Chapter 179: If I Were to Unleash My Eighty Adopted Sons, How Would You Respond? (2 / 2)
Whether it was aiming a musket at the Ministry of Revenue’s assistant minister in a fit of rage over delayed military pay or publicly humiliating someone after a verbal spat—Marquis Yongchang was not alone. Many of the founding heroes behaved similarly. Few of those credited with helping establish the empire refrained from flaunting their merits and acting above the law.
Now, Marquis Yongchang was paying the price for it.
The emperor looked at him calmly. “You have eighty adopted sons. If all their crimes are accounted for, I fear even your offenses alone will not suffice to atone for them.”
Before Marquis Yongchang could respond, his adopted sons collectively knelt. One declared that he deserved death and begged his foster father to be spared punishment. Another insisted that his actions were carried out without the marquis’s knowledge and pleaded with the emperor for mercy. Some wailed loudly, lamenting that they were beasts who had not only failed to assist their foster father but had also caused him trouble.
[Sigh.] Xu Yanmiao cautiously craned his neck to observe the scene unfolding at the front. [If they knew it would come to this, why did they act the way they did in the first place? Wouldn’t it have been better to just obey the law?]
The adopted sons sobbed as they kowtowed.
Many court officials were moved by the scene, their eyes brimming with emotion. Some even seemed tempted to step forward and plead on their behalf.
Xu Yanmiao immediately snapped out of his pity.
[They can cry and beg for forgiveness here, but who heard the cries of the commoners they harmed?]