I was to be executed by Zhu Yuanzhang, and Empress Ma smashed Zhu Yuanzhang's jade seal.

Zhu Biao used the most fierce and resolute method!

He used his position as crown prince to provide a final guarantee for his younger brother!

"Your Highness!"

"Your Highness, you mustn't!"

The civil officials, led by Zhan Tong, no longer cared about their stance or how to protect themselves.

They were so frightened that they scrambled to their knees and collapsed to their knees.

The foundation of the country is shaken!

This is truly a crisis shaking the very foundation of the nation!

The wrongful execution of a prince would certainly cause shock throughout the court and the country, and destabilize the morale of the army.

However, the crown prince's request to be deposed was a colossal change that could shake the very foundations of a newly established dynasty that desperately needed stability!

What does this mean?

This means that the emperor and the crown prince, father and son, have completely broken ties!

This means that the future succession to the throne will be fraught with bloodshed!

What will the feudal lords think?

Do they feel like their chance has come?

What should the ministers in the court do?

Should we continue to support a crown prince who might be deposed, or quickly find another master?

The entire political structure of the Ming Dynasty will completely collapse in this instant!

"Your Majesty! Please calm down!"

"Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince was merely confused for a moment. Please, for the sake of the nation and the country, do not be angry!"

The civil officials cried and wailed, kowtowing repeatedly until their foreheads bled.

They were genuinely afraid.

They feared that if the emperor were to become enraged, he might actually depose the crown prince, and then the entire Ming Dynasty would be finished.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the dragon throne, his body trembling violently.

He wasn't angry.

He was afraid.

He stared intently at the lone crown of the prince on the ground, feeling as if his heart had been shattered.

What was he trying to achieve in his life?

Why did he kill meritorious officials?

Why is he suspicious of his son?

Isn't it all for the sake of him, the crown prince, and for the sake of the empire behind him, so that it can be passed down peacefully for thousands of generations?

But now, his most valued son, his most anticipated successor, has thrown away the future he had painstakingly built, like trash, in front of the whole world.

And tell him he doesn't want it anymore!

He would rather give up the country than lose his brother!

What a irony this is!

Zhu Yuanzhang schemed his whole life, but in the end, he misjudged his own son's heart!

He believed that the throne was the most tempting thing in the world.

But he forgot that some people and some feelings cannot be measured or bought by imperial power.

For example, the brotherly love that flows in our blood.

Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze slowly shifted from the crown prince's crown on the ground to his two sons standing side by side.

A man, shirtless, covered in scars, and as silent as a mountain.

One was disheveled, tears streaming down his face, yet as stubborn as iron.

They stood there, like two unshakeable mountains, together resisting the overwhelming storm from his father and his emperor.

He suddenly felt very lonely.

An unprecedented loneliness.

He sat on the high dragon throne, looking down at the civil and military officials kneeling on the ground, and at the thousands of people cheering like a tidal wave.

But there wasn't a single person who truly understood him.

Even his closest wife and most beloved son stood against him at this moment.

He won the world, but lost his family.

"Okay...okay..."

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly laughed, a hoarse laugh filled with endless sorrow and self-mockery.

"My good sons! They've all grown up so capable! They've all learned how to coerce the emperor!"

He slowly rose from the dragon throne and walked down the platform step by step.

Everyone held their breath, watching the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

They had no idea what crazy things this emperor, known for his iron-fisted rule and suspicion, would do when faced with a joint coup by his two sons.

Will he be so enraged that he takes down both of his sons?

still is……

Will they compromise?

Zhu Yuanzhang walked very slowly, and every step he took touched the hearts of everyone.

He did not look at the civil and military officials kneeling on the ground.

In his eyes, there were only his two sons.

He walked up to Zhu Biao and Zhu Muying and stopped.

"you,"

He pointed at Zhu Biao, his voice devoid of emotion, "Are you really willing to give up being the Crown Prince for him?"

