Pick up a princess to be your wife

"What, still haven't figured it out? Do I need to explain it to you again?" Zhao Cuo asked.

"Puff~"

Lin Xiong could no longer stand; his legs buckled and he collapsed to his knees.

His face was completely devoid of any light.

He thought Lin Yetian had summoned him to give him a promotion and a fortune.

Little did they expect that they would not be walking on a broad road to success, but on the Bridge of Helplessness, the gates of hell!

That damned Zheng Mao!

What exactly did he do? Why did he steal four horses from two merchants, three of which were the mounts of extremely important figures?

Why is this happening?!

He thought that if Zheng Mao gave him a few horses, he could please him and give them to Lin Yetian to play with.

But what Zheng Mao sent was clearly a life-and-death contract with the King of Hell!

"Your humble servant, oh no, I, your sinful subject, was completely unaware! These four horses were stolen by a bailiff named Zheng Mao! I, your sinful subject, truly did not know that these four horses were warhorses, much less that they were Ferghana horses! If I had known, I would have reported it to the court immediately! I beg the Chu Kingdom to show mercy and grant me leniency!" Lin Xiong cried and begged for mercy on the spot.

"Don't get agitated. I didn't say I was going to do anything to you. I just wanted to ask, how's my mount? Are you satisfied?" Zhao Cuo asked with a half-smile.

Lin Xiong suddenly looked up and stared intently at Zhao Cuo.

"Satisfied..."

"Stab!"

In a flash, Zhao Cuo drew his sword and pierced Lin Xiong's heart.

Lin Xiong looked down in disbelief and saw blood gushing from his chest, instantly staining most of his body red.

He opened his mouth, and blood flowed out.

As Zhao Cuo drew his sword, Lin Xiong twisted his body and fell to the ground, his eyes wide open, convulsing uncontrollably, unable to speak.

"The horses originated from you, so the slaughter begins with you."

Zhao Cuo stepped over Lin Xiong's body, glanced around, and then looked at Lin Yetian sideways.

At this moment, Lin Yetian looked at Zhao Cuo and saw that his originally harmless face was now filled with a sinister aura.

He was like a god of death, his murderous aura spreading out instantly, making it almost impossible for Lin Yetian to breathe.

Only now did he realize just how powerful this young man named Zhao Cuo truly was.

Even if he is the head of the Lin family, in this person's eyes he is nothing more than an ant.

Zhao Cuo walked up to the governor. The governor looked at Lin Xiong, who was lying on the ground convulsing, then looked at Zhao Cuo. His vision went black, and he fainted on the spot. At the same time, his groin was wet and yellow.

"Useless things."

Zhao Cuo didn't spare him just because he had fainted; he pierced his heart with a sword.

"Lin Yetian dares to ride His Majesty's horse and parade through the city; this is a crime of disobedience and treason."

Zhao Cuo looked at the White Horse Army and said coldly, "The entire Lin family, including all nine generations, will be killed without exception!"

At Zhao Cuo's command, a bloody storm instantly swept through Hezhong County.

Half of the Lin family members live in Hezhong County.

Some escaped in the chaos, but others were shot dead by the pursuing White Horse Army while fleeing.

In less than an hour, not a single member of the Lin family survived in Hezhong County.

After killing the Lin clan members, Zhao Cuo immediately turned his attention to those associated with the Lin clan.

Most of the nobles in the city who kept wicked servants and the high-ranking officials who lived in huge mansions did not escape the slaughter of the White Horse Army.

This day was the darkest day in the history of Hezhong County.

The entire county was littered with corpses, and rivers of blood flowed like water. Every corner was stained red with blood.

Zhao Cuo collected all the heads and built a mound of skulls outside the county town of Hezhong.

Afterwards, Zhao Cuo spent a whole month, under the pretext of investigating the remnants of the Lin family, to massacre the entire gentry class of Hexi Road.

In this place where the gap between rich and poor is as wide as a chasm, where ordinary people live worse than dogs, where high-ranking officials would rather let grain rot than give a single grain to the poor, retribution has finally come.

This time, Zhao Cuo wielded his butcher's knife with even greater ferocity.

He was once one of those lowly people who lived worse than dogs. He was also exploited by landlords and witnessed firsthand how vicious they were.

What he hated most in his life were these scoundrels who didn't treat ordinary people like human beings.

This massacre affected more than 200,000 people from all walks of life!

Since the roots of this Hexi Road are completely rotten, let's dig them out completely!

Many of those who died under Zhao Cuo's blade were perhaps swept up by the tide of events.

During this massacre, countless people pleaded with Zhao Cuo for mercy.

They said they hadn't done anything wrong, and had even done many good things.

But Zhao Cuo felt that these people all deserved to die.

Because everything they eat, wear, and use is made with the blood and sweat of ordinary people!

If you're going to collude with the Lin family and exploit the people, what right do you have to live?

Li Mu once said that forgiving them was the King of Hell's business, and what Zhao Cuo had to do was send these insects to meet the King of Hell.

Whether the King of Hell can forgive them is beyond Zhao Cuo's control; he only wants to do this.

Whether Zhao Cuo killed the wrong person or not, the King of Hell will have his say.

Furthermore, it's better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free!

Either don't use a knife at all, or if you're going to use a knife, make a clean break.

With the massacre of the Tokaido region as a precedent, these people fail to learn from the lesson. They outwardly comply with the imperial court but inwardly defy it, disregard its orders, and use various pretexts to plunder the people's wealth.

Who, then, is truly innocent?

This was not a rebellion in Hexi Dao, but rather the imperial court unilaterally wielding its sword against Hexi Dao.

This bloody massacre began because of four horses.

This major case is historically known as the Four Horses Case.

Just because Lin Yetian rode the emperor's horse, the entire Lin family of Hexi was slaughtered, and more than 200,000 people were directly implicated.

But everyone knows that the massacre was not caused by Lin Yetian riding His Majesty's mount; it was simply that the court wanted to take action against the deeply entrenched aristocratic families of Hexi Circuit.

Even without these four warhorses, the imperial court would still wield the butcher's knife against Hexi Road, and would show no mercy.

Because the imperial court did not want to engage in infighting with the Hexi Circuit, it only wanted to solve the problem with swift and decisive measures, and to completely eliminate these parasites who outwardly obeyed but inwardly defied the imperial decrees.

That's it.

This was not the first time Li Mu had orchestrated a massacre.

The massacre in the Tokaido region should be considered the first time Li Mu led a killing spree. On that occasion, it was Zhao Cuo who wielded the butcher's knife.

The massacre in Hexi Road was only the second time Li Mu orchestrated a massacre. However, this time, it was Zhao Cuo who wielded the butcher's knife again.

This makes Zhao Cuo's reputation as a butcher even more profound.

Two hundred thousand lives were lost in just over a month!

Li Mu currently has no idea how future generations will evaluate this massacre, and he doesn't care.

His merits and demerits, right and wrong, will be judged by future generations.

What he sought was the prosperity of Daning and the prosperity of every household.