Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

In the Golden Palace of the Imperial City, Shi Xiushuang, clutching her injured left arm, remained firmly seated on the dragon throne.

Inside the palace, there were scattered bandit leaders who had fled in all directions, as well as the palace maids and eunuchs who had originally lived there.

Outside the Golden Palace, gunshots rang out everywhere, interspersed with occasional shrill cries of agony.

"Uh~"

Shi Xiushuang pondered for a moment, looking at the bleeding wound on her left arm, recalling the scene of resisting the Chu army's attempt to break through on the palace wall.

That scene couldn't be described as resistance; it was a one-sided beating.

The Chu army's hail of bullets instantly felled the bandits who had just climbed the palace walls, leaving them lying in pools of blood.

From a hundred paces away, Shi Xiushuang saw that after each gunshot, several Yi soldiers fell directly onto the palace wall.

He himself was shot in the left arm while overseeing the battle and was helped back to the Golden Palace.

In fact, even if the Chu army quickly entered the capital, Shi Xiushuang would still have a chance to escape through the south gate.

Even if he couldn't take all the bandits in the city, he could still easily take more than a thousand of his trusted followers.

If we return to the Southern Territory, at least we won't be in such a desperate situation as we are now.

Unfortunately, the essence of bandits is that they lack strategic thinking, only care about immediate petty gains, and have no long-term ambitions.

They had no intention of appeasing the people, stabilizing the situation, or even negotiating peace with the Chu army.

All they bring is destruction and the enjoyment of immediate results, without ever considering whether what they do is right or wrong.

This is like a crazy gambler who bets everything on the table, doesn't understand the concept of stop-loss, and only thinks about getting back everything he's lost, with interest.

Now, Shi Xiushuang has lost all his bets, and the fate of the bandits can only be swept into the dustbin of history.

boom--

The tightly closed gates of the Golden Palace were violently smashed open.

"Don't move! Hands up!"

"Squat down!"

A large contingent of Chu soldiers, armed with 98K rifles, stormed into the hall and quickly brought the situation under control.

The next moment, Meng Gong strode into the main hall, looked at Shi Xiushuang sitting on the dragon throne, and waved his hand.

Immediately, a squad of soldiers raised their rifles and slowly approached him.

Shi Xiushuang struggled to his feet, gripping a fine iron sword in his right hand. Pointing at the group, he shouted, "Get back! I am Shi Xiushuang, the leader of the righteous army, and I am..."

"shooting!"

At Meng Gong's command, the approaching Chu soldiers immediately pulled the trigger.

Bang bang bang bang bang——

After a burst of gunfire, Shi Xiushuang was immediately riddled with bullets and sat upright on the blood-stained dragon throne, her eyes wide open until her death.

After doing all this, Meng Gong turned and walked out of the main hall, took a signal gun from the guard beside him, and pointed it at the sky.

boom--

A cloud of fiery red smoke rose into the sky.

This is a sign of victory.

It was just past 1:15 PM, a full hour earlier than the time Shen Lang had given him...

……

At the end of Hai hour, Lü Meng summoned dozens of prominent scholars from local Wu County families, who, following orders, stood trembling outside the Golden Palace.

What happened today was so strange and profound that no one could have recovered from the shock.

It wasn't until they saw the large "Chu" banner flying over the imperial city that people began to realize that a large army from a "friendly nation" had come to help quell the rebellion.

Upon realizing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to the bandits, the Chu Empire, with its well-established bureaucracy, felt more familiar to them.

At midnight, Lü Meng stepped out of the Golden Palace and called out to them directly, "Commander invites you in to speak."

After he finished speaking, the soldiers all pointed their guns at the backs of the men and forced them into the hall.

Upon entering the main hall, everyone saw an incredibly young man sitting at a makeshift square table set up below the dragon throne.

Shen Lang looked up at them and said directly, "Gentlemen, I regret to inform you that your monarch, Wu Ji, and his relatives..."

He was killed in an attack by bandits while fleeing. Currently, the Kingdom of Wu is without a ruler. What are your thoughts on this?

Everyone was stunned upon hearing this, and after exchanging glances, they all burst into tears.

"Oh, saint, how could you leave like this?"

"A national tragedy, truly a national tragedy!"

In an instant, the scene inside the hall was a mix of emotions. The members of these noble families beat their chests and stamped their feet, their cries were incredibly moving.

Unfortunately, the crying was so fake; there weren't even any tears, and many people were actually laughing while crying.

"Alright, stop acting, it's just a dead dog."

Shen Lang had no desire to even put on an act with this bunch of good-for-nothings. He only regretted that the bandits hadn't wiped them out completely, leaving him to clean up the mess in the end.

