Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 171 Cannon Pointed at Chu Ze! Is this an attempt to intimidate the Marquis of Pingliao?

The official road from Yanjiao to the capital.

The frigid north wind howled shrilly, carrying large clumps of snowflakes that relentlessly pounded onto the muddy, frozen ground. After being trampled repeatedly by tens of thousands of soldiers, the snow melted into a patch of dark red ice and mud.

Chu Ze rode a tall, pure black horse, his expensive black fox fur coat billowing wildly in the wind. He tightened the reins and walked at the head of the procession, his back ramrod straight, letting the snow powder mixed with ice shards slap his face, his deep eyes fixed on the outline of the capital city deep in the snowstorm.

Closely following them were one hundred selected core players. Clad in gaudy, coarse cotton-padded coats, they trudged through knee-deep snow. Their faces showed no trace of the awe or fear expected of someone summoned to the capital to meet the emperor. Their eyes, gleaming with an intensely greedy green light in the dim daylight, stretched their necks out, rummaging around with unrestrained lust.

when!when!when!

An extremely piercing metallic clang suddenly exploded in the wind and snow.

Shi Dali's massive body was bent over beside the official road, his thick arms with bulging veins, his hands gripping a chipped entrenching tool tightly, frantically hacking at a half-person-high boundary marker of the Ming Dynasty. The iron blade of the shovel rubbed violently against the hard bluestone, bursting out large, blinding sparks.

"Brother Dali, why are you knocking on this broken rock? Are you bored?" Qian Lele rubbed her hands, which were red from the cold, and stepped forward, looking puzzled.

Shi Dali shoveled a large chunk of rock, grinning wildly with his yellow teeth, and let out an extremely arrogant laugh. "You know nothing! This stone is engraved with the words of the Ming Dynasty government; it's a genuine antique! Bringing it back to the main city will definitely earn us a ton of merit points! The capital city instance is overflowing with gold; we can't even let a brick go to waste! I'm going to stuff this boundary marker into my backpack and take it with me!"

Beside the ruins of an abandoned post station not far away, Zhou Keke, with a charred, broken iron pot on her head, lunged forward, her hands gripping a half-burnt load-bearing wooden pillar tightly. Her eyes gleamed, her fingers frantically tracing the rough wood grain, her excited voice splitting into two. "Brothers! We're rich! Look at this grain, it's definitely top-grade golden nanmu! Even though it's half-burnt, it'll be worth a fortune to make furniture out of it! Quick! Get a saw! Cut it off at the base and take it!"

Upon hearing the command, several civil engineering students' eyes gleamed with a green light, and they pounced forward with howls. They pulled out crude iron saws and frantically yanked back and forth at the charred wooden pillar. Large shards of wood mixed with ice flew wildly in the cold wind.

Wang Han stood in the wind, hissing from the cold, clutching a tattered notebook tightly in his hand. In his other hand, he gripped a charcoal pencil, scribbling rapidly across the paper, and shouted in his hoarse voice, "Half a broken pillar from the post station, two pieces of broken boundary marker stones..."

"A stray dog's carcass, frozen to death, lies by the official road! Make sure you remember it all! Don't miss a single penny; we'll settle the accounts and distribute the profits back in town!"

Qin Jue walked at the very edge of the group, his footsteps so light they were barely audible. With practiced ease, he tossed a fine steel dagger in his right hand, its sharp blade spinning rapidly in mid-air, reflecting a chilling, piercing light.

"Don't bother picking up this junk." Qin Jue's voice was icy cold, radiating undisguised killing intent. "Getting into the Forbidden City is the real prize. The first kill on the Emperor will drop an absolutely rare, dark gold-grade item. Don't even think about taking that head from me; it's mine."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Huaxue leaned closer, carefully pulling a sealed ceramic jar from her bosom, her face plastered with a twisted, fanatical smile. "I've brought ten canisters of enhanced biochemical gas bombs. I wonder how the ventilation system in the Forbidden City is."

If that old emperor doesn't know what's good for him, we'll just throw two jars into his warm chamber, and that'll make the old bastard feel like he's in heaven!

The unbridled conversation of this group of madmen, every single word carried by the cold wind, all disappeared into the swaying eight-bearer sedan chair in the middle of the procession.

Wang Chengen huddled tightly in the deepest corner of the sedan chair. Although there was a scorching hot gilded charcoal brazier inside, with heat rushing to his face, he felt a chill seeping from his very bones, and he shivered violently from the cold.

Bricks from the Forbidden City? The emperor's first killing? Poison gas? These living devils are not here to express their gratitude; they are clearly here to overthrow the emperor's throne and slaughter the entire Ming Dynasty court! Wang Chengen covered his mouth tightly with both hands, afraid that he would scream out of extreme fear. Cold sweat instantly soaked through his inner garment.

Wang Chengen gripped the imperial whisk tightly with both hands. His fingernails dug into the soft flesh of his palms, and fine blood seeped from between his fingers, yet he felt no pain whatsoever. The howling wind whipped up snow and ice, slamming against the sedan chair with a piercing shriek, but it couldn't drown out the unbridled ravings of the madmen outside.

