A Qi was shocked, "Is it possible that your heart is made of iron? That Zhang Cheng listened to you and did all the dirty and scandalous things for you. Is this how you repay him?"
"So, why did he rebel?"
Zhu Gaojie stretched out his hand to touch the cold iron mask on A Qi's face, "If everyone could be as loyal and honest as you, how could I kill anyone?"
Aqi calmly took two steps back.
…
Zhang Muzhi stood on the roof of the attic, looking at the bright light in the night.
Someone lit a fire in Changsha City. The entire Guwang Mansion was burning in the fire. Black smoke billowed into the sky. The entire Changsha City was in chaos. The belated officers and soldiers were desperately trying to put out the fire.
, trying to save Gu Wang’s family from the fire.
It was the same scene when King Zhu Bai of Hunan burned himself to death.
The difference is that before the fire broke out in Prince Gu's Mansion, all the people inside were already dead.
Zhang Cheng led his men into Prince Gu's Mansion, and took advantage of the darkness of night to massacre on the Prince's Mansion, finishing with a fire to destroy the evidence of the crime.
"Huhu——"
Panting, Zhang Cheng climbed to the roof of the attic. His armor was soaked in blood, and he looked ashen and miserable.
Zhang Muzhi asked: "Have they all been killed?"
Zhang Cheng nodded: "Kill them all, Gu Wang, Gu Wang's concubine Zhou, Gu Wang's side concubine Miao, and the seven sons of Gu Wang, including the Crown Prince of Gu and the Prince of Yanling County, all by my own hands
There will be no hidden dangers if you kill him."
"How about King Chongyang, the son of King Shu?"
"According to your instructions, he is the only survivor in Prince Gu's Mansion tonight. I rescued him and hid him in the ninth courtyard from west to east in the second alley on the back street of Prince Gu's Mansion."
"What about the rest?"
"Wu Zhi and Liu Xin, who were respected by King Gu as the old princes of the country, were secretly executed, and the rest of King Gu's gang were killed one after another!"
Zhang Muzhi frowned and said, "What I'm asking is, how did you deal with those people who followed you on horseback and entered Prince Gu's Mansion?"
"These people are all my old colleagues who have followed me through life and death for many years. I regard them as brothers and sisters..."
Zhang Cheng sighed, "It's a pity that they have the blood of Prince Gu's Palace on their hands and can't stay. I have revealed their escape route to the officers and soldiers in Changsha, and issued a death order to the Changsha Magistrate to kill them all."
No one will be left alive."
Zhang Muzhi finally showed a smile: "Very good, you did it very thoughtfully, it seems you don't need me to finish it for you."
Zhang Cheng asked: "What about me? You said that His Highness promised to let my family live. What should I do?"
"You don't have to worry about that."
Zhang Muzhi said calmly, "At midnight tomorrow, a carriage will be parked in front of your house. In the carriage, there will be a guide for you to leave the province. I will give you one day to prepare all the affairs and bring them with you.
With a lot of money, you took a carriage with your wife and children when they were children, and left Huguang. When you go to other provinces, you will change your appearance. Although you are no longer an official, you are still a rich man. The money you greeded in the first half of your life is enough for you to live comfortably for ten lifetimes."
Zhang Cheng sighed: "Thirty years of success and fame will be dust and dirt. If you make a mistake once and lose everything, then let's stop here."
"This is our last meeting. From now on, you and I will not know each other and go our separate ways."
After saying that, Zhang Cheng turned around and left.
Zhang Muzhi looked at his back, put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist, and shook his head.
Fool, you said it yourself, you can't keep anyone with the blood of Prince Gu's house on your hands. You are the one with the most blood on your hands.
The people in Prince Gu's Mansion are all dead, and you are the only one left to kill Prince Gu...
The long sword was unsheathed, and silver light suddenly appeared.
The alert Zhang Cheng heard the sound of the blade scraping against the scabbard, and immediately turned around to take precautions. However, it was too late. Zhang Muzhi was holding a long knife, and the tip of the knife had already pierced his chest, staring at the opponent with cold eyes. .
Zhang Cheng grabbed the blade on his chest with all his strength. Even though the jaws of his hands had been cut by the blade and were bleeding profusely, he still refused to let go.
He roared: "Your Highness promised not to kill me when the matter is accomplished!"
"I helped you kill Gu Wang's family and all the people involved in this matter. I just want to live. I am even willing to live incognito for the rest of my life. I don't pose any threat to you. There is no way I can put this matter to death. Now that the matter has been revealed, why do you still want to eradicate it?"
Zhang Muzhi held a long sword and said coldly: "Cut the grass without eradicating the roots, and the spring breeze will bring new growth. There is no living person who can always be trusted, only the dead who can't speak can be trusted."
"Your innocence makes me want to laugh."
…
Zhang Muzhi watched as the attic in front of him was burned to the ground, and Zhang Cheng's body also turned into ashes in the burning flames.
The fire in Prince Gu's Mansion tonight has attracted too many people's attention. As for the fire in an inconspicuous small building in Changsha City, no one will pay attention at all.
By the time they paid attention, everyone was already halfway on Huangquan Road.
Zhang Muzhi touched the tip of his nose, and he suddenly felt that he was quite comfortable doing such a shameful thing.
