Chapter 329 Never Compromise
At noon in the morning, the area near Caishikou in the south of the outer city of Bianjing was under martial law, and many people gathered on both sides of the road.
This execution was publicized in advance. The previous execution of Feng Deguang by the retired emperor was not made public. This execution of an official was the first public execution of an official in decades.
For the common people, the execution of high-ranking officials is something they welcome.
Class hatred exists at all times.
If the people from the Five Cities Military Division had not searched everywhere this morning, there would probably be more people coming.
Just then, a group of men dressed as scholars came over.
"The execution ground is a restricted area, no trespassing is allowed!"
The alert soldiers rushed forward and stopped the group of people.
"Minister Peng died unjustly in the prison of the Ministry of Justice, and the reason has not yet been found out. How can we continue to execute the other gentlemen?"
The leading scholar had a righteous look on his face. He bowed towards the direction of the palace and said, "The Minister of Justice is a treacherous traitor who has eliminated dissidents. Your Majesty, your term has expired. We are scholars who have come to the capital to take the imperial examinations. We must not sit idly by and watch this happen."
After saying this, he continued to move forward, regardless of the soldiers' swords and spears, with a spirit of "I will go forward even if there are thousands of people against me".
The soldiers armed with swords and spears were forced to retreat step by step.
They were just ordinary runners of the Ministry of Justice. If they hurt these scholars, they would be in big trouble.
"what happened?"
The captain in the distance hurried over.
A soldier stepped forward and told the captain about the situation.
The captain looked at this group of scholars and felt a headache. He thought for a moment and said, "Ignore them for now. I will go and report to the adults!"
He is just a small-time captain and cannot afford to take responsibility for any problems that might arise. He should just leave it to the officials above to deal with the problem.
With a captain in charge, the soldiers no longer cared about those scholars.
Dozens of scholars walked up to the guillotine built in the center of the entrance and sat cross-legged.
…………
Yan Kuan led a group of officials in a car and walked in front, followed by four prisoner cars, carrying four officials to the execution ground.
As the carriage was moving, it suddenly stopped.
"What's going on?" Yan Kuan lifted the car curtain and frowned.
"grown ups!"
The captain stepped forward and saluted, saying, "A group of scholars have come to the execution ground and are blocking the execution. I don't know how to deal with this, so I came to ask for your instructions!"
"Asshole!" Yan Kuan's face changed drastically upon hearing this, and he shouted, "Don't you know to stop the man?"
"Sir, those scholars are marching forward with swords and guns at their disposal. How dare I stop them?" said the captain with a bitter face.
"waste!"
Yan Kuan wanted to kill this captain. If he didn't stop the man and let him go, wouldn't it be more troublesome?
Zhao Xing didn't even care about Zhu Shiquan and insisted on executing these officials. If the execution could not go on as scheduled, Zhao Xing might have wanted to kill him.
Yan Kuan's face looked grim, his mind was working rapidly, thinking of a countermeasure.
It was already one quarter past noon, and it was definitely too late to go to the palace for instructions.
But he was also in a difficult position as those scholars were trying to stop him at all costs.
If he hurt those scholars, his reputation would be ruined.
But if the execution was delayed, Zhao Xing would not let him go.
After thinking for a moment, Yan Kuan gritted his teeth and said, "Go back immediately and arrest those scholars for interfering with the execution ground."
"Sir, there are quite a lot of scholars there, and they are very emotional. If we arrest them by force, there might be some injuries." The captain said in embarrassment.
Although he was just a small figure, he was not stupid. He was worried that if he really did what Yan Kuan said, he would be treated as a discarded pawn.
"Stop talking nonsense! When I arrive at the execution ground, if you don't get the person away, I will not forgive you!" After Yan Kuan said this, he lowered the curtain of the car.
Seeing this, the captain was helpless and could only go back to arrest the person.
When Yan Kuan arrived at the execution ground, the scholars had already been taken away.
