Chapter 448: Taking Da Yu'er (Daily Update, Begging for Rewards!)

Wukeshan glanced at Bumbutai, his expression turning extremely ugly.

He couldn't quite understand why his sister would speak up at a moment like this. Clearly, this profligate young master had become even more captivated by his sister. That was not a good thing.

But Bumbutai's words also startled Wukeshan somewhat. If this man before them was not the Duke of Ying's son, then who was he?

At this moment, Zhu Youxiao looked at Wukeshan and said, "Your sister is smarter than you. How does that make you feel?"

Seeing Zhu Youxiao's mocking expression, Wukeshan let out a cold snort and said nothing.

In such an environment, he had no mood to joke with this man. He looked at Bumbutai with worry.

Although his sister had always been clever, she was still young after all. The man before them was vicious and ruthless, with no bottom line whatsoever, and when it came to killing, he was merciless and never hesitated.

Under these circumstances, with his sister fallen into this man's hands, Wukeshan was truly worried.

But Bumbutai stared intently at Zhu Youxiao and asked, "Did I guess right?"

Nodding lightly, Zhu Youxiao sat back down, looked at Bumbutai and said, "You're right, I am not the Duke of Ying's eldest son. I have another identity. Now you tell me what my identity is. If you guess correctly, I'll let your brother go. How about that?"

"Even if I can't guess correctly, you won't kill my brother." Bumbutai looked at Zhu Youxiao and said, "This time you have an agenda, or rather, you had it all planned out long ago. After you learned of my identity, you began your scheme."

"Oh, not bad." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile, "Well said. Continue."

"You know my name is Bumbutai, you know I am the daughter of the Khorchin clan chief, and you know I have already been betrothed to Hong Taiji. So from the very beginning, your target was me."

Hearing this, Wukeshan raised his head to look at Zhu Youxiao, then looked at Bumbutai, his face full of disbelief.

Wukeshan stared at Zhu Youxiao, hoping to hear words of denial from him.

But the opposite was true — Zhu Youxiao tacitly confirmed it, and when he looked at Bumbutai, he even nodded approvingly.

Clearly, his sister had guessed correctly.

Wukeshan knelt there somewhat dejectedly, the last shred of hope in his heart vanishing.

The other party's target was you, and they had dragged things out for so long. Now that they had you in their grasp, how could they possibly give you a chance to escape?

All those plans were useless now.

Bumbutai looked at Zhu Youxiao and continued, "You wanted to destroy our marriage alliance, so at the very beginning you found Fan Yongdou and had him use profit to tempt my brother, hoping my brother would give me to you. That way, you could get me to your side with complete justification."

"By that point, it would be me breaking the engagement — our Khorchin breaking the engagement — and instead forming a marriage alliance with you, that is, with the Great Ming. You tried to use this method to destroy the alliance between Khorchin and the Jianzhou barbarians. Even if you couldn't destroy it, you could still plant a wedge."

Zhu Youxiao looked at Bumbutai and said with a smile, "Some of it is right, some of it isn't."

"Your guess about destroying your marriage alliance is correct; me finding Fan Yongdou is also correct. It's just that there's one thing wrong — I never intended to have your brother give you to me, nor did I expect you to come willingly. You had already agreed to Hong Taiji, so how could you casually go back on your word?"

"I hinted to Fan Yongdou that he should use force, snatch you away. For that, I offered such good terms and gave him so many fine things. And what was the result? A cowardly waste, he actually didn't dare! If Fan Yongdou had done it, he wouldn't be here right now."

"You also wanted to destroy our trade." Bumbutai looked at Zhu Youxiao and said, "If Fan Yongdou had actually snatched me, things would have moved in the direction you planned. Unfortunately, he truly didn't have the guts."

"So there was no other way." Zhu Youxiao said with some helplessness, "Useless people should contribute their value. Since Fan Yongdou botched the job, he had to demonstrate his value in other ways — such as wealth. He's accumulated quite a lot over the years, and made plenty doing business with you. It's time to take that money out."

