Supreme Golden Palace

Chapter 178 Provocation (Part 2)

boom!
The palace gates opened with a bang, and through the dust-filled interior, hundreds of Tongqiu soldiers could be vaguely seen holding spears and arrayed in formation, but their faces were pale and their courage had vanished.

"Tongqiu Jun has truly run out of ideas,"

Gongzi Chong flicked his sleeves to disperse the dust, and twelve shamans emerged from the formation, all with disheveled hair and bare feet, holding blood-stained beast-head totems in their hands.

Before the shamans could even chant their incantations, Prince Chong, sword in hand, charged into the shamans' ranks. Amidst screams, the totem shattered, turning into bloody light that scattered and fled in all directions.

"Hahaha, that's great, that's great!"

He raised the shaman's head high, met the terrified gazes of the Tongqiu soldiers, and laughed heartily.

The reason why Gongzi Chong was able to kill these twelve shamans was that, apart from the two leaders who were at the True Person level, the others were all below the True Person level. With such cultivation, they were easily defeated when they encountered him, a True Person at the pinnacle.

"Kill! Kill all the traitors!"

The armored soldiers roared in unison and followed Lü Chong, surging into the palace gates like a tidal wave.

Three hundred steps inside the palace gate lies the steps to the main hall, where Lord Tongqiu sits upright with a cold and stern expression.

Contrary to what most people might expect—the fear, panic, and grotesque behavior that Tongqiu Jun had committed—sat calmly on his throne in the main hall, awaiting the arrival of the Xu Kingdom's armored soldiers.

"Tongqiu-kun,"

Surrounded by armored soldiers, the young master strode into the main hall and looked at the man they had executed on behalf of Heaven.

"Tongqiu-kun,"

The armored soldiers also stepped into the main hall, their fierce gazes fixed coldly on Lord Tongqiu.

They fought their way through the three-hundred-step passage, their armor stained with blood, their spears and halberds adorned with blood, and the blood on the bronze blades trickling down the edges, forming scabs on the hem of their armor.

"Lord Tongqiu, Ji Hao, is here,"

Facing these bloodthirsty killers who had committed countless murders and whose bodies were soaked in blood, Ji Hao calmly replied.

"Well done, Ji Hao!"

Seeing that Lord Tongqiu Ji Hao had reached such a state, yet still maintained his dignity as a ruler, Gongzi Chong sneered.

"He's quite a character,"

Gongzi Chong's cold laughter echoed in the main hall.

"The victor is king, the loser is villain; this has always been the case. Now that I have ascended the throne, I am prepared for the destruction of the country and the collapse of the state. It is nothing more than death. A ruler has his own way of dying, and I am here to die."

Ji Hao on the stage slowly rose, his sleeve brushing against the throne, his voice steady yet containing a hidden turbulent undercurrent.

Gongzi Chong stared intently at Tongqiu Jun Ji Hao, a noble of the Ji clan who had murdered his brother and king to ascend the throne. His demeanor was truly astonishing.

He had a dignified appearance, with sword-like eyebrows that slanted upwards into his temples, the peaks of his eyebrows as sharp as if carved by a knife, and a pair of phoenix eyes that seemed to reflect the moon in a cold pool when they opened and closed, with a clear and piercing gaze, completely without the fear of a trapped beast struggling.

What is most astonishing is his spirit; though confined to a precarious palace, his back is straight, like a pine tree bearing snow.

Gongzi Chong said coldly, "Your life or death is not something I can decide. The only one who can truly decide your life or death is my lord."

Just then, the sound of metal clashing rang out outside the hall again, and thirty-six armored soldiers from the Xu Kingdom lined up on both sides to clear the way for Lü Shang.

The bronze chariot rolled over the blood-red bricks, and Lü Shang, clad in armor, slowly stepped into the main hall.

Gongzi Chong knelt on one knee, lowered his blood-stained sword before the steps, and said, "Your Majesty, the traitors of Tongqiu have surrendered."

Ji Hao looked at the armored young king below the steps and said, "Lord Xu, a king has his own way of dying. How can I be executed by axe and halberd? Let someone send me off on my way, is that alright?" Lü Shang first glanced at Ji Hao in surprise, then nodded and said, "Alright."

