Five off-road vehicles left the capital garrison headquarters.

Pu Xingguo sat in the car, looking at the familiar scenery around him, appearing very calm and indifferent.

Since his father's death, he hadn't left his office. In just these less than two days, he felt as if a century had passed.

Long and agonizing.

The five vehicles initially headed towards Hanoi's urban area, but after driving less than five kilometers, they veered further and further off course, eventually arriving at a wilderness area. The scenery here was beautiful and the view was wide open.

"I'll make a call."

Pu Xingguo took out his phone, opened the door, and got out of the car.

The others followed closely, standing around him, but they didn't stop him from contacting the outside world.

Pu Xingguo stood by the roadside and steadily dialed his home number.

"Hello, Xingguo...!" His mother's voice echoed through the phone. With a heavy Yue accent, she asked, "Where...where are you?"

Pu Xingguo's mother was the third wife of Governor Pu Yuan. She was almost eighty years old this year and was one of the longer-lived of Pu Yuan's wives.

She bore Pu Yuan a total of four children, three daughters and one son. Throughout her life, she never competed for anything, simply fulfilling her role as the governor's wife.

As Pu Yuan entered old age, the young and capable Pu Xingguo gradually gained importance and formed a certain prestige in the military. He eventually became the commander of the garrison, equivalent to the commander-in-chief of the imperial city's guards, and also served as the deputy commander of the general headquarters.

He was the most powerful of Pu Yuan's direct descendants, except for Pu Xingbang.

"I'm on my way back to the city, Mom!" Pu Xingguo replied, lowering his head.

"I...I tried my best...!" The old lady wasn't confused, and spoke clearly, "Back then...I advised you against becoming this commander... Ah, it's too late to say anything now."

"I don't regret it either. If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else." Pu Xingguo replied blandly, "It's all the same."

"..."

Silence fell between mother and son.

"You...take care of your health. In the next life...I'll still be your son." Pu Xingguo, the commander of the garrison, lowered his head at this moment and wiped the corner of his eye. He seemed very lonely and vulnerable.

"..." His mother didn't respond. She didn't know how to comfort her son at this moment.

"That's it then." Pu Xingguo's hand trembled as he took the phone away and hung up.

Beside the winding road, the second crop of crops had turned yellow. Pu Xingguo stood in the scorching sun, turned his head to look at Hanoi, and said softly, "Father, I won't kowtow to you. The uniform you gave me...I don't want to get it dirty. I'll bow to you!"

After saying that, Pu Xingguo bowed three times deeply, then turned and walked to the colonel and said, "Gun!"

The colonel handed his sidearm to him.

"If I die, will it really bring balance to the world?" Pu Xingguo asked.

"I don't know." The colonel thought seriously for a moment and replied, "Look at the present. At this moment, the governor is doing nothing wrong."

Pu Xingguo held the gun to his temple and slowly closed his eyes: "I committed suicide, so he doesn't have to bear the infamy of killing his own brother!!! Long live the Pu faction! Long live the homeland!"

"Bang!"

With a gunshot, Pu Xingguo fell beside the golden crops. In the end, he didn't get to return to the city to see his father one last time. He was forced to death, unable to resist, and without any channel to speak out.

"Salute!"

The colonel officer stood at attention, looked at Pu Xingguo's body, and shouted.

The surrounding soldiers turned and saluted, then covered Pu Xingguo with a white cloth.

...

Five minutes later.

On the second floor of the parliament building, Pu Xingbang sat in a wide wooden chair, his hands clasped, his eyes calm.

"...Reporting to the governor, Pu Xingguo has committed suicide to escape punishment!" The chief of staff of the general headquarters walked in and saluted.

"Issue a notice tomorrow, publicizing the details." Pu Xingbang replied without any change in expression.

"Yes!"

"In half an hour, I'll meet the people waiting outside in the conference room." Pu Xingbang ordered blandly.

"Yes!"

...

Half an hour later.

In a small conference room in the parliament building, a dozen or so Pu-named generals walked into the conference room. The leader, a man in his fifties, pointed at Pu Xingbang and cursed in his native dialect, "Are you even worthy of being the head of the Pu faction?! Fuck your mother! Don't you just want to kill us all?! Killing brothers thirty years ago, and killing brothers again thirty years later! How could the Pu faction produce a degenerate like you! I'm not afraid of you. I want to die too. You can just shoot me!"

The person cursing was the direct descendant of Pu Yuan's fifth wife, and also Pu Xingbang's younger brother. He had a very good relationship with Pu Xingguo since childhood, and at this moment, after hearing the news of his elder brother's suicide, his mentality had completely collapsed.

The others didn't dare to curse, but the way they looked at Pu Xingbang was also full of numbness, and that in itself represented a certain emotion.

"You can just kill me too! If I beg you for mercy, I'm not a son of Pu Yuan!! You fucking...surrender doesn't work, kowtowing doesn't work, handing over power doesn't work? He's your own brother! Why did you have to kill him?" The man sat on the ground and wept bitterly, still cursing vigorously.

Pu Xingbang quietly looked at everyone. After the other party was tired of cursing and stopped talking, he said in a hoarse voice, "From today onwards, you people, and the forces and families you each represent...are not allowed to participate in politics! Go to the Yangon apartments to retire!"

"Pu Xingbang, may you die a horrible death!"

"I will definitely die, maybe in three years, maybe in ten years." At this moment, Pu Xingbang stood up with a somewhat hunched back, and while walking out, he said lightly, "...Who told him to choose me? The governor is the governor...not a brother!"

Pu Xingbang left, and the sound of crying came from the room.

Was this cut ruthless?

Very ruthless, and also very precise. It cut off the biggest tumor in the Old Triangle with one knife, but could this completely solve the problem?

No, how could the branches of trees that had grown for decades be completely pruned in a day or two?

Pu Xingbang didn't know how long he would live. He could only take it one step at a time.

Returning to his office, Pu Xingbang looked out the window with his hands behind his back, and said forcefully, "Issue a post, hold a funeral! Let the General Staff Department personally connect with Xiang Jingyang. I want to personally invite him to the Old Triangle to conduct joint military exercises!"

"Yes!"

"You can all leave." Pu Xingbang waved his hand.

...

That evening.

All the official media in the Hua region began to increase their efforts to report on the funeral news of the Old Triangle's governor.

At the same time, the news mentioned that Qin Ziyi, the mayor of Nanhai City in the Hua region, would visit the Old Triangle tomorrow to offer condolences to Pu Yuan.

In addition, Gu Yan, who once served as the deputy commander of the Renmin Army in the Hua region, would also fly to the Old Triangle with his wife to offer condolences.

Early the next morning, the First Army of the Northwest Theater of the Hua region set off and quickly entered the Hanoi controlled area, preparing to hold joint military exercises with the troops here.

...

In the morning, Fan Mingming sat at home in a daze for a long time, then suddenly asked her eldest brother, "They shouldn't find out that we did it, right?"

"...!" Her eldest brother looked at her, his face flushed, and asked back, "Where's your Ruan-ge?"