Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 631 The Nine Camps of the Divine Pivot
May 11th, the first year of the Taichang reign. It was another sunny morning, but Li Shu felt no sense of triumph or triumph; instead, he felt a tightness in his chest.

In fact, this feeling of being suffocated had begun after the farewell party at Yanshu Post Station the day before yesterday. At the time, Li Shu thought it was just the tension that arose after his surging emotions, after all, what he was about to do was a momentous event—success would bring him lasting fame, failure would bring him eternal infamy. Li Shu thought a good night's sleep would do the trick, but after two sleepless nights, the feeling of suffocation not only didn't dissipate, but it also started to nauseate him.

“Ji Chou.” Li Shu turned his head and looked at his cousin Li Wu, who was traveling with him.

Li Wu looked at him with a smile. "What are your orders, Second Brother?" Li Shu was his father's second son. Although he had become the de facto eldest son after his elder brother Li Zhuo died, his brothers of the same generation still called him Second Brother.

"Are you feeling choked up?" Li Shu loosened the reins and pounded his chest with his right hand.

Li Wu was taken aback. "I don't feel upset, why do you ask that, Second Brother?"

"Brother, are you feeling unwell?" Li Shu's brother-in-law, Li Yipei, was also standing on the other side of Li Shu.

"I just feel a tightness in my chest, like there's some kind of stagnation stuck in my chest. I can't even burp it out," Li Shu said.

"Why don't we just find a house to rest at for a while? I'll go and get you a doctor." Li Wu straightened up and looked into the distance along the road. Soon he saw a small village near a bend in the river. Li Wu stretched out his arm and pointed, "There's a village up ahead."

"Then I'll tell the maids behind me to run faster," Li Yipei turned around and was about to shout.

"No, no, no! I'm not that badly hurt yet." Li Shu quickly waved his hand. "Maybe you choked from eating too much."

“But Second Brother, you only had two bowls of porridge this morning,” Li Wu said.

“I think you have something on your mind,” Li Yipei suddenly laughed, a subtle laugh. “Hehe, is my brother thinking about some girl from a brothel? Or…” Li Shu was tall and fair-skinned, elegant, loved reading, could write poetry, and frequented brothels, and was quite famous.

“A great man is born between heaven and earth; how can he be concerned with personal feelings for his children?” Li Shu shook his head with a smile. He never developed feelings for women in brothels, and he didn’t even have much affection for his own wives and concubines. He was a typical heartless playboy.

“If it’s not about your children, then it must be about the affairs of the country.” Li Yipei quickly put away his teasing smile. “My dear brother, you have been unemployed at home for more than three years. Suddenly being appointed to a post outside the capital, you must be feeling uneasy. If you are willing, you might as well tell me what is on your mind. If there is anything you can do to help, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Yes, yes. Tell us about it,” Li Wu chimed in from the side.

"Let's talk about it after we get there this afternoon. By then, you won't be able to ignore it even if you want to." As he spoke, Li Shu felt the tightness in his chest ease a little.

However, once things quieted down, that ominous feeling of being suffocated and upset my stomach surged back like a tide.

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They soon arrived at the village that Li Wu had pointed out earlier. Li Shu hadn't originally planned to detour there, but as they reached the fork in the road leading into the village, they heard a faint commotion mixed with panic. Li Shu looked in the direction of the sound and saw a large, dark crowd gathered in the center of the village. Looking around, it seemed as if the entire village had been gathered together.

“Let’s go take a look.” Li Shu reined in his horse and turned to instruct his cousin.

"Alright." Li Wu flicked the reins, and the horse immediately started trotting.

This is a small village with only about a hundred households. The village is surrounded by a wooden fence that serves only as a basic boundary. Judging from the decay of the fence wood, the village probably has some history.

"What's going on?" Li Wu spurred his horse closer to the crowd, but showed no intention of dismounting.

The village elder standing in the center of the crowd had been reciting something, but he stopped when he heard the sound of iron hooves pounding the ground. The elder turned around at the sound and saw Li Wu riding a horse, immediately realizing that this was a man of high status.

"Make way, make way!" the village elder shouted twice, pushing through the crowd and bowing deeply to Li Wu. "This humble one, Yin Zhengzong, greets this gentleman. May I ask your name?"

"I am a military officer under Li Gongshu, the newly appointed governor of Changtuan Prefecture. What's going on here?" Although Li Wu had neither literary nor military achievements, it was not difficult for him to obtain a seventh-rank official title thanks to his relatively prominent family background and the protection of his father and brothers.

The village elder was taken aback at first, then led the nearby villagers to kneel down. "Greetings, Military Advisor!"

"Get up and speak quickly!" Li Wu's gaze darted around, soon drawn to a long piece of paper pasted on the wall. To that mottled mud wall, the paper was far too new and pristine.

