Xiomi the warlord of the Ming Dynasty

Cheng Ho

Zhong Lingyu and his group had remained silent all night, afraid that they may reveal too much. The following day, the Grand General Wu and the generals of the army left with the Emperor, accompanied by a large number of courtiers. Zhong Lingyu and Xu Wei were assigned to accompany the Emperor along with some trusted officers of the Imperial Army. They also made sure the imperial guards were well guarded around the house.
On that day, the two princes met each other outside and the four entered the carriage together. Soon the Emperor ordered, "All of you stand up, rise!" He shouted. As the soldiers stood up, the Emperor turned to Zhu Yunwen, "Prince Zhu, please sit on the seat facing forward, you are to be the Emperor's advisor." The four sat down and the carriage started moving. They continued their way north and arrived at the capital of the Tianzuo Dynasty. Zhu Yunwen gazed out of the window, and noticed that the city was bustling with activity. As they neared the palace gates a crowd formed, cheering loudly. Everyone seemed excited as they gazed at the imperial palanquin coming closer and closer to the entrance. Suddenly, the carriage slowed down, almost to a halt, and stopped. The officials, lords, eunuchs and women immediately rushed toward the carriages doors and pulled them open. The Emperor stepped out first followed by Zhu Yunwen, Qiaofeng, Aqing, Wang Jingzhi and Xu Wei, along with their entourage. The people cheered even louder as they greeted the Emperor with bows and gifts.
Then the Emperor approached Prince Xianzheng who stood beside the carriages and extended his hand. He offered a sincere smile at Prince Xianzheng and clasped his hand firmly. Once they released their grasp Prince Xianzheng bowed politely at the Emperor, then walked towards a table on which were various snacks. He picked one up and unwrapped it and began munching on it without thinking. His mouth was so full he couldn't talk, so instead he chewed it and swallowed. When he finished he put the half eaten pastry down onto the table. He then proceeded to take a sip of the hot tea that a female official handed to him.
Once he had taken a few sips, he turned to address his father, "Father, I am honored to accept your generous offer. But I must decline your offer for a reason. Firstly, I must ensure the survival of the empire while the Emperor recovers and the peace and prosperity of the nation. Secondly, I cannot risk being separated from my wife and daughter. The sooner we depart the safer our journey will be." He paused to take another sip. "It seems that Anming is confused, what's the matter?" Xiomi asked looking  his twin brother "Anming the emperor's advisor who is very handsome is confused" replied Cheng Ho with a chuckle. Zhu Yunwen chuckled softly, "Indeed" said Zhu Yunwen as the others chuckled as well.
The three siblings turned around and looked at the young prince and princesses. Then they glanced at the Emperor who also laughed lightly at the same time. "If that's the case then we shall not delay any longer" The Emperor announced to which all the officials and courtiers cheered in reply. "Come my children," The Emperor said while bowing his head at the siblings and heading towards a small door to the side of the hall. "Your Highnesses, follow me please" said the Grand Marshal while holding the door open for them.
As soon as they stepped foot inside, the sound of bells resonated loudly from above. All three princes looked up to see the bell tower of the palace ringing, indicating the arrival of visitors. The Imperial Palace's bell tower has been in use for hundreds of years, thus many officials and dignitaries of the land came to pay their respects to their respective Emperor to celebrate his return and to show their sincerity.
When they saw the three of them, all the court officials bowed and kneeled at their feet, as well as the Emperor's courtiers. Then, a voice called out to the three siblings, telling them that there were already guests waiting for them. Xiaomi,Tiancai, Anming,Hao Yu,Gong Fai,Qiaofeng, Cheng Ho, Ming Na and Xianlun went into the main hall where there were many tables lined up, filled with food and drinks. After greeting everyone they settled down at the table near the end, where they sat side by side.
Meanwhile, a short distance away, the Emperor watched the three siblings greet everyone else with smiles and laughter as they enjoyed their meals, but in the background, he could hear the Empress and the Empress Dowager talking quietly among themselves, seemingly concerned about something. The Emperor sighed softly, unsure why they seemed to be discussing things that did not concern them at all, but nonetheless, he decided to focus on his own meal.
Soon after the banquet had ended the Emperor bid farewell to his subjects, saying goodbyes until the day after. After leaving the palace, the three siblings got onto their separate carriages and headed back home to continue their preparations for Zhu Yunwen’s visit.
After the Emperor returned from the capital with the court officials and the officials, he and his family spent the rest of the day enjoying their celebration. That night when they slept, they found themselves all dreaming about Zhu Yunwen. Their dreams started off fairly normal, consisting mainly of Zhu Yunwen and his companions laughing happily and having fun. But the dream changed abruptly when a huge explosion shook the ground and a wave of fire spread throughout the entire area.
Hao Yu and Taican  woke up with a start and immediately leapt out of bed. Xiaozhai, however, still had her eyes closed, trying desperately to fall back asleep. Her soft snoring indicated she hadn’t woken up yet despite how loud Hao Yu and Xiaozhai were trying to rouse her. After waking up the others, they quickly realized that everything was
just a vivid dream, except for the incident involving Zhu Yunwen and Princess Zhao Lianxin, where the Empress Dowager had died.
As they pondered upon their strange dream, Tianfang hurriedly rushed to their room as soon as he heard the commotion and yelled “Everyone stay calm, don’t panic! We must remain calm.” The four of them calmed down, after which Tianfang said, “Now then, let’s wait for news from the Grand Marshal first before worrying about anything else. In the meantime, I think it best that we go and check the surrounding areas, try to locate the location of the explosion. Hopefully we will find the culprits who planted the bomb.” With that said he left the house. Everyone agreed to Tianfang’s suggestion, especially Hao Yu and Xiaozhai. Although it might seem like the four of them didn’t give up on Zhu Yunwen completely, they didn’t want to waste their energy searching for him when they could have more pressing matters like figuring out if they should send troops against the rebels. Therefore they decided that the next step was to wait for news on the situation of the Emperor.
As they waited, Tianfang searched the nearby woods but failed to find anyone suspicious. At the mention of the word ‘surveillance’ however, all five of them suddenly tensed up, causing Tianfang and Xu Wei to look questioningly at them
Upon hearing Tianfang’s words, they realized that they had subconsciously moved closer to each other, almost hugging each other. They quickly retreated slightly and averted their eyes. Tianfang turned to the other three and asked if there was any other problem, but they all shook their heads in response.
After a couple of hours, the other two finally got tired and went to bed. By the time morning came, everyone was sitting together on a bench watching the sun set as they discussed their current plans. Suddenly there was a loud cry of alarm as a messenger raced across the courtyard shouting that an explosion had occurred at the military camp of the rebel army. Everyone sprang up and hurried to the field. They found several hundred corpses lying scattered around a forest, all of them burned beyond recognition