I wield power with my innate talents, and forge the Heavenly Court.

Chapter 192 The drawbacks of aligning with the Golden Dragon of National Fortune, The Twelve Shamanic Immortals
After the dragon aura was completely destroyed, the Chongzhen consciousness, which had been inside the Golden Dragon of National Fortune, instantly felt a sharp pain and a sense of impending death enveloped his entire body.

In the next instant, he felt as if he had fallen into an endless abyss, his whole body plummeting until he entered a warm place. Only then did Chongzhen suddenly open his eyes and sit up abruptly from the bed.

Upon seeing this, Empress Zhou, Empress Dowager Zhang Yan, and many imperial physicians were overjoyed.

"That's wonderful, Your Majesty, Your Majesty has woken up."

"Your Majesty."

"Pfft~!"

However, before everyone could recover from the surprise of Chongzhen's awakening, they saw him suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood.

"It hurts me too!"

The next instant, Chongzhen cried out in pain and fell backward to the sky once again, his face pale as he fainted.

"Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty."

"Imperial physician! Imperial physician! Quickly, take a look at His Majesty!"

The palace was thrown into chaos once again.

When Chongzhen woke up again, it was three days later.

Sitting weakly on his bed, Emperor Chongzhen shakily looked up at the sky. The golden dragon of national fortune was even more waning, and the golden dragon aura had dissipated considerably.

At the same time, in Chongzhen's mind, the wails and curses of the people, as well as countless murmurs and deliriums, could still be heard from time to time.

"uh-huh!"

Emperor Chongzhen covered his head and let out a muffled groan of frustration.

However, gradually, Chongzhen began to understand some of the reasons.

The reason he is in this state is probably related to his mindset and his connection with the golden dragon of the nation's destiny.

His body was also under tremendous pressure; otherwise, he wouldn't have become so weak and nearly collapsed to death.

At the same time, the golden dragon representing the nation's destiny is formed by the combined will and power of the people with the will of Heaven, and naturally contains the lingering thoughts and desires of the people.

Naturally, when one's mind merges with the golden dragon of national destiny, it is equivalent to directly contacting the lingering thoughts and resentments of the people's consciousness, and one's spirit will naturally be greatly impacted and traumatized.

Emperor Chongzhen, in particular, had his very essence erased by the dynasty, causing him considerable mental and emotional distress.

Thus, he found it even more difficult to resist the impact and erosion of the will of the people.

The soul of Emperor Chongzhen has now been eroded by the fate of the nation, establishing an unbreakable connection with it.

This is what has led to the current situation: endless lingering thoughts are constantly being transmitted into Chongzhen's mind through the nation's fortunes and finances.

Then, countless lingering thoughts transformed into endless wails and curses, endless murmurs and delirium, constantly assaulting his mind.

Hearing the curses, insults, and murmurs echoing in his mind, Chongzhen couldn't help but mutter to himself:
"It'll be soon. As long as I can eliminate the corrupt officials in the court, the Ming Dynasty will naturally regain its peace and prosperity, the people will naturally be able to live a good life, and they will naturally be loyal to the Ming Dynasty."
As my subjects, you should understand me. If you just persevere a little longer and endure a little more hardship, all suffering will pass.
Damn lowly people, why can't you understand me?

So what if a few people starve to death? How dare you rebel?
Dynasty, Salvation Army, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong
Haha, Wang Er is dead, Wang Jiayin is dead, and you will all die too.
"Die, die, die!"

Emperor Chongzhen's eyes were bloodshot, filled with intense killing intent and madness.

Clearly, the fusion with the golden dragon symbolizing the nation's destiny, the erosion of a part of his mind, and the murmurs echoing in his head all indicate that Emperor Chongzhen's spirit had been greatly affected.

After a long while, Chongzhen finally managed to suppress the incessant muttering in his mind, forcibly shifted his attention, and returned to normal somewhat.

However, a hint of madness and bloodlust still occasionally flashed in his eyes.

A few days later, Emperor Chongzhen's mental state stabilized somewhat, and he began to resume handling state affairs.

The first thing he did was to clean up the palace.

After he fell into a coma, the entire palace was thrown into a state of panic.

This naturally created opportunities for many people outside.

When Emperor Chongzhen awoke and examined the fate of the nation, he was shocked to discover that the imperial palace, which he had firmly grasped and which had been bathed in bright yellow light, was once again filled with endless gray and black mist.

Emperor Chongzhen felt a tightness in his chest and almost couldn't catch his breath, fainting once again.

After the palace was thoroughly cleaned up and Emperor Chongzhen felt his safety was somewhat guaranteed, he turned his attention to external affairs.

After Wang Zhenyuan, Yang Zonghan, and the other two completely occupied Datong and Xuanfu, the entire Ming Dynasty fell into an extremely tense atmosphere.

Datong and Xuanfu are practically adjacent to the capital. If the Badaling Great Wall defense line is breached, the capital will be in danger.

Emperor Chongzhen, who had originally planned to take action against the noble ministers, was now somewhat disregarding the consequences and immediately issued another edict, ordering troops from all over the country to come to the capital to defend the emperor.

As for the People's Salvation Army, it seems they have no intention of attacking the Badaling Great Wall or storming the capital.

Who knows?
Emperor Chongzhen could not possibly place the safety of himself and the capital on the possibility of an enemy.

Originally, Emperor Chongzhen intended to imprison military commanders such as Wu Xiang and Cao Wenzhao.

However, after sensing the powerful energy rising from the generals within the golden dragon clouds, as well as the power of Cao Wenzhao's loyalty that supported the national destiny of the golden dragon, Chongzhen, after some deliberation, ultimately decided not to dismiss or imprison them.

