Your Majesty, please beg for mercy. The prince's rebellion was successful.

It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

Emperor Tianjing's dominance eventually made all the civil and military officials in the court feel a bit panic and fear.

As officials of the Zhou Dynasty court, they have not only their families behind them, but also a complex network of local gentry and high-ranking officials, who form a huge interest group.

The reason why King Yong of Zhou was so unstoppable in the early stage was that the local gentry and powerful people did not take action.

They do not take action, do not resist, and do not fight, implementing the three-no policy in order to preserve their own strength.

No matter what the outcome was for King Zhou Yong, no matter what the outcome was for Emperor Tianjing and Zhou Zheng, or even for Zhou Zheng and the five ancient families, as long as their strength was retained, there would be a chance to start over again.

Only when their own strength is completely wiped out will they lose the right to choose and the right to bargain.

This is what all the civil and military officials in the court really think.

They don't care who is the emperor, and they don't even care about changing dynasties.

The only thing they want to do is to protect themselves as much as possible.

Only in this way can one survive in the next new dynasty.

Of course, if they have to choose, they naturally won’t stand on Zhou Zheng’s side.

But now, Emperor Tianjing's attitude is not to give them any chance at all, not even the slightest consideration.

Because, let alone waiting for King Zhou Yong to capture Kyoto, Emperor Tianjing did not even give the prime minister the three days he mentioned.

The next day, the family of a minister in the court was executed by Emperor Tianjing because of false connections!

This action alone shocked the entire court and all the officials, making it clear to everyone that Emperor Tianjing was making a naked threat to them. This was telling them that he, Emperor Tianjing, was still the emperor, that he still had power, and that he, Emperor Tianjing, could still discipline them!

Faced with such a method of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys, the ministers were angry, but eventually turned into reluctance.

They knew very well that in the current situation, they had no other choice but to stand on the side of Emperor Tianjing.

Even though he knew that if he followed Emperor Tianjing's method and let the gentry and dignitaries behind him take action against King Zhou Yong, it would be very likely that the forces behind them would be completely wiped out, and even the foundation of these court officials in the Great Zhou Dynasty would be shaken.

But so what? !

They no longer care about the future, or even the aftermath.

The only thing they can do is to seize the present moment and at least allow themselves to survive in the current situation.

Otherwise, you will die and everything else will be meaningless.

Thinking of this, the ministers became ruthless. Emperor Tianjing wanted to completely tie all the officials to himself.

The only solution now is to do everything according to Emperor Tianjing's request.

Even if this were to happen, countless local gentry and powerful people in the Great Zhou would be killed and wiped out, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

At the very least, it could slow down King Yong of Zhou's attack on the capital.

The Imperial Palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, the officials in the court have sent pigeons overnight..."

A figure flashed in the dark in the imperial study, knelt down in front of Emperor Tianjing, and reported to Emperor Tianjing about the movements of the ministers in the court in the past two days.

Hearing this, Emperor Tianjing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Humph, if you don't accept my toast, you will be punished. It seems that we still need to use tough measures to better manage these so-called loyal ministers. Otherwise, they will almost forget who is the master and who owns the world."

Emperor Tianjing picked up the teacup, took a sip, his voice was quite indifferent, but his brows were raised, and it was obvious that everything was under his control.

He had already mastered the struggles among court officials and weighing the pros and cons.

Without absolute strength, these court officials were not qualified to compete with Emperor Tianjing.

"Your Majesty, what if these people have second thoughts?..."

The man kneeling on the ground frowned slightly, and there was a hint of coldness and murderous intent in his words.

The current Great Zhou still needs these ministers and the local gentry and powerful people behind them to stabilize its foundation, but once they rebel and surrender directly to King Zhou Yong, then the Great Zhou will truly perish.

"Don't worry, they don't have the guts. Besides, they won't gamble their lives."

Emperor Tianjing put down the teacup in his hand, smiled, and there was a glimmer of light in his eyes.

Since ascending the throne again, the best thing he has done is to take control of the entire Kyoto in his own hands.

