Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 486 The Death of Yang Hetong (11,000 words)

The damp wind stirred the candlelight inside the golden palace.

The whooshing sound echoed in my ears.

Yang Hetong, Chu Licheng, and Gao Hong were not ordinary people after all. Even though they looked at Song Yan walking towards them, their expressions were solemn, but they were not afraid... They would not kneel on the ground and beg for a chance to live like the Vice Minister of War had done before.

No matter the circumstances, you will never lose your dignity.

When Song Yan reached Chu Licheng, he stopped, frowned, and seemed to be pondering how to start the conversation.

"Mr. Chu," Song Yan finally spoke, "You should have a daughter named Chu Muqing, who is married to Ma Zhifeng, the Prefect of Anzhou, is that right?"

The silence at the scene was broken.

No one expected that Song Yan's next offensive would start with Chu Licheng's daughter.

Some officials exchanged glances privately, their expressions somewhat strange. Considering the rumors that Song Yan preferred older women, especially married women and widows, some wondered if Song Yan had taken a liking to Chu Licheng's daughter.

However, he quickly shook his head again.

Firstly, the occasion is not appropriate.

Secondly, although almost all the women around Song Yan are older than him... but not by much. Chu Licheng is over seventy, and even his youngest daughter is over fifty. Song Yan shouldn't have such a heavy taste.

Although Chu Licheng was not young, he was still vigorous and maintained a good figure. He stood straight and was almost as tall as Song Yan. Upon hearing this, he only frowned slightly: "Indeed, did the Marquis of Champion encounter Xi Nu?"

"Xi Nu" and "Xiao Nu" were humble terms used by the literati class in this era to refer to their own daughters.

Song Yan understood the implication and smiled upon hearing this: "Have you encountered someone?"

"That's good." Chu Licheng nodded slightly. "I wonder where Xi Nu is now? Is she alright?"

well?

Song Yan's expression revealed a hint of doubt... It should be considered alright, after all, Chu Muqing was sleeping very soundly, the kind that no one could wake up.

With a grin, Song Yan slowly said, "I... killed her."

The aged body in front of him trembled almost imperceptibly. Chu Licheng finally raised his head, his slightly yellowed old eyes flashing as he stared at Song Yan. His face showed little sadness, and even his voice was calm, without any ups and downs: "But she offended the Marquis of Champion?"

It was as if he wasn't hearing news of his daughter's murder, but rather a casual greeting like, "Have you eaten?"

"No, not at all. To be honest, I have no grudge against her." Song Yan shook his head, then abruptly changed the subject: "When Yongchang City in Anzhou Prefecture was captured, all 30,000 border troops were killed in battle. Does Mr. Chu know how they died?"

Chu Licheng frowned. He naturally knew something about the battle situation in Anzhou and Pingyang, and he was also aware that all 30,000 border troops had died in battle. However, he didn't quite understand what Song Yan meant by this question. After a brief pause, he slowly replied, "They were killed by the swords of the Xiongnu..."

The Xiongnu delegation members next to them instinctively shrank back, trying to hide behind Ningguo officials, fearing that the word "Xiongnu" would attract Song Yan's attention again.

Song Yan shook his head again: "No, Mr. Chu, you are wrong. The 30,000 border troops in Yongchang City did not die at the hands of the Xiongnu, but were killed by the people of Ningguo."

These words immediately sparked a commotion in the court. The officials who had survived this court battle instinctively began whispering among themselves. Even though civil officials held extremely high positions in Ningguo, while military officers and soldiers held very low status, the killing of 30,000 border guards by their own people was still enough to cause a huge uproar.

Even Ninghe, sitting on the dragon throne, changed his expression.

Song Yan, however, didn't care about the attitudes of others and continued, "They didn't die from swords, they were..."

"They starved to death."

hum.

If the previous statement was like setting a fire in the court, then this statement is like pouring oil on that fire, causing the vast court to explode almost instantly.

Even some civil officials who looked down on soldiers showed a hint of anger on their faces.

Thirty thousand border soldiers starved to death?

Such a crime deserves the extermination of nine generations of one's family, wouldn't it?

For a moment, everyone's attention was focused on the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of War, since the border army's provisions had always been prepared jointly by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War.

