Zhao Xuan agreed without hesitation and immediately ordered his guards to fetch water.
When the ministers heard this, they started making noise again. Zhu Qiyu turned a deaf ear and instead smiled at the ministers and said, "You should hurry up and accept the order to thank me."
When the minister heard this, he cursed in his heart: Are we crazy? We still receive orders to thank you. Is it okay to have a basin of well water poured on my head on a cold day?
Cheng Jing was also very bitter in his heart. For doing such an offending thing, a bunch of civil and military ministers would hate him in the future.
However, no one could escape what was coming, and the big kitchen well was not far away. Soon, basins of cool and sweet well water were given to the ministers.
It was already autumn. The ministers were first soaked by the cool well water, and then were blown by the bleak autumn wind. It was really miserable.
Zhu Qiyu didn't say anything, and just drank there by himself.
Hu Hui couldn't stand it anymore. If this continued, most of the civil servants would be sick from the cold, so he came closer and said: "Your Highness, all the officials also hate Wang Zhen deeply, and the crowd is very excited. Please also ask Your Highness, please be considerate and let them go back and change their clothes first, otherwise they will all get cold and the court will be paralyzed."
Zhu Qiyu asked with a surprised look on his face: "Can you please be a little considerate? My old minister, are you blind? They wanted to kill the prince just now, couldn't you see it?"
Hu Xi retorted: "Your Highness Mingjian, they did not intend to kill the prince, they were just excited and failed to control their emotions."
Zhu Qiyu heard this and sneered: "They didn't want to kill the prince? Then what did they do when they rushed towards me in a swarm?
Old Minister, please don't tell me that they want to snatch the soy beef from others because they didn't have breakfast? "
Hu Xi was choked by Zhu Qiyu and was speechless, although everyone knew that the minister would never be crazy enough to kill the prince in broad daylight. But Zhu Qiyu just took advantage of the ministers and insisted on putting the blame on the ministers for killing the prince.
If the ministers do not give Zhu Qiyu enough benefits, things today will obviously not be rectified.
Before Hu Xi could continue speaking, Zhu Qiyu asked again: "Old Minister has been in charge of the Ministry of Etiquette for so many years. Xiao Wang wants to ask for advice. Dare he ask what position Ma Shun currently holds and what his official rank is? I would like to ask Old Minister to give me some advice."
Hu Xi replied bravely: "Ma Shun is a general commander and a second-grade military attaché."
Zhu Qiyu smiled when he heard this and said: "Oh, thank you, Old Minister, for your advice. I still want to know what the crime of killing a second-grade military attache in public without trial is and what kind of punishment he should receive.
Is the Minister of Dali Temple here? I wonder if you would like to teach a few people? "
Yu Shiyue, the minister of Dali Temple, had no choice but to stand up and replied helplessly: "Killing must be punished with death."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Qiyu retorted: "The crime shouldn't be so light. Before Ma Shun died, he was fulfilling his duty as the chief officer of the Jinyi Guard to protect the prince, the prisoner of the country.
By beating him to death at this time, the rebels were killing the prince's guards in order to further harm the prince. If this was not considered treason, then what other crime could be considered treason?
Whoever was the principal culprit in killing Ma Shun just now, and whoever was the accomplice in killing Ma Shun, please take the initiative to come forward and plead guilty. "
Hu Hui heard this and advised: "Your Highness, the law does not rule the crowd, so many ministers are involved, you can't just confiscate their homes and exterminate them all. Now that the country is in dire straits, please put the overall situation first."
When Zhu Qiyu heard this, he immediately got off the slope and smiled at Hu Hui: "What the old minister said is really a wise way to plan for the country. If so many people are killed, the court will indeed be paralyzed. But you can't do this, I am a widower. You must put the overall situation first.”
After hearing this, a group of important ministers were about to shout that His Highness was wise when they heard Zhu Qiyu add: "Then let ten families pay for one life. I will confiscate the houses of the ten principal criminals who killed Ma Shun for treason."
The remaining accomplices will be fined one year, recorded a major demerit, and will not be promoted for three years.
Now please ask the ten principal criminals to come forward themselves. I hope you will be more sensible and take the initiative to stand up and plead guilty. If you have to force me to torture, it will be disrespectful. "
As soon as Zhu Qiyu finished speaking, there was total silence below, and you could hear a needle drop.
None of the ministers who are qualified to go to court are fools. Just because Zhu Qiyu brought so many personal guards to go to court, it is obvious that he is determined to kill people and establish his authority.
It was just the deep-rooted contempt for King Xin that made the ministers lose their minds, and they were finally caught.
At this time, the ministers no longer dared to rush over and make noise to Zhu Qiyu.
While waiting for the minister to surrender, Zhu Qiyu ordered Liu Chang to arrange the execution ground.
The execution ground was easy to arrange: torture instruments were easy to find and execution was convenient.
Because Zhu Qiyu chose the most commonly used method by Emperor Jiajing: the imperial staff.
Jiajing was originally Zhu Qiyu's descendant, but now he became Zhu Qiyu's master.
Zhu Qiyu's principle of doing things is very simple: don't make decisions when encountering difficulties, and learn from Jiajing.
As a vassal king, if you want to succeed to the throne, you will definitely not succeed if you don't learn to use the imperial staff.
What people fear most is being smart. Jiajing has already practiced the true knowledge. Now Zhu Qiyu only needs to follow him honestly.
After Zhu Qiyu had a stalemate with a group of civil and military ministers for less than half an hour, Wang Hong took the lead to stand up and admitted that he was the main culprit in beating Ma Shun to death.
Wang Hong was willing to take the initiative because he was the one who made the first move and could not escape no matter what. Now all the ministers are shivering in the cold wind. If there is no better understanding of the matter, more people will be killed and injured.
So it is better to take the initiative to stand up and at least die with dignity and leave a famous name for a lifetime.
When Zhu Qiyu saw the first one, he smiled and said: "Okay, there are still nine left. Zhao Xuan, go and give each adult a basin of well water to help them sober up and figure out who the main culprit is. .”
Zhu Qiyu turned to Yu Shiyue: "After all the principal criminals plead guilty, Dali Temple will be asked to join the Ministry of Punishment and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to take confessions on the spot and convict them on the spot.
I approved the decision on the spot, completed the process, and then executed him on the spot. "
After saying that, Zhu Qiyu leaned on the chair and closed his eyes without saying a word. He just told the personal guards to give the minister a basin of well water every half an hour until all ten principal criminals confessed.
The entire confrontation lasted until the afternoon, and in the end ten Kedao officials led by Wang Hong resisted.
Since you voluntarily plead guilty, the process of the three-party trial is relatively simple. Not long after, the confession was recorded, and the next step was the conviction.
Just when Zhu Qiyu was leaning on the chair and falling asleep, Yu Shiyue held a volume of documents and said, "Your Highness, the confession has been recorded.
This is the oral confession and the memorial from the Third Division. The memorial has written down the handling opinions of the Third Division. Please give your Highness your approval. "
