[Oh wait, I made a mistake.]
The four princes' expressions finally improved a bit.
Right, the four of them couldn't possibly all have been killed by one person.
[In addition to the four mentioned above, there's also the Eighth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Princes. Apparently they were also cannon fodder in the struggle for the succession. I almost left you three out—sorry about that.]
Great, now three more faces darkened.
Xie Zhao looked at the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Princes beside him in disbelief. No way, they're this young!
Xie Zhao and the Twelfth Prince were the same age, both fifteen, but the three behind them were interesting—their ages followed an arithmetic sequence. The Thirteenth Prince was fourteen, the Fourteenth Prince was thirteen (wait, why is this so confusing?), and the Fifteenth Prince was twelve.
They were only middle school age, yet they dared to compete with their adult brothers for the throne?
Tenth Prince: "Why is your mouth hanging open like that?"
Xie Zhao still looked shocked. "Tsk, ambition doesn't depend on age!"
The Tenth Prince grabbed a pear from Xie Zhao's table, took a bite, and nodded. "Exactly. Who would've guessed it?"
Xie Zhao looked at the Tenth Prince, then at the pear in his hand. "Can you have some ambition? Look at them! Then look at you! Seventeen years old and still stealing pears!"
"Give me back my pear!"
The Tenth Prince naturally wouldn't return it. He raised a finger to his lips. "Shh, keep your voice down. Father is looking at you."
Xie Zhao was startled and quickly glanced toward the Emperor. Sure enough, the Emperor's gaze was directed their way. He hastily withdrew his hand and lowered his head, pretending he didn't exist.
After two seconds passed without the expected scolding, Xie Zhao suspiciously looked up at the Emperor again. This time he looked more carefully and realized the Emperor's gaze was indeed in their direction, but not at Xie Zhao—he was looking at the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Princes, with a hint of pain in his eyes.
That was only natural. They were young sons of just over ten years old; hearing that they would die by their brothers' blades in the future—how could the Emperor, as a father, not be shaken?
Crisis averted, Xie Zhao immediately glared at the Tenth Prince, who was gnawing on the pear, grinning like a mouse that had stolen oil.
Xie Zhao hissed at him, "You tricked me again! Do you have any sense of being an older brother?!"
The Tenth Prince spread his hands, pursed his lips, and shook his head. Nope.
On the screen ahead, Mumu was enumerating the list of princes killed in the struggle for the succession. It was like the King of Hell calling names—whoever was called turned pale and couldn't smile anymore.
As more and more names were called, the Emperor and the meritorious officials also stopped smiling.
That was too many deaths.
And all of them were killed by that one man, Yanwudi.
This…
The atmosphere in the hall gradually solidified. Everyone's mood had sunk to rock bottom. Only Xie Zhao and the Tenth Prince still had the energy to mess around.
The Twelfth Prince had glanced at them several times, thinking that being able to smile at a time like this made his two elder brothers truly extraordinary beings.
Of course Xie Zhao felt no pressure.
When he first heard Mumu say that Yanwudi had killed many brothers, he'd been a little worried—surely he wasn't unlucky enough to be one of them?
But after listening to the end and never hearing "Eleventh," his heart settled.
He'd said it himself—with such a low-tier setup, there was no way he'd be involved in the struggle for the succession.
Since this crisis had nothing to do with him, why be nervous?
[Are the students who weren't called feeling a sense of loss?]
Everyone: "?" Loss about what?
[No need to say it. I understand.]
You understand again.
Just as the words fell, Mumu in the video changed her clothes, putting on something like an apron. Her makeup and hairstyle also became much more matronly.
She stood slightly sideways, looking to the right with expectation in her eyes:
["Teacher, why didn't you call on our Zihan?"]
Everyone was confused: "Who's Zihan?"
Xie Zhao: …Seriously, Zihan, are you trying to rule the world?
Fortunately, Mumu in the video soon changed back to her original outfit and provided an explanation.
