Who killed the Ming Dynasty?

Shi Kefa picked up the celadon covered bowl with three fingers, and lightly scraped the tea foam from the rim with his fingertips.

"His Majesty, mindful of the general's arduous service on the frontier, has specially ordered me to deliver 50,000 shi of summer grain, however—"

He lowered his eyes and sipped his tea.

"This grain is currently being transported north along the Grand Canal to the Xuzhou camp."

"What a bland and tasteless form of divine grace!"

Gao Jie's hand on the dagger suddenly stopped, the blade reflecting his twitching right cheek.

"Is Minister Shi trying to starve my men? The salt smugglers and unscrupulous merchants of Yangzhou are all incredibly wealthy!"

He slammed his hand on the table, making the bowls and dishes clang loudly.

"These 30,000 knives of mine crawled out of piles of corpses. Now that we're in this prosperous place—we're not moving!"

The lantern outside the tent swayed, casting their shadows, which appeared to be sometimes long and sometimes short.

With a flick of his wrist, Gao Jie plunged the dagger into the half-cooked lamb leg on the table with a "thud," splattering oil everywhere.

"Let me be frank with Minister Shi: my cooks have prepared enough rations for 30,000 men."

"Salt merchant Shen Yutang rewarded the army last night, saying that he had 300,000 taels of silver hidden in his cellar and was willing to reward our army."

Shi Kefa slowly rose from his seat, his eyes piercing Gao Jie:

"General, have you heard the saying 'Spilled water cannot be gathered up again'?"

Before he finished speaking, he flicked his sleeve, and with a crisp "crack," the teacup shattered, shards of porcelain and foamy tea spilling all over the floor.

"We are surrounded by foreign enemies and plagued by internal troubles. If we were to turn against each other now, how would that be any different from the destruction of the country? Would the general really become a sinner for all time?"

"Stop giving me that high-sounding talk!"

Gao Jie suddenly stood up, and the tiger-skin chair tipped over backward with a loud bang.

He took a step forward, his tall figure instantly closing in on Shi Kefa.

The flickering firelight inside the tent cast intermittent shadows on the tense faces of the two men.

"Twenty thousand corpses paved this path to survival! Why should I be the one to stand in front and act as a human shield?"

Shi Kefa remained silent, only bending down to pick up a piece of sheep bone from the ground, wiping away the oil residue remaining between the bone crevices with his fingers.

Suddenly, he threw the bone back onto the table:

"Does the general know what a starving dog is like, gnawing on a bone?"

"They bar their teeth while licking the marrow, and brandish their claws while swallowing the scraps—but how long can these bits of greasy meat between the bones last?"

He raised his hand and gestured vaguely in the direction of the canal.

"General, have you heard of the rules for transporting grain on the Grand Canal? The water flows from south to north; there is absolutely no reason for it to go against the flow."

"The 50,000 shi of newly harvested wheat should be passing through the Qingjiang Sluice Gate by now. However..."

Shi Keya's tone shifted abruptly; she lowered her voice and leaned close to Gao Jie's ear.

"If the banner at the gate is changed to read 'By Imperial Order, I Guard Xuzhou,'"

"This cabinet immediately issues the order—to fill all the marching cauldrons in the grain transport fleet."

Gao Jie's eyes widened. He knew better than anyone that once the grain ships passed the Qingjiang Sluice Gate, they would never be able to fly back to Yangzhou, even if they had wings.

Suddenly, a burst of sparks erupted from the candlelight inside the tent.

Gao Jie took a step back and slammed his fist on the table with a thud.

"I'm going to see for myself!"

"Will the grain transported from the Grand Canal arrive in Xuzhou first, or will the silver hoarded by the Yangzhou salt merchants arrive in my military treasury first?"

The roar made the goose-feather helmet hanging from the top of the tent sway slightly, and the two guards subconsciously pressed their hands on the hilts of their swords.

"This department might as well be frank with the General!"

Shi Kefa lowered his eyes and straightened his clothes.

"General, you have stationed yourself in Yangzhou without imperial orders. Do you remember the old saying: 'How can one allow another to snore beside one's bed?'"

He approached Gao Jie again, his voice soft yet deep.

"The general is now like a knife hanging over His Majesty's pillow! An uncontrollable blade."

He stared intently at Gao Jie.

"General, do you think you'll be able to sleep soundly?"

