Chapter 155

"The city has fallen~"

"The bandit army has entered the city~"

"Run for your lives~~~"

Huang Degong, who had rarely gotten a moment of leisure and had lain down to sleep for a while, was shoved awake by a household servant.

"My Lord! The bandit army has entered the city!"

Huang Degong was greatly surprised "How is that possible?!"

Wuchang City's defenses are solid, the garrison numbers tens of thousands, how could the city have been taken without a sound?

"The civilian militia has rebelled!"

The household servant quickly explained for him "They opened the city gate and let Zhang's bandit cavalry enter the city!"

Huang Degong stood frozen in place.

He knew the civilian militia were unreliable, but he never expected they would rebel this quickly, even going so far as to collude with outside bandits.

"Sigh~~~"

Huang Degong stomped his feet repeatedly "I long ago persuaded the Great King, the civilian militia has no pay and no grain, they will inevitably turn on us."

"Yet the Great King would not listen!"

"Quickly." He urgently instructed "Hurry and assemble the troops, drive the bandit army out."

The household servant's face was full of difficulty "My Lord, in the haste only we have gathered here."

"The various departments of the Yongwei Camp are scattered on garrison duty, there is no way to assemble them in a short time."

Hearing this, Huang Degong looked up to heaven and sighed long.

"I previously warned the Supervising Eunuch that the Yongwei Camp troops must not be too scattered, yet he simply would not listen!"

Speaking of the Supervising Eunuch, he hurriedly asked "Where is the Supervising Eunuch?"

"The Governor is feasting the high officials inside the city, the Supervising Eunuch went to attend the banquet and drink flower wine, he is still in the east of the city at this moment."

"Zhang's bandit cavalry entered through the East Gate."

Huang Degong was speechless.

What time is it already, yet he still ran off to drink flower wine, what on earth is inside these people's brains!

"Send a squad of men to find the Supervising Eunuch."

He hurriedly donned his armor and instructed "The rest of you, follow me to the Wangfu!"

The Supervising Eunuch most likely cannot be saved, but we cannot just ignore it either, the posture must at least be maintained.

What is important now is to hurriedly escort the King of Chu out of the city.

Losing a princely king, the Son of Heaven will punish the crime.

Rushing all the way to the Wangfu, he was instead stopped by the gatekeeper.

"It is this late, the Great King has already retired, come again tomorrow."

Wuchang City is very large, the commotion that broke out at the East Gate has not yet spread to the Chu King's Mansion for the time being.

Huang Degong forcefully endured his anger "Zhang's bandit cavalry has already entered the city, this End Commandant must immediately audience the Great King!"

"You didn't present a visiting card~~~"

The gatekeeper habitually manipulated "Going to disturb the Great King this late, we would have to eat the consequences."

Huang Degong laughed in extreme anger.

He understood what this meant, this was asking him for a red envelope.

If it were the past, he would have just endured it.

After all, a seventh-rank official before the Chancellor's gate, a Wangfu gatekeeper must be at least fourth-rank no matter what.

These people are incapable of accomplishing anything, but when it comes to ruining things, they are all top experts.

But right now the fire is burning the eyebrows, yet they still play these games?

He kicked out with one foot, sending the gatekeeper waiting for a red envelope flying, then directly pushed the door and entered.

The gatekeeper twitching on the ground, eyes full of resentment "Just you wait, trespassing the Wangfu, you are dead~~~"

The Wangfu personal guards seeing the official troops enter with a menacing air, each dodged faster than monkeys.

Whether it is rioting for pay or rebellion, they dare not get involved.

After all, these are all soldiers, not commoner mud-legs who can be bullied at will.

Huang Degong brought his household servants and rushed straight to the Chu King's Qin Palace.

Zhu Huakui, awakened by the news, dressed and rose under the service of beautiful maidservants.

Seeing Huang Degong, he immediately cursed roundly "Soldier! Do you want to rebel?"

Forcefully enduring the anger in his heart, Huang Degong hurriedly explained "Great King, the civilian militia has rebelled, they opened the city gate and let Zhang's bandit cavalry enter the city."

