Chapter 361

"Your Majesty, the memorials from the Ministry of Rites." Feng Bao placed the final memorial down. This one had been sent by the Ministry of Rites, and Feng Bao had placed it at the very bottom. It was not that Feng Bao wanted to target the Ministry of Rites, but rather that if His Majesty saw this memorial, he would surely be saddened.

Zhu Yijun opened it, took a brief look, then closed the memorial and shook his head, saying, "Keep it in the palace."

This was an extremely rare instance of "keeping it in the palace" without issuing it. In Zhang Juzheng's "Memorial on Five Matters" in the first year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng had requested that the Emperor approve all memorials that should be approved. For these past years, His Majesty had been diligent, and memorials rarely spent the night in the palace.

Zhu Yijun pressed down on that memorial and said with great force, "Let us wait and see a little longer."

In the third month of the seventh year of Wanli, Yu Dayou, already over seventy-seven years old, submitted a memorial requesting to retire. The Emperor did not grant his favor, but instead issued an edict stating that Yu Dayou did not need to attend court discussions. At that time, the Empire had already begun to prepare for the loss of this general who had fought for the Great Ming his entire life.

Yu Dayou's health fluctuated. When he felt well, Yu Dayou would appear at the Imperial Lecture Hall and the Wenhua Hall to attend court discussions, but he was often unable to stay for the entire duration before becoming exhausted. Later, Yu Dayou himself refused to come.

Yu Dayou did not wish for others to see him in such a frail state.

In the middle of the sixth month of the seventh year of Wanli, Yu Dayou fell ill and could not rise. The great imperial physicians, cultivated by the Dissection Institute into which the Emperor had poured a vast amount of effort, were helpless against Yu Dayou's condition. The great physicians finally determined it was the "five decays of heaven and man"—that is, the failure of the body's various organs.

At the beginning of the seventh month of the seventh year of Wanli, the gravely ill Yu Dayou wrote three consecutive memorials requesting to return to his hometown in his old age. Yu Dayou wanted to go home to take a look, but all were rejected by the Emperor's vermilion brush. Yu Dayou then begged to "return his bones to the earth" (to be buried in his hometown), but His Majesty still did not permit it.

From that moment on, the various government offices in the capital began to prepare.

The Ministry of War began to recommend candidates to replace Yu Dayou, the Ministry of Rites began to draft Yu Dayou's posthumous title, and the generals of the Capital Battalion all went to visit the gravely ill Yu Dayou. Zhu Yijun held onto the Ministry of Rites' memorial the entire time without using his vermilion brush; he wanted to wait a little longer, he wanted to keep him a little longer, but human strength eventually has its limits.

Yu Dayou had spent his life in the saddle, and his body bore countless old wounds. After his old wounds flared up last winter, the great physicians had tried using analgesic anesthetics, but Yu Dayou refused to take them. Having endured the winter of the sixth year of Wanli, Yu Dayou, now completely exhausted, was finally about to leave the Great Ming he had spent his life protecting.

Everyone knew that this old general was about to depart.

At the age of thirty-two, Yu Dayou passed the military examinations and became a Battalion Commander. At that time, he was in the prime of his physical strength. He felt that he could rely on his own blood and courage to build a career for the Great Ming and open up an era of eternal peace. But that year, Yu Dayou also offended the Surveillance Commissioner of the Fujian Surveillance Office, was beaten mercilessly by the Commissioner, and was subsequently dismissed from his post as Battalion Commander.

At that time, Yu Dayou could not understand how the Surveillance Commissioner, clearly a civil official, could beat him with military staves and even dismiss him from his official post as Battalion Commander.

Starting at forty-six, Yu Dayou discovered he was getting old. Fists fear the young and strong. At that time, Yu Dayou felt that the age when his energy was most abundant and his blood most vigorous had passed. It was also that year that he was recommended by Zhu Wan to be the Regional Military Commissioner for Coastal Defense—that very same Zhejiang Provincial Governor Zhu Wan who committed suicide to prove his integrity, the Zhu Wan who suppressed Japanese pirates to the point where he could only commit suicide to prove he had not wantonly killed the innocent.

