Chapter 72: Why Has Lord Su Stopped Speaking?

Nobody expected that Yang Rong would give in and confess so easily.

The merchant, commonly known as Zhou the Skinflint, widened his eyes and mentally cursed scholars as utterly useless and spineless cowards.

Meanwhile, the official with the surname Zhang among the ranks of the civil and military officials felt his legs turn to jelly. He collapsed straight onto the ground, wearing an expression as if he had just lost both parents.

He knew he was completely finished.

Even if Zhu Yunmeng chose not to deal with the others, as the mastermind behind this scheme, his best possible outcome would undoubtedly be decapitation.

On the very day of the new emperor's ascension, to instigate scholars to block and riot at the imperial city—a hundred lives would not be enough to pay for such a crime.

"Hehe! Bring him forward." Zhu Yunmeng turned his head and swept his gaze across the crowd.

Ji Gang charged forward like a wolf, grabbed the official surnamed Zhang, and dragged him directly before the imperial chariot. The dignified Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, a high-ranking official of the fourth rank in the imperial court, had actually soaked his trousers in terror.

"Humph! Will you confess yourself, or shall I let you be the first to experience the interrogation methods of the Southern Pacification Bureau?"

At these words, a brilliant gleam lit up Ji Gang's eyes. As the newly appointed Commander of the Southern Pacification Bureau, he had yet to officially put into practice any of the interrogation techniques Zhu Yunmeng had taught him.

Trembling violently at the prospect, the official surnamed Zhang kowtowed like pounding garlic. Without requiring any torture at all, he spilled the entire origin of the matter clearly and completely.

He named every single official who had conspired with him and detailed the promises of benefits they had made.

Those officials whose names were called, regardless of their rank, instantly collapsed limply to the ground.

Before long, more than twenty officials were hauled out from the ranks of the bureaucracy by the Brocade Guard, kneeling disgracefully in front of the imperial chariot.

On the second floor.

Watching this scene, Zhu Yuanzhang finally felt a trace of gratification in his eyes, and he muttered in a low voice, "I wonder how my good grandson will deal with these animals. In my view, wiping out nine familial generations wouldn't even be enough to vent my hatred."

Old Zhu had always possessed a ferocious thirst for blood, especially toward officials.

Merely through the three major corruption cases that had already occurred, he had executed tens of thousands of people, to say nothing of the fact that today was the grand day of his beloved grandson's ascension.

After a moment of hesitation, Tang He spoke softly, "Your Majesty, this subordinate thinks His Majesty the Emperor might not be overly harsh, seeing as... it is unbefitting to see blood today."

Fu Youde shook his head upon hearing this. "Commander Tang, I wouldn't be so sure."

Zhu Yuanzhang was equally curious about how Zhu Yunmeng would handle the situation, but he waved his hand with a smile and said, "Very well! Let us not argue. No matter how he deals with it, my good grandson certainly has his own plans. Let us simply watch."

"Haha! Your Majesty is wise indeed."

...

Sensing something, Zhu Yunmeng glanced around the surroundings, yet detected nothing out of the ordinary.

He promptly turned his gaze back to the officials. "Hehe! You lot certainly calculated well! To dare humiliate me on my ascension day and attempt to sabotage the court's policies—it seems you truly believed I am incapable of killing people."

"Men, drag these vermin away and behead every single one of them in full view of everyone! Round up their nine familial generations—the males shall be sent to the frontier as soldiers, and the females shall be directly consigned to the Jiaofangsi."

"Understood!" Song Zhong acknowledged the order.

Just as the Brocade Guard moved to execute the command, someone suddenly cried out in a loud voice, "Your Majesty, you cannot do this!"

Instantly, all eyes converged upon that person.

They say that when an emperor is enraged, corpses litter a million li. For Zhu Yunmeng not to have unleashed a massive slaughter after having his mood ruined on such an occasion was already a remarkable act of restraint; no one else dared to offer advice. Yet at this moment, someone actually dared to step forward and stop Zhu Yunmeng—was this not courting death?

