On December 12, Ju Wenzhen and his close associates, Wang Hong, Wei Zhen, Xue Cui and others were escorted to Caishikou for questioning.
On this day, the entire Chang'an City was packed with people, men, women, old and young, all going to watch the execution scene.
Crowds of people stood on both sides of the streets from Tianlao to Caishikou.
Prison cars were escorted by soldiers through the streets one after another.
People on both sides of the street were carrying bamboo baskets and throwing rotten eggs, rotten vegetable leaves, and pebbles at Ju Wenzhen and his cronies who were imprisoned in the prison cars. , Wang Hong, Wei Zhen, Xue Cui and others smashed it over, cursing while doing so.
"Kill him.
God damn Ju Wenzhen.
He is not honest even after being castrated.
How many people have been harmed?
He really deserves death."
"Wang Hong, the bastard, has killed so many people in Chang'an.
He should be cut into pieces by a thousand swords."
"Scratched Wei Zhen and Xue Cui" There were roars and curses from the moment Ju Wenzhen and others were taken out of the prison to the execution ground at Caishikou.
The roars and curses of the people along the street never stopped.
The prison car passed by, and many people chased the prison car.
Smash rotten eggs and rotten vegetable leaves.
When they arrived at Caishikou, all the prisoners were put on the execution platform and were pushed down to their knees by the soldiers.
A group of executioners came.
In this winter, all the executioners were shirtless.
They all drank until their faces turned red.
The prison officer of the Ministry of Punishment stood up and recited the crimes of Ju Wenzhen and others.
Seeing that noon had arrived, the prison officer took out an arrow from the bucket and threw it on the ground.
At the same time, he shouted: "The time has come, kill!"
The executioners poured a bowl of wine into their mouths, smashed the wine bowl, raised their guillotines and chopped off the heads, and the heads immediately fell to the ground.
"Rush up, eat their heads, drink their blood, hold on to the injustice, take revenge," the onlookers suddenly shouted.
The people who hated Ju Wenzhen and others as much as their bones saw that all these people were beheaded, and they rushed to the execution platform desperately.
Seeing this, the executioners sheathed their knives and retreated.
The crowd rushed to the execution platform like a tide, grabbing madly. with the bodies of these decapitated prisoners.
After a while, the corpses of the condemned prisoners were cut into pieces by the crazy people.
Some people who grabbed a piece of meat started to eat it on the spot to vent their hatred for them.
They thought that their corpses should be eaten and digested in their stomachs.
If they fall off and are excreted as feces, they will never be able to be reincarnated and become a new human being.
For superstitious people, this is the most serious punishment.
Zhao Ziliang was very angry when he heard someone reporting this incident at the Regent's Palace.
He immediately sent someone to summon Lu Sigong, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, and reprimanded him: "The people are angry with them and it is understandable that they lost their minds at the scene, but you, the Superintendent of the Ministry of Punishments, The officials and other soldiers maintaining order have also lost their minds.
What are you doing?
The common people are crazy.
Are you crazy too?
Are you doing it on purpose?
Let the people vent their anger.
You are the law enforcers.
You must not lose your mind at any time.
Everyone is dead, and the hatred will disappear.
Is it interesting to insult the corpse?
We can understand the mood of the people, but if they are allowed to destroy the law field Order, this is a blasphemy against the laws of the Tang Dynasty.
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You did not stop them and allowed them to destroy the order of the law.
This is a serious dereliction of duty."
After Lu Sigong learned about this incident, he also felt that something might be going on.
Zhao Ziliang could not rub sand out of his eyes.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for the Regent's Palace to cause trouble, and he was scolded severely by Zhao Ziliang. .
Lu Sigong felt very uncomfortable after being reprimanded, but he also knew that Zhao Ziliang was right.
No matter what mistakes Ju Wenzhen and others had committed during their lives, death would be like burning out a lamp and letting the people make a fuss.
It is too barbaric to steal the corpse and eat it.
The Tang Empire is a civilized country.
How could such a thing happen?
But the matter has already happened, someone must be responsible for it, and the supervisor is the number one in the execution field.
Official, this responsibility is not his to bear, who should bear it?
Lu Sigong immediately bowed his hands to Zhao Ziliang and said, "What the king reprimanded is that after the minister returned, he immediately questioned the prison officer."
Zhao Ziliang asked: "Is it just a question of guilt?"
Lu Sigong was stunned and thought to himself: Do you want to get involved?
This is not your style, King Zhao.
He asked doubtfully: "What does the king mean?"
Zhao Ziliang said: "Punishment is not the purpose, it is just a warning method to educate the officials of the Ministry of Punishment not to make such mistakes again in the future.
The strictness of the law is not used to express favors or give away favors."
"I understand, I will go back and summon the officials of the Ministry of Justice to convey the king's instructions."
After Lu Sigong left, Zhao Ziliang felt a little bored.
Although his staff believed that he had made rapid progress in transforming the Tang Dynasty since he took charge of the government, he still felt that it was still too slow.
He walked out of the main hall, and the guard immediately took the cloak and put it on him.
Zhao Ziliang tied the cloak tightly and walked out of the palace gate.
