Chapter 171: Massacre! A Great Massacre! Rivers Of Blood! 【seeking Monthly Tickets】
A deathly silence filled the Huagai Hall, leaving only the heavy, bellows-like gasps of Old Zhu and the suppressed sobs of the eunuchs and palace maids kneeling on the ground.
His blood-red eyes swept across the mess.
Finally, his gaze fixed on a point in the void, as if piercing through the palace and seeing his eldest son, on whom he had placed great hope but who ultimately could not bear the burden and chose a path of no return.
Did it hurt? Was he angry?
Was he sad? Did he regret?
Various emotions churned and crashed like lava in his chest, almost tearing him apart and burning him to ashes!
But in the end, all these extreme personal emotions were forcibly suppressed by a more vast, colder, and more ruthless force.
This was the absolute will befitting the Hongwu Great Emperor, the founding emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty.
His shoulders trembled slightly, but his spine straightened bit by bit.
The wildly distorted expression on his face gradually faded, replaced by a bottomless calm, like that of ten thousand years of profound ice.
Only his eyes remained terrifyingly red; there were no longer tears, only congealed blood and a determination to destroy everything.
“Heh…”
A very light, very cold laugh escaped his throat, carrying a chilling implication.
“Biao’er, do you see? Is this the Great Ming you helped us guard? Are these the brothers you trusted, the officials you relied on?”
“You lived a hard life, and died unjustly… Father will thoroughly cleanse this filthy Imperial Court for you today!”
“I will kill these vermin, these bastards who drove my son to desperation… kill them all cleanly!”
The emperor’s ruthlessness and the father’s grief merged in a bizarre and terrifying way at this moment, transforming into a blood-red storm that was about to descend.
He suddenly turned around, no longer looking at the wreckage that symbolized his failure, and walked back to the imperial throne step by step.
Each step was as heavy as a mountain, landing on the cold floor tiles with a dull echo, like the tolling of a death knell for countless people.
“Yun Ming.”
Old Zhu’s voice was terrifyingly calm, without a trace of emotion.
“Servant… servant is here!”
Yun Ming scrambled forward, not daring to look up.
“Go and investigate how Guo Ningfei got to Fengxian Hall.”
“She’s always been steady, why was she so reckless this time? I want to know everything that happened, who she met, what she said, investigate it all for me!”
“Yes!”
Yun Ming dared not hesitate and quickly withdrew.
“Jiang Huan!”
Old Zhu spoke calmly again.
“Your subject is here!”
Jiang Huan walked into the Main Hall without hesitation and knelt on the ground.
Old Zhu did not let him rise, nor did he even look at him, his gaze still fixed on the dark night outside the hall, his voice sounding as if from the abyss of the Nine Netherworlds:
“Jiang Huan, I ask you, are the Imperial Guard’s sabers still sharp?”
Jiang Huan trembled all over, immediately understanding the Emperor’s resolve, and gritted his teeth:
“Reporting to Your Majesty! The Imperial Guard’s sabers are always ready to eliminate traitors for Your Majesty, infinitely sharp!”
“Good.”
Old Zhu slowly turned his head, his blood-red eyes finally falling on Jiang Huan, and he issued a command as catastrophic as a mountain collapsing, word by word:
“First, the four people in the Imperial Prison, Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Zheng Ci, and Zhai Shan, and all officials implicated in this case with confirmed evidence, no need to interrogate further.”
“First, parade them through the streets, then execute them by Lingchi, and exterminate their three generations of relatives. Carve thirty-six hundred cuts on them. If one cut is missing, you will make it up for them.”
Jiang Huan gasped.
Lingchi and extermination of three generations of relatives!
These were the most brutal punishments!
“Your subject… obeys the decree!”
“Second!”
Old Zhu’s voice did not pause at all, as cold as a knife:
“Based on existing confessions and clues, any official implicated in the Shaanxi corruption case or the Eastern Palace’s excessive expenses, regardless of their rank, if there is thirty percent credibility in the evidence, immediately arrest and imprison them!”
“I don’t care what method you use, within three days, I want to see the people on the list either waiting for execution in the Imperial Prison or already dead!”
