Zhu Youzhen, who woke up from a hangover, felt a headache, and for a moment he thought he was back in the afterlife, but when he opened his eyes and saw the dim candle flame outside the tent, he understood that he was still in the 17th century Daming Palace.

As soon as he woke up, Zhu Youzhen, who felt that his mouth was dry, shouted to the eunuch who was keeping vigil outside: "Bring me a glass of water." ”

After drinking a glass of warm water, Zhu Youzhen handed the porcelain cup in his hand back to the little eunuch who was keeping vigil, pressed his forehead and asked, "What time is it?" ”

"Your Majesty, it's the end of the day."

After listening to the little eunuch's reply, Zhu Youzhen rubbed his temples and said, "The heirs come in and change my clothes..."

Because of the preparation for today's sacrifice, Zhu Youzhen has to wear a set of crown clothes that he rarely wears, the blue-black top and red bottom look very elegant and generous, but unfortunately there is no full-length mirror now, and he can't see what he looks like wearing this set of clothes.

While the three eunuchs were waiting for him to put on his clothes, Wang Chengen also came in on duty. Zhu You stretched out his hands and suddenly asked, "After I got drunk last night, did I do anything out of the ordinary?" I can't even remember what I did when I got drunk yesterday. ”

Wang Chengen's face became a little exciting, but he still replied cautiously: "After Your Majesty got drunk, you didn't do anything out of the ordinary, Your Majesty doesn't have to mind." ”

"So, my wine is pretty good." Zhu Youzhen praised himself, he thought of something again, so he continued to ask: "That lifeless, what happened later?" ”

"The minister has already taken him to prison, Your Majesty."

"What's going on? When did I ever give such an order? Zhu Youzhen suddenly looked back at Wang Chengen angrily and said.

Wang Chengen lowered his head and said with some shock: "This person actually dares to be disrespectful to His Majesty, even if Your Majesty doesn't care, but if this matter spreads, I am afraid that the government and the opposition will discuss it one after another, saying that Your Majesty pampered the martial artists, and ignored the dignity of the Ming Dynasty."

And if the minister didn't arrest him and put him in prison, wouldn't General Mangui become a man who was plotting against the dead in the future? If Your Majesty wants to use Man Gui, you have to deal with this person first to prevent future troubles. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Wang Chengen for a long time before saying, "You go in person, and release the people now." Today, I want to sacrifice the dead soldiers in Liaodong and let him carry the halberd for me. ”

Wang Chengen also wanted to persuade Chongzhen again, "But Your Majesty, this person is stubborn and unbearable." ”

Chongzhen turned his head and turned his back to Wang Chengen and said, "How can there be a good horse in this world who has a docile temper and can travel thousands of miles a day. If I can't drive it, I will get rid of it, who else will be left around me in the future?

What's more, I want to sacrifice the dead soldiers of Liaodong today, but I killed the strong soldiers of Liaodong for some offense, isn't this deceiving the sky? Don't be verbose, hurry up and release the person and let him change into a sacrificial dress. ”

Wang Chengen finally left unhappily and released people, obviously in his heart, those who dared to threaten Chongzhen's life should be removed first.

However, under the majesty of Chongzhen, he finally didn't dare to do it himself. Strange to say, when he was in the palace, Wang Chengen was more favored than respected Chongzhen. After entering the palace and ascending the throne, he gradually began to fear the young emperor he brought up.

In the Jinyi Guard's prison, Wuming was humming the song he heard last night with his eyes closed, and when he hummed this song, his heart was filled with warmth, as if his family was by his side.

It was the first night since that day that he hadn't woken up from a nightmare. Wusheng couldn't help but think of the strange young emperor last night, and for the first time he knew that the emperor was drunk, and he was no different from ordinary people.

Wang Chengen took a eunuch into the Jinyi Guard, and then went to the lifeless prison cell that he sent in last night under the leadership of Liu Yingxi, the commander of the Jinyi Command in charge of the edict.

At the door of the cell, several people suddenly heard a burst of singing, and Wang Chengen stopped to listen for a while.

"A big river has wide waves, the wind blows the rice and flowers on both banks, my family lives on the shore, I am used to hearing the captain's horn, and I am used to seeing the white sails on the boat..."

"This death row prisoner is stubborn, he actually did not repent in the edict, and he still sang songs, and he still wanted to open up some new world, is this a rebellion? Factory Father, it's better to let the lowly post punish him, and arrest the person who made the lyrics to the edict and prison, and see if he dares to open up a new world..."

Liu Yingxi, who nodded on one side, said flatteringly to Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen glared at him with sideways eyes, and reprimanded in a low voice: "Shut up, the master of the Qianqing Palace is also something you can offend?" Go open the door. ”

Although the horse's fart slapped on the horse's feet, Liu Yingxun's face was still full of smiles, he ordered the jailer to open the prison door, while thinking in his heart who the master of the Qianqing Palace was, he reacted quickly, and immediately closed his mouth tightly and stopped talking about this topic.

"Looks like you're in good spirits, huh?" Wang Chengen covered his nose with one hand, and said while looking at Wusheng, who turned over and sat up.

Wufang's face was expressionless, and he straightened his waist and said to Wang Chengen: "There is nothing to say, if Your Majesty has any punishment, just say it." ”

Wang Chengen glared at him for a long time, but he didn't notice that he was the slightest bit afraid, so he said to the jailer hatefully: "What are you doing here, bring him a basin of water for him to freshen up." Qiao Sheng, you will let him change his clothes in a while, and then take him to the Chengtian Gate and wait for the royal driver. ”

Zhu Youzhen sat on a big car from Chengtianmen and Daming Gate all the way out of Zhengyangmen, this straight line of travel made him feel that this city existed for him alone.

This feeling gave him the delusion that he was above all living beings and that he was not of the same kind as mortals. At this moment, he finally understood why there were so many emperors in all dynasties, ignoring political affairs, and bent on cultivating the Tao.

Because for the emperor, the life of a mortal is too far away, and the days of the gods seem to be within reach.

Zhu Youzhen arrived at the altar of worship for mountains and rivers with this kind of whimsy, standing on the square altar, Zhu Youzhen looked at the semi-arc-shaped memorial monument to the dead soldiers of Liaodong erected at the top of the north square.

In order to save time, the memorial monument is not very tall, the highest point in the middle is less than 3 meters, and the low places on both sides are about one meter.

The shape of the entire monument is like a person stretching out his arms to hug the people in the south square.

Between the Temple of Earth and the Memorial Monument, from west to east, stood in order: the Liaodong Army brought by Man Gui, the soldiers of the three battalions selected by the Beijing camp, and most of the military ministers with more than 100 households, as well as the students of the general training school led by Sun Chengzong.

In the past, the emperor had always sent people to sacrifice on his behalf, but Zhu Youzhen asked to participate in the sacrifice in person, which forced the officials of the Ministry of Rites to revise many of the etiquette etiquette.

Because although it is said that death is great, the dead soldiers are still Zhu Youzhen's courtiers, and it is still not in accordance with the law of etiquette to worship the ministers with the king.

Whether it is the soldiers under Man Gui or the soldiers of the Beijing camp, they all feel that Zhu Youzhen personally participated in this sacrifice and feel that they have shared the honor of these dead soldiers. For the first time, most of them participated in an event from the bottom of their hearts to remember the dead sergeants who were ordinary people like them.

The more than 10,000 people in the square became silent in this nostalgic activity that became somewhat sacred.

Soon it was time to read the sacrificial text, and looking at the sacrificial text in his hand, Zhu Youzhen suddenly stopped.

This exquisite, brilliant memorial essay was written by Ni Yuanlu, the editor of Hanlin, and it was also a good article unanimously approved by several ministers.

But how could most of the soldiers standing in the audience be illiterate, so how could they understand the subtlety of this memorial text?

If these soldiers could not be allowed to recognize from the bottom of their hearts that the sacrifices made by these Liaodong martyrs were valuable, then his sacrifice today was just a lively show for these soldiers, and they would not gain a spiritual belief worthy of aspiration from it.

The accompanying officer Yang Hao and the ministers under the steps all felt a little inexplicable about Chongzhen's sudden silence.

Wang Huazhen, who was dressed in white, looked at Chongzhen on the altar in the distance with some concern, for fear that this young son of heaven would make some mistakes on this occasion and damage his reputation.

Zhu Youzhen closed the memorial in his hand violently, inspected the audience from left to right with his eyes, and finally fixed his eyes on the memorial monument behind the soldiers, and after brewing for a while, he shouted with a heart.

"Over the past year, the heroes and martyrs of the Ming Dynasty who sacrificed their lives in the internal and external wars and defending the people of the Ming Dynasty have been immortalized!

In the past ten years, the heroes and martyrs of the Ming Dynasty who sacrificed their lives in the internal and external wars and defending the Ming people have been immortalized!

From then on, in order to oppose internal and external enemies, strive for national independence and the freedom and happiness of the people, the martyrs of the Ming Dynasty who sacrificed in the previous struggles are immortal! ”

Zhu Youzhen's face turned red, and he shouted out the revised inscription of the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the young man's hoarse shouts echoed in the square.

On this day, the people in the square all said in vivid colors that they had miraculously heard the emperor's proclamation with their own ears, rather than understanding what the emperor said in the retelling of the voice conveyor later.

When these sergeants first heard Chongzhen's words, they didn't understand, what is national independence? What is the freedom and happiness of the people?

What made them feel their hearts surging was the nine words "the heroes of the Ming Dynasty are immortal". For the first time, it was recognized from the mouth of the Ming Emperor, and those ordinary people who died in obscurity on the battlefield can also be regarded as Ming heroes, rather than only famous ministers and fierce generals can be called Ming heroes, this kind of impact made them suddenly feel a little trance.

Compared with those soldiers in the Beijing camp, the Liaodong soldiers under Man Gui felt more profoundly.

For the first time, these Ming soldiers, who received meager salaries, guarded the peace of the Ming Dynasty on the frontier, and could only be liberated by death or disability, felt that their profession was not so disgusted.

The soldiers of the Liaodong Army, who had endured too much suffering and had forgotten the feeling of tears, felt as if something was about to gush out of their eyes, and many people looked up at the sky and felt that the sun seemed to be really warm today.