That year, Yu Dayou took up his post, Zhu Wan committed suicide, and the Japanese pirate scourge in the southeast thus began its prologue.

By then, Yu Dayou had completely understood: Zhu Wan either had to "nurture pirates to maintain his own importance" or commit suicide to prove his integrity; there was no other path to take. It seemed like two paths, but in reality, Zhu Wan only had one path to take, and that was to die generously, because his heart left him no other choice.

A person lives a lifetime, and it seems there are many choices, but in reality, there is only one path.

At fifty, Yu Dayou discovered his appetite began to decrease, and he often suffered from enteritis. However, his frequent military life forced him to increase his food intake to ensure his body could enter the battlefield at any time. With the trouble of enteritis, his stomach and liver began to have problems to varying degrees. That year, he was suppressing Japanese pirates.

At fifty-two, he began to suffer from lower back pain. For a military general, back pain is a fatal thing. He tried many methods, but none had any good effect, so he simply stopped trying; pain doesn't kill people. Soon, Yu Dayou discovered his eyes were becoming dim and his vision was declining significantly. For a naval commander, vision is extremely important. The decline in vision meant he found it difficult to shoot down the seabirds flying in the sky. That year, he was still suppressing Japanese pirates.

At fifty-five, he noticed his strength was waning. For the first time, he felt sincere fear that he would lose the ability to protect the Great Ming with the sword in his hand. His muscles and bones had all atrophied to varying degrees, and he had even shrunk by an inch in height. But this still could not stop him from serving the Great Ming. Suppressing Japanese pirates was, for the most part, the lifelong wish of the southeastern generals at that time. With no time to lament the fleeting nature of youth, Yu Dayou joined the battlefield once again.

At sixty, the Japanese pirates were gradually being suppressed, with only those in the two Guang provinces still running wild. Yu Dayou discovered that while his physical strength was declining, his hearing, sense of taste, and sense of smell were also beginning to fade, and his teeth were beginning to loosen and fall out. He knew he was no longer the Yu Dayou who could kill a cow with one punch, but he had accumulated countless experiences on the battlefield. He no longer had the ability to personally lead the charge, but relying on the rich experience he had accumulated on the battlefield, he still brought one victory report after another to the Great Ming.

At the age of sixty-two, Yu Dayou suppressed the water stronghold of outlaws like Wu Ping. He did not wait for the edict of reward, but was instead dismissed, because the imperial court felt Yu Dayou was too slow, even though Tang Kekuan had already completely defeated Wu Ping at Wanqiao Mountain, and outlaws like Wu Ping had chosen to jump into the sea and commit suicide in despair.

However, the Censor of Fujian and Guangdong submitted a memorial saying that Yu Dayou had deliberately hesitated, relaxed defenses to indulge the enemy, and intended to "nurture pirates to maintain his own importance." Even though the victory report reached the capital, setting aside the fact that the rebellion had been suppressed, Yu Dayou was convicted and stripped of his post.

This was nothing; Yu Dayou had been accustomed to it for a very, very long time. When he was young, he was still puzzled, but at sixty, he was no longer puzzled. As long as he could fight, that was enough.

Are the talkative officials in the imperial court not most skilled at this? Setting aside the facts, do you, Yu Dayou, have no faults at all? Yu Dayou had taken so many of these "old bastard punches" from the talkative officials that he had even gained experience from them. He didn't even submit a petition and was stripped of his position.

The following year, Yu Dayou was re-employed and began to suppress Japanese pirates in the two Guang provinces. When Yu Dayou received the imperial court's edict, he laughed very happily. He was old, but he could still fight. No matter how fiercely the old bastards in the court swung their punches, they couldn't suppress the Japanese pirates, could they?

