Chapter 82

"Your Majesty, General Lan Liang, who led the campaign against the raiders, departed from Ningyuan with his troops on the tenth of last month..."

"...Of the 250,000 imperial clan members who joined the expedition, only one Prince of Qin, one Prince of Tang, one General Who Stabilizes the Nation, three Generals Who Aid the Nation, and five Generals Who Serve the Nation remain."

"Below them, twenty-eight Princes of the Blood, 317 Commandery Princes, and all remaining Generals and Commandants have died for the nation!"

Upon hearing these numbers, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian struggled to rise from the Dragon Throne.

It was as if he had forgotten how to breathe.

With a trembling voice, he looked at the scout and asked,

"My Zhu family sent 250,000 to war, and only ten returned?"

"The Crown Prince, where is the Crown Prince?"

"His Highness the Prince of Tang ordered the Crown Prince to break through the encirclement; after breaking through, his fate remains unknown!"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian had anticipated that the figures would be grim.

But Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian never could have imagined, even under torture,

that it could be this devastating!

In an instant, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian felt the world spinning before his eyes.

Pointing at the sky, he cursed in agony:

"Hong Taiji! I shall not rest until one of us is dead!"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's roar echoed beneath the Fengtian Gate.

"Where else does My Great Ming have troops?!"

"The forces of Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie, and Zuo Zuo Liangyu are to march immediately; all of them must pass beyond the pass!"

"If this vengeance is not avenged, I shall die with my eyes open!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's vision went black, and he immediately fainted...

No matter what.

These were all flesh and blood, closest kin.

There were even several of Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's own uncles among them.

The imperial physicians who had been standing nearby immediately rushed forward.

Only then did they manage to revive Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian.

Surrounded by a crowd of imperial physicians, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian struggled to look at the distant scout and asked,

"Where did the great army engage the raiders in fierce battle?"

The scout lowered his head and replied,

"Your Majesty, at Xingshan."

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's expression turned grave; gnashing his teeth, he ordered,

"Go to Xingshan; I will go to collect the corpses of my Zhu family's sons..."

Upon hearing this, Grand Secretary Wen Wen Tiren immediately submitted a memorial, saying,

"Your Majesty, Xingshan lies north of Ningyuan and is within the sphere of influence of the Yang Yang Yang Jian slaves; for Your Majesty to proceed to Xingshan..."

Before Wen Wen Tiren could finish his sentence,

he immediately sensed the somewhat unfriendly gaze from Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian.

Especially from those few, the Marquis of Lingbi and the Marquis of Huaiyuan.

If Wen Wen Tiren spoke another word,

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian would have his blood splatter across the Fengtian Gate.

"This subject deserves ten thousand deaths..."

With the arrival of the scout's battle report,

the entire Forbidden City had already been draped with white lanterns.

In less than a single morning,

the news that 250,000 members of the Zhu family had died in battle in Liaoxi

spread throughout the entire capital.

Soon, commoners spontaneously began hanging white silk ribbons for the imperial clan and the royal power.

0.3

In an instant, the whole city went into mourning.

In Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang's chat group,

only one message from Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian was received.

Emperor Sizong the Martyr:

"Ancestral Grandfather, this time my Zhu family finally owes nothing to the people of the world..."

After that, there was no further message.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian paid no heed to the ceremonial trappings of the Son of Heaven.

Leading over ten thousand Imperial Guards along with the civil and military officials, he marched directly toward Xingshan.

Along the way, many commoners even voluntarily passed beyond the pass.

This was a Han custom.

In a village, whenever a family faced trouble, the fellow villagers would always go to help.

Moreover, this time, the tragedy had befallen the imperial house.

And the imperial house had died for the Han realm.

As for the hundred officials whom Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian had forcibly brought along.

It was simply that Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian could not allow the imperial clan of the Great Ming to die in vain....

82, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian: Who are your accomplices?

Below Dongzhi Gate in the capital.

The Eastern Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the martial eunuchs had all changed into plain white garments and armor.

All civil and military officials, regardless of whether they agreed or not, were directly seized by Wang Wang Wang Chengen and dragged to Dongzhi Gate.

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian, clad in military attire and mounted on horseback, appeared at the head of the hundred officials.

His eyes were hollow as he gazed distantly toward the northeast.

The common people below Dongzhi Gate, watching Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian determined to pass beyond the pass, felt a hundred mixed emotions rise in their hearts.

Just as Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's carriage was about to exit Dongzhi Gate.

The local clan elders of Shuntian Prefecture, holding dove-headed staffs, spontaneously blocked the way outside Dongzhi Gate.

Under Ming regulations, those over eighty were granted one rank of nobility, exempted from bowing to officials, and bestowed with a dove-headed staff.

At this moment, these dove-headed staffs represented all the common people near the capital.

More than ten elders, all in their eighties or nineties, looked at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian with tears in their eyes as they blocked his carriage and said:

"Your Majesty, strong foes are raiding the borders beyond the pass; the Son of Heaven, with a body worth a thousand gold, must not personally venture into danger."

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian, his eyes devoid of spirit, reined in his reins and looked at those clan elders, saying woodenly:

"The Crown Prince is still in Liaoxi... I must see him alive or recover his corpse."

"But Your Majesty, the Chuang bandits in Shaanxi and Gansu."

"I have given the capital to Li Huang Zicheng!"

Having spoken, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian paid no further heed to the clan elders before him and proceeded on his own out of Dongzhi Gate.

In the biting cold wind, twenty-eight snowflakes drifted down from the sky of their own accord.

Wen Wen Tiren, the Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, looked with terror at the heavy snow outside the city in the distance.

Finally summoning his courage, he walked up to Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian and forced a tearful tone as he said:

"Your Majesty, the cold beyond the pass is vicious; your subjects are already advanced in years and cannot endure the hardships of travel by boat and cart. If we truly reach Xingshan, fear that more than half the civil and military officials of the entire court will perish or be injured."

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian, seated on his horse, looked at Wen Wen Tiren before him in silence for a long time.

Only then did he ask with some puzzlement:

"Grand Secretary Wen, what is your honorable age this year?"

Wen Wen Tiren, hearing this, was momentarily stunned, then cupped his hands and said:

"This subject has passed the age of fifty."

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian, hearing this, reminded him softly: