King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 726: The minister has done his best, what more can he hope for?

There is indeed a large square in Yili City, which is one hundred meters long and seventy to eighty meters wide.

In the north of the square, there is a huge seated Buddha, which is placed on a three-meter-high lotus platform. The overall height is almost twenty meters.

Under the current construction conditions, it is not easy to build a Buddha statue so tall.

In the wide square, because the surrounding area was under complete martial law, apart from the soldiers standing guard in the distance, only Zhu Jinghong, several high-ranking generals, and dozens of guards who accompanied them were left.

Standing in front of the Buddha statue, Zhu Jinghong observed it and turned to say to everyone, "It is very different from the Buddha statues in our country!"

Ding Guanglu, the general of the Xieyong Battalion, said, "Your Highness, those who are righteous will have many supporters, while those who are unrighteous will have few. The rebels are doing evil things... Even if they build a taller Buddha statue, the gods and Buddhas in the sky will not bless them!"

Yang Longshan, the commander of the Qinghai Xingdusi, responded, "That's right. These traitors... others say it's this clay Buddha. Even if they build a golden Buddha, they can't escape destruction!"

While the others were discussing, they followed Zhu Jinghong and walked around the Buddha twice.

At this moment, a guard came running over and reported that the painter from Rakshasa Kingdom had arrived.

During the occupation of Yili, the Ming army seized a lot of spoils, including various craftsmen and, of course, painters from the Russian Empire.

These people have extremely high oil painting skills, so Zhu Jinghong summoned them to draw pictures. Just now, this group of people were going up and down the city gate, observing the grand scene when the Ming army entered the city, and they wanted to draw all these scenes.

The two painters who were recruited at this time were specifically here to paint portraits of Zhu Jinghong and others. One portrait was taken on the square, and the other was taken inside the palace.

At Zhu Jinghong's call, several generals present took their positions, and Zhu Jinghong was undoubtedly standing in the C position.

At this time, he had his hands in front of him, and compared with the generals who stood up with their chests straight, their hands on their waists, and their swords on their backs, he looked particularly humble and kind.

Everyone maintained this posture and stood there for nearly five minutes, allowing the painter to complete the basic draft. The actual painting and coloring came later.

After finishing the painting here, Zhu Jinghong led his team to the palace, and then repeated the same process outside the palace gate.

He took great pains to leave something memorable.

After finishing the painting in front of the palace, Zhu Jinghong led everyone into the palace, talking while observing the surrounding situation.

Arriving outside the so-called main hall deep in the palace, looking at the palace on the steps in front, Zhu Jinghong asked: "Everyone, I'm afraid there are not many people who have fought here in the past thousands of years!"

There are indeed not many people, but if you really want to talk about it in detail, there are probably a few.

However, the few people present assessed the situation and realized that bringing up the issue now would only cause trouble, so they all started praising Zhu Jinghong.

"Your Highness is able to plan and win battles thousands of miles away. Throughout history... no one can match him!"

"Even the champion marquis of the Han Dynasty was far inferior to Your Highness!"

Amidst the cheers and applause, Zhu Jinghong and his entourage had already climbed the stairs, and the palace gate was now completely open.

At first glance, it gives people a very messy feeling, with various objects and decorations scattered inside, which fits the atmosphere of a defeated country.

Everyone followed Zhu Jinghong into the hall. The magnificent decorations inside were truly an eye-opener.

It’s a pity that due to the coup, some decorative objects were knocked down and some valuable items were taken away, otherwise it would have been a different scene.

"Your Highness, there is a painting on the ground!"

After hearing the reminder, Zhu Jinghong looked over and saw that there was indeed a painting on the ground, and it was partially opened.

There shouldn't be such a scroll in this place. Zhu Jinghong guessed that someone wanted to take it away and it dropped on the ground in a panic.

Seeing that Zhu Jinghong was interested in the painting, the general Geng Zonggui who was speaking quickly picked up the painting, and then Shi Qian stepped forward to cooperate with him to open the scroll.

Zhu Jinghong originally thought it was an authentic ancient painting and thought he had found a bargain today, but when he took a closer look, he discovered that it was made by a modern artist.

The painting style is that of an ancient Ming Dynasty painting. The content shows a man in Dzungar clothing standing on the top of the city wall. He stands firm in the face of the wind and snow, holding his sword and gazing at the snow-capped mountains in the distance. A solemn and murderous aura blows towards him.