Until the sixth year of Longqing, he had been suppressing the Japanese pirate scourge in the two Guang provinces. Yin Zhengmao was able to dismantle gates and move beds in the two Guang provinces, a place in the extreme south where the imperial court's restraining power was already relatively weak. Without Yu Dayou's all-out support, Yin Zhengmao could not have done it.

At seventy, Yu Dayou knew he could no longer fight. He was old and useless; his teeth were almost all gone. The heavy spear he could wield like an extension of his arm when he was young, he could no longer use. His eyes had reached the point where he couldn't see clearly without glasses. Seventy is already a rare age since ancient times. It was also that year that Yu Dayou wiped out the last group of Japanese pirates and outlaws, Zhu Liangbao, outside Dianbai Port.

They were just Japanese pirates; could he not kill Japanese pirates at seventy?

Heroes easily grow old, and beauties fade with time.

The seventy-seven-year-old Yu Dayou lay on a lounge chair, basking in the July sun. Even though the sunlight was so fierce that the leaves were drooping and the cicadas were almost screaming their throats out, Yu Dayou still felt a bit cold. He knew his time was up.

He looked back on his life: Qiongzhou, Raoping, Huizhou, Chaozhou, Eastern Zhejiang, Western Zhejiang, Xinghua, Guangxi, Chenghai, Gutian, Songjiang, the capital—everywhere bore the footprints of Yu Dayou. It was not a life of mediocrity or wasted time; he had no regrets of being disloyal while working for others. It was a life of splendor, a life without regrets.

Yu Dayou had given his life to the Great Ming, and he had never regretted it for a single moment.

He saw his comrades-in-arms with whom he had once fought back-to-back; it seemed like an illusion, yet it also seemed not to be.

"Great Physician, stop the medicine." Yu Dayou lifted his hand with effort, signaling to Li Shizhen and Chen Shigong that there was no need to brew any more medicine.

After entering July, the great physicians had added painkillers to his medicinal soup. Even though Yu Dayou opposed it, the great physicians did not want to see Yu Dayou in unbearable pain due to the recurrence of old wounds.

Li Shizhen had added a medicinal ingredient from the New World called "Dead Vine." After translation from the local language, the name of the strange vine was "Umbilical Cord in the Forest." The water squeezed from it was what Li Shizhen called "Dead Vine."

This water had strong hallucinogenic properties. Its intensity was such that even a eunuch who took it could arch his body toward a tree.

Discussing toxicity while setting aside dosage is a fallacy. Li Shizhen had studied it for a long time at the Dissection Institute; this drug was a deadly "Dead Vine" in large amounts, but a miraculous painkiller in small amounts. After Li Shizhen tested it on mice and monkeys, he prepared the medicine according to body weight. Those sentenced to death by slicing at the Great Ming Dissection Institute had practiced the dosage with their bodies. Of course, they would not receive sentence reductions; they had only one outcome, and that was ten thousand resin pieces.

The principle of pain relief is actually deception—deceiving your brain so that you don't feel any pain at all.

Yu Dayou was very resistant to this drug. This feeling of being out of control, where it should clearly be very painful but wasn't, was something Yu Dayou did not like. He was used to the pain; suddenly not feeling it made him feel a bit empty, as if something was missing from his life.

Li Shizhen and Chen Shigong did not listen; they did not stop brewing the medicine, still hoping to keep him a little longer. But with the "five decays of heaven and man," Li Shizhen and Chen Shigong had truly done their best. Yu Dayou's situation was different from Tan Lun's and Gao Gong's; Yu Dayou had too many, too many wounds on his body.

The recurrence of old wounds was like endless ants crawling on his wounds, especially in winter.

"Is His Majesty still unwilling to come?" Yu Dayou felt helpless. He knew his own body very well, but when a person is old, what they say doesn't count anymore. He was too lazy to say much more, but even Zhang Juzheng had already come, yet His Majesty still refused to come.

