rebirth [rebirth]

On the first day of April in the first year of Chen Shuntian, Gu Zhenli held a funeral.

The people in Yong'an City woke up early and found that in this April season, which was about to be clear, there was a sudden heavy snowfall.

In just one night, Yong'an was covered with snow, and the entire imperial capital was covered in white, so beautiful.

However, none of the people in Yong'an have the heart to appreciate the snow scenery. Over the past year, Yong'an has been in constant war, and the people's life has become increasingly poor. After finally surviving from the cold winter to the vernal equinox, the year was ruined by a heavy snowfall.

The weather is so cold, and the people have no extra firewood at home, so they can only huddle together and wrap up in thin quilts.

Old man Zhang, who lives in Zhanhuamen City Gate, Yongan, woke up at the third watch as usual. He was busy all morning in a thin padded jacket full of patches, and finally boiled a big pot of soybean milk.

The life of the poor is low, but they have to live.

The craft of his family's livelihood is this mellow Zhang's soybean milk.

Before the soy milk came out of the pot, the hot aroma rushed to his face. Old man Zhang felt sorry for his little granddaughter who was freezing in the snow, so he carried her to the shed early. There was a pot burning here, so it was a bit hot.

At the beginning of Maoshi, a large pot of soy milk was cooked, and his son and daughter-in-law also got up, rubbing their hands and preparing the noodle fish for frying in the morning.

"Father, take your daughter to rest for a while, and wake you up after the dough is ready." His wife is a good girl and has always been very filial.

Old man Zhang responded with a smile, but did not enter the house.

Snowfall in April is not a good omen.His family's meals depended on this soybean milk stand, and it would be difficult to lose a day's income.

Old man Zhang thought for a while, then simply mixed the bean dregs left over from the soy milk with some corn dregs, and steamed another pot of bean flour pancakes.

Compared with the fried noodle fish in Lianghemen, although the taste of bean cakes is not very good, it is cheap to serve at the top.

On weekdays, they keep food for themselves at home, but considering the heavy snow today, the road to the gate will definitely be difficult to walk tomorrow. Weather to go out.

It's better to make a few more money while Xue has not yet implemented it.

Sure enough, when the soy milk stall opened at Maoshizheng, the pot of bean cakes sold faster than noodles.

In a blink of an eye, there were only six left in the pot.

Seeing his father's discerning eyes, the son couldn't help but praise him: "It's still my father who is amazing, neither Chunhua nor I thought of it."

Old man Zhang smiled, and carefully wrapped his little granddaughter in a padded jacket.

It was the best padded jacket in the family. His daughter-in-law was reluctant to use the new cotton this year, so she specially made one to honor him.

Old man Zhang knew that she was filial, so he never enjoyed this thick padded jacket, but he used it to wrap his granddaughter every time.

In this way, the young girl survived the most difficult winter.

Thinking of this, old man Zhang couldn't help sighing.

"Old Zhang, there are still bean cakes today, hurry up and give me two, you are a thief, you can't live this life." Lao Hu next door to his house is a fast-talking person, cursing and cursing as he walks.

Before Old Man Zhang could reply, he heard him scold again: "Who is sitting in this palace, we can't fucking survive. My little Shitou caught fire again yesterday, and his grandma almost didn't go with him."

Hearing him yelling and scolding so recklessly, old man Zhang quickly grabbed him: "Don't say a few words, I still have some medicine at home, you can take it later and deal with it."

When Lao Hu heard this, his eyes immediately turned red.

Every family in the city gate is dependent on life, and it is common to borrow food from each other, but it is really rare to borrow money and medicine.

His old face turned red immediately, and he grabbed old man Zhang's hand excitedly, wanting to say thank you.

But he choked in his throat after only saying one word, but his pair of dull old eyes stared round, looking straight at the direction of the city gate.

Old man Zhang was frightened by his appearance, so he couldn't help but look over.

It didn't matter if he looked at it, the long-handled spoon in his hand fell back into the soya-bean milk pot all of a sudden, making a "plop" sound.

In a snowstorm, a group of plain white men and horses are slowly approaching Zhanhua Gate.

Their tofu stall is close to the city gate, even if the wind and snow are foggy, they can still see one or two.

This group of people started with ten young men in sackcloth, each holding an inscription banner, with long red ribbons floating in the air, like fairy gauze.

