Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 140 The sword is coming!

The world seemed to solidify into crystal in that instant.

Zhu Youjian walked slowly as he emerged from the crowd, his boots treading on the dust- and blood-stained flagstones, each step landing on Zhu Cunshu's heart.

He didn't look at the stunned King of Qin immediately, but calmly walked past his obese body and landed on the Jingying soldier whose forearm was pierced by a spear and who was leaning against a pillar, panting heavily.

The soldier tried to salute, but the excruciating pain from his wound pulled at his face.

Zhu Youjian's gaze lingered on the soldier's wound for a moment before slowly shifting back to Zhu Cunshu's bloodless face.

At this moment, everyone held their breath.

Then, the emperor spoke.

His words were soft, yet icy and devoid of any human warmth, but in the face of this deathly silent granary, his voice clearly penetrated into everyone's ears.

"They even dared to touch the emperor's personal guards."

Zhu Youjian paused, his narrow eyes narrowing slightly.

"What's the crime?"

These four words were asked in a calm and unassuming manner.

Zhu Cunshu's lips trembled. He wanted to explain, to say it was a misunderstanding, to argue that he didn't know... but his throat felt like it was filled with molten iron, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Just then, Sun Chuanting, who had already trotted over and was standing by his side, stepped forward.

He straightened his javelin-like spine, bowed deeply towards Zhu Youjian, and answered the emperor's question, word by word, in a loud, clear, and emotionless tone, as cold and hard as the law itself.

"Reply to Your Majesty!"

"According to Volume 18 of the Great Ming Code, in the chapter on 'Treason,' all those who plot a rebellion, regardless of whether they are the ringleaders or accomplices, shall be beheaded! Those who know about such plots but fail to report them shall be punished the same way!"

"Today, Prince Zhu Cunshu of Qin has allowed his troops to attack the emperor's personal guards with weapons in full view of everyone. His actions are no different from treason!"

"Your Majesty, I, Sun Chuanting, beg Your Majesty to make a decision according to the law!"

When the ruler questions the crime, the minister explains the law.

A casual glance exchanged, followed by a tacit gesture of clasped hands in response.

Without the slightest hesitation, without the slightest unnecessary exchange, in the blink of an eye, the emperor and his minister jointly delivered a death sentence to one of the most powerful and noble princes in the Ming Dynasty.

This unquestionable authority, this absolute power that disregarded all etiquette, laws, and ancestral rules, made all the Xi'an officials who could still stand in front of the granary weak in the knees and tremble all over.

Zhu Youjian remained expressionless after listening to Sun Chuanting's words.

He slowly raised his eyelids, looked at Zhu Cunshu again, and uttered a single word.

"kill."

……

The word "kill" is spoken lightly, as if it were merely an order to a servant to crush an ant.

However, this one word was like a spark thrown into a sealed room full of gunpowder!
"Roar--!!!"

A roar that seemed inhuman, suppressed to the extreme and then bursting forth in an instant, exploded from the ranks of the Beijing garrison's new army!
These soldiers, whose bellies were filled with gold and silver by the emperor, had their glory, their future, and their lives inextricably linked to the young emperor before them!
They are the emperor's personal guards!
They received their full military pay without delay, wore brand-new armor, and ate hearty meals with visible oil stains!

Moreover, their comrades-in-arms were right before their eyes, being pinned to a pillar by these reckless soldiers of the prince's palace with a broken spear!
This is not merely a provocation, it is an insult! An insult to their newly formed army! An insult to the Emperor behind them!

And now, His Majesty has granted them permission to vent their anger! He has even bestowed upon them a merit worthy of bringing glory to their ancestors!

In the eyes of these soldiers, the Qin King's guards, armed with swords and clad in soft armor, were no longer human; they were walking heads with price tags! They were the means to exchange for rewards, land, and official positions!

The massacre has begun.

This cannot even be called a battle.

Because a battle requires at least equal will from both sides.

The soldiers of the Prince of Qin's mansion had already broken down the moment they heard the young man speaking to Sun Chuanting. They were the Prince of Qin's servants, not rebellious bandits; they knew better than anyone what it would mean to draw their swords now!
However, the collapse of reason can never be as swift as the outburst of wildness.

The cold, embroidered spring blades drew deadly arcs in mid-air, precise and efficient.

Every flash of a blade is accompanied by the fall of a royal guard or the spurting of hot blood!
"Pfft!"

One of Zhu Cunshu's closest and most trusted personal guards, seeing that all was lost, was about to shout for surrender in order to save his life.

The moment his mouth opened, a flash of silver light streaked across his neck, his voice caught in his throat, and his expression froze in that instant of terror and bewilderment.

The next moment, his head flew into the air, and the jet of blood gushing from his neck cavity, like a fountain, poured directly onto Zhu Cunxu's head and face.

Warm liquid, with a strong fishy smell, slowly flowed down Zhu Cunxu's cheeks.

The Prince of Qin of the Ming Dynasty stood there blankly, feeling the sticky and warm sensation, his mind completely blank.

This bloody and shocking scene became the last straw that broke the camel's back!
"Clang!"

It is unknown who was the first to drop their weapon.

The crisp sound was like a command.

"Clang! Clang! Clang-clang—!"

The sound of weapons hitting the ground was crisp and rapid, like a sudden hailstorm made of steel, crashing hard into everyone's heart.

Those who had been so arrogant and domineering just moments before were now like a flock of sheep cornered by their natural enemy. They frantically dropped all their weapons, their knees buckled, and they collapsed to their knees, tears streaming down their faces, desperately kowtowing.

