Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 581 The Sunset
"Woo-"

In the early morning, when the whistle sounded at the dock, warships slowly sailed into the port.

As the sky gradually brightened, the fluttering port flags announced where this place belonged.

The stone archway with the words "Tianjin Port" hanging high is particularly eye-catching. As one of the top five ports in the Ming Dynasty, Tianjin Port has always been bustling with traffic.

However, when the sea breeze blew away the thick fog, under the gloomy sky, there were countless people wearing white cloth.

There was a lot of sadness on their faces at this moment. Although they were still making a living at the port, many of them had red and swollen eyes from crying.

On the warship, several figures walked down the ladder one after another, looking at the scene in front of them with different expressions.

They all wore the prince's plain clothes and wore Yishan crowns on their heads. The oldest was in his forties and the youngest was only in his early twenties.

"came back……"

With a long sigh, the oldest man looked up at a flag.

On the white flag, a line of words "September 9, the 28th year of Hongxi" swayed in the wind.

Time flies, and five years have passed in a flash.

But for Zhu Zhanqi, he had been away from the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years.

Although he managed Jinghai Prefecture well, the officials of Jinghai Prefecture were not his people after all, and only two guards belonged to him.

He was very unwilling, but he also knew that he could not cause any trouble with only two guards.

Because the emperor was his father, not Jianwen, and he did not have the means of his grandfather and his father.

It's a pity that even such a strong person can't avoid birth, aging, sickness and death, and turn into dust...

On the ninth day of the seventh month in the twenty-eighth year of the Hongxi reign, Emperor Hongxi Zhu Gaoxu died in the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Qianqing Palace at the age of sixty-five.

Compared with Emperor Taizu Gao who was 71 and Emperor Taizong Wen who was 75, Zhu Gaoxu obviously had a better body, but he did not live a long life.

Two months had passed since the emperor's death. Princes, vassal states, and important officials all over the country came to Beijing to pay their respects and to watch the new emperor ascend the throne.

"Let's go. We are the latest here. Now we can only go to Tianshou Mountain."

Zhu Zhanqi spoke, and the other princes nodded one after another.

Like Zhu Zhanqi, they were all vassal kings who were enfeoffed in Dongzhou and Beizhou.

There were eleven of them in total, and without exception they were descendants of Zhu Gaoxu.

Today, there are five kings on the east coast of Beizhou and six kings on the east coast of Dongzhou. They are respectively controlled by the Beizhou Xuanweisi and the Dongzhou Xuanweisi, and only have the power to command guards and royal palaces.

Led by Zhu Zhanqi, they boarded the train at Tianjin Port under the escort of guards sent by the navy.

Although more than ten years have passed, the changes in the Ming Dynasty are not so great that Zhu Zhanqi cannot recognize it.

Time passed little by little, and as they watched, the scenery outside the train kept receding.

It is more than 300 miles from Tianjin to Changping, but with the continuous advancement of train technology, today's trains can run at a speed of 60 miles per hour even when fully loaded, not to mention the express line they took.

With only one carriage, the train took less than two hours to take them to Changping.

There is no doubt that they arrived a little late, because at this time Tianshou Mountain was surrounded by tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

Zhu Zhanqi glanced at these soldiers. Their armor was getting less and less, and now they only had breastplates and skirt armor.

The total weight of these would probably not exceed fifteen kilograms.

With five kilograms of weight reduced, the physical requirements for soldiers are greatly reduced.

They still carried flintlock rifles, but Zhu Zhanqi did not think that this was the highest military technology of the Ming Dynasty.

He had been to the Imperial Academy, knew what was there, and was trying hard to catch up.

Although he has few talented people under him, where there is a will there is a way.

Even if we don't see that day in our generation, there will always be opportunities in the future.

"Uncles, my father is already waiting for you upstairs."

A familiar yet somewhat strange voice sounded, and Zhu Zhanqi's attention was attracted by it.

He glanced sideways and found a strong young man as tall as himself walking towards him with a bow not far away.

He has thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose and a long face. His skin is dark, but his eyes reveal a bit of cleverness.

"Your Highness."

Since the emperor had passed away, even though Zhu Qiyue was still the crown prince, in order not to offend him, Zhu Zhanping and others still bowed and addressed him as "Your Highness".