Followed by a soul-returning sedan chair with a green cloth and black top, it is very imposing.

Just looking at these two things, old man Zhang knew that this was a funeral of a rich family.

But now the war is raging, and even though the surname Chen is the new emperor, Yong'an is still sealed, and no common people are allowed to come in or out.

At this time, if you dare to go out of the city directly to hold a funeral, you don't know who has such a pomp.

Seeing that Lao Hu was about to open his mouth to talk nonsense, Old Man Zhang immediately grabbed him and reprimanded him in a low voice, "Shut up!"

After being scolded severely by him, Lao Hu immediately didn't dare to talk nonsense, so he could only stand aside and stare with his hands shrunk.

The team moved slowly, and behind the soul-returning sedan chair was a big seat with a statue of a god, and behind the big seat was a big umbrella of the same color. After this series of ostentation, old man Zhang's heart trembled.

The inscription in the front was too high just now, so he didn't see it clearly, but looking at the scene behind, it must be no ordinary person who mourned today.

However, just as he was speculating, the ones following the big umbrella were not monks, Taoists, nuns and other people born in the world.

Only twenty or so scholars wearing flat square hats and plain white linen clothes held scrolls in their hands and walked in silence.

After the scholar, the family did not add elegiac couplets, wreaths, or plaques, but filial sons and grandsons held the spiritual tablet and helped the spirit to clear the way.

There are five descendants of Fu Ling in this family.

The first person holding the coffin was a scholar who knew the age of destiny, and the left and right leaders who directly carried the coffin were all tall young people with disheveled hair.

Then, there is the big coffin of 64 people.

Old man Zhang trembled when he saw the number of people making up their minds.

According to the ancestral system of Da Chu, those who can carry out the funeral with 64 people are all the princes of the country.

Which Duke is this dead?As we all know, there are currently only five Dukes in the Imperial Capital.No... It should be said that there used to be five Dukes of the state, Chen Gangli, and the common people didn't know the details at all.

This family went to the funeral quite silently, not even a single person crying loudly, and it looked really weird given the heavy snow that closed the door.

Old man Zhang has been in this city gate all his life, and he claims to have seen some scenes, but this is the first time he has encountered it.

The body of the big hall barrel is purple and red, and it looks like high-quality nanmu. Behind the big coffin, there are more than 20 sackclothed scholars holding books to send them off, and finally the white sedan chair for relatives.

The procession slowly stopped in front of Zhanhua Gate. Old man Zhang squinted his eyes, only to vaguely see that there were only two white sedan chairs at the end.

With such a big ostentation, and being the Duke of the country, how come there are only so few relatives?Old man Zhang didn't understand, and rubbed his eyes in great doubt.

Although his son practiced stalls with him when he was young, he was still young, and when he saw such a big scene, he stopped his wife and father back a long time ago, but he forced himself to tremble and asked: "Father, what's the matter?" gone?"

Old man Zhang patted him, and then took a gentle look at his daughter-in-law, and then said in a low voice: "Perhaps it has nothing to do with us, don't talk, let's just watch."

In fact, the old man Zhang also wanted to close the stall and go home, but most of the barrels of soy milk hadn't been sold out. They were living in a poor family, and they couldn't make a living at all, so they could only stand here.

Besides, in this age and the world, it is reckoned that people will not come to embarrass them.

Sure enough, Jiang was still old and spicy. At the gate of the city, the defenders and the funeral procession had already clashed.

Guarding the Zhanhua Gate is the Li Family Army who joined the Shuntian Army last year. The commander is Li Mian, a tall man in his forties.

Seeing the strange atmosphere of this group of funeral procession, and the fact that the group is full of people who look like scholars, he immediately felt confident, and hurriedly said to his assistant: "Go, I have invited two adults."

The two lords he was talking about were naturally Da Chu's courtiers, Han Bin, Minister of Rites, and Ouyang Moshu, Minister of Rites who still submit to Da Chen.

Although Chen Shengzhi was a farmer, he was very shrewd. Knowing that Rong Jingxuan would find a way to leave the city recently, he sent out all the first-rank and second-rank courtiers who had surrendered to Da Chen.The six ministers and the servants were directly pressed against the six gates of the nine gates, and they were not allowed to return.There are two remaining sects, one suppressing the two chief eunuchs, and the other suppressing the Qin Tianjian Jianzheng and Dali Temple Minister. The 16 people who were suppressed in the eight sects that were not suppressed by heavy troops were all important ministers who faced saints every day.

