Compared with being caught off guard when they first heard about Chongzhen's march south, Nanjing officials were much more calm this time. Although it was still too late and they did not have the financial resources to repair the imperial city, they expanded it to a certain extent on the basis of the eunuch garrison in Nanjing to make it suitable for the emperor.
The rituals are completely achievable.
Early that morning, Nanjing officials headed by Shi Kefa came to Yanziji Pier early to wait for Chongzhen.
But after waiting and waiting until the end of the fourth hour (11 a.m.), the sun had already reached its zenith. Shi Kefa and other Nanjing officials were already extremely hot, but Chongzhen had not yet appeared.
"That's not right." Gao Hongtu wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"The Holy One said he won't do the trick of welcoming people and sending them off. Doesn't he really mean it?"
"Ah?" Shi Kefa, Jiang Yueguang and other nearby officials also paused when they heard this.
Only then did they remember that Chongzhen had specially sent a lieutenant-general here yesterday to convey a message not to engage in any kind of greeting.
In the end, Wang Duo, the Minister of Rites, shook his head and said: "No, as the emperor is the most powerful person, there has been a whole set of etiquette since ancient times when he goes on tour or returns to the capital. How can he really not do it even if the emperor says not to do it? It is against the rules."
Gao Hongtu rolled his eyes after hearing this. His Majesty left us alone in Yanziji, but quietly entered Nanjing from other places. What else can we do to him? Gather the censors and officials to jointly launch a siege against him? Repeat the ceremony.
The story of fighting for the foundation of the country? Are you doing this for such trivial things?
Just as I was thinking this, there was a sudden noise in front of me.
"Several pavilion elders, a boat is coming, a boat is coming."
Shi Kefa and others suddenly became energetic. Has the Holy One finally arrived?
After waiting for more than a quarter of an hour, the ferry finally docked, and immediately a group of barbarians disembarked from the boat.
However, after seeing clearly that the group of Yiding people was surrounded by a young man, Shi Kefa and others were stunned. What is going on? Why is only His Highness the Crown Prince here? Where is His Majesty?
However, he still hurried forward to greet him.
"Mr. Shige, and other elders."
Zhu Cihong returned the greeting and asked in surprise: "Why are you here?"
"I am waiting here to welcome the Holy Emperor." Shi Kefa said helplessly, "May I ask His Highness the Crown Prince, did the Holy Emperor have something to do and delayed his return to Beijing?"
"Father has returned to Beijing early in the morning."
Zhu Cixi smiled and waved his hands.
All the ministers were stunned.
…
At this time, Chongzhen had already entered Nanjing through Xuanwu Gate and sat in Piyong of the Imperial Academy.
Piyong was originally a university established by Emperor Zhou. The campus is round in shape, surrounded by a pool, and has a bridge outside the front door.
After the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were Piyongs in Taixue. As a place to respect Confucianism and perform ceremonies, emperors of all dynasties had to go to Piyong to give lectures at least once after they came to the throne.
After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he gave lectures in Beijian.
But it was my first time to give lectures at the Nanjing Imperial College.
For this lecture, Chongzhen specially wore armor.
It's the same outfit that Gao Qiqi has worn several times before, with golden mountain armor, golden doudou, plus a bright red robe and cloak, it looks really majestic.
If you take a three-pointed two-edged sword, you can play Yang Jian directly.
However, wearing such a suit in Piyong, a place where Confucianism is respected and ceremonies are held, is inevitably a bit awkward. If Liu Zongzhou, Huang Daozhou and other Confucian masters saw this scene, they would inevitably be scolded.
But Chongzhen actually did it deliberately and wore this outfit deliberately to inject the martial gene into the blood of the students of Nanjing Imperial College and even the scholars all over the world.
Confucianism and martial arts have never been binary opposites.
Confucian scholars in ancient times, including Confucius, used their left hand to hold a sword in their right hand.
Upon hearing that the Holy Master had arrived in Piyong, students from the Imperial College immediately swarmed over.
