Xu Jie raised his head and glanced at Zhu Yijun, then kowtowed: "Prisoner, please your Majesty to follow your heart when doing things!"
“For something, it’s not about whether you should do it, but whether you want to do it.”
"Your Majesty can even choose to do all this as a starting point for his own selfish desires, and put aside what Grand Master Zhang Wenzhenggong taught your Majesty to imitate the grand ideals of the Holy Lords of the past dynasties to govern the country and stabilize the country, and just ask , What you do makes you feel comfortable."
"Otherwise, all the ways to strengthen the country and enrich the people taught by Grand Master Zhang Wenzhenggong will be nothing but castles in the air."
"Your Majesty will easily slack off because of this. Even if His Majesty himself does not slack off, it is difficult to ensure that future generations will not slack off."
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun nodded: "You're right!"
Then, Zhu Yijun stood up and looked at Xu Jie: "So, I decided to give you the death penalty, even though you are trying your best to show me your value, let me see that you, Xu Jie, are more powerful than Mr. me, and also The cooperation in the Imperial College is very good.”
Xu Jie was startled, with a look of surprise on his face.
Then, Xu Jie asked: "In that case, the criminal would like to ask, can external expansion really bring harmony between His Majesty and the powerful bureaucrats of the Manchu Dynasty?!"
After saying that, Xu Jie said again: "In addition, Your Majesty, apart from the large amount of money overseas in the Japanese country, which can be used to annex domestic lands and exploit its own people, there are so many needs that Your Majesty still wants to kill criminals without using them. Do you want to exploit the wealth and profit?"
Zhu Yijun nodded: "Yes."
"impossible!"
"This is absolutely impossible!"
"Your Majesty, the criminals did not want the court and the people to gain profits, so they did not let the emperor know that the Japanese country was rich in silver. They even deliberately promoted the dangers of the sea to prevent the court and the powerful officials and gentry in the mainland from knowing the rich profits of the sea."
"But now the criminals naturally don't dare to hide it. Besides, His Majesty also knows that the profits of the sea are rich. Facts have proved that the dangers of the sea are not great."
"I'm sorry to tell you the truth. In fact, Japan is the only country with the most profit in the world. Secondly, as for Nanyang, it's only Luzon where there is money to be made. Other than that, it's Java and Managa."
“But further south there is a vast ocean with no continent.”
"In addition to several large islands in the Japanese country, the east is also a vast ocean!"
"And the west has long been carved up by the Western Yi, and according to the Western Yi, it is all barbaric and uncultivated land."
"To the north is the desert snowfield, which is so barren that the northern pirates have to go south to plunder it many times."
"Therefore, the Haili outside is not enough to support His Majesty in realizing ZTE by living in harmony with the powerful officials and gentry."
"Besides, if your Majesty really wants to revive the country, he will need more than just money. Essentially, he will also need more land to support more people. But there really isn't that much arable land overseas."
Xu Jie spoke excitedly, with a puzzled look on his face.
Zhu Yijun smiled at him and said: "You still don't know carefully enough after all, or maybe the Western Barbarians you came into contact with concealed it from you. The south of Nanyang is not a vast ocean, and the west of Jiaozhi is not a wilderness. Of course, regardless of external interests, For things that are profitable, even if we want to make money in the country, I have my own good laws. You are not the only one who knows how to smuggle goods, annex land and lend money to landowners and bureaucrats."
Xu Jie couldn't help but frown slightly, as if he didn't want to believe it, so he just said: "Your Majesty, what else did the Grand Master say to you?"
Zhu Yijun didn't care if Xu Jiexiang didn't believe it, and he didn't answer Xu Jie's question. He just said: "You are right, I need to be like the light, but there are things that cannot be forgiven by the law!"
"The bottom line of my inability to be lenient is that no one can betray the interests of the country! Including relatives of the emperor and elders and nobles; therefore, you Xu Huating must be executed. Who let you really be involved in smuggling and treason? Give the world an explanation and let them know that being a traitor to barbarians is the most heinous crime."
"As long as you are like Gao Gong and my husband, when you are in power, you preside over the opening and expansion of the sea, open the sea for trade, and even allow trade with Japan, and even put no restrictions on the goods traded with Japan. Ban, you will not be executed for smuggling into Japan now. But because you didn’t want to benefit the court, you didn’t choose to reform the system in this way. In this way, you can only bear the price of not doing so.”