The guard immediately caught up with him and asked, "Where is the king going?
I have my subordinates prepare the carriages and horses."
"No, I'm just walking around casually, there's no need to prepare a carriage or horses," Zhao Ziliang said, waving his hands and strolling forward along the street.
Heavy snowflakes were falling in the sky, and flakes of snowflakes fell on Zhao Ziliang's cloak.
A thick layer of white snow quickly accumulated on his body, and the bodies of several guards who followed him also quickly turned white.
There were few pedestrians on the street, and occasionally you could see a few people walking in a hurry.
Zhao Ziliang saw this scene and lamented that the prosperity of Chang'an is no longer what it used to be.
In the past, even in heavy snow days, Chang'an Avenue was full of pedestrians.
On the one hand, the population has greatly reduced, and on the other hand, the economic situation is not as good as before, which makes Chang'an look much more depressed than in its heyday.
After returning from a stroll, Zhao Ziliang was determined to speed up the process of reducing vassal vassals.
The reduction of vassal vassals has been in progress since he began to take charge of the government.
Some Jiedushi envoys who returned to Chang'an to report on their duties or those who made mistakes were not assigned to other positions after returning to Beijing.
Position means being demoted or used They were directly dismissed from their posts and questioned.
After they were transferred or dismissed, the remaining official positions became vacant.
Then he issued an edict to separate the military power and political power left by the Jiedushi, and then continued to subdivide the military power and political power, no longer The official position of Jiedushi is established, which combines military and political power.
Even if local officials and military generals jointly submitted a letter recommending so-and-so to take over the post of military governor, he rejected them all and severely reprimanded him in writing.
Appointments to official positions are a matter for the court, but you local officials and generals want to make your own decisions.
Are you too brave?
"Come here, call Gao Shang, Du Fu, Li Mi, Li Muchen and others."
"yes" Gao Shang and others quickly rushed over and greeted Zhao Ziliang one by one.
Zhao Ziliang said: "Everyone is exempt from the courtesy.
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I have called you here for a while and want to ask for your thoughts and suggestions.
Now Huaixi and Dengzhou have already Taken back by the imperial court, both Liang Chongyi and Li Zhongchen were brought to justice, and the imperial court's authority The letter is being restored.
I believe that although the time is not yet mature for the official full-scale reduction of vassals, it can already be done in some areas.
I will consider selecting an area under the control of the imperial court after the New Year. , I have temporarily chosen the Guanzhong area, what do you think?"
Li Mi cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, now the yamen of the imperial court are carrying out anti-corruption, anti-corruption, anti-inaction, and anti-administrative malpractice.
All the armies directly under the imperial court are in the training stage.
Isn't it too hasty to reduce the vassal status now?
What if there is a vassal town?
If you don’t cooperate, the court will be caught off guard.”
Du Fu, Li Muchen and others also agreed with Li Mi's words.
It had only been more than two months since Zhao Ziliang had been in charge of the court.
Although in these two months, the two leading figures, Liang Chongyi and Li Zhongchen, were eradicated, The territory of the Tang Dynasty was vast, and many state and county officials had not yet received the news that he was presiding over the government.
The news was not smooth, and his prestige naturally did not cover the entire territory of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, the army's training has not yet been completed, and the army's combat effectiveness has not been fully restored and improved.
If the vassal reduction is carried out at this time, if a blind and courageous vassal town is unwilling to hand over power and rebels, the situation may be difficult to control. .
Zhao Ziliang knew that Li Mi's worries were not unreasonable.
At this time, focusing on stability was the best choice.
However, he also knew that the matter of cutting down the vassal could not be postponed.
The longer the time went, the more troubles would grow in the hearts of those vassal towns who already had power.
The ambition will become bigger and bigger, and it will become more and more difficult to control.
If you take action early, you will have more chances of winning and less resistance.
Zhao Ziliang saw that Gao Shang was thoughtful and did not agree with Li Mi, Du Fu, Li Muchen and others, so he asked: "Gao Shang, what do you think?"
Gao Shang came back to his senses, raised his hands and asked, "I wonder if your Majesty has thought about how to reduce the vassalage and what specific methods he will use to do so."
When Zhao Ziliang saw Gao Shang asking this question, he knew that he must have already had an idea, so he said, "How do you think we can do it more safely?"
Gao Shang pondered for a moment, then raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, I believe that it is not unfeasible to first launch the reduction of vassal vassal in the Guanzhong area where the imperial decree has the strongest execution ability.
The key is how to operate.
If the regent's palace directly issues an edict, Guanzhong will be affected.
If the chief officials of various states and counties separate their powers and let them only handle political affairs or military affairs, and hand over other powers to other officials, Wei Chen believes that the execution of this decree by the state and county officials will definitely be affected.
There are some people who will definitely go against the rules.
On the surface, they say they will only focus on political affairs or military affairs in accordance with the imperial decree.
But in fact, they are still secretly trying to do something about it.
The most they can do is send officials to inspect and investigate. , after the imperial officials leave, they will definitely arrange everything.
When the imperial officials leave, they will continue everything as usual.
This is called policies from above and countermeasures from below
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