Chapter 268

In the ninth month of the seventh year of Zhizheng (1347), the Emei Sect master and disciple who had come to destroy the disaster passed through Changbai Mountain to the north. Since then, there has been no news of the two from the Central Plains martial arts world.

In the fourth month of the eighth year of Zhizheng (1348), Ye Tiangang, the leader of the Divine Eagle Sect, returned from overseas and announced the dissolution of the Divine Eagle Sect and its reintegration into the Ming Sect. Ye Tiangang succeeded as leader of the Ming Sect, and appointed Zi Pao Tianlong Daiyi and her husband Han Qianye as the left and right emissaries of light, while Monk Peng and Leng Qian as the chief and deputy military advisers.

They also promoted Huang Zheng of the Gengjin Camp, Xiao Li and Xue Fenghuang of the original Four Heavens, and Li Tianyuan, former leader of the Heavenly City Hall of the Condor Cult, as the new Dharma Kings of the religion, known as the 鈥淜ing of the Mountain-Smashing Staff鈥�, 鈥淜ing of the Parting Swords鈥�, 鈥淜ing of the Bloodflame Swords鈥� and 鈥淜ing of the Mighty Claws鈥�.

The former leaders of the five outer halls of the Divine Eagle Sect were also transferred to fill the vacant positions in the five battalions. Among them, Hu Jifeng (formerly the deputy battalion leader) became the leader of the Gengjin Battalion, and Gao Xiaohu (formerly the leader of the Blood Phoenix Hall) became the deputy battalion leader;

the leaders of the Renshui Battalion remained unchanged, and were still Zhang Yang and Liu Bo;

Chen Shanjiang (formerly the leader of the Viper Hall) became the leader of the Binghuo Battalion;

The young man slowly walked around the palace. After a while, he arrived at the Hall of Benevolence and Virtue, where the Empress lived. The young man looked up at the plaque above the hall door, made sure it was correct, and then walked in with confidence.

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At this time, a tall young man sitting by the window stood up with a smile on his face, quite amiable and kind-hearted, and took out a handful of coins and scattered them on the table. He walked out slowly with his arms folded.

Empress Bo Yan put down her book, blinked her eyes, looked up and down at the young man, and whispered, 鈥淒id my palace maids and servants faint from being hit by you, or were they killed?鈥�

The gentleman finished his story, took a sip of water, and then began to tell the story of Kublai Khan’s battles. As he rambled on, it gradually grew dark.

“You are all old people of Dadu, and you must all know that the Emperor’s birthday is the seventh year of Yanyou. Hehe, the Emperor inherited the throne in the fourth year of Zhishun, which means that year he was only thirteen years old, and was truly a young emperor! To say that the Holy Emperor is after all different from the rest! Although he was a young man, he had extraordinary breadth of mind and vision. For eight years, he bore humiliation with dignity, first eliminating the Yantemuer faction and then toppling the powerful minister Bayan. He regained control of the powers that had been sidelined, and only then did he begin to rectify the country. Fellow officials, this is the blessing of our Great Yuan!”

Shi Lei, the former deputy camp leader of the Wutu Camp, and Guishoushan, the former leader of the Xuanwu Hall;

In front of her, a young man of ordinary appearance and tall stature appeared in the room at an unknown time, sitting in a chair and smiling at her.

鈥淚 greet the Empress.鈥�

This young man was naturally Ye Guhong.

The handsome man rolled his eyes, shook his head and sighed, 鈥淚f the court officials saw you like this, they would be scared to death.鈥�

The young man saw that Empress Bo Yan had noticed him and bowed with clasped fists, looking very polite.

Ye Qingqing, however, did not take up any official position, but followed her husband to Wudang, where she met Zhang Zhenren. She told him that she would devote herself to her husband and children in the future and would no longer meddle in the affairs of the world. Zhang Zhenren was overjoyed and told her, 鈥淕ood child, you just live your life. If anyone makes things difficult for you because of your past, I will take care of it for you.鈥�

Ye Kuhong frowned and said, 鈥淵ou dog of an emperor, what are you pretending to be affectionate for now?鈥�

After a moment’s thought, he slowly walked back to his room alone, slowly sat back down, picked up his book and continued reading as if nothing had happened.

Empress Bo Yan said indifferently, 鈥淥f course he serves by the emperor’s side.鈥�

He made another round of the palace and found the emperor’s chambers. Using his light skills, he climbed over the roof. He heard the laughter of two young people and peeked over to see a man in a yellow dragon pajamas and another in official robes playing backgammon.

The young man nodded at the sound, stood up, and walked straight out of the Kun De Palace.

The gentleman looked at the sky and said, 鈥淗onored guests, it is difficult to break curfew, so I dare not keep you. If you find my idle chatter interesting, please come again tomorrow.鈥�

The tea guests got up, paid their tea money, and left in twos and threes.

The emperor was clearly in a good mood. While making a move, he suddenly reached out and touched the man’s official robe, smiling, 鈥淲earing new clothes again? I told you before, new clothes are nice, but they don’t have the same feel as old clothes. This is the saying, ‘new clothes are better than old clothes, but old friends are better than new clothes.

Ye Guhong frowned and said, 鈥淐ut the crap. I’m not afraid to tell you my name, but it’s a nice name, and I don’t want you two to dirty it by saying it. Hurry up and take off the soft armored jacket, or I’ll have to beat you to death, and I’ll have to do it myself, despite the disgust.鈥�

After walking for a while, they reached the foot of the imperial city. The young man looked up, gave a small jump, and leapt over the high wall, entering the imperial palace.

