The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 625 The traces of Japanese pirates

Chief Instructor Sen Ti went to the north to pacify the restless soldiers and civilians.

There is no doubt about Dongguanzai's business ability. In this regard, this person has helped to calm public opinion more than once. He is a natural genius in public opinion warfare.

With the patient persuasion of Sen Ti and others, and mainly with the suppression of the Northern Corps, all kinds of noise gradually disappeared.

As long as the new policy is implemented smoothly, more financial and military resources will be tapped into to feed back to the North, and all opposition will collapse.

"I have said that Da Qi needs the doctrine of the mean."

After the civil unrest in Shenyang, radical representatives Jin Yinghe and Yang Tong died, and the radical forces that came to power were even more brutal.

They plan to expand polarization throughout the country, completely abolishing private property, marriage, and currency... until black flags are planted all over the world.

Liu Zhaosun expressed his understanding.

After all, these fifteen or sixteen-year-old children grew up under the long-term training of instructors and combat representatives.

"Killing is peace."

"For the honor of the Empire, I am ready to sacrifice everything."

"As long as there is breath, the battle will not stop."

"Elephants and lions are native to the Central Plains of our country. At the age of ten, the Emperor could kill a tiger with his bare hands. At the age of twelve, he conquered Japan single-handedly... Wherever the sun shines, it is our territory. The rest of the territory, as long as it is covered by moonlight, is also the former territory of the Great Qi..."

This is a common content in textbooks in various provinces...

There is no way around it. If you want to enjoy the maximum exploitation of resources by extreme politics, you must accept its backlash, including but not limited to the distortion of people's hearts and cognition.

Out of long-term considerations, Liu Zhaosun corrected the instructor's inappropriate propaganda methods, but the results were minimal.

The emperor did not dare and could not completely deny it.

After all, these have become one of the legitimacy of the rule of Da Qi. If they are completely denied, it would be a betrayal of oneself.

The emperor emeritus is responsible for the empire, even if the empire has been completely changed.

It would take a tremendous amount of time and effort to completely reverse the direction of the empire.

In other words, he needs immortality.

Thus, the ancient and eternal topic of seeking immortality was put on the agenda.

Shortly after taking control of Nanjing, the retired emperor recruited a group of Taoists from Taiyue Mountain (Wudang Mountain), Jiuhua Mountain, Laoshan Mountain, Maoshan Mountain... a total of 35 people.

Together with Master Zhang, the abbot of the Daqing Palace, the thirty-six Tiangang stars are complete.

The retired emperor would spend more than an hour every day with the Taoists in the secret room of Wenhua Palace, practicing Taoism diligently and exchanging methods of cultivation in the hope of achieving immortality.

In ancient times, immortality was the ultimate pursuit of almost all emperors.

From Qin Shi Huang to Emperor Yongzheng, every emperor who aspired to achieve great things dreamed of immortality.

This was the case with Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han Liu Che, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Emperor Shizong of the previous dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, etc. They all had a fanatical pursuit of the art of immortality.

Of course, the emperor emeritus is no exception.

Although Blind Ke predicted that the retired emperor would live as long as heaven and at least three hundred years old, considering the fortune teller's poor professional skills, at least eight, if not ten, nobles and powerful officials of the Great Qi Dynasty died under his divinations - the most famous of whom was Yuan Chonghuan, who only lived to the age of thirty-eight.

Therefore, Liu Zhaosun didn't believe that he could live to be 300 years old.

He wouldn't be stupid enough to eat the pill. That thing would make people scared even just looking at it, let alone eating it.

Gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, half of the elements in the periodic table were gathered together and stuffed into the pill.

Fortunately, the Taoists did not find uranium-23, otherwise there might have been a Nanjing version of the Wanggongchang explosion.

The emperor ordered all Taoists who advocated the pursuit of immortality through alchemy, whether internal or external, to pack up and leave.

Then most of the thirty-six celestial stars disappeared in an instant.

Finally, Master Zhang's dragon sand and prophecy attracted the attention of the emperor.

It is said that this method originated from the literati of the Ming Dynasty.

In the late Ming Dynasty, a group of scholars who were keen on becoming immortals calculated that eight hundred earthly immortals would ascend to heaven during the Wanli reign.

Everyone firmly believes that they have a share and can ascend to heaven.

So they racked their brains to find various clues, even including Toyotomi Hideyoshi from next door.

