The main hall of the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
Kangxi sat on the couch, looking at Chen Tingjing, who looked a little disheveled due to being exposed to the sun for a long time, and his heart was calm.
Chen Tingjing came from a farming and reading family in Shanxi. He was the ninth generation of the Chen family.
Kangxi knew that he was a man with integrity and self-discipline engraved in his bones, and that he was an upright official and a kind person, so he had always trusted him.
But today, Kangxi only has disappointment in him.
Chen Tingjing appeared outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Kangxi believed that he came only for the more than 1,800 people, but what about the others?
Other people's motives may not be as simple as his.
What made Kangxi angry was that Chen Tingjing could clearly see that those people had impure motives, but he still plunged into this vortex.
Those old foxes all knew that Shamuha was already a discarded pawn, so they pushed him out today to be the first to stand out.
Chen Tingjing, on the other hand, had nothing to do with him, but he insisted on getting involved.
After a long time, Kangxi spoke.
"Chen Tingjing, tell me...if I were to treat you as one of Shamuha's accomplices and drag your wife, children, relatives, and old friends to the Meridian Gate to be beheaded, would you still be able to maintain the same indifferent expression as you do now?"
Chen Tingjing tightened his hands on the ground, then gritted his teeth and said,
"If the emperor wants his subject to die, he must die! If the emperor wants his life, I have no right to object."
Kangxi sneered,
"You are so generous..."
He picked up the thick stack of confessions at hand and threw it in front of Chen Tingjing.
"Look, these are the people you want to save!"
Papers filled with confessions fluttered in the air. Chen Tingjing frowned and grabbed a few of the ones closest to him, letting the rest fall to the ground.
After reading only the two sentences above, Chen Tingjing's heart couldn't help but sink.
What is recorded here are the confessions of the people who were arrested by the Five Cities Procuratorate.
In addition to simple information, the remaining testimonies detailed how they received high salaries and spread rumors that were unfavorable to the Eastern Palace.
He picked up all the remaining ones and read them one by one. Without exception, all the confessions were similar. Everyone started spreading rumors after receiving money.
Chen Tingjing raised his head and looked at Kangxi's face full of mockery.
"Your Majesty, the people are ignorant. They were deceived into doing such an unwise thing. They should be given a lighter sentence. That's a thousand..."
"Oh…"
Kangxi smiled and shook his head.
"Chen Tingjing, oh Chen Tingjing, you are still defending those people and think they are innocent."
"But are they truly innocent? Those arrested by the Five Cities Procuratorate have all been briefly questioned. If they were only heard and not explained, there would be no place for them in the cells."
The Wucheng Procuratorate does not arrest people blindly.
Not counting the floating population, the permanent population of the inner and outer cities is nearly one million. If everyone is arrested, 18,000 people can be arrested.
"I don't believe you can't understand the confession here. You're just playing dumb!"
He only produced a small part of the confession, which recorded that the amount of money collected from the people varied, but was at least twenty taels of silver.
Just to bribe those more than a thousand people, it cost tens of thousands of taels of silver.
How could Chen Tingjing not settle this account? He is still being stubborn now, simply because he thinks killing so many people at once is against human ethics.
But what did he do wrong?
Those who dare to blatantly publicize royal scandals must be prepared to bear the consequences.
How can you dare to take benefits but not want to pay the price?
Chen Tingjing's expression was complicated.
"Your Majesty, they were deceived and involved in this, not of their own accord. Even if someone is held accountable, they should find out the person behind this, instead of just killing the people."
"Otherwise, the person behind this won't receive the punishment they deserve, and the emperor will have committed murder in vain. If they then exploit this as an excuse, you'll be burdened with the stigma..."
The mockery on Kangxi's face became even stronger.
"You talk so much, and it's so easy. The people I sent out have been investigating for over half a month and haven't been able to catch him. Who do you think is capable of catching him? You?"
"this……"
Chen Tingjing's face suddenly became hot.
He has no talent for investigating crimes.
Kangxi sneered when he saw the change in his expression.
"There are many people in the court who are more powerful than Shamuha, but today, apart from you, only Shamuha stood up. Do you know why?"
Chen Tingjing pursed his lips and did not answer.
"That's because they are testing my attitude!"
Kangxi's voice suddenly rose.
"If I retreat today, I will have to retreat step by step until the crown prince is deposed according to their wishes!"
"Or do you think that I should also give in to their wishes and depose the Crown Prince?!"
His tone suddenly became cold.
Chen Tingjing's heart sank, and he said in a deep voice,
"That's not what I meant!"
The prince was one of the few royal family members who was willing to consider the common people. He couldn't even admire him enough, so how could he hope that he would be deposed by Kangxi?
But... the fact that the crown prince had no heir was detrimental to the stability of the country. Although he did not want to see Kangxi depose the crown prince, he was also aware that this was the trend of the times. No matter how much Kangxi loved the crown prince, he could not change the outcome of this matter.
"I know you don't mean that. If you did, do you think you could still talk to me properly now?"
Kangxi took a deep breath and forced himself to suppress the anger in his heart. He used to think that Chen Tingjing had the character of a scholar, but now, he just felt that Chen Tingjing was a stone in the toilet, smelly and hard!
"I have always considered you my mentor and a loyal minister. I doubt you could fail to see their intentions, yet you still came today."
Chen Tingjing's eyes flashed.
As Kangxi said, he did see through the intentions of Shamuha and others.
But since the fate of the deposed prince cannot be changed, why should the blood of innocent people be used to appease Kangxi's anger?
In fact, Chen Tingjing now feels a little regretful.
He had not known before that the people imprisoned in the cells had received money to spread rumors intentionally.
If he had known, he might not have followed in his impulsiveness.
"I'm giving you two choices now."
Chen Tingjing raised his head and looked at Kangxi.
"First, take the lead in exposing Shamuha's involvement in the rebellion and cooperate with the Five Cities Procuratorate to kill all those serious rumormongers in the cells."
"Second, you go in and accompany Shamuha. I will issue an imperial decree right now, ordering the massacre of your Sanjin Chen family!"
As soon as these words came out, Chen Tingjing's pupils contracted violently for a moment.
He understood Kangxi's intention almost instantly.
He had been in the court for many years and had considerable influence among the Qingliu. Kangxi was forcing him to lead the Qingliu to side with the Crown Prince...
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