Chapter 238 No Mercy

In Tai'an Palace, the eunuch who went to the Shangshu Province to deliver the imperial edict came back with his face covered. Li Yuan was pacing back and forth anxiously. Seeing this, he hurriedly asked, "Did the imperial edict arrive?"

The eunuch knelt on the ground crying, with one hand stretched upwards, his palm covered with bloody teeth: "Forgive me for my incompetence, your order was taken away by Li Wei in front of the Shangshu Province and the six ministries."

"What!" Li Yuan's forehead and palms began to sweat: "Just... in front of all the ministers? He even hit you?"

"Yes, he didn't hit me at all. He was clearly...clearly insulting you."

Li Yuan had just dismissed everyone as he thought they were an eyesore, but at this moment he suddenly panicked.

"Someone! Someone!"

Following the trembling voice of the retired emperor, seven or eight eunuchs and palace maids entered the room. Li Yuan fell to the ground and said, "Where are the people? Why are there only so few?"

At this time, seven or eight of Li Yuan's concubines also hurried over to complain: "Grand Emperor, you have to make a decision for us. The Queen's people just came and took away all the palace maids and eunuchs who served us."

"Even if she is the queen, she is still a junior. How can she treat us like this? Your Majesty, you should send someone to reprimand her."

Li Yuan's face was extremely unhappy. He didn't care about the beauties he loved so much. He just asked, "What about the Empress Dowager? Were the palace maids taken away as well?"

Imperial Concubine Wan said, "No, the Queen even sent a dozen extra female officials to serve, saying that they were saved from her own side."

"Your Majesty, you should..."

"Shut up, get out, all of you!"

Li Yuan was in no mood to coax them at the moment. After driving away the chattering concubines, he immediately sent palace servants to find out what was going on.

Soon the news of the bloodbath at Pei's Mansion came back. Li Yuan's face turned pale. His son did not fight for power within the rules as they had expected.

Instead, he jumped out directly, destroying the system and laws that he had built with great difficulty, and completely turned him into a lonely man.

Without Pei Ji, who could he rely on to contact his ministers?
As a result, his greatest advantage was gone, and instead his fatal weakness of having no military power was exposed.

…………

In the Wude Hall, meats and fine wines were displayed. Ever since the Emperor issued the "Edict Banning Slaughter and Wine" in the first year of Taiping, the New Year's festivals and the Emperor's birthday celebrations in the past two years had not been so sumptuous.

But every official was trembling with fear. They did not see from the wine and meat that His Majesty was trying to appease him. They just thought that this might be the last meal before execution.

Pei Ji was dragged in. Not only was he devastated by the massacre of his entire family, but Wei Yijie's kicks also really hurt him.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we are willing to die, please have mercy on us."

Under the leadership of Wei Yijie, almost all the officials knelt in the center of the hall. They dared to place the bet, so they were naturally prepared to lose.

But this awareness definitely does not mean to drag the whole family to hell together, and it also means to implicate the clan.

In this world, only for the sake of the country is it worth taking such a risk, and this time, even if it succeeds, it is just that the emperor will be in power, and they will maintain the basic support of Guanlong and the royal family and continue to be prominent.

In the end, the country still belonged to the Li family, so they simply admitted defeat, because not only was the trend of losing obvious, but the consequences were too tragic and beyond their ability to bear.

Li Jiancheng looked at them calmly, just like when he was forced to abdicate. The emperor did not speak, and the atmosphere became more and more suffocating. The ministers were trembling with fear and sweating on the way here, and now they were trembling with fear and dared not sweat.

"My lords, do you still think that I am kind and can be deceived?"

Bright light shone in from the window lattice, and dust particles floated in the beams visible to the naked eye. It was extremely warm and comfortable.

But the emperor's teasing words made everyone feel as if they were falling into an icy cave, as if they were in the coldest winter.

Because this sentence labeled all of them as deceiving the emperor, which meant that even if they admitted their mistakes and asked for forgiveness now, the emperor had no intention of winning them over or dividing them, and did not even give them a chance to surrender.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty?"

Li Jiancheng slowly stood up and seemed to be talking to himself: "I don't want to do this. My original wish is to rule the world with you and create a prosperous era with wise rulers and wise ministers. Isn't it a joy?

But you, my dear ministers, really disappoint me. For your own selfish desires, you have deceived the emperor and colluded with the Turks to force the emperor to abdicate, attempting to usurp power and disrupt the country. I can tolerate this, but Heaven cannot!"

Behind the ministers, Pei Ji, who was lying on the ground, sneered and said, "It sounds good, but what you have done does not seem like you are going to start a prosperous era with us."

Li Jiancheng waved his hand to stop the guard who was about to kill Pei Ji: "Pei Qing, you have executed your entire family and exiled them. You have no way to survive. Even if I become the emperor, there is nothing I can do to intimidate you.

Do you see that? The historians who compiled my daily records and the historians who recorded the national history are all here. Everything today will be passed down to future generations. I have nothing to hide.

As the saying goes, when a bird is about to die, its cry is sad, and when a person is about to die, his words are kind. You can now speak frankly, everything I have done since I ascended the throne, which edict I have issued, is not for the purpose of creating a prosperous era? "

Seeing that all the historians were present, Pei Ji could no longer utter the words of resentment in his heart, because after all, it was all for the benefit of himself and his family, not for the benefit of the world.

Li Jiancheng looked at the others and said, "Pei Qing can't say it anymore. If you know anything, please speak up."

Finally, a few people who knew they were doomed began to denounce the emperor for his poor treatment of Guanlong and harsh treatment of royal family members, for promoting scholars from Shandong and Jiangnan, and even for his intentional promotion of children from poor families.

The emperor was not angry, but just asked: "What harm will this do to the world and the people?"

This group of people wanted to scold the emperor for abandoning Guanlong and his family and wanting to share power with other people.

But even they know that this kind of thing is good for the world.

Seeing that they were at a loss for words again, Li Jiancheng stopped making things difficult for them: "You all have made some achievements, so you have let me down. However, I cannot bear to let you go on an empty stomach, so I have specially prepared fine wine and delicious food. Please enjoy them."

"Your Majesty, please reconsider!"

The voice came from outside the hall. Outside the Wude Hall, all the ministers had been there for who knows how long, but they had not spoken a word until the emperor spoke so decisively. Only then did they kneel down and beg for mercy.

This was because there were not just a few people in the hall, but as many as thirty or forty high-ranking officials of the court, from the prime minister to the minister, from the duke to the marquis, from the royal family to the imperial relatives.

"Your Majesty, we are short-sighted and power-hungry. After your teaching, we have realized our mistakes. Please forgive us and keep us here to serve you. I beg your Majesty to show your grace and bless your subjects..."

But the emperor's reply was only one sentence: "I will drink from the golden cup with you, but I will not spare you from the sword!"

...............

(End of this chapter)