Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

"Why don't you speak?"

Chu Ning looked at Ji Yingjie, who was no longer in front of him and had no arrogance, and suddenly felt bored.

"I still like your arrogance just now. It's not fun for you to suddenly stop talking."

As he spoke, he slowly stepped forward and said in a cold voice: "If the emperor of Jin was Ji Yinghao, the situation between our two countries would not be like this now."

"Yang Xingye is already on good terms with this king. He can't bear to see the people in the city suffer so he's willing to turn from evil to good. Why not?"

This attitude of a superior made Ji Yingjie furious. He suddenly raised his head and looked at Chu Ning, shouting:

"You traitor, if you hadn't sent troops to attack my Jin State, I wouldn't have become like this!"

"Crack~"

Chu Ning slapped him with his backhand.

The slap made Ji Yingjie dizzy and his cheeks swollen.

"You...how dare you hit me, how dare you hit me!"

Ji Yingjie roared in frustration: "Who do you think you are? How dare you hit me!"

As he spoke, he continued to struggle, as if he wanted to rush over and fight Chu Ning to the death.

The faces of the soldiers who had captured Ji Yingjie changed drastically, and they quickly held him down with force.

Chu Ning's face was full of indifference: "Humph, someone like you is worthy of being my opponent?"

"Come here, take him to the execution ground and wait for execution!"

At the order, the soldiers immediately took Ji Yingjie away.

Unconvinced, Ji Yingjie continued to roar: "Chu Ning, you will not die well!"

"Yang Xingye, just wait for me. I will not let you go even if I die."

"You betrayed the State of Jin, and the people of Jin will not let you go. You will never have peace in your life, hahahaha!"

Amidst wild laughter, Ji Yingjie was pulled away.

Then, Chu Ning waved his hand and said, "The princes and ministers in the city, as well as the wealthy families, have caused our army to suffer heavy losses!"

"Order to immediately confiscate the homes of all these people and take them all to the execution ground!"

Yang Xingye's face changed drastically when he heard this. He wanted to speak up to stop it, but he didn't know what reason to use to stop it.

In the end, they could only watch helplessly as the Chu army conducted a massive search in the city.

The scorching sun in July baked the city of Jinyang into a steamer, and the mottled bloodstains on the city walls solidified into dark brown lumps under the high temperature.

The leather armor of the Chu army's black-armored soldiers was soaked with sweat and shone brightly. When the horseshoes stepped on the bluestone road, the sparks that flew up mixed with the smell of burning and decaying corpses that wafted from the moat.

An hour later, on the main street, thirty-two prison vans were rolling over the brick road where the nobles usually walked.

The white beard of the Minister of Rites Wang Chongsi was stuck to the iron fence. The veins on his bound hands were bulging as he stared in the direction of his own residence.

The red gate of the third courtyard had been chopped into pieces long ago. The Chu army scouts held up copper trumpets and shouted the order to confiscate the property. The shrill sound like the chirping of cicadas mixed with the dull sound of the sandalwood box falling over, startling the crows squatting on the eaves.

"Master, spare your life!"

The scream of Li Danian, a silk merchant in the West Market, suddenly tore through the stagnant air.

This wealthy businessman, who once purchased Shu brocade for the prince, was now being dragged towards the prison van by two Chu soldiers. The Hetian jade belt buckle around his waist made a crisp sound as it struck the blue bricks.

The leading captain raised his foot to crush the jade piece. The half page of "Preface to the Lanting Poems" stuck to the sole of his boot fluttered in the hot wind, and the ink had long been blurred by blood into stains.

In the pavilion of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Han Li, the deputy general of the Chu Army, was gargling with sour plum soup cooled in an ice jar.

The women kneeling in the corridor had dishevelled hair and their embroidered shoes inlaid with oriental pearls were piled haphazardly in front of the white marble steps.

When the golden nanmu box was taken out from the secret compartment, the old butler suddenly pounced on the soldier holding the emerald dragon seal, but was pierced through the chest by an iron spear.

