In the Kunning Palace in the Forbidden City, Zhu Youjian, the Emperor of Heaven, sat on a rosewood chair carved with dragons. He was wearing a purple dragon robe, but those gorgeous embroideries could not hide Zhu Youjian's helplessness. He held his body tightly
He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling of the palace.
The ceiling of the palace is composed of gorgeous beams and nanmu carvings. In this queen's palace, the decoration on the roof beams is of course mainly based on phoenix patterns. Phoenix is the male and phoenix is the female. The gold-inlaid phoenix pattern represents the Empress of Ming Dynasty.
Mother honors the world.
It was already late at night, and more than a hundred copper lamps were lit in Kunning Palace. These copper lamps illuminated the carvings on the top of the palace, making them even more luxurious. However, at this time, Zhu Youjian's desperate expression
Below, those magnificent carvings look pale and feeble.
Zhu Youjian's wife, Queen Zhou, sat next to Zhu Youjian and kept wiping her tears with her hands. Concubine Yuan Guifei, Wang Guifei and Zhu Youjian's princesses knelt in front of the Ming Emperor, crying.
Zhu Youjian's sons stood outside, each with their heads lowered and their faces dejected. Prince Zhu Ci stood in the middle of the brothers with his eyes closed, saying nothing.
The entire Kunning Palace was filled with a depressing atmosphere that could not be dissipated, as if it was going to crush the family of the Great Tomorrow.
After a long time, Zhu Youjian finally moved. He took a deep breath through his nose, and then slowly exhaled all the air from his mouth.
After sighing, he became motionless again.
Wang Dehua, the eunuch of Dongchang who was standing outside the royal family, looked at Zhu Youjian's expression and finally couldn't stand it anymore.
Today is the day when Yang Guozhu launches a general attack on the Huben Army as planned. 400,000 Ming troops attack 40,000 Huben troops. According to Wang Dehua's estimation, this is a situation with a greater chance of winning.
However, Zhu Youjian, who issued the imperial edict for a general offensive, suddenly lost all confidence one day after the edict was issued and before the battle situation on the front line was reported back to the capital.
Wang Dehua didn't know whether Zhu Youjian's despair was correct, but he understood that the emperor was smarter than himself. If the Ming Dynasty had not been hopeless, Zhu Youjian must have been a qualified monarch. It is not so much Zhu Youjian who has reached this point.
It is better to say that it is the current situation that makes mistakes again and again.
Since Zhu Youjian is so desperate, the matter must be very dangerous.
Wang Dehua opened his mouth to say something, but closed his mouth again.
He swallowed and thought for a while.
In the end, he couldn't help but took a step forward and whispered: "Your Majesty..."
Taking a breath, Wang Dehua said loudly: "Your Majesty, the Wuqing frontline just started fighting today. Now the battle situation in the front is unknown. The scouts have not yet reported the battle situation. Why should your Majesty be so discouraged?"
"Your Majesty, Yang Guozhu is a veteran in planning for the country, and he has 60,000 elite soldiers at his disposal. It is impossible to say that he has defeated Wu Qing's Tiger Army."
Hearing Wang Dehua's words, Zhu Youjian closed his eyes helplessly.
After a long time, Zhu Youjian opened his eyes. He said slowly: "I regret that I shouldn't, I regret that I shouldn't..."
Zhu Youjian said sadly: "I regret that I should not have chosen to be an enemy of the world and beat Li Zhi as a traitor because of the greed in my heart."
Two tears suddenly welled up from Zhu Youjian's eyes, slowly falling on the face of the somewhat old middle-aged man.
"I actually chose to fight against the King of Qi who saved the Ming Dynasty. Now that the imperial edict to start the war has been issued, I realize the absurdity of this decision. How can the new army of the Beijing Camp, which has only trained for two years, be the opponent of the Huben Army that is invincible in all battles?
?How can I, a Ming Dynasty supported by a single person, fight against the people of the world?"
Zhu Youjian looked at the carved beams and painted pillars around him, shook his head, and sighed: "It's a pity, it's a pity that the palace and palace passed down by our ancestors, it's a pity that the country, the country, and the country were all ruined by me."
As he spoke, Zhu Youjian laughed miserably: "I ruined them all with my own hands."
Tears kept streaming down Zhu Youjian's face. By the end of his speech, Zhu Youjian was speechless.
Seeing Zhu Youjian's appearance, Wang Dehua took a breath and was speechless.
Wang Dehua felt as if his tongue was knotted and he was hesitating and unable to make any sound.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."
However, before Wang Dehua could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the cry of Zhu Youjian's third son, King Ding Zhu Cijiong. As if Zhu Cijiong felt that the situation was over, he lay down in the center of the hall and cried loudly. He beat desperately with his arms.
The ground seemed to break his arm.
Since his father Zhu Youjian concluded that this battle would be lost, Zhu Cijiong no longer had confidence in the situation.
Prince Zhu Ci finally couldn't control his emotions and began to wipe his tears with his sleeves.
The concubines who were kneeling in front of Zhu Youjian were even more desperate when they saw the men's appearance. They cried and cried one by one. Kunning Palace suddenly fell into a cry.
Wang Dehua looked at the emperor's family and opened his mouth, but he really didn't know what to say.
Suddenly, a young eunuch rushed in from outside the door.
"Your Majesty! Wang Chengen is back. Wang Chengen has returned from Wuqing with news!"
Zhu Youjian glared: "Where is Wang Chengen?"
The young eunuch lowered his head and said, "Wang Cheng'en has passed the Huangji Palace and is walking down the corridor."
Hearing these words, everyone in Kunning Palace stopped crying. They suddenly looked outside the palace, staring at the dark corridor outside the palace, waiting for Wang Chengen to convey the final result.
Although Zhu Youjian has realized that this battle will be lost, even if he thinks that he will lose 99% of the time, there is still a 100% chance of victory. Zhu Youjian felt his breathing quicken in an instant.
He stared outside Kunning Palace with his eyes wide open, his eyes getting redder and redder, waiting for the final result.
Outside the palace, the situation has become somewhat out of control.
Wang Chengen obviously kept changing horses and galloping to the capital. He wanted to report the battle situation in Wuqing to Zhu Youjian as soon as possible. He obviously didn't stop along the way. But Wang Chengen, who rushed to the imperial city at full speed, entered the Forbidden City.
But my feet felt like lead, and every step towards Kunning Palace required tremendous strength.
The maids and eunuchs in the palace all looked at Wang Chengen eagerly and surrounded him. Some people asked Wang Chengen loudly, trying to know the battle situation on the front line in advance.
The decisive battle between Wu and Qing could directly determine the life and death of the Ming Dynasty. If the battle were lost, the Ming Dynasty would be doomed. The emperor would no longer be an emperor, all order would be overturned, and all rules in the palace would be meaningless.
The eunuchs and maids no longer cared about propriety at this time, and all gathered behind Wang Chengen, hoping to learn the key situation from Wang Chengen earlier.
But Wang Chengen didn't say a word and just walked slowly towards Kunning Palace.
More and more people left their posts and followed Wang Chengen.
Followed by hundreds of people, Wang Chengen finally walked to Kunning Palace and saw the emperor Zhu Youjian looking at him with wide eyes.
The moment Wang Chengen saw Zhu Youjian, tears shed uncontrollably in his eyes.
He plopped down and knelt at the door of the palace, kowtowing to Zhu Youjian repeatedly, but could not say a word.