"As for the Irgen Gioro, their existence was entirely redundant, so I erased them. This time I don't mind telling you — I'm going to give Zhangjiakou a thorough cleaning, and even the surrounding areas. In the future, if you want to do business, it won't be easy. So, I'm giving you a chance to cooperate with me. Otherwise, things will get difficult."

"You killed the Irgen Gioro, but you'll send my brother back." Bumbutai looked at Zhu Youxiao and said, "When that happens, people will ask why my brother returned alive while the Irgen Gioro died. And you certainly won't send me back — you'll keep me in the Great Ming, and then I'll marry you. This news will spread throughout the Great Ming, and even across the grasslands."

"The reason my brother can return alive is because Khorchin formed a marriage alliance with you, and our two houses forged a pact. By then, this news will also spread across the entire grassland, and my brother won't be able to deny it even if he wants to."

"After all, my brother left me in the Great Ming. If he denies this news, then he abandoned his own sister, threw his sister to the enemy to save his own skin." Bumbutai looked at Zhu Youxiao and said in a calm tone.

"Perfectly said!" Zhu Youxiao looked at Bumbutai with admiration and said, "A bit late, but everything you said makes sense. I have to admit you're a clever person. Look at all these people around — no one guessed my intentions. Especially your brother, who still doesn't know anything even now."

Hearing this, the people around felt somewhat awkward.

Chen Hong and Wei Chao and the others were better off — after all, His Majesty being clever wasn't something new. As his subjects, how could they presume to guess the Emperor's mind?

Not guessing was normal; guessing meant you weren't far from death.

Of course, on the surface, no one could guess; but privately, everyone would ponder the Emperor's thoughts.

It was just that the Emperor had concealed his intentions too well before. Everyone had thought the Emperor had taken a fancy to this young girl. No one imagined that such deep schemes lay hidden within — it was plainly sowing discord.

"But there's one thing I'm curious about — do you have any way to break this deadlock?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Bumbutai and said with a smile, "If you can think of a good solution, perhaps you could resolve this matter perfectly."

"I die." Bumbutai gritted her teeth and said, "As long as I die, all your schemes count for nothing."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao laughed, and said in a gentle tone, "You're a courageous young girl. But have you considered — if you die, your brother loses his value, and he'll die along with you. Can you bear that? Killing your own brother like that?"

"It's not me killing my brother — it's you killing my brother." Bumbutai stared at Zhu Youxiao, her eyes bloodshot as she spoke, her expression ferocious.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Wukeshan and said, "Are you willing to die?"

Hearing this, Wukeshan glared at Zhu Youxiao and said, "A true man born between heaven and earth will die sooner or later. What is there to fear in death? It's just that dying at the hands of a base villain like you truly damages my reputation."

"Base villain?" Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao laughed, then gave a cold snort and said, "Truly stupid beyond redemption."

After saying this, Zhu Youxiao's gaze turned back to Da Yu'er and said, "You still haven't guessed my identity. Just now I said that if you guessed my identity, I would release your brother. But since you've already guessed my plan, that condition is no longer useful."

"Let's change the terms — if you can guess my identity, I'll tell you my plan. How about that? My plan is much better than yours. You're so young, talking about killing and dying — so bloody, that's not good."

Hearing this, Bumbutai looked at Zhu Youxiao and said, "To be able to seize people so brazenly, and to mobilize the Embroidered Uniform Guard at that — your identity is naturally extraordinary."

"To be able to decide whether my brother goes free, to make such a decision in such a short time, without even needing to consult the capital — you must be an imperial envoy of the Great Ming Emperor."

"But even an imperial envoy of the Great Ming Emperor wouldn't have such capability. Those men who fought and killed with us — their equipment was excellent. I could tell they weren't the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

"When they killed Bater, they used steel repeating crossbows — a seventeen-bolt model. Fan Yongdou once told us that the Great Ming's steel crossbows hadn't been developed for very long. Among the court's armies, the one with the most steel crossbows is actually the Imperial Guard Corps, but even they don't issue one to every soldier. For them to be equipped like that, with seventeen-bolt crossbows no less — there's only one unit like that, and that's the current Great Ming Emperor's personal bodyguard."