Although the opening of the sea presided over by Gao Gong when he was in power only brought an increase of 10,000 to 20,000 taels of tax and silver income to the Ming court from the coastal officials and gentry, at least it was really for the benefit of the country and ensured that the navy in Fujian waters had certain qualifications. There is no problem with combat effectiveness, and it is better than someone like Xu Jie who is not even willing to give up one to twenty thousand taels to fight for the court.
After Xu Jie heard what Zhu Yijun said, he sobbed: "It's too late for the criminal to regret it!"
Soon after, Zhu Yijun asked the Imperial Guard to make an objective description of Xu Jie's personal merits and demerits.
The imperial edict to deal with Xu Jie first affirmed his merits, then made clear his guilt, and then explained that considering his merits of protecting loyal people and bringing order out of chaos when he was in the temple and ensuring the smooth accession of the late emperor, it was decided to spare him. Ling Chi's capital punishment was changed to death, leaving his body intact.
As for the reason why Xu Jie was not spared the death penalty, he also gave a special explanation. It was because the first priority in governing a country is to strengthen the country, and the first crime is treason, and it is even worse than treason. Therefore, he must be executed and serve as a warning to others.
Xu Pan, Xu Kun, and Xu Ying, Xu Jie's sons, were also sentenced to death for participating in smuggling and treason. However, because of Xu Jie's contribution to the country, they changed Ling Chi's sentence to execution.
Xu Jie's grandson Xu Youqing was sentenced to exile in Dongfan because he did not know about it and thought of his grandfather Fu Bi's meritorious service.
The Xu Zhi clan, Xu Jie's brothers, were exiled to Dongfan because they were not directly involved in the rebellion, and considering that Xu Jie had also contributed to the court, and Xu Zhi himself had contributed to the country.
Although Xu Jie himself already knew that Zhu Yijun still wanted to execute him, after hearing the content of the imperial edict for his death, he still choked and knelt down with sobs, and said: "The criminal has failed the country and deserves what he deserves."
When Xu Jie knelt down, the eunuch Zhang Jing asked someone to bring him a glass of poisonous wine: "Then please go on your way."
Xu Jie raised his head tremblingly, pursed his lips tightly, then stretched out his trembling hand to take the wine glass, and looked at Zhang Jing with his old eyes with thick bags under his eyes: "Father-in-law, does your Majesty have any other instructions? "
Zhang Jing said: "No."
After hearing this, Xu Jie pondered for a moment, then smiled bitterly, then put the wine glass to his lips, then closed his eyes and raised his neck, and swallowed the poisonous wine.
After swallowing, Xu Jie laughed again and said: "Uncle, my master is here to see you! You probably didn't expect that my master would come to see you so soon. There is no way, who told you to leave? . If I had known this, no matter what, I would have hoped that you would live a few more years!"
Not long after he said that, Xu Jie fell to the ground and started twitching. His face was extremely painful. He opened his mouth to speak, but he could only make a kaka sound. At the same time, he only used his own hands to grab the skirt of his chest. , and there was no movement.
Seeing this, Zhang Jing walked over and tried his breathing. After seeing that Xu Jie had died, he said to the officials sent by the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate who came with him: "You guys should try it too. Lest it be said that our family did not execute him seriously."
Officials from the Sanfa Department also came to take a breath, and they all nodded and admitted that Xu Jie had died.
Therefore, Xu Jie was sentenced to death in Jinyiwei's prison at the end of September in the tenth year of Wanli.
As for Xu Fan, Xu Kun, and Xu Ying, as well as the criminals who directly planned and executed the excavation of Zhang Juzheng's father's tomb, Zhou Hua, a slave of the Zhang family, monk Mingzhen, and Wang Rugong, a student, were taken to the execution ground and executed.
"Father, how could this happen? Jiang Ling is dead. Not only can my son not be able to return to his hometown, but he will also be beheaded!"
Before being beheaded, Xu Fan looked up to the sky and asked in pain.
Xu Kun also looked at Xu Ying in confusion: "Third brother, you should know why this is happening. It stands to reason that we tycoons who monopolize Haili will not be found out by the court."
Xu Ying said with a mournful face: "Second brother, you don't know, people have been eyeing us for a long time, so much so that they have turned the ninth sister into theirs. They are just waiting for Jiang Ling to die so they can attack us."
Xu Kun couldn't help but show his teeth after hearing this, but he didn't dare to say anything.
"cut!"
When the time came, the beheading officer threw down the token, and the three of them, as well as Mingzhen, Zhou Hua, and Wang Rugong, were all beheaded.
