Chapter 126: Stifling Reform, Imprisoning the Emperor

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry he could not speak, only clutching the sword hilt tightly, his fingernails digging deep into his flesh, blood gushing out.

He seemed to see all his efforts to drive out the Mongols and restore China, in the hands of this witch queen, being so easily betrayed and doomed!

This is even more hateful than the Mongols, because it is an internal parasite that sold the whole foundation clean.

"Us… us…"

Zhu Yuanzhang let out a hoarse sound from his throat, which finally turned into a beast‑like roar.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!!"

"We must kill all such traitorous, glory‑seeking, disaster‑bringing beasts across the world!"

"Whether they are emperor or empress dowager, kill one if there is one, kill ten thousand if there are ten thousand!"

"Our Great Ming, our descendants, who dares to follow this old witch, even if we become ghosts we will not let them go!"

During the Yongle era.

Zhu Di also felt a bone‑deep chill and anger; the glory of the voyages to the West and the majesty of the five northern campaigns during the Yongle era seemed so laughable and tragic before these treaties that stripped power and humiliated the nation.

This witch queen has thrown away the face of thousands of years of Chinese civilization!

The Three Kingdoms realm.

"The treaty printer… signs so fast."

Cao Cao's eyes held only a deep chill.

"In her heart, she likely cares for no nation or home, only her own power and pleasure. As long as she can keep her position of ruling behind the curtain, she would not hesitate to sign a treaty or even sell the entire country. Her poison‑laden heart and vile actions are unprecedented."

Liu Bei wept bitterly: "Pity my Chinese people, whose hard labor and blood‑sweat earnings have all been poured into this bottomless pit, offered to foreign invaders."

"Pity my divine lands, the fruits of my ancestors' struggles, which this woman has so easily discarded!"

"Such a witch queen, what face does she have to stand between heaven and earth? What face to face the ancestors?!"

Zhuge Liang lightly waved his feather fan, his eyes filled with inexorable compassion and heaviness,

"Measuring China's material strength, binding it to the nation's goodwill… these words can serve as a lifelong portrait of this woman."

"In her eyes, China's material strength is not the nation's foundation nor the people's wealth, but a bargaining chip to befriend foreigners and preserve her own power."

"Such perverse actions, how can the nation not perish? How can the people not suffer?"

"The moniker 'Treaty printer' fully expresses a regime rotted to its core, left only with the disgrace of kneeling, begging for mercy, and signing away."

【Third Crime: Stifling Reform, Imprisoning the Emperor.】

Operation: Empress Dowager Cixi launches the Hundred Days' Coup, imprisons Guangxu, slaughters the 'Six Gentlemen', completely extinguishing China's last hope for constitutional monarchy.

Netizen comment: "Qing Reform Crusher." Whoever dares challenge her power must die.】

On the celestial screen, Emperor Guangxu together with Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others are shown planning reform, issuing the Edict of Stabilizing the Nation, with a series of new policies about to unfold.

However, the scene abruptly shifts: Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly launches a coup, imprisoning Guangxu in the Ying Tai, and Tan Sitong, Lin Xu and other Six Gentlemen are marched to Caishikou for execution, the execution ground stained with blood. The reform movement ends after a hundred days.

"Hundred Days' Reform… imprisoning the emperor… slaying the Six Gentlemen… Reform Crusher…"

Ying Zheng's gaze was deep; he understood reform well, recalling how Shang Yang's reforms laid the foundation for a strong Qin.

Emperor Guangxu sought reform; though its details are unknown, it was fundamentally a quest for change and strength.

And Cixi, merely because it might threaten her power, brazenly launched a coup, imprisoning the ruler and killing ministers, snuffing reform in its cradle.

"For her own power, she could imprison a king, slay the loyal, and ruin the nation's chance for renewal…"

Ying Zheng's voice was cold: "Her lust for power has swollen to the point of madness."

"The nation's future, the people's destiny, in her eyes, are worth less than a fraction of the authority she holds."

"Imprisoning the emperor? Killing the ministers who urged her to reform?" Liu Bang shook his head, "These old women truly treat the country as their own backyard; if the emperor doesn't obey they lock him up, if a minister tries to change they kill him."

"'Reform Crusher'? That nickname fits perfectly—it's meant to crush a nation's hope. This Qing is utterly beyond rescue."

Liu Che shouted angrily: "When a ruler seeks governance, and ministers offer counsel, that is the nation's blessing."

