Those who advocate for moving the capital south deserve to be beheaded!

High above the heavenly canopy!

A few Oirat soldiers, escorting the captured Zhu Qizhen, marched toward Esen's camp.

"Walk faster! Hurry up..."

"Move your feet, and don't make me late for dinner!"

The soldiers impatiently urged the spiritless Zhu Qizhen.

Upon reaching the commander's tent, the gazes of a group of burly men fell squarely upon Zhu Qizhen!

Several generals looked at Zhu Qizhen, who stood there looking delicate and completely petrified with fear, and burst into raucous laughter.

"Ha-ha... So this is the Great Ming emperor who led this expedition?"

"Indeed, just a wet-behind-the-ears fledgling!"

Faced with the barrage of insults from the crowd, Zhu Qizhen stood in a daze, his mind still unable to process what was happening.

Whether he had been scared out of his wits by the preceding bloodshed or was lost in other thoughts remained unknown!

Meanwhile, beneath the heavenly canopy, Zhu Di, watching Zhu Qizhen being humiliated like a clown by the Oirats, could no longer contain himself.

Unable to catch his breath, he fainted on the spot!

Seeing this, Zhu Gaozhi hurriedly rushed forward, pressing his father's philtrum while shouting for the imperial physicians.

After quite a commotion, Zhu Di finally regained consciousness!

At this moment, Zhu Di had several silver needles stuck into the top of his head, his eyes wide as saucers, and his fists clenched tightly.

He was desperately suppressing the rage burning within his heart!

"Dammit... Why hasn't this piece of trash died yet? Someone, go chop his head off for me!"

On the other side, Old Zhu's condition was much the same as Zhu Di's, with a cluster of imperial physicians hovering around to keep him breathing!

Old Zhu pinched his own philtrum, fighting hard to maintain his lucidity.

"Keep me awake, I need to see how this wretch ruins my Great Ming!"

The physicians were sweating profusely.

Dealing with such a high-stakes situation... for the sake of their nine familial generations, every needle they thrust was fast, fierce, and precise!

Before long, a dozen silver needles had been planted atop Old Zhu's head, yet despite this, he was still infuriated to the verge of death.

High above the heavenly canopy.

Esen looked at the thoroughly terrified Zhu Qizhen, raised a hand to signal the generals to withdraw, and walked toward Zhu Qizhen with a beaming smile.

"Well, well, so this is the Emperor of Great Ming." Esen circled Zhu Qizhen a few times, his gaze filled with utter contempt and mockery.

"I thought he'd be someone formidable, but he's just a coward." He suddenly reached out, pinched Zhu Qizhen's chin, and forced it upward, compelling Zhu Qizhen to meet his gaze.

"Just look at this pathetic state of yours. How could you ever hope to lead Great Ming?"

"In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that one day we would capture the Emperor of Great Ming. Hahaha..."

Jolted by the pinch, Zhu Qizhen finally snapped back to reality. A flash of anger crossed his eyes, but it was overwhelmingly overshadowed by terror.

He tried to break free from Esen's grip, only to find himself completely paralyzed.

Seeing this, Esen burst into loud laughter, released his hold, and gave Zhu Qizhen a harsh shove that sent him stumbling and nearly falling to the ground.

"Lock him up and 'treat' him well." Esen waved his hand, signaling the soldiers to take Zhu Qizhen away.

As he was dragged off, Zhu Qizhen muttered incoherently, "I am the Emperor, you cannot treat me like this..."

Beneath the heavenly canopy, Zhu Di and Old Zhu trembled with rage at this sight, the silver needles on their heads vibrating incessantly!

Zhu Di felt he had never been so thoroughly humiliated in all his life, and he gnashed his teeth, snarling, "Little bastard, even now he still can't figure out the situation!"

Old Zhu was so incensed that he was on the verge of drawing blood by pinching his philtrum. "The empire I built with such grueling toil is about to be ruined in the hands of this coward?"

"And I, for crying out loud, can't even discipline him?"

"Hurry up and chop this piece of trash down..."

Zhu Biao looked at Old Zhu's bloodshot eyes, genuinely terrified that his father might actually be angered to death by this good-for-nothing!

The scene on the heavenly canopy shifted once more.

Inside the grand hall, the ministers left behind had learned of the frontline disaster—even the emperor himself had been captured by the enemy...

And they had all begun playing the role of hindsight experts.

"Alas, this old man said all along that this expedition portended more misfortune than good, but you wouldn't listen. Look, now we don't even have an emperor!"

"Since the founding of our Great Ming, when have we ever suffered such humiliation? It's a disgrace..."

Groups of civil officials whispered among themselves in pairs and trios!

"This is not the time for you to be discussing such irrelevant matters! The question is how we are to remedy this now!" Sitting in the main seat, Empress Dowager Sun—Zhu Qizhen's biological mother—shone with undisguised fury.

Xu Youzhen of the Hanlin Academy stepped forward. "Empress Dowager, last night I observed the celestial phenomena and discovered that the Polaris star has shifted southward. I believe we should relocate the capital southward to Nanjing!"

"Under the protection of the Grand Progenitor, Great Ming will weather this crisis within a decade."

The crowd of civil officials was left dumbfounded.

Even Empress Dowager Sun felt a slight surge of temptation...

Zhu Di, watching from beneath the heavenly canopy, could no longer restrain himself. He slammed his hand down on the table, the force dislodging several silver needles from his head.

"Relocate southward? Someone, draw a portrait of this man... Draw his likeness!"

"Relocate southward my ass! Beijing is the gateway of Great Ming; once it falls, Great Ming is in grave peril!"

Zhu Gaozhi was counting resources on his fingers...

"Once we relocate southward and Beijing falls... the tax revenue of the Great Ming imperial treasury will shrink by more than a third."

Disregarding the risk of fainting again, Zhu Di pointed straight up at the heavenly canopy and cursed aloud...

"Traitors, utter traitors! Relocating southward is tantamount to seeking death. If we simply hold our ground and fight a war of attrition, it won't be long before the Oirats are inevitably defeated!"

Zhu Di paced back and forth in frantic anxiety. He genuinely wished he could cross over and slap those officials who advocated for a southward relocation across their faces.

How on earth had such incompetent fools risen to power?

During the Hongwu era of Great Ming.

Although Old Zhu did not know how Beijing would develop in the future, as things stood right now, it was of paramount importance to Great Ming!

Otherwise, he would never have dispatched Xu Da, the Great Wall of Great Ming, to guard it.

Seeing the advocacy for southward relocation on the heavenly canopy, Old Zhu was so furious he was practically steaming...

Moreover, with Zhao Gou of the Song dynasty standing as a cautionary tale right before them, once the capital was moved, taking it back would be an uphill battle.

"Traitors, they are all rebellious subjects! I'm going to flay them all and stuff their skins with straw... Flay them and stuff their skins with straw!"

This was the very situation Old Zhu feared most: when the court officials could no longer keep each other in check and the civil bureaucracy became completely monolithic, the Son of Heaven probably retained no real authority whatsoever.

If there were even a single reckless scoundrel like Lan Yu around, things would never have deteriorated to this extent.

At the same time, a deep sense of desolation washed over him!

"Could it be... could it be that our Great Ming is truly going to perish here..."

Recalling his entire life—the empire he had painstakingly carved out from a broken begging bowl with untold blood, sweat, and tears—was it all going to be squandered by this unfilial descendant?

Heavens, save our Great Ming!

Perhaps the heavens truly heard Old Zhu's cry, for amidst the chaotic turmoil of the imperial court on the heavenly canopy,

an official clad in blue robes stepped forward.

"Those who advocate for southward relocation deserve to be executed! Executed!"