Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 168: Eighty Thousand Beheaded, Officials Wet Their Bodies in Fear

The Forbidden City, the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The underground heating system was burning extremely brightly, and the heat rolled around in the spacious hall.

Zhu Youjian sat on the gilded dragon throne, his withered fingers gripping the armrests tightly, his knuckles turning a ghastly white. He hadn't slept for three days and three nights, his eyes bloodshot and sunken, radiating a near-collapse-like rage.

The noise inside the hall became a chaotic mess and couldn't be controlled.

The civil and military officials stood on both sides, their faces flushed and spittle flying everywhere.

The news that the Jurchen army of 100,000 was at the gates of the city had already terrified these officials who usually spouted righteousness and morality. The nine gates of the capital were tightly closed, and the thick city walls could not stop the heart-wrenching cries of the refugees outside. The desperate wails pierced through the palace walls, went straight into the magnificent Forbidden City, and struck the eardrums of everyone.

Extreme fear fermented within the Hall of Supreme Harmony, eventually twisting into extreme anger. This anger desperately needed an outlet, a scapegoat to take the blame for them.

The eaves inside the main hall were burning hot, and the murky heat churned violently in the air, making it hard to breathe.

Acting Chief Minister Wen Tiren took a bold step out of the train.

He raised the pristine white ivory tablet high with both hands, his wide, scarlet official robe sleeves whipping through the air, creating a gust of wind. His wrinkled face was filled with a righteous and indignant expression, his voice booming in the empty hall, causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

"Your Majesty! I impeach Chu Ze, the Vice Commander of the Guangning Guard, for deceiving the Emperor and committing a crime deserving of death!"

Wen Tiren stood ramrod straight, his eyes wide open, each word a poisoned blade aimed straight at the emperor on the dragon throne.

"Repel the enemy in ten days? That's utterly absurd! The Jurchens' army of 100,000 fierce warriors has captured dozens of Ming cities and their advance is aimed directly at the capital. How many troops could Chu Ze, a mere fourth-rank border general, possibly command? Yet he dares to spout such nonsense before the emperor, falsely claiming that he can annihilate the Jurchens in ten days!"

Wen Tiren suddenly turned around, his sharp gaze sweeping fiercely over Wang Qia, the Minister of War beside him, and his voice suddenly rose, sharp and piercing.

"This is not repelling the enemy! This is risking the Ming Dynasty's fate! This move will surely enrage Huang Taiji, provoking the Jurchens to launch a relentless attack on the capital! When the city falls and people die, causing widespread devastation, can Chu Ze bear the consequences with his head?!"

Wen Tiren stepped forward, slammed his knees heavily onto the gold bricks, and roared hoarsely.

"I suspect that Chu Ze and Yuan Chonghuan have been colluding for some time! They have amassed their own troops and deliberately let the Jurchens into the pass, all to stage a show at the gates of the capital, attempting to blackmail the court and demand provisions and official titles! If such treacherous officials are not arrested immediately, the Ming Dynasty will be in grave danger! The nation will be in grave danger!"

A cacophony of extremely loud agreement immediately erupted from the assembled officials.

Several censors jumped out of the ranks, kneeling heavily on the cold, hard gold bricks, their foreheads pounding the ground with muffled thuds.

"Lord Wen is absolutely right! That brat Chu Ze is utterly arrogant and disregards the laws of the court!"

"Your Majesty, please issue an immediate decree to strip Chu Ze of his military power, imprison him in a death row cell, and hand him over to the Three Judicial Offices for rigorous interrogation!"

"Yuan Chonghuan allowed the enemy to penetrate deep into our territory, resulting in the devastation of the capital region. This is a capital offense! I beg Your Majesty to punish him severely!"

The roar grew louder and louder, carrying an invisible pressure as it slammed down on the gilded dragon throne.

Zhu Youjian felt a splitting headache, with countless voices buzzing and clamoring in his mind at the same time.

