Chapter 120: The person is about to die, the Son of Heaven, that's all!

【Fengtian Hall!】

【"Lu Chen, why do you want to kill Chen Sanzhong!"】

【The Empress Dowager's words were just spoken.】

【Zhou Zhen laughed on the steps:】

【"A eunuch servant, if he dies, he dies."】

【"What are you in a hurry for? I didn't see the Empress Dowager so anxious when the late emperor died

【As soon as these words were spoken!】

【A look of anger finally appeared on the Empress Dowager's previously calm face.】

【"Second Brother, Chen Sanzhong has always treated you extremely well. Have you forgotten that when he learned you had ascended the throne, he was so worried for your safety that he stood guard outside your room for an entire night?"】

【"After you became Emperor, if not for his Eastern Depot helping you eliminate so many hidden disasters, could you have sat securely on the throne?"】

【"If you hadn't begged him, would he have gone to ambush Lu Chen?"】

【After hearing this, Zhou Zhen interrupted:】

【"Isn't that what a slave is supposed to do?"】

【"A mere slave, calling himself the Nine-Thousand-Year-Old, with power that shakes the heavens—even I, the Son of Heaven, have to fear him by three parts. By what right! You don't know how much I hate him."】

【"A eunuch, a mere castrated man—do you know what kind of look he gives me? He treats me like his own offspring."】

【"What! Does he want to be my, Zhou Zhen's, grandfather, or is the Empress Dowager of Great Qing looking to remarry!"】

【"A dog slave, he doesn't deserve it!"】

【The Empress Dowager trembled with rage; she never expected that the grandson she had raised with her own hands would utter such disrespectful words.】

【A trace of sorrow flashed in her eyes, but it was mostly disappointment and heartache toward Zhou Zhen.】

【"Zhou Zhen, what... are you saying!"】

【Zhou Zhen was at the end of his rope and seemed to fear nothing anymore.】

【"What, the truth is just as it is. Can't the affairs of the world be spoken of? Can the Empress Dowager kill her own grandson for the sake of a eunuch, an outsider?"】

【Zhou Zhen recounted his plan: "I originally intended to use Lu Chen's hand to eliminate Chen Sanzhong, and then use the Jin Wuwei to wipe them both out."】

【"But Xie Chunan ruined my grand plan; he forged the imperial edict and the Golden Arrow, and Lu Chen didn't die!"】

【Hearing this, Zhou Cheng sneered: "Second Brother, you are truly vicious. You wanted to eliminate the Lu Shaobao and Chen Sanzhong, and you also wanted to eliminate the Empress Dowager."】

【"What's even more terrifying is that you called in the border defense troops and wanted to capture Xie Chunan to wipe out the Jiangnan noble families in one fell swoop."】

【"A strategy of killing three birds with one stone—it really is brilliant."】

【"What a pity!"】

【"Xie Chunan knew your intentions long ago. You wanted to use others as chess pieces, Second Brother, but you have to have the ability to do so."】

【Zhou Cheng shook his head and said: "You are nothing more than a monarch who isn't even capable of maintaining what he has!"】

【Trying to seize great power only to be backlashed to death; slaughter can never solve problems.】

【A true emperor understands the way of checks and balances.】

【Zhou Zhen's face turned gloomy amidst Zhou Cheng's sneers.】

【He didn't expect his plans to be laid bare like this; he had wanted to eliminate both the Jiangnan noble families and the Empress Dowager.】

【"Don't portray yourself as a tragic figure anymore. Everyone has wronged you—it is you who are simply unworthy."】

【"Zhou Cheng, stop spouting nonsense here. Do you think you're so noble? You're just a person hiding in the shadows watching the show. Aren't you also after this position?"】

【Zhou Cheng didn't mind, his eyes revealing a complex emotion, both sympathy and mockery.】

【"Second Brother, you and I are brothers. I didn't want it to come to this. But your actions are truly chilling. For the sake of the throne, for the sake of power, you were willing to sacrifice everything."】

【"Do you know that those were your relatives, your ministers, your subjects?"】

【Hearing this, Zhou Zhen's eyes flickered slightly, but he soon returned to his cold demeanor. "Relatives? Ministers? Subjects? In my eyes, these are nothing but tools to consolidate imperial power. As long as my throne is secure and the Great Qing's empire is eternal, what does it matter if some people are sacrificed?"】

【The Empress Dowager finally stopped speaking.】

【Protected by the Jin Wuwei, Zhou Zhen was like a trapped beast, his eyes bloodshot, his entire body radiating a frantic aura.】

