pappabearbooks Chapter 27: In the 276th year of the Ming Dynasty, the last minister to die for his country was a eu
Chapter 27: In the 276th year of the Ming Dynasty, the last minister to die for his country was a eu
During the Chongzhen reign, Zhu Youjian breached the defenses, unaware that something far greater was yet to come.
Painted boats sway gently on the Qinhuai River.
Xu Miaoyun was still immersed in Qian Qianyi's indignation. Her brows were slightly furrowed, and she looked both pitiful and adorable.
Upon seeing this, Liu Yan couldn't help but smile slightly, but it wasn't a mockery; rather, it was a sigh of emotion.
"Miaoyun".
Liu Yan's voice wasn't loud, but it brought Xu Miaoyun back from her reverie.
"My husband."
Liu Yan asked with a smile.
"Is it shameful that the Ming Dynasty produced someone like Qian Qianyi?"
Xu Miaoyun hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
She wasn't good at hiding her emotions; everything she thought was written on her face.
Liu Yan put down his wine cup, leaned forward slightly, and the flickering candlelight reflected on his face, making his eyes seem to burn with flames.
"Miaoyun, although the Ming Dynasty has cowardly and treacherous officials like Qian Qianyi, it also has loyal ministers like Yu Qian."
"And my Great Ming Dynasty is the most principled dynasty in the history of China."
Xu Miaoyun was slightly stunned upon hearing this, but Liu Yan did not give her time to react and continued to speak into the wind blowing across the Qinhuai River.
"Throughout the sixteen emperors and two hundred and seventy-six years of my Great Ming Dynasty, we never engaged in marriage alliances, ceded territory, paid indemnities, became vassals, or paid tribute."
Liu Yan's voice was heavy and cold, and the last two sentences were like cold iron.
"The emperor guards the nation's gates, and the monarch dies for the state."
Liu Yan's voice was deafening, and Xu Miaoyun's eyes seemed to light up again.
This isn't because I've heard something new and exciting, but rather a kind of innate resonance etched into my very being.
She was a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, a daughter of the Ming Dynasty, so she wanted more than anyone else for her dynasty to be the most principled.
"Although Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian, was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he upheld this spirit to the very end."
As soon as the words fell, Zhu Youjian, who was already somewhat on edge because of Qian Qianyi's matter, was instantly stunned!
"I...I am the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"
Upon hearing the sound, the court officials erupted in uproar.
Liu Yan's voice continued to travel along the sky, seemingly about to turn the entire Chongzhen Dynasty upside down.
"In March of the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, Li Zicheng, the rebel leader, captured Beijing. All the civil and military officials in the capital stayed indoors, none came to the emperor's aid, and none fought to the death."
"And just as this edifice was about to collapse..."
Liu Yan's voice carried a hint of emotion, a mixture of admiration and sigh.
"A group of eunuchs, looked down upon by these self-proclaimed loyal scholars, yet they upheld the last shred of integrity of the Ming Dynasty."
"Wang Chengen, then the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, led 5,500 eunuchs in the palace to resist to the death."
"When the eunuch Du Xun came to persuade him to surrender, he drew his sword and killed him on the spot, refusing to surrender to the enemy."
"But the tide is turning, how could he possibly stop it?"
"On the night of March 18th, the outer city fell. Emperor Chongzhen killed his empress and concubines, beheaded the princess, and sent the crown prince to escape in order to preserve the bloodline of the Ming Dynasty!"
"By this time, all those self-proclaimed loyal and righteous ministers had already fled! Only Wang Chengen, who had been with Zhu Youjian since childhood, remained by Emperor Chongzhen's side."
"Wang Chengen led Emperor Chongzhen, armed with swords, to break through the siege. The city gates were closed, and they failed to break through several times. He only said one sentence throughout the entire process."
"I have served Your Majesty for seventeen years, and now that I have been able to preserve my integrity, I can die without regret."
Liu Yan lowered her voice, as if her thoughts had been instantly pulled back to that era of shattered land and broken rivers.
A gentle breeze stirred on the Qinhuai River, causing the painted boats to sway softly and the water to shimmer.
Xu Miaoyun's eyes reddened slightly.
However, Liu Yan's voice did not stop.
"At dawn on March 19th, Emperor Chongzhen ascended Coal Hill, took one last look at his dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and then hanged himself from a crooked locust tree, leaving behind a letter written in blood."
Liu Yan's voice suddenly rose a few decibels, as if he were telling the world the last words of an emperor from three hundred years ago.