The emperor merely issued a decree reprimanding them, demoting them by one rank, but allowing them to remain in the army to atone for their crimes. Even Chen Qiyu was not dismissed or imprisoned.

After all, Chen Qiyu was the governor-general of four provinces: Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Southern Zhili. He could be considered to bear some responsibility for the loss of Datong and Xuanfu.
Upon receiving the imperial edict from Emperor Chongzhen, Chen Qiyu was moved to tears and vowed to repay the emperor's kindness with his life, devoting himself to the cause until his dying breath, and to swiftly quell the rebellion.

After learning that Datong and Xuanfu had completely fallen, Chen Qiyu was filled with despair, thinking that he was doomed.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Chongzhen not only did not imprison him, but also continued to appoint him as the governor-general of four provinces. While sending a portion of his troops to the capital to defend the emperor, he continued to suppress rebels such as Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong.

Of course, this may also be related to the fact that the People's Salvation Army did not attack Shuntian Prefecture, the capital.

If the militia had besieged the capital, the situation might have been different.

At the very least, Chen Qiyu should be dismissed and investigated.

After receiving the imperial edict from Emperor Chongzhen ordering the Prince of Qin to come to the capital, troops from all over the country once again converged on the capital.

Even Chen Qiyu's anti-bandit army was partially withdrawn by him.

On the other side, in Xi'an, Shaanxi, Wang Chao stood with his hands behind his back, looking eastward. He felt the time was almost ripe.

The People's Salvation Army has now successively occupied the Hetao Plain, the towns of Datong and Xuanfu, as well as the old Shanxi Regional Military Command located in Guihua and Fengzhou, which are outside the Great Wall.

Yes, the areas outside the Great Wall, such as Guihua and Fengzhou, which were occupied by Ligdan Khan's Chahar tribe, originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty.
The vast area extending southward from Langshan, Yinshan, and Daqingshan in the west, to Guanshan, Chahannaoerwei, and other places in the east, all belonged to Shanxi Province during the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the descendants of the Ming Dynasty were unworthy and lost it.

And now, it has finally been taken back by the Dynasty's Salvation Army.

These places combined are definitely the size of a province, equivalent to the territory of the People's Salvation Army, which has increased by another half.

However, although the place is very large.

However, this time, the militia still had a relatively sufficient number of personnel.

After all, they have already occupied two provinces and nurtured more than 20 million people in those two provinces. If they really wanted to expand recklessly, they could definitely conquer the whole world.

Even if we can't conquer the world all at once for the sake of stability, we should be able to do so by continuously cultivating our strength while attacking.

In other words, the People's Salvation Army now has the conditions to expand at a low intensity without needing a lot of time to rest and recuperate as before.

Moreover, with the dynasty looking north, after the People's Salvation Army occupied Datong and Xuanfu, Emperor Chongzhen and the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty would inevitably focus all their attention on these two places for a period of time.

Even more so, troops from all over the country were mobilized to come to the capital to defend the emperor and prevent the People's Liberation Army from attacking the capital.

This would inevitably leave the southern provinces with depleted military forces, making it the perfect opportunity for him to launch an attack.
Indeed, as soon as Chongzhen issued his imperial edict, not only did Chen Qiyu send most of his troops to the capital, but also Huguang Governor Hong Chengchou, Shizhou Guard General Qin Liangyu, and others sent troops to the capital.

Even Qin Liangyu herself, along with her nephew Qin Yiming and the newly recruited extraordinary white-spear soldiers, once again rushed to the capital.

Upon receiving the news, the dynasty immediately issued an order.

Wang Shi and Li Yu, who had occupied and stationed themselves in Sichuan, began preparations once again.

Both led their armies to expand to 20,000 each, preparing to march eastward into Huguang.

They took over Huguang in one fell swoop, then occupied Southern Zhili, and then took control of the area south of the Yangtze River.

However, sometimes plans can't keep up with changes.

While the Ming Dynasty, the Later Jin Dynasty, and other states were rapidly developing and mastering extraordinary abilities, other forces, and even other life forms, were not stopping either.

Take, for example, the Five Immortals of Northeast China during the Qing Dynasty, who are almost household names in later generations.

Of course, in this era, there was no such thing as the Five Immortals.

However, there are also similar offerings.

The Five Immortals actually originated from shamanism.

Shamanistic rituals are broadly divided into those for the gods of heaven and earth, nature gods, and ancestral gods.

The gods of heaven and earth are the supreme gods, probably like the Eternal Heaven. In the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they were called "Abaha," in Mongolia, they were called "Tengri," and in Kazakhs, they were called "Urgen."

In addition, the ancestral gods, needless to say, are deceased ancestors.

Besides these, there are the nature gods.

They are also known as the Twelve Shamans.

They are respectively the Sun God, Earth Goddess (Earth God), Wind God, Thunder God, Water God, Fire God, Forest God, Star God, Moon God, Wisdom God, Healer God, and War God.

These deities, whether they are the supreme gods of heaven and earth, the twelve immortals who are nature gods, or even the ancestral gods, are at this moment nothing more than gathering the spirituality of all living beings to form spiritual aggregates.

This doesn't have much of an impact on the world today.

However, in addition to these, shamanism also believes that all things in the world have spirits. Besides these nature spirits and ancestral gods, they also worship some animals.

Similarly, there are also twelve immortals.

They are respectively Hu Xian (fox), Huang Xian (weasel), Bai Xian (hedgehog), Qing Xian (toad), Hui Xian (rat), Liu Xian (snake), Wu Xian, Long Xian, Lang Xian, Gou Xian, etc.

(End of this chapter)