Chapter 584: Rift! Denouncing the Foolish Emperor

Silence.

The long silence, like a tangible weight, pressed on everyone's hearts.

Only the war drums of the approaching Jin army in the distance grew louder and more urgent.

The composure on the purple-robed official's face began to falter.

He furrowed his brow, raised his voice, tinged with impatience and threat:

"Yue Fei!"

"The sovereign's command is as weighty as a mountain; how can hesitation be allowed?"

"Hand over the military tally and seal at once—do you truly intend to defy the edict?"

"To disobey the edict is tantamount to treason; then your nine clans will be exterminated, and your subordinates will each face collective punishment!"

The last sentence, he almost shouted it in a harsh voice.

His gaze, like a blade, swept over the officers and soldiers behind Yue Fei, attempting to crush their last will to resist with the harshest consequences.

Nine clans exterminated.

Collective punishment.

These words caused many soldiers' faces to turn even paler, fear showing in their eyes.

However.

Yue Fei finally moved.

He did not dismount, did not kneel, and even did not glance at the envoy again.

He slowly raised his hand, reaching into his bosom.

A flicker of satisfaction flashed in the purple-robed official's eyes.

Zhang Xian, Wang Gui, and the others felt their hearts sink sharply, almost crying out.

The next second.

What Yue Fei took from his bosom was not the military tally and seal.

But a square of plain white old cloth, and a piece of dark wood about the size of a half palm.

He carefully wrapped the old cloth around the base of his sword‑gripping right hand, tightly bound the wooden plaque to his wrist, and tied a firm knot.

His movements were deliberate, even bearing an odd solemnity.

Having done that, he then lifted his head again, gazing calmly at the purple‑robed official.

That gaze was too calm.

So calm that the purple‑robed official inexplicably felt a pang of palpitation.

"The edict?"

Yue Fei spoke.

His voice was not loud, yet unusually clear, cutting through the ever‑nearer war drums.

"Is that document in your hand truly the emperor's edict?"

The purple‑robed official stared, then snapped angrily:

"Yellow silk with vermilion seal, the axe of authority is here—how could it be false? Yue Fei, what do you mean by this? Are you trying to slander the Imperial Court?"

Yue Fei, however, shook his head.

Even the corner of his mouth twitched into a faint, yet bone‑deep cold arc.

"No."

"What I mean is..."

His voice suddenly rose, like a tiger's roar in the mountains, instantly overpowering all noise and ringing throughout the army:

"Even if it is the emperor's edict——"

"Today, I, Yue Fei!"

"will not accept it!"

The words had not yet faded.

He fiercely gripped the horse's belly, and the steed lunged forward several steps.

In everyone's shocked gaze, he snatched a javelin from the hand of a nearby guard.

His arm muscles bulged as he exerted all his strength.

The javelin turned into a black flash, aimed neither at the envoy nor at the Jin army.

But—

With pinpoint accuracy, it shot toward the scroll of bright‑yellow edict held in the purple‑robed official's hand!

"You dare?!"

The purple‑robed official's soul fled, he screamed, instinctively tried to dodge, but it was already too late.

Pfft!

The sharp tip of the javelin, together with a small section of the shaft, ruthlessly pierced the silk scroll!

The tremendous force sent the silk flying backward, with a clang, pinning it firmly to the pole of the carriage behind the official—a carriage representing the envoy's retinue!

The yellow silk tore, pierced by the shaft, and fluttered helplessly in the morning breeze.

Like a lie nailed to a pillory.

The whole field fell dead silent.

Even the approaching Jin army's drum and bugle calls seemed to pause for a moment.

Everyone stared, dumbfounded, at the edict nailed to the carriage pole and at the torn yellow silk.

Envoy…… edict……

Pierced by a spear…?

"You… you… grossly treasonous! Equivalent to rebellion!"

The purple‑robed official's finger trembled as he pointed at Yue Fei; his face went from white to green to purple, nearly fainting from anger.

The forbidden‑army guards beside him also snapped out of a daze, hastily drawing swords and gripping halberds, forming a line to protect the front, yet every face showed panic.

They had never seen anyone dare to treat the imperial edict this way, to treat the envoy like this!

Yue Fei regarded the swords and halberds before him as if they were nothing.

He turned his horse's head to face his own battered yet solemn army.

His gaze slowly swept over each face stained with blood and sweat, etched with fatigue, yet now dazed from extreme shock.

He drew a deep breath, exerted all his strength, and sent his voice to every soldier's ear:

"Brothers!"

"You all heard it!"

"This is the 'grace edict' given to us by the Imperial Court!"

