Chapter 588 Killing and Punishing the Heart

It is generally recognized that there are a total of 248 aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River who are “famous for their literature” in the Qing Dynasty, and they are mainly distributed near the core area of ​​Taihu Lake.

Among them, there are eighty-three in Jiaxing Prefecture, fifty-seven in Suzhou Prefecture, twenty-seven in Changzhou Prefecture, twenty-four in Songjiang Prefecture, twenty-four in Hangzhou Prefecture, twelve in Yingtian Prefecture, twelve in Huzhou Prefecture, seven in Taicang Prefecture, and two in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

The top ones are the six families of Xu, Wang, Lu, Yu, Gu and Zhang represented by Xu Kun, Wang Minzhen, Lu Jiuxuan, Yu Guangling, Gu Xianwen and Zhang Qi, as well as the six families of Wu, Zhu, Sun, Shen, Shen and Xie, totaling twelve families.

Among the long list of names that Yan Zhangming read out, these 248 companies accounted for 187, and the twelve companies accounted for eight.

Treason and regicide are crimes that will destroy the entire family, no matter how big or prominent the family is, if they are implicated.

The brothers Wang Shizhen and Wang Shimao, who were sitting among the gentry in the corridor, looked as pale as the people around them, and their backs were covered in sweat.

In addition to being terrified, they also felt grateful for having survived the disaster.

In the capital, at the grand court meeting on the first day of February, after he formed a party and started a rebellion, he saw a miracle happen and suddenly realized that the emperor was a holy monarch appointed by heaven, so he decisively surrendered.

After they surrendered, the emperor encouraged them and allowed the two brothers to return safely to their hometown in Taicang.

The two brothers have always kept the emperor’s instructions in mind, using their reputation as leaders in the literary world to recruit scholars from the southeast. A few days ago, a secret agent from the Imperial Guard brought a secret letter from the emperor to inquire about the situation of the scholars and aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River, and he answered truthfully.

Now it seems that everyone is preparing for today’s big case.

If the two brothers had not surrendered, even if they were pardoned and banished back to their hometown at that time, the Wang family of Taicang could still be included in the basket of today’s major case.

Xu Jie also suddenly understood why the emperor easily spared the Xu family in the case of banned books.

The basket for the banned book case is not as big as the basket for this case of treason and regicide!
Xu Jie and others seemed to be floating in an ice sea, and the scholars and common people who were listening in the courtyard were excited.

These young talents and famous young men in the southeast, who are usually admired and regarded as the goals of their life, are so rebellious and do such cruel things. Are you enjoying the bliss of the world and feel that you don’t have much to pursue, so you play such exciting games as Candy Crush Saga?
Just the way you are makes us so excited!

The faces of the scholars and citizens were filled with surprise and enthusiasm. They squeezed forward involuntarily to hear more clearly, and at the same time spread the explosive words that Yan Zhangming read out in the court.

Soon, tens of thousands of people outside the yamen were excited.

These young men from aristocratic families, who are suave, wealthy and the envy of us, actually dared to commit treason and even planned to assassinate the emperor!

Treason!
Regicide!

Every word is terrifying, and every word makes people think of rivers of blood!
The young men from the Jiangnan noble families actually had such exciting fun?

The atmosphere was boiling, and tens of thousands of people outside the government office were so excited that they were about to explode! Because they all knew that there would be an exciting scene next that they would never even dream of.

Someone in the crowd shouted, “This is treason and regicide, it’s high treason!”

“Yes, it’s treasonous!”

Countless voices followed and echoed.

Normally, even the lackeys and servants of these noble families did not dare to speak loudly to them. Now, everyone can righteously denounce their illegal behavior and demand severe punishment for them.

Tens of thousands of people suddenly found themselves on the side of justice and could legitimately denounce and spit on these aristocratic families who were usually high and mighty. The excitement and excitement in their hearts erupted like a volcano.

Especially the students and scholars mixed in the crowd became the main force.

During the three days of the trial, they deeply realized that in the eyes of the aristocratic families, they were nothing but ants, dogs that could be summoned and dismissed at will. Not only that, they didn’t even get a few grains of dog food, and they had to bring their own dog food to work for them. The most hateful thing was that they were full of talent and could obviously pass the examinations to become scholars and juren, but these aristocratic families worked together to take away our chances!

Tolerable or unbearable!
These students and talented scholars, with flushed faces, stood in the crowd, raised their arms and shouted, leading tens of thousands of people in creating an overwhelming wave of cheers.

“Swear to kill the traitor!”

“Heaven punishes the national thief!”

“Execute the entire clan of the traitors! Exterminate all nine clans!”

“Long live the Emperor!”

“God bless the Ming Dynasty!”

Waves of noise spread into the yamen one after another, drowning out the trial room. Everyone was stunned and at a loss as to what to do.

