Chapter 129: From the South Gate to the North, Slaughtering Officials and Relatives Alike! The Bao Clan: Utter Madness Unleashed!
“Emperor Yingzong!”
Shang Lu gasped in alarm and sprang to his feet. It was he who, as a representative of the court, had once fetched Emperor Yingzong back from studying abroad in the Oirat lands. That voice was profoundly familiar.
But why was he coming to see this old man now?
Why did the voice sound so furious, as if it wanted to cut him down on the spot?
Cold sweat broke out on Shang Lu’s brow as he racked his memory, trying to recall if he had ever wronged Emperor Yingzong.
Was it because of Empress Dowager Zhou’s fierce insistence that Empress Qian be buried separately? He had been the one leading the tears to plead for them to be interred together.
Could it be…
That venomous Zhou woman!
“Quick, quick, take me out the back door!” Shang Lu panicked, his face pale.
In the third year of the Chenghua reign, he had entered the cabinet as Vice Minister of War and Academician of the Hanlin Academy. Once, he had been privately summoned by a trusted aide of Empress Dowager Zhou, mainly to curry favor.
Before leaving, the aide asked, “Empress Dowager Zhou wonders, with two palaces maintaining separate harems, the situation is unstable. What should be done?”
For political expediency, Shang Lu hadn’t hesitated and casually replied that it was normal for Empress Qian’s excessive grief to have caused her death.
Those words were spoken in the third year of Chenghua; Empress Qian died in the fourth year.
No, that couldn’t be pinned on this old man!
Panting and clutching his blue robe, Shang Lu hurried toward the back gate, tears welling in his eyes, biting his teeth with hatred, muttering, “Damn that Zhou woman! She truly can’t keep a secret to save her life!”
Clatter!
Two Embroidered Uniform Guards vaulted over the wall with the precision of mantis legs—broad-backed, wasp-waisted—and yet, because the Shang household was surrounded by high walls, one of them stumbled hard.
“These scholars really burn money like it grows on trees! Why build walls so high?” one whispered, cursing under his breath.
The two looked up sharply and froze.
Three men met eyes.
After a moment’s hesitation, Shang Lu said, “Young sirs, could you spare an old man’s life?”
Not even discussing money?
Spare you just like that?
“How shameless you are!” one guard sneered and slammed him to the ground.
The other guard said remorsefully, “Sorry, Minister Shang, Emperor Yingzong is furious now. If we let you go and it’s found out, we’d both be executed.”
From behind, the voice grew clearer. Zhu Qizhen’s eyes were bloodshot as he gripped a blade, breathing heavily, cursing fiercely:
“Shang Lu, damn your immortal soul!”
“No, please, don’t come near!” Shang Lu screamed in terror, struggling wildly.
*Thunk!*
---
“Argh!”
“I’ll stab you with a white blade and a green blade, I’ll gut your cowardly heart!”
Zhu Qizhen was in a red-hot rage, his emotions overwhelming. After plunging his knife more than twenty times, Shang Lu lay barely clinging to life.
“Since you pleaded for my Empress, I’ll spare you.”
Panting, Zhu Qizhen spoke, then turned to the next target.
At death’s door, Shang Lu was rendered speechless: “…”
Even the guards shivered with fear. With Shang Lu dripping blood in red, green, and yellow robes, no divine intervention could save him.
Ahead, Zhu Qizhen’s footsteps halted as he said, “Remember to ransack the Shang estate. The silver goes to the imperial treasury.”
Giving his son some pocket money—very reasonable.
“Yes, sir!”
Meanwhile, the literati officials who had resigned were at home singing and enjoying hotpot when suddenly, Bao Zong appeared with a blade and slaughtered them, then ransacked their homes, plunging the capital into panic and officials into despair.
---
At the residence of the Earl of Qingyun, Zhou Shou, brother of Empress Dowager Zhou, currently under the unstable situation in the capital, he and his brother, the Earl of Changning Zhou Yu, had orders from the Empress Dowager to guard against the civil officials.
Thus, they constantly supervised a squad of the Jinwu Guards, prepared for any emergency.
Clatter.
The West Factory’s guards surrounded the Earl’s mansion, confronting the Jinwu Guards.
Zhou Shou arrogantly pointed at Wang Zhi’s nose, shouting angrily:
“You eunuch traitor! Civil officials fear you, but I do not. Imperial authority granted to you is the Emperor’s, yet you dare use it to strike down the current Emperor’s maternal uncle? Do you want the Emperor to bear the infamy of rebellion against humanity?”
“What are you from the West Factory? Get out of my domain at once! No one dares to besiege the Zhou residence in this city!”
Wang Zhi’s face was as cold and sharp as a blade, his chilling aura causing shivers. His tone was icy:
“My master has the Emperor’s order to investigate the Zhou clan. Fang Jin was granted estates, but you, Zhou Shou, forcibly occupied sixty-two acres in Tongzhou. Fang Jin reluctantly confronted this. Is this true?”
Zhou Shou’s face darkened with fury, shouting: “How dare you question me, Zhou Shou?! Kneel before me and speak!”
Wang Zhi frowned deeply; dealing with such arrogance was truly tiresome. Fang Jin could only whimper when robbed, but this brute dared not offend the Zhou clan, showing just how brazen they had become.
Wang Zhi spoke deliberately: “Do you dare defy the Emperor’s orders?”
Zhou Shou exploded: “This angers me! You keep oppressing me with imperial authority! Do you think the Zhou family has no one in the palace? The Empress Dowager still sits in the harem…”
“Zhou has died!”
“What?!” Zhou Shou froze. Zhou Yu, quietly observing from behind, suddenly glared fiercely.
Zhou Yu thundered: “Who dares utter such nonsense in public? Cursing the Empress Dowager is punishable by death!”
“Fools, are you speaking to me?” The grating sound of sharpening blades rang out.
Zhu Qizhen, drenched in blood and seething with rage, growled low.
The Zhou brothers were stunned, their heads buzzing: “The late… Emperor?!”
Zhu Qizhen ignored them, his hatred for the Zhou family boiling over.
He could hardly imagine how Empress Qian had been isolated and powerless in the harem, living with the Zhou brothers in Renshou Palace, and what horrific cruelties they had inflicted on that blind and crippled woman.
His heart shattered, he roared: “Jinwu Guards! Dare to rebel against me!?”
Clang!
Swords and knives were cast to the ground.
“We dare not!”
The Jinwu Guards cowered in terror, smashing their heads against the ground, not daring to resist or disobey.
“Kill!”
Zhu Qizhen smiled cruelly, shouting darkly: “Exterminate the Zhou clan! Except for Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu, all Zhou family members taller than my boots shall be subjected to slow slicing!”
Zhu Qizhen had gone completely mad. After shouting, he raised his blood-dripping embroidered spring knife and lunged at the Zhou brothers.
The blade was stained with multicolored grime, fully enchanted.
“Hey, damn it!”
“Spare the late Emperor’s life!” Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu screamed in terror.
The Zhou brothers were no fools; in desperation, they split up. Zhou Yu was struck by an arrow from Wang Zhi.
Zhu Qizhen hacked off half his arm with one strike. Zhou Yu screamed and immediately passed out.
With bloodshot eyes, Zhu Qizhen howled: “Zhou Shou, die for me!”
Terrified, Zhou Shou sobbed uncontrollably, losing control of his bladder, begging pitifully as he fled: “Waa, late Emperor… Your Majesty, please spare me, I’m so scared.”
“Argh!”
Each slash landed but was not fatal.
Bao Zong, once trained in the Western Garden, was skilled but only just so.
…