With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

"Friends, friends who can help each other. You've helped me a lot these past few days, and if you ever have any difficulties in the future, I'll do my best to help you," Nangong Wu said sincerely.

"I've got your words in mind. As for those gold and silver treasures, it's inconvenient for me to carry them with me. I'll leave them with you for now and use them when I want," Bei Chenyan said.

Nangong Wu nodded, "Then it's up to you! When I have time, I'll take stock of all those things and tell you how much there is."

The two walked and talked, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the gate of Zui Mei Courtyard.

"Good night, you should get some rest too." Nangong Wu waved to him and walked into Zuimei Courtyard.

"Your Highness." Li Shuang and Li An came forward to greet them.

"Come inside and let's talk!" Nangong Wu knew they had something to say to her.

"This afternoon, the Empress Dowager issued an imperial decree that a flower-viewing banquet will be held in the palace in three days, inviting noble ladies and wives from the capital to come and enjoy the flowers together," Li Shuang reported to her.

"The Empress Dowager is going to hold a flower-viewing banquet in the palace in three days?" Nangong Wu sneered. "It seems that the Empress Dowager and Nangong Xun can't hold back any longer."

"King Li is aware of their intentions and has already made preparations," Li Shuang said.

"To catch the thief, first catch the king. Let him hold his ground for now, so as not to alert him." Nangong Wu walked to the table and wrote a letter to Nangong Yi.

The next morning, Nangong Wu went to court, asking Li Cheng and Li Zhan to take He Zhiyu with her.

She wanted to eliminate He Zhiyu's entire clan before Nangong Xun could raise an army to force him to abdicate and rebel.

Zichen Hall.

When she brought a prisoner to court, the entire hall fell silent.

Nangong Wu put down a small box in her hand and first greeted Emperor Mingde, who was seated above her, saying, "Runing greets Imperial Uncle."

"Runing, is this the bandit leader of Qingfeng Village?" Emperor Mingde asked, pointing to the man she had brought.

"No, that's not it." Nangong Wu grabbed He Zhiyu's hair, forcing him to look up.

"He is He Zhiyu."

These words immediately caused an uproar in the hall.

"What?!" Emperor Mingde suddenly stood up from his dragon throne. "You actually captured He Zhiyu?"

"Yes, I went to great lengths to catch this bastard," Nangong Wu said.

Emperor Mingde descended the steps and carefully examined He Zhiyu's face for a while. "It really is you, He Zhiyu."

"Your Majesty, I am innocent!" He Zhiyu immediately broke free from Nangong Wu's grasp and cried out to Emperor Mingde:

"Your Majesty, it was Nangong Wu who sent people to kill my concubine and two children, and then framed me! You must do justice for me!"

"So what if I killed him?" Nangong Wu kicked him hard in the chest.

"Pfft!" He Zhiyu was kicked so hard that he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Nangong Wu stomped on his chest. "He Zhiyu, you colluded with the King of Wu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to ambush and kill my mother and 50,000 soldiers. Killing only your woman and two children is far from enough. I will make your entire He family pay the price for my mother and soldiers."

"I didn't! You're framing me! Your Majesty, you must do me justice!" He Zhiyu shouted.

"You won't admit it, huh?" Nangong Wu withdrew her foot, opened the small box, which contained secret letters.

"Uncle, these are all secret letters between He Zhiyu and the King of Wu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty."

He Zhiyu's eyes widened in alarm when he saw the secret letters.

"That's not real, it must be a forgery by Nangong Wu! Your Majesty, you must not believe her..."

"He Zhiyu, I have not only physical evidence, but also witnesses. The evidence is conclusive and you cannot deny it," Nangong Wu sneered.

Emperor Mingde looked at the secret letters, his face terribly grim, and his hand holding the letters trembled.

"He Zhiyu, you have some nerve! You actually traded Nangong Lan's life for 200,000 taels of gold to the Eastern Jin Kingdom!"

"Furthermore, you even sold the border defense map to the King of Wu for 250,000 taels of gold. How dare you?" Emperor Mingde threw the secret letter in his hand at He Zhiyu's face.

"He was indeed responsible for the death of the Princess Protector."

"How dare that scoundrel sell the border defense map to the King of Wu!"

"That traitorous dog who colluded with the enemy deserves to die..."

The court officials were all outraged.

If we sell the border defense map to the enemy, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty sends troops to invade, wouldn't the country's gates be easily breached?

"No, that's not true. If I had sold the defense map, the enemy would have already breached the borders," He Zhiyu continued to argue.

"That's because the defense map you took was fake," Nangong Wu told him the truth.

"My mother knew all along that there was a mole in the army, and deliberately made a fake defense map. Unfortunately, by the time she discovered you, the mole, it was too late!"

The border defenses are such a closely guarded secret, how could Mother possibly let him steal them so easily?

"Father," Nangong Yi also presented some evidence, "Your subject has also found evidence that He Zhiyu colluded with the enemy, betrayed the country, and misappropriated soldiers' funds."

After reviewing the evidence, Emperor Mingde flew into a rage and immediately issued an edict:

"The evidence is conclusive that He Zhiyu colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, conspiring with the King of Wu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to kill the Protector Princess and 50,000 soldiers."

"Within the five generations of the He family, regardless of gender or age, all shall be executed immediately. Within the nine generations, anyone found connected to this case shall also be executed, and the rest shall be exiled to a desolate and harsh land to perform hard labor!"

In fact, after He Zhiyu disappeared, Emperor Mingde also sent Yingren to investigate. He knew that He Zhiyu was colluding with the Prince of Wu, but due to insufficient evidence and the inability to find He Zhiyu himself, he did not take action against the He family for a long time.

He Zhiyu's face was ashen, but he still tried to make a last-ditch effort. "Your Majesty, please investigate! I am innocent! I did not do these things. These things are all fake. Nangong Wu framed me..."

"Drag him away and behead him!" Emperor Mingde did not allow him to argue.

The commander of the Imperial Guards led his men in and dragged He Zhiyu away.

"Uncle Emperor, I want to supervise the execution," Nangong Wu pleaded.

"Go!" Emperor Mingde was in a bad mood and left the main hall directly.

"Dismiss the court!" Eunuch Hu shouted, and hurriedly followed him.

"Let's go! Let's go to the market together," Nangong Yi said to Nangong Wu.

********

The entire He family had long been imprisoned.

But He's father was not flustered, thinking that since his son commanded the 300,000-strong Zhenyuan Army, Emperor Mingde would not dare to do anything to them.

If their son knew they had been imprisoned, he would surely raise an army to rebel against the imperial family. An army of 300,000 would be enough to overthrow the Nangong Dynasty.

He comforted the people of his tribe, assuring them that the emperor would soon release them.

However, instead of He Zhiyu's army besieging the city, they received an imperial edict from Emperor Mingde ordering the immediate execution of the entire family of five clans.

Upon hearing the imperial edict read by the commander of the Imperial Guards, He's father coughed up a mouthful of blood and fainted.

"How could this be?"

"We are innocent. It was He Zhiyu who did wrong, so why did he kill us?"

The He family was filled with wails of grief.