Chapter 2

"Your humble son has failed you, Grandfather, and failed the ancestors of Great Ming! The realm of Great Ming has perished in my hands!"

"Your humble son is unfilial!"

2, Zhu Yunwen: Impossible, absolutely impossible! Great Ming is invincible!

Zhu Yuanzhang, upon seeing these messages.

In an instant, he felt the world spin wildly.

Even though he had long prepared himself mentally for Great Ming's eventual fall.

But Old Zhu never imagined he would witness Great Ming's collapse in this very way.

Meanwhile, Emperor Sizong Lie had already entered his state.

Like offering sacrifices to heaven, he sent messages to Old Zhu.

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"Since ascending the throne, Your humble son has risen before dawn and retired late, never daring to slacken."

"At the start of my reign, I punished the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and restored order; all court ministers declared the Chongzhen era one of virtuous officials filling the court."

"Just as I believed the Chongzhen revival was about to arrive."

"I never imagined that continuous natural disasters would spark rebellion among the people of Shaanbei, and last year the Jianzhou Jurchens beyond the pass advanced straight toward Jingcheng, seizing all of Liaodong from the Jurchens; I prepared my troops and intended to march out and engage them in decisive battle."

"But with insufficient grain supplies, when I raised the Liaodong tax, the starving peasants rebelled again; I had no choice but to impose the Suppression Tax."

"Yet with disasters piling up, grain prices soared everywhere; I—I have exhausted all my governing methods!"

"…"

Zhu Yuanzhang, reading Emperor Sizong Lie's series of messages, felt his blood pressure spike.

You killed the eunuch and still treat it as Great merit?!

Set this matter aside for now!

You raised the Liaodong tax, and the people rebelled.

Then after they rebelled, you raised the Suppression Tax.

Are you out of your mind?

Isn't this blatant official oppression forcing the people to rebel?!

Zhu Yuanzhang never imagined.

That he himself had been driven by the court to rise in rebellion.

That his own descendants would dare oppress the people so cruelly!

After forcing himself to calm down, Zhu Yuanzhang clenched his teeth and sent a message.

Emperor Taizu:

"You little brat, shut your mouth!"

"Have you forgotten how I rose to power? You raised the Liaodong tax and then the Suppression Tax? Do you want more people to rebel against Great Ming?!"

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"…"

"Grandfather, I never wanted to raise taxes! The court simply has no silver left—the imperial treasury now holds only thirty-two taels of silver; it's not enough to fund a campaign against bandits, nor even enough for me and the Empress to live like commoners for a year!"

Looking at the message Emperor Sizong Lie had sent on the panel.

Zhu Yuanzhang fell into a heavy silence.

Yes.

The imperial treasury had no silver.

What could be done?

If it were only the rebels in Shaanbei, it might still be manageable.

But from the tone of this boy's message.

The Jurchens beyond the pass had grown powerful after all.

Should he just sit in Jingcheng and wait for the Jurchens to come cut his throat?

To accomplish anything, silver was absolutely necessary.

Without silver, what kind of emperor are you?!

Thinking of this,

Zhu Yuanzhang rose to his feet and coldly ordered those behind him:

"Bring all of Yunwen and the others to me!"

Crown Prince Zhu Biao had already passed away earlier this year.

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang had devoted all his attention to cultivating Zhu Yunwen.

The moment Zhu Yuanzhang gave his order,

Grandson Zhu Yunwen, along with Donggong officials Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai, and Ministers Zhan Hui and Ru Taisu from the Six Ministries, dared not delay a moment.

They immediately dropped their tasks and hurried to Old Zhu's side.

"Your servants pay their respects…"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand.

"No more formalities!"

Then, slowly raising his head, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the men before him and asked through clenched teeth:

"I have one question for you."

"If Great Ming suffers continuous natural disasters, faces powerful enemies outside, rebels within, and the imperial treasury is empty—"

"What solution can you offer me now?"

At these words, Ru Taisu, Zhan Hui, and the others' expressions stiffened for a moment.

Good heavens.

What on earth are you thinking, old man?

How could all these troubles pile up on Great Ming at once?

Apart from being at a loss, is there any other choice?!

Just wait for death!

These thoughts, naturally, the old hands like Ru Taisu did not dare voice.

Zhu Yuanzhang had barely finished speaking.

When the assembled ministers in the great hall fell silent of their own accord.

No one took Old Zhu's words to heart.

They only figured the old man was getting on in years, indulging in wild fantasies here.

Speak up with a good idea and get no credit.

Speak up with a bad idea and get a scolding.

Who would dare say a word!

Instead, the Imperial Grandson Zhu Yunwen standing off to the side was entirely unbothered.

He promptly rose and said,

"Imperial Grandfather, the sages of antiquity all spoke of the resonance between Heaven and Man."

"Sun Er believes that so long as our Great Ming Son of Heaven exerts himself to the utmost, Heaven naturally will not send down disasters year after year."

"And our Great Ming has Imperial Grandfather's ancestral teachings above; every later sovereign must surely labor from dawn to dusk, and Heaven certainly will not act thus."

"Therefore, this question does not stand!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Huang Zicheng, standing off to the side, gave a slight nod and immediately stepped forward to say,

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Grandson's words are most apt!"

Qi Tai also stepped forward on his own.

"Your minister concurs!"

Only Zhu Yuanzhang on the dragon throne was entirely unbothered.

In the past, Zhu Yuanzhang would certainly have greatly praised Zhu Yunwen for his keen intellect, his courage and resolve, finding a fresh approach when faced with a problem.

Only today's Zhu Yuanzhang seemed a little different from usual.

After hearing Zhu Yunwen's answer,

Old Zhu only felt as if a ball of fire were burning in his chest.