Chapter 478 Blood-Written Plea

This is indeed a very urgent and important matter.

Silence stood outside the door.

At this moment, only he knocked on the door, and Pei Yuan had to suppress his resentment no matter how much he hated him.

Silent and serious, he said, "Someone from the capital has arrived; it's the young master."

Li Chengxuan?

Shen Chu, who happened to be walking out of the room, heard this scene and couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in surprise.

Pei Yuan's expression also turned serious. Seeing her come out, he took her hand and said, "Come on, let's go see Li Chengxuan together."

Li Chengxuan was in the flower hall, holding a large bowl and gulping down tea.

His clothes were wrinkled and covered in mud, their original color no longer recognizable.

Having known Li Chengxuan for nearly five years, Shen Chu had never seen him so disheveled.

She rushed forward and asked, "What happened?"

Li Chengxuan was drinking water from a large bowl when he heard her voice, and he choked and coughed violently.

"Cough cough cough..."

Hongxiu leaned closer and whispered, "Young Master has already drunk a whole pot of tea. He must be so thirsty."

Shen Chu frowned slightly. Judging from Li Chengxuan's appearance, he must have rushed all the way from the capital.

Li Chengxuan finally managed to stop coughing, and when he saw Pei Yuan and Shen Chu, his eyes immediately reddened.

He knelt down on the ground with a thud.

Pei Yuan frowned and grabbed his arm. "Let's talk this out. What are you doing?"

Li Chengxuan gritted his teeth and refused to get up, saying, "Your Highness, please let me finish what I have to say."

Shen Chu tugged at Pei Yuan's hand and shook her head at him.

Li Chengxuan's eyes were filled with a bloodshot hatred. He was very emotional and he definitely wouldn't get up until he finished speaking.

"Tell me what happened in the capital first."

Li Chengxuan wiped his eyes before speaking about the affairs of the capital.

"You should have all received news of what happened in the capital, right?"

Shen Chu and Pei Yuan exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously.

When they left the capital for Liangzhou, the capital had already fallen into chaos.

While they were in Liangzhou, they frequently received news from the capital.

First, the Eighth Prince led his men to take control of Longquan Palace, guarding Emperor Longqing day and night, ostensibly to attend to his illness.

In reality, it was about forcing Emperor Longqing to write an imperial edict of abdication.

Emperor Longqing refused and instead asked Cai Chong to find a way to contact the Ninth Prince outside the palace.

As the Grand Eunuch, Cai Chong had his own connections in each palace, so he had someone bring the Ninth Prince's men into the palace.

The Ninth Prince killed the Eighth Prince in Longquan Palace and took over the palace's defenses.

He was smarter than the Eighth Prince. Instead of asking the Longqing Emperor to write an imperial edict of abdication, he acted like a filial son and served the Longqing Emperor.

During the day, he personally accompanied Emperor Longqing to court to discuss state affairs. Although it was said to be discussing state affairs, Emperor Longqing had suffered a stroke, his mouth was crooked and his eyes were slanted, and he could not speak clearly.

Therefore, the Ninth Prince basically controlled the government.

The Ninth Prince hadn't even had a few days to savor this feeling of having absolute power when Prince Heng, in alliance with Zhou Qi, stormed into the palace.

Li Chengxuan's face turned somewhat pale as he spoke.

"It turns out that Zhou Qi has been secretly training a private army for Prince Heng all these years, and he actually has an army of nearly 20,000 men under his command."

This army disguised themselves as civilians and infiltrated the capital in batches. Then, led by Prince Heng, they stormed into the palace overnight.

Those people were too ruthless; they killed anyone they saw, and the entire palace was practically a river of blood.

He killed the Ninth Prince and his mother, and he didn't even spare the young princes.

Prince Heng stormed into Longquan Palace, forcing His Majesty to write an imperial edict of abdication on the spot. He then read the edict aloud at the court assembly the following day, preparing to ascend the throne as Emperor.

