"Your Majesty is serious, I just did my duty as a Ming Dynasty man!"
After Ruan Kangwen stood up, he said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I offended the remains of the soldiers a few days ago. I propose to use silver as an apology.
Now that all the remains of the soldiers have been disposed of, it is time for me to fulfill my promise. Please allow me! "
"Your Majesty, the common people have realized their mistake and are willing to use money to atone for their sins!"
"Your Majesty, these days when the civilians close their eyes, they see the figures of the soldiers who have been stepped on by the civilians. They seem to be angrily scolding the civilians.
Please, Your Majesty, give the grassroots a chance to atone for their sins, and ask the soldiers to let the grassroots go, woo woo..."
Sometimes herd mentality is important.
Ruan Kangwen knelt down, and the wealthy businessmen knelt down one after another. They all cried loudly, with snot and tears, which made people cry.
It’s hard to say whether he truly realizes his mistake, but he must be venting.
Officials are very confused. To kneel or not to kneel is a question.
Kneeling down means admitting that they have to pay money, but they don't know how much they will pay, but it will definitely not be less.
How much is their annual salary? Where do they get the money to compensate them?
It's not that they don't have money, it's that they have money and can't take it out. Maybe Jin Yiwei has found out, but Jin Yiwei said it and they said it themselves, that's two different things.
But if you don't kneel down, can the emperor understand that you didn't realize your mistake and let them clean up the battlefield a few more times?
After hesitating for a while, all the officials knelt down, but most of them remained silent.
Next came the tribute students of the Imperial College, 1,898 of them, and only one person did not kneel down.
This man's face was dull, and he stood out among the three thousand people kneeling in unison.
Chongzhen, Yuan Keli, Qin Liangyu and others behind him looked at this scene very curiously.
The standing man has a plump torso, erect eyebrows, thin and long eyes, and a red face with a beard, giving people a feeling of Guan Yu's rebirth.
In this case, one either has a clear conscience or is rebellious.
But as long as he is not a fool, even if his father is the chief minister of the dynasty or the Duke of the country, he still has to kneel down.
"Jianheng, what are you doing? Kneel down quickly. This is not the place for you to show your pride!"
"Kan Heng, don't be stupid, you will hurt us when the time comes!"
Several people around him shouted in low voices and pulled this person with their hands, but this person remained unmoved.
The guard in charge of guarding this person immediately stepped forward: "Your Majesty, this person's name is Yan Yingyuan, a native of Jiangyin, and a scholar of Jiangyin County in the Guichou Year.
Later, he took part in the provincial examinations of Shen Yin and Ding Si, but failed in both.
Although he was a scholar, he was familiar with military books and had excellent martial arts skills. He was recommended by the Changzhou Prefecture to the Imperial Academy, which was a tribute prison. "
"Yan Yingyuan?"
Suddenly hearing the name Yan Yingyuan, even though Chongzhen had experienced great storms in the past year, he almost screamed out in surprise at this moment.
One of the famous Jiangyin Three Dukes, his reputation was so great that he surpassed such powerful generals as Lu Xiangsheng and Cao Wenzhao.
In the first year of Hongguang in the Ming Dynasty (1645), he led 100,000 volunteers, faced with 240,000 slave cavalry and more than 200 heavy artillery, and trapped the isolated city of Jiangyin for 81 days.
Three kings and eighteen generals of Jiannu were beheaded, and 75,000 people died. This is known as Jiangyin Eighty-one Days in history.
There is no accurate record of Yan Yingyuan's birth and experience in history. It is only known that he was the envoy of Jiangyin, similar to the county police chief in later generations, and was of no good character.
If you entered the Imperial Academy as a tribute supervisor, it would be recorded in history, because if you want to enter the imperial court and become a high-ranking official, you must at least be a juren.
Chongzhen thought that based on his position in the history of Jiangyin combined with his age in the imperial examination, Yan Yingyuan should be only in his teens now. Unexpectedly, he was already in his twenties and was still in the Imperial College.
But why didn't he kneel?
As soon as this doubt arose, Jin Yiwei continued: "Your Majesty, Yan Yingyuan has not desecrated the bodies of his brothers once from the Luan River to now."
As soon as these words came out, Chongzhen's eyes lit up, and the others also looked sideways, wanting to see who this ruthless person named Yan Yingyuan really was.
"Why didn't you step on it?"
Everyone who was still looking at Yan Yingyuan suddenly screamed in their hearts. This question was really two hundred and five.
"You have to step on the corpses of soldiers who died fighting to protect us from foreign enemies. Are they still human beings? Besides, it's not like there's no road next to them, so why step on them?"
Damn it, you are noble, you are amazing... these words simply put them on the fire.
The people kneeling on one side had shameful expressions on their faces, and they greeted the eighteenth generation of ancestor Yan Yingyuan in their hearts.
Some people are secretly cruel in their hearts. When this matter is over, they will look for opportunities to kill him in the future. Why don't they just let a little scholar go as far as they want?
"Okay, okay, Yan Yingyuan, you are very, very good!"
Chongzhen was very satisfied and looked at the many officials and supervisors: "Look at you, you are either high officials of the dynasty, or you are the descendants of princes and princes.
His ethical knowledge is not as good as that of a scholar, and all the books of sages have been read in vain. "
Looking at the kneeling, silent and dark crowd of gentry and wealthy businessmen, Chongzhen had a smile on his lips. Didn't the money just come?
"Since you are all willing to use money to atone for your sins, I can't refute your good intentions. Let's follow the standards stated by Ruan Aiqing. What do you think?"
"I will obey His Majesty's will!"
At this moment, everyone has already sent greetings to all the eighteen generations of Ruan Kangwen's family.
"Since everyone agrees, let's disperse. If you want to stay here until the tomb is finished and pay homage to the soldiers, you can also go back to Beijing directly. You are free!"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I have something to say!"
As Chongzhen was about to leave, an official stopped him.
"Your Majesty, I don't know how many times I stepped on it, but even if I stepped on it two or three times, I don't have that much money. This, this..."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I am only a fifth-grade doctor, and my annual salary is only two hundred dan. Even if I don't eat or drink, I can't afford so much money.
Your Majesty, I know that I am wrong, but I am really powerless, wuwu..."
"Your Majesty, the students and others are all scholars, and most of their families are only well-off. Let alone thousands of taels, even dozens of taels cannot be spent.
Although the students know their mistakes and want to atone for their sins, they really have no choice! "
…
Looking at the officials and the people in the Imperial College who were crying for poverty, Chongzhen said coldly: "You were the ones who said they took the money to atone for your sins, and now you are the ones crying for poverty. What's the matter, is it fun to tease me?"
The crowd who were still sobbing fell silent for an instant and stopped the performance.
"Okay, I won't make it difficult for you. You can come up with your own method."
After waiting for a while, everyone remained silent. Chongzhen became angry: "What's the matter? You still want me to give you an idea?"
This is what everyone is waiting for. Although the method proposed by the emperor will make everyone dissatisfied, it is better than being dissatisfied and being resented by others, right?
"Your Majesty, please open Chrysostom!"
