Tang Dynasty: Father, if you don't rebel, I will!

Many people from Hongzhou City have recently fled the city.

Although the vast majority of the people believed that the imperial court would not take action against them, there was no guarantee that the corrupt officials and merchants in the city would not be driven to desperation and force them to climb the city walls to defend themselves.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhenzhou, the governor of Hongzhou City, did not seem to have completely listened to Chen Congyun's words.

Even when faced with such a large-scale exodus of people, no orders were given to stop it.

The city of Hongzhou became even more desolate at night.

The patrolling soldiers went through the motions of their nighttime patrols, completely unaware that nimble figures, like raccoons in the night, were lurking at the alley entrances or on the walls and eaves of certain mansions.

They moved swiftly, heading back in one direction.

And that direction was none other than Zhang Zhenzhou's governor's mansion.

Even when Zhang Zhenzhou's wife, Madam Qingyu, was asleep, her body would occasionally tremble or twitch briefly, showing that she was not sleeping soundly.

Zhang Zhenzhou slept next door. After all, it was his wife's current house, and it seemed as if the walls were covered with that toxic fumes that he hated so much. Although he knew that things had come to this point, he was a man who was bound to die.

But in the end, he didn't have the courage to take that absolutely terrible step.

While Zhang Zhenzhou was half-asleep, dreaming of his wife when she was healthy and normal, a colorless and odorless smoke, unbeknownst to him, seeped into his room from a corner.

Right next door, several dark figures had already covered his wife's mouth, tied her up like a dumpling, wrapped her up, and quietly left.

All that remained was a simple letter on his bedside table.

No one noticed anything amiss at the Governor's Mansion; the night remained deathly quiet and peaceful.

however.

Chen Congyun, who was woken up in the middle of the night, felt as if the sky had fallen.

He stared with bloodshot eyes, like a demon, at his subordinate, gripping the man's shoulders so tightly his fingers seemed to be digging into his flesh.

"You idiot, do you even know what you're saying?!"

"Trying to fool me with such nonsense, do you think that just because you've followed me for so many years, I won't kill you?!"

"Li Chengqian only set off from Shuzhou yesterday to head south. How could he have arrived in Hongzhou today and even managed to uncover my hidden forces?!"

"You are looking for death!"

When the subordinate saw that Chen Congyun was about to draw his sword, he was so frightened that he trembled all over, spoke faster, and his voice became more and more anxious.

"My lord, how could I dare to lie to you! My wife and children work in the manor. If your uprising fails, I will not survive either!"

"Following your orders, I went to find several commanders and asked them to prepare supplies and lead troops into the city. But when I got there, all I saw were corpses... Even the laborers had been killed."

Chen Congyun felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, the chill running from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.

He muttered the words of his subordinate in a daze.

"Kill them all?!"

"All, all of them?!"

The subordinate nodded with difficulty, his eyes filled with fear and anxiety.

However, Chen Congyun collapsed to the ground with a thud the next moment. The more than four thousand "righteous soldiers" and drug addicts were the biggest support for his arrogant desires.

The merchants in Jiangnan Road knew that he had such power, which is why they always followed him, a self-made merchant.

But what if they found out that their forces had been wiped out overnight?

Chen Congyun: "..."

Thinking of this, before being woken up, he had dreamt of himself wearing the yellow robe and ascending to the throne. All his strength seemed to be drained in an instant, and he felt as if he had been dragged out of an icy pool.

"We can't panic, we can't panic... This news must be kept strictly confidential! Does anyone else know about this besides you?"

He tried to remain calm, but his voice trembled slightly.

The subordinate shook his head.

"Only I know..."

"Pfft!"

A dagger pierced his throat in an instant, and blood splattered all over Chen Congyun's face in the man's incredulous gaze, yet he looked completely deranged.

"Don't blame me, this matter absolutely cannot fail..."

After killing one person, Chen Congyun felt a slight sense of relief.

He paced back and forth, but he couldn't fall asleep again.

The servant was able to return, but he dared not leave the city to go to the village to check, since there was no guarantee that someone might be waiting for him to leave the city.

"No, we must get Shi Tianhu and the others to act quickly..."

He hurriedly began grinding ink and writing a letter.

However, Shi Tianhu, Xiao Poyue, and Chen Hengjiang, who were now being used as his lifeline and as important pawns to disrupt the current situation in the Tang Dynasty, all knelt before the most distinguished young man in the Tang Dynasty with complicated expressions.

