Emperor Ming: Your Majesty, you have caused me so much suffering.

Chapter 102 If you don't give me an explanation, I'll take your head.

In front of Xuanwu Gate.

The more than one hundred palace cavalrymen who had escaped lay prostrate on the ground, trembling.

Wang Jing and the others prostrated themselves to beg for forgiveness, with Wu Xing's corpse lying on his side beside Wang Jing.

Because Wu Xing was shot with arrows both before and after his death, he couldn't even lie flat, and his death was extremely gruesome.

Yu Qian and the others who rushed from the North Gate, along with Wang Zhi, Chen Mao, and others, had solemn expressions on their faces; their commander had been killed in battle.

Yu Qian's brows furrowed even more deeply. His temporary deployment was already extremely thorough, and Wu Xing was a veteran general of the Divine Machine Battalion, as was Wang Jing. How could they have lost more than half of their troops before reinforcements arrived?

Looking at the tragic state of Wuxing, Zhu Qiyu couldn't believe that this man had been fighting alongside him during that night raid, and that he had personally lit the second cannon. He never imagined that they would part ways so soon.

Zhu Qiyu looked at Wang Jing and said, "Tell me, why did the defeat happen so quickly?"

Wang Jing pleaded guilty, saying, "Your Majesty, the Oirat sent their retired emperor, and the soldiers all saw it, causing great chaos in the army. Commander Wudu believed that the enemy's retired emperor was an imposter, so he opened fire on the dragon flag and then used fire brigades and archers to suppress them. The Oirat cavalry's attacks were repeatedly thwarted, and they began to consider retreating."

Upon hearing this, the ministers' expressions changed. The retired emperor had actually come; it was utterly shameless.

Now that the Oirat Mongols have just suffered a defeat, Esen cannot force the Retired Emperor to comply, nor would he dare to kill him, unless Esen wants the Ming Dynasty to pursue him indefinitely. Therefore, today's actions must have been voluntary on the Retired Emperor's part. What exactly is he trying to achieve?

Wang Jing continued, "Unexpectedly, those eunuch cavalrymen suddenly disregarded orders and rashly attacked, claiming they wanted to recapture the Emperor, causing chaos in the camp. The Oirat cavalry seized the opportunity to counterattack. Seeing the situation was dire, Commander Wu ordered me to lead the remaining troops to retreat towards Tucheng, intending to engage the Oirats in street fighting. With the help of the people of Tucheng, we managed to repel the Oirat army. Commander Wu led the Jinyiwei in a desperate battle, buying time for our retreat, and ultimately sacrificed his life for his country!"

Wang Jing kowtowed again and said, "Your Majesty, before the Wudu Commander went into battle, he asked me to inform Your Majesty that he would be willing to serve Your Majesty again in his next life."

After Wang Jing returned, he wept uncontrollably. Wu Xing's dying entrustment was Wu Xing's own ambition, and it was also to protect Wang Jing and others, to bear the consequences of defeat with his death, and to ensure that the soldiers of this army would not be held accountable.

Zhu Qiyu felt a sudden pang of pain in his heart. Wu Xing twice attacked the retired emperor, using his death to prove that he was only loyal to Zhu Qiyu.

Zhu Qiyu stepped forward, knelt down beside Wu Xing's corpse, and held out his hand, saying, "Arrow cut!"

Xing'an hurriedly found it and presented it to Zhu Qiyu, saying, "Your Majesty, please allow me to come!"

"Step back!"

When Xing'an met Zhu Qiyu's cold gaze, he was so frightened that he lay prostrate on the ground, quickly crawled back a few steps, and stayed to the side.

Zhu Qiyu forcefully cut off the arrow shafts from Wu Xing's body one by one, his hands throbbing with pain. He then straightened Wu Xing's body and laid him flat, before taking off his cloak and covering Wu Xing with it.

"This is the Marquis of Zhongyi of my Great Ming Dynasty; he should be buried alongside the emperor in the imperial mausoleum!"

Wang Jing kept kowtowing, happy that Wu Xing had received posthumous honors and honors, and also grateful for his own escape from death.

"Greetings, Earl Zhongyi!"

Upon hearing Zhu Qiyu's words, the officials dared not utter a word of rebuttal and hurriedly bowed to Wu Xing.

Zhu Qiyu got up, and Cheng Jing hurriedly put another cloak on him. It was freezing cold, and it would be troublesome if Zhu Qiyu got cold.

Zhu Qiyu gestured for the Imperial Guards to carry Wu Xing away, then glanced at the assembled officials and coldly said, "The palace urged us to send an envoy, the court officials launched an attack, the Emperor Emeritus personally came to knock on the gates, and the eunuchs took the opportunity to disrupt the camp, leading to our army's crushing defeat and the deaths of thousands of soldiers. What a brilliant plan! What a brilliant plan! Next, shouldn't we coordinate an inside-outside attack, directly open the city gates, send the Oirat army into the capital, and force me to commit suicide?"

"His Majesty!"

Yu Qian and the others turned pale, their legs buckled and they knelt directly on the cold ground. Hao Yi, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Administration, felt as if he was about to be decapitated, his body trembling as he almost fell to the ground.

These eunuchs were arranged by Hao Yi himself, and he cannot escape responsibility.

Yu Qian, Shi Heng, and others are now in a state of extreme panic and have proposed sending more eunuchs.

If what Zhu Qiyu said is true, they are also suspects.

"Minister Yu, all of you, rise! This matter has nothing to do with you!" Zhu Qiyu gestured for Yu Qian and the others to stand up. He couldn't afford to disrupt the morale of the army or cause suspicion among his men and women.

This matter certainly has nothing to do with Yu Qian. If anyone should be released, they should have been released earlier.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Yu Qian and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hao Yi!" Zhu Qiyu called out coldly.

Hao Yi trembled uncontrollably and hurriedly cried out, "Your Majesty, these eunuchs from the Imperial Horse Administration volunteered to go to Zhangyi Gate. I thought they were men of honor, sworn to defend the country to the death. I was careless for a moment and allowed traitors to hide among them. I deserve death! I deserve death!"

"Can I trust you?" Zhu Qiyu glanced coldly at Hao Yi.

He believed that Hao Yi would not betray him. From the moment he took over as the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Administration, he had already entered Empress Dowager Sun and Zhu Qizhen's death list. Bringing Zhu Qizhen back would be tantamount to courting death.

"Your Majesty, please give me a chance to prove my innocence. If I cannot prove my innocence, then I shall go down and keep the Earl of Zhongyi company." Hao Yi did not answer directly, nor did he beg for mercy. Instead, he was resolute and prepared to pay with his life.

Zhu Qiyu was satisfied with Hao Yi's attitude and nodded. Having already made his judgment, he said, "The first person to confess will be spared death. Those who do not confess will have their entire families executed. I will only give you two hours!"

The ministers were shocked; this meant a massacre was about to begin. It was also meant to show the generals that if they protected the eunuchs, the generals would become disloyal.

Seeing his chance for redemption before him, Hao Yi kowtowed three times and said, "Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty!"

Hao Yi crawled back behind the crowd, then glared at the hundred or so eunuchs with a ferocious expression. Anyone who dared to take his head would have their entire clan wiped out!

Zhu Qiyu looked at Wang Jing, who was still lying on the ground, and gestured for him to get up.

"Wang Jing!"

"Your subject is here!"

"Zhangyi Gate, can you still defend it?"

"Your Majesty, if Zhangyi Gate is lost again, I will not return alive!" Wang Jing was moved to tears and swore an oath on the spot.

He would rather die in battle than be dismissed from his post. Wu Xing had already died for him once, and he would die for him next.

Moreover, the Shenji Battalion was unscathed. By organizing its remaining forces and holding its ground with all its might, he was confident that he could withstand several waves of attacks from the Oirat army and at least hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Zhu Qiyu nodded slightly and looked at Yu Qian, saying, "Minister Yu, transfer three thousand troops from Jiao Jing's camp to Zhangyi Gate and place them under the command of Wang Jing! Have Commander Tang Jie transport grain to reward the people defending Tucheng. The people's hearts are with us, and we must not betray them!"

"Here you go!"

Yu Qian agreed, saying that without the help of the people, the entire army would likely have been wiped out. These people should be rewarded, and they would also be more cautious when the Oirat army came to Zhangyi Gate again, as it served as a natural barrier that would save a lot of troops.

"Return to your posts and prevent Esen from attacking again!"

"Here you go!"

The ministers left with their own thoughts on them, and as they watched the group of eunuchs being taken away, they felt a storm was brewing!

In the Oirat camp, Esen stared at the King of Datong with a grim face. Just now, someone had clearly reported that the Ming army had been defeated and the battle had been won, but now the King of Datong had actually escaped back.

"What happened?"

The Prince of Datong said with lingering fear, "Grand Tutor, the original plan worked. Most of the soldiers guarding Zhangyi Gate were killed or wounded. The army pursued them to Tucheng, but there was an ambush there. The army was attacked from all sides, and even some civilians were involved. The Ming army's firearms were very effective in Tucheng. I dared not linger and retreated."

