Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 65

time flies.

Six more days have passed since Zhu Di succeeded to the throne in front of Lingqian.

Near noon, the sun was shining brightly.

It was extremely hot and muggy in the Jinling Palace in May, like a big steamer.

Zhu Di raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, walked to the altar table, turned his back to Zhu Yuanzhang's memorial tablet, faced the civil and military officials kneeling in the mourning hall, and said something first.

"My imperial examination has left a testament, requesting that the funeral ceremony be simple. All the subjects in the world will weep for three days before they surrender. There is no need to marry."

Then he changed the topic and asked: "I want to be buried as soon as possible for the imperial examination. What do the ministers think?"

Zhu Di, who had been at the funeral for seven days, decided to bury Zhu Yuanzhang in Xiaoling as soon as possible.

Generally speaking, after the death of emperors of all dynasties, they had to stay in the palace for nearly a month. This period of time was called the Daxing Emperor, and during the period of the funeral, complicated funeral ceremonies were held.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang's edict required a simple funeral, he was the founder of the Ming Dynasty after all, so Zhu Di especially wanted to hold a "big funeral" for Zhu Yuanzhang in accordance with the etiquette stipulated in the "Ming Huidian".

According to the "Ming Huidian", the emperor's funeral is called a "big funeral", and the specific process is as follows.

"First, the emperor's will was read out, and then all matters were arranged. All officials from the five and six departments in Beijing, after hearing the funeral, changed their plain clothes, wore black gauze hats and black horns, went to the inner palace to hear the promulgation of the will, and stayed in their own yamen. , and will be eliminated after serving filial piety on the 27th.”

"On the fourth day, the woman is ordered to put on mourning clothes and come in tears from the Xihua Gate. She is not allowed to wear gold or silver jewelry. The kings, princes, princes, princesses, princesses, princesses, envoys, palace servants, etc., all wear mourning clothes for three years. , starting from the fourth day of mourning, and ending on the 27th month, everyone wears a black gauze hat and a black horn belt when attending court, and when leaving the court, they wear the same uniform."

"Foreign civil and military officials, starting from the day of hearing the funeral, should wear plain black gauze hats and black horn belts, perform four salutes, kneel down to listen to the reading, express condolences, and then perform four more salutes. They will be beheaded and submit to their own yamen to rest for the night. They will not drink alcohol or eat meat. . Both men and women of the army and civilians will be in plain clothes for thirteen days. For music and sacrifices, officials, soldiers and civilians will stop for a hundred days, men and women will get married, officials will stop for a hundred days, and soldiers and civilians will stop for one month. The capital will start from the day of mourning, and temples and temples will ring thirty thousand bells. , ban on slaughtering for 49 days.”

"All the artifacts of the Migration Department, the Department of Internal Affairs, and the Supervisory Office were built according to the names of the ceremonial books (ceremonial guards) used by Emperor Daxing during his lifetime. After the 27th, the successor emperor came to the court in plain clothes and linen, and retired from the court. Still humbled."

After the above process is completed, the final step is to "initiate", that is, the coffin of Emperor Daxing will be taken out of the mourning hall and sent to the cemetery for burial.

However, if the funeral ceremony is completed according to the procedures stipulated in the "Ming Huidian", it will take at least one month.

If Zhu Yuanzhang died in winter, it would be no problem for the body to be stored for a month or two.

But now it is May, and the weather is extremely hot. Because Jinling City is close to the Yangtze River and the East China Sea, the air humidity in the city is extremely high, and microorganisms reproduce very quickly.

Although officials from the Ministry of Industry had already taken out the stored ice cubes from the cellar to cool Zhu Yuanzhang's body, the effect was not ideal.

Just three days later, Zhu Yuanzhang's body began to smell. By the fifth day, it had begun to deteriorate.

If it continues to be left like this, Zhu Yuanzhang's body will definitely suffer more serious damage.

Although many officials kneeling in the mourning hall understood this truth, they could not figure out Qingjun's intention for the moment and did not dare to say anything.

"Zheng Shangshu, what do you think?"

Zhu Di's eyes fell on Zheng Yi, the Minister of Rites, and he asked by name.

Although Zheng Yi knelt without raising his head, he knew that Zhu Di was asking him, because he was the only one among the six ministers named Zheng.But he was also helpless. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was the founder of the Ming Dynasty, and the funeral really couldn't be held in a hurry.

