Chapter – 04
On the celestial screen, Liu Sanqi had now returned to the phrase she had mentioned earlier: “Every gaze held terror, every face in the city was veiled in shame.”
“The tragic fate of the young betrothed couple, Cheng Ruoxuan and Weng Chengjin, caused a huge uproar throughout the Great Jing Dynasty at the time. The social customs of the dynasty had originally been relatively open, with few restrictions on how women could dress when going out.”
“However, after Cheng Ruoxuan’s incident, many women in the capital feared encountering a similar tragedy. Knowing they were powerless against the tyranny of Emperor Jingli’s rule, they began wearing veils over their faces whenever they went out, hoping to conceal their beauty.”
“And after the Cheng Ruoxuan incident, Emperor Jingli showed no signs of reflection or change whatsoever. On the contrary, he became even more dissolute and tyrannical!”
“Originally, when the Jingming Emperor handed the empire over to him, the national treasury, though not exactly wealthy, was by no means destitute.”
“But after Yin Rui ascended the throne, he embarked on massive construction projects, conscripting labor year after year to build extravagant palaces, gardens, and various impractical spectacles.”
“As a result of his reckless extravagance and indulgent lifestyle, the common people’s lives naturally became even more miserable, and the national treasury began to deplete rapidly.”
“Under these circumstances, military funding naturally began to fall into arrears.”
“And when confronted with memorials from generals pleading for military pay, Emperor Jingli absurdly scolded them for being wooden-headed and inflexible!”
On the celestial screen, Liu Sanqi’s lips curled into a contemptuous smile:
“For those who don’t know just how tyrannical and incompetent Emperor Jingli was, hearing me say this might lead them to think he had some brilliant solution to the military funding problem.”
“But in truth, the solution Emperor Jingli gave those generals was exceedingly simpleâjust one word: ‘plunder’!”
“Yes, a legitimate emperor, openly instructing his generals to pillage the common people!”
Liu Sanqi shook her head and remarked, “Emperors as absurd as Yin Rui are few and far between in our ancient history!”
Beneath the celestial screen, several elderly women were washing clothes by the riverbank.
Upon hearing Liu Sanqi’s words, one gaunt, short old woman was so enraged that she spat and cursed to her companions:
“This Emperor Jingli is nothing but a beast without a conscience! Not a single one of his deeds is something a human being would do!”
The other women around her nodded in agreement:
“If you ask me, our current Emperor might as well just hand the throne directly to that Emperor Jingwu! That young lady from later generations just now couldn’t stop praising him!”
“I think that would work. If that Emperor Jingwu took over, our lives might actually be better than they are now!”
“If we could just have enough to eat at every meal and occasionally afford some meat, that would be a pretty good life!”
“Oh my, you old hagâplain as you are, you sure have grand ambitions!”
“What, a woman can’t dream a little? Dreaming doesn’t hurt anyone!”
“Hahahaha, then I’ll dream of being able to afford an oxâthat way the farm work would be a bit easier.”
The women chatted about their hopes for the future as they washed their clothes.
But soon, their expressions grew tense again due to what Liu Sanqi was saying on the celestial screen.
“With a ruler as incompetent and tyrannical as Emperor Jingli, it wasn’t surprising that the Great Jing Dynasty’s border stronghold, Zhenbei City, was breached by the Najie tribe!”
“And speaking of the fall of Zhenbei City, Emperor Jingli actually contributed considerably to the Najie tribe’s victory!”
“If he hadn’t believed the Najie tribe’s lies about peace negotiations, ignored his ministers’ pleas, and insisted that the Zhenbei City garrison open the gates to welcome the Najie peace delegation, the Najie forces wouldn’t have been able to coordinate so easily with their cavalry outside the city, breach Zhenbei, and march south all the way to the capital!”
Beneath the celestial screen, in the palace, upon hearing that the Najie army had even captured the capital, even the Jingming Emperorâwho had strong psychological resilienceâwas so enraged that his vision went black and his body swayed.
