Chapter 162: The Grand Ceremony Begins

"Raise the national flag, play the national anthem!"

Early in the morning of the fifteenth day of the third month of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, standing atop a hastily erected platform, Wei Zaode, the current Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, shouted out this line according to plan with a trembling voice while his legs went weak.

Once this line was shouted, it signified that the grand military review of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen had officially begun amid a chorus of condemnation from scholars across the nation.

At this moment, around the entire Chengtian Gate square stood ranks of burly soldiers in splendid attire. These stalwart generals had all been selected within a few days for their loud voices and "bodybuilder" physiques.

Of course, aside from serving as decoration, these men were also chiefly responsible for repeating the words spoken by those on the platform so the surrounding commoners could hear clearly in this era without loudspeakers.

The moment Wei Zaode's words fell, while the voices of the stalwart generals were still echoing, the Capital Camp soldiers packed full in the square outside Chengtian Gate began howling at the top of their lungs under the commands of their grassroots officers:

"Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger, fame and fortune are but dust and dirt; look upon the suffering of the people of the divine land, a thousand li of fertile fields all left barren; northern Tartar raiders, southern bandits, Heaven's Dao is flawed and common men must mend it; fine sons bid farewell to father and mother, only for the masses, not for lords."

As the Capital Camp soldiers sang, several Embroidered Uniform Guard officers in splendid flying-fish robes escorted the national flag and came to the center to raise it amid the rousing national anthem.

Not far before Chengtian Gate, the assembled officials stood in a cluster murmuring quietly among themselves, but their voices were too soft—what the commoners heard were the soldiers' vigorous and spirited voices.

Because of the Chongzhen Emperor's earlier nonsense promise of merit rewards for good singing, the soldiers were now all straining their throats to howl—yes, howl was exactly the word.

"Gripping steel blades, ninety-nine in hand, we will not rest until every Tartar is slain."

"I am a true man of honor, why should I be a beast of burden for the barbarians?"

"Brave men drain the wine in their bowls, on a thousand-li march we never look back, war drums and gongs sound together as the multitude roars, hey!"

When the national anthem finished, the dark-bird banner symbolizing the Great Ming happened to reach the top of the flagpole, beginning to flutter high over the square outside Chengtian Gate.

The agents of the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard and their runners had done an excellent job spreading the word, so virtually everyone in the capital knew about the military review. Just a while ago, even the little brats in the alleys were singing nursery rhymes about the grand review, and today the crowds were naturally packed shoulder to shoulder.

When they first heard those six words, many people wore bewildered expressions, completely unable to figure out what was going on. Though most people could understand the meaning of those six words, since when did our Great Ming have such a thing as a national anthem?

Speaking of this matter, one had to trace it back to a court assembly half a month earlier.

The national anthem was something the Chongzhen Emperor had suddenly thought of—how could a grand military review lack such a thing? Of course, it would be best to settle on an official national flag for the Great Ming dynasty at the same time.

Following procedure, it was still the Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode and the Second Grand Secretary who jointly proposed it before sending it down for discussion among the assembled ministers. This time, the discussion result was unexpectedly one-sided, because most people felt it was entirely unnecessary.

After all, in the eyes of many in the Donglin Faction, with you, this benighted sovereign, carrying on this way, even if our Great Ming doesn't collapse this year, it will certainly collapse next year—why bother putting on such a show?

But now, at this grand military review, everyone still heard the rousing national anthem of the Great Ming, so the outcome of that court discussion was quite obvious—the Chongzhen Emperor had the final say: your objections are useless; if I say it exists, then it must exist.

After the Chongzhen Emperor made his decision, he symbolically asked a few questions, roughly meaning whether anyone still felt it unnecessary. At that time, the assembled ministers' opinions were very unified, indicating that whatever the Emperor said was right, and this thing was truly absolutely necessary.

After the national anthem finished, Wei Zaode cleared his throat. By now his legs weren't so weak anymore—perhaps stirred by the anthem just sung.

This old fellow was about to shout when the words reached his lips and he promptly forgot them, breaking into a sweat of anxiety on the spot.

Seeing Wei Zaode clear his throat for ages without a single word popping out of his mouth, the Chongzhen Emperor furrowed his brow and was about to say something when, before the words left his mouth, he saw this Wei Zaode fellow tremblingly roll up his sleeve and glance at it a few times.

