We are all reborn, let's practice dual cultivation with Master first

At the same time that Qin Hao was thinking about the alliance, the war report from the south also reached the court.

Upon learning that the army was almost completely wiped out and that King Zhou had died on the spot, Jiajing could no longer contain his anger. He slammed the table and shouted, "My face - 100,000 elite troops failed to capture even a remote sect, and you still want me to sympathize with them?!"

Several other cabinet ministers sat on their chairs, all in silence. No one dared to offend the emperor at this time.

After a while, Yan Song, the Prime Minister, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this villain has obviously become powerful. It will take time to get rid of him. It is better to take a long-term view..."

Jiajing put his hands on the table, turned to look at Yan Song, but said nothing.

Yan Song did not dare to raise his head to look, but just lowered his eyebrows and looked submissive. However, the beads of sweat oozing from his forehead showed the pressure in his heart.

The cabinet meeting ultimately came to nothing.

As the ministers walked out of the Wanshou Palace, the sky began to thunder and lightning, which seemed to be caused by the emperor's wrath and a sense of precariousness.

After a few people left, the Kunlun envoy showed up.

No one knew what he said to Emperor Jiajing, but after those words, Jiajing's anger completely subsided, and he began to recite scriptures and ask questions again, as if the furious man had never appeared.

……

Truth cannot be hidden, and before long, the news of the South’s defeat gradually spread, causing a sensation throughout the entire Northern Territory.

Almost no one could have imagined that the imperial court's 100,000-strong army marching south would end up like this.

As news of the imperial court's defeat spread, local chaos gradually emerged. Many forces began to become independent and no longer obeyed the imperial court's orders. The frequency of attacks on government offices increased significantly.

The entire Li Ming Dynasty seemed to be filled with a sense of impending storm.

From the northern barbarians' southward march to the execution ground being robbed, to the current defeat in the southern region, the successive failures have caused the prestige of the Ming Dynasty to decline again and again, and now it can be said that its majesty has been completely destroyed.

This has led some people to wonder whether the Ming Dynasty was on the decline.

The term "change of dynasties" has appeared in the minds of many visionaries.

It is because of this that those ambitious people took advantage of the chaos.

Seeing that the situation was becoming increasingly out of control, rumors suddenly emerged in the court that the Prime Minister was causing chaos, forming cliques for personal gain, and engaging in excessive corruption.

Immediately, before people could even start discussing the matter, the Imperial Guards raided Yan's residence and arrested all of Yan Song's family members. On the night of the arrest, the Imperial Guards seized countless rare treasures from his home, and then directly confirmed the charges.

From the search by the Imperial Guards to the conviction by the Ministry of Justice and then to the judgment by the Dali Temple, it took only three days. This efficiency was the fastest since the founding of the country.

From the emergence of public opinion to the beheading of the whole family, Yan Song, the Prime Minister, completed the entire process in just five days.

The speed was so fast that even the people in the capital were confused and felt something was wrong.

However, this did reduce the impact of the previous defeat on the prestige of the court to a certain extent. The reason was very simple. Those things were all blamed on Yan Song, and it was said that it was caused by his struggle for power and the emperor was just deceived by him.

Of course, these words can only deceive innocent people, and anyone with a discerning eye can see through them.

However, just when the Ming court thought it could breathe a sigh of relief, the spread of a rumor plunged it into dire straits again.

Some people claimed that the grand court meeting was a setup by the court from the beginning to the end, with the original intention of killing two birds with one stone in order to weaken the local areas and the northern barbarians. Although the rumor did not provide evidence that the court deliberately weakened the northern barbarians, some people found evidence that the court allowed the demon sect forces to invade during the period when the strong men from all sides blocked the northern barbarians from moving south.

Although these evidences could not point directly to the imperial court, they completely destroyed the imperial court's already precarious credibility. Those who returned from the north and found that the clans and families had suffered heavy losses were already suspicious. Now that many evidences pointed directly to the imperial court, coupled with the imperial court's recent poor performance, some forces simply stopped tolerating and directly rebelled.

For a while, not only those second-rate forces of unorthodox ways were causing chaos everywhere, but even many first-rate forces broke off relations with the imperial court. This was like a kick in the back of the precarious Li Ming Dynasty, causing it to fall completely into the abyss.

In short, the entire Dongzhou was in chaos.

When the news of this situation reached the capital, it caused a great shock. It was said that even the healthy Emperor Jiajing fell ill.

……

Yuxu Sect, Qin Hao made up his mind to establish an alliance after thinking for a few days.

Soon, those external forces that had obtained Qin Hao's approval left immediately and took the matter back to their respective forces for discussion.

Qin Hao was not idle either. He directly sent people to invite those friendly forces in the Southern Region to come to Yuxu Sect for a chat.

Many people can see that the world is unstable now, and the chaos is unstoppable. Either they stick together for warmth, or they close the mountain gate and cut off contact with the outside world.

They are faced with only these two options.

But, in such a situation, who can stay out of it?

Simply avoiding will only make you lose the initiative, and only by facing the trend can you live in the face of death. Many people understand this truth.

For the future of the clan, they all had to make plans early. Therefore, after receiving Qin Hao's invitation, most people were happy to go.

It can be said that this is exactly what they want.

Qin Hao has grown to where he is today in just a few years. He will definitely be an important figure in the future of Xuanhuang Continent. They have long wanted to get closer to him.

What's more, now that chaos is brewing, how could they not want to have a strong man to lead the way?