Yan Kuan had the crimes of these officials read out in public, and nothing happened until the execution. When the knife fell, four heads fell to the ground, blood spurted out, and the onlookers cried out in surprise. Yan Kuan was in no mood to care about these things, and told the officials accompanying him to collect the bodies and deal with the aftermath, and then left the execution ground and went to the palace.
…………
Inside Longtu Pavilion
Zhao Xing looked at Yan Kuan who walked in with an anxious look on his face and waved his hand, saying, "I already know about the matter. You have done a good job."
Yan Kuan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, he knew that he had made the right bet.
But there is still a big problem.
Yan Kuan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, how do we deal with those scholars?"
"These scholars are all candidates for this special examination. How can they be qualified to take the imperial examination and become officials after breaking into the execution ground? All of them will be stripped of their titles and will never be employed again!" Zhao Xing said calmly.
Yan Kuan didn't expect Zhao Xing's attitude to be so firm, and was stunned when he heard it.
"how…"
Just as Zhao Xing was about to speak, a eunuch hurried in and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, hundreds of scholars are sitting quietly outside the palace gate, asking Your Majesty to remove the treacherous officials and rectify the government!"
"Eliminate the treacherous?"
Zhao Xing laughed in anger when he heard this, and looked at Yan Kuan and said, "My dear Yan, the treacherous person they are talking about is not you, right?"
Yan Kuan's forehead was covered with sweat, and he said anxiously: "I am doing everything according to your majesty's orders."
"Look how scared you are!" Zhao Xing said calmly, "Do you think I will compromise with them and abandon you to calm the storm?"
"I dare not." Yan Kuan lowered his head and said.
He did think so, but he didn't dare to admit it.
"Humph!" Zhao Xing snorted coldly: "You are a treacherous villain, so does that make me a tyrant?"
Zhao Xing was very angry now and wanted to kill all those people outside the palace.
He knew that many of these people were deceived, and the people behind the scenes did all this to force him to compromise.
Starting from the impeachment of Zhu Shiquan and his son, to the scholars going to the execution ground to stop the execution, including the scholars sitting at the palace gate to petition.
All of this was done to force him to compromise.
Even though Zhao Xing had killed those officials, these civil servants still wanted to force him to compromise.
As long as he compromises, the same thing will happen again if he does something in the future as long as the civil servants do not agree.
Because the civil servants already knew what he was afraid of.
"Send the order to Zhang Feng!"
Zhao Xing said coldly: "Those people outside the palace are blocking the palace gate and are suspected of attacking the palace. Capture them all!"
"Your Majesty, you can't do that."
Upon hearing this, Yan Kuan said anxiously: "If Your Majesty does this, I'm afraid you will lose the hearts of the scholars in the world!"
"Your Majesty, Minister Yan is right!" Zhang Qingzhi also advised: "If Your Majesty does this, the scholars who are taking the imperial examinations will be outraged and will probably not participate in the imperial examinations. Then the imperial examinations will become a joke!"
"My dear, what you said is a joke!"
Zhao Xing sneered, "Do you want me to compromise and ask them to participate in the imperial examination? Is this recruiting officials for the Song Dynasty, or is it looking for my ancestors?"
After saying this, Zhao Xing looked at Yan Kuan and said, "You are trying to stop me. Are you willing to go out and commit suicide so that they can retreat?"
“Your Majesty… Your Majesty…” Yan Kuan opened his mouth and lowered his head.
Zhao Xing looked at the two men and said, "I will not compromise on this matter. As for no one participating in the imperial examination, it is even more of a joke."
Zhu Yuanzhang had not killed enough officials, so he had to spare the lives of those criminals and let them handle official business temporarily.
Under such circumstances, there were still countless people who took the imperial examinations, hoping to become officials.
He simply took away those people's fame and removed their qualifications for reference.
I’m afraid the other scholars are too happy to even think about it.
After all, this way they will have fewer competitors.
This is human nature!
"Draft an imperial decree. Regardless of the results of this special examination, two hundred people will be admitted," said Zhao Xing.
(End of this chapter)