The Empress remarried, and I retaliated by wiping out the court.

Zhong Jinchen was utterly devastated.

He never expected that the Xiao and Ma families, who were originally his greatest support, would be completely cut off from him in the blink of an eye because of Ye Wudao's words.

Seeing the menacing-looking guards from the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guards around him, he knew that Ye Wudao was definitely not just talking.

He immediately struck the ground with his head, his head hitting the ground with a thunderous sound:

"Your Majesty, please have mercy and spare the lives of my entire Zhong family! Please, Your Majesty, have mercy!"

Upon seeing this, Zhong Jinchen's grandson immediately stood up, pointed at Ye Wudao, and said:

"Father, why are you kowtowing to this good-for-nothing? Didn't you say he wouldn't last long as a puppet emperor? Why are we afraid of him? My uncle works in the Ministry of Justice; at worst, we can just imprison him!"

Zhong Jinchen was extremely shocked and furious when he heard his son speak up.

"Snapped!"

He slapped his son hard, sending him flying a meter away, and cursed venomously, "Shut up! Are you trying to ruin me? How could I have given birth to such a worthless wretch!"

"My son!"

The beautiful woman beside him helped the boy up: "Zhong Jinchen, you incompetent man, all you know how to do is take your anger out on your own child! Look how badly you've hurt Bao'er... You useless piece of trash!"

"Okay, okay!"

Ye Wudao clapped his hands in praise: "Originally, I was reluctant to throw you all into the imperial prison, after all, I am not one to kill innocent people indiscriminately. But after seeing this scene just now, I suddenly feel that throwing you into the imperial prison would be too lenient..."

"Someone come here!"

"The entire Zhong family has deceived the emperor, defied imperial decrees, and openly insulted the Son of Heaven, showing utter contempt for imperial authority. Their crime is compounded!"

"By imperial decree, all of the Zhong family's assets are to be confiscated!"

"The entire Zhong family, including all three generations, shall be beheaded and their heads displayed to the public!"

With Ye Wudao's command, the Zhong family was finished!

Zhong Jinchen felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and nearly fainted.

But he couldn't faint. He lunged forward, trying to beg for mercy, but was stopped by the Eastern Depot guards who held a knife to his neck.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you can't do this! My Zhong family is willing to offer a thousand shi of grain to give those lowly people something to eat, as long as you spare my family..."

Ye Wudao had originally intended to leave, but after hearing Zhong Jinchen's words, he turned back:

"Oh? Commoners? You have the nerve to call them commoners? Then what are you?"

"Your Zhong family, as a prestigious clan, show no concern for the country and instead profit from the national crisis. Shandong is suffering from a severe drought, and famine is rampant in other provinces. Countless victims are resorting to cannibalism, and what are you doing? Relying on your measly wealth, you're taking advantage of the situation to inflate rice prices and treat the people like livestock?"

"Today, I will make you one of those lowly people you speak of, and let you taste what it's like!"

Ye Wudao's words brought tears to the eyes of the onlookers.

Yes.

The powerful families, relying on their wealth and resources, treated them like livestock!

An old man spent 300 coins to buy a pound of rice, but the Zhong family only gave him half a pound of moldy, stale rice. The old man went to the yamen to appeal his case, but the Zhong family sent thugs to beat him to death in front of the county yamen.

Such injustices are numerous and varied.

Ye Wudao's words brought tears to the eyes of many ordinary people.

"Your Majesty is benevolent; Your Majesty truly cares for the people!"

At first, only a handful of people knelt down in the crowd.

But then, more and more people knelt down, their eyes filled with tears, all shouting "Long live!" with excitement.

Seeing the surrounding crowd's outrage, Zhong Jinchen's face turned ashen, and his heart sank forever...

Cao Ji snorted coldly: "Men, take him away!"

Ye Wudao turned and walked towards the next house.

Wherever he went, the people spontaneously made way for him, their eyes showing less fear and more respect!

Xiao Luan and Ma Wanlan boarded the carriage with grim expressions.

Ma Wanlan said, "Why do I feel like Ye Wudao is using us as pawns?"

Xiao Luan rolled her eyes at him: "Be more confident, remove the word 'seems'!"

"...Should we still follow?"

"Follow me!" Xiao Luan said through gritted teeth. "The Zhong family is a merchant family, but the Fan, Jiang, and Cui families have connections in the court!"

If Ye Wudao dares to touch them, he will surely be attacked by the masses in the court tomorrow!

…………

Cao Ji stood beside the Nine Dragons Carriage and said in a low voice:

"Your Majesty, these powerful families are wealthy, and many officials in the court have benefited from their influence. Your Majesty should be cautious."

Through their time together, Cao Ji also learned that Ye Wudao was the kind of person who would kill someone at the slightest provocation.

Killing one or two people is one thing, but killing a large group of people is another.

If the Zhong family is destroyed today, the court officials will surely rebel tomorrow. If this continues, Your Majesty will be in grave danger!

Ye Wudao said calmly, "Do you think I killed the wrong person?"

"No, that's not what I meant," Cao Ji said with a wry smile.

"I know your considerations..." Ye Wudao said in a deep voice, "but in this life, all we want is for our thoughts to be clear."

"I dislike him, and he has broken the law, so I'll kill him. If I don't even dare to kill corrupt merchants and officials, what kind of emperor am I?"

Cao Ji smiled wryly and said, "But after today, the imperial study will probably be filled with memorials impeaching His Majesty."

Ye Wudao scoffed, "So what? They write a letter, I throw one away. If they dare to reach out, I'll cut off their hand. If they dare to stick their necks out, I'll behead them. In the end, naturally no one will dare to speak out!"

Cao Ji was so startled by the murderous words that he shuddered violently.

He stared blankly at Ye Wudao's carriage, feeling that Ye Wudao would only have two possible endings:

Either he would carve out a bright future for himself and leave behind four words in history books: "The Holy Ruler of the Restoration".

Either he would be killed in a coup, becoming a tyrannical ruler in the eyes of the world, and be infamous for eternity!

…………

The Zhong family's fate has already spread throughout Yujing City.

Upon learning that Ye Wudao had unleashed a massacre, the entire Fan family put aside their ulterior motives and waited respectfully outside the gate.

Fan Huaiming, the head of the Fan family, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "This jinx is here, Boren, are you really confident?"

Fan Bolun patted his chest confidently: "Uncle, don't worry, I am the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and I know the Great Yan Code by heart. That Ye Wudao wants to find something to hold against the Fan family? Dream on!"

Fan Huaiming countered, "What if he's unreasonable?"

"Hmph!" Van Buren sneered, his eyes filled with disdain. "Even the emperor is subject to the law! If he dares to break the law, I dare to bring the Dali Temple to punish him!"

"You did it flawlessly, that's excellent!"

Before they could finish speaking, Ye Wudao's Nine Dragon Chariot had already arrived.

Fan Huaiming bowed respectfully: "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Fan Bolun symbolically cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Your humble servant, Fan Bolun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, pays his respects to Your Majesty!"

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

Ye Wudao glanced coldly at Fan Huaiming: "Weren't you sick? Why are you here all of a sudden?"

Cao Ji, who was standing to the side, received a signal from Ye Wudao and shouted:

"How dare you! You have the audacity to deceive the emperor! Guards, seize him!"

Van Buren: "???"

Fan Huaiming: "???"

No.

Who's a good person who goes all out when they meet?

Couldn't you at least give me a starting gesture to prepare?