Sacrificial activities in the Ming Dynasty were divided into three levels.
The great sacrifices include heaven and earth, ancestral temple, community, and mausoleum;
The middle sacrifices are: Chaori, Xiyue, Taisui, Emperor, First Teacher, First Farmer, Banner;
The small sacrifice is called the queen, the concubine, the prince, the princess, the princess and the wife, the three emperors, the first doctor, the five sacrifices, the fire chief, the city god of the capital, Dongyue, Jingcang...
According to the decree of Emperor Chongzhen, the memorial ceremony for the loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty is the middle sacrifice, located after the banner.
This decree immediately aroused discussion among the government and the public as to whether this standard was too high.
After all, the ranking of tributes to the Ming Dynasty loyalists is actually before the empress, concubine, concubine, prince, princess, princess, etc.!
However, in response to these discussions, Emperor Chongzhen Qiankun made a decisive decision and bluntly stated that the loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty deserved such a level of memorial. This attitude shocked both the government and the public!
This made them feel that the emperor valued Ming Zhonglie extremely highly!
March 18th is the day designated by the emperor to commemorate the loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty. This fact also makes many people find it strange.
Because this day was not considered a good day to hold a memorial ceremony, but the emperor chose this day to hold the memorial ceremony regardless of this and without any discussion.
When this day came, Emperor Chongzhen personally led the prince and hundreds of civil and military officials out of the Forbidden City to pay homage at the Monument to the Martyrs of the Ming Dynasty on the side of Meridian Gate Square, and then went to the Memorial Hall of the Martyrs of the Ming Dynasty to pay homage. It took a whole morning and was very grand.
This memorial day is still held every year, and the emperor personally pays tribute;
If it is inconvenient for the emperor, the prince will lead the civil and military officials to pay homage;
If there is no crown prince, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty will lead the civil and military officials to pay homage;
On this day of commemoration, no official shall be absent innocently. If he or she even fails to sign in, that is, if he fails to register at the ceremonial office, he will be impeached;
On this day of commemoration, no officials are allowed to drink, have fun, hold celebrations or entertain, otherwise they will be severely punished. This is not only valid for officials in the capital, but also for officials across the country.
On this day of commemoration, all troops across the country fly flags at half-mast to show their condolences!
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What makes everyone a little strange is that some of these measures, such as the national army flying flags at half-mast to express condolences, have not happened before.
In short, Emperor Chongzhen really paid more attention to commemorating the loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty than they unexpectedly did.
Afterwards, rumors spread all over the world.
It was said that the ministers around the emperor found that the emperor was really very sad, and he was not even in a good mood all day long! Many people cursed and swore that the emperor's attitude was really not an act!
Needless to say, the emperor's attitude moved most of the people of the Ming Dynasty: if you have such respect from the emperor, you will have no regrets even if you die!
Of course they didn't know that Emperor Chongzhen's emotions were indeed real, but more than anything, he was actually sad for himself in another time and space.
Thinking about this day, when faced with despair, he sent away his three sons, killed his daughter, forced his wife to death, and then went to Jingshan to hang himself. Even when he hanged himself, he had to use his hair to kill himself.
Cover your face, shameless to see your ancestors...
It would be strange if Emperor Chongzhen was still in a good mood thinking about these things!
Of course, it was also for this reason that he particularly cherished these loyal martyrs for the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, he sincerely used such a high standard to pay homage to the martyrs of the Ming Dynasty.
For Emperor Chongzhen, the Jiangshan Sheji passed down by his ancestors was the first and most important. His wife and children would not bring much help to the Ming Dynasty's Jiangshan Sheji, they were just his relatives;
The loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty used their lives to protect his country and the country. Therefore, it was natural for him to rank the loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty before his wife and children.
On the day of the Ming Dynasty’s Memorial Day, Emperor Chongzhen also issued an edict to reiterate that the pension for the Ming Dynasty loyal martyrs must be paid in penny. Anyone who dares to hand over the pension for the Ming Dynasty loyal martyrs, no matter how much, will be executed immediately!
Afterwards, the matter of the pension for the loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty was verified, and it was also clearly stated that it was handed over to the Department of Ancestral Sacrifice and Cleaning Officials of the Ministry of Rites, that is, the newly promoted doctor Lu Xiangguan was in charge.
In addition, it was also decreed that in the newly built Daming Free School, there should be a San Gong Temple, which enshrines three sculptures: Sun Chengzong, Lu Xiangsheng, and Qiu Minyan. If students make mistakes, they will be punished by kneeling in the San Gong Temple.
The loyal and heroic people of the Ming Dynasty are the backbone of the Ming Dynasty. They serve the country loyally and will be remembered forever!
All these things caused a sudden change in the atmosphere in the capital. Especially since Emperor Taizu and the Holy Master had just appeared before, it accelerated the change in the atmosphere in the capital.
Because the people in the capital believe that when a person dies, there are gods and ghosts. Entering the Ming Zhonglie Hall requires the court to pay tribute. This standard is so high that even if you die underground, you will definitely be very useful.
And even if there are no children or grandchildren, the country can pay tribute to him, which will last forever with the country!
And if you are a loyal Ming dynasty, the real benefits will be visible, the pension will be generous, needless to say, your status will be different.
For all these reasons, the most scolded people in the capital who are just waiting to die are told to go join the army. At least they have a way to die in battle, and they can still be memorialized by the court after their death. It is not a waste of their time to come to this world.
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There is no other way. The simplest way to be a loyal hero of the Ming Dynasty is to die in battle for the country. There are other situations, but not the Yangtze River.
Invisibly, a saying that was often said in the past few years, that a good man should not be a soldier and a good woman should not marry a soldier, has become a saying that if you are a man, you should become a soldier, and if you want to marry, you should marry a soldier.
This change in concept has been slowly changing since Emperor Chongzhen rebuilt the capital camp. After Emperor Chongzhen paid homage to the loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty, a qualitative change occurred. Although it is a bit exaggerated, it is generally true.
It’s almost the same!
It seems that it is no longer so obvious that culture is noble but martial is light!
Naturally, after the event of commemorating the loyal martyrs of the Ming Dynasty and several decrees of Emperor Chongzhen spread, the morale of the armies in various places suddenly skyrocketed. Emperor Chongzhen's prestige in the army also increased a lot.
At this time, anyone who wants to incite soldiers to rebel must have their brains caught in the door!
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While the news was still spreading from the capital, the Jiangnan side, especially the Nanjing City side, was already waging war.
Regarding the third stage of local rectification, that is, re-measurement of the land, Ma Shiying had many differences with Wang Dehua, the admiral of Dongchang, and Li Ruolian, the commander of Jinyiwei, and opposed their reckless actions.
According to Wang Dehua and Li Ruolian, based on the information provided by those hidden people, they generally know who the grain fields belong to and who they don't, so they just act according to the information they have. Whoever has an opinion,
Their factory guards have taken care of it; anyone who dares to instigate a civil uprising has an army at their disposal, and they can directly suppress it, which just adds another group of laborers!
But Ma Shiying disagreed, saying that they represented the emperor, not the bandits. If they acted so recklessly, the emperor's prestige would be damaged, and it was the ministers' fault.
When he brought out the emperor's name like this, neither Wang Dehua nor Li Ruolian dared to force it. They were not afraid of offending local gentry and nobles, but they did not dare to discredit the emperor.
In addition, there was no clue whether it was a fire involving military rations or the robbery and burning of a Royal Guard ship, which made Wang Dehua and Li Ruolian a little irritable.
Although they had a high probability of guessing that it must be the squires and nobles from Jiangnan who did it, they couldn't arrest and torture all the squires and nobles in Jiangnan.
There was a kind of frustration in their hearts, and when they met each other, the atmosphere was a bit wrong.
"Tell me, how should we do what Long Live Master told us?" Wang Dehua asked Ma Shiying in a bad tone, "Especially the Nanjing version is the top priority for the whole Jiangnan area to rectify. Everyone is watching.
Now, neither this nor that will work. You are the presiding officer, so you have an idea!"
In fact, I have thought of all the ways I can think of, but I can't think of any good ones.
Faced with Wang Dehua's questioning, Ma Shiying felt a little guilty, so she had no choice but to say: "I have already informed the emperor secretly. Maybe the emperor will come up with a good solution. Let's wait and see!"
The emperor was brought in again, making Wang Dehua unable to get angry even if he wanted to.
In fact, he knew very well in his heart that in this situation, what else could be done, other than suppressing it with force, what else could he do?
They call a deer a horse, and whatever they say is what they say. If they don't accept it, they have to hold it in. That's all they can do!
On the other hand, Li Ruolian next to him was calmer. He had been silent before. Seeing that the two of them were at loggerheads again, he spoke: "How about this? Last time, we falsely reported military information and exaggerated the strength of the bandits to cover up Zhang Xianzhong's bandit army.
If we arrest those local officials who broke out of the encirclement, we can avoid smearing them to the emperor. We will torture them and see if we can find any clues."
At this point, he paused and then added: "I don't believe it. If they do such a thing together, there is no connection behind it!"
When Ma Shiying heard this, he didn't think anything of it. This matter was a matter for the factory guards. If the factory guards did this, most people would criticize the factory guards for their cruelty, and they would not involve him and the emperor.
After Wang Dehua heard this, he immediately stood up and said: "This method works, let's go, I will be suffocated here, at least I have a place to vent my anger!"
As soon as he heard what he said, Ma Shiying knew that those local officials were going to be in trouble.
Before he could stand up and say anything, suddenly there were rapid footsteps outside, and a personal guard ran in quickly and reported to the people in the lobby: "A team of royal guards has come from the capital, saying they are going to
Meet your lords!"
This must be the emperor's order. When Ma Shiying and others heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other.
They all guessed that this must be the emperor's reply to Ma Shiying's secret message. But they didn't know what the emperor's reply would be?