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

In an instant.

A large number of people knelt down in the entire imperial study.

The ministers of the six ministries—the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Works—all prostrated themselves on the ground.

Vice Ministers, Directors, Assistant Directors, Ministers of the Court of Judicial Review, Censors of the Censorate... all the important officials of the court resigned collectively!

They weren't resigning; they were telling Ye Wudao that the court could do without an emperor, but it couldn't do without them.

Take a simple example.

The Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the promotion, evaluation, appointment and removal of officials throughout the country. Without the Ministry of Personnel, if a prefect of a prefecture dies, there will be no one to fill the vacancy.

The Ministry of Revenue was in charge of the nation's money, grain, taxes, and disaster relief. Without the Ministry of Revenue, there would be no one to allocate grain to the granaries of the various prefectures, and no one to deposit it into the national treasury.

The Ministry of Justice is in charge of all criminal cases in the country. Without the Ministry of Justice, countless cases would pile up and prisons would be overcrowded.

And then there's the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Rites... If all six ministries were to cease operations, the entire country would descend into chaos within half a month!

Li Yanran, standing to the side, was so nervous that her palms were sweating!

Grandpa went too far!

They've all been dismissed from their posts, so what will happen to Ye Wudao? Should we leave him as a commander without any troops?

Looking at the officials kneeling on the ground, Li Yanran even wanted to speak up in defense of Ye Wudao, but seeing her grandfather's signaling look, she forcefully suppressed the impulse.

Among the kneeling officials, Zhang Shouzhi lowered his head, but a cold smile slowly crept onto his lips.

Ye Wudao, what good is your power? Governing the world is never about killing people!

How many people can you kill? Can you possibly kill the entire court of civil and military officials?

Without us, your imperial edicts will go unexecuted, your policies will go unimplemented, and your empire... will be utterly ruined!

Today, I'll see how you'll end this!

Everyone, including Li Juzheng, thought that Ye Wudao must be in a lot of trouble right now.

They were even thinking about how to refuse Ye Wudao when he came to ask them for help.

We must reject Ye Wudao!

We'll teach this kid a lesson!

however--

"Hahaha!"

"Hahahahaha..."

Ye Wudao suddenly looked up and laughed loudly. He was not angry at all, but laughed very happily, as if he had heard the happiest thing in the world.

"Resign from office? Are you serious?"

Ye Wudao smiled with tears welling in his eyes.

Zhang Shouzhi was momentarily bewildered, but forced himself to say, "Yes! Your Majesty, please do not try to persuade me any further. My mind is made up!"

Ye Wudao looked at the others: "Is that what you all think too?"

Li Juzheng, Wu Qingxun, Sun Bofu, and others all bowed in agreement, their eyes resolute: "Yes! Please grant us permission to resign, Your Majesty!"

Ye Wudao clutched his chest, looking heartbroken: "Really? You'll regret this!"

Zhang Shouzhi sneered inwardly: Regret? You're the one who should be regretting it.

He cupped his hands and said, "Your humble servant will never regret it!"

The others also firmly stated, "No regrets!"

After speaking, Zhang Shouzhi raised his head, calmly wanting to appreciate Ye Wudao's astonished expression.

But... there isn't one?

Zhang Shouzhi frowned, carefully observing Ye Wudao's face.

But when Ye Wudao heard the news that everyone wanted to resign, he was not angry at all. In fact, he couldn't help but smile and almost burst out laughing.

Ye Wudao thought to himself: I thought you wanted to threaten me? Turns out you've come to give me a treat!

That's it?

I was scared for three seconds, and this is all you've got?

I can easily promote a group of people to replace you. Three-legged toads are hard to find, but two-legged officials are everywhere.

Now that the court positions are filled by nine powerful ministers, this is a good opportunity to promote one's own people and take the chance to remove the enemy!

This is hardly a punishment for him.

This is clearly a reward for him!

"Cao Ji! Hurry, hurry, hurry..."

Ye Wudao was overjoyed. As if afraid that everyone would change their minds, he immediately ordered Cao Ji to prepare the paper contracts and distribute them to all the officials present.

Although Cao Ji was completely confused, he immediately accepted the order.

"This old servant obeys the decree!"

Before long, contracts were drafted according to Ye Wudao's instructions and distributed to the officials.

"A Letter of Resignation Without Regret!"

The entire court of officials: "???"