Yu Dayou thought of His Majesty and revealed a smile. His Majesty had a knot in his heart. When he had first seen Zhu Xizhong and Zhu Xixiao, both had passed away shortly after. His Majesty always felt he was a jinx and delayed coming, fearing his bad luck would follow him like a shadow.

Yu Dayou was not in his General's Mansion, but at the Military Lecture Hall. This was the last trace he left in the human world.

Apart from suppressing Japanese pirates, this Military Lecture Hall was what Yu Dayou cared about most. This was the place for cultivating grassroots officers.

"Yu's Dragon, Qi's Tiger"—this was people's evaluation of him, Yu Dayou, and Qi Jiguang. Ever since he completely handed over the Songjiang Navy to Chen Lin in the third year of Wanli, Yu Dayou had returned to the capital and had been serving in an inconspicuous but extremely critical position: Libationer of the Military Lecture Hall.

Almost everyone in the capital believed that His Majesty valued him, Yu Dayou, to guard against Qi Jiguang.

Qi Jiguang was in charge of the Capital Battalion, but Yu Dayou controlled the grassroots officers. Similarly, Yu Dayou was also in charge of selecting the elite soldiers of the Capital Battalion and the guards for the beacon towers to enter the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Northern Depot. The one hundred thousand strong troops of the Capital Battalion were in Qi Jiguang's hands, while Yu Dayou controlled the defense of the capital and the imperial palace. Even if Qi Jiguang really wanted to "don the yellow robe," with Yu Dayou as an indestructible shield, Qi Jiguang would not be able to succeed.

Yu Dayou's evaluation of this was four words: "The view of a petty person."

When Yu Dayou returned to the capital, it was to retire. He could not shoulder such a heavy responsibility. Having been comrades-in-arms with Qi Jiguang for half his life, Yu Dayou knew Qi Jiguang's strength too well. If Qi Jiguang really wanted to, when the Capital Battalion only had ten thousand men, Yu Dayou would not have been able to stop Qi Jiguang, and Zhao Mengyou would not have been able to stop Qi Jiguang either. If Qi Jiguang had ideas, His Majesty would have already gone to see the late Emperor.

His Majesty's trust in "Wen Zhang and Wu Qi" was a trust that disregarded everything, a trust that staked his life—"do not doubt those you employ, do not employ those you doubt."

Of course, there were only Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang.

In Yu Dayou's view, His Majesty, Zhang Juzheng, and Qi Jiguang were actually all the same kind of people. What they wanted was not complicated—four words: "The Great Ming rises again."

"General Yu, General Yu, His Majesty has arrived!" A young eunuch, fearing Yu Dayou wouldn't hear the shouts of His Majesty's arrival, shouted loudly in Yu Dayou's ear.

"I'm not deaf, keep your voice down!" Yu Dayou waved his hand impatiently. He was indeed old, and his hearing had indeed declined quite a bit, but he hadn't reached the point of being deaf.

Zhu Yijun had arrived. He had come personally to take a look. He knew that regardless of whether his own bad luck existed, it seemed he couldn't keep this old man, who was like a candle in the wind, any longer.

No miracle occurred.

Yu Dayou saw a figure walking over with the stride of a dragon and the gait of a tiger. He knew it was His Majesty who had come. He could still recognize His Majesty's figure.

"Your subject can no longer rise, I ask for Your Majesty's forgiveness." Yu Dayou wanted to salute, but his body wouldn't allow it. He tried twice and finally had to give up.

"It is of no matter." Zhu Yijun sat down beside Yu Dayou, looking in the direction Yu Dayou was gazing. There was nothing there; he didn't know what Yu Dayou was looking at.

"Your Majesty, these two towering trees were planted by Lu Bing." Yu Dayou spoke of old matters. He had seen Lu Bing plant them with his own eyes; now they were already lush and leafy.

Towering trees?

