“Wretch! Brat! How dare you!” Hong Taiji’s dragon spirit let out a silent roar above the Forbidden City, but no one could hear it. He watched helplessly as, from the reign of Daoguang onward, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, Guangxu, and generations of unworthy descendants suffered repeated defeats amid internal turmoil and foreign aggression, growing completely estranged from Zhaohua, even hostile to her, and signing one humiliating unequal treaty after another! Ceding territory, paying indemnities, establishing concessions and granting privileges... The Chinese realm sank into ruin, and the land was drenched in blood! The flourishing balance of land and sea that he, Meilan, Fulin, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong had painstakingly built, joining hands with Zhaohua, collapsed with a thunderous crash and vanished like a dream! Zhaohua’s fleet still patrolled the South China Sea, watching with cold indifference as its former allies on land became helpless prey in the hands of the great powers. That aloofness perhaps carried a hint of the chill and mockery of betrayal, too.