This was a case of rather kill three thousand than let one go.
Jiang Huan felt a chill rush to the top of his head: “Yes!”
“Third!”
Old Zhu’s gaze became even deeper: “Carefully investigate those ‘pure stream’ members and ‘scholar leaders’ who were the most active and jumped around outside the Meridian Gate!”
“Especially the Kong family! I don’t believe they are clean! Find their mistakes, whether it’s corruption, associating with prostitutes, or improper conduct!”
“Once found, do not report. Arrest them immediately!”
” Those who deserve exile, exile them; those who deserve to be beheaded, behead them! I want everyone in the world to know that the backbone of scholars is not as strong as they think!”
This was to completely break the backbone of ‘pure opinion’.
Jiang Huan’s heart pounded: “Your subject understands!”
“Fourth!”
Old Zhu’s voice suddenly rose, carrying an undeniable madness:
“Keep a close eye on the Prince of Qin, Prince of Jin, and Prince of Zhou’s mansions! Investigate everyone around them to death!”
“Especially Wang Shi from the Prince of Qin’s mansion and Lady Deng from the Prince of Jin’s mansion, I always feel that things are not that simple, perhaps there are hidden circumstances!”
“If there is the slightest suspicion, report it to me immediately!”
“I want to see, besides the Princes of Qin, Jin, and Zhou, which of my ‘good sons’ and ‘good grandsons’ are still not clean!”
He wouldn’t even spare the people around the provincial princes, or even other provincial princes and heirs apparent?
This was a true scraping of bones for healing, even at the risk of harming the imperial family itself.
Jiang Huan no longer dared to think, and could only kowtow heavily: “Your subject will not shy away from death!”
“Go.”
Old Zhu waved his hand, as if giving a trivial order: “Remember, I want speed, I want ruthlessness! If the sky falls, I will hold it up!”
“Yes!”
Jiang Huan kowtowed again, and his footsteps were a little shaky as he rose.
But he dared not delay at all and immediately turned around, rushing out of the Huagai Hall like a vengeful spirit to carry out this blood-red storm that would sweep across the entire Great Ming officialdom.
Old Zhu sat alone on the imperial throne, watching the direction Jiang Huan disappeared, his face expressionless.
He no longer needed irrefutable evidence or procedural justice.
He only needed to use the most terrifying and bloody methods to tell everyone:
“This empire belongs to me, Zhu Yuanzhang!”
“The Crown Prince’s death, regardless of the truth, must have a sufficiently weighty, bloody explanation!”
“Anyone who might be involved or trying to stir up trouble must die!”
This was the emperor’s wrath, a father’s blood sacrifice, and a indiscriminate, terrifying purge of the bureaucratic system.
This night, Yingtian Prefecture was destined to be sleepless.
Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Zheng Ci, and Zhai Shan, who could still maintain composure yesterday, were already unrecognizable today.
When Jiang Huan personally delivered Old Zhu’s oral decree of “rather kill three thousand than let one go,” and coldly announced that they would be paraded through the streets and then executed by Lingchi, the last psychological defenses of the four collapsed.
“No—! Your Majesty! Your subject is wronged!”
“Your subject is loyal and devoted to the Great Ming! It was Zhang Biao who framed me! It was Prince Qin! It was Prince Jin who forced us!”
Fu Youwen let out a human-like howl, tears and snot streaming down his face, writhing wildly, trying to break free from his restraints.
“Your Majesty! You cannot kill us!”
Ru Chang’s fat face was covered in snot and tears, his voice hoarse as he screamed:
“The messy accounts of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War are only clearest to us! If you kill us, what will happen to the National Treasury? What will the border soldiers eat?! The Great Ming will be in chaos! It will be destroyed!”
“Zhu Yuanzhang! You incompetent ruler! Tyrant!”
Zheng Ci was even more incoherent, sometimes begging for mercy with kowtows, and then cursing with a ferocious face:
“Without us managing the empire for you, your Zhu family’s reign will end sooner or later! We will wait for you in the afterlife! Wait for you—!”
