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

Chapter 309 This is... a disaster!
The night is like ink, and the darkest drop always appears before dawn.

After two hours of underground torrents, countless undercurrents and deadly intents finally converged at the final breaking point in the capital.

The Duke of Cheng's Mansion was one of the most prestigious noble residences in the Ming Dynasty.

The layout of the five rooms and three courtyards, with its flying eaves, bracket sets, carved beams and painted rafters, every pillar and every brick seems to be silently telling the story of the family's glory in sharing the fate of the nation.

Inside the main hall, the atmosphere is even more magnificent.

On the sandalwood altar, the ancestors of the Zhu family were enshrined in dense array.

Dozens of memorial tablets with black backgrounds and gold characters exuded a heavy, imposing aura of merit under the dim light.

Duke Zhu Chunchen of Chengguo stood before these ancestral tablets.

His hair and beard were white, but at this moment they stood straight up, like a lion driven to the brink of despair.

He gripped a simple, ancient longsword tightly in his hand. The gems inlaid on the scabbard shimmered in the morning light. It was the imperial sword bestowed by Emperor Taizu Gao, the pinnacle of his family's glory, and his last resort at this moment.

Opposite him, Shen Lian, the garrison commander of the Northern Garrison, was slowly walking in.

Shen Lian's footsteps were very light, as light as a raccoon walking in the snow, making almost no sound.

His familiar flying fish robe, though dusty from the night's fighting, remained crisp and tidy.

Behind him followed two upright Jinyiwei captains, each holding an empty tray covered with bright yellow silk cloth, their expressions as solemn as clay statues of Vajras in a temple.

Zhu Chunchen's gaze was like a knife, fixed intently on Shen Lian's face.

When he first saw Shen Lian arrive alone, a cold snort appeared on his lips, a natural disdain that noble families held for their lackeys and henchmen.

But then, his pupils suddenly contracted.

He saw the Embroidered Spring Knife that Shen Lian had placed on his waist.

Bloodstains still clung to the blade, their dark red sheen gleaming in the dawn light.

A fire of humiliation and rage shot from the depths of Zhu Chunchen's heart to the top of his head.

He roared with all his might, the sound echoing in the empty main hall, shaking the dust off the beams.

"Shen Lian! How dare you!"

His voice was hoarse with extreme anger: "You dare to step into the main hall of my Duke Cheng's mansion with a dirty knife that has been used to kill people? Do you have no respect for the law? Do you have no respect for the dignity of my Great Ming Dynasty?!"

Shen Lian stopped in his tracks, his face showing no fear of being reprimanded, but rather a faint smile.

He took out a snow-white handkerchief from his pocket and, with slow, deliberate movements and an elegance that seemed to have been rehearsed a thousand times, gently and carefully wiped the bloodstains from the blade.

The dark red blood spread across the white handkerchief, like a plum blossom blooming in an instant.

After wiping, Shen Lian casually tossed the bloodstained handkerchief onto the ground, his movement as light as if he were discarding a useless piece of waste paper.

Then he raised his head, calmly meeting Zhu Chunchen's murderous gaze, and slowly spoke in a tone gentler than a spring breeze:

"In reply to the Duke."

"This blood belongs to Wang Tiqian, the eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial."

"Before he passed away, he kept thinking of you, as if there were some heartfelt words he hadn't had time to say. I thought to myself, since it is the blood of an old friend and is imbued with his thoughts, I specially brought it to the Duke to see, which can be considered... to fulfill the friendship between the two of you over the decades."

"You...you..." Zhu Chunchen's lips trembled, his face turning ashen.

The imperial sword in his hand trembled violently, emitting a buzzing sound.

Finally, all reason was consumed by this extreme humiliation. He flew into a rage, pointed his halberd at Shen Lian, and his voice was as shrill as a ghost's wail:

"What a tyrant! What a pack of lackeys!!"

"The Zhu family emperor is slaughtering the Zhu family members! This is utterly ridiculous! My ancestors shed blood for the Ming Dynasty, and my Zhu family has hereditary titles that have stood the test of time, sharing the fate of the nation! By what right? By what right!"

