Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 31 The Prelude to the Storm
The night is already very deep.

The days flew by amidst the tangled struggles and battles, a struggle that felt both dreamlike and undeniably real.

The East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace was completely silent, with only the candlelight on the huge dragon-patterned candlestick occasionally making a soft "crackling" sound.

Zhu Youjian sat in this lonely shadow.

Before him was the large imperial desk.

The memorials on the desk were still piled up like a mountain.

Yellow documents are regular reports from various ministries and departments, white documents are reports from censors and officials based on hearsay, and the top few documents, bound with black silk thread and sealed with sealing wax, are secret reports from the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhu Youjian had been sitting like this for two hours.

This has been his normal state since he transmigrated.

During the day, he was in the imperial court, engaging in silent power struggles with scheming civil officials, arrogant nobles, and greedy members of the imperial family.

Only when night falls and the entire Forbidden City is asleep can he shed all pretense in this small space and review these documents from all corners of the empire.

Each memorial to the throne was a window through which he saw not a prosperous and peaceful dynasty, but a giant riddled with problems and on the verge of collapse.

Southern gentry lamented the rampant bandits and the resulting suffering of the people, yet between the lines they cited classical texts to justify their own interests in their small plots of land.

The governor of the Grand Canal lamented the silted-up waterways and insufficient transport capacity, pleading with the court to allocate a large sum of money. However, the accompanying accounts were a mess that would give any official in the Ministry of Revenue a splitting headache.

He looked at the documents and reviewed them, but his heart remained coldly calm.

He had long been accustomed to all of this, accustomed to lies, accustomed to greed, accustomed to incompetence.

Until Wang Chengen's figure appeared silently at the entrance of the warm pavilion, like a ghost.

Wang Chengen's footsteps were very light, but Zhu Youjian still noticed them.

"What is it?" He didn't look up, his voice sounding somewhat tired in the empty, warm room.

“Your Majesty,” Wang Chengen said in a very low voice, with a hint of urgency, “an urgent military report from Xuanfu.”

Zhu Youjian paused slightly as he reviewed the memorials with his vermilion brush.

Xuanfu.

One of the nine important border towns of the Ming Dynasty, and the northwest gateway to the capital.

"Send it up."

His voice remained calm.

Wang Chengen bowed, holding a leather tube that was somewhat blackened by sweat and dust in both hands, and quickly walked to the imperial desk, gently placing it down.

Zhu Youjian did not open it immediately.

He simply stared quietly at the leather tube, his deep eyes revealing emotions that no one could decipher.

He knew that what was inside was most likely another knife aimed at the chest of the dying giant that was the Ming Dynasty.

He slowly pulled out the military report written on thick hemp paper.

Unfold.

The bold and unrestrained handwriting, characteristic of border generals, came into view.

But what shines through between the lines is no longer boldness, but a despair that is almost heartbreaking.

The commander-in-chief of Xuanfu lamented the dire situation at the border in his military report.

Military pay has been in arrears for a full six months.

Half a year!

For the past six months, tens of thousands of soldiers in Xuanfu have not received a single penny of rations or pay.

The wives, children, and elderly at home had long been starving, and the morale of the troops had plummeted to a dangerously low point.

The side wall has collapsed in many places.

Those once impregnable city walls, built with countless manpower and resources, have developed dozens of gaps of varying sizes due to the erosion of wind and sand and the wear and tear of time. Some of these gaps are even large enough for several riders to pass through side by side.

As for the funds for repairs, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War have been passing the buck back and forth for months, and not a single tael of silver has actually been allocated to Xuanfu.

That once formidable natural barrier that instilled fear in countless nomadic peoples now resembles a tattered cotton-padded coat riddled with holes, shivering in the cold winds beyond the Great Wall.

The soldiers were poorly clothed and starving.

The nights beyond the Great Wall were bitterly cold, and many of his soldiers were still wearing only summer clothes, some even without a complete set of clothes.

They could only rely on each other's body heat at night to ward off the freezing cold that was enough to kill them.

The army's rations had long since run out, and they could only barely fill their stomachs by hunting wild game and digging up grass roots.

How can such an army fight?

