57: Impeach Li Shengyuan! Traitors and traitors, kill them without mercy!

Li Shengyuan stared coldly at Prince Yan, Muyun Xiao, who appeared refined and gentle.

This was the second time Li Shengyuan had seen this powerful vassal king, who had been deeply entrenched in the Northern Region for many years.

The last time was seven years ago, when the Previous Emperor passed away and his senior sister ascended the throne.

Then, Li Shengyuan chuckled, "I have received an Imperial Edict to come to Jizhou. If I have offended His Highness Prince Yan in any way, please forgive me!"

"An Imperial Envoy has come to my Northern Region. This Prince should fulfill his duty as a host. Lord Li, there's no need to be so polite." Mu Yunxiao smiled slightly.

Li Shengyuan's gaze, however, gradually turned cold, and he sneered inwardly.

He had only been a vassal king in the Northern Region for a few years, and he was already calling the Northern Region his own, even talking about host's duties...

Just based on those words, if Li Shengyuan were the Emperor, even if this Prince Yan hadn't committed any offense, he wouldn't be allowed to live!

If something were to happen in the capital one day, such a vassal king, no matter how loyal he seemed beforehand, would surely cause chaos afterwards!

And this change was the death of the Previous Emperor!

It was clear that this Prince Yan harbored great ambitions!

Therefore, the first order of business for every new Emperor was to reduce the power of the vassal states!

At this moment, General Zhou Bing, standing to the left behind Mu Yunxiao, stepped forward with a face full of anger and shouted at Li Shengyuan:

"Even if Lord Li is the Demon Extermination Minister personally appointed by His Majesty, he cannot arbitrarily kill generals of our Great Gan, can he?!"

Prince Yan did not stop Zhou Bing from speaking, implicitly condoning his actions.

Li Shengyuan turned his gaze, his expression slightly condensed, as he appraised Zhou Bing. This person was very strong!

A third-rank martial artist!

He must be a very important person by Prince Yan's side, which was also evident from his position.

According to the information provided by the Empress senior sister, this person was the trusted general highly valued by Prince Yan—Zhou Bing!

On the surface, he remained calm, feigning confusion as he asked:

"May I know this general's name? When did I, Li, arbitrarily kill a general of our Great Gan?"

"This humble general is Zhou Bing, the Great General of Yanwang City!" Zhou Bing introduced himself with a cold face, then said in a chilling voice:

"Guo Da, the Deputy General who guarded the city and went to the South Gate to welcome Lord Li earlier, was indiscriminately killed by Lord Li!"

"If Lord Li cannot provide an explanation, then Zhou Bing will surely petition His Majesty to impeach Lord Li for abusing his authority and indiscriminately killing innocent people!"

"Oh? What kind of explanation do you want me to give?" Li Shengyuan said calmly.

"I want you to kneel before Guo Da's spirit tablet, kowtow three times, and guard his spirit for three days!"

The people behind Li Shengyuan immediately became enraged, glaring angrily at Zhou Bing.

Shen Xinrong and Princess Pingyang were like an enraged tiger and a kitten, staring intently at Zhou Bing.

If Li Shengyuan hadn't stopped them, this group of people behind him would have already rushed forward to fight him!

He wanted to see what tricks these people could pull. In just a short while, he had already seen several people from his list.

How wonderful, gathered together, saving him the trouble of searching for them one by one...

Prince Yan, Muyun Xiao, then reprimanded, rather indifferently: "Zhou Bing, do not be presumptuous. Lord Li is the Demon Extermination Minister personally appointed by His Majesty. How can he guard Guo Da's spirit!"

Clearly, he was playing the good cop...

At this moment, a scholar behind him said with a mournful expression:

"Your Highness Prince Yan, General Guo guarded the border for our Great Gan. Over the years, he has slain countless Northern Barbarians and repeatedly achieved the achievement of being the first to charge into battle, earning ten thousand gold. This was an award personally bestowed by Your Highness Prince Yan. He is a meritorious official of our Great Gan!"

"Now, he has tragically died without reason at the hands of Lord Li. Lord Li must provide an explanation for this matter. In my opinion, what General Zhou said is very reasonable and not at all excessive!"

"If General Guo does not receive an explanation, this old man will not agree, and the tens of millions of people in Yanwang City will not agree!"

The old man's loud angry roar quickly received agreement from the people behind Prince Yan.

"That's right, even if he is an Imperial Envoy, even His Majesty cannot indiscriminately kill meritorious officials of our Great Gan like this!"

"If he cannot provide an explanation, we will all collectively petition His Majesty to impeach him!"

"We must not let a meritorious official of our Great Gan die unjustly!"

"..."

All the people behind Prince Yan were filled with righteous indignation, accusing Li Shengyuan with sorrowful expressions.

In reality, their hearts were already overflowing with joy. They didn't care about the life or death of a mere fifth-rank deputy general!

What they cared about was what benefits Guo Da's death could bring them!

If Li Shengyuan was willing to kowtow and admit his mistake, and guard Guo Da's spirit for three days, then his position as Imperial Envoy would become a joke.

As the person personally appointed by the Empress, if Li Shengyuan became a joke, then she would also be a joke, which was exactly what they wanted.

If Li Shengyuan didn't agree, that was also fine.

Indiscriminately killing a meritorious official of Great Gan, they would petition for impeachment here, and the people in the capital would cooperate, stirring up public opinion. Even if his grandfather was the Chief Assistant, he wouldn't be able to protect him!

This Imperial Envoy, who had just arrived in the Northern Region, would have to scurrilously roll back to the capital!

Whichever option it was, they could accept it.

At this moment, everyone looked at Li Shengyuan with a playful expression.

You yellow-haired brat, you dare to fight us? You're looking for death!

However...

Li Shengyuan, however, merely scoffed. "I'm here to eliminate you all. Why would I play these games with you? Are you out of your minds!"

Just as he had told his younger brother Li Xinghe last night, in this world, whoever has the bigger fist holds the truth!

At this moment, Liu Zhen and the others behind Li Shengyuan also saw the malicious intentions of Prince Yan's group. They were angry, but also felt a sense of heaviness.

Prince Yan said with some difficulty, "Lord Li, you see..."

However, Li Shengyuan calmly looked at the indignantly righteous scholar and old man and said:

"Presumably, you are Xu Mingzhi, aren't you?"

"That's right, this old man is Xu Mingzhi, the Dean of White Egret Academy in Jizhou!" The old man raised his head, looking upright and unyielding.

"Even if you remember this old man's name and wish to seek revenge on me later, this old man will still truthfully record the fact that General Guo was unjustly killed by Li Shengyuan in the history of Jizhou!"

"Even if you seek revenge and kill one of me, in this Yanwang City! In this Jizhou! In the entire Northern Region, there are tens of thousands more like me!"

The words of the old scholar Xu Mingzhi instantly tarnished Li Shengyuan's reputation. Regardless of whether he sought revenge later, he would not earn a good name.

It also immediately drew tearful praise from the crowd behind Prince Yan.

"Good, Mr. Xu is indeed worthy of being the Dean of our White Egret Academy in Jizhou. Such noble character and integrity should be remembered for a thousand generations!"

Xu Mingzhi's head immediately lifted even higher!

If this matter were to be recorded in history, it would be: "In the 879th year of the Great Gan calendar, the seventh year of Shenhuang, Xu Mingzhi, the Dean of White Egret Academy in Jizhou, demonstrated his resolve with his death, angrily denouncing the Imperial Envoy for indiscriminately killing the innocent, and redressing the injustice of the meritorious general Guo Da!"

What scholars cared about most was nothing more than a reputation and integrity worthy of being remembered for a thousand generations.

Just thinking about it made Xu Mingzhi incredibly excited!

However, Li Shengyuan also nodded in satisfaction and smiled, "Not bad, indeed, you have integrity!"

His appearance, however, left people on both sides somewhat bewildered.

Li Shengyuan then looked at the three people behind Prince Yan who were speaking loudly and accusing him, and calmly uttered three names in succession.

"You must be Gao Huan, Xiahou Yu, and Zhang Jingcheng, right?"

With the old scholar Xu Mingzhi leading the way, the three also stepped forward, heads held high and chests puffed out, without any fear.

"That's right, it is us!"

"If you wish to remember our names and seek revenge later, then come at us. We are not a match for your Li family, but like old Mr. Xu, we are fearless in the face of death!"

They would not let go of such a good opportunity to be remembered for a thousand generations!

Moreover, with His Highness Prince Yan present, it would not be easy for Li Shengyuan to seek revenge on them!

Li Shengyuan looked at the four people he had called out by name, nodded in satisfaction, and smiled:

"Good, it's great that you're all gathered together. I don't have to look for you one by one!"

Immediately after, his expression turned cold, and he shouted in a chilling voice:

"Liu Zhen, Zhang Mang, Zhao Shanhe, where are you?!"

The three men's bodies trembled, and they all stepped forward, cupping their fists and responding loudly.

"Your subordinate is here!"

Li Shengyuan stared coldly at the four people, Xu Mingzhi and the others, in front of him. He flung out four papers with accusations from his storage ring and said in an icy tone:

"Apprehend these four. They conspired with the Demonic Cult and plotted treason. They are rebellious traitors. Execute them on the spot without exception!"