diymy Chapter 34 The methods of the Eastern Depot and the Six Doors!
Chapter 34 The methods of the Eastern Depot and the Six Doors!
Back in the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Houzhao was still thinking about the attack he had just witnessed.
The actor shouted two slogans when he tried to assassinate him.
One saying is "The white lotus descends to earth, and all people are liberated," and the other is "The white lotus is born, saving the world and helping the people."
All indications suggest that the White Lotus Sect was behind this assassination attempt against him.
But Zhu Houzhao always felt that this matter was not so simple.
The White Lotus sect originated in the Southern Song Dynasty and flourished in the Jiangnan region. Its doctrines were simple and easily accepted by the working class, so it was often used as a tool to organize people to resist oppression.
Starting from the Southern Song Dynasty, the White Lotus Sect organized peasant uprisings many times. The most serious one during the Ming Dynasty was the Tang Sai'er Uprising during the Yongle era.
In the eighteenth year of the Yongle reign, Emperor Taizong Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing. During the construction of the Forbidden City, Tang Sai'er launched a rebellion and attacked the Ming army, effectively hindering the relocation of the capital.
This is quite strange, because genuine peasant uprisings throughout history did not have such a long-term vision.
Peasant rebellions only do one thing: overthrow the local tyrants, distribute the land, kill the landlords, and attack the wealthy gentry.
Tang Sai'er's uprising did not kill landlords or gentry, but targeted government soldiers, all in an attempt to prevent Zhu Di from moving the capital.
After Zhu Di sent troops to suppress Tang Sai'er, he explicitly prohibited the spread of the White Lotus sect and hunted down all its followers.
After that, the White Lotus Sect went underground and planned several incidents, but none of them caused any major disturbances.
But this time, members of the White Lotus sect actually managed to infiltrate the palace. If you said there was no one in the palace to help them, Zhu Houzhao would be the first to disbelieve it.
All of this is just too much of a coincidence.
Just then, Empress Dowager Zhang was placed under house arrest; just then, Empress Dowager Zhang wanted to see a play; just then, Empress Dowager Zhang invited him to watch a play at Cining Palace; just then, members of the White Lotus Sect infiltrated the opera troupe; just then, during the assassination attempt, Empress Dowager Zhang grabbed his hand…
Zhu Houzhao narrowed his eyes, unwilling to think any further; his heart was filled with coldness.
……
Dongji Factory.
In the dark and damp dungeon, Cao Zhengchun walked in slowly and saw the actor on the execution platform, who was being tortured beyond recognition.
"Your Excellency, these White Lotus traitors are incredibly stubborn; they haven't uttered a single word."
With a sinister smile on his face, Cao Zhengchun walked up to the actor and said, "No secret can be kept in front of us."
"The sooner you tell us, the less effort we'll have to put in, and the less suffering you'll endure."
"Speak! Who ordered you to assassinate His Majesty?"
The actor spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm and laughed loudly: "The current emperor favors eunuchs, relentlessly pursues unpaid taxes, is incompetent and cruel, and readily executes entire families!"
"I killed the emperor for the sake of the people; the people of the people instructed me to kill the emperor and restore justice to the world!"
Cao Zhengchun's eyes flashed with a cold light: "What a fine example of the people of the world, what a fair and just example!"
"We're asking you, when it comes to collecting back taxes, are the landlords or the common people the ones who are owed the taxes?"
"I ask you, His Majesty, did he execute officials or commoners by exterminating their entire families?"
"Do you think that officials and landlords can be lumped together with ordinary people?"
"you!"
The actor glared at Cao Zhengchun: "Sharp-tongued! Aren't officials and landlords also common people?"
"Taxing is inherently oppressive; only not levying taxes is benevolent governance. The late emperor repeatedly exempted taxes, yet the current emperor wants to reclaim those exempted taxes. What is this if not tyranny?!"
Cao Zhengchun looked at the actor with disgust and shook his head.
These ignorant people are beyond saving.
The common people are a mob, although they share the same interests as the emperor.
However, they are too easily swayed by the scholar-official class who hold the power of discourse.
They lack the wisdom to discern conspiracies and the ability to distinguish friend from foe.
They thought that not levying taxes made them good emperors.
But for the emperor, how could he possibly care about the meager sums of money held by the poor?
The taxes the emperor collected from a single landlord or wealthy merchant were equivalent to the taxes he collected from hundreds of thousands of ordinary people.
Only when a country has taxes can it support its army, defend against foreign invaders, and provide the most basic security.
The consequences of a nation being broke have already been illustrated with concrete examples in the late Ming Dynasty.
Foreign invasion led to the fall of China, and all the Han Chinese in the Ming Dynasty were enslaved by the Manchus.
Extermination of a clan and a nation—that's all there is to it.
"Stubborn and unyielding."
Cao Zhengchun glanced at the actor with disgust and gave the order in a cold voice.
"Go and arrest his wife, children, and elderly parents, and let him see for himself how his family is tortured to death."
"Yes, Your Excellency!"
The actor panicked and shouted, "You eunuch, I'll take responsibility for my actions. Kill me or torture me as you please, just don't touch my family!"
"Hehe, no rush."
Cao Zhengchun smiled coldly: "First your family, then your three clans, then your nine clans, and later your fellow villagers and fellow townsmen..."
"Everyone who knows you will be implicated. How many people will die? Thousands? Tens of thousands? We don't care."
"Because of you alone, tens of thousands of people have died. Just wait to be infamous for eternity, hehehe."
Cao Zhengchun sneered repeatedly, intending to trick him.
When it comes to wiping out three or nine generations of a family, the Eastern Depot is capable of such acts.
However, he dared not do anything that implicated fellow villagers without Zhu Houzhao's permission.
But if Zhu Houzhao gave the order, Cao Zhengchun would kill even millions of people!
"You castrated dog! You'll die a horrible death! You'll die a horrible death!"
The actor was indeed frightened by Cao Zhengchun and began to struggle violently, cursing Cao Zhengchun incessantly.
But Cao Zhengchun just smiled and didn't get angry.
"Go ahead and curse, let's see how many relatives you have to lose before you speak up!"
……
Six doors.
Shenhou Mansion.
This was Xie Qian's second time in the Six Doors' prison.
Unlike the previous time when the Six Doors treated him with great courtesy, this time they did not hesitate to torture the two elders.
Liu Jian and Xie Qian lay on the rack, covered in wounds, utterly exhausted.
The dungeon was pitch black, and they had no idea how long they had been interrogated. Every inch of their skin ached.
But they remained adamant and refused to back down.
The crime of forging the late emperor's edict was too grave for them to dare admit.
Iron Hand, Cold Blood, and Life Chaser took turns torturing the two, but to no avail.
Zhuge Zhengwo was at a loss, and Wuqing said with a solemn expression, "Uncle, I'm afraid this case will have to be solved without a confession."
"Do you have any thoughts?" Zhuge Zhengwo asked.
Wuqing nodded: "During this period, I noticed that the Eastern Depot has been frequently reviewing the archives from the year before the late emperor's death."
"I also investigated it, and the more I investigated, the more alarmed I became."
"Although there is no direct evidence to prove it, I am certain that this edict was forged by the cabinet!"
Wuqing handed a secret memorial to Zhuge Zhengwo, who was horrified after reading it.
Zhuge Zhengwo forced himself to calm down, and after careful consideration, instructed, "Wuqing, you did a good job on this matter."
"Follow this line of thinking and investigate more carefully, the more detailed the better!"
Wuqing nodded: "Yes, Uncle!"