Free Web NovelNatsuka Yanagimachi looked at the recording in her hand, her expression full of gravity, and said: "Shouko, what awaits us next is a tough battle."
The strategy is in hand, but they can't follow it a hundred percent; they must make bold modifications.
Only in this way can they avoid letting Aozawa notice they are using his strategy to strategize against him.
Hojo Shouko nodded, held her hand, and said, "I will help you."
"Good sisters."
Natsuka Yanagimachi was touched as she held her hand.
...
Parallel world, the end of the Ming Dynasty.
March 18th, in the morning, Fengxian Hall.
The emperor and his ministers were wordless.
Outside the hall, the sky was gloomy, and the heavy clouds caused it to rain continuously.
This was a good thing.
At least it temporarily prevented the rebel army from attacking the city.
But this rebel army might soon be transformed into the official army tomorrow or the day after.
Dashun will also replace the Ming Dynasty, becoming the new dynasty.
Zhu Youjian looked at his ministers.
No one spoke a word.
There was no strategy to defeat the enemies, and no one advised him to negotiate with the rebel army.
Only a deathly silence.
As he scanned the faces below, all the ministers showed expressions of sorrow.
Everyone remembered the fate of Chen Xinjia.
Today, they might suggest peace talks to get through the crisis according to Zhu Youjian's wishes, but tomorrow, out of fear that he might see negotiation as a loss of face and be embarrassed, he might just chop them down.
During his seventeen-year reign, the ministers believed that apart from eliminating the eunuch party, he had no achievements worth praising.
The sycophantic ministers had long planned to surrender immediately after the city fell.
The loyal ministers had nothing further to say to Zhu Youjian.
Where was the action before?
Earlier, they proposed establishing Nanjing to retreat in case of unexpected events and then think about pacifying the rebels.
This person refused to lose face.
He wouldn't send the crown prince; the whole family had to stay here, waiting for Dashun to enter the city.
Seventeen years.
If, when he was King Xin, he hadn't learned the ways of governance.
But for a whole seventeen years, in power, he used his emperor authority, and any dissatisfaction of the ministers led to killings.
Military commanders fared no better; able to defend the city, he insisted they fight Qing army in field battles.
Heads rolled within and outside the court.
Yet he hadn't made any personal improvement, remaining as juvenile as before, ignoring wise counsel and only listening to pleasing words.
Sun Chuanting, locked away for years without understanding the outside situation, announced a boast of five thousand men.
Zhu Youjian knew perfectly well how dire the situation had become, didn't he?
The loyal ministers were completely disillusioned with him, preferring to perish together for the country after the city fell.
They didn't want to offer any more advice for him.
Zhu Youjian was very disappointed, even angry, shouting: "Since none of you have anything to say, why don't we all commit suicide together in Fengxian Hall?"
Boom!
A sudden thunderclap rang out, followed by a bright white light illuminating the hall.
The emperor and ministers raised their heads, discovering that the hall's ceiling had been split open by a bolt.
Through the irregular hole, they could see, outside, the gloomy sky was filled with layers of lightning, quite unusual.
Ordinarily, lightning would flash past, but these bolts were gathering in the sky.
Like thousands of electric snakes converging in the clouds to form a vague dragon shape.
Zhu Youjian showed a look of wild joy.
He was the emperor.
Thunder presenting in dragon shape was heaven assisting him!
He suddenly stood up and roared: "You ministers, one by one, only care about your own safety and fortune.
Heaven, strike these traitors down with thunder!"
The ministers changed color.
Among them were not a few well-read scholars.
But watching the bizarre phenomenon in the sky above, apart from ghost and god explanations, no words could explain the scene.
Could it truly be that heaven was going to save the Ming Dynasty?
This thought arose in the minds of the ministers.
The sycophants were scared pale, starting to regret their earlier non-donation actions.
The loyal ones appeared calm and didn't regret not donating money.
With Zhu Youjian's previous conduct, donating money is utterly useless.
They fear not death, as long as the Ming Dynasty can be saved, what harm is there in their deaths?
They had planned to sacrifice themselves for the nation once the city fell.
Zhu Youjian grew increasingly frantic and shouted: "Strike them down! Strike down the rebel army outside the city too!"
Rumble!
