The years I was in the human world

A pure white figure walked out of the palace in the night as dawn was approaching, carrying a letter written by Chu Zhaoli himself.

"Your Majesty, why didn't you tell him the truth?" Yan Xiao saw with his own eyes how Chu Zhaoli made up a lie to trick the unaware Lu Zhouxue to go to Yuzhou to deliver a so-called letter to Xie Yi, but he never told him that he had become the scapegoat at the end of the dynasty.

"Why tell him? My Mianmian is a fairy from heaven. She has stayed in the mortal world for too long because of me. This time the Chu family will be destroyed. Do I want him to be buried with me?" When the old emperor left, he gave Chu Zhaoli a decree of succession. He is now the true emperor of the Western Dynasty, although his country is about to be destroyed.

"Your Majesty is different from what I thought." He and Yan Xiao knew exactly what kind of person the Emperor Chu Zhaoli was. He was too lazy to put on airs like a king, and Yan Xiao was not really afraid of his majesty. He just addressed him as a king and spoke to him as a friend.

"Why, do you think I'm more cowardly than you think? Even as an emperor I'm still controlled by others?" Chu Zhaoli said self-deprecatingly, but he didn't care. No matter what, he was still an emperor, which was a perfect ending.

"On the contrary. When Your Majesty was the crown prince, others often said that Your Majesty was mediocre and cowardly. But from what I see now, that is not entirely true." Yan Xiao was telling the truth. When he stopped Chu Zhaoli at the palace gate, he still felt that this deposed crown prince was useless and ran away when the country was in crisis.

However, when Chu Zhaoli was captured and brought back, it was discovered that the emperor, the crown prince, and court officials also wanted to escape. If they could, they would escape. There was nothing wrong with seeking profit and avoiding harm. But these people wanted to keep the deposed crown prince as a target. No one was willing to bear the infamy of being a king who had lost his country.

From this perspective, Chu Zhaoli seemed to have noble character. At least he always had a clear distinction between love and hate, unlike those treacherous officials who were hypocritical and artificial, seeking fame and reputation.

"The court officials once impeached Your Majesty for committing adultery with a eunuch. I thought Your Majesty was no different from those playboys. I never expected that Your Majesty actually loved that man sincerely, and I, a humble official, became an accomplice to the tiger." Yan Xiao fearlessly compared the current emperor to a vicious tiger.

"Then Commander Yan, could you give in and let me go?" Chu Zhaoli smiled. He had accepted his fate now. Apart from the regret in his heart that could not be filled, he had no intention of leaving. To die with the country was the final destination he could choose for himself.

"The rebels have surrounded the city, where can Your Majesty go?" Yan Xiao sighed, "It's not that I am embarrassed and don't want to let Your Majesty go, but the country is still here, and the high court still needs someone to hold the power. Let's go, Your Majesty, it's time to go to court, and the ministers are still waiting for you."

Most of the important ministers fled south with the truly powerful emperor, and those who were good at getting along with everyone packed up their belongings and fled with their families. Now, the only ones left in the court were some old scholars who talked about benevolence, righteousness, and morality all day long, and the censors who liked to point at the emperor's nose and curse him for no reason.

Sitting on the dragon throne in the hall is the infamous deposed prince, who is now the emperor. It is this group of people who were once hated by everyone, but now they have become the last backbone of this dying dynasty.

"That's why they say enemies always come together. You have scolded me for twenty years, but I never thought that it would be you and me who stayed behind in the end." Chu Zhaoli sat on the throne in the surprised eyes of everyone, jokingly, "Why, are you surprised to see an incompetent like me?"

All the officials were silent. Only the old tutor who had praised Chu Zhaoli for his intelligence when he taught at the Imperial Academy many years ago, stepped out of the line tremblingly, and said in a voice of regret and sorrow: "Your Highness, why did you stay..."

When he resigned and returned home, Chu Zhaoli was his favorite student. But later, he heard rumors that the prince was cowardly and incompetent spreading throughout the capital, and the memory of the smart and clever child gradually faded.

"What the Grand Tutor said is strange. As the Son of Heaven, I will naturally stand together with you all." Chu Zhaoli said slowly, holding his chin with one hand. He took up the responsibility that his father had thrown at him and refused to take.

"You have been scolding me for twenty years. Today I ascend the throne as the new emperor. Please give me some face and remonstrate with me tomorrow. How about that?" Chu Zhaoli joked without hesitation and called out to Madam Xie, who was standing in the ranks of military generals in men's clothing. She couldn't help but smile. This kid.

The censors who usually exchanged sharp words and cursed the Emperor of Heaven above and the Emperor of Man below were unanimous in silence, for a rare moment. What was there to say? The rebels had surrounded the city, and Chu Zhaoli was the new emperor to the throne. This might not be the last day for the Chu family to rule the country. Everyone felt a sense of sadness about the death of their country.

As both were martyrs, why did they make things difficult for each other? Besides, Chu Zhaoli stayed to live and die with them, so even if he had made many mistakes in the first half of his life, they should have been written off by now. Moreover, this last emperor who was specially selected by those who had power had never done anything wrong.

"It's still dark and there's nothing more important now that the enemy is at the gates. Come on, tell me why you don't leave and insist on staying here to die." Chu Zhaoli was so calm that he remained unmoved even when faced with a mountain collapsing in front of him. This impressed the court officials who stayed behind.