“It’s over… it’s all over…”
Zhai Shan was relatively ‘calm’, but his eyes were already unfocused, muttering: “If I had known this would happen… why did I do it in the first place…”
Their cries, curses, and threats echoed in the eerie and terrifying torture chamber, but only received Jiang Huan’s even colder gaze.
The crying and commotion outside naturally reached Zhang Biao’s prison cell.
Zhang Biao leaned against the wall, a mocking curve on his lips.
He knew very well what was happening outside.
Soon, Fu Youwen and the other three were dragged out of the torture chamber like dead dogs.
As they passed the corridor outside Zhang Biao’s cell, perhaps extreme fear had turned into the last flicker of madness, Fu Youwen struggled to lift his head and saw the leisurely figure inside through the bars.
“Zhang Biao! It’s all you! You monster! Madman! You will die a terrible death—!”
Fu Youwen used his last ounce of strength to roar: “Do you think you’ve won?! You will die too! Without us, how long can this Great Ming last!”
“This world will fall into chaos sooner or later! Just you wait and see—!”
“Right! The Great Ming will surely fall!”
Ru Chang also roared with red eyes: “Without us handling state affairs, see how long this Great Ming can last!?”
“Zhu Yuanzhang! You will regret it! You killed all the people who could do things for you, and you will be a lonely man! A ruler of a fallen nation—!”
Their shouts were filled with unwillingness and a twisted sense of ‘pride’, as if they were truly indispensable pillars supporting the Great Ming court.
Zhang Biao, upon hearing this, did not get angry. Instead, he slowly stood up, walked to the cell door, and looked at the dying ‘great figures’ outside as if watching monkeys perform.
He wore his signature, infuriating mocking smile and lightly clapped his hands:
“Wonderful! Truly wonderful! Facing death, and still not forgetting to praise yourselves?”
His voice echoed clearly in the corridor, drowning out the howls of Fu Youwen and the others:
“Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Zheng Ci, Zhai Shan, you are merely housekeepers hired by the Old Zhu family to guard the premises and clean the storeroom.”
“After being housekeepers for a few days and pocketing a little storeroom silver, you truly think you are the masters of this mansion?”
“And ‘The Great Ming will fall without you’? Tsk tsk, what a joke!”
Zhang Biao sneered, his tone extremely contemptuous: “Believe it or not, even if all of you vermin are carved up, the sun will still rise tomorrow.”
“Without you, Fu Youwen, in the Ministry of Revenue, the Director of Revenue named Yu Xin can take over, and I guarantee he can manage the accounts cleaner than you!”
“Without you, Ru Chang, in the Ministry of War, Tie Xuan, who had merit in quelling the rebellion in Guangxi but was suppressed by you for not knowing how to give gifts, will immediately reorganize military affairs ten times better than you!”
“There are plenty of capable officials in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Personnel who were squeezed out by you and are waiting to take their positions!”
“The Great Ming can function without anyone! Without you good-for-nothings who only think about making money, forming factions, and shifting blame, it will only function better!”
With each name Zhang Biao mentioned, Fu Youwen and the others’ faces turned paler.
These were officials they had deliberately suppressed, or ‘bookworms’ they disdained, yet Zhang Biao listed them so familiarly as proof of their ‘expendability’.
This precise targeting made them despair and feel more humiliated than any insult.
Jiang Huan silently noted down the names Zhang Biao mentioned, waiting to report to Old Zhu.
“You… you’re talking nonsense!”
Fu Youwen still wanted to retort, but his voice was already weak.
“Whether it’s nonsense or not, you’ll see when you get down there.”
Zhang Biao waved his hand lazily, as if shooing away flies:
“Hurry up and be on your way, don’t be late for reincarnation.”
“Remember in your next life, if you’re going to be a dog, have the awareness of a dog. Don’t always worry about whether the empire will fall for your master.”
After saying that, he no longer looked at the faces outside twisted by extreme anger, fear, and disbelief, turned back to his bed, lay down again, and even casually crossed his legs.
Zhang Biao’s words, which pierced to the heart, completely shattered the last spiritual pillar of Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, and others.
