Chapter 123
"Where is Lin Ran?"
The Queen Mother has been reporting the whereabouts of Jin Wu's guards since she took Jin Wu out of the palace. She felt that given her prince's love for Lu Desheng, Lu Desheng must be included in the list of people buried with him! She had been waiting for that moment to come.
But when she heard Jin Wuwei knocking on the door of Cheng'en Palace, she suspected that she had heard wrongly, "Where did you say Lin Ran was?"
The little eunuch who replied said tremblingly, "Because of the Queen Mother, Commander Jinwu Lin Ranlin and Jinwu Guards arrived at Duke Cheng'en's house."
The Queen Mother felt dizzy. What did the emperor want to do? Who is he going to kill?
"Immediately set up a royal palace for the Ai family! Hurry!"
Unexpectedly, the Queen Mother's Yi Jia hurriedly arrived at Yuqian Palace, and was about to go to Emperor Kangcheng's palace when he was stopped by Wei Zili.
The Queen Mother scolded, "How outrageous! Give the Ai family a break!"
Wei Zili was unmoved and did not get out of the way, "Empress Dowager, the emperor has said that no one will be seen."
When he said this, all the Jin Wu guards guarding Yuqian Palace looked towards the Queen Mother with sharp eyes.
The Queen Mother probably realized something, and she shouted inside, "Your Majesty, you can't do this, he is your uncle!"
Emperor Kang Cheng, who had just vomited blood inside, sneered. His mother knew very well. She didn't know the list of burials at all, but as soon as Jin Wuwei went to Cheng'en Palace, she guessed that something was going to happen to her brother.
He also received the news from Lin Rangang. At that time, he had just come out of Xie's house. According to their speed, he had just arrived at Cheng'en Palace now, right?
Cheng'en Palace
After hearing the imperial uncle's decree that the emperor's nephew should be buried with him, he hugged the pillar and cried bitterly, refusing to die generously.
Lin Ran looked at the time and decided to give one last persuasion. If he didn't listen, he would have someone take action. "Uncle Guo, please choose one and then go on the road. Don't force us to take action. Save some dignity for yourself."
Uncle Guo hugged the pillar and cried till he was full of snot and tears, "Sister, save me and ask my nephew to let me go. I don't want to die yet!"
Sheng Huaixing shook his head at the side, why did he do it in the first place if he had known it would happen today? The sentence in the edict, "I am very relieved to find an immortal to make elixirs for me," reveals the key to his misfortune.
"Do it!" Lin Ran ordered. From the moment they stepped into Duke Chengen's mansion, Peng Yong had already sent someone to report to the palace. If the emperor wanted to release people, someone would have stopped them long ago after such a long delay. Since no one has come, the meaning is obvious.
As a result, the dignified uncle was strangled to death by Jin Wuwei.
"Let's go to the next house!"
Jin Wuwei went to three houses in just one hour. The officials in Chang'an City suddenly became silent. When they learned that the emperor's uncle was taken away before his grand visit, they lost their temper and silently said in their hearts. Pray that Jinwuwei will not come to their house tonight!
You know, the ministers were still intensively discussing which prince to support as the crown prince.
They must know that when the emperor dies, they will be buried with him. They will not secretly look forward to the emperor's death. They will definitely hope that he will live a long life, no, long live.
The Zhao family paid careful attention to Zhi Jinwu's movements, fearing that they would come towards the Zhao family.
Yanfu
"The Emperor is entrusted with the destiny of heaven, and the edict says that Yushi Yanhua is a man of integrity and resolute in establishing the dynasty. He takes it as his own duty to impeach and inspect hundreds of officials. He is not afraid of the powerful and speaks out to give advice. I am very pleased with him, and I have given him a special gift to be buried with him! I admire this!"
Yan Hua listened numbly. Even if the emperor's edict praised him as a flower, it would not change the fact that he was going to take him away. He was going to be buried with the emperor!
"Why?"
Seeing him like this, Sheng Huaixing explained kindly, "Sir Yan, the emperor is about to have a grand event, so he cannot do without a censor."
"Then he can ask Lu Desheng to go down and accompany him!" Yan Hua shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Master Yan, be careful what you say! Now that the matter has come to this, please think more about your descendants and their families. We are not the only ones visiting the Yan family tonight." In order to let him die, Sheng Huaixing had to say one more thing, "Master Yan, please . We still have important things to do, so we can’t waste any more time."
