Zhu Youjian's gaze swept slowly across the faces of the officials and eunuchs around him, sharp and probing, as if he could peel open their skulls just by staring hard enough and catch the guilty thought before it fled.
Who said it?
Someone must have said it.
But the moment his eyes passed over them, his expression stiffened.
Every single face looked uneasy.
Not the kind of panic that comes from being caught, but the kind that comes from hearing something true, something so ordinary that no one even thought to deny it.
Which meant one thing.
Even if they had not said it out loud, they all believed it.
Zhu Youjian's voice turned hoarse.
"So… the armies of my Great Ming… are mostly like this?"
Silence fell.
It stretched just long enough to become uncomfortable, until finally Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, lowered his head and spoke in a subdued tone.
"Not all, Your Majesty… but most of them, yes. Only a handful of commanders refrain from such behavior. People like Sun Chuanting… and Lu Xiangsheng…"
Zhu Youjian's fingers twitched.
"Then why?" he snapped, his voice suddenly rising. "If you all knew this, why did none of you tell me? Why did no one say a word?"
Chen Xinjia let out a slow breath, the kind a man releases when he has already accepted the consequences of what he is about to say.
"If we told you, would it have changed anything?"
That single sentence landed like a stone dropped into still water.
He did not wait for an answer.
"These generals act this way because the court withholds their pay. No grain, no silver. Without provisions, how are they supposed to sustain their troops? If they do not take from the people, what else can they do?"
He paused for a heartbeat, then added quietly,
"In the early years of your reign, many officials submitted memorials requesting that funds from the inner treasury be used to pay the army. But Your Majesty… did not approve them."
Zhu Youjian froze.
It was not that he did not want to approve them.
It was that he had nothing to give.
Before he could say anything, the "Immortal Mirror" flickered again, drawing everyone's attention back to the massive glowing screen.
The next scene began to play.
In the dead of night, three eunuchs approached Wu Sangui in secret, their conversation unfolding clearly before everyone's eyes. Wu Sangui's voice rang out without the slightest attempt at concealment.
"I am not one of them," he said. "Leave the others to me. I will deal with the Public Governance faction."
The city walls fell into a strange, suffocating silence.
Zhu Youjian said nothing.
There was nothing he could say.
The scheme to set wolves upon wolves, to let them tear each other apart while he reaped the benefits, had been laid bare in front of the entire capital, stripped of all dignity and pretense.
Outside the walls, however, laughter erupted.
"See? Truth stays true, lies stay lies."
"Wu Sangui was never one of us. You can tell just by looking at him."
The female reporter raised her metal megaphone again, her tone calm and professional, as if she were merely announcing the weather.
"Now then, let us show everyone what a real Public Governance army has been doing on its way to the capital."
The scene shifted.
Refugees who had fled in panic were being gently persuaded to return to their homes.
"Go back," soldiers told them. "Live your lives as usual. We will not harm you."
"We disturbed the people during our march, and for that we apologize. Compensation will be provided."
The image changed again.
At Tianjin's docks, Qian Qianyi and Cheng Jiasui were searching for transport back south. On the deck of a ship, Zhuge Wangchan spoke with an easy smile.
"As compensation for the disturbance, we will waive your fare. Consider this a free passage home."
Another shift.
A village that had just been plundered lay in ruin, its people still trembling in fear, when armored cavalry rode in. These were the heavy riders under Ma Shouying. Instead of looting, they dismounted and began distributing grain and silver, moving through the village with practiced efficiency.
The despair hanging over the villagers did not vanish all at once, but it cracked, then softened, then slowly gave way to relief, like a storm cloud breaking apart under sunlight.
Laughter returned.
Voices rose.
Life crept back in.
Up on the city wall, Zhu Youjian's face darkened.
The officials exchanged glances, none daring to speak.
The militia soldiers, however, did not need anyone to explain what they had just seen.
They had come here to defend the court, to hold the line against the so-called rebels, yet now the truth was playing out before their own eyes. Their homes had been ransacked by imperial troops, their families beaten and robbed, while the very people they were told to resist were the ones handing out food and aid.
The comparison was not subtle.
It was brutal.
One soldier suddenly threw his spear to the ground.
"I'm not dying for this."
Another followed, tossing aside his bow.
"Whoever wants this job can have it."
"My village got emptied out by Wu Sangui's men," someone shouted. "The Public Governance army fed my family. Why the hell am I standing here defending this city?"
A ripple turned into a wave.
Weapons clattered against stone as more and more militia soldiers abandoned their posts, cursing as they went.
"Only an idiot would keep fighting for this."
The formation collapsed in an instant.
No amount of shouting from their instructors could bring them back. They scattered into the streets of the capital, vanishing into alleys and crowds, unwilling to return even if it meant punishment.
The supervising troops did not dare act.
If they started executing these men on the spot, the entire city would erupt into chaos.
And so, they did nothing.
In the blink of an eye, the once-crowded walls were left with only a thin line of imperial guards, palace troops, and eunuch soldiers, looking painfully small against the vast expanse of stone.
Zhu Youjian stood there, staring blankly at the Immortal Mirror.
A single question echoed in his mind, louder and louder with each passing second.
Why?
Was the heavens not on his side?
He was the Son of Heaven.
If anyone should be favored, it should be him.
Yet the miracles unfolding before his eyes seemed to favor those outside the walls instead.
Before he could sink deeper into that thought, the image on the screen shifted again.
This time, the perspective changed.
The ground fell away.
The city shrank.
The view rose higher and higher, until the entire capital lay spread out below like a map.
The reporter blinked in surprise.
"I didn't touch anything," she muttered. "What's going on?"
The embroidered figure on her chest spoke calmly.
"I am controlling it."
Understanding dawned instantly on her face.
So the Dao Xuan Tianzun had decided to show something personally.
What appeared next was beyond anything the people of this world could comprehend.
From their perspective, it was as if an immortal had taken to the skies, looking down upon the mortal realm with indifferent clarity, every street and courtyard exposed beneath that divine gaze.
Gasps erupted everywhere.
"This… this is what the immortals see?"
The view swept across the capital, gliding over bustling streets, weaving through alleys, even passing above the imperial palace itself.
Zhu Youjian's breath caught in his throat when he saw a familiar figure.
His eldest princess was in the imperial garden, happily playing in the mud, then running to wash her hands under a water spout, completely unaware that she was being watched from the heavens.
"..."
The officials were no better off.
Several of them spotted their own residences in the image, their expressions turning increasingly strange.
The "immortal" continued its flight, drifting northward beyond the city walls until it reached a dense forest.
There, hidden beneath the canopy, lay an army.
Silent.
Still.
Waiting.
The view descended, drawing closer, closer still, until the figures became clear.
It was Wu Sangui.
He stood among his men, speaking to a scout.
"They still haven't started fighting?" he asked, impatience evident in his tone.
"Not yet," the scout replied. "They've formed ranks outside the southern gate. The leaders are gathered together, seemingly in discussion. There are no signs of battle."
Wu Sangui clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Useless bunch. Why aren't they tearing each other apart already? If they would just weaken each other, I could walk in and pick the spoils clean."
He waved his hand dismissively.
"Keep watching them."
"Yes, General."
The scout departed at once, slipping back into the forest.
Wu Sangui turned his gaze toward the capital, lifted his riding whip slightly, and let out a low chuckle.
"When I'm done cleaning all of you up, that dragon throne will have my name on it."
He laughed.
And this time, everyone heard it.