Many ministers in the court felt that Prince Heng had killed too many people and was unworthy to be a ruler. Those who stood up to oppose him were all beheaded by Prince Heng.

That wasn't enough; he also took advantage of the court session to bring all the ministers' families into the palace and place them under house arrest.

The ministers, concerned for the safety of their families, dared not speak out against their anger.

At this point, a flash of anger crossed Li Chengxuan's face.

"Not only that, he also sent troops to bring Mr. Mei and all the great scholars, as well as all the royal relatives, into the palace."

He demanded that Mr. Mei endorse his throne and that the royal family submit to him, otherwise he would unleash a massacre.

That madman actually sent people to surround our village and forcibly took my grandmother into the palace.

My grandmother is now the most senior member of the royal family, and she still has a dragon-headed walking stick bestowed upon her by the founding emperor.

He wanted my grandmother to be the first to submit to him; if she didn't object, the rest of the royal family would follow.

As Li Chengxuan spoke, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes blazing with fury, and he gritted his teeth, saying:

“My grandmother naturally refused to yield, and not only that, she also beat Prince Heng with a dragon-headed cane.”

Prince Heng actually sent people to imprison my grandmother and tortured her to death.

When my grandmother was sent out of the palace, she appeared very peaceful on the surface, but when my mother was preparing her for burial, she discovered that my grandmother's body was covered with countless needle marks.

At this point, Li Chengxuan couldn't help but shed tears.

Upon hearing this, Shen Chu was both furious and somewhat saddened.

Chengyang Daren, such a resilient and strong old man, was brutally tortured to death.

It is truly hateful.

"Prince Heng is truly insane. He actually dares to try to force everyone to submit to him through violence. How long can he hold onto the throne obtained through coercion and bribery?"

Pei Yuan sneered.

"The Marquis of Anding is burdened with the crimes of massacring the Lu family army and killing innocent people to claim credit, and the reputation of Prince Heng has already been tarnished."

He's going all in, knowing that he can't get the position by pretending to be a wise king like before.

Since that's the case, he might as well go all the way, so he killed all of His Majesty's children, leaving only himself alive.

Li Chengxuan nodded in agreement.

"He had already gathered a group of treacherous and wicked people in the court, and now those people are in power and are acting arrogantly and domineeringly everywhere."

While they were writing various articles praising Prince Heng, they also coerced Mr. Mei and a group of great scholars to write with him.

Mr. Mei and the others naturally refused, and one after another committed suicide by banging their heads against the wall in the palace.

Shen Chu and Pei Yuan's expressions changed drastically.

"Not only that, Prince Heng also sent his private troops to surround the Jingxi camp, demanding that Marquis Weiwu enter the palace to pay homage to the new emperor."

Marquis Weiwu refused to comply, and was killed on the spot.

Bang.

Li Anning, who rushed over, heard these words as soon as she entered the door. Her legs went weak and she fell to the ground.

Ling Ce quickly helped her up.

Li Anning was heartbroken and cried uncontrollably, clutching Ling Ce's arm and screaming.

"I want to go back to the capital, to kill Prince Heng and avenge my father."

Ling Ce hugged her and patted her back to comfort her.

"Alright, let's go back to the capital and take revenge."

Li Chengxuan turned to Pei Yuan, picked up the dragon-headed cane that was placed next to the chair, and presented it to Pei Yuan with both hands.

Next to the dragon-headed cane was a letter written in blood.

"Your Highness, this is a letter written in blood by my grandmother before she died in the palace. It clearly states that I must give you the dragon-headed walking stick."

My grandmother said that the emperor and his ministers were suspicious of each other, that meritorious officials were murdered, that treacherous officials were favored, and that brothers were killing each other. She said that the fate of the Wei dynasty was sealed, and that if this continued, the world would surely descend into chaos and the people would be plunged into misery.

My grandmother entrusted me to deliver the dragon-headed walking stick of the founding emperor to the heir apparent, hoping that he would eliminate treacherous and wicked people, bring justice and fairness to the world, and restore peace to the people.