Chapter 61: Stunning the Imperial Court

  "Hahaha……" Hu Che'er was born with a cruel temperament, and in his daily travels through Jianghu, he would kill someone at the slightest disagreement. Except for his master, no one else mattered to him. Seeing over ten Taiping Heavenly Kingdom followers rushing up, he charged forward with great enthusiasm.

  At that moment, the iron spear in his hand swept away the big knife that Ma Yuan Yi had just chopped out, and with a fierce kick, Ma Yuan Yi spat blood and flew out.

  "Haha...". Hu Che'er hadn't had a real fight in a long time, and with a loud shout, he charged into the crowd with his twin iron spears spinning like a whirlwind. Pfft pfft pfft pfft..., the spear tips and the sharp crescent blades on one side, whoever they met would either be killed or injured, and after just a few turns, more than a dozen Taiping Heavenly Kingdom followers fell to the ground.

  "Hahaha...". Hu Che's bloodthirsty laughter, with a powerful kick, sent one of the struggling followers flying out, and that person was killed on the spot. "Hahaha..."

  A large amount of blood, more than a dozen people fell to the ground screaming, women's mournful wails, as if it were hell on earth. Even Hou Cheng and other prison guards couldn't help but tremble with fear, looking at Hu Che'er who was covered in blood, as if they had seen a demon god. While Qin Feng's guards, on the other hand, showed excited glances, thinking to themselves that Hu Che'er had killed too quickly, not even leaving a single hair for them to touch.

  "My goodness, stealing the spotlight! Qin Feng was very displeased and coldly called out: 'Hu Che Er...'"

  "Hmm!" Hu Che'er hastily turned around and saw Qin Feng's cold expression, startling him. He quickly knelt down on the ground, bowed his head and shouted: "Your subordinate deserves to die......" His heart was racing with cold sweat, thinking that he was done for, having forgotten about Master!

  Qin Feng slowly walked over and stopped in front of Hu Che'er. Hu Che'er saw the master's feet and hastily lowered his head three more times, not daring to move a single muscle. Qin Feng didn't respond to him, but instead calmly said: "Hou Cheng, thoroughly search this mansion, separate the servants and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom followers, and lock them up..."

  "Understood!" Hou Cheng saw Hu Che'er, who had just killed the god, kneeling on the ground like a cat, wiped his sweat, bowed and quickly took his men to do their job.

  A bloody scene, more than a dozen companions who were boasting about their martial arts every day, one person can beat more than a dozen government soldiers, were instantly killed by someone and fell to the ground. Ma Yuan is still vomiting blood until now. Tang Zhou thought of going to inform on them, but things had already been exposed. For his elderly mother, wife, and children, for himself, Tang Zhou didn't wait for them to come and arrest him, he immediately knelt down on the ground, crawled in front of Qin Feng, and tearfully pleaded: "Sir, I was coerced! I originally planned to find an opportunity to expose these rebels... but I was closely guarded all along. Sir, I am a good citizen of the Han Dynasty, sir... Sir, I know the plans of these rebels... sir..."

  The most fanatical religious believers, those who must be the die-hard followers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Luoyang. Qin Feng was thinking that if these people refused to speak even unto death, just then a defector arrived, and he said: "Bring him into the room for me..."

  In the first year of Zhongping in the reign of Emperor Ling of Han (184 AD), the imperial court was corrupt, and the eunuchs and the emperor's relatives were fighting endlessly. Since last year until this spring, there has been a severe drought throughout the country, and not a single grain of crops has been harvested. However, the government's taxes have not been reduced, and Emperor Ling's love for money has even led to an increase in taxes. Many poor farmers who had nowhere else to turn sought help from the Taiping Teachings, and Zhang Jiao saw that the time was ripe, so he secretly stirred up the farmers and prepared to rise up in revolt...

  "Sir, Zhang Jiao is secretly plotting a rebellion. Ma Yuan Yi is the leader of this region in Luoyang. They have written slogans saying 'The blue sky has died, the yellow sky will rise, it's the year of Jiazi, great luck for the world' and are preparing to rebel..." Tang Zhou knelt on the ground, his sweat dripping onto the bluestone below, wetting it thoroughly. This is treason! It's a capital offense punishable by slow slicing!"

  "What about you? Aren't you also the deputy commander of this side?" Qin Feng looked at the person kneeling in front of him, smiling as he sipped his tea.

  "Sir! I was forced to, forced to... They... they threatened me with my elderly mother and wife and children..."

  Qin Feng's goal was clear, to destroy the Yellow Turbans in Luoyang and force Zhang Jiao to start a rebellion ahead of schedule. As for other matters, let the imperial court worry about it. He said coldly: "This matter will be decided by the imperial court, Tang Zhou, write down everything you know and sign your name."

