SWNOVELXO Chapter 918: Death of Emperor Fulin
18th October 1673
The Forbidden City, Beijing, Qing Dynasty
The city of Beijing is filled with opulence, noble carriages adorned with exquisite designs passed the streets one after another, signifying how rich the centre of Chinese power was. All the buildings in the city were designed with unique Chinese architecture and images, making the city look like a completely different world, isolated from Earth.
Today was a peaceful day for the people of Beijing, it was work as usual, but suddenly a young man dressed in scholarly robes ran out and yelled out an earth-shaking news that stopped everyone in their tracks. They had their mouths agape and their eyes widened.
"What did you say?"
"Emperor Fulin is dead"
The crowd immediately gathered around the scholar who broke the news.
A man who was very excited tried to pull the scholar and drag him to the guards, his face hideous and ugly.
''How dare you! You weak scholar, you can eat anything, but you can't spout nonsense. Come with me, are you tired of living to slander His Majesty the Emperor''
The scholar immediately squatted on the ground and started to cry bitterly, with his hands supporting his head, as if the world had collapsed.
"No, sir, you have to believe me, *hickup* What I said is true, my master and my fellow brothers went to the Forbidden Palace due to the *hickup* eunuch's request, but on our way there, we heard cries and screams telling that the Emperor has died"
The crowd surrounding the scholar immediately panicked
"Ancestors above, is this true?"
"Did the world really fall?"
"No, I don't believe it"
"This can't be...." The grip of the man who was about to drag the scholar to the guards loosened, collapsing onto the ground like he had lost all feeling in his legs, his face turned white as paper.
The crowd around were getting agitated, as they began to breathe heavily and their faces began to turn red, some even started to cry.
"Hey boy, who's your master?" an elderly man who saw the change of dynasties asked, as he was the calmest
The scholar looked up, his eyes filled with tears, "It's the miracle physician Lu Xinjiang"
As soon as the people heard the name Xinjiang, they understood that His Majesty could have really died
"Oh no, His Majesty is dead! What will happen to the Qing Dynasty?" The old man finally lost his composure and broke down in tears.
Emperor Fulin had only two sons eligible to inherit the throne, and both were just six years old. But could the empire remain stable until they came of age, especially when the Manchu Emperor had never truly been accepted by the people in the first place?
His fears were not unfounded. The empire had already lost three provinces in the south to the so-called Southern Ming Dynasty. Public dissatisfaction with the Manchurian rulers—who had failed to suppress the rebels—was at an all-time high. This could very well be the fuse that sets the entire nation ablaze.
Aside from that one incident, several similar events unfolded across the capital. The scholars who had gone to the Royal Palace were not the only ones who heard of the emperor's death—many others found out quickly as well. People working in the palace, or those with friends, family, or relatives inside, caught wind of the news almost immediately.
As soon as the word spread, panic erupted. Fearing that the Royal Guards might slaughter witnesses to keep the news a secret, everyone fled the palace in a frenzy.
Unfortunately, even the royal guards couldn't control much at the end, even they began to fear for their lives
The Emperor, despite being poisoned, somehow stayed alive for several years. Everyone thought, including several miracle doctors, that His Majesty would wake up and walk once again after his body had adapted to the poison by building up resistance, but who would have thought he would suddenly die
There was mourning in Beijing, but the situation everywhere else was completely different
"Bha!"
"Finally, the Manchurian bastard died"
"Good riddance"
"Hahah, that's what happens if you covet the land of the Han people, you greedy devil"
There was celebration and happiness. Unlike Beijing, which is a city that was almost built in a way to cater to the royal family and the top nobles of the empire, other cities had their own ideologies, and the control over ideology was not so strong. The people of the Qing Dynasty already resisted and detested the policies of the Manchurian Emperor, be it shaving their heads or anything else, but they had to obey under the eaves. The Manchurian Emperor had an army, and they couldn't resist, but now that he was dead, they no Langer cared. What was the army going to do, fight for an Emperor who had died? Most people thought not
The situation in the empire became chaotic. The throne of the Qing Dynasty immediately went to the Emperor's third son, Yunxi, but unfortunately, no one was willing to follow his orders, and no one wanted to give the regency to the concubine who was the mother of Yunxi
The nobles in the capital took this opportunity to form a Regency Council among themselves and declare to the nation they would help the young Emperor rule the nation until he turns into an adult
However, sadly, what the nobles failed to recognise is that there were wolves in the South, and the wolves smelled blood
---
Southern Ming Empire
Emperor Zhu Yu Lang burst into laughter when he received the intelligence about the death of Fulin, "Good, good, Haha, good death, good death"
He repeatedly praised
After calming down his excitement, he called over his trusted general Li Dingguo
"Ding, prepare the army, we will march into Beijing and completely eradicate the pests entrenched in our great nation"
Li Dingguo was surprised by the orders, but when he learned about the intelligence, he was extremely surprised as well.
Soon after, he was filled with enthusiasm. He was loyal to Emperor Zhu Yu Lang, but he had his own ambitions.
Before His Majesty got the support of the Akhand Bharatiya Empire, he thought that he would die resisting the last bastion of the Ming Empire, but with the support of the Bharatiya Empire, not only did he live, he even fought back and occupied three provinces in the south. He had thought that this would be his highest achievement in this life and was ready to accept his fate calmly, but now, with the death of the Qing Emperor, his ambitions to become god of war like Zhao Yun were awakened.
The orders of mobilisation caught the troops by surprise, but in the end, after they were told that the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty had died, they prepared themselves for war with great vigour. Influenced by the Bharatiya Empire, Zhu Yu Lang took care of the propaganda extremely well. He fed the troops with 70% truth and 20% lies, increasing their hatred and resentment towards the Manchurian dynasty, reducing the chances of backstabbing by a lot
At the same time
---
Shanhai Pass
An old man sitting on a luxurious throne within a grand palace folded the letter he was reading and threw it into the burning flame. He leaned back, a smirk etched on his old face, his eyes radiating pride and disdain.
The old man was called Wu Sanghui, the general of the Qing Empire—well, not anymore, since he was the one who had sneaked assassins into the Royal Palace and had the Emperor killed once and for all.
"I should have done this much earlier," he muttered.
After all, he was the one who had opened the gates of Shanhai Pass in 1644, allowing the Manchurians to enter Beijing and crush the rebels. But now, three decades later, he was using his own hands to wipe out the Manchurian Emperor.
"Maybe this is fate", he lamented
Taking a deep breath, he got up and walked out of the palace, his expression stern
His army, composed of nearly 320,000 troops, suddenly mobilised and marched towards Beijing, on their way to conquer one fortress after another
The civil war officially began, and the biggest feuding parties ironically turned out to be the Han Warlords
---
Bharath
The news about the death of Fulin, passing through various intelligence agents entrenched in the Southern Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, eventually reached the ears of Vijay nearly a month later
Vijay had only set foot in Puducherry when he received the news. He was there to inspect the metal-plated turret ship his son had designed and commissioned to be built. The news about the death of Fulin came as a surprise
However, despite the unexpectedness of the news, he had to make a decision, because now that the Qing Emperor is dead and the Chinese nation is positively embroiled in a civil war between two different powers, Vijay had to decide if he still wanted to continue supporting the Southern Ming Dynasty
If he did, then there is a very good chance that the Chinese nation would be unified once again under the banner of the Ming.
The unification wasn't entirely because he is positively sure that after the unification, for the most part, the Ming Empire will be friendly to the Bharatiya Empire, especially considering that Emperor Zhu Yu Lang is not a fool and knows the terror the Bharatiya Empire possesses. But he couldn't be sure about it in the future. What if his descendants or whoever is at the helm messes up due to overconfidence and lets the Chinese overtake Bharath on a curve?
On the other hand of the consideration, completely abandoning the supply to the Southern Ming Dynasty is not a good solution either, since it would send a strong message to the allies in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe that the Bharatiya Empire is an opportunistic empire that stabs its allies in the back when they are no longer necessary
He did not want to be an American 00
Although this realisation wouldn't mean much in the short term, in the long term, it would create awareness among the allies, leading them to develop their own technologies to counter the Bharatiya Empire
Not to mention, even if he decided to completely cut off the supply of arms, it wouldn't make much of a difference. He had reliable intelligence that the Ming Empire—leveraging its vast human resources—had already cracked musket production. It wasn't all that difficult for them, either, since they already possessed the knowledge to produce fire sticks.
This made it notoriously difficult to prevent Chinese unification. Unlike Bharath or other great powers with vast territories, the Chinese shared a common language and culture. Internal diversity had long been erased, leaving only minor differences between ethnic groups. Under such conditions, integration becomes almost effortless for any warlord.
He was certain that if the Southern Ming Empire or the Wu warlord were to occupy a province, integration would be completed within a few months. In fact, it's only when the threat comes from an external force that integration becomes truly difficult. Even during intense conflicts between rival warlords, many segments of Chinese society—such as martial arts sects and philosophical schools—remain neutral and do not take sides in the fighting.
But when the threat is foreign, the situation changes entirely. This is one of the key reasons the Japanese, despite their efforts, were only able to conquer coastal regions and never fully subdue China. The same applied to the five-nation European coalition that attacked the Qing Dynasty in its later years.
In the end, he decided to adopt a policy of reducing the support but not completely cutting off, but at the same time, he planned to find a way to supply arms to the other warlord as well.
Thinking about the other warlord, Wu Sangui, Vijay couldn't help but lament the fate. In his previous life, Wu also rebelled against the Qing Dynasty. He was partially successful as well since he established a Zhou Dynasty under his rule, but unfortunately, he died as soon as his nation was established, and his descendants could not handle the pressure, and his dynasty soon collapsed. But in this life, there is a high chance that things will be very different. With the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty dead, it is foreseeable that he will establish an empire quickly, and the time given to train the descendants will also be longer.
Overall, Vijay couldn't make rash decisions; he had to wait and see how the war progressed.