DLERB -Chapter 19 Total Chaos in the City! Chancellor, Is This Fire Burning Hot Enough Yet?

The sky had only just begun to brighten.

More than a dozen notices stamped with the seal of the Chancellor’s Estate were plastered across every visible wall corner in Xianyang City.

“The national treasury is depleted. Grain reserves are critically low.”

“Beginning immediately, the entire city will enter grain rationing and control.”

Silence.

A brief silence—

Then an eruption like a volcano.

“What?!”

“Control? We already can’t buy a single grain of rice in the city, and now they want rationing?!”

“He’s trying to starve all our families to death!”

A burly man smashed his fist against the wall, his eyes bloodshot.

“Let’s go! To the government granaries!”

“That’s right! The granaries have food!”

“If they won’t give it to us, we’ll take it ourselves!”

The crowd surged like ignited wildfire, rushing madly toward the government grain depot in the western district of the city.

This time, they carried not money pouches—

But kitchen knives, hoes, and wooden clubs.

At the granary entrance, several hundred soldiers stood in formation with spears in hand, blocking the way.

Standing at the front was a broad-shouldered one-armed veteran—

The very same man who had spoken up righteously in the teahouse several days earlier.

Facing the sea of people before him, his voice boomed like thunder.

“Fellow townsfolk! Calm yourselves! The court will not let everyone starve!”

“Go back! All of you, go back! Take another step forward and it becomes an assault on a military formation—a capital crime!”

The answer he received was a flying stone.

Bang!

The rock struck the veteran squarely in the forehead, blood pouring down instantly.

“Get lost! You’re just another watchdog of the court!”

“You’re full yourself, so why would you care whether we live or die?!”

Within the crowd, several inconspicuous men shouted at the top of their lungs.

“That little tyrant plans to move all the grain into his own palace! He wants us dead!”

“Charge! Take the food!”

The crowd went mad.

The black tide instantly swallowed the few dozen soldiers.

The one-armed veteran was the first to be knocked to the ground.

Countless feet trampled across his body.

He only managed a muffled groan. Who knew how many ribs shattered before he stopped moving entirely.

Boom!

The granary gates were smashed open.

The people flooded inside like lunatics.

Yet the granary was completely empty.

Not even a single grain of rice remained.

“It’s empty! It’s empty!”

“Where’s the grain?! Where is our food?!”

Despair instantly transformed into even greater fury.

“Burn it down!”

Han Shi’s men once again shouted from within the crowd.

“Burn this damned government granary!”

“To the Ministry of Justice! To the Office of Imperial Supplies! Kill those corrupt officials!”

“That’s right! Kill the corrupt bastards! Loot everything!”

The first column of black smoke rose from the granary.

Soon came the second.

Then the third…

The rice shops in the west district.

The cloth stores in the east.

The taverns in the south.

Every place bearing official government insignia burst into flames.

The entire city of Xianyang descended into chaos like a pot of boiling porridge.

Street thugs took advantage of the turmoil to loot and rob, smashing open the gates of wealthy households and stealing valuables.

The once prosperous streets had become a living hell.

Cries.

Screams.

Shouts of killing.

They rose and fell without end.

At the southern city gate, atop the battlements—

City Defense Commander Du Wei stood with one hand resting on his sword hilt, staring grimly at the fires erupting throughout the city.

A deputy general hurried to his side and lowered his voice.

“General, the brothers are panicking.”

“Rumors are spreading everywhere in the city that the young prince plans to pen us up like livestock and starve us to death.”

Du Wei remained silent.

The deputy leaned closer.

“Lord Chunyu also sent word. He says this is a ‘purge of evil from the ruler’s side’—that it’s meant to save Great Qin from disaster!”

“General, if this keeps up, our own brothers will starve to death before anything else!”

Du Wei’s grip on the sword hilt tightened further, his knuckles turning white.

He still said nothing.

But the look in his eyes had already begun to waver.

At Chunyu Yue’s residence.

Inside the bedroom, the scent of wine filled the air.

Chunyu Yue reclined against the bed, his pale old face flushed with an unhealthy redness from excitement.

Han Shi sat across from him, leisurely sipping wine.

Outside the window, the sounds of killing and chaos shook the heavens.

Listening to the uproar, Chunyu Yue burst into delighted laughter.

“Hahaha! Do you hear that? This is the will of the people!”

“The people are like water—water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it!”

“That little brat is finished!”

Han Shi set down his wine cup, a cold curve rising at the corner of his mouth.

“Doctor, this is only the beginning.”

“By tomorrow, this flood will surge into the imperial palace and drown that dragon throne.”

Chunyu Yue lifted his wine cup and drained it in one gulp.

“Good! I’ve been waiting for that day!”

“I want to personally watch him be torn to pieces by this overwhelming tide!”

At the Chancellor’s Estate.

The study was in complete disarray.

Li Si swept every bamboo scroll from the table onto the floor.

“My lord! The western granary has been burned down!”

“My lord! The Court of Justice is surrounded! Lord Tingwei is hiding inside and doesn’t dare come out!”

“My lord! Commander Du at the southern gate… it seems he intends to…”

Servants stumbled in one after another, each bringing worse news than the last.

Li Si’s eyes were bloodshot as he shoved aside the servant blocking his path.

“Prepare the carriage! To the palace!”

He had to find that madman!

He had to stop all of this!

But just as he rushed to the entrance—

Two Jinyiwei guards stood before him like iron towers, blocking the way.

Their hands rested on the hilts of their sabers, expressionless.

Li Si roared furiously,

“Move aside! I am the Chancellor of Great Qin! How dare you stop me?!”

The Jinyiwei did not move an inch.

One of them spoke in a completely emotionless tone.

“By order of the Young Master.”

“Chancellor Li is unwell and must remain in the estate to recuperate.”

Li Si stared at them, then at the blazing fires outside the windows.

At that instant, all the strength in his body seemed to drain away.

He staggered back two steps and collapsed onto the cold floor.

It was over.

Everything was over.

This city—

This empire—

Was going to be destroyed by that madman.

Inside Xianyang Prison.

In the deepest cell, it was warm like spring.

Incense smoke curled lazily through the air, making it feel like an entirely different world from the bloodshed and chaos outside.

Ying Ziye sat on a small wooden stool, carefully carving a palm-sized wooden figurine with an exquisite little knife.

Qinglong knelt on one knee behind him, reporting everything happening in the city.

“…Southern Gate Commander Du Wei has begun harboring rebellious thoughts.”

“Chunyu Yue and Han Shi’s faction have agreed to lead the Confucian scholars in an assault on the palace gates tomorrow.”

“The rioters within the city now number in the tens of thousands and are gathering toward the imperial city.”

After Qinglong finished his report, silence filled the prison cell.

Only the soft scraping sound of the knife against wood remained.

Shhk… shhk…

Ying Ziye completed the final cut.

A vaguely shaped little wooden doll appeared in his hand.

He raised it toward the firelight and examined it for a moment, seemingly dissatisfied.

Casually, he tossed the wooden figure onto the ground.

Then he looked up at Qinglong.

On that exquisitely adorable little face bloomed an innocent, radiant smile.

His childish voice echoed through the prison.

“The fish have all taken the bait.”

“Time to haul in the net.”