"Your Majesty, it's cold and damp here. Can you please ask Mr. Gu to come out and allow me to make arrangements?"
Mao Yuwen really felt that it was not a good idea to bring the emperor to such a place, but the emperor insisted so, and he had no choice.
"Open the door."
Zhu Houzhao was unmoved and ordered.
Gu Zuo, who was in the cell, also spoke up, "Your Majesty, Deputy Envoy Mao is right. How could your Majesty, the most noble one, come to such a miserable place? I sincerely ask your Majesty not to step into this place!"
Zhu Houzhao sighed. He didn't want to embarrass Gu Zuo, so he ordered: "Bring a chair over."
This was considered a compromise, the two of them stopped talking.
In fact, the emperor had a thousand words in his mind on the way here, but at this moment, he suddenly didn't know where to start.
The government was really bothering him, so he didn't really want to say it; he didn't want to say such pretentious things as arresting him and coming in to protect him.
In the end, it was Gu Zuo who spoke first.
"...Your Majesty, I have committed a serious crime and am willing to be punished. However, on my way back to Beijing from Yangzhou, I met three young talents. I heard that they are not ordinary stiff scholars. The guilty... I have betrayed your majesty's trust, but I still want to recommend talented people to the country, and I hope your Majesty will allow it."
Zhu Houzhao looked at this person quietly.
He was thinking that if everything Gu Zuo was faking, then he was faking it too much.
In fact, he doesn't care much about the so-called talented people. The country does not lack talented people, but what it lacks is the ability to make good use of them. If everyone is framed and thrown into prison, it will be useless no matter how many talented people there are.
So he wanted to say something else.
So after a long time, I finally came up with a sentence:
"...I know that you are not greedy for money."
Gu Zuo's eyes froze. No matter how calm he was before, he couldn't help crying loudly. It could be said that tears and runny nose came down together, and he shouted with a loud voice: Your Majesty! "
Zhu Houzhao tried his best to open his eyes. He also wanted to cry, but he held it back, "But I doubted you. I won't lie to you. Because there are not many officials in the Ming Dynasty who really didn't reach out. The Lianghuai Transportation Department in Yangzhou The yamen also supports a group of corrupt officials. I am really afraid that you will take the money, and then I will not know how to deal with you."
"Your Majesty's kindness to me is as heavy as Mount Tai, and I will never be able to repay it even if I die!"
"Gu Liqing, let's not talk nonsense today. This is not the Qianqing Palace, let alone the court. We, the monarchs and ministers, also avoid some false etiquette. I can tell you now, I will not kill you, let alone ask for it. If you die, you will be indispensable for the reform of the Salt Law, the rise of maritime trade, and the construction of the capital. I will be of great use to you."
Gu Zuo had this confidence in his earliest days, but no matter how strong his confidence was, he would actually doubt himself if he was locked up here for so long. So now that he heard what the emperor said, he was extremely excited.
"Your Majesty! The guilty minister is willing to follow Your Majesty, revive the Ming Dynasty, and create a great prosperous age for the people of the world! The guilty minister has been thinking about sea trade in prison, thinking about the word economy that Your Majesty said, and all kinds of thoughts in his mind It has been compiled into a book and will be presented to His Majesty for his inspection upon completion!"
"Okay, I'll wait for you to finish writing." Zhu Houzhao felt more comfortable, "You may not know it when you are locked in. I have ordered to investigate the disadvantages of the salt class. The difficulty is as originally expected, and there are many resistances. These resistances forced My methods were a little more drastic, and the old officials in the court could not help but think that I was mean, ungrateful, and unreasonable, and even missed the late emperor."
"Does your Majesty regret it?"
"regret?"
"When I first went to Yangzhou, I also thought about whether I would offend so many people. Later, when I saw with my own eyes the prevalence of illegal salt sales and the poverty of kitchen households, I knew that some people must be offended."
Zhu Houzhao nodded thoughtfully, "If you don't offend them, you will offend the people of the world. If you don't cut off their heads, people everywhere will cut off the heads of the imperial court in the future."
Gu Zuo took a deep look at the Emperor. In fact, in his impression, nothing and no one could stop the Emperor's will. But at this moment he felt shaken.
presumably,
The disadvantages of salt class must be great resistance.
Or there may have been bizarre events that the emperor himself could not have imagined.
From these events, the emperor felt great opposition.
"Your Majesty, the dragon's body is important, and we must pay attention to saving labor."
Zhu Houzhao actually felt a lot more relaxed in his heart, but it was also because of the relaxation that he felt a little tired and a little lack of energy. But because he was young, it didn't matter.
…
…
On the other side,
In fact... there is going to be chaos in the palace.
Liu Jin captured the Taoist Priest and Wu Qing, and You Zhi captured Zheng Zhou and the palace maid Chun He. After getting the emperor's approval, they demonstrated what the "eunuch's perversion" was, and treated the four of them with almost inhuman means. People used all kinds of soldering irons and stickers, and even took dozens of needles and stuffed them into their fingernails one by one.
