A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

That night, the young emperor selected all the guards from the capital and left only the men arranged by Changsun Wuji to protect his safety.

The capital has been controlled by Prime Minister Zhai Hong for so long that even the young emperor cannot guarantee that there are Zhai Hong's people among his confidants.

Comparatively speaking, the people arranged by Changsun Wuji were all from the clan and military forces, and were more trustworthy.

The young emperor had arranged for his personal safety to be airtight; barring any unforeseen circumstances, not even a fly could get near him.

At night, the young emperor slept peacefully under the protection of many guards. The tranquility of the palace lasted until midnight when a small opening suddenly appeared in the palace door, and a figure slowly walked in.

There were two more figures guarding the entrance.

"Who?!"

The young emperor kept having nightmares, dreaming that Prime Minister Zhai Hong had arranged for assassins to kill him, so he couldn't sleep very soundly.

Just as the assassin entered, he was dreaming that the assassin arranged by Zhai Hong was stabbing him in the chest with a dagger, and then he heard someone open the door, which startled him awake.

"Who is it?"

The young emperor hurriedly sat up, shielding himself with the blanket, his eyes filled with vigilance, and silently took out a short sword from under his pillow.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

Seeing that the young emperor had been awakened, the shadowy figure quickly said, "Assassins! Your Majesty, get out of here!"

As he spoke, he moved closer to the young emperor.

The young emperor was in a state of utter confusion. Was what the person in front of him was saying true or false?

"stop!"

"Someone come here!"

The young emperor shouted, but the shadowy figure kept moving. The young emperor immediately realized that this person was the assassin.

Zhai Hong!

The young emperor immediately thought of the prime minister's name. He had just fallen out with the prime minister during the day, and that very night he was assassinated. If it wasn't Zhai Hong who did it, then who was it?!

"Help! There's an assassin!!"

The young emperor shouted towards the outside of the palace. As the assassin rushed forward, he pulled the quilt over his head, grabbed the short sword he was carrying, and fiercely stabbed at the assassin.

After stabbing the assassin, he didn't care about the assassin's life or death and ran wildly towards the door.

When he opened the door, the two figures outside were shocked to see that it was the young emperor who had run out. They immediately drew their weapons and killed the young emperor.

At this moment, the assassin inside, clutching his severely wounded body, came out and saw that the young emperor had been killed by his teammates outside the door. He then committed suicide.

They were sent on this mission with no intention of returning alive; their only purpose in being buried here is to be buried with the dead.

The two men at the gate, having confirmed the young emperor's death, cut off his head to ensure there was no chance of survival, and then committed suicide.

It wasn't until the next day, when the guards came to invite the young emperor to court, that they noticed the smell of blood at the door.

They rushed in and found four bodies at the doorway, three of which were indistinct, with their facial features barely discernible.

The other body, dressed in a yellow undershirt, was a headless corpse.

His head was not far away, and after seeing the face clearly, all the guards knelt down.

"His Majesty has passed away!"

The bronze bell that had been in use in the palace for many years rang nine times, its sound resounding throughout the entire capital of the Great Xia Dynasty.

The prime minister was taken aback when he heard the bell ringing in his residence; only the emperor was entitled to ring it nine times.

Apart from the emperor, even the empress and empress dowager could only have eight shots.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

The prime minister investigated again and again, and with each additional sound, his expression grew more and more unpleasant.

By the time the ninth shot reached his ears, Zhai Hong's face was already incredibly dark.

The young emperor is dead!

She died on the very day after they had a fight and their relationship had completely broken down!

What will people think?

Even a fool could see that Zhai Hong knew the whole world would believe he had murdered the young emperor.

He did have this idea, but he also knew that killing the young emperor now would give others grounds for criticism. He planned to wait a year or two until things calmed down before taking action.

But now that the young emperor is dead, he's destined to take the blame.

Even if he finds out who's behind it all, the world will think he's just slandering them.

They deliberately framed others in order to clear their own name and cover up their crimes.

Even if he jumped into the Ganges, he couldn't clear his name now.

The country will definitely be in chaos, countless opposition forces will emerge, and the forces left behind by the young emperor will fight back against him to the death.

The forces of the imperial relatives and military generals would certainly not miss this golden opportunity. They would launch a massive attack under the pretext of avenging the young emperor, feigning distress.

He's in big trouble!

"Father, the bronze bell in the palace has tolled nine times; the young emperor has passed away!"

"The Great Xia has lost its mandate of heaven; now the mandate of heaven belongs to the Di. Father, no, Father Emperor, should choose a day to inherit the throne, receive the mandate of heaven, and rule the world!"

Zhai Hong's son ran in excitedly and said to Zhai Hong happily.

Zhai Hong ascended the throne and became emperor. He was the crown prince, the future emperor, and the future ruler of the world.

He couldn't help but be excited.

Zhai Hong looked at his son with disappointment; this fool couldn't even see the current situation.

"idiot!"

Zhai Hong roared, "Now is the time when my Zhai family is beset by internal and external troubles, and you still want to ascend the throne? Are you afraid that my Zhai family will not perish?!"

"what?"

Zhai Yu was stunned, and asked blankly, "Father, didn't you kill the young emperor?"

Zhai Hong was furious with his son: "I just broke with the young emperor, and he killed him! Am I afraid the world won't be in chaos? Am I afraid I won't become a traitor? Am I afraid my entire family will live well?"

"If it wasn't you, Father, then how did the young emperor die?"

Zhai Yu then realized something was wrong. "In the entire capital, only we have the ability to kill the young emperor."

"If it wasn't you, Father, then it means there's another force in Kyoto that managed to assassinate the young emperor right under our noses without our knowledge."

"The purpose is to frame our Zhai family, killing two birds with one stone."

Zhai Hong breathed a sigh of relief; his son wasn't completely stupid after all.

"Father, now that it's already happened, why not go all the way and finish the job?"

But his son's next words enraged him to the point of despair.

"idiot!!!!"

"Do you really think I can still control the court?"

"How many of the powerful figures in the imperial court will still listen to me?"

"And what about those clan forces and military factions? They've never been truly loyal to the government. Won't they seize this opportunity to retaliate?"

"Our Zhai family is now walking on the edge of a cliff. If we are not careful, our entire clan will be wiped out."

The veins on Zhai Hong's forehead bulged and throbbed under the intense rush of blood.