I was to be executed by Zhu Yuanzhang, and Empress Ma smashed Zhu Yuanzhang's jade seal.

Inside the Fengtian Hall.

That final phrase, "Welcome, Prince Ying," was like a death warrant, completely shattering Zhu Yuanzhang's last shred of reason.

The south has rebelled too!

The Yangtze River Navy, the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty, has become a weapon in the hands of others!

He spent half his life on the battlefield, fighting his way to power through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, only to have his empire crumble in a single day because of one decision he made.

He became a lonely man.

An emperor abandoned by the entire world.

"Hehe... Hahahaha..."

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly chuckled softly, a hoarse and mournful laugh, like the howl of a night owl, sending chills down one's spine. He staggered away from the Imperial Guard who had brought the message, step by step, and returned to the cold imperial steps.

His body trembled like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, his eyes were so red they looked like they were about to bleed, and he stared intently at the already cold corpse in Empress Ma's arms.

"Great! Excellent!"

"What a fine son of mine! What a war god who has expanded the territory of the Ming Dynasty and guarded the vast northern border!"

He turned around abruptly, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over everyone kneeling below. His gaze was no longer one of simple anger, but rather a kind of madness driven to the brink of despair, a desire to destroy everything.

"Everyone thinks we've lost?"

"Does everyone think that we, the emperor, are going to be forced to our deaths by a bunch of treacherous officials?"

"dream!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice suddenly rose in pitch, becoming sharp and piercing.

"I am the emperor! I am the Son of Heaven! My decree is the will of Heaven!"

He seemed to have grasped at the last straw, and his whole being fell into a state of frenzied excitement.

"Aren't they trying to bring back the King of England? Aren't they using the pretext of 'purging the court of corrupt officials'?"

"Alright! Let's grant their wish!"

He suddenly waved his hand and roared at the stunned crowd:

"Guards! Draft an imperial edict! Draft an imperial edict for me!"

The Hanlin Academy scholars in charge of recording were so frightened that they trembled, but none of them dared to move.

Drafting an imperial edict?

Given the current situation, what decree should be drafted?

Could it be that he is issuing an edict of self-reproach, admitting his mistakes to the world?

"Are you all deaf?!" Seeing that no one moved, Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed a jade inkstone from the dragon desk and smashed it hard on the ground.

"Snapped!"

The jade inkstone shattered, and ink splattered everywhere, splashing all over Hu Weiyong, who was closest to it.

Hu Weiyong was terrified and scrambled to his knees, crying out, "Your Majesty, please calm down! Your Majesty, please calm down!"

"Calm down?" Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at his nose and cursed, "The world is about to be turned upside down! How can you expect us to calm down!"

He ignored Hu Weiyong and instead roared at the terrified historians:

"Write it for me!"

"Issue my decree!"

"Order all the generals who led the rebellion—including Long Shou, Xiang Yu, Lü Bu, Han Xin, and Bai Qi—to immediately lay down their weapons and commit suicide in front of the army to atone for their sins!"

"Aren't you loyal to the King of England? The King of England is loyal to us! Even on his deathbed, he was thinking of serving our Great Ming Dynasty!"

"I now command you in the name of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and in the name of the Father of the Prince of Ying!"

"Die, all of you!"

"Suicide! All of you, kill yourselves!!"

crazy!

The emperor has gone completely mad!

When Zhu Yuanzhang uttered these words, only these two words remained in the minds of everyone in the Fengtian Hall.

Should we make them commit suicide as an atonement?

What an absurd and laughable idea!

Those people command a million-strong army, their forces are invincible, they even flattened Shanhaiguan Pass. Would they obediently slit their throats at your mere imperial decree?

What do you take them for?

Do you think of Zhu Muying as a fool who would rather die than resist for the sake of so-called "loyalty and righteousness"?

"Your Majesty! You mustn't!"

Xu Da finally couldn't hold back any longer. He took a sudden step forward and said to Zhu Yuanzhang in a deep voice, "Your Majesty! This move is tantamount to adding fuel to the fire! They are already indignant because of the death of the Prince of Ying. Your decree will only make them..."

"What can we do to them?!" Zhu Yuanzhang abruptly interrupted him, his eyes wide like saucers. "Let them storm into Nanjing and chop off our heads to use as footballs?!"

"Xu Da! Do you also think we were wrong? Do you also think our reign as emperor is over?!"

Xu Da looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's distorted face, his lips moved, but he swallowed his words back in the end.

What else could he say?

You can't reason with a madman who has lost his mind.

"Who else?!" Zhu Yuanzhang surveyed his surroundings, his eyes like those of a predatory beast. "Who dares to advise us? Who dares to utter a single 'no'?!"

Inside the main hall, there was complete silence.

The civil officials lowered their heads even further, afraid of being noticed by the emperor.

The military officers, on the other hand, were filled with grief, indignation, and helplessness.

They knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was finished.

He wasn't defeated by the rebels, but utterly destroyed by his own suspicion and madness.

"Write it! Write it for me!" Seeing that no one dared to object anymore, Zhu Yuanzhang revealed a sickly smile. He pointed at the historian named Dong Lun, "You! You write it! Aren't you the best writer? Don't you want to record events truthfully? Now, I'll let you write an imperial edict that will go down in history!"

Dong Lun raised his head and looked calmly at Zhu Yuanzhang, neither resisting nor submitting.

He simply picked up a pen and spread out a sheet of paper.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in satisfaction, assuming that Dong Lun had yielded.

He thought that his imperial power had finally triumphed over the ridiculous "historical record" once again.

"Write it! Tell them! They are all sinners against the Ming Dynasty! They are traitors and rebels! They have betrayed our trust and the loyalty of the King of Ying!"

"Let's give them some dignity! Let them commit suicide! Otherwise, once our army arrives, we'll tear them to pieces and exterminate their entire families!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice echoed in the empty hall, full of ostentatious majesty.

He could almost see the scene of those traitorous generals receiving the imperial edict, weeping bitterly, and then drawing their swords to commit suicide.

He seemed to have rediscovered that thrill of being in control of everything.

A series of absurd imperial edicts were written out in this eerie atmosphere.

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang used his blood-stained jade seal to press it heavily onto the surface.

"Send word! An urgent message, delivered by messenger over 800 li (approximately 400 kilometers), spread throughout the land!"

"We must let everyone know who truly reigns supreme in this Ming Dynasty!"

Dozens of Imperial Guards walked in from outside the palace. They expressionlessly took the imperial edicts, which everyone considered worthless, from the eunuchs, and then turned and left.

Their shadows, stretched long in the afterglow of the setting sun, appeared incredibly tragic and desolate.

They were not there to deliver an imperial edict.

They're going to their deaths.

Watching the departing figures of the Imperial Guards, Zhu Yuanzhang let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if his bones had been removed, and slumped onto the dragon throne.

He felt he had won.

With the last vestige of imperial dignity, he uttered his final roar.

He believed that his divine power would surely subdue those villains.

However, at that moment, a cold, hoarse voice filled with endless mockery rang out from beside him.

"Zhu Chongba".

It was Empress Ma.

She finally spoke.

She slowly raised her head, and her once gentle and tender eyes were now filled with a desolate wasteland and bone-chilling cold.

She looked at the man on the dragon throne who was still indulging in self-admiration.

Do you think everyone in the world is as foolish as my son, Mu Ying?

"With your imperial edict, you take command of a million troops, and the commander-in-chief commits suicide?"