They were like souls drained, their eyes vacant, lacking even the strength to cry or curse. Like true dead dogs, they were mercilessly dragged by the Imperial Guard towards the parade prison cart, awaiting the extreme punishment of a thousand cuts.
…
And this was just the beginning.
Not only was the Imperial Prison executing Old Zhu’s orders, but other places were also doing the same.
Countless officials connected to Shaanxi, regardless of their rank, if there were any doubts in their accounts or promotions, or if they were reported by opponents, they would be immediately arrested and imprisoned by the fierce Imperial Guard.
Confiscation of property, interrogation, execution… almost every day.
Xi’an was a particularly hard-hit area. Jiang Huan dispatched his capable subordinates to be stationed there, arresting people in large numbers according to the lists and clues provided by Song Zhong.
For a time, in the Shaanxi region, from the Provincial Administration Commissioner down to the county magistrate, everyone was on edge, prisons were overcrowded, and the bloodstains on the execution grounds had almost never dried.
Old Zhu wanted to use this thorough purge to quell his anger and to reassert his control over the frontier territories.
“No… impossible! Imperial Grandfather… How could Imperial Grandfather…”
Prince Lu Huang Zhu Tan’s legitimate son, the young Zhu Zhaohui, was pulled from his bed by his nanny, wearing his pajamas. Upon hearing the butler’s incoherent report, his small face turned pale, and the jade ruyi in his hand fell to the ground with a ‘clatter’, shattering into pieces.
He couldn’t understand why the sky had fallen overnight.
Zhu Tan’s concubine, Consort Tang, was grooming herself in front of a mirror. Upon hearing the news, the precious rhinoceros horn comb in her hand snapped violently, cutting her fingertip. Blood dripped onto her ornate skirt, but she didn’t notice, only staring blankly at her own suddenly ashen face in the mirror and muttering:
“My Prince… it hasn’t been long since my Prince passed… Your Majesty… why would it come to this!”
The palace maids behind her were already in a panic, their cries and screams incessant.
The Chief Clerks and subordinate officials in the mansion, who usually acted imperiously, now had faces ashen as earth, scurrying around the courtyard like headless flies.
Some tried to pack their valuables and flee, while others collapsed on the ground, tears streaming down their faces, muttering, “It’s over, it’s all over.”
They couldn’t believe that by relying on Prince Lu Huang and Guo Ningfei, they could have enjoyed wealth and honor, but now disaster had struck in an instant!
And in the depths of the Prince’s Mansion, in a guard hut next to a hidden elixir room, a middle-aged man in a silk steward’s uniform, with shifty eyes, was frantically directing two trusted young servants, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
“Quick! Quickly bring those few boxes! And the account book from the elixir room! Bring them here! Take them to the boiler room in the back courtyard to burn! Hurry!”
He was the trusted steward of Prince Lu Huang who had leaked the elixir formula.
He knew very well how secret and fatal the matters he handled were. Once discovered, the punishment would definitely be Lingchi and dismemberment.
He himself frantically took out a small booklet wrapped in oiled cloth from a secret compartment under the bed, containing records of the sources of various medicinal materials and elixir formula experiments. This was his most fatal piece of evidence.
He rushed out as if holding a hot potato, intending to destroy it himself.
However, the moment he opened the door—
“Bang!”
The door was violently kicked open from the outside.
Under the blinding torchlight were several Imperial Guards in Flying Fish Robes, their eyes cold.
The Squad Leader at the head of the group sneered, his gaze accurately falling on the oiled cloth package he was still holding:
“Steward Wang? In such a hurry, where are you going? What good thing are you holding?”
Steward Wang instantly froze in place, his face turning from white to green, then from green to gray. The booklet in his arms dropped to the ground with a ‘plop’.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed on the ground, his crotch instantly wetting. Only a despairing whimper remained.
Caught red-handed, he had no chance to even attempt a denial.
As the main troops began to smash the Prince’s Mansion, the core members of the mansion, including Zhu Zhaohui and Consort Tang, were ordered to gather in the square in front of the main hall to ‘witness’ this destruction, which was no less than Lingchi for them.
