Chapter 2237: Revenge
Chapter 2237: Revenge
Jiang Boyang raised his hand to stop his daughter and the clan’s disciples, saying, “What King Wu said is correct. I believe that the court will bring me justice!”
Jiang Luofu immediately panicked. “Father!”
Jiang Boyang shook his head slightly. “Your father’s clean reputation cannot be ruined here. When I am reviewed jointly by the three justices, I will explain everything to his majesty and her highness.”
He had defended the law for countless years and had confidence in verbal sparring. The empress was a wise and capable person, so he just needed to list down the merits and drawbacks of the case frankly. That would be enough to convince her.
“But...” Jiang Luofu just felt that something wasn’t right. She wanted to remind her father, but she knew that her father had always been a stubborn person who wouldn’t change his mind once it was made up.
When King Wu saw that, he didn’t give them the chance to do anything else. “Arrest him!”
Soon after, the soldiers shackled Jiang Boyang. These chains were designed to restrain powerful individuals, and they had all kinds of soul-restraining runes carved on them. The cultivation of anyone restrained by them would be forfeit. Jiang Boyang was thus rendered no different from an ordinary old man.
As the soldiers led Jiang Boyang into their midst, King Wu looked at Jiang Luofu with a slightly strange expression and said, “Men, arrest all of the Jiang clan’s people. If they resist, kill them without exception!”
Jiang Boyang’s expression changed. “Just now, you said you were only arresting me! Didn’t you say you were going to make a decision after I appeared in front of his and her majesty?!”
King Wu sneered. “Is Sir Jiang joking? What you’ve committed is the great crime of treason. After serving as the Commandant of Justice, don’t tell me you don’t know what kind of crime that is?”
Jinag Boyang’s expression finally changed. How could he not know the result of treason? Not only was that a crime deserving of clan eradication, more importantly, nine generations would be punished by association!
“But my crimes are still not set in stone without appearing before the three justices. You cannot treat the Jiang manor’s people like this!” Jiang Boyang stood his ground. After all, what he was more worried about than anything was that the people who were captured could have ‘evidence’ forced out of them even if none existed through torture.
Normally, as long as an official like him cooperated, the court would show him at least a certain degree of respect. How could he have known that King Wu wouldn’t play by the rules at all?!
“Your crimes are still undecided? His and her majesty’s words are like gold and jade. They have already issued a decree, so how could your crimes still not be decided?” King Wu sneered. “The Jiang clan has committed treason and we are capturing all of the Jiang clan’s people. This matter is unrelated to other people. If anyone insists on carrying out any desperate resistance, they will be charged with similar crimes!”
Jiang Boyang’s heart turned ice-cold. Even though King Wu was arrogant, he wasn’t stupid. All of these things were being done to break the spirits of the Jiang clan's people.
Sure enough, the Jiang clan’s guards all hesitated. Even though they all carried the duty of protecting the Jiang clan, they all had their own families at home. How could they act impulsively when their actions could involve many more people?
When he saw the guards lower their weapons, King Wu smiled proudly. He had already done this kind of search and seizure many times in the past few days. He already had a firm understanding of how these people thought.
“You’re despicable!” Jiang Luofu shouted. The pencils in front of her fired forward, and the guards around her father immediately groaned and collapsed. She quickly rushed at her father, and her long and slender rod darted around. All those who were hit immediately felt their armor crack. They groaned in pain while clutching their wounds.
King Wu’s face darkened. “Hmph, you actually dare to resist? The Jiang manor has committed treason, as expected! Men, arrest them! Kill all those who dare to resist!”
“Understood!” His subordinates rushed straight at Jiang Luofu and the other Jiang clan disciples.
Jiang Luofu immediately felt the pressure she was experiencing increase many times over. She had been about to reach her father’s side, and yet soldiers closed in on her, causing the distance between them to grow.
King Wu had reacted quickly, as if he had already practiced everything beforehand. Jiang Luofu fully understood that she'd fallen for his tricks. He had clearly done this to fool and mislead them, to cause them to make irrational decisions out of anger. Then, he would have a proper pretext to kill them.
Unfortunately, she couldn't think of any solutions. Even if she could endure her anger, since the enemy had already committed to this course of action, he would still be able to make her do irrational things. She even suspected that King Wu wouldn't even bring her father to the three justices, and that they would just secretly kill him. They could just claim that Jiang Boyang had committed suicide to escape punishment, and his treason would be set in stone.
Jiang Luofu had studied the law because of her family background, and she was also known as the foremost lawyer of the academy. She naturally knew what kinds of wretched methods they could use down there. Thus, she only had a single thought right now, which was to save her father and return to the academy first. The academy was like her second home. It was a place that didn’t involve itself in worldly affairs, and it was now also Ah Zu’s domain. She was sure that these people wouldn’t dare to cause trouble there.