【"I am the Son of Heaven; having everything go my way is my privilege. This world exists only to welcome my arrival, so why are there so many obstacles!"】

【"Lu Lu, Xie Chunan, Zhou Cheng, and the Sixth, Chen Sanzhong."】

【"And you, Lu Chen!"】

【"Why must you all oppose me, why!"】

【"You should all submit to me and die for me."】

【You just watched the current Son of Heaven calmly, disheveled and unkempt, like a drunken loafer!】

【Zhou Jinyu looked at her former husband, her eyes filled only with sorrow.】

【Zhou Zhen's eyes suddenly lit up when they landed on the Lu Family Army!】

【As if he had found a final straw to clutch. He pushed aside the Jin Wuwei in front of him and shouted desperately toward the Lu Family Army.】

【"Lu Family Army, yes! There is still the Lu Family Army."】

【"If you kill Lu Chen and Zhou Cheng for me, I will enfeoff you as Princes and Dukes, and I will build public ancestral halls for you, to be inherited for generations."】

【"Feng Haiping, from now on you are the Marshal of the Lu Family Army, and I grant you the title of Prince of the First Rank."】

【"Dou Gu, Dou Gu, Huang Chong, Sui Cheng... I will enfeoff you all as Marquises, just kill them for me."】

【There was only cold laughter from the Lu Family Army, as if they were watching a raving actor.】

【Zhou Zhen roared.】

【Dong Jie supported Zhou Zhen, unwilling to see him like this, and persuaded him with a pained heart:】

【"Master, the situation is lost. Please wake up; you cannot go on like this."】

【Zhou Zhen looked at Dong Jie before him and said angrily:】

【"If it weren't for you, would I have reached this point?"】

【"You dog slave!"】

【After saying this, Zhou Zhen, completely unguarded, stabbed his sword toward Dong Jie's heart.】

【Zhou Zhen had no strength to truss a chicken, and Dong Jie was wearing armor; the sword could not pierce the iron plating, and the tip did not even sink in.】

【The group of Jin Wuwei had all been personally trained by Dong Jie and were fiercely loyal.】

【Several had already stepped forward to seize Zhou Zhen's shoulders.】

【Seeing this, Dong Jie hurriedly shouted:】

【"No, the Master is the Son of Heaven; you must not act rashly."】

【Hearing this, the Jin Wuwei stopped in their tracks. They looked at Dong Jie, then at Zhou Zhen, their eyes filled with hesitation and struggle.】

【In the end, they chose to retreat, but their gazes remained fixed on Zhou Zhen, as if ready to strike again at any moment.】

【Dong Jie gripped the long sword in Zhou Zhen's hand; where the blade touched, blood dripped.】

【Zhou Zhen watched all this, but there was not a shred of remorse in his heart.】

【He sneered, threw the sword in his hand aside, as if everything that had just happened was merely an insignificant farce.】

【At this moment!】

【Dong Jie took off his armor, revealing his scarred chest, and slowly knelt before Zhou Zhen.】

【On Dong Jie's chest hung a circular jade pendant, not particularly valuable.】

【Zhou Zhen recognized it at a glance.】

【Dong Jie gripped the jade pendant with his bloody hand and smiled: "This was given to me by the Master when I was ten years old, after I won a game of cuju while we were at the residence. Dong Jie has kept it to this day."】

【"If the Master hadn't taken me in back then, Dong Jie would have starved to death on the street long ago; how could there be the me of today."】

【Dong Jie picked up the sword again, placing the cold blade against his own chest.】

【"If the ruler wants the subject to die, the subject must die—it is the natural order. I, Dong Jie, have said that no matter what, I will die before the Master."】

【"It is not the Master's fault that things have come to this; man proposes, God disposes."】

【"Dong Jie is leaving!"】

【Before the Jin Wuwei could stop him, the long sword pierced his chest, and he died.】

【Blood flowed to Zhou Zhen's feet.】

【Zhou Zhen suddenly woke up.】

【He looked at the Fengtian Hall, the place where the ancestors were worshipped, and let out a laugh.】

【Zhou Zhen straightened his clothes, picked up the sword from the ground, and placed it against his neck.】

【"Even in death, I, Zhou Zhen, am the Son of Heaven of Great Qing!"】

【The Empress Dowager seemed to have already known the outcome, and two lines of tears flowed down.】

【Zhou Jinyu's face held only a faint smile.】

【Zhou Cheng, however, bowed from afar with a calm expression.】

【Blood flowed from Zhou Zhen's neck, and his entire body fell backward.】

(End of this chapter)