A commotion immediately broke out in the dark cell.
"Zhou Yanru, what nonsense are you spouting? His Majesty is wise and decisive, a true prodigy of his youth. How could he possibly listen to the lies of a treacherous minister and want to kill us loyal subjects?"
These Donglin officials simply started deceiving themselves.
They even went so far as to praise Zhu Youjian.
However, many people agree with Zhou Yanru's words.
"I might really not make it through this!"
Many people burst into tears.
"If I had known this would happen, I should have sided with that eunuch Wei Zhongxian back then... Wait a minute!"
Someone had a sudden inspiration and quickly approached the bars of the dark cell.
"I want to see His Majesty the Ninth Prince!"
"We're both from Beizhili (Heilongjiang Province), we're practically from the same hometown!"
"If he saves me this time, I will follow his lead from now on!"
Once one person takes the lead, the others immediately follow suit.
"Yes, I am also willing to serve Your Excellency!"
"So that His Majesty may know, although I am outwardly a member of the Donglin Party, I have long wanted to pledge allegiance to him, but I have no way to do so!"
Zhou Yanru's eyes turned cold as he heard these voices.
"Hmph, is this what they call the Donglin Party?"
After going through a lot of torment, he has come to terms with it.
"I used to really think that if the emperor made good use of the Donglin Party, the Ming Dynasty would be better off."
"Later he turned against us, and the Ming Dynasty was doomed."
"But now it seems that the young emperor's move was not a mistake after all!"
Zhou Yanru closed his eyes and quietly thought, "It seems we've underestimated this young emperor all along!"
"I just don't know where he learned all this from?"
"Could it be that so-called Master Gao?"
"Unfortunately, I have never met him and do not know who he is."
On the island in the middle of the lake, Gao Qingyun frowned.
"Seriously, is this never going to end? Another 250 reputation points?"
A few days later, it was the day before Li Ruolian was to return to Beijing.
Wei Zhongxian sent men to drag all the Donglin officials out of the black prison.
Many people knelt down directly in front of Wei Zhongxian, pleading, "Your Majesty, spare our lives!"
"We truly want to rely on you!"
Some people, clinging to a sliver of hope, thought: "Hmph, Wei Zhongxian, are you going to let us out?"
"Let me tell you, don't think that just because you haven't tortured me these past few days, I'll let you go!"
Wei Zhongxian sneered.
"Heh, you fool, you really think I'm not using torture on you because I want to leave a good impression for the future?"
"I'm not afraid to tell you, the emperor has already ordered that you all be executed!"
"The reason I didn't carry out any torture the past few days was simply because I was busy leading men to raid your homes, so I was too busy to deal with it!"
That's half true and half false.
Zhu Youjian did intend to kill a group of Donglin Party members, but he also instructed Wei Zhongxian to spare the lives of some of them.
As for Wei Zhongxian's claim that he didn't have time to carry out torture because he needed to confiscate property, that's utter nonsense.
He was too busy with his rebellion and mutiny to deal with the Donglin Party members.
Zhou Yanru still thought too highly of Wei Zhongxian.
Even when the Donglin Party was on the verge of death, Wei Zhongxian would only seize the last opportunity to torture them severely.
How could we let them enjoy a few good days in their final days?
Upon hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, even the Donglin Party members who still had some backbone panicked.
"What? This is impossible!"
"We are civil officials! How can you possibly kill us all in one breath?"
"Even Emperor Wuzong and Emperor Shizong never did anything so absurd!"
Looking at their flustered appearance, Wei Zhongxian felt a surge of disdain.
But he realized that after his rebellion succeeded, he would need some ministers to maintain the court.
Then he deliberately said, "What you're saying does make some sense."
“If His Majesty were to kill you all at once, it would indeed cause gossip.”
"Alas, I, the Ninth Prince, should give him some advice."
"But how do we determine who should be killed and who shouldn't be killed?"
"I've got it! Let's draw lots!"
Wei Zhongxian made a joke.
The Donglin Party, unaware of the true situation, knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.
"Lord Wei, you can't be so frivolous!"
"Yes, you can't draw lots... How about this, we're both from the same hometown, I won't betray you, please spare my life..."
A few days ago, that minister from Beizhili spoke directly.
The other members of the Donglin Party watched coldly.
"Hmph, we knew you northerners were unreliable!"
Most of the Donglin Party members came from Southern Zhili and didn't think much of him to begin with.
However, their words at this moment carried an undertone of envy, jealousy, and resentment.
At that time, the people of the Ming Dynasty did indeed value the identity of fellow villagers.
This is how the Donglin Party came to be united, just as it was with the Chu Party and Qi Party in the past.
Wei Zhongxian was indeed intrigued.
"Very well, then I'll spare your life."
"You stand behind me!"
Overjoyed, the man was about to walk over.
But after taking a few steps, he found that Wei Zhongxian had eunuchs standing on both sides of him, and they wouldn't give him any way out.
The man pleaded for a long time, but no eunuch moved aside.
Wei Zhongxian stared at him without saying a word.
The man immediately understood.
He knelt down and crawled to Wei Zhongxian, saying, "Your Majesty, please lift your leg."
Wei Zhongxian then smiled and said, "This young man is teachable."
As he spoke, he spread his legs apart.
The man quickly crawled between his legs.
Upon seeing this, the other members of the Donglin Party all cursed, "You are shameless!"
"He actually crawled between the legs of this castrated dog?"
But some people seized the opportunity and crawled over between Wei Zhongxian's legs while others were cursing.
Once there's one, there's two, and then there's a third and a fourth.
Seeing that two people had already "escaped to safety," the other Donglin Party members exchanged glances and rushed over to try and squeeze through that "path to survival."
Wei Zhongxian laughed loudly, looking up at the sky.
"Hahaha, Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, if you knew this in the afterlife, I wonder what your expressions would be if you saw your disciples and grand-disciples all in this state?"
Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou were both prominent figures in the Donglin Party back then, but they were killed by him.
Although Wei Zhongxian fought them to the death, he also admired their toughness.
Seeing how cowardly the younger generation of the Donglin Party are, it's no wonder he would make sarcastic remarks.
Those Donglin officials who were trying to find a way out also paused and turned ashen-faced upon hearing these two names.
But they soon stopped thinking about it.
"These are all temporary measures. As long as we escape alive today, we'll have our revenge someday!"
"That's right, as long as the green hills remain, there's always hope for a future fire!"
"You eunuch, remember this: we, the Donglin Party, will overthrow you sooner or later!"
Although that's what they thought, their hands were moving quickly.
They continued charging towards Wei Zhongxian's crotch, and even fought each other to seize that escape route.
Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian continued to sneer.
But his mind wandered to something else.
"The Donglin Party has been so easily divided and dealt with by me, this is a good omen!"
"It seems my other plan will also be a great success!"
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