The chief eunuch Yuan Li, seeing this, turned pale with fright, quickly steadied the Emperor, and ordered someone to summon the imperial physicians.
Fortunately, the Jingming Emperor was still in relatively good health, and after a moment to recover, his condition improved considerably.
“And at this critical moment when the Great Jing Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, Emperor Jingwu personally led a fierce and battle-hardened force of elite troops, galloping a thousand li to rescue the capital!”
“It was precisely because this formidable figure, Emperor Jingwu, repelled the Najie cavalry and forced them to retreat back to the north that the Great Jing Dynasty was saved from total destruction!”
Beneath the celestial screen, upon hearing Liu Sanqi’s words, both the Jingming Emperor and the assembled officials felt the tight tension in their minds ease slightly.
“However, before retreating, the Najie cavalry did not forget to take with them the greatest contributor to their victory: Emperor Jingli.”
“Yes, that pathetic wretch Emperor Jingli couldn’t even manage to escapeâhe was captured by the Najie!”
“As you can imagine, Emperor Jingli was absolutely not the kind of true hero who would rather die than submit when captured by the enemy. So during his captivity, his attitude toward the Najie was one of utter subservience and groveling!”
“According to historical records, even when the Najie humiliated him by forcing him to crawl on the ground and fight with wild dogs for food, he obeyed without any resistance!”
Beneath the celestial screen, Yin Rui now hated Liu Sanqi with every fiber of his being, wishing he could tear her limb from limb.
He felt that all his current desperate circumstances were entirely Liu Sanqi’s fault.
But the Jingming Emperor, at this moment, was filled with both lingering fear and relief that this descendant from the future had appeared to forewarn him.
The Jingming Emperor had previously thought that his own fatherâwho had believed the words of a Daoist charlatan, declared he would personally lead the campaign against the Najie, but then fled back in fear halfwayâhad been the most disgraceful thing in the Great Jing Dynasty’s history.
But he never imagined that his own son could “surpass his predecessor” by being so spineless as to have almost no backbone at all.
The Jingming Emperor couldn’t even understand how his future self could have handed the throne to someone as absurd as Yin Rui.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but ponder who exactly this “Emperor Jingwu” mentioned by Liu Sanqi might be.
The Jingming Emperor began to scheme internally, thinking that he could directly groom Emperor Jingwu and designate him as his successor.
While the Jingming Emperor was making his calculations, Liu Sanqi on the celestial screen was introducing the events of Emperor Jingwu’s ascension:
“It was precisely because Emperor Jingwu seized this opportunity to rescue the capital that, after Emperor Jingli was taken prisoner by the Najie tribe, Emperor Jingwu declared, ‘Just as the heavens cannot be without a sun, the realm cannot be without a sovereign,’ and announced that he must take on the heavy responsibility of ruling the empire.”
“Hehehe, our great Emperor Jingwu has always been so open and straightforwardâwhenever he wants something, he says it directly, never beating around the bush!”
“And the reason the Najie cavalry took Emperor Jingli away wasn’t because they enjoyed watching him make a fool of himself. They simply saw him as a fat pigâa bargaining chip and a means of intimidation in their negotiations with the Great Jing Dynasty!”
“So when they retreated to Zhenbei City, which they had already captured, they presented the Great Jing Dynasty with another peace agreement. Although they called it a peace treaty, in reality, it was a humiliating agreement that ceded territory and demanded reparations.”
“The Najie made exorbitant demands in the treaty, requiring the Great Jing Dynasty to offer the Najie tribe one hundred thousand taels of gold, thirty million taels of silver, ten million bolts of cloth, seven thousand young maidens, and two thousand able-bodied men.”
“At that time, the Najie army had already taken control of three border cities: Zhenbei City, Bitian City, and Guiyun City. But their ambitions were far from satisfied, so the treaty also demanded that the Great Jing Dynasty cede an additional three cities as reparations!”
Beneath the celestial screen, in the three named cities of Zhenbei, Bitian, and Guiyun, the common people gazed up at the screen with anxious expressions.
