Chapter 35 Chapter 6 The ancestral grave is on fire

During the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen, Fengyang City was quite lively. The peasant army quietly entered the city. An hour later, Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral tomb caught fire, and the Huangjue Temple stele inscribed by Zhu Yuanzhang himself was also burned. The past is like smoke, really the past is like smoke.In an instant, the birthplace of a royal family was wiped out. Who did it? Zhang Xianzhong did it. Zhang Xianzhong believes that the purpose of destroying the old is to establish the new. He took out a flag, found a wooden pole and set it on top, so a small flag flying the six characters "Gu Yuan Zhenlong Emperor" was inserted on the dying ancestral grave of Zhu Yuanzhang.

These six characters were written by Zhang Xianzhong himself.The writing is not good, because his education level is not high.His master wanted to do it for him, but was forced back by his eyes, which were bigger than cow eggs: It doesn't matter whether the handwriting is good or not, what matters is who writes it. In fact, Zhang Xianzhong rarely uttered such philosophical words.The reason why he can speak out this time is because he thinks he can completely replace Zhu Yuanzhang.Zhu Yuanzhang's experience from cowherd baby to monk, from monk to emperor told him that wild lilies have spring, and grass roots will become golden straws - as long as the time is right.

Three days later, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to leave Fengyang City and went south to attack Luzhou.The mature time is played out slowly, don't worry.More haste less speed. Chongzhen knew that it was almost a month before the ancestral tomb was destroyed. Because everyone from the governor to the inspector understands that this is a big deal.Don't hit people in the face, and don't destroy their ancestors' graves with things that destroy others. "Bandits" are hateful!It's really horrible!But, in the eyes of the emperor, aren't they hateful?How can you be a bird official if you can't even look at the ancestral grave of the Ming Dynasty? !

Therefore, Yang Yipeng, governor of Fengyang, and Wu Zhenying, governor of Fengyang, almost instinctively chose to escape from reality at first.Have the royal ancestral tombs been destroyed?No!As long as the emperor can't see it, there is nothing. Indeed, there are many things in this world, if you say they exist, they don’t exist if you say they don’t exist, it depends on whether you open your eyes to see them.The emperor has a lot of things to do, and there are too many places to see. He can't remember to visit the tomb of that distant ancestor. However, what if one day the old man remembers to watch it, especially when he comes to worship on the anniversary of his death?Or is there someone who is interested in reporting this news to the emperor now?Alas, it seems that there is no way to keep a secret. Sooner or later, the emperor will know the bad news.

In fact, the emperor's bad news is also their bad news. To be honest, no emperor in ancient or modern China or abroad could endure such a great humiliation. He must vent, must vent on these two poor people.Although logically he should vent on Zhang Xianzhong, but the emperor will not be able to catch Zhang Xianzhong for a while - so they became Zhang's scapegoats and were vented by the emperor. This is a kind of historical scapegoat, which must fall on them historically, and there is no way to hide from them. In this way, Fengyang governor Yang Yipeng and inspector Wu Zhenying reported to Chongzhen the news of the destruction of their Fengyang ancestral tombs after long consideration.Without any accident, these two historical scapegoats were arrested by Chongzhen.

History generally does not have surprises. However, in Chongzhen's mind, the fate of Yang Yipeng and Wu Zhenying is really not important. Importantly, at such a moment, why were the ancestral tombs destroyed? This is the spring of the eighth year of Chongzhen, a spring of desperation, a spring of burning eyebrows.The ancestral tomb of a family with the largest surname in the world who has ruled China for nearly three hundred years has been destroyed. What hints will God give to this Chinese emperor who is hardworking, red-eyed, depressed, and slightly neurotic?This is what Chongzhen wants to know most at this moment.

Chongzhen thought to himself: Maybe I am really worthless.Maybe the things I have been striving for all along have not been obtained, but the most precious things have been quietly lost.In the search and search all the way, I always thought that the scenery was not far ahead, but in the beautiful flowers, the place where the soul is lost, is there hidden the limit of a dynasty, hidden God's ridicule for a man's lofty ambition and subversion?God knows. Chongzhen said with emotion: Everything is doomed in a dream, and all the answers to the mysteries are hidden in the scenery along the road.In the dream, Chongzhen clearly saw a man trying his best to search all the way, looking for the mysteries of fate, the code of the dynasty.But everything is a bad omen, everything is a sign.He thought that the next one would be better, and the scenery in the distance looked really charming, so he searched for it all the way—until the fire suddenly broke out, he got up in shock, looked around blankly, but saw only the vast expanse of the surrounding area, and a hundred ghosts.He was startled and frightened, in a dilemma, really didn't know what to do...

Maybe I'm really worthless.Maybe... When he woke up from the dream, Chongzhen couldn't help but burst into tears. The destruction of the ancestral grave not only made Chongzhen sad, but also Chongzhen's teacher, Shao Zhan Shiwen Zhenmeng.He eloquently wrote an article called "The Shock of the Imperial Mausoleum", which bluntly analyzed the source of social chaos, and believed that today's social parties are fiercely contested, corrupt, border affairs are bad, and military discipline has collapsed. In the period when the conflicts at home and abroad were the most intense, the emperor was born at an untimely time.But only when you are born at the wrong time can you make a difference. The emperor should be outraged to calm the world, issue a mourning edict, express his guilt, and punish him according to the accident, the crime of wronging the country, and the reality of appeasement.Collect people's hearts first to curb bandits and robbers, Xu discusses the source of wealth, denounces the idiots who worry about gains and losses, and works together to save the country's affairs.

Chongzhen read "The Shock of the Imperial Tomb" and felt that it really touched his heart, so he rewarded Teacher Wen severely, and decided to do what he said: ——, outraged to reassure the world.Chongzhen was furious and ordered Yang Yipeng to be executed.Wu Zhenying originally planned to execute him too, but he cried so pitifully, after thinking about it, he was exiled to the frontier to serve as an army, which is considered a serious punishment. Second, issue a mourning edict to express the guilt of oneself.Chongzhen once again wrote the "Edict of Guilt", and he took full responsibility for the destruction of the ancestral graves, and expressed that he would share the joys and sorrows with the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and go to the national crisis together.In order to express his true "crime", Chongzhen then moved to live in the Wuying Palace. The Wuying Palace is cold in winter and hot in summer, and the ventilation is not cool. It was originally not suitable for an emperor to live in.But Chongzhen lived in it resolutely, which is indeed beyond the reach of ordinary emperors.At the same time, he is also a vegetarian every day, does not listen to profane music, does not wear gorgeous clothes, and expresses his pious repentance in his heart.

Three, the reality of Fusui.If the ancestral tomb is destroyed, it must be rebuilt immediately.This reconstruction should not be restorative but creative and high-standard. No matter how poor Ming is, he can still afford it.If we talk about the face project, this is the real face project—the No. 1 face project in Ming Dynasty.In this regard, Chongzhen used a lot of brains.He personally ordered the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War to deploy heavy troops to guard the ancestral tomb; to build a city wall in Fengyang to prevent "rogue bandits" from re-entering the ancestral tomb; Saved 15,000 taels of silver, and at the same time mobilized his eldest wife and younger wives to spend their own money to rebuild the ancestral grave.