Therefore, after receiving Qin Hao's invitation, they set off without much hesitation.

Not long after, representatives of all the major forces in the Southern Region gathered in Yuxu Sect. Those who came were all the top figures of the forces, such as the sect leader and the head of the family, which showed how much they valued this matter.

When all the invited guests arrived, Qin Hao briefly explained his ideas.

Qin Hao said that the trend of great struggle has emerged and a greater crisis is brewing. No one can stay out of it. Only by working together can we overcome the difficulties.

He did not directly mention the confrontation with the Heavenly Court and the crisis that the human race might be enslaved forever. If he had said it directly, it would have made these people feel timid, and it might have made some people think that he was exaggerating.

As the saying goes, too much is as bad as too little. We still have to take it step by step. When the truth is revealed little by little in the future, all these things will come naturally.

The most urgent task now is to form an alliance and unify the voices within the human race.

After Qin Hao finished his story, others also expressed their agreement.

But after a pause, they expressed some of their concerns.

"I don't know how we should deal with ourselves after the alliance is established..."

"Master Qin, have you considered the structure of this?"

"..."

The main thing is the independence of the forces behind them. If they have to completely break up and integrate their own forces after joining the alliance, most of them are unwilling to do so. This is also the only problem they are worried about.

Qin Hao had already considered this. It was obviously unrealistic and a bit too much to force the forces behind them to break up. Forcing it would only backfire. Moreover, Qin Hao's goal was not to annex them.

Therefore, he only needs to establish an organization above all forces to command the overall situation.

Just like the various peaks within a sect are relatively independent, yet integral to the sect.

Therefore, Qin Hao did not ponder for too long and quickly gave a reply, "I have a preliminary idea about this matter, you may wish to use it as a reference."

Afterwards, Qin Hao told his idea to establish a common center to manage general affairs, and the positions would be absorbed by various forces or the public. As for the forces behind him and others, they only needed to accept the deployment when the alliance needed them and abide by the alliance's laws, and they could manage themselves at other times.

The others all listened carefully and thought about it carefully.

In general, they are quite accepting of this plan. Although some rights and interests have been ceded and there are more restrictions than before, these are understandable in order to obtain greater security.

At first glance, this idea seems good.

As for the details, Qin Hao also said that they could discuss them together and there was no need to rush.

Therefore, some people quickly expressed their opinions and said they would join the alliance. Seeing that some people had made their choice, others followed suit.

In the end, almost all the forces that came chose to join. Only Penglai Island did not make a clear statement, saying that they needed to go back and ask for instructions. However, the person who represented Penglai Island also said that even if they did not directly join the alliance, they would never become the enemy of the other party.

Qin Hao nodded happily to this.

He will not force anyone. On the road to fighting against the Heavenly Court, he needs to unite all the forces that can be united. As long as the other party is not an enemy, he will try his best to fight for it.

After everyone reached a preliminary agreement, someone raised another question - what should the alliance be called specifically?

When this question was raised, everyone began to make their own proposals. Some called it the "Southern Alliance", some simply called it the "Southern Country", and there were also some names that quoted from classics.

After discussing for a while, everyone's attention was finally focused on Qin Hao.

Qin Hao pondered for a moment and said, "Let's call it "Xinhuo League"!"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, not understanding why Qin Hao would choose such an incomprehensible name. But seeing Qin Hao's determined look, they finally chose to accept it.

A few days later, the various forces discussed the details of the alliance in Yuxu Sect, and then directly announced the establishment of the alliance to the outside world. Then, under the operation of the southern region forces, several states south of "Cangjiang" directly became independent and no longer accepted the rule of the Liming Dynasty.

This news is earth-shattering.

Although there have been frequent cases of various parties disobeying the imperial court's orders in recent times, this is the first time that they have directly fallen out.

It is really shocking that half of the Ming Dynasty was directly torn off.

The news soon spread back to the capital, and many people petitioned to march south to fight against the rebels. But the central government was powerless to do so.

Haven't they ever fought against it?

We just fought against it not long ago, but what was the result?

The disastrous defeat forced the court to sacrifice the prime minister to appease the situation.

To make matters worse for the imperial court, before the declaration of independence south of the Cangjiang River, the Jurchen tribes in the Liaohe River basin also began to become dishonest and attacked border military towns, seeming to have rebellious intentions.

The already strapped court had no way of deploying troops and generals. One mistake could lead to the collapse of the entire dynasty, and no one dared to take such a responsibility.

However, this is not over yet.

Shortly after the Southern Region declared independence, news of rebellion came from the Qinchuan area in the west. An organization called "Shengxiao" suddenly appeared and directly replaced the rule of the Liming Dynasty in Guanzhong.

At this time, the Li Ming Dynasty was in a state of war.

Inside the Wanshou Palace, Jiajing was so angry that his lips trembled, his hair and beard stood up, and he said in a hoarse voice: "How did it become like this..."

A few days later, news spread from the palace that Emperor Jiajing was ill.

A few days later, an imperial edict was sent out. In it, Emperor Jiajing said that his health was declining and he was no longer able to shoulder the heavy responsibility of state affairs. He decided to pass the throne to the crown prince and become the emperor emeritus. He would then devote himself to Taoism and not care about state affairs.

As soon as this news came out, it caused an uproar, with all kinds of comments, making people uneasy.

In short, even the most slow-witted person could sense that the world was about to fall into chaos.