Because the triennial examination is approaching, the city and outside the city are full of candidates who come to take the examination. Not only these Confucian scholars, but also people from all religions and nine schools gather in large numbers. There is a lot of traffic in the day, and there are endless music and singing at night, and the lights are bright.

The entire capital has reached its most prosperous and chaotic time.

In order to prevent chaos and increase public security, the number of soldiers wearing armor with the word "Yong" in the name of "big cake" and holding spears in their hands also doubled. A large number of soldiers in uniforms led the troops to roam the streets and alleys of the four gates of the capital. Even at night, a group of soldiers could be heard.

The neat steps of the soldiers, the clash of swords and guns, and the loud shouts.

Experts from the East and West Factories, the Five Cities Military and Horse Division, the Jinyi Guards, and the Six Gates were dispatched one after another, and the entire Ming Dynasty capital's defense supervision agency was put into operation rapidly.

Originally, people were used to all this, and it was always like this for the triennial examinations, but today it turned out to be very abnormal.

Since the morning, the entire capital has been under martial law. People are not allowed to go out, and shops are closed. There are actually soldiers wearing gold silk armor, carrying muskets on their backs, and wearing steel helmets. All of them are well-dressed and tough.

, the temples are slightly bulging. People with discerning eyes will know that these are the Vulcan Guards from the Divine Machine Battalion of the Royal Forest Army who protect the emperor. All of them are masters of blocking ten with one.

"I have lived in the capital for a long time. From the time of Lord Jiajing to Lord Longqing, and now to Lord Wanli, I have never seen such a huge formation."

The old shopkeeper of a hotel called Tianyuan Inn not far from Chongwenmen in the capital saw that since arriving at 9 o'clock in the morning, a large group of imperial guardsmen had been filling the streets with guns and stabbing people. They were full of murderous intent and drove people into pieces like birds and beasts.

"Shopkeeper, you are a Beijing veteran. You usually try your best, but you are not even allowed to go to the curfew. Why are you not allowed to go out on the street during the day today? Do you see what happened?" A man wearing a moon-white Confucian shirt

The young man asked the old shopkeeper.

"I think Master Wanli is critically ill and the Forbidden City is about to change its owner. As early as a few years ago, Master Wanli's dragon body was already in bad condition." An old scholar touched his beard and nodded.

"Is this true? If the new emperor ascends the throne, won't the scientific examinations be postponed again?"

"Postponing the scientific examination? Wouldn't that mean we have to live for another month or two, and I'm afraid we won't have enough money!" After hearing this, the poor scholar, who was short of money, felt his heart sink.

The downstairs of Tianyuan Inn has been closed, and only the second floor has gathered a large number of scholars and merchants, sitting and looking out the windows facing the street to see what is going on. Early in the morning, these scholars either go to their fellow townsmen to talk about poems and visit friends, or they go to the countryside for an outing.

Now they are all stuck in the inn. Everyone has nothing to do, so they can only gather together and chat.

At this time, it was the Ming Dynasty, where Confucianism was the most popular and overshadowed the imperial power. Scholars both inside and outside the court could discuss government affairs, but unlike the Qing Dynasty, anyone who made the slightest mistake would be imprisoned and beheaded.

"Brother Yuan Yuan, don't you think that's the world-famous God-catcher Ouyang Suo?" There were two scholars sitting opposite each other on a small table near the window. One was fair and clean, and his clothes were half-new and half-worn but extremely neat. It was Hong Chengchou.

.

The other one has dark skin, big ears and shoulders, and looks like a saint from an ancient book. He holds a piccolo in his hand. But he is the black young man who sang a righteous song to save the enemy when the masters from the Central Plains were fighting with the [*] lama on the Helan Mountains.

This young man is Yuan Chonghuan, whose courtesy name is Yuan and whose nickname is Ziru. He is from Dongwan, Guangdong. He studied at a young age and is talented and intelligent. He can read "Shang Shu", "Li", "Yue", and "Spring and Autumn" at the age of seven. He can read it by himself at the age of seven.

"Tai Gong's Art of War", study "Book of Changes", "Lianshan", and "Gui Zang".

Although the Yuan family has not been an official for generations, they have been doing business in Guangxi since their grandfather. They are quite prosperous and have a large collection of books. When Yuan Chonghuan was fifteen years old, he actually read through the 5,485 volumes of "Tao Zang" and gained a deep understanding.

In it, you can understand the Taoist method of nourishing Qi and breathing.