"So your identity is obvious — you are the Emperor of the Great Ming."

After Bumbutai's words left her mouth, silence fell over the surroundings instantly.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at this young girl, including her brother Wukeshan kneeling on the ground — he too never expected his sister to say such things.

His sister had always been intelligent; she naturally wouldn't speak falsely. The man before them truly was the Emperor of the Great Ming!

Thinking of this, Wukeshan suddenly moved, lunging directly at Zhu Youxiao.

His thinking was very clear — this man was the Emperor of the Great Ming. As long as he captured him, he could exchange for any condition.

Whether it was good equipment or intelligence, or his desire to leave Zhangjiakou — all of it could be achieved. If he could drag this man back to the grasslands, that would be a massive windfall.

Seeing this, Bumbutai was startled, terrified to the core. She hurriedly tried to stop Wukeshan, shouting loudly, "Brother, don't!"

But she was too late. The moment she opened her mouth, Qi Yuangong, standing beside Zhu Youxiao, had already charged forward, directly blocking in front of Zhu Youxiao. He raised his foot and kicked Wukeshan square in the chest.

That kick was both fast and fierce, sending Wukeshan staggering back two steps.

The two personal guards standing nearby stepped forward at this moment. They unhooked the hooks at their waists and latched them onto Wukeshan's legs, the sharp barbs sinking straight into his flesh as blood immediately began to drip down.

The two men yanked backward suddenly, and Wukeshan sprawled face-down on the ground.

Meanwhile, the guard beside them who held a hand crossbow had already trained the bolt on Wukeshan. One pull of the trigger and Wukeshan would instantly be riddled like a pincushion. An emptied magazine meant seventeen bolts.

"No, no, don't kill my brother!" Bumbutai rushed forward at this moment, shielding Wukeshan with her body as she cried out.

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, signaling the guards to withdraw.

Qi Yuangong pulled Bumbutai to her feet.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Bumbutai and said, "See this? This is exactly why I don't care to deal with fools."

Glancing at Wukeshan sprawled on the ground, Zhu Youxiao said with resignation, "If the Khorchin are not wiped out as a people while under your leadership, it will surely be thanks to the women of Khorchin."

Wukeshan glared at Zhu Youxiao, struggling to climb to his feet, but his legs were hooked and his body was pinned down—he simply could not get up.

Zhu Youxiao paid him no mind, instead looking at Bumbutai and speaking with approval: "Being able to guess my identity is truly remarkable."

"Because in your plan, you needed our two houses to form a marriage alliance, and the status of an ordinary person certainly wouldn't suffice. Since you offered yourself, then you certainly couldn't be the Duke of Ying's son—because even the Duke of Ying's son wouldn't qualify for such a marriage."

"If you wanted the Khorchin to believe it, and wanted the Jianzhou barbarians to believe it, you were the best choice. So long as I became a consort of the Great Ming Emperor, everything would fall into place. And this was something that had never happened before—the Great Ming Emperor had never taken a woman of non-Han blood as a consort. The Great Ming never formed marriage alliances, never practiced heqin, so this made the matter seem all the more plausible."

"Once word spread to the steppe, the Khorchin would become enemies of the Jianzhou barbarians—they would no longer trust us. Especially since you had just killed Nurhaci in Liaodong, when everyone was jumping at shadows."

"And so I thought this was a good plan." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

"I'm willing to hear your plan, but can you first save my brother?" Bumbutai looked at Wukeshan and said with some helplessness, "He only wanted to save me. Please don't kill him."

"Don't worry, I won't kill a fool like that—besides, I still have use for him in what comes later." Zhu Youxiao looked at Bumbutai, reached out and patted her on the head, saying indulgently, "Besides, he is your brother."

Having said this, Zhu Youxiao turned to Chen Hong and instructed, "Find a physician to bandage his wounds. I wish to speak with him."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong hurriedly acknowledged.

Zhu Youxiao nodded, then looked at Bumbutai and said, "We've been at this for quite a while, and I've grown hungry. I'd like to get something to eat, and I need someone to keep me company. Would you be willing to join me?"