Now, the Song Dynasty had never killed any scholar-officials since its founding, let alone killed anyone in the court. But only one day after the new emperor ascended the throne, two people's blood was spilled in the court. Cai Jing and his son were really unlucky.

The Imperial Guards swiftly cleared Cai You's body away, and his head was quickly delivered to the city gate and hung up.

Zhao Huan then dragged out twelve more people from the list. These twelve knelt down below, no longer the passionate and enthusiastic people who had been plotting important matters the night before. They were even more cowardly than Zhao Ji.

Liang Shicheng trembled and said, "Your Majesty, it was all instigated by His Majesty the Daoist."

Zhu Mian also shouted, "Your Majesty, I was forced to do this!"

"Nonsense! His Majesty the Dao is my father. He just abdicated the throne to me. How could he commit such a treasonous act just one day after my ascension to the throne? You treacherous officials dare to defy Heaven and even slander the Emperor Emeritus! Guards, throw these treacherous officials into the Heavenly Prison and exterminate their entire families!"

It wasn't that Zhao Huan had any familial affection for Zhao Ji, but rather that the matter would end when it escalated to the point of ministers rebelling. If it had developed into a conflict between the retired emperor and the emperor, who knows how much more turmoil would have ensued in the court, since all the ministers were former officials of Zhao Ji.

Zhao Huan said this to tell his ministers: From now on, you all better behave yourselves. I won't care whose subjects you are anymore. You are my subjects now. The Emperor Emeritus is in poor health. From now on, you can focus on recuperating and stop causing trouble!

"Your Majesty, I'm innocent!"

"Your Majesty, we have been wronged!"

"..."

The twelve ministers were dragged out by the Imperial City Guard. At first, they begged for mercy, but once outside, they began cursing: "You tyrant! The Song Dynasty will perish in your hands! The Song Dynasty will perish in your hands! You will be infamous for eternity..."

Zhao Huan sat back on the emperor's throne, and the hall was completely silent.

If twelve people are to be executed along with their entire families, the number of people implicated will likely be at least seven thousand, if not ten thousand.

Zhao Huan felt this was nothing. The cowherd in later generations killed more than 15,000 people in the Lan Yu case. Today, Zhao Huan would also raise his butcher's knife and let these pedantic scholars see what it meant for the emperor's anger to cause a million corpses to float!

Zhao Huan suddenly burst into laughter: "My ministers, there is no need to worry. I only punish treacherous officials and villains. You are all my key ministers, and I cherish you all too much!"

The emperor's voice reached their ears, and the ministers' hearts pounded wildly. They kept thinking to themselves: This is definitely a tyrant like Qin Shi Huang or Liu Che!

Emperors Ying Zheng and Liu Che are highly regarded in later generations, but they did not have a good reputation in the Song Dynasty. This was not for any other reason than the presence of Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty, who was known for his conservatism.

His political philosophy was also very simple: to govern the country with benevolence and righteousness.

The famous Zizhi Tongjian contains this sentence: "Emperor Wu of Han was extravagant and greedy, imposed heavy punishments and taxes, built lavish palaces, engaged in foreign affairs with the four barbarian tribes, believed in gods and monsters, and toured the country without restraint, causing the people to become exhausted and turn to banditry. There is little difference between him and Qin Shi Huang!"

Sima Guang was a very influential figure in the Northern Song Dynasty. He advocated thrift and believed that as long as the emperor did not squander money, the people would not have too much of a burden, and the country would naturally be stable.

So when Zhao Huan raised his butcher's knife in the court, wasn't he just like Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han? This was the act of a tyrant!

They probably didn't know that Zhao Huan was about to launch a major military campaign, not only that, but also that he would establish a large-scale secret service agency, the Imperial City Guard, and that he was plotting to overthrow the absolute rule of Confucianism and change the entire system of the imperial examinations for selecting talent in the Northern Song Dynasty.

I wonder what these scholar-officials will think when Zhao Huan's series of ideas take effect.

The emperor chuckled, but no one shared in his joy. Instead, they became even more tense. This emperor was truly capricious and unpredictable; he was undoubtedly a tyrant!

This guy was perfectly well-behaved when he was the crown prince; everyone could see it. He was incredibly obedient. Even the night before last, when he heard that he had been made emperor, he was so scared that he cried.

You tell me, how did this guy suddenly become like this?

The emperor has spoken; as a subject, wouldn't it be disrespectful not to respond even twice? If the emperor feels he has lost face, will he throw a tantrum again?

The ministers shouted, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Zhao Huan said, "Since all of you ministers believe that I am a wise ruler, then I will do one more thing. Ministers, what do you think? I will abolish all the corvée labor in the country. From now on, I will pay all the people who have done their labor!"

Logically, the officials were unwilling to abolish corvée labor; they figured they might as well use free labor. But now the problem was that the emperor was willing to pay for it himself, and they, the ministers, didn't have to. So they had no reason to argue with the emperor.

Moreover, once the system of exempting people from corvée labor is implemented, whenever there are large-scale projects that require the labor of ordinary people, the money will be allocated from the national treasury and given to the local government. Hehe, wouldn't that mean everyone has another way to make money?

The ministers' minds raced. "Emperor, so what if you kill your ministers? You're still too young. We praised you a few times for your wisdom, and you've gotten too cocky. You created this system and think you're some kind of sage ruler for all time?"

The ministers didn't care how much money was left in the national treasury. Every year, the Song Dynasty had to mobilize tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people to repair the Yellow River, and infrastructure construction in various places also required manpower. Without corvée labor, more money would need to be allocated from the national treasury.

The ministers would be overjoyed to see the gleaming silver being allocated to the local areas.

Li Gang stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, if corvée labor is abolished, the pressure on the national treasury will increase significantly. I am worried that by the time the money is allocated to the local areas, very little will actually reach the hands of the people.”

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