Ming Dynasty: He was ordered to give lectures in prison, but Lao Zhu eavesdropped and made people nu

Chapter 729 The Curse of Hongwu
A river breeze, carrying the smell of gunpowder, swept across Swallow Rock. Three hundred white horses bowed their heads to drink in the shallows, their manes still stained with undried blood. Mu Ying staggered across the rocky beach, blood seeping from the gaps in his armor leaving a trail of meandering marks behind him. When he finally found Zhu Yuanzhang, the morning light slanted across half of the emperor's face—a face that looked as young as a thirty-year-old general, while the other half of his face was as withered as a centenarian.

"His Majesty!"

Mu Ying's exclamation startled a flock of waterbirds. Zhu Yuanzhang's left hand gripped the charred plank of the boat tightly, while his right hand remained in a sword-wielding posture, even though the Crimson Cloud Sword was nowhere to be found. Most strangely, his eyes were the most bizarre—his left pupil had turned a pure gilded gold, while his right eye was a murky gray-white.

"Mu Ying," the emperor's voice seemed to come from beneath the water, sometimes near, sometimes far, "look at this river, doesn't it resemble the blood-red waves of Poyang Lake back then?"

The young marquis followed the emperor's gaze, and suddenly, countless tiny whirlpools surged on the calm river surface. At the center of each whirlpool floated a fragment of bone, the size of a fingernail, with the barely visible characters "Bingchen" inscribed on it. Even more terrifying, these bone fragments were slowly piecing together with the current to form a complete human figure!

Mu Ying drew her sword to strike, but Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed her wrist. The emperor's palm was incredibly hot; in that instant of contact, Mu Ying saw a hallucination—in the earth-shattering battle of the previous night, Empress Ma's body was not hanging from the mast, but had willingly merged with the ghost ship. In her final moments, she transformed her life's power into a rebirth flame, incinerating the core of Chen Youliang's vengeful spirit from within.
"Xiuying—she…" Golden tears of blood streamed from Zhu Yuanzhang's left eye, while his right eye remained dry and cracked like earth. "She has always been smarter than me."

The river wind suddenly became biting. Mu Ying noticed that the emperor's youthful half of his face was rapidly aging, while his previously withered right cheek was strangely plumping up. Even more horrifying, the golden blood on the charred ship's plank began to flow backward, spreading upward along Zhu Yuanzhang's arm, cracking the flesh wherever it passed, revealing the golden bones beneath!
"Quickly!" Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly sprang to his feet, ripping open Mu Ying's breastplate. "The Gu poison the Lin family planted on you hasn't been cleared!"

Mu Ying looked down and saw that the red mark on his chest was fading, and blue threads were faintly moving beneath his skin. Without hesitation, the emperor pressed the ship's plank against his chest. Amidst the acrid smell, Mu Ying saw countless tiny blue insects being sucked out of his pores and disappearing into the ship's plank.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't!" Mu Ying tried to break free, but found that Zhu Yuanzhang's hand was as firm as an iron clamp, completely immobile. The piece of boat plank, having absorbed the poison, gradually turned into a strange blue-gold color, and the two characters "Bingchen" on it began to wriggle and recombine, transforming into the four smaller characters "Hongwu Thirty-One"!
Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly burst into laughter, the sound rippling across the river: "Well done, Chen Youliang! So this is where you were waiting for me!" He released his grip, and the plank of the boat fell to the ground with a "thud," instantly sprouting countless roots that burrowed into the sand. In the blink of an eye, a strange tree burst forth from the earth, and on its trunk emerged a clear outline of a human face—it was none other than a young Chen Youliang!
Mu Ying's sword was only half-drawn when the strange tree burst into bloom with blood-red flowers. Within each flower's stamen sat a miniature Zhu Yuanzhang, some in battle, some governing, and some fast asleep. In the largest flower at the very top, curled up, was an old emperor with white hair, a familiar short sword embedded in his chest—the very same sword Zhu Biao had used to commit suicide!
"Father and son killing each other." A hoarse laugh came from Chen Youliang's face on the tree trunk. "This is the most poisonous curse."

