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

"Innocent?" The Imperial Guard Commander pointed at the man in the cell and recounted He Zhiyu's crimes:

"He Zhiyu murdered the Princess Protector and 50,000 soldiers, and sold the border defense map to the enemy. The hundreds of thousands of taels of gold he received were used to support you people. The houses you live in, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, and everything you use are stained with the blood of the Princess Protector and tens of thousands of soldiers. You say you are innocent?"

"That was given to us voluntarily by He Zhiyu. We don't want anything anymore. Please, Your Excellency, spare our lives!" The He family patriarch kowtowed and begged.

"Too late to regret it now!" The commander waved his hand. "Take them all!"

The clan chief rolled his eyes and fainted as well.

"Still trying to play dead?" the commander ordered. "Wake them up with cold water and take them all away."

And so, the He family didn't even get a last meal before being dragged out of prison by the Imperial Guards and sent to Caishikou to be beheaded.

He Zhiyu's mouth was removed, and he was forced to kneel in front of the execution platform by Li Cheng and Li Zhan.

"Kneel down!"

Nangong Wu stood in front of him. "He Zhiyu, you murdered my mother to rise to power for wealth and glory. Now, I will make you watch your family members beheaded one by one before your eyes."

He Zhiyu glared at her with resentment, as if he wanted to devour her alive.

At this moment, the Imperial Guards brought in a convoy of prison carts.

"Your Highness, the entire He family has been brought here."

Nangong Wu sat back on the execution platform and ordered, "Bring He Zhiyu's parents, brothers, and children here first and behead them!"

Since Emperor Mingde had given her the order to be executed immediately, she didn't need to wait until noon.

He Zhiyu's parents, brothers, and children, a total of more than thirty people, were all brought before He Zhiyu.

When He's father saw him being held down, he knew why Emperor Mingde wanted to kill them.

"Zhiyu, what happened? You idiot, weren't you in charge of an army of 300,000? How did you get captured by that dog of an emperor?"

One of his younger brothers also complained: "As a great general, how could he be captured? He's utterly useless. I always said we should have rebelled against the Western Yan Kingdom long ago."

Knowing they were doomed, the He family members no longer held back in their conversations.

"Cut him down for me!" Nangong Wu threw down a execution token.

He Zhiyu struggled desperately, his eyes bloodshot, but he could only watch helplessly as the heads of his loved ones fell to the ground one by one before his eyes.

At this moment, He Zhiyu finally felt a trace of regret and resentment.

If he hadn't taken the risk of colluding with the King of Wu, and had instead lived a quiet life as a third-rank general, he wouldn't have become rich and powerful, but at least he could have a stable life.

What he resented was that he commanded an army of 300,000, yet ended up with his entire family being executed. If he had known this would happen, he should have raised an army to rebel against the court. Even if he hadn't succeeded, it would have been better than dying such a humiliating death by beheading and losing the lives of his entire clan.

"Execute again!" Nangong Wu then gave the order.

Next, the He family members would drag one person up and chop them down.

Nangong Wu sat upright on the execution platform, with her father sitting beside her.

She showed no pity for the old and young, because none of the He family members were innocent.

He Zhiyu was promoted by his mother, who raised him from a centurion to a third-rank deputy general and treated him as her most trusted person. Little did she know that he was a treacherous ingrate.

After He Zhiyu conspired with the King of Wu to kill his mother, he thought he could now firmly control the 300,000-strong Zhenyuan Army.

Therefore, in the eyes of others, he was the second Nangong Lan, and his prestige in the court rose. As a result, the He family also rose in status, transforming from an unknown family into a highly sought-after family in the capital.

In the past few years, they used the gold and silver treasures they obtained from He Zhiyu to expand their connections in the court, and to carry out large-scale construction projects, building houses and ancestral halls.

He Zhiyu rose to power by stepping on the corpses of his mother and 50,000 soldiers, while the entire He family comfortably enjoyed the glory that He Zhiyu brought with his military achievements and the wealth and honor that he bought with the lives of his mother and 50,000 soldiers. Then let them go to hell with him!

"Father, we have avenged Mother! But it's not enough."

"Wuwu, if it weren't for you, your mother would have died in vain." Huo Jing's eyes revealed a hint of vicissitude.

"I won't let that King of Wu, or the Emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, get away with it either," Nangong Wu gritted her teeth.

She had never used the weapons in her spatial dimension in her previous life, and this time, she was determined to test just how powerful they were.

Huo Jing was startled. "Wuwu, that's too dangerous! Don't be reckless."

"I know, I won't do anything I'm not sure I can handle." Nangong Wu was afraid of scaring him, so she didn't say anything more about these things.

The last person to be beheaded was He Zhiyu, and the executioner raised his large sword.

"Let me do it." Nangong Wu walked over.

"Yes." The executioner hurriedly handed her the broadsword.

"Mother, your daughter has avenged you!" Nangong Wu looked up at the sky, hoping that the original owner's spirit in heaven could see that her enemy had been killed and could reincarnate in peace.

"Kill him!"

The onlookers shouted angrily.

"Traitor, you deserve to die!"

"Kill him! Kill him!"

Nangong Wu raised her broadsword and slashed down fiercely, blood spurting out.

Looking at the mountain of corpses, Huo Jing felt no sense of satisfaction at having avenged his great enemy.

His enemies were all dead, but his wife would never come back.

Nangong Wu picked up He Zhiyu's head and walked towards Huo Jing, "Father, let's go to Huguo Temple to pay our respects to Mother."

My mother was buried in the imperial mausoleum with a state funeral, to forever guard the emperors of all dynasties, more than 300 miles away from the capital.

Emperor Mingde, mindful of his mother's military achievements, ordered the construction of a memorial hall for her in the Royal Huguo Temple, where her spirit tablet was enshrined and she received daily offerings of incense and Buddhist rituals from eminent monks.

As for the rest of the He family, Nangong Wu left them to Nangong Yi to handle, and then went to Huguo Temple with Huo Jing.

The abbot of the temple had already received the news and led a group of monks out to greet her, and held a high-level Buddhist ceremony for the princess to pray for the soul of the deceased.

The next day.

Because Huo Jing sat on the execution platform yesterday, the whole capital knew that he had come back from the dead and had been rescued by Nangong Wu.

On this day, officials from the court came to visit one after another, and the gate of the Prince's Mansion was bustling with activity.

Huo Jing had always kept a low profile and rarely interacted with court officials.

But now he no longer wanted to keep a low profile, so he accepted all the invitations and sat in the Mingguang Hall to receive the guests one by one.

He wanted to support the Zhenyuan Prince's Mansion for his daughter and his three grandchildren, and he would also participate in court politics in the future.

Emperor Mingde knew he had been saved the day before yesterday and sent Eunuch Hu to the Prince's residence with gifts to visit him.

This afternoon, Nangong Wu entered the palace again.

As soon as the news of the Empress Dowager's plan to hold a flower-viewing banquet spread, Emperor Mingde and Nangong Yi knew what was going on.

Nangong Xun is up to no good.

However, Emperor Mingde now only trusts Nangong Wu. The two of them had a secret conversation in the imperial study, looking at the defense map of the capital, for more than an hour.