Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 7 Let them offer a pledge of allegiance.
Memorials to the emperor arrived like snowflakes.

It could even be said to be heavier and denser than snowflakes.

They piled up in a corner of the imperial desk in the Wenhua Hall, forming a small mountain.

Every memorial was filled with passionate righteousness and sharp words, every sentence pointing to the same person—Wei Zhongxian.

The gentlemen of the Donglin Party finally recovered from their initial shock and bewilderment.

They couldn't understand, or even accept, that the new emperor, instead of purging this national scourge, seemed to... even use him as an ally!
In their view, this is turning black into white, blurring the lines between right and wrong, and is the most thorough betrayal of the teachings of sages!
As a result, impeachment memorials flooded into the Forbidden City with unprecedented enthusiasm and intensity.

Zhu Youjian did not look at it.

I haven't read a single one.

Every morning, he would have his eunuchs neatly stack the newly delivered memorials on that "mountain".

He enjoyed watching the mountain grow higher each day, which made him clearly feel that he was standing on the opposite side of the entire civil service.

This feeling isn't bad.

He knew that these learned gentlemen were currently in the court or in their own residences, delivering impassioned and heartfelt speeches.

They felt they possessed the principles of heaven and the moral order.

They believed that the emperor should follow the will of the people and punish treacherous officials like Wei Zhongxian to appease the nation!

How naive, and how... ridiculous!
They don't understand, or perhaps they pretend not to understand. When a ship is about to sink, what's most needed isn't a morally upright captain, but a repairman who can plug all the leaks, no matter how dirty the methods!

Wei Zhongxian was the first repairman Zhu Youjian found.

Now, he needs to find the most reliable bodyguard for himself, the "captain".

Zhu Youjian shifted his gaze from the mountain where memorials were submitted to the emperor and looked outside the palace.

Sunlight streamed through the window frames, casting dappled shadows on the gold-brick floor, where dust motes danced silently.

This palace, like the dust in this play of light and shadow, appears calm, but in reality, every single grain may have come from a corner unknown to Zhu Youjian, carrying an unknown purpose!
Zhou Quan's appointment to office encountered resistance.

A silent, soft, yet ubiquitous resistance.

He was appointed "Commander-in-Chief with Swords Before the Emperor," a prestigious position of the third rank, which was enough to make ninety percent of the military officials in the capital envious.

But when he held the imperial edict, intending to consolidate the palace guards, he found himself punching cotton.

His colleagues in the Embroidered Uniform Guard outwardly obeyed him but inwardly defied him, addressing him as "Lord Zhou" while their eyes were full of sarcasm and alienation.

The officers of the Imperial Guard who were originally in charge of the palace ignored him and continued to do as usual, as if he were just an insignificant decoration.

Even the eunuchs in the inner palace would "unintentionally" be half an hour late when delivering messages to him.

They are all waiting.

Wait until this lucky person, who rose to prominence without any foundation, falls from a great height.

They didn't believe that an unknown junior officer could hold onto this position.

Zhou Quan felt all of this.

His face, which was expressionless year-round, revealed no emotion, but his heart was as clear as a mirror.

He did not go to the emperor to complain, nor did he abuse his power to punish those who were making things difficult for him.

He was just doing one thing.

observe.

Like a lone wolf lurking in the shadows, he used his calm eyes to observe the changing times of every guard post in the palace, the temperament of every officer, and the eyes of every soldier.

Three days later, he secretly met with Zhu Youjian again, carrying a list.

"Your Majesty, I have investigated and found that there are twelve guards and eight eunuchs around the Qianqing Palace whose families have close ties with officials and whose behavior is suspicious. This is the first batch."

Zhou Quan's voice remained as steady as ever.

Zhu Youjian was using a small silver knife to trim the withered leaves of a clivia plant.

He didn't ask how Zhou Quan found out, and without even looking up, he asked, "What are you going to do about it?"

"I wish to kill someone." Zhou Quan's answer was simple and direct.

Zhu Youjian paused for a moment.

"you alone?"

“No.” Zhou Quan raised his head, a glint of light flashing in his eyes. “These past two days, I have privately contacted some young men in the Yongwei Camp. Like me, they come from humble backgrounds, possess martial prowess, but have suffered from a lack of connections and have been suppressed by their superiors for many years. I have promised that as long as they are willing to die for Your Majesty, they will have a place in the Yongwei Camp. I cannot guarantee high-ranking positions and generous salaries, but three times the salary and ten times the compensation are Your Majesty’s golden words.”

Zhu Youjian finally put down the silver knife, turned around, and looked at him with great interest.

"They believed it?"

“They want to gamble,” Zhou Quan said in a deep voice. “Gambling that His Majesty is a monarch of his word. Gambling that by following me, they can find a way to survive, a way to rise above others.”

"Very good." A satisfied smile appeared on Zhu Youjian's lips.

"Then let them offer a pledge of loyalty."

"I want everyone to see it. To see the consequences of betraying me, and also... the rewards for loyalty to me."

……

On the morning of the fourth day, the sky was overcast.

The leaden-gray clouds hung low over the Forbidden City, making it hard to breathe.

On a vacant drill ground near the West Garden, twenty guards and eunuchs, bound hand and foot, knelt in a row.

Their mouths were gagged, and they could only make mournful "woo-woo" sounds; their faces were filled with fear and despair.

Opposite them stood Zhou Quan, and behind him, more than ten young officers from the Yongwei Battalion with complex expressions.