His withered fingers gripped the armrests of the dragon throne tightly, his nails turning a deathly pale white from the extreme force, with fine blood seeping from the gaps. His eyes, bloodshot and swollen, stared intently at the group of indignant, spittle-flecked civil officials below. The scorching heat from the heated floor shot from his feet to his head, and an indescribable sense of regret spread wildly through his body, threatening to burn his reason to ashes.

Ten days ago, Chu Ze's resounding words, "Repel the enemy in ten days," slammed into his ears. He was driven to the brink at the time, and actually believed the young border general's arrogant boast, granting him the privilege of acting expediently. Looking back now, he realized he had completely lost his mind.

Since the bloody Battle of Sarhu, the Ming Dynasty has never been able to turn the tide against the Jurchen cavalry! How could 100,000 extremely fierce Jurchen elite troops simply vanish into thin air in a mere ten days!

Zhu Youjian opened his dry, chapped lips, and just as a syllable rolled out of his throat, a sudden, extremely shrill sound erupted outside the hall.

A roar that pierced the clouds.

"Report—!"

The roar ripped open the heavy vermilion palace doors, exploding with a deafening roar against the carved dragon and painted dome of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The heavy, chaotic thud of military boots echoed from below the white marble steps, a rapid, relentless march. A burly general in heavy black armor stumbled and tumbled across the high threshold of the hall. His phoenix-winged helmet was askew, sweat streamed down his face, and his thick arms were raised high above his head, desperately supporting a bamboo tube adorned with three scarlet feathers.

"Urgent news! Breaking news! Huge news!"

The burly general slammed his knees heavily onto the gleaming gold bricks, the kneecaps striking the ground with a dull thud. His voice, hoarse with extreme excitement, cracked completely, his raspy roar echoing throughout the hall.

"A great victory at Yanjiao! The siege of Beijing has been lifted!"

The air in the entire Hall of Supreme Harmony was completely sucked out in that instant.

The entire court of officials froze in mid-air at the sound of that voice. Wen Tiren's ivory tablet, held high above his head, stood frozen, trembling slightly. The Imperial Censor, kneeling on the ground, gaped wide open, but no sound came out.

Zhu Youjian abruptly sprang to his feet from the gilded dragon throne. The movement was so sudden that the wide sleeves of his dragon robe swept over a blue-and-white porcelain teacup on the edge of the imperial desk. Scalding tea spilled out, trickling down the grain of the sandalwood and splashing onto the gold bricks with a crisp, rhythmic dripping sound.

His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the bamboo tube with the red feather stuck in it, his chest heaving violently, but his breathing had completely stopped.

"Bring it here! Bring it to me immediately!"

Zhu Youjian's withered voice squeezed out an extremely sharp, broken tone, revealing a reckless fervor and urgency.

Wang Chengen, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, tumbled down the white jade steps. He snatched the bamboo tube from the burly general's hand, turned around, lifted the hem of his python robe, leaped three steps back to the imperial desk, and held the bamboo tube high in front of the emperor's eyes.

Zhu Youjian's withered hands trembled, creating many blurry images. His fingernails frantically dug at the sealing wax, but because he used too much force, even his fingernails curled up and bled, and he still couldn't tear open that layer of hard red clay.

"Wang Qia! You read it! Read it loudly for me!"

Enraged, Zhu Youjian slammed the bamboo tube onto the imperial desk, breaking its red plume. He then unleashed a hysterical roar at the Minister of War below.

Minister of War Wang Qia didn't even bother to pick up his official tablet; he rushed forward, using both hands and feet. He swallowed hard, his hands trembling as he pried open the sealing wax and pulled out the sheepskin battle report bearing the seals of the Guan Ning Army and the Guangning Guard.

The moment the battle report was displayed, Wang Qia's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints.

He stared intently at the lines of ink that seemed to penetrate the paper, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, his lips opening and closing, but he couldn't utter even the faintest sound.

"Read it!"

Zhu Youjian, his eyes bloodshot with rage, kicked over the half-person-high gilded charcoal brazier beside his desk. The glowing embers, trailing sparks, splattered across the floor, charring the luxurious Persian carpet and sending plumes of acrid smoke rising.

