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

By this time, it was already broad daylight. Every household in the imperial city had closed their doors and windows, and there wasn't a single commoner in sight on the streets.

Bei Chenyan personally led the Imperial Guards to the Wan family, and tens of thousands of people surrounded the Wan residence.

Nangong Wu, Qi Ziyang, and Zhang Qing also went along.

A member of the Imperial City Guard who had been secretly monitoring the Wan family reported, "Your Highness, since the rebels began besieging the Imperial City, not a single member of the Wan family has left their home."

"It's not important," Bei Chenyan thought with a cold laugh.

The Wan family members neither attended court nor went out, pretending that nothing concerned them, but were simply waiting to see him and King Jing fight like the snipe and the clam.

"Has the secret passage in their house been blocked?"

"Your Highness, it's blocked!" Zhang Qing replied. "Last night, I personally went down into the secret passage and used explosives to destroy the secret passage leading from the Wan family to the outside of the city. Not a single member of the Wan family can escape."

"Very good." Bei Chenyan raised his hand. "Open the door!"

"Yes." Wei Yang leaped over the wall of the Wan family's courtyard.

There were people watching behind the Wan family's gate. When they saw someone fly in, they were so frightened that they turned around and ran away.

Wei Yang ignored them and opened the Wan family's gate first.

Bei Chenyan walked in, looked around the room, and ordered, "Commander Deng, count the number of people and bring them up."

"Your humble servant obeys!" Commander Deng responded and led the Imperial Guards inside.

Soon, terrified cries could be heard throughout the entire Wan residence.

Wei Yang had two grand master chairs brought out for Bei Chenyan and Nangong Wu to sit down.

About 15 minutes later, Commander Deng hurriedly returned to report:

"Your Highness, all the direct descendants of the Wan family have disappeared. I found a secret passage in the Wan family's study, and it is highly likely that the Wan family escaped through this passage."

"None of them will escape!" Bei Chenyan said calmly. "Take your men down and bring the entire Wan family up!"

Upon hearing this, Commander Deng immediately realized that the Crown Prince had known about the secret passage all along.

"Your humble servant obeys!"

Nearly a thousand members of the Wan family were successively led by the Imperial Guards to the front yard to kneel down and await their fate.

The woman and the child were so frightened that they cried and huddled together.

"Stop crying! If you cry again, we'll rip out your tongues." The Imperial Guards drew their swords.

Seeing the fierce and menacing appearance of the Imperial Guards, they were too frightened to even cry.

Bei Chenyan glanced at them and ordered, "All the servants of the Wan family, except for the stewards, shall be sent to be sold off."

Those in charge are all henchmen of the Wan family, and they have done many evil deeds on behalf of the Wan family. They cannot be let off lightly.

"Yes!" The Imperial Guards immediately verified the identities of each person.

The servants of the Wan family were all relieved to hear that they would be sold off.

Judging from what had happened recently, they knew that the Wan family had been rejected by the royal family and was doomed. Now the Crown Prince had brought so many imperial guards in, and it seemed that they were here to confiscate the property. They might even end up in prison or be exiled.

Being sold off simply meant they would be served by a different master, which had no impact on them whatsoever.

"Your Highness, spare my life!" The Wan family patriarch crawled on his knees in front of Bei Chenyan and kowtowed three times.

"Please, for the sake of Her Majesty the Empress, spare us! We are willing to hand over all our possessions, as long as we live, we can return to our ancestral home and spend the rest of our lives here..."

"For the sake of Her Majesty the Empress?" Bei Chenyan bent down to look at him. "Which Empress?"

"..." The clan leader was stunned. He looked up and met his deep, cold eyes, and his body trembled involuntarily.

"Are you talking about that deposed empress who's been locked up in the cold palace?" Bei Chenyan asked again.

The clan chief swallowed hard, forcing a smile, and replied, "Your Highness, the Empress... although the deposed Empress made a mistake, she was still the one who gave birth to you. Considering that you also have the blood of the Wan family flowing in your veins..."

"Shut up!" Bei Chenyan's voice was colder than ever before. "Old man, as the patriarch of the Wan family, don't tell me you don't know what Wan Sheng and his son did to me and my mother!"

"Let me tell you, if anything happens to my mother, I, the Crown Prince, will make your entire family, nine generations of your clan, pay for her death!"

"What...what did you say...?" The Wan family patriarch was so shocked that he took a step back.

Could it be that even the Crown Prince knows?

Bei Chenyan was too lazy to talk to him anymore and leaned back.

Wei Yang immediately stepped forward, picked up the Wan family patriarch, and threw him back into the crowd. "Behave yourselves, or you'll all lose your heads."

The crown prince didn't even give the clan leader any face, so the rest of the Wan family dared not speak up.

Time passed slowly, and after nearly 45 minutes, Wan Guozhang and his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons were brought out.

"Kneel down!"

These people were brought before Bei Chenyan one by one and made to kneel down!

Wan Sheng was disheveled and looked utterly dejected, no longer possessing the air of a pampered father-in-law.

His sons also looked dejected.

The collapse of their secret passage leading out of the city was clearly deliberate, and now that the Crown Prince has brought them back, things are certainly not going to get better.

"Earl An, you have quite the refined taste, actually sneaking into the tunnels. Are you planning to leave the city to meet up with Bei Chenzhan?" Bei Chenyan mocked.

Upon hearing Bei Chenyan's words, Wan Sheng was immediately enraged: "Crown Prince, no matter what, I am your maternal grandfather. Without the Wan family's financial and material support, you wouldn't have been able to sit on the throne. We only made a small mistake, and you want to discard the Wan family like a used millstone? If the Wan family no longer helps you stabilize the court, let's see how long you can stay on the throne..."

"Insolence!" Wei Yang's hand rested on the hilt of his sword. "How dare you be disrespectful to His Highness the Crown Prince? Do you have a death wish?"

Bei Chenyan raised his hand to dismiss him. "Discarding a donkey after it has served its purpose? Wan Sheng, do you think your Wan family is worthy of being compared to a donkey?"

Wan Sheng's face flushed red. "Bei Chen Yan, what exactly do you want by bringing so many people into my Wan family?"

"Eunuch Yu, announce the decree!" Bei Chenyan said.

"Yes!" Eunuch Yu walked up to the Wan family, opened the imperial edict in his robes, and read aloud: "By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees:

The stability of the nation depends on its fundamental principles. All those who receive the emperor's bounty should be loyal to the country... The Earl of Yuan'an, Wan Wenting, had a father, Wan Sheng, who received great favors from the court but instead of repaying them, harbored rebellious intentions. He secretly made dragon robes, forged the imperial seal, and colluded with the traitor Bei Chenzhan to raise an army in rebellion, intending to destroy the 600-year-old foundation of his ancestors... His actions defied the principles of Heaven and Earth, and should be punished by the extermination of his entire clan..."

"What...extermination of nine generations of relatives..." Wan Sheng pointed at Bei Chen Yan, "How dare you..." Unable to bear it any longer, his vision went black and he collapsed to the ground.

"Father!" Wan Wenting picked up Wan Sheng.

Wan Sheng's youngest son argued, "Your Highness! We have not colluded with the enemy or committed treason, nor have we privately made or forged the imperial seal. Someone must be slandering our Wan family!"

"Slander?" Bei Chenyan sneered. "Bring all the items up here and let them have a good look at them."