Soon, the entire Piyong Hall was crowded with students. There was no room to stand in the hall, and many students had to stand outside.
At its peak, the Nanjing Imperial College had more than 9,000 students. During the Chongzhen period, the number of students dropped sharply, but there were still more than 2,000 students.
However, most of them are descendants of official families.
Zheng Sen is one of these two thousand people.
And Zheng Sen grabbed a good position.
At this time, it was even less than ten steps away from Chongzhen.
Seeing the emperor so close at hand, Zheng Sen could no longer hide the emotions surging in his chest. A good man should wear this armor and follow the emperor to Xuzhou to guard the border and bleed for the Ming Dynasty!
At this time, the eunuch brought a wooden board and erected it on Piyong.
Chongzhen picked up the charcoal ash and wrote two words on the wooden board.
After finishing writing, Chongzhen looked around and asked, "Who knows these two characters?"
"Your Majesty, the common people recognize it." Zheng Sen raised his hand and replied, "What your Majesty wrote is Chinese!"
"Yes, this is exactly the word "China" in the oracle bone inscriptions." Chongzhen pointed at the wooden board and said loudly, "Under the hunting banner, a group of soldiers holding gold guns guard the central area. This is China."
"This is China, our country, the motherland where we were born and raised and where we will be buried!"
"But now, the bandits have been defeated. An army of 200,000 slaves has entered the fortress, occupied my land, and killed my parents. They want to force me, the son of the Han family, to shave his hair and change his clothes. They also want to destroy my country of more than 5,000 people in China.
The ancestral temple of the year."
"The hair and skin of the body are received from the parents and dare not be damaged. This is the beginning of filial piety. How can one be allowed to be damaged by being a slave?"
"Confucius said Cheng Ren, Mencius said Qi Yi, our Han family's clothes have been passed down for more than two thousand years, how can we allow slaves to invade and plunder us?"
"Three emperors and five emperors, Qin and Han successively, and our Chinese ancestral temple has lasted for more than five thousand years. How can we allow people to build slaves and destroy our country?"
"The great Ming Dynasty, the glorious Han Dynasty, the great Ming Dynasty is the great Ming Dynasty of all scholar-bureaucrats, the great Ming Dynasty of all the descendants of Yan and Huang, not the great Ming Dynasty of the Zhu family!"
"The rise and fall, everyone is responsible!"
Hearing this sentence, the brains of Zheng Sen and other students felt as if a heavy hammer had been hit, and they were buzzing.
Is everyone responsible for the rise and fall of the world? The Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty of all scholar-bureaucrats, the Ming Dynasty of all descendants of the Yan and Huang Dynasties, not the Ming Dynasty of the Zhu family?
This announcement was like a bell resounding through Piyong.
Zheng Sen and other students' blood boiled immediately.
Chongzhen began to raise his arms and shout: "At this time when slaves are invaded and the world is in chaos, all the sons of the Han family should shoulder the responsibility of defending the land and resisting the war. You, the scholars and students, have read the books of sages and sages, and you should be the leaders of the world."
Set an example, abandon the pen and ink, fight with the sword, fight for the body, hair and skin of our generation, fight for the clothes and hats of our Han family, fight for the Chinese ancestral temple and the country!"
Speaking of this meal, Chongzhen emphasized his tone and raised his voice to the loudest: "I, I would like to issue an edict to punish the captives. All the scholars of our Ming Dynasty who are between the ages of sixteen and fifty will be
Everyone needs to respond to the imperial court's call, and those who are close to us must gather at the Nanjing Imperial College before the end of the month and follow me north to guard the border."
"Those who are far away can go north to Xuzhou on their own."
"One inch of mountains and rivers, one inch of blood, one hundred thousand soldiers and one hundred thousand troops!"
"Let us warn the slaves with a three-foot green sword that we, the Ming Dynasty scholars, can not only study."
"More than 1,600 years ago, Chen Tang once said: Anyone who openly offends a strong man will be killed no matter how far away he is!"
