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

Chapter 54 Their Voices, He Delivered Them [Requesting Monthly Tickets]

"Fuck! Mud! Horse?"

Old Zhu suppressed his anger and murderous intent, clearly repeating those three words in a calm tone, as if discussing the weather.

"Zhang Biao, tell us..."

His icy gaze, like an ice pick, was precisely fixed on Zhang Biao's face, and the corners of his mouth even curled into a chilling arc: "Are you insulting us, this man-eating tiger and leopard?"

"still."

His gaze slowly swept over Liu Sanwu's deathly pale face, over Mei Yin's ashen face stiff with shock and fear, and finally settled on Zhang Biao:
"This entire court, draped in human skin, eating imperial grain, drinking soldiers' blood, and treading on withered bones, yet they let our censors starve to death on their earthen beds."

Old Zhu paused, and for the first time, a tangible, hellish ferocity ignited in his icy eyes, but his voice remained terrifyingly calm: "Jackals?!"

Wow!
Liu Sanwu, Mei Yin, and Jiang Huan all felt a chill run down their spines.

Zhang Biao's maniacal laughter also froze.

He didn't expect that Old Zhu wouldn't lose his mind in his rage, but instead, he forged such a terrifying calmness in the most extreme anger.

They even elevated and distorted his vulgar words into a scathing critique aimed at the hearts and minds of the entire court.

That counterattack was swift and vicious!
Old Zhu didn't give anyone a chance to breathe.

His icy eyes pierced Zhang Biao's feigned composure: "Do you want to die? You're trying to provoke me with these vulgar words, so I'll just chop you down with one stroke?"

"and then?"

Old Zhu's voice carried a hint of knowing mockery: "To make you famous for your remonstrance? To let the world point fingers at us and call us a foolish ruler who can't listen to the truth and indiscriminately kills officials who speak out?"

"So that those poor wretches you've incited will have even more reason to accuse us of being mean and ungrateful? So that the blame for Wang Zhong starving to death will be placed squarely on our shoulders?"

"Will our history books of the Hongwu era bear an indelible stain because of your name, Zhang Biao?"

With each question Old Zhu asked, his voice grew lower, and the pressure beneath the calm surface seemed to accumulate like layers of mountains.

"Zhang Biao."

Old Zhu let out a very soft, cold sneer, calling his name word by word, his voice like a pronouncement: "You overestimate yourself! And you underestimate us!"

"We've killed more people than you've ever seen alive!"

"You want to use death to force us to admit our mistakes? To tarnish our reputation?"

"you"

Old Zhu's gaze suddenly sharpened like a tangible blade, carrying a disdainful contempt and a cold-blooded sense of control: "Unworthy!"

Boom!

Upon hearing this, Zhang Biao was struck dumb.

But Old Zhu didn't look at him again, and calmly called out, "Jiang Huan!"

"Chen is here!"

Jiang Huan immediately bowed and gripped the hilt of his knife tightly.

"This person."

Old Zhu's gaze swept over Zhang Biao as if he were looking at a piece of trash waiting to be disposed of, his tone extremely indifferent: "Roaring before the emperor, using foul language, being arrogant and disrespectful, is an unforgivable crime!"

"Throw him into the lowest level of the imperial prison! Keep him under strict guard! No one is allowed to visit him without my decree! No one is allowed to speak to him! Violators will be punished."

Old Zhu's gaze swept over Liu Sanwu, Mei Yin, and all the breathless palace maids and eunuchs present. His icy warning sent chills down everyone's spines: "Equally guilty! Kill them without mercy!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Jiang Huan's voice was firm and resonant, carrying a chilling murderous intent.

He knew that the Emperor intended to completely seal Zhang Biao in a living coffin.

What is more terrifying than death is complete, silent isolation and oblivion.

However, Old Zhu hadn't finished speaking.

His cold, sharp gaze fell once more on Zhang Biao, whose face had turned pale: "As for the unpaid wages he keeps harping on?"

Old Zhu's voice suddenly took on an extremely sarcastic and malicious tone: "Jiang Huan, go and get ten coins! Pay him in front of us!" Boom!
Zhang Biao suddenly looked up, staring at Old Zhu in disbelief!