"Your Highness... here is another poem!" Wang Ziteng squeezed over and said.

The handwriting was a little sloppy, and Zhu Jinghong was afraid that he had read it wrong, so he stepped back and asked, "Read it to me!"

Wang Ziteng read it once and found it difficult to identify, but he still read it out: "Go east... defeat the evil... Ming..."

After reading the last word, Wang Ziteng was startled and looked at Zhu Jinghong beside him. Seeing that he was unmoved, he felt relieved.

After secretly cursing Agula as a bastard, Wang Ziteng continued, "Win or lose, no regrets..."

"The snowy mountains are cold through the ages, yet they are moist... the courage of a hero!"

"The signature is... I can't recognize it, but considering the tone of the poem, I think it belongs to the traitor Agula!" Wang Ziteng said trying hard to hide his embarrassment.

He moved closer, scanned the entire picture, and then said, "Heroic courage... and unique, full of romanticism!"

At this time, no matter what Zhu Jinghong said, everyone would just agree with him, which was in line with their usual style.

"Your Highness, this is a rebellious poem and should be destroyed!" Yang Longshan suggested.

Zhu Jinghong smiled and said, "No need...Zhungar is almost gone, why should we be afraid of a piece of paper from him?"

"Have someone collect it. I'll take it back... and show it to the old man!"

The enemy has been defeated. The louder they clamored before, the more powerful we are.

Geng Zonggui put away the scroll. At this time, Shi Qian asked, "Your Highness... tomorrow night's celebration banquet will be held here?"

"This place is spacious, let's decide here!" Zhu Jinghong made the decision.

How can we not hold a celebration banquet after achieving such a great victory? The entire army has been waiting for this day.

Of course it’s not for the feast, but the rewards will be given according to the merits after the celebration banquet, which is what everyone cares about most.

While touring, Zhu Jinghong was visiting with everyone else. At this time, someone reported that the nobles of Dzungar were coming to pay a visit.

In fact, during this period, all the nobles of Junggar, both big and small, wanted to meet Zhu Jinghong.

The guilty hoped to be acquitted, the ambitious wanted to seize power, and the less ambitious also wanted to gain a position in the new dynasty.

Zhu Jinghong had long ago asked for imperial decree on how to deal with the Dzungar Khanate, and the emperor had already approved the decision many times on how to deal with it.

First, the Anxi Xingdusi was to be moved to Jinghe, and part of its original jurisdiction was handed over to the Anbei Xingdusi.

Secondly, Dzungar will be split up, probably into five or six kingdoms, two to the north of the Tianshan Mountains and three to four small kingdoms to the south.

Zhu Jinghong had no intention of concealing this news. After the Junggar nobles learned about it, they would naturally become active.

There is a general plan on how to dismantle Zhu Xianming's title, but the details still need to be implemented by Zhu Jinghong, so those Junggars will come to curry favor with him.

Zhu Jinghong did not meet these people, and he had no plans to meet them in the next half month. Instead, he wanted to get to know them more clearly before summoning these people for questioning individually.

After touring the palace, Zhu Jinghong left the city and still chose to live in the military camp. This made it convenient for him to handle his own affairs. After all, the command posts of various guards were outside the city.

In the blink of an eye, another day has passed and it is September 24th. Today is the day for the celebration banquet.

According to Zhu Jinghong's request, all the imperial guards with the rank of deputy captain and above, the Beijing camp captain and above, and the commanders of each guard and above can participate in this celebration banquet.

In addition, officers and even soldiers who have made significant contributions were given fifty and one hundred places respectively.

That’s right, even the most ordinary soldiers can attend the banquet with one hundred people. Zhu Jinghong really took everything into consideration.

The sun was setting. After finishing a day's affairs, Zhu Jinghong changed into his prince's robe at Nuomin's reminder.

Zhu Jinghong got on the carriage and went to Yili City under the escort of a large number of guards.

Wherever they passed along the route, soldiers were on guard and the area was cleared and martial law was imposed an hour in advance.

About ten minutes later, Zhu Jinghong arrived outside the palace.

At this time, all the generals and soldiers who were going to participate in the banquet had already arrived in advance and were waiting. At this moment, everyone was in the palace, and only a few senior generals came out to greet them.