Watching the familiar pavilions and towers collapse under axes and knives, seeing cherished treasures carelessly trampled or boxed up and confiscated, hearing the grating sound of glass breaking and pillars cracking, and smelling the dust carried by the wind, Consort Tang tightly hugged the young Zhu Zhaohui, her body trembling uncontrollably. Tears and infinite despair filled her beautiful eyes.
She perhaps remembered the past prosperity of the Prince’s Mansion, remembered her husband Zhu Tan’s extravagance and his eventual early death, and even more, she thought of her and her son’s bleak future.
The young Zhu Zhaohui was completely stunned by the scene before him.
He tightly gripped his mother’s clothing, looking at the fierce soldiers, at the home that had become ruins. His small face was filled with fear and confusion. He finally burst into tears with a ‘wah’, his cries sounding particularly mournful amidst the ruins.
Some old servants loyal to the Prince’s Mansion knelt on the ground, kowtowing towards Yingtian, crying, “Your Majesty, have mercy!” but their voices were quickly drowned out by the sound of destruction.
Outside the Prince’s Mansion, the crowd of commoners blocked by the soldiers grew larger and larger. They stood on tiptoe, stretching their necks, watching this Prince’s Mansion, which they could only look up to, and even fear, being leveled to the ground.
“Tsk tsk, the Emperor’s wrath is truly unfathomable… To smash it is to truly smash it!”
An old man shook his head and sighed, his tone filled with disbelief.
“He deserved it! They were so arrogant before! When the young prince forcibly took my land, did he ever think this day would come?”
A ragged man gritted his teeth, a long-suppressed schadenfreude on his face.
“Look quickly!”
Someone pointed at the items unearthed from the ruins and discussed:
“Is that the Prince’s Mansion’s elixir furnace being carried out? I heard these things killed the Prince!”
“Alas, it’s just a pity for the women and children in the mansion…”
There were also soft-hearted women who showed pity when they saw the female dependents and crying children being escorted out.
“Pity! Pity my ass! Do you know how many people this young prince has killed? I heard they killed ninety-nine young boys and girls for alchemy!”
“Beasts! He deserved this fate! The Emperor is wise! He eliminated his own kin for righteousness!”
The reactions of the common people were complex: some felt schadenfreude at the downfall of the powerful, some felt awe towards Old Zhu, some harbored hatred for past oppression, and a hint of sympathy for those who were innocently implicated.
But Old Zhu’s purge was far from over.
…
The Eastern Palace, the night was deep.
Lady Lü sat before her dressing table, being served by her personal palace maid as she removed her hair ornaments.
In the bronze mirror, she still maintained her gentle demeanor, but the hint of exhaustion and worry in the depths of her eyes could not escape her own notice.
Suddenly, a rapid, chaotic, and extremely oppressive sound of footsteps approached from afar, breaking the tranquility of the Eastern Palace night.
Accompanied by the terrified blocking and scolding of the palace attendants.
“You cannot go in! This is the Eastern Palace!”
“Get out of the way! The Imperial Guard is acting on imperial decree to arrest people!”
Lady Lü’s hand trembled violently, and a jade hairpin fell to the ground, breaking into two pieces.
Her face instantly turned ashen, and her heart began to pound.
Almost simultaneously, the door to her sleeping quarters was violently pushed open from the outside.
Several Imperial Guards in Flying Fish Robes, wearing Xiuchun Sabers and with stern faces, led by a nonchalant captain, directly burst in.
They did not even bow, their cold eyes sweeping over every panicked eunuch and palace maid in the hall like knives.
“You… what do you want?!”
Lady Lü forced herself to remain calm, but her voice carried a barely perceptible tremor. She stood up, shielding Zhu Yunwen, who instinctively hid behind her.
The Imperial Guard captain then cupped his hands slightly, his voice devoid of emotion:
“Under the Emperor’s secret decree, we are investigating former personnel of the Eastern Palace. We request that the Crown Princess be accommodating and not obstruct us.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Imperial Guards behind him pounced on the already terrified palace maids and eunuchs like wolves, beginning to arrest people according to a list.
