The empress had been in seclusion for many days. On the first morning of her visit after leaving seclusion, almost all officials from Great Qin were present.
"Your Majesty, King Chenliu has received the favor of the Emperor and does not want to serve the country. When Your Majesty is in seclusion, he is arrogant and domineering, does not respect the king's orders, and sends troops privately..."
Deputy Prime Minister Si Changqing held an ivory court tablet in his hand and spoke impassionedly and heartbreakingly about the various crimes committed by his uncle, King Chenliu.
On the entire ivory court board, there are densely recorded records of several major crimes of King Chenliu that should be executed according to the law, as well as dozens of other serious crimes.
Si Changqing spoke for nearly a quarter of an hour before finishing what he said, and finally said: "Now he has committed a treasonous act, openly conspired to rebel, and sent troops to attack the palace. If the traitor is not killed, it will not be enough for the people to be angry. Please give the order, Your Majesty."
, kill the evil thieves.”
Si Changqing must say this, and he must say this.
Although it is well known that he and King Chen Liu are not at odds with each other, it is hard to guarantee that some people will make ill-intentioned speculations. After all, it is also well known that King Chen Liu is his elder brother-in-law.
Therefore, Si Changqing could only request an order to kill King Chenliu first, so that his relationship with King Chenliu could be completely cleared.
Si Changqing is a fair person, but... he is a bit of a fisherman for reputation. He cares about reputation very much, to the point where it goes beyond human nature and is even a bit pathological.
When Ying Zhao heard this, he glanced at the other ministers and asked in a deep voice: "Do you have any different opinions?"
The Prime Minister, Kong Xianglu, thought about it for a moment, raised the banquet in salute, and said: "Your Majesty, I have something to say."
"speak!"
Kong Xianglu said: "Reporting to your majesty, King Chenliu conspired to commit rebellion and committed a heinous crime. According to the law, it is not an exaggeration to sentence Ling Chi. He deserves to be killed, but the old minister thinks that he cannot be killed."
When Si Changqing heard this, he frowned and asked, "What does Zuo Xiang mean by this? Since you said that King Chenliu's crime was so heinous that he should be executed without delay, and you also said that he should not be killed. What's wrong with a rebellious minister and traitor who has failed to live up to His grace?
Killed? If he didn’t kill, wouldn’t everyone follow suit in the future?”
Kong Xianglu explained: "It is easy to kill King Chenliu, but it is difficult to pacify the people of the world."
"King Chen Liu sent troops to the Ming Dynasty this time. Although he did not respect the king's order and sent troops privately, this was in line with the views of countless people in the Qin Dynasty. This move was highly popular among the people."
"Many people clapped their hands and praised him. If King Chenliu is killed at this time, I am afraid that the warlike spirit of the people will also be destroyed." www.81zw.????m
"As we all know, our Qin Dynasty is a martial artist, and both the people and the soldiers are all warlike. If their warlikeness is extinguished by killing King Chenliu, then if a war starts next, it will probably affect the morale of our military.
unfavorable……"
Kong Xianglu didn't want to keep King Chenliu, he had no friendship with King Chenliu, and he couldn't stand King Chenliu's behavior.
He just saw that the empress had no intention of killing King Chenliu, so he stood up to resist the thunder and gave the empress a step forward.
As people mature with age, Kong Xianglu knew that if he wanted to keep his position, he had to obey the empress.
He wants to keep his position not for himself, but for the sake of the world's scholars.
The empress is also adept at martial arts, which can be seen from the fact that she puts down government affairs and often practices seclusion.
She also believes that the world is conquered by strength, not by the words of scholars.
If Kong Xianglu were not in this position, would scholars in the world still have a way to get ahead?
Therefore, to keep one's position is to keep a way for scholars all over the world to develop in the imperial court.
For this reason, Kong Xianglu could try to figure out the empress's thoughts without being arrogant, and he could adapt to please her.
Deputy Prime Minister Si Changqing and Kong Xianglu exchanged words and exchanges with each other for a long time.
The other ministers could only watch. The two top men were quarreling. They were both subordinates. Who dared to participate?
Even if everyone is impatient and wants to go in alone, they have to suppress it and watch the left and right prime ministers quarreling.
After a long time, both of them were tired of arguing, and Ying Zhao finally said: "That's enough. We are no more than prisoners of the same rank. As for letting my left and right prime ministers argue with each other? Are you afraid of making people laugh if it spreads?"
"King Chen Liu deserves to be punished for his crimes, but he has also made great contributions to the Qin Dynasty. If I kill him, I will inevitably be criticized by others. There will be conflicts in national policies in the future..."
"That's all, for the sake of old King Chenliu, spare his life."
"However, the death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime cannot be escaped. He will be deprived of his title, demoted to a commoner, all fiefs taken back, his family property confiscated, imprisoned in Prince Chenliu's Mansion, and punished with five lashes every day. From now on, he will not be allowed to step out of Prince Chenliu's Mansion.
Half a step."
Ying Zhao promised Wu Zhongxian to keep King Chen Liu alive, but he did not promise him to let King Chen Liu live comfortably.
According to her punishment, King Chen Liu might as well just die!
Let’s not talk about the confiscation of property and the deprivation of titles. After all, it is impossible to keep these things after what he committed.
Being imprisoned and being punished with five lashes every day was a punishment worse than death.
The so-called punishment of five whips means one whip is given to each limb and body, making a total of five whips.
The pain is unbearable when the whip is applied, but because the branches are in different positions, it cannot be killed at all.
This is equivalent to making King Chenliu live in severe pain every day, but he still cannot die.
Wu Zhongxian still underestimated the domineering empress Ying Zhao. She seemed to have let King Chen Liu go, but she punished him even more.
The empress has already said this, and Si Changqing can't say anything more.
It is easy to die, but it is difficult to live after suffering once. It is also a great punishment for King Chenliu.
"One more thing. Nowadays, there are many sects in Jianghu, Jianghu fights are not uncommon, and disasters like annihilation of sects often occur. The Jianghu Division obviously does not have enough manpower to handle these things well."
Ying Zhao said: "I am going to separate the Jianghu Department from the Criminal Department and make it an independent department. It will deal exclusively with Jianghu affairs in the future. Do you have any suggestions?"
As soon as the ministers heard this, they understood what the empress meant. This was not to ask everyone if they could become independent, but to inform everyone that the Jianghu Department should be independent.
We need to ask them to think of a system to improve the Jianghu Division and position the Jianghu Division's level.
The Great Qin court instantly became lively. Some people suggested that it should be at the same level as the Sixth Department, while others said that it should be below the Sixth Department. There was a lot of quarrel.
Seeing that these people were noisy and annoyed Ying Zhao, Kong Xianglu immediately stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I think what the ministers said is reasonable, but it is not applicable."
Ying Zhao asked: "Does Prime Minister Zuo have any wise ideas?"
If she gets really annoyed, these people will make a lot of noise, all for their own benefit.
Those who say they are at the same level as the Sixth Ministry are not from the Sixth Ministry, and they don't care about taking away the rights and interests of the Sixth Ministry.
Those who say they want to be under the Sixth Department are all members of the Sixth Department, who want to control this new department to expand their own power.
As for the other proposers, they all wanted to benefit themselves based on their own position, and then considered the interests of the court.