"Spare your life! Spare your life!"

"We dare not do it again! We will never dare to do it again!" Cries and pleas for mercy rose and fell.

The soldiers of the Beijing Garrison and the Embroidered Uniform Guards did not continue to wield their swords, but their chilling killing intent remained undiminished. The cold blades were still pressed against the necks of the surrendered soldiers, making it difficult for everyone to breathe.

The emperor only uttered one word: "Kill".

He didn't say whether to kill or spare those who surrender.

Therefore, after all the royal guards knelt down and begged for mercy, completely losing their ability to resist, these fierce and ruthless troops did not act on their own.

They stopped their slaughter, but their bloodthirsty gazes swept past the trembling lives before them and landed squarely on the young emperor who stood with his hands behind his back, awaiting his next command—whether to continue slaughtering these surrendered people or to stop there.

Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes slightly and raised his hand.

It was such a subtle movement.

The soldiers, who had just been like ferocious beasts unleashed, seemed to have received a silent command, and their surging murderous aura vanished in an instant.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized as they sheathed their swords.

This scene chilled all the Xi'an officials present to the bone!

This unwavering discipline, this absolute control over life and death, is far more terrifying than a bloody massacre!
……

At this moment, the world fell silent once again.

A silence that was thicker and more suffocating than before.

Apart from the people brought by the emperor, there was not a single servant of the Prince of Qin's mansion standing on this battlefield of kneeling surrendered soldiers and nearly a hundred corpses.

Zhu Cunshu stood alone in the middle of a sea of ​​blood filled with his personal guards kneeling in the kneeling crowd.

He was soaked in the blood of his confidants, like a clay sculpture stained with blood, his eyes vacant and his pupils dilated.

"Clap."

It was the sound of Li Ruolian, standing beside the emperor, sheathing his sword; he hadn't even spilled a drop of blood.

This slight sound, like a needle, pierced Zhu Cunshu's nerves, which were already stretched to their limit.

"Pfft."

Zhu Cunshu's knees buckled, and he collapsed into the cold, sticky pool of blood.

His body, which had been pampered for half his life and had long been hollowed out by wine, women, wealth, and power, trembled violently.

Fear gnawed at his bones like countless cold ants, devouring his last shred of sanity.

His survival instinct unleashed an unprecedented power within him.

He no longer cared about the dignity of a prince or the honor of a member of the imperial family. He crawled and scrambled like a spineless dog to Zhu Youjian's feet.

Zhu Cunshu's forehead slammed heavily against the bluestone slab in front of the emperor's boots, which was not yet stained with blood, making muffled "thump, thump, thump" sounds.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please have mercy!"

"For the sake of the founding emperor! For the sake of us being of the same lineage!"

He kowtowed and cried out uncontrollably, his voice completely distorted.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to offer up all the wealth, grain, land deeds, and treasury accumulated by the Qin Prince's Mansion over generations to fund the country! I only beg Your Majesty to consider our kinship and spare my lowly life!"

Tears streamed down his face as he clung to the title of "Imperial Clan Member," his last hope. This innate bloodline, this ironclad decree issued by the founding emperor, was the last reed he desperately clung to as he faced drowning.
His response was neither forgiveness nor thunderous rage.

Instead, there was a burst of laughter.

"Hehe...hehehehe..."

Zhu Youjian smiled.

The laughter was unusually clear in front of the granary, which was as silent as a slaughterhouse. He didn't look down at Zhu Cunshu, who lay like a lump of mud at his feet, but continued slowly:
"When I considered you a member of the Zhu family..."

Zhu Youjian paused slightly, his smile deepening and growing colder!
"Do you think I'm the emperor?!"

This last sentence was no longer a light whisper, but a thunderous roar! Like a bolt from the blue, it exploded in everyone's ears, silencing even the clash of swords and the thunder of horses!
This roar was like an invisible giant hammer, smashing the last bit of hope in Zhu Cunxu's heart and shattering his last shred of clarity.

Zhu Cunshu's crying stopped abruptly.

He suddenly raised his head, and on his face, which was covered with blood and tears, there was no longer just despair, but also a kind of madness driven to the extreme by fear!
In his hazy vision, the wide-open granary gate was no longer a dark maw, but a holy light leading to protection. He seemed to see the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, the princes in python robes, standing behind the gate beckoning to him and offering to save his life!
That last shred of survival instinct unleashed a frenzied power!
"what--!"

Zhu Cunshu let out a howl that was not human, and suddenly leaped up from the ground. His whole movement was not like that of a pampered and obese prince, but rather like that of a mad wild boar, rushing with all his might toward the granary that was like a door to salvation!
Sun Chuanting's gaze sharpened, and he shouted sternly, "Stop him!"

Zhu Youjian casually raised his hand, and with a simple gesture, the fierce and powerful army that was about to launch a surprise attack froze in place.

The wind seemed to have stopped.

It felt as if everyone's breath was being choked by an invisible hand.

Puzzled, astonished... countless gazes converged on that imposing, unyielding figure.

Just as everyone's hearts were in their throats, wondering about this unpredictable divine wrath, Zhu Youjian slowly turned around.

His gaze fell on Li Ruolian, the deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

then
The emperor parted his thin lips slightly and uttered two words in a calm yet chilling tone:

"Here comes the sword!"

　Benefits for those who stay up late
　　But, it's gone.
　　I really can't squeeze any more out.

　　See you tomorrow night!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)