“Liu Xiao, former Imperial Pharmacist of the Eastern Palace, take him away!”
“Li Fushun, formerly serving the Crown Prince in the study for ink and brush, take him away!”
“Nanny Zhao, who once managed the Crown Prince’s sleeping quarters’ belongings, take her away!”
Those named were all Lady Lü’s confidantes, or elders who had personally served Crown Prince Zhu Biao and might know his private medication and other secrets.
Especially Liu Xiao, she was Lady Lü’s last confidante after Zhang Yi, Wang De, and Sun Ren, and the most trusted confidante she brought from her maternal family.
“Your Highness! Your Highness, save me!”
Liu Xiao was so frightened that she collapsed on the ground, stretching her hand out to Lady Lü in despair.
Lady Lü’s entire body felt cold, her fingers tightly clenching the hem of her clothes.
She knew that the sky in the Eastern Palace was about to change.
But she dared not do anything, only allowing these Imperial Guards to wreak havoc in the Eastern Palace.
“Lady Zhang! Eunuch Li! Steward Wang!”
Name after name was called out, and elder servants who had served the Eastern Palace for over ten, or even decades, years were roughly dragged away.
“Your Highness, save me!”
“This old servant is wronged!”
“This servant knows nothing!”
Cries and pleas for mercy instantly filled the hall.
A nanny who had once been in charge of Crown Prince Zhu Biao’s tea water desperately clung to the doorframe, refusing to let go, only to be ruthlessly kicked away by an Imperial Guard and dragged out like a dead dog.
An old eunuch who had managed the Eastern Palace’s small storeroom collapsed on the ground, tears streaming down his face, only repeatedly murmuring: “Crown Prince… this old servant has failed you…”
Lady Lü watched this scene, which resembled a confiscation of property, her entire body cold, her lips trembling, but she could not utter a word.
She could only tightly grip her son Zhu Yunwen’s hand, her fingernails almost digging into his flesh.
Zhu Yunwen was even more terrified, his face ashen, his body shaking like a leaf in the wind. He cowered behind his mother, not daring to look up.
In the side hall, the residence of Zhu Mingyue and Zhu Mingyu.
The two sisters were also awakened by the commotion outside.
Zhu Mingyue was so scared she curled up in the corner of the bed, covering her head with the quilt, sobbing softly, her gentle face full of fear.
Zhu Mingyu, however, was both startled and enraged. She jumped off the bed and rushed to the door, looking out through the crack.
When she saw the usually kind nannies and eunuchs being dragged away like livestock by the Imperial Guard, a surge of hot blood rushed to her head.
“Let them go! You scoundrels!”
She suddenly pulled open the door and was about to rush out to argue.
“Mingyu! Come back!”
Zhu Mingyue screamed in terror, quickly getting off the bed and tightly hugging her sister: “Don’t go! It’s dangerous!”
“Sister! Let go of me! Why are they arresting people like this! Father is gone, and they dare to bully us like this?!”
Zhu Mingyu struggled, her eyes red with anger and sorrow.
Just then, two Imperial Guards noticed the commotion here, their cold gazes sweeping over.
Zhu Mingyue, terrified, quickly pulled her sister back into the room, slammed the door shut, and leaned against it with her back, tears flowing silently.
Zhu Mingyu slid to the ground against the door, biting her lip, her fists clenched tightly, her body trembling slightly from anger and powerlessness.
Many of the people being dragged away outside were those who had taken care of them since they were young!
The entire Eastern Palace was plunged into a desperate chaos of squawking chickens and leaping dogs, and ghostly wails.
No one knew who would be next.
Fear spread like a plague.
The Eastern Palace, once a symbol of the empire’s future and supreme nobility, had now become a prison shrouded in the shadow of death.
Lady Lü watched helplessly as the power she had cultivated for many years was uprooted, and those who knew too many secrets or could become leverage were cleared out.
Her heart was filled with fear, as well as an indescribable sorrow and resentment.
“Your Majesty… are you trying to completely erase any trace of the Crown Prince’s existence? Or are you clearing the path for Yunwen…?”
This thought made her both afraid and delighted.
