Ming Dynasty: Gain one supernatural power every day

Zhu Gaoxi watched the video twice in the cloud.

I think this candid shot was taken from a tricky angle, and the footage was incredibly steady, capturing the old man's expression of "I can use both kindness and severity at will."

He was just thinking about whether to back up and encrypt the video when he heard a commotion below.

"Fourth Brother! Fourth Brother! We're here!" Zhu Gaoxu's loud voice was as penetrating as ever, and could be heard from dozens of feet away.

He tilted his head back, waving one hand like a windmill, while tightly clutching the jade pendant in the other. He had just finished recording that video, and his first thought was to show it to his fourth brother, knowing that his fourth brother would definitely love to see this kind of thing.

Little did they know that the fourth brother had not only read it, but had read it twice.

Zhu Gaoxi descended from the clouds, and the somersault cloud landed steadily next to Zhu Di. He cupped his hands to Zhu Di and nodded to several generals as a greeting.

The generals returned the greeting with clasped hands, then continued to examine the jade tokens in their hands. They had just bound the tokens and were still enjoying them.

Zhu Gaoxi turned to Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu and said, "Father, Second Brother, the jade token has been sent to Mother. By this time, Mother should have already bound it. Eldest Brother and Third Brother should have also sent someone to deliver the message."

Suddenly, Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing nearby, shouted, "Father! Fourth Brother! Look at the jade pendant! Mother has finished preparing it!"

Zhu Di nodded, but his gaze involuntarily drifted to his jade pendant.

Suddenly, a new profile picture appeared in my contacts. In the photo, Empress Xu was holding a kitten, smiling at the camera with her eyes crinkling, exuding a dignified yet girlish charm.

The nickname was written neatly: "Empress Xu Miaoyun". Zhu Di stared at the portrait for several breaths, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curving slightly, before he quickly regained his imperial majesty.

What he was thinking was: After this battle, when we return to the palace, I must spend some quality time with Empress Xu. After all, she is full of energy now that she is young, and if she gives birth to a younger brother or sister for the fourth prince, he will definitely like it.

Zhu Gaoxu, standing nearby, was also looking down at the jade pendant. He glanced at Empress Xu's portrait, then looked at his own jade pendant, and began to mutter to himself: "I wonder when that silly woman, Lady Wei, will finally get it sorted out."

He had so much to say to her, he wanted to tell her what his fourth brother had given him again, and he wanted to show off how majestic he was riding on the back of the Fierce Tiger King today.

This video was just recorded. Well, I can't show it to Mr. Wei, or I'm afraid he'll lose his head. I can only show it to the fourth son.

The army continued its march along the official road towards Taiping Prefecture. Zhu Gaoxi glanced at the generals around him and noticed that the officers who had been studying the jade tablet just moments before were now completely engrossed in their phones.

Zheng Heng held the jade pendant in one hand and had gauze wrapped around the other, staring intently at it; Xue Lu and Zhang Fu huddled together studying the functions of the jade pendant, looking just like two old men who had just learned to use a mobile phone.

Zheng Heng, in particular, was intently studying how to change his nickname, the jade pendant in his hand still stained with blood.

Zhu Di had just created a private chat group for military officers to discuss the expedition to Annam. As for the group name, Zhu Di let them come up with it.

When it came to choosing a group name, the group discussed it for a long time. Since they were all military officers, they couldn't come up with a good name, so they called it "Military Officers Who Went to Annam".

As for their personal nicknames, they were even more unbearable to look at. Zheng Heng named himself "Lone Wolf," Xue Lu called himself "Tiger Descending the Mountain," while Zhang Fu was more conventional and simply used his own name.

Zhu Gaoxi glanced down from the clouds and saw these old generals riding on the backs of lions, their heads bowed as they intently played with jade pendants. The scene was incredibly incongruous.

He couldn't help but silently repent in his heart: I am guilty. I have turned all the generals of the Ming Dynasty into internet addicts. Fortunately, there are no short videos, otherwise what would be the point of fighting?

Meanwhile, in Kunning Palace of Yingtian Prefecture, Empress Xu had just finished binding the jade pendant when she sent someone to deliver a message to the Crown Prince, Prince Zhao, and several daughters-in-law.

The palace maids who delivered the message split into several groups. One group went to the Wenyuan Pavilion to find the Crown Prince, another group went to the Shipbuilding Department of the Ministry of Works to find Prince Zhao, and several other groups went to the residences of Prince Han and Prince Zhao respectively.

Actually, the princesses had planned to go to the palace to play mahjong today, and they had already packed their things.

According to the rules, noblewomen were not allowed to enter the palace without being summoned, but Empress Xu had already issued an edict, giving them tokens to enter the palace at any time.

With this decree, they could come whenever they wanted, which was very convenient.

Inside the Prince of Han's residence, Lady Wei was about to leave when she heard a palace maid announce that her mother had something for her. She began to wonder: What good thing could it be that her mother sent someone on such a special errand? Could it be that her fourth brother had acquired something new and asked her to deliver it? But wasn't her fourth brother away on a campaign? Oh well, she decided to go in and see for herself.

The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. She quickly changed her clothes and prepared to ride the cloud to the palace.

In Kunning Palace, just as Empress Xu was getting familiar with the chat interface of the jade pendant, Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi and Prince Zhao Zhu Gaosui arrived first.

They were already handling government affairs in the palace, and after receiving the news, they came directly from the Wenyuan Pavilion and the Shipbuilding Department of the Ministry of Works, much faster than their daughters-in-law.

Empress Xu asked them to sit down and wait, saying that they would talk together once everyone had arrived.

Zhang Yan was the first to step through the palace gates; the East Palace was closest to the Kunning Palace, so she arrived the fastest. Lady Wei followed closely behind, rushing across the threshold, her forehead still damp with the fine sweat from her journey. Lady Weng arrived last, quietly offering a curtsy, a rare glint of curiosity in her usually calm eyes.

After Zhang Yan sat down, she spoke first, her tone tinged with curiosity: "Mother specifically asked us to come, saying she had something good for us, so we rushed over. We were originally planning to come back later, but as soon as we heard the news, we set off on a cloud."

Madam Wei paused for a moment, then said, "Indeed, when I heard Mother calling us, I quickly got ready and went out. Fourth Brother's cloud-borne journey is really convenient; I don't know how long it would take to travel by sedan chair normally."

Empress Xu smiled and gestured for them to sit down. She picked up several jade tablets from the table and handed them to each person present, one by one. "These are called sound transmission jade tablets. Your fourth brother specially flew back from the army to deliver them. From now on, you can use these to communicate no matter how far apart you are. Fourth Brother said that these are called celestial sound transmission artifacts, a divine power passed down from the Dao Ancestor. You can communicate even from a thousand miles away, and you can even talk face-to-face, as if the person is standing right in front of you."