Ch 69: Demons

In the twelfth year, the powerful Great Ming navy opened the doors to various countries in South Asia.

In the thirteenth year, Chu Mo forcibly exiled many Zhu-named princes and Li Zicheng, along with many of his generals, to South Asia.

Furthermore, he promised that they would have full control over the territories they conquered themselves! They only needed to acknowledge Great Ming as their suzerain state and recognize Chu Mo as their Chancellor, granting him the right to interfere in their domestic affairs.

In the fifteenth year, under the iron hooves of the Demonic Empire, the light of civilization in Western Europe finally went out. This made everyone in the upper echelons of Great Ming feel apprehensive and terrified. Many even privately criticized Chu Mo for making this decision.

However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, the Demonic Empire actually calmed down. It did not, as they had anticipated, mobilize its forces and attempt to conquer Great Ming, the last unconquered territory on the Eurasian continent.

It was as if the Demonic Khan and the Imperial Ancestor of Great Ming had some kind of tacit understanding. This left countless people baffled and unable to comprehend it…

Many people knew that Chu Mo had a connection with the Demonic Khan, but that bond should have gradually faded with the passage of time.

The two were not the same person! Even with the greatest mutual appreciation, how could one give up the crown of the world’s sole hegemon?

But the key was that the Demonic Khan remained so calm, even tacitly refraining from attacking South Asia, which Chu Mo was gradually annexing.

In the seventeenth year, Sun Chuanting, who had already risen to the rank of Grand Secretary in the Cabinet, proposed that he personally lead the campaign to conquer Northeastern Liaodong and exterminate the demon army. However, Chu Mo refused!

In the twentieth year, gradually, the upper echelons of Great Ming slowly discerned that the Imperial Ancestor seemed to have a similar tacit understanding with the demon army in Northeastern Liaodong as he did with the Demonic Empire. He was unwilling to provoke them easily, as if out of fear or some other reason.

In the twenty-third year, the steam engine was finally born on the soil of Great Ming.

However, even though Chu Mo was delighted and promoted it… he found that the promotion was extremely difficult!

He discovered a terrible problem: the martial spirit of Great Ming was currently too prosperous. The number of experts was too vast!

The number of Heaven-Human experts exceeded ten thousand. If they wanted, they could even create all kinds of tools with their own hands and possessed immense productivity themselves, so they simply couldn’t see the value in the slight increase in productivity that the steam engine could bring…

Perhaps a direct leap to the Third Industrial Revolution, with its powerful technological might, could make the Heaven-Humans take notice. But the First Industrial Revolution was just beginning and would only make them laugh…

Even though Chu Mo forcibly promoted it, causing progress to advance continuously, the speed was frighteningly slow.

Chu Mo realized with sorrow that, to some extent, being too perfect and powerful actually hindered the further progress and leap forward of society. Because perfection itself would make people lose their ambition for greater advancement!

In the twenty-fifth year, with the launch of the train, the spark of the First Industrial Revolution finally ignited. Although the ignition was so difficult… even after it started, progress was still very slow…

But Chu Mo felt that he had done everything he could.

In the twenty-seventh year, Chu Mo gradually began to transfer power to the Cabinet, personally starting to construct a completely new system of power…

However, Chu Mo did not leave entirely. He simply reduced the number of matters he managed himself, allowing himself more time to read, organize his thoughts, and cultivate.

In the thirtieth year, Chu Mo’s presence greatly diminished during this year.

For an entire year, apart from setting the overall direction at the beginning of the year, Chu Mo had been holed up in the Confucian hall of the Imperial Academy, writing some kind of book every day.

Because he had already determined that, apart from directly using his Source Lifespan to remove the suppression of Heaven and Earth, perhaps becoming a Sage could also allow him to step into the Heaven Manifestation Realm. He was preparing to follow the path of Wang Yangming!

Of course, there was also a part of him that wanted to see the effect of becoming a Sage recognized by the era on the condensation of Heroic Spirits.

◈◈◈

The Forbidden City.

Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Many ministers sat on chairs, handling all kinds of government affairs.

The Emperor Chongzhen’s figure was not on the Dragon Throne… In fact, as early as the tenth year, after Emperor Chongzhen realized that things were the same whether he was present or not, he went out to travel and enjoy the scenery with the Empress.

◈◈◈

Suddenly, a sharp, ear-piercing horse’s neigh sounded.

“What?” Sun Chuanting, who was sitting in the first position on the left, had a drastic change in expression. He stood up abruptly and took a step forward.

Even in the current Great Ming after the reforms, the Forbidden City still possessed its own majesty. It was strictly forbidden to ride horses inside… However, Chu Mo had opened a back door: in cases involving extreme urgency, exceptions could be made.

Many people also belatedly realized this and quickly got up and rushed out.

“…What happened?” Sun Chuanting supported the body of the messenger who had fallen from the horse.

The messenger gasped for breath, trembling as he took out a scroll of battle report from his arms.

After taking a couple of glances, Sun Chuanting’s pupils suddenly contracted, and a monstrous wave surged in his heart, “…This is impossible?!!!”

“What happened?” Sun Chengzong’s expression was serious. However, after taking a couple of glances at the battle report, his gaze also froze, “Is this fake?”

On the battle report, only a few dozen words were written: The demon army suddenly moved erratically. Zu DaShou led the Guan Ning Cavalry to fight, but they were utterly defeated and destroyed on a large scale.

And the demon army did not even stop to take over and control the entire Liaodong. They directly marched towards Kyoto, sweeping through the pass with irresistible force…

After reading it, the expressions of the high-ranking officials varied. Some were heavy, some were astonished, some were dumbfounded, and some were bewildered. All of them suspected that the battle report was mistaken…

How could the demon army possibly have this ability?

This is the Demonic Army, right?!!

If it was that iron army that traversed Eurasia, then any great victory would be normal. After all, the vast amount of resources they obtained was unimaginable… Moreover, being able to conquer such a large territory was inherently due to their martial prowess!

But the demon army, which was merely huddled in Liaodong, even just the northern region, what did they rely on?!

How was such an army created… Where did they get the resources?!

Sun Chuanting closed his eyes. As a Confucian general who could govern the army on horseback and pacify the world on foot, even after becoming a Grand Secretary in the Cabinet, he had never completely abandoned his military skills.

He quickly came to a conclusion.

“What is stationed in Kyoto is the Imperial Guard. Outside the city, there is my Qin army… But the quality of these two armies can never surpass the Guan Ning Cavalry of Liaodong!”

“Now, immediately summon all Heaven-Human experts in Kyoto!” Sun Chuanting took a deep breath.

In this era where martial arts have been popularized for decades, there are over a thousand Heaven-Human experts in Kyoto alone. Grandmaster experts and Innate experts are even more numerous… The entire Kyoto, with its several million people, is basically full of Acquired cultivators.

If they could gather the power of the Heaven-Humans, even if they only gathered the power of some of the Heaven-Human experts… forming the most rudimentary battle formation, the effect would be much greater than that of the two armies.

After a slight pause, Sun Chuanting continued, “In addition to this, inform the Imperial Ancestor of this news…”