"Choose an auspicious day, and I will pass the throne to you. You will lead the officials to worship our ancestors, and I should take a break."

Clatter! The Crown Prince was so startled that he dropped his chopsticks. His father is only fifty years old. Isn't it too early to pass the throne to him now?

Moreover, he never expected that the emperor would abdicate ahead of time and pass the throne to him!

For a moment, he was not mentally prepared, and even wondered if this was a test from the emperor.

The crown prince immediately knelt on the ground, looking extremely apprehensive: "Father, you are strong and healthy, and the Great Ming Empire cannot do without you."

"The matter of succession should not be mentioned again."

The Emperor sighed as he looked at the Crown Prince's nervous expression.

Ultimately, the father and son became estranged. He genuinely wanted to pass the throne to his son, but his son felt that he was testing him.

"Get up."

"I am getting old, and it is time to hand over the responsibility to you so that I can accompany your mother in her old age."

"Wei Zhong, summon the cabinet ministers and officials from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to the Imperial Study shortly to discuss the matter of succession."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Emperor personally helped the Crown Prince up and, for the first time ever, even served him a piece of food: "Eat your food."

"I'm not young anymore, it's time for me to settle down."

"yes."

Southern Frontier Kingdom!

Not far from the palace, a new stilted building has been built on a hillside. The roof is hipped, with upturned eaves and a magnificent appearance.

Outside the house are a covered bridge and a pavilion, with overlapping eaves, beautiful design, and antique charm.

Chu Zhongyuan lay leisurely on the chaise lounge, holding a beautiful woman in his arms. The man's hands played with and kneaded the woman's soft and plump breasts, and there was no indication that he was a wanted criminal of the imperial court.

"Has the message been delivered?"

"Reporting to Master, Miss Chen has not yet responded; perhaps she hasn't discovered it yet."

"No rush, she'll find out."

"What's going on in the palace?"

"Your subordinates have received a report from your spies that the Emperor and the cabinet ministers have decided to pass the throne to the Crown Prince on the sixth day of the sixth month."

The man paused in his play, still concerned upon hearing the news.

His father, who had always doted on him, could be just as ruthless when he was cold-hearted.

Well, whether he passes the throne to the crown prince after he dies or after he lives, it won't affect his plans.

He was too soft-hearted before, but this time he won't give anyone a chance to regret it, including himself.

In the dark room, Chen Yunniang was so hungry that she could only pick up the steamed bun closest to the excrement, as she couldn't reach the other buns.

Chen Yunniang ate and cried at the same time, wondering when this humiliating life would end.

Why hasn't Chu Zhongyuan come to save her yet?

Has he already been murdered?

Suddenly, she bit down on something hard, which hurt her teeth.

When she spat it out, she found it was a small bamboo tube.

Chen Yunniang's eyes lit up. She took out a scroll of paper from the bamboo tube, on which were written characters the size of rice grains.

After reading the letter, a glimmer of light appeared in the woman's eyes; she knew that the prince would not abandon her.

The next time someone brought food, she saw a black birthmark under the eunuch's right eye through the small window, and then tapped the wall three times.

The eunuch accurately tossed a hot steamed bun into Chen Yunniang's arms.

She picked up the steamed bun, broke it open, and sure enough, there was a glass bottle about the size of a little finger hidden inside.

Chen Yunniang put the Gu worm hidden under her fingernail into a glass bottle, and then stuffed the glass bottle into one of the steamed buns.

"Guards! Guards!"

"Open the door quickly, the prisoner bit his tongue and committed suicide."

"Quickly, quickly, the Crown Prince said she must not die."

The eunuch delivering the food shouted loudly, and the guards watching over her saw that Chen Yunniang's mouth was indeed bleeding profusely. They immediately took out a hidden weapon and knocked her unconscious to prevent her from suddenly using a curse.

Only after confirming that the person had fainted did the guard open the door and let the witch doctor in to stop the bleeding.

"Find someone to clean this place up. It's full of feces and urine, and moldy food, which is bad for wound healing."

"yes."

Two palace maids and eunuchs quickly cleaned the cell, and the eunuch who delivered the meal followed behind the maids.

"Give me these steamed buns, I'm going home to feed the pigs."

"Here you go, here you go." The palace maid disgustedly handed the steamed bun, which was covered in feces and mold, to the eunuch who was serving the meal.

The eunuch who delivered the meal instantly received the glass bottle!

"Master, we've obtained the goods."

Chu Zhongyuan looked at the red worm in the glass bottle and smiled.

A thousand threads of Gu poison, very good!

He used to think that this poison was too cruel, so he was unwilling to use it.

But now, everything in this world is hypocritical, and no one is worthy of his kindness.

"Let's go, let's try it out with this little thing first."

Chu Zhongyuan took the Gu worms to a cave, where people he had ordered his guards to capture were being held.

These people indulge in drinking, gambling, prostitution, murder, arson, and other illegal activities; they are all addicted to domestic violence. In short, none of them are good people.

He injected the poison into one of the people, then locked him back into the cave and blocked the exit with a stone door.

Soon, terrified screams and cries for help echoed from inside the cave.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the screams inside stopped, leaving only terrifying hissing sounds.

The sound wasn't very loud; you had to get close to the stone door to hear it, but each sound was deep and terrifying, like a demon from hell.

"Open the stone door."

"yes."

The guards were clearly very cautious, fully armed from head to toe, for fear of being bitten by the Gu people the moment they opened the door.

The moment the stone gate opened, a dense swarm of Gu people rushed forward, like demons from hell, each with a ferocious and terrifying face.

Some have no eyeballs, some have exposed intestines, some have brains splattered, some are missing limbs...

Even the most resilient bodyguards felt nauseous and wanted to vomit after seeing it.

The guards were trained to move with incredible speed, each one flashing past. The Gu people, smelling the scent of living people but unable to eat any of them, began to become irritable and easily angered.

Chu Zhongyuan's eyes lit up. These monsters actually had emotions?

Does this mean that these Gu people can be trained?

After all, these Gu people are slow-moving and can only scare ordinary people. If they encounter a well-trained army, they will be beheaded in no time.

If we could train them to be faster, even faster than humans, wouldn't that double their power?

“You few lead them to the prepared village.”

"yes."

The village he had prepared was the one where he had secretly poisoned the well water with a drug that made the villagers mute.

He poisoned all the more than 100 households and about a thousand people in the village, rendering them mute.

In this way, even if they are extremely panicked, they will not be able to make a sound and will not attract the attention of the outside world.

This was his plan: to start with remote villages, take them over one by one, and gradually expand his force.

Once his army of Gu people is large enough, he can directly conquer the Southern Border royal family.

After the entire Southern Frontier Kingdom becomes his puppet army, he will then attack the Great Ming Kingdom.

Now, he has also discovered that these Gu people have emotions, which conveniently allowed him to train their agility and destructive power while annexing the Southern Frontier Kingdom.