I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 707 I have nothing to do and write a side story ()
Fengtian Temple.

Zhu Boxi was summoning his nine-member cabinet to hold a small meeting in the palace.

"The late emperor has decreed that he should be cremated after his death, and there is no need to be buried in the Purple Mountain Mausoleum. The ashes will be burned and cast into bronze statues of twelve golden figures, and they will be stationed in overseas borders to forever guard our territory of the Ming Dynasty."

Wang Yuan, the chief minister of the cabinet, held an edict in his hand. This was the last edict of the late emperor (Zhu Yijiong) taken from the plaque in Fengtian Hall.

After he finished reading, all the ministers in the cabinet looked at each other, and several old people couldn't help but sigh secretly.

As expected, the Supreme Emperor is still messing around!

Zhu Yijiong had been delaying the construction of the imperial mausoleum since the site selection for the imperial mausoleum many years ago, and the ministers had a bad feeling in their hearts.

Now, they are waiting for them here. Even the bronze statues of the twelve golden figures in the edict have been written down where they will be stationed.

There are Xiyu, Mobei, Uzang, Monan (including Yunzhong), Heilongjiang (including Ezo and Kuwu), Luzon, Bangladesh, Yecheng, Boxu (San Francisco), Honolulu, Guangnan, and the Eight Hundred Army The state capital has a total of exactly twelve pieces of land.

After a while, Lin Jingyu, the newly promoted deputy assistant, took the lead in objecting: "Although cremation is a custom in Zhejiang, Fujian and Taiwan, the former emperor was the emperor and the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Guangwu, and it was a legacy. How can he be cremated hastily? So, is it possible? Is there any remains of the emperor’s body? The body of the late emperor should still be buried in accordance with the rites and should not be neglected.”

But after the cremation is over, the golden figures need to be cast and sent to the Governor's Mansion of the Twelve Dusi. How is this different from crushing the bones and raising ashes?

Chen Hongmou laughed angrily: "Confucius said: A man cannot stand without faith, an industry cannot prosper without faith, and a country will decline without faith. If your majesty does not obey the will of the late emperor, doesn't it mean that you have no faith in the country? Since you are the second minister of the country, but you are By repeatedly obstructing the late emperor’s orders, could he be acting like a disloyal minister?”

Zhu Boxi had a headache. Emotionally, he didn't want to burn his father. Although his father was from Fujian, cremation was also a traditional custom in Fujian.

Zhu Boqi thought for a long time and looked at Wang Yuan: "Does Mr. Wangge have anything to say?"

But what Chen Hongmou said was right. The imperial edict had been announced to the world before, and his father even stated in it that if the new emperor did not comply with the edict, he could be deposed and establish a new emperor. If the ministers did not comply, they would be directly Dismissed from office and exiled.

This hat was a bit too big. Zhu Boqi rubbed the tip of his nose and hurriedly said to smooth things over: "You are all important ministers of the country. Don't slander each other like this."

But Lin Jingyu insisted on his opinion: "Burning the dragon body of the late emperor is inconsistent with etiquette. It is the last edict of the late emperor, and ministers should also remonstrate with it!"

"Resisting and disobeying orders is not the courtesy of a minister." Chen Hongmou said angrily.

Lin Jingyu frowned: "How dignified is the emperor's cremation?"

Chen Hongmou knelt on the ground, held the wat tablet in his hands and asked for orders: "I ask your majesty to obey the late emperor's orders!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he was sternly refuted by Chen Hongmou, who was newly promoted to the cabinet: "The late emperor's edict must be obeyed."

Lin Jingyu said: "By burning the late emperor's body, wouldn't it make His Majesty bear the reputation of being unfilial?"

Seeing the situation, Liu Tongxun also knelt down and asked for orders: "Your Majesty, please obey the late emperor's order."

As for Liu Tongxun, he had more on his mind. He was already quite old, already in his fifties. After finally being promoted to the cabinet, he naturally had to do some big things to deepen the impression of the new emperor.

Chen Hongmou was a stubborn donkey who had his own political ethics. For him, the late emperor promoted him and entrusted him with important responsibilities, so he naturally had to uphold the late emperor's legacy.

Wang Yuan took a step forward: "You must not disobey the late emperor's edict. Failure to comply is disloyal. However, it is indeed difficult to comply with etiquette... But everything is still decided by His Majesty."