As generations of border residents, they knew all too well the brutality and bloodthirst of the Najie people.
They couldn’t bear to imagine how desperate their lives would become if their cities fell under the Najie’s iron hooves.
“Wife, should we pack up and move somewhere else?”
“Move where? Our land is hereâit’s what feeds this family all year round. If we move away, with no fields and no money, I reckon the whole family would starve even faster!”
“Why won’t this cruel heaven just let us poor folks have an easier life?”
“Ah, forget it. Let’s just take it as it comes. One day at a time. What else can we do? Our luck’s just badâmight as well accept it.”
On the celestial screen, Liu Sanqi’s voice remained clear and bright:
“Emperor Jingwu naturally refused to agree to the Najie’s treaty. So to pressure him into submission, the Najie escalated their threats, saying that if Emperor Jingwu refused to sign, they would behead Emperor Jingli and massacre the entire city of Zhenbei.”
Beneath the celestial screen, upon hearing this, people across the Great Jing Dynasty were shocked into an uproar, with the residents of Zhenbei City reacting most intensely.
No one felt the slightest concern about Emperor Jingli being beheaded.
Who cared about that man’s life or death?!
What truly mattered to everyone was the threat of a city-wide massacre.
At this moment, the garrison soldiers of Zhenbei City felt their faces burning with shame, wishing they could find a hole to crawl into.
Although Liu Sanqi had just said that the fall of Zhenbei City was primarily Emperor Jingli’s fault, as soldiers responsible for guarding the border and protecting the people of the Great Jing Dynasty, they were consumed by shame and guilt, feeling they bore responsibility for the potential massacre.
“Faced with the treaty and threats from the Najie tribe, the court was naturally in an uproar, with all sorts of opinions. Many ministers were terrified by the Najie and fervently advocated for peaceâwhich, of course, meant agreeing to the Najie’s exorbitant demands.”
“These people gave no thought to how devastated the Great Jing Dynasty’s economy would be if such a treaty were accepted, given the state of the nation at that time. They only wanted to preserve their own wealth and comfort, terrified that the Najie cavalry might once again ride down from the north.”
“Truly, we must thank the Najie again for taking Emperor Jingli away. After all, if Emperor Jingli had still been on the throne, he would have eagerly agreed with these spineless ministers and rushed to sign away the country.”
“However, as we all know, unlike Emperor Jingli, our Emperor Jingwu was famously uncompromising and resolute.”
“So, faced with the Najie’s treaty and threats, Emperor Jingwu’s stance was extremely firm. He declared that if the Najie wanted a fight, they would get oneâand he proceeded to deal the Najie a heavy blow through surprise attacks and ambushes when they tried to invade again!”
Beneath the celestial screen, upon hearing this, many common people couldn’t help but cheer with joy, feeling that Emperor Jingwu had truly lifted their spirits!
Even the residents of Zhenbei City wore smiles of happiness.
However, Liu Sanqi’s next words caused the smiles to freeze on everyone’s faces.
“Having suffered a major defeat at Emperor Jingwu’s hands, the Najie tribe was naturally unwilling to let the matter rest. So they brought back their earlier threat, saying that because Emperor Jingwu, in his lust for glory, had betrayed their sincerity for peace, they had decided to carry out a three-day, three-night massacre of Zhenbei City as punishment for his insult to the Najie tribe.”
“During those three days of massacre, the entire city of Zhenbei was transformed into a living hell.”
“According to historical records, the Najie army killed so many in Zhenbei City that the stench of death could be smelled for hundreds of li, the bodies piled up like mountains, and the rivers turned into pools of blood.”
“Before Zhenbei City fell into the Najie’s clutches, it had a population of nearly thirty thousand. But by the time Emperor Jingwu drove out the Najie and fully recaptured the city seven years later, only a little over two thousand people remained.”
Beneath the celestial screen, Zhenbei City was now utterly silent, so quiet that only the faint trembling of people’s breathing and the howling, mournful wind could be heard.
