Chapter 67: The Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred

In the twenty-eighth day of the eleventh month of the seventh year of the Great Ming's Tianqi reign, snowflakes were already swirling and drifting through the sky.

Pedestrians on the road hurried homeward, every one of them cursing this damnable weather — it seemed this year was colder than the last.

Yet Chongzhen's heart was a blaze of heat.

For the Chongzhen Emperor, who had lived every day since transmigrating in constant terror, using the butcher's blade of the Depot and the Guard to intimidate the assembled ministers at court, after playing the great weapon of the "never increase taxes" edict to win the people's hearts, he was in truth rather at his wit's end.

As Commander Chu said in some television drama of later ages, if Chongzhen slaughtered every last minister in the court, who would be left to handle affairs for him?

If the killing truly grew desperate and the south rose in revolt first, then there would be no need to wait for the national calamity of the jiashen year — he likely wouldn't even make it through the first year of Chongzhen.

But after the Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred was completed, the heart that had been lodged in Chongzhen's throat could finally settle back into his stomach.

To the common soldiers of that time, the Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred was their spiritual anchor. Once the bank was also properly established, Chongzhen, who would then control the army from both the spiritual and the economic fronts, declared he would fear no man's rebellion.

Thus, as soon as court was dismissed, Chongzhen could not wait to go and see the Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred — to see whether it truly met his requirements, and whether the cement was good or bad.

Therefore, no matter how cold the snowflakes in the sky were, even when those great flakes of snow struck his face with a dull sting, Chongzhen still did not care.

Accompanied by the various assistant ministers of the Grand Secretariat, plus Minister of Revenue Guo Yunhou, Minister of Works Xue Fengxiang, and Minister of Rites Meng Shaoyu, Chongzhen arrived at the completed Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred to conduct an inspection.

Exiting Chengtian Gate and heading south, crossing what in later ages would be Chang'an Avenue, and going slightly east, one could see the solemn and awe-inspiring Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred.

The entire Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred occupied an extremely vast area — it was no smaller than the plaza before Chengtian Gate.

The entire shrine had no surrounding wall; the whole complex sat directly upon Chang'an Avenue.

Because word had been received that Chongzhen was coming, the entire area had long since been sealed off, and layer upon layer of Embroidered Uniform Guard lieutenants and Eastern Depot agents had combed through this place again and again.

The wind and snow grew heavier.

As Chongzhen approached, thanks to the shelter of the yellow silk umbrella, not much snow fell upon him, but the Embroidered Uniform Guards standing guard on the scene had long been covered in snowflakes, each one like a snowman, standing motionless in the wind and snow — only the fervent look in their eyes revealed that these were living men.

Upon drawing near and observing carefully, because the whole structure had been built using cement, with eaves, brackets, and arches added later for decoration, the entire Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred presented a subdued blue-gray hue, giving a feeling of solemn weight and ruggedness.

Drawing closer still, one could clearly see three memorial archways, layered one after another from west to east, stretching to fifty meters before the shrine's gate.

The westernmost archway had one gate with three openings, its roof also carved and constructed from granite. At the feet of the four gate pillars crouched four stone lions, exuding a baleful ferocity.

At the very center above the archway, a large blank white space had been left, with equally large blank spaces left on the left and right — presumably reserved for couplets to be inscribed.

After passing through the three archways in succession, roughly a hundred paces, one reached the main hall of the Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred, modeled after the Hall of Supreme Harmony yet distinct from it.

Before the hall, the staircase had nine steps, divided into three passageways by white jade stone balustrades. The entire great hall had soaring eaves and bracket sets; the name plaque at the center was also left blank, presumably also reserved for Chongzhen's inscription.

Upon entering the hall, at its center was enshrined a divine statue of Yue Fei, Yue Wumu. The vast, empty hall was at that moment devoid of people and objects; the slightest sound was startlingly clear, further deepening the ache in Chongzhen's heart.