When Esen heard this, he was so angry that his knuckles turned white. He could understand the retreat of the King of Datong.

After all, his younger brother Boluo had died in these street battles in civilian houses. He never expected that these Ming soldiers would be so cunning, setting up ambushes one after another.

"Grand Tutor, should we launch another attack?"

Esen's morale plummeted, and he didn't bother to probe the defenses of the East Gate, while the other three gates were clearly heavily guarded.

As for the East Gate, Esen dared not take the risk. If he won, all would be well, but if he lost or got into a stalemate, he might not even have a chance to escape. His logistics would be exposed to the Ming garrison, which would be cutting off his own escape route.

More importantly, the Ming Dynasty's fearless, life-for-life fighting style terrified Esen.

The Ming army might be able to recover its strength in a year or two of training, but once its cavalry was lost, it would take more than a year or two to recover.

Having already lost more than 20,000 troops, Esen no longer felt confident in taking the capital.

Esen quickly regained his composure and asked, "Has Arazhiyuan and the Khan replied?"

"Arazhiyuan said that they would launch a fierce attack on Juyong Pass today, but the specific situation of the battle is still unknown. As for the Khan, perhaps the journey is a bit far, and there has been no reply yet."

"Keep urging them!"

Yesen slowly closed his eyes; he no longer expected Tuotuo Buhua to arrive in time.

At this time, Luo Tong, one of the garrison commanders of Juyong Pass, was giving a physics lesson to Arazhiyuan.

Master math, physics, and chemistry, and you'll be able to go anywhere in the world without fear!

Luo Tong must have been an expert in physics. Seeing that the Ara Zhiyuan Department was acting strangely, and with the cold current flowing south from the north of Juyong Pass, he immediately used a method to draw water and flood the city.

Arachika thought the garrison commander of Juyong Pass had poured oil to lubricate the city walls, so he ordered rockets to be used to ignite the oil and burn Juyong Pass. However, when several rockets were fired, nothing ignited, so it was definitely not oil that had been poured.

Arachiin was unaware of the Juyong Pass commander's intentions. When he launched a full-scale attack on Juyong Pass today, he was dumbfounded. The city wall was covered in a new layer of ice. Now, even if Arachiin's soldiers charged forward recklessly, they could only slide on the ice.

The most useful method would be to bombard these ice layers with artillery, but unfortunately, Arachiin has artillery but no ammunition at the moment.

Esen issued the order for a general offensive, and Araji Yuan dared not disobey. He could only order his tens of thousands of troops to rush forward. This time, it was not a test as in the past few days, but a real fight to the death.

Yang Jun, Luo Tong, and others used the city's firearms as if they were free, wielding them all against the Oirat army. Many Oirat soldiers who managed to climb the city walls ended up sliding down, infuriating Arazhiyuan.

In just half a day, Arazhiyuan lost several thousand men, while Juyongguan only suffered a loss of less than a thousand.

Arachin had no choice but to rest and hope that the weather would improve and the ice on the city walls would melt. If it weren't for the ice, even if Juyong Pass hadn't been captured today, there would have been brave warriors who climbed the city walls and fought the Ming army. The Ming army wouldn't have suffered such a small loss of troops.

Little did Araji know that his waiting would bring a fatal blow from Yang Hong, a formidable figure from Xuanfu.

Tuotuo Buhua of Gubeikou wanted to curse, but first he was ordered to head south immediately, and the Ming emperor directly issued a severe edict to punish him.

He couldn't afford to offend either of these two gods.

He had never agreed with Esen's southward march, because he hadn't benefited at all from the capture of the capital; it was all Esen's doing. But as the Khan, he was the first to bear the blame.

Tuotuo Buhua is like the kind of person who rushes to attend banquets, and can only ever get leftovers. The worst part is that he has to stay behind to wash the dishes.

Faced with the Ming emperor's edict of accusation, he had no words to express his suffering.

He always gets beaten up!

Tuotuo Buhua suddenly felt bitter, like a bullied young wife, suffering from both sides.

"Khan, how should we reply to the two?" Toghtogbuqa's younger brother, Agabalji, asked with a furrowed brow.

"One word: delay! If the war against Esen goes smoothly, we will march south; if not, I will immediately apologize to the Ming Emperor!"

Although Toghtogbuqa was a Khan, his knees were flexible, and he always managed to kneel in the right direction!

"Khan's insight is brilliant!"