These are not the guards and attendants of the Marquis of Pingliao! They are clearly a hundred man-eating demons crawling out of the deepest hell!

In their green-eyed gleam, the majestic capital of the Ming Dynasty was a treasure trove of gold and silver with its doors wide open, and the emperor, high above them, was a target to be slaughtered.

We absolutely cannot let them enter the city so unprepared! We must warn the Emperor immediately!

Wang Chengen abruptly flung open the heavy windproof curtain of the sedan chair. A rush of icy shards instantly poured in, slapping his pale, aged face hard. He screamed hysterically at the sedan bearers trudging against the wind outside, "Stop! Stop! This old man's bones can't take the jolting anymore! Get another sedan bearer!"

The journey came to an abrupt halt amidst the swirling snow.

Wang Chengen shivered and beckoned to a trusted eunuch who was with him. He leaned halfway out, his parched lips pressed directly against the eunuch's frozen, purple ear, his voice barely audible, filled with bone-chilling fear.

"Quickly, find the fastest post horse and take the shortcut back to the palace at full speed! Go directly to the Qianqing Palace to see the Emperor!" Wang Chengen's withered hands gripped the eunuch's arm tightly, his nails almost digging into the man's flesh. "Tell the Emperor that Chu Ze indeed only brought a hundred men, none of whom were wearing heavy armor. But these people—these people are not human! Your Majesty must be extremely careful! Extremely, extremely careful!"

The young eunuch was terrified by Wang Chengen's distorted expression. He nodded frantically, then turned and scrambled towards the back of the group. He untied the post horse, leaped onto its back, and spurred it on, galloping desperately along the desolate path.

Chu Ze sat steadily on the back of his pure black warhorse, letting the gale whip his dark fox fur coat. His deep eyes swept coldly over the retreating figure of the little eunuch in the snowstorm, his lips remaining expressionless.

Shi Dali, carrying a chipped entrenching tool, strode over through knee-deep snow. His face was contorted with bulging muscles, and his eyes gleamed with a ferocious green light. "Boss, that spineless old eunuch let a brat escape; he's definitely gone to report. Should I throw this shovel over and chop the kid's head off?"

Chu Ze raised his right hand, gloved in deerskin, and slowly pulled at the collar of his fox fur coat to block the cold wind from getting into his neck. A chillingly mocking smile slowly curled at the corner of his lips.

"Let him go. He's just a dog rushing off to deliver a death message; ignore him." Chu Ze's voice was exceptionally clear in the wind and snow, exuding absolute control. "Hide all that junk in your clothes well, lest you scare those precious officials and nobles in the capital before you even enter the city."

The Forbidden City, the warm pavilion of the Qianqing Palace.

The earthen ceiling was burning hot, and the sweltering, murky air churned violently within the bright yellow curtains, making it hard to breathe.

Zhu Youjian sat upright on the rosewood daybed, his withered fingers gripping the top-secret memorial that the messenger eunuch had just presented. The pages were deeply creased from his grip.

Wen Tiren, dressed in an inconspicuous blue cloth outfit, stood at the lower end with his back bent, not daring to even breathe loudly.

"Only a hundred men? None of them are wearing armor?" Zhu Youjian suddenly sprang up from his couch. His eyes, which were covered with dense red veins, instantly erupted with uncontrollable ecstasy, and his voice trembled violently.

Wen Tiren exhaled a long, turbid breath that had been trapped in his chest, raised his hand to stroke the sparse beard on his chin, and let out an extremely sinister laugh from deep in his throat.

"Your Majesty," Wen Tiren said, stepping forward, "I've said it before: Chu Ze is ultimately just a crude and uncultured brute. Does he really think that a single imperial edict and the empty title of Earl of Pingliao will guarantee him impunity in this capital?" His voice was low and calculating. "He abandoned tens of thousands of demon soldiers outside the pass, entering the capital alone with a mere hundred followers. He's courting death!"

Zhu Youjian's withered fingers landed heavily on the small rosewood table, striking it frantically, producing a rapid and muffled thud.

"One hundred men. Unarmored. Once he steps through the gates of this capital, he will be a living creature at my mercy!" Zhu Youjian gritted his teeth, the extreme fear he had been tormented by the Jurchens and their demon soldiers for days twisting into extreme tyranny at this moment.

"Your Majesty is wise." Wen Tiren clasped his hands, his eyes darting around in their sockets, a wicked plan forming in his mind once more. "However, the eunuch's secret report clearly states that this group acts madly, speaks wildly, and has no sense of reverence whatsoever. To be on the safe side, we must not let them enter the city gates so easily. We must first thoroughly crush their arrogance outside the city."

"Having dampened Chu Ze's arrogance, once he enters the Forbidden City, he naturally won't be able to cause any trouble."

Zhu Youjian stopped tapping his fingers, turned his head sharply, and stared intently at Wen Tiren's old face.