The ancestral tomb has finally been rebuilt, and it looks so resplendent and unbreakable.Chongzhen felt much less guilty.However, hundreds of thousands of "rogue bandits" stay in Henan and do not leave, after all, it is a deep-rooted worry.So in the end, ancestral graves are still not safe. For the sake of the long-term peace and stability of the ancestral tombs of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time for the long-term peace and stability of the country and the country of the Ming Dynasty, completely and thoroughly eradicating the "rogue bandits" is the top priority of all current work.Of course, Hong Chengchou couldn't do this job all by himself, he had to find another person, and Chongzhen locked this person as Lu Xiangsheng.At that time, Lu Xiangsheng was the right deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the governor of Huguang and the admiral of military affairs, and Chongzhen promoted him to be the prime minister of the five provinces.In this way, Hong Chengchou is the governor of the five provinces, and Lu Xiangsheng is the premier of the five provinces. One oversees the suppression of the northwest and the other oversees the suppression of the southeast. Of course, in the depths of Chongzhen's heart, he still has his own little tricks in this arrangement: the north-south pincer is also the north-south check and balance.If the north and the south are balanced, it can effectively prevent the governor or prime minister from dominating power.Let's make it clear, the joint military power of the five provincial governors and five provincial premiers will be returned to the central government.In this way, the imperial court can keep track of the military movements of the two at any time, integrating management, decision-making, and supervision—how wonderful!Not only gave full play to their military talents, but also prevented all kinds of hidden dangers that might arise. Chongzhen couldn't help admiring his genius ideas and institutional arrangements. After all, the highest art of leadership is to employ people safely. Most of the talents in this world are double-edged swords. A wise leader can always hold the hilt of the sword carefully to prevent it from rebounding and hurting himself. Chongzhen considered himself to be that brilliant leader.He held two double-edged swords at the same time, determined to dance the most beautiful sword flower in the world. But these two swords looked a little wilted.Hong Chengchou said that there are four difficulties in suppressing bandits now: one is the difficulty of suppressing and killing: this should be put in the past, it was the bandits who fled and chased after them, but now, it is the bandits who chased and fled; the second is the difficulty of chasing: it was not easy It happened that we chased the "rogue bandits" once, but the "rogue bandits" quickly ran away on horseback.Now my Ming Dynasty has 30% of the cavalry and 70% of the infantry. There are fewer cavalry and more infantry. How do you chase?The third is the difficulty of time: most of the "rogue bandits" are from mountain people. When they see the situation is not good, they run to the mountains to hide, and when they have the opportunity, they come out of the mountains to harass our army. It is really a protracted tug-of-war; It is difficult for troops.Now there are hundreds of thousands of "traffic bandits", but I only have more than 40,000 people in place. This battle is really impossible to fight. Hong Chengchou sighed, and Lu Xiangsheng also sighed.He complained to the emperor that the number of "rogue bandits" now greatly exceeds the number of officers and soldiers, and the whole of Henan is under control. This is not a "rogue bandit", it is a large army, and our officers and soldiers are guerrilla everywhere. Just fight, if you can't fight, run away, we are the "rogue bandits"!As for the fact that the emperor thinks highly of me and entrusts me with a heavy responsibility, I am very moved.But besides being moved, this heart is also inexplicably ashamed.Why, because it is difficult for me to take on this important task.Compared with Mr. Hong Chengchou, I am less than five-tenths in knowledge, four-tenths in talent, and two-tenths in spirit. So, my lord, you should hire another wise man. Chongzhen never expected that these two people would behave like this.What kind of double-edged sword is this, this is a blunt knife with no edge at all!Chongzhen called the two together, and felt that there were some things that he needed to explain to them: The difficulties are great, the situation is very severe, and there are too few soldiers on hand. Do you think that the errands I gave you can't be done?Yes or no? The two hesitated for a moment, then nodded silently. Chongzhen: If you don’t do it, you won’t do it.Hand over your official seal and go home for the elderly... Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng were shocked: Your Majesty... Chongzhen: I will not force you.Everything in this world can be forced, except for war.Why do you say that?Because fighting is dangerous, if you don't do it well, you will lose your head, you...why do you two want to lose my head for Chongzhen?I have never been kind to you, and now that Daming is in great danger, I just found you temporarily, so why do you stand up for me?By the way, you, Hong Chengchou, probably still have opinions on me. I used Chen Qiyu and didn't use you, so this time, you won't help me rescue the Central Plains? Hong Chengchou argued: Your Majesty...I...I didn't mean that. Chongzhen glanced at him: It doesn't matter what you mean.This person, who doesn't have a little Jiujiu, who won't leave a way out for himself in his heart?normal!It's so normal! Lu Xiangsheng interjected cautiously: Your Majesty...we are indeed outnumbered... Chongzhen suddenly said sternly: Don't interrupt! ……What did you say?Outnumbered?When did my Daming become outnumbered?When did the gang of "bandits" become strong and strong, making my dignified governors and prime ministers of the five provinces afraid of being like this?It's only been a few years!ah?It's been like this for a few years!Hundreds of thousands of "rogue bandits" are in the middle of no one's land in the Central Plains, and... they even destroyed my Zhu family's ancestral tomb in a grand manner, but I have nothing to do with them!How can I meet my ancestors after I die, God, why don’t you open your eyes and chop me to death, why do you let me do nothing in this world?Is it ashamed to be ridiculed by the people of the world... ah... ah... ah... Chongzhen beat his chest and stomped his feet in pain.Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng also knelt on the ground and wailed loudly, beating the ground with their fists: "What a shame, what a pain!" Chongzhen continued with tears in his eyes: Daming is ashamed but no one is ashamed. This is shame on top of shame!And all of this is due to my incompetence as a father.Although I wrote the "Edict of Guilt", I went on a diet in Tsing Yi, and I tried my best to cure myself, but what's the use of that, without the support of the people, without the morale of the army, I would have nothing in Chongzhen... Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng couldn't bear to listen any longer.The emperor talked all about this, and they knew that they were invincible and wanted to go into battle.At worst, he would sacrifice his own life in exchange for peace for Daming.They assured the emperor that they rushed to the front line to kill the enemy immediately, and Chongzhen stopped crying. However, how many more years of peace can Daming have?Three years, five years, ten years or even twenty years?Neither of these two people can speak well.But one thing is certain, that is, from now on, neither of them will be at peace. The first thing that made Hong Chengchou feel uneasy was Xuanmo, governor of Henan. Xuanmo is now worrying about hundreds of thousands of "rogue bandits" living and fighting in the hot land of Henan every day.They didn't belong to Henan originally, no one invited them here, but Hong Chengchou and the others drove over from Shaanxi - this is a disaster, wherever they go, the heads of officials will fall to the ground.No, the head of Yang Yipeng from Fengyang Mansion moved.Why?It wasn't caused by "traffic bandits".If Hong Chengchou hadn't driven them over from Shaanxi, the emperor's ancestral tomb in Fengyang Mansion would not have been destroyed, and Yang Yipeng's head would not have been moved. Hong Chengchou had sinister intentions and built his political achievements on the bones of his colleagues.Being an official in the same dynasty, why is this... Xuanmo understands that under the current situation, Hong Chengchou is going to encircle and suppress the "rogue bandits" in Henan, and Henan will soon be devastated and devastated.I don't know how many percentage points this GDP will go back. Once the GDP goes backwards, the imperial grain and national tax will not be able to be collected, so can I still sit firmly in the position of governor of Henan?Of course, this is still going to win the battle. If the encirclement and suppression fails in the end, and the officers and soldiers of Ming Dynasty are encircled and suppressed by the "rogue bandits" instead, everything will be over for his grandma. So be sure, Henan cannot become the main battlefield.Be sure, let Hong Chengchou find a way to drive the "rogue bandits" back to Shaanxi for a decisive battle.Xuanmo wrote this meaning into a memorial and presented it to the emperor. Of course, Xuanmo has been an official for many years, and he knows that what he thinks in his heart and what he writes on paper are completely different things.Therefore, the memorial he wrote to the emperor seemed to be concerned about the country and the people: Henan is the Central Plains. Your Majesty, it is the hinterland of the country. If our officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty fight the "rogue bandits" here, unless they are completely wiped out, they will inevitably suffer heavy losses.Think about it, your majesty, we haven't done much about the "rogue bandits", they ran to Fengyang to do appalling things, if the "rogue bandits" were defeated in this big battle, they would definitely risk their lives to break into Zhili or even The capital is going to do something even more appalling, which will disturb the Holy Majesty.Of course, this is just one of my assumptions about the outcome of the war. Another assumption is that once our army is defeated, the "rogue bandits" will take advantage of the situation and go straight to Zhili or even the capital. The consequences are really unimaginable.So, my majesty, for the current plan, Hong Chengchou should find a way to drive the "bandits" back to Shaanxi for a decisive battle. Henan must not become the main battlefield.This is for the sake of my future generations... Chongzhen carefully read the memorial twice, and finally saw two meanings: first, what Xuanmo said was reasonable, and there were many hidden dangers in the decisive battle in Henan; second, Xuanmo had selfish intentions, and even suspected of revenge on Hong Chengchou. But how exactly should this be handled?Chongzhen couldn't make up his mind for a while.According to his previous personality, he would immediately grab Xuan Mo's slender neck and click it.But if he really did this now, it would be tantamount to encouraging Hong Chengchou to regard Henan as the main battlefield. Henan cannot be the main battlefield, and Hong Chengchou's enthusiasm must be protected.Chongzhen forwarded this memorial to Hong Chengchou, hoping that he would understand his good intentions.Unexpectedly, Hong Chengchou replied soon - Your Majesty, the "rogue bandit" has already sat down and can't go back.But with me, Hong Chengchou, it is impossible for them to enter Zhili. Chongzhen let out a long sigh, feeling that God's will had already done so, and everything could only be entrusted to Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng.