Chapter 147 Disturbance

June weather, like a child's face, changes in an instant.

The turmoil in this world is the same.

However, the problems within Shuntian had not been completely resolved. For the past six days, the Wanli Emperor had become a "diligent" person. There was no choice. The Wanli Emperor had to personally handle the granting and revocation of many divine positions in the Yin Si (underworld).

Moreover, after being harassed and assassinated three or five times in a row, the Wanli Emperor no longer felt comfortable letting the Grand Secretariat revoke divine positions on his behalf. He had to personally witness the gods of the Yin Si's Red Bureau being stripped of their positions to feel at ease.

As for the Yin Si's divine generals, those who died would be given a proper burial. Those who survived were all stripped of their divine positions and imprisoned in the imperial prison, regardless of whether they had participated in the Shuntian rebellion.

"Imprisoned without guilt, we are wronged!"

"These are merely necessary precautions!"

The people of the Northern Garrison Office were not soft-hearted. Many of their own had died in the battles with those Yin spirits, and there was nowhere to seek justice for that.

The Yin Si's divine generals who were still alive had simply not been possessed by the Yin spirits at the time, because Zhao Xuanlang's area of operation had not covered the entire Shuntian region, and the Yin Si's Red Bureau had as many as seventy-two offices.

Trying to control all of the Yin Si's divine generals, and completing this workload in one night, was impossible even with overtime until death.

Inside the imperial prison, Liu Mengyin was also held in a single cell, but his treatment was much better. He had a table, a bed, and plenty of meat and fish. A member of the Northern Garrison Office told him:

"Official Liu, you have performed a great service this time. We have heard from above that you will be released in a few days."

"Also, are you sure you don't have any more memories about that old man Lei Xuan?"

Liu Mengyin gnawed on a chicken leg, his face greasy, and muttered:

"I really don't know. I've said everything I should say. I even told you about the Great Ming Curse. You're not going to kill me, are you? Actually, I've already prepared myself mentally, but my book has only just begun. Dying now always feels a bit regrettable."

The people from the Northern Garrison Office exchanged glances.

Confirming the keyword: book.

"According to Liu Mengyin's description, the old man Lei Xuan repeatedly discussed the issue of writing books with Liu Mengyin."

"The book must hold a great secret."

The Northern Garrison Office sent people to the Ministry of Rites to search, and they quickly brought back the original manuscript. Then, they broke it down word by word, forcing Liu Mengyin to annotate and revise every word and phrase.

Liu Mengyin almost choked to death on the chicken leg. Were they testing his reading comprehension?

"I'm just writing a book of strange tales, there's not that much meaning in it! Really!"

But the people from the Northern Garrison Office all looked at him with a calm expression, as if saying, "Really? I don't believe you."

Liu Mengyin's face turned pale. If he could do it all over again, he would definitely not have gone to watch the Yin Si's messenger that night.

At this moment, a voice came from the depths of the imperial prison.

"Books can become the carrier of the desires of all living beings, and the effect of those desires is immense. They can even touch the Great Dao, create something from nothing, mold earth to create humans, bestow godhood out of thin air, and bring the dead back to life... Perhaps that's why the Jiajing Emperor was paying attention to you... I'm sure the old man Lei Xuan is an incarnation of the Jiajing Emperor!"

"When I was in Japan, I saw a very powerful book. Those Onmyōji (Japanese occultists) poured their lifelong wishes into it. From that book, many living people actually walked out. The dead words became living gods... I was stunned at the time..."

"Have you heard of *Jinwu Yutu Ji* (The Collection of the Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit)? Or Abe no Seimei, Ashiya Dōman, or Priest Hakudo?"

The sudden addition to the conversation startled Liu Mengyin. The people from the Northern Garrison Office identified the location and narrowed their eyes. One of the Garrison Commanders left to find the Deputy Commander of the Northern Garrison.

Soon, the brocade-clad official who had appeared in the Forbidden City, wearing red clothes and with a divine serpent wrapped around him, arrived here. His appearance made the entire imperial prison seem even darker, and yet he shone unexpectedly brightly in this darkness.

This was the divine position of the Lord of Zhenxing (Saturn), patrolling the three heavens and twenty-eight constellations. All kinds of radiance were suppressed, but once Zhenxing moved and its starlight scattered, it could disregard national authority and use divine power to execute a minister. This would only happen when the emperor personally ordered it.

..........

A secret message was sent to Shuntian at top speed.

It was about the war in Korea.

The Japanese had reinforced their troops.

In early June of the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, thousands of Japanese warships were anchored in Busan, gradually approaching Liangshan and Xiongchuan.