His spittle flew everywhere, and he seemed to be insane: "Do you think a few slanderous words from you eunuch henchmen can shake the foundation of the nation? Has he forgotten the oath of Emperor Taizu to 'not kill meritorious officials'? He is trying to destroy the very foundation of my Great Ming Dynasty!"

Despite being stripped of his title for a crime, he now seemed to have regained the arrogance and anger of the head of the nobility, as if he represented the laws and traditions of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Shen Lian stood there quietly, listening.

His eyes were as cold as iron, without the slightest ripple.

It was as if Zhu Chunchen's roar was nothing more than a distant bark of a dog, and had nothing to do with him.

Only when Zhu Chunchen was hoarse and breathing heavily did Shen Lian take a step forward.

It's just one step.

But as he took that step, his entire demeanor suddenly changed.

That seemingly gentle facade was torn apart, followed by a murderous aura that was as solid as a substance.

"Your Excellency, you have misunderstood three things."

Zhu Chunchen's breathing faltered.

"First of all, the merits of our ancestors were meant to protect the Ming Dynasty, not to be printed on flags and used as tax exemption badges for your smuggling and fraudulent cargo ships traveling north and south."

Zhu Chunchen's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

"Secondly, His Majesty did not kill nobles or members of the imperial family tonight. His Majesty killed traitors! As for you, who happen to be a hereditary duke with the surname Zhu... that is your misfortune, not His Majesty's fault."

Zhu Chunchen felt a sweet taste in his throat and almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Finally... and most importantly, Emperor Taizu's oath was 'not to kill meritorious officials.' But it didn't say that he wouldn't kill the descendants of those meritorious officials who had long since become parasites on the country."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the densely packed memorial tablets in the hall, a cruel smile curving his lips.

"In the Emperor's eyes, there is only loyalty and treachery, not favoritism. After tonight, all those in the capital who consider themselves clever will understand this principle."

That's all for this.

Zhu Chunchen was speechless and his mind went blank after being refuted by these three sentences.

When reason collapses, what remains is a beastly madness.

"Rebellion! Rebellion! You've all rebelled!" he roared, his eyes bloodshot, brandishing the imperial sword that symbolized supreme glory, charging towards Shen Lian like a madman.

Shen Lian shifted his body slightly to the side, dodging the powerful sword strike as nimbly as a falling leaf.

The wind from the sword swept past, lifting the hem of his clothes.

In a flash, the Embroidered Spring Blade in his hand moved. The blade drew a beautiful yet swift arc in the air, like a sudden gushing spring, striking first despite being delayed.

The poignant glint of the blade, like a lover's gentle caress, tenderly and precisely embedded itself into his thick neck.

The cold touch sent Zhu Chunchen into a daze, and all his strength seemed to vanish in an instant.

He stared wide-eyed at the smiling lackey in front of him, his cloudy eyes wide with disbelief.

Zhu Chunchen opened his mouth, as if to say something, but could only let out a hoarse, leaky sound.

Immediately, his tall body crashed to the ground like a felled tree.

Shen Lian sheathed his sword and stood there.

He nodded slightly to the captain behind him who was carrying a tray.

The captain immediately stepped forward, picked up the snow-white silk cloth from the tray, and spread it on the ground.

Shen Lian squatted down, skillfully completed the next task, then carefully placed it in the tray and covered it with the bright yellow silk cloth.

After doing all this, he stood up, turned around, and walked out of the hall.

The moment Shen Lian stepped out of the gates of the Duke of Cheng's mansion, the first true ray of sunlight finally shone on the streets of the capital.

……

The sky finally brightened.

As usual, the nine gates of the capital city slowly opened at their appointed times, accompanied by heavy creaking sounds.

Early risers and officials who needed to attend court poured into and out of the city gates like a flowing river.

But soon, everyone noticed something was wrong.

The atmosphere was too eerie.

The streets, usually bustling with traffic and people, were unusually quiet today.

There were several times more soldiers patrolling the streets than usual, each with a grim face, hands on their swords, and eyes as cold as ice.

A faint smell of blood permeated the air.

The eerie atmosphere reached its peak when people gathered at Caishikou.

This place, which used to be the most bustling and vibrant part of the capital, is now deathly silent.

Everyone was speechless with astonishment at the sight before them.

