Ming Dynasty: pacifying the rebellion and defending the border, dominating the world

Chapter 477 The Unfathomable Man
"The Sui Dynasty's emphasis on the Ming Dynasty was extraordinary."

"Although the existence of the Spirit Mirror is not a secret, even if someone knew that the Secret Guard had such a divine object that could trace all clues and images in the world and illuminate the past, they would not specifically target it unless they deliberately investigated it."

Changsun Wangqing couldn't help but sigh, wondering if the Ming Dynasty had exerted too much pressure on the Sui Dynasty, to the point that Yang Guang had learned about the clues to the First Emperor's Mausoleum, and even more so, the kind of clues that left them completely baffled. They had to be cautious and let the top Taoist figures of the Sui Dynasty use the power of heaven and earth and the feng shui to influence it.

They eliminated the spiritual realm, or rather, the Ming Dynasty knew what they had done.

They were extremely cautious.

At this point, Changsun Wangqing suddenly laughed: "The most interesting thing is that those two Taoists seemed to know about the existence of the Spirit Mirror. That's really interesting."

The Spirit Mirror is a peerless treasure within the Water Moon Cave, guarded by the Tong clan for five hundred years without ever appearing in the world. Logically speaking, apart from Yin Zhong and the members of the Tong clan, no outsiders should know about it.

Even if such information were known, it would have long been lost in the annals of history and remain unknown to outsiders.

However, the reaction from the Sui Dynasty revealed that they seemed to know that it was the Spirit Mirror and were making a special move against it.

A fleeting cold glint flashed in the depths of Changsun Wangqing's eyes: "I hope you will not interfere with my actions. Otherwise, let alone the Taoist immortals, even if you invite Taoist celestial beings and Laozi, Zhuangzi and others down, you will not be able to protect yourself."

Zhu Jinzhen didn't seem to care; instead, he was quite interested: "Send the secret guards to sound out Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng, see if we can recruit them. If not..."

"clear."

Yan Yimei replied in a deep voice.

If one is out of touch with reality, then one should simply bury them wherever they are meant to be buried.

"We just discussed the conditions offered by the Sui Dynasty. What about the Song and Liao Dynasties?"

"It's not easy to win over the Mongol Yuan, and they should know that too."

"Your Majesty, Your Highness."

Yan Yimei gathered her thoughts and said, "The conditions offered by the Liao Dynasty are that if the Sui Dynasty is willing to form an alliance, they can share the Heavenly Sword or its mysteries after unlocking the secrets of the Imperial Tomb. There aren't many additional conditions; they simply ordered someone to..."
Chahantemur brought with him the saying, "If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold."

"The Northern and Southern Song dynasties were quite generous, claiming that as long as the Mongol Yuan agreed to form an alliance, they could provide 80 million taels of grain and 80 million taels of weapons and armor."

"and many more."

Zhu Jinzhen suddenly interrupted, his lips twitching slightly: "How much grain and weapons and armor can the Northern Song and Southern Song provide? When you mentioned it, was it 160 million taels from one country, or 160 million taels from both countries combined?"

"Your Majesty, it is one country."

"Furthermore, the Southern Song secretly allied with the Mongol Yuan, preparing to swallow up the Jin Dynasty, a threat, after the alliance was formed. Emperor Zhao Kuo generously stated that he could give up all of the Jin Dynasty's territory to show his sincerity."

Good guy.

Zhu Jinzhen almost exclaimed, "Wow!"

"I always knew that the Song Dynasty was very wealthy, but I never imagined it was so rich that it was overflowing with oil."

"One hundred and sixty million taels of silver. In my Great Ming Dynasty, even if we didn't confiscate the homes of those corrupt officials and nobles, it would be enough for seven or eight years of the imperial court's annual revenue. Yet the Song Dynasty produced it without batting an eye." Zhu Jinzhen exclaimed with admiration. The Great Song Dynasty truly deserved to be the richest country in the world. Even if their military strength was not strong, their economy could still easily surpass that of the surrounding countries.

