Munitions Empire-Chapter 1195 - 1115 is also doing a door-closing dog beating
When Li Mingshun arrived at the somewhat ostentatious Lord’s Mansion in Caili City with his guards, he was genuinely disgusted by Zhao Ji.
This so-called legitimate Emperor of the Dahua Empire had renovated the Lord’s Mansion using the sweat-soaked wealth gouged from the local commoners.
The newly refurbished Lord’s Mansion still exuded a desolate poverty of an end-of-the-road nature. A closer inspection revealed the cracks and decay in the corners. After all, no matter how a peasant woman dresses up, she can never become a Princess. Likewise, no amount of decoration can transform a Lord’s Mansion into an imperial palace.
Yet, it was in such a place—a place where any ambitious Emperor wouldn’t have wasted their time—that Zhao Ji chose to sink into debauchery.
A suffocating stench filled the air, making Li Mingshun restless. It was the smell of women, the smell of men, the foul stench of men and women tangled together.
Some women, utterly soulless and almost naked, lay sprawled on the carpeted hall floor. They were indifferent to the passing guards, their expressions frozen in apathy.
Every day, they engaged in orgies with the Emperor’s guards, ministers, attendants, and even his coachmen. All this happened openly, in the Emperor’s presence, using all kinds of positions and moans to amuse him.
The young Emperor seemed to rely on such acts to secure the loyalty of his followers and use these grotesque spectacles to forge unbreakable bonds between them.
Yes, Zhao Ji’s method of currying favor was shockingly, and admittedly shamefully, simple: everyone shared the same women. A crude and utterly disgraceful way to buy loyalty.
Li Mingshun ignored the exhausted, half-naked women and led his soldiers forward. His leather boots crushed the carpet, transitioning to the stone floor with sharp, echoing clinks from his hobnails.
He stopped before a grand door, the entrance to the "temporary palace" bedroom. Without even knocking, a servant pushed the door open for him.
A creak sounded as the door swung ajar. The scene inside the bedroom met Li Mingshun’s eyes: he saw at least three women entwined around Zhao Ji like vines, and the Emperor—who had seemed normal just two or three months ago—now looked no different from a desiccated corpse.
Raising an arm as thin as a withered branch, Zhao Ji weakly waved at Li Mingshun. His feeble voice oozed lethargy and decadence, filling the room: "Great General… you’re here? Darlings, this is Dahua’s Great General!"
Zhao Ji didn’t even have the strength to sit up from the bed, still debilitated from last night’s hangover, his pounding headache persisting.
The women—once potentially worthy of being Empresses or Imperial Concubines—made no attempt to cover their naked bodies. They lazily studied Li Mingshun, as though propriety and morality had long ceased to exist in this place.
Li Mingshun glanced at the scattered liquor bottles strewn about the room, including several of the expensive Chang’an Year 3 vintages from the Great Tang Empire. To find such rare wine in such a place during such times? Emperor Zhao Ji, it seemed, still fared better than Yuan Shu, who had once lamented his inability to obtain honey.
"So, what do you think? I personally handpicked them. If the Great General likes, feel free to take them to the next room," Zhao Ji generously expressed his "respect" or, perhaps, his "favor" toward Li Mingshun. His implication was clear: Look, I, the Emperor, am even offering you my bedmates—could I be any more magnanimous?
"Your Majesty, Xiqing has already fallen! This place will soon become the front line! And yet you… you…" Li Mingshun faltered, searching unsuccessfully for a word to describe Zhao Ji’s behavior.
Stammering for a moment, he ignored the guards behind him who were gawking with wide eyes and took two steps forward, continuing, "There are over 80,000 soldiers crammed inside the city, doing nothing—neither training nor working…"
At this point, his frustration boiled over. If only these troops had been sent to Xiqing earlier, he might still be in Xiqing, fighting to defend it.
But thanks to that bastard Zhao Ji, who hoarded tens of thousands of soldiers while wasting away in revelry at Caili, the troops had been squandered. And he had refused to hand over command of these forces to Li Mingshun.
Now it was too late. Xiqing had fallen, and all was lost...
"Isn’t that the Great General’s responsibility? Keeping some soldiers around to ensure my own safety—what’s so wrong with that? And now you’re blaming me?" Zhao Ji, clutching his pounding head, scratched the raw, inflamed edge of the abscess on his chest, momentarily sobering up. He sneered dismissively, retaliating with a cutting remark: "You failed to hold the line, and I haven’t even held you accountable—now you’re questioning my trust in you?"
"Your Majesty! If this continues, it’s all over!" Li Mingshun stepped forward again, anguished and exasperated. He desperately wanted to reignite Zhao Ji’s will to fight, to restore some semblance of the Emperor’s resolve.
But it was futile. From the moment Zhao Ji ascended the throne, he had embraced defeatism. If the Empire of Dahua had remained whole, Zhao Ji might merely have been indulgent and extravagant, still holding onto some of his ambitions.
Yet after losing the Imperial Capital and fleeing to Xiqing, he knew the tides had turned against him. Thus, he surrendered to decadence, refusing to contemplate the days ahead.
That wasn’t to say Zhao Ji wanted to die—he had already planned his escape. He intended to flee to Shu, where he would board a plane to the Shu Country. Liu Jing, the Speaker of Shu’s Assembly, had promised him in a telegram that he could find safe passage to the Eastern Continent, where luxury and riches awaited him.
As for the likes of Li Mingshun and others? Zhao Ji couldn’t care less. What he wanted, he had already secured: he was the Emperor of Dahua! Nothing could change that fact! fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Li Mingshun wasn’t aware of the secret dealings between Liu Jing and Zhao Ji. If he had known, he would have slapped Zhao Ji across the face: flying from Shu City to the Shu Country requires crossing Qin-controlled airspace!
Currently, the field airport in Shu has only 47 transport planes. With such dilapidated aircraft, how could they evade Qin’s Type 36 fighter jets?
It was common knowledge that Qin was part of the Three Emperors Alliance, and Emperor Qin Ying Duo was even the father-in-law of the Emperor of Tang. The two nations were as inseparable as newlyweds. Would the Qin Air Force really let Zhao Ji slip past?
Zhao Ji wasn’t ignorant of these facts, but he drowned himself in alcohol and delusions, clinging to a fantasy of escaping unscathed.
As for continuing the resistance? Wasn’t that what the "Great General of Dahua" was for? Let Li Mingshun handle it!
Looking at the oozing abscesses on Zhao Ji’s body, Li Mingshun furrowed his brow tightly, snorted in disgust, and spun on his heels. He had no intention of remaining loyal to this wretched Emperor anymore.
Resolute, he decided to focus on securing his own future. If Zhao Yu, the Dahua Emperor’s rival, accepted him as a Great General, he could continue fighting for Dahua under new leadership. It seemed like a favorable course of action.
On the other hand, Zhao Jie, upon learning that Tang had captured Guiguang, was weighing his options. He wondered if he could... have a word with Li Mingshun about the matter.
If he could pin the betrayal of a third of the country on Zhao Yu, it would undoubtedly erode Zhao Yu’s standing among the people of Dahua. Such a disgraceful act of treason would be intolerable under any circumstances.
If Zhao Yu became a pariah because of this, Zhao Jie might just have the opportunity to reclaim the Imperial Capital and ascend the throne!
In Zhao Jie’s estimation, his only obstacle was Li Mingshun. If that bastard interfered with his plans from the sidelines, things could get tricky.
Thus, Zhao Jie intended to extend an olive branch to Li Mingshun. As for Zhao Ji? Even though information was tight in Pingfeng, Zhao Jie had heard more than enough unsavory rumors about him.
"If the late Emperor Zhao Kai had had the resolve to depose Zhao Ji as Crown Prince back then, things might have turned out entirely differently," Zhao Jie remarked of Zhao Ji’s current state.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yu, ensconced in the Imperial Capital, was riding high on a wave of success. Commanding his troops with unwavering confidence, he carried himself as though he were the greatest tactician of the era.
Having captured Xiqing, Zhao Yu’s position was dominant. His forces were strong, numbering around 1.5 million—most of their weaponry sourced from the Great Tang Empire.
With hundreds of Butcher Fighters and Stukas at his disposal, Zhao Yu’s air force rivaled even that of neighboring Qin. What’s more, his troops, seasoned by war, were brimming with morale and tenacity.
Under immense pressure, Zhao Jie, while considering reaching out to Li Mingshun, was also plotting to exploit an opening and launch a surprise attack on Shu City, under Zhao Ji’s control.
He believed that capturing Shu City would yield valuable rewards: expanded territory, additional soldiers, and more bargaining chips.
For the useless Zhao Ji, Shu City was merely an escape route. But for Zhao Jie, it was a crucial strategic corridor connecting to the Great Qin Empire!
If Zhao Jie could seize Shu City, he could open channels with Qin and see if they might value him, a bulwark against the Great Tang Empire.
As a buffer between Qin and Tang, Zhao Jie offered a unique advantage over Zhao Yu. Unlike Zhao Yu, who leaned on Tang’s support, Zhao Jie could align himself with Qin strategically!
In other words, in the buffer zone between Qin and Tang, the northern segment was already under Zhao Yu’s Tang-backed puppet regime. But what about the southern segment? Didn’t Qin need Zhao Jie?
From this perspective, Zhao Jie saw his own value. If all else failed, he could negotiate a favorable deal and cede his controlled territories to Qin outright!
Surely Emperor Qin Ying Duo wouldn’t deny him a generous arrangement in exchange for four fortified cities and vast lands, would he?
With these calculations in mind, Zhao Jie began mobilizing troops, deploying forces to test his luck in Shu City’s direction, while simultaneously dispatching secret envoys to win over the influential Li Mingshun.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yu prepared his massive army to sweep through and finally eliminate the nuisance of Zhao Ji, the "legitimate Emperor." His strategy was simple: the same tactic Zhao Jie once proposed to Zhao Kai—trap and kill. Capture Caili, occupy Shu City, and use the same strategy to deal with Zhao Jie: trap and kill!
