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Chapter 116 - 116: 95: Longqing 28th Year

It was a dreadful year for the people of Da Yue.

In this year:

In January, Jinghai Country, a tributary state of Da Yue, accused the prefect of Da Yue’s border prefecture of humiliating their ruler, seeking unlimited tribute, and arbitrarily killing its citizens. Jinghai declared that it was severing its ties with Da Yue, refusing to pay tribute, and breaking away as a vassal state.

In the same month, Jinghai mobilised an army of 100,000 troops and invaded Yulin County of Da Yue.

In February, the news reached the capital, causing Emperor Longqing to be furious. He ordered the formation of a southern expedition army of 200,000 troops to launch a punitive campaign against Jinghai Country.

At the same time, he issued a decree to levy a ‘Pacify the Bandits’ tax on all prefectures and counties to fund the southern expedition force.

In March, the weather across Da Yue took an unexpected turn – hailstorms in March, causing a delay in the agricultural season, ruining crops and plunging the common people into unease as rumours began to spread.

By the end of the month, Jian’an County was laden with the collection of the ‘Pacify the Bandits’ tax.

The people of Jian’an made a living from tea-growing, and the March hailstorm had already frozen and killed off many spring tea plants, causing many households to fall into bankruptcy and debt. Now with the added tax burden, countless people were forced to sell their children and themselves into servitude to survive.

At this time in the Jianyang Mansion, Chi Mingzhu, a practitioner of the Demonic Path, proclaimed himself the Red Sun Immortal, come to save the world. He had supernatural abilities, could control water and thunder, and could cast spells. He even had more than ten thousand followers. He then raised a rebellion, killing government officials and taking control of the prefecture and numerous cities within iust a few davs, shakinz the southeast.

The news reached the capital and caused an uproar amongst the court.

Emperor Longqing then ordered the Southern Expeditionary Army to temporarily postpone their southern march and instead suppress the Jian’an rebels before dealing with Jinghai.

By April, the Southern Expeditionary Army had completed its formation and was ready to embark. But just then, news came from the north.

Liang Country, Da Yue’s old enemy, had a newly enthroned prince. The youthful Liang Emperor, as soon as he ascended the throne, declared his intention to march south with an army of 500,000 to expel Da Yue.

Now as Liang’s forces were assembling, the vanguard had reached the border, and the war had already begun.

Emperor Longqing had no choice but to rename the Southern Expedition Army as the Northern Expedition Army and send them to the northern border to resist Liang’s forces.

As for the unrest in Jian’an County and Jinghai’s invasion, a new expeditionary force had to be assembled to tackle them.

In the same month, the governor of Yuzhang Prefecture reported continuous heavy rainfall, leading to many floods, with disaster-stricken refugees scattered everywhere. The governor requested aid from the government.

In early May, the governor of Xichuan Prefecture reported ground tremors in his territory, causing walls in cities and counties to collapse, damaging over a hundred thousand homes, and causing tens of thousands of casualties.

By mid -month, the governor of Linhai County reported that pirates from the East Sea were causing disturbances in the region. With an army of ten thousand men at their disposal and using the mobility of their vessels, they attacked cities and plundered land, moving swiftly. The county government found it difficult to respond and requested assistance from the navy.

At the end of the month, news came from the palace in the capital about a major case of witchcraft. The Crown Prince and the Seventh Prince were accused of conspiring with a witch, Yan Daoyu, to place a curse on Emperor Longqing in order to take over the throne.

However, the plot was leaked by a servant within the Crown Prince’s residence.

When Emperor Longqing heard of this, he was irate and immediately ordered the arrest and execution of the witch Yan Daoyu. Simultaneously, he placed the Crown Prince under house arrest to rethink his actions.

Even though the witchcraft case was eventually resolved, Longqing had ascended to the throne in his thirties and was now in his seventies after forty years of reign. His already advanced age, the continuous stream of bad news and the witchcraft case involving the Crown Prince had taken a severe toll on his energy.