Zhu Zhanqi followed suit and bowed, but Zhu Qiyue's gaze remained on him.

Zhu Zhanqi felt very uncomfortable and cursed in his heart: "Your father was just born into a good family."

Of course, on the surface he still treated Zhu Qiyue with great respect.

"Let's go up, it's only half an hour away."

"Yes."

Zhu Qiyue led the way, and everyone followed him onto the sacred road called "Shiling".

Climbing up the Shiling Mausoleum, it seems a bit shabby compared to the Changling Mausoleum next door.

"I heard that Dad was reluctant to spend money during his lifetime and only spent 500,000 strings of cash to build the Shi Mausoleum."

"Dad is just too frugal, alas..."

Several people discussed in low voices, and all felt that their father was too frugal during his lifetime.

Zhu Zhanqi listened and felt that his brothers were short-sighted.

Spending millions of strings of cash on a mausoleum is far less useful than spending it on the army.

He looked at the stele not far away. It was the stele inscription written by Zhu Qiyue and Zhu Zhanhe, describing Zhu Gaoxu's achievements and life.

After passing the Shinto monument, more and more people and horses began to appear in front of us.

In front of the small Minglou Square, kings and envoys from many countries stood on both sides.

Some of them were talking, some were sighing, some were watching Zhu Zhanqi and others, and some were sobbing with their heads down.

After passing through them, Zhu Zhanqi and his men arrived at the front of the team.

Before they got here, they heard wailing.

"Your Majesty! My Majesty!"

"His Majesty!"

The voice was mournful, but unfamiliar to everyone, and one of them even had an accent.

At first, everyone thought that it was the ministers and several princes who were crying, but when they walked forward, they found two not-so-tall figures kneeling in front of Ming Lou.

"Your Majesty!"

"His Majesty!"

The two of them seemed to be competing, tears streaming down their cheeks.

Zhu Zhanqi frowned upon seeing this, while Zhu Qiyue teased, "The Japanese and Korean rulers are interesting, they have been crying for more than two hours and their tears are still not dry."

"Japan and Korea?" Zhu Zhanqi glanced sideways. He remembered that his father focused on balancing the two countries. He didn't expect that the kings of these two countries would cry so miserably.

But if you think about it carefully, it seems that these two countries had fought several wars in Kunlun Continent some time ago. They were probably worried that if they disrupted the funeral, they would be held accountable by their eldest brother, so they cried so miserably.

"Just a villain..."

Zhu Zhanqi sneered in his heart, then he and Zhu Qiyue walked past them and entered the Ming Tower.

Inside the Ming Building, the six ministries, six government offices, the Censorate, palaces and pavilions, meritorious officials, princes and others almost filled the interior space, leaving only a long passage in the middle.

Zhu Zhanqi and the other eleven people came forward to pay their respects to Zhu Zhanhe, who was kneeling on the futon, and addressed him respectfully, "Your Highness."

"They're all here..."

When Zhu Zhanhe, who was in his forties, saw his brothers coming, he stood up with the help of Wang Tao beside him, and then gestured, "Light a stick of incense for Dad."

"Yes……"

Zhu Zhanqi, as the second in command, spoke first. He then knelt on the cushion, bowed five times and kowtowed three times, then inserted the incense into the incense burner.

He looked up and saw two paintings hanging above the tablet in the Ming Building. They were portraits in Chinese and oil, both basically realistic.

Both portraits show his father in his old age, and there are many portraits of his father when he was young hanging on the left and right sides of the hall.

There are people wearing crowns, daily clothes, and armor, and there are also people outdoors and indoors, which is dazzling...

"Dad, you...that's all."

Zhu Zhanqi wanted to say something in his heart, but he couldn't say it.

He thought he hated him, but he didn't expect that he admired him even more. Some angry words came to his lips, but he couldn't spit them out.

"Qi'er, you're here!"

A familiar voice sounded, and Zhu Zhanqi turned around suddenly, only then did he see his mother.

However, he could not greet his mother directly because his eldest aunt, Queen Guo, was standing next to her.

"aunt……"

Zhu Zhanqi led the others to pay their respects. Guo Yan looked a little haggard at the moment. The 63-year-old girl nodded and forced a smile: "It's good to be back. Stay with your mother."

After Guo Yan finished speaking, he turned to Concubine Zhang, "Please accompany Qi'er. You two haven't seen each other for such a long time."

"Thank you, sister." Concubine Zhang thanked, then let go of the hand that was supporting Guo Yan, and walked up to chat with her son.

Concubine Zhang was concerned about how Zhu Zhanqi was doing overseas. She was not the only one. The mothers of other princes also reminisced with their sons.

Guo Yan walked past the crowd and came to the front, looking at the portrait hanging high.

"Your Highness..."

An old voice sounded, Guo Yan looked over and then bowed, "Your Highness Prince Ning."

The 67-year-old Ning Wang Zhu Quan was still in good health. When he saw Guo Yan, he couldn't help but sigh and said, "Your Majesty, please accept my condolences. I think His Majesty doesn't want you to be too sad."

"Thank you, Your Highness Prince Ning, for your comfort. I am fine."

Guo Yan never thought that her husband would leave so early. She always thought that she would go before him, but God played a joke on her.

But she would not reveal her vulnerability to outsiders, just as she would not feel neglected by Zhu Gaoxu.

She only admired Zhu Gaoxu, and she admired her man, so she always supported him.

He knows better than anyone whether he likes himself or not, but he is just not good at expressing it.

"Mom, the time has come."

Zhu Zhanhe's voice rang out, his eyes red, obviously he hadn't had a good rest in the past few days. "I've already been to the tomb to see him, he's fine, seal the tomb now."

Guo Yan nodded, but Zhu Zhanhe burst into tears and couldn't help saying, "I'll go see Dad again."

After saying that, he called Zhu Zhanqi to go and see Zhu Gaoxu for the last time.

Although it had been two months since Zhu Gaoxu's death, the food was still well preserved and the taste was not too strong because the palace had enough ice.

Watching him leave, Guo Yan didn't say anything, but just found a place to sit down.

Zhu Qiyue came to show concern for her, but she drove him away with a smile, as if she was not sad about the death of her husband.

Time passed little by little, and an hour later the tomb door was still closed as expected.

The soil of the mausoleum began to be backfilled, and the national mourning ended.

Zhu Gaoxu left a will before his death, hoping that he would be buried quickly and simply so as not to disturb the lives of the people.

However, Zhu Zhanhe still felt that his brothers overseas should come back to visit, so it was delayed for two whole months.

Perhaps this was one of the few times that Zhu Zhanhe disobeyed his father, but he felt that this disobedience was the most worthwhile.

As the national mourning came to an end, envoys from various vassal states left one after another, followed by ministers, then military heroes, and clan members.

When everyone left one after another, only Zhu Gaoxu's concubines and descendants were left in the Ming Tower.

Gradually, they left one after another, and finally only Guo Yan, Zhu Zhanhe, Zhu Qiyue and Mu were still in Ming Tower.

At this time, two figures walked into the hall from outside, one of them had a hunched back.

"Your Highness, I beg you to guard the tomb of the late emperor..."

When this old voice sounded, several people in the hall looked towards the direction where the voice came from.

Wang Tao appeared in the hall, supporting the elderly Yishiha. Although Yishiha had been suffering from illness in recent years, he still lived to be 72 years old.

Facing his request, Zhu Zhanhe's nose was sore, and he nodded immediately and said: "I will have someone build a yard for you, Yi Dadu, and you can live here."

"Thank you, Your Highness..."

Yishiha bowed slowly and then said to Zhu Zhanhe: "The late emperor does not want to see so many people sad. Besides, government affairs are important. Now that your majesty has passed away, the situation in the world is bound to change. You have to take up the responsibility."

"Yes, I know!" Zhu Zhanhe nodded while suppressing his grief, then looked at Zhu Qiyue, Guo Yan and Mu.

"Let's go back to Beijing..."

After he spoke, everyone left one after another. Yishiha also looked at Wang Tao and said, "Go ahead. Remember what I taught you. Be worldly and not worldly. Just be clear in your conscience."

"Godfather, I..." Wang Tao wanted to say something, but Yishiha shook his head.

"Go ahead. Just come and see me every year during the Zhongyuan Festival and the late emperor's mourning and death anniversary. My old bones won't fall down so easily..."

Yishiha walked unsteadily, taking one deep step and one shallow step towards the portrait at the bottom of the Ming building.

Wang Tao knelt down upon seeing this, and kowtowed three times and five times to his back, before reluctantly saying, "Godfather, I am leaving."

Yishiha did not respond to him, but walked under the portraits and looked up. He observed each portrait carefully.

He did not make any comment, but just limped to a memorial shrine in Minglou.

There was a wooden shelf and a box there. When he saw the shelf and the box, he immediately smiled and shook his head: "I know, they don't know..."

He walked forward and opened the box, revealing two sets of armor inside.

The armor was rusty and had many wounds that had never been repaired.

He picked up the armor with difficulty and put it on the wooden frame.

The armor was heavy, especially the two sets of armor. Even when placed on the wooden shelf, one could almost hear the sound of the wood failing under the weight.

"We need to find a better shelf."

Yishiha smiled bitterly and shook his head. He reached out and touched the armor, and finally shook his head.

"Your Highness, these two heavy armors can't even withstand wooden stakes, how can you wear them to fight against thousands of enemies..."

This armor was the one he replaced for Zhu Gaoxu when he was in Jilin in his early years. He kept it without repairing it and hid it away.

Now I can take it out and put it on display as a reminder.

In addition to the armor, there was also a heavy iron spear and a large bow half the size of a human.

These are his thoughts.

The sky had turned completely dark, and he was the only one in the entire Ming Building.

He sat on the ground, looking for a long time with his cloudy eyes, then he sighed and limped out of Minglou.

After he closed the doors one by one, his figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.

At the same time, Zhu Zhanhe, who returned to Beijing, also took over from his mother Guo Yan the five volumes of anonymous books that his father had spent more than ten years writing.

He returned to Chunhe Palace with the book and read it alone in a side hall all night.

The next day, when he walked out of Chunhe Palace, his whole temperament had changed a lot. The confusion he had felt after losing his backbone disappeared, and was replaced by determination.

On September 12, he offered sacrifices to heaven and earth at the Altar of Land and Grain, and then went to the Taimiao to worship his ancestors. Finally, he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in the Fengtian Hall in the presence of seventy-seven countries and vassal kings and relatives at home. He changed the reign title of the next year to "Xuan De" and named Zhu Qiyue the crown prince.

After the enthronement ceremony, all that was left for him was to choose a temple name and posthumous title for Zhu Gaoxu.

"Among the temple names, Taizhong Gaoshi is the best. Now that Emperor Taizong Wen has taken the title of Taizong, only Zhongzong, Gaozong, and Shizong are left."

In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Zhanhe, wearing the emperor's regular clothes, sat in the main seat, and next to him stood Zhu Qiyue, who became the crown prince.

In front of him, the Minister of Rites Yang Shiqi was talking.

Among the four temple names he proposed, the one that everyone liked the most was actually Taizong, but Taizong was given to Zhu Di, so they could only choose from the remaining four.

"Zhongzong is not acceptable. The temple name is to pay homage to the predecessors. Tang Zhongzong and Song Gaozong were both weak men. Only Shizong is acceptable."

Wang Hui took the initiative to fight for the temple name of Emperor Shizong for Zhu Gaoxu, which made Yang Shiqi frown and said: "Although Emperor Shizong of Jin, Emperor Shizong of Zhou, Emperor Shizong of Han, and Emperor Shizong of Shang are all good, Emperor Shizong also has many..."

Wang Hui opened his mouth and bowed to Zhu Zhanhe, saying, "The world views Emperor Wu of Han as a tyrant, but in the new school of thought, the late emperor was described as the Qin Emperor and Han Zu made the bones, Han Wu and Wei Xiaowen mounted the skin, and our Taizu reshaped it."

"I think that the temple name should be Sejong and the posthumous name should be Wu."

"To be strong and righteous is called martial; to be powerful and immoral is called martial; to conquer disasters and chaos is called martial; to punish the people and overcome them is called martial; to boast of one's ambitions and be poor is called martial."

"The late emperor should be regarded as the emperor of Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wu."

Wang Hui argued his point and quoted the middle school history content compiled by Zhu Gaoxu.

Qin Shihuang unified the country and centralized power, Liu Bang consolidated it, Emperor Wu of Han determined his ideas, Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei was selected because of his reforms in ethnic conflicts, which was in line with the direction needed for the Ming Dynasty to rule the territory in the future, and Emperor Taizu of Ming had more political attributes in his reshaping.

"Emperor Wu of the Ming Dynasty..."

Zhu Zhanhe murmured to himself, then nodded and said, "Not bad, please improve the posthumous title."

He looked at Yang Shiqi, and Yang Shiqi had no choice but to agree.

Soon, Zhu Gaoxu's complete temple name and posthumous title were drafted in the imperial edict.

Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, Qiyun, Guangyun, Liji, Renxiao, Xiangwu, Qin'an, Hongwen, Dingye, Shengwu, Emperor...

I wonder if Zhu Gaoxu would be confused after seeing this long posthumous title.

It was a pity that his confusion was of no use, because after the temple name and posthumous title were drafted, they would be announced to the whole country and posted in newspapers.

In just a few months, people all over the country knew the temple name and posthumous title of the former Emperor Hongxi. Many people simply called him Emperor Shizong Wu of the Ming Dynasty, or just Emperor Shiwu.

During this period, Zhu Zhanhe also began to formulate his own policies for the times.

In fact, after Zhu Gaoxu's death, many people could not wait to submit memorials, thinking they were smart and formulating new paths for the Ming Dynasty.

If Zhu Zhanhe was a little confused before, he is now very opinionated.

After Zhu Gaoxu's death, the national mourning expenses were not high, and the national debt accumulated in the early years was repaid early.

What he left to the Ming Dynasty were more than 124 million shi of reserve grain in the Changping Warehouse, more than 8 million taels of gold in the national treasury, and more than 68 million strings of coins.

In addition, compared with money and grain, the situation he left behind was unmatched by any previous dynasty.

The railway connects the entire Ming Dynasty except the southwest and overseas, starting from Ningbo and Dingliao in the east, to Yanran in the north, to Guangdong and Guangxi in the south, and to Hezhong in the west, with a total length of 57,425 miles.

The length of the country's canals is 124,000 miles, there are 3,624 dams, 16,214 sluice gates, more than 128,400 miles of concrete roads, and 2,624 factories...

These countless projects are the greatest wealth he left to the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Zhanhe.

He left behind a population of more than 160 million, more than 776 million mu of arable land, 820,000 regular troops, 540,000 second-line troops, and more than 3,700 newspaper offices...

It was a huge dynasty with an annual fiscal revenue of over 87 million strings of cash and occupying three-fifths of the world's territory.

Governing such a dynasty is already the limit with current communication means.

Therefore, Zhu Zhanhe did not intend to expand, but to proceed steadily according to what his father left behind.

In less than a year, he announced the successful transformation of the Southwest Burma Xuanwei Office, the Babai Dadian Xuanwei Office, and the Dagula Xuanwei Office.

The Yunnan Xingdusi was abolished and three new offices were established, namely the Nanzhong Chengxuanzhengsi, the Duzhihuisi and the Tixinganchasi. The emperor ordered the six ministries to start relocating population to Nanzhong, survey the terrain and build railways.

In addition, 120,000 military households were recruited from Nanzhili and Zhejiang to go to Hezhong, Anxi, Beiting and Mobei to consolidate the border.

Increase investment in Imperial College and improve and upgrade existing technologies.

Faced with his policies, most people are busy with their lives and only care about the policies that concern themselves.

If they find good policies related to themselves, they will applaud; if they don’t find any, they will ridicule that the emperor is not as good as Emperor Shiwu; if they are suppressed, they will secretly criticize it in their hearts.

Of course, there is also an older generation who don’t care about policies at all.

"Godfather, your son is here to see you!"

In a small courtyard at the entrance of the Tianshou Mountain Shiling Mausoleum, when a familiar voice sounded, Yishiha pushed his reading glasses.

Soon, he met Wang Tao, who came to see him with a few young eunuchs.

Seeing them carrying large and small bags, Yishiha shook his head and said, "I have all these things. Please ask someone to buy me some blank books and pens and ink later."

"Okay!" Wang Tao did not ask why he wanted to buy these, but agreed with a smile and then walked forward.

"What are you writing?" He looked at the book on the table curiously.

"Some things written in the past."

Yishiha lowered his head to blow dry the ink, then reached out to close the book, revealing the cover.

Looking at the words on the cover, Wang Tao subconsciously read them out loud.

"The Chronicle of Bohai..."

(End of the book)

(End of this chapter)