"Let's live it all." When Zu Dashou and Zhang Chun fell into an argument again, Wang Zaijin suddenly spoke out to stop the two. He immediately got up from his main seat and stepped aside, then bent down towards the back tent and shouted loudly: "Regarding the defeat of the Santun camp, the generals of the third theater of war under the command of the minister respectfully ask Your Majesty to make a holy judgment. ”

Zu Dashou and other military ministers were still a little confused, but several civil officials sitting opposite them had already gotten up and echoed Wang Zaijin to ask the emperor to come out.

Zu Dashou looked at the back tent that was covered by the screen behind the handsome case, and saw that under the escort of two brocade guards wearing uniforms, a handsome young man walked out in a bright yellow Tuanlong suit.

Seeing Wang Zaijin take the lead in bending down and saluting this young man, Zu Dashou and other generals immediately realized that this young man should be Zhu Youzhen, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and they were also busy bending down towards Chongzhen.

"Get up, since you are in the army, you don't have to make such a big salute. I didn't come here to see how respectful you were to me.

I've heard about the defeat under the Santun camp, and I've heard a lot about what you've been arguing about these days. I had just heard from behind me that General Soldier Zu seemed to be very concerned about who would take responsibility for the failure of the Santun Camp.

Before discussing the person responsible for the defeat, I would like to ask you, so long has passed since the defeat of the Santun camp, can the wounded who have retreated be settled? Can the names of the deceased soldiers be registered? Have you ever discussed the conditions for the bereavement of these martyrs? ”

Chongzhen's series of questions suddenly stunned everyone present, they all focused on who was responsible for the defeat in the battle of Santun Camp, and they really didn't think about these questions raised by the emperor.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhu Youzhen said coldly: "It's really unreasonable, you are acting so upside down, you don't think about how to settle the wounded and compensate the martyrs who sacrificed, but you have to argue about the victory or defeat first." Doesn't what you are doing now chill the hearts of the soldiers?

Today's military meeting is temporarily suspended, I will now assign you several tasks, Zu Dashou, you will supervise the construction of the altar by the sergeants, I will personally officiate the dead soldiers of our army tomorrow, I will now go to inspect the wounded barracks, and as for the others, I will negotiate a charter for the martyrs, and announce it to the whole army after the memorial tomorrow.

As for the determination of responsibility for the defeat in the Battle of Santun Camp, it will be discussed until the Jin army withdraws from the Guannei. Now, do you disagree? ”

Whether it is Wang Zaijin or Zu Dashou, they are all shut up by Chongzhen, who occupies the moral high ground, at this moment, and they obviously can't refute the idea that the emperor gives priority to mourning for the dead soldiers. Human death is great, and the conclusion of the coffin is an extremely important pillar in the Confucian moral system.

Since the imperial court set the policy of the Liao people to defend the Liao territory, the border towns in eastern Liaodong, which were already relatively closed, have become more and more narrow, and the formation of a small group of xenophobic military groups, that is, the tendency of feudal towns, has become more and more obvious.

The formation of small groups in the army also made the low-level officers and men more and more subordinate to the generals from their own towns, and this trend continued to develop, and eventually a real feudal town was formed, and the interests of the small groups were put above the whole country.

But the current Liaodong Army has not yet become a real feudal town, and the highest object of their allegiance has not yet been transferred from the emperor to the border town generals.

Therefore, when Chongzhen appeared in the army, he immediately gained the loyalty of these Liaodong soldiers. Of course, this loyalty is not solid, but only comes from the faith of allegiance to the emperor that has been instilled in the past. Once Chongzhen is unable to meet the expectations of these soldiers, this loyalty will soon disappear.

However, the first thing Chongzhen did after arriving in Malanzhuang won the favor of most of the soldiers. His Majesty the Emperor did not ignore the soldiers at the bottom, nor did he do anything as soon as he arrived in Malanzhuang, and killed several generals of the defeated army to show his authority, but first went to visit the wounded soldiers who had returned from defeat, and the emperor's behavior suddenly eased the emotions of the officers and soldiers of the Eastern Route Army, who had become tense because of the argument about the responsibility for the failure of the Santun Camp.

For the soldiers at the bottom, arguing about who should be responsible for the defeat of the Battle of Santun Camp and paying tribute to the dead comrades in the army is obviously much more important, and it can also resonate more with the hearts of these ordinary soldiers.

At 9 o'clock in the morning of December 1, in addition to the front-line troops of the Ming army guarding against the Houjin army, the officers and men of the Ming army stationed near Malanzhuang all came to the river beach set up in the northeast of Zhuangwai.

The overgrown riverbank was cleared of a large open space, and a nearly 2-meter-high platform was constructed out of wood, on which in addition to the black and white flags, there was also a memorial flag of several square sizes, placed in the center of the altar. The weather was gloomy today, and there was a gust of northwest wind, which made the flags on the platform flutter, as if the dead heroic spirits were circling around the altar.

Chongzhen didn't wear a crown today, but just wore a plain dress and boarded the altar, this kind of unruly behavior made Wang Zaijin and other officials in the audience frown, but they didn't say anything in this situation after all.

After Zhu Youzhen glanced at the dozens of sacrifices such as pigs and sheep placed on the altar, he retracted his gaze, walked to the middle of the altar and said to the soldiers below: "Before sacrificing these dead soldiers who sacrificed for the country, I have a few words to say to you.

What do I want to say to you? What I want to say to you is that whether it is the martyrs who died in the national war, or the people in the audience; Whether it is a prince or a general, or an ordinary person, there is only one precious life.

How to use a precious life that is only one time? I have read this passage: A person's life should be spent in this way, and when a person looks back, he will not regret that he wasted his time, nor be ashamed of his inaction; In this way, when he was dying, he could say that I had devoted my whole life and all my energies to the most precious cause in the world - to fight for the end of war, hunger and injustice for our children.

Taishi Gong also once said: People are inherently dead, or heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than Hongmao. What kind of death is heavier than Mount Tai, and what kind of death is lighter than a feather?

To die for the country, for the nation, for the interests of the people, to die for the protection of comrades, and to die for the happiness of relatives, friends and families is more important than Mount Tai. Although their ** is dead, their spirit will not die, and their names will live in the memory of the people and in the records of history.

And those who betray the interests of the country and the nation for their own selfish interests, and trample on the interests of the people, no matter how long they live, to others, they are just a walking corpse that smells of rancidity..."

Chongzhen's words spread with the retelling of the officers below, and for the Ming people who heard this kind of sensational words for the first time, they undoubtedly received a spiritual baptism, even some old fritters in the army, after listening to the emperor's speech, their expressions were much more solemn.

After Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, he attracted the ancestor Dashou in the audience and asked unhappily: "Why are there no cows in the sacrifice?" Aren't the soldiers who sacrificed for the country worthy of our sacrifice of a calf? ”

Zu Dashou replied with a somewhat embarrassed face: "Back to Your Majesty, because Malanzhuang was captured by the Tartars once, the big animals in the village were all looted by the Tartars. Pigs, sheep and other livestock were still condolences sent from Qian'an, and the calves used for sacrifice were really difficult to find for a while. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him for a while, then stretched out his hand to him and said, "Then lend me your knife." ”

Although Zu Dashou didn't understand what the emperor wanted his sword to do, he still untied the saber from his waist in fear, and then handed it over with the scabbard.

Zhu Youzhen grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it out directly, after he tried the blade, he suddenly reached out and took off the hairnet on his head, so that the long hair was draped down directly, and everyone in the audience had not yet reacted, when the emperor was doing.

Zhu Youzhen grabbed the end of his hair with one hand, and quickly drew a knife with the other hand to cut through his long hair, and the hair that was originally long to his waist was suddenly broken off the shoulder.

Zhu Youzhen pinched his broken hair and shouted to the soldiers in the audience: "Since there is no calf, then I will use my own hair as a sacrifice to comfort my Ming martyrs." I also swore here that I would personally lead the army to the west and expel the Tartars from the customs to collect the remains of the martyrs.

I have also heard that it is because of the sacrifices of these martyrs that thousands of soldiers have been able to return safely. I would like to ask, where are these soldiers now? Step forward and talk back. ”

The array of more than 3,700 soldiers, including Man Gui and Wu Xiang, all stepped forward to answer Chongzhen, and Zhu Youzhen looked at the defeated army and asked again: "These heroes and martyrs did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives in order to protect you from returning safely, but they didn't even know that their bodies were buried in that ditch.

Now I just want to ask you, do you want to follow me to expel these Tartars, take back the bodies of these martyrs, and bury them? ”

The emperor's question suddenly made the soldiers below a little in an uproar, although they had just gone through a spiritual baptism, but the emperor's sudden request to take them to fight with the Tartars, many soldiers were also difficult to accept for a while.

It's just that in such a situation, no one is willing to stand up against the emperor's opinion, and more people turn their attention to the defeated Ming army.

Man Gui's subordinates naturally applauded loudly, but Wu Xiang's subordinates replied a little weakly. Listening to the sparse answers below, Chongzhen was obviously a little dissatisfied, he couldn't help frowning and asked sternly: "Touch your underneath, are there any eggs?" Why did you answer so weakly, are you still a man?

The ancients said: The grace of a drop of water is still to be reciprocated, and the sacrificed heroes have protected your return with their lives, and now I just ask you to follow me back and collect their remains, is this request too much?

The lamb still knows the grace of kneeling milk, and does not repay the favor, it is not even inferior to the beast. I ask you again, do you want to follow me to collect the bodies of the martyrs? ”

This time, the answers of the soldiers below were finally neater, and even Wu Xiang answered loudly under the emperor's gaze.

Zhu Youzhen nodded with satisfaction and said: "After the sacrifice is completed, you soldiers who have withdrawn from the Santun camp, but if there are no injuries on their bodies, a separate battalion will be set up, led by Vice General Wu Xiangwu, ready to serve as the vanguard of the army, and the whole team must be completed before noon." Now the sacrifice continues, and the Great Sima recites the sacrificial words..."

Zhu Youzhen threw the knife in his hand back to Zu Dashou, and then turned around and put the cut hair in the sacrifice, although he looked like he had no majesty in his head, but at this moment, the tens of thousands of soldiers in the audience looked solemn and did not dare to make a noise.