In the center of the square, dozens of tall wooden poles had been erected overnight.

At the top of the wooden pole, facing the rising sun, hung bloody human heads!
The expressions on those people's faces—some terrified, some angry, some bewildered—had all lost the luster of life.

The morning breeze blew, ruffling their dry hair. From a distance, they looked like lanterns left unremoved after a festival, their candles long since extinguished, leaving only cold outlines swaying unconsciously in the wind.

The people covered their mouths in terror, and some of the more timid ones began to gag.

The officials turned pale, their hearts filled with turmoil!

They frantically tried to recognize the familiar and unfamiliar faces.

"That's... the Vice Minister of Revenue, Lord Zhang?"

"My God, that's Eunuch Wang, a favorite of the Directorate of Ceremonial!"

"And the Governor of the granary... Lord Li! He had tea with me yesterday!"

One by one, these usually high-ranking and powerful figures have now become the cold head at the top of the wooden pole.

And hanging on the tallest of all the wooden poles in the very center was the unseeing face of Duke Zhu Chunchen, who died with his eyes wide open!
His eyes were wide open, his mouth slightly agape, as if he were still making a final roar at the world.

This...this is absolutely outrageous!
Just as the entire city was engulfed in panic and endless speculation, a group of palace eunuchs, escorted by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, walked onto a makeshift platform.

The head eunuch unfurled a bright yellow imperial edict and, in his high-pitched yet resonant voice, began to read it aloud to the crowd:
"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Noble Zhu Chunchen, eunuch Wang Tiqian, and others, as pillars of the nation, receiving salaries from the court, have not thought of repaying the Emperor's favor, but instead colluded with officials outside the capital, formed cliques for personal gain, embezzled grain tribute, and undermined the foundation of the nation... Their crimes are heinous and too numerous to mention! I am deeply pained, and in order to uphold the law and serve as a warning to others, I hereby order that you all be executed! So be it!"

After the imperial edict was read, the world fell into a deathly silence.

Immediately, a chill more terrifying and profound than death itself exploded in the minds of every official!

time!

The timing doesn't match!

From the undercurrents that swept through the city last night to the execution of heads and the exposure of the crimes, everything has been flawless.

The imperial edict was elegantly worded, the charges were conclusive, and the fabrication was meticulous and the logic clear; it could not have been hastily produced overnight.

So, long before the Embroidered Spring Blade of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was drawn, long before the gate of the Duke of Cheng's mansion was knocked on, or even several days or dozens of days before, this imperial edict sentencing everyone to death had already been quietly lying on the imperial desk in the Forbidden City in Nanjing!
Among the crowd, the official in charge of the Ministry of Rites, who held the rank of seventh grade, had already lost all feeling in his legs.

Just yesterday, he and his colleagues were in the warm office quoting classical texts, criticizing the new emperor for being too tyrannical and worrying that such actions might not be a blessing for the country.

At this moment, looking at Zhu Chunchen's once arrogant head in the wind, what welled up in his heart was no longer a chill, but an absurd and desperate self-mockery.

Who do you think you are? Do you even deserve to be called one?

He secretly glanced at his colleagues out of the corner of his eye.

Those colleagues who usually pontificated and wrote passionate articles, those self-proclaimed disciples of sages who took it upon themselves to correct the emperor, all turned ashen-faced at this moment.

No one was shocked, because shock was not enough to describe their feelings.

A terrifying thought, like a black lightning bolt, struck the minds of all the officials present simultaneously:

Throughout history, which emperor has ever achieved such a feat?

Qin Shi Huang, despite his great talent and ambition, failed to see through the treachery of Zhao Gao and Li Si, leading to the dynasty's demise after only two generations. Emperor Wu of Han, with his absolute power, also fell victim to the witchcraft scandal, was misled by treacherous officials, and forced his own son to commit suicide. Even Emperor Gaozu of our dynasty, with his decisive and ruthless approach, only took action after the cases of Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu had been brewing for many years.

They all need eyes, ears, and ministers to investigate and report to them.

They will misjudge, be misled, and make mistakes.

But this… this His Majesty, far away in Nanjing…

He does not need it!
He seemed to have transformed his will into a net that covered the entire world!

(End of this chapter)