Yes, saying it means not saying it.

Wang Yuan is already quite young this year, and being the first assistant is just for fun, and he can balance the factions in the cabinet for the new emperor, so he can make peace with him as long as he can. Zhu Boqi thought about it and decided to speak it out at the court meeting. As a result, the civil servants and generals had different opinions on it, and there were even internal differences, and several opinions were put forward.

In the end, after a whole day of deliberation, no solution was reached.

It should be said that no one wants to bear the responsibility of disobeying the decree.

Although Zhu Yijiong has passed away for several months, the shadow he left behind will always hang over the heads of the new dynasty's monarchs and ministers.

While the court was noisy about this, the people's spontaneous sacrifices in Nanjing City had already begun.

The whole city was filled with the smell of salted fish and roasted sweet potatoes. Because it is said that the late emperor liked to eat salted fish and roasted sweet potatoes, so the people of Nanjing and the nearby fishing boats got a lot of salted fish and sweet potatoes, and some grain melons. Fruit and other things, they directly set up sacrifices in the city.

All the wealthy young men in the city dared not speak out. After all, this was a sacrifice to the late emperor. Anyone who dared to say a bad word might be caught by the all-pervasive Jin Yiwei.

Zhu Boqi, who was in the imperial city, also received a submission from Yingtian Fuyin, requesting the imperial court to issue an order to control the proliferation of salted fish and sweet potatoes in Nanjing (otherwise he would not dare).

He seemed to suddenly understand something. After pondering for a moment, he immediately called the female official: "Call some cabinet ministers to come to the palace to discuss matters."

The nine cabinet members soon arrived at the Huagai Hall.

Zhu Boqi said: "I declare that the people do not have to do this. The late emperor has a decree not to disturb the people too much. It also tells the people not to be so extravagant and wasteful. It is the best sacrifice to the late emperor to keep more food for their own consumption." ”

"According to the order."

The cabinet ministers responded with their hands raised.

Zhu Boqi added: "When the people have finished their sacrifices, let's cremate the remains according to the emperor's decree and cast them into bronze statues of twelve golden figures! Then cast a separate bronze statue in Zijin Mountain for the people to use for sacrifices."

On the other side, the Great Baoen Temple in the outer city of Nanjing.

Frank, the French envoy of the Honglu Temple Pavilion, came to China again after many years.

There are never permanent enemies between countries, only eternal interests, just like the new queen of Tsarist Russia who can put aside her past resentment and come to negotiate peace with China with a shameful face and ask for the resumption of trade.

France in Europe has gradually become aware of the threat from the British. They have also begun to strive to restore Sino-French relations, at least not to continue to be hostile, thereby curbing the development of the British in the Far East, and absorbing China's colonial power in Yinzhou to jointly fight against the British colonization. strength.

Frank has seen the "grand occasion" in Nanjing these days, and he couldn't help but feel a lot in his heart. He wrote a letter to his king: "After many years, I have returned to the land of China. It is a pity that the kind man The great, wise and wise Emperor of China passed away in his capital in December last year. The Emperor of China was extremely loved by his subjects. Many villagers near the capital spontaneously went to the capital to mourn him... …”

"Moreover, it is said that this is not all. There are more subjects across the country. They cannot make it to the capital, so they can only mourn their emperor on the spot. This emperor is also great. He has even anticipated that the subjects He expressed his condolences and left an order in advance so that his subjects would not be too sad. He also ordered his successor not to disturb the people or use the country's finances because of his funeral..."

"No, what I said may not be right. The Great Emperor of China didn't even have his own funeral. He chose to have his body cremated and made into twelve statues. They were placed in twelve frontier colonies of the empire for the empire's The subjects bowed their heads and worshiped, this is such a great and broad mind..."

At the end of writing, Frank himself added in his heart: 'When I return to France, I will definitely write this as a heroic biography and record the great life of the great emperor of China. He will definitely be sought after by the French people and will definitely sell well! '

The spontaneous condolence activities carried out by the people of Nanjing really shocked the envoys from various countries who stayed in the Dabaoen Temple Pavilion.

Even France, the European hegemon, has never seen the death of a king, and the people spontaneously went to pay tribute.

What a prestige this is, and the people’s wishes are completely exaggerated!

(End of this chapter)