Zhu Yuanzhang: My second son is invincible!

At midnight, Li Wenzhong gently knocked on the door of the palace.

"Your Highness, I have something to report."

Zhu Hui groggily opened her eyes and said, "Come in."

Li Wenzhong pushed open the door and came in, his body reeking of blood.

He saw Zhu Hui and Guanyin Nu lying on the bed, paused for a moment, and bowed his head, saying, "I'm disturbing Your Highness's rest..."

"It's alright, go ahead and speak." Zhu Li sat up and yawned.

"The first round of searches has been completed. In Kyoto, 87,643 adult men were killed and 52,100 women were captured, of whom 38,000 were of good appearance."

"More than 40,000 children have been taken into custody, and 300 boxes of gold and silver jewelry have been seized and are being inventoried," Li Wenzhong said, pulling a booklet from his pocket.

Zhu Hui scratched his head and said, "Oh, that's it?"

"Not yet. The city is too big; we can't search it all in one night. We'll continue tomorrow. Also... we caught a few interesting people," Li Wenzhong said after a pause.

"Who?"

"The head of the Japanese Onmyōryō (Bureau of Yin and Yang), members of the Abe family, and the abbots of several large temples are willing to surrender, saying they can help us appease the people. I think these charlatans will be useful if we keep them around."

A cold glint flashed in Li Wenzhong's eyes.

Zhu Hui, unaware of these matters, waved his hand and said, "Cousin, you handle it. Eldest brother said you're in charge of the war."

"Yes, there's one more thing... What should we do with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu? Kill him... or take him to Yingtian?" Li Wenzhong hesitated for a moment before speaking.

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Hui said, "My elder brother said he wants it alive, so we can take it back to Father to see."

"Understood." Li Wenzhong nodded and left.

The door closed.

Guanyin Nu asked softly, "Husband, those women...do we really have to take them all back to the Ming Dynasty?"

"Well, my elder brother said they'll be assigned to the soldiers as wives, have children, and then they'll be Ming citizens. Go to sleep! We still have work to do tomorrow," Zhu Li said after lying down.

"What kind of work?"

"Taking Kyoto is just the beginning. There are still many places in Japan that we haven't conquered yet! But it's alright, the airship is fast, we can go to one place a day, it'll be quick." Zhu Li said with his eyes closed.

Guanyin Nu stopped speaking.

She listened to the sounds outside the window gradually fading away.

The massacre continued, but it was now taking place far from the palace area.

That night, blood flowed like a river in Kyoto.

……

The next day, at Chen Shi (7-9 AM).

Zhu Hui woke up naturally, and when she opened her eyes, Guanyin Nu was already up and combing her hair.

"Good morning, wife." Zhu Li sat up and stretched.

"Good morning, General Li has been waiting outside the hall for an hour," Guanyin Nu said.

"Oh, let him wait!" Zhu Li slowly put on her clothes.

When the two finished washing up and walked to the front hall, Li Wenzhong was indeed standing there, his eyes bloodshot, but he was in high spirits.

"Your Highness, the results of last night can be summarized as follows: a total of 113,000 people were killed, 68,000 women were captured, and 50,000 children were taken prisoner. In addition, there is a stronghold in the west of the city, which is defended by the Onmyoji of the Tsuchimikado family in Kyoto. They are putting up a stubborn resistance, and the Imperial Guards have attacked it three times without success."

He handed over the new booklet and said.

"An Onmyoji?" Zhu Li recalled the person in white clothes in front of the palace gate yesterday.

"Yes, they are skilled in creating barriers and using shikigami, which is a bit troublesome. I originally wanted to use psionic cannons to bombard them, but I was afraid of damaging the surrounding houses..." Li Wenzhong said with a frown.

"Take me to see it," Zhu Li said.

"Yes."

The group left the palace and rode their horses westward into the city.

The scene on the streets was bleak.

The bodies hadn't been completely cleared away yet; they were piled up by the roadside, and the blood had stained the bluestone pavement brown.

The surviving Japanese civilians hid in their homes with doors and windows tightly shut, and occasionally the sound of children crying could be heard.

The Imperial Guards on patrol bowed to Zhu Hui upon seeing him.

