Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Slaughter

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Liu Chen pressed his foot down on the weakened, blood-spitting Xu You, his gaze as cold and deep as a winter abyss, sweeping over the slaughterhouse outside the window nearing its end. The cries of battle gradually faded; the desperate resistors were swiftly wiped out, while those who knelt and surrendered were roughly bound by the Tiance Army soldiers. The air was thick with a nauseating stench of blood.

“Zhuge Chong! Deng Zhong!” Liu Chen’s voice pierced through the clamor, clearly reaching the ears of the two generals who had just finished fighting.

“We are at your command!” Both men, drenched in blood, hurried to the pavilion’s base and clasped their fists in salute.

Liu Chen lifted the limp Xu You as if he were a slaughter-bound chicken or dog, then threw him directly out the window. With a heavy thud, Xu You crashed onto the street’s center, groaning in pain, nearly unconscious.

“Traitor Xu You is here!” Liu Chen’s voice thundered down the long street as he loudly ordered, “You two, immediately take my token and rendezvous with Zhang Chun! Mobilize all Tiance troops and Embroidered Uniform Envoys! Follow the lists to hunt down Xu You, Linghu Sheng, and their entire faction along with their families and retainers across the city! Anyone who resists is to be killed without mercy! I want no place in Chengdu for these scoundrels to hide!”

“Understood!” Deng Zhong and Zhuge Chong’s eyes flashed fiercely as they responded with a thunderous oath. Zhuge Chong, ever meticulous, added, “Your Highness, what of the Eastern Palace and the noble residences?”

Liu Chen snorted coldly, “Treat them all the same! Anyone harboring traitors shares their guilt! As for Father, I will personally seek the imperial decree!” His words were resolute and unwavering, fully aware that thunderous measures were necessary now, with no room for hesitation or mercy. The so-called decree would merely be a formality afterward.

Deng Zhong’s face twisted into a gleeful, ferocious grin at this decisive command. He grabbed Xu You off the ground and roughly handed him to his personal guards, “Watch this old villain carefully; don’t let him die!”

In the next moment, the token symbolizing Prince Qin’s authority was raised high. The horn sounded again, no longer an alarm but a call for full-scale action!

The Tiance troops, long prepared, advanced in units of a hundred like unleashed tigers, spreading out from Tongque Street throughout the entire city of Chengdu. The heavy stomps, clanking armor, and officers’ shouts instantly shattered the night’s silence.

Simultaneously, the Embroidered Uniform Envoys, hidden in the shadows, emerged. These imperial spies now fully obeyed Prince Qin’s orders, like sharp hunting dogs, using their thoroughly gathered clues and intelligence to strike precisely at the grand mansions.

Chengdu erupted instantly!

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Torches lit the streets as squads of soldiers surrounded the mansions of the Xu and Linghu families and other rebellious clans. Screams, cries, shouts, and banging on doors echoed from every corner. The stubbornly resisting private soldiers and servants were soon subdued, while the main conspirators were dragged from their hiding places one by one, shackled.

Upon receiving orders, Zhang Chun immediately deployed all the Embroidered Uniform Envoys, not only assisting with arrests but also swiftly seizing control of all city gates and key points. Especially the bribed and lax guards at the western gate were disarmed and contained, ensuring no one slipped through.

Zhuge Chong coordinated the overall operation, ensuring efficiency without excessive disturbance to the populace; Deng Zhong led the elite troops to crush the toughest pockets of resistance with overwhelming force.

Throughout the night, the tumult in Chengdu never ceased. Sporadic clashes erupted and were quickly quelled in various districts. Countless people listened in terror in the darkness, unsure of what this sudden storm meant or how many lives it would sweep away.

Inside the Eastern Palace, Liu Xuan slammed a chess piece down onto the board, shattering it. He clearly heard the distant sounds of troop movements and faint uproar outside the palace, his face turning as pale as paper.

He knew the assassination attempt by Xu You and his cohorts had failed.

Qiao Zhou closed his eyes and sighed deeply. His wrinkled face was filled with helplessness and sorrow as he murmured bitterly, “The might of thunder and lightning—how can mortal men withstand it? This calamity has truly begun!”

Meanwhile, Liu Chen stood proudly at the heart of Tongque Street, beneath him still fresh blood yet to congeal. He coldly watched his iron tide sweep through the city, his gaze sharp as a hawk’s, seeking the next target he must personally crush.

That night, Chengdu was sleepless.

Torches illuminated the streets like daylight as lines of prisoners, bound with ropes, were escorted by soldiers toward temporary detention centers. Women’s sobs and children’s frightened cries broke through the ranks. The lingering bloodlust mingled with fear and despair in the air.

Isolated resistance and scattered fights continued. Some strongholds harboring zealots exacted a price before falling, but all were swiftly crushed under the absolute power and efficient command of the Tiance Army.

Liu Chen remained standing in the center of Tongque Street like a rock fixed in the storm’s eye. Listening to reports from all directions, his gaze remained icy and unwavering. To him, these arrests and suppressions were a necessary purge, a price to pay for the stability of the Shu Han realm.

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His gaze occasionally drifted toward the imperial city, where his father, Emperor Liu Shan of Shu Han, resided. He knew that his thunderous, unilateral strike tonight would inevitably stir great upheaval in the court tomorrow. Yet, gripping his sword’s hilt tighter, his eyes burned with resolve.

He also believed that even if Liu Shan learned of the events outside the palace, he would not send anyone out to inquire. After all, during Zhuge Liang’s decade-plus regency, all power rested in Zhuge Liang’s hands, while Liu Shan had decisively abandoned governance, hiding away in the harem playing with crickets.

The present was so eerily reminiscent of those times.

Power now rested with Liu Chen, and like Zhuge Liang before him, this would not cost Liu Shan his throne.

“All the guilt, I shall bear alone. But this malignant tumor must be eradicated!” he silently vowed.

As time passed, names on the list were crossed off one by one; the arrests neared completion. The city’s boiling chaos gradually gave way to a suffocating silence, broken only by soldiers’ patrol footsteps and the crackle of burning torches, reminders that this bloody night was far from over.

When the first rays of dawn barely pierced the clouds cloaking Chengdu, the people would witness a thoroughly cleansed imperial capital, shrouded in fear and grim resolve.

The name of Prince Qin Liu Chen, after this night, would be deeply engraved in every Chengdu citizen’s heart, mingling awe with dread.

The ministers in court all knew that after this slaughter, matters would not simply end. The Shu aristocratic clans had suffered a heavy blow, and Prince Qin would surely seize this opportunity.

What followed next would be the true beginning.