When the Yan family heard what he said, they felt less sad for no reason. What's going on? Yes, the Yan family is not the most unlucky. The Xue family, the Xie family and even the Cheng'en family in front have all obeyed. Can the Yan family still resist?
Coming out of Yan's house, Lin Ran looked at him.
"Commander, why are you looking at me like this?"
"You didn't say anything when you were at Xie's house."
Sheng Huai
Then, they visited nearly ten more families.
Sheng Huaixing finally understood that the person who wrote the edict was really a pro-hero. For these ministers who were to be buried with him, the order was given to those who were guilty, their crimes would be counted, and then they would be sentenced to death; if they were not guilty, they would be praised in various ways, saying that they were so useful, and the emperor wanted to take them away, bring them underground for further use, and then give them to them. die.
After carrying out official duties that night, he felt shadowed by the emperor's praise. It is estimated that the group of ministers had the same idea when they heard the edict: Your Majesty, stop praising, stop praising, can we stop praising you? Just don’t die.
The emperor even gave death to a favorite, whose status was second only to Lu Desheng.
The reason the emperor gave for granting death was that he wanted someone caring.
As soon as these words came out, it was like a bolt from the blue for the favored minister. The other party said directly that they are all favorites. Why do you treat them differently, Your Majesty?
The commander told him that the emperor actually hated him for being loose-mouthed and secretly revealing the things around him.
Each time they completed one, they checked a box off their list and moved on to the next one.
That night in Chang'an City, they killed many people.
Later, someone counted the ministers who were buried with them that night and found that the ministers of their dynasty were very embarrassed. It was very difficult to be the ministers of Emperor Kang Cheng. If they were too bad, they would be taken away. If they were too good, they would be taken away. will also be taken away.
In the Yuqian Palace, Emperor Kangcheng stayed up all night. He counted the ministers who had been dealt with: Xue Huaimin, the Secretary of the Central Committee, Xie Mingtang, the Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel, and others, Peng Yong, the uncle of the country, Yanhua, the censor, Chen Bingguang, the prince's tutor, Liu Shujie, the favorite minister...
Just the last one left.
He had done everything he had to do, and if there was anything he missed, he could only leave it to his descendants to solve. he thought with a sigh.
This time he attacked almost everyone equally. Those who felt threatened would take away one or two people from each family. He just wanted to cut off the wings of some people, especially those from big families, not to force them to rebel and cause turmoil in the dynasty. He doesn't worry about scarcity, but worries about inequality. He feels that there is nothing wrong with his approach.
Indeed, as Emperor Kang Cheng expected, those officials and officials who were patronized by Jinwu Guards that night went out to inquire and found that Emperor Kang Cheng's attack was a bit broad this time, and then suddenly they were not so sad. Why?
Did you have a hand cut off? I had a leg cut off.
Your head was taken off. My stomach is gone.
Everyone has a loss? It's okay, you can still be alive and recover slowly.
Only Xie Zhan, listening to his confidant's reply, guessed the emperor's intention. Those ministers who were buried with him also knew it well and thought that the praise of the edict was true praise. That was a real crime and should not be announced!
He couldn't help but sigh, the emperor's balance was really good.
Lu Songli also lamented Emperor Kang Cheng's imperial scheming, and felt that he must be awarded a Duan Shui Master as a lifetime achievement award to be worthy of his hand.
In Yuqian Palace, Emperor Kang Cheng put down the list in his hand and slowly stretched out his hand to Wei Zili who was standing aside, "Bring it here."
"Your Majesty, do you really want it?" Wei Zili's eyes were filled with tears.
"Um."
Emperor Kang Cheng looked at the nine pills in his hand, then drank them, lay back on the dragon bed, and closed his eyes.
A quarter of an hour later, when the rays of the early winter sun broke through the clouds and mist, the dragon bell rang through Chang'an City: Dang-dang-dang...
Almost everyone in Chang'an City had experienced a thrilling night. At this moment, everyone felt what a coincidence when they heard the bells ringing.
Lu Songli also heard the nine tolls of the dragon bell. She stood up and looked in the direction of the palace. Live when you are alive and die when you are dead. Song Zhi, you are truly worthy of being an emperor.
