novelraw Chapter 565 Alliance of Nations?
Chapter 565 Alliance of Nations?
After Cao Zhengchun finished speaking, the Ming emperor's face immediately showed dissatisfaction and anger!
The Ming emperor stared at Cao Zhengchun and roared, "Useless! I gave you wealth and honor, and such a high position, but I never expected you to be so useless!"
"What use are you to me?"
Obviously.
The Ming emperor was furious. After all, the Ming Empire had launched a three-pronged invasion of the Ming Dynasty, which was now facing a life-or-death crisis.
Therefore, the Ming emperor, wanting to seek wealth and power in danger, directly ordered Cao Zhengchun to assassinate Zhu Ying. Unfortunately, Cao Zhengchun was only a Grandmaster at the moment. If Cao Zhengchun were to fight Zhu Ying, there would only be one outcome: he would die without a burial place!
Cao Zhengchun was well aware of this, so after the Ming emperor finished speaking, Cao Zhengchun knelt down in front of him.
With tears streaming down his face, he said, "Your Majesty, even ten of us servants are no match for this grandson of the Ming Emperor! Your Majesty, please spare us!"
To be honest, when the Ming emperor heard Cao Zhengchun's words, he became even angrier!
The Ming emperor roared, "This is utterly ridiculous!"
"I will spare you, but who will spare me?"
After saying this, the Ming emperor slumped onto the dragon throne, his face showing despair and resentment.
To be fair, deep down, Zhu Houzhao was also quite afraid of Zhu Ying.
But now, the three armies of the Ming Empire are already pointing their spearheads directly at the Ming Dynasty, so for this Ming emperor, he has no choice at all.
Since things have come to this, the only option left is to confront Zhu Ying head-on.
Zhu Houzhao sighed, glanced at Cao Zhengchun kneeling on the ground, and said, "I don't really want you to die, but now, I really can't find a second candidate."
"Now, within my court, you are the only person I trust."
Zhu Houzhao knew he had no way out, so he could only tell Cao Zhengchun the truth.
Upon hearing this, the latter immediately said, "Your Majesty, this servant has a candidate in mind."
"This person is none other than Zhu Wushi, the Iron-Blooded Marquis."
"Zhu Wushi is a member of the royal family and has the Protectorate of Dragon Mountain. Moreover, his cultivation has reached the peak of the Divine Power Realm. If we send the Divine Marquis, he will surely be able to kill this grandson of the Ming Emperor."
However, after Zhu Wushi finished speaking, the Ming emperor instead let out a series of cold laughs.
Immediately, the Ming emperor said, "Cao Zhengchun, don't you know? My uncle is terrified when he hears the name of this grandson of the Ming emperor."
"It's simply impossible to send Zhu Wushi to assassinate the grandson of the Ming emperor."
"I even suspect that Zhu Wushi has long been secretly colluding with the Ming Empire."
Zhu Houzhao was, after all, a clever man. Although the Ming Empire was only of average strength under his rule, he was extremely intelligent.
He had a vague feeling that something was off about Zhu Wushi.
As soon as Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, Cao Zhengchun's face immediately showed a look of fear.
He never imagined that the famous Iron-Blooded Marquis would pledge allegiance to the Ming Empire.
At this moment, Zhu Houzhao spoke to Cao Zhengchun again: "Stop talking nonsense. You should hurry up and pack your things. You must kill this grandson of the Ming emperor. After it is done, I will certainly not treat you unfairly."
Clearly, Zhu Houzhao had no other options and could only place all his hopes on Cao Zhengchun.
However, Cao Zhengchun, the top martial arts expert in the palace, still chose to refuse after hearing Zhu Houzhao's words.
"Your Majesty, this servant would never attempt to assassinate the grandson of the Ming Emperor. If I were to go, I would surely die, and it would also weaken the Ming Dynasty."
To be honest, after Cao Zhengchun finished speaking, the Ming emperor's eyes revealed a murderous intent.
In the eyes of this Ming emperor, Cao Zhengchun already harbored rebellious intentions.
Just as Zhu Houzhao was about to unleash his fury, Cao Zhengchun knelt on the ground again and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, this servant is not afraid of being killed by this grandson of the Ming Emperor, but believes there is a better way."
"A better way?" After repeating Cao Zhengchun's words, the Ming emperor seemed to see a glimmer of hope again.
The Ming emperor immediately pressed, "Cao Zhengchun, tell me quickly, what good ideas do you have?"
Cao Zhengchun did not dare to hesitate and immediately said, "Your Majesty, the reason why the Ming Empire was able to destroy the Jin and Song kingdoms so easily is mainly because the grandson of the Ming emperor is a martial arts master."
