60 Zhao Cheng, The Mad Emperor (2)

The Emperor has died.

The Imperial Palace was like a blazing sun in the darkest night, as the northern barbarians razed everything to the ground. The plaque that hung above the dragon throne was being dragged by one of the their horses, the four engraved characters that meant 'justice and brightness' already scratched beyond legibility.

The sound of their hooves were drowned by the frightened screams that came each time a group of them passed by, the blood of their victims splattering on the ground, blooming like red lotuses. From the Meridian gate where they came from, one could see the silhouette of a broken figure, his body full of arrows.

It was hard to believe, but it was the Emperor himself who had thrown open the palace gates.

Hongwu Emperor could be considered a decent ruler, but he was not capable enough. On the brief period the third prince Zhao Cheng, reign name Yuanxing Emperor, had ruled over the empire, he expanded all of their territories, conquered kingdoms left and right, and made the national treasury almost full to bursting with wealth.

The common people never lacked for anything to eat, the quality of education soared up, and women were allowed to become officials if they wanted to. It was a golden age, an era that had been praised by worldly scholars as 'the ultimate paradise, a heaven on earth'. And all of this, was all thanks to the efforts of Yuanxing Emperor.

The officials and ministers under him had only one thing to criticize, but it was a criticism that they would never dare to voice out. It was because this topic was taboo, and was His Majesty's reverse dragon scale [1]. Who didn't know that the number of people who dared to say to the Yuanxing Emperor that he should stop his obsession with his dead Empress and appoint a new one was also the number of people that had been skinned alive and displayed on the public market square?

Yuanxing Emperor was intelligent, ruthless, good at governing, tyrannical, and a brilliant military tactician. But in private, he was also secretly called a 'madman', because he never stopped looking for a way to bring the dead Empress back to his side. A month ago, he even invited a renowned mystical monk into the palace, just because this monk spread a rumor, a rumor that he could make Yuanxing Emperor meet the Empress in his second life.

Many officials protested to his invitation, submitting memorandum after memorandum that this mystical monk was a fake, a sham, only wanting to deceive His Majesty with false hopes, clearly a person that just wants to loot a burning house, ah!

But in the end these memorandums were ignored, and those who persisted, were punished by the Emperor. Gradually, their protests began to disappear, and all the ministers began to accept that in all matters related to Empress Li, they would not be allowed to say half a word.

However, had they known that Yuanxing Emperor's meeting with that mystical monk would lead to this kind of ending, they would have surely begged him day and night, and even pull out the Empress Dowager from her palace to help their cause. They had all known that His Majesty was a madman, but they did not think that just because a monk proclaimed His Majesty should destroy this world to meet the Empress again, he would not hesitate and go destroy his own flourishing empire!

Don't know how many families will perish because he invited the invasion of the barbarians into the capital, and don't know how much blood will spill on the streets. Turning his empire from heaven to hell, Yuanxing Emperor truly acted like a madman, and did not even blink as he let everything around him crumble.

If she was beside him, even if it was hell, it would be heaven. But if she was not beside him, even if it was paradise, even if he built an empire that was labeled as 'heaven on earth,' it would still be hell!

So the hell that his people were seeing right now, this world that was washed in red and black, was the kind of world he had been living in ever since she died! He knew his actions were beyond reasonable, and it would incite hatred in the hearts of the people who followed him. So when they began to shoot arrows into his body, he already accepted it. Even when the crown prince led the first volley of arrows, Zhao Cheng's expression did not even change one bit.

Towards everyone and everything, he had long been detached from it. Even when he closed his eyes, only one thought floated in his mind. On his left hand, he clutched the perfume sachet he found in the zhengfang after her death.

Jia'er, let me meet you again...

This time, even if you want to, you will not be allowed to leave me, not half a step.

This time, I will definitely not let you go.

[1] Reverse dragon scale is a special scale on a dragon's throat that grows in the opposite direction. It is widely believed that if anyone dares to touch it, it would make the dragon go crazy in anger.