Chen Shengzhi thought, even if Rong Jingxuan was turned into ashes, they would still be able to recognize him.

As soon as Han Bin and Ouyang Moshu came down from the tower, they frowned when they saw the battle.

Li Fang went over to Han Bin's side and whispered, "Master Han, do you think this is Gu Xuezheng?"

Gu Zhenli used to be the Prince Taifu, and later he was the teacher of the Three Heavenly Emperors. These two identities cannot be mentioned now, and he can only be said to be an official of the Imperial Academy.

Han Bin's eyes flickered over familiar faces, and finally fixed on Gu Guangbo's.

Behind him and supporting him were two nephews, presumably they were going to help Ling out of the city together and return to his hometown to settle down.

Han Bin sighed. Although Chen Shengzhi's imperial decree forbade any people from leaving the capital, the current situation could not stop Gu Zhenli from going to the funeral.

That day, Gu Zhenli committed suicide on the main hall, which had angered the students all over the world. Now that he is not allowed to go home after the funeral, I am afraid that Chen Shengzhi's throne will not be secure.

When an emperor, everyone wants to have a good reputation.

There are so many students in the world talking and writing so much, even if Chen Shengzhi indulges in torture, he can't prevent it.

Sometimes, the rebelliousness of scholars makes people simply unable to resist.

After thinking for a while, Han Bin wanted to take a few steps forward to negotiate with Gu Guangbo, but as soon as he got closer, he saw two young men supporting the spirit behind Gu Guangbo, and the one on the left was casting a faint glance at him. .

Han Bin's heart beat like thunder.

This person was kneeling down and worshiping every day last month, but now he has disheveled hair, wears simple sackcloth, and has become a spirit supporter.

Now that he is here, the other...Han Bin glanced at the spirit supporter on the right, and immediately saw another familiar handsome face.

This one didn't look at him at all, and kept lowering his head in thought with a blank expression.

Rong Jingxuan, Xie Mingze.

At this moment, goose feathers and heavy snow were flying in the sky, and he was wrapped in a mink fur cloak, and he still felt the biting cold wind.

It seemed that it was only a blink of an eye, and it seemed that the stars had already moved. Han Bin quickly realized that he took two steps back and directly instructed Ouyang Moshu: "Mo Shu, take my waist card to enter the palace, and say that Gu Xue is going to the funeral, and more than a hundred students will see you off." , Your Majesty, please judge."

He said more than a hundred, which is really no nonsense.Although there were less than [-] scholars in the funeral procession, the people who followed at the end to see them off were all over the place.

Ouyang Moshu had just been appointed as the Minister of Rites. Although he had met the saint before, but at that time he was humble and not so familiar with the appearance of the crown prince Rong Jingxuan.

Sure enough, Ouyang Moshu just froze for a moment, and said obediently: "Don't worry, my lord, I will definitely fulfill my mission as an official."

Han Bin saw that he didn't pay attention to who was in the team at all, so he instructed again: "Be sure to explain the situation to Your Majesty, and Your Majesty will understand."

Ouyang Moshu saluted him, turned around and asked Li Fang for a fast horse, and galloped on the horse. When passing by the big coffin, he got off the horse and nodded to Gu Guangbo and other filial sons and grandsons.

After all, he is also a reader.

During the whole process, Rong Jingxuan and Xie Mingze remained quite calm. The two of them even returned the salute when Ouyang Moshu saluted, which made Han Bin tremble with his hands hidden in the cloak.

When Ouyang Moshu was far away, he stepped forward, first bowed three student salutes to the big coffin, and then cupped his hands to Gu Guangbo: "Brother Gu, please give me my condolences."

He is now wearing court clothes, so he must have surrendered to Da Chen. Gu Guangbo felt a little uneasy, but his face was still calm, and he said: "Master Han is very polite, my father has always praised you for being knowledgeable, and now I can meet you on this journey. It's a farewell."

Han Bin's eyes swept over several people, Gu Guangbo saw him looking behind him, his hands holding the spiritual tablet could not help but tightened, but he did not speak.

At this moment, the world is silent.

Even the snow is silent.