Others also wanted to come out to greet them, but that would certainly make the scene very chaotic, so Zhu Jinghong gave instructions in advance and only allowed Wang Ziteng and a few others to come out to greet them.

"Welcome Your Highness!"

"Ok!"

Zhu Jinghong responded, then jumped off the carriage, took off the Yishan crown on his head, and handed it to Liu Cheng who was following behind him. "You all came early, are all the people here?" Zhu Jinghong asked with a smile, and walked forward.

Yang Longshan was the most experienced, so he stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, everyone is here, and we are all looking forward to your coming to start the banquet!"

Walking closer to the crowd, Zhu Jinghong said with a smile: "General Yang, what you said... is to blame me for being late!"

"How dare I!" Yang Longshan replied.

Then, surrounded by his generals, Zhu Jinghong walked into the palace.

The soldiers on guard along the way all saluted and greeted each other, saying words like "Greetings to Your Highness", "May Your Highness be well", and "Long Live Your Highness".

Soon, Zhu Jinghong and his entourage arrived outside the main hall. Dozens of banquet tables had been set up in the square outside the hall, and the junior officers and soldiers who were participating in the banquet were there.

In order to welcome Zhu Jinghong, these people had been divided into two sides in advance, and when Zhu Jinghong appeared, they all performed great rituals and paid homage to him.

Standing at the palace gate and looking forward, he saw the people along the way who were coming to greet him from the steps down to the hall, all of them had respectful and enthusiastic looks on their faces.

With a calm expression, Zhu Jinghong slowly walked through the crowd. At this moment, the sound of worship continued, even though Zhu Jinghong had asked them to move away.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

"Your Majesty, good luck..."

"Good night, Your Highness..."

Hearing these words, Zhu Jinghong smiled slightly and nodded from time to time.

If he had not experienced so many things, it would have been difficult for him to calm down these murderous generals and soldiers. Simply walking under their gaze would have been a difficult task in itself.

A man like him, who can walk leisurely in the garden, is the only one in the world who can be his emperor.

After passing through the "Imperial Road" outside and entering the main hall, the official ranks of the people inside are higher, starting at the level of guard commander.

Of course, Mongolian, Jurchen, and Tibetan generals of sufficient rank were also invited to join others in welcoming Zhu Jinghong's arrival.

The atmosphere inside and outside was so warm that it is hard to describe.

Wherever Zhu Jinghong went, there would be cheers, and everyone was expressing their joy of a great victory. This battle would be a topic of conversation that everyone would never forget.

Along the way, Zhu Jinghong saw Hou Jing, Wang Jie, Shi Chong, and even Li Chengyong. In response to their greetings, he waved.

Finally, after passing all the crowds that were warmly welcoming him, Zhu Jinghong came to the main seat in the north of the hall, where his table had been set up.

Except for him, all the military generals from the third rank and above in the palace enjoyed a separate table, while the rest of the generals sat at a table of four.

After signaling everyone to take a seat, Zhu Jinghong sat down in his seat, and at this moment Yang Longshan stood up.

He was the host of today's banquet, and he shouted to everyone: "Everyone stand up!"

Everyone who had just sat down stood up again and lined up according to their ranks.

"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you!"

A formal salute was a procedural courtesy. Everyone was in high spirits at this moment and shouted out what they had just said again.

"Everyone please stand up and take a seat!"

After everyone was seated, Zhu Jinghong picked up the glass on the table and poured dark red wine into it.

He stood up and walked to the table. Seeing someone was about to stand up, Zhu Jinghong gestured for him to sit down.

"Everyone... it is thanks to the great blessing of His Majesty and the dedication of our soldiers that we have today's great victory!"

Holding his glass high, Zhu Jinghong said proudly: "Gentlemen... Cheers to the great victory over the enemy!"

He got straight to the point with one sentence. Everyone smiled and stood up and raised their glasses to toast Zhu Jinghong.

"cheers!"

Everyone drank it all in one gulp, and then Zhu Jinghong returned to his seat and waved for everyone to take a seat.

With this first glass of wine, the celebration banquet officially began.

After drinking three cups in a row, everyone began to let loose and toasted each other.

