sovbooks Chapter 21 Yu Dayou Dies for His Country? A Celestial Being Changes Fate!
Chapter 21 Yu Dayou Dies for His Country? A Celestial Being Changes Fate!
The urgent report from the capital struck everyone in the Hall of Supreme Harmony with a devastating blow.
The joy and excitement of the victory in northern Xinjiang vanished instantly.
The entire hall was deathly silent.
Zhu Di's hand, which had just grabbed the messenger's collar, was bulging with veins, and his knuckles were trembling slightly from extreme anger and disbelief.
"What did you say? Say it again, and explain who betrayed us!"
His voice was hoarse.
"Yu Dayou is dead?! The entire fleet was wiped out?!"
The messenger was so terrified by the murderous aura emanating from Zhu Di that he nearly fainted. His crotch was wet and hot, and a foul, fishy smell filled the air.
He stammered, using the last of his strength to repeat, "Reporting to...Reporting to the Emperor Emeritus...The report...The report says this...General Yu was besieged by a force several times larger than the Japanese pirates at Blackwater Gully. In the fierce battle...Deputy General Zhou Keji betrayed him and attacked from behind...General Yu was seriously wounded and fell into the sea...died in battle...The fleet...The fleet was thrown into chaos, divided and surrounded by the Japanese pirates, and...the entire fleet was wiped out..."
"Zhou Keji!"
Upon hearing this name, Minister of War Yang Bo's eyes turned bloodshot, and he slammed his fist hard against the pillar beside him.
"This traitor is Yan Song's trusted confidant planted in the army! We discovered this during the search of his home, through Yan Shifan's secret letters! I've already sent men to arrest his family, but I never expected... I never expected he would dare to commit such a despicable act on the battlefield!"
"Damn it! Useless!" Zhu Di threw the messenger to the ground and paced back and forth in the hall in anger, the gold bricks under his feet creaking loudly.
He had just defeated Anda Khan in the north, forcing him to kneel and call him "Grandpa," and in the blink of an eye, such a huge blunder had occurred in the south!
He knew Yu Dayou; he had read his memorials and recognized him as a rare military genius, especially skilled in naval warfare. How could such a great general be stabbed in the back by his own men and die such a ignominious death?
"Your Highness... Your Highness has already used magic..." Qi Jiguang stood aside, his face also full of shock and confusion.
He had personally heard the Regent's voice transmitted from afar, giving instructions on the battle situation. His voice still echoed in his ears; how could they possibly be defeated? How could General Yu possibly be dead?
Upon hearing this, everyone's gaze turned to the young man on the dragon throne, who had remained expressionless throughout.
Yes, with a celestial being intervening, how could we possibly lose?
Could it be... that even immortal magic can fail?
In an instant, the newly established god-like worship of Zhu Zai Rui began to show a slight, almost imperceptible wavering.
Zhu Zaiyi looked at the confused, shocked, and even slightly suspicious eyes of the crowd below, but his heart remained unmoved.
He knew where the problem lay.
Information transmission is too slow in this era.
Even with fast horses galloping day and night, it would still take several days for a report to be sent from the southeast coast to the capital.
When he transmitted his voice a thousand miles away from the main hall a few days ago, what he received was this report. And this report recorded what had happened a few days earlier.
The officials believed that
In other words, by the time he made his move, Yu Dayou's fleet had already been destroyed.
His voice only reached an empty ocean that had just experienced a bloody battle and was filled with corpses and ship planks.
He miscalculated.
For the first time in this world, he felt the powerlessness brought about by the limitations of mortal means.
Cultivators can overturn rivers and seas and transmit their voices across thousands of miles, but they cannot turn back time.
Seeing the sorrowful expressions on the faces of the officials below, and Zhu Di's face that looked like he wanted to devour someone, Zhu Zaiyi slowly stood up.
"Yu Dayou is not dead."
He spoke calmly, his voice not loud, but it was like a reassuring pill, instantly calming the noise and panic in the entire hall.
Everyone, including Zhu Di, was stunned.