As a result, shortly after the resolution of the witchcraft case, Longqing spat a mouthful of blood and lost consciousness during a court assembly. He fell ill and lay bedridden, partially unconscious for most of the time. He couldn’t survive past June and died on the thirteenth day.

Subsequently, the ministers agreed to crown the Crown Prince as the new emperor.

This Crown Prince, who had been under house arrest for less than a month, suddenly turned into the Heavenly Son of the new dynasty and issued a new reign title, Hongdao.

Due to the close timing of the witchcraft case, rumours circulated among the common people that Emperor Longqing did not die of illness, but was cursed to death by the Crown Prince.

Therefore, the newly enthroned Hongdao Emperor was widely criticised by the people, some even mockingly referred to him as the “Witchcraft Emperor,” which was quite ironic.

When the rumours reached the ears of Emperor Hongdao, he was extremely furious. However, he no longer had the time to deal with these rumours and gossip.

Because the mess left behind by Emperor Longqing—Jinghai’s invasion,

Jian’an’s rebellion, Liang’s southern invasion, Yuzhang’s flooding, Xichuan’s earthquakes, Linhai’s pirate attacks, these six massive holes—were all waiting for the new emperor to fix.

After forty years as the Crown Prince and finally ascending the throne after allegedly cursing his predecessor to death, Emperor Hongdao, after only a month on the throne, was already exhausted by the demands of the imperial office.

He even began to feel that being an emperor was not as good as being a Crown Prince.

It was a lot more carefree back then.

However, there was no reversing tonic in the world. Once someone ascends the throne, he can’t get off.

Whether or not Da Yue’s ship, battered by storms and afloat amidst numerous loopholes, can continue to sail in the raging storm, would depend on the capabilities of this new emperor now.

Da Yue, oscillating and seemingly on the verge of capsizing.

Outside, there was unrest everywvhere. Dongting Prefecture was not spared either.

Due to the hailstorm at the beginning of the year, agricultural production in all parts was damaged. It seemed inevitable that this year’s yield was going to short.

At the same time, the sudden drop in temperature caused by the hailstorm also resulted in the death of many animals in the mountains who had just come out of hibernation and hadn’t had the chance to regain their health. They froze to death.

As a result, the Miao People, who lived in the mountains and relied on hunting for a living, also began to show signs of instability.

By May and June, a rebellion started among the mountain people—they attacked the county town and rebelled.

Fortunately, the prefecture had predicted this earlier and had arranged a large army. Whenever there was any disturbance, the soldiers were sent to put it down. The dozens of uprisings from the mountain people that had just started were not given the chance to spread—they were already eliminated.

However, even with swift responses, many county cities were broken into by the rebels. Officials and people in the cities were slaughtered and plundered. People died or got severely injured.

Thus, time moved on to July.

One day, after giving his lecture at the Academy, Sun Siwen returned to his house.

As soon as he entered his home, he saw his friend for once not practicing martial arts in the garden but rather, having a drink and humming a strange tune.

“In my hand, I wield the swirling Moon Blade, shouting the clear mantra, who dares to stand against me…”

The melody was strange, unlike any contemporary verses or song rhythms, it sounded more like folk songs from the mountains, but even then, it was still vastly different.

Especially the words he used to sing, which were different from any language at that time, Sun didn’t understand a word. It felt like a foreign language. Curiously, he asked, and his friend said that he was just humming casually, thinking it sounded good, so he were singing it out, and it was not any foreign language.

Sun didn’t believe this in the slightest.

But if his friend was not going to say, he did not question further and resigned to just listen.

And indeed, although he didn’t understand Lu Yuan’s song, and the tune was odd, it didn’t bother him, and he found it exceptionally pleasant, leading him to appreciate it.

Upon entering the courtyard and hearing the song, Sun couldn’t help but stop to listen closely without interrupting.

After the song had ended, Lu Yuan turned around, seeing his friend and laughed: “Brother Sun, you are back.”

His voice was filled with nonchalant humour and a carefree air..