"I'll say this first. I was about to run away, but was stopped by Commander Yan at the city gate. He forced me to sit on the dragon throne and die with you." Chu Zhaoli patted the dragon throne under his buttocks and looked at Yan Xiao. "Where is Commander Yan? Does father not want you anymore?"

"..." Yan Xiao was somewhat helpless, but still stepped out and replied, "Your Majesty, I am a humble servant with a declining family background. I have no uncles, brothers, wives, concubines, or children. I have no ties in this life. Although I have no intention of fame, I cannot bear to see my country broken apart. I only wish to live and die with the king."

"Great Commander Yan, Gao Yi." Chu Zhaoli blinked and turned to look at Xie Qing in the ranks of generals, "Where's the queen? Why did she stay?"

"Xian'er's body is gone, and Afu's half body is still outside the pass. Someone must stay behind to show the way for the children who have left home." Xie Qing smiled with some tenderness, "In the past, due to various obstacles, it was always difficult to interact too much. Now, we can be considered to stand together with Your Majesty."

……

When the city was broken, the sun of the next day had not yet risen. The continuous war ignited the whole city with smoke. The flames illuminated half of the sky, but it was not the dawn that Chu Zhaoli was waiting for. The cries, screams, and fighting sounds intertwined into a elegy for the destruction of a country. The rebels broke into the Golden Palace, and the young monarch who had just ascended the throne today was still sitting on the dragon throne.

Yan Xiao drew his sword silently and rushed forward to fight. The remaining imperial guards protected the old ministers behind them. Their well-trained spear skills were superb. They were the last spirits of this declining country and they vowed to defend the country to the death.

"Prince Guangping, the country is still facing external troubles, but you, the traitor, are the first to create internal troubles. You have failed to live up to the grace of Heaven and have evil ambitions. You deserve to be put to death!" Xie Qing blocked the blade that was chopped towards Chu Zhaoli with a sword, but he drew his sword and joined the fight. While repelling the rebels, he shouted at the traitor who was standing behind the guards outside the Golden Throne Hall.

"The king is unkind, we are acting on behalf of heaven, how can we be called traitors?" Prince Guangping looked indifferent, looking at the people who were resisting stubbornly in the palace, and gently ordered, "Behead the court officials and make them a thousand households; punish the princes and make them ten thousand households; whoever can capture the tyrant in the palace will be made a king and a prime minister!"

More rebels swarmed into the Golden Throne Hall, which was already littered with corpses. The once majestic and solemn hall was almost bathed in blood after the fighting, and the smell of blood in the air almost solidified into substance.

Yan Xiao was beheaded by the swords, his head and body were separated, and his limbs were taken away by the rebels who were seeking credit and reward; Xie Qing was exhausted and defeated, and at the last moment, he drew his sword and committed suicide to maintain his dignity... Although the other court officials were protected by the imperial guards, most of them were also hacked to death in the fighting.

Chu Zhaoli's eyes gradually turned red as he looked at the miserable scenes in the palace. The old tutor was already old and should have been enjoying his retirement, but he had to struggle to survive in this rebellion. It turned out that the reputation of dying with the country was not so good.

Chu Zhaoli closed his eyes in pain. It didn't matter. He had no reputation in this life anyway, so this last bit of infamy didn't matter to him. He endured the wounds on his body caused by the swords. He used all the skills he had learned in the past twenty years to break out of the hall and surrender to Prince Guangping.

"Don't you want to capture the tyrant? I am the emperor, and you can do whatever you want with me. They are all your loyal ministers. If you want to keep your throne secure, spare their lives." Chu Zhaoli rushed in front of Prince Guangping, but was quickly captured by his personal guards. When he was about to be killed, he struggled to say these words.

"Wait a minute." Prince Guangping stopped his guards and looked at the emperor in front of him, who was dressed in bright yellow but looked unfamiliar, with a little surprise. He stared at Chu Zhaoli in confusion for a long while, and then smiled, "I recognize you, Prince Zhaoli."

"Now I am the Son of Heaven, Prince Guangping, I am at your disposal. As for the courtiers in the palace, please do not harm their lives!" Chu Zhaoli was forced to kneel on the bluestone slab by the guards, but he still looked up at Prince Guangping stubbornly and repeated what he had just said.

"Are you negotiating terms with me?" Prince Guangping looked at Chu Zhaoli jokingly. When he set out from Guangping, the emperor sitting in the Golden Throne Hall was still Chu Qin, but now it has become Chu Zhaoli. He understood what was going on after a little thought.

But no matter whether it was Chu Qin or Chu Zhaoli, he had already captured Luoyang, the Chu family had fled in all directions, and this world would only belong to him.

Chu Zhaoli had been working in the imperial palace for twenty years, and he knew the minds of those in high positions, such as kings, princes, generals, and ministers. He could also guess what traitors like the Prince of Guangping wanted most when they came to power.

"I'm begging you." Chu Zhaoli calmly said the words that represented submission and weakness, which greatly satisfied Prince Guangping's vanity of wanting to be proud of himself overnight. How could he not be excited when the emperor knelt at his feet and begged him like a prisoner?

"Let them go? Okay." Anyway, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit, so there is no need for Prince Guangping to kill them all. Slaughtering all his old ministers would only damage his reputation after his death. "All soldiers, listen to my order. Put down your weapons and clear the battlefield. Tonight we will celebrate your achievements and reward them according to their merits!"