The military report ended with an account that made Zhu Youjian's pupils suddenly contract. Just a few days earlier, a small group of Later Jin scouts, about thirty men, had brazenly sneaked into the pass through a gap in the collapsed border wall, burned down two beacon towers, looted a small village, and then calmly drove away before the border troops could assemble.

His border troops, suffering from prolonged hunger, had weak warhorses and damaged equipment, and were... unable to drive them away, and didn't even have the courage to pursue them.

We could only watch helplessly as the enemy moved through our defense zone as if it were empty!

……

Zhu Youjian finished reading it.

He held the military report quietly, without moving.

Wang Chengen knelt on the ground, not daring to even breathe. He could clearly feel a tangible rage spreading wildly from the young emperor on the throne.

However, what came to Zhu Youjian's mind was not the mournful face of the Xuanfu commander.

It wasn't those soldiers shivering in the cold wind, barely clothed.

It was not the common people who were wantonly plundered by the Later Jin scouts.

What appeared before his eyes was another memorial.

A secret memorial from Wei Zhongxian, which was kept by him.

The Secret Music depicts a completely different scene that takes place on the same land.

Right there at the border pass, while those border soldiers were starving and guarding the collapsed border wall.

One after another, large caravans organized by Shanxi merchants passed through the border wall unimpeded, greeted by smiling guards at the pass.

Those large trucks were not carrying ordinary goods.

It is the finest silk and brocade produced in the Jiangnan region.

It is a top-quality tea from Wuyi Mountain in Fujian.

It is a sturdy and durable iron pot made in Foshan, which can be exchanged for half a sheep.

Even... a large amount of food enough to feed tens of thousands of troops for several months!

The secret report detailed the prices of the transactions between the two parties. The grain that could sustain an ordinary family for several months inside the Great Wall was sold to the Later Jin people for several times the price when it reached the area outside the Great Wall! And the ironware was even speculated to an outrageously high price!

An absurd contrast.

On one side, the empire's army was struggling and losing all dignity for a bite to eat and a piece of clothing to keep warm.

On the other side are the empire's merchants, who are using the empire's most urgently needed resources to exchange for gold and silver that can make them richer than a country, in order to support the most vicious enemy that is frantically devouring the empire's flesh and blood!
One is the collapsed side wall that has been left unrepaired.

The other is a pass that is wide open to traitors!
"Ah……"

A laugh filled with endless mockery and chilling murderous intent escaped from deep within Zhu Youjian's throat.

The Ming Dynasty, rotten to the core, riddled with holes by money and self-interest from top to bottom!

An uncontrollable, violent rage, like volcanic lava, broke through all the barriers he had built with reason and forbearance, instantly engulfing his entire body!
Zhu Youjian suddenly stood up from his throne!
The movement was so swift that it knocked over a pen holder behind him, and the wolf-hair vermilion brush rolled to the ground with a crisp sound.

But he ignored it.

He clutched the military report from Xuanfu, stained with the blood and tears of the border soldiers, his veins bulging on the back of his hand!

Zhu Youjian was not angry at the incompetent general.

He wasn't even angry at those greedy officials in the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War.

He was furious at the rotten and hopeless Ming Dynasty!
"boom!!!"

Zhu Youjian used all his strength to slam the military report hard onto the cold gold bricks in the center of the empty hall!

"The nation is in peril, facing enemies both inside and outside!!"

His voice was no longer calm as usual, but a roar filled with endless killing intent, as if coming from the depths of hell!

"The border troops are without clothes or food, and the people are displaced, yet these guys use their blood and sweat to exchange for their own wealth and glory!"

"Shameless! Despicable! Worse than a beast!"

“He should be executed!!!”

The last two words, like two red-hot iron hammers, slammed heavily into the palace that symbolized the highest power of the empire, their echoes lingering for a long time.

Wang Chengen buried his head even deeper.

He had served Zhu Youjian for many years and had never seen this young emperor, who had been so patient and restrained, unleash such terrifying wrath!
He knew that things were about to change.

An unprecedented bloodbath, capable of claiming countless lives, is about to begin!

　Dear Emperors, I have seen the book review. From now on, I will be more careful in using modern terms that might be considered out of place.

　　Please feel free to provide any good opinions or suggestions.
　　I have nothing to repay you with buttock lift.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)