Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Three riders led the way, followed by ten, coming from the south.

Xu Xiang had been waiting at the south gate of Wuxi for an hour. After the turmoil of the previous night, Xu Xiang had not slept at all. His already thin face looked even more haggard, and his eyes kept looking south.

Upon seeing the three men's faces clearly, Xu Xiang quickly stepped forward and shouted, "Lord Gu, Zifan, Chengsi, quickly come with me into the city to see His Majesty."

Gu Yong was already in his sixties, but he still dismounted with agility and looked directly at Xu Xiang: "Ziming, is His Majesty well?"

Xu Xiang shook his head and said in a hoarse voice, "His Majesty is uneasy, otherwise he wouldn't have sent Lord Gu."

As soon as Xu Xiang uttered these words, Gu Yong, Zhu Ju, and Teng Yin were all shocked.

For so many years, Xu Xiang, as Sun Quan's confidant, had always been remembered as gentle, polite, and composed. But at this moment, Xu Xiang looked haggard, his eyes were red and swollen, and his hair appeared to have been hastily tied up. Moreover, Xu Xiang was unusually wearing armor on his upper body!
Even the usually composed Gu Yong panicked at this moment: "What happened to His Majesty? Where in the city can I look for His Majesty?"

"His Majesty was wounded by an arrow last night and is currently in the Wuxi County government office. Pan Chengming was killed by the rebels." Xu Xiang looked at Gu Yong with bloodshot eyes: "Does Lord Gu intend to kill His Majesty?"

Before Gu Yong could answer, Xu Xiang turned to Zhu Ju, Sun Quan's son-in-law, Sun Luyu's husband, and former Left General: "Does Zifan intend to kill His Majesty?"

Gu Yong was filled with shock and disbelief, while Zhu Ju stamped his foot heavily, his face flushed: "I am His Majesty's son-in-law, and I serve His Majesty as my own father. How could I possibly harm His Majesty? Lord Xu, who exactly was causing trouble last night?!"

"Don't ask anymore. Come with me." Xu Xiang replied hoarsely, then turned, mounted his horse, and headed into the city.

The four entered the city first, and Gu Yong and the others became increasingly alarmed as they watched.

The small city of Wuxi was already under military control, and the streets were deserted except for squads of soldiers without helmets patrolling back and forth.

On the way from the south gate of Wuxi to the county government office, corpses were piled up haphazardly on both sides of the road, as if people who died on the roadside had been hastily dragged to the side after a battle. Occasionally, there were dark red pools of blood on the road.

Gu Yong's face gradually turned ashen, and his heart pounded violently in his chest. In his decades-long career in officialdom, this was the first time he had ever felt such fear.

The county government office gates were wide open, and the soldiers guarding the gates were all covered in blood. As soon as Gu Yong and his companions dismounted and before they even entered the courtyard, an extremely strong stench of blood assaulted their senses.

The road from the county government gate to the main hall was unobstructed, but upon entering the courtyard, Gu Yong nearly fainted. Apart from the path leading to the main hall, everywhere he looked were corpses that had not yet been collected; in a quick glance, there were at least several hundred.

Sun Quan, seated in the main hall, walked through two courtyards and watched as Gu Yong and the other three entered in a panic. Pan Jun's corpse remained in front of Sun Quan, his head, which could not close its eyes, still resting on Sun Quan's lap.

Life is fleeting, a brief existence between heaven and earth, like a bird perched on a withered branch...

For half a day, Sun Quan kept repeating this sentence in his mind. It was a line from Cao Zihuan's poem, and Sun Quan remembered that Cao Rui had sent him Cao Pi's collected works several years ago.

Is this sentence roughly translated as follows?
Sun Quan couldn't quite remember either.

"Your subject Gu Yong pays respects to Your Majesty." As soon as Gu Yong entered the room, he knelt down several feet away, and his two sons-in-law, Zhu Ju and Teng Yin, also knelt down. Xu Xiang, on the other hand, walked slowly to the side of Sun Quan, cupped his hands in greeting, and then stood at attention.

"Ziming, give me the sword."

Xu Xiang, unaware of what was going on, handed over the short sword at his waist.

Sun Quan took it and tossed it lightly like a spear, and Xu Xiang's sword landed in front of Gu Yong.

"Yuan Tan, draw your sword," Sun Quan said coldly.

"Your Majesty..." Gu Yong, who was prostrate on the ground, was extremely frightened. He looked up at Sun Quan, and his body trembled.