Xu Jie understood it completely.

This is the emperor’s way of killing people and destroying their hearts!

First there was the cheating case in the Southern Imperial Examination, then the banned book case, and then a series of cases of bullying men and women, and committing crimes of all sizes. The reputation of the Jiangnan family was slapped again and again in public.

In front of the whole world, the Emperor and Hai Rui stripped off the bright and beautiful outer garments of the Jiangnan families piece by piece, exposing their true natures to the eyes of the world without any hindrance.

The good reputation and prestige accumulated over a hundred years were washed away in an instant.

The aristocratic families that “pass on loyalty and honesty for generations, and pass on poetry and books for generations” became a joke, pointed at, ridiculed and scolded by the common people.

Finally, the Emperor and Hai Rui used the Fuxing Society’s treason case to smash these aristocratic families, who had become the laughing stock, into powder in “compliance with public opinion.”

This is how the emperor treats the Jiangnan families, not only killing people but also destroying their hearts!
Not only did they want to destroy the Jiangnan families, but they also wanted to turn them into negative examples, making them the laughing stock of the people’s disdain and ridicule. While stirring up a populist carnival, they also wanted to achieve the goal of changing customs and re-establishing education.

Xu Jie closed his eyes and blocked out everything.

Now that things have come to this, all we have to do is leave it to fate.

Yan Zhangming listed the testimonies and evidence one by one, including the articles and booklets written by the children of the noble families; the waiters and servants who served in the restaurant and other courtyards, who spoke with conviction; and the monks of Tianjieyuan who reported and exposed the facts in order to protect themselves; what was even more amusing was the attacks and shirking of responsibility among the children of the noble families, accusing each other of taking advantage of their youth and ignorance to set traps.
Their ugly appearance had already elicited laughter from the onlookers in the corridors and courtyards, and also made the representatives of the Jiangnan families, led by Xu Jie, even more embarrassed.

Two hours later, Xu Jie felt that his face had become numb, and the trial had reached the stage where the criminal made his own statement.

Although it was an unforgivable crime such as treason and regicide, the court still gave them this right.

That’s all.

Xu Kun said impatiently: “Master, sir, these words are just unintentional words spoken by me after drinking. They cannot be counted. They really cannot be counted.

I just thought about it, but I don’t have the courage to do it.”

Yan Zhangming asked, “You personally presided over the establishment of the Rectification Command. You also presided over the discussion and recorded the details of the action of inviting the emperor to go south and committing treasonous acts in Xiaoling.

Xu Kun, what’s your explanation?”

Xu Kun, whose face was pale, thought for a moment and then answered.

“I remember that I was drinking and half drunk when someone brought up this topic. Then someone led us on and we became more and more excited. As we talked, we wrote down these things.

We were in the command department for restoring order when we were half drunk and half awake, and someone was instigating and guiding us. We just thought it was fun, just like playing a game.

Yes, we were just joking, we were just playing a game, just fooling around. It doesn’t count, it really doesn’t count!”

Xu Kun was like a starving dog that saw a small piece of food. His eyes were red, his mouth was foaming, and he spoke madly. The audience in the corridor and the courtyard could not help but sneer in disdain.

What the hell!
Even after this has happened, he still puts the blame on others.

Was it instigated and guided by others?
Just kidding, a game?
Who in their right mind would treat treason and regicide as a game?
But old foxes like Xu Jie heard something hidden in the words and knew that there were spies in the Fuxing Society. They took advantage of the daring and lawless character of Xu Kun and other children of noble families to set up this trap.

These people all thought that even if they broke the sky, their families would back them up. They dared to call themselves the emperor behind closed doors, and plotted treason and regicide. When they were drunk and boastful, with the guidance of someone with ulterior motives, they could indeed pretend to plan it as if it were a game.

But can this kind of thing be treated as a joke?

No matter what, you people still have deep resentment towards the emperor, so when someone colludes with you, all the resentment and bad intentions in your hearts start to bubble out.

Xu Jie let out a long sigh, drooped his head, his waist slumped, his body tilted, and he only relied on the armrests of the chair to not collapse.

A few days ago, a century-old pine tree turned into a handful of yellow mud.

The confessions of the other five criminals were similar to Xu Kun’s. They cried and wailed, and rolled on the ground. They were extremely unwilling and full of regret. However, what they received was increasing ridicule and curses from the thousands of spectators.

“Gentle scum!”

“Thinking of these famous noblemen, now they look like six mangy dogs!”

“Mangy dog!”

“How dare you to plot treason and regicide, you are a family of bastards!”

Soon, an overwhelming roar came from outside the government office, with tens of thousands of people shouting in unison: “Skinny dog!”

“Gentle scum!”

The sound made even a cunning man like Xu Jie tremble slightly. They were not frightened by the roar of the people. They were never afraid of these easily deceived peasants and sour scholars. What they were afraid of was Zhu Yijun’s incredible methods.

