Da Ming: I told you to die for your cause, why are you actually going to die?

Chapter 173 Old Zhu, do you know how Empress Ma...? [Requesting monthly votes]

"Your Majesty, please address me as Imperial Censor Zhang!"

This roar, carrying an almost absurd persistence and a final dignity, briefly overwhelmed Old Zhu's anger.

An eerie stalemate ensued in the cell.

Old Zhu's chest heaved violently as he stared intently at Zhang Biao, as if he were about to tear this 'madman' to pieces with his own hands at any moment.

Zhang Biao glared back defiantly, his face a mixture of mockery, exhaustion, and a 'what can you do about it?' kind of bachelor's expression.

Jiang Huan stood at the door, cold sweat soaking through the back of his flying fish robe, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

He had never seen anyone dare to defy the emperor like this, nor had he ever seen the emperor, in his fury, be 'stopped' in this way.

It should be noted that the emperor had just severed his son's arm with a sword in the Fengxian Hall and stabbed to death the concubine who was in charge of the six palaces.

Such ruthlessness and cruelty are rare even among emperors of ancient times.

But this 'madman' named Zhang Biao always seems to have a knack for exploiting the emperor's weaknesses, which is truly baffling.

Jiang Huan couldn't understand it, but he kept his head down and nervously watched Zhu's every little movement out of the corner of his eye, fearing that the emperor would go crazy again in his rage.

His palms were covered in cold sweat, and he was even prepared to kill Zhang Biao first should the emperor go berserk.

Meanwhile, Shen Lang and the others in the next cell were so shocked by this scene that their faces turned pale, and they could hardly believe their ears.

[Brother Biao... he actually... dared to speak to the Emperor like that?!]

An indescribable sense of shock and sorrow welled up in my heart.

Li Mo closed his eyes in anguish: "Brother Biao...why are you doing this...why do you have to provoke the Emperor?"

Wu Naida, however, was filled with righteous indignation: "Well said! Well said! None of these imperial relatives are good people!"

Shen Lang trembled with worry: [It's over...it's completely over...the Emperor will definitely kill Brother Biao...]

Sun Gui, neck stiff with unwavering resolve, showed no sign of his soldierly spirit: "What's there to be afraid of... dying sooner or later is the same... Brother Biao is just saying all the things we dared not say for us..."

Zhao Fengman was still smiling, but his eyes were somewhat vacant: "We'll die together, we'll go crazy together."

After a long while, the anger in Old Zhu's eyes slowly receded like the tide, but it was replaced by a deeper and colder chill.

"Imperial Censor Zhang?"

He suddenly laughed, a laugh devoid of any warmth, filled only with endless mockery and a chilling, all-knowing ruthlessness:

"You utter scoundrel, Imperial Censor Zhang! Your official hat has long been taken away by us! You're now just a death row inmate waiting to be executed in the autumn! A prisoner! Understand?!"

"Hahaha--!"

Faced with this blatant humiliation and declaration of power, Zhang Biao was not discouraged at all. Instead, he laughed loudly as if he had heard something funny.

After laughing, he tilted his head and looked at Old Zhu with the eyes of someone looking at a fool, his tone carrying a hint of mockery and a sense of detachment that transcended time:
"An official's hat? A prisoner? You make it sound like I belong solely to your Ming Dynasty? Are you deaf?"

He paused, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching Old Zhu and everyone present, carrying a startling quality:

"I am Zhang, the Imperial Censor of the whole country!"

[The Imperial Censor Zhang, the man of the world?!]

These seven words, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, suddenly exploded in the ears of Lao Zhu and everyone present!

[Brother Biao]

Shen Lang and the others looked on incredulously.

Jiang Huan felt as if her heart was about to stop beating.

Old Zhu, however, looked completely bewildered.

Throughout his life, he heard countless outrageous and paradoxical pronouncements, from those who wanted to purge the court of corrupt officials to those who wanted to become emperor, but he never heard anyone dare to call themselves "the censor of the world."

This goes beyond the scope of a subject's duties, and even subtly touches upon the proposition that he most fears and abhors: "The people are the most important, the state is next, and the ruler is the least important."

Old Zhu's pupils suddenly contracted, his facial muscles tensed instantly, and he almost blurted out, his voice filled with disbelief, anger, and an instinctive wariness:

"You...you want to rebel?!"