Bill, please?!
At a time like this? In this way?!

This is clearly a public and extreme humiliation!

It is to nail Zhang Biao to the pillar of shame and proclaim it to the world:
You want money? We'll give it to you! But you, along with your bones, your reputation, and your dying words of remonstrance, are gone.
In our eyes, it's only worth ten coins!
It's not even as good as a pig's head!
This is more devastating and terrifying than killing him!
And what's more, he actually wants to imprison himself?
Holy crap!
Brother Biao is furious!

"Your Majesty! Please take another look at these account books!"

Zhang Biao strode up to Old Zhu, raised the tattered notebook high in his hand, and spoke in a hoarse but powerful voice:
"These records are not numbers! They are blood! They are tears! They are the cries of those driven to the brink of despair! They are the countless bones and overwhelming resentment that cannot be concealed beneath the official robes of the Ming Dynasty!"

"It is absurd and rebellious of me to instigate those low-ranking officials in the capital to cause trouble in the court, stuff account books, and draw pig heads! But I have absolutely no intention of making a name for myself in history!!"

"Your Majesty, I only wish, before I die, to ask for the sake of Censor Wang Zhong, Compiler Li Mo, my colleagues in the Fengtian Hall who, despite their hunger and hardship, still sought justice, and for all the suffering people of the world—"

He took a deep breath, mustered all his strength, and roared out that earth-shattering, deafening final question:

"Was this Ming Dynasty built with the blood, flesh, and bones of honest officials?!"

"You, Zhu Yuanzhang, do you truly wish to become the greatest tyrant of all time, infamous and forever condemned to the pillar of historical shame?!"

"Did Zhu Chongba, who lived a life of ignominy at Huangjue Temple and begged on the streets, starve to death along with his parents?!"

Boom——! !

These questions, like thunderclaps from the heavens, resounded throughout the dormitory.

Like the heaviest death knell, it struck the depths of Old Zhu's soul.

"puff--!"

Old Zhu's eyes widened instantly, and he involuntarily spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood wasn't sprayed on the brocade quilt, but on the open book, "A Record of Blood and Tears for Wages".

The bright red blood instantly soaked through the rough paper, turning the Q-version comic of "The Emperor Eats Pig's Head" and the small note next to it, "Zhang Biao's Friendly Reminder," into a shocking and gruesome sight.

Blood dripped down the pages of the paper, spreading into mournful, withered flowers on the cold floor tiles.

"emperor!!"

Jiang Huan was shocked and rushed forward to support the collapsed Old Zhu.

"Someone! Quickly summon the imperial physician!!"

"Your Majesty!! Save the Emperor!!"

Liu Sanwu and Mei Yin shouted hoarsely, their voices distorted.

They no longer cared about Zhang Biao's crazy words and actions.

The dormitory room instantly descended into chaos.

The imperial physician rushed in, stumbling and crawling.

The eunuchs and palace maids were terrified.

Only Zhang Biao remained standing straight in the same spot.

He clutched the tattered ledger, stained with his own saliva and Old Zhu's blood, tightly in his hand, his face expressionless.

There was only a sense of almost liberated tranquility, and a deep, indescribable sorrow in the depths of his eyes.

He looked at the emperor, who was as majestic as a god but now seemed to be on his deathbed, his face as pale as paper; he looked at the incriminating evidence stained with blood; he looked at the chaotic bedroom.

He knew that this time, he had truly stirred up a hornet's nest.

Or, become a spark that ignites a raging wildfire.

Or, they will be completely burned to ashes by this raging fury.

but no matter.

The blood and tears on those account books, the old censor who starved to death, the editor who pawned books, and the colleagues who demanded back wages with account books in their mouths.
He brought their voices to us.

　Requesting monthly tickets! Requesting monthly tickets! Requesting donations! Requesting recommendation votes! Requesting all your support to stabilize the rankings! You guys are amazing, you propelled me to number one in the category, even if it's just for a short time, you still kicked Old Wolf's butt! Haha! Thanks to Frostheart for the 500 donation. Also, go like the character's post, there's a pig's head meat reward, I just created this account!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)