Chapter 237 Massacre

Li Wei ordered someone to bring Dou Wei into the palace, then looked at the Minister of the Central Secretariat and said, "The Minister of the Central Secretariat is not here, are you willing to obey my order?"

The Minister of the Central Secretariat was from a Jiangnan family and he immediately said, "I accept the order of the Emperor."

Li Wei did not leave and continued to watch the Secretariat operating according to the rules. The six secretaries looked unhappy and no one stepped out. If they flattered him, they would easily be ostracized by the world as a villain who fawned on the emperor.

The Minister of the Secretariat Cai Ping called on the Secretary of the Secretariat who was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel. He stepped out and took off his court robes, and then almost half of the officials of the Secretariat did the same.

Most of these people came from Guanlong, and some simply did not want to accept that the emperor would violate the rules in this way. They covered their faces and cried, "The emperor has ruined the country, and your majesty is angry and resentful, which is not the demeanor of a monarch. This should not be done."

Li Wei was unmoved. The remaining officials of the Secretariat smoothly conveyed the imperial edict to the Ministry of Personnel. The chief official of the Ministry of Personnel, Liu Wenjing, sighed and did not reject the imperial edict.

However, there were also many officials in the Menxia Province causing trouble. Those of high rank were taken to the palace, while those of lower rank were directly beaten out.

The officials who were beaten out mixed with those officials from the Secretariat who were only wearing thin inner clothes and actually headed towards the palace gate.

The person guarding the palace gate today was Shan Xiongxin, Duke of Jiyin. When he saw this group of people coming, he drew his sword and pointed it at them with a fierce smile: "You are not allowed to approach the palace gate without being summoned. Those who violate this will be beheaded!"

The leader was Dou Wei's second son. He strode forward and said, "I am the nephew of the Empress Dowager. I want to enter the palace to pay my respects to the Empress Dowager..."

Before he could finish his words, Shan Xiongxin stepped forward and swung his knife, cutting the arrogant face diagonally, revealing the red and white inside.

Such a situation immediately frightened them so much that they screamed and retreated, and some people even accused Shan Xiongxin tremblingly: "You... you actually dared to kill the royal family without permission!"

"No one is allowed to approach the palace gate without being summoned. Anyone who violates this will be executed!"

Li Wei came to the Secretariat with the imperial edict. Pei Ji, the Minister of the Left, was leading officials from the six ministries to sit in silence. Li Wei did not even perform the greeting when he saw him.

"Pei Ji, the decree is here. You are no longer the Zuo Pushe, but His Majesty still wants to see you. Please enter the palace."

The Minister of Personnel Yin Kaishan said: "You are a lowly official. If you act like this, you will be killed sooner or later."

Li Wei laughed and said, "I deserve to die, but you deserve to die even more. Your Majesty is so kind and wise, but who would have thought that there would be so many people who deceive the emperor and deceive the superiors under your rule."

At this time, another eunuch came with an imperial decree of the same color: "The Emperor Emeritus's Order."

Pei Ji led everyone to bow and receive the order, but Li Wei walked directly to the eunuch, snatched the order from his hand, and casually put it into his sleeve.

The eunuch couldn't believe it and pointed at Li Wei and was about to speak, but all his words were silenced by a slap in the face by Li Wei, and he swallowed all his words, along with his knocked-out teeth.

Pei Ji, who was kneeling on the ground, said: "Your Majesty, have you even lost your filial piety? Emperor Retired, don't you even have the right to speak?"

Li Wei turned around and said in surprise: "What? Your Majesty is very filial, and everyone in the world knows it, and the emperor can speak naturally. Who has the courage to speak to the emperor?"

Minister of Rites Wei Yijie said: "Your Majesty, are you going to rule the world in such a self-deceiving way? Can you hide the fact that you are bullying the emperor today from everyone in the world?"

Li Wei shook his head: "I don't understand what you are saying."

