Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

The storm slowly formed and approached step by step, making this scorching summer more and more suffocating—— More and more ministers joined the ranks of discussions for the sake of "Beautiful Fan Tushuo", and the words of those who swore to protect the crown prince became more and more fierce, but there were also a few people with ulterior motives who responded with words on the surface, but actually It was perfunctory, but secretly thinking of other ideas and carrying out other actions - the atmosphere at the Ming court was three points more special and weird than usual. The only one who remains the same as before is Emperor Wanli—he never goes to court, manages politics, doesn’t see ministers, doesn’t read memorials, and he doesn’t hear anything about famines in the country and disputes in the palace. Don't ask -- it seems that everything in the Ming Dynasty has nothing to do with him, the son of the Ming Dynasty.

But in mid-May, the natural disasters took on new changes. In a place that hadn't seen a drop of rain for several months, it suddenly began to rain. This was what the people who were suffering from drought were most eagerly looking forward to, but unexpectedly, the long-awaited rain turned into a torrential rain. Heavy rain and disaster—— The first disaster report sent to the capital was that the ridge of Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum was washed away by heavy rain. Subsequent reports were even worse. The heavy rain continued, not only forming mountain torrents, but also causing rivers to burst their embankments. Many places were flooded into Zeguo and countless lives were drowned.

Local officials also delivered documents to the imperial court every day by express horse, but the Emperor Wanli's reaction was still indifferent, allowing more than half of the people in the Ming Dynasty to be swallowed by the famine. Liaodong, far outside the customs, turned into a blessed land! ! This year, not only did Liaodong not suffer from drought and floods, but the weather was smooth and prosperous. The only disaster was a fire in Dafubao of the Ming Dynasty, which burned many houses and stored weapons and food. The loss was not small, but compared with the natural disasters in the Central Plains, it was extremely small. Small things, insignificant at all.

As far as Jianzhou is concerned, the newly built Hetuala City is full of prosperity, the harvest in all aspects is good, the army's drills are excellent, and every warrior's combat skills and martial arts are well trained. It is enough for one to be ten, and the cooperation and tacit understanding in the team is impeccable-Jianzhou's strength has long been expanded to become the crown of all Jurchen ministries, and even faintly surpassed the military force deployed by the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong. The only regret is that it happened to Nurhachi—— He encountered the saddest thing in the past few years: his sick Mongolian sister died in September!

It turned out that he had been refusing to give up the hope in his heart, and he had been refusing to face the fact that his Mongolian sister was terminally ill, and tried his best to cure her illness; whether it was a Han doctor or a Jurchen shaman, he invited all Come and treat her together. "No matter what, we must save her—" He himself no longer avoids facing it, and always finds time to accompany her in her room every day; sometimes, he also comes to accompany the shaman when performing the dance of the gods, praying to the ghosts and gods together to drive away the disease attached to her body .

Every time, he prayed with the most sincere heart; every time, he asked Huang Taiji to accompany him and pray together—however, the Mongolian sister was still getting worse day by day, and no matter what method he used, it was useless. There is no way to save her life. He finally accepted this fact and faced her death bravely. On the day of Sister Mongolia's death, he took the time to visit her early in the morning as usual; as soon as he entered the room, he felt an ominous atmosphere shrouded in front of her hospital bed, which brought him an indescribable feeling of discomfort. The feeling also faintly conveyed an omen.

He simply ordered the left and right: "Today, I won't deal with other things—" He asked the left and right to go out to pass orders, asking everyone to take their positions and carry out everything as usual. Matters that need to be judged by him will be put on hold for a day or two. Then, he ordered other people to leave the room of the Mongolian sister—including Zaqing and Abahai who came to help take care of the Mongolian sister, as well as several Mongolian sister's maidservants. He asked Zaqing and Abahai to go back to do their own business, while the maidservants waited at the door, leaving only himself, Huang Taiji and Nantai from Yehe in the room waiting for the Mongolian sister.

