Chapter 75: My Words Became a Prophecy!

“Your Majesty, what are you doing?”
Yu Qian stepped forward, his mind swirling with confusion, and asked with due reverence.

The emperor and his companion, who had been enjoying themselves immensely, finally paused. Zhu Qiyu caught his breath, coughed twice, and said, “Oh, well, I was just about to attend court.”

Suddenly, Zhu Qiyu came to his senses, turned to fix Yu Qian with a stare, and after a long moment, sighed, “Yu Qian, you have truly disappointed me.”

Yu Qian’s body stiffened; a trace of guilt flickered in his eyes before he regained his composure and shook his head. “I do not know what crime I am guilty of.”

Indeed.
What crime was his?
The fault lay with the emperor himself—he should never have brought him back!

Zhu Qiyu, dejected, grasped Yu Qian’s shoulders, lamenting, “The late emperor’s testament was right; in your heart, you carry the realm, not the Zhu family.”

“Your Majesty, perhaps you could let go of me first. The screams within the palace sound to me like those of the Retired Emperor,” Yu Qian said, secretly exerting all his strength but finding himself unable to break free from the grasp of a gravely ill man.

“No hurry!”
Zhu Qiyu replied solemnly, “Look, the Retired Emperor still has plenty of breath, clearly in no danger. But you and I are the pillars of the Ming dynasty; if we were accidentally harmed by the frenzied officials, wouldn’t that plunge the world into chaos?”

“Better to wait until the officials have vented their anger. Tsk, you can tell my beloved subjects are quite furious!”

Yu Qian was stunned and hurriedly protested, “Your Majesty! All the officials are waiting outside the Meridian Gate. How could they be in the palace assaulting the Retired Emperor?”

“What?”
Zhu Qiyu was taken aback, glancing at the palace walls, then at Yu Qian, a chill running down his spine as he inhaled sharply. “Then who is making all that noise inside the palace?”

Yu Qian hesitated. “According to the officials, it seems the sacred spirits of the founding emperors of the Ming dynasty have manifested…”

Zhu Qiyu’s expression changed abruptly. Clenching his lips, he grabbed a bronze mirror and strode swiftly toward the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

Yu Qian and Xing’an exchanged glances and hurried after him.

Moments later.
Zhu Qiyu, dragging his weakened body, stepped through the Gate of Supreme Harmony. His eyes fell upon the imposing middle-aged man seated upon the dragon throne, and he was instantly stunned.

How could he look so robust!
This was not the Zhu Qizhen he remembered!

Looking around, he saw six or seven men in dragon robes, and three or four in four-clawed python robes.

Back then, Zhu Qizhen could barely recognize his own father’s face, having been so young and seldom seeing him; naturally, Zhu Qiyu had even less memory.

But Yu Qian did.
He had seen three generations of the household of Xie Jin and Yan Wang.

“Emperors Yongle, Hongxi, Xuande!?” Thunder rumbled through Yu Qian’s mind, leaving him utterly bewildered.

And why were these emperors all standing aside, with the one on the throne…
Could it be the Great Founder himself?

“Yu Qian, why are you standing there like a fool?”
The old Emperor Yongle squinted and called out.

“Your servant is here!”
Yu Qian came to his senses, hastily bowed low, and knelt. “Your servant pays homage to the sacred spirits of the Ming ancestors!”

“Rise.”
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

“Thank you, Sacred Founder.”
Yu Qian quickly rose and stood respectfully to the side.

“Hmph!”
The Fort Commander sat slumped on the ground and, upon seeing the newcomers, began whimpering again.

This time, Emperor Xuande had unleashed all his fury himself, with Zhu Youjian furiously grinding up a pile of medicinal pills just to snatch the Fort Commander’s life back from the brink.

Though most of his wounds had healed,
the pain was unbearable—not just physically, but mentally as well!

As the saying goes, “A dutiful son is born under the rod,” and now the Fort Commander had become exceptionally filial.
His rebellious phase was well and truly over.

Emperor Xuande, Zhu Zhanji, kicked him and barked, “Kneel properly!”

“Yes, Father!” Zhu Qizhen immediately knelt up straight as an arrow.

“F—Father?”
Zhu Qiyu was so astonished his eyes filled with tears, which spilled as he whimpered timidly.