Upon arriving in the west of the city, they indeed saw a rather large mansion, shrouded in a light blue glow.

Dozens of Imperial Guard corpses lay outside the light barrier, all killed by the backlash from the barrier when they attempted a direct assault.

Inside the light barrier, one could vaguely see a figure dressed in a white hunting robe moving about.

"Your Highness, this is the place. It cannot be cut by a sword, nor pierced by an arrow, nor can it be burned by fire," Li Wenzhong said, pointing to the array's protective barrier.

Zhu Hui dismounted, walked to the light shield, and reached out to touch it.

This was the first time Zhu Li had ever seen such a formation. Unexpectedly, it felt like tough rubber, yet it was elastic.

He pressed down hard, and the array's protective barrier dented, but it didn't break.

"That's interesting." Zhu Li became interested.

He took two steps back and pressed his right hand against his left arm.

Xingtian Axe appears.

Upon seeing the axe, the Onmyoji inside the light barrier stirred with excitement. Some began rapidly forming hand seals, deepening the color of the light barrier from light blue to dark blue.

Zhu Li didn't immediately chop it open, but instead asked Li Wenzhong, "How many people are inside?"

"About two hundred, all elites of the Tsuchimikado family," Li Wenzhong said.

"Oh." Zhu Hui nodded, then gripped the axe with both hands and made a diagonal chopping motion.

It's not splitting the light shield, it's splitting the ground.

The axe blade touched the ground.

There was no loud noise, no explosion.

But ripples spread across the ground like water, centered on the point where the axe blade struck.

As the ripples spread beneath the light shield...

Click.

The light shield started to crack from the bottom, like an eggshell being broken from the inside.

The cracks spread upwards, instantly covering the entire light shield.

Then, with a crash, it shattered.

The Onmyoji inside the light barrier all coughed up blood, and most of them collapsed to the ground.

Zhu Hui put away his axe and said to Li Wenzhong, "Alright, go in and arrest them."

Li Wenzhong was dumbfounded.

He spent half the night trying to break down the barrier, but he just... took it down with a single axe stroke.

Moreover, it wasn't splitting the barrier, it splitting the ground, shattering the barrier's foundation through the ground.

What kind of playing style is this...?

But military orders are absolute, and he immediately waved his hand and said, "Charge in! Kill any who resist!"

The Imperial Guards poured into the courtyard.

The resistance was weak, and the backlash from the shattered barrier rendered most of the Onmyoji powerless.

A few that were still able to move summoned shikigami, which were mostly small monsters like cat demons and dog gods, but they quickly crumbled under the swords and arrows of the Imperial Guards.

The battle ended after half an incense stick's time.

One hundred and seventy people were captured, and more than forty were killed.

Li Wenzhong led out an old man with white hair and said, "Your Highness, this is the head of the Tsuchimikado family, a descendant of Abe no Seimei."

The old man's face was deathly pale, but his eyes remained defiant. He spoke in Chinese, "You... destroyed the barrier... what kind of evil magic did you use?"

Zhu Hui scratched his head and said, "I just chopped the ground."

The old man was stunned for a moment, then gave a bitter laugh: "A ground-splitting blow... What a powerful ground-splitting blow... My Tsuchimikado's thousand-year-old barrier couldn't withstand a single strike..."

He suddenly knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "General, I am willing to surrender and serve the Ming Dynasty. I only beg for the lives of my people!"

Li Wenzhong looked at Zhu Li.

Zhu Hui asked, "What can he do?"

"Yin-Yang techniques, feng shui, exorcising evil spirits, curing diseases... they're still somewhat useful," Li Wenzhong said.

"If that's all the use, just kill him!" Zhu Hui shook his head and said.

Li Wenzhong waved his hand, and soldiers came over, grabbed them, and dragged them away.

Amidst this, screams of agony could be heard.

Just then, a centurion of the Imperial Guard rushed in: "General, a silver treasury has been discovered in the east of the city!"

"The treasury?" Li Wenzhong's eyes lit up.

"Yes, the Ashikaga family's private treasury, it's...it's filled with silver! And gold!"

Zhu Hui also became interested and said, "Let's go take a look."