Even he himself found the question somewhat absurd when he asked it: what kind of rebellion could a death row inmate have?

However, Zhang Biao's remarks were so shocking that they directly shook the foundation of his belief that "all land under heaven belongs to the king, and all people within the borders are subjects of the king."

"Pfft——!"

Seeing Old Zhu's expression of being on high alert, as if someone were really going to seize his Zhu family's empire, Zhang Biao couldn't help but burst out laughing, his laughter filled with pity and mockery.

"Rebellion? Old Zhu, are you suffering from paranoia? You see everyone as a rebel?"

He shook his head, as if pitying the old man who sat at the pinnacle of power yet was utterly lonely:

"If I wanted to rebel, would I be wasting my breath talking to you here?"

"Besides, with your Ming Dynasty in such a rotten state, do you really need me to rebel?"

"What do you mean!?"

Old Zhu's face immediately darkened.

Zhang Biao looked at him with a mocking expression: "What do you mean? Do you want me to help you remember? For example..."

"In the third year of the Hongwu reign, more than 100,000 mountain people in Yangshan County, Guangxi, rebelled. In the same year, Chen Tong rebelled in Quanzhou, Fujian. In the same year, Sun Gupu in Qingzhou, Shandong, gathered a crowd to rebel and called himself the 'Yellow Turbans'."

"In the fourteenth year of the Hongwu reign, Cao Zhen and Su Wenqing, along with tens of thousands of others, rebelled in Guangzhou. In the same year, Jiang Zhixian, a resident of Fu'an County, Fujian, gathered eight thousand people to rebel."

"In the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign, the rebellion of the king was quelled in Guangdong."

"In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, Wu Ji'er, the Prince of Huguang, rebelled again after escaping the rebellion in the eleventh year of Hongwu."

"In the twenty-second year of the Hongwu reign, Xia San of Ganzhou, Jiangxi, gathered tens of thousands of people to rebel."

Recalling this point, Zhang Biao saw that Old Zhu's face had turned a deep purplish-red, so he stopped recalling and instead clicked his tongue in amazement, saying:
"Look at this, how long has it been since the founding of the People's Republic of China? How many people have rebelled against your Zhu family? And this is not the end; I believe there will be many more to come."

"Then let me ask you, if you are truly a good emperor, and your Zhu family truly enjoys the hearts of the people, why are there still so many people rebelling?"

"And don't give me that nonsense about everyone wanting to be emperor! Unless someone's driven to desperation, who the hell would risk their head to rebel?!"

"you!"

Old Zhu was momentarily speechless after Zhang Biao's barrage of words, which combined recollection and rhetorical questions, but his anger as an offended emperor did not diminish in the slightest.

But Zhang Biao didn't give him a chance to lash out. He abruptly changed the subject, his tone becoming extremely serious, even carrying a prophetic weight, and directly addressed the core of the problem:

"Of course, I also know that there are many reasons for rebellion, not just because of you, Old Zhu."

"What I want to talk to you about is, besides you, Old Zhu, what is forcing the people of the world to rebel in the future?"

He stared intently at Old Zhu and said, word by word:
"The answer is obvious: it's your precious system of feudal princes!"

“You have distributed your sons to various places like seeds, giving them armies, land, and ensuring they enjoy endless stipends and privileges for generations to come!”

"They occupy the best land, enjoy the people's hard-earned money, yet bear no responsibility whatsoever! They are the parasites clinging to the Ming Dynasty! The biggest parasites!"

Zhang Biao became more and more excited as he spoke, and suddenly stood up. Although he was thin, it was as if an invisible force was supporting him.
"What's the use of killing a few corrupt officials or wiping out the power of a few princely families? The roots are rotten!"

"If you don't cut down this biggest rotten piece of wood—the vassal kings—and abolish that system of vassal king stipends that drains the national treasury, today you kill Fu Youwen, tomorrow there will be Zhang Youwen and Wang Youwen! Today you imprison the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin, tomorrow their sons and grandsons will continue to do evil!"

"At that time, it won't be me who rebels!"

"It is the people of the world who have had their land taken away by the feudal lords, who have been forced to sell their children by heavy taxes, and who cannot survive, who are going to rebel!"

"It is this Ming Dynasty itself, whose blood has been drained by your Zhu family descendants, that is about to collapse!"

These remarks were even more incisive and deadly than the previous one about "the censor of the world".

