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

Chapter 170 Those whom I protect, whoever touches them will die!
Before Shen Lian could finish speaking, the three remaining Imperial Guards beside him simultaneously drew their Embroidered Spring Blades with a clang.

Four sharp blades, stained with the blood of countless dead, reflected the light of death in the winter sun.

The light, combined with the terrifying killing intent emanating from Shen Lian that seemed almost tangible, finally poured a bucket of ice water over the heads of all the crazed students.

They calmed down.

After a brief, suffocating silence, an uproar erupted that was greater than ever before.

"Killing people!!"

"The Embroidered Uniform Guard has killed someone at the Imperial College!!"

A student pointed at Wang Zixuan's body and let out a piercing scream, his voice filled with fear and disbelief.

In this land of sages and scholars, a land of learning and literature, blood has been spilled! And the one who died was a renowned student of the Imperial Academy!

Driven by extreme fear and anger, the remaining fifty-seven martyrs made a contradictory move.

They dared not take another step forward to face the four blood-drinking weapons, but they did not disperse. Instead, they screamed and shouted, surrounding Shen Lian and the other three, as well as Xu Guangqi, who was being protected in the middle, blocking all the exits of the library.

"A life for a life! Blood for blood!"

"The imperial court's lackeys are slaughtering our intellectuals! Where is justice?!"

They used all the knowledge they had acquired in their lives to curse the murderer before them with the most vicious and sarcastic words.

They want to escalate the situation in this way, to the point where it becomes unmanageable!
They want to use Wang Zixuan's blood to prove to the world that the current court has embarked on a wicked path of being an enemy of all scholars!

In the chaos, no one noticed that a clever little eunuch who was usually responsible for sweeping the Imperial Academy had already slipped away from the crowd silently the moment Wang Zixuan fell.

Like a startled rabbit, he ran wildly out of the Imperial College and headed straight for the Forbidden City with its red walls and yellow tiles.

……

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youjian is reviewing memorials.

The memorials before him were piled up like a mountain.

Most of the memorials submitted recently impeached him for "neglecting his duties and indulging in frivolous pursuits."

The emperor's face revealed no emotion.

Just then, a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps came from outside the hall.

Wang Chengen rushed in and knelt down with a thud.

"Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened! A major incident has occurred at the Imperial Academy!!"

Wang Chengen recounted everything that had happened at the Imperial College in his fastest possible speed, from the students' siege to Xu Guangqi's peril, to the Jinyiwei drawing their swords and killing Wang Zixuan, and finally to the current stalemate between the two sides, leaving nothing out.

After hearing the report, Zhu Youjian did not fly into a rage as Wang Chengen had imagined, nor did he panic.

He straightened up with unusual calm.

With his slight movement, an invisible pressure instantly enveloped the entire hall, making all the eunuchs standing there cautiously even when breathing, for fear that the slightest sound would provoke his wrath.

Zhu Youjian lowered his gaze, as if looking at the jade paperweight in his hand, or as if examining his entire empire.

Xu Guangqi.

That was a pearl he personally retrieved from the pile of old documents; it was the lever he used to pry open this corrupt empire; it was a banner he raised to the world.

And now, someone actually wants to break this flag.

In the capital, right under his nose!
Do these self-proclaimed disciples of sages really think that when an emperor promotes and appoints a minister, it is merely because he appreciates the minister's talent?

Whoever the emperor appoints represents the emperor's will. To oppose the emperor is to defy his will!

it is good.

very good.

The emperor stepped out from behind his desk.

Every step felt like stepping on everyone's heart.

"Bring...the...horse...here!"

"I will go myself!"

"Dispatch three hundred Imperial Guard cavalry to accompany me out of the palace!"

……

The afternoons in the capital are usually peaceful.

But this tranquility was shattered by a thunderous sound of horses' hooves.

Three hundred Imperial Guard cavalrymen, their helmets gleaming and armor gleaming, marched with an aura of menace.

They were elite soldiers handpicked by the emperor, equipped with the latest plate armor and sabers. Three hundred iron hooves pounded the hard stone streets of the capital, forming an unstoppable torrent of steel, creating a deafening roar. The people retreated in terror to the sides of the street. They saw the dragon flag fluttering in the wind, and even more so, they saw, at the very forefront of that iron torrent, a young knight in a bright yellow everyday dragon robe, his face ashen, his eyes cold as if he wanted to kill.