Now, as July was approaching, the Japanese forces were gathering. But the problem was this: a group of Japanese soldiers of unknown identity, leading a batch of gods, ghosts, and monsters, suddenly launched an attack on Nanyuan City in Korea on June 19, causing heavy casualties!

This attack did not match the frontline intelligence predictions. The original prediction was that even if the Japanese started fighting, it would be around August or September. As long as reinforcements arrived, they could be crushed in one fell swoop.

Three thousand Ming soldiers died, and Deputy General Yang Yuan was killed in Nanyuan City.

The Japanese army massacred the city for a day.

On the other side, General Chen Yuzhong, stationed in Jeonju, was terrified by the fall of Nanyuan and chose to retreat immediately.

Now, Jeonju in Korea had also fallen into the hands of the Japanese General Katō Kiyomasa!

Special note: some of the gods, ghosts, and monsters that appeared were immune to the Five Thunder Talismans! Furthermore, Onmyōji (Japanese occultists) holding books appeared on the battlefield. The Ming court needed to send a new magical warfare corps to reinforce Korea as soon as possible!

Signed [Quan Xiudao Ren Shi Shiyong].

This master among the Embroidered Uniform Guard had participated in espionage operations against Japan's homeland and was now serving as an intelligence gatherer on the front lines of the Korean battlefield.

The Wanli Emperor pondered.

June 19th, wasn't that the day he was almost turned into "Ming-style barbecue" by Huo Jun?

"More gods, ghosts, and monsters!"

The Wanli Emperor had now become a PTSD patient when it came to gods and ghosts. Hearing these words, he couldn't help but draw his sword again!

The troubling matters were not over yet. The Wanli Emperor immediately summoned the Vice Minister of War, because the Minister of War had gone to the front lines to supervise the battle. So, the highest-ranking official in the Ministry of War was now the Vice Minister. The Wanli Emperor told him to immediately pull a batch of cannons and wait for Lao Zhang's enchantment!

I am about to import a batch of new enchanted equipment from Lao Zhang!

But what exactly was going on with Japan? The sudden appearance of a large number of gods, ghosts, and monsters was also a point of confusion for the Wanli Emperor. When things went wrong, there must be a demon..... there was no need to even say that cliché, the demons were already holding their swords and slashing in front of him!

Of course, inaccurate intelligence was normal. After all, the weather was unpredictable, and people had unexpected misfortunes. And there were also some big mouths who liked to stir up trouble and talk nonsense everywhere.....

There was an old Embroidered Uniform Guard named Shen Bingyi who was like that back then. He would send overseas emails to the Ming Dynasty for no reason. The content of the letters was either that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had drunk himself to death, or that he had eaten himself to death, or that he had been poisoned to death, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi was still alive and kicking.

At that time, the Vice Minister of War, Song Yingchang, almost laughed his jaw off after reading that overseas email. His envoy had just met Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and you were saying that Hideyoshi was dead, and had been dead for almost a year?

Was Toyotomi Hideyoshi doing sit-ups in a coffin every day to stay healthy?

Was he a cat with nine lives, playing around with death?

This kind of low-quality intelligence would greatly affect the judgment of the people in the rear about the situation on the front lines.

Of course, it could not be ruled out that the other party was using illusionary magic to fake death, but Lao Shen sent letters saying that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had died too frequently.

At this time, the Wanli Emperor thought of a person who was still locked up in the imperial prison, who had met with the Japanese Kampaku (chief advisor to the Emperor) Toyotomi Hideyoshi five times, and had a harmonious conversation, and even gave him..... elixirs.

"I am going to the imperial prison to take a look! Tian Yi, go invite Daoist Ji to escort me!"

.......

At the same time, Nurhaci arrived in Shuntian City. However, the people from the Ministry of Rites received them, but only told them to wait. The emperor did not have time to summon them now.

But this was exactly what Nurhaci wanted.

If there was nothing to do, why not take a closer look at this dilapidated Shuntian City?

The walls of this Shuntian City were so damaged that they were unrecognizable, and everywhere was a scene of desolation. This made Shuerhazi, who had come here with Nurhaci, very puzzled.

"Did Shuntian recently suffer an earthquake?"

A bold idea rose in Nurhaci's heart, but he shook his head again.

If there were 30,000 troops here at this time, he could...... conquer Shuntian! Unfortunately, he did not bring many people here, only a few hundred, which was not enough for the divine generals of Shuntian Prefecture to even pick their teeth with. Therefore, to break the divine power of the Ming Dynasty, the first thing to break was the national authority.