Zhu Yijun clenched his fists tightly. There was nothing there, but Yu Dayou said there were two trees planted by Lu Bing.

When a person is about to leave, they can always see some strange things. That is life at its final moment, retracing its brief journey in the human world.

Yu Dayou's memory was a bit blurred. He said with a slightly distracted look, "Was it the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing or when? Qi Jiguang and I attacked Cen Port. That was the nest of the Japanese pirates; it was very hard to fight. But killing Japanese pirates—wasn't that something you could do just by having hands? Qi Jiguang killed three thousand five hundred Japanese pirates; I had fewer, only three thousand three hundred heads as the primary merit."

"But at that time, the Yan Dang and the 'Clear Stream' in the court were fighting to the death. The 'Clear Stream' Censor Li Hu impeached Hu Zongxian for failing to suppress the pirates due to factional strife, and while he was at it, he impeached me and Qi Jiguang together. Qi Jiguang had merit for breaking Cen Port, but I was thrown into the big prison."

"At that time, the Duke of Loyalty and Righteousness, Regional Commander of the Left, Lu Bing, came to the prison to see me. Lu Bing was seven years younger than me. Lu Bing spent a lot of silver to buy my life before I was released from prison."

Lu Bing, the "milk brother" of the Daoist Emperor, was the only person the Daoist Emperor could completely trust for his entire life. Whether it was arson or an assassination attempt by palace maids, the Daoist Emperor could entrust his life to Lu Bing. Lu Bing did not betray this trust.

Lu Bing had saved many, many people, so many that Lu Bing himself didn't know who he had saved. As long as they were useful to the country, Lu Bing would exert effort to save them.

"How much money was spent at that time?" This was the first time Zhu Yijun knew that Yu Dayou and Lu Bing actually had this relationship.

"Twelve thousand silver was sent to Yan Shifan, seven thousand to Xu Jie, and later another ten thousand was given before that Censor Li Hu was willing to let me go." Yu Dayou leaned against the back of the chair and gave a number: a total of two hundred and ninety thousand taels. Only then did Lu Bing buy Yu Dayou's life.

"Actually, it was Emperor Shizong who was saving me. Where would Commander Lu get so much silver? If he really had that much silver, Emperor Shizong would have had to worry. This money was originally the tribute money from the 'Clear Stream' and the Yan Dang anyway." Yu Dayou explained the source of this money; it was just a matter of moving accounts.

"Xu Jie was even greedier than Yan Shifan." Zhu Yijun was furious. He stood up and walked around twice before sitting down again, still fuming.

Is the "Clear Stream" really better than the Yan Dang? If it were true, Hence Hai Rui wouldn't have been so cynical about the decline of the world in his "Memorial on Peace and Order." Hence Hai Rui loved to speak the truth, and only spoke the truth.

Yu Dayou felt a bit cold. He clutched the blanket tightly and continued, "Your Majesty, what do you think was the foundation that supported the Yan Dang so it wouldn't fall?"

"The Japanese pirate scourge in the southeast." Zhu Yijun gave the answer. After the twenty-first year of Jiajing, everyone was trying to topple Yan, but no one could topple him. Zhu Yijun had seriously studied the factional strife of those years and gave his own answer.

Yu Dayou smiled. His Majesty's shortcomings in military talent had all been compensated for in his political talent. When people talked about the struggle between the "Clear Stream" and the "Turbid Stream" of those years, they were all arguing about "integrity and righteousness," arguing about Xu Jie's merits, arguing about how wise Yan Shifan was, and how they could fool the Jiajing Emperor.

Yu Dayou had had an audience with the Jiajing Emperor; the Daoist Emperor was not easy to fool at all.

Could the Jiajing Emperor really not do without Yan Song and Yan Shifan? Was the wisdom of people like Xu Jie really inferior to Yan Shifan's? There were many capable people in the world. The great cause of suppressing Japanese pirates in the southeast was the foundation of why the Yan Dang stood firm. His Majesty could see that.