And this purge targeting the Eastern Palace was merely a microcosm of the larger purge in Yingtian Prefecture.
That night, who knows how many mansions were knocked upon by the Imperial Guard, who knows how many officials were dragged from their warm beds into the cold Imperial Prison, who knows how many families met their doom in their sleep.
Cries, pleas for mercy, and the clashing of weapons echoed throughout the capital, weaving a bloody night symphony.
When dawn arrived and the sun shone on Yingtian Prefecture once more, the imperial capital had changed.
The streets were deserted, and the pedestrians looked panicked.
The vicinity of the execution ground at the vegetable market was heavily guarded, and the strong smell of blood could be detected even from a distance.
The procession of officials attending the court was noticeably sparser, and everyone’s face bore the terror and numbness of having survived a disaster.
Old Zhu, with the most cruel and direct methods, declared his absolute authority and offered a grand, silent blood sacrifice for his deceased son.
And all of this was witnessed by the provincial princes confined to their respective mansions, through their limited windows, and feared in their hearts.
The storm was not over; this was just the beginning.
The true judgment was yet to come.
And at this moment, the most agonizing were those who had survived the purge but did not know when the butcher’s knife would fall upon them.
In the Main Hall of the Eastern Palace, Lady Lü tightly hugged her startled son Zhu Yunwen, gazing at the gray sky outside the window, her eyes filled with unknown fear.
In the side hall, Zhu Mingyu still stubbornly glared out the window, while Zhu Mingyue silently shed tears, deeply missing their parents.
As for their younger brother Zhu Yunteng, he was standing in the empty courtyard of the Northern Five Offices, listening to the faint cries from a distance, his young face expressionless, only a coldness and determination unbefitting his age.
This purge had torn apart all pretenses and allowed certain people to see the path ahead clearly.
At this time, the east was turning white, but the sunlight could not dispel the bloody smell in front of the Meridian Gate.
At the execution ground of the vegetable market, the crowd was immense, but silent.
Only the sound of the executioner sharpening his knives, and the occasional desperate whimpers of the condemned officials tied to the execution posts could be heard.
Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Zheng Ci, and Zhai Shan were brought onto the high platform.
Old Zhu did not show himself, but everyone could feel those eyes hidden deep within the palace, coldly watching the scene.
Jiang Huan personally supervised the execution.
When the cold blades touched their skin, the four men finally let out inhuman screams, losing control of their bodily functions, their appearance utterly pathetic.
“Your Majesty, spare us—!”
“I confess! I confess everything! It was Prince Yan! Prince Yan instigated it!”
“And Chang Sheng! Fu Youde! Lan Yu! They are all implicated!”
“I don’t want to die—!”
They frantically slandered any names they could think of, trying to buy a sliver of hope, but only earned Jiang Huan’s indifferent wave.
“Execute—!”
The Lingchi began.
The executioners, bare-chested, revealing their muscular physiques, their small knives glinting in the morning light.
The screams echoed through the sky, and the smell of blood permeated the entire execution ground.
The once high-ranking officials of the Six Ministries were now like fish on a chopping block.
Immediately after, orders were continuously issued.
This time, it was the families of Fu Youwen and the others being executed.
The blades flashed!
Not individual heads falling, but dozens of ghost-head sabers swung simultaneously!
“Squelch—!”
The dull thud of sharp blades cutting into bone and flesh fused into a continuous sound!
Blood gushed out like bursting water bags, instantly dyeing the surrounding earth, execution posts, and even the executioners’ bodies red!
Heads rolled, and headless bodies collapsed, blood pouring from the severed necks, quickly forming sticky pools of blood.
The onlookers let out terrified screams, some vomited on the spot, some fainted.
But this was just the first batch.
Next, the second and third batches of implicated officials and their families were continuously brought to the execution ground.
Decapitation! Waist chopping! Lingchi!
Various cruel tortures were performed in rotation, turning the execution ground into a true hell on earth.
Blood soaked the soil, forming small rivers that flowed slowly along the square’s ditches, the color changing from bright red to dark red, and finally to a horrifying brownish-black.
And this massacre-like purge lasted for an entire month.
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