Feeling the intense gazes around him, the withered old man, the Minister of Revenue, jumped up: "This is impossible. The border troops' food and pay have always been of paramount importance. Even though the national treasury was empty last year, the Ministry of Revenue still tried every means to raise enough food for the border troops... As for the military pay, we couldn't pay it all at once, but we raised half of the silver. It's absolutely impossible for the border troops to starve to death."

The Minister of Revenue's name was Xia Yuanchang.

An elderly person from the reign of Emperor Yuanjing.

During the reign of Emperor Ninghe, he spent most of his time in the position of Minister of Revenue. Although he was reassigned to other positions for a few years, he was eventually transferred back. There was no other way; apart from Xia Yuanchang, no one else could handle the mess that the Ministry of Revenue was in.

Xia Yuanchang's most notable characteristic is... stinginess.

Extremely stingy.

Stinginess that's hard to imagine.

The two words he says most often are: "I have no money."

However, this stingy Minister of Revenue never delayed the military expenses of the border troops. Even when the national treasury was so empty that rats could run around, he would do his best to raise food and military pay and send them to the border. He was well aware of the importance of the border troops to the entire Chu Kingdom.

Minister of War, Marquis of Wu'an, Ban Cheng, also stepped forward to confirm this: "There is absolutely no problem with the border army's food supply. Not only food and military pay, but at the beginning of last year, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works went to great lengths to collect pig iron and leather, and forged a batch of weapons, armor, and cotton clothing."

"The border troops of Anzhou Prefecture were given priority in receiving the supplies."

Song Yan sighed, his eyes filled with gloom: "I've been to Anzhou Prefecture and Yongchang City. I saw with my own eyes the scene of corpses strewn everywhere, inside and outside the city walls. I saw with my own eyes the city walls that had been stained crimson with blood..."

"Of the 30,000 border troops, not a single one survived."

“I have seen their corpses; they were emaciated, like a layer of skin covering a skeleton.”

"I know the food of the border troops in Yongchang City. They only have two bowls of thin porridge made of millet a day... Even the soldiers who defend their country on the border only have two bowls of thin porridge a day!"

At first, Song Yan was able to barely maintain his composure, but as he spoke, he could no longer control himself, and the last sentence was almost shouted out.

Like an enraged tiger.

An angry roar echoed in everyone's ears.

Before anyone knew it, Song Yan's eyes had turned bloodshot, and his heavy breathing sounded like a rusty saw cutting into everyone's hearts.

They vaguely began to understand why Song Yan had traveled thousands of miles from Pingyang to Dongling... It wasn't just because many people in the court wanted him dead... Perhaps, Song Yan also wanted to seek justice for the 30,000 brave soldiers who died on the frontier.

The Minister of War, Ban Cheng, had a face that was extremely gloomy. As a military general, he knew very well what two bowls of thin porridge a day meant for soldiers guarding the border. This amount of food was not enough to support the daily training, and it was only enough to keep them from dying.

These soldiers probably can't even bring out their weapons, right?
Where would they find the strength to fight the Xiongnu?

But where did all that grain go?

“You all know what the weather was like last winter. Dongling was bitterly cold, not to mention Yongchang City… But the border troops in Yongchang City only had rusty armor and tattered inner linings…” Song Yan slowly exhaled: “They… didn’t have cotton-padded clothes.”

“Yongchang City originally had 45,000 border troops, but when the Xiongnu attacked the pass, only 30,000 remained… The remaining 15,000 all starved and froze to death last winter because they were not fed or clothed…”

The deep, suppressed tone sent shivers down the spines of everyone who heard it; these high-ranking officials in the court simply could not imagine what kind of scene it was.

"Even those who survived were left with permanent frostbite."

"Their armor was rusty, and their weapons were gleaming."

"The border troops in Yongchang City haven't changed their equipment in nine years! Nine years!"

"As for military pay, they haven't seen a single penny from the middle of last year to April of this year, for eight months."

Xia Yuanchang and Ban Cheng's faces were as dark as the bottom of a pot. Along with the other officials in the court and Emperor Ninghe, everyone's eyes were on Chu Licheng... At this moment, they finally understood why Song Yan had brought up the border army with Chu Licheng.

Ma Zhifeng, the prefect of Anzhou, was Chu Licheng's son-in-law.

"Even under such circumstances, the Anzhou border troops still fought to the last man."

