Chapter 1 Rebirth

  Late autumn of 1643.

  This is Beijing's weather, it gets very cold by the end of September.

  Getting up early in the morning, people can already breathe out white air. A gust of wind blows by, and it's cold enough to shrink one's hands and feet, with their whole body feeling icy cool.

  In the city of Beijing, the most magnificent and majestic architectural complex is undoubtedly the Forbidden City. If one is lucky enough to look down from Jing Mountain, apart from the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower and a few temples, along the central axis from Xuanwumen, there are countless grand and majestic palace buildings that cannot be clearly seen.

  Kun Ning Men Kun Ning Gong Qian Qing Gong Qian Qing Men, then to the Three Great Halls and exit through Wu Men Duan Men Cheng Tian Men Da Ming Men Zheng Yang Men Yong Ding Men.

  What a magnificent and majestic central axis!

  In this slightly eastern part of the central axis, that is, in the southeast corner, there are Donghua Gate, Wen Yuan Pavilion, Ti Ren Pavilion, and most importantly, the East Palace where the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty lived.

  Wenhua Hall, Duanjing Hall and other palaces together form a not small palace complex, although far from the three main halls and Qianqing Palace, but in the Forbidden City, it is also a place with a high specification.

  "Huuuuh... huuuuuh... huuuuuuuh..."

  Just beside the foundation of the Enduring Respect Temple, a figure ran over with great difficulty.

  This man's head was adorned with a dark blue velvet hat decorated with Eastern pearls, his body wore a sky-blue jacket with a lotus-colored trousers, and his feet wore thousand-layered cloth shoes. His whole attire was neat and simple, revealing a vigorous and heroic spirit.

  The clothes are not bad, but the running posture is not good. The height is about 1.7 meters, with a round face and delicate features, looking like a teenager of 15 or 16 years old.

  But the figure seems a bit over the standard, of course, from the perspective of people at that time, it is called rich and majestic.

  Because he was a bit chubby and probably lacked exercise for a long time, this little fatty didn't run very fast, it was more like walking or running in between. Even so, he was still panting, with sweat dripping down his forehead like water, and the front of his shirt was also soaked with a big patch of sweat.

  "Take a break, young master..." Around the corner of the palace, there were dozens of eunuchs standing around, some wearing red robes with round collars, others wearing green or blue robes. Some wore official boots and black hats, while others wore official caps and white leather boots.

  It's too hard for this little fatty to see, several red-robed officials had to kneel down and begged bitterly: "Young master, take a rest and run again later."

  The fatty was also tired, with his hands propped on his knees and his tongue hanging out. He panted like a small dog for half a day before waving his hand and saying, "Can't rest, resting won't work."

  After finishing speaking, he stuck out his tongue and continued running away.

  The Duanjing Hall, like other palaces in the Forbidden City, is divided into two parts: front and back. The front hall is this building in front of you, which is majestic and spacious, with three compartments, used as a study and reception room. Officials from the Hanlin Academy also came to lecture on literature here in the Duanjing Hall.

  In the early years, these things were in Wen Hua, but in this dynasty, they were changed to Duan Jing, taking its convenience.

  Such a large hall, the scope is naturally not small, and this young man ran around the inner courtyard palace, then ran out to circle around, and then ran back.

  It's more than half a mile away, and this young man started running after the alarm clock rang five times in the morning. By now, the drum sound on the northwest corner of the city wall has also been beaten, probably having run for nearly half an hour.

  "The young master was indeed seriously ill last time, and even his temperament has changed."

  Since they had advised him and he wouldn't listen, several eunuchs hid in a place out of the wind and started whispering to each other.

  "How many nights has he wailed!" Eunuch Li Jieye, in charge of the Duan Jing Palace, looked ferocious and clapped his hands: "Since the young master fell ill at the beginning of September, he was almost recovered after nursing. In the middle of the month, he suddenly fell ill again, crying and shouting, causing a commotion that made chickens fly and dogs run. At that time, cough, it's better not to mention!"

  "The Emperor was also worried at that time, urging Sun Chuanting to find a decisive battle against the bandits. Hearing that the young master had fallen ill like this, it also made the Emperor anxious."

  "It's much better now. But with this temperament, it's greatly different from before."

  "It seems more cheerful now, loving laughter and talk?"

  "Besides, I like seeing the judge."

  "When I was young, I was a naughty kid, but now I've grown up."