“Ah!”
Emperor Xuande walked over, stroked his head, and sighed.

Zhu Yuanzhang, observing, couldn’t help but ask, “Grandson, what became of Qiyu in the end?”

This…
Zhu Youjian was instantly troubled. He knew well enough, but the Fort Commander had nearly developed immunity to punishment; another beating and his life might truly be forfeit.
Besides, a junior couldn’t always air family grievances before the ancestors.

“Speak freely,” Zhu Yuanzhang said, reading his eldest grandson’s hesitation and darkening his face.

“Yes, Great Ancestor.” After a pause, Zhu Youjian said, “The day Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne, he ordered the arrest of Minister of War Yu Qian and Grand Secretary Wang Wen, and five days later executed Yu Qian, Wang Wen, and their associates for treason.”

“Afterward, he deposed Emperor Jing, Zhu Qiyu, demoted him to Prince of Cheng, and confined him to the Western Inner Palace. One month after Yingzong’s restoration, Emperor Jing died in the Western Inner Palace at the age of thirty.”

“He was ultimately buried in the Western Hills with the rites of a prince, posthumously named Li by Yingzong, who also destroyed the mausoleum Emperor Jing had built in life, and all his consorts were ordered to die with him.”

“Until…” Zhu Youjian paused; he decided not to mention the Southern Ming court—otherwise, he suspected he’d earn a beating himself.

“Until the Chongzhen era, when the imperial title was restored and he received the temple name Emperor Daizong of Ming.”

After all, the Southern Ming court was long gone; he might as well take responsibility for what his cousin, the Southern Ming Emperor Hongguang Zhu You Song, had done.

Execute Yu Qian and Wang Wen?
Emperor Jing dead within a month of the restoration?

All the assembled Ming emperors and crown princes immediately darkened their expressions.
None were fools—Zhu Qiyu might be gravely ill, but as things stood, he was lively enough, spirited enough to play a game of cuju; he hardly looked like someone with but a month to live!

“Hmph!” Zhu Yuanzhang shot a fierce glare at old Fourth Zhu Di.
He still remembered Fang Xiaoru’s prophecy that old Fourth’s descendants would turn on one another—how prophetic those words now seemed!

A calamity out of nowhere!
Old Fourth wanted to weep, silently adding another mark to the Fort Commander’s ledger.

Below.
Zhu Qiyu glanced at Yu Qian, his look laced with irony: Vice Guardian Yu, you died before I did.

Yu Qian sighed, shaking his head, his heart free of much regret.
If his death alone could prevent chaos in the realm, it was a price well paid.

“When I first saw you, you seemed timid and lacking in resolve. Now I see how true that was,” Emperor Xuande, Zhu Zhanji, patted Zhu Qiyu’s shoulder and sighed.

Zhu Qiyu lowered his head in shame.
He knew it well enough—had he been a bit more ruthless, the Retired Emperor would have fallen gravely ill from the unfamiliar climate his second day in the Southern Palace and died the third.

There would have been no such disaster as today!

“I do not accept this!”
Kneeling nearby, Zhu Qizhen clenched his fists and shouted angrily, “He, Zhu Qiyu, usurped the throne, indulged in pleasure every day, neglected me—the legitimate emperor—imprisoned me under the false title of Retired Emperor, treating his own brother so harshly. How is ‘Li, the Cruel Prince of Cheng’ not justified?”

“I usurped the throne?”
“I indulged in pleasure every day?”
Zhu Qiyu, incensed, pointed at him, trembling as he spoke:
“You lost the nation’s honor at Tumu Fortress; it was the Empress Dowager who ordered me to act as regent, and the ministers who requested I take the throne. You, the Son of Heaven, led the enemy to our gates and urged surrender—what right did you have to rule? If not for bringing you back, today’s calamity would never have happened!”

“You can kill me, but you cannot be so shameless as to execute Yu Qian! Zhu Qizhen, tell me—without loyal ministers like Yu Qian, how would you have your throne today?”

Zhu Qiyu choked with emotion. “I ascended the throne amidst the flames of war, took the seat for the sake of preserving the Zhu family’s legacy. Every day and every night, I thought only of safeguarding our ancestors’ inheritance. Had I indulged in pleasure for even a single day, my health would not have collapsed to this state…”

…