In any case, if the Ming Dynasty's national treasury were to spend 160 million taels of silver at once, Wang Jing, the Minister of Revenue, would definitely be killed in front of Zhu Jinzhen.

No other reason than that I have no money.

When Zhu Jinzhen confiscated and exterminated families in the capital, all the silver he obtained, apart from the money used for his coronation ceremony, went into his private treasury.

The national treasury remains poor. Let alone 160 million taels, it can't even come up with 60 million taels.

Although Changsun Wangqing was also shocked by the grand gestures of the two Song dynasties, she was more concerned about the Southern Song's secret actions of joining forces with the Mongol Yuan to take over the Jin dynasty. She shook her head and smiled, "The alliance has not yet been formed, and Zhao Kuo has already shown his disloyalty. I don't think this alliance will be a good one."

"Moreover, if they were to succeed, the Mongol Yuan dynasty would become even more powerful after swallowing up the Jin dynasty, and the Southern Song dynasty would still be in a precarious state, on the verge of collapse at any moment."

"This move is truly unwise."

Although the Southern Song and the Northern Song were mutually supportive, they were brother states.

Even if the two countries put aside some of their differences and suspicions and cooperated sincerely to fight against the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, Changsun Wangqing still did not have a high opinion of them, let alone the Southern Song Dynasty.

Zhu Jinzhen also sneered: "The threat from the Jin state is growing stronger every day. The borders of the Southern Song Dynasty have been invaded several times in recent years, and the Jin state has even taken away more than twenty cities. Zhao Kuo is obviously in a hurry, which is why he has made a series of foolish moves."

"Our Great Ming Dynasty is still facing a crisis, yet we are already thinking about what will happen next."

"Do they really think that by uniting the various nations, they can easily devour my Great Ming?"

It wasn't that Zhu Jinzhen looked down on Zhao Kuo or the allied forces; it was simply that he couldn't respect them, whether in terms of military strength, economy, or logistics.

The Ming Dynasty could completely overwhelm the combined forces of all the nations in the world.

Even if Zhu Jinzhen wanted to, he only needed to send his secret guards or any of the top combat forces from Cangyun or Tiance Mansion to take action, and they could crush all the countries with the force of an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

"Your Majesty, Zhao Min has also sent a secret report."

"What secret music?"

"It's still about the alliance between the various countries." Yan Yimei said, handing the secret report she had received to Zhu Jinzhen: "I wonder what kind of price the Sui and Song dynasties offered to actually get the experts from the Northern Mang to come and help."

"A master from Northern Mang?"

Zhu Jinzhen was initially a little confused, but then it dawned on him: "Tell me, who came? What kind of experts are they?"

"Tuoba Bodhisattva, the National Preceptor of Northern Mang, and Yuan Qingshan, the Qilin Immortal."

"A man with the compound surname Huyan."

"And, a person of unfathomable depth."

Yan Yimei was actually not very satisfied with Zhao Min's intelligence report because it included two characters whose identities were highly uncertain.

"Tuoba Bodhisattva is known as the number one in Northern Mang and firmly holds the second place in the Liyang Martial Arts Ranking, second only to Wang Xianzhi. He is a true peak-level terrestrial immortal. Yuan Qingshan's strength is also extraordinary and not much weaker than Tuoba Bodhisattva."

"The surname is Huyan?" Zhu Jinzhen guessed the man's origin after a moment's thought: "Huyan Daguan, indeed a peerless genius. If he had been willing to study martial arts properly, he might have already reached the Celestial Realm."

"As for that unfathomable person?"

Zhu Jinzhen smiled and shook his head. As far as Zhao Min was concerned, she was unfathomable. But as far as he and his secret guards were concerned, there was no such thing as an unfathomable person.

Immediately, Zhu Jinzhen casually remarked, "Wasn't Wang Xianzhi taken into the secret guard by Luoyang?"

“Let him go to the grassland. With his current cultivation level as a terrestrial celestial being, his combat power is at its peak. It shouldn’t be difficult for him to keep them all there.”

(End of this chapter)