Refuse to trample on the pride of heaven

Chapter 262: Respectfully Inviting You to Heaven

The red walls and yellow tiles of the imperial palace cast long dark shadows in the afterglow of the setting sun, as if foreshadowing the imminent end of this splendid palace. The once solemn and dignified palace gate was now knocked crooked, with the gold paint peeling off, revealing a mottled base color.

The shroud was made of black silk and golden threads, embroidered with various patterns that symbolized auspiciousness and longevity. But in Mu Yijun's eyes at this moment, these patterns seemed particularly glaring and ironic, carrying the breath of Dayong's decay and corruption, and were about to be buried underground with him.

But he refused to accept it, and struggled desperately as he looked at the person approaching.

"How dare you, a bunch of traitors, rebel against the emperor? I am the Son of Heaven, don't you fear the punishment of God?!"

Meng Chuanbai stood far away with his arms folded, sneering: "Divine punishment? If there really is such a thing, you will be the first one to be struck!"

It's funny to say that the King of Dayong had few heirs. The previous emperor had only one son, Mu Yijun, and three daughters. Mu Yijun had been on the throne for several years without a single child - it seemed like a punishment from heaven.

The soldiers who were holding him down listened to his words with sneers on their faces and really looked down on him.

Regardless of their ideologies, those officials who defended Dayong were willing to die for their country and throw themselves against the pillar. Empress Yang Shuyi hanged herself with a white silk scarf as soon as she learned that the palace had been breached. As the king of Dayong, his honor and disgrace were tied to Dayong, but in the end he did not have the courage.

Give him time to be decent, but he is unwilling to do so... then I can only help him be decent.

One person's strength could not defeat the strength of many. Mu Yijun was finally put in his shroud in an awkward manner. Because of his refusal to cooperate, several soldiers had to drag him to his location.

Everyone was waiting outside the imperial mausoleum. From afar, they saw Mu Yijun being brought in with different expressions. The members headed by the Zhitong Society had a calm expression, while generals such as Lou Wancen showed disdain. The officials who were left behind were terrified and sad. Some of them covered their sleeves and shed tears silently, some put their hands behind their backs and sighed, and some were in a trance.

However, everyone undoubtedly showed strange expressions when seeing Mu Yijun, who was so scared that his legs went limp, but still struggling and unwilling to die for his country.

He is afraid of death and has no idea what righteousness is. It is no wonder that such a person, sitting in a high position, would betray his loyalty and righteousness.

"You are all treacherous ministers! Flatterers! Are you just going to watch me get humiliated like this?!"

Mu Yijun staggered and was pushed over. Facing most of the meaningful gazes, he felt ashamed and annoyed. He glanced at the former ministers in the court with resentment.

Suddenly he realized that most of the remaining ones were those who had been demoted by him or punished with a stick. They were the upright people in the court who dared to give him advice without regret. Mu Yijun suddenly felt an indescribable feeling.

"They claim to be upright, but in the end they are just afraid of death!" These hypocrites who change their attitude according to the situation! They can only talk big, but now they are quick to turn against him. He has been unhappy with them for a long time!

"We are going to die anyway, so why don't you leave yourself some wiggle room, Your Majesty? Isn't suicide much better than being buried alive?" They won't listen to anything you say, and are so stubborn that even ten oxen can't pull them back. Afterwards, they will blame them for being useless. They have had enough of this!

Each of them stabbed the other's heart in the areas that mattered to them, and the resentment between the king and his ministers had been accumulated for a long time.

Standing in the back and watching the debate between the former emperor and his ministers, Liu Jun and others found it strange that the first to criticize Mu Yijun were actually the Qingliu faction.

Meng Chuanbai was born into a noble family and had been exposed to these things since childhood, so he understood them. He was initially deceived by Lu Wensheng and later devoted himself to his career. The psychology of the two actually has something in common.

"As subjects, they only love the kings they have chosen. What do they like most? Being used, drained, and abandoned by the kings, and then being heartbroken but still loyal. It would be best if the kings had some unavoidable difficulties and had to abandon them...

The feeling of being used, abandoned, and being abandoned after exhausting all efforts, can immediately make you feel climax, blood boiling, write a suicide note overnight, jump into the river, hit the pillar to express your determination, carry the coffin to give advice...

"It's a worthy death, a spectacular sacrifice, what they want is not power..." Meng Chuanbai said.

If someone had persuaded him to become a marquis or a prime minister, Meng Chuanbai might not have felt anything - as a child of an aristocratic family, power would not be difficult for him to obtain. The same principle applies to officials who are already on the stage of power.

Sometimes, their self-sacrifice and giving of everything are not simply for loyalty, but for the enjoyment of being a "tragic character" through sacrifice and dedication. The more deeply they are hurt, the more they can satisfy their fantasy of becoming such a character.

Therefore, even for Mu Yijun, there were always censors in front of him who were heartbroken and would jump out to give advice on everything during his reign, and even he could do nothing about it.

If you are cruel, he will hate you so much that he will immediately scream "Alas" and say "the king is unkind", and then be killed on the spot.

Sacrificing one's life for loyalty and righteousness and being recorded in history is the XP that many writers and poets cannot escape - from time to time they fantasize about dying for the country and the king, with the whole city in mourning, and future generations remembering and admiring them, and that someone will use you as an example of a loyal and righteous person in the future, and your name will be in books and known by countless people... Once the climax comes, the adrenaline surges and they are not afraid of anything.

So those who died by hitting the pillars were more or less like this. Why? They were loyal and righteous. A gentleman died for his admonition and his name will be recorded in history.

So why didn't the remaining clean officials do this to Mu Yijun at this time? Because to put it more simply, they felt that Mu Yijun was no longer suitable to play the role of "monarch" in their XPplay.

It is not easy for them to survive until now, and as those who are good at dying for admonition, they are actually the ones who know how to judge the situation the best - if they don't take action, it's fine, but once they do, they will definitely jump on the king's minefield, provoking the opponent to kill themselves, and becoming the best players to train the king's qi-cultivation skills.

They feel that by following the Zhitonghui, the weight of leaving their names in history may be even greater.

The scoundrels manipulated the imperial power, the emperor's chariot was in the palace, the virtuous and good were hard to enter, and the loyal and the treacherous were not distinguished. What was there for Mu Yijun to pity? Where was the place for them to devote themselves?

Mu Yijun's fate was already decided. He was pushed into the open coffin with a look of fear on his face. His hands were tied and he could not get up no matter how hard he struggled.

Everyone shouted in unison: "Please come to heaven!"

"No! I don't want to go in! Qi Zhaoshu! Qi Zhaoshu! I know I was wrong!" Mu Yijun's eyes were full of fear, and he was crying. He didn't care about the dignity of an emperor at all.

"Remember, your dignity was sought for you by Dayong's last bit of dignity."

Qi Zhaoshu lowered his eyes and looked at him, his eyes calm.

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a dull sound, almost a pleading voice, and it was swallowed up as the heavy coffin was closed.

The afterglow of the setting sun gradually dimmed, and the red walls and yellow tiles of the palace looked even more gloomy in the twilight. The soldiers began to fill the ground, and shovelfuls of soil poured down and hit the coffin, making a slight noise.

The historian who was left behind dipped his pen into ink and began to write.

"The last emperor of the Yong dynasty refused to surrender to the righteous army and died for his country. The righteous soldiers of the righteous army were moved by his valor and preserved his clothes and burial clothes, and buried him in a luxurious coffin in the imperial mausoleum."

With the help of words and ink, the hundred-year national prosperity of Dayong was turned into nothing.

(If you prefer the story from the protagonist's perspective, you can read these chapters. The story of the founding of a nation is to add buffs to the protagonist. Just know that if you don't read it, it won't affect the story of the cultivation world.)