Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 575 Where did this army of 100,000 come from?!
'Crack!'

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Lin Daiyu's delicate hand crushed the descending blade with a single stroke.

Numerous fragments scattered and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

In an instant, the onlookers were all speechless, as if they were in a dream.

"Ugh, I hate it!"

Lin Daiyu closed her eyes, waved and pushed the stunned Imperial Guard commander, saying, "You scared me to death!"

With a muffled thud like a cannonball hitting a piece of leather, the tall, burly commander of the Imperial Guards, clad in iron armor, was sent flying backward like a cannonball.

It flew away and crashed straight into the sturdy palace wall, making a piercing impact sound.

It's hard to say they were shattered to pieces, but the situation was pretty much the same.

After all, that exquisitely crafted armor was now twisted, deformed, and dented.

The entire deformed armor was embedded in the cracked palace wall.

A viscous liquid dripped down the seams of the armor.

The closest to them were the musicians playing music.

Upon seeing this scene, the musicians immediately straightened up, groaning incessantly, and then fainted.

Those further away were the noblewomen who had come to observe the ceremony.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, they erupted with a piercing, ear-splitting shriek.

Only a few members of the Jia family remained silent.

Grandmother Jia was speechless.

Her heart was like a raging storm.

'How could this be?!'

She simply couldn't understand how her seemingly delicate granddaughter could...
Then she thought back to how she had once even considered marrying her granddaughter to Jia Baoyu.

Looking back now, it seems like a dream come true, considering his talent, character, family background, and so on.

Unless~
Lin Ruhai died of illness in Yangzhou, leaving his destitute granddaughter to live under the roof of others.
Unfortunately, the son-in-law did not die, and the granddaughter soared to great heights.

Now she is about to reach the pinnacle of her womanhood.

I used to think she was crazy, refusing to be the Crown Princess or the Empress.

But now it seems they had clearly transcended the mundane world.
Thinking of this, Grandmother Jia frowned and looked at Lady Wang not far away.

At this moment, Madam Wang stood there blankly, looking at Lin Daiyu in the distance, her figure swaying back and forth like a willow in the wind.

Grandmother Jia sighed.

Your unlucky days are about to begin!

The prince, who had already fallen to the ground in fright, swallowed hard, his face full of joy at surviving a disaster.

'I knew it, she's a monster~'

'If I really married her, I might get turned into mincemeat one day~'

'It's alright, it's alright~'

"No!" The crown prince suddenly awoke, looking towards the forest path not far away. "This isn't over yet!"

'Since this man is Lin's senior brother, his strength must far surpass hers. How should we resolve this matter today?'

The retired emperor shared the same thoughts.

The retired emperor was in a very awkward position at this moment.

They intended to take control of the hostages, but instead they ended up taking control of the big boss.
This is really embarrassing.

Beyond the awkwardness, there are practical problems.

He is currently very insecure.

I didn't run when I was able to before, and now I want to run but I don't dare to. This is really very frustrating.

But at this moment, the great traitor Wei Xiaobao had already walked up to the Crown Princess—no, wait! the female traitor—and the two of them were holding hands, looking over together. It was truly unsettling.

"Ah~"

The Emperor Emeritus sighed and said in a deep voice, "I have thought about it carefully. A forced marriage will not be happy. Since you are unwilling to marry into the royal family, how about we let this matter drop?"

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

You change your story without even blushing? Do you think people are stupid?
Let's just leave it at that. When I gave the order to chop off someone's hand earlier, I wasn't so easy to talk to.

Lin Dao held Lin Meimei's hand and walked over step by step.

The retired emperor trembled with fear and instinctively stepped back.

He has always been pampered since childhood, and over the years, except for the time when he was a rebellious son, he has never felt fear.

But now, he was genuinely afraid of the man and woman in front of him!
Seeing this, Lin Dao simply stopped in his tracks.

His first words were a decisive blow.

"Want to die or live?"

This question is actually unnecessary to ask. The higher one's status and the more one enjoys the labor and support of others, the more one wants to live, and even wishes one could live forever.

In this situation, although it is very humiliating, the retired emperor has no choice but to choose the path of survival.

After all, he was being watched, and couldn't escape secretly like those nobles and civil and military officials.

From the moment Lin Daiyu saw the Imperial Guard Commander Fei off, people began to secretly escape, and the number of escapees kept increasing.

Lin Dao didn't stop him, because there was no need to.

He came fully prepared. Did you really think he came alone to save the damsel in distress?

how is this possible.

He gestured to Lin Daiyu beside him, saying, "Since you want to live, then pass the position to her."

Needless to say, it shocked the entire audience once again.

The retired emperor was stunned, his eyes filled with disbelief. "What did you say?"

"One last time."

Lin Dao raised a finger and shook it. "I command you to pass the throne of the Great Zhou to her."

"understood?"

He did understand, but the Emperor Emeritus found it absurd!

"Since Wu Zetian, no dynasty in history has ever seen such an absurd thing!"

The Emperor Emeritus roared in fury, "Besides, she is not of royal blood of the Great Zhou Dynasty, how could she—"

'puff! '

A large spear pierced his heart.

With blood gushing from his chest, the retired emperor, his face filled with disbelief, collapsed heavily to the ground.

"Enough with the nonsense." Twitching the tip of his spear, Lin Dao looked at the assembled civil and military officials. "Where is the Ministry of Rites?"

His call immediately made the Minister of Rites' legs go weak.