People like him cannot be heroes bathed in sunshine, but can only be executioners wielding swords in the darkness.
A red sun rose in the sky, reflecting red like blood. Changsha City, which had been busy all night, finally gradually became quiet.
Its daybreak.
The shadows disperse.
…
Zhu Gaojie stepped into the Qianqing Palace. Under the eaves of the apse, His Majesty the Emperor was wearing a comfortable white robe and sitting at the table eating breakfast.
Breakfast was very plain, consisting of white porridge, pickles, fried dough sticks, and a few soft-boiled eggs.
The old man raised his hand and signaled: "Sit here and eat together."
"Okay."
Zhu Gaojie sat down and slurped up the rice porridge.
Compared with his fierce eating posture, Zhu Di's eating posture was quite gentle. He asked casually: "How are you handling it, King of the Valley?"
"There are about seventy-seven or eighty-eight cases that have been processed, and they are in the final stages."
"Well, how are you, the Valley King?"
"A little bit passes."
"Speak more clearly."
"died."
"Oh, dead...?"
Zhu Di was shocked, "Did you kill my brother?"
Zhu Gaojie held the porridge bowl and said: "Don't worry when I do things, future generations will not scold you in the history books. At most, they will scold me a few more times. It doesn't matter, I have killed enough people anyway, I will kill more
A vassal king is no big deal."
Zhu Di was a little crazy: "The problem is not who will be scolded, but... how did you get killed by King Gu? When did I tell you to kill him? Although King Gu made a big mistake, he should not be spared lightly.
But after all, he is my biological brother and your biological uncle!"
"so what?"
Zhu Gaojie said calmly, "If one day my son wants to rebel, I will kill him."
He is the prince of the empire, and Zhu Di is the emperor of the empire. For them, no one is incapable of being killed.
Even the Zhu family can be killed if they infringe upon the interests of the Ming Dynasty.
He is like the brain of a cold machine, eliminating faults in the machine. When eliminating faults, the brain of the machine will not hesitate.
Zhu Di paused and smiled miserably: "You are indeed more suitable to be the emperor than me. Compared with you, I am even a little... indecisive."
"The emperor does not have to be truly ruthless. What the emperor should do is to eliminate others and himself at the same time."
Zhu Gaojie said calmly, "If you can't erase your selfish desires and just make cold demands on others, you will be nothing more than a tyrant in the end."
"What really stops people from moving forward is their desires and their human hearts."
He put down the bowl and burped: "Phew - I'm full."
After finishing the meal, Zhu Gaojie didn't stay for a second longer. He stood up and left: "Dad, I'm going to leave first. There is still a large number of memorials waiting for me to deal with in the Wenhua Hall. You should eat slowly."
Zhu Di stared at the porridge bowl with complicated eyes.
He really couldn't do it. He was as ruthless as Zhu Gaojie, killing people like butchering dogs.
At least, he didn't want his hands to be stained with the blood of the Zhu family.
But in the eyes of Zhu Gaojie, there is no difference between the Zhu family and people with other surnames, and those who deserve to be killed will be killed.
In this regard, he cannot compare with Zhu Gaojie.
But he never wants to be someone like Zhu Gaojie.
That would be really tiring, abandoning everything for the sake of the empire.
Zhu Di once thought that besides Zhu Yuanzhang, he was the person who loved Ming Dynasty the most. Now it seems that he was wrong.
Neither he nor Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, could match Zhu Gaojie's dedication to the Ming Dynasty.
At least in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, there was still a trade-off between the Zhu family and the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Gaojie did not need to trade-off at all.
[The intimacy with Zhu Gaojie has been improved.]
[The current intimacy between Zhu Gaojie and you is: 30]
Zhu Di was stunned for a moment when he heard the ethereal ringing sound in his head.
He suddenly turned around and looked around, only to find that Zhu Gaojie, who had already left, was also turning around to look at him.
Under the calm eyes, there are complex emotions that are difficult to detect.
Zhu Di raised the corners of his mouth slightly and murmured softly: "It seems that you are not a person who really lets go of his emotions as you said."
Zhu Gaojie lied.
People can never be truly ruthless.
Even if he is as ruthless as he is, there are still people he cares about.
Although he buried this emotion deep in his heart and it was almost impossible for others to detect it, Zhu Di still noticed it.
…
Chengdu, Palace of the Prince of Shu.
"My baby!"
The King of Shu hugged King Chongyang and patted his son on the back, "Son, I have suffered so much for you. It was your father who failed to protect you, and you were tricked by this damned beast, King of the Valley!"
King Chongyang burst into tears: "Father, my son is unfilial. He shouldn't do anything he should, but he really shouldn't listen to you. When my son suffered such a catastrophe, we know that the one who loves his son the most in the world is his father.
You!"
He thought he was going to die in Changsha, but he didn't expect to return to Chengdu in a daze.
People never realize how precious what they have given up is until they lose it.
"Father, from now on my son will listen to you and never step out of our Prince Shu's palace again in this life. My son has made a blood oath in the name of his ancestors. If he violates it, he will be punished by heaven!"
King Chongyang was really frightened this time. He made up his mind to live in the Shu Palace for the rest of his life. The outside world is really terrible!
As soon as I went out, I ran into the King of Grain, the beast who drove my nephew to death!