"The bloody battle of Yan City, we won! The Jin barbarians' iron pagoda, we trampled it!"

"But what has the Imperial Court given us?"

His voice, from calm, gradually grew impassioned, carrying the sorrow and indignation suppressed for too long:

"It's restraint! It's cutting off supplies! It's twelve gold plaques like death warrants!"

"It's making allied troops retreat without a fight, turning us into an isolated army!"

"It's burying poisonous thorns behind us, spreading rumors!"

"Now——"

He abruptly turned, pointing his halberd at the pierced imperial edict, and toward the direction where dust rose far off, the Jin army.

"At the moment we broke through in a bloody battle, suffering over half casualties, exhausted!"

"In them——"

His finger turned toward the Jin army.

"When the blade of our mortal enemy is already pressed against our backs!"

"The Imperial Court has sent an envoy!"

"Not reinforcements! Not supplies! Not rewards!"

"It is an edict stripping office and seizing power, to arrest and interrogate!"

"It is an edict demanding we remove armor and surrender weapons, to be slaughtered at will!"

Each word strikes like a heavy hammer on the soldiers' hearts.

Countless pairs of eyes gradually turned red.

Not fear, but anger.

It is the long‑suppressed anger of betrayal.

"They want my life—fine."

Yue Fei's voice suddenly became extremely sorrowful, yet extremely resolute.

"I, Yue Fei, since I tied my hair and joined the army, this life has long been pledged to the state, pledged to recovering our rivers and mountains!"

"Wrapped in horsehide, death is fitting!"

"But——"

His voice paused, his eyes like lightning, scanning the entire army:

"They should not, nor can they, use such vile framing to tarnish my reputation!"

"Moreover, they should not, at this life‑and‑death juncture, destroy the Great Wall, handing you over, and handing over our Great Song's most loyal and brave soldiers, to the Jin barbarians' slaughter knife!"

"This is not an imperial edict!"

"This is foolishness!"

"This is treason!"

"This is destroying the foundations, causing pain to kin and joy to foes, a move that brings national ruin!"

He fiercely drew the long sword at his waist, blade pointing to the heavens, voice hoarse:

"If the ruler does not act as a ruler, harming the loyal, colluding with external barbarians, severing his own limbs!"

"Subject, I am no longer a subject!"

"From today onward!"

"I, Yue Fei, together with all the soldiers of the Yue Family Army behind me——"

"Not fighting for the private interests of the Zhao family!"

"Not selling our lives for this foolish Imperial Court!"

"We only fight for——"

His gaze, as if crossing thousands of mountains and rivers, looked toward that fallen Zhongyuan's lands, toward the countless people groaning beneath iron hooves.

"Fighting for all beings under heaven!"

"Fighting to expel the Hu barbarians and recover our rivers and mountains!"

"Fighting so that behind us, our parents, wives and children can live with dignity!"

"Yue Family Army——"

The long sword pointed forward, its edge aimed exactly at that pierced imperial edict, and at the panicked envoy and forbidden army beyond it.

"Advance!"

"Those who block my path——"

Whether Hu or Han, whether official troops!

All are my enemies!

Kill——!

A final roar, like a thunderclap exploding, utterly ignited the already boiling blood and fury.

Kill!!!

Three thousand remnant troops burst forth with a heaven-shaking, earth-shaking roar.

All weariness, fear, and confusion, at this moment, were replaced by boundless anger and resolve.

Generals Zhang Xian and Wang Gui, their eyes already brimming with hot tears, raised their weapons without hesitation.

Follow the Marshal!

Kill our way out!

War horses neighed, blades and spears raised together.

This Jun Ying on the verge of collapse, as if infused with a new soul, turned into a torrent of vengeance, sweeping toward the mere two-hundred-strong Angel Honor Guard ahead!

The purple-robed official's face drained of color, struck with utter terror.

Crazy! All crazy! Hurry and go! Hurry and protect me, go!

He screamed, turned his horse's head, and fled in panic toward the rear flank under the escort of the Forbidden Army guards, not even bothering with the imperial edict nailed to the carriage pole.

At the very moment the Yue Family Army burst forth with a heaven-shaking, earth-shaking cry of slaughter.

In the distance, the Jin Army's total assault horn also blew mournfully.

A black mass of cavalry surged from several directions, launching the final charge against this isolated army that had just completed its transformation yet remained deeply encircled.

Enemies within and without.

A bloody battle descended once more.

But this time, in the eyes of the Yue Family Army's soldiers, there was no longer any confusion, only a sheet of desperate, crimson resolve.

Fighting for oneself.

Fighting for the true 'state' and 'home'.