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

A warning was sent to the woman in her boudoir; an urgent report arrived that night.

Zhu Qiyu was awakened in the middle of the night and looked at the urgent report, his face turning ashen.

In the Ming Dynasty, officials would begin waiting at the palace gates at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), and the court session would officially begin at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).

Zhu Qiyu did not want to hold a court assembly, but he had no choice but to. Some noisy civil officials, terrified after the fall of Baiyang Pass, had their voices trembling and some calls for relocating south had resurfaced. Now that Zijing Pass had also fallen, these people were probably so scared they wet their pants.

Zhu Qiyu checked the time and summoned Xing'an.

"Open the palace gates, and waive all court ceremonies. Let the officials proceed to the Fengtian Hall first."

"Here you go!"

Meanwhile, chaos had broken out outside the palace, clearly indicating that the Ministry of War had leaked the news of the fall of Zijing Pass.

Upon seeing the palace gates wide open and hearing the imperial decree, the officials flocked to the Fengtian Hall.

The hall was brightly lit with candles. After Yu Qian and the others entered the hall, their faces were particularly solemn, and they remained silent. On the other hand, some censors and officials were jumping around.

Zhu Qiyu arrived very quickly, and the officials fell silent the moment they saw him.

"My lords, you must have heard the news: Zijing Pass has fallen, the gates of the capital are wide open, and the Oirat army is at hand!"

As Zhu Qiyu continued speaking, someone, seemingly oblivious to the danger, resorted to their old trick of crying first as a sign of respect.

Zhu Qiyu frowned, pointed in the direction of the crying, and roared, "The soldiers should be crying, not you! Guards, throw him out and let him go home to cry!"

An official was thus directly taken away by the Han general, and the assembled officials could no longer weep.

Taking advantage of the quiet that had returned to the hall, Xu Cheng suddenly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Baiyangkou and Zijing Pass have fallen into enemy hands one after another. The Oirat army is advancing so quickly and with such ferocity. As the art of war says, 'Before victory, worry about defeat.' For the sake of the country and the nation, Your Majesty must make preparations as soon as possible."

Zhu Qiyu sneered, "Prepare in advance? What preparations? At this juncture, why beat around the bush? Do you think the Oirats are invincible and want to move south?"

Xu Cheng hadn't expected Zhu Qiyu to be so direct, so he could only bite the bullet and reply, "Your Majesty, I just think it's appropriate to have two contingency plans."

"Who agrees with this petition? Step forward!"

As soon as Zhu Qiyu said this, a few fearless people actually stepped forward.

"We second that proposal!"

Other high-ranking officials dared not speak out, but they were not opposed to this move. If the capital were to be captured, the emperor would indeed have to be protected, even if it meant following the example of the Southern Song Dynasty.

The ministers looked at Zhu Qiyu, waiting for his reply, but Zhu Qiyu immediately uttered something astonishing.

"Granted! You and your men go to the Left Gate and prepare your memorial on the spot!" Zhu Qiyu looked at Cheng Jing beside him and continued, "Cheng Jing, go and inform the Empress Dowager to bring the Crown Prince to the Left Gate so that she can meet with these loyal ministers who have been working tirelessly for the country. Once you have persuaded the Empress Dowager, I will immediately dispatch the Embroidered Uniform Guard to escort you all south!"

The ministers' expressions suddenly changed, and before they could stop him, Zhu Qiyu looked at Chen Xun.

"Scholar Chen, you will draft the edict of my abdication to the Crown Prince later. Once the capital falls, I will have someone take the edict to Nanjing so that the Crown Prince can succeed to the throne."

There are some loyal ministers in the court who are secretly saying that Zhu Qiyu's ascension to the throne was illegitimate. Whether to accept this imperial edict or not is up to you!

Xu Cheng turned pale with fright. He had really messed up. If he managed to get Empress Dowager Sun and the Crown Prince to Nanjing, it was uncertain whether they would even survive there.

Several of the ministers who echoed his sentiments felt a sudden tightness in their bladders; this was bad news.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we had absolutely no such intention!"

Zhu Qiyu summoned the general again and said, "Get him out of here. The Embroidered Uniform Guard will keep a close watch on him. If he doesn't write a proper memorial and respond appropriately, he'll starve to death at the Left Gate and won't be allowed to leave!"

"Here you go!"

The officials watched as Xu Cheng and the others were dragged out like dead fish, and seeing this sudden turn of events, they were at a loss for what to do. Wang Zhi and the others exchanged glances and shook their heads. They dared not touch Zhu Qiyu's beard at this moment, for the emperor's current wrath could be deadly.

Zhu Qiyu glanced at Cheng Jing, who was still in a daze, and said, "Cheng Jing, what are you still standing there for? Go to Renshou Palace!"

Cheng Jing snapped out of his daze and hurriedly turned and left.