The voices from today’s scene will be published in various newspapers in a few days and distributed all over the world. These words will turn into sharp swords, piercing the Jiangnan family’s reputation with holes; they will turn into hammers, smashing the Jiangnan family’s reputation into pieces.

It’s a disaster, the greatest disaster to hit the Jiangnan family in a thousand years!
After waiting for more than twenty minutes, until the people were tired of shouting and stopped, Cui Caihu slammed the gavel to suppress the lingering noise and restore silence to the court.

“I will now pronounce the verdict.

According to Article 7, Section 4, Chapter 1 of the “Fan Lv. Criminal Procedure Law” and Article 6, Section 3, Chapter 2 of the “Criminal Law”, this court will only pronounce and sentence the individual criminals in this case. Other additional sentencing will be determined by the discretion of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Prudent Court.”

Translated, it means that according to the law, Cui Caihu can only judge and sentence the individual criminals in this case. As for the confiscation of property, the execution of the entire family, the execution of nine clans, or the extermination of three clans, they have no right to judge these. It can only be decided by the Shenyuan Court of the Metropolitan Censorate, and then reviewed by the Dali Temple.

“We are now deciding on sentencing for the principal and secondary offenders in this case, totaling 27 people.

Xu Kun was convicted of treason and attempted regicide and should be sentenced to death by slow slicing. According to the latest imperial edict issued by the Emperor in April of the first year of the Wanli reign, other death penalty measures except immediate execution, beheading pending execution, and hanging were temporarily exempted, and Xu Kun was sentenced to immediate execution.

The other five main culprits, Wang Minzhen, Lu Jiuxuan, Yu Guangling, Gu Xianwen, and Zhang Qi, as well as other secondary culprits, were all sentenced to immediate execution without exception.

After the verdict was announced, the audience was still not satisfied.

“Why not execute him by slow slicing?”

“Light the sky lantern!”

“Skin and grass, must be skinned and grassed.”

Someone came out to explain, “The emperor is kind and considers that capital punishment is the ultimate punishment, and there is no need for lingchi and skinning. The court has been practicing lingchi and skinning for many years, and those who are guilty of treason still commit treason, and those who are guilty of corruption still commit corruption.

The key is how to catch the traitors and corrupt officials and bring them to justice, which is more important than how they die.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

“The key is to discover, arrest and sentence the criminals early, so that crimes such as treason and corruption can be exposed, and they will be afraid of the criminals, rather than dying miserably.

No matter how tragic the death is, if the crime will not be discovered and the person will not be severely punished, it will be meaningless. “

“Yes, fairness is the most important thing! We must abide by the law and enforce it impartially!”

“Ah, yes, yes!”

After the crowd slowly dispersed, Xu Jie, supported by his servants, walked up to Hai Rui.

“Father Hai Hai, I beg you to show me mercy and let me take one last look at my son.”

Looking at Xu Jie, who looked ashen and had suddenly aged twenty or thirty years, Hai Rui nodded and said, “Law is nothing but human feelings. Mr. Xu still has some human feelings.

Youliang, take Xu Gong with you.”

“Yes.”

On the way to the prison, Xu Jie gave a wink to his trusted steward.

The steward stepped forward and stuffed a stack of bills of exchange into Shu Youliang’s sleeve.

Shu Youliang took it out with a smile, without any hesitation.

“One, two, ten, a total of 10,000 silver dollars, or the draft of the Commercial Bank. Mr. Xu, you are very generous. I am so happy to see it.

Should I accept it or not?

If you don’t accept it, the bill of exchange for 10,000 silver dollars from Mr. Xu will be confiscated and put into the national treasury in a few days. Take it. Mr. Xu, please don’t use this thing to test me.

If I hadn’t been following my master, I would have stuffed the bill into my pocket long ago.”

Shu Youliang said with a smile, stuffing the bill of exchange back to the manager.

Xu Jie’s face darkened, “I’m sorry to have embarrassed you, Mr. Shu.”

“Nothing to laugh at.

Everyone has desires and lusts. But bad people are controlled by desires and become puppets; ordinary people fight against desires, and some win and some lose; only saints can control desires and regard them as external objects.

I am neither a bad person nor a saint. I had a long ideological struggle to return these ten bills, but in the end, I relied on the master’s majesty to overcome my desire. “

“Sir, you have great wisdom.”

“Great wisdom cannot be eaten. I would rather not have great wisdom and hope for great wealth.”

Xu Jie replied: “Without great wisdom, you cannot maintain great wealth.”

Shu Youliang turned to look at Xu Jie and asked curiously: “Mr. Xu is a very wise man, why can’t he keep the Xu family rich and prosperous?”

Xu Jie was speechless for a moment, and his heart was even more upset!
(End of this chapter)