It was this pirate scourge that had to be suppressed. The Great Ming was fighting on two fronts, fighting to the death with Altan Khan, while the southeast was still suppressing Japanese pirates. They could only tacitly allow the Yan Dang to be arrogant and domineering, because Hu Zongxian was truly suppressing Japanese pirates, rather than playing the game of "nurturing pirates to maintain importance" like the Jin Party, which left the imperial court in a state of exhaustion.

Yan Song took the imperial favor and truly got things done. Hu Zongxian's suppression of Japanese pirates in the southeast was truly an all-out effort. Xu Jie took the imperial favor and only knew how to rake silver into his own pockets.

"Xu Jie must have hated Hu Zongxian to death. If Hu Zongxian had 'nurtured pirates to maintain importance,' Xu Jie wouldn't have been able to touch him either." Zhu Yijun sighed. Zhu Wan had already committed suicide to prove his integrity, and it wasn't as if Hu Zongxian hadn't seen it, but he still employed a large number of generals and suppressed the Japanese pirates. Hu Zongxian had only one outcome: to die in prison.

Perhaps Hu Zongxian had already seen his own ending.

"Indeed." Yu Dayou sighed and said, "At that time, no one had money. The Yan Dang didn't, because Hu Zongxian's suppression of pirates was a bottomless pit. The 'Clear Stream' didn't either, because they couldn't even feed their own families. Emperor Shizong didn't have money either. For the sake of a little silver, it was truly as ugly as it could be."

"Lu Bing saved me, and the following year he passed away from illness. It was also from that time on that Emperor Shizong could no longer control the imperial court."

Although Yu Dayou was not in the capital, he saw it clearly. As a general, if you can't see the situation clearly, you will lose battles. He understood the situation of those years, and his view was completely different from others. Yu Dayou felt that Lu Bing was extremely important to the Daoist Emperor. Once Lu Bing died, the imperial court completely escaped the Daoist Emperor's control.

Yu Dayou looked at His Majesty's blurred outline, turned his body with difficulty, and said with force, "Your Majesty, 'technique' is not as good as the 'Dao.' Technique can only manage things for a while."

What Yu Dayou couldn't let go of most was the Great Ming Empire. He was very worried that His Majesty would follow the Jiajing Emperor's old path, indulging in "technique" and eventually losing the "Great Way." Especially the recent policy regarding the Wanli Sea Embankment made Yu Dayou's worry even heavier.

Yu Dayou didn't blame the Jiajing Emperor for focusing more on "technique," because no one had spoken to the Jiajing Emperor about the "Great Way," and the Jiajing Emperor didn't trust anyone.

The Jiajing Emperor entered the capital at sixteen to be Emperor. Yang Tinghe, the Grand Secretary and Grand Tutor, constantly used "technique" to usurp imperial power. The Jiajing Emperor countered with "technique." Since then, the Jiajing Emperor never had the chance to understand the "Great Way."

Zhang Juzheng was not Yang Tinghe. With a young ruler and a suspicious country, Zhang Juzheng did not bully His Majesty. Moreover, Zhang Juzheng only spoke of the "Dao," not "technique"—not that he couldn't; those who had been beaten by Zhang Juzheng's ability to turn his hands into clouds and rain knew exactly how painful it was.

"Your subject has noted it." Zhu Yijun nodded.

Yu Dayou looked at the blurred tree shadows. It seemed as if a breeze had blown by, and it seemed as if it hadn't. His senses were already very poor, especially after taking the medicine; it was even harder to feel the wind. He didn't like this feeling at all.

"Your Majesty is still too soft and benevolent." Yu Dayou said faintly.

"Ah?" Zhu Yijun said blankly, "General Yu, why do you say that?"

"Wang Chonggu deserves to die." Yu Dayou had never spoken ill of anyone in front of His Majesty. He knew His Majesty's trust in him, and he had not betrayed that trust. He paused for a long time before saying, "Your subject fears that after I am gone, Wang Chonggu will lose his mind."

