Chapter 101

He was merely the clan head of the Zhu clan of Chang'an.

He wanted to bring his people home.

Because he had once promised to bring his people home.

At this kneeling, many of the soldiers behind Li Zicheng could no longer hold back.

"Old Highness, you cannot kneel. You are all heroes who killed Tatars."

"My father once said that accepting the bow of a hero shortens one's life, and after death one's ancestors will not receive them."

"Great King, let Old Highness enter the city."

"..."

Just as the soldiers behind him grew restless.

First release group number: 3-6-4-5-8-7-2-7-0

Even the warhorse beneath Li Zicheng began to grow faintly restless.

Clearly, this was no longer a matter of what Li Zicheng wanted or not.

If Li Zicheng refused Zhu Zhu Cunji.

He feared his own subordinates would throw their ranks into disarray.

Li Zicheng's brows knit tightly, and he suddenly raised his right arm.

In an instant, a path into the city was immediately cleared among the ranks of the rebel army.

Zhu Zhu Cunji, deeply moved, prostrated himself on the ground and said in a choked, low voice,

"Thank you, Great King!"

"Lads, we've come home!"

The suona troupe following behind Zhu Zhu Cunji immediately exerted every ounce of their strength, playing and drumming outside Chang'an city.

When these members of the imperial clan took the field as ordinary Han men.

They had already transcended the bonds of any dynasty.

As heroes of this people, they ought to receive the courtesy of all the Han under heaven.

Thirteen thousand coffins, each coffin two meters long, placed end to end still stretching twenty-six thousand meters.

And behind Zhu Zhu Cunji.

The entire funeral procession stretched for a full sixty-plus li!

The common folk of all Chang'an had only to open their windows to see the funeral banners streaming ceaselessly outside.

They had all perished on the battlefields of Liaoxi!

Died for the Han under heaven on the battlefields of Liaoxi!

The sounds of choking sobs and sniffling rang throughout the entire city.

It was only at this moment that someone recalled the northern expedition proclamation issued by the Founding Emperor, the Great Ancestor, when the Great Ming was first established.

"Our mountains and rivers hold all the lands of Huaxia; the sun and moon shall once more light up the heavens of the Great Song!"

Ten thousand li of brocade rivers and mountains — not a single inch of Huaxia soil lost!

Outside Wang Fu and the various Commandery Prince mansions, the coffins of the imperial clan were laid out in abundance.

None of the common folk of all Chang'an had expected.

That the Qin Wang line, which half a year ago had still teemed with people.

Could have been reduced to such a state.

Outside Wang Fu.

Several clan elders, leaning on turtledove-handled canes, gazed at the coffins before them with tear-filled eyes, shaking their heads and sighing as they said,

"We cannot fight anymore. If we keep fighting, the Han people's Jiangshan will be lost."

"Go back and tell the lads in our village — all of them, come back! We must not keep fighting among ourselves any longer! A true man ought to die on the battlefields of Liaodong!"

"..."

Outside Wang Fu.

Li Zicheng looked at Zhu Zhu Cunji, who was kneeling before several coffins keeping vigil, and advised with a complicated expression,

"Old Highness, come inside the mansion so we may talk."

Zhu Zhu Cunji seemed to summon every ounce of his courage.

Staring fixedly at Li Zicheng, he asked,

"Might the Great King grant this old man one thing?"

Li Zicheng was taken aback upon hearing this, then asked with a somewhat Solemn expression,

"Old Highness, please instruct me."

Zhu Zhu Cunji struggled to rise from the ground.

Gazing at Li Zicheng with eyes that seemed ready to split from their sockets, he said loudly,

"The Jiangshan of my Zhu clan may perish!"

"But the Jiangshan of our Han people cannot be lost!"

"This is Shanhai Pass, defended with their lives by the two hundred and fifty thousand members of my Zhu clan."

"Great King must not allow Guanning to fall into the hands of the Jianzhou Jurchens beyond the Pass!"

"If the Jiangshan of our Han people is lost from the hands of our generation, how shall we, in the netherworld, face the Liezulie Sect, and with what face shall we meet the sons and grandsons of posterity!"

"The Han people beyond the Pass have already been forcibly shaved by the Tatars and made to change their dress and caps."

"Do not wait until your sons and grandsons and mine are being shaved and forced to change their clothes before you regret it too late!"

Zhu Zhu Cunji's voice echoed across the plaza outside Wang Fu.

"This expedition is nothing more than the court wanting to shake off the great burden of the imperial clan."

"What the entire court, from top to bottom, wants is simply for us Zhu family people to die in Liaodong like this."

"But does Your Highness know why our Zhu family still went?"

Li Zicheng stared at Zhu Zhu Cunji in shock.

When Li Zicheng saw these coffins, he had actually already seen through Zhu Youjian's thoughts.

But what Li Zicheng had not expected was that Zhu Zhu Cunji would point this matter out so directly in front of everyone.

In fact, it was as early as when they had just passed Ningyuan.

Some of the feudal princes had already caught on.

Zhu Youjian wanted these imperial clan members to die in battle in Liaodong.

So that the court could shake off a great burden.

At that time, almost all the feudal princes gnashed their teeth at Zhu Youjian in hatred.

The aged Zhu Zhu Cunji stared fixedly at Li Zicheng and the surrounding commoners, and declared loudly

But as they made their way along the route.

Seeing those villages slaughtered to the last by Huang Taiji, and those Han commoners — the "bondservants" — who had been forcibly shaved and were waiting in bitter suffering for the royal army.

Zhu Zhu Cunji understood.

This was the Zhu family's responsibility.

This was the imperial clan's duty.

The Ming imperial clan owes the world far too great a debt!

To die on the battlefield.

Was the only thing they could do for the people of the world!

Therefore, although Zhu Zhu Cunji had long since erased the capital's Zhu Youjian from his eyes.

There was also no need to care about this distant relative who could not be reached even by eight poles.

Zhu Zhu Cunji still brought the coffins of the Qin fief back to Chang'an.

The kinsmen of the Qin fief died for the Han people's Jiangshan!

Zhu Zhu Cunji wanted all the Han people under heaven to know.

For whom these Zhu family people died, and even more so, these children must not have died in vain!

Zhu Zhu Cunji leaned on the coffin, tears of grief streaming down, and declared loudly

"If the blood of our Zhu family can awaken the people of the world, what does it matter if we die on the battlefield?!"

"We are the blood descendants of the Great Ancestor Gao Emperor — how could we sit idly by while our Han people lose the realm once more!"

Some people have died.