  "Right!"

  Half an hour later, Qin Feng put away Tang Zhou's confession and thought to himself that this achievement was already a sure thing. He opened the door and walked out, saying: "Take this Tang Zhou down and keep a close eye on him."

  "Yes!" said Hou Cheng hastily, who had been guarding the door all along.

  "Huh, Hu Che'er, why are you still kneeling on the ground? Come with me..." Qin Feng saw that Hu Che'er was still kneeling and nodded to himself in approval. He then went over and lightly kicked him with his foot.

  It serves you right, laughing loudly in front of Master. Hu Che'er scolded herself and stood up, ignoring her numb legs, glared at several sneering subordinates, and hastily escorted Qin Feng out.

  Inside Luoyang Prefecture, Qin Feng met Yang Biao, who was serving as the Metropolitan Governor of Jingzhao.

  "Qin Feng, today you took away more than half of the prison guards and also captured Bian Xi. What is the reason for this?" Yang Biao put down the official document in his hand and asked with a frown in the main hall.

  "I report to Your Excellency, I have discovered that the Taiping Taoist sect in Luoyang is planning a rebellion... I was afraid of leaking the news, so I took it upon myself to mobilize the prison guards to go and capture them..." Qin Feng said with a bow.

  "What! Someone is rebelling!" Yang Bi was shocked, hastily stood up from behind the desk and turned around, shouting: "Qin Feng, rebellion is not something to be taken lightly, do you have evidence?"

  "Sir, I have in my possession a confession from Tang Zhou, the leader of the Yellow Turbans of Luoyang, stating that the Taiping Teachings incited ignorant civilians to rebel. They have tens of thousands of followers, with some factions having over 10,000 people and smaller ones having several thousand. This Tang Zhou is the leader of one such faction..." Qin Feng produced the confession.

  Yang Biao hastily brought it over, took a look and was shocked! He didn't care about Qin Feng, barefooted he ran out shouting: "Prepare the carriage, I want to enter the palace to see the Emperor..."

  Qin Feng slowly turned around, smiled slightly, and at this time the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground. He thought to himself: Never mind if there are other informants, anyway I've already informed on you. Now that everything has been settled, Zhang Jiao, don't blame me, I had no choice either. If you hadn't rebelled, I wouldn't have had a chance to shine!

  ……

  The Luoyang Imperial Palace is divided into the Southern Palace and the Northern Palace, with countless palaces and pavilions, as well as the high ridges where archers would shoot. The palaces are majestic and towering, with even the shortest staircase having dozens of steps. The Southern Palace was the place where the emperor and his officials would hold court and discuss politics, with the stairs at the palace gate spanning over 40-50 meters in width and as tall as a small hill. The main hall of the Southern Palace is the Deyang Hall, which is three zhang high, with a platform one zhang high, and can accommodate tens of thousands of people. The hall is surrounded by pools of water, with jade steps and vermilion beams, and the altar is made of carved stone, with walls adorned with colorful paintings and golden pillars inlaid with beautiful female figures.

  At this moment, on the one-zhang-high imperial platform, the Emperor Ling's face was filled with a look of horror as he stood up from his dragon throne, shaking his hands urgently and saying: "Yang Ai Qing, are you telling the truth?"

  "Your Majesty, I have personally inquired about this when I came. The Luoyang prison has already captured the leader of the Taiping Sect in Luoyang, and there is a confession from the rebels here, this matter is absolutely true..." Yang Bing said in a low voice.

  "My dear sirs, this... how can this be good? Several tens of millions are indeed several tens of millions of troops and horses, how can this be good..." The Emperor's face turned pale as he read Tang Zhou's confession, which detailed the numbers of people and states involved. He was so shocked that he fell back into his seat, his mind a blank, staring at the officials below him.

  The officials were also shocked at this moment, and someone actually wanted to rebel, with tens of millions of people, what to do? Run! The entire court, from top to bottom, all the civil and military officials were shocked by this thunder-like news. This is tens of millions, how can we resist?! After the shock, they buzzed with discussions, some suggested sending troops, some suggested investigating, and some said it was just a rumor, but they were all whispering to each other, and no one stood up.

  "Your Majesty, do not be alarmed, it is just a minor bandit..." Zhang Rang said with a bow on one side of Emperor Ling.

  "Hmph, these people are all talk and no action when something happens, they don't even know how to offer a word of comfort!" The Ling Emperor was furious.

  Just then, a man in military uniform stepped forward and shouted: "Silence!"