"I've summoned you here to inform you that, effective immediately, the Kingdom of Wu is a thing of the past, and the land of Wu belongs to the Kingdom of Chu. Do you have any objections?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at each other in shock.

One of the elderly scholars stepped forward and said, "General, Chu and Wu are longtime friendly nations."

Your Chu state, taking advantage of our misfortune, has swallowed up our great Wu territory. Aren't you afraid of being ridiculed both overseas and abroad?

Shen Lang looked up and glanced at the old man.

The old man exuded righteousness, seemingly a paragon of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, and appeared ready to fight to the bitter end if the slightest disagreement arose.

Unfortunately, this wasn't Suzhou Prefecture, so Shen Lang didn't need to say a few polite words insincerely.

He simply waved his hand and said, "Men, drag him out and shoot him."

As soon as he finished speaking, two guards rushed forward, grabbed the old man, and dragged him outside.

The old man panicked instantly and dropped his pretense: "General, spare my life! I was just speaking casually. It is the will of Heaven that allows the State of Chu to govern my Great Wu!"

However, it was too late. Shen Lang made no attempt to stop it, and the rest of the people in the hall could only watch helplessly as the great scholar was dragged out of the hall.

Shortly after, a gunshot rang out, casting another shadow over everyone's hearts.

"Now, who else is against it?"

Shen Lang glanced at everyone with amusement.

"Long live the Chu Kingdom!"

Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted.

Following this, more people began to express their opinions.

"We are willing to support the annexation of Wu into the territory of Great Chu!"

If anyone dared to utter a single word of dissent at this moment, their fate would be predictable.

Shen Lang pulled out a "petition" with satisfaction: "Since everyone agrees,"

"Then let's sign and affix our seals here. Rest assured, the State of Chu has always been extremely enlightened in its treatment of meritorious officials."

Without any hesitation, everyone rushed forward and quickly signed and sealed the petition without even glancing at its contents, fearing that if they were a step too late, they would be executed.

After Shen Lang had thoroughly examined the petition, he put it away with satisfaction. Then, he cupped his hands to the group and said, "I'm sorry to have startled you all. As this is a new dynasty with new beginnings, there are still many things we need your continued support in the future."

It's getting late, everyone should head back and rest early. Tomorrow, someone will be going door-to-door to check your assets.

Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

Finally, someone couldn't help but ask, "May I ask, General, why are you investigating our family's assets?"

"Of course it's about collecting taxes," Shen Lang replied with a smile. "Haven't you heard that paying taxes is honorable and evading taxes is shameful?"

No matter who it is, anyone whose household income exceeds a certain scale must pay taxes; no one can escape it!

Upon hearing Shen Lang's words, a sigh rippled through the crowd.

However, compared to bandits who would simply wipe out entire families to rob, this tax seems less unacceptable.

Tonight, however, these erudite scholars from aristocratic families who never pay taxes are definitely not going to sleep.

After seeing off the group of esteemed scholars, Shen Lang summoned Lü Meng and asked, "How much wealth was found in the palace?"

Lu Meng replied truthfully: "Commander, after a preliminary count, a total of over 72 million taels of silver and 1.7 million taels of gold have been confiscated."

The items such as jade, agate, and silk have not yet been tallied; these were all looted by bandits from various parts of Wu, including the aristocratic families in the capital.

"The confiscated items should be sealed and stored away immediately without making a fuss. Let His Majesty decide what to do when he arrives."

"Your subordinate has taken care of it; everything has been sealed and stored in the warehouse without being touched."

"You did a great job. What are your plans next?"

Upon hearing this, Lü Meng knew that Shen Lang was testing him again.

"Commander, the greatest threat to Wu is currently only one thing: the attitude of the Heavenly Dao Sect. Regarding the Heavenly Dao Sect, I believe we should take both civil and military measures."

The strategy is to win hearts and minds; one could send someone to persuade members of the Heavenly Dao Sect to surrender to the Chu Kingdom.

Wu Ze sent troops to approach, putting pressure on the peripheral forces of the Heavenly Dao Sect and forcing them to surrender.

If we can successfully create divisions within the Heavenly Dao Sect, we can dismantle them without bloodshed.

"If the Heavenly Dao Sect falls into internal strife, then our Great Chu will have no more worries about controlling the Wu region."

"it is good!"

Shen Lang patted Lü Meng on the shoulder.

"Lu Meng, I'll give you a chance. His Majesty will arrive in Wu County in half a month. Within half a month, can you take control of the Heavenly Dao Sect for me?"

Lu Meng immediately stood at attention: "Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Commander. I will live up to your expectations!"