"This witch queen, driven by personal selfishness, imprisons the ruler and slaughters officials, blocks the channels of speech, cuts off the nation's self‑rescue path; such perverse conduct makes her a tyrant and traitor, deserving death for all."

Li Shimin watched with anguish: "Reform for strength is a chance for national revitalization. Even if there are faults, one should guide correction; how can one discard the remedy because of a choking hazard, resorting to such extreme measures?"

"Imprisoning the emperor, slaying scholars—this is not governance but destruction. This 'Crusher' shatters not only a single reform but the entire nation's courage and hope for renewal."

Wei Zheng said bitterly: "This witch queen is not protecting the people, but loyal, patriotic subjects and the nation's survival strategies."

"Such actions drag the nation into an irrecoverable abyss; this 'Crusher' is truly a weapon of national ruin!"

Cheng Yaojin cursed: "This old witch, unable to act herself yet forbidding others? She locks up a capable emperor, kills ministers who speak truth—what the hell is that but courting her own destruction? Let others come to slaughter her!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth: "See? She's a poisonous woman who cannot tolerate the slightest dissent or any loss of power."

"For her petty power, any emperor, any loyal minister, any national future can be sacrificed; with such a person in power, can the country thrive? Bah! It's a road to death!"

Zhu Di was also deeply shocked; Cixi's obsession with power and coldness was beyond ordinary reach.

Imprisoning the emperor has become as commonplace as a daily meal; it utterly tramples the ethics of imperial authority.

Cao Cao sighed: "The poison of power can reach this level. Cixi no longer merely grabs power; she treats it as a forbidden meat, allowing no one to touch it, not even a nominal emperor or a sound national strategy."

"Those who follow me prosper, those who oppose me perish; her tyranny is as fierce as Dong Zhuo's, surpassing yet comparable. This 'Crusher' shatters hearts and the nation's destiny."

Liu Bei said with pain: "Our lord is shrouded in dust, loyal men bleed; this is the nation's darkest hour. Cixi is truly the source of the country's disaster."

"Emperor Guangxu was determined to reform, yet fell victim to this poisonous hand—how tragic! The Six Gentlemen, who gallantly gave their lives, are even more heartbreaking!"

Zhuge Liang said: "Reform and renewal follow the times. Cixi, for her own power, brazenly suppresses it; she may preserve her position temporarily, but she drives the nation into a deeper abyss."

【Fourth Crime: Ignorant War Declaration, Hasty Western Flight.】

Operation: Using the Boxer Rebellion to declare war on the eleven nations, after defeat abandoning the capital's populace, fleeing in a 'Western hunt'. Upon returning to the capital, the famous saying: "Better with friendly nations than to give slaves to our own."

On the celestial screen, first a group of Boxer rebels with red headscarves, calling themselves "blade‑proof," under the Qing court's tacit approval and encouragement, attacked foreign legations, killed foreigners, and destroyed churches.

Then, Empress Dowager Cixi, incited by the hard‑liners Zai Yi and others, brazenly issued an edict declaring war simultaneously on England, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Austria, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.

Result: the Eight‑Nation Alliance stormed Beijing, burning, killing, looting, committing every atrocity.

Meanwhile, Empress Dowager Cixi had already changed into peasant woman's clothing, leading the panicked Emperor Guangxu in a hasty escape, calling it a 'Western hunt'.

In the scene, the towering blaze over Beijing, the cries of the common people, the allied forces' smug sneer, contrast with Cixi's still indulgent disgrace as she fled.

Finally, after she returned to the capital, that infamous line "Better to be with friendly nations than to become a household slave" was deliberately magnified and displayed.

"Declare war on the Eleven Nations… simultaneously?"

Ying Zheng was startled and froze for a moment.

Even he, when sweeping the six directions, still fought nation by nation.

This Cixi—has she gone completely insane?

In a situation of obvious disparity and insufficient preparation, she declared war simultaneously on almost every great power in the world at that time?

"Exploiting the ignorant masses… blindly declaring war… suffering defeat and fleeing… abandoning the people…"

In Ying Zheng's eyes there was unmasked contempt and anger,

"Fighting without a plan is called abandoning the army. Defeat and flight, abandoning the people without care, is inhumanity."

"To think that after returning to the capital she would utter such a mixed‑up remark as 'Better to be with friendly nations than to become a household slave', that is the height of shamelessness!"