ATPnovel Chapter 20 A New Enemy!
Chapter 20 A New Enemy!
"What did you say?!"
Zhu Di suddenly turned around, grabbed the messenger by the collar, and his eyes turned bloodshot.
"Yu Dayou is dead? The entire fleet was wiped out?!"
His voice was like that of a wounded tiger roaring.
Altan Khan in the north had just been utterly defeated by him, so how dare the Japanese pirates in the south cause such a commotion at this time?
The messenger was so terrified by Zhu Di's menacing aura that he nearly fainted. He stammered, "It's...it's a report from the capital...It's said that General Yu encountered an unprecedentedly large group of Japanese pirates at sea. During the fierce battle...a traitor betrayed him, leading to...leading to the annihilation of the entire army..."
Zhu Di's chest heaved violently, a surge of violent rage rising to his head.
He had just resolved the trouble in the north when such a huge blunder occurred in the south!
He knew Yu Dayou; he was a rare military talent. Was he really going to die like that?
"Your Highness! Didn't Your Highness already use magic...?" The general beside him was also shocked and puzzled.
They all witnessed Zhu Zaiyi's miraculous feat of transmitting his voice over a thousand miles and reversing the course of the battle. How could they possibly still be defeated?
Zhu Di's face instantly turned extremely ugly.
He thought of a possibility.
Rui'er can save them once with her magic, but she can't save them a second time.
This crushing defeat probably happened before Rui'er made her move!
The news from the outpost took time to arrive. The news that reached the capital was already several days old.
"Damn those Japanese pirates!" Zhu Di slammed his fist on the city wall, creating a deep crater in the hard bricks. "Do they think our Great Ming Dynasty has no one to rely on?!"
He immediately ordered: "Send word to the entire army! Return to the capital at once!"
……
When Zhu Di returned to the capital, covered in a menacing aura and dusty from his journey, the atmosphere in the court was equally tense.
The news of Yu Dayou's death in battle weighed heavily on everyone's hearts like a boulder.
Zhu Zaiyi sat on the dragon throne, his face ashen.
He looked at the newspaper below with a cold gaze.
He miscalculated.
He never imagined that information transmission in this era would be so slow.
When he made his move, Yu Dayou's fleet had already been destroyed. His telepathic message only reached an empty ocean.
"Your Highness, I am guilty!" Minister of War Yang Bo knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face. "It is my incompetence that led to my failure to grasp the military situation in time, resulting in the tragic death of General Yu and the breach in the southeastern coastal defenses! I beg Your Highness to punish me!"
Xu Jie and the others also looked deeply saddened.
The glimmer of hope that ZTE had just seen seemed to be overshadowed by this sudden and crushing defeat.
"Get up." Zhu Zai Rui's voice was devoid of emotion. "This is not your fault."
He stood up, slowly walked to the center of the main hall, and picked up the newspaper.
"You only saw the defeat, and you saw Yu Dayou's martyrdom."
"But I saw something else."
He raised the report to the officials.
"The report said that the Japanese pirates besieging Yu Dayou had more than two hundred warships, equipped with a large number of muskets, and even some Western-style breech-loading cannons. Their tactics were well-planned and coordinated, and they were by no means a rabble of pirates."
"Moreover, they are able to accurately ambush the main force of our navy, and even plant spies in the high command of our army."
Zhu Zaiyi's gaze sharpened.
"These are not Japanese pirates."
"This is a premeditated, organized war against our Great Ming Dynasty!"
Upon hearing this, all the officials felt a chill run down their spines.
Zhu Di also stepped forward, took the report, glanced at it, and sneered, "A bunch of wandering warriors who don't even have their own country, where did they get such great abilities? There must be someone supporting them behind the scenes!"
"That's right." Zhu Zai Rui nodded.
Two words came to mind.
The White Lotus Sect.
The Alliance that seizes destiny.
He had learned from Yan Shifan's memories that the Yan family traded with the Mongols in the north through the White Lotus sect.
And this time, the Japanese pirates in the south are probably also backed by this organization.
This so-called "Alliance for Seizing Fortune" seems to be playing a very big game.
On one hand, they instigated the northern barbarians to invade the south, and on the other hand, they funded the southern Japanese pirates to cause trouble. Their purpose was to disrupt the fate of the Ming Dynasty and prevent the country from being at peace, so that they could steal the ethereal yet real human destiny amidst the chaos.
Yan Song was merely a pawn they pushed to the forefront, tasked with creating corruption within the imperial court.
Now, the piece has been removed.
They immediately launched a countermeasure, simultaneously initiating military strikes against the Ming Dynasty on both the northern and southern fronts!
Having figured this out, a cold killing intent flashed in Zhu Zai Rui's eyes.
"You treat my country like your ranch, coming and going as you please, stealing whatever you want?"
"It seems that unless we drag out and crush you rats hiding in the gutter one by one, the Ming Dynasty will never have a peaceful day."
He turned around and gave the order to Qi Jiguang.
"General Qi."
"Your subordinate is here!" Qi Jiguang stepped forward and knelt on one knee.
"Thirty of the Shenji ironclad warships have been built at Longjiang Shipyard."
"I'll give you another month."
Zhu Zai Rui's voice carried an unquestionable air of authority.
"One month from now, I command you to lead this invincible fleet south to the East China Sea!"
"This time, it's not just about wiping out the Japanese pirates."
"I command you to cross the sea and march on their homeland!"
"I want everyone on that island to understand one thing—"
"Those who offend our Great Ming Dynasty, though far away, shall be punished!"
Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang felt a surge of heat rush to his head. He kowtowed heavily and roared hoarsely, "This humble general obeys the imperial decree!"
Zhu Zaiyi looked at him, then at the travel-worn Zhu Di.
He knew that dealing with the Japanese pirates was only the first step.
The real enemy lies behind that fog.
His gaze seemed to pierce through the dome of the Imperial Palace, looking deep into the dragon vein beneath the capital.
"Do you think you can treat my country like a pigsty, coming and going as you please, stealing whatever you want?"
He muttered to himself, a cold smile curving his lips.
"Looks like I need to let you know that the pigsty here doesn't house pigs."
"It's a dragon."