#559 - In the Beginning - I am the villain in the book

Amidst loud laughter, Han Zhao strode out of the palace hall, leaving triumphantly.

It was estimated that before long, the Gu and Zuo families would be completely annihilated.

Of course, there would certainly be remnants of these two families' descendants outside the capital, and they would undoubtedly have an irreconcilable feud with the Wei family in the future.

But none of that mattered now.

What mattered was that Wei Xianzhi had actually killed two people in the short span of a few dozen breaths, and these two hadn't even finished speaking.

Looking at the two bloody corpses lying in the center of the hall, no one, whether standing or kneeling, uttered a sound.

As for Ruan Tianfu in the corner...

While fortunate that he had knelt in time, he was also incredibly astonished.

He had considered that Wei Xianzhi might kill the chicken to scare the monkey, but he truly hadn't expected the latter to be so decisive.

He knew that killing everyone who opposed him was unrealistic.

After all, if more than twenty court officials died at once, the forces behind these people would definitely not let it go, and once this matter spread, it would also have an extremely negative impact on Ning Wenjun's "reputation."

If everyone agreed, it would be the will of the people.

Killing all those who disagreed would be a complete and utter usurpation of power.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, he would definitely kill as few as possible.

However, Wei Xianzhi was, after all, a madman who had led people to surround the imperial palace.

For a moment, Ruan Tianfu couldn't be sure whether this Commander of the Hanging Mirror Division would continue his killing spree.

And the latter quickly gave an answer with practical actions.

"Lord Sun, do you also want to defy His Highness?"

"Lord Mei, what about you?"

"I..."

"Bang!"

He withdrew his palm and turned again, another person.

"Lord He, you..."

"Ah!"

"I, I am willing to assist His Highness in ascending the throne!"

"..."

When the corpses in the hall turned from two to four, and He Zhang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, screamed and fell to his knees, Wei Xianzhi finally paused his mad actions.

He calmly scanned the remaining people who were still standing, his eyes not looking at living beings, but more like looking at meat on a chopping board.

Although he didn't ask another question, wherever his gaze landed, without exception, the person being looked at would tremble and kneel down within three breaths.

Everyone understood that Wei Xianzhi couldn't possibly kill them all, but they also knew that killing four and killing five wouldn't make much of a difference to the former.

Obviously, no one wanted to be the fifth corpse.

Just like that, when the last person tremblingly prostrated himself, shouting in a trembling voice, "I am willing to assist His Highness in ascending the throne," there was no one standing in the hall except for Wei Xianzhi and Ning Wenjun.

Turning to look at Ning Wenjun, whose expression was somewhat pale but also somewhat excited, Wei Xianzhi took a step forward, turned around, and knelt down facing the former.

He shook his sleeves, then cupped his hands to his forehead, and shouted in a deep voice:

"Pacify the chaos with force, and bring about peace with virtue!"

"We implore Your Highness to ascend the throne immediately!"

"We beg Your Highness not to decline!"

For emperors who seized power through "abnormal" means, they generally had to go through a process of "three resignations and three concessions" before ascending the throne.

That is, ministers had to advise three times, and they had to refuse three times, and then only on the last time would they "reluctantly" agree to ascend the throne and become emperor.

Obviously, this process was to give these emperors who were "not justified in name or in word" a little face.

To put it more bluntly—

If he is decent, you let him be decent; if he is not decent, you help him be decent.

For Ning Wenjun, he definitely belonged to the "indecent" situation, after all, no matter what, his father was not dead yet.

But the current situation did not allow him to go through such a "whitewashing" process of "three resignations and three concessions" anymore, so Ning Wenjun immediately accepted the request of the "ministers" and transformed from a prince into an emperor.

Of course, the change in status was still short of a coronation ceremony.

The ancients attached great importance to rituals, so no matter what, this ceremony was indispensable.

And although the preparation for the ceremony would take at least a few days at the fastest, the "propaganda" work could be launched one step ahead.

Therefore, the "Capital News," which had been established for a year and had almost monopolized public opinion, began to play its true role.

Only half an hour after the end of the morning court.

The warehouse of the Capital General Office of Chun Shen Bookstore opened, and the newspapers stacked inside were distributed to every household like snowflakes for free.

The branch offices in various states were also doing the same thing at almost the same time, spreading everything that happened in the capital to the thirty-six states of Da Ning as soon as possible.