"Today, I also want to declare to the world that the clothes of the Han family cannot be taken away, the Chinese ancestral temples cannot be invaded, and the dignity of the Ming Dynasty cannot be desecrated! Those who dare to desecrate the Ming Dynasty will be killed no matter how strong they are! Kill the captives!"
Hearing this, Zheng Sen and other students could no longer hold back and jumped up.
"Kill the prisoners!" The next moment, more than two thousand students started shouting hysterically.
The huge sound rushed out of Piyong in an instant, resounded throughout the Imperial College, and even reached both sides of the Qinhuai River.
Hundreds of painted boats moored on the Qinhuai River, as well as hundreds of embroidered buildings on both sides of the Qinhuai River, opened their screen windows one after another, and dark clouds peeked out from them, looking towards the direction of the Imperial College.
Shi Kefa hurriedly arrived outside Jixian Gate with thousands of officials, and happened to hear the shouting.
"Are these students crazy? Just read a book and say, "Kill the prisoners?" Almost all the officials had this idea subconsciously popping up in their minds, "You are the only ones who want to kill the prisoners? Being killed by the prisoners is more of the same."
Shi Kefa wiped his sweat and raised his legs to walk into Jixian Gate.
However, at this moment, a eunuch wearing a python robe walked out of Jixian Gate.
When Wang Chengen walked to the steps of Jixian Gate, he quickly unfolded the imperial edict in his hand, and read in a high voice: "Heaven carries the emperor, the edict says!"
Upon hearing this, Shi Kefa and others quickly knelt down.
Wang Chengen paused, then continued reading: "The Ming Dynasty is in danger!"
"An army of 200,000 slaves has invaded the border, occupied my land, and slaughtered my parents. They want to force me, the sons of the Han family, to shave their heads and change their clothes. They also want to destroy our ancestral temples and communities that have been in existence for more than 5,000 years."
"..."
"Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. All scholars and students of our Ming Dynasty must respond to the imperial court's call between the ages of sixteen and fifty. Those who are close to us must gather at the Nanjing Imperial College before the end of the month to accompany the emperor.
Hunting Xuzhou in the north, those who are far away can go north to Xuzhou on their own, and the prefectures and counties along the way need food."
"One inch of mountains and rivers, one inch of blood, one hundred thousand soldiers and one hundred thousand troops!"
"I, a great scholar of the Ming Dynasty, not only know how to read, but I can also carry a three-foot green sword into battle to kill the enemy."
"Chen Tang once said more than 1,600 years ago: Anyone who openly offends a strong man will be punished no matter how far away he is!"
"Today, my generation of scholars also want to let the slaves know that the clothes of the Han family cannot be taken away, the Chinese ancestral temple cannot be invaded, and the dignity of the Ming Dynasty cannot be desecrated! Anyone who dares to desecrate the Ming Dynasty will be punished no matter how strong he is!"
"Fight for your parents, wives and children, and you will have no regrets even if you die!"
"Fight for China's clothes, even if you die a hundred times, you will have no regrets!"
"Fight for the dignity of the Ming Dynasty, and I will have no regrets even if I die!"
"I have no regrets about entering China in this life, and I will still be a Chinese in the next life! I admire this!"
"This is?" Shi Kefa and other Nanjing officials looked confused. What kind of edict is this?
Wang Chengen rolled up the imperial edict and handed it to Shi Kefa, and then said: "Mr. Shi Ge, this is the imperial edict just issued by the Long Live Lord. Please ask the Ministry of Rites to expedite it for eight hundred miles to inform the world's scholars and students!"
"Eunuch Wang." Shi Kefa wanted to say something.
But I opened my mouth, but I didn't know what to say.
The Holy One issued such an edict without consulting the cabinet. It was indeed a bit too much, but only slightly. More importantly, the Holy One did the right thing. He called on the world's scholars to fight for the country and guard the borders for the Ming Dynasty. It was reasonable and logical.
It makes perfect sense, even though they thought that few scholars would respond to this imperial edict.
In the end, Shi Kefa obediently accepted the imperial edict.
