Chapter 49: Baosong Was Wronged to Death!
“Ah!!”
Inside the imperial tent, screams of agony echoed without pause.
“Please! Stop hitting me! Teacher Wang, protect me! Quickly call the Imperial Guards inside to defend me!”
The Fortress Sovereign clutched his head, wailing as if his soul were about to leave his body. His imperial robes were ripped to shreds, making him look like a young maiden ravaged by eighteen burly men.
In truth, the ten emperors and crown princes of the Ming dynasty, their anger at its peak, wielded their paddles with vigor, their attacks even more ferocious. Several times, they nearly beat the Fortress Sovereign senseless.
“You scoundrel! Anyone who didn’t know better would think this wretched eunuch was your father!”
Zhu Yuanzhang was enraged, snatching the paddle from the idle Xuande Emperor’s hand. With ancestral tablets in both hands, he struck the Fortress Sovereign left and right, leaving him dazed and confused.
“Ah!!!”
“Teacher…teacher, save me!” Zhu Qizhen, his face bruised and swollen, rolled his eyes and muttered subconsciously.
“You little bastard!”
The Xuande Emperor, beard bristling and eyes blazing, seized the chance to smack the Fortress Sovereign’s backside. This fool truly regarded a eunuch as his father!
But it wasn’t surprising. The five regents left behind by Xuande were notoriously harsh with the young Zhu Qizhen, always invoking ritual, ancestral rules, and imperial decrees to suppress him.
But Wang Zhen always catered to his every whim, obedient and indulgent, compensating for the Fortress Sovereign’s lack of paternal affection from another angle.
Xuande turned his gaze, murderous, to the trembling Wang Eunuch. To him, his foolish son had once been bright and adorable, but now was dull and ignorant, all thanks to this wretched eunuch!
And despite being beaten so badly, the child cried out not for his own father, but for a dead eunuch!
Though he’d beaten him plenty himself, like the other two rotund fathers, he never struck him hard, always targeting the backside, never ruthlessly. Who would have expected that in his son’s heart, a eunuch mattered more than his own father? The humiliation was overwhelming. Xuande gritted his teeth and glared at Wang Zhen:
Great-grandfather—surely it’s time to punish the eunuch!
“Whew!”
Zhu Yuanzhang stretched his limbs, exhaling deeply. He handed the ancestral tablets to the two Zhu Dis and ordered, “This little brat’s body is still sturdy—keep beating him. He won’t die anytime soon.”
“Yes, Father!”
The two Fourths obeyed, laying into him with all their strength. Old Zhu Di was especially furious. “You’ve disgraced our ancestors, acted recklessly, favored treacherous eunuchs, sent two hundred thousand souls to their deaths! How will you answer to their parents and kin?”
Grand Scholar Jie Jin once told Zhu Di that the Holy Grandson would prosper three generations, which pleased Zhu Di greatly. But he never imagined—prosper the first three generations, indeed!
Smack!
Old Zhu Di’s paddle landed on the Fortress Sovereign’s face, burning with pain, causing snot and tears to gush forth.
The agony jolted Zhu Qizhen awake. He hugged his head, crying out in protest, “Two hundred thousand troops are still camped outside—I've done nothing! Why am I being beaten?”
“You dare protest!?”
Old Zhu Di roared, cursing furiously as he struck, “A Ming emperor, my great-grandson, captured by mere Oirat barbarians—don’t you know to draw your sword and die in honor!?”
“You’ve never learned to die for your country, but you can kneel at the enemy’s gates, eh?”
Seeing the Fortress Sovereign about to collapse, Zhu Youjian quickly stuffed a rejuvenation pill in his mouth—activating blood, dissipating bruises, refreshing the mind, a household essential.
The Fortress Sovereign immediately revived, full of energy.
I wasn’t captured! Kneeling at the gates? As the Son of Heaven, how could I possibly kneel!?
---
But drawing the sword to die… The Fortress Sovereign shuddered.
“I—I dare not!” Zhu Qizhen stammered, then his eyes bulged in anger. “Fatty, you’re crushing me!”
“Hey! You little turtle, you’ve rebelled!”
The two Zhu Gaoshis flared up instantly. This was their legitimate grandson whom they’d never met, daring to call them fat? Outrageous!
“Zhu Zhanji! Slap his face!”
“Right away, Father!”
Young Yongle and young Hongxi, unfazed, gleefully swung their paddles at the Fortress Sovereign’s swollen face.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“Ahhh!! Mother! Mother, save me!”
“Stop…please…Mercy…Wuuu!”
Zhu Qizhen sobbed uncontrollably, nearly losing his mind. Every time he was about to faint, the villain crouched by his head would stuff a pill in his mouth, reviving him instantly!
