Jiajing Chengming

The next day at 3:30 pm, at the grand parade ground in the capital.

The warm sunshine of March in the seventh year of the Jiajing reign spread golden light all over the parade ground, but the wind was still a little chilly for Jinang.

In particular, the knife wound on his thigh looked as if someone was tearing it open with his hands after the chilly spring breeze blew.

Jinang, who was sweating profusely, had difficulty walking. He walked like a lame man, gritting his teeth and half-drag- ing .

That's right!

He failed again.

When he was competing with Tang Shunzhi in swordsmanship, Tang Shunzhi only stabbed his thigh once in ten rounds.

Moreover, he himself clearly remembered that Tang Shunzhi originally wanted to cut off his offspring directly, but in the end he held back and only scratched his thigh.

Jinang was naturally very grateful for Tang Shunzhi's mercy, but he also frankly admitted defeat.

As a result, he was extremely depressed.

But what made him even more depressed was that he lost to Tang Shunzhi in the following horse riding and archery competition.

This made Jinang doubt his life even more.

Is this the new Jinshi of Ming Dynasty?
Isn’t it said that scholars in the Ming Dynasty would pant when they walked, so they often rode in sedan chairs?

"Sing and dance!"

"Sing and dance!"

"Sing and dance!"

……

Just when Jinang was losing to Tang Shunzhi in horseback archery, many young officials in the training ground began to shout excitedly.

Because they all knew that Jinang had made a bet in front of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty that as long as he lost to any minister of Ming Dynasty in a duel, he would be willing to dance for the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.

Listening to the excited shouts rising one after another on the parade ground like waves crashing against the shore, Jinang felt extremely angry and frustrated.

He couldn't help but clenched his fists.

But at the same time, Jinang had to accept this, so he gritted his teeth and reported to the Minister of War Li Chengxun and Governor Guo Xun who were in charge of the matter:

"I would like to sing and dance for His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty!"

In fact, Li Chengxun and Guo Xun were no less surprised than Jinang.

Because they didn't expect that Tang Shunzhi, appointed by the emperor, would be so powerful.

Moreover, what surprised Li Chengxun and Guo Xun even more than Jinang was that this person was the first in the Wen'en examination.

Even the Prime Minister Yang Yiqing was equally surprised.

When he learned that Tang Shunzhi had defeated Jinang in the archery competition by hitting the target with three pulls of the tiger-power bow, he was greatly surprised and could not believe it was true. What was even more unbelievable was that this was just a new Jinshi randomly selected by the emperor.

This made Yang Yiqing's expression when he looked at Jiajing in the imperial study appear a little strange.

He couldn't help but start thinking, this is really because the emperor worked hard to make the Ming Dynasty really begin to enter a period of revival and prosperity, so there are such outstanding all-rounders among the newly selected Jinshi?
Or has the emperor's control over the entire world reached a level that he cannot even imagine?
Not only did he have ears and eyes throughout the world, he also knew where the gold and silver mines were. He also intentionally cultivated all-round talents among the new scholars after he ascended the throne?

Thinking of this, Yang Yiqing suddenly understood why Tang Shunzhong chose to reject him as his prime minister when he decided to recruit him to be his disciple after he ranked first in the imperial examination.

"It turns out that Tang Shunzhi has long been a member of the imperial party and is a confidant that Your Majesty has selected and cultivated long ago!"

This made Yang Yiqing start to regret that he was taking revenge on Tang Shunzhi by not letting him rank among the top three in the palace examination because Tang Shunzhi refused to become his disciple.

After all, anyone who offends His Majesty will inevitably make His Majesty displeased.

Yang Yiqing was therefore even more convinced as to why the emperor had repeatedly reminded himself and Zhang Cong not to use the tactics of rectifying the party and attacking dissidents.

It's just that he has long been aware of what these people are doing.

Zhu Houcong was quite surprised to see Yang Yiqing secretly glancing at him, so he asked Yang Yiqing: "Why are you staring at me? What's on my face?"

"Your Majesty, there is nothing wrong with your expression. It's just that this martial arts competition has made me even more in awe of Your Majesty. I am also more certain that Your Majesty is truly a sage king who can rival Yao and Shun!"

"So, I can't help but want to take a few more glances at Your Majesty to see what makes Your Majesty so outstanding in appearance."

Yang Yiqing, who felt a chill on his back, smiled awkwardly and replied.

Zhu Houcong just smiled faintly and said, "If you want to see more, I can give you a portrait of me in the future."

"In that case, I would like to thank Your Majesty in advance."

Yang Yiqing hurriedly bowed in reply.

At this time, Zhu Houcong said: "Let's talk about business."

"Yes!"

Yang Yiqing responded and said, "Your Majesty, in this competition, Jinang has admitted defeat and expressed his willingness to sing and dance for Your Majesty. I wonder if Your Majesty would like to summon him to sing and dance for Your Majesty now?"

"No need!"

"When I review the imperial guards who are about to leave the capital for Datong, I will have him sing and dance for me on the parade ground."

Zhu Houcong said.

"Yes!"

Regarding the fact that Tang Shunzhi was able to defeat Jinang.

Zhu Houcong himself was not surprised.

Because Tang Shunzhi was a famous martial arts master in history, Zhu Houcong just calmly made arrangements for the next thing.

Zhu Houcong wanted Jinang to sing and dance for him on the parade ground when he was reviewing his personal guards, so that Jinang could see that he, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, still had a large number of powerful troops and was not an ordinary conservative emperor who could be threatened at will.

Every time his personal guards went out to fight, Zhu Houcong would review them to let his personal guards know of his existence and that he was their real commander.

This time, sending the personal guards to Datong was no exception.

Two days later, it was the day when Zhu Houcong reviewed his personal guards who were about to go to war.

Zhu Houcong also changed into a purple and gold suit, rode a tall horse, and came to the parade ground under the protection of the red-armored general.

At this time, on the parade ground, the imperial guards who were ordered to go to war had already stood in neat rows. Rows of square formations, like smooth, reflective mirrors with dark red backgrounds, were spread out on the parade ground. The moment Zhu Houcong appeared, they all had bright eyes and stern expressions.

Jinang, who also came to the training ground, also saw this scene.

He could tell from the mental state of these personal guards that this was a powerful force.

This forced him to admit that the Ming Dynasty's military strength did not seem to have become weaker, especially the emperor's personal troops.

dong dong!

dong dong!

When Zhu Houcong rode on horseback and began to review the troops, war drums sounded like thunder.

As a result, everyone present had their hearts pounding, and their eyes turned toward Zhu Houcong with even more passion, or even tears, as if at this moment, their Great Ming Emperor was even more heroic, more worthy of their loyalty, and even more willing to sacrifice their lives for him.

Don't underestimate the collective effect produced by the emperor's personal inspection. In this era when most people have been taught to be loyal and filial since childhood, the fact that the emperor, who is busy with all kinds of affairs, can take the time to show up is already the greatest encouragement to many officers and soldiers.

One of the reasons why many emperors of the Ming Dynasty lost their military power was that most of the time, the emperor was too lazy to even show up to see his officers and soldiers. Naturally, this led to the loss of military power, causing many officers and soldiers to not know the emperor but only get used to their superiors.

Zhu Houcong, riding a tall horse, also had a solemn expression on his face as he walked towards these personal guards.

And the moment the drums stopped beating, Zhu Houcong clenched his right hand into a fist, placed it on the armor on his chest, and shouted loudly:
"The Ming army is mighty!"

"Long live your Majesty!"

The royal guards followed suit.

The roar of the mountains is like a tsunami.

Jinang was so shocked that his face turned pale.

"The Ming army is mighty!"

"Long live your Majesty!"

Then Zhu Houcong shouted again, and the personal guards responded again.

Jinang also began to feel fear for the young emperor in front of him as he heard the shouts.

He believed that as long as the emperor was willing, letting this mighty army before him to conquer his grassland tribes would be a disaster no less than a heavy snowstorm for his grassland tribes.

At this moment, he seemed to think of the legendary Yulin Army under the command of Emperor Wu of Han, and also seemed to think of the three major camps under the command of Emperor Taizong of Ming.

He had been imprisoned in the imperial prison before, and he didn't know how the emperor in front of him could do anything.

In fact, he knew from some Han people who defected to his tribe that the financial resources of the Ming Empire made it difficult to balance military and people's livelihood. If he wanted to prevent the country from being plagued by banditry and refugee uprisings, he would have to sacrifice military strength.

But what he didn't expect was that the emperor before him, whose reign was named Jiajing, was actually maintaining a powerful imperial army while bringing peace to the world.

He couldn't help but start to worry about his younger brother Altan.

He felt that his brother might have underestimated the new Ming emperor just like he did, and underestimated his outstanding ability in governing the country.

However, he was not clear about how the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty solved the financial difficulties of the Ming Empire and achieved the goal of enriching the country and strengthening the military while ensuring national peace.

"Let him sing and dance!"

After Zhu Houcong returned to the reviewing platform and gave his orders, Jinang, with such doubts in his mind, danced his own grassland dance and sang his grassland song in front of the Ming emperor in military uniform.

Although Jinang's singing skills were not excellent and his dancing was not graceful, he was the former prince Bu Dayan Khan after all, so his dancing and singing in front of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had extraordinary significance.

And Jinang also sang and danced very devoutly, without any perfunctoriness.

Because, at this moment, he no longer had any dissatisfaction with the Ming Emperor in front of him.

Now, he only hoped that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would bring more mercy rather than war to their grassland because of his piety.

Zhu Houcong watched Jinang singing and dancing for him with satisfaction.

This feeling was even more exciting than watching the dancers at court banquets.

The same goes for ministers.

It had been a long time since they had seen the Mongol nobles so humbly singing and dancing in front of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

And many of them have already started to shed tears.

Because they thought of the Han and Tang dynasties, the times of Hongwu and Yongle, and those prosperous times when the country was strong and the people were proud.

The officers and soldiers of the imperial guards surrounding him were also attracted by Jinang's clumsy dance moves and unpleasant and loud singing, which gave them more courage.

After all, the dignified grassland noble Jinang was already singing and dancing in front of his majesty with fear, so what should the other Tartars be afraid of?

After singing and dancing, Jinang was sweating and gasping for breath.

But he did not choose to leave to rest, but knelt down again to Zhu Houcong: "Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Jinang has finished singing and dancing for you!" (End of this chapter)