[To the princes who weren't called by name, don't worry. Although you weren't part of this blade-testing, Xiao Ming treats all brothers equally. How could he play favorites? Of course, he had all of you placed under house arrest!]
Mumu's tone was light and lively, as if the remaining princes had won a prize rather than being confined.
But no matter how light her tone, it couldn't change the fact that all the princes' faces had darkened.
They'd thought they'd survived, but it turned out this wave was a total wipeout.
Xie Zhao was dumbfounded. He looked at the Tenth Prince. "What does this have to do with us?"
Even someone as unremarkable as him was going to be placed under house arrest?
The Tenth Prince was equally shocked and confused.
"Exactly! What does this have to do with me?!" He looked at the half-eaten pear in his hand. "At most I stole a pear. Is that worth house arrest?!"
Perhaps because they were too shocked, their voices were a bit louder and disturbed the Eighth Prince in front of them.
The Eighth Prince slowly turned around and gave them a cool look. "It's just house arrest. What are you shouting about?"
I'm the one who gets killed, and I haven't said anything yet.
"That's right." From the side came the Thirteenth Prince's eerie voice again—the boy's voice, not yet changed, sounded hollow and ethereal. "I really envy Tenth Brother and Eleventh Brother…"
Xie Zhao shivered and rubbed his arms. "If you're going to talk, just talk. Don't drag your words out like that—it's creepy."
The Thirteenth Prince snorted. "You're such a coward."
The Tenth Prince said, "Hey, what's with all this 'you' and 'me'? Call him Eleventh Brother."
The Thirteenth Prince scoffed. "Hmph."
The Tenth Prince: "Hey, you little—"
Xie Zhao stopped him. "Ah, forget it, forget it. You're about the same age; it's normal if he doesn't want to call me that."
Of course, Xie Zhao also knew that the Thirteenth Prince looked down on him, which was why he refused to acknowledge him as an older brother.
Xie Zhao rubbed his nose, thinking to himself that he really was at the bottom of the food chain in the palace—anyone could look down on him.
The Tenth Prince, considering himself the older brother, naturally wanted to stand up for Xie Zhao, but Xie Zhao figured it wasn't worth it. At the end of the day, the Thirteenth Prince had an uncle who was in high favor, while Xie Zhao had nothing. Even if he won the argument verbally, what was the point?
The Tenth Prince thought Xie Zhao was too spineless. "You can't just let him get away with that. If you keep indulging him, will he ever respect you as his elder brother?"
Xie Zhao looked completely unconcerned, appearing very reasonable and understanding.
"Forget it, forget it. Soon enough, some of us brothers will be killed, and the rest will be placed under house arrest. We're all miserable enough as it is—no need to argue over trivial matters."
The ones placed under house arrest were the Tenth Prince and Xie Zhao, while the one who would be killed was the Thirteenth Prince. Who was worse off was obvious at a glance.
With that said, Xie Zhao's reasonableness no longer seemed like an elder brother's tolerance toward a younger one—it looked more like… hospice care for a dying man.
"Oh, that…" The Tenth Prince sat up straight, putting on a serious expression.
"That's true. Between us brothers, we really shouldn't be petty about these things."
The Tenth Prince barely managed to finish his sentence, struggling to keep a straight face so he wouldn't laugh.
And here he was worried about Eleventh Brother—turns out Xie Zhao's tongue was sharper than before, striking right at the heart of the matter.
Indeed, the Thirteenth Prince was going to die a miserable death in the future, so they might as well show their brother some extra care.
The Thirteenth Prince shot them both a glare. "Hah, you two aren't any better off."
House arrest versus execution—the pot calling the kettle black. Weren't they both equally miserable? If you've got the guts, go sit on the throne yourself!
Earlier, Mumu had started from the struggle among princes in the final years of the Liang Dynasty, building up the story step by step, describing how brutal the struggle for succession would be among the current Emperor's sons. Everyone had already steeled themselves mentally.