"When I die, I will have no face to meet my ancestors. Remove your crown and cover your face with your hair. Let the rebels tear you apart, but do not harm the common people."
Xu Miaoyun covered her mouth. Tears slipped through her fingers.
"Wang Chengen kowtowed three times and nine times to the emperor's corpse until his head was bleeding. He then hanged himself on a crabapple tree next to the emperor to die for his master."
As the sound faded, a ripple spread across the river.
Liu Yan looked at the camera with a hint of sarcasm on her face, yet also a touch of wistfulness.
"In the 276th year of the Ming Dynasty, the last official to die for his country was a eunuch."
Liu Yan's voice traveled through the sky to the heavens above the entire Chinese nation.
Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng, stood with his hands behind his back.
"The entire court is full of scoundrels, yet the backbone of the Ming Dynasty resides in the most lowly people."
Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, suppressed his smile and shook his head.
"All the high-ranking officials in the court are no match for a rootless person."
Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, spoke coldly.
"The likes of Qian Qianyi have sullied my historical records!"
Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, sighed deeply, his gaze complex.
"I have always regarded the scholar-officials as the foundation of the nation. Only today do I realize that integrity is not something that can be expressed in words, but rather in the heart."
Zhu Yuanzhang felt even more excited today than yesterday!
The Hongwu court officials present lowered their heads, secretly hating Liu Yan to death!
The last sentence, "In the 276th year of the Ming Dynasty, the last minister to die for his country was a eunuch!" is truly a cruel insult to the heart!
Liu Yan's words were so impactful that they affected everyone equally!
Throughout the sixteen reigns of the Ming Dynasty, all the emperors and court officials broke down at this moment!
Xu Miaoyun, aboard the painted boat, didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Liu Yan's voice was like strong tea diluted with warm water—still bitter, but palatable.
"Both the Ming and Qing dynasties held this eunuch who died for his country in high esteem."
"The Hongguang Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty posthumously honored him with the title 'Zhongmin' to commend his integrity."
The Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty erected a monument for him and personally inscribed it: "A loyal minister who sacrificed his life for his lord."
Emperor Kangxi renovated his tomb and praised him as "a paragon of loyalty and righteousness".
Liu Yan looked at Xu Miaoyun and said.
"Next to Chongzhen's Ming Si Mausoleum is the tomb of Wang Chengen, who is the only eunuch in Chinese history to be buried in an imperial mausoleum."
"Wang Chengen probably never imagined that he, a eunuch, would be recorded in the History of Ming."
"The glorious History of Ming, one of the twenty-four histories of China, actually has a separate biography for a eunuch."
"Throughout history, countless kings, generals, and high-ranking officials have not received this honor, yet he has, which shows the weight of his achievement and the depth of his loyalty."
"On Coal Hill, a master and a servant, two white silk ribbons, he used his death to preserve the last vestige of dignity for the Ming Dynasty."
"At that time when the country was in ruins, Wang Chengen was merely fulfilling his duty as a servant, but that duty was so heavy at that time."
"And those courts that shouted about loyalty to the emperor and love for the country, and that a subject should die for his master, when it came time to truly put those words into practice, only had a eunuch standing beside the emperor."
Liu Yan's voice carried a hint of wistful sigh.
"In the five thousand years of Chinese history, countless people have come and gone, yet none have left a single name. But the name Wang Chengen has been etched into history."
"And Emperor Chongzhen, who was constantly struggling on the brink of national salvation, exhausted his energy amidst years of locust plagues and border emergencies."
"He believed that diligence could change the fate of the nation, but in the end he hanged himself on Coal Hill amidst the cries of the Ming people, leaving behind a will that his ministers had misled him."
"Zhu Youjian was not an incompetent ruler. On the contrary, he was not only diligent but also very frugal. However, his failure lay in his suspiciousness and fickleness. During his seventeen years on the throne, he changed nineteen Grand Secretaries and killed seven Ministers of War, yet he could not find anyone he could trust."
"After he officially ascended the throne, Zhu Youjian discovered that he was facing a mature civil service group that had been fighting against imperial power for a century. They had long since formed a consensus not to obey the emperor's orders, and even had difficulty raising military funds when fighting wars."
"These civil service groups have long established a standardized procedure for resisting imperial power: remain silent on major issues, wait for the emperor to make a mistake in his decision, and then collectively impeach him."
"When these civil officials prioritized their own interests over the fate of the nation, even this diligent emperor could only ultimately choose suicide to preserve the integrity of the Ming Dynasty for 270 years!"