"In that case, we can only win by gathering all the martial arts masters in our Ming Kingdom and having them fight against this grandson of the Ming Emperor."
Zhu Houzhao had initially thought that Cao Zhengchun had other, better methods, but after hearing what Cao Zhengchun said, a hint of disappointment appeared on his face.
"Is this your method?" Zhu Houzhao said with disdain.
Instead, Cao Zhengchun spoke with a firm tone: "Your Majesty, this is the only way. Although the strength of this grandson of the Ming Emperor is unfathomable, and he can even kill Bodhidharma and the Sweeper Monk, our Ming Dynasty is not an ordinary country either."
"This servant believes that as long as Your Majesty can issue invitations to many heroes and summon top martial arts masters to the capital to protect Your Majesty, many martial arts masters will surely come."
"If the army of the Great Ming Empire really attacks the capital, our Ming Kingdom will have a countermeasure."
This was the only method Cao Zhengchun could think of to withstand the onslaught of the Ming Empire.
After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "Things have come to this point, and this is the only way."
Zhu Houzhao understood that even if he sent Cao Zhengchun to assassinate the grandson of the Ming emperor, the only outcome would be that Cao Zhengchun would be killed.
This could not change the fate of the Ming Dynasty's demise.
Since that's the case, why not take another approach and rely on the strength of the Ming Dynasty's martial arts masters? Gather all these martial arts masters together and attack the Ming Empire's army and the Ming Emperor's grandson.
Immediately
Zhu Houzhao personally helped Cao Zhengchun up, then patted him on the shoulder and said with a serious expression, "Eunuch Cao, whether my empire can be preserved depends entirely on you."
"From this moment forward, immediately send someone to contact the martial arts masters within my Ming Kingdom and have them come to the capital as soon as possible. I will reward any martial arts master who helps me resist the Ming Empire."
"Your servant obeys." Cao Zhengchun finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that Zhu Houzhao had agreed to his proposal.
After all, this way, Cao Zhengchun would escape the mission of assassinating Zhu Ying.
After bidding farewell to the Ming emperor, Cao Zhengchun immediately began to actively contact martial arts masters in the Ming Dynasty, utilizing the connections and intelligence of the Eastern Depot.
But not long after that.
Cao Zhengchun's actions were then discovered by the people of Hulong Villa.
Especially Duan Tianya, who was the top secret agent. When Duan Tianya learned that Cao Zhengchun was actively contacting martial arts masters in the Ming Dynasty, he did not hesitate and immediately told the news to Zhu Wushi, the Iron-Blooded Marquis.
At this moment, we are inside the Dragon Guard Manor.
Duan Tianya quickly approached Zhu Wushi.
"Reporting to the Divine Lord, I have just learned that Eunuch Cao of the Eastern Depot has begun contacting martial arts masters of the Ming Dynasty, and quite a few Grandmaster-level experts are currently on their way to the capital."
Undoubtedly, when Zhu Wushi heard the information brought by Duan Tianya, a hint of panic appeared on his face.
"What? Cao Zhengchun actually contacted martial arts masters from the Ming Dynasty and asked them to come to the capital to protect the Emperor?"
"Cao Zhengchun really came up with something!"
However, Zhu Wushi quickly regained his composure.
Because he already knew that Zhu Ying had successfully advanced to the Gang Qi Realm.
In Zhu Wushi's view, even if all the martial arts masters in the entire Ming Dynasty gathered in the capital, they would still be no match for Zhu Ying.
Therefore, Zhu ignored it and said in a cold tone, "They are simply a bunch of rabble."
"Now, the Grandson of the Ming Emperor has already broken through the Qi Refining Realm. No one in the world can rival him. Yet Cao Zhengchun dares to think that he can use all the martial arts masters in the Ming Dynasty to fight against the Grandson of the Ming Emperor."
"It's absolutely ridiculous!"
Upon seeing Zhu Wushi's reaction, Duan Tianya felt a sense of disappointment deep down.
After all, Duan Tianya also wanted to join Cao Zhengchun's camp and fight against Zhu Ying.
Duan Tianya's reason for having such thoughts was mainly because Cheng Shifei had been killed by Zhu Ying. Duan Tianya and Cheng Shifei had a very good relationship, and in order to avenge Cheng Shifei and protect the Ming Dynasty, Duan Tianya had to fight against Zhu Ying, both morally and logically.
So
Duan Tianya directly advised Zhu Wushi, "Divine Marquis, since Eunuch Cao has gathered heroes from all over the world to fight against the Ming Empire, why don't my Dragon Guard Manor also take action?"
"My subordinates even believe that we can cooperate with Eunuch Cao to resist foreign enemies together."
