mtlumby2d Chapter 1417 If you wanted to die so badly, you should have said so earlier!
Chapter 1417 If you wanted to die so badly, you should have said so earlier!
"The Li family secretly colluded with King Cheng, plotting rebellion and causing the deaths of countless loyal ministers and generals of our Great Qian. You leaked military intelligence and colluded with the barbarians of the northern desert, causing the deaths of countless soldiers guarding the borders of our Great Qian."
"Now, tell me, do you want a quick death?"
The smile on Lin Zhen's face gradually faded, leaving only indifference in his deep eyes.
"Li Zeyu, let me tell you, death is a luxury for you."
Upon hearing this, Li Zeyu's eyes, which had long lost their luster, were instantly filled with boundless fear!
He would rather be torn to pieces than endure that torment of being unable to live or die.
"Your Highness!" he roared with all his might, "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! Please, Your Highness, grant me a quick death!"
"If you had done this earlier, wouldn't it have been better?" Lin Zhen's face once again displayed a harmless smile.
He walked back to the small table, sat down again, picked up his wine glass, and slowly sipped it.
"Go ahead."
“Yes…” Li Zeyu did not dare to hesitate at all and told everything he knew in detail.
How did the Li family of Jiangxi connect with the Prince Cheng's Mansion through marriage?
Over the years, how have they used their power to channel money into the Prince's coffers and install their cronies?
Then there's how they sold the Daqian army's deployment maps and grain transport routes to the people of the northern desert through smuggling trade routes along the border.
He described it in great detail, even remembering the time, place, and contact person for each transaction clearly.
In order to die a quick and painless death, he no longer cared about anything else.
Lin Zhen listened quietly, her expression completely unchanged.
After a long while, Li Zeyu finally finished speaking.
He looked up at Lin Zhen, his cloudy eyes filled with anticipation.
"Your Highness, I have told you everything I know. I beg Your Highness to keep your promise."
"Okay." Lin Zhen nodded, put down his wine glass, and stood up from his seat.
He walked up to Li Zeyu, reached out, and gently patted him on the shoulder.
"What you said is very good, I am very satisfied."
The moment the words fell.
"Click——"
A very faint sound, like bones cracking, rang out.
Lin Zhen snapped Li Zeyu's neck.
His eyes, filled with fear and anticipation, slowly closed, a relieved smile still lingering on his face.
Lin Zhen withdrew his hand, not even glancing at the slowly cooling corpse on the ground.
He turned around and walked out of the cell.
"Someone come here," Lin Zhen said as he walked.
"Your Highness." A guard appeared silently behind him and knelt on one knee.
“Send someone to Jiangxi.”
Lin Zhen's voice echoed in the dark passageway, devoid of any emotion.
"Bring back to me all members of the Li family, from eighty-year-old men to infants in swaddling clothes."
"Remember, I want you alive."
Without hesitation, the guard replied in a deep voice, "Yes!"
Lin Zhen walked out of the Ministry of Justice prison. It was already late at night, and a cold moon hung high in the sky.
He looked up in the direction of the palace, where his beloved woman was.
He could almost see her waiting for him to come back.
The reason he was in such a hurry to get rid of these filthy rats was that he wanted to restore a true peaceful and prosperous world to her as soon as possible.
So that she no longer has to worry about these troublesome things.
He walked towards the palace.
The night was as dark as ink, and more than a dozen dark figures darted out from the backyard of an inconspicuous house in the capital.
They were Lin Zhen's secret guards, the sharpest and most secretive blade in the Great Qian Dynasty.
The leader was a man codenamed "Black Raven." He wore a plain black iron mask, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.
"The destination is Jiangxi. It's the Prince's order; we must arrive within three days." Xuan Ya's voice was like two cold stones rubbing together, devoid of any emotion.
"Yes!" The dozen or so guards behind him answered in unison, their voices low but conveying an unquestionable resolve.
Instead of taking the official road, they chose the most direct route, traversing mountains and valleys, hiding by day and traveling by night.
Lin Zhen's secret guard system had already established secret contact points and supply stations throughout the country.
Wherever they went, there were fast horses and provisions waiting for them.
The sound of horses' hooves, enveloped in thick cloth, echoed dully through the mountains and forests.
As Xuan Ya rode on his horse, his eyes, hidden behind his mask, constantly scanned his surroundings with vigilance.
He remembered what the prince had said to him before he set off.
"Remember, I want you alive."
The sentence was simple, but Xuan Ya heard a killing intent in it that was even stronger than the words "kill without mercy".
Your Highness, this is meant to let the Li family of Jiangxi die slowly in endless despair and fear.
Thinking of this, a glint of excitement flashed in Xuan Ya's cold eyes.
He enjoyed the feeling of having his prey completely under his control.
……
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Jiangxi...
The Li family mansion remained brightly lit, filled with singing and dancing.
As a top-tier aristocratic family that had operated in the Daqian Dynasty for over a century, the Li family's extravagance was unimaginable to ordinary people.
The mansion, covering hundreds of acres, features pavilions, towers, carved beams, and painted rafters, comparable to those of royalty.
There were nearly a thousand servants in the mansion.
At this moment, in the banquet hall in the center of the mansion, a scene of sensual pleasure and decadent music is unfolding.
Li Yuan, the head of the Li family, was an elderly man over fifty years old, slightly overweight, but with shrewd eyes, sitting high in the main seat.
He held two stunningly beautiful courtesans, bought from Jiangnan at great expense, in his arms, one on each side.
His face was flushed with an unnatural redness from drinking.
Below him sat core members of the Li family, as well as local Jiangxi officials closely associated with the Li family.
They were all drunk and behaving inappropriately.
"Master, please rest assured." A local salt and iron official with a beer belly and a shiny face said to Li Yuan with a fawning smile, "Although Murong Ke failed in Wolong Valley, His Majesty and the Prince would never have imagined that we had a backup plan."
“That’s right!” another official chimed in. “In the capital, Grand Tutor Yuan and Minister Wang have already made all the arrangements. As soon as that vixen returns to the capital, impeachments against her will flood her desk like snowflakes.”
"At that time, she's just a woman, facing internal and external troubles, won't she have to obediently hand over power?"
"Hahahaha!"
Their words were met with a burst of unrestrained, wild laughter.
In their eyes, the empress far away in the capital was just a woman who was a little luckier.
The empire of the Great Qian Dynasty still belongs to these aristocratic families and powerful clans.
As Li Yuan listened to the praise from the crowd, a smug smile appeared on his face.
He picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp.