The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 704 The dust has settled
What Emperor Guangde Liu Kan said in his congratulatory letter was all extremely treasonous. If it had happened in the past, the retired emperor might have killed his own relatives for the sake of justice.

Fortunately, the retired emperor was devoted to cultivating Taoism, and was neither happy nor sad. He did not take his son's rebellious behavior to heart - or it could be said that he did not take it to heart.

If this matter is not resolved, the rift between Liu Zhaosun and his son will gradually grow until the relationship between father and son is severed.

Those officials with a keen political sense, realizing that the situation in Da Qi was about to change, began to take sides quickly, forming two factions in the court.

The Japanese pirates have not been eliminated and the Russians have not been pacified, and a new power struggle will begin again.

In the ensuing internal struggle, the goal of the various forces is no longer just to fight for power. What they want to decide is the big issue of the future direction and policy of the empire.

The question is whether the future of the empire will be to stick to polarism or return to civilian politics.

Like survival or destruction.

The civil service forces represented by Emperor Guangde Liu Kan proposed the following reforms:

The elite civil service system restored the imperial examination system which had been suspended for more than 20 years.

The Qi Dynasty's Land System was reformed, and land ownership was returned to the entire people, allowing farmers to freely choose what crops to grow.

End the special military politics, reduce the number of Suoyi Guards and Imperial Guards, and more than half of the Suoyi Guards will be disbanded, allowing Da Qi to restore normal social order (the so-called etiquette education).

The circulation of silver and money was restored, and various bills such as meal tickets and salt tickets were gradually withdrawn.

Carrying the red flag to oppose the red flag describes the current living conditions of the reformists.

After Emperor Guangde Liu Kan came to power, there was no doubt that he would abolish the traces left by his father as soon as possible.

The retired emperor completely ignored Emperor Guangde's advice. He did not stop killing people, nor would he interrupt his great cause of cultivating immortals. Instead, he continued his eastern expedition.

So the killing will not stop easily.

On the 20th day of the first lunar month in the fifth year of Guangde, the Battle of Kyoto, famous in the history of imperial conquests, broke out.

At the end of January, both the Qi and Japanese sides deployed a large number of troops along the Mizuyama, Inariyama, Daimonjiyama, and Hieiyama lines, and the Qi army and the shogunate army fought fiercely in Kyoto.

The battle began on the 20th day of the first lunar month and lasted nearly three months, ultimately resulting in over 100,000 casualties on both sides (10,000 Qi troops, 120,000 shogunate troops), and no fewer than 300,000 Japanese civilians killed or wounded. By the end of March, the Qi army had captured the city, with the Korean and Ryukyu armies still serving as the vanguard.

On March 30th, the day the city was captured, the Korean-Ryukyu coalition forces burned, killed and looted. The thousand-year-old city of Kyoto was flooded with blood. A fire burned for seven days and seven nights, and the prosperous ancient city was reduced to a wasteland.

The retired emperor had no sympathy for the tragic fate of Kyoto City, and even ordered the Korean general Song Zhongya to build a Jingguan in Kyoto City, with tens of thousands of human heads piled together, creating a spectacular scene.

Upon hearing the news of Kyoto's fall, the defenders of Edo Castle completely lost their will to fight. The shogunate's morale was low, and they were ready to surrender as soon as the Qi army advanced eastward. However, Master Chunshen and his fellow apprentices were different. They were ready to fight Taishang Huangxue to the bitter end.

~~~~
On the hillside of Baxian Mountain is the Meneng Temple.

Master Chunshen sat in front of Jiang Liuer like an old monk in meditation.

Jiang Liu'er was tied up and floating on the roof of the Zen room. Black tentacles stretched out from the cracks and slowly reached towards Jiang Liu'er's arms.

“Jiang Liuer,” Aragaki Yui screamed, “Be careful—if he catches you, he can get back in—and then he’ll kill you and take you back to the bottom of the sea.”

"Take him back to the bottom of the sea? I'm going to kill him."

The terrifying thing that was staggering and making Jiang Liuer's crazy screams turned around in panic, swung its tentacles vigorously, and hit the wizard in human form who was jumping around on the ground.

Suddenly, Aragaki Yui grabbed the poker that had been put back into the fire, turned around and threatened the ferocious human-ghost hybrid.

"Don't move!" When Master Chunshen suddenly jumped up, Aragaki Yui hurriedly said to the terrible thing from the bottom of the sea behind Jiang Liuer.

It stopped behind him.

"You, step back." The girl didn't know what I was going to do; she only knew that I had to separate those two things.

Use swords and guns to resist the monster that suddenly goes crazy.

"But, the time has come - the time has come! We must make contact now!" The red-eyed demon shouted sharply.

"Get out of the way..." The tone was no longer human. "You can't stop me... I must... must... must establish a strong... strong connection! I must... bhfg-ngyy fhtlhlh hegm-yeh'hhg narcchhh'yy! You can't get away from it!"

A stream of mucus - like the trail left by a giant snail - quickly flowed out from the huge figure behind Aragaki Yui; screaming and rushing towards it, the girl's feet slipped on the foul-smelling mucus.

She completely lost her balance, and with her arms flailing, she fell face-first, landing disgustingly on the hard, red-hot poker in Yui Aragaki's hand.

The tip of the inch-long, red-hot iron rod plunged into one of the monster's terrifying eyes like a warm knife into butter. There was a hiss—almost drowned out by the creature's screams of pain—and a small puff of hot, foul-smelling air rose from its face as the thing fell to the ground.

Then, the gleaming black behemoth standing behind the beautiful girl screamed in terror.

Aragaki Yui let go of the steaming poker in her hand, turned around, and saw the monster from the bottom of the sea swaying on the ground, holding its head with its tentacles to protect itself.

After a few seconds, the monster fell silent, its rubbery arms drooping limply, revealing its face with multiple mouths and its mangled, rotten eyes.

(End of this chapter)