Chapter 165

To quickly maintain order in Jingcheng, Shen Tianxing released ten thousand blade troops, ten thousand blade-and-shield troops, and an additional ten thousand strong crossbow troops from the space sphere.

This thirty-thousand-strong army swiftly cleared the entire Imperial Palace, then left behind five thousand strong crossbow troops and five thousand blade-and-shield troops; the rest began maintaining order in Jingcheng and subduing the garrison guarding Jingcheng.

The civil and military officials hiding at home were startled by the sudden appearance of this thirty-thousand-strong army, but soon word came from the palace that Shen Tianxing had arrived, had killed Zhu Shuang, rescued the young emperor, and that court would proceed as usual the next morning.

Most of the civil and military officials guessed that Shen Tianxing was going to inherit the throne, and deep down they all felt a sense of absurdity, an inexplicable fear.

Many people couldn't sleep, but Shen Tianxing slept quite well, after all he went to bed early and had Ru Yan keeping him company.

At the morning audience the next day, the civil and military officials and the Emperor had arrived. After performing the customary rites of paying respects to the Emperor, the officials waited for Shen Tianxing to come, and no one dared to speak.

The young emperor grew sleepy and dozed off on the dragon throne, and no one paid him any mind, after all he had always been an insignificant nobody.

Shen Tianxing arrived quite late, but when he entered, the civil and military officials were trembling with fear, feeling an inexplicable terrifying aura enveloping them.

"Your Majesty, wake up, Shen Lord is here."

Eunuch Wang gently patted the young emperor, who then opened his eyes to see Shen Tianxing arrive. He instinctively smiled and then rose to his feet.

"Today I intend to announce one matter: I will abdicate the throne to Shen Tianxing, Shen Lord. From now on, Shen Tianxing will be the Emperor of the Great Zhou, and even now, in Eunuch Wang's hands."

Afterwards the young emperor came out, knelt directly, and performed three kowtows and nine bows to Shen Tianxing.

"I, a commoner, pay my respects to Your Majesty the Emperor; may Your Majesty live ten thousand, ten thousand, myriad myriad years."

Following the young emperor's actions, the civil and military officials could only all kneel down and kowtow to Shen Tianxing.

"We, your subjects, pay our respects to Your Majesty; may Your Majesty live ten thousand, ten thousand, myriad myriad years."

Shen Tianxing said nothing, slowly went over and helped the young emperor up, then walked to the dragon throne, sat down, and waved his hand expressionlessly.

"Officials, rise. According to propriety, I should decline three times, but that would be too troublesome and unnecessary pretense. The first act upon taking the throne is to enfeoff Liu Xiaobao as Prince Bao, letting him forever enjoy wealth and honor."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The young emperor, namely Liu Xiaobao, hastily gave thanks. Then Shen Tianxing waved his hand, whereupon he rose again and stepped aside.

"My second matter is also simple: whoever among those present is a follower of Sun Zhongquan, step forward; this is your only chance—I will not take your lives, but you will certainly not be allowed to remain in Jingcheng."

"Those who step forward will not die; I will let you leave Jingcheng, and of course there will be a prepared place for you to go, so you may enjoy your twilight years in peace."

The civil and military officials exchanged glances; most of them had joined Sun Zhongquan's faction merely for self-preservation, and only a few had truly followed Sun Zhongquan in rebellion.

But to Shen Tianxing, it makes no difference—anyone who could betray the former Emperor and choose to follow Sun Zhongquan, this kind of fence-sitter ought not to be kept.

Now Shen Tianxing's Killing Value is sufficient, and with all those Super Gift Packs and God-Tier Gift Packs, the civil and military officials can certainly be brought to full loyalty, and they will be utterly faithful.

"You all refuse to step forward? In that case, I can only start calling names. I want to remind you that I can tell whether your words are true or false."

Shen Tianxing seemed to be toying with everyone present; as soon as he spoke, several people gritted their teeth and stepped forward.

Actually they clearly understood that whether Shen Tianxing could discern the truth of their words was irrelevant; what mattered was that Eunuch Wang knew who among them followed Sun Zhongquan and who did not.

Soon, another ten or so people also stepped out, and at once nearly half of those on the court had come forward.

Of the remaining half, there were indeed still some who followed Sun Zhongquan, but they did not consider themselves to have joined his faction, so they did not step forward.

"Very well, you may go; outside, someone will naturally escort you to your own mansions to gather your belongings, and then escort you away."

"As for the rest of you, there are certainly still some among you; since you are unwilling to step forward yourself, I can only ask."

As soon as Shen Tianxing's words fell, those who had stepped forward quickly left the court.

Shen Tianxing rose from the dragon throne, walked up to those civil and military officials, and spoke with a smile:

"Have you defected to Sun Zhongquan? Tell the truth!"

The civil and military officials exchanged glances; none believed Shen Tianxing could tell from this single question who had defected and who had not, so they all said no.

Unfortunately, Shen Tianxing saw everything clearly; the True Eye of Reality distinctly showed the false character appearing above the heads of those who were lying.

"You truly deserve to die. I told you to confess a little—why is it so hard? Speaking won't cost you your life; you're just reluctant to give up your current offices, aren't you?"

By now many felt panicked; Shen Tianxing's mouth curled upward, and he leisurely sat back down on his seat.

"Vice Minister of Personnel, Vice Minister of Works, Minister of Rites..."

As Shen Tianxing called out each name, those whose names were called stared wide-eyed in terror; they had indeed all defected to Sun Zhongquan.

But many of them had secretly defected, and on the surface some even opposed Sun Zhongquan—how could Shen Tianxing have seen through that?

"All those whose names were just called, step forward now. Don't blame me—I already said I gave you a chance, but since you chose wrong, you can only die here."

Shen Tianxing said this with a beaming smile, yet the ten officials named were frightened to the point of falling to their knees with a thud.

"Your Majesty, spare our lives! If you kill us all and drive away so many others, how will the court and the realm of the Great Zhou survive?"

This bunch is surprisingly unanimous, managing to say that long sentence in unison—of course only a few did so; the rest merely shouted, "Your Majesty, spare our lives!"

"One sovereign, one set of ministers; moreover, you are still people who love to lie. I can't afford to keep you; when you die, others will naturally replace you. All right, be on your way."

Shen Tianxing finished speaking and raised his hand. The ten officials standing in line, begging for mercy, saw sword qi after sword qi tear through the air, piercing their heads.

On the Imperial Court, eight people remained; these eight weren't refusing to ally with Sun Zhongquan—it was that Sun Zhongquan never intended to win them over, because they were people who dared not speak in the Imperial Court.

"Alright, it's settled. Now I'll give you another chance: if you feel your abilities are insufficient to continue serving the Imperial Court, you may resign and return home; I guarantee you'll still be able to live a good life."

Those eight people were all bewildered—what kind of operation is this? Is the purpose of coming here to dissolve the entire Imperial Court? Thinking this, the remaining eight all knelt down.

"We are incapable; we wish to resign and return to our hometown."