"I command you to draw your sword!" Sun Quan roared angrily. "I am the Son of Heaven, and my words are law. Are you disobeying even my decrees?"

"Your Majesty, I dare not!" Gu Yong said, his voice trembling as he looked at Sun Quan.

"Draw your sword!!" Sun Quan shouted, stood up, and strode forward. The sound of his footsteps made Gu Yong, Zhu Ju, and Teng Yin tremble.

Sun Quan walked up to Gu Yong, stared at him for a long time from his high position, and then knelt down in front of Gu Yong and said in a deep voice, "Yuan Tan, draw your sword."

"Your Majesty," Gu Yong dared not meet Sun Quan's gaze any longer and kowtowed repeatedly, "How dare I draw my sword before Your Majesty? While in Wu County, I have always been law-abiding and knew nothing of the events in Wuxi!"

Gu Yong kowtowed heavily to the ground, the sound of his head hitting the ground repeatedly. He had only kowtowed less than ten times when blood began to flow from his forehead. However, Sun Quan did not stop Gu Yong, but instead turned to look at Zhu Ju:

"Zifan, come here, draw your sword, and kill me!"

Seeing Zhu Ju kowtow like Gu Yong, repeatedly saying "Your subject dares not," Sun Quan was furious. He stood up, kicked Zhu Ju to the ground in an instant, and swung his sheathed sword at Zhu Ju repeatedly.

"You dare not?!" Sun Quan pounded harder, the scabbard striking Zhu Ju's back repeatedly, each blow without holding back: "Isn't Zhu Zhen your sworn brother? Isn't Zhu Zhi your cousin? They both spoke up for you, conspiring to kill me last night. Zhu Zhen told me himself, and you say you dare not?!"

Zhu Ju, kneeling on the ground, trembled violently, barely daring to breathe. Hearing that it was his own clansmen, Zhu Zhen and Zhu Zhi, who had caused the disturbance, he dared not move in the face of the enraged Sun Quan. He simply knelt, enduring Sun Quan's blows again and again. Gu Yong, knowing that Sun Quan suspected him and having seen Sun Quan's bandaged wounds, dared not plead for Zhu Ju's life in the slightest. His mind was completely broken; he could only kneel motionless.

Even as a leader of the scholar class and a long-time prime minister and minister, Gu Yong found it difficult to speak when faced with the scene of the emperor being assassinated by the imperial guards and wounded, and the subsequent slaughter and bloodshed after entering the city.

Meanwhile, Teng Yin, the governor of Wu Commandery and another son-in-law of Sun Quan, saw that blood was beginning to seep from the corner of Zhu Ju's mouth. He knelt down in front of Sun Quan, hugged Sun Quan's legs, and pleaded in a mournful voice, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, if the fighting continues, Zhu Ju will die!"

"Do you know that I was also going to die last night?" Sun Quan glared at Teng Yin, kicked him to the ground, and roared furiously, "Who cares whether I live or die!"

After saying that, Sun Quan kicked Zhu Ju away, then pulled out his sword forcefully and turned around to slash it in the air.

At this moment, Zhu Ju had also fainted, falling to his side, unconscious...

After a long period of release, Sun Quan's emotions finally calmed down a bit. He threw down his sword, sat down, pointed at Xu Xiang, then at Gu Yong, and lay down on the ground as if exhausted, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath.

Xu Xiang let out a long sigh and slowly began to explain to Gu Yong and Teng Yin, who were still conscious, everything that had happened the night before.

After Zhu Zhi, the military commander of Wunan, plotted to assassinate Sun Quan, he was killed by Sun Quan. The situation changed drastically. The two hundred soldiers that Zhu Zhi brought, seeing that their superior was dead, realized that they had been tricked by Zhu Zhi. After receiving a promise from Sun Quan, they returned to Sun Quan's control and surrounded the Hu residence to defend it.

Xu Xiang led more than thirty armored soldiers over the back wall, secretly opened the west gate of Wuxi City, found the thousand soldiers of Sima Buchan who was leading the entourage, and entered the city to attack Yu Qin's troops.

Bu Chan's troops shouted that Zhu Zhi was dead and that Yu Qin had rebelled, causing unrest among Yu Qin's soldiers. In the ensuing chaos, Yu Qin was killed by Bu Chan's forces, and his remaining troops surrendered.