So infuriating!
Just won’t let you pass out!
Zhu Youjian diligently, like a baker kneading dough, after each round of ancestral beating, patiently fed the Fortress Sovereign another pill, ensuring the elders’ paddles always struck the springiest part!
“Excellent!”
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in satisfaction, half his pent-up anger vented. The other half, however, was aimed at Wang Eunuch, his gaze icy and sharp as a blade:
“I heard you smashed my iron tablet?”
Iron tablet!?
The one forbidding eunuchs from interfering in state affairs?
Not me! I didn’t! Don’t drag me into this!
He knew well—this was something that could never be admitted. Admit it, and he’d truly be beaten to death!
“I am innocent!”
Wang Zhen, tears streaming, nearly scared witless, his head shaking like a rattle, face mournful, tail wagging in supplication:
“Your Majesty, I have served the present emperor with utmost diligence, settled the realm, never overstepped my bounds, devoted my life and soul to the Ming dynasty, willing to die for it…”
“Nonsense!”
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned impatiently. Since when could a eunuch rant about state affairs before him? Rising, he commanded, “Bring me a sword!”
“Yes, Grandfather!”
Zhu Gaosui, waiting nearby, hurriedly fetched the golden sword hanging in the Fortress Sovereign’s tent, smiling obsequiously as he handed it to the imperial ancestor.
Zhu Yuanzhang handled it, frowning, “What a shame for such a fine sword to fall into your worthless hands. Hm? You prodigal—pure gold!?”
As the only peasant emperor in five thousand years of history, old Zhu was famously frugal. Where gold should be used in the palace, he ordered brass instead. He never indulged in luxury, all squandered by these unfilial descendants!
“No! No! It has nothing to do with me—it was Wang…Wang Zhen who presented it to me!”
Bruised and battered, Zhu Qizhen sobbed, shaking his head wildly, betraying without hesitation his beloved companion—the eunuch!
---
Not me! I didn’t! Don’t drag me into this!
Wang Zhen was furious inside, terrified on the outside, crying out, “Your Majesty, please judge wisely! I have served with honesty, never stolen or corrupted. This golden sword was passed down by my ancestors…”
Zhu Youjian, crouching nearby as the Fortress Sovereign’s spring, timely added, “Great Ancestor, this eunuch’s ill-gotten wealth fills over sixty vaults—treasures and curios innumerable, more than a hundred jade plates, over twenty coral branches six or seven feet tall!”
“And the reason he persuaded the Orthodox Emperor to camp at Tumubao waiting for supplies, was because the thousand carts of supplies were all the treasure he’d plundered along the way!”
What?
Wang Zhen was stunned, momentarily forgetting his fear. Even he couldn’t tally his own fortune, yet this man recited it like a catalogue!
Most terrifyingly, when he calculated mentally, the numbers were shockingly accurate!
“You—you—you!” Wang Zhen trembled.
In the Hongwu era, embezzling sixty taels was enough for flaying and stuffing with straw. So the thought of over sixty vaults of gold and silver, countless treasures—these numbers sent Zhu Yuanzhang’s murderous intent soaring!
“Outrageous audacity!!”
“All of you, lend a hand! Today, the Zhu family will personally execute this eunuch—three thousand cuts! Heaven, earth, and sovereign will show no mercy!”
Zhu Yuanzhang's face was dark as thunder, killing intent overflowing.
The sentence for dismemberment was three thousand cuts. Regardless of the crime, only two thousand nine hundred ninety-seven were inflicted; the remaining three represented mercy from heaven, earth, and the sovereign.
A full three thousand meant a crime so heinous it was unforgivable by gods and men!
Wang Zhen staggered backward in terror, desperate, not wanting a single cut:
“No—don’t—don’t come near me!”
Bang!
All the Ming emperors, crown princes, and royal lords closed in. Xuande Emperor Zhu Zhanji couldn’t restrain himself, delivering a flying kick to Wang Zhen’s abdomen.
“Waa!!”
Wang Zhen rolled his eyes in pain, emitting a piercing, shrill scream that made eardrums ache.
“Scream all you want! Even if your throat breaks, it won’t help!”
Xuande Emperor Zhu Zhanji grinned cruelly, personally taking up the knife. Having served years in the Imperial Guard, he was well-acquainted with the art of execution!
Slice, slice, slice!
“Ahhhh!!!”
The sound of rhythmic slicing alternated with the angry curses of the Ming emperors.
Elsewhere—
“Ha!” Zhu Qizhen gasped for breath, his vacant eyes staring at the tent roof, the pride in his heart utterly extinguished.
After the ancestral rounds of loving pain, he had grasped the true meaning of life.
To be alive is truly wonderful!
…