I play the role of Jiajing in Zongwu: What crime have I committed?

Upon hearing this, Sima Shang stared intently at Zhu Houcong.

At the same time, Mei Changsu, who was sitting among the nobles, suddenly looked up.

A pair of meaningful eyes stared intently at Zhu Houcong.

Meanwhile, Zhu Houcong kept a close eye on Mei Changsu's every move from the very beginning.

He suspected that Sima Shang's sudden provocation was related to Mei Changsu.

After all, Meng Zhi and Mei Changsu had a good relationship, and Sima Shang was Meng Zhi's senior brother.

It is highly likely that Mei Changsu set this up.

really!

Zhu Houcong sneered inwardly.

He noticed that when Xia Jiang mentioned the "four grandmasters of the Eastern Depot," Mei Changsu's gaze did not turn to Cao Zhichun, the director of the Eastern Depot, as other court officials did.

Instead, he stared intently at himself.

This subtle anomaly set off alarm bells in his mind.

The Eastern Depot, an organization established just over a year ago, was able to recruit four Grandmasters.

They are the ones who should be the ones to shock everyone.

But Mei Changsu and Sima Shang were both staring at him.

This doesn't make sense.

Suddenly, a guess popped into his mind.

Mei Changsu and Sima Shang may have already suspected that Meng Zhi's death was related to Zhuque and his group.

Therefore, today's actions were simply a test to see if he knew of Suzaku's existence.

Or, to confirm whether Meng Zhi's death was a setup by the emperor himself.

Thinking of this, Zhu Houcong suddenly frowned and glanced at Cao Zhichun, who looked completely bewildered.

"Cao Zhichun, I was completely unaware that the Eastern Depot had recruited four Grandmasters. Why was such an important matter never reported to me?"

Chapter 171 The emperor is angry

Cao Zhichun trembled and hurriedly knelt down in front of Zhu Houcong.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."

Zhu Houcong certainly wouldn't allow him to say anything that would undermine him.

His dragon eyes narrowed slightly, and he rebuked directly, "Does this mean that the Eastern Depot no longer needs to report its actions to me?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Zhichun's forehead was covered in cold sweat.

There was only one sky above him, and that was the emperor.

Now that the emperor wants to shift the blame onto him, he has no choice but to accept it.

Although he did not know the reason why the emperor was hiding it, he acted decisively and knelt down on the ground.

"This servant deserves to die."

Upon seeing this, Mei Changsu and Sima Shang exchanged a subtle glance.

Both of them frowned slightly at the same time.

Zhu Houcong's reaction was indeed unexpected.

He was completely unaware that the Eastern Depot had four Grandmasters hidden among its members.

It seems that Meng Zhi's murder was likely carried out by the Eastern Depot in secret.

Its purpose is self-evident.

It's all for power.

However, they had no evidence to prove that the Eastern Depot was responsible for this.

Mei Changsu immediately decided to continue with the original plan.

He lured out and killed the four Grandmasters of the Eastern Depot to avenge Meng Zhi.

Mei Changsu then gave Sima Shang a barely perceptible nod.

Sima Shang immediately understood.

"Hahaha…"

Sima Shang suddenly burst into laughter: "The Liang court is indeed full of talent, with four Grandmasters presiding over it. Today, I will have to learn from them one by one."

Zhu Houcong did not respond, but instead took out a sandalwood box from his bosom.

The box was opened, and inside lay a golden pill the size of a longan, its surface faintly shimmering with light.

It was the Golden Elixir of the Medicine King.

"Yan Song, take this and give it to Zhuo Qing."

Yan Song quickly bowed and accepted the box, then carefully carried it to Zhuo Dingfeng.

At this moment, Zhuo Dingfeng's chest was soaked with blood, and his breath was so weak that it was almost inaudible.

Yan Song gently pried open his mouth and inserted the golden elixir.

The moment the pill entered the mouth, an unexpected change occurred!

Zhuo Dingfeng's wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Drink!"

Zhuo Dingfeng suddenly opened his eyes, let out a long roar, and leaped up like a spring.

It has clearly been restored to its original state.

The entire audience stared wide-eyed in shock and fell completely silent.

Sima Shang was also dumbfounded.

The shock on his face was impossible to hide.

He stared intently at Zhuo Dingfeng's completely transformed state, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The pill instantly healed his severe injuries.

As a well-informed grandmaster, Sima Shangtai understood what this meant.

"How can this be?"