"Which government office posted that notice? What does it say?" Li Wu asked, pointing to the long sheet of paper.

Yin Zhengzong trembled as he kowtowed, not daring to get up. "This humble servant, this humble servant dares not speak, I beg you, sir, to see for yourself."

"What is it? Why are you being so mysterious?" Li Wu frowned. "Uncover it for me!"

"Yes!" Yin Zhengzong quickly moved his knees, and the two men closest to the notice shouted, "Twelfth Brother, Sixth Brother! Quickly take the notice down for the master!"

"Okay." The men called Twelfth Brother and Sixth Brother Yin immediately sprang into action upon hearing the voice. As they stood up and reached the wall, Yin Zhengzong added, "Be careful, don't tear that paper!"

"Okay." The two men, who were of different generations but about the same age, responded again.

It was a newly pasted piece of paper, the unwritten side covered in undried paste, making it virtually impossible to tear unless someone actually pulled it. Even so, the two men handled it with the care of a newborn, immediately scraping off the plaster at the slightest sign of difficulty.

Before long, the man on the left presented the long paper intact to Li Wu's horse. The man bowed his head, leaned forward, and raised both hands high, as if presenting a treasure.

Li Wu bent down to take the long paper, but before he even started reading it, his brows furrowed—Li Wu didn't want to ride a horse with his hands covered in paste.

However, he quickly stopped paying attention to these minor details, because the six large characters above his head read:

Guardianship of North Korea!

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"Second Brother! Second Brother! Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!" Li Wu, clutching the proclamation, ran frantically towards Li Shu. Behind him followed a villager leading his horse. The horse was clearly reluctant to be led by a stranger, but with its master right in front of it, it still reluctantly took a few steps.

"What's going on?" Li Shu's heart started pounding even before Li Wu got close.

"Something terrible has happened!" Li Wu held up the proclamation beside Li Shu. He was panting heavily, whether from the rapid sprint or from excessive tension, it was hard to tell. "The Emperor...Guardian of the King"

"Catch your breath before you speak!" Li Shu snapped, snatching the proclamation away.

Upon seeing it, Li Shu immediately froze, as if he had been struck by a spell, completely still and stunned, as if even his breathing had stopped.

"Brother, what's going on? What does it say?" Li Yipei leaned to the side, but could only see the last few lines of text.

"The nation, the nation!" Li Shu mechanically turned his head, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably. "A national disgrace!" Li Shu cried out in a voice as mournful as a ghost's wail. Then his vision went black, his body went limp, and he fell sideways off his horse.

Li Wu was unprepared for Li Shu to fall from his horse, but he reacted quickly. Li Wu lunged forward and used his body to support his cousin, who weighed over 150 jin (approximately 75 kg). Fortunately, Li Shu wasn't wearing full armor; otherwise, Li Wu might not have been able to withstand the impact.

"What are you all standing there for? Come and help the master down from his horse!" Li Yipei shouted at the top of his lungs. He then dismounted himself. The servants scrambled to help Li Shu down. The moment his feet touched the ground, Li Shu almost came to his senses. After regaining his composure, Li Shu realized he had forgotten to question the authenticity of the object.

"Where did this come from?" Li Shu pointed to the proclamation lying on the ground. At this moment, Li Shu was surrounded by people, but not one of them dared to step on the paper.

“It was taken from the wall of that village,” Li Wu pointed out.

"Who put them up? When did they put them up?" Li Shu then asked.

"Huh?" Li Wu was stunned.

"I'm asking you, who put this up for them? When did they put it up?" Li Shu bent down to pick up the proclamation, subconsciously unfolded it, but quickly closed it again.

"I...I didn't ask," Li Wu's lips twitched.

"Aren't you going yet?" Li Shu glared at him.

"I'll go right away!" Li Wu immediately turned around and brought over the village elder named Yin Zhengzong in a short while.

"This humble man, Yin Zhengzong, pays his respects to Your Excellency, Prefect!" Yin Zhengzong trembled as he approached Li Shu, lifting his robe to kneel, but Li Shu stopped him beforehand.

"Stop kneeling." Li Shu gently shook the manifesto in his hand. "Just tell me, who gave you this?"

"Probably, probably a troop of heavenly soldiers." Yin Zhengzong hunched over, head down, hands clasped in front of his chest, his hunched and short body almost curled up into a ball.

"Heavenly soldiers?" Upon hearing this, Li Shu felt dizzy again.

"Brother!" Li Yipei saw that Li Shu's legs were about to give way again, so he quickly stepped forward to support his back.

"I'm fine." Li Shu waved his free left hand and then asked Yin Zhengzong, "When did those heavenly soldiers arrive, and where are they?"