Sister Mongolia closed her eyes tightly, and her anger was like a gossamer—— The servants brought in the fried medicine, but they couldn't feed her; he tried to put it into his mouth with a small spoon, but the medicine juice overflowed from the corner of his mouth bit by bit. He had no choice but to give up, thinking bitterly in his heart: "She's only twenty-nine years old—she's still in her prime—and she's so sick—" He secretly gritted his teeth and endured, not letting the tears flow down; after a while, he sighed, handed the medicine bowl back to the maidservant, and then looked at her again.

He knew in his heart that there was not much time left—in his heartache, he especially cherished this short moment when she was still in the world, and he looked at her without blinking his eyelids. But after an unknown amount of time, her eyelids twitched slightly, and then opened very slowly. He saw it clearly, his heart was beating wildly, and he was overjoyed as if he had found a treasure, but he didn't have any thoughts, but stretched out his hand unconsciously to hold her hand. She was skinny and skinny, and when she shook her palm, she didn't feel the flesh at all, but he didn't notice it, but just said in a trembling voice: "You're awake—ah, what do you want me to do?"

On the one hand, he didn't forget to greet Huang Taiji: "Come on, your mother is awake, listen carefully, what she wants to say to us!" However, although Sister Mongolia opened her eyes, she was so weak that she could not speak. Her two thin lips trembled slightly and then fell silent. Only her two eyeballs were still able to move slowly. She stared fixedly at Nurhachi at first, then turned to Huang Taiji after a while, and turned to Nantai after a while—she was still conscious. But Nurhachi felt it just based on the idea conveyed by the rolling of the eyeballs. He understood that what she cared most about was Huang Taiji, and her mother who was far away in Ye He——

Thousands of emotions surged up again, but he immediately suppressed them forcefully. "At this moment, let the ground feel at ease—" He can always figure out the priorities - so he said to her word by word in an extremely gentle and gentle voice: "The child will be taken care of - Ye He will take care of it - don't worry, I will take care of it Properly disposed of—” At the end of the speech, he almost choked up, relying on his strength to hold on; but the Mongolian sister seemed to hear his words clearly, her eyelashes fluttered slightly, and her eyes focused on his face again. However, she was too weak. After a while, her eyes stared directly at him, and her breathing became more subtle; Nurhachi still stared at her steadfastly, holding her hand; after a while, he realized that she was not breathing; suddenly, he subconsciously called out: "Sister Mongolia——" Then, he couldn't help but lifted her up and shook her several times, but of course she didn't respond at all—— He didn't eat, drink, sleep, or speak for several days, even though Zha Qing with red eyes came up to persuade him, he seemed to have never heard of it, and just sat in a trance. Huang Taiji was still a twelve-year-old child, and he could cry out the grief in his heart—he counted every day, knelt before the spirit of his Mongolian sister, and cried loudly: "Er Niang—Er Niang— " Tired of crying and fell asleep, he still cried and shouted in his dream, repeating again and again—— However, grown-ups express their grief in a very different way than children. He was so sad that he couldn't cry out. What's more, the death of the Mongolian sister and the Mongolian sister, for him, included a complicated relationship with Ye Hebu, which far exceeded the simple love between husband and wife, and made his heart entangled with multiple and chaotic thoughts. It also made his appearance more and more expressionless as if in a trance. Surrounded by as many people as possible, wives and concubines, children, younger brothers, subordinates, but he didn't intend to talk to any one of them—he didn't want others to know what was going on in his heart. Only in the middle of the night on the third day after the coffin of the Mongolian sister, even Huang Taiji, who was guarding the coffin, had fallen asleep, and he was alone in the surroundings, did he unconsciously utter a very thin and low cry to the coffin of the Mongolian sister Whispering: "Is this God's will? You are from Yehe, but you passed away at this time—" From the bottom of his heart, besides sadness and mourning, there is another level of mourning: "Jianzhou and Ye He, you have been embarrassed all your life - you never said it, so why bother?" And even in the extreme grief, he still unconsciously confided in front of her soul: "I'm going to kill Ye He after all!"

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