Chapter 1976
Late Ming Dynasty 12
Zhu Qiqi became Cheng Qingzhu's apprentice and the young leader of the Qingzhu Gang.
Although she learned kung fu from Cheng Qingzhu, her internal strength was taught by her own mother.
She and her sisters coveted their mother's internal martial arts skills.
My mother practiced the Mingyu Skill, and now that she's over thirty, she's still as fresh and tender as a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl.
Although one's own father's internal energy cultivation can also help maintain a youthful appearance, the Mingyu Gong is more suitable for women to cultivate, as it will make their skin better!
Of course, you should choose Mingyu Gong!
Zhu Qiqi spends half her time in the palace and the other half in the Green Bamboo Gang.
Later, Cheng Qingzhu stepped down and passed the position of gang leader to Zhu Qiqi.
A martial arts tournament was held in the Jianghu. Zhu Youjian and Liu Yinxia heard the news and, dressed in white, went to watch.
As the couple's constant third wheel, Liu Dong naturally followed along.
Anyway, he's already used to eating dog food.
Because a queen and a marquis came from the family, the Liu family prospered more and more.
This also shows that the Liu family's descendants are all ambitious and capable.
Besides Liu Qin, Liu Jin and Liu Wei also passed the imperial examination and entered officialdom.
As Zhu Youjian's brothers-in-law, they naturally favored Zhu Youjian.
They joined forces with other scholars to fight against the Donglin Party. After the Donglin Party fell, they were promoted to high positions.
However, they received a warning from Liu Dong in private, and understood that the emperor hated forming cliques and engaging in corrupt practices.
They thus distanced themselves from the officials of the previous faction and conveyed the warning to them as well.
Those people weren't stupid either, and afterwards there were no more obvious factions in the court.
Liu Xueyi and Zhu Youxun also entered the imperial court.
Logically speaking, members of the imperial family were not allowed to enter the imperial court.
However, Zhu Youjian was desperately short of capable people. Knowing that Zhu Youxun was capable, he specially issued an imperial edict to summon him into the court.
Zhu Youxun was very grateful to Zhu Youjian for recognizing his talent and tried to repay him with his own abilities.
After more than twenty years, the court was now filled with people loyal to Zhu Youjian.
The ministers were all performing their duties and handling matters with ease, unlike the first few years after Zhu Youjian ascended the throne when he was so busy that he didn't even have enough time to rest, and everyone had dark circles under their eyes.
With his own people all in the court, Zhu Youjian naturally felt at ease taking his wife and brother-in-law on a trip.
Zhu Youjian: "Speaking of which, the last time the three of us traveled the world was more than twenty years ago."
Liu Tong: "The martial arts world hasn't changed much."
Liu Yinxia: "We've changed a lot."
Originally, they were a carefree prince and princess, but now they have become the emperor and empress of a country.
Zhu Youjian looked at his wife's beautiful face, which had remained unchanged for ten years, and said, "Yinxia hasn't changed much; she's still so young and beautiful."
Liu Yinxia replied with a smile, "Dejou is as handsome and dashing as ever."
Liu Tong grinned, another mouthful of dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection).
The three arrived at the venue of the martial arts tournament. They hid in the crowd and saw Zhu Qiqi, as well as Yuan Chengzhi and Xia Qingqing.
By chance, Yuan Chengzhi still managed to become a disciple of Mount Hua and Mu Renqing's last disciple.
This time, he represented the Huashan Sect at the martial arts tournament.
Standing next to Yuan Chengzhi was a chubby middle-aged man who looked like a businessman. He was none other than Yuan Chengzhi's senior brother, Huang Zhen, the Copper Pen and Iron Abacus.
Behind him followed his disciple, the imposing and invincible Feng Nandi.
This martial arts tournament is to select a leader of the martial arts world, and it will be conducted through a martial arts competition.
At first, it was some juniors who went up to compete, then some second-rate experts, first-rate experts, and finally the big shots from various factions.
Feng Nandi represented the Huashan School in the competition, but was knocked off the stage halfway through.
Huang Zhen was originally supposed to go on stage, but he knew his own abilities; although he was the master, he was not much better than Feng Nandi.
Huang Zhen pushed Yuan Chengzhi onto the stage. Yuan Chengzhi advanced all the way to the finals, where he faced Zhu Qiqi.
The two were evenly matched, engaging in a fierce battle that lasted three hundred rounds, leaving everyone in awe.
I never expected that the two young people were so skilled in martial arts, even more skilled than the older generation in the martial arts world.
Everyone understood that the leader of the alliance could only be one of these two people.
In the end, Yuan Chengzhi made a mistake and was defeated by Zhu Qiqi.
Zhu Qiqi became the leader of the martial arts alliance.
After becoming the leader of the alliance, some people instigated Zhu Qiqi to oppose the imperial court.
Zhu Qiqi: "..."
Zhu Qiqi turned around and sent the person to the Jinyiwei prison.
The Imperial Guards tortured these people, but they weren't tough and confessed quickly.
Most of them were instigated; they were the ones who were stupid.
A small portion of them were bribed by the Later Jin and Annam in an attempt to create chaos within the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Qiqi revealed the truth, and the group of "heroes of the martial arts world" were all furious.
They actually used them as tools; those countries want to be eaten alive!
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhu Qiqi gave a patriotic education session—which was orchestrated by Liu Dong and Zhu Youjian behind the scenes—and the martial arts heroes, fueled by their adrenaline, went to the Later Jin to seek revenge.
Zhu Youjian quickly ordered the army to follow behind them.
The martial arts heroes killed many important officials of the Later Jin dynasty. Those who were clearly Han Chinese but had surrendered to the Later Jin, such as Fan Wencheng, were all killed by the martial arts heroes.
The situation within the Later Jin dynasty became even more chaotic.
The Ming Dynasty took the opportunity to attack the Later Jin.
Huang Taiji led his troops to resist the Ming army, but was defeated by Yuan Chonghuan.
Yuan Chonghuan led his troops straight to the heart of the Jin dynasty, destroyed the Later Jin, and sent the captured prisoners back to China.
There's no other way; the whole country is building roads and infrastructure, which requires a lot of manpower.
Unable to exploit their own citizens, they could only use prisoners of war from other countries.
Unfortunately, we don't have enough manpower.
Zhu Youjian looked at the group of military generals who were eager to make a move, and drew circles on the map around countries such as Korea, Annam, and Japan.
Zhu Youjian: "You can discuss which country to attack."
The military officers happily agreed and were the first to kick Yuan Chonghuan out of the meeting room.
Yuan Chonghuan: "..."
Um, he feels that the merit of destroying only one country is not enough. Can he be given another one?
Other generals: Dream on.
Mao Renlong kicked the conference room door shut, locking Yuan Chonghuan outside.
After that, a group of military officers rushed out like wild horses and never returned.
Oh, they still have to come back, bringing back the prisoners of the countries they conquered to help the Ming Dynasty with its infrastructure development.
The group that went to Japan not only brought back prisoners, but also ship after ship of silver.
The ministers who were chattering about how Emperor Zhu Youjian was unkind and lacked the demeanor of a great nation should shut up.
When they heard that the emperor was preparing a fleet for a sea voyage, they shamelessly tried to join.
It is said that when Eunuch Sanbao went to Southeast Asia, he brought back many novel and valuable items, which were very expensive.
They'll be going on this voyage, and they should make a lot of money too.
Zhu Youjian accepted all comers; since they were all making money off foreigners, the more the merrier.
Zhu Qiqi, along with Jiao Wan'er, led the Green Bamboo Gang and the Golden Dragon Gang to act as guards for the fleet.
Zhu Qiqi, holding the nautical chart provided by Liu Dong, led her fleet off. (End of Chapter)