Wei Guogong Xu Hongji and other nobles looked horrified.
"What crime have we committed and why are we being taken care of?!"
Zhenyuan Marquis Gu Mingjiao also asked directly.
But Ma Xianglin didn't explain much. He just had these nobles forcibly put into prison cars and then taken to Xiaoling.
When Xu Hongji, Tang Xingzuo, Zhu Guobi, Gu Mingjiao and other Nanjing nobles were taken to Xiaoling, they were ordered to kneel in the open space in front of the Xiaoling gate.
A colorful shed has been built in advance on this open space. In the colorful shed, there are portraits of Xu Da, Tang He and other Ming heroes, and there are shrines to these heroes.
When these Nanjing nobles knelt on the open ground, they were also required to kneel in front of the portraits and shrines of these heroes.
The descendants of which hero will kneel behind that hero.
Then, other men from these noble families and the noble ladies who had been granted imperial titles were also summoned here by Zhu Youxiao to participate in the ceremony.
When these men and ladies saw their respective heads of family kneeling in front of the portraits and shrines of their ancestors, wearing prison clothes and being tied up with their hands behind their backs, they were naturally touched. They were scared and didn't know what to do.
Before long, the emperor began to appear and accept the worship of everyone present.
After everyone paid their respects, Emperor Zhu Youxiao personally paid homage to Taizu, placed incense on the shrines of all the heroes, and then asked Han Xu to read out the decree.
The general content of the edict is to report to Taizu and declare to all the meritorious officials. In order to maintain the imperial court and protect the noble clan of meritorious officials from being implicated by a few unworthy descendants to the point of becoming a rebel clan, he, the emperor, has to uphold it. Taizu wanted to maintain the imperial order and had to clean up the families of the heroes. He also said that if the heads of these noble families did anything illegal in the future, he, the emperor, would personally clean up the families for the heroes.
Of course, in the decree, Zhu Youxiao also listed a series of heinous crimes committed by these unworthy descendants, such as colluding with the vassal king, colluding with relatives, etc.
Zhu Youxiao's implication is that it's not that I don't tolerate your meritorious service, nor that I don't recognize your achievements, nor that I don't treat your meritorious family in a different light, either because I treat you too differently, or because I care too much, so I have to. Personally protect your family's interests and honor, and eradicate unscrupulous descendants from your family for the noble clan. As for the family property, it is only due to these unscrupulous descendants who have ruined the family. If you honestly do not speculate in food or go against the court, it will not matter. Will go bankrupt.
In order to let people who were loyal to Zhu Youxiao know that the emperor really cared about those who were loyal to him, Zhu Youxiao had to go through these processes and perform some such rituals.
After offering sacrifices to Taizu and announcing to the honorable ministers of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youxiao began to issue orders to execute the unworthy descendants of these meritorious families, and asked the officers and soldiers of Jinwei Town to execute their unworthy descendants in front of the portraits and shrines of these meritorious officials.
Xu Hongji and other Nanjing nobles did not expect that the emperor would execute them anyway, and he would execute them in front of their ancestors and Taizu.
They also said that they were cleaning up the family for their ancestors.
This makes these nobles very scared.
Xu Hongji lowered his head, gritted his teeth, and trembled all over.
He was angry and frightened. He did not expect that the emperor would execute him before he clearly wanted to rebel. He did not expect that the emperor would invite his ancestor Xu Da to come.
Xu Hongji dared not look at Xu Da's portrait now. He didn't know whether to cry and complain that the emperor was harsh to them, or to repent to his ancestors for not keeping the family business honestly and managing the family tradition.
"Father, are we really going to die? Does the Emperor refuse to spare us?"
Xu Wenjue, the eldest son of Wei Guogong, who was also about to be executed and the last Wei Guogong in history to surrender to the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, also asked Xu Hongji with trembling teeth.
Xu Hongji only nodded.
"My son doesn't want to die!"
Xu Wenjue shouted.
"I don't want to die, I am the Queen of Heroes!"
Tang Xingzuo shouted again at this time.
