THE MYSTERIOUS AND DANGEROUS VOICE

Once again, Chen Xinyi made a wise decision. Instead of scolding Chen Xinyi, Zhu Su immediately stopped the party, and in the next morning, he, as well as Zhu Di and the entire Kaifeng government officials, had been in the area being severely devastated by the flood.

"The safe area we can step through ends here. The next area is very dangerous to be attained."

Zhu Su did know that the area being passed by The Yellow River was often destructed by severe floods. But, it was seemingly the first time for him to watch such formidable Yellow River flood. It can be called a flash flood since the flood was flowing - and it flew rapidly. The area they were standing this time was quite far from The Yellow River, however, if they stepped further even only an inch, they would be swept away by the flood, since the Yellow River stretched on their eyes streamed swiftly and dangerously.

"When did it happen?" Zhu Su asked Chen Xinyi.

"Right when you were starting the party yesterday evening."

"There must be a lot of victims, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Before, there were many houses in this area, but this area is deserted right now. Because all of those houses have been swept away by the flood."

"How about the residences?"

"When I received that report they were still in here, helping each other..."

"Or perhaps, they have been swept away? Nobody remains here?" Zhu Su pressed his lips. "Then, should we change the duty of the SAR Team?"

"Where do the people evacuate themselves?" Zhu Di also asked.

"They should be hereabouts, this location is still dry and not being destructed by the flood..."

"Or maybe they are scared to live here because this area is so close with the floodplain."

Qu You joined in. "You are right, Your Majesty. I worry that fhe flood which may probably occur later, will be more severe than this time..."

Qu You had not yet finished his words when the sky changed its color abruptly. The scud of grey clouds - some of them were even pitch black - came and covered the sun, promptly turned this bright sky into pitch-dark. They looked up, yet a few seconds later they must bow their heads, hands covering faces. A bolt of big lightning emitting from a pitch-black cloud struck in a horrible way to the ground - and almost struck them.

"Ha ha ha! Cruel Ming royalty, this is the punishment you must endure because of overthrowing the legitimate monarch!"

This was a man's voice. That arrogant and cynical voice echoed throughout the entire area. Nevertheless, instead of being frightened, Zhu Di was overwhelmed with anger. He looked up, shouting, "Who is that?! How can you be so impudent by making accusation mannerlessly! Who is bringing down a legitimate government, anyway?!"

"Ha ha haa! Huh! Yongle Emperor! You want to make excuses, say that the Ming government doesn't oppose the Mandate of Heaven while you overthrow the legitimate government?! Previously your father overthrew his grand ruler Han Lin'er and became the Emperor, then brought down the Yuan Empire! And that's only an example..."

"Don't you dare insult the deceased person! Everybody knows Han Lin'er isn't a good leader, nothing he is good at and he is used to depending everything on his subordinates, he even can't take care of himself, how can he take care of a large country?! And about Yuan, what they can do is only tormenting and enslaving Han people - they are invaders! Of course, the invaders must be driven out from our country!..."

"And how about you! You dethrone your nephew, massacre thousands of people just because they have relations with your nephew, and you even have the heart to imprison your grand nephew Zhu Wengui who is only two years old! You are indeed the son of Ming Taizu, your betrayal mind and cruelty is precisely the same as his!"

"Go... God damn it! Who are you?! How coward you are, don't dare to show yourself and just insult from hideout!" Drawing his sword, Zhu Di pointed it up at the sky.

As the response, thunder roared again.

"Ha ha ha! Are you offended, Yongle Emperor?!? You and your brother Zhou Wang are both damned people! Both of you overthrow the legitimate emperor, your own nephew, and even live luxuriously from the suffering of others. Zhou Wang is even worse! He claims that he can heal people, but the truth is he deceives the naïve people - what he does is no more than the politics of images. The true purpose behind the writing of Pu Ji Fang is, to claim the power greater than becoming Fan Wang!"

Zhu Su's heart skipped a beat. He soon shouted, "Who are you?! How dare you slander me! I tell you, everything I do, I do it sincerely. To help suffering people!"

"Why do you name your book as Pu Ji Fang? Pu, from the word "putong", which has a strong relation with commoners; and, Ji, which means to help people passing through difficulty. Well then! From the book name we can guess that you intend to "bring people passing through the difficulty"... but what is the difficulty, after all?! No difficulty in this golden time... except, you assume that the current reign as a difficult era, and you want to win the hearts of the people by spreading the dogma. Huh! You are the same with your father, utilizing the teaching of Ming Jiao * and Bai Lian Jiao * just to deceive people, and telling them that if they follow him then Buddhas will bless them. With the guise of religion and kindness, you exploit the people as your pieces!..."

"Liar! It's all no more than your imagination, your delusion!" Zhu Su was indeed so furious with the accusation of that "Anonymous Voice". His true purpose of writing Pu Ji Fang was merely to help sick people, and sick people would always exist every time and everywhere, therefore it really had no any connections with overthrowing the current legitimate government.

But the problem was, what would be the reaction of whoever hearing this defamation? Would they ignore those bad words... or perhaps, have other ideas?...

"Hahahahaha! Betrayal will be rewarded with betrayal! The Hongwu Emperor who betrayed Han Lin'er and Yuan Empire has been avenged, his grandson he created as the legitimate emperor was overthrown by his son who has the mentality of a traitor! Well, Yongle Emperor, you once betrayed your nephew, in the future, you will be betrayed too! By your own brother! Let's wait for this karmic retribution to happen! Hahahahahaha!"

The lightning struck once again, and when the thunder boomed, the Yellow River's water flow suddenly turned fierce. It immediately elevated a few meters, and crushed them all.

"Die you all, damned Ming people! Die you all, right now!"

All of them had no chance to escape. It happened instantly, the giant deluge crushed, and bounced them elsewhere.

***

* Ming Jiao = or Mo Ni Jiao, is Chinese term of Manichaeism. Ming Jiao eventually integrated with Bai Lian Jiao.

* Bai Lian Jiao = White Lotus society, was a religious and political movement that appealed to many Han Chinese who found solace in the worship of Wusheng Laomu ("Unborn Venerable Mother"), who was foretold to gather all her children at the millennium into one family. The first signs of the White Lotus Society came during the late thirteenth century. Mongol rule over China during the Yuan dynasty prompted small yet popular demonstrations against its rule. The White Lotus Society took part in some of these protests as they grew into widespread dissent. After Zhu Yuanzhang had liberated all of China, he took the title Hongwu Emperor and founded the Ming dynasty, whose name echoes the religious sentiment of the White Lotus.