Li Chengqian led his troops by boat, directly across Poyang Lake, bypassing Jizhou, and heading south to Jiangzhou, north of Hongzhou in Jiangnan Circuit.

Several merchants in Jiangzhou City, including cloth and grain merchants who were not involved in the opium trade, secretly persuaded some low-ranking officers of the city guard to join forces and open the gates of Jiangzhou City.

Jiangzhou City was easily captured by Li Chengqian and his men.

Just as they swiftly beheaded over three thousand, nearly four thousand, officials involved in the case and people addicted to opium, and were about to head south to take Hongzhou,

Xue Wanche, however, appeared before him with these guys.

"You know him?" Li Chengqian asked.

Xue Wanche nodded and quietly explained the identities of the group to Li Chengqian. When Li Chengqian heard that these people were actually remnants of the warlords at the end of the Sui Dynasty, such as Dou Jiande, he was only slightly surprised.

However, a cold glint immediately flashed in his eyes.

"You all actually gathered here, huh? It seems that Chen Congyun, a mere merchant, has quite the audacity!"

King Wei, Li Tai, snorted coldly and glared at Xue Wanche with displeasure.

"They're just traitors and rebels. If you catch them, just find a place to behead them. What's the point of bringing them here?!"

Before Xue Wanche could speak, Su Jiuniang, the only woman among them, quickly spoke up.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince and Your Highness the Prince of Wei, we were not captured by General Xue, but surrendered ourselves to the authorities.”

Although Su Jiuniang was currently kneeling on the ground bound like Shi Tianhu and the others, she spoke with the air of a leader among them, which made Li Chengqian raise an eyebrow slightly.

After listening to their stories, the murderous intent in Li Chengqian's eyes grew even colder.

"We absolutely cannot let Chen Congyun die so easily!"

He snorted coldly, then turned his gaze to the group in front of him: "Where is the opium that Chen Congyun gave you?!"

Su Jiuniang: "They have all been placed in a village cellar in Jiangzhou by us, and are guarded by our people. There will definitely be no one missing."

She kowtowed again as she spoke: "Ninth Sister knows that she is a guilty person and dares not ask Your Highness to grant her life. She only begs Your Highness to be magnanimous and release the rest of my Su Clan Chamber of Commerce. They have all settled down and started families and are living honest lives. None of them would dare to have any disloyal thoughts."

"This humble woman is willing to atone for her sins with her death..."

Immediately, Shi Tianhu and the others also kowtowed and paid their respects.

"Your Highness, kill me if you must. My brothers have long lost their former fighting spirit. Please let them live in peace. You can even skin me alive..."

......

"Governor Zhang, my men will be able to launch an uprising in Henan and Hebei provinces within half a month at the latest. I have also sent someone to write to the barbarian of the Xueyantuo tribe. It is a joint effort from within and without, and we will surely stir up a great upheaval..."

At the Governor's Mansion in Hongzhou, Chen Congyun delivered a passionate speech, displaying an air of boundless pride.

He covered his dark circles from not sleeping all night with something.

He seemed to exude confidence and arrogance from the inside out: "As long as you, Commander, can hold off Li Shimin and his forces for the next half month, we will be able to turn the tide of the war and establish an unparalleled empire..."

He was still making empty promises, but Zhang Zhenzhou's bloodshot eyes stared at him intently without blinking.

They remained unmoved by his various boasts and praises.

Chen Congyun quickly noticed that Zhang Zhenzhou was acting strangely today. Although Zhang Zhenzhou had always looked like he hated him to death, the resentment and anger in his eyes could never be hidden.

But today, that sense of frustration in his eyes seems to have... disappeared.

Chen Congyun couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

Forcing a smile, he said, "Governor Zhang, what's wrong with you...?"

"Are all your men dead?"

Zhang Zhenzhou's words startled him so much that his hand trembled violently, and his breath seemed to stop for a moment.

However, before he could even offer an explanation, Zhang Zhenzhou slapped an open letter hard across his face.

"Hahaha! You still want to fool this old man..."

Zhang Zhenzhou was laughing, but there was an inexplicable sense of relief in his laughter.

Two figures rushed out from the left and right sides of the living room and grabbed Chen Congyun.