It directly negated one of the fundamental national policies that Zhu Yuanzhang believed to be the key to consolidating his power, and predicted a future that he absolutely could not accept.

Old Zhu's face was beyond ugly; it was a terrifying expression that mixed rage, shock, and a hint of panic at having his secret exposed.

He stared intently at Zhang Biao, as if he wanted to devour him alive.

"Insolence! Outrageousness! We'll kill you—!"

He practically screamed it out.

However, Zhang Biao seemed to have completed his final mission, slowly sitting back down with an extremely tired yet unusually calm smile on his face, as if he were looking at a pitiful person who was stubbornly clinging to his delusions.

"Kill me? Easy."

"But can you slaughter all the people in the world who can't survive?"

"Old Zhu, think about it carefully..."

"Actually, this whole Crown Prince thing makes it clear: with your feudal system, you expect your sons to protect the country? Don't dream about it!"

"Their ambition and greed doom them to be restless. Their descendants will become parasites on this country, slowly devouring your Ming Dynasty!"

"Instead of leaving the problem to your grandchildren or great-grandchildren to solve, which would cause endless trouble, you might as well take care of it yourself while you're still in charge!"

After saying this, he closed his eyes and fell silent, leaving the enraged emperor and the heavy truth in that suffocating silence.

Old Zhu stood there, trembling, a mixture of immense anger and a deeper, more instinctive unease stemming from his imperial nature.

Zhang Biao's words were like a cold chisel, chipping a tiny but undeniable crack into his strong imperial defenses.

It took Old Zhu a while to recover from Zhang Biao's words.

He gave Zhang Biao a deep look, his voice becoming unusually calm, yet more chilling than his previous roar:
"Well done, Censor Zhang. What a Censor Zhang who has the world in his heart."

After he finished speaking, he slowly took a step forward, and the shadow once again enveloped Zhang Biao.

"You're saying we're putting on an act? That we can't bear to kill our son? That we should abolish the princely stipends?"

Old Zhu's tone became extremely slow, each word like an ice bead hitting the ground:
"Zhang Biao, you're smart, you see things clearly. But have you ever thought about why we don't just kill you right now?"

Zhang Biao frowned almost imperceptibly.

Old Zhu noticed this slight change, and his cold smile deepened.
"It's not because we can't bear to kill you, you 'mad dog'! It's because we know you have someone backing you up! You know far more than you say!"

His voice suddenly rose, carrying an undeniable certainty:

"Tell me! Who is the person hiding behind the second and third brothers who might have really harmed Biao'er?!"

"Is it some deeply hidden old fox in the court? Or... someone we haven't even thought of yet, one of our own?!"

This is the real purpose of Lao Zhu's visit.

After the bloody purge of the court and the imprisonment of his son, the thorn in his heart concerning the cause of the crown prince's death not only failed to be removed, but instead became more deeply embedded due to the more doubts exposed by the purge.

He needs an answer, an ultimate answer that can explain all the irrationality.

Looking into Old Zhu's eyes, which seemed capable of devouring everything, Zhang Biao's nonchalant expression gradually faded.

Actually, he didn't expect that there was someone manipulating all of this behind the scenes.

But the waters of the Ming Dynasty ran deeper than he had imagined.

Although Zhu Laosi ultimately succeeded, it's impossible that no one was without ambition for that position before Zhu Laosi's rebellion.

In other words, the conspiracy had been brewing since the day Zhu Biao was diagnosed with an 'incurable disease'.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain those seemingly coincidental yet strangely unsettling events.

Thinking of this, Zhang Biao smiled, a bitter smile tinged with pity and sorrow. "Old Zhu, oh Old Zhu..."

He shook his head, his tone becoming somewhat strange: "Don't you already have the answer in your heart?"

"Haven't you killed enough people? Haven't you investigated thoroughly enough?"

“Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, and those blatant parasites, the arrogant henchmen of the Qin Prince’s Mansion and the Jin Prince’s Mansion, and even those potentially gossipy concubines in your harem… you’ve cleaned them all up.”

"But have you found solid evidence? Have you found the 'mastermind' who orchestrated all of this and manipulated your sons?"

Zhang Biao's gaze deepened, as if he could see through the deepest, most unacknowledged suspicions in Lao Zhu's heart.

"you have not."