Seeing that Zhuo Dingfeng had fully recovered, Zhu Houcong slowly raised his eyes to look at Sima Shang, making no attempt to hide the murderous intent in his eyes.

"Mr. Sima, what Commander Zhuo just consumed was a golden elixir personally refined by the Imperial Preceptor Xiaomeng."

"And I... have quite a few of these Golden Elixirs here."

These words immediately caused an uproar in the training ground.

Sima Shang's expression turned even more unpleasant.

"Perhaps it is indeed as you say, Commander Zhuo and his men are no match for you."

"But with these golden pills, even if it takes a long time, I can wear you down here."

As Zhu Houcong spoke, his voice grew even colder.

"The only reason I am still willing to speak with you is out of respect for your cultivation."

"However, if you do not give me an explanation today, I believe you will not leave this training ground alive."

As he spoke, Zhu Houcong gestured with his hand towards the distance.

The training ground was immediately filled with deafening shouts of battle.

The elite troops of the Eastern Depot, the Imperial Guards, and the Patrol Battalion surrounded the entire training ground in layers.

What is most terrifying are the hundreds of mechanical crossbows in the distance.

Beside each crossbow, four strongmen were working hard to turn the mechanism, and the bowstring gradually tightened with the "click-clack" of the winch.

The crossbow's quiver is filled with specially made bolts, designed specifically to deal with martial arts masters.

At this moment, however, they all turned their attention to Sima Shang in the center of the arena.

All that's needed is for the emperor to give the order, and these crossbow bolts will riddle him with holes.

Sima Shang looked at Zhuo Dingfeng and Xia Jiang, who were eyeing him menacingly, and then at the group of soldiers who had surrounded him.

indeed!

With the emperor's golden elixir at their disposal, the two grandmasters and these soldiers could indeed wear them down.

Grandmasters are powerful, but it is extremely difficult for one person to stand against an army of ten thousand.

As far as he knew, only the world's top grandmasters could do it.

Besides those few people, there is also a martial arts grandmaster who has cultivated the world's number one horizontal training technique and can do it.

That was Ku He, the National Preceptor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, who cultivated the "Heavenly Dao" technique.

Even Dian Qing, the former commander of the Wei Wu Zu who specialized in external martial arts, could not achieve this.

Sima Shang fixed his gaze on Zhu Houcong and suddenly chuckled.

"Does Your Majesty know the story of Tang Ju's envoy to Qin?"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed.

Back then, the King of Qin coveted fifty li of land in Anling and threatened him with "a million corpses and a thousand li of bloodshed." However, Tang Ju, the envoy from Anling, turned the tables on him with "two corpses, five steps of bloodshed, and the whole world in mourning."

When Sima Shang brought up this matter at this moment, he was clearly implying that killing Zhu Houcong would be as easy as turning his hand.

Sure enough, the next second Sima Shang pointed his sword at Zhu Houcong.

"I am indeed no match for this army of thousands, but taking a life is an easy task."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Houcong remained calm.

“Mr. Sima, this is the difference between a commoner and an emperor.”

"A common man's anger can kill two people, but an emperor's anger can kill someone from thousands of miles away."

"I have heard that there is a peach blossom forest in the territory of the Xiongnu wolf tribe north of Qin."

"There are many steles in the forest, but only an old man in his twilight years guards them. I wonder if you have seen him, sir?"

Sima Shang's expression suddenly froze upon hearing this.

Zhu Houcong could still scoff at the first half of the sentence.

But when he mentioned the peach blossom grove, he could no longer remain calm.

That peach grove is the final resting place of the loyal soldiers who followed their master Li Mu in fighting against the Xiongnu.

And that forest ranger was none other than his master, Li Mu, who was living in anonymity.

After the fall of the Zhao state, he returned here with his master.

"How...how did you know..."

Sima Shang looked at Zhu Houcong in disbelief.

This secret was known to no one in the world except him and his master.

How did the Emperor of Liang find out?

Seeing Sima Shang's constantly changing expression, Zhu Houcong knew that Li Mu was indeed hiding in that peach blossom grove.

In the animated series "Qin's Moon," Prince Fusu of Qin is poisoned by wolf venom from the Xiongnu wolf clan.

Meng Tian was chased by the Xiongnu to a peach blossom forest while trying to help Su detoxify. The forest keeper was none other than the reclusive Lord Wu'an, Li Mu.

Thanks to his knowledge of anime, he made the right bet once again.

How did you know about this?