"This End Commandant has come specifically to escort the Great King out of the city!"

"What?" Zhu Huakui was greatly startled "The civilian militia rebelled? Are they not afraid of death?"

The Ming Dynasty's princely kings are just this simple and naive.

They always think all the commoners under heaven should serve their Zhu Family without pay, should all be fearful of death.

Huang Degong no longer wanted to speak.

The captured civilian militia, not only had no military pay or grain, even their food they had to provide themselves, many have already starved to death these days.

If he were a civilian militia man, he would rebel too!

"My Lord, hurry!" Huang Degong stepped forward, grabbing Zhu Huakui's luxurious clothing sleeve and trying to leave.

"Wait." Zhu Huakui hurriedly greeted "Quickly go summon Our beloved concubines to go together."

"Also, the Wangfu's gold, silver, pearls and jewels, bring them all too."

"By the way, bring me the dogs I raised~~~"

"And my beloved clothes, the imperial gifts, my crickets, the birdcages in the corridor, the things in the cellar~~~"

Zhang Xianzhong's troops had already reached the Wangfu, and they hadn't even left yet.

Huang Degong simply couldn't take it anymore, and ordered the household servants to seize the shouting Zhu Huakui and stuff him into a horse cart.

He personally led the charge, breaking through the encirclement to escort the King of Chu straight to the West Gate.

Arriving at the city gate, he saw that the gate here was also open, with large batches of rebel troops flooding into the city.

Huang Degong fought all the way with the household servants, suffering countless casualties, his battle robe stained with blood.

Finally breaking out of the encirclement with difficulty, he escorted Zhu Huakui out of the city gate.

But their movements had already been exposed, more and more rebel troops gathered around, shouting to capture the King of Chu.

Covered in blood, with several arrows stuck in his armor, Huang Degong arrived before Zhu Huakui gasping for breath: "Your Majesty, hurry, let's go to Jinshui Bank and take a boat to Yuezhou."

"No."

Zhu Huakui refused to leave no matter what: "My beloved concubines and pets, and the treasures in the Wangfu are all in the city."

"You immediately kill your way back and bring my family and assets out."

Huang Degong was furious to the point of nearly fainting.

His face, which had turned pale from excessive blood loss, also flushed red.

"Your Majesty!"

"Life is more important!"

"What time is this, and you're still thinking about those things!"

"Concubines and pets can be abandoned, but treasures must be taken." Zhu Huakui shook his head repeatedly, refusing to leave no matter what, just repeatedly asking Huang Degong to get his treasures out of the city.

It was truly hard to believe—did such a person who valued money over life really exist in this world?

Huang Degong was about to be driven mad with anger.

He advised with great sincerity, but the King simply wouldn't listen!

Huang Degong's household servants even wished they could chop this King of Chu to pieces.

During the argument, Zhang Xianzhong's men caught up, led by Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son Ai Nengqi.

Both sides quickly erupted into fierce fighting.

After fighting for a long time, with battle armor and weapons damaged and household servants greatly reduced, Huang Degong could no longer hold out.

He was knocked to the ground by a rebel soldier.

He watched helplessly as the King of Chu was held down by a group of rebel soldiers and bound with rope, like tying up a fat pig.

The vassal king had fallen, Wuchang Prefecture was lost, and his own life was forfeit.

Huang Degong couldn't catch his breath and fainted on the spot.

When he woke up, the sounds of fighting around him were even more intense, countless bright lights illuminating the surroundings like daylight.

Large numbers of armored troops defeated Zhang's men and had already fought their way into the city.

Huang Degong struggled to his feet. His first reaction was: "Imperial Court reinforcements?"

But soon he was grabbed by the armored troops and escorted all the way before a Commander Wei Wu riding on horseback.

Around them, every armored soldier held a bright pillar of light; the snow-white light was so bright it made people unable to open their eyes.

He recognized this thing, and even owned one himself.

A rare treasure flashlight spread from Jinling City.

After using it for a while, for some reason it stopped lighting up.