When Xu Xiang led Bu Chan's troops to defeat Yu Qin's troops and arrived at Hu's residence, Sun Quan personally entered Bu Chan's army and ordered all the soldiers of Zhu Zhi's troops who had previously surrounded Hu's residence to remove their armor and abandon their weapons.

Sun Quan then did only one thing: he ordered everyone to sit down and not stand until dawn when the east gradually turned white.

Zhu Zhen, the official in charge of the imperial seal, was also brought before Sun Quan by his soldiers. After learning the reason for Zhu Zhen's rebellion, Sun Quan personally beheaded Zhu Zhen.

After dawn, the killing began.

These promises are merely expedient words.

Last night, along with Zhu Zhi's two hundred men and one hundred guards, a total of three hundred soldiers, excluding the thirty-odd who went with Xu Xiang to find Bu Chan, all had their armor and weapons removed. Sun Quan ordered them to enter Hu's residence and order Bu Chan to kill them all. A few bold soldiers suggested that the emperor had promised to pardon them last night, but Xu Xiang ordered them all to be executed under the pretext that "their crimes deserve nine deaths, but only one death is pardoned."

Of the seven hundred men led by Yu Qin, the centurions, squad leaders, platoon leaders, and squad leaders were all executed, and the remaining soldiers were all imprisoned.

Therefore, the entire city of Wuxi became what Gu Yong and the others saw today.

Gu Yong listened as Xu Xiang slowly finished recounting everything. Teng Yin, who was lying prostrate on the ground, remained motionless. He was the governor of Wu Commandery. Although the attack on Sun Quan within his jurisdiction was not directly related to him, Teng Yin felt guilty and dared not move.

But when Gu Yong instinctively looked at Zhu Ju, he found that blood was flowing from the corner of Zhu Ju's mouth. At this moment, Gu Yong no longer cared about propriety and hurriedly crawled to Zhu Ju's side. He reached out with trembling hands to check, only to find that Zhu Ju had already stopped breathing.

He was beaten to death by Sun Quan, or perhaps he was scared to death...

Gu Yong was utterly terrified. He looked up at Xu Xiang, about to ask why Xu Xiang hadn't warned him when Zhu Ju was bleeding, but he met Xu Xiang's icy gaze. Clearly, Xu Xiang had seen everything, and even deliberately prolonged his conversation, seemingly showing no concern whatsoever for Zhu Ju's condition.

Xu Xiang also has a valid point!
For Xu Xiang, if it weren't for Sun Quan's valiant fight against the enemy as emperor last night, he, as a courtier and close advisor to the emperor, would likely have died like Pan Jun, as easily as dust, without a trace. To live a life in such chaos—is Zhu Ju's life worth more than Pan Jun's? Is Xu Xiang, whose life is threatened, not allowed to have a grievance?
Xu Xiang already harbored extreme hatred for Zhu Shi, and he was unwilling to offer even the slightest reminder.

"Your Majesty," Gu Yong said, his face deathly pale, "Zhu Ju is dead. He was beaten to death by Your Majesty..."

Sun Quan finally sat up, staring intently at Zhu Ju's corpse for a long time with a taut face. His throat bobbed slightly before he said, "Teng Yin!"

“Your subject is here,” Teng Yin replied.

“The Zhu family of Wu County plotted to kill me. Their crimes are obvious and unforgivable.” Sun Quan said, “Take my order back to Wu County and search for the entire Zhu family. Regardless of whether they are men, women, old or young, kill them immediately after capture. Do not fail! Bring the princess back to my side.”

Teng Yin was extremely astonished. He looked up at Sun Quan, and was about to speak to argue that the Zhu family was a powerful clan and who should be killed, but Sun Quan silenced him with a single sentence:
"You are now my only son-in-law. Do not ask any more questions. Go and carry out your mission. Leave no one alive in the entire clan."

“Yes…” Teng Yin immediately burst into tears.

Xu Xiang couldn't bear it any longer and reminded him from the side, "Your Majesty, Zhu Xiumu (Zhu Huan) died for the country and was a loyal minister. I beg Your Majesty to spare Zhu Xiumu's branch of the family."

Sun Quan took a deep breath: "Except for Zhu Huan's descendants and Zhu Huan's younger brother Zhu Kai and his descendants, kill the rest."

"Your subject obeys the decree," Teng Yin replied, his voice trembling.

“Yuan Tan.” Sun Quan looked directly at Gu Yong: “Come back to my side, become the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, and help me.”

"As you command." Gu Yong knelt on the ground. (End of Chapter)