"Issue my secret decree." Zhu Youjian's dry voice forced out an extremely cold and murderous tone, the killing intent soaring to the ceiling of the warm pavilion. "Immediately send an order to Li Guozhen, the commander of the Beijing garrison. Tell him to personally lead his troops to Guangqumen and hold it at all costs! When Chu Ze arrives, do not open the city gate! Say it's to verify his identity and prevent Jurchen spies from infiltrating. Push all the cannons from the armory onto the city wall, pointing them all at the outside! Make Chu Ze dismount and walk through the city gate on foot! If he dares to utter a single word of dissent, he is disobeying the imperial decree and will be executed on the spot!"

"Your Majesty's show of force will surely terrify Chu Ze! Let him clearly understand whose world this Ming Dynasty truly belongs to!" Wen Tiren's knees buckled, and he knelt directly on the scorching gold bricks, loudly flattering and fawning, his face full of obsequiousness.

The wind and snow gradually subsided.

At the horizon, the majestic city walls of the capital city revealed their massive and breathtaking outline.

The dark blue-green city bricks exuded an extremely cold and oppressive aura under the bleak sunlight. The city wall, tens of meters high, stretched across the open field.

The troop approached Guangqumen.

Shi Dali, carrying an entrenching tool, looked up, his big eyes fixed on the towering city wall, drool almost dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"Good heavens! How many bricks is that! If I could dismantle all of this and carry it back to the main city, I could level up three times in a row!" Shi Dali turned to look at Zhou Keke. "Keke, do you even have enough explosives to blast a hole in this wall?"

Zhou Keke rolled her eyes and slapped Shi Dali on the back of the head.

"You know nothing! This is called a brick-clad city wall. It's all rammed earth inside, covered with blue bricks on the outside. Your little earthen explosive pack might make a sound at best, but it won't even break the outer layer. To dismantle this thing, you'd need a high-yield directional blast. And you'd have to find the load-bearing structure precisely."

Wang Chengen's heart pounded wildly as he listened inside the sedan chair, almost as if it would jump out of his throat.

These guys are such troublemakers! They haven't even entered the city yet, and they're already plotting how to blow up the capital's city walls!

The procession was still half a mile from the city gate.

The official road ahead was suddenly blocked by several rows of thick wooden barricades.

The extremely heavy drawbridge of Guangqumen hung high in the air. The heavy iron-clad city gate was tightly closed, leaving not even a crack.

Swords and spears stood guard atop the city walls.

A dense array of gunners, each holding a musket, pointed their dark muzzles directly at the official road below.

The most striking feature was the three massive bronze cannons that had been forcibly protruded from the city gate tower. The extremely large bronze muzzles were slightly lowered, and gunners holding torches stood beside the fuses. The torch flames leaped violently in the cold wind.

Chu Ze reined in his black horse and stopped in front of the barricade.

Wang Chengen scrambled out of the sedan chair. Looking at the tense scene on the city wall, his legs trembled with fear.

"Oh dear! What's going on!" Wang Chengen screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice hoarse. "Admiral Li! Admiral Li! I am Wang Chengen from the Directorate of Ceremonial! I have been ordered to welcome the Earl of Pingliao to the capital! Why haven't you lowered the drawbridge and opened the city gates yet!"

On the city wall, Li Guozhen, the commander of the Beijing garrison, strode to the parapet, dressed in an extremely ornate mountain-patterned armor. He placed his hands on his sword, looking down at the troops below with an arrogant air.

"Eunuch Wang! Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures!" Li Guozhen's voice boomed, brimming with arrogance and disdain. "Although the Jurchens have retreated, it's hard to guarantee that no spies have infiltrated the capital. I am ordered to guard the nine gates. Anyone entering the city must be rigorously verified!"

Li Guozhen's gaze bypassed Wang Chengen and landed directly on Chu Ze, who was riding on horseback, and he let out an extremely arrogant snort.

"Is that Chu Ze, the Marquis of Pingliao, standing beneath the city walls?"

Chu Ze sat on his horse, not even lifting his eyelids. He stared silently at the three barbarian cannons, a cruel smile curving his lips.

Seeing that Chu Ze was completely ignoring him, Li Guozhen's anger flared up. In this small territory of the capital, he, as the commander of the Beijing Garrison, had never been so ignored before.

"How dare you, Chu Ze! You dare to be so arrogant even in the capital!" Li Guozhen pointed at Chu Ze, erupting in a hysterical roar. "I don't care how many merits you've rendered outside the Great Wall, this is under the Emperor's nose! According to the military law of the Ming Dynasty, generals entering the capital must dismount, remove their armor, and enter the city on foot!"

Li Guozhen suddenly drew his sword from his waist, the blade pointing straight down.

"Men! Aim the cannons at me! Anyone who dares to take a single step forward without my order will be killed without mercy!"

On the city wall, hundreds of musketeers simultaneously pulled back their hammers. The clicking and clattering of the machines blended together.

The gunner brought the torch close to the fuse, ready to ignite it at any moment.

The atmosphere plummeted to freezing point.