Chapter 6 Sleepless Night

  The emperor Chongzhen sat down in his study, waved his hand and let the other palace maids and eunuchs retreat, leaving only Wang Cheng'en.

  The Chongzhen Emperor did not speak immediately, but rather sat in silence for a moment before slowly saying: "Today's events are truly beyond comprehension. Suddenly, out of thin air, someone drops down from above. He is neither an immortal nor a demon. He claims to be from the future and speaks of history that has never been heard before."

  Chongzhen Emperor sighed for a moment and asked Wang Chengen, "Grand Companion, what do you think of his words about the relationship between the common people, scholars and the Son of Heaven?"

  "Your Majesty," Wang Cheng'en slowed down, quickly organizing his words, and then replied: "I think Mr. Zhong's words are reasonable, using plain language to subtly explain the hearts of people in the world, but slightly with a bit of generalization."

  "What did you say?"

  Wang Cheng'en drew closer and replied, "Your Majesty is a wise and enlightened ruler. How could it be that the common people cannot make a living? Not to mention distant places, even in the capital city, there are still many people who have the leisure to enjoy horse racing and other forms of entertainment. If they couldn't make a living, would they engage in such activities? Moreover, not all scholars and officials are selfish and only care about money; some are genuinely concerned with the welfare of others."

  Chongzhen Emperor smiled bitterly and said, "Don't comfort me anymore, Da Ben. After Mr. Jing's words, I felt like a sudden enlightenment. Do you remember, Da Ben? Previously, I heard that there were cases of people eating their own children in Shaanxi and other places. I thought it was an exaggeration and ignored it, but now I think it might be true. Moreover, last year during the court meeting, many ministers used the excuse that the previous emperor's taxation led to natural disasters, asking me to reduce the tea tax to appease heaven and ensure a good harvest for the Ming dynasty. If I hadn't agreed, I would have been blamed for the consecutive years of natural disasters."

  "There is also the matter of the previous emperor lifting the maritime ban and sending eunuchs to collect taxes, which was a serious violation of ancestral rules. The continuous natural disasters also prove that collecting customs duties is an extremely evil policy. Let me re-impose the ban on customs duties. You deceive me with my youth and ignorance, using ancestral rules to pressure me. Now I think about it, reading the books of sages and worthies, the harm is even more severe. In the future, don't blame me for still cherishing the sharpness of the jade sword!" After finishing speaking, Emperor Chongzhen slapped the imperial desk in anger.

  Wang Chengen hastily bowed and advised: "Your Majesty, please calm your anger, don't harm the dragon's body. Now that Your Majesty has already known this, Heaven has also sent Mr. Zhong to assist Your Majesty, Your Majesty will surely be able to suppress those civil officials and do as you wish, reviving the great Ming dynasty."

  The Chongzhen Emperor saw Wang Cheng'en mention Zhong Xingwei and thought for a moment before saying to Wang Cheng'en: "I see that Zhong Xingwei likes to have fun and enjoys women. As long as he can help me revive the great Ming dynasty, you can satisfy him in this regard."

  Wang Chengen bowed again and said: "Your humble servant obeys!"

  At that time, Zhong Jingwei did not think that he would be evaluated by Emperor Chongzhen as "liking to have fun and loving women." If he knew, he would probably feel very wronged. In later generations, who doesn't like having a beautiful female secretary to help with work during working hours and going out for travel and relaxation during leisure time?

  Zhong Jinwei was tossing and turning in bed at this time, his past life was a night owl, not going to bed until after 23:00. Now it's probably around 8 o'clock in the evening, no electricity, no entertainment from later generations, only sleep, but today's experience is so strange, can't fall asleep anyway!

  Zhong Jinwei had been grinding for a while when he suddenly remembered Aqi sleeping in the outer room. He couldn't help but think of his university days and the chat sessions after lights out. So, he tried to get in touch with him, calling out softly: "Aqi, are you asleep?"

  Today was also a strange experience for Archie, how could he fall asleep at once. Watching people falling from the sky, shaving monk's head, speaking strangely, saying heaven and earth, even himself didn't know what he had become, finally he was given to him by His Majesty, his own fate would be unknown in the future.

  But he doesn't seem very fierce and isn't that kind of lustful man, seems to have a somewhat cute appearance, a big man, still shy.

  Just then, Ah Qi heard Zhong Jinwei's voice. After a moment of consideration, she replied softly: "Young Master, do you need me to pour water for you?" When she was making his bed, she saw Zhong Jinwei pouring himself a cup of tea and drinking several cups in a row. (She didn't know that Zhong Jinwei was a bit nervous and used drinking water as an excuse.)

  Zhong Jinwei was excited when Aqi replied to him and said: "No need, just can't sleep, let's chat?"

  "Aqi couldn't help but laugh a little, thinking for a moment before responding: 'Young master, it's already very late, I've gone to sleep.'"

  "It's okay, it's okay." Zhong Jinwei hastily picked up the conversation, "We can just lie here and chat, at this time back in our place, it's exactly when nightlife is rich. If I hadn't crossed over, I would be...". He stopped for a moment, originally planning to work overtime tonight, but that was not something to say as a loser IT guy. So he continued: "I'm playing computer."

  Aqi looked puzzled and asked: "Computer?"

  Zhong Jinwei was afraid that Aqi would not speak, so he quickly replied: "Yes, computer, also called computer, English name is puter, a client can be used to watch news, play games, watch movies, and so on."

  Aqi felt even more dizzy, the content she heard was beyond her understanding. So, Zhong Jinwei started a new round of explanation with a smug expression.