As Wei Zaode shouted out his words one by one, this batch of Capital Camp soldiers specially assigned to sing filed back within the imperial city through a side gate with a rustle.

Immediately after, a grating sound of doors opening that set one's teeth on edge rang out as two Embroidered Uniform Guard officers in blue opened the specially closed main gate of Chengtian Gate.

Accompanied by a not-quite-neat sound of footsteps, the man at the lead was Zhang Shize, Duke of Ying, who was in charge of this military review. Behind him followed in orderly fashion the soldiers of the Tengxiang Four Guards in red armor.

Compared to last year, the Capital Camp soldiers had not only multiplied several times in number, but their spirit and bearing were also different—their armor, sabers, and spears had also transformed from ornamental props into genuine equipment that could be used directly in battle.

"Everyone, please look—these are the elite soldiers of our Great Ming's Tengxiang Guards Camp!"

"Everyone, please look—the troops of the Capital Camps and the Regimental Camps have arrived. It was they who fought bravely outside military pay and provisions city last year, rendering outstanding service for our Great Ming!"

"Everyone, please look—these are the formations of the Eastern Depot, Western Depot, and Inner Depot. It is precisely because of them that we now have this prosperous and peaceful situation inside and outside the capital!"

Before the crowd, a batch of agents specially arranged here with glib tongues began spraying saliva as they recounted the meritorious deeds of the various Capital Camp units.

As Zhang Shize passed before the Chongzhen Emperor and Empress Zhou atop the Forbidden City, he suddenly turned and performed a chest-thumping salute, shouting: "Long live His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Ming!!"

The inwardly delighted Chongzhen Emperor smiled and waved his hand, saying: "Soldiers, you have worked hard!"

"Serving the people!"

Outwardly, the Capital military review was known to all and anticipated by everyone; in the shadows, the Embroidered Uniform Guard under Li Ruolian's leadership was waging a silent war against the scholars.

The cause of this incident was a publication by the Fushe society of the Donglin Faction that slandered the reigning emperor, making it known to all throughout Jiangnan and beyond.

The Chongzhen Emperor had been cursed at with a finger pointed at his nose. Though on the surface he appeared chiefly focused on handling the military review, in secret he immediately issued a secret edict giving the Embroidered Uniform Guard full authority over the matter.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, plainly speaking, was the knife in the Chongzhen Emperor's hand—except this knife wasn't used to kill enemies on the battlefield, but specifically to match wits and courage with the literati.

Last time when the Yongshun Book Hall was raided, the Embroidered Uniform Guard threw all thirty-some captured scholars directly into the Imperial Prison for torture and interrogation. The book hall's proprietor fared even worse—his head was chopped off and hung from the city wall as a public warning.

In previous raids, what was seized were gold, silver, treasures, calligraphy, paintings, and antiques. But during this raid, the Embroidered Uniform Guard discovered a full twelve large crates of books.

Of these books, a full eight crates were of the so-called 【seditious text】. Li Ruolian merely flipped one open at random and was furious. According to his subsequent memorial to the Chongzhen Emperor, the book's every word stabbed at the heart—any single sentence could be used to convict its author.

At the time, Li Ruolian kept one copy and sent it to the warm chamber for the Chongzhen Emperor's personal perusal, then burned the rest in a square overnight. Watching the scene, it rather resembled the burning of books and burying of scholars of old.

News of the Yongshun Book Hall being raided by the Embroidered Uniform Guard swept through the entire capital like a hurricane. Just as everyone was discussing it, a notice from the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office pushed the matter to new heights.

In the notice from the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office, a book was for the first time designated as a heretical text, stating: "It shows no regard for this dynasty; its actions warrant execution."

On the very day the notice was posted, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, in conjunction with runners from the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office, began investigating every private printing house inside and outside Beijing one by one, starting with the more famous Jintai Yue Family Bookstore, Wang Liang Bookshop, Eryou Hall, and Gao Family Scripture Shop.

Whenever anyone was found harboring or printing heretical books, the Troops and Horses Office runners would first seize the proprietor directly and throw him into prison for severe torture. Because Embroidered Uniform Guard officers from the Northern Provincial Military Court accompanied them, even if the culprit had meritorious nobles or imperial relatives as backers, they were arrested all the same.

So by the day the grand military review officially began, the bookstores inside and outside the capital had already been sifted through several times by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Troops and Horses Office runners. This book, at least on the surface, could no longer be found anywhere.