Zhang Shouzhi's eyelids twitched violently.

"Your Majesty, what is the meaning of this?"

Ye Wudao said solemnly, "You are all pillars of the nation. Since you would rather resign your posts than serve me, how can I betray your sincerity?"

"So, sign your name. Once you have signed, I will grant your request immediately."

Zhang Shouzhi found the contract to be quite long and continued reading.

The next moment, he was completely stunned.

It was clearly written above:

[Your subject, [name], voluntarily resigns from his official post and returns to his hometown. He will never again serve in the court, will never accept any official position, and will never interfere in state affairs in any capacity. What I have said today comes from my heart, and I will never go back on my word!]

As if fearing they might change their minds, a long string of solemn oaths was added below:

If what I have said today is false, and I later regret it and return to office, I am willing to be struck by lightning, have my children born without eyes, have my wife run off with another man, have my daughter sold into a brothel; have my ancestral graves desecrated, and have my incense burned out; have all my achievements in this life destroyed, have my corpse whipped after death, and have it devoured by wild dogs...

After reading the oath above, Zhang Shouzhi was completely distraught.

Is this kind of oath... something a human could come up with?

All the officials were stunned. They had only intended to force Ye Wudao to resign, but who would have thought that he would actually do it for real!

Zhang Shouzhi's face turned pale and then red.

"Your Majesty, isn't this... a bit too much?"

Ye Wudao looked surprised. "Pass? Didn't Minister Zhang just say he would never regret it? If he will never regret it, what's the harm in just signing his name?"

His gaze slowly swept over the crowd, and his voice suddenly turned cold:

"Or is it that... your so-called resignations are merely a pretext to deceive the emperor?"

Everyone's expression changed drastically.

Ye Wudao continued with a smile:

"I believe that you are all scholars who have studied the classics. A gentleman's word is as good as his bond. You would not resign from your posts today and then shamelessly return to serve tomorrow, would you? Would that be breaking your promise? Would that make you a laughingstock among the scholars of the world?"

"Come, sign it! Once you've signed, I'll grant your permission immediately!"

The entire hall fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone looked at each other, and no one was willing to be the first to sign.

It's hard to ride a tiger.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Shouzhi and Wu Qingxun became anxious.

Ye Wudao will definitely regret it and come begging to them later. If they back down now, they will probably never be able to hold their heads up in front of Ye Wudao again.

With a determined look, Zhang Shouzhi took the lead, picked up his pen, and wrote his name in a flourish.

Seeing this, the rest of the Regent's faction could only grit their teeth and sign one after another.

Zhang Shouzhi looked at Li Juzheng: "Chief Minister Li, what about you?"

Li Juzheng gave his granddaughter Li Yanran a wink, then clutched his chest and collapsed...

Li Yanran was shocked: "Grandpa! Grandpa, what's wrong? Quickly, call the imperial physician..."

Chaos broke out at the scene, but Ye Wudao didn't tolerate it. He forced them to sign the contracts and then ordered Cao Ji to put them away—a thick stack of them.

The more he looked, the more satisfied he became, his smile becoming even wider than AK's.

"Good! Very good! You are all men of your word!"

"Cao Ji, put all of these into the inner treasury and keep them safe. If anyone goes back on their word in the future, just take out the contract and let the whole world see it."

After saying that, Ye Wudao waved his sleeve and turned to leave in high spirits.

Only the entire court of civil and military officials remained standing there, each with a stiff expression and a pale face.

Zuo Zongming murmured, "How could this be? Isn't His Majesty angry?"

Zhang Shouzhi forced a smile: "Ye Wudao is just putting on a brave face; he'll come begging to us sooner or later!"

"Shandong is suffering from a severe drought, and disaster relief is of utmost urgency. Ye Wudao can't wait any longer!"

Wu Qingxun smiled confidently, "In my opinion, it won't be long before Ye Wudao comes running back, begging us to go back!"

Zhang Shouzhi's eyes lit up: "Absolutely! Absolutely! Without the Ministry of Revenue, the national treasury can't release its silver, local granaries can't be opened, prefectural officials dare not act, and disaster victims won't receive a single grain of food... The people of Shandong can only wait to die!"

"Within three days, public resentment will boil over in Shandong, and five days later, Ye Wudao will personally come to invite us back to court!"

"Hahaha!"

Everyone burst into laughter, their hearts finally at ease...