A bolt of lightning struck Zhu Youjian.
Before the eyes of the ministers, eunuchs, and palace maids, a dazzling flash of lightning passed, and the dragon throne and table on the platform vanished, leaving only a seemingly bottomless hole, as if leading to the Nine Serenities.
The Emperor was actually cast into Hell?!
Everyone present took a breath of cold air.
"Zhu Youjian, you are unworthy to be Emperor."
A resounding voice echoed from the sky throughout Fengxian Hall, the palace, the inner city, and even the Dashun army in the outer city heard the loud voice from the heavens.
In an instant, all were in awe of the might of the divine, and everyone knelt to the ground.
Only one person, pale-faced, remained sitting on horseback, shouting: "Li Zicheng dares to ask the heavens, am I qualified to be Emperor?"
...
A faint voice drifted from below to the sky.
Aozawa hovered within the gathering Thunder Dragon, with a continuous flow of electromagnetic force under his control pouring into the thousand-meter-long Thunder Dragon.
And within it, he remained unharmed.
Unrelated to Schrödinger's Cat, he slightly manipulated the repulsive force generated by the electromagnetic field to prevent the Thunder from striking him.
His eyes swept downward.
From the palace to the inner city, and then to the outer city.
An ancient capital full of antique charm unfolded before his eyes.
The Thunder Dragon hovered above, the divine presence revealed.
From the soldiers defending the city to the ministers, all the common people, in awe of the divine power, prostrated themselves on the ground.
Even that crowd of Dashun army knelt en masse darkly.
For that reason, Li Zicheng, sitting upright on horseback, appeared particularly striking.
Aozawa stared at this King Chuang.
The most vivid impression he had was that King Chuang embarked on the path against the Ming due to unemployment after cutting staff in the Ming Dynasty.
Speaking of personal charisma, Li Zicheng indeed possessed such, and it cannot be said he lacked vision.
As soon as he entered the capital, he strictly ordered his subordinates, aiming to win over the people's hearts.
But the Ming Dynasty national treasury was so poor that even mice couldn't survive.
Li Zicheng couldn't produce money to reward his brothers.
Additionally, his position in Dashun was not as the absolute leader.
Every time a significant decision was made, he had to gather the heads below and discuss together instead of making the decision alone.
Moreover, Li Zicheng had no qualified think tank.
If he had wise and strategic advisors, with Li Zicheng's character, it's very likely that a new dynasty could be established. freewebnovel.cσ๓
Aozawa pondered for a moment, raised his hand, and the lightning from the sky instantly descended towards the ground.
Rumble!
The Thunder exploded on the ground around Li Zicheng.
The loud noise nearly unseated Li Zicheng, his heart filled with shock and despair, realizing that his earlier speech had offended the heavens!
In terror, Li Zicheng tried to dismount and kneel to beg the heavens' forgiveness.
But his actions were slightly delayed, and his stiff body prevented him from reacting immediately.
"Come up and speak."
By the time Li Zicheng could react, the sky gave its answer.
His heart rejoiced!
Under everyone's gaze, the ground beneath Li Zicheng's feet lifted off and flew towards the sky.
Strangely, the warhorse beneath him was not frightened and continued to stand there.
Aozawa used electromagnetic force, capable of destroying everything yet refined enough to control living creatures.
Under the influence of the electromagnetic force, this warhorse completely became Aozawa's puppet.
"The new King Shun ascends to the heavens!"
The Dashun army looked up at this scene, their faces filled with shock that soon turned into joy.
This indicates that they are following a Heaven-Mandated True Dragon.
Heaven's endorsement, without any falsehood!
Unlike the lower-rank soldiers' joy, Liu Zongmin's face was full of jealousy. They were all the same rebels; why was Li Zicheng able to ascend to heaven and speak with the gods?
If he had called out earlier, perhaps he would be the one ascending now.
No, it's not too late!
Liu Zongmin thought, Li Zicheng is merely a coward.
Had he not killed two wives to show determination in fighting to the end with Li Zicheng, could that guy have gotten this far?
He bit his teeth, stopped kneeling, rose up, and shouted to the sky: "Oh heavens, I, Liu Zongmin, have fought through countless battles and should also have the right to compete for the position of Emperor!"