Their hands were gripping the hilts of their knives tightly, their palms sweaty!
Further away, many palace maids, eunuchs, and guards on duty were watching from a distance.

Their faces showed fear, curiosity, and a hint of schadenfreude.

The entire scene was eerily silent.

Only the wind, blowing through the corners of the palace, made a mournful sound.

Suddenly, a figure appeared on a corner tower in the distance.

A young figure dressed in a blue Taoist robe.

It's the emperor.

He stood there quietly, without any entourage, like an emotionless statue, overlooking everything that was about to happen below.

Everyone's eyes were instinctively drawn to the corner tower.

The air in the entire training ground seemed to freeze at that moment.

Zhu Youjian's gaze swept over the kneeling "insiders" below, over the tense young officers, and finally landed on Zhou Quan.

He didn't speak.

He simply raised his right hand slowly.

Then, he nodded slightly.

This movement was so subtle that it was almost imperceptible.

But for Zhou Quan, it was like a bolt from the blue.

Now! "Clang!"

With a clear and melodious dragon's roar, Zhou Quan's sword was drawn from its sheath with lightning speed!

The blade flashed, so fast that its trajectory was impossible to see!
The head of the guards kneeling at the front had not yet recovered from the fear on his face when a head was shot into the air!

Warm blood gushed out, splattering all over Zhou Quan.

Zhou Quan didn't wipe it.

He simply gripped the dripping knife, turned around, and looked at the young officers behind him with his cold, emotionless eyes.

"The Valiant Guard will die for His Majesty!"

He roared out this vow with all his might.

The dozen or so officers trembled at the sight of the bloody scene and Zhou Quan's roar.

They saw the emperor's indifferent gaze from the corner tower.

They saw the scalding hot blood all over Zhou's body.

They knew they had no way out.

Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back!

"To die for His Majesty!"

An officer roared and was the first to draw his sword and charge forward.

His knife slashed fiercely at the "spy" closest to him.

With the first, there is the second, the third...

In an instant, blades flashed and flesh flew everywhere.

The scream was choked in his throat, turning into an even more desperate sob.

Those young officers who usually appeared docile and respectful now seemed to have transformed into demons crawling out of hell, using all their strength to slash at their former "colleagues."

This is not a battle.

This is a sacrifice.

A ceremony in which the blood of one's own kind is offered to the new Lord as a sign of loyalty.

The onlookers in the distance were already pale with fright, and many palace maids even fainted on the spot.

The entire Forbidden City was stunned into silence by the sudden bloodshed.

When the last "spy" fell in a pool of blood, only heavy breathing remained on the training ground.

The dozen or so officers were covered in blood, their hands trembling slightly as they gripped their knives.

They looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, at the bloodstains on their own bodies, their eyes filled with fear and confusion, but even more so with a twisted excitement of being released.

They pledged their allegiance.

From this day forward, they will be the emperor's sword and Zhou Quan's accomplices.

They can't go back!

Zhou Quan sheathed his sword with swift and decisive movements.

He turned to face the corner tower, knelt on one knee, and spoke in a booming voice.

"Your Majesty, the traitor has been eliminated! The Brave Guard Battalion awaits Your Majesty's command!"

The dozen or so officers behind him also reacted, kneeling down in unison and holding their bloodstained swords horizontally in front of them.

"The Valiant Guard Battalion awaits His Majesty's command!"

From the corner tower, Zhu Youjian quietly watched all of this.

There was still no expression on his face.

He simply nodded again, then turned and disappeared behind the corner tower.

It was as if he had only come out to watch a play that had nothing to do with him.

But everyone knew that from this moment on, the palace had changed!
……

The sound of the wind is roaring.

For a time,

The entire Forbidden City was shrouded in an invisible fear.

No one dared to outwardly comply with Zhou Quan and his "Brave Guard Battalion" anymore.

When their uniforms, embroidered with the special "Brave Guard" cloud pattern, appeared in any corner of the palace, everyone would lower their heads and remain silent in fear.

For the first time, Zhu Youjian also felt truly "respected".

When he walked on the palace road again, the kneeling of the eunuchs, maids and guards was no longer perfunctory and formulaic. Their heads were lowered even further, and their trembling was from the bottom of their hearts.

Their eyes no longer held only numbness; there was something else in them.

In awe.

Awe of absolute power!

Awe for the imperial power that can decide life and death with a single word, without any mercy or rules!
With the first batch of spies being bloodily purged, the "clever people" in the palace began to take action.

Rather than being exposed by others, it's better to "surrender" proactively.

In the following days, Zhou Quan was greeted by many people who took the initiative to "report" and "confess".

They revealed the names of their masters, the tokens used to pass messages, and the "rats" hiding in the shadows.

One after another.

Those informants who were usually well hidden were all exposed.

No further public executions were carried out.

They simply disappeared silently in the dead of night.

It was as if they had never existed in this world.

This silent cleansing is more terrifying than open killing.

Seven days.

Seven full days.

Seven days later, when Zhu Youjian stood in front of the Qianqing Palace again, watching the afterglow of the setting sun dye the massive palace in a golden-red hue, he took a deep breath.

The air seemed to have become fresher.

Zhu Youjian knew that there were still eyes watching him in this city.

But the air around him was much cleaner.

He finally had a relatively safe place where he could sleep peacefully... a nest.

A Forbidden City that was truly his own, forged from fear and blood!

(End of this chapter)