Zhu Houzhao never said anything about putting an end to torture. Although torture was a bit cruel, it could still serve as a deterrent.
And Wan Shenyuan also changed from a fat white man with a rich face to a bloody steamed bun. The blood on his fingers flowed down bit by bit along the needle.
If the amount is small, it will not die, and life will definitely be worse than death.
"Ancestor... please spare this slave... ugh..." He was really crying and shouting as he spoke,
"change."
If you still can’t do it, use the needle inserted in the nail.
"ah!
ah!
ah!
"
The screams of pain were a bit sad, because there was less torture in the palace, and some of the eunuchs nearby turned pale.
How can we still treat people as human beings...
"Take off his shoes." Liu Jin looked very calm, "There are still toes. If you don't move them, they will be full."
"Ancestor! Ancestor!" Wan Shenyuan was so frightened that he lost his mind. "Ancestor, I beg you, please kill me, kill me..."
"They will kill you. But if you want to die so early, you are thinking too well. Hurry up," Liu Jin urged the people beside him, "If you wait any longer, we will tie you up too!"
Wan Shenyuan was tortured so much that he actually knew that he was going to die.
Since it is all death, why should we suffer this kind of sin? Seeing that the needle was getting closer and closer to his toes, he couldn't bear it anymore.
"Old Ancestor... Wu," Wanshen Yuanren seemed to be disintegrating, and his words were filled with tears, "Oh... I'm here to help you, can't you do it..."
"Told me earlier, why did I have to suffer so much?" Liu Jin curled her lips and pointed at the person next to her, "Make a record."
After waiting for a while, Liu Jin continued, "Let me ask you first, how did you come into contact with Wu Qing, how did you get to know each other, and how did we recommend you to Yongshou Palace to practice?"
Wan Shenyuan endured extreme pain and explained bit by bit, "I asked someone to send a message to him to tell him that my Taoism is profound."
"Is it really profound?"
"This slave really likes the skills of Buddha and Lao Lao."
"Why did you ask someone to deliver the message? Who did you ask?"
"It's not...not a slave, but...it's Eunuch Huo from Shangbao Prison."
"Hoppin? What does he want to do?"
By this time, he was dead anyway. Wan Shenyuan just wanted to die quickly, so he spoke more smoothly, "Eunuch Huo said... The slave is related to the Salt Lesson. Sooner or later, he will inevitably die. Only Only by finding a way to gain His Majesty's trust and benevolence through Taoist and spiritual techniques can we escape. It happened that two nobles in the palace were worshiping God and asking for a son, so he gave this slave an idea."
"You have gained His Majesty's trust. What good will it do to him?"
"Eunuch Huo also has... He also has money from the salt merchant. Also, he said that after I gain His Majesty's trust, I will give him more good words. In the future... even if I can't get into the Li Jian, I can still go to the Royal Horse Jian or the Royal Horse Jian. Internal officials and prisons. The palace needs to support each other, so..."
"So you agreed to him." Liu Jin smiled disdainfully, "You are very generous. Who else besides Huo Ping?"
Asked here, Wan Shenyuan's face began to turn miserable again.
"explain!"
The stern voice trembled with fright, "And... there are also the three father-in-laws Wu, Xie and Shang who are beside Eunuch Huo,"
"continue."
"Zhou Yuan and Yang Ning from the needlework bureau, Xu Xianting, Zhong Yifu, and Lu Gong from the silversmith bureau, Zheng Zhou from the food supervisor, Deng Qun from the hunchang department..."
…
Wow!
"Open the door!"
Wan Shenyuan's explanation also indicates that many people's doors will be knocked open. In fact, when the emperor was furious in the Yongshou Palace, many people were already frightened and panicked!
"Spare your life! Your Majesty, please spare your life!"
The arrested people didn't have the time to listen to this. They all behaved violently, kicking down doors and overturning tables.
"Capture them! Capture them all!"
This trend of rectification of salt classes was not only spread in Yangzhou, but also in the capital, outside the palace, and inside the palace. The purpose was to let everyone know that anyone who tries to play tricks on the emperor in this matter will not do anything!
Among these people, Zheng Zhou is somewhat key, and You Zhi is also torturing him.
"Is it Zou Cheng?!"
If others are greedy for money and want to climb up. Zheng Zhou's crime of colluding with foreign officials was even greater. Some people were just greedy for money and money. The emperor might not necessarily kill them all. He could also order them to spit out the money and then let them spend the rest of their lives in a bitter and cold place. But Zheng Zhou was obviously different.
"Eunuch You, he fainted."
You Zhi stood up and scratched his head, "Waking him up!"
It was also at this time that Han Ziren, the deputy envoy of Jinyiwei, left the capital for Yangzhou in advance.
If the strength inside and outside the capital was like this, he would not be able to cause any trouble in Yangzhou, at least not in the internal defense department.