Blood dripped into the silver plate filled with ice, and red plum blossoms bloomed.

When the sun was setting, eight hundred baggage carts loaded with books, calligraphy and paintings were heading east.

Finally, the wooden wheel of the prison car suddenly burst, and the silver hair of the old woman in the car fell on the hot road.

The escorting soldiers whipped and cursed, and gradually a winding bloodstain formed in the wheel tracks, like a dying snake, slowly turning black in the twilight.

The execution ground was set up in the Xuanwu Square in front of the Taimiao. The ninety-nine white marble steps were gleaming white under the sun.

Thousands of Jin nobles were chained together into a centipede-like team and walked barefoot on hot copper nail plates.

This was a torture instrument that the Chu army had specially dug out from the armory. When the red-hot nails pierced into the soles of the feet, wisps of white smoke rose up, and the screams startled the bronze bird-scare bells hanging on the eaves of the Taimiao.

"Open your eyes and see clearly!"

The captain of the Chu army waved a horse whip soaked in salt water to drive away the people who were forced to watch the execution.

Old Zhao, who was selling rice cakes, was pushed down on the kneeling Minister of Rites and discovered that there was half a piece of dried millet cake hidden in the minister's official robe.

The fifteen-year-old daughter A'man suddenly covered her mouth - she recognized the chief priest of the Imperial College who was dragged to the execution platform. He was the white-bearded grandfather who gave her the rabbit lantern during the Lantern Festival.

The ice mirror on the execution platform was emitting a chilling cold air, but there was not a single stain of sweat on Chu Ning's black python robe.

He stroked his sword with his fingertips and looked at the Jin Emperor Ji Yingjie who was forced to his knees in the audience.

The emperor, who had worn a crown with twelve tassels three days ago, now had his crown shattered and blood oozing from the wound on his forehead was sliding down his nose.

"Do you know why the country was destroyed?"

Chu Ning's voice mixed with the chirping of cicadas, and the manifesto unfolded in his hand became brittle due to the sun.

"Do you know that your late emperor was forced to death by Ji Yingjie in front of you?"

Ji Yingjie suddenly stood up, the iron chain on his neck scraped sparks on the stone slab: "I am the orthodox of Jin! Don't try to deceive people..."

Before he could finish his words, Chu Ning grabbed his hair and lifted him up. The pain from the distance made Ji Yingjie wail in agony.

The crowd watching the execution suddenly became agitated.

Chu Ning said indifferently: "You thought what you did was perfect, but you didn't know that those who followed you have already confessed!"

"You are destined to become a king who kills his brother and father and destroys his country!"

"The time has come, and it's time for you to get on the road!"

At three quarters after noon, the executioners began to spray shochu on the swords.

When the first knife was chopped towards the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, the blade was actually bent in the heat wave.

While changing the knives, the Minister of Rites Wang Chongsi suddenly roared out "Shu Li" in the Chu dialect. The old tone of his voice startled Chu Ning so much that the teacup in his hand trembled slightly.

When the seventy-second head rolled down, the little prince of Jin who was kneeling in the southeast corner suddenly twitched - he was scared to death!

When Chu Ning stood up, the plum soup in the ice jar had already turned red.

He walked towards Ji Yingjie on the blood-stained ground. In a trance, he saw the figure of his old friend holding a sword under the moon, and the command arrow in his hand had already been thrown down heavily:

"To redress the injustice done to His Highness Ji Yinghao, the Crown Prince of Jin!"

The moment the sword fell, the cypress trees around the execution ground suddenly burst into crackling sounds - the resin was boiling due to the sun.

With a wave of his hand and a drop of his sword, Ji Yingjie's head flew high into the air.

A blood mist rose three feet high, mixed with sand and dust and stuck to the chapped lips of the spectators.

Chu Ning looked at the corpse in front of him coldly and said in a cold voice: "Calm the people immediately, and the entire army will rest for two days before repairing the city defense!"

He knew that the Tang army would not let him easily take all the cities of Jin!