But Zhu Di is the current emperor, and the meaning of his words should be that he wants to bury Zhu Yuanzhang as soon as possible.

Zheng Yi thought about it and finally came up with a clever idea.

But when he saw him leaning over and touching his head to the ground, he replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, the "Book of Rites: King System" says: 'The emperor will be buried in the seventh day and buried in the seventh month.' The establishment of the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Daxing was the beginning of all generations. For your merits, I humbly ask Your Majesty to follow the ancient etiquette."

Zhu Di understood what Zheng Yi meant by ancient etiquette: "The emperor's coffin will be sealed seven days after his death and buried seven months later."

"The emperor's candidate said before that after his death, the funeral should be simple. Did Mr. Zheng forget it?" Zhu Di asked again.

"I dare not forget!" Zheng Yi, the Minister of Rites, quickly replied loudly.

Zhu Di did not intend to abide by ancient rituals, nor did he want to disobey Zhu Yuanzhang's order to have a simple funeral. Moreover, the longer it took for him to succeed as a vassal king and officially ascend the throne as emperor in Fengtian Hall, the more unstable factors and changes would occur. .

For example, this morning his spies reported that vassal kings from all over the country will enter the capital in the near future. Among them, the kings of Zhou, Chu and Lu who are close to Yingtian Mansion will soon arrive outside Jinling City.

King Zhou Zhu is the fifth son of Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Di knows that his younger brother was very interested in medicine when he was young and believes that medicine can save lives and heal the wounded. After all these years, he estimates that King Zhou is still the same and will not pose a threat to him. After all, this The next time the king of Zhou entered the capital, he only brought a hundred guards with him.

The King of Lu, Zhu Zhaohui, was the second generation King of Lu. According to his seniority, he called Zhu Di an uncle. He was nine years younger than Zhu Gaoxu. Now he was just a young boy, so there was nothing to fear.

But Chu King Zhu Zhen was different. According to reports from spies, the King of Chu went to Beijing for the funeral this time and brought more than 500 soldiers with him.

The King of Chu was naturally worried about being misunderstood with so many soldiers, so after he set out from the fiefdom, he announced to the outside world that there were too many barbarians in Jingchu who refused to accept the king's transformation. In order to defend himself, he had to bring more guards.

Zhu Di knew that the King of Chu was not just talking nonsense. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been barbarian rebellions in the land of Jingchu.

In the 15th year of Hongwu, the king of Chu put down the Dayong barbarian rebellion. In the 18th year of Hongwu, he led Tang Heping to put down the barbarian rebellions in Jingzhou and Shanghuang. He was praised by Zhu Yuanzhang as "Tang Heyan has a strategy, and he is my true son."

Later, he conquered Yunnan in the 20th year of Hongwu and captured Alutu alive. From the 27th to the 29th year of Hongwu, he successively put down the barbarian rebellions in Daozhou, Quanzhou, Guiyang mountain bandits, Luxi, and Qianyang. , and even led the army from Yuanzhou Daishan to overcome the obstruction, to Tianzhu Mountain, and went deep into the Miao village to quell it.

In addition, the chief concubine of King Zhu Zhen of Chu was the daughter of Wang Bi, the original Marquis of Dingyuan. Although Wang Bi was involved in the Lan Jade case a few years ago and was demoted to a commoner, his influence in the army still remained.

If the King of Chu secretly contacts Wang Bi's former generals and promises prosperity, wealth, and titles, and then launches a coup when he goes to Beijing for the funeral, this will undoubtedly shake Zhu Di's dominance.

In short, how could Zhu Di feel at ease when such a vassal king with extraordinary achievements led more than 500 soldiers to the capital for funeral?

Therefore, as soon as he learned the news, he ordered the generals guarding the city gates to stop the guards brought by the kings. If anyone led the troops to break into the palace, he would be punished for treason and be killed without mercy!

"In that case, let's wait until the Emperor Kaozi Palace has stayed there for seven days and then he will be buried in the Xiaoling Mausoleum at an auspicious time."

Tomorrow will be the eighth day after Zhu Yuanzhang's death. It will be a long night and many dreams, so Zhu Di decisively issued the order to send Zhu Yuanzhang to be buried.

Zhu Gaoxu, who was kneeling in front of the soul, couldn't help feeling that history is always surprisingly similar after hearing this order.

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