Before Ji Hao said those words, Lü Shang originally intended to use Ji Hao's blood to sacrifice for the flags and drums, as he had said before the expedition.

But when Ji Hao said those words, it reminded Lü Shang of the Sui Dynasty in the world of Yanfu, and of his cousin, the future Emperor Yang, now Prince Yang Guang of Jin. So he gave Ji Hao some face.

"Thank you, Uncle Xu,"

Upon hearing this, Ji Hao bowed deeply to Lü Shang, then rose and walked towards the side room behind the hall, his steps steady, just as he did when attending court.

A short while later, an armored soldier brought out a lacquered tray containing three feet of white silk and a bronze wine vessel, covered with plain silk, and went into a side room behind the hall.

Lü Shang stood in the hall, quietly awaiting the outcome.

A moment later, the wooden door to the side room creaked open, and the armored soldier who had been carrying the tray bowed his head and withdrew, the bronze handrail striking the door knocker with a resounding clang.

The armored soldier stepped into the hall, knelt on one knee, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, Lord Tongqiu has taken poison."

The armored soldier's voice was deep, and his face, hidden in the shadow of his helmet, revealed neither joy nor anger. He simply raised the lacquered tray above his head, where the white silk remained spread out like frost and snow. Only the bronze wine vessel tilted, and the remaining wine condensed into a dark red along the rim of the tray.

"When he was dying, he straightened his hat and clothes, drank the contents of the cup, and did not utter a word."

Lü Shang calmly said, "Collect his remains and bury him with the rites due to a feudal lord."

Having said that, he stood with his hands behind his back in the hall, his gaze sweeping over the blood-stained steps below, and said, "Order the commanders of the four brigades to lead their troops to pacify the four gates, and have all surrendered soldiers surrender their weapons and incorporate them into the supply battalion."

"Brother,"

Lü Shang turned to Gongzi Chong and said, "You will personally lead a hundred men to inspect the palace with the treasury official. All bronze artifacts, books, and records must be cataloged and sealed. As for the evil objects used by the sorcerers..."

At this point, he frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Put them in clean containers and load them onto the vehicle separately."

Although Lü Shang raised the banner of punishing the wicked, the soldiers of Xu who came to Tongqiu were not truly there to help those in distress.

Lü Shang wanted to take everything he could from Tongqiu, especially the 1,700 households of Tongqiu people, who were of paramount importance and had to be brought back to Xudu.

"promise,"

Gongzi Chong accepted the order and left the main hall, leading his armored soldiers to various palaces and treasuries in Tongqiu.

Tongqiu Palace City had been managed by Ji Hao's ancestors for seven generations and was extremely wealthy, with mountains of grain stored in its granaries.

Lü Shang saw it clearly: as long as Xu State swallowed this wealth, it would have the confidence to sustain itself through war. The agricultural-military system of the Qin State in his previous life was prepared for this purpose.

That night was destined to be sleepless, until the first light of dawn broke and the chaos subsided.

Before the bronze beast gate of Tongqiu Palace, night dew still clung to the ground, and three hundred supply soldiers were using thick hemp ropes to tie boxes of bronze ritual vessels onto oxcarts.

Prince Chong stood with his hand on his sword in front of the granary, watching two granary officials weigh millet with bronze measuring cups. The measuring cup rope left red marks on their palms. A total of 300,000 shi of millet was stored, enough to feed 8,000 households of the State of Xu for a year.

"My lord, the evil object has been sealed away as His Majesty ordered."

The armored soldier, temporarily acting as the treasury manager, walked over carrying a leather ledger. Half a tortoise shell slipped from between the pages, covered with twisted shamanistic runes.

Gongzi Chong used the hilt of his sword to lift the tortoise shell and throw it into the brazier. He watched as the runes curled into ash in the flames before nodding to the armored soldiers behind him and saying, "Load twenty supply wagons, and assign three squad leaders to guard each wagon."

The sound of a child crying came from outside the palace walls. Lü Shang stood on the palace city wall and looked down for a moment. He frowned, turned around, and said to the armored soldiers beside him: "Send an order to all brigades that no one is allowed to bully women and children. Anyone who violates this order will have their toes cut off."

(End of this chapter)