Chapter 1909: Chapter 1909
"People, you disrupt the court and politics at the palace gates today, and tomorrow more people in the Capital City will heed slanders and cause trouble at the royal city, the day after, people from other prefectures will start to riot."
After a pause, the Emperor continued, "When that time comes, the whole of Great Zhou will be in turmoil, bandits and thieves will take advantage of the chaos, neighboring countries will seize the opportunity to attack the borders, and Great Zhou will be in deep water and fiery heat, with war raging everywhere, and the people displaced and homeless. Tell me, is this what you want?"
"Do you want war? Do you want enemies holding big knives to your throat? Do you want your wives and children to be humiliated?"
"Two hundred years ago, Great Qi (a neighboring country) invaded the Great Zhou royal city, burning, killing, and plundering, **ravaging women and children, holding knife tips to toddlers. The great fire in the Capital City burned for half a month, and the people of Great Zhou lay dead everywhere, a horrifying sight. I clearly tell you, today you act with a moment’s arrogance, a moment’s quick tongue, and in the future, you will suffer the hardships of war from two hundred years ago. How can there be intact eggs under a toppled nest?"
"I lastly tell you, those you demanded punishment for recently are not corrupt officials; that is slander, that is someone defaming court officials, aiming to disrupt the Great Zhou’s court, causing internal chaos in Great Zhou, and denying the people from peaceful days. If you do not want to live peacefully, what does it matter if I do not remain the Emperor of Great Zhou? Let Great Zhou descend into chaos; I will not care, I want to see, if my Baili Family retreats from Great Zhou, whether Great Zhou will then be free of natural disasters!!"
After the Emperor’s speech, the surroundings fell silent.
Originally, people who had been clamoring looked at one another.
Even Ye Zi’an and others behind him froze for a moment, not expecting the Emperor would even speak of abdication, though they had to admit, the Emperor was indeed capricious! Also somewhat shameless!
Seizing the opportunity the Emperor added, "Among you, some are those treacherous and villainous ministers, I know, it was their instigation that brought you to make trouble here today. Now, if you find out who these people are, I will pardon your misconduct, and reward you with a thousand taels of silver! If you do not speak or seek them out, when chaos arises in Great Zhou, do not blame me for ignoring you, as it was you who brought chaos to Great Zhou, and can the nation remain orderly if the people incite unrest?"
The common people were stunned, was this really something the Emperor would say?
The Emperor boldly declared, if Great Zhou falls into internal strife, he will not care for the people, is this really okay?
That’s right, if an Emperor can say he’ll stop being an Emperor, what else would he not dare say?
Moreover, if even an Emperor doesn’t care for his own throne, then he really might not care for them. Thinking of their actions today, it seemed somewhat inappropriate, almost like rebellion! Google seaʀᴄh novｅlfire.net
Thinking of rebellion, the people’s hearts suddenly chilled, this is a crime that could result in the eradication of nine generations!
Although they feared natural disasters, feared punishment from Heaven, if they hadn’t yet received Heaven’s punishment and were wiped out by the Emperor instead, wouldn’t that be worse? The Emperor now possesses this capability, and looking at the Imperial Army around them, it would only take one soldier with a knife...
Thinking of this, sweat dripped from their foreheads!
Each one thought, weren’t they at home? How did they end up here? Oh, that’s right, it was that Taoist priest. The priest said that natural disasters are a punishment for dissatisfaction with the darkness of the court; he brought them here for justice, to punish treacherous ministers.
Dammit, he was just a small commoner, could he decide to punish court officials? Furthermore, he didn’t understand court affairs at all, how could the common people tell who was a good official and who was a bad one?