My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 288 Old Zhu's Troubles

With an angry shout, the Annan captives looked around like frightened rabbits, but it was pitch dark, where were the Ming troops?
It was not until a torch was suddenly lit in front of them that the Annan captives saw in horror that three Ming army soldiers were blocking their escape route with guns pointed.

One of the leaders had a strange black thing tied on his eyes. It was round and seemed to have a piece of glass in the middle.

Looking at the appearance, it looks like some evil spirit.

"We were obviously very careful, how did you find out?"

An Annan officer spoke the half-familiar Ming official language with some fear. He really couldn't understand. They had prepared very well for this escape, taking almost all possibilities into consideration and making sufficient preparations without leaving anything out. How come they were discovered before they even escaped from the construction site?
Not only him, but the other captives who wanted to escape also looked at the Ming army in horror. Could it be that the Ming army could predict the future?

The leading Ming soldier touched the night vision goggles fixed on his eyes and said with disdain, "You thought you were invisible, but you didn't expect that your movements were clearly seen by us from dozens of feet away, right?"

Many of the Ming army soldiers guarding the prisoners were transferred from the Musket Battalion, and all the night vision goggles sent by Li Han were equipped to the Musket Battalion and naturally used at night.

I didn't expect the effect would be so good. The movements of the prisoners could be heard clearly at night.

Just as the captives were looking at the Ming army blocking them in fear, an even more horrifying scene occurred.

The leading Ming army soldier took out a strange black box from a cowhide bag tied around his waist, and then said to the black box: "There are about thirty prisoners trying to escape on the southeast side of the construction site. We have intercepted them. Please request support. Please reply if you receive it."

Then they saw and heard a human voice coming from the strange black box:
"Received, received. Send out the musket battalion for support immediately!"

The Ming army soldier put the black box back into the leather bag around his waist, then pointed his gun at the captive and shouted angrily:
"If you still don't surrender, you will die!"

However, the captives did not listen to what he said. At this time, the captives had only one thought in their minds -

Who is speaking?
They looked at the black box in the hands of the Ming army in horror. Was there someone inside?

But how could a person be put into such a small box? If it was not a person, the captives all thought of a horrifying answer!
At this time, a cold wind blew over, and the captives couldn't help but shiver, feeling a chill on their necks. One of the captives was suddenly startled, and the fear in his heart instantly turned into impotent rage.

"The Ming army is using evil magic, let's fight them!"

"Yes, we're all going to die anyway, so let's fight them. Maybe we can still have a chance to survive!"

"Damn you Ming dogs, I'm going to kill you!"

Under extreme fear, the captives lost their judgment. They raised hammers and pickaxes in their hands and rushed towards the Ming army shouting.

"court death!"

Seeing this, the three Ming army soldiers quickly raised their guns, aimed, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Only the crisp sound of gunfire was heard, and the prisoner who was rushing in the front fell to the ground instantly, bleeding profusely.

As the Ming army soldiers kept pulling the triggers, soon more than half of the escaped prisoners fell down. At this moment, the supporting musket officers arrived and captured the remaining prisoners in one fell swoop.

The jailbreak was quickly stopped. Although it was not a big deal, it reached Zhu Yuanzhang's ears, making him furious.

These Annan captives were so restless that they did not take the Ming Dynasty seriously at all. In a rage, they executed all the leading Annan officers.

I thought the situation had been settled, but the prisoners became even more restless, causing trouble almost every day. Although the prisoners could not cause much trouble under the high-intensity suppression, they seriously hindered the progress of the railway project, and the construction period has been delayed for a long time.

Moreover, the large number of these 100,000 Annan captives also poses a hidden danger.

At the same time, the struggle for the right to speak in the literary world was at its most intense, and Zhu Yuanzhang really had no time to care about the prisoners.

Although the reformists have gradually gained the upper hand and more and more people support education reform, the counterattack from conservative intellectuals has become more fierce at this critical moment.

There was even a student from the Imperial Academy who was so ignorant of the consequences that, perhaps because he had gone too far, he actually used the prisoners' unrest to make a fuss, openly and covertly criticizing Zhu Yuanzhang for not being a benevolent ruler and pointing the finger directly at the construction of the railway. This touched his sore spot.

As soon as this statement was made, it was quickly criticized by countless people, and the common people angrily called him a traitor and a traitor to the country.

You are a student at the Imperial Academy of the Ming Dynasty. It's ok that you usually act superior in front of the common people, but now you are actually speaking for the captives from Annan?

In other words, in your eyes, the people of the Ming Dynasty are not as good as the captives of Annan?
This was a serious matter. The people started to criticize and denounce the Imperial College and the literary world as well. All of a sudden, the literary world became the target of public criticism.

What kind of scholars are full of knowledge but don't understand the ways of the world, what kind of scholars have read thousands of books but don't understand the sufferings of the world, what kind of literati are all greedy for life and afraid of death, and those who sell out their country for fame and fortune, in short, the people will curse whatever unpleasant things they hear.

This caused many writers to distance themselves from the literary world, and the student from the Imperial College was soon imprisoned in the imperial prison by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Although the student was so scared that he peed his pants when the Jinyiwei arrived, and kept begging for mercy, saying that he was confused for a moment, the Jinyiwei would not listen to him. Without saying a word, they put shackles on him and threw him into the dungeon of the imperial prison.

This student's family was also a family of scholars, and one of their relatives was an official in the court. His family used a lot of connections, spent all their money, and found many ministers in the court, just to say a good word in front of the emperor and get leniency.

But no one who can get by in the court is a fool. This matter has already involved the line dispute between His Majesty the Emperor and the aristocratic literary circles. It is a life-and-death struggle. No one would be stupid enough to offend His Majesty at this time.

And the family's relative who was an official in the court scolded his parents harshly. At this time, asking him to use his connections to find someone to save the child was like asking him to die.

I was foolish enough to get involved in the struggle between Your Majesty and the literary world, and to satirize Your Majesty's railway projects openly and covertly. I was so stupid that I didn't even know how to write the word death.

The public was in an uproar, and Zhu Yuanzhang, who was in the palace, naturally knew everything about it.

The student who wrote the complaining article should be killed. Don't think that just because I, Old Zhu, am calmer now, I won't raise the butcher knife again.

We, Old Zhu, understand the principle of killing one to warn the hundred, and those scholars understand it even better!
However, killing a student cannot solve all the problems. No matter how big or small the affairs of a country are, he needs to consider every decree and every major decision over and over again. Although he has the assistance of Crown Prince Zhu Biao in governing the country, he still cannot relax.

Although it has now firmly dominated the literary world, it still lacks a fatal blow to the literary world. As long as it is implemented smoothly, education and scientific examination reforms can be carried out.

However, the railway project has now come to a standstill. The Annan prisoners are becoming more and more restless. Although some have been captured and some have been killed, the effect is not good. It is impossible to chop off the heads of 100,000 prisoners in one go, right?

Why aren’t these damn Annan people as useful as the captives from the Yuan court?

Just do whatever you are told to do, as long as you don't starve to death.

Rubbing his temples which were swollen and painful, Zhu Yuanzhang walked out of the hall and looked up at the sky. There was a hint of longing in his eyes, as if Li Han was in the sky.

How nice it would be if I could be like Lao Li, ignoring worldly affairs and living freely all day long!

(End of this chapter)