Xie Dahai walked over, skillfully twisted Cai Jing's head, and before Cai Jing could struggle, slammed his head against the dragon pillar with a dull thud. The assembled officials were stunned, their expressions like ducks being strangled, their eyes almost popping out.

Cai Jing was already in his seventies, how could he withstand such torment? He fainted immediately.

But Xie Dahai was very experienced. "You want to die? Just fainting won't do. You have to die!"

His eyes were filled with cold light. The emperor was going to make good use of the Imperial City Guard. With the emperor backing him up, who was he afraid of? Grand Commandant Gao Qiu had already cowered in a corner and dared not utter a sound.

Xie Dahai rammed into Cai Jing again, smashing his head open and causing his brains to spill out, resulting in his immediate and gruesome death.

Finally, someone died. Just now, the court was still in the stage of debating and punishing, and the scholar-officials were still united in resisting the imperial decree. They believed that the young emperor who had just ascended the throne would surely rescind the order.

But now! Someone has died! And it wasn't just anyone! It was the Grand Tutor of the court! And he was directly killed by being struck in the very hall!

What does this mean? It means that the emperor wasn't just bluffing; he really intended to kill them!

For a moment, the court was filled with fear, and no one dared to stand up and speak.

The emperor then began his clumsy acting, and Zhao Huan, looking utterly shocked, exclaimed, "Xie Dahai, I only asked you to help Prime Minister Cai up, how did you manage to kill him?"

Xie Dahai immediately prostrated himself on the ground: "This humble servant deserves to die a thousand deaths."

Before the ministers could speak, the emperor continued his exaggerated acting, walking down to the ground: "Grand Tutor, Grand Tutor, I'm so sorry! I never expected... I never expected..."

"Quickly, take Xie Dahai away and treat him well—oh no, throw him into the dungeon..."

So the Imperial Guards outside turned around and took Xie Dahai away, where they began to treat him to a feast.

Li Bangyan and Wang Fu were dragged away by the Imperial City Guard, shouting that they were innocent.

Zhao Huan sat back on the throne, acting as if nothing had happened.

It feels so good to do whatever I want, who cares!

Anyway, I won't live for another year!

"read."

One of the eunuchs took out the third imperial edict and began to read it aloud.

"Grand Tutor Cai Jing has formed cliques for personal gain, embezzled public funds, perverted justice, eliminated dissidents, usurped power, framed loyal officials, launched the Huashigang Campaign, built the Yanfu Palace and Genyue Garden at enormous expense, established the Xicheng Land Reclamation Office to plunder farmland, and in order to make up for the fiscal deficit, he also disrupted the salt and tea laws, minted ten-cash coins, resulting in currency chaos and widespread public resentment! He is sentenced to immediate execution! This is the imperial decree!"

This time, no one dared to utter a sound.

Holy crap! You emperor change your face faster than flipping through a book!

You looked guilty when Cai Jing was hit and killed.

He was convicted in the blink of an eye!

The atmosphere inside the hall seemed to freeze; you could hear a pin drop.

After the eunuch finished reading, he took out another document and said, "Privy Councilor Tong Guan failed to recapture Yan and Yun, spent a million to buy his way back to the capital to claim credit, and deceived his superiors! Later, in the Northwest campaign, as the commander-in-chief, he deserted his post, leading to the collapse of the western front, which doubled his crime! He commanded troops for twenty years without ceasing warfare or maintaining military discipline, causing the Imperial Guards of the dynasty to become increasingly lax and negligent in their duties! He is hereby beheaded and his head displayed to the public! This is the imperial decree!"

As soon as the eunuch finished reading, Tong Guan was trembling all over: "Your Majesty! I'm innocent!"

The ministers were alarmed; this meant that four prime ministers would be killed in one fell swoop!

This is unprecedented in history!

The Imperial Guard dragged Tong Guan away, and the hall fell into a deathly silence.

Zhao Huan continued nonchalantly, "Read it!"

Here we go again! Are you going to kill a fifth prime minister?

Everyone was terrified, fearing they would be next, especially Liang Shicheng and Zhu Mian, both of whom had a long history of evil deeds.

"The Jurchen invaders are advancing south. I intend to fight them to the death. Anyone who dares to speak of peace will have their entire family executed! Li Gang, the Vice Minister of War, has been appointed to take charge of the Privy Council in this critical moment! This is my decree!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; it turned out to be an imperial edict promoting Li Gang.

Li Gang stepped forward and bowed in gratitude: "Your Majesty, I thank you. I will do anything, even risk my life, to drive the Jin invaders out of the territory of my Great Song Dynasty!"

Although Li Gang had some reservations about Zhao Huan killing Cai Jing in the palace, his main focus at this time was on advocating for war.

In reality, the biggest problem right now is that the Jin army has already crossed the Yellow River and will soon be at the city gates.

"Li Gang, remember this: what I want is not just to drive the Jin invaders out of the Song territory, but to reclaim Yan and Yun, drink from the Hexi Corridor, return to the old lands of the Han and Tang dynasties, and restore the glory of our Chinese nation!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

After the court session, Zhao Huan returned to his study. He hadn't slept all night and was now somewhat tired, but even more excited.

"Your Majesty, Grand Commandant Gao requests an audience."

"Let him in."

"This sinful subject kowtows to the Holy Emperor!"

"What crime has Grand Commandant Gao committed?"

“Since I was appointed Grand Commandant, the Imperial Guards have become lax, which is due to my incompetence. I beg Your Majesty to punish me, and I am willing to accept the punishment!”

Earlier at the morning court session, after Zhao Huan's killing of him, it was Grand Commandant Gao who was the first to realize what had happened.

When it comes to Gao Qiu, many people in later generations learned about him from "Water Margin", but in fact, there is no detailed record of him in "History of Song". We can only roughly judge that he was a true commoner who gained favor because he was good at football.

Gao Qiu was not part of the same faction as Tong Guan and Cai Jing. Although he was not clean either, he was a righteous person. He was originally Su Shi's page. Later, when he gained power, Cai Jing persecuted Su Shi. Gao Qiu not only did not participate, but also helped him.

He said he would never forget Su Shi's kindness to him in his entire life.

For this reason alone, Zhao Huan still had some goodwill towards Gao Qiu.

Zhao Huan never considered himself a good person; on the contrary, his ambition was to be a shameless rogue!

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