Zhu Yuanzheng

Biodata

Background / History

Zhu Yuanzheng spent decades in military service and became renowned as an iron-fisted, unyielding general. His career included confronting Eagle Sauce’s Seventh Fleet. Near retirement, he received emergency orders placing him in command of Huaxia’s Ancestor Symbol crisis 3.

He participated in the 1998 flood relief efforts. During that disaster, fewer than half the soldiers of one company returned after plugging a breach. Zhu then witnessed their company commander jump into the Yangtze River; twenty years later, the memory remained deeply painful to him 11.

For a year, Huaxia failed to identify or activate its ancestral symbols. Zhu watched the resulting humiliation drive some citizens to seek foreign bloodlines or defect abroad, but continued to regard the symbols as the country’s remaining hope 3.

Appearance

• Tall build: His tall frame is explicitly described during his argument with Li Shuhua 4.
• Fierce expression: Anger brings out bulging temple veins, clenched fists, and bloodshot eyes 2 3.
• Visible strain: Under the pressure of the crisis, he temporarily hunches over, clutches his chest, and coughs violently before straightening to resume preparations 4.

Personality

Zhu is fiercely patriotic and treats surrendering Huaxia’s ancestral symbols as an unacceptable betrayal. He initially favors resistance even against overwhelmingly stronger Awakened forces, believing enslavement would be worse than war. Li Shuhua challenges this stance by emphasizing the soldiers’ lives and the danger of other countries exploiting Huaxia’s losses 3 4.

His toughness does not prevent him from reconsidering. He accepts Su Chen’s attempt to activate the symbol, later acknowledges the need to screen potential Awakened, and opposes an unjustified invasion of Sakura. National interests ultimately take priority over his anger 4 21 45.

Although a staunch materialist before the emergence of ancestor symbols, Zhu gradually accepts that ancestral souls and godlike beings may exist. He also openly admires Su Chen’s composure and patriotism, while still testing his intentions because of the power entrusted to him 18 19 44.

Abilities & Skills

Military Command

• Commands substantial respect within Huaxia’s military and is selected to take charge during a national crisis 3 25.
• Reacts immediately to Jin Junxian’s attack at Di’anmen Square, ordering guards to form a human wall and standing at its front 7.
• Issues an individually directed, voluntary mobilization order; more than one hundred million people express willingness to participate 27.
• Works with staff officers on contingency plans for Su Chen’s Sakura visit, preparing hundreds of thousands of military Awakened for a possible rescue 49.

Security and Counterintelligence

• Orders the highest level of protection for Su Chen’s family and an investigation of all his social connections to prevent hostage-taking or coercion 17.
• Keeps suspected collaborators under surveillance for a year and produces documentary evidence against Lou and other officials 25.
• Delays action against entrenched collaborators while Huaxia is vulnerable, recognizing that their interconnected networks could provoke wider chaos 26.

Awakened Administration

• Recognizes that granting extraordinary power to unsuitable people could cause damage even if Su Chen later revokes their awakening 21.
• Selects upright, loyal, patriotic military Awakened through successive rounds of screening 39.
• Uses those personnel to manage awakened residents through grassroots institutions and higher levels of government 39.

Ancestor Symbol Knowledge

• Searches internationally for information during Huaxia’s unsuccessful activation efforts, learning about the rare phenomenon of absolute inheritance 17.
• Understands that Su Chen’s absolute inheritance permits both awakening and revoking the powers of Dayu’s descendants 14.
• Relies on Su Chen to identify unfamiliar artifacts, including the Nine Provinces Cauldron, Yata Mirror, and Imperial Seal 3 42 44.

Relationships

• Li Shuhua — Friend of several decades and civilian counterpart during the symbol crisis. They argue sharply over military action but share a commitment to Huaxia; Li’s insistence is crucial to giving Su Chen his initial opportunity 4 12.
• Su Chen — Initially dismissed as an unreliable student, then admired as Huaxia’s inheritor and national hope. Zhu tests his loyalty, promises the country’s full support, protects his connections, and prepares to rescue him from Sakura regardless of international consequences 3 17 18 19 49.
• Jin Junxian — Haidong representative whose demands provoke Zhu’s refusal to surrender the symbol. Zhu later places himself between Jin’s attack and the platform holding Huaxia’s artifact and ancestor 2 3 7.
• Jin Dachang — Haidong’s inheritor and an enemy anticipated in the coastal invasion plan. Zhu helps prepare the defense against his 130,000 Awakened 22 27 29.
• Lou — Official Zhu exposes for secretly transferring Huaxia’s assets to Haidong and nearly surrendering its ancestor symbol. Zhu presents evidence and orders his arrest 25.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Haidong’s Demands and Dayu’s Awakening

• Rejects Haidong’s demand for the ancestral symbol and its proposal that Huaxia submit to foreign protection 2 3.
• Reluctantly agrees to let Su Chen attempt activation while leaving to prepare for the worst 4.
• Leads the guards’ resistance when Jin Junxian attacks the platform after Dayu appears 7.
• Becomes an enthusiastic supporter after Su Chen’s presentation of Huaxia’s solidarity and shared history. He considers Su Chen’s receipt of absolute inheritance the best outcome for the country 12 13 14.

Planning the Coastal Defense

• Learns that Dayu has three hundred million descendants within Huaxia and initially struggles to comprehend the scale of that potential force 19 20.
• Supports keeping the true number secret and allowing Haidong to become the aggressor, preserving a legitimate basis for retaliation 22.
• Arrests collaborating officials and publicly declares that Su Chen will neither visit Haidong nor apologize to Kim Chunchu’s symbol 25 26.
• Helps assemble 1,003,756 descendants of Dayu in three days from active-duty personnel, veterans, and volunteers 27.
• Stands beside Su Chen on the coast awaiting Haidong’s fleet. Though personally unawakened, he regards his involvement in the historic battle as a privilege 29 30.

Governing an Awakened Huaxia

• Establishes screened military Awakened as an administrative force rather than leaving Su Chen solely responsible for policing awakened society 39.
• His arrangements support the wider oversight system that maintains order as awakenings spread across the country 39.

The Second Symbol and Sakura Visit

• Initially fears the shattered bronze mirror represents the loss of Huaxia’s second symbol, with serious consequences for national morale and international standing 40 41.
• Demands an investigation after Su Chen identifies it as Sakura’s Yata Mirror. He suspects deliberate interference, then accepts that Sakura’s human inheritor could not have controlled an unactivated symbol 42.
• Suggests that the mirror may have appeared specifically to target Huaxia, contributing to Su Chen’s theory of competing ancestral factions 43.
• Opposes Li Shuhua’s demand for an immediate invasion to recover the Imperial Seal, warning that it would give other countries grounds to unite against Huaxia 45.
• Makes Su Chen’s solo visit public to discourage an attack, while secretly preparing a military rescue. The contingency plans prepared over three sleepless days ultimately prove unnecessary 46 49.

Notable Quotes

“In my position, I must make the best plans and the worst preparations.” 4

“Even if I am to die, I must die with value!” 4

“Whatever you need from now on, the country will give you its full support!” 19

“Choose the right people, and they'll become Huaxia's sword. Choose the wrong ones, and they'll become a ticking time bomb.” 21