Wang Qia suddenly shuddered. He opened his throat and roared wildly in the hall in an extremely absurd, completely distorted, hoarse voice.

"Your subjects, Yuan Chonghuan and Chu Ze, kowtow! In the battle of Yanjiao, thanks to Your Majesty's great fortune and the assistance of heavenly troops, our army decisively defeated the main force of the Jurchens in the open fields of Yanjiao and at Yelang Gully!"

"Completely annihilate over 40,000 wounded Han Chinese and Manchu soldiers!"

"Ambush was launched against Huang Taiji's elite Upper Three Banners, resulting in the beheading of over 20,000 Manchu Tartars!"

"We captured dozens of Jurchen generals alive, seized 20,000 warhorses, and countless suits of armor and weapons!"

"The false emperor Huang Taiji, severely wounded, abandoned his army and fled north! Prince Rui of the Great Jin Dynasty, Dorgon, was critically wounded and on the verge of death, while Turge, the Gushan Ejen of the Plain Yellow Banner, was beheaded on the battlefield!"

"The 100,000-strong Jurchen army has been annihilated! The crisis in the capital has been completely averted!"

After Wang Qia roared out the last word, all the air in his chest was sucked out. His legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the scorching gold bricks. The battle report, weighing over a thousand pounds, slipped from his trembling fingers and fell lightly to the ground.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was deathly silent.

Apart from the faint crackling sound of the carpet being burned by the charcoal fire, there was not a single human voice. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

A full ten counts of time passed.

A deafening roar erupted inside the main hall. The sound almost blew off the glazed tiles of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Wen Tiren's hand trembled violently, tearing off several carefully grown long hairs from his chin. The pain of tearing flesh made his mouth twitch, but he didn't care about the pain at all, pointing at the battle report on the ground and roaring hysterically.

"It's fake! It's all fake! This is a blatant lie!"

An imperial censor from the Censorate jumped up from the ground, his official hat falling to the ground, and shouted with disheveled hair, "Killing innocent people to claim credit! This is absolutely killing innocent people to claim credit! How could 100,000 Jurchens be completely annihilated! Where did Yuan Chonghuan and Chu Ze get 80,000 heads?! Did they kill all the people near Yanjiao?!"

"Your Majesty, please be wise! Since the Battle of Sarhu, when has our Great Ming ever achieved a victory with tens of thousands of heads taken? The numbers in this battle report are utterly absurd! They wouldn't even fool a three-year-old!"

"Your Majesty, please immediately dispatch the Imperial Guards to Yanjiao to verify the head! If there is any false reporting, they will be executed without mercy!"

The civil officials have gone completely mad.

They simply couldn't accept this fact. If the battle report was true, then their earlier impeachments of Chu Ze and Yuan Chonghuan would have been a complete joke. The entire civil service would have been utterly humiliated.

Even more terrifying is that if Chu Ze truly achieves such an extraordinary feat, he will completely break free from the control of the civil official group and become a lawless behemoth in the Ming Dynasty court.

Zhu Youjian slumped onto the dragon throne.

He ignored the clamor of the courtiers below. His mind was in complete chaos.

80,000.

Eighty thousand were beheaded.

This number was far too large, far beyond the limits of his understanding as emperor. He wouldn't even dare to dream of such an outrageous dream.

Just then, heavy footsteps sounded again outside the hall.

Commander Luo Yangxing of the Embroidered Uniform Guard strode into the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

He was dressed in a bright red flying fish robe, with an embroidered spring knife at his waist. His face was cold and stern, and he carried with him the chill of the outside world and a faint smell of blood.

Luo Yangxing walked to the center of the main hall, knelt on one knee, and held up a secret memorial above his head with both hands.

"Your Majesty, this is a secret report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, delivered by urgent messenger at a speed of 800 li."

Luo Yangxing's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling coldness that sent shivers down one's spine.

"The battle situation at Yanjiao has been ascertained. The battle reports from the front are absolutely accurate and without a single falsehood."

These words immediately silenced the noisy Imperial Palace.

The color drained from Wen Tiren's face instantly, leaving him deathly pale. He stared intently at the secret report in Luo Yangxing's hand, his lips trembling violently.

"Bring it here." Zhu Youjian's voice was unusually hoarse.

Wang Chengen took the secret memorial and handed it to Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian opened the folded document, read only two lines, then his eyes widened in shock and he gasped in shock.

He abruptly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the group of ashen-faced civil officials below, and suddenly burst into laughter. The laughter grew louder and louder, revealing an almost manic ecstasy.

"Good! What a blatant murder and fraud! What a colossal lie to deceive the heavens!"

Zhu Youjian slammed the folding paper hard at Wen Tiren's feet.

"You all don't believe me! Wang Chengen, pick it up and read it aloud to these pillars of the nation! Let them hear how Chu Ze won!"

Wang Chengen picked up the folding book and cleared his throat.

"This was witnessed by a secret agent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. On the night of the ninth, Chu Ze, the Vice Commander of the Guangning Guard, used extraordinary means in the wilderness outside Yan. Overnight, an ice city rose from the ground. The city walls were high and indestructible."

Upon hearing the first sentence, gasps of astonishment rose and fell among the courtiers.

Ice City transformed overnight? Is that something human can do?

Wang Chengen continued reading, his voice beginning to tremble involuntarily.

"Under Chu Zemo, tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers appeared out of thin air. These soldiers were dressed in strange clothes and acted madly. However, their fighting power was terrifying and astonishing."

"In the Battle of Yanjiao, 40,000 Jurchen cannon fodder were slaughtered. In the ambush at Yelanggou, 20,000 elite Jurchen troops were trapped and died at the bottom of the valley."

""

"Those soldiers—fearless of death, oblivious to pain. Some, with their hands and feet severed by the Jurchens, still opened their mouths to tear at the flesh of the enemy. Some, with spears piercing their chests, not only did not retreat, but instead laughed wildly, igniting the gunpowder on their bodies, perishing together with the Jurchens."

"Even worse, they used quicklime, chili powder, fermented filth, and other poisonous gases to turn Wild Wolf Gully into a hellish place. The Jurchen elites were blinded and vomited blood in the poisonous fog, and were slaughtered at will by the heavenly soldiers without any power to resist."

"After the battle, the Heavenly Army plundered the battlefield. The Jurchen corpses were stripped of their clothes and armor, and even their gold teeth were pulled out. The dead horses and their carcasses were eaten. The ferocity of the battle and the brutality of the methods were unprecedented in history."

Wang Chengen finished reading.

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, an extremely oppressive silence reigned. Not even a breath could be heard.

The terrifying scene described in the secret report filled everyone's minds.

Laughing wildly even with intestines spilling out? Biting people even after having their hands and feet cut off? Blinding the Jurchens' eyes with excrement, urine, and poison gas? Not even sparing the gold teeth of the dead?

These aren't heavenly soldiers! They're clearly demons crawling out of hell! They're living Yama kings who devour people without spitting out the bones!

The censor who had previously clamored about killing innocent people and claiming credit for it, now found his legs completely giving way. He collapsed onto the gold bricks, a large, foul-smelling wet patch appearing in his crotch. He had been so terrified that he wet himself.

Wen Tiren was covered in cold sweat, and he could not even hold the tablet in his hand, which fell to the ground with a clatter.

He was just plotting how to use court rules and the laws of the Ming Dynasty to kill Chu Ze.

But now, he is utterly desperate.

Trying to reason with a madman who can turn an ice city upside down overnight and has tens of thousands of undead evil spirits at his fingertips?

Those evil spirits didn't even spare the corpses of the Jurchens. If they angered Chu Ze, these monsters would storm into the capital and into Wen Tiren's mansion—

Wen Tiren shivered violently, feeling a chill run down his spine and through his internal organs.

The entire civil service was collectively slapped hard across the face at that moment. The blow left them dizzy and terrified.

They weren't afraid of military generals who followed the rules. No matter how arrogant Yuan Chonghuan was, an imperial edict could make him obediently come to the capital to face his death.

But they fear madmen. They fear monsters who possess absolute violence and act completely unpredictably.