However, when the crowd saw that the person stepping forward was none other than Su Boheng, they instinctively swallowed back the disdain perched on their lips.

Presently, Su Boheng was virtually the only remaining leader of the civil official faction in court. Surely, his stepping forward now could not be a brainless act.

"Lord Su, what do you have to say? Could it be that you wish to plead for these rebels?"

Labeling the official surnamed Zhang and his cohorts as rebels did not change the reality of the situation, for their actions were hardly any different from treason.

Su Boheng's eyelids twitched, but he still bowed and said, "Your Majesty, today is the joyous day of your ascension. It should naturally be a time of general amnesty across the realm. Therefore, this old minister believes that bloodshed must be avoided."

"Oh! And in Lord Su's opinion, how should this be handled?" The corners of Zhu Yunmeng's mouth curved upward slowly.

Seeing this, Su Boheng straightened his hunched back a fraction and proclaimed in a resonant voice, "This old minister believes Your Majesty should practice benevolence in governance."

"Damned fool! That Su Boheng is truly damned!"

Hearing this from the second floor, Old Zhu slammed his fist onto the table and cursed aloud, "Benevolence my foot! On the day of my good grandson's ascension, he has been cornered like this, yet Su Boheng still has the gall to bewitch the monarch here!"

The expressions of Tang He and Fu Youde were likewise less than stellar. As men of military background, what they loved most was swift and decisive justice.

Now that Zhu Yunmeng had been publicly slapped in the face, Su Boheng was still urging him to be magnanimous—it was practically the behavior of an ingrate.

Yet deep down, they also knew that faced with such a scenario and timing, Zhu Yunmeng might not necessarily resort to a bloodbath.

What they did not expect, however, was this:

Upon hearing those words, Zhu Yunmeng's expression instantly turned glacial, and an inexplicable majesty abruptly erupted from him.

"Lord Su speaks quite well. Is bloodshed truly forbidden on the day of ascension?"

"I would like to ask, who established such a rule?"

"This..." Su Boheng choked, then braced himself, bowed once more, and replied, "Your Majesty, these are the words of the sages, and rules passed down through successive dynasties."

"Hehe! Good, a fine rule indeed." Zhu Yunmeng's cold laughter echoed across the square, ensuring that every nearby commoner and official heard it with absolute clarity.

"The rules of the sages? Truly a wonderful set of rules! Then I wish to ask Lord Su: you have followed His Imperial Grandfather's side since before the founding of the Great Ming. Are you aware that on the very day our Great Ming was founded, our northern armies were storming the Yuan capital of Dadu?"

"You claim that shedding blood on the ascension day brings bad omens. Does that mean I can also interpret your words as implying that when His Imperial Grandfather founded the state and attacked the brutal Yuan, it foreshadowed that the Great Ming's acquisition of the realm was illegitimate?"

If there was one ruler in history whose acquisition of the realm was deemed most legitimate, it was Zhu Yuanzhang. Had Su Boheng dared to nod in agreement, countless spatters of saliva would have drowned him instantly without Zhu Yunmeng even needing to speak.

Yet if Su Boheng were to retract his words now, it would undoubtedly amount to slapping his own aged face.

Consequently, Su Boheng found himself utterly unable to respond. His old face flushed a deep, congested purple, entirely at a loss for how to speak.

"Hehe! Why is Lord Su silent?" Zhu Yunmeng chuckled coldly once more. "Could it be that Lord Su is too advanced in age and no longer knows how to answer my question?"

"This old minister... this old minister..." Su Boheng's entire face had turned the color of fermented bean paste.

Among the ranks of the officials, Su Tian and Su Yi hurriedly stepped forward upon seeing this.

One of them supported Su Boheng, while the other dropped to his knees with a heavy thump, kowtowing repeatedly. "Your Majesty! My father is aged, and in recent days he has grown somewhat muddled. We earnestly beg Your Majesty to spare him, in consideration of his loyal and devoted service to the Great Ming and the late Emperor!"