Chapter 728: Purge!
Chapter 728: Purge!
Translator: Rain Editor: Chrissy
What Zuo Wuji said was already vulgar to speak in the court, yet the king actually shouted out dirty words himself.
Apparently, he was extremely furious.
"B*llshit! When the war began, our treasury was short indeed, but Feng Monarch of Ling-Bao Hall has devoted dozens of billion money! We have purchased tons of food, medicines and other materials. We have been winning in the south and fighting equal in the other sides. We never over consumed anything in this war. Why the hell do you think our treasury is empty? Our treasury is full!"
"We just don’t have enough soldiers. Otherwise, we could have built another army and fought another war with the money we have!" The king gasped and showed his fierce eyes. "You bunch of sh*ts just stay up high in your positions enjoying your f*cking stupid lives, so how dare you try to frame our hero! The kingdom gives you the authority, yet you did things like that! How dare you still talk with big mouth in front of me?"
"Do you think I am truly that stupid?"
The king shouted so loud. Even his eyes turned red because of anger.
It was silent!
Hundreds of officials were shaking!
Only Zuo Wuji was standing straight up as he loudly spoke, "Your majesty, I have a report!"
The king swayed his sleeve and said, "Go ahead!"
"I, here, officially impeach Cheng Ziqi, Kong Yujin, Zhao Zifang…"
As he spoke, Prime Minister Zuo was surprised and shocked. He was panicking as he stared at his grandson.
Zuo Wuji gave two hundred and seventy names in a row!
One hundred and thirty of them were standing right on the court!
[What the hell is he doing? Out of his mind?]
[Impeachment doesn’t work like this! How could he impeach so many people at a time!]
"… They abused their power to seek personal gain. They arranged their nephews and sons to get on the higher position, then suppressed the merited men… When the kingdom was in danger, these men kept their own kins in the back and acted arrogant and domineering back in the capital… Why would Commander Ye punish so many men before he left? That is one reason. Those were all the nephews and sons of these useless officials!
"Our kingdom has been in war for so many years. This year, we fought in four sides at the same time. Most of the men in our kingdom have gone to the battle and fought for their kingdoms. These men’s younger generations all hid behind the shield of the royal guards. They knew the royal guards would stay beside the king to the last minute!
"Some of them used to be serving the Western Army… Some served the Southern Army…
"They are selfish, they disregard law and discipline, and they suppress the capable men in the court. They are nothing but greedy cowards. Those who died under Commander Ye’s command deserved it! These men standing here have never truly thought about how to save the kingdom from the invasion, yet they have been working so well together trying to put Commander Ye to death, even though they knew it was going to put the kingdom into a collapsing end too!
"They held the salary that should be paid to the soldiers. They held the food and the manpower that could be sent to the battle to support Commander Ye. Commander Ye fought without food and men from us! We could have destroyed the enemy once and for all, yet because of these people, we lost the opportunity… These men, they are all traitors! They are vicious! They disregard the royal authority and they don’t care about the lives of our people…
"These conspirators and traitors are contaminating our kingdom! Please, your majesty, hold justice!"
Zuo Wuji kneeled on the floor and raised the report in his hands.
Silence. Everything was engulfed by silence.
Everybody was staring at the report in Zuo Wuji’s hands. They couldn’t even breath.
[Is this guy going to wipe out every official in the court here?]
[Come on! We are not that hostile to each other!]
[We hate Ye Xiao. We did say something vile about you, but it was all because of him! We didn’t do anything to you for real, did we? What are you doing here? You want to boil us all up? You want us all dead?]
The king was showing a dark face. He sent the eunuch to take over the report from Zuo Wuji.
"I reckon!" Zuo Wuji loudly spoke, "Now that the enemies are gone, but we still have enemies inside ourselves! To purge our system and bring peace to the world, we should clean out all filthy parts of us from inside. We should bring peace inside us first before we can march out and conquer the rest of the world!
"This is the day that we build the foundation and start to establish the new rule of the world!
"What could we do if we don’t purge ourselves first!
"We have to get rid of the rats and worms! We must assure the merited men a fair system!"
His voice was sharp and vibrating.
All officials felt their legs shaking, especially those whose names were put on that list by Zuo Wuji. They felt a bomb was exploding in their heads. They couldn’t even stand straight up. Some of them just fell down to the floor.
It was depressing in the court; some officials even felt it hard to breathe.
The king’s face was turning darker. He was thinking about it carefully.
His fingers were knocking the arm of the chair as he murmured, "Enemies outside are gone… Enemies are gone… Enemies inside? They are!"
He was sitting there without moving a bit. However, everybody felt that murderous qi spreading from the king! It filled the entire hall of the court!
The king apparently decided to kill.
"Your majesty! Please, Zuo Wuji’s words are untrustworthy!" Over a hundred officials kneeled down at the same time, with tears on their faces. "Your majesty, our wise king! Please, you have to hold justice for us. We are not…"
"Shut the f*ck up!" The king’s eyes flashed with a cold light.
"Come! Take the officials who were listed in the report. Throw them into prison!"
"Prime Minister Zuo!"
"Yes, your majesty!"
"Grand Tutor!"
"Yes, your majesty!"
…
The king called five names and five old officials stepped out. "You five, take the case! Investigate on every one of them carefully."
"Yes, your majesty!"
"Zuo Wuji!"
"Yes, your majesty!"
"From now on, you are Vice-Minister of Penalty. You take charge in this case! Do you best!"
"Yes, your majesty!"
A great purge took place inside the Kingdom of Chen like a sudden thunder! It all happened out of expectation!
Before Zuo Wuji made that report, nobody, not even the king or his grandfather, knew that things would end up like this!
The officials had been trying to frame Ye Xiao. That was just one small reason.
They would attack Ye Xiao no matter what happened in the battle. It was somehow understandable.
However, it was not the main reason why the purge would happen.
What made the king furious was the other things Zuo Wuji indicated in the report.
…