When it was time to return, Chongzhen pointed at the blank spaces left for couplets on the archway and suddenly asked Minister of Rites Meng Shaoyu, "Minister Meng, for these empty spaces — who was originally to be found to write the inscriptions?"

Meng Shaoyu, hearing this, hastily bowed and performed a salute, saying, "In reply to Your Majesty, this matter has not yet been settled. This place ought to be inscribed by Your Majesty's own hand.

Should Your Majesty lack the leisure, then the current Chief Grand Secretary and the current Duke for Perpetuating Sageliness would be invited to take up the brush and write."

Chongzhen had not originally intended to contend with his ministers for the chance to wield the brush, but the moment he heard the three words "Duke for Perpetuating Sageliness," a wave of revulsion rose in his heart, and he said at once, "Forget it — We shall write these Ourself.

The soldiers have sacrificed themselves for the nation; We must always show some token of regard. We cannot let the soldiers sacrifice in vain."

Meng Shaoyu, hearing this, bowed and received the decree, saying, "This humble minister obeys the decree."

Yet after returning to the palace, Chongzhen was deeply displeased.

Because no matter how he wrote, he could not produce the effect he desired. He always felt that however he wrote, it seemed to fall short of what was owed to those soldiers who had sacrificed themselves for the nation.

Throwing down the brush in his hand, Chongzhen simply closed his eyes. Before his eyes, the scenes of the capital's defense battle began to surface once more.

The Great Ming soldiers who feared not death, who would rather embrace a Jianzhou barbarian clambering onto the battlements and leap together from the wall to their deaths, their absolute resolve never to let the Jianzhou barbarians gain the wall — those soldiers who had eaten supper with him on the battlements the night before, who the next day simply vanished before his very eyes.

And there was Wang Xuanji, whom he had met only once — just so he could capture a living Fan Wencheng, Wang Xuanji and twelve Embroidered Uniform Guard lieutenants had perished in Liaodong, and to this day, not even their bones could be recovered.

The more he brooded in his heart, the more sorrowful he grew, until even Chongzhen's eyes grew moist — and then he suddenly flew into a rage. It was all these accursed Jianzhou barbarians!

In his lifetime, he must utterly and thoroughly resolve the problem of the Jianzhou barbarians! No — and the Japanese pirates too!

And those damnable monkeys of the Southern Seas!

Chongzhen, growing more furious the more he thought, suddenly opened his eyes again, snatched up the brush he had just thrown aside, and wrote three great characters on the xuan paper before him: Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred.

These three characters seemed like iron strokes and silver hooks, their force penetrating the back of the paper, and within the jet-black ink there emanated an air of lethal solemnity.

Only the character "martyred" in the middle was missing a single dot at the bottom. Chongzhen's thought at this moment was, perhaps, the same as that of a certain bald principal of later ages — he only wished that the Great Ming's martyrs might be one dot fewer!

Having produced one satisfactory piece of large-character calligraphy, Chongzhen simply pressed his advantage, writing in succession the couplets for the three archways and the stele inscription for the main hall of the Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred all at once.

By the time these several pieces of calligraphy were finished, Chongzhen felt as if all the strength had been drained from his body. He merely had Wang Cheng'en order men to deliver those characters to the Shrine of the Loyal and Martyred and command the artisans to carve them exactly as written.

After resting a moment, Chongzhen then said to Wang Cheng'en, "Summon Minister of Rites Meng Shaoyu to the palace for an audience."

Wang Cheng'en, seeing Chongzhen utterly exhausted, said in a tearful voice, "My Lord Emperor, why not summon Lord Meng tomorrow instead? You ought to rest well today!"

Chongzhen, however, smiled bitterly and said, "I cannot. Companion Wang, this Great Ming is the heavy burden my imperial brother entrusted to Us. We dare not slacken."

Still too slow... will continue tomorrow. Writing this chapter was truly painful. All kinds of feelings in my heart, yet I cannot put them into words.

(End of chapter)