  "Ah, the young master has come up with something new again... Hmm, where did I put that thing?" Li Jiye patted his head and pulled out a piece of paper from his sleeve, laughing: "Take a look... Twenty pounds or so of sandbags made of leather, various iron rods forged by blacksmiths, round iron rings weighing five to ten kilograms each... You see, it's drawn with a brush pen by the young master himself. Just make them according to the drawing and that's it... Gentlemen, what do you think? What does the young master want these things for?"

  Everyone shook their heads, and Li Jiye himself also shook his head with a smile, saying: "Never mind, as long as serving the young master makes him happy, that's our proper duty."

  Someone chimed in: "Exactly! It's worthless stuff, just let Old Huang from the military supplies bureau take it away."

  "Right!" Qiu Zhi Zhong asked Li Ji Ye: "The knife that young master wants, is it done?"

  "It's settled then. And as for the iron armor, I don't dare let him have it."

  "Hmm, might as well practice sword skills then. But absolutely no iron armor."

  They called Xiao Ye, which was a special title for the Crown Prince in the Ming Dynasty at that time. The emperor was Wan Sui Ye, and the Crown Prince was Xiao Ye. The emperor sometimes referred to as Ge Er or Zhu Wei, while the princes could be referred to as Ge Er, or according to their rank.

  The little fatty running in front of him is Zhu Cizhao, the eldest son of Emperor Chongzhen of the Great Ming Dynasty, and the biological son of Empress Zhou, who was the Princess of Xin at that time.

  The Crown Prince is already fourteen years old and will soon be fifteen. For this eldest son, Emperor Chongzhen also attaches great importance to him. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, when the Crown Prince was six years old, he ordered the Minister of Rites Jiang Gongyuan, the Imperial Censor Yao Minggong, the Junior Imperial Censor Wang Duo, the Compiler Wu Weiye, and Yang Tinglin to lecture on the classics for the Crown Prince.

  This class was very strong, and at that time, the famous Confucian scholars and ministers were all gathered here. However, the Crown Prince was not called stupid, but he couldn't be said to be intelligent either. Moreover, his self-control was weak. Chongzhen was busy with national affairs every day, so he didn't have the heart to take care of him. Therefore, although the teacher was very strong, the student was just ordinary. Anyway, in the imperial court and the countryside, there was no one who praised him.

  The Crown Prince had always lived in the Zhongxiang Palace, but this year he moved to the Yi'an Zhang Imperial Concubine's residence in the first half of the year. As he grew older, the imperial family prepared for him to take a consort, so he needed an independent space that completely belonged to him.

  This Duanben Palace is not far from Donghua Gate, it's the northeast corner of the Forbidden City, at the intersection of inner and outer courts, a pretty good place.

  The crown prince seems to still have a very heavy childishness, usually his studies are just so-so, but now he's gone crazy, running every morning, after visiting various palaces to pay respects, he does those strange movements again, and now he wants people to make all sorts of equipment, saying he also wants to practice martial arts.

  It's not just that, now in the palace there is an inner training session under the Imperial Stables, with several thousand eunuchs practicing martial arts, and of course there are also military officers from the Capital Garrison and the Imperial Guards who teach martial arts. The Crown Prince had someone select a few of the strongest martial artists to come to the Eastern Palace, where in the morning he practices physical strength and in the afternoon learns sword techniques and practices horseback riding and archery.

  "Mo Zheng la!" Li Jiye shook his head, looking at the Crown Prince who was jogging over, and said: "After falling ill, it's as if he's lost his soul. Our family's young master is now like two different people."

  If the crown prince heard it, he would definitely give him a thumbs up and praise: "You're also a time-traveler? We two are kindred spirits, let alone brothers."

  This guy who ran like a dog and was more exhausted than a mule, the crown prince Zhu Ciyan, naturally became Zeng Bifan after being reborn through a car accident.

  At first he couldn't believe it himself, and was frantic for several days before slowly coming to accept reality.

  As soon as he accepted it, he knew something was wrong.

  "Damn it!" From the merged memories, Zeng Bufan finally knew who he was and which year it was after. He couldn't help but exclaim: "I'm actually Chongzhen's crown prince, and I've even arrived in September of the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign! This isn't just cool, it's a hurricane!"

  It's no wonder he was emotionally agitated, at this time it was less than half a year before the downfall of Ming Dynasty, and this situation is similar to Li Jiancheng who crossed over on the day of Xuanwu Gate Incident. In short, they were all in an irretrievable situation.