Zhu Biao raised his head, meeting his father's gaze without flinching.

"Your Majesty, I have said that I do not wish to sit on the throne by stepping over the corpse of my own brother."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word was crystal clear: "If my fifth brother is guilty, I am willing to share the punishment! If my fifth brother is innocent, I beg Father, to grant him justice!"

"justice?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, "Weren't those five hundred suits of armor fair? Wasn't the steward's testimony fair?"

He turned his head sharply and looked at Zhu Muying.

"You! You unfilial son! What kind of bewitching potion did you give our Crown Prince! That he would abandon the country and its people for you!"

Zhu Muying did not utter a single word from beginning to end.

Only then did he slowly raise his head and look at his father, who was standing close to him.

His face was no longer calm, nor did it hold a smile.

Instead, there is deep sorrow.

"Father,"

He finally spoke, his voice hoarse, "Do you really think those five hundred armored soldiers are more important than my elder brother's heart?"

"Do you really think that a confession obtained under torture carries more weight than my elder brother's crown, which has been smashed to the ground?"

"Do you want a crown prince who is absolutely obedient and devoid of emotion, or a future monarch with flesh and blood who understands brotherhood?"

"What you truly desire is a court where everyone lives in fear and distrusts one another, or a prosperous Ming Dynasty where the emperor and his ministers are of one mind and brothers live in harmony?"

Every question Zhu Muying posed was like a knife, stabbing Zhu Yuanzhang in the heart.

Zhu Yuanzhang's body swayed, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.

Yes.

What exactly does he want?

He looked at Zhu Biao's shattered crown, at Zhu Muying's scarred body, at the kneeling and weeping civil and military officials, and at the indignant people of the world.

He suddenly realized that he...

wrong.

That's completely wrong.

"Father! Did you see that? This wound!"

Zhu Biao's voice echoed throughout the square.

"In the fifth year of the Hongwu reign, during the Northern Expedition against the Yuan army, our Ming vanguard of 30,000 men was ambushed by 100,000 Yuan cavalry at Yuerhai! At that time, an enemy arrow pierced the clouds and headed straight for an ordinary standard-bearer! It was my fifth brother! He used his own body to block that arrow!"

"That arrow entered his left shoulder and exited through his back! The imperial physician said that if it had been just an inch off, it would have pierced his heart meridian, and even a miracle wouldn't have saved him!"

"In that battle, my fifth brother bled profusely, yet he fought to the death! He single-handedly led 30,000 remaining soldiers until Uncle Xu Da's reinforcements arrived! We won that battle, but my fifth brother lay in bed for three whole months!"

Zhu Biao's voice was filled with grief and indignation.

Standing among the officials, Xu Da, upon hearing this, could no longer hold back his tears.

He remembers that battle!

When he arrived, he saw corpses strewn across the field and blood flowing like a river.

The King of England, like a bloodied man, knelt on the mountain of corpses, leaning on his spear, with the Ming Dynasty dragon flag he was desperately protecting behind him!

That year, Zhu Muying was only seventeen years old!

Sobbing could already be heard from the crowd.

Zhu Biao didn't stop; his fingers slid down to Zhu Muying's chest.

There was a long, ugly scar, like a centipede, stretching from the left chest to the right abdomen.

"Father! Look here again!"

"In the eighth year of the Hongwu reign, the Tubo (Tibetan) Empire was pacified in the west. At the foot of the Kunlun Mountains, my fifth brother led three thousand light cavalry in pursuit of the main rebel force. However, he was ambushed and surrounded by thirty thousand rebel troops in a snowy mountain valley!"

"For seven whole days and seven nights! No food, no reinforcements! When they were thirsty, they ate snow; when they were hungry, they ate the carcasses of their warhorses!"

"On the seventh day, the fifth brother led the remaining eight hundred men in a desperate charge! He charged ahead alone on horseback, slaying thirteen rebel generals! This last blow was delivered by the rebel leader with all his might!"