"But where did the grain go? Where did the weapons and equipment go? Where did the cotton-padded clothes go? It's quite a coincidence, really, that I just happened to have killed over ten thousand Xiongnu people..."

The Huyan Tu group of Xiongnu envoys looked grim, but dared not say a word.

"On the corpses of those Xiongnu people, we actually found brand-new Ning army armor, cotton-padded clothes, brand-new swords and spears, as well as bows and crossbows..."

Finally, Chu Licheng could no longer maintain his composure, and his expression gradually darkened.

He was a high-ranking official under the emperor.

He was one of the four most powerful people in the entire Ning Kingdom besides the emperor. Normally, even a high-ranking official would address him respectfully as "Lord Attendant" or simply "Prime Minister Chu." But now, respect had turned into suspicion and disdain. Those gazes were like knives, almost tearing Chu Licheng to shreds.

"Does the Prime Minister Chu know that when the Xiongnu army besieged the city, the garrison commander of Yongchang immediately sent someone to Anzhou to request reinforcements... Unfortunately, at that time, the governor of Anzhou, Ma Zhifeng, was indulging in pleasure in his mansion after taking a seventeenth concubine. The arrival of reinforcements disrupted his enjoyment, so he killed the soldier, and naturally, no reinforcements arrived... When the Xiongnu army reached the walls of Anzhou, Ma Zhifeng mobilized all the soldiers and civilians to fight the Xiongnu on the city walls, and then he... ran away." "While others were fighting to the death, he ran away, taking your daughter and your daughter's four sons..."

"Then I captured him, and beheaded your daughter and four grandsons. Don't worry, they died relatively quickly, although your daughter screamed for a long time. As for Ma Zhifeng, I took him to Yongchang City and beheaded him on the city wall."

"He was cut more than two thousand times, but in the end he couldn't take it and died."

Chu Licheng didn't say anything, but his fingers clenched unconsciously, and his throat moved instinctively.

"On Ma Zhifeng's body, I found an account book that clearly recorded that over the past few years, Ma Zhifeng had obtained a total of 3.47 million taels of silver by reselling military rations, equipment, weapons, and embezzling military pay... However, in the governor's mansion, where Ma Zhifeng hid his family's wealth, I only found silver, jewelry, antiques, and calligraphy and paintings worth 1.2 million taels."

Suddenly, Song Yan stepped forward, closing the distance between himself and Chu Licheng almost to the point of touching: "Prime Minister Chu, can you tell me where the remaining two million two hundred thousand taels of silver went?"

A loud shout, like a thunderclap, exploded right next to Chu Licheng's ears.

At close range, Chu Licheng could clearly see the bloodshot veins in Song Yan's wide eyes, and the barely suppressed madness within them.

Chu Licheng seemed unable to withstand the overwhelming pressure and subconsciously stepped back.

but……

That's too late.

The rage within Song Yan's chest was no longer under control. He suddenly reached out with his right hand, grabbed Chu Licheng's gray hair, and pressed down hard, while his knee suddenly rose up.

boom.

The metal knee pads slammed heavily into Chu Licheng's face.

A crisp sound could be heard, indicating that the nasal bone had been completely shattered.

Originally, Song Yan had not planned to take action himself, but whenever he thought of the tragic state of Yongchang City, he could not control the anger in his chest.

Chu Licheng swayed, and when he raised his head, his face was covered in crimson blood.

Unable to breathe properly through his nose, Chu Licheng could only gasp for air through his mouth.

There was no anger, resentment, or hatred on his face. Even now, Chu Licheng remained calm... Perhaps, when Song Yan mentioned Ma Zhifeng's name, he already knew that he would have a hard time surviving today.

His clothes were a little disheveled.

Chu Licheng straightened his collar.

Then he looked up at Song Yan and calmly made his request: "Since ancient times, the law has not applied to high-ranking officials. I am the prime minister of Ningguo. I demand a dignified death, either by hanging or by poison."

Prime Minister!

That's true.

At that time, Ningguo did not have the position of prime minister, but the Grand Secretary Yang Hetong, the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat Fang De, and the two Attendants-in-Ordinary Chu Licheng and Gao Hong were all capable of being called prime ministers.

Song Yan chuckled and glanced at Chu Licheng: "Your approach... won't work on me. There's probably no way you'll die a dignified death. Perhaps you'll die in the way you hate the most."

