Purging the Court, the Steppe Army Arrives

The tea in the imperial prison was naturally nothing special.

Cui Lang and Wang Yuanzhi never even had the chance to enter the imperial prison.

When Tong Lei held his bloodstained saber across their necks, the last of their dignity shattered at their feet.

Tears and snot streamed down Wang Yuanzhi's face as he kowtowed over and over, incoherently protesting his innocence and begging His Majesty to spare him, debasing himself into the dust.

Cui Lang, meanwhile, the head of a great clan who had summoned wind and rain at court for decades, grew calm instead.

He stared fixedly at Tong Lei, his eyes full of resentment.

"Tong Lei, you're nothing but a dog at His Majesty's side. Kill me today, and one day you'll meet the same fate. Once the hare is dead, the hound goes in the pot; once the birds are gone, the bow is put away. Just you wait!"

Tong Lei's expression did not ripple in the slightest. He merely spat out two cold words.

"Too noisy."

Before the words had faded, his blade flashed.

A head flew into the air, and scalding blood sprayed across Wang Yuanzhi's face.

Wang Yuanzhi's cries stopped abruptly. His whole body shook like a sieve, and the stench of urine instantly filled the air.

Tong Lei could not even be bothered to give him another glance. He waved to the armored soldiers behind him.

"Take him away!"

The next day, the sky remained overcast. Leaden clouds hung low, as though another heavy snowfall could descend at any moment.

Outside the capital's Meridian Gate, a sea of heads jostled.

Several thousand Imperial Guard soldiers surrounded the execution ground so tightly that not even water could get through. Halberds stood like a forest, and killing intent filled the air.

On the execution platform, Cui Lang's and Wang Yuanzhi's heads hung high, their eyes wide open, seemingly still accusing Chen Ye of injustice.

Below the platform, every last civil and military official at court had been "invited" to witness the execution.

Looking at those two familiar yet unfamiliar heads, they all turned deathly pale and fell as silent as cicadas in winter. The officials who had been especially close to the Cui and Wang clans in ordinary times trembled so badly that they could scarcely stand.

None of them could understand how that foolish ruler, once immersed in wine, women, and pills, had suddenly become such a man-eating tiger.

Despite their doubts, when Chen Ye ascended the high platform, they still fell to their knees and cried out for him to live ten thousand years.

Among those voices were reverence and fear alike.

Chen Ye's gaze slowly swept over the frightened, uneasy faces below. Then he said mildly,

"I know many of you are unconvinced."

Chen Ye finally spoke. His voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly across the entire execution ground.

"You think I am a foolish ruler, that I slaughter the innocent indiscriminately. You think Cui Lang and Wang Yuanzhi did not deserve death for their crimes."

He paused, and his voice suddenly grew sharp.

"As high ministers of the court, they drew the sovereign's salary, yet formed factions for private gain and threw the affairs of state into chaos! With the steppe barbarians at our gates, they gave no thought to driving back the enemy, thinking only of lining their own pockets. They even plotted to murder their sovereign and commit treason. For such crimes, it was already an act of immense mercy that I executed only the chief culprits."

"Today, I will make this clear. From now on, anyone who oppresses the people, hoards goods for profit, or colludes with the enemy and betrays the country will share the fate of those two traitors, Cui and Wang."

"Duke of An, what do you say?"

Chen Ye's voice suddenly turned toward Li Jun.

In the crowd, the one-eyed Li Jun jolted and immediately fell to his knees, his head striking the ground with a thud, thud.

"Your Majesty is wise! Your Majesty is wise! The traitors Cui and Wang deserved ten thousand deaths. This subject... this subject's loyalty to Your Majesty can be witnessed by the sun and moon!"

But Chen Ye had no intention of letting him off. He signaled Tong Lei at his side with a glance.

Tong Lei immediately stepped forward and began reading the imperial edict.

