nucmednet Chapter 652 Kökö Temür
Chapter 652 Kökö Temür
Lin San, being stubborn, picked up a pair of finger-crushing devices, waved them in front of him, and asked, "You should be very familiar with this thing, right? You usually use it on others, why don't you try it yourself today?"
Wei Zhong shuddered at the sight. This thing could clamp a person's fingers and cause excruciating pain; it was one of the most commonly used instruments of torture in the imperial prison. But while it was effective at clamping others, it was no fun at clamping oneself.
You picked up another branding iron and ordered your men, "Find some charcoal, start a fire, I'll try to stamp this friend's mark..."
Wei Zhong gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and turned his head away, inwardly groaning: What kind of situation is this? A dignified commander of the Imperial Guard, reduced to a prisoner, forced to endure the torture instruments he knows best. He could almost see the thick smoke and sizzling sound of the hot iron pressed against his skin, and a sense of fear slowly rose from the depths of his heart.
As a model young man of the new era, Liu Ye had no penchant for watching executions. He slowly strolled out of the execution chamber. Once outside, the wind cleared his head, and a thought immediately struck him. He quickly called Qin Tian over and whispered, "Send a few men to keep an eye on Li Fei. Don't let him escape." If all went well, the mystery of Li Fei's background would be solved; if he was an enemy, they needed to prepare in advance.
Qin Tian rubbed his hands together, nodded, and said, "Understood." He then turned and left.
Hysterical screams and stern shouts came from inside, along with the smell of burning flesh. Liu Ye fanned the air with his hand, trying to dispel the unpleasant odor.
Although Lin San wasn't a professional cop, he was calm and ruthless enough that in less than half an hour, Wei Zhong was tortured beyond recognition. He coldly said, "What's the point of protecting a wanted criminal? The person you're investigating is someone we suspect as well. In a way, our goals are aligned. Why are you stubbornly resisting?"
Wei Zhong appeared fierce-looking and held the high rank of Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but in reality, he was extremely fragile. After enduring torture with two or three different instruments of torture, he was on the verge of collapse. Yang Youji's words made sense: he was merely a wanted criminal; exposing his information wouldn't cause any real loss to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so why subject himself to such suffering?
He endured the pain and groaned as he asked, "If I tell you, will you let me go?"
Lin San shook his head: "This is not something I can decide. I can only guarantee that you will suffer less." As he spoke, he brought the scorching hot iron over again.
Wei Zhong tilted his face back as far as he could to avoid the terrifying thing, but the heat still scorched the hairs on his face. In that instant, he made a decision: I'm not going to hold on any longer. I've done my part in wearing this flying fish uniform after enduring this long.
"Take this thing away, I'll talk!"
Liu Ye, who was waiting outside, was not disappointed. Half an hour later, Lin San came out and whispered something in his ear.
"I see..." Liu Ye nodded. "Let's go see Li Fei."
Li Fei sat quietly in a private room, seemingly unconcerned about the several soldiers outside the door who were ostensibly there for protection but were actually there to monitor him.
Liu Ye walked in, while Lin San and the others waited outside. Only Shimazu Chiyo followed him in.
Li Fei got up and poured Liu Ye a cup of tea, his face showing no emotion.
Liu Ye stared at him and said, "You're a smart man, you must know why I'm here. Will you tell me yourself, or..." He didn't finish his sentence, after all, he had served him for two or three years and made many contributions, so there was no need to say anything too harsh.
“From the moment the General insisted on taking me to the Northern Garrison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, I knew this moment would come sooner or later, and I have made all the preparations,” Li Fei replied calmly. “From the moment Wei Zhong, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was tortured, I made up my mind to tell the General everything. Before that, may I tell the General a story?”
"You even know the name of the commander who was tortured. It seems your feud with the Embroidered Uniform Guard has been going on for more than a year or two. Want to tell me your story? Sure, I'm all ears."
"This story takes place a long time ago, please listen patiently, General." Li Fei was lost in his memories. "Back then, Genghis Khan, Temujin, conquered vast territories in his campaigns, and under the rule of Kublai Khan, he established the Yuan Dynasty, which lasted for five generations and eleven emperors, for ninety-eight years..."
The protagonist of the story is named Kökö Temür, the son of Saiyinchi Dahu, a Hanlin scholar and Grand Commandant of the Yuan Dynasty. He loved reading, was skilled in official affairs, had foresight, was good at riding and archery, and was exceptionally talented, truly a man of both literary and military prowess. Before he was twenty years old, he was appointed by the court as Grand Master of the Palace, Chancellor of the Central Secretariat, concurrently serving as the Privy Councilor of Henan and Shandong, and Associate Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He led troops to suppress the Red Turban Rebellion, beheading more than ten thousand and subjugating Wang Shicheng.
In 1365 (Note 1), Emperor Shun of Yuan and Crown Prince Ayushiridara engaged in a fierce power struggle for the throne. The latter, having suffered a defeat, was forced to flee Dadu (Beijing) and seek refuge in Jining. Kökö Temür, a supporter of the Crown Prince, escorted him back to the capital and was appointed Left Chancellor of the Central Secretariat in September of the same year. However, by this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had risen to power after defeating Chen Youliang, and the demise of the Yuan Dynasty was irreversible. In August of 1369 (Note 28), the Ming army entered Dadu, ending the Yuan Dynasty's rule in the Central Plains. The Yuan court retreated to the Mongolian steppe, becoming known as the Northern Yuan. Afterwards, Kökö Temür began to shoulder the heavy responsibility of reviving the Yuan Dynasty.
As a pillar of the Northern Yuan, Kökö Temür, though unable to turn the tide, became the biggest obstacle to the Ming army's northern expedition. In October of the 28th year of the Zhizheng era, he fought a major battle with the Ming general Tang He at Handian, where the Ming army suffered a crushing defeat. In the 29th year of the Zhizheng era, Kökö Temür led his troops to besiege Lanzhou, which was defended by the Ming general Zhang Wen. The reinforcements sent by the Ming army were completely annihilated, and the reinforcement general Yu Guang was killed. In the fifth year of the Hongwu era (1372), 150,000 Ming troops launched a three-pronged northern expedition. Kökö Temür successfully ambushed the Ming army in the Mongolian steppe, resulting in tens of thousands of Ming soldiers being killed. This battle cast a huge shadow over the Ming Dynasty, and the new Yuan emperor praised him for bringing the Yuan Dynasty "almost to a revival."
Li Fei said solemnly, “Zhu Yuanzhang greatly admired Kökö Temür and tried to persuade him to surrender seven times without success. When he was gathering his generals, he said, ‘Chang Yuchun is a man of outstanding talent, but I was able to make him my subject. I cannot make Wang Baobao my subject, for he is a remarkable man in the world.’ According to records, Zhu Yuanzhang had three regrets in his life: first, he did not obtain the Imperial Seal; second, Kökö Temür was not persuaded to surrender; and third, there was no news of the Yuan Crown Prince (Ayushiridara).”
Liu Ye was somewhat puzzled. He wondered what connection such a long account of his past had to his own background. Wei Zhong's account was simple and seemed unrelated to this story. Furthermore, the name sounded very familiar, and he couldn't help but ask, "Does Kökö Temür have a Han name?"
Yes, his Chinese name is Wang Baobao.
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Note 1: The reign title of Emperor Shun of Yuan, Toghon Temür.