Another evil law that severed the foundation of the Ming Dynasty!

The moment the words "constitutional amendment" were uttered, all the worlds and timelines fell into a deathly silence.

During the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Fengtian Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been teetering on the edge of rage, suddenly fell silent.

This silence was even more chilling than when he was roaring about killing people.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao, who was standing next to him, could even hear his own heart pounding.

He knew his father all too well.

The Great Ming Code was the foundation of governance that Zhu Yuanzhang painstakingly crafted, word by word, through half a lifetime of effort.

That was the ancestral rule of the Ming Dynasty!

It is the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all corrupt officials!

Anyone who dares to touch the "Great Ming Code" is tantamount to digging up the ancestral graves of the Ming Dynasty and challenging the absolute authority of Zhu Yuanzhang!

"They...want to change our laws?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was light and airy, yet it carried a chilling force that could freeze one's soul.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun nodded, giving an affirmative answer.

"That's right, they want to change it."

"And the changes were extremely clever and insidious."

"Family members, there is an ironclad rule in Zhu Yuanzhang's 'Great Ming Code' that you should all have heard of."

"Anyone who embezzles more than sixty taels of silver shall be beheaded and their skin peeled off and stuffed with straw!"

"This law is too harsh, so harsh that for hundreds of years, Ming Dynasty civil officials have had to sleep with one eye open."

"Although in the later stages, the emperors rarely actually went to peel the skin and stuff the grass."

"But as long as this law is written on paper, civil officials will not be able to embezzle legitimately, and their political enemies or the emperor may use it as an excuse to confiscate their property and exterminate their families."

Zhu Dijun swiped his finger across the screen, bringing up a document titled "Criminal Interrogation Regulations".

"In order to completely eliminate this major threat and to realize the ultimate dream of 'safe corruption'."

"In the thirteenth year of the Hongzhi reign, Grand Secretary Liu Jian, Grand Secretary Li Dongyang, and others joined forces with the Ministry of Justice to create a new system."

"This set of documents is called the 'Criminal Procedures'."

On the screen, the clauses of the Criminal Procedure Law were enlarged one by one.

"Family members, never underestimate these four words."

"This is the most successful instance in the history of Chinese law of a civil service group delivering a devastating blow to imperial power!"

"They dared not openly abolish the Great Ming Code, because it was an ancestral system, and abolishing it would be tantamount to rebellion."

"So they invented an extremely disgusting term—'using precedent to break the law'."

Zhu Dijun began to dissect this conspiracy in detail.

What does it mean to break the law by using precedent?

"According to the Great Ming Code, embezzlement and bribery are capital offenses."

"The Criminal Procedure Law does not change this capital offense, but it adds a 'supplementary explanation' at the end."

The regulations stipulated that officials who committed capital crimes could, under special circumstances, redeem themselves by paying silver.

"In other words, as long as you pay enough fines, the death penalty can be commuted to exile, and exile can be commuted to dismissal from office."

"You can even pay the money, go home for a vacation, and come back to be an official a few years later!"

boom!

The chat room exploded with comments.

"Holy crap! Isn't this just paying to save your life?"

"Legalizing corruption! These civil servants are incredible, they've really mastered the art of manipulating the law!"

"Embezzling 100,000 taels, getting caught, paying a 50,000 tael fine, netting 50,000 taels while keeping your life—I want to do that kind of business too!"

"This isn't a criminal law; it's clearly a law protecting corrupt officials!"

Zhu Dijun sneered and continued to rub salt into the wounds of the Ming emperors.

"Family members, the brothers in the live chat are right."

"This is a blatant law protecting corrupt officials!"

"The Great Ming Code was rigid and was used to constrain officials."

"The Criminal Procedure Ordinance is flexible and designed to protect officials."

"What's even more terrifying is that the power to interpret this 'Regulations on Criminal Interrogation' was not in the hands of the emperor, but in the hands of the Ministry of Justice and the Cabinet!"

"Who deserves to be killed and who deserves to be redeemed depends entirely on a single statement from within the civil service!"

"You have a good relationship with Liu Jian and Li Dongyang. You embezzled one million taels of silver. They can use the law to help you clear your name."

"You're a loyal subject promoted by the emperor; if you take even an extra tael of silver as a bribe for charcoal, they can use the Great Ming Code to behead you!"

"What's this called?"

"This is called weaponizing the law! It turns a public instrument of the state into the private property of the civil service to exclude dissidents and protect their own interests!"

During the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang finally could no longer suppress the primal power within him.

He suddenly overturned the imperial desk in front of him, scattering memorials, writing brushes, and ink all over the floor.

"Traitorous traitors! Traitorous traitors!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like a madman.

Throughout his life, what he hated most was corrupt officials.

He had corrupt officials skinned alive and stuffed with straw, then hung the body next to their seats in the government office as a warning to future officials.

But he never expected that his descendants would be so weak.

They actually watched helplessly as these parasites hollowed out the foundation of the Ming Dynasty!

"Pay silver to atone for my sins..."

"The ironclad rules we set were actually bought with money!"

"Zhu Youcheng! You unfilial son!"

"You can't even uphold the laws of our ancestors, what kind of emperor are you! You might as well find a rope and hang yourself!"

Yongle Time and Space.

Zhu Di's face was terribly gloomy.

He didn't get angry; he just quietly looked at the sky.

But those who knew him well knew that this was a sign that the Yongle Emperor was truly enraged.

"Breaking the law by setting an example..."

Zhu Di let out a cold laugh.

"A brilliant tactic, truly a brilliant tactic."

"Using regulations to undermine the law, and replacing royal rules with the rules of civil officials."

"Does this Ming Dynasty truly belong to the Zhu family, or to Liu Jian and Li Dongyang?"

Zhu Di turned his head and looked at the officials kneeling on the ground, trembling.

"deliver an imperial order."

"From this day forward, whoever dares to mention the word 'regulations' in front of me, or whoever dares to attempt to amend a single punctuation mark in the Great Ming Code."

"Execute their entire family!"

"I don't care whether he is the Grand Secretary or the Minister of the Six Ministries."

"If anyone dares to reach out, I'll chop off their claws!"

On the backdrop, Zhu Dijun's narration came to an end.

"Family members, that concludes our review of the Hongzhi era."

"Let's take a look back at Emperor Xiaozong, who is known in history as the 'Restorer of the Dynasty'."

"Politically, they were sidelined by the cabinet and became mere stamping machines."

"Militarily, he was stripped of power by the Ministry of War, the border defenses deteriorated, and his generals died tragically."

"Economically, the discounting system emptied the national treasury and enriched the gentry in Jiangnan."

"In the imperial harem, powerful relatives of the empress dowager run rampant, and children suffer cruel and vicious attacks."

"Legally, the 'Criminal Procedure Regulations' rendered the 'Great Ming Code' ineffective, completely losing its deterrent effect on the bureaucratic group."

"This is hardly ZTE!"

"This was a complete and utter defeat for the Ming Dynasty!"

"During the Hongzhi reign, the civil service group completed a comprehensive seizure of power, encompassing politics, military affairs, economics, and law!"

"They locked the emperor in a cage and turned the Ming Dynasty into a host for them to leech off."

"Family members, looking back from the present from ancient times, the picture isn't so clear or real. But look at Xida University across the ocean now. Xida's cutoff line, [Gundam Futures], [Blood Market], etc., are the most direct evidence. Domestic legal lackeys also hope that Dongda University will become like Xida. If it really becomes like that, ordinary people will have no way to survive!"