Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 356 Traitor, I will beat you to death!

Chen Shiding did not expect that His Majesty Zhu Youjian would still let him die.

This made Chen Shiding very angry. He had given up his dignity and betrayed his comrades in the hope of surviving.

But now Zhu Youjian still won't give him a chance to live, and he can only beg again.

Zhu Youjian sneered, he knew that although Chen Shiding and others looked like Qingliu in the Imperial Academy and standard upright gentlemen, they were actually virtuous and scorpion-hearted people.

As the emperor, he uses power at this moment, and these people will naturally linger on and plead with him without a bottom line, but as long as he gives them a chance to survive, they will shamelessly flaunt how unyielding and unyielding they are, and even have words Desperately pouring dirty water on himself, the emperor, to achieve the purpose of showing his holiness.

A momentary hero like Emperor Yongle could not escape being framed by literati. Even the history of the Ming Dynasty did not record that Emperor Yongle punished ten clans and killed Fang Xiaoru, but it was exaggerated by literati to become the historical truth known to the public.

Zhu Youjian knew that no matter whether he killed civil officials like Chen Shiding or not, he would inevitably be splashed with dirty water. In this case, he might as well not treat these civil officials lightly. You have to compromise with these civil servants for your reputation.

"Thunder, rain and dew are all the grace of the king. I have given you to hang yourself, which is already extra tolerant to you, so there is no need to say any more!"

As soon as Zhu Youjian finished speaking, the crown prince Zhu Cihong hurried over and knelt down on the ground with a crying face: "Father, please spare Master Chen!"

"Who told you to come here!"

Zhu Youjian asked coldly, now that Zhu Cihong already has one, but the whole person is still not as calm as an emperor and prince heir should be. Now when he is quite dissatisfied with the princelings, he ran out frivolously to plead for mercy, which is enough to show that political wisdom is obvious It is not enough, but he still takes the risk of offending himself to intercede for these civil officials, which shows that these civil officials who are dissatisfied with him really have a close relationship with the prince.

In this way, these people have to be killed even more.

Prince Zhu Cihong obviously didn't notice the stern look on Zhu Youjian's face, and only replied: "It was Fang Daban who told the ministers, Father, Master Chen, Master Ye, what mistakes did they make, and it is worthy of your anger, Father , I will rely on them to ascend the throne in the future! I also ask my father not to kill them!"

Ruan Dayue and Wang Cheng'en couldn't help but have dark lines in their eyes, and they both sweated for Zhu Cihong. If Zhu Cihong only pleaded for mercy because Chen Shiding and others had taught him, at most it showed that his nature was pure and emotional, but now he directly said that he was pleading for them. He came out for the sake of his enthronement in the future. The implication is that he only thought of becoming the emperor in the future instead of obeying the king and seeking a long-term strategy for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian smiled back in anger at this time. He still had some feelings for Zhu Cihong. After all, he inherited Zhu Youjian's memory, but as the contradictions and estrangements between them deepened, now he and Zhu Cihong are like strangers , but now Zhu Cihong directly revealed that he wanted to inherit the Datong.

At this moment, Zhu Youjian, who has been the emperor for a long time, has a feeling that his own things are always being missed by others. He couldn't help asking Zhu Cihong: "Do you think that as long as I die, this great position will always be yours?"

Zhu Cihong nodded instinctively, but then shook his head and looked at Chen Shiding. Chen Shiding was also very depressed at this time, and he didn't know how to remind Zhu Cihong.

On the other hand, Zhu Cihong stood up with a strange heart, and was going to fight Ruan Dayue. According to what Master Donggong taught him, in his opinion, Ruan Dayue caused his current embarrassment, so he shouted directly: "It's all you This traitor killed you, and I will beat you to death!"

Ruan Dayue could only hide, after all Zhu Cihong was still His Highness the Crown Prince.

"Stop for me!"

Zhu Youjian roared.

Only then did Zhu Cihong walk back obediently: "Father! I don't have any other intentions, I just, I just don't want to."

"Enough! Don't talk about it, letting you be the prince is my biggest failure!" Zhu Youjian shouted loudly, and then hurriedly shouted to Wang Chengen: "Preparing the decree, the prince has no virtue and wisdom, mediocre qualifications, and repeatedly commits the following crimes. , I don’t understand the overall situation, I am naive, I don’t understand the filial piety of the emperor’s father, and I don’t have the clear way to appoint the virtuous, so I will depose the position of the prince, and the eunuch Zhan Shifang of the East Palace will die!”

Zhu Youjian's sudden decision made Wang Chengen quite horrified, and he quickly persuaded him: "Your Majesty, the position of the crown prince is very important, and it should not be deposed easily! Let us establish a heir and a son, and the crown prince has the right position. If he moves rashly now, I am afraid destabilize the community."

"Now there is no need for the Wanli period. He, Zhu Cihong, is the crown prince that civil servants want to establish, but I did not establish it. Now it is my world, not the world of civil officials. Why can't it be established or abolished? If you ask you to draw up a decree, just do it!"

Zhu Youjian's sudden decision to depose the prince at this time was not a real impulsive move. He already knew that the sign of his complete suppression of civil officials was not his massacre of civil officials, but the regaining of the power of the crown prince, which was only controlled by himself, the emperor. To have the right to choose an heir means that he has completely surpassed the constraints of the Confucian system of establishing a successor and establishing a head, and completely suppressed the interference of civil servants in imperial power.

In this way, civil servants who hoped to change their political structure and gain political benefits by changing the king completely lost the opportunity to reassess, because Zhu Youjian, the crown prince decided by the emperor himself, must be the prince who must agree with his own political opinions.

The prince he abolished now wanted to completely control Daming, and not give the civil servants the slightest chance to override the monarchy.

Although Wang Chengen, who was born in Neishutang, was an eunuch, he was also deeply influenced by Confucianism. At this time, it was really difficult for him to help Zhu Youjian make such a shocking move. When he was hesitating, Zhu Youjian also felt that he had no If it was necessary to embarrass Wang Chengen who had been with him for so long, he looked at Ruan Dayue: "Ruan Aiqing, come on, your literary talent should be higher than Wang Chengen's."

Both Wang Chengen and Lu Jiude looked at Wang Chengen, and Zhu Cihong also looked at Wang Chengen at this time. Chen Shiding knew that his death was inevitable. After all, even the prince could not plead for himself, and he no longer pleaded with Zhu Youjian. Zhien directly threatened Ruan Dayue: "Ruan Dayue, if you dare to draft this decree, you will betray Confucianism and be despised by the scholars and officials in the world!"

Ruan Dayue smiled slightly, he himself was already despised by the scholar-bureaucrats all over the world, even the current crown prince Zhu Cihong dared to beat himself in front of the king, what else could he care about? Without hesitation, he cupped his hands: "My minister obeys the order!"

"Eunuch Lu, please lead the way." Ruan Dayue smiled, while Lu Jiude snorted. Although he resented Ruan Dayue for supporting His Majesty without a bottom line, he couldn't say anything at this time, after all, it was His Majesty's will , and there is also the bottomless support of civil servant Ruan Dayue.

(End of this chapter)