If she ensured her father’s safety, the other clans would have time to react to this situation and come to speak up for the Jiang clan. After all, the Jiang clan was connected to the various great clans in marriage. Her oldest brother was married to a woman from the Pei clan, and her second brother was married to a royal princess. Her third brother was married to a woman from the Yu clan. Whichever one it was, there was no way they would just ignore the Jiang clan's current situation.
But even though that was what she believed, she didn’t have much confidence. After all, the Liu clan had held far more authority than the Jiang clan, and they'd also been connected to other clans in marriage. And yet, they'd gone up in smoke overnight and those clans had all quickly cut ties, choosing to either back out of the marriages or claim that the Liu clan's womenfolk had committed suicide to protect themselves.
But even if all of those clans abandoned the Jiang clan, there was one person who would definitely help her. That figure appeared in her mind, and she couldn't help but feel a bit of alarm. She remembered how he had once been a student in her care. She hadn’t expected that in just a few years, he would become someone who could protect her.
Her thoughts moved quickly, but her movements definitely didn’t slow down. Her rod smashed several targets, and her kicks lashed out viciously. Whenever she struck someone with her high heels, a hole appeared on their body, bleeding non-stop.
These people were here to destroy their entire clan to begin with, so there was no need for her to hold back. But the enemy had come prepared, and their numbers were too great. The pressure she experienced became greater and greater, and the room she had to move around in grew smaller and smaller.
Meanwhile, King Wu felt his breathing quicken when he saw her fighting, his expression filled with excitement.
Normally, Jiang Luofu was beautiful even when she was just walking. Now that she was fighting, the way she moved her legs in combat displayed another side of their beauty.
When King Wu saw how the black silk slightly wrapped around those sturdy and well-shaped thighs, he almost screamed ‘Step on me, please’! But when he saw the bloody holes that remained whenever someone was actually stepped on, he immediately thought to himself, But don’t wear high heels when you step on me.
He secretly told his subordinates that they could kill everyone else except Jiang Luofu. They had to capture her alive. After all, she was an incredible beauty who wasn’t inferior to Madam Wu. Ever since the incident with Zu An before, his marriage that had seemed like the perfect couple to outsiders couldn't help but contain a bit of animosity. It would be perfect if he could find a replacement.
Still with the current state of the Jiang clan, there was no way she could become the princess.
I'll lock her up in a secret prison, and then I’ll make her change her stockings for me every day.
Tsk tsk, these legs are enough for me to play with for an entire year!
He immediately felt a wave of heat rise up from his lower body when he thought about that wonderful scene.
Apart from Jiang Luofu, the Jiang clan’s disciples were divided into two factions. One side was just willingly waiting to be captured, hoping they could be cleansed of their injustice and rescued by other court officials. However, the other side had seen through the conspiracy just like Jiang Luofu. They were all fighting back with everything they had, but they were facing impossible odds.
Soon after, a miserable cry filled the air. Jiang Luofu turned around and saw that the son of one of her clan brothers had been cut down by a general. He was a nephew of hers who was usually very sensible. Whenever he saw her, he had always obediently called her 'auntie'.
Jiang Luofu was furious. “Chang Fu, for better or for worse,you used to be an official who worked under my father, and yet you don’t even carry the slightest bit of loyalty now? You didn’t even let a child with no cultivation go?”
Her father had once held some military titles concurrently in the past, and this person had been a deputy general under her father. In the past, he had frequently come to chat with her whenever he had free time, and his eyes always darted toward her legs. She still had some impression of him.
The general named Chang Fu smiled coldly when he heard this, “Loyalty? It was precisely because of your father being my superior that I was almost killed off because I made some small mistake, save for the fact that my military achievements offset them. Even so, I still had my three legs broken and lost three ranks. More importantly, my legs could heal, but that place could not.”
As he spoke about the events of the past, he glanced at his lower body. His gaze was full of resentment.
“A small mistake?” Jiang Boyang was furious. “In the past, when you were passing through a village, a kind-hearted family offered you lodging, and yet you actually raped the hostess in the middle of the night. Furthermore, you tied the host up and forced him to watch you do it! If I had known you were such a despicable person, I would have killed you back then!”
“That’s right. Why didn’t you kill me back then?” Chang Fu put away his sinister smile. “Unfortunately, you don’t have a chance to anymore. You can only watch as I kill your Jiang clan’s people. Back then, I vowed that I had to make the Jiang clan pay for what I lost ten thousand times over.”
After saying that, he tore apart the clothes of the mother who had fallen onto her child's corpse, sobbing bitterly. When they saw the fair white skin of her shoulder being exposed, many soldiers felt their breaths quicken.