The atmosphere in the main hall was extremely tense, as if a single spark could ignite a massive fire.

Wu Yunyin's face was ashen. Although she felt somewhat guilty, she was mostly furious.

She never expected that Wu Xiaolin, the Prince of Han and her imperial uncle, would question her like this in court, which made her feel humiliated like never before.

"Uncle, are you questioning me? Is this how you serve as a subject?"

Wu Yunyin's voice was icy, and a hint of murderous intent unconsciously appeared in her eyes, without her even noticing.

This time, Wu Xiaolin did not back down, his eyes fixed on Wu Yunyin.

"Yunyin, you are the emperor of the Great Wu, but you are also a descendant of the Wu family. You have no regard for the people, listen to the slander of treacherous people, and slaughter loyal ministers. Is this the behavior of a wise ruler?"

Upon hearing this, a flicker of panic crossed Wu Yunyin's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by anger.

Wu Xiaolin's public criticism in front of all the court officials put Wu Yunyin under immense pressure.

Standing up angrily, Wu Yunyin gritted her teeth and said, "Wu Xiaolin, how dare you! Men, seize him!"

Upon hearing the commotion, the palace guards rushed into the hall, but before they could even get close to Wu Xiaolin, they saw him draw his sword. With a flash of light, three guards fell into pools of blood.

The entire hall was instantly filled with gasps of shock. A murder had been committed in front of the palace, and the murdered person was a palace guard. Even Chen Shou was astonished by what he saw.

"King of Han, what are you doing? Put down your sword! How can you be so reckless? Quickly, put it down!"

Chen Shou shouted a reminder, but Wu Xiaolin seemed not to hear him at all, gripping his blood-stained sword tightly.

"Wu Xiaolin, are you trying to rebel?" Wu Yunyin's voice trembled slightly, but her heart was filled with more anger.

This time, Wu Xiaolin wasn't after Chen Zhennan; he was after him.

Old man, you relinquished the throne unwillingly back then, but today you've finally stopped hiding it.

The unruly people of Lingnan rebelled, and the Three Feudatories carved up the land; nothing went smoothly for anyone.

They all want to rebel, don't they?

Alright, then I'll grant your wish today!

"Men! Seize him!"

More than a dozen guards rushed in from outside the hall, drawing their swords and surrounding Wu Xiaolin.

"Rebellion? You say I, Wu Xiaolin, am rebelling? Hahaha! What a joke. Since I, Wu Xiaolin, have given you the throne, I will not commit regicide and seize power, but Song Xuan must not be allowed to live!"

After saying that, Wu Xiaolin suddenly turned around, picked up his sword, and walked step by step toward Song Xuan. Every step he took was filled with murderous intent, making Song Xuan feel threatened with death.

Song Xuan, the culprit who caused the people of Lingnan to suffer, Wu Xiaolin knew without a doubt that after he went to Lingnan, he must have colluded with Ba Qing. Without his tacit approval as the emperor's special envoy, how could Ba Qing have dared to exploit the people to the point of exhaustion?

"No, no, Your Majesty, save me!"

Song Xuan screamed in terror, scrambling and rolling to try and escape, but his legs seemed to have lost all feeling and wouldn't obey him.

Wu Yunyin's face turned even uglier, and she was furious. She shouted again, "Men, hack Wu Xiaolin to death!"

The hesitant guards stepped forward one after another, their swords gleaming coldly, but none of them were willing to make the first move.

"Wu Yunyin, you tyrant! The empire of my Great Wu is about to be destroyed by your hands!"

This ignited Wu Yunyin's anger, and she let out a nearly collapsing scream.

"Ah! Kill him! I ordered you to kill him! Do you want to rebel too? Do it!"

Upon hearing this, the guards dared not delay any longer and stepped forward with their swords drawn.

But at that moment, Wu Xiaolin suddenly gave up resisting, flung his sword into the ground, and let the random blades slash at his body.

"King Han!"

Chen Shou stared wide-eyed as he watched Wu Xiaolin being hacked to death by a flurry of blows, his wide court robes soaked in blood, yet his expression remained resolute.

Then look at Wu Yunyin, who staggered and slumped onto the dragon throne, breathing heavily, looking completely dazed, her chin trembling incessantly.

"Thump!"

Wu Xiaolin's body crashed to the ground, and the guards all knelt down, heads bowed and silent.

The hall reeked of blood, and Wu Yunyin's face grew even paler. Looking at Wu Xiaolin's corpse, she suddenly felt a void in her heart; she had actually ordered the murder of her own uncle.

After a long while, Wu Yunyin spoke slowly, her voice barely audible: "Take the Emperor's uncle away and bury him in the imperial mausoleum with great ceremony. All civil and military officials shall wear mourning for seven days. Court is adjourned."

"Wait!"

After a sharp shout, Chen Shou rose with tears in his eyes, looking at Wu Yunyin on the dragon throne with a face full of disappointment.

"Your Majesty, the Prince of Han is a member of the royal family, your own uncle! When we attacked the capital, the Prince of Han led the charge, taking two arrows with him but refusing to retreat. Have you forgotten all of this?"

Wu Yunyin's eyelids drooped. Of course, she hadn't forgotten any of this, and she couldn't forget that her imperial uncle was the first person to rush into the city gate.

But this was not the time to bring up past grievances; Wu Yunyin was blinded by anger.

"Chen Shou, do you want to die too?"

Wu Yunyin thought that Chen Shou would back down in the face of a life-threatening situation, but to her surprise, he did not react at all.

"Your Majesty is right. This old minister has wanted to die, long ago. The restoration of our Great Wu was hard-won, and Chen Zhennan, who was invincible, was framed without cause..."

"Shut up! Shut up, you!"

"The 1.8 million people of Lingnan are loyal to Chen Zhennan. Zhou Xiang has spent all his wealth to win people's hearts, but you have sent Ba Qing and Song Xuan to exploit the people. It would be strange if the people of Lingnan did not rebel."

Chen Shou spoke calmly and mechanically, relentlessly testing Wu Yunyin's patience.

"Guards, seize Chen Shou and drag him away to be executed immediately!"

At his command, the kneeling guards rose and carried Chen Shou away.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

"Your Majesty, please have mercy!"

Most of the officials knelt on the ground, begging Wu Yunyin to spare Chen Shou.

But Wu Yunyin had lost all reason. Looking at these kneeling officials, she felt that they were forcing her to abdicate and forming a faction.

"What? You think not enough people have died today? Or do you want to be buried with them? Chen Shou will be beheaded, and the rest of you, get out of my sight!"

After saying that, Wu Yunyin flicked her sleeves, stood up, and walked towards the back of the hall.

The court was silent as the officials watched helplessly as Chen Shou was carried away by the guards.

Chen Shou remained calm, having spent the previous night thinking about how to salvage the court's image and mitigate the impact of Chen Zhennan's framing.

But I never imagined that today would be my death day.

In the inner palace, Wu Yunyin stared coldly at Song Xuan kneeling before her, saying nothing.

At this moment, a eunuch carrying a memorial rushed in from outside and hurriedly knelt in front of Wu Yunyin.

"Your Majesty, news has come from Lingnan that Zhou Xiang has declared a rebellion, and his rebel army has reached nearly 300,000 men."

"What?"

Wu Yunyin suddenly stood up, took the memorial, glanced at it from head to toe, and then slammed it to the ground.

"I want him dead! I want to raze Lingnan to the ground!"