But when Mumu said that out of fifteen princes in that succession struggle, seven had died! And the rest had all been placed under house arrest—they realized their preparations had been far from sufficient.
Just what kind of murderous star had this Yanwudi been reincarnated from? He hadn't spared a single brother!
Someone exclaimed in shock, "Huhai was nothing more than this either."
The person beside him quickly nudged him. "What are you saying! Our Emperor didn't kill them all—he's much better than Huhai."
"Better? Where's the better part?" The Emperor overheard their exchange and directly issued a soul-searching question.
The Heir of Prince Chu, who had been called out, stood up awkwardly.
Prince Chu was the Emperor's eldest brother, making the Heir of Prince Chu the Emperor's direct nephew. Compared to other members of the imperial clan, he was more honest and straightforward by nature.
He was just a bit afraid of his imperial uncle.
Being suddenly called out, he looked completely at a loss.
"Oh, it's Chun Jue. Tell me, where do you think this little brat is better than Huhai?"
Xie Chunjue was troubled. "This…"
The Emperor's face darkened. "Speak!"
"Yes!" Xie Chunjue jolted, blurting out, "I think the good part is that he left a few survivors!"
His voice rang out with force, echoing through the hall, stunning everyone at Shengping Lou.
The Emperor: "?"
The survivors themselves: "?"
The Heir of Prince Wei covered his face in agony, tugging at Xie Chunjue's sleeve. "Brother, how can you say something like that!"
Left a few survivors.
Did you think your cousin was some kind of bandit?
In his panic, Xie Chunjue's mouth had been flying ahead while his brain chased behind. By the time he realized what he'd said, he wished he could crawl under the table.
The Emperor: "…Not wrong, actually. Sit down."
Xie Chunjue sat down trembling.
The Emperor pondered for a moment, then looked around at the princes and sighed. "Ah, the Empress and I worked so hard to raise all these sons, and we nearly raised them for nothing."
"I should thank him." The Emperor nodded. "Thank him for leaving me eight."
He paused, then added, "Ah, no, seven. I almost counted that little bastard in there too."
In just a few sentences, the Emperor's address for that Yanwudi had gone from "that kid" to "that little brat," and finally to "that little bastard."
From this, everyone could clearly feel the Emperor's anger rising step by step. Even though his expression hadn't changed, everyone could sense the storm brewing.
The Emperor continued watching the screen with great interest, even finding the leisure to laugh and comment to those around him.
"This Miss Mu—why does she speak so evasively? She only said the rest were placed under house arrest, but why didn't she go into detail about who exactly was confined?"
"In that case, the ones who were killed all know, and the ones under house arrest know too—so wouldn't I be able to find out who that little bastard is?"
As for what he'd do once he found them? Those who know, know.
The Emperor's blade hadn't tasted blood in a few years.
Unfortunately, Mumu couldn't hear the Emperor's plea, and kept calling him Xiao Ming over and over without ever revealing his real name.
As for which ones were under house arrest, she didn't say either—seeming to feel that compared to the ones who were killed, they weren't thrilling at all, nor important, and she merely glossed over them.
The Emperor deeply regretted this.
But the next moment, he had no mind to worry about house arrests or not, because Mumu dropped another bombshell.
【Half the princes killed, the other half under house arrest—do you think that's the end of the struggle for the succession?】
【Anyone else might have stopped there, but our Xiao Ming thinks, no, having killed only this many people, I don't feel safe yet.】
【It's true that the First Prince and Second Prince are dead, but their sons are still alive! Their maternal grandfathers and uncles are still alive too!】
【Not only are they alive, they're founding dukes and marquises. The old man, out of old loyalties, didn't take away their military power—so now it's the son's turn to worry.】
【You see, the eldest sons of the First and Second Princes are already in their teens. What if the Marquis of Linyuan and Duke Zheng refuse to give up and decide to prop up the two boys to take the throne? That won't do.】
【So the blade can't stop—the killing must go on.】
Author's Note:
None