Seeing that Pang Shigu was stubborn and unyielding, Zhu Yougui gave up the opportunity to continue communicating with him…
"Strategist Pang, I originally wanted to have a proper conversation with you..."
As Zhu Yougui was speaking, he had already walked to the opposite side of Pang Shigu. However, Pang Shigu didn't give him any face at all, and directly raised his head and said...
"You don't deserve it..."
bass!
Pfft…
Without a word, Zhu Yougui drew his sword and, in a flash, slit Pang Shigu's throat...
Pang Shigu clutched his neck, pointing at Zhu Yougui, his eyes filled with anger and confusion. Perhaps, in his dying moments, he finally regretted not submitting to Zhu Yougui; otherwise, he wouldn't have been killed so easily…
After doing all this, Zhu Yougui walked out of the room and shouted loudly at the guards of the Prince's Mansion.
"I am Zhu Yougui, the heir apparent. From this day forward, I will assume the throne of Prince Jin and join you all in fighting against the invading enemy..."
The guards looked at each other, confused as to what was happening, but soon some of them knelt down and shouted.
"Greetings to the Prince of Jin! May he live a thousand years!"
Then came the sounds of kneeling and bowing, gradually echoing throughout the entire Taiyuan Prefecture…
A slight smile appeared on Zhu Yougui's lips. He knew he had finally succeeded. Although these guards were not his own, he had led them in suppressing a rebellion. Compared to the unfamiliar princes, they preferred Zhu Yougui, a familiar prince, to be the Prince of Jin…
"Please rise, everyone..."
"Thank you, Prince Jin!"
"Send men to bring all the heads of the families here. If they refuse to hand over their private soldiers, cut off one of their hands and send them back to their homes. If they still refuse, cut off a second hand, and so on, until all four limbs are severed. If they still refuse to hand over their private soldiers, then drag them out and behead them..."
Upon hearing Zhu Yougui's order, everyone was shocked. This was far too cruel. They could only imagine the scene that would follow: arms being sent back to their respective residences one by one...
However, Zhu Yougui's orders were immediately carried out, inevitably unleashing a bloodbath in Taiyuan Prefecture...
Outside the city! In the dense forest!
Li Zhu received news about the situation inside the Prince's residence immediately, and also received news that Ding Hui was going to find Zhu Youzhen...
He suddenly stood up and said with a smile
"The opportunity has arrived..."
The generals around him looked at him with suspicion, wondering what had gotten into him this time...
"Your Highness, what opportunity?"
Wang Yanzhang looked at Li Zhu with a puzzled expression and asked!
"The opportunity to capture Taiyuan Prefecture..."
Li Zhu put down the message in his hand and immediately gave instructions to the generals in front of him.
Where is Zhao Feng?
"Your subordinate is here!"
"You will lead the Heavenly Punishment Army to infiltrate Taiyuan Prefecture. Once our forces begin the siege, you will seize control of the city gates from within the city..."
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Where is Chen Qingzhi?
"Your subordinate is here!"
"You will lead 10,000 troops to besiege Yangcheng, not to breach the city, but simply to tie down the defending forces..."
"Your subordinate obeys!"
"Where are Wang Yanzhang and Arrow Soul?"
"Your subordinate is here!"
The two of them responded in unison!
"You two will follow me and lead the remaining troops to bypass Yangcheng and attack Taiyuan Prefecture..."
"Your subordinate obeys!"
After issuing the order, Li Zhu sent a message by carrier pigeon to Uesugi Kenshin, instructing him to cooperate in destroying the castle garrison's camp and diverting their attention...
Taiyuan Prefecture!
The people inside the city were unaware of the impending danger. Thanks to Zhu Yougui's reforms, Taiyuan Prefecture was now a unified force, and under his ruthless methods, those powerful clans were beginning to suffer real financial losses…
These powerful families each contributed at least a thousand private soldiers, and this single acquisition yielded over 20,000 soldiers. For Taiyuan Prefecture at this time, this was a godsend. More importantly, these private soldiers were highly skilled and could become mature soldiers with minimal training.
With its own soldiers, plus the personal guard and city defense troops...
At this time, Zhu Yougui could control an army of nearly 60,000 men. In addition, he ordered the surrounding cities to send troops to defend the emperor on the orders of the Prince of Jin. If he achieved his goal, having an army of 100,000 men would be a small matter.
As events unfolded, Zhu Yougui became increasingly confident. After arranging the training, the first thing he did was to go to Zhu Wen's harem and take all of his father's concubines for himself...
His wife had been humiliated by his own father for so long; now that he had power, he was determined to take it all back…
Zhu Yougui's absurdity surpassed even that of his father, and this naturally reached the Tianxing Army stationed outside the city...
Bang!
Zhu Youzhen slammed his fist on the table in front of him, smashing it to pieces, and roared angrily.
"Damn it, he's gone too far..."
"Your Highness, please calm down. We need to consider this matter carefully..."
Ding Hui quickly reassured him, saying that he had led a portion of his personal guards to Zhu Youzhen's camp and had told Zhu Youzhen everything he knew, hoping that he could lead his troops to quell Zhu Yougui's rebellion...
However, Zhu Yougui acted too quickly. Now that the other party is the nominal Prince of Jin, if they mobilize the Tianxing Army without authorization, it would constitute treason and they would lose their righteous cause...
"General Ding, why didn't you take my mother with you when you fled? Now she's been defiled by that bastard Zhu Yougui, I hate you so much..."
Ding Hui nearly vomited blood from anger at these words. Was this even human language? If I had the skill to save people, I'd probably be dead in Taiyuan Prefecture, and you wouldn't have known about the danger beforehand…
I've done so much for you, and you actually blame me for your mother's defilement? This is absolutely repaying kindness with enmity...
If I had known, I wouldn't have come to seek refuge with you. Now he has nowhere to go home and has become the object of your complaints. Who can he reason with?
"Your Highness, Zhu Yougui has acted tyrannically, even raping his own father's concubines. Such behavior has already incurred the wrath of both heaven and man. Given the right opportunity, we can overthrow Zhu Yougui with a single call to arms..."
"You mean you want my mother to continue to be defiled by that beast Zhu Yougui? Why don't you just give your own mother to Zhu Yougui?"
Zhu Youzhen's eyes were filled with rage, as if everything was Ding Hui's fault...
These words nearly made Ding Hui explode, but he ultimately held back, knowing that Zhu Youzhen was still angry and he couldn't provoke him further at this moment...
This also made Ding Hui realize why Zhu Wen valued Zhu Yougui more; at the very least, the latter was truly capable, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to achieve final victory in this coup…
With Zhu Youzhen's cunning and narrow-mindedness, he was certainly incapable of achieving great things, which made Ding Hui begin to regret his actions...
"I've made up my mind. I'm going to raise an army and rescue my mother..."
Zhu Youzhen suddenly stood up and said with a firm look in her eyes!
"Your Highness, you mustn't..."
His subordinates immediately tried to dissuade him…
"No one is allowed to look at me, or they will be killed without mercy..."
Zhu Youzhen said with red eyes…
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