bookrebus Chapter 81 The storm is coming
Chapter 81 The storm is coming
After hearing Prince Rong's words, the powerful officials present all put their minds at ease and loudly praised Prince Rong for his brilliant plan to bring peace to the world.
Prince Rong sneered and said,
"This Shen Changgong, ever since he took office, has been like a mad dog that smells shit, biting me fiercely whenever he catches him. This time, I will take ruthless revenge!"
No one dared to agree with this. Shen Changgong is a dog that smells shit, so what are you, Prince Rong?
Shit?
Obviously, Prince Rong had not yet finished his harsh words and had not yet vented his anger.
"He started his new job with three major actions. Because of a bowl of jelly, he arrested my Duke of Ying, killed my assassin, tortured my son, and even took away my favorite concubine, Que Ling.
Queling is such a beautiful girl, if she fell into his hands, who knows how she would be tortured!
This hatred for killing my son and stealing my wife, I will never forgive him and Shen Changgong!
I will skin him alive, pull out his tendons, and torture him to death by slow slicing. I will also take away all the women in his family and torture them ruthlessly, lining them up to torture them!
Otherwise, I will never be able to get rid of the hatred in my heart!"
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Everyone had no choice but to shout in unison.
Prince Rong's eyes were cold and he gave the order in a deep voice,
"Mr. Wen Guo!"
"The subordinate is here!"
"After the banquet begins tomorrow, after three rounds of wine and five dishes, and the ceremony is complete, you will immediately stand up, kneel on the ground and cry loudly, listing the evidence of Shen Changgong's crimes!"
"Subordinate to obey!"
"Gong Cao Guo!"
"The subordinate is here!"
"After Duke Wen has finished speaking, you will immediately provide other evidence of his crimes. These have been divided among you."
"Subordinate to obey!"
"Marquis Yiyong, Marquis Deqing, Marquis Yan'an!"
"You are responsible for being angry and indignant and scolding Shen Changgong!"
"Yes!"
"Tingwei!"
"You will be responsible for the final summary and decide what the sentence should be based on this evidence!"
"This time, I want Shen Changgong to die!"
Prince Rong squeezed out these words from his mouth.
"Remember, after you've dealt with Shen Changgong, arrest him and torture him immediately. Then fabricate a confession, saying it was Prince Gong who ordered him to do so and that Prince Gong was plotting a rebellion. Then, at the court the next morning, impeach Prince Gong together!"
"Shen Changgong! Prince Gong! This time, everyone must die!"
"Everyone must die!!!"
……
On a quiet night, the entire capital city was filled with undercurrents.
In the first year of Tianming in the Great Yan Dynasty, a coup d'état that would affect the fate of the entire country, and even the entire world, was about to begin.
Every official feels heavy in his heart.
There is a sense of oppression, as if a storm is about to come.
The Empress, Shen Changgong, Prince Nan, Prince Rong, Prince Gong...
Several complex forces are about to engage in the most intense confrontation on the Empress' birthday.
This is a bottomless whirlpool that leads directly to the abyss, one step to heaven and one step to hell.
No one can be immune.
The next morning, the sun rose as usual and the security forces patrolled as usual.
Shen Changgong got up from the bed, stretched, washed his face, got up and embraced the sun. It was another energetic day.
On the emperor's birthday, all officials in the country have a holiday.
At this time, even Zhu Yuanzhang, who was a workaholic, had a holiday.
Officials are given ample rest time during the day, and in the evening they can attend dinner in the brightly lit palace square.
The royal chefs also had a whole day to prepare the food.
Shen Changgong came to the imperial study and received intelligence from the entire capital together with the empress and Gongsun Wan'er.
He had full control over the movements of the entire capital, and was ready to deliver a fatal blow to the powerful during the dinner.
"I just have one request."
Shen Changgong looked at the two of them and said,
"I will decide how to execute these powerful people. Drag them all to the Royal Guards' parade grounds. I estimate there will be over a thousand of them. Give each of them a weapon and let them kill each other. The one who survives will be spared the death penalty."
"what?"
Yan Fuyao and Gongsun Wan'er were both surprised and didn't know what he was going to do.
Suddenly, Yan Fuyao suddenly realized something, looked at Shen Changgong with a strange expression, and said,
"I know that more than twenty days ago, Wan'er brought you to the training grounds and you fought against a thousand handsome men. In the end, you were the only one who survived. You want to take revenge in the same way, right?"
Gongsun Wan'er curled her lips and said,
"Tsk, what a petty man, really holding a grudge."
This woman, whose mouth was still there three days after being cremated, always tried every possible way to mock Shen Changgong and go against him.
Shen Changgong said slowly,
“Back then, I and those thousand people were captured and taken there. I believe few of us went there voluntarily.
We used to have a happy and stable life, but in order to please these powerful people, we had to pick up knives and swing them at strangers, ending their lives.
Here, I killed more than a hundred people with my own hands, but it was not my own will. If they didn't die, I would have to die.
The ones who forced them to death were the powerful people who forced His Majesty to select men for the imperial examination.
They wanted to have fun, so they gathered all these innocent civilians together and made us abandon our humanity and fight like wild beasts.
In order to survive, we, a group of civilians, swung our knives at the equally pitiful people.
They enjoy endless luxury, wealth and splendor, but they can play with, have fun with, and gamble with human lives.
Is this fair? "
Having said that, Shen Changgong paused for a moment and then continued,
“My action is not entirely for the purpose of revenge, but has two purposes.
First, I will use the lives of the powerful to pay tribute to the 999 innocent souls who died unjustly and eliminate their resentment. They should have had a happy and healthy life, but their families were broken up and their souls returned to the underworld.
Secondly, I still want to take the lives of the powerful and let the people see that kings, princes, generals and ministers are also human beings, not much nobler than them, and no one is born into a noble or humble class.
This can eliminate their fear of the powerful and let them know that the powerful and wealthy have two arms and two legs just like them.
Then, the system of promotion based on military merit was implemented.
Let them see that the powerful and wealthy are just like this.
Let them see that as long as we civilians can capture heads on the battlefield and accumulate military merits, we can also become powerful people like them and enjoy wealth and glory.
In this way, it can greatly encourage the people to join the army and inspire the soldiers to fight bravely.
After all, being forced to die on the battlefield is different from actively killing the enemy and gaining military merit."
What Shen Changgong said is somewhat similar to the military merit promotion system of Shang Yang's reform, but he would not copy Shang Yang's reform completely. That reform was completely inhumane and would cause an empire to rise and fall quickly.
After listening to this, Yan Fuyao nodded slowly and said,
"The military merit promotion system... is indeed good. It is much better than the previous military merit promotion system. Fine, I promise you."
At this point, Yan Fuyao's mouth also showed a somewhat evil smile.
"I... also want to see those pampered and arrogant nobles crying and screaming in the military training grounds."