Empress Bo Yan looked surprised: 鈥淪oft armour? Your surname is Guo?鈥�

The young man laughed: 鈥淢y ancestor’s surname was Guo, but my surname is Ye.鈥�

For a time, the teaching was full of talented people, and there were also many heroes from the rivers and lakes that Monk Peng had befriended over the years as support, quite flourishing.

Time passed quickly, and in the ninth year of Zhizheng (1349),

But then a thought suddenly occurred to him: Damn it, this emperor likes to leave a smell behind him, so he’s probably left a smell on our soft armored turtle, too.

The two young men were startled and jumped up at the same time. Hamal took the emperor under his protection and said sternly, 鈥淲ho are you? How dare you trespass in the palace!鈥�

The young man was curious and asked, 鈥淲ho is this person? How could you give away such a precious armor?鈥�

The handsome man looked at the chessboard while casually saying, 鈥淐an no smell defeat you? You just leave a little smell, right?鈥�

The gentleman was talking with spittle flying, but the audience looked mostly indifferent, not taking any pride in it.

In a teahouse located in the north of the city, there were more than ten tea guests scattered about, and a storyteller was beaming with joy, praising the great achievements of the current emperor鈥�

The emperor’s pupils dilated at the news, and he ground his teeth and said, 鈥淵ou deserve to die!鈥�

The man wearing a yellow dragon pajama was the emperor. Ye Guhong looked at him quietly and saw that he had small eyes, a garlic-shaped nose, and some buck teeth. He was not impressive-looking, but the official robe he was wearing made him much more handsome. He had a high nose, sword-shaped eyebrows, and a piercing gaze. He could be called a handsome man.

Queen Bo Yan let out a small sigh of relief and added, 鈥淚 don’t think I’ve offended anyone. Are you here looking for something?鈥�

The emperor laughed even louder, teasing, 鈥淚’m glad to scare those bastards off! Otherwise, they’d be spying on me all day, and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy myself!鈥�

Queen Bo Yan was surprised. 鈥淚 never thought that the legendary Guo the Great would still have descendants. You are indeed owed this armor, but unfortunately, I no longer have it.鈥�

Wen Zhu (former deputy battalion leader) and Zheng Hongbo (former leader of the Dragon Hall), the leaders of the Armored Wood Camp;

Empress Bo Yan’s eyes revealed an imperceptible trace of disgust as she said indifferently, 鈥淭he armor was taken by the emperor and bestowed upon the imperial censor Hamal.鈥�

April, Dadu.

The current Empress, Bo Yan Hudu, was a famous virtuous queen. Although it was late, she was still meticulous in her appearance, sitting upright in a chair, holding a scroll of books and reading.

Ye Guhong was worried about seeing what he shouldn’t, so he quickly jumped into the room and shouted, 鈥淗ey! You two want to have fun, so wait until I’m gone. Are you Hamal? Take off your soft armours!鈥�

Empress Bo Yan said, 鈥淗amal is the son of the Emperor’s wet nurse and has always served as a palace guard. He is deeply loved by the Emperor, so what’s so strange about being given a suit of armor?鈥�

“As I recall, the Emperor took personal control of the government in the first year of the Zhizheng reign. Hey, what a brilliant genius and determined reformer! Within a few years, he rectified the imperial court, helped the poor and needy, and improved governance, greatly improving the chaos in the world. In my humble opinion, he truly deserves the word 鈥榮age鈥�…鈥�

The emperor trembled and said, 鈥淵ou, you dare to hurt Hamal, I will execute your nine clans.鈥�

One of the Binghuo Camps was missing a deputy battalion commander, so Monk Peng nominated a talented member of the sect called Hanshandong to fill the role.

The young man shook his head and said, 鈥淭here’s no grudge, so why kill? It’s just a sleeping acupoint, so they’ll sleep for a while and wake up.鈥�

The young man nodded and said, 鈥淭he Empress is a virtuous woman, you are right. It is true that my family has an ancestral treasure called Soft Armadillo Armor, and I heard that it is in the Empress’s hands. This treasure is of no use to the Empress, so please take it out and return it to me.鈥�

Empress Bo Yan sat quietly, and after a while she suddenly jumped up, walked quickly a few steps to the courtyard, and saw a few maids sleeping soundly under the eaves. She was about to shout, but suddenly she covered her mouth.

The young man frowned and said, 鈥淪o where is this armor?鈥�

The young man left the teahouse and walked all the way to the imperial city. On the way, he passed a restaurant and went in to order a bowl of noodles with roast pork. He ate until he was sweating and then walked out. It was already dark, but the young man still looked unconcerned. He walked slowly with his arms crossed. Sometimes he would meet soldiers on patrol, but he would just move aside into the shadows by the roadside, and the soldiers would pretend they didn’t see him and just walk past without a word.

The emperor laughed heartily, suddenly picked up the teacup and took a big sip, then puffed, puffed, puffed, spitting out water in small mouthfuls, until the handsome man’s half-length official clothes were wet. Then he laughed contentedly, 鈥淣ow it has my smell.鈥�

Ye Guhong was actually shocked. He thought to himself, 鈥淚n the Great Yuan Dynasty, there is no justice if it doesn’t perish! If so, I can’t just kill this emperor easily, otherwise if a new and powerful emperor comes to power, it will only make things more difficult…

The young man seemed to sense something, blinked, and asked again, 鈥淲here can I find this person?鈥�

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard a deep voice shouting, 鈥淗ow dare you, assassin, trespass in the palace!

Then he heard the emperor scream, 鈥滵on’t kill him, capture him alive, I want to toy with this person!鈥