From then on, he traveled around the world, and met Hong Chengchou when he listened to Liu Zongzhou's lectures at Shanyin Academy in Fujian Province. However, Yuan Chonghuan did not like to stand out, and all he learned was from his own reading experience. He dabbled in Confucianism, Taoism, military, and mathematics, and learned from everyone's strengths.

It is a self-contained sect that does not go to academies, does not worship teachers, and listens to others' lectures. Most of the time, it is to see the other person's experience, rather than blindly studying.

Therefore, although he is very beautiful, he is not very famous among scholars.

After three years of traveling, he visited all the Central Plains. Not only did his cultivation become more and more profound, but his knowledge and knowledge also increased rapidly. He read history since he was a child, observed the rise and fall of ancient and modern times, and often lamented that the Song Dynasty was destroyed and the Yuan Dynasty was revived, China was in decline, and it was actually ruled by aliens.

It is actually the most tragic thing in ancient and modern times.

Every time I read the history of the Song Dynasty and saw the tragic situation in Yashan, I couldn't help crying, wishing that I could not turn the tide. I also read Wen Tianxiang's "Guide Lu" and wished that I could take my own life to restore the Han Dynasty.

His home was near Yashan, and he would go there every year to pay homage. On this day, the forty-fourth year of Wanli, he heard that Nurhachi, the founder of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, proclaimed himself emperor in Waiguan, and changed his name to Tianming, and his name was Tianmingzhui.

He was so angry that he wanted to join the court as an official and wipe out Liaodong. Then he thought about it. There were many factions in the court. Even if he entered an official career, he would not be able to achieve his ambition and would instead be involved in internal fighting.

When I think about it, I feel quite helpless that my seven-foot body cannot express my ambition, wipe out the barbarians, and protect the Han Dynasty forever.

This year, he went to Yashan to worship again. He saw the sea rolling into the sky and the isolated island standing up, which became more and more desolate. On the Yashan, there were eight bloody characters engraved on the Yashan: "Song Zhang Hongfan destroyed the Song Dynasty here". Suddenly he felt the strong wind hitting his body, and it was painful to the bones.

cold.

After sighing for a long time, I don't know how much time passed, the sky gradually turned dark, and suddenly there seemed to be a voice coming from the whistling sea breeze: "The Qing Dynasty flourished, the Ming Dynasty died, and the blood of the Han family began to be cut off. If you go against the sky, you will beg in the sea."

"

This sound sounded like murmuring in sleep, but in Yuan Chonghuan's ears it was no less than a thunderbolt from the blue. He quickly looked around and saw a dark seascape, not even a fishing fire. The sea was windy and rough, and the water was like a tidal wave. Wave after wave came overwhelmingly.

I saw that the water under the cliff mountain was calm, which made me feel strange. There seemed to be light flashing under the water. Yuan Chonghuan thought in his heart: "Could it be the spirit of the loyal martyrs who threw themselves into the sea on the cliff mountain?"

By this time, his qigong had already gained momentum, and the water quality of the deep and long seaside was very good. With a thought, he plunged into the water and swam toward the glory. He gradually sank a few feet and suddenly saw a black shadow the size of a bathtub flashing.

In a flash, a series of bright lights flashed out from under the dark shadow.

Taking a closer look, he saw that it was an old sea clam. Its whole body was covered with seaweed. It must have grown so big for at least a thousand years. The light must have come from the pearl in its belly. Yuan Chonghuan has lived by the sea for many years. Such a big sea clam

I haven't seen it before, so I couldn't help but be curious, and wanted to catch it. I quickly took out the five-claw stainless steel water-dividing hook I had with me and threw it with the rope.

Swim into the deep sea.

He used the current to stabilize his body and used his other hand to send out a five-claw water-dividing hook that just hooked a coral reef, and then he caught the old clam.

The two were locked in a stalemate. Yuan Chonghuan saw the old clam opening and closing, and the essence in its belly was shining, making the ten feet of sea water turn red. He quickly used Hunyuan Qi Gong, took a sip of sea water, condensed it into a water arrow, and stabbed it, hitting the clam in the middle.

Inner abdomen.

The old clam was injured and pulled even more urgently, but Yuan Chonghuan waited for the work and held firm. After a while, the old clam seemed to have lost his strength and was gradually pulled over. He opened his mouth even more urgently, as if begging for mercy.

