Extermination Of The Zhang Clan

What was going on today? 

The high ranking officials were at a lost of words, they had meticulously prepared everything to subdue the Prince of the north.

They had even involved, Three Supreme Sovereigns to help them deal with him, but now two were dead and the last one had submitted to the prince.

They were unwilling to concede defeat, but their trump card was already gone. They could only turn back and plan another day.

They hurrumphed and turned their backs preparing to leave.

The emperor felt it was a shame though, he had expected the officials to succeed in their plans, but they turned out to be very useless.

Ever since he ascended the throne, the Grand General power had always gave him nightmares. That was the reason why he gave the title of Prince Of The North to Gu Shang.

He wanted to use it to gradually weaken the title of the Grand General and make people believe he was in control, but it seemed that only the imperial capital refered to him by that title.

He knew that with Gu Shang now in the capital, his imperial authority was in danger, the good thing though was that the officials were going to dedicate their attention to stopping him.

He would just stay aside and watch them battle till they both weakened their power. He would then swoop in to suppress them.

A classic killing two birds with one stone, he also prepared to leave.

The old general and his son were excited, Gu Shang had really managed to defend himself.

From now on, the Liu family rise was going to be unstoppable.

"Hold it, did I say you could leave!" Gu Shang voice travelled across the entrance stopping everyone in their tracks, the emperor included.

"Do you guys think, you can disrespect me and walk away as you wish!" he continued coldly as his voice grew louder.

"Fourth emissary, kill anyone who takes a single step from this site!"

"Fifth emissary, kill all those sky lords there, they dared to block my path" he ordered coldly.

"Yes your grace" the fourth and fifth emissary released their auras shocking the crowd.

"Sov.. Sovereigns" the crowd muttered in shock.

The fifth emissary unsheathed his sword and began killing the sky lords as if they weren't humans.

Screams of begging and pleading were heard for a few moments before the place went silent. This were the sky lords assembled by the noble families to deal with Gu Shang.

Over a hundred Sky Lords had just died, the ground was covered in blood.

A man with silver hair in black robes stood there with his hands behind his back, A 100,000 cavalry soldiers behind him sat on their horses.

Because of the silver masks they wore, it made them look intimidating and scary, it was the kind of fear that struck their hearts and was hard to forget.

Purple flags with a purple Qilin insignia were hoist behind the silver haired man flattering in the breeze.

Just behind the silver haired man, stood the emissaries of the purple Qilin Cavalry.

At this moment, it was clear to see that all the emissaries were Supreme Sovereigns. 

The emperor narrowed his eyes, there was also fear. The imperial family only commanded five of the 12 Supreme Sovereigns in the capital, the rest were the ancestors of some powerful clans.

When the two from the other clans died, he was secretly happy, but that happiness was short lived.

The Grand General actually commanded eight Supreme Sovereigns. This means he had more power than the imperial family currently.

The Quasi Immortal King of the imperial family never involved himself in politics, he would only appear if the empire is on the verge of eradication.

Apart from that, he couldn't care less about any other thing.

The threat Gu Shang amounted to, increased in the emperor eyes.

The Gu Clan were having a mental break down.

Liu Feifei stared at her husband as if she was staring at a stranger. The aura he emitted now wasn't the mysterious one, rather it was one that commanded obedience.

The emperor aura couldn't even begin to compare with Gu Shang own.

Was this the man who always listened to, and took in all her scoldings without complaint?

Was it really him? Only the heavens know how many times Liu Feifei asked this question in her head.

The place fell deadly silent, no one dared to even flinch afraid that it would lead the fourth emissary to misunderstand and mistakenly kill them.

"Grand General! What's the meaning of this?! The second chancellor roared angrily.

He had lost so much today, yet the prince was unwilling to back down.

Gu Shang ignored him and concentrated on the Zhang family leader.

Zhang Feng his son stood beside him with one hand. He had managed to stop the bleeding and just wanted to go home.

After the the father and son duo saw Gu Shang staring at them, they froze in fear.

"Your son tried to actually force me to kneel, but his hands were cut off. I'll consider it a fair trade" Gu Shang said with his hands behind him.

The Zhang Clan leader nodded furiously, "that's right, that's right. We are all even now" he said.