Not dead? The report clearly states that they fell into the sea and died in battle, the entire army was wiped out. How could they not be dead?
"The report only records what happened when it was sent out." Zhu Zaiyi slowly walked down the steps, his gaze sweeping over everyone. "This report was sent out by a scout responsible for delivering military intelligence at the last minute when Yu Dayou was ambushed by his deputy, seriously injured, and fell into the sea, and the fleet was on the verge of collapse."
"And after he sent him out, something else happened at sea."
Zhu Zaiyi's words made everyone hold their breath.
Other things? What things?
Just then, another messenger stumbled in from outside the hall.
Unlike the disheveled messenger from before, this messenger, though also covered in dust, wore a strange expression of relief mixed with fervor and worship.
He even forgot to salute, kneeling directly on the ground, raising the second newspaper in his hand high, and shouting in a hoarse but excited voice, "Great victory! Great victory! Great victory in the Southeast!"
"General Yu Dayou, with his remaining troops, defeated the enemy at Heishuigou, annihilating over two hundred of the main Japanese pirate fleets! Tens of thousands were beheaded! The pirate leader was captured, and dozens of Portuguese cannons were seized! A great victory! An unprecedented victory for our Great Ming!"
The second newspaper report!
After a period of deathly silence, the entire Hall of Supreme Harmony erupted into a thunderous roar of cheers!
From total annihilation to an unprecedented victory!
This huge reversal made everyone feel like they were dreaming, and they were all so excited that their faces turned red and they were incoherent.
"What happened? What exactly happened?" Yang Bo snatched the newspaper, his hands trembling with excitement.
Zhu Di strode over, grabbed the report, and began reading it quickly.
This letter was written by Yu Dayou himself.
The contents of the letter were even more bizarre than those in novels and storybooks.
The letter stated that when he was ambushed by a traitor, seriously injured, and fell into the sea, his consciousness was about to fade when he suddenly heard the sound of "divine thunder from the heavens".
The voice, claiming to be the "Regent of the Great Ming," accurately pointed out the changes in wind direction, the direction of the ocean currents, and even the location of the enemy commander.
Then, as if aided by a divine dragon, a tremendous force lifted him out of the water and sent him back to the flagship.
Upon waking, he disregarded his injuries and immediately redeployed according to the "divine decree".
Finally, aided by the raging storm, he used fire ships to burn down the Japanese pirates' main ship in one fell swoop, and led the remaining troops to annihilate the Japanese pirates whose formation had been thrown into chaos!
At the end of the letter, Yu Dayou wrote in trembling handwriting: "Your Majesty, I do not know what I am saying, nor what I am seeing, but I know that Heaven's mandate is clear and a divine miracle has descended upon the world! Your Majesty, I humbly request that a shrine be erected for His Highness the Regent, to comfort Heaven and to thank the gods for their grace!"
Zhu Di held the report, slowly raised his head, and looked at the boy standing at the bottom of the steps.
His eyes were extremely complex.
There was shock, there was doubt, but more than anything, there was a deep-seated...pride.
These are the descendants of the Zhu family!
This is true cultivation! Changing fate and destiny!
The officials also read the report, and the way they looked at Zhu Zaiyi was no longer just awe.
Those were mortals looking up at the gods.
If the burning of Xiyuan was a divine punishment, then...
This time, it is divine grace.
Punishment and favor, both emanate from the hand of one person. This is true control over the universe!
Zhu Zaiyi ignored the fervent gazes of the crowd and calmly looked at the first newspaper report.
He stretched out his hand, and a wisp of blue flame ignited at his fingertips.
The report that recorded the "defeat" was silently reduced to ashes in the flames.
"From this day forward," his voice echoed throughout the hall, "the word 'defeat' will no longer appear in the Ming Dynasty's official reports."
"Now, let's talk about something else."
His gaze turned to the distant east, and his eyes turned cold.
"These so-called 'Japanese pirates' were able to plant spies in the army, mobilize such a large fleet, and even equip it with Western cannons."
There must be someone behind them.
"I don't like rats lurking in the shadows, messing with my things."