Madam, protect me!

In recent days, people lined up to be beheaded every day at the largest vegetable market in Chang'an.

The people who were killed were all great figures.

The dignitaries included the princes and dukes, the officials included the ministers of the Zongzheng Temple, the Zhongshu Sheren..., the dignitaries of the second and first ranks, the officials of the fourth and third ranks, and the officials below the fourth rank, the marquis and earl, and the officials below the fourth rank, which were countless.

All these people were involved in the East Palace case of the year and participated in the murder of the prince.

That's what the Dali Temple said.

But whether it was true or not, people knew it well.

The murder of the prince was a treasonous crime starting with the execution of three clans. The fewer people who knew about it, the better. How could there be so many people involved? It was obvious that they were using this treasonous case to crack down on dissidents and unite to attack dissidents.

From a certain perspective, many of King You's accusations against Li Xuanjing were correct, pertinent and to the point.

Judging from his performance in the past few days, he was not wronged for excluding dissidents, abusing power, abusing power, taking bribes and perverting the law, murdering loyal people, taking human lives lightly, and killing innocent people.

It's a pity that King You himself was not clean. The crimes he committed were much more serious than those of Li Xuanjing.

He personally handed his handle to Li Xuanjing.

Those dignitaries and officials were also implicated because of him.

Once King You and King Han fell, these people fell into Li Xuanjing's hands, wouldn't they become lambs to be slaughtered?

So many dignitaries were killed, but the remaining dignitaries in Chang'an remained silent.

Even though there were some princes and dukes of high status among them, no one dared to speak for them.

In just three days, three princes were killed. At this time, who dared to be the one who showed up? If they were accused of being accomplices, they might be the ones to be beheaded tomorrow.

There is another important reason why no one spoke up.

That is, His Majesty said nothing about Li Xuanjing's reckless behavior.

It is impossible for His Majesty not to know about such a big thing, but in the face of Li Xuanjing's massacre of clan members and dignitaries, His Majesty did not stop it, which actually showed his attitude.

The three words "clear the court" sound righteous and seem to be a just act, but in fact, there is no essential difference from rebellion, and they are all forcing His Majesty to compromise with his subjects.

His Majesty has been practicing hard in recent years and rarely appears in front of people, causing many people to forget how he sat on the throne.

After this incident, I am afraid that no one will dare to force His Majesty to do anything in the name of clearing the court.

The Imperial Censorate, which has always dared to speak out directly, did not remain silent on this matter, but also symbolically handed in a few letters and did not block the Dali Temple and the palace gate.

On the one hand, the noble and upright spirit is not a golden ticket to be exempted from death. Li Xuanjing dares to kill officials with noble and upright spirit.

Even if they are not afraid of death, they cannot die meaninglessly.

For the people and the world, they are willing to sacrifice.

But in order to save the powerful, they sacrifice themselves. Although the censors are straightforward, they are not stupid.

Secondly, the harm of the powerful is far greater than that of a powerful official.

Li Xuanjing is only one person. After his death, everything will return to dust and earth to earth.

The title of the powerful can be passed down from generation to generation.

A county king, the seven generations of descendants after that are all powerful, and a prince can be passed down for eight generations. However, if they are killed for the crime of treason, their titles will be taken back by the court and can no longer be passed down.

A crime for a moment, merit for a hundred years.

This matter cannot be done by the three provinces, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate.

Only Li Xuanjing can do it.

In the Secretariat, two prime ministers were playing chess. Du Yu, the secretary of the Secretariat, came in, put a piece of paper on the table, and said, "This is the list of dignitaries and officials executed by the Dali Temple today..."

The right prime minister picked up the paper, looked at it, put it down, and said softly, "Left chancellor of the Shangshu, left secretary, right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, right assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel..., he must have waited for this moment for a long time, right?"

Li Xuanjing did not kill all the dignitaries who participated in the purge of the court.

The Prince of Ruyang, the Prince of Dingping, the Prince of Xingyang, and the Prince of Dongping, three of them were beheaded for treason. The Prince of Dingping, who had nothing to do with the case of the Eastern Palace, was released by the Dali Temple.

The Duke of Le'an and the Duke of Jinyang were beheaded, but the Duke of Xinping and the Duke of Linru were safe and sound and had been released back to their mansions.

Two Zhongshu Sheren, Zongzheng Temple Minister, and some officials of the nine temples not only lost their official positions, but also lost their heads. However, some officials were dismissed from office just according to the will of His Majesty.

It seems that the Dali Temple kills whoever it wants to kill, depending on its mood.

But if you study this list carefully, you will find some patterns.

In a major case of treason that involved a wide range of people, the Prince of Ruyang, the Prince of Xingyang, and the Prince of Dongping were all involved. The Duke of Le'an and the Duke of Jinyang were also among the leaders.