Perhaps now the soldiers and generals of the imperial court no longer fully obey the calls and orders of Emperor Tianjing, and may even rebel.

But as long as the Kyoto defense force in the hands of the Nine-Gate Admiral is still in his hands, Emperor Tianjing can control all the officials in the court.

If any of these officials showed any sign of dissent, he would kill them without mercy.

"Pass the order down. If any local gentry dares to rebel and surrender to the enemy, order the Minister of War to mobilize troops and kill them directly!"

"Then, execute all the imperial officials behind these gentry!"

Emperor Tianjing's pupils shrank to the size of a pinhole, filled with murderous intent.

Since ancient times, one general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers!

I have given these officials a choice. If they still refuse to change their ways, don't blame me for being ruthless.

"Yes!"

The person kneeling on the ground did not hesitate at all.

"At the same time, secretly investigate these officials above the third rank in the court."

Emperor Tianjing picked up a brush on the desk and casually drew some incomprehensible pictures. When this battle for the throne was over, he would kill all those double-faced fence-sitters in the court.

......

Southern Da Zhou.

King Zhou Yong sat solemnly with a frown on his face. A depressing atmosphere began to spread in the hall.

"Your Majesty, the gentry from all over the country have begun to take action."

A general stood up and bowed slightly to King Zhou Yong, with a hint of panic in his words.

"Humph, they are just local gentry and powerful people, why are you so nervous?"

"You are all generals who have fought on the battlefield. Are you still worried that they will cause trouble?"

King Zhou Yong's face darkened and he scolded in a low voice.

These local gentry and tyrants usually bully the common people and abuse their power. Do they really think they can cover the sky with one hand?!

He, King Zhou Yong, has 300,000 soldiers and horses. If he wants, he can completely crush and kill them!

"Your Majesty, we are naturally not afraid of these mere local gentry and powerful people, but..."

A general stood up, with a bitter look on his face, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Seeing this, King Zhou Yong looked slightly relieved: "Just what?!"

"However, the gentry and powerful people in various places have risen up, and it is like a spark that has the potential to spread."

"Even if we can easily kill them, we can't handle their wide range and large territory."

"With 300,000 soldiers and generals facing such a vast land, it is not an easy task to completely annihilate them."

"The most important thing is that these local gentry and powerful people seem to have a tacit understanding. They did not start the rebellion at the same time. We don't even know if they will start the rebellion."

"But once they start a rebellion, they will catch us by surprise and take advantage of our unpreparedness, which will be enough to cause us incalculable losses."

The general gritted his teeth and finally spoke out the difficulties he faced.

Small country gentry and powerful people had hundreds of armed men.

The big and powerful gentry could organize an armed force of thousands of people.

Some of the greater dignitaries command thousands or even tens of thousands of armed forces.

Faced with these local gentry and powerful people who dominate the country, it is not an easy task to catch them all in one fell swoop.

If they were ruthless and took advantage of the time when the main force was attacking the imperial court to launch a surprise attack from the rear, it would have a huge impact and harm on King Zhou Yong and his men.

The threat is self-evident.

This feeling makes people feel quite uncomfortable.

But if you don't make an effort, there will be endless troubles.

At this moment, King Zhou Yong's expression finally changed drastically.

"It seems that they are really not afraid of death!"

"In that case, I will also try to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys."

"I also want to know whether these gentry and powerful people are really not afraid of death!"

King Zhou Yong stood up and slammed his palms on the table, his voice cold and murderous.

He knew very well that this was definitely not a test.

It's a life-and-death contest.

If we back down on this matter, I am afraid that countless local gentry and powerful people will become more aggressive.

Only by using iron-blooded means and absolute suppression can we deter others.

How many people in the world are not afraid of death?

What’s more, these are the local gentry and powerful people!

Only by completely scaring them off, making them panic, and making them fearful can we stabilize the market!

Otherwise, if the rest of the world follows suit, let alone his 300,000 elite troops, even if there were more, I'm afraid they would be powerless to turn the tide.

......