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

"Of course, if you truly wish to die, I will not stop you. I hope that when you reach the afterlife, you will meet your father and all the emperors of the past and properly explain to them how you raised an army to rebel and try to destroy my Nangong family's empire for the sake of the Ming family!"

But before that, I want you to know something. Emperor Mingde slowly walked up to the Empress Dowager.

Upon hearing his words, the Empress Dowager flew into a rage again. "Emperor, you unfilial son! You actually want me to die? You will be punished!"

"My lords, you may all leave now! I have something I wish to discuss with the Empress Dowager." Emperor Mingde gestured for everyone to leave. "Prime Minister, I entrust the affairs of the palace to you."

"As you command!"

The prime minister shook his head helplessly, bowed to several ministers, and took his leave.

The palace servants of Shouning Palace also went out, but two palace matrons supported the Empress Dowager and stood still.

"Didn't you hear His Majesty's words?" Li Cheng looked at the two palace maids, his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

The Empress Dowager was furious when she saw him being so rude to her people. "You dog of a servant! Granny Xi and Granny Di are my people! How dare you yell at them?"

Emperor Mingde's gaze turned cold. "They're just two lowly maids. Drag them out and behead them!"

The two old women were terrified upon hearing this and immediately knelt down, begging for mercy, "Your Majesty, spare our lives..."

They were the Empress Dowager's most trusted people. Emperor Mingde used to respectfully call them "Aunt" whenever he saw them, thinking they were different. Emperor Mingde dared not kill them.

But just as they were thinking this, they heard Emperor Mingde order, "Everyone in Shouning Palace, behead them all. As for their families, throw them all into prison and have them tried by the three judicial departments."

Emperor Mingde knew that the people in Shouning Palace were all sent by the Ming family, and each of them was highly skilled in martial arts.

Granny Xi and Granny Di rolled their eyes and fainted on the spot from fright.

"As you command!"

Li Cheng and a member of the Imperial Guard stepped forward and took the two palace maids away.

Outside the main hall, Li Cheng conveyed His Majesty's decree.

More than thirty palace maids and eunuchs in Shouning Palace were all subdued by the Imperial Guards, and their terrified cries and pleas for mercy rang out.

Without the slightest hesitation, the Imperial Guards swiftly brought their blades down.

Li Cheng stood guard outside the council hall. His hearing was exceptional, and he could hear what they were saying!

The Empress Dowager trembled with rage, "Emperor, you're quite something..."

"Mother, even now, do you think I would let your people live?" Emperor Mingde sneered.

The Empress Dowager felt uneasy.

This son has repeatedly disobeyed his mother and has long since escaped her control; he might actually kill her.

"Don't worry, you are my birth mother. I won't kill you. Otherwise, I would have killed you the year the crown prince died." Emperor Mingde looked at his birth mother, his eyes filled with hatred.

When he mentioned the crown prince who died young, the Empress Dowager's expression changed. "What do you mean by that?"

"The literal meaning." Emperor Mingde took two more steps closer to her, his gaze piercingly fixed on her eyes. "Mother, do you know why I hate the Ming family so much and why I'm determined to kill them?"

"As expected, it was you who ruined the Ming family!" The Empress Dowager pointed her finger at his nose, trembling with rage, when she heard him admit it himself.

"You wretched thing! The Ming family is your maternal family, your backer. If it weren't for the Ming family paving the way for your future, could you have defeated the former crown prince and those vassal kings, and sat on this dragon throne?"

"Don't put on such high-sounding words. You know better than anyone why the Ming family put me on the throne." Emperor Mingde's face was full of disdain.

"In order to control the court and preserve the Ming family's wealth and glory forever, you naturally need a puppet emperor."

"Just because my crown prince's mother wasn't from your Ming family, you cruelly murdered him? He wasn't even ten years old that year, so young, how could you be so heartless as to poison him?"

"Don't make false accusations!" A hint of panic flashed in the Empress Dowager's eyes. She abruptly took two steps back, shaking her head and arguing, "The Crown Prince is also my own grandson. How could I harm him?"

"Mother, even now you still refuse to admit it. Do you think it's meaningful?" Emperor Mingde looked into her eyes, which were dark and deep, like two ancient wells or abysses, unfathomable, churning with intense hatred.

"You killed the Ming family because you suspected that I was the one who harmed the Crown Prince?" The Empress Dowager, like an enraged mother beast, rushed forward and punched Emperor Mingde in the chest.

"You heartless bastard, how could you do that? Those were my maternal family! How dare you kill them? You are just like your father, heartless and ruthless!"

"Don't they deserve to die?" Emperor Mingde suddenly pushed her away.

The Empress Dowager was pushed back two steps by him, lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"You..." The Empress Dowager felt a surge of anger and blood rush to her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of blood.

Emperor Mingde showed no pity whatsoever as he crouched down and stared intently into her eyes.

"Mother, I have thoroughly investigated the matter of the Crown Prince's drowning in the lake. I swore at the time that the entire Ming family would be buried with my son."

"You're talking nonsense! You're a complete madman!" The Empress Dowager looked at her son and suddenly realized he was a complete stranger.

Emperor Mingde's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Why is Mother so agitated? Doesn't she want to know what I've found out?"

"You're talking nonsense. I didn't do anything," the Empress Dowager said, shaking her head in denial.

"Do you know? That night, the Empress fainted, and I held the Crown Prince's cold body, sitting up all night without closing my eyes."

I had the imperial physician examine the Crown Prince, and his blood contained deadly poison. He did not drown, but was poisoned.

After the Crown Prince's burial, I openly dismissed everyone in the Eastern Palace, but secretly arrested and interrogated them, subjected them to severe torture, and also arrested their families.

Finally, the Crown Prince's wet nurse and head maid confessed everything. Those two lowly maids had long been bribed by you, and they were putting slow-acting poison in the Crown Prince's food every day.

You gave them that poison. The Ming family found it; they bought it from the people of the Northern Region. There's no antidote! Even if it had been discovered earlier, the Crown Prince would have certainly died!

You and Ming Mengqing bribed the imperial physicians to conceal from me the fact that the Crown Prince was poisoned. Until the morning of the day the Crown Prince died from the poison, you threw his body into the lake to cover up the truth of his death.

You left him submerged in the water for a whole day before having someone deliberately 'discover' his body, creating the illusion that he drowned.

Upon hearing the news, you rushed over without allowing anyone to investigate the cause, and immediately concluded that the Crown Prince had drowned because he was playing.

You know what? Your attempt to cover up the truth made it hard not to be suspicious.

"My crown prince, of pure character and exceptionally intelligent from a young age, was the future emperor on whom I placed great hopes, and yet you have cruelly murdered him!" Emperor Mingde's last words were shouted out.