidants of both parties.
About an hour later, more than thirty people were kneeling in the small courtyard.
Through the confessions of these people, not only the plans of Xing and Xie Sheng were completely exposed, but also other illegal and harmful things were implicated.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang knew that both Xing and Xie Sheng were not good people and must have done many illegal things, he did not expect that there were so many and so cruel things, and he couldn't help but have murderous intentions in his heart.
Xingshi and Xie Sheng didn't seem to expect that the other party's penetration was so deep. If they hadn't been pulled out by Zhu Yuanzhang this time, they might have died if they were not careful in the future.
But the two of them are also people who care deeply about the city. They know that if they continue to criticize each other now, their lives will not wait until the future.
So even though he hated the other party in his heart, he still covered up for the other party when Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
However, even though the two of them had a palace, Gao Jie and Xie Bi had already seen fire in their eyes, wishing to eat each other alive right away.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang had successfully separated Xing and Xie Sheng, he asked Li Wu to bring in the deputy general who Xing was planning to frame Li Chengdong.
The lieutenant general had already seen Jin Yiwei's methods, and he didn't even wait for Zhu Yuanzhang to ask before he pulled them all out.
After listening to the deputy general's story, Li Chengdong realized that he had been through the ghost gate.
He glared at Mr. Xing fiercely and hurriedly knelt down to thank him.
After Zhu Yuanzhang signaled him to stand up, he praised his achievements in public and named him Uncle Xinyi, in charge of an army alone.
Emperor Xie was already very angry. When he saw Zhu Yuanzhang awarding Li Chengdong a reward, he thought he was going to deal with the Xing family, so he immediately launched an attack on Gao Jie and the Xing family.
Gao Jie also thought his life was in danger, so he immediately retorted.
Although Xie Sheng and Xing tried their best to dissuade him, he still revealed a lot of secrets during their criticism, and even revealed his plans to release Ma Chongxi privately, which surprised Shi Kefa and others on the side.
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the heat had come and that if the riot continued, he might not be able to convince the crowd if he did not kill Gao Jie and Xie Bi, so he shouted to stop them and used the words of Xing Shi and Xie Sheng to lay some charges on them. On the confidants of both sides.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to kill all these people alive, he knew that if he killed all these people, not only would the morale of the army be unstable, but the combat effectiveness would also be greatly weakened.
Therefore, he picked out five people who had committed the most heinous crimes and skinned them alive in public, and beheaded ten more people. The remaining people were either punished with sticks or fined and dealt with indiscriminately.
After Zhu Yuanzhang finished dealing with these people, he looked at Gao Jie, Xie Bi and others.
When they saw Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, they immediately lowered their heads and looked at the ground, while their bodies trembled slightly.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he knew that his goal had been achieved, but he still pretended to be angry.
At this time, he expected Shi Kefa to come forward to intercede, but he did not expect that Shi Kefa did not dare to speak at all.
In desperation, he had to signal Li Chengdong to come forward, but he never thought that Li Chengdong didn't understand what he meant.
Just when he was unable to dismount from the tiger, Zuo Xianmei on the side came forward to help him out. He then borrowed the donkey from the slope and severely reprimanded Gao Jie and Xie Bi, and then beat them with thirty military sticks.
Then he found an excuse to keep Xing and Xie Sheng in the city, and ordered Gao and Xie to go to war. They must capture Jinan within five days, otherwise they will be punished for several crimes.
After hearing this, Gao Jie and Xie Bi breathed a long sigh of relief. They did not dare to talk to Xing Shi and Xie Sheng anymore, so they limped out.
After Zhu Yuanzhang waited for them to leave, he appointed Cao Hu as the chief military officer and Zuo Xianmei as the lord of Wuchang County on the grounds that Cao Hu and Zuo Xianmei had made great contributions to the rescue.
As soon as he said this, there was a sound of surprise in the hall.
Especially Zuo Xianmei's expression changed several times, from joy to worry.
After Zhu Yuanzhang finished handling the matter, he summoned Shi Kefa and Shen Tingyang to the inner hall and gave a serious warning.
Although Shi and Shen were civil servants, they were also loyal ministers. After listening to his "heartfelt words", they immediately expressed that they would put the country first and be loyal to the Ming Dynasty forever.
Zhu Yuanzhang comforted them again and asked them to prepare for post-war reconstruction.
Then he summoned Li Ruolian alone. After being briefed on the matter, he asked Li Wu to take over the city defense duties, while Li Ruolian rushed to Huaxian overnight.
At this time, Yang Qi came to present a secret letter from Zhao Erhu and two memorials sent from the capital.
Zhu Yuanzhang first read Zhao Erhu's secret letter and saw that Zhang Huangyan not only occupied Linzi, but also teamed up with Ma Jinzhong to defeat Guo Sheng's troops, and he couldn't help but smile on his face.
Then he picked up one of the memorials and looked at it, and immediately frowned.
It turned out that this memorial was written by Wu Sangui. The memorial said that Sony sent someone to send him a message, saying that as long as they could quietly release Tong Tulai, the Jurchens were willing to return Ningyuan and other places.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and found that there was no memory of Tong Tulai in his mind, so he picked up the ticket again.
The cabinet's draft was written like a knife or an ax, and it was believed that the Ming Dynasty could never make a deal with the Jurchens, and Tong Tulai should be killed in public to boost the morale of the army.
Zhu Cixiang's voting plan was a bit vague. He neither agreed with the cabinet's opinions nor opposed Jurchen's proposal. He just talked about the pros and cons of each, and finally revealed his idea of exchanging Tong Tulai for Beinu.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang felt comforted after reading Zhu Cixiang's opinion.
Because as the king of a country, whether he wants land or people is a difficult problem.
What's more, the land involved now is a major military town, and domestic riots are rife. The court is short of money and food, and is unable to calm the people. Making a choice in this situation is even more difficult.
Some people died, but not completely...