“They arrived about half an hour ago.” Yin Zhengzong thought seriously for a moment. “As for where they are, I don’t know.”

"Then which direction did they come from?" Li Shu asked, settling for second best.

"That scoundrel," Yin Zhengzong shook his head with a smirk.

When the Ming army arrived on horseback with their proclamation, Yin Zhengzong was still at home playing with his grandson. After the Ming army left, he didn't dare to go out to see where they came from or where they were going. He could only ask them questions and know nothing.

"Oh well! Never mind!" Li Shu waved his hand irritably, then shoved the proclamation into Li Wu's hand.

"Mount up." Li Shu mounted his horse, and Li Wu and Li Yipei followed suit.

"To Changtuan?" Li Wu asked.

"I'll go to Changtuan, you go back to Hanyang!" Li Shu held the reins in one hand and pointed in the direction of Hanyang with the other. "I want you to ride at full speed, changing horses at every post station, and deliver this proclamation to Lord Mozhai's residence today!" Li Gui, courtesy name Yuru, sobriquet Mozhai.

"Give it to Lord Mozhai? Why not give it to the imperial court?" Li Wu asked, puzzled.

"Just do what I tell you to do! Why ask so many questions!" Li Shu had no time to explain and just yelled.

"Yes!" Li Wu immediately straightened up, turned around, and spurred his horse into a gallop.

"What on earth is going on? What does it say?" Li Yipei hadn't read the entire proclamation yet.

"The wrath of Heaven has arrived! The Emperor has decreed punishment, and the King has been stripped of his title!" Li Shu said with a groan, his eyes closed.

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The distance between Hanyang Prefecture and Changtuan Prefecture was less than a hundred li, and even traveling at a leisurely pace, it would only take two days. Li Shu had already been traveling for almost a day and a half, and now, leaving his entourage behind and riding at full speed, he arrived at Changtuan Prefecture in just over an hour.

Li Shu guessed that the Changtuan Prefecture government office had probably already been occupied by the Ming army, so he planned to change into his official robes at the post station before going there to negotiate. Unexpectedly, the post station itself had also been occupied by the Ming army.

As soon as Li Shu and Li Yipei arrived at the entrance of the post station, before they could even dismount, a Ming army commander who could speak Korean dialect approached them with his soldiers and the post station's administrator.

"Where did you come from? What do you want?" The Ming army commander was clearly standing on the ground, but his imposing manner, with his head held high and eyebrows raised, was even more impressive than that of Li Shu, who was riding on horseback.

Li Shu could tell from the armor that the man in front of him was not a high-ranking official, but he did not dare to be arrogant at this moment and immediately dismounted.

"I am Li Shu, the newly appointed Protector-General of Changtuan. May I ask your name?" Li Shu had only learned Chinese characters, not the Chinese language. Hearing the other party speak in Korean dialect, he felt a little relieved.

The Ming army commander was clearly taken aback. "Who did you say you were?"

"I am Li Shu, the newly appointed Protector-General of Changtuan Prefecture." Li Shu repeated himself patiently. "May I ask your esteemed name?"

"My name is Jin Dayong." The Ming army commander also bowed. "I am the commander of the 9th Battalion of Shenshu under General Zhou Wenbing." Jin Dayong was just a soldier before. He was promoted to officer only because he could speak the Korean dialect.

"So it's Captain Jin, my apologies." Li Shu bowed again.

"You're too kind." Jin Dayong returned the greeting and then asked, "Since Protector Li is a newly appointed official, he must have brought his official credentials from the Ministry of Personnel. May I take a look at them?"

“Of course.” Joseon only had the Ministry of Personnel, not the Ministry of Personnel, but Lee Seo didn’t correct him. Nodding, he took out the official document he always carried from his clothes and handed it to Kim Dae-yong.

Jin Dayong wasn't very literate, but he could recognize most of the characters. He carefully read through the official document, and when he saw the words "the ninth day of the fifth month of the first year of Taichang," he felt it was about right. "No problem, please keep it safe."

"Thank you for your trouble." Li Shu could sense that the officer's attitude was significantly better than when they first met, which brought him some relief. Li Shu carefully put away his official credentials and asked, "May I ask where General Zhou is?"

"They should still be handling matters at the government office. Let me take you there," Jin Dayong said.

“No need to trouble Captain Jin, I can find the place myself. However, before going to the yamen, I would like to change into my official robes at the post station first, and then pay my respects to General Zhou. That would be in accordance with proper etiquette.” Li Shu gently patted his saddlebag. “Captain Jin, could you do me a favor?”

Upon learning that Li Shu was also carrying his official robes, Jin Dayong's last shred of doubt vanished. He stepped aside to make way for him. "Please proceed."

(End of this chapter)