My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 587

"According to my decree, Li Shimian will be demoted to the position of censor of Jiaozhi Road, and he will review one prison case every day and submit it to the court!"

Zhu Gaochi finally announced the results of his treatment of Li Shimian, and then waved his sleeves and left Wuying Hall, not allowing Xia Yuanji and others to object anymore.

Xia Yuanji and others below were all blushing at this time, and they looked like they dared not speak out in anger. Even Zhu Zhanhe frowned and looked at Zhu Gaochi's leaving back, his eyes full of disappointment.

On the surface, Zhu Gaochi just demoted Li Shimian's official position, which did not seem to be a very serious punishment.

But the key lies in the last sentence. Zhu Gaochi asked Li Shimian to review one case every day and also report it. But now Li Shimian is seriously injured. Let alone reviewing the case and writing the case file, it is probably impossible to even sit up.

Li Shimian's injuries were caused by Zhu Gaochi's order. He knew this better than anyone else, but he actually wanted Li Shimian to review the case and write down the case file. This was simply forcing Li Shimian to death.

Zhu Zhanhe was now very disappointed, and for the first time he felt angry towards Zhu Gaochi. Even if Zhu Gaochi said forcefully that he had to kill Li Shimian today, it would still be much better than forcing people to death by destructive means like this. .

There was also silence in the main hall. Several ministers in the cabinet looked at each other. No one said anything, but they all saw a bit of anger in each other's eyes. After all, a scholar could not be killed. Zhu Gaochi's behavior was simply too much. Disappointing.

In the end, Zhu Zhanhe was the first to leave, and everyone else also left Wuying Hall. No one said a word from the beginning to the end.

It wasn't until after leaving the Wuying Palace that Xia Yuanji quickly caught up with Zhu Zhanhe and said, "Your Majesty, your Majesty is going to force Li Shimian to death. Do you have any countermeasures for this?"

"The emperor wants to die alone. There are so many ways. What can we ministers do?"

Zhu Zhanhe finally couldn't bear it anymore and immediately replied with an indignant look.

"A scholar cannot be killed or humiliated, your majesty...how did your majesty become like this?"

Xia Yuanji also said heartbrokenly at this time.

Zhu Zhanhe took a long breath at this time, forced himself to calm down, and finally said again: "Judging from the current situation, Li Shimian is probably dead. If he cannot review cases and write case files every day, by then Uncle Shi will definitely take the opportunity to attack and arrest him again. With his injuries, he will definitely die by then."

"Is there really nothing we can do?"

Xia Yuanji asked again with grief and anger on his face after hearing this. He really didn't want to see an official who was loyal to the Ming Dynasty die in Zhu Gaochi's hands like this.

"It's very difficult. All we can do now is try to delay Li Shimian's situation for as long as possible. There may be an unexpected turn of events."

Zhu Zhanhe sighed deeply as he spoke, shook his head and walked away.

Looking at Zhu Zhanhe's leaving figure, Xia Yuanji also sighed and did not pursue him again, because he knew that Zhu Zhanhe had already tried his best, and if he pursued him again, he would only make things difficult for him.

In prison, Li Shimian received medical treatment and rested for another night. Now he feels much better. Although his chest still hurts, it is at least bearable and he has not fallen into a coma again.

This made Li Shimian feel a little lucky. It seemed that his life was finally saved.

However, at this moment, a eunuch suddenly came to read the imperial edict, which made Li Shimian struggle up from the bed, and then knelt down to listen to the edict.The eunuch looked at the embarrassed Li Shimian and sneered, then unfolded the imperial edict in his hand and read out: "The emperor is destined to be transported by heaven, and he said: Li Shimian, the minister of Hanlin, spoke unobtrusively in the court, and the following offense..."

In the first half of the imperial edict, Li Shimian was scolded, and in the second part, Li Shimian's punishment was announced.

When he first heard that he was demoted, Li Shimian felt relieved. He even felt that although Zhu Gaochi had changed a lot, he was at least as kind as before.

But when Li Shimian heard that Zhu Gaochi had issued an imperial edict, forcing him to hear one case every day and to write the case file in his own handwriting and submit it, his face suddenly turned pale, not only because of his own life and death, but also because of his own life and death. Or because he was disappointed with Zhu Gaochi.

Even if Zhu Gaochi directly ordered him to be beheaded in public, Li Shimian admitted it. But now Zhu Gaochi clearly let him go, but deliberately planned to kill him. With such a small spirit and underhanded methods, how could he still look like a real person? An emperor?
"Li Yushi, take the order!"

The eunuch finally read the imperial edict and then sneered at Li Shimian.

"I...accept the order!"

Li Shi reluctantly endured the grief in his heart and the severe pain in his chest, and reached out to receive the imperial edict. For him, this imperial edict was actually more like a reminder.

"Come here, let Li Yushi out of prison!"

The eunuch gave an order at this time, and someone immediately opened the cell door, but at this time Li Shimian could not even stand up, let alone walk out of the cell on his own.

In the end, two jailers could only drag Li Shimian out of the imperial prison.

Fortunately, Xia Yuanji and others had already arranged for someone to pick up Li Shimian at the gate of the imperial prison, and then sent him to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to take up his post.

Because Zhu Gaochi's imperial decree required Li Shimian to take office immediately without giving him any time to rest, he had to go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to take office before going home to rest.

But in the next few days, Li Shimian had to drag his injured body to the Metropolitan Procuratorate every day to hear the Jiaozhi case, and then handwritten the case file and handed it in. During this period, he vomited blood several times due to fatigue, which made everyone in the Metropolitan Procuratorate very intolerable. , but no one dared to help him.

After persisting for five days, Li Shimian's injury finally relapsed and he vomited blood and fell into coma again. Of course, he could no longer hear the case.

Faced with this situation, Xia Yuanji and others could no longer bear it and wrote letters to plead for Li Shimian. The cabinet even met with Zhu Gaochi collectively and asked him to let Li Shimian go.

However, Zhu Gaochi was determined to kill Li Shimian to scare the monkeys, so he rejected all the officials' pleas. The cabinet was even reprimanded by him and kicked out of Wuying Palace.

In the end, Zhu Gaochi arrested Li Shimian again and threw him into prison for his dereliction of duty.

Li Shimian's experience indeed frightened many officials. Many officials would unconsciously feel a sense of fear when facing Zhu Gaochi, but more officials became increasingly dissatisfied with Zhu Gaochi, especially the former The princelings were extremely disappointed with him.

Zhu Zhanhe couldn't bear it anymore, so he once again ordered the previous Qianhu to treat Li Shimian's injuries, and also asked someone to change Li Shimian to a clean cell. He also provided three meals a day. Let him rest in peace in prison to recuperate.

What Zhu Zhanhe did was quickly reported to Zhu Gaochi by people within Jinyiwei, so that afternoon, Zhu Zhanhe was summoned into the palace alone by Zhu Gaochi.

(End of this chapter)