Yu Dayou was one of Zhu Yijun's moats, and an extremely important one for the defense of the capital and the palace. When Sima Yi led three thousand dead soldiers to rebel, he used only three thousand men to end the fate of the Cao Wei state.

Zhu Yijun smiled and comforted him, "The Master is still here, and General Qi is here too."

"It is precisely because the Master is here, and General Qi is here, that your subject is worried. Wang Chonggu is under too much pressure; I fear he might do something desperate." Yu Dayou said with great certainty. Wang Chonggu couldn't defeat His Majesty; Yu Dayou knew His Majesty's methods very well, but His Majesty was still young, and his wings were not yet full. A dog will jump over a wall if it's desperate.

Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu. In a place Yu Dayou couldn't see, Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang, Lu Diaoyang, Wang Chonggu, Wang Guoguang, and other court officials were all standing not far away. Yu Dayou didn't see them, but even if he had, he would still have said it.

Wang Chonggu was sweating profusely, his back drenched. He hated Zhang Siwei to death. Yu Dayou wanted to drag Wang Chonggu's whole family to be buried with him at the end, in order to clear obstacles and tumors for His Majesty. Let Wang Chonggu's whole family suffer; Yu Dayou would bear the infamy.

Wang Chonggu did not blame Yu Dayou. Yu Dayou was a warrior, a steel warrior who had rushed about and fought for the Great Ming until the very last moment. Zhang Siwei had assassinated the King and burned the palace; without the Jin Party's power, Zhang Siwei couldn't have done it. Yu Dayou was worried about His Majesty's safety. "When a person is about to die, his words are good." Wang Chonggu couldn't blame Yu Dayou; he only hated that when Wang Qian had poisoned Zhang Siwei, he hadn't poisoned the dog to death.

When Wang Qian had bribed Zhang Siwei's servant with the intention of poisoning him, it was after His Majesty had given the wool business to Wang Chonggu. The wool business was so profitable, yet His Majesty had given it to their old Wang family. Without the burning of the palace, His Majesty wouldn't have had to kill Zhang Siwei's whole family, and the conflict between the imperial court and the local Shanxi authorities wouldn't have had to be exacerbated to that extent.

Wang Qian only hated that his knowledge was shallow and he had used arsenic, and the dosage had been too small.

"The Second Assistant Wang will not do anything desperate." Zhu Yijun held Yu Dayou's hand and said with a smile, "Your subject has already grown up. Even Li Rusong is no match for me. Ha, ha! Taken down in one strike."

Yu Dayou had first seen His Majesty in the first year of Wanli. At that time, His Majesty was only ten years old. In the eyes of this old man, ten and seventeen were no different; they were both children who hadn't grown up.

"Haha, His Majesty is right. His Majesty can handle it properly." Yu Dayou smiled. He was a bit muddled; His Majesty's wisdom was close to that of a demon, and His Majesty had already grown up. The Jin Party and Altan Khan joining forces were no match for His Majesty.

The Great Ming was no longer that Great Ming that was tottering on the brink.

"Your Majesty, the Military Lecture Hall must be kept running. Qi Jiguang is a 'Military Immortal' reincarnated, but without grassroots officers, he is just an individual, not a god. This Military Lecture Hall cultivates grassroots officers, so it must continue. In my early years, General Qi and I talked many times about training troops; without grassroots officers, there is no military discipline. Your subject begs Your Majesty to keep this in mind." Yu Dayou's words were already a bit incoherent. These things he wanted to say had actually long been written into a memorial, which His Majesty had already read.

Old people are a bit long-winded. Seeing His Majesty had come, he gave a few more exhortations.

"Your subject has noted it." Zhu Yijun squeezed Yu Dayou's hand hard and said with a smile.