Twenty years later, they all died in another case of treason.

The Wang family also pushed the treason case at that time. The officials on the list of beheadings were all from the Wang family.

In just a few days, the court that the Wang family had run for decades was killed without a single piece of armor left.

And the Wang family was completely kicked out of the power center of the court of Daxia.

The left prime minister did not answer his question, but said: "The death of so many officials has affected the operation of the court. Let the Ministry of Personnel promote some senior officials as soon as possible. For the vacancies of Zongzheng Shaoqing, Jingzhao Yin and above the fourth rank, nominate candidates as soon as possible for your majesty to review..."

The right minister nodded and said: "With so many vacancies, I'm afraid they won't be able to fill them. I'm afraid we will have to add an imperial examination next year to admit more Jinshi to prepare for emergencies..."

…

Dali Temple is very busy these days.

Officials from the Ministry of Personnel are also working all night long.

The officials who participated in the Qing Dynasty's side met His Majesty by chance, and all of them were stripped of their official positions. Ten years of hard work and many years of officialdom became a dream.

Even the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs was involved and had just been beheaded at Caishikou.

There are so many officials vacant in the DPRK, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs must fill these vacancies in the shortest possible time.

As busy as they are, many officials are very excited.

After struggling for so many years, I finally saw a glimmer of light.

As an official in the government, although ability is very important, it is more important to have people behind you. For a long time, important positions in various ministries have been occupied by children of aristocratic families with profound backgrounds, making it difficult for others to get involved.

They were all dead, and their positions were naturally vacated.

For example, Fang Zhanggu worked conscientiously and worked as a ninth-grade Zhanggu in the archives for twenty years. He thought he would never be promoted in this life, but suddenly he was promoted three levels in a row, directly from the ninth grade to the seventh grade.

Originally, it was rare to get promoted to three levels in a row unless you made a huge contribution.

But the court really had no choice. Too many mid-level officials died this time, and many important positions were vacant, especially in the prefectures and counties near Gyeonggi. In some county offices, from the county magistrate to the county magistrate to the county captain, I was fucked to the end and needed to be replenished.

The positions they vacated were temporarily occupied by some petty officials, waiting for the next step of the court's arrangements.

The Ministry of Personnel is responsible for promoting middle and low-level officials, and the Ministry of Personnel's own officials must receive certain degrees of preferential treatment.

Many officials in the Ministry of Personnel got promotion opportunities this time.

It's a pity that Zhao Zhanggu, if he were still there, he would at least be able to get a seventh-grade official position.

Of course, even if these low-level officials are promoted again, they will only reach the seventh and sixth grades.

But mid-level officials, who originally had a high official position, can be said to have reached the top in one step this time.

The right minister of the Ministry of official affairs was cut off, and news came from the three provinces that Song Langzhong was about to take his place.

The position of the fourth rank can be said to have truly entered the center of the imperial court.

Dr. Song's luck was already very good, but there were people who had better luck than him.

This time, almost all the officials of Zongzheng Temple were sent to Qingjun's side, except for Zongzheng Shaoqing, whose son had died.

Others have lost a child in middle age and are still grieving. They have taken a long vacation and there is nothing wrong with not participating in such things.

Therefore, he was the only senior official in Zongzheng Temple who escaped this incident.

Not only that, Minister Zongzhengji was killed for treason, and another young minister was also implicated. He was the only one who was most suitable to take over the position of Minister Zongzhengji.

This is not his only happy event.

It is said that one of his concubines is pregnant, and the imperial doctor concluded that there is a 90% chance that she is a son.

It's hard to explain clearly the blessings and misfortunes.

After the death of a useless son, he avoided the disaster of death, became the ninth minister, and had a new son in the family. This can hardly be said to be a bad thing.

Perhaps it was the death of his last son that brought him these good fortunes.

Regarding this matter, the three provinces have also informed the whole city that there is another mystery behind the case. Zongzheng Shaoqing just suffered an unreasonable disaster. The imperial court's unusual promotion this time may also be based on comfort considerations.

In short, Chang'an has shown a trend of polarization in recent days.

Those who hold funerals hold funerals, and those who hold happy events hold weddings. All the courtiers condemned the minister of Dali Temple for his wanton behavior and attacking dissidents. At night, they held the promotion order and laughed secretly in their quilts...

Students from all major academies were also very excited.

They have confirmed good news from the court. Because too many officials died this time and the court is short of manpower, there will be an additional imperial examination next year, and the number of people admitted will be far higher than before...

This means more opportunities. Under normal circumstances, some students who would not be able to become Jinshi also have the hope of becoming officials in the court...

This made them not know whether to scold Li Xuanjing or thank him...