When Yuan Chonghuan saw it, he felt pity, "This thing has survived for thousands of years, and it seems to have just acquired a spirit. Why bother to hurt it." So he took off the steel claw hooked on it, and the old clam channeled the spirit and opened his mouth again and again.

Opening two clam leaves, the water splashed and made a strange sound. When Yuan Chonghuan heard that it was the sound he had just heard, he was shocked and looked into the belly of the old clam.

The old clam spit out a ball of lightning-like silver brilliance and hit it. Yuan Chonghuan took it with his hand and saw that in the middle of the brilliance was a jade box about two feet long. He didn't know where it came from. Suddenly he felt the sea water rushing. It turned out that the old clam

Already swam down.

Yuan Chonghuan had no choice but to go out to the mountain, rest for a while, and opened the jade box. He saw a piccolo inside and a thin silk book with only twenty or thirty pages.

It contained several thousand words. I didn’t have time to read it at that time, so I went home and read it carefully. It turns out that this book is actually the last work of a Song Dynasty person!

When the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang, Lu Xiufu and other ministers retreated to Yanhai to support their young master in resisting the Yuan Dynasty. Wen Tianxiang was besieged and killed by top Yuan army masters in Jiangxi, and was finally outnumbered. He was restrained by Zhang Hongfan and sent to Yashan to persuade him to surrender.

Wen Tianxiang had long known that he would be defeated if he defied nature, so he compiled what he had learned throughout his life into a book, and gave it to Lu Xiufu when he persuaded him to surrender. Lu Xiufu and a group of civil and military ministers who defied nature also recorded what they had learned in it, and used it as a jade seal to pass down the country.

Smelt it into a box, put it with a nine-melody Haoran flute, and use magic to seal it in the body of the big clam, waiting for the fate.

The soldiers of the Hou Yuan Dynasty finally broke through Yashan, and everyone died for the country. Three hundred years later, the Han family bloodline encountered a greater crisis, and this box was finally reborn.

The old clam who passed the message also developed supernatural powers, and later transformed into a human form to help Yuan Chonghuan interpret a legend.

After Yuan Chonghuan received Wen Tianxiang's inheritance, he carefully studied its essence, especially that the jade box was made from the jade seal handed down from the country.

After passing through the heavenly calamity, he became proficient in the innate Yishu, and used the nine-melody flute to play a righteous song. When the [*] lama and a group of masters took action and had no time to worry, they suddenly appeared and broke through the mantra of the Vajra Tripitaka of the Two Worlds and Ten Directions.

This national jade seal is an ancient sacred jade and a jade, inscribed by the ancestral dragon, which reads: "Ordered by heaven, you will live forever". In order to prevent it from falling into the hands of foreigners, Lu Xiufu and others asked the emperor for instructions, refined it in one fell swoop, and then shared it with the young emperor.

Ministers of civil and military affairs and hundreds of thousands of officials died for the country together.

Suddenly, floating corpses filled the sea, and the Han family fell into ruins. The tragedy was indescribable.

"After Yashan, there will be no China, so what is the use of this seal!"

Yuan Chonghuan recovered from the thrilling memories and looked in the direction pointed by Hong Chengchou. He saw a middle-aged man wearing a soap shirt and fast boots, holding a sword with a white copper sheath. His eyes were shining brightly, and he was looking around.

He looked around, sometimes looking up at the sky.

Under the influence of Qi Ji, he suddenly looked this way, and suddenly looked at Yuan Chonghuan. Yuan Chonghuan gently retracted his gaze. The middle-aged man seemed to have nothing to do, and still led a team of six-door policemen forward.

Go.

"Ouyang Suo, the God-catcher, really deserves his reputation!"

"Brother Yuan Yuan, you've also come to take the exam. It seems that you must be the top pick."

"I returned from Helan Mountain and had a conversation with Qi Jiguang, the military master. He said that the country is facing internal and external troubles and it is the time to recruit people. He advised me to take the exam to obtain merit and serve the country. I have another plan to become a Jinshi.

That's enough. I don't bother to fight for the false title of No. 1 Scholar, so I let the disciples of the Donglin Party do it, so as not to fight among themselves and waste the country's vitality in vain."

"Brother Yuan will not fight, then I will do my part. I am a poor Confucian scholar and I don't care about partisanship. I am just trying to kill the majesty of those big sects."

"Hengjiu, you are too pushy. I'm afraid your bow will be as heavy as the full moon and will break easily."

"Brother Yuan Yuan, I'm sure you have great ambitions