Yu Dayou stared at the tree shadows before him. The two trees had already begun to distort slightly, slowly turning into Lu Bing's appearance. Yu Dayou said in a very low voice, "This beautiful landscape, your subject truly wants to see it a few more times. Your Majesty, your subject... can no longer hold the horse or help you mount, can no longer suppress Japanese pirates and sweep away bandits for the Great Ming."

"Cannot let go, do not want to let go."

Yu Dayou slowly closed his eyes. Those comrades-in-arms who had fought back-to-back with him had been waiting for him for a long time.

Zhu Yijun pulled Yu Dayou's hand hard, letting the wind blow for a long time. Yu Dayou's hand eventually slipped from Zhu Yijun's grasp. Li Shizhen stepped forward to check the pulse and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, General Yu has departed."

"I know." Zhu Yijun stood up and covered him with the blanket again. Old people are very thin and weak; one blanket is enough to cover him.

"Feng Bao, transplant two big trees here." Zhu Yijun looked ahead. He was a monarch, the master of the world; he could not be weak. He stood for a long time before turning around to give instructions to Feng Bao.

"Two great physicians, properly arrange General Yu's remains. The Ministry of Rites will draft an official burial and posthumous title. The Ministry of War will add the title of Regional Commander of the Left, record his merits in suppressing Japanese pirates and guarding the sea, and bestow the title of Marquis of Zhangping. His eldest son, Yu Zigao, will inherit the title of Earl of Zhangping and be granted an hereditary certificate, sharing the fate of the country." Zhu Yijun finally gave a title: Earl of Zhangping. Yu Dayou was buried in the Jinshan Cemetery in the Western Hills with the rites of a Marquis.

Zhu Yijun's tomb was also in the Western Hills. Yu Dayou being buried there meant he would share in the suburban sacrifices.

"Your subjects obey the edict." The officials bowed their heads to receive the edict.

Zhu Yijun left the Military Lecture Hall. As he walked, he twisted his foot. He leaned against a pillar and slowly sat down on the stone slab. He seemed to be grimacing in pain, and tears even came out from the pain.

"Brother, if you are sad, just..." Zhu Yijiong said from the side, unable to bear it.

Yu Dayou said His Majesty was soft and benevolent, Zhang Juzheng said His Majesty was soft and benevolent, and Zhu Yijiong agreed. His Majesty's emotions were not as cold as a stone on the surface; it was just that sitting on that dragon chair, he had to be like a stone.

Zhu Yijiong clearly felt the sadness emanating from within His Majesty.

"It hurts." Zhu Yijun rubbed his ankle, his mouth twitching. This Zhu Yijiong had truly been smart since he was little.

Zhu Yijiong didn't say much more. Opening the tendons is so painful, practicing martial arts is so tiring, and the beating from Luo Sigong was even more painful. It was just a twist. In the Western Hills assassination case, His Majesty's right arm was injured and his right hand couldn't write, yet he never heard his imperial brother shout a word of pain.

Zhu Yijiong wanted to do something. His brother's foot didn't hurt; his heart was hurting. His Majesty was the Emperor, and his emotions couldn't be vented; he could only hold them in his heart. But Zhu Yijiong discovered he couldn't do anything; whatever he did would only add to the trouble. He could only continue to be a playboy; not causing trouble for his imperial brother was the only thing he could do.

It's easy to say: birth, old age, sickness, and death are the common lot of mankind.

The two brothers sat on the long corridor, letting the sweltering summer wind blow by with a hint of coolness. Not far away, Zhang Juzheng just watched from afar.

"It's raining." Zhu Yijiong stretched out his hand, and the rain fell on it.

The next morning, an imperial edict shocked the entire capital: His Majesty had moved his palace, from the Western Garden to the temporary palace behind the Military Lecture Hall.

Yu Dayou was neither Zhang Party nor Jin Party; if one had to count, he was a proper Emperor Party. Please vote for the monthly ticket.

(End of chapter)