  The night grew darker and darker, Zhong Jinwei couldn't understand the watchman's voice either, but what did it matter, he didn't have to go to work tomorrow, who cared what time it was.

  Now, there is a beautiful sister over there listening to herself talking about the sky and the earth. What a happy thing in life! Zhong Jinwei thought beautifully in his heart.

  Although Archie said little and listened more, he was attracted by the fresh content in Zhong's words and didn't doze off as before. He listened attentively. As they chatted deeper and time passed, the sense of strangeness between them slowly disappeared.

  It was around the hour of the Ox, in the city of Gaoyang County, Baoding, Hebei Province, enveloped in the dark night, with only two lanterns at the city gate, shining with a faint light, vaguely revealing the city gate from the darkness.

  The weather in June is not very cold. Two soldiers on night watch duty on the city wall huddled together, holding their long guns and leaning against the corner to sleep soundly.

  Suddenly, a slightly older soldier, Ding Jia, seemed to be awakened by something. He rubbed his eyes, looked at the still dark sky again, listened carefully, and then reached out to push his sleeping comrade: "Wake up, wake up."

  This soldier, Hei, was sleeping really soundly and was reluctantly woken up. He opened one eye, saw that the sky was still dark, and then closed it again, muttering: "It's not dawn yet."

  Soldier A couldn't help but lean over and whisper into Soldier B's ear: "Listen carefully, can you hear the sound of horseshoes?"

  Soldier B opened his eyes and looked at Soldier A, seemingly not joking around, and listened carefully.

  At this time, it's actually no longer necessary to listen carefully, the sound of horseshoes is already very clear. Both people are quite puzzled, who would be traveling overnight at this late hour?

  So they all stood up, stretched their heads and tried to see more clearly in the dim light.

  The sound of horseshoes finally arrived at the city gate tower, with only one person and one horse. The man on the horseback stood up straight and said: "Hurry up and open the door, to deliver an urgent imperial edict."

  The two soldiers looked at each other and heard that it was a Beijing accent, so they said: "Throw up your waist card and take a look."

  The man on horseback was helpless, but he knew this procedure was unavoidable. So he threw his waist card up and said, "Take a look and open the door quickly, don't delay."

  The two soldiers received the token and looked at it under the lamp light, only to see a few words engraved on it: Dongchang Jin Yiwei. They were people from Dongchang, and both of them were startled.

  Although the East Factory is basically no longer active, suddenly a urgent imperial edict arrived, could it be that something big is going to happen? At this moment, I dare not slack off, hurry down and open the door.

  As soon as the city gate was pushed open, a horseman squeezed in and asked after taking over his waist card: "Where is the mansion of Sun Chengzong, the great master?"

  Soldier Jia hastily pointed out the direction and told him how to get there. The man on horseback urged his horse forward, galloping away. As the sound of horseshoes faded into the distance, Soldier Jia turned to his companion and said: "He rushed here overnight, covered in sweat. I don't know what big thing happened, but it's really not easy to get by these days."

  Sun Chengzong, also known as Zhi Sheng and Haiyang, was a native of Gaoyang, Hebei (formerly part of Zhili Province). At this time, due to the defeat at Liuhe, he had resigned from office and was living at home.

  Sun Chengzong was already sixty-seven years old, he slept very early and got up very early. Today was the same, as soon as he woke up, he heard that there seemed to be someone outside making a noise, and he couldn't help but feel a little strange. So, he called out to Yuhuan and asked: "The sky is not yet bright, what's going on outside?"

  Yahuan went out for a while and came back to report: "It seems that someone from the East Factory has come to deliver an imperial edict, but the housekeeper didn't want to disturb Master, so they got into an argument."

  Sun Chengzong's heart tightened, thinking "Coming in the dead of night, there must be something important. Could it be that another major incident has occurred in the imperial court?" Although he thought this way, he didn't panic, having experienced many grand scenes before, how could he possibly panic? He got up and came to the front courtyard.

  The people outside stopped making noise as soon as they saw the master appear. Sun Chengzong knew that the housekeeper was doing it because of his old age, so he didn't want to disturb his sleep, and it was a good intention. But in front of outsiders, he still pretended to scold the housekeeper a few words.

  The eunuchs from the Eastern Depot interrupted and said: "Lord Sun, please dismiss your attendants. There is an imperial edict to question you."

  Sun Chengzong was taken aback, running over from Beijing city in the middle of the night just to ask a few questions. He then had everyone withdraw.

  The people of the Eastern Depot said: "Your Majesty's decree states that Yuan Chonghuan in Liaodong and below committed treason, privately beheading a superior official. Is this true?"

  Sun Chengzong was taken aback, this matter had passed for so many years, the Emperor suddenly asked about it, obviously he had heard something. He didn't want to deliberately deceive the Emperor, but thinking of deceiving him, probably couldn't be hidden anymore, he could only respond: "This incident indeed happened."

  "The people from the East Factory said: 'Lord Sun, after questioning is complete, please dispatch a trusted house servant to quickly report this matter to the capital. There are people from the East Factory waiting day and night at the city gate, my waist token is proof.' After speaking, he fell to the ground."

  As soon as Sun Chengzong saw him, he hastily called his family members to come and help the Dongchang people go down to rest. He also sent a trusted person to set off overnight to rush to the capital. After arranging these things, Sun Chengzong sat in the main hall, looking at the flickering candlelight, and secretly said in his heart: "Element, didn't you get into trouble again?"