DLERB -Chapter 4 The Jinyiwei Descend! Is Killing You Really That Difficult?

Li Si bent so low that his graying hair nearly touched the golden bricks on the floor.

“This old minister will have them dragged out immediately.”

Straightening up, Li Si waved toward the halberd-bearing guards outside the hall.

Two Qin palace guards clad in black armor strode in and grabbed the collapsed scholar—his pants soaked through—and prepared to drag him away.

“Wait.”

Ying Ziye sat on the steps, his two short legs dangling in the air as he swung them lazily.

Tilting his head, he looked at Li Si.

“Chancellor, when I told you to clean things up, I meant clean out all the trash. Dragging away just one—how does that count as cleaning?”

Li Si froze.

A trace of astonishment flashed across his wrinkled old face.

There was more?

Was this young prince planning to turn Qilin Hall into a slaughterhouse today?

“Your Highness… this…” Li Si glanced at the trembling Confucian scholars kneeling on the floor, his throat dry. “The others may have behaved improperly, but their crimes do not warrant this…”

“Do not warrant this?”

Ying Ziye laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke imaginable.

He rummaged through his oversized sleeves.

Clatter!

A huge bundle of heavy bamboo slips was tossed casually onto the ground, scattering everywhere.

The sound of the rolling bamboo slips echoed harshly through the deathly silent hall.

On every scroll, a name had been written in vermilion ink.

“Come now, Chancellor. You’re old, and your eyesight isn’t good anymore, so I’ll read them aloud for you.”

Ying Ziye casually picked up the nearest bamboo slip and glanced at the name on it before sweeping his gaze across the hall.

Finally, his eyes locked onto a middle-aged official in a green robe.

“Director Wang of the Imperial Granary.”

The official trembled violently and dropped to his knees with a thud, not daring to lift his head.

“T-this humble servant is here…”

“Don’t be nervous. I just want to ask a few questions.”

Ying Ziye grinned as he unfolded the bamboo slip.

“In the winter of the thirty-third year of the First Emperor’s reign, you secretly embezzled three thousand dan of grain from the imperial granary and resold it to wealthy merchants outside the city, making a profit of eight hundred gold pieces. Then, using that money, you bought three residences in western Xianyang and kept four mistresses.”

With every word Ying Ziye spoke, Official Wang lowered his head another inch.

By the end, he was sprawled flat on the floor like a puddle of mud.

“Tsk tsk. Four mistresses? Can your body even handle that?”

Ying Ziye tossed the bamboo slip at his face.

Smack!

The slip struck Official Wang’s hat, knocking him sideways.

“Mercy, Your Highness! Mercy! This servant was momentarily confused…”

“Next.”

Ying Ziye didn’t even glance at him before picking up another bamboo slip.

“Supervisor Liu of the Lesser Treasury.”

“During Yan Le’s tenure as Commander of the Palace Attendants, you bribed him with a pair of priceless jade discs so your useless son could enter the imperial guards. Those jade discs were stolen from the palace treasury, weren’t they?”

“Grand Minister Zhang of Agriculture…”

Ying Ziye called out names like the King of Hell checking souls against a register.

Every time a name was read, another official collapsed to the floor.

In only a few moments—

A large group was kneeling in the center of the hall.

These same people had just been shouting alongside Chunyu Yue that the prince lacked virtue.

Now, however, they looked like lambs awaiting slaughter.

The entire Qilin Hall was filled with nothing but Ying Ziye’s childish yet icy voice reading from the records.

Even the officials whose names had not been called felt terror gripping their hearts, cold sweat soaking through their robes.

Too terrifying!

These deeds had been carried out in extreme secrecy. Some were even scandals from years ago.

How had they all been uncovered?

The Black Ice Terrace!

It had to be the Black Ice Terrace!

Only that all-pervasive and terrifying intelligence organization could investigate matters this thoroughly.

Everyone’s gaze toward Ying Ziye changed completely.

How much dirt did this eight-year-old child actually hold in his hands?

And just how much authority had the Emperor granted him?

“Enough!”

Chunyu Yue suddenly stood up, his graying beard trembling with rage.

Pointing at Ying Ziye, even his finger shook.

“Your Highness! This is Qilin Hall! A place for discussing affairs of state—not an execution ground for your reckless behavior! Even if they are guilty, they should be handed over to the Court of Justice and judged according to the law. How can you alone decide everything arbitrarily?!”

“You’re teaching me how to do things?”

Ying Ziye hurled all the remaining bamboo slips from his hands.

Crack! Clatter!

The bamboo slips rained everywhere, causing several officials in the front rows to cover their heads and scramble away in panic.

He stood up, dusted off his tiny hands, and walked step by step toward Chunyu Yue.

Though Chunyu Yue was standing, his presence was completely overwhelmed by this eight-year-old child.

“You old fool, you want to lecture me about the law?”

Ying Ziye raised his head, mockery filling those pure, innocent-looking eyes.

“The laws of Great Qin are the laws of the Ying clan!”

“This world belongs to my Imperial Father!”

“And while Father Emperor is absent—”

“I am Heaven!”

“If I say they’re guilty, then they’re guilty! If I say they deserve death, would the Court of Justice dare utter a single objection?”

Boom!

Those words were utterly tyrannical, yet no one could refute them.

In Great Qin, where imperial authority stood above all else, the Ying royal family itself was the supreme law.

“Y-you… this is the conduct of a tyrant! An omen of a fallen nation!” Chunyu Yue cried out, tears streaming down his aged face as he beat his chest in fury.

“A fallen nation?”

Ying Ziye sneered.

“If parasites like you are allowed to remain, that’s when Great Qin will truly fall!”

He suddenly turned toward the imperial guards outside the hall.

“What are you all standing around for? Get in here and arrest them! Do I need to personally teach you how to tie people up?”

The dozens of halberd-bearing palace guards outside exchanged uneasy glances, hesitating to move forward.

Many of the people kneeling inside were high-ranking court officials whose status far exceeded their own.

Without an imperial decree or an order from the Chancellor, how could ordinary guards like them dare arrest anyone so casually?

Seeing this, Ying Ziye frowned unhappily.

“The soldiers Father Emperor raised are becoming more useless by the day.”

“They can’t even catch a few rats without dragging their feet. Just looking at them annoys me.”

He shook his head, his little face full of disappointment.

Seeing the situation worsening, Li Si hurriedly stepped forward, trying to smooth things over.

“Your Highness, please calm your anger. They are merely following protocol. After all—”

“Protocol? My words are the protocol!”

Ying Ziye impatiently interrupted him.

He turned around, his back facing the gathered officials as he looked toward the tightly shut vermilion doors of the great hall.

“If Father Emperor’s soldiers are unreliable, then I’ll use my own soldiers instead.”

My own soldiers?

The moment those words were spoken, Li Si’s heart skipped violently.

The Ninth Prince was only eight years old and had always lived deep within the palace.

Where could he possibly have his own troops?

Could it be privately raised death warriors?

In Great Qin, that was a crime of treason!

Even Chunyu Yue was stunned into silence, forgetting to continue wailing.

Every eye in the hall focused on that tiny figure.

They saw Ying Ziye slowly raise his right hand.

Clap! Clap!

The crisp sound of clapping echoed through the hall.

The next moment—

Rumble—!

Heavy footsteps thundered from all directions like rolling thunder.

Even the ground seemed to tremble faintly.

Then—

The two massive vermilion gates of Qilin Hall were violently smashed open from the outside!

Bang!

The deafening impact made everyone’s ears ring with pain.

Blinding sunlight poured into the dim hall through the opened doors.

And within that backlight—

Countless black-clad figures surged in like demons crawling out of hell itself, carrying an overwhelming aura of slaughter that suffocated everyone present.

They wore black, pointed official hats and embroidered robes patterned with flying fish unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

At their waists hung long sabers with strangely curved blades.

A vast sea of black instantly filled the plaza before Qilin Hall and completely surrounded the entire palace hall!

A dense smell of blood rushed toward them.

It was the terrifying killing aura that could only be forged on true battlefields after slaughtering countless people.

“T-this… what kind of army is this?!”

One of the military generals cried out in shock.

He had fought on battlefields for years, yet had never seen a force like this in Great Qin!

Their equipment, clothing, and even those cold eyes devoid of regard for human life were entirely different from any army currently existing in Qin.

Li Si needed only one glance before his scalp went numb and an icy chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

These people…

Every single one of them was an expert!

And the kind of expert born solely for killing!

Three thousand soldiers stood there silently in flying-fish uniforms with embroidered spring sabers at their waists.

Not one of them spoke.

Not one made an unnecessary movement.

They were like a legion of silent gods of death, waiting only for their master’s command to harvest lives.

Ying Ziye turned around and looked at the court officials, who were already frightened out of their wits.

Spreading his arms wide, he revealed a bright and innocent smile.

“Allow me to introduce them properly.”

“They are called—the Jinyiwei.”

“They specialize in helping me deal with… disobedient trash.”