When he had thought they had the advantage over the Grand General, he had wanted an explanation. 

Now he felt they'd be lucky if the Grand General did not pursue the matter, so of course they were satisfied, but not for long.

"However...." Gu Shang suddenly said his voice turning cold.

"As the minister of war, you are supposed to be in charge of overseeing the rations sent to the battle field. But over the last four year, you've only sent us rotten rations and armor.

You've endangered the lifes of the soldiers fighting for the empire, there by endangering the immortal empire,

And all this just to fill your selfish belly, you've sold military rations to merchants for your own personal interest, you've purchased cheap material whiles you kept a chunk of the money you were supposed to use.

You've never really cared about the lives of our troops therefore, 

Third emissary, I order the extermination of the Zhang Clan, kill all members of the family and raze their manor to ground , but follow the Code of the purple Qilin Cavalry.

Kill all, except women and boys yet to climb horse back, send them to the slave camps for the rest of their lives.

Kill them all to the ninth generation" Gu Shang said coldly.

"Yes your grace" the third emissary was a woman, she climbed her dragon horse and left with 10,000 cavalry men following behind her, they galloped into the capital leaving only dust in their trail.

The Zhang clan leader gave in as he fell on the ground butt first, he crawled to the emperor crying.

"Your majesty, save my clan I promise to be your loyal dog" he said crawling towards the emperor.

"Behead him!" the moment Gu Shang voice ended, the Zhang Clan leader head was severed, blood gushing out.

The emperor stood there in a daze as he watched the head of the Zhang Clan leader fall before his feet whiles his body spasm.

"Grand General!!!! What's the meaning of this" the emperor roared on top of his lungs.

"Your majesty, a few moments ago you pretended to be deaf and blind, it will do you good to continue.

Besides am just exercising my power as the Grand General, Your imperial highness doesn't have the power to stop me!" Gu Shang replied coldly not giving an inch.

When they ganged up on him, the emperor pretended to be blind. Since they started it he was going to end.

"Very good..." the emperor said in anger. He knew he had no power to stop the Grand General, the Grand General indeed had this kind of power. But he was disregarding him and not showing him and face

"I'll wash my hands from this, you are all on your own!" He said before he headed for his imperial carriage.

The commander of the capital guards wanted to escape with him but Gu Shang stopped him.

"Looking at you armor, you should be the Commander of the capital guards right?" He asked coldly.

"Ye... ye...yes your grace" he answered nervously.

"From this moment on, you are stripped of your position, the only reason you get to keep your life is because the emperor appointed you" Gu Shang hurrumphed.

The emperor frowned, he knew the capital guards were under the control of the Grand General, but he was unwillingly to give it up.

"Grand General, why are you stripping him of his position?" he asked.

"Your majesty, the capital guards are under my command, I haven't had time to organize them in the last seven years.

Now that I'm m back, it's only right I do so, and I believe I owe you no explanation.

You of all people should know why" Gu Shang said not holding back.

He had intentionally avoided interfering in Capital guards affairs because he wanted to give the emperor a sense of security.

He was a new emperor without any military control, at that time he had left the capital guards specially to make the emperor feel safe, after all no emperor would feel comfortable if the only troops he could control were his imperial guards.

Now the capital guards had become a mess and the play thing for the noble clans, their power non existent.

But all that was about to change.

The emperor knew he was right and so boarded his Carriage.

But before he entered Gu Shang said loudly his voice booming across the capital.

"What are you guys waiting for, salute your emperor, Long live the emperor" he said slightly bowing his head towards the emperor.

When the emperor saw this he was surprised, he didn't think Gu Shang would bow to him. Gu Shang position as the Grand General ensured he didn't have to bow to the empero,r so he willingly taking the initiative came as a surprise, besides their first meeting hasn't been plesent.

But before he could rap his head around it, loud voices of soldiers boomed across the capital.

"Long live the emperor

 Long live the emperor

 Long live the emperor"

The purple Qilin insignia holding the soldiers were slightly lowerey down, as the large Imperial family banner on the emperor's carriage stood tall and proud in the breeze.

The emperor carriage took to the sky and left.

The chants stopped.

Gu Shang then turned his attention to the Second State Chancellor.