Ren Tianye almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
But the words on the imperial decree were crystal clear.
Lin Yi, the commander-in-chief of the Chifeng Army, having held military power for a long time, has harbored treacherous intentions. His seventy thousand troops, bewitched by him, have disregarded the sovereign's grace, repeatedly defied royal commands, and even secretly allied with other factions to obstruct the national policies in the Northern Frontier. This is truly an act of treason!
Treason!!!
To directly convict them of such a heinous crime!
The imperial decree also stated that the Empress, remembering the Chifeng Army's past merits in guarding the borders, had pardoned them multiple times. However, the Chifeng Army not only showed no remorse, but their overstepping ambitions grew even stronger.
To uphold the law of the land and secure the state, the Empress ordered: The Chifeng Army's designation is to be revoked. The commander-in-chief and his seventy thousand troops, whether officers or soldiers, are to be executed without exception. Leave no one alive!
Furthermore, all regional forces along the way were ordered to assist in the annihilation.
Anyone who secretly releases or harbors them will face the execution of their entire family!
The instructions on the imperial decree were quite detailed.
However, Ren Tianye could clearly see that the charges against the Chifeng Army were nothing but a list of hollow and broad terms. It was the equivalent of saying, if you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext!
It did not specify in detail what exactly the Chifeng Army had done to warrant execution!
The most crucial point was that it was not just the execution of the Chifeng Army's commander and generals, but the slaughter of all seventy thousand troops!
Ren Tianye had lost count of how many times he had been shocked by this maddening female-centric novel world, but this time, he was still left completely dumbfounded!
No matter how hard he racked his brains, he could never have imagined that the Empress would execute the Chifeng Army!
That was the Chifeng Army!
The Northern Frontier had over two hundred thousand soldiers to defend against Great Yu's greatest enemy, the barbarians. But among them, the main force was the Chifeng Army!
Even his own troops were nothing more than errand boys for the Chifeng Army.
It was precisely because of the Chifeng Army that the Northern Frontier had remained safe and sound for so many years. It was because of them that the barbarians, despite repeatedly attacking the passes, suffered heavy casualties and retreated in bitter resentment.
But now, the Chifeng Army was to be executed?
And...
It was the execution of everyone in the Chifeng Army!
Ren Tianye couldn't help but laugh.
He laughed out of sheer anger!
Damn it... Throughout history, there had never been anything so outrageous.
Those seventy thousand soldiers of the Chifeng Army were all elites of Great Yu. Just assembling them had cost at least thirty-five million taels of silver.
Great Yu's annual tax revenue was only fifty million taels of silver.
Such a meticulously forged elite force was to be killed just like that?
All that shining silver, just thrown away so casually?
And that was only on an economic level.
The impact of slaughtering the Chifeng Army on Great Yu, and even the entire world, would be far more terrifying!
Ask yourself, if the Chifeng Army were killed, which soldier would ever be loyal to the Great Yu Dynasty again?
"Damn it, this is the absolute epitome of absurdity!"
Ren Tianye couldn't help but curse, "I've heard of executing rebellious generals, killing those whose merits outshine the sovereign, and slaughtering the upper echelons..."
"But slaughtering seventy thousand elite troops... Holy shit, this is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing!"
Ren Tianye pondered that even someone like Liu Bang had at most executed meritorious subjects like Han Xin.
Zhu Yuanzhang seemed bloodthirsty enough, making heads roll left and right, but even he didn't fucking dare wipe out his own elite troops!
The logic in this insane female-centric novel was just unbelievably outrageous!
Furthermore...
Ren Tianye immediately thought of Aunt Xiao, who had delivered the decree. Her convoy was heading back towards Great Yu's Forbidden City, so it could basically be concluded...
The decree had been delivered, and the slaughter of the seventy thousand Chifeng Army soldiers was already complete!
In other words, the Chifeng Army, the pillar of the nation, had been completely annihilated!
"Hehehe..."
Ren Tianye couldn't help but laugh again.
He now thoroughly understood a certain saying.
When a person is truly left speechless, they really do laugh.
With the Chifeng Army gone, who would be able to resist the surging armies of the barbarians in the future? Who would still sincerely and wholeheartedly resist them?
He could almost foresee the scenes to come: the Great Yu Dynasty being overrun by the barbarian hordes, the imperial capital falling, and Empress Xiao Mingzhao being taken captive.
When that time came, the nation would be shattered, leaving only mountains and rivers behind.
And they, the people of Yu, would become like stray dogs, ending up as wandering ghosts under the blades of the barbarians.
"How utterly absurd!"
He didn't know how many times he had said these words. No matter how resolute Ren Tianye's mind was, he couldn't help but feel a wave of bewilderment at this moment.
But immediately after...
He shuddered violently!
A much more terrifying thought surged into his mind.
"If all seventy thousand soldiers of the Chifeng Army were slaughtered, would Empress Xiao Mingzhao spare us, the border army that was attached to them?"
A chill ran through Ren Tianye's body.
Like the Chifeng Army, his unit had long been stationed in Shanhe City, the foremost formidable pass of Great Yu's Northern Frontier. They took orders from the Chifeng Army and submitted to their command.
The men in his army were very close to those in the Chifeng Army.
Countless soldiers admired the Chifeng Army the most and dreamed of joining their ranks.
Now, the Empress had massacred the Chifeng Army.
What about them?
Would the butcher's blade be raised and brought down on their heads too?
"Damn it, if that brain-dead Xiao Mingzhao dared to slaughter Great Yu's most elite seventy thousand Chifeng troops, why wouldn't she dare to slaughter small fries like us?"
"Fuck! I've only transmigrated here a few months ago, and now I'm going to be branded a traitor and wiped out!"
A stampede of ten thousand curses galloped through Ren Tianye's mind.
His immense speechlessness also ignited his will to survive.
Xiao Mingzhao wanted them dead, but why should they just die for nothing?
"Fuck it, let's rebel!"
Ren Tianye's gaze turned resolute once more, the answer already clear in his heart. He didn't dare linger any longer; he had to return immediately to make plans.
Looking at the mess before him, he had originally planned to start a fire to destroy the corpses and erase all traces, so no one could find evidence of his crimes. But now...
There was no need!
Since Xiao Mingzhao accused them of treason, then he would show her some real treason! When the time came, they would see who the real rebel army was! Who was actually rebelling!
With a sharp whistle, the Night-Illuminating Jade Lion came galloping over.
Ren Tianye vaulted onto the horse.
However, before leaving, he still took the head of the youth from the Li family with him. He was afraid that once he left, some miracle doctor might pass by, sew Young Master Li's head back on, and bring the youth back to life. That would be a fucking disaster!
The horse's hooves clattered as it galloped down the road.
Moving like lightning and the wind!
Riding off to find his subordinates!
...
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