But he really didn't dare to agree with this.

They could only grit their teeth and reply, "The Lin family woman is not of royal blood; she cannot be emperor."

Anyway, let's find a reason first.

"It's as if Wu Zetian's surname was Li."

Lin Dao sneered and pointed his gun at the crown prince who was slumped on the ground. "Now let the crown prince ascend the throne."

"Present the imperial robe, jade seal, and edict. You shall all pay your respects to the new emperor."

Those who have risen to their current positions in officialdom are generally not fools.

They quickly understood Lin Dao's intention.

They immediately declined, offering a variety of reasons.

Lin Daiyu, having regained her senses, hurriedly grabbed Lin Dao's hand, "Senior Brother, what are you saying? I don't want to!"

"don’t worry."

"I have everything."

Lin Dao gave her a reassuring smile. "It's just a nominal appointment; the Prime Minister will handle the specifics."

"Prime Minister?" Lin Daiyu said that she had never heard of this official position before, nor had she seen it in ancient books. "Who is that?"

"Who else could it be but your father, of course."

Hearing their conversation, everyone immediately turned their attention to Lin Ruhai.

"Without your father's help, I wouldn't have been able to bring the army to the capital so smoothly."

Lin Dao's words only confused Lin Meimei more. "What army?"

"When your father came back, I went to see him and explained the pros and cons to him." Lin Dao concealed the process of his public display of divine power and his coercion of Lin Ruhai.

“After the emperor died, he had already fulfilled his duties as a subject and stepped forward to assist me in handling affairs.”

Lin Ruhai's condition was that he would absolutely not help the emperor if he lived.

Moreover, Lin Dao could not lay a hand on the emperor.

However, there's no need to say these things aloud.

As for the army...

Lin Dao glanced around, his gaze sweeping over the assembled civil and military officials. "The emperor may not know what the world is really like now. But they certainly do."

Natural disasters and man-made calamities are occurring one after another in various places.

"Or rather, it was mostly man-made disaster."

"The river embankments are not repaired, insect plagues are not prevented, and external threats are not reported. People are greedily exploiting and oppressing the people. Resentment has long been boiling over in various places."

"I have organized these people, trained and equipped them, and now the capital has been sealed off, and the army has entered the city."

"Not many, just 100,000 people were selected."

Lin Daiyu was stunned, and everyone in the Eastern Palace was dumbfounded.

What army?
Where did these 100,000 troops come from?!
Lin Dao's onslaught wasn't over yet.

"While the capital was busy preparing for the grand ceremony, I had already dealt with the border troops outside the city and the remnants of the Beijing garrison."

"Those who resist will be eliminated, those who can be incorporated will be incorporated, and the rest will be punished with hard labor."

"Don't worry, everything is under control."

Lin Daiyu was dumbfounded. Her senior brother had actually done so much in the past few days?

Lin Ruhai, who had been expressionless the whole time, finally made a move.

"Everyone."

"Upon the accession of the Crown Prince, he ascended the throne!"

Among the civil and military nobles, no one made a move.

Lin Dao also laughed and said, "Wait a minute, they won't shed tears until they see the coffin."

"You only learn how to do things when you have a knife to your throat."

Before long, shouts, sounds of fighting, and the bombardment of muskets and cannons gradually approached.

Those who had previously thought Lin Dao was talking nonsense completely changed their expressions.

He actually led the mutinous army into the capital?
For Lin Dao, the real threat came from the border troops outside the city who had rendered meritorious service but had not been rewarded, and the Beijing garrison, which was being suppressed to the extreme and was therefore in a state of panic.

He scattered silver in one hand and brandished a big stick in the other, successfully resolving the threat.

As for the people inside the city, the constables and yamen runners of the Five City Garrison and Chang'an County and Wannian County of Shuntian Prefecture were naturally brave and heroic when dealing with the common people, each one comparable to the fierce Zhang Fei.

But when faced with armed troops, they run faster than rabbits.

The thousands of Imperial Guards were merely sons of high-ranking families, their combat strength not even comparable to that of the Five Cities Garrison.

The only remaining fighting force in the city was the Imperial Guard.

However, the Imperial Guards were too few in number, and most of them were drawn to the Eastern Palace by Lin Dao.

When the rebel army, equipped with a large number of firearms, attacked, the Imperial Guards' desperate resistance was quickly crushed.

When a large number of rebels stormed into the Eastern Palace and held knives to the necks of the nobles and civil and military officials, everything came to an end.

Those who disagreed, shouted, and cursed were all dragged out and dealt with on the spot.

The remaining people, led by Mei Hanlin and others, bowed to the Crown Prince and, in this chaotic situation, put him on the throne.

"it's your turn."

Lin Dao pressed his spear against the trembling new emperor and said, "I command you to pass the throne of the Great Zhou to her."

"If you don't want to, then let's change the dynasty."

The new emperor, who had been on the throne for less than an incense stick's time, knelt on the ground begging, "Spare me! Spare me!"

"I might spare your life," Lin Dao said with a smile, "but you have to be sensible."

"Yes, yes~" The new emperor kowtowed repeatedly, "I do, I do~"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the simplified ceremony proceeded once again.

The naive and clueless Lin Daiyu changed into the clothes that Lin Dao had prepared in advance and sat on the throne.

Lin Dao's gaze swept over the crowd, his smile gentle.

"Come, everyone."

"First, extract the payment!"

(End of this chapter)