Of course, it is not just flattery. After six months of continuous fighting, many people have developed deep friendships with each other, and they took this opportunity tonight to recall the difficulties of the past.

But the one who received the most toasts was Zhu Jinghong, who was in a higher position. They came one after another.

Fortunately, there were several staff officers accompanying him, who blocked a lot of alcohol for him so that he didn't get too embarrassed.

When the banquet was in full swing, there were songs and dances to liven up the atmosphere, pushing it to a climax.
Amid the noise, Shi Chong, Hou Jing and Wang Jie came to Zhu Jinghong and toasted him again.

These three were his trusted generals, so Zhu Jinghong naturally drank with them and had a very pleasant conversation.

The three of them drank but did not leave in a hurry. Instead, they surrounded Zhu Jinghong and talked about the previous battles. Thinking back on it now, they still find it incredible.

As he listened and nodded, the smile on Zhu Jinghong's face never disappeared.

"Okay, okay, my ears hurt from listening to you, go down, go down!" Zhu Jinghong waved his hand.

Only after he made it clear did the three of them leave.

After a pause, when the singing and dancing were at their most lively, Zhu Jinghong stood up, walked across the desk, picked up the wine glass, and stood on the steps.

Seeing that Zhu Jinghong had something to say, the people who saw it immediately reminded their companions. Soon the scene became quiet and everyone faced the upper position.

As for the dancer in the center of the hall, she had been driven away by the nearby generals.

Thinking about the words he had prepared long ago, Zhu Jinghong said solemnly: "I... am a stupid person, but fortunately I was born into an imperial family!"

"When I grew up, I entered the Imperial Academy to study, but I found that I was not cut out for it. I only liked to wield swords and sticks..."

This is an old story. A large number of the generals present were from the Dragon Guards and could be considered Zhu Jinghong's playmates. They all smiled when they heard this.

Of course, they also had doubts. Why was Zhu Jinghong talking about what happened in his youth at this time?
"That day I thought that since I have enjoyed such a high status, I should not waste it. I will travel in spring and summer, hunt in autumn and winter... I will live a happy life and enjoy peace!"

It may seem a bit strange to talk about your childhood thoughts at this time. Smart people have realized that things are not simple.

Slowly walking down the steps and arriving at the center of the hall, Zhu Jinghong raised his glass and looked around at everyone: "Come... drink!"

Everyone drank it all in one gulp and then looked at Zhu Jinghong again.

Handing the wine glass to Liu Cheng, Zhu Jinghong continued, "In the tenth year of Zhengtong, I followed the crown prince to Nanjing. We encountered the suppression of the Japanese pirates and were unable to move forward. So the crown prince ordered me to lead the army... and I defeated the Japanese pirates in one battle!"

Looking at the night scene of the hall, Zhu Jinghong said with a sad face: "My original wish was to have the words "Tomb of the late King Xi of the Ming Dynasty" written on my tombstone after my death!"

People in the world avoid talking about life and death, but Zhu Jinghong talked about his own "death" at this time, and even said the so-called posthumous title, which was "Xi". Everyone present had to admire his unrestrained and uninhibited attitude.

Of course, if an ordinary person said this, it would definitely be considered as a waste of money.

At this moment, Zhu Jinghong changed the subject and said solemnly: "However, since the suppression of the Japanese pirates... the emperor ordered me to participate in the military affairs!"

"Build guns and cannons, train new troops, pacify the northwest, conquer Korea, and defeat the Western barbarians..."

"Until now, we have traveled thousands of miles, defeated eight nations... and entered the city of Yili!"

Just three short sentences, but it is a magnificent experience that is difficult to replicate. It can even be said that looking at the past and present, it is difficult to find a few people who can match it.

After the speech reached its climax, Zhu Jinghong raised his glass again, looked around at everyone and said: "Now, the achievements of the ministers have reached the peak, what else can we hope for?"

At this moment, everyone looked at Zhu Jinghong in the center of the hall and felt that he was such a hero. They thought that such a person was a natural king.

After drinking with everyone, Zhu Jinghong turned around and returned to his seat. After sitting down, he gestured for everyone to return to their seats again.

"After this war, I will return to my original intention, live a stable life, and enjoy peace..."

With his hands clasped together, Zhu Jinghong said solemnly: "The future safety of the Ming Dynasty depends entirely on you!"

(End of this chapter)