"Because you know better than anyone that someone who can set up such a scheme must be extremely well hidden, so well that you may never be able to catch them."

"Or rather... even if you catch him, you might not be able to bring yourself to do it."

Boom!

These last words struck Old Zhu like a thunderbolt.

Can't bring yourself to do it?

Who can't you bring yourself to do it to?

Is it the fourth son, Zhu Di? That brilliant and ambitious son with outstanding military achievements, who is now the most capable and indispensable person to guard the northern frontier in the future?

Or is it... that seemingly 'filial and virtuous' but actually 'scheming and despicable' Crown Princess Lü, who has a great deal to do with the throne?
Or perhaps... those 'pillars' of nobility in Huaixi, whose influence extends far beyond the military?
Old Zhu's face instantly turned extremely ugly, and his breathing became heavy again.

Zhang Biao's words were like a mirror, forcing him to confront his deepest concerns and the cold-blooded balancing act of an emperor.

Seeing Lao Zhu's reaction, Zhang Biao knew that he had once again touched a sore spot.

He slowly leaned back against the wall, his face showing extreme exhaustion, as if all his strength had been used up.

"That's all..."

He closed his eyes, his voice as soft as a breeze: "Old Zhu, I'm tired."

"I've said what I should and shouldn't have said. I've done what I should have done."

"As for the truth... go find it yourself."

"My performance is over."

After saying this, he stopped looking at Old Zhu and stopped talking, as if he had truly disregarded life and death and was only waiting for the final outcome.

A deathly silence fell over the cell.

Old Zhu stood still, motionless, as if he had turned into a statue.

He looked at the 'madman' in front of him, who seemed to have lost all his vitality in an instant, and felt a mix of emotions.

There was anger at being seen through, resentment at not getting a definite answer, pain at the fact that the death of the crown prince could never be cleared, and even more so, a complex emotion he himself was unwilling to admit: towards this opponent who stirred up the storm and maintained a strange clarity until the end of his life.

In the end, all the emotions condensed into a very soft, very cold command:

"Jiang Huan".

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty is here!"

Jiang Huan quickly responded.

"At noon tomorrow, Zhang Biao and his accomplices will be beheaded outside the Meridian Gate!"

"Wait a minute!"

Before Jiang Huan could even accept the order, Zhang Biao's eyes snapped open: "Kill me, but not Shen Lang and the others!"

"Ok?"

Old Zhu was stunned for a moment, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. He gave Zhang Biao a cold look: "Are you trying to teach me how to do things?"

"I'm just reminding you, Shen Lang and his gang are just a few knives; once they're done using them, you can just wipe them clean and put them away..."

Zhang Biao met Old Zhu's gaze, his tone light, yet carrying a deadly threat:
"If you kill them, I don't mind taking your Ming Dynasty with you to your grave."

"Humph!"

Zhu was finally enraged; the emperor's authority could not be so easily challenged.
"You think we'll be threatened by you? You tell us not to kill, but we'll kill anyway! We'll not only kill them, but we'll exterminate their entire clan! What can you do about it?!"

To everyone's surprise, Zhang Biao, instead of getting excited after hearing this, nodded calmly and said, "Alright then. Go ahead and kill him."

The reaction was too calm, eerily calm.

Old Zhu, Jiang Huan, and even Shen Lang and the others who were eavesdropping were all stunned.

Given Zhang Biao's personality, shouldn't he be furious? This is completely unpredictable!
In the eerie silence, Zhang Biao slowly raised his head, calmly looking at Old Zhu, a subtle yet chilling smile slowly curving upwards at the corners of his mouth:
"Old Zhu, do you know how Empress Ma..."

"You bastard! How dare you—!"

Old Zhu's pupils suddenly contracted, followed by a roar like that of a dying beast, interrupting Zhang Biao's remaining words.

He completely lost control, lunged forward, and with lightning speed stretched out his withered but incredibly strong hand, grabbing Zhang Biao's neck tightly.

The immense force lifted Zhang Biao off the ground and slammed him against the cold stone wall.

"Cough...cough..."

Zhang Biao's eyes bulged out from being choked, his face flushed red, yet he still managed to squeeze out intermittent, mocking laughter from his throat:
"Heh...ho...old man...I told you...don't force me..."

"Otherwise... I'll drag your Ming Dynasty... down with me... to our deaths..."