One of the officials from the six ministries said, "I thought he was a wise ruler, but I didn't expect that he would start to act like this in just three years. The example of Emperor Yang is not far away."

Even without Li Wei, an official immediately said, "The retired emperor has done nothing for the country. It was Your Majesty who founded the country in accordance with the will of heaven. Now that the Turkic army is approaching, the retired emperor is joining forces with court officials to force the emperor to abdicate. Is there any reason for this?"

"The emperor is wrong, but he is also the father, filial piety..." "As the saying goes, father is kind and son is filial, now, oh, I think it is still the emperor's fault!"

Li Wei was in no mood to listen to their bickering, and directly ordered Pei Ji and several ministers and assistant ministers to enter the palace.

When they were about to leave, Li Wei shouted, "Where are the officials from the Ministry of Justice? Here is the decree. Pei Ji and his entire family will be executed! The three clans will be exiled to Liaodong and will never be allowed to return!"

Pei Ji, who was walking in front, stumbled and fell to the ground in a mess, and when he raised his head, tears were streaming down his face.

The officials behind him, who had been standing straight, suddenly bent over unconsciously as if their spines were broken.

Even when Emperor Yang of Sui killed Gao Jiong, he did not implicate the entire family, let alone exile the three clans.

They thought the worst that could happen was their own death, but no one expected that the emperor would disregard his reputation and go on a killing spree just because of a test.

He... doesn't he want to govern the country with benevolence, rule the people with laws, clean up bureaucracy, and accept advice?

Yin Kaishan, Wei Yijie, Zhao Wenjing and others could no longer move, and no one had the heart to support Pei Ji. Their legs were weak, and all that came to their minds were the tragic deaths of their wives, children and young daughters, and the images of their families falling into decline and becoming pariahs.

It shouldn't be like this. Wei Yijie suddenly kicked Pei Ji hard in the waist: "You hurt me, you hurt me! Old dog, you hurt my Wei family!"

Wei Yijie no longer cared about anything else. He ran back to the officials of the six ministries and knelt down. He gave a flattering smile to the eunuchs, whom he had always despised, and his eyes were full of pleading.

Li Wei felt very comfortable at this moment, and he should have died with a smile on his face. This was the Jingzhao Wei family, which was one of the most powerful families among the three auxiliary families in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Li Wei smiled and shook his head: "Duke Wei is sensible and smart, why did he lose his mind a while ago? His Majesty originally admired you very much."

Wei Yijie kowtowed repeatedly in the direction of Xuanzheng Hall: "Long live His Majesty, long live His Majesty."

Everyone looked at the Minister of Rites. Something seemed to break in their hearts.

Li Wei stepped forward and helped him up: "Okay, okay, His Majesty will definitely know your loyalty, but please go to the Wude Hall first. His Majesty hasn't given us a banquet for a long time."

…………

In Chang'an, Zuo Pushe's mansion was besieged by soldiers. This could not be concealed at all, especially since the people under the emperor's feet were the most well-informed.

But it was generally believed that the emperor would definitely give a minor punishment, but that did not stop them from gathering nearby, wanting to see the prime minister's excitement.

Soon the official who delivered the imperial edict arrived, and the people began to place bets on the gambling game they had spontaneously organized. This was a way of playing that had existed since the previous dynasty.

But as the decree was announced, cries of grief and pleas for mercy rang out from the Pei Mansion. Some young and strong men in the mansion wanted to rush out, but they were beheaded one after another. The people in the street dispersed in an instant.

Not only this mansion, but all the mansions of the Hedong Pei family in Chang'an were broken into by officials, who searched the houses and put them in shackles without mercy. Not to mention those who dared to resist, even those who stepped forward to stop them and beg for mercy were beheaded.

After cleaning up the Pei family, Shen Guang led his troops to surround the Wei Mansion, the Zhao Mansion, the Yin Mansion, the Liu Mansion, the Xue Mansion, and even the Dou Mansion and the residences of several clan members.

...............

(End of this chapter)