"His intestines were spilling out! But he forced them back in, tied them tightly with a cloth, and continued fighting! He only collapsed from exhaustion after scattering the rebel army!"

"Father!"

At this point, Zhu Biao was already sobbing uncontrollably. He suddenly turned around, knelt down before Zhu Yuanzhang, and slammed his forehead heavily against the cold stone slab.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

"Father! This is your son! This is the Prince of Ying of our Great Ming Dynasty!"

"He survived countless brushes with death, conquering this vast land for our Great Ming Dynasty! Every scar on his body is a testament to our Ming Dynasty's achievements! A source of glory for our Zhu family!"

"But what did he get in return today? Five hundred sets of fabricated armor! A charge of treason! And a cold, deadly blade outside the Meridian Gate!"

"Father! Your actions are chilling the hearts of all the soldiers in the land!"

"By doing this, you're making the entire world condemn the Zhu family!"

Zhu Biao's cries, like the mournful cry of a cuckoo, echoed for a long time in the square.

He raised his head, his forehead already covered in blood.

He pointed to another, even more gruesome scar on Zhu Muying's back, his voice hoarse beyond recognition.

"And here...this one...is in the northern desert, to protect the grain supply route..."

Zhu Biao's trembling finger pointed towards Zhu Muying's back.

The scar there was different from the others; it was a fist-sized depression with the surrounding skin curled inwards, dark in color, a black hole that would never heal.

"Father...look here..."

Zhu Biao's voice was already out of tune, every word laced with blood and tears, "In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, the decisive battle took place in the northern deserts. The provisions for the 300,000 troops of our Great Ming were personally escorted by my fifth brother. The remnants of the Northern Yuan dispatched their most elite 'Kheshig Army,' 50,000 iron cavalry, to launch a surprise attack on the supply route!"

"Fifty thousand against five thousand! A ten-to-one troop ratio!"

"To protect the supplies, Fifth Brother ordered the entire army to hold their ground to the death, not retreating an inch! He himself was surrounded and attacked by three Northern Yuan commanders! This wound was inflicted from behind by the Northern Yuan's 'Wolf God Hammer'!"

"That hammer blow broke three of his ribs and shattered his lungs! He coughed up blood and nearly fainted! But he didn't fall! He held on to his last breath, and with a backhand thrust of his spear, he felled the commander of ten thousand men from his horse!"

"In that battle, five thousand supply soldiers fought to the last man! Not a single grain of food was lost! But Fifth Brother... Fifth Brother... when he was carried back, he was no longer breathing..."

At this point, Zhu Biao could no longer continue. He covered his face, knelt on the ground, his shoulders heaving violently, and let out the mournful cry of a trapped beast.

The entire Meridian Gate Square had long since turned into a sea of ​​tears.

Countless people covered their faces and wept.

They witnessed the horrific battlefield and saw the young prince, like a war god, who used his own flesh and blood to build an unyielding Great Wall for the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Highness..."

"With such a prince in our Great Ming Dynasty, how can we worry about the stability of the realm!"

"Heaven has no eyes! Heaven has no eyes! Such a loyal and brave prince must suffer such an injustice!"

Cries, shouts, and cries of grief and indignation merged into a massive sound wave, assaulting everyone's eardrums.

Among the officials, many collapsed in tears.

Lan Yu, the fearless Duke of Liang, was now crying like a child.

He was in the central command during the decisive battle in the northern desert!

He recalled that when the supplies were delivered safely to the camp, the entire army cheered.

But when he saw the King of England, who had been pulled from a pile of corpses, covered in blood and already lifeless, he immediately knelt down!

He was the best doctor in the army. He used century-old ginseng to keep him alive and rescued him for three days and three nights before he was pulled back from the brink of death!

With such a brother and such a commander, how can you say he's plotting a rebellion?

I, Lan Yu, am the first to disbelieve this!