Old Zhu's hands trembled violently as he looked into Zhang Biao's eyes, which still held a madness and insight even amidst suffocating pain. A chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

He knew what Zhang Biao was going to say next!
He didn't disbelieve it, he just dared not believe it!

He dared not touch that long-forgotten, buried grief again!

He couldn't imagine what would happen if even Xiuying's death... also...

The immense fear even overwhelmed the grief of losing a child and the wrath of the emperor!
He released his grip abruptly, as if he had been burned.

Zhang Biao fell to the ground, clutching his neck and coughing violently, gasping for breath.

Old Zhu staggered back two steps, his chest heaving violently, looking at Zhang Biao on the ground like a madman with an extremely complicated expression.

There was overwhelming killing intent and extreme anger, but deeper still, there was a fear that even he himself was unwilling to admit.

He stared intently at Zhang Biao, as if trying to etch the image of this 'monster' into the depths of his soul.

After a long silence, he finally managed to squeeze out a blood-stained sentence through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse and weary, yet filled with extreme killing intent:
"You...you unfilial and ungrateful wretch...you deserve to die!"

After saying this, he turned around abruptly, refusing to look at Zhang Biao again, and shouted sharply at the prison door:
"Jiang Huan!"

"Chen is here!"

Jiang Huan immediately knelt down.

"Tomorrow at noon! At Caishikou! Execute Zhang Biao! Set the record straight!"

After giving the order, Old Zhu strode out of the cell, his back view appearing particularly resolute and flustered in the dark corridor.

"Clang-!"

The cell door slammed shut.

In the cell, only Zhang Biao's gradually calming breathing and the ever-burning lamp continued to flicker tirelessly.

"Damn it! I swear, I'll never let anyone choke me three more times!"

Zhang Biao spat out a mouthful of blood.

Shen Lang, from the next cell, quickly patted the bars and asked, "Brother Biao, are you alright?"

"Yeah, Brother Biao! You don't have to do this. We agreed to go crazy together, and die together..."

"Shut the hell up, all of you!"

Before Zhao Fengman could finish speaking, Zhang Biao, suppressing the discomfort in his throat, shouted:

"What do you mean, 'Let's go crazy together, let's die together'? Do you think your mission is over? Is it enough to bring down a few corrupt officials and a few regional princes? Have you paid the back wages? Have your wives and children started living a good life? Has justice been served for the people?"

"You haven't even finished what you've done, and you want to die with me? Do you even deserve it?"

"Brother Biao..."

Li Mo stammered and lowered his head.

Wu Naida sighed, speechless.

Only Sun Gui, unwilling to give up, chimed in: "Since there's still so much to do, why is Brother Biao so eager to die? Why doesn't he join us in finishing it?!"

"Ah!"

Zhang Biao gave a faint laugh, his tone tinged with sorrow and resolve:
“I’ve said it before: I’m a person of today, and I do things for today.”

"Having gone through all this, you must understand the true nature of this world. Why do corrupt officials seem to multiply despite being killed? Why can feudal lords commit evil with impunity? Because this world is sick!"

“If no one is held accountable for their own ‘evil,’ then when others follow suit and do ‘evil,’ it is no longer ‘evil,’ but simply going with the flow.”

"In other words, everyone doing this has become a 'pathological' phenomenon in the world."

"I don't know if you can understand what I'm saying, but I only want to say one thing."

"This world shouldn't be like this. I want to use my death to awaken those who want to change it."

"And you are my preachers."

Having said that, he slowly walked to the fence, gripping the cold subway railing with both hands, as if he could see Shen Lang and the other five people. His tone became even more resolute as he said:

"Live on, brothers, live well for me."

"If one of me falls, there will be thousands upon thousands of me."

"Let my will spread to every corner of the Ming Dynasty."

"When I am here, I am me."

"When I'm not around, I hope everyone is me."

"call"

As Zhang Biao finished speaking, five heavy breaths came from the next cell.

That indescribable inner turmoil and the resolute determination fueled by the flame of hope overwhelmed all other emotions.

Although they did not respond to Zhang Biao, Zhang Biao seemed to understand them perfectly. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and he then turned his head to look in the direction where Lao Zhu had left, his eyes gradually becoming unfocused.

Old Zhu, I see right through your bottom line.

My bottom line... you know nothing about it.

"Wait for me to come back, and I'll show you how I turn this world upside down..."

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(End of this chapter)