The person on horseback looked down at him: "Who are you?"

"Commanding Officer Huang Degong of the Yongwei Camp." Huang Degong narrowed his eyes and shook his dizzy head hard: "And who are you?"

Under the strong light, the figure on horseback revealed a smile.

"Lin Dao."

Daylight gradually brightened; Wuchang City, which had been fighting all night, gradually returned to calm.

Large numbers of armored troops blocked the streets in groups, searching house by house for defeated soldiers, rebel troops, ruffians, and beggars.

Lin Dao's army entered the city and immediately took control of the battlefield.

Whether it was the Ming Army in the city or Zhang Xianzhong's men, before the powerful armored army, none could withstand a single blow.

Even worse, before Lin Dao entered the city, he had first blockaded all the city gates and also attacked Zhang Xianzhong's old camp outside the city.

Zhang Xianzhong's troops who rushed into the city instead trapped themselves in a dead end within the city.

Lin Dao rode his horse all the way to the Chu King's Mansion.

At this time, the Chu King's Mansion was in utter disarray.

The once awe-inspiring gate of the Wangfu had been smashed down directly.

Inside and outside the gate lay corpses everywhere.

Huang Degong, bound with five flowers, swept his gaze over and saw the doorman who had asked him for a red packet last night, already lying in a pool of blood.

Entering the Wangfu, there were more and more corpses of servants and maids dressed in servant clothes.

Many noblewomen were not properly clothed, clearly having suffered abuse in life.

Lin Dao frowned and ordered his guards: "Arrange for auxiliary soldiers to come in and clean up, leave them some dignity."

At least cover them with a piece of cloth, or wrap them in a straw mat.

Many cart frames and boxes were scattered inside the Wangfu.

All kinds of gold, silver, pearls, jewels, silks, jewelry, and copper coins were scattered all over the ground.

Birds, crickets, cats, dogs, and such were not spared either.

The Chu King's Mansion had accumulated more than two hundred years of the people's fat and grease.

Lin Dao shook his head and sighed softly, "If one could take from the people and use it for the people, why would it have come to this?"

The fall of the Ming Dynasty was not because the common people could not endure hardship, nor because the soldiers were unwilling to fight to the death.

It was simply that the profiteers were too greedy!

Clearly they had enough wealth and supplies, yet they simply refused to take them out and share.

The result was that it all went to the wild boar skin.

Walking straight into the main hall, Lin Dao stepped forward and sat in the Golden Armchair bestowed by Emperor Emperor Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

He clapped his hands, "Bring the person up."

In no time at all, the Chu King Zhu Huakui, his Dragon Robe in tatters and his whole spirit listless, no longer resembling the man who had clamored to take away treasures, was brought over.

Huang Degong, standing to the side, also sighed with emotion upon seeing the Chu King.

"I told you to leave early, but you just wouldn't listen!"

"Along this journey," Lin Dao leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "I saw the people of Wuchang Prefecture living in hardship, with corpses of starvation lining the roads."

"As the Chu King, did you really not think to help the people?"

Zhu Huakui, his head full of white hair in a mess, shook his head repeatedly, "That is the Imperial Court's business and has nothing to do with this solitary man."

"But you are the Chu King."

Lin Dao raised a hand and tapped him, "As the Chu King, when the people of the Da Di land of Jingchu suffer disaster and hardship, how can you remain indifferent?"

"This solitary man's princely title was passed down from our ancestors."

Zhu Huakui forced himself to stand firm, "Emperor Emperor Emperor Taizu long ago established the system to support the feudal princes with all the people of the world."

"We are merely following the Ancestral System."

Lin Dao shook his head, already too lazy to waste more words on him.

This feudal prince was just like those scholars, his mouth constantly chanting Ancestral System, Ancestral System.

Whose ancestor?

Whose system!

"The people of Jingchu support you."

"They are in the midst of suffering, yet you turn a deaf ear and blind eye."

Lin Dao waved his hand, and soldiers stepped forward to drag Zhu Huakui away.

"Since it is so, your fate shall be decided by the people of Jingchu."

End of Chapter