Suddenly, a silver-armored guard stepped forward and kicked Chu Licheng hard in the back of the knee.

Chu Licheng was, after all, an old man in his seventies. Although he was still quite healthy, he couldn't withstand the strength of the young soldiers.

With a cracking sound, an old man's leg was immediately broken at the bend.

He knelt down on the ground with a thud.

For Chu Licheng, who was usually aloof and superior, this was an unimaginable humiliation. The excruciating pain did not make him scream, but the shame made his face turn red.

Even though one of his legs was broken, Chu Licheng still desperately used his hands to support himself on the ground, trying to use his intact leg to continue supporting his body.

He was a palace attendant.

He was the Prime Minister of Chu.

His pride would never allow him to kneel before a group of soldiers.

Just as I raised my head slightly, I heard a whooshing sound in my ear.

The next moment...

Snapped!
A loud slap landed heavily on that wrinkled face.

Chu Licheng was stunned by the blow. His mind was buzzing as he looked up at Song Yan in front of him... The pain spreading across his face reminded him that he had been slapped, that Song Yan had struck him. His face turned even redder, his eyes widened, and his pupils trembled as if in an earthquake. This was a humiliation he absolutely could not accept... He could die, but he could never accept such a disgrace.

Just then, Song Yan glanced at the silver-armored guard behind him. The soldier immediately understood Song Yan's meaning, quickly stepped forward to Chu Licheng, raised his right hand, and slapped him hard across the face.

Snapped.

Crisp and pleasant.

With great force, a tooth flew out from the corner of his mouth.

Half of his wrinkled old skin almost flew off his face.

Chu Licheng's body trembled violently, and a sound like that of a wounded wild dog came from his throat: Song Yan... that damned bastard, not only did he personally humiliate him, but he even let those damned lowly soldiers humiliate him.

He was the Prime Minister of Chu in Ningguo...

Snapped!
Snapped!
Snapped!
Before Chu Licheng knew it, the silver-armored guards had already formed a neat line in front of him, each slapping him once, and then automatically moving to the end of the line afterward.

No one knows exactly how many times he was slapped, but before long, half of Chu Licheng's face was swollen high, his skin had begun to crack, and crimson blood was seeping out. His mind was buzzing from the slaps, and he had completely lost the ability to think. The only thing left was an indelible sense of shame that shrouded his heart from beginning to end.

Snapped!
Another heavy slap across the face.

Half of his face, along with the flesh beneath, was sent flying by the slap.

It was covered in blood, and you could even see the red and white bones inside.

Snapped.

Click.

Chu Licheng's neck rotated 180 degrees in a bizarre way.

His cervical spine was broken, his neck was twisted, his head drooped behind him, and his face was covered with saliva, snot, and blood.

They usually didn't die in a very dignified way.

After glancing at Chu Licheng's corpse, Song Yan finally looked up at Yang Hetong.

This is a real, even more cunning old fox than Chu Licheng.

At the same time, he was also the biggest Qin Hui in the imperial court.

Even as he watched Chu Licheng being beaten to death right before his eyes, Yang Hetong remained calm and composed, showing no panic or fear, as if nothing had happened.

As if sensing Song Yan's gaze falling on him, Yang Hetong slowly raised his eyelids, a smile playing on his lips: "Song Yan, I really underestimated you... I really didn't expect that you could grow to this level in such a short time."

"If Yang Miaoqing hadn't offended you, we probably wouldn't be enemies like this now."

"If I had killed you sooner, I probably wouldn't have lost this round."

Song Yan shook his head and laughed, "You didn't just lose this round, you lost everything..."

"Is that so?" Yang Hetong smiled faintly. "If I told you, I..."

puff.

Before he could finish speaking, Yang Hetong's smile froze on his face, his expression blank. Looking down, he saw a battle knife piercing through his abdomen.

Fresh blood gushed out from the cut.

He didn't understand why this was happening. Song Yan had spoken at length to everyone, detailing the crimes they had committed, so why was he stabbed right away when it was his turn?

Why don't you say anything?

Song Yan shrugged: "There's nothing I can do. You're just too cunning. You're a real old fox. Although I understand that everything you're saying is to get me to let you go, I'm not sure I can't be persuaded by you..."

"So... this is more straightforward."

As he spoke, Song Yan turned the hilt of the knife.

(End of this chapter)