"Your Majesty, this is contrary to etiquette and law."
"I am the emperor, and what I say is law and propriety. Obey!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
When the emperor arrived at the city gate, he dismounted and personally took the memorial tablets of the soldiers who died on the battlefield during this Northern Expedition. The tablets were inscribed with the words: "The heroic spirits of the soldiers of the Northern Expedition of the Great Song Dynasty will live on forever."
The ministers did not understand the emperor's actions, but they saw that the emperor had stopped riding a horse and was leading a group of people on foot, seemingly intending to walk to the Martyrs' Shrine.
The ministers' faces changed drastically. Holy crap! Emperor! You've gone a bit overboard with this show!
All the soldiers followed the emperor into the city and walked toward the Shrine of Loyal Martyrs. It took them about an hour to reach the shrine.
Seeing the emperor personally holding the memorial tablets of the soldiers who died on the battlefield, all the soldiers suddenly burst into tears. Many of their comrades-in-arms had been laid to rest forever in Hebei and Hedong during this war.
Now that the emperor himself is escorting them to the Shrine of Loyal Martyrs, their deaths were worthwhile.
What's wrong with going through fire and water for such an emperor!
After personally escorting the memorial tablet into the Shrine of Loyal Martyrs, Zhao Huan suddenly burst into tears, and the soldiers around him also shed tears. Those who had not experienced life and death on the battlefield would not understand.
Seeing this, the surrounding people fell silent, and some were also infected by the sadness and secretly shed tears.
The ministers, filled with trepidation, said, "Your Majesty, please take care of your health!"
Although they said this verbally, they were secretly cursing Zhao Huan for putting on such a show, saying that he was forcing everyone to cry!
The Imperial Censor He suddenly burst into tears, crying, "Your Majesty, I regret that I cannot accompany you on your expedition! I regret that I cannot rest in peace with the soldiers at the front! I deserve to die!"
When the court officials saw that this lowly Censor-in-Chief He had started to respond to the emperor again, they felt as if a thousand mythical beasts were roaring in their hearts. This was clearly forcing them to cry too!
Seeing this, a group of ministers who didn't think there was anything to cry about had no choice but to start crying, and each one cried more miserably than the last, as if their whole family had died. Some even cried so hard they almost convulsed, shouting that they wished they could go to the front lines to kill the enemy, and that they deserved to die!
After weeping, the emperor said, "Issue my decree: three days from now, all officials, high and low, throughout the country shall wear mourning clothes to mourn the soldiers of the Great Song who died for their country! From now on, May 5th of each year will be a day of national mourning, to commemorate the heroic souls of the fallen soldiers. We must never forget the disaster that the Jin invaders brought to the Great Song this year, and we must always be vigilant!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