It's the emperor!
The emperor personally led the imperial guards out of the palace!

When that bright yellow dragon flag appeared at the gate of the Imperial College; when that torrent of steel burst through the gate with unstoppable force and surged into the open space in front of the Yilun Hall.

All the clamor, shouting, and cursing of the students came to an abrupt halt at that moment.

It was as if an invisible hand had gripped their necks tightly, choking them and preventing them from making a sound.

Everyone stared blankly, like clay or wooden sculptures, at the approaching god of war on horseback.

After entering the open space, the three hundred iron cavalrymen quickly spread out to the left and right flanks like sharp blades cutting through water, efficiently surrounding the entire open space completely.

Zhu Youjian rode his horse slowly to the center of the field.

The emperor's gaze slowly swept across the entire hall.

He saw Xu Guangqi, still shaken but standing tall; he saw the four Jinyiwei guards, covered in wounds but still protecting the old man like javelins; he saw the pool of blood on the ground that had begun to congeal, and Wang Zixuan's still warm body beside him.

Finally, the emperor's gaze fell upon the fifty-seven faces that had shifted from rage and madness to extreme fear and deathly paleness.

He didn't immediately go to comfort Xu Guangqi. Instead, his gaze swept past everyone and landed on Shen Lian, the Imperial Guard who was kneeling on one knee, holding a knife in one hand, his face covered in blood.

The emperor spoke.

His voice was cold and devoid of any emotion, yet the question was directed at Zhou Quan, the commander of the Imperial Guards beside him.

"comprehensive."

"Your subject is here!" Zhou Quan's voice, though fully armored, boomed like a bell.

"According to the Great Ming Code, what crime should be committed for attempting to assassinate a high-ranking official and besieging the imperial envoy's guards?"

Zhou Quan understood perfectly.

He spurred his horse forward, his gaze sharp as lightning, sweeping over the fifty-seven trembling students, and shouted in a voice loud enough for the entire Imperial Academy to hear:

"Your Majesty! According to the 'Theft and Robbery' chapter of the Great Ming Code, anyone who murders an official of the court shall be executed by slow slicing, their family property confiscated, and their family members barred from taking the imperial examinations for three generations, with all male members exiled three thousand li away! Accomplices shall be beheaded immediately! Anyone who knows about the crime but fails to report it, echoes the crime, or incites a crowd to cause trouble shall be punished with one hundred strokes of the cane, exiled two thousand li away, and never be employed again!"

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured down on the heads of the fifty-seven students, instantly extinguishing all their arrogance and wishful thinking.

They were completely dumbfounded.

In their fury, almost everyone subconsciously believed that the law would not punish the masses; they were scholars, intellectuals, and the emperor would be hesitant to act against them no matter what.

How wrong!

The calves of the fifty-seven students could no longer support their weight, and one by one they collapsed to the ground.

The emperor lightly tapped the corpse with his riding whip.

"This one is the main culprit."

Then, he slowly raised his riding whip, as if it were the pen of a judge in the underworld, outlining life and death, and pointed it at the fifty-seven people who had collapsed to the ground.

"The rest are all accomplices and accessories."

"Since the law is clear, then... we will enforce it in full."

The emperor spoke casually, as if crushing a few ants.

"Take...the person!"

"Do not!!"

"Your Majesty, spare my life!!"

"We...we were merely echoing from the sidelines, we didn't participate! Your Majesty, please investigate!"

Cries for mercy, screams, explanations, and the stench of incontinence instantly filled the open space, turning this sacred place into a hideous slaughterhouse.

But nobody paid them any attention.

The Imperial Guards pounced on them like wolves and tigers. They moved swiftly and decisively, binding the fifty-seven men one by one, gagging them with rags, and dragging them away like dead dogs.

The entire process was efficient and without any unnecessary delays.

Only bloody efficiency.

When the open space returned to deathly silence, Zhu Youjian rode his horse slowly to the center of the open space. He looked around at all the instructors and supervisors who were silent as cicadas in fear, as well as the students who were hiding in the distance, their faces pale with fright.

The emperor's voice echoed in the empty Imperial College.

"I am here today not only to speak to you, but also to proclaim this to the world!"

He paused, each word seeming as if carved into everyone's bones with a knife.

"Anyone who touches one of my protected persons will die!"

(End of this chapter)