The ministers were truly shocked. This was not just an angry remark; His Majesty meant it.

The ministers hurriedly prostrated themselves on the ground, pleading, "Your Majesty!"

"Anyone who dares to offer further advice will be forcibly removed by the Great General!"

The hall fell silent instantly.

Seeing this, the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War suddenly turned his attention to Yu Qian, saying, "Your Majesty, I impeach Yu Qian. Your Majesty ordered him to take charge of defense, but the border fell one after another in just two or three days. He should be punished!"

Yu Qian glared angrily at the censors of the Ministry of War; these mad dogs were only making trouble now. Just as he was about to offer a few words of explanation, Zhu Qiyu's voice came from the seat of honor.

"Is the defense of Baiyangkou and Zijingguan so weak today? When the Emperor was in power, the border defenses were lax, so why didn't you impeach them then? Zijingguan has been in disrepair for years. What have you been doing? Why hasn't anyone reported this for over a decade? You're just occupying positions without doing your jobs. I think you're not impeaching them, but rather trying to stir up trouble."

"Don't you all know perfectly well why these two passes fell so quickly? The Emperor has defected to the enemy and is leading the Oirat army to ravage our Ming army and people. Do any of you intend to stop him?"

The Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Justice hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, we urge Your Majesty to retract these words. They are truly appalling. The Emperor Emeritus was only forced to do this under duress from Esen. The Northern Hunt was a last resort."

Zhu Qiyu coldly swept his gaze across the assembled officials and said, "Esen forced the Retired Emperor to purge the court of corrupt officials, making our Ming Dynasty's rulers and ministers appear as traitors! Esen forced the Retired Emperor to raise the dragon flag and parade through the borders, deceiving everyone at the checkpoints and slaughtering our Ming people! Is the Retired Emperor some kind of puppet, to be manipulated at will?"

"This is an urgent report from the inner quarters!" Zhu Qiyu waved the urgent report in his hand. "If you consider this coercion, then look at this urgent report from Zijing Pass, and then look at what's written on this yellow paper!"

All the officials looked up, and even Yu Qian was nervously watching the urgent report in Zhu Qiyu's hand. The Ministry of War had only received news of the fall of Zijing Pass, and knew nothing about the specifics. It turned out that it had been sent to the palace.

"Xing'an, hold the yellow paper above your head so that all the officials can see it!"

Xing'an did as instructed, holding the yellow paper exceptionally high as he moved among the officials.

"...Open the city gates, and welcome Your Majesty!"

These words appeared before the ministers, and they were all shocked. Although they had long been certain that the retired emperor might have done it willingly, the retired emperor could not be so direct. The retired emperor of the Ming Dynasty leading foreign enemies to slaughter the people of the Ming Dynasty was a great disgrace and would leave an eternal infamy in the history books.

"Did you finish reading it? This was also coerced by Esen. Did Esen dare to kill the Emperor if he didn't write it? Minister Yu, read the report on the fall of Zijing Pass again, so that the ministers can see for themselves!"

Yu Qian also wanted to find out exactly how Zijing Pass was lost. In his estimation, Zijing Pass should not have been lost in just one or two days, no matter how bad things got.

Yu Qian's voice was extremely loud, but the more he read, the angrier he became, almost to the point of cursing Zhu Qizhen's mother.

"...In the attempt to rescue the Emperor Emeritus, he fled back to the enemy camp, resulting in the deaths of two generals who were hacked to death...The Tartars found a hidden path and breached the Zijing Pass from the flank..."

This is clearly a case of an inside traitor leading the way, and this traitor is very likely the retired emperor!

"Has anyone told me that Esen, while on the grasslands, knew every brick and stone of our Ming border like the back of his hand, and upon arriving at Zijing Pass, immediately found a way to breach it, causing the deaths of over ten thousand of our Ming soldiers?"

"Is it because Esen was so farsighted that there are still those who are greedy for life and cowardly, colluding with the enemy and betraying their country, plunging millions of our Ming people into misery?"

"Was the fall of Zijing Pass and Baiyangkou due to military disaster or man-made calamity? The two censors, please report back immediately!"

Despite the freezing weather, the two officials felt their backs were soaked with sweat. They stammered for a long time, unable to answer. They couldn't very well say that the retired emperor had betrayed the country and led the Oirat Mongols to kill Ming soldiers.

"Guards, remove their official hats, drag them out, and take them to the Meridian Gate for thirty strokes of the cane each!"

Seeing that there was finally no sound in the hall, Zhu Qiyu stood up.

"Generals and officials of the Ministry of War, follow me to the Wuying Hall for a meeting!"

"Your Majesty, we obey!"

Wang Zhi and Hu Ying exchanged glances. If they didn't follow His Majesty now, when would they? Let the Emperor Emeritus go to hell!

"Your Majesty, we request permission to accompany you!"

Zhu Qiyu nodded and strode away.