Zhu Yuanzhang's left eye suddenly blazed with golden light. He plunged his bare hand into his chest and snapped a rib in two. The bone fragment gleamed metallically in the sunlight, and the broken surface was shockingly hollow—hidden inside was a miniature imperial edict!
"Mu Ying, heed the imperial decree." The emperor's voice suddenly became incredibly clear, as if in a final burst of energy before death. "Effective immediately, strip Lan Yu of all his titles, and his female relatives are confiscated."

Before he could finish speaking, the strange tree suddenly shook violently. All the blood flowers exploded simultaneously, and the miniature Zhu Yuanzhangs within them fell to the ground, instantly turning into blue flames that scattered upon impact. Mu Ying watched helplessly as the emperor's body began to become transparent, first his limbs, then his torso, until finally only his half-gold, half-gray head remained suspended in the air!
"Go find Daoyan." The head's lips continued to open and close, each word transforming into a golden talisman branded onto Mu Ying's arm. "Have him scatter my ashes here..." The last few words were blown away by the river wind. Mu Ying frantically rushed forward, only to clutch an empty dragon robe. Slowly drifting down from within the robe were not ashes, but twelve dragon scales, each engraved with a place name—the very locations of the twelve dragon veins of the Ming Dynasty!
"His Majesty--!"

Mu Ying's wailing startled all the birds roosting in the forest. When he looked up, the strange tree had withered, and the face of Chen Youliang on the trunk had transformed into the likeness of Zhu Yuanzhang. Even more bizarrely, all the white horses simultaneously reared up, their eyes turning into pure, shimmering gold.

Three hundred white horses neighed in unison, their roar shaking the river and causing it to flow backward. Mu Ying vaguely saw a transparent Zhu Yuanzhang sitting on each horse, some wielding swords, some holding pens, and some carrying the imperial seal. This ghostly procession turned and galloped towards Yingtian Prefecture, golden ice crystals forming on the river's surface wherever their hooves trod.
Three days later, when Mu Ying returned to the palace with the dragon robe and dragon scales, the entire Yingtian Prefecture was eerily silent. The city guards said that at midnight the previous night, they had seen three hundred white horses enter the city through the Xuanwu Gate, but there were no riders on the horses. Even stranger, at the morning court the next day, all the officials had inexplicably developed a red, flame-shaped mark on their chests.

The monk Daoyan received the twelve dragon scales in the Jinshen Hall. For the first time, this usually unfathomable strategist showed surprise—when he pressed the dragon scales onto the "Great Ming Unified Map," each scale corresponded precisely to a vital point on the dragon vein. And the location covered by the twelfth dragon scale was none other than the Prince of Yan's residence in Beiping!
"General Mu," Dao Yan's voice was heavier than ever before, "do you know what His Majesty's last words were?"

Mu Ying shook her head, but then saw the old monk take out a brocade pouch from his sleeve. Inside was half a charred memorial, in which the words "If I die from poison, then the throne shall be passed on" could be vaguely discerned, but the rest of the content was covered by bloodstains.

At the same moment, fishermen in Quanzhou Port pulled a peculiar piece of wood from the sea. The front was engraved with "Hongwu Thirty-One," while the back featured a miniature carving: Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma stood side-by-side at the bow of a boat, with countless Japanese pirate corpses floating in the waves below. Most strangely, a corner of the wood was neatly chipped off, as if it had originally been part of a larger artifact.
In the deepest part of Poyang Lake, the Crimson Sky Sword lies silently embedded in the wreckage of the sunken ship. The original inscription on the sword has disappeared, replaced by two newly engraved lines of small characters:

The grudges of the Bingchen year are settled today.
"The sun and moon of Hongwu shine forever"

The hair wrapped around the hilt of the sword was a lock of Empress Ma's black hair.

(End of this chapter)