According to Master Zhang's recollection (fifty years ago), in the Jiangnan literary circle at that time, if one did not talk about the Longsha prophecy, it would be in vain to read all the poetry and books.

This group of fervent enthusiasts of the Ascension Movement included, but were not limited to, Tu Long, Wang Shizhen, Li Panlong, Feng Menglong, Feng Mengzhen, and Xu Wei (Xu Wenchang).

In the Jin Dynasty, there was a Jingyang magistrate named Xu Xun. He was revered as the ancestor of Taoism by the Taoist sect Jingming Dao in later generations. He is the Xu Zhenjun in novels such as "Journey to the West".

Xu Xun accidentally killed a dragon, allowing its son to escape. Master Xu said, twelve hundred years later, eight hundred earthly immortals will come out to quell the rebellion and kill the son of the dragon.

The contemporary vernacular novel "The Story of Yuan Liaofan Killing the Dragon" records:
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the dragon that escaped Xu Zhenjun's net. He later transformed into a human and invaded Korea. The Ming Dynasty sent Yuan Huang to fight against the Japanese and aid Korea. Tan Yangzi (daughter of Wang Xijue) saw through Toyotomi Hideyoshi's identity and asked Yuan Huang to release tens of thousands of geese into the sea to lure Toyotomi Hideyoshi into captivity...

Of course, in real history, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was not a dragon, nor was he eaten by a goose...

This grand campaign to seek immortality ultimately came to nothing.

Facts have proven that there are no earthly immortals, no ascension, and no immortality...
~~~~~
Master Zhang holds a whisk in his hand, his eyes slightly closed, and rides the wind.

"Your Majesty, Wang Fengzhou (Shizhen) misinterpreted the Longsha prophecy and tried to catch fish by climbing a tree. In the end, he achieved nothing and wasted his energy."

Liu Zhaosun asked, "Why do you say that, Master?"

Zhang Zhenren opened his eyes and looked at the emperor who was a head taller than him with a sharp gaze:
"Your Majesty, the 1,200 is just a figure of speech. It is not actually 1,200 years."

"Oh? Please teach me, sir." Liu Zhaosun said humbly.

"The Taoists say, 'One begets two, two begets three, and one thousand two hundred should be one thousand two hundred and thirty-four years.' Extrapolating from the third year of the Jiaping reign of the Jin Dynasty, it would be exactly the fifth year of the Guangde reign, three years later. 'Eight hundred' doesn't refer to eight hundred people, but rather the prophecy that whoever slays the dragon will achieve the Great Dao and be granted an eight-hundred-year lifespan."

Master Zhang walked up to the Emperor and said word by word:

"As for the Earthly Immortal, it's actually a rumor and it doesn't exist at all."

"No?" The emperor looked a little disappointed.

Master Zhang waved his whisk and wrote the words "Emperor Immortal" on the sand table.

"It is the Emperor Immortal, that is, Your Majesty."

Liu Zhaosun suddenly realized.

"I've read Ge Hong's Baopuzi: On Immortality. He says that achieving immortality can be divided into three categories: ascending to heaven, achieving immortality, and resolving the world. I believe that slaying a dragon to become an immortal must be ascending to heaven. I wonder where the dragon is now?"

Master Zhang waved his whisk and pointed to the east.

"Wakoku? Did the real person say he was in Wakoku?"

The retired emperor immediately thought of Tokugawa Iemitsu.

"Great! I've stumbled upon this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Great! If he can become an immortal, I will rebuild a golden body for Xu Zhenjun and confer him the title of Immortal Lord of our dynasty."

~~~~~~
On the sixth day of March, Sen Ti returned to Nanjing from Henan and reported the public opinion in the north to the emperor.

"Everything is under control. The Minoyi Guards have stepped up their patrols, and the people are basically stable..."

The empire only needs one voice. Too much noise will only affect the direction of progress and the cultivation of the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing."

"explain,"

"In early February, a group of Japanese pirates arrived in Dengzhou, burning, killing, and looting, killing many civilians..."

The Emperor, who was in the process of cultivating his mind, opened his eyes:

"The Longsha prophecy is true. The dragon has descended, and the Emperor Immortal has ascended! I will execute Tokugawa Iemitsu!"

The emperor's daily routine became more and more regular.

During the day, he reviewed memorials and studied the Heart Sutra with Master Zhang. At night, he went to the Cining Palace to study the mysteries with two or more concubines.

(End of this chapter)