"It is precisely because you are the Queen of Heroes and what you have done is truly unworthy of those Ming Dynasty heroes who have made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty, I have to be cruel and clean up the family for them!"
Zhu Youxiao said something at this time.
"Your Majesty, I was wrong. I shouldn't have surrendered in fear of death when the rebels rebelled. I shouldn't have speculated on grain and went against the imperial court. I'm sorry for my ancestors and the imperial court, but I beg you to spare my life. In the future, I'm sorry. I must make changes and make up for my mistakes! Woohoo!”
Gu Mingjiao cried out in pain.
Zhu Youxiao only said: "Your ancestors, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, will not tolerate you, nor will they tolerate you, the incompetent nobles' children, who are so unsatisfactory. Just as they were alive, they would also fight for the sake of the family." Those who kill you because of Feng and strict discipline are even more ruthless than me!"
With that said, Zhu Youxiao ordered: "Clean the door immediately!"
"Start cleaning up the house for the noble clan!"
Ma Xianglin shouted and waved his hand.
The Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji, and the crown prince, Xu Wenjue, who were kneeling in front of Xu Da's portrait and shrine, were the first to be drawn.
Click!
Then, the Yulin Guards soldier in charge of the execution raised his knife and chopped off the heads of Xu Hongji and Xu Wenjue.
"I don't want to die!"
Click!
Lingbihou Tang Xingzuo and his eldest son were also hacked to death.
Click!
Funing Hou Zhu Guobi was also beheaded immediately.
"No, no, no!"
Just as Zhenyuan Marquis Gu Mingjiao shouted, he was also chopped down with a knife.
Click!
Click!
Click!
Dozens of Nanjing nobles were beheaded in front of Xiaoling Mausoleum and in front of their respective ancestors.
Many other people among these honorable nobles couldn't help but exclaimed or shed tears.
Zhu Youxiao executed their family head with thunderous means, which naturally made them feel sad, but it also gave them a great shock, making them feel strongly about the power of an emperor, and how no matter how good a family is, no matter what Better your own fate.
Next, Zhu Youxiao also asked Xiong Tingbi to read out such an edict to the people of these noble families, so as to tell these people how to manage their families.
And the people from these distinguished families all thanked him.
Because the emperor did this to protect them and punish their family before they participated in rebellion, so that their family honor in the Ming Dynasty could be preserved.
And if they wanted to continue to have status and reputation in the Ming Dynasty, they had to continue to ask the emperor to honor the descendants of these heroes.
Therefore, these distinguished families thanked him sensibly and personally expressed their willingness to straighten out their family tradition and set an example for famous families in the world.
Zhu Youxiao killed dozens of nobles in Nanjing in one go, which deprived some of the feudal princes who might have rebelled from the support of the nobles in Nanjing and prepared him for the next attack on the feudal princes.
However, the feudal princes did not know yet about the killing of the nobles in Nanjing.
Dou Ding told the nobles of Nanjing before that the vassal kings came to him in advance, so it was naturally a lie that Dongchang asked him to make up.
At this time, the vassal kings were still angry about the failure of the grain speculation, and had not yet thought of rebellion.
"Why did you lose! What does Dou Ding do for a living! Didn't my uncle say that he can bring tens of millions of wealth to me?! Can he even give me a chance to be on the Ninth Five-Year Plan?! Now not only does this allow me to The king lost so miserably that I owe the emperor a lot of debt!"
At this time, King Fu became furious because he had lost a lot of money and food.
"Your Majesty, according to the people below, the imperial court has sent people to Luoyang to collect debts. Now they want to take away more than 200 Henghe Grain Stores in Luoyang. These stores are clearly Ganghe Grain Stores. The shop actually belongs to our palace, what should we do now, please tell me, should we just hand it over to the court?"
At this time, Liu Bizu, the eunuch of the royal palace, hurriedly came to King Fu to report to him that Li Zhizao, Lu Xiangsheng and others came to Luoyang to collect debts.
King Fu became even more depressed after hearing this.
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