In that instant, Shi Kefa and Gao Jie's eyes met, and the candlelight reflected in their pupils seemed to ignite into two cold flames.

Gao Jie's eyes suddenly narrowed, bloodshot, and their breaths hit each other's faces, almost extinguishing the candle flame on the desk under the invisible killing intent.

He suddenly grabbed the dagger, its cold light flashing past Shi Kefa's ear before it pierced the pillar supporting the tent with a "thud".

A strand of hair fell silently from Shi Kefa's temple.

The hilt of the sword was still vibrating and humming, but Shi Kefa didn't even flinch.

"The 30,000 men of the Shenji Battalion are currently practicing firearms at Yanziji. General, this is the main tent at the gate—"

"I'm afraid that in the blink of an eye, I'll become someone else's celebratory feast."

He flicked his wide sleeves, and the candlelight suddenly dimmed, almost going out.

"The iron cavalry of all the garrisons are ready for battle! Anyone who dares to defy the imperial majesty will have their liver and brains spilled on the ground, their blood staining the Huaiyang region!"

Shi Kefa pointed his halberd outside the tent with his right hand, and shouted like thunder:

"The blades of the three armies are already bleeding from hunger, waiting to use the heads of traitors—to offer as a sacrifice to His Majesty's banner!"

The oily sweat on Gao Jie's beard gleamed coldly in the candlelight. He stared at the dagger on the pillar, then suddenly kicked over the rack.

Shi Kefa took advantage of the situation and pressed closer:

"His Majesty will soon personally lead an expedition to the north to attack Dezhou. At that time, the Xuzhou camp will no longer be a target for arrows—if the general does not obey the imperial edict at this time..."

"What if we disobey the imperial edict?"

Before Shi Kefa could finish speaking, Gao Jie roared back.

"Three paths lie before the general."

Shi Kefa traced the lines on the table with his finger, the sound deep and resonant like water.

"Firstly, surrender or rebel? Those bandits have long since incurred a blood feud with the general, having abducted his wife and burned his stronghold!"

"Secondly, should they surrender to the Jurchens?"

"If Dorgon uses you as cannon fodder to fill the trenches, does the general think he's either dealing with a tiger for its skin or digging his own grave?"

Suddenly, the warhorses outside the tent neighed, and the flickering torches illuminated the lines between Shi Kefa's brows.

He suddenly placed his hand on Gao Jie's shoulder, his voice lowered, yet each word carried immense weight:

Thirdly, only by obeying the imperial edict to move the army to Xuzhou can we maintain our reputation for loyalty and filial piety!

His five fingers suddenly tightened.

Gao Jie's bare chest heaved violently with each breath, his muscles tense, yet he did not shake off that hand.

The flickering light cast the silhouettes of the two figures onto the tent, making them look like two frozen stone sculptures.

A deathly silence suddenly fell inside the tent.

Suddenly, a slight commotion arose outside the tent, and the silence was broken by the hushed voices of the guards trying to dissuade them.

Immediately afterwards, a clear female voice pierced through the curtains:

"If my son acknowledges the Minister as his godfather, we will retreat thirty li tonight."

The curtain was suddenly lifted, and in the flickering candlelight, a slender yet spirited figure stepped into the tent.

She wore a pomegranate-red vest, covered with a plain soft armor, her left hand holding a white porcelain tea tray, and her right arm steadily cradling a brocade swaddle.

Madam Xing!

Shi Kefa suddenly turned his head.

Lady Xing was Li Zicheng's first wife. She was intelligent, brave, and resourceful. While serving in Li Zicheng's army, she was in charge of the allocation of military supplies.

In the eighth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, her affair with her subordinate general Gao Jie was exposed.

To avoid being killed, the two conspired to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, and Gao Jie became a valiant general under the court.

She slammed the white porcelain plate onto the cypress table with a clang.

Suddenly, the swaddling clothes were lifted, revealing the baby's tiny, pink feet resting on the edge of the wine vessel:

"Minister Shi, please look, this child just suckled the colostrum from the banks of the Yangtze River last night."

Madam Xing pulled the dagger from the pillar with her left hand, threw it onto the table with a clang, and then said:

"If this child were to cry blood at the gate of the camp, it might disturb the heroic spirit of Emperor Taizu in the pine forest of Xiaoling Mausoleum."