Chapter 105: Requesting Yan Ze to Return to the Capital

After finishing writing, Yan Yu entered the Imperial Study.

Yan Yu had bathed, so he did not look as disheveled as he had in the Tianlao.

He stepped forward, step by step, and fed a Medicinal Pill into the Emperor's mouth.

Yan Yu said softly, "Father, I didn't want this either."

"You forced my hand. If I were still the Crown Prince, I certainly would not have taken action."

Not long after, the Emperor passed away.

Everyone knew that the Duke of Rong had led a troop into the palace that night, and the next morning, the Emperor passed away.

The following day, Yan Yu ascended the throne.

Several Censors from the Censorate immediately said, "Your position was not obtained righteously; the late Emperor was poisoned to death by you!"

Yan Yu sneered, "That works out perfectly; you can accompany the late Emperor in death."

Having said that, two men took him away and locked him in the Tianlao.

Yan Yu sat on the Dragon Throne wearing the Dragon Robe, looking at the officials in the Court, and sneered.

These people had all impeached him in the past; except for the Duke of Rong's faction, everyone else had to die.

However, he still held back.

One by one, he would kill them slowly.

Yan Yu continued with a cold face: "Minister of Revenue, Lin Qing, enter the Water Prison, to be beheaded after autumn."

"Vice Minister of Revenue Zhang Zheng, enter the Tianlao, to be beheaded after autumn."

"Censorate, Xu Taihe, Jiang Bai, enter the Tianlao, to be beheaded after autumn."

"..."

These were the people who had advised the late Emperor to depose him when he was still the Crown Prince; these few had jumped the highest.

But dying immediately was too merciful for them; it would be best if they suffered for a few more months.

With Yan Yu causing such a scene for a day, the atmosphere in the Court became even more tense.

The late Emperor had already been absurd enough, but now an even more absurd one had arrived.

The late Emperor only exiled people, but Yan Yu killed them directly.

What was even more terrifying was that Yan Yu did not even care how history books would be written; he only wanted to satisfy himself.

In other words, with the Daxia dynasty handed over to Yan Yu, everyone would be finished sooner or later.

The situation in the Court was chaotic, and Yan Ze, who was far away in Lingnan, was also shocked.

Yan Ze received many urgent letters, receiving several in a single day.

Upon reading them, the meaning was much the same; they basically all said that Yan Yu had killed his father to take the throne, but he was extremely cruel, and since a group of officials had already been exiled, now that Yan Yu had taken the throne, he wanted to kill those officials directly.

Yan Ze said to Yan Ning and Ji Lan, "Good heavens, Yan Yu is too absurd. He beheads anyone who says a word of opposition; the Daxia dynasty is finished."

Yan Ning pulled out one of the letters: "Dad, they want you to go back and be the Emperor."

Yan Ze's tiger-like body shook, "No, no, no, rebelling is fine, but being the Emperor is out of the question."

"If there's no other choice, then I'll have to accept my fate. Isn't Yan Qing still alive? He would be a good Emperor. Although his temperament is a bit indecisive, holding onto the Daxia dynasty shouldn't be a problem."

Yan Ning thought that was true, "Then shall we fight our way back to the Capital? With General Zheng plus the fifty thousand troops about to arrive, it feels like we could win them over and fight back."

Ji Lan asked, "And what if you can't win them over?"

"Are you going to kill them?"

Yan Ning shook her head: "Mom, we can't kill them. That's fifty thousand lives. See if they are willing to surrender; if that doesn't work, we'll tie them up. We can turn the Explosive Packages into Smoke Bombs and add some medicine that makes people drowsy inside."

Yan Ze said with a smile, "Ningning has good ideas after all. This method is feasible. Shall we go tell General Zheng now?"

Ji Lan: "You two go; I'll take inventory of things. We'll be leaving in a few days."

Yan Ze and Yan Ning, father and daughter, were preparing to go to the riverside together when they received a few more letters. The content was much the same, except a few had Silver Notes tucked inside, including large-denomination Silver Notes of five thousand taels.

It was just a pity that the letters were all anonymous, and the handwriting could not be identified to see who had sent them.

With so many messengers coming and going, Zheng Beimu had an intuition that something was wrong.

So when he saw Yan Ning and her father coming over, he hurriedly asked, "Has something major happened?"

Yan Ning asked, "Uncle Zheng, why don't you come over? I want to discuss it with my dad, Uncle Xiao, and Uncle Xie."

"Don't worry, they won't take action."

Zheng Beimu's expression became even more solemn; not long after, he agreed.

The five of them arrived at Yan Ze's study together.

Yan Ning showed them the letters, handing one to each person.

The one with the biggest reaction was Zheng Beimu.

He slammed the table and stood up, "This beast, is he fit to be the Emperor?"

Zheng Beimu took a few deep breaths, and only after a while did he say, "How about we fight our way back? I'm quite familiar with General Zhou, Zhou Jingchu, who is about to arrive. Given his personality, he will definitely join."

Xie Luyan, who loved watching the chaos, said, "Ah, let's hurry up and go; don't delay the time."

Yan Ze pondered for a moment: "Alright, let's wait two more days. When General Zhou arrives, we will go together."

Yan Ze asked, "How did you all come? Are there ships if you take the water route?"

General Zheng said, "We came by boat, but the movement was too large..."

Yan Ning pointed at the map: "Dad, we will follow the coastline, go to Qing River Mouth, sail upstream, and first reach Wangyou Zhen."

Xiao Chengtian asked, "Why go there?"

Yan Ning said, "If that dog Yan Yu knows that General Zhou and General Zheng have joined forces to attack the Capital, he will definitely try to rescue their families."

"When the time comes, Zhuo Heng and I will go over, get the people out first, and only after they are settled can we send out the troops."

General Zheng slapped his forehead: "Look at me, I forgot about the families for a moment."

Yan Ze first went to buy a ship that could hold one hundred thousand people, spending twenty thousand taels of silver.

They waited in the back for General Zhou.

Yan Ning, meanwhile, took Zhuo Heng and the others to rescue the people first.

At first Yan Ze did not agree, but once he saw the string of Jade Pendants hanging from Yan Ning's waist that could ensure safety, he finally decided to let her go ahead.

Zheng Beimu also gave Yan Ning a Jade Pendant as a token.

Yan Ning thus took Zhuo Heng and fifty other guards with her to the Capital, each person carrying an Explosive Package.

Yan Ning also prepared a few Smoke Bombs.

Traveling by water for about ten days, Yan Ning finally neared the Capital.

She changed into a maid's clothes, added a few moles to her face, and smeared a layer of ash over it.

Yan Ning only took ten people inside, all of whom were disguised.

She went to the Zhou residence first, and upon arriving, she did not notice anyone watching; perhaps it was because Yan Yu had only been Emperor for a few days and had been busy with executions, so he had not yet paid attention to the Zhou and Zheng families.

Yan Ning handed the Jade Pendant to a servant, and soon someone led Yan Ning inside.

The first to come out to greet her was the old matriarch of the Zheng family.

At this moment, her eyes were filled with tears, "Beimu, is he, is he still alright?"

Yan Ning did not know that the Jade Pendant was the Zheng family's Heirloom and must never be used lightly; now that Zheng Beimu had used it as a token, the old matriarch's first reaction was that he was not doing well.

Yan Ning hurriedly said, "Please rest assured, he is fine; it is just that General Zheng could not find a suitable token at the moment."

Yan Ning explained the whole story from beginning to end, and the Zheng family members listened in a daze.

"From now on, find a way to slip out, disguised as servants or maids, or take a carriage and pretend to go to the temple to pray for blessings."