"Li Jun, Duke of An, indulged his son's violent crimes and preyed upon the people of his home district. His crimes are unforgivable! Zhang Bo, minister of revenue, embezzled military pay and lined his own pockets, a parasite upon the nation! Sun Yi, minister of rites, formed factions for private gain and sold offices and titles..."

A string of names was read out, each belonging to a prominent figure at court.

The imperial edict ended with a bone-chilling sentence.

"All those named above are to be tried jointly by the three judicial offices and investigated thoroughly without leniency."

At these words, the officials looked as though they had lost their parents. Li Jun even fainted on the spot, only to be dragged away without mercy by the Imperial Guard.

The remaining officials all knelt on the ground, trembling, their awe of the reigning emperor having reached its peak.

After the swift and forceful purge, the second thing Chen Ye did was order the release of the young women who had been summoned into the palace to be used in pill refinement.

Not only that, Chen Ye put half the property confiscated from the Cui and Wang clans into the state treasury for military equipment, and used the other half to open the granaries and distribute grain to the capital's poor.

For a time, Emperor Chen Ye's reputation among the people soared at an unprecedented rate, thoroughly washing away his former image as a foolish ruler.

Through these various measures, Chen Ye quickly seized control of court affairs, then began carrying out his plans with sweeping reforms.

In the days that followed, Chen Ye became a complete workaholic.

The lamps in the Hall of Mental Cultivation burned almost every night until dawn.

Piles of memorials, military reports from the border, city defense blueprints, treasury accounts... Like a tireless machine, he dealt with everything concerning this vast empire.

The palace eunuchs and maids grew more awed by this emperor with each passing day.

They had never seen a ruler so diligent in governing. In the past, Yang Zhao had either been indulging without restraint in the imperial harem or seeking immortality and the Dao in the pill chamber. When had he ever taken affairs of state to heart?

The consorts in the harem waited even more eagerly for His Majesty, who had shed his old self and been reborn.

Unfortunately, Chen Ye did not visit them even once.

The confiscation of these great clans' property had yielded remarkable results; at the very least, the state treasury was considerably fuller.

And once he had money, Chen Ye began arming the city at a furious pace.

The damaged city walls were reinforced, and countless rolling logs, stones, cauldrons of boiling excrement, and jars of oil were hauled up onto the walls.

The Imperial Guard was expanded to thirty thousand men and drilled day and night, their battle cries shaking the heavens. Notices were also posted throughout the city, recruiting able-bodied men with the promise of generous rewards to form a volunteer force to defend it.

The entire capital became a vast machine of war, running at full speed under Chen Ye's will.

Yet the enemy came far sooner than anyone had expected.

The year's end had yet to arrive, and wind and snow filled the sky.

A mounted courier galloped into the capital as if mad. By the time the rider dismounted, he was breathing his last.

"Anding Prefecture has fallen! The barbarians... the barbarian army has passed Tong Commandery and will soon be at our gates!"

As the news spread, court and country were shaken.

Chen Ye, however, was perfectly calm. Clad in armor, he climbed the towering gate tower and saw a black tide on the distant horizon, swallowing heaven and earth.

Countless steppe cavalrymen advanced slowly, like dark clouds pressing down upon the land.

Banners stood like a forest, blades and spears gleamed like snow, and the killing intent soaring into the sky made the defenders on the walls feel suffocated even at such a distance.

At the head of the army, a heavily armored steppe warrior, as broad and imposing as an iron tower, reined in his horse.

He was the steppe khan, Yelü Boyang.

He raised his head, his greedy gaze falling on the magnificent city before him, like a starving wolf spotting the fattest lamb.

"Men, do you see that?!"

Yelü Boyang raised the curved saber in his hand and pointed it at the capital.

"Inside that city is more silk than you could ever wear, more fine wine than you could ever drink, and countless beauties! Break through, and it will all be ours!"

"Awoo-!"

Tens of thousands of steppe wolf riders roared in unison, their voices shaking the land in every direction and making heaven and earth change color.

A great battle was on the verge of erupting.