These newspapers had already been printed two days ago, and they not only published the original text of Ning Wenjun's "speech" today, but also included a copy of the Dali Temple's "judgment document" on Ning Yongnian.

Um...

Strictly speaking, although the first page of the "Da Ning Law" states "The emperor is guilty of the same crime as the common people," in terms of the system, only the emperor himself can actually try the emperor, even the "Supreme Court" Dali Temple cannot.

However, the newspaper is, after all, something for the common people to read, and no one cares whether it complies with the system.

The common people only know that the Dali Temple is the place to try all major cases, and with this "official endorsement," the content of the newspaper naturally becomes much more credible.

Therefore...

Ning Yongnian was actually the real culprit behind the Yuanzhou City incident?

Xu Family's rebellion, Ning Yuke's rebellion, were all forced to do so?

Also, Ning Wenjun actually instructed the Wei family to rebel?

In the narrative tone of the "Capital News," Ning Yongnian was naturally portrayed as an insidious and cunning tyrant who disregarded the people.

And Ning Wenjun was a good prince who hated evil and killed relatives righteously.

As for the Wei family, they were of course a powerful helper who helped Ning Wenjun act on behalf of Heaven.

Of the above three points, except for the description of Ning Yongnian, which basically conformed to the facts, the remaining two points were undoubtedly very outrageous.

However, ordinary people simply had no ability to distinguish these.

In their opinion, the "Capital News," which had brought them all kinds of latest news in the past year, was the most reliable source of information, at least more credible than those rumors in the streets.

Therefore, in less than half a day, the entire Da Ning was completely boiling.

After all, the change of emperor overnight was too shocking, and most people would not dare to believe that all this was true unless they heard it from the reading-newspaper gentleman.

"Sir! We just arrived! We didn't hear what you just read!"

"Please read it again!"

"Yes, sir! Please read it again!"

"..."

Far east, Qingzhou Prefecture.

A teahouse named "Sanrun Residence" is located in a small town not far from the seaside, and most of the people who come and go are fishermen living nearby.

Hearing that something big had happened, these fishermen did not go out to sea to fish today, and they all ran to the town, wanting to hear what kind of big event had happened.

Some people came early, and some people came late.

Therefore, the few "newspaper-reading gentlemen" in the town were very busy today, and they had read the newspapers in their hands back and forth countless times from morning to night.

But it doesn't matter, as long as there is money to be made.

"Don't be impatient! Folks, don't be impatient! Let this old man drink some tea to moisten his throat!"

While drinking tea, he quietly observed the copper coins constantly increasing in the copper stove in front of him.

When the copper coins reached a certain height, the old man in the Confucian robe raised the newspaper and slowly read it again.

"Cough!"

"The fourth day of November in the fifteenth year of Tianji, the solar term is Heavy Snow."

"Capital News first issue, great changes in the court situation..."

"..."

The moon hung on the branches, the cold wind was blowing outside the house, but it was very hot inside.

The small teahouse was crowded with people inside and outside, and the crowd would exclaim every few dozen breaths.

Today's newspaper had as many as seven or eight pages, and it would take almost an hour to read it once.

What's more, the old man waited from time to time for the crowd to finish discussing before he could continue reading, so he even reached midnight when he finished reading.

"Folks, the newspaper says that the new emperor promised to stabilize grain prices in various states within ten days."

"Also in the south, it says that there will be no more wars..."

Without a doubt, when these two sentences were finished, the crowd inevitably made another burst of noise.

These fishermen didn't care whether there would be a war in the south, but Ning Wenjun's promise to solve the grain price problem within ten days made them extremely excited.

The night was churning, and the noisy discussions continued for almost the time it takes to burn an incense stick before slowly stopping.

Someone saw that the newspaper-reading old man had already folded the newspaper, and quickly asked loudly:

"Sir! Have you finished reading?"

"Is there anything else you haven't read?"

"..."

"There is one more thing."

Looking at the copper leak in the corner through the gaps in the crowd, and then looking up at the night sky outside the house.

Under the gaze of hundreds of pairs of eyes, the newspaper-reading old man sighed softly as if with some emotion.

"Alas, folks."

"In less than an hour, it will no longer be the Tianji year."

"The new emperor has changed the reign title, and from tomorrow onwards it will be the Taichu year."

Taichu.