However, as soon as Duan Tianya finished speaking, Zhu Wushi's face immediately showed a hint of impatience.
Zhu Wushi stared coldly at Duan Tianya and said, "Although you are the head of these four secret agents, you should know very well that I am the one you should be loyal to."
"I will remind you one last time: if you ever want to fight against the Ming Empire again, I will kill you."
"Get out of here."
Since Zhu Wushi had secretly pledged allegiance to the Ming Empire, he would never allow his subordinates to wage war against the Ming Empire.
Therefore, when Zhu Wushi heard what Duan Tianya said, he immediately flew into a rage.
Seeing this, Duan Tianya could only quickly retreat!
However, Duan Tianya did not give up on his idea. He secretly contacted Gui Haiyidao and Shangguan Haitang, deciding to pledge allegiance to Cao Zhengchun.
Together they fought against the Ming Empire.
.........
Meanwhile, the Southern Dali Kingdom
Duan Zhengming, the king of Dali, also received intelligence about the Ming Empire's attack on Dali.
Immediately, Duan Zhengming told his younger brother, Prince Zhennan, Duan Zhengchun, about the matter.
"Your Majesty, I believe that since the Great Ming Empire has already declared war on the Ming Kingdom, our Dali Kingdom absolutely cannot sit idly by."
"The Ming Dynasty and the Dali Kingdom are interdependent, like lips and teeth. If the Ming Dynasty is defeated by the Great Ming Empire, then naturally the Dali Kingdom will also suffer the same fate!"
Duan Zhengchun's idea was very simple. In his view, the Ming Empire led by Zhu Ying had successively conquered the Jin and Song dynasties, and now it was attacking the Ming dynasty.
In terms of strength, the Ming Empire was just like the Qin state during the Warring States period, unstoppable!
If the Dali Kingdom wanted to remain unscathed in this chaotic world, it could only do so by forming an alliance.
In addition, Duan Zhengchun also learned from the martial arts world that this grandson of the Ming emperor had killed Bodhidharma, the founder of Shaolin Temple, and the Sweeper Monk.
This undoubtedly made Duan Zhengchun even more wary of this so-called grandson of the Ming emperor.
Therefore, both for public and private reasons, Prince Zhennan Duan Zhengchun hoped to form an alliance between the Ming Kingdom and the Dali Kingdom to jointly attack the so-called Ming Empire.
On the dragon throne
After hearing his younger brother's idea, Duan Zhengming naturally gave his full support.
"In that case, I urge you, my brother, to make a trip to the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible and form an alliance with them."
Duan Zhengchun immediately accepted the order, saying, "Your subject obeys."
In fact, it wasn't just the Dali Kingdom that learned of the Ming Empire's attack on the Ming Kingdom; in the royal palace of the Tubo Kingdom in the southwest, the Golden Wheel Dharma King and Kumārajīva also received this intelligence.
"What? This Ming Empire is truly arrogant, actually launching a three-pronged attack on the Ming Kingdom. This grandson of the Ming Emperor simply doesn't take the Ming Kingdom seriously at all!"
The Golden Wheel Monk said with a disdainful look, "Although the Ming Dynasty's military strength is average, there are many martial arts masters within the country. It is said that Cao Zhengchun has already begun to contact various masters."
"In my opinion, the Ming Empire's attack on the Ming Kingdom this time is bound to fail."
But as soon as the Golden Wheel Monk finished speaking, Kumārajīva shook his head and said, "I don't think so. Haven't you heard? This grandson of the Ming Emperor, Zhu Ying, killed Bodhidharma and the Sweeper Monk."
Who were Bodhidharma and the Sweeping Monk?
"They are the top martial arts experts in the Song Kingdom, and the two of them have even reached the half-step Gangqi realm."
"However, this grandson of the Ming emperor easily killed the two of them."
"It's easy to imagine how terrifying this grandson of the Ming emperor is."
Kumārajīva was naturally quite familiar with the strength of the Sweeper Monk and Bodhidharma, so when he heard about this, he concluded that no one in the world was a match for Zhu Ying!
"What? This grandson of the Ming emperor was actually able to kill Bodhidharma and the Sweeper Monk? How is that possible?"
Sure enough, when the Golden Wheel Monk heard Kumārajīva's words, he was stunned.
In the eyes of the Golden Wheel Monk, no one could be a match for Bodhidharma and the Sweeper Monk, let alone kill them!
This undoubtedly dealt a huge blow to the Golden Wheel Monk!
"If the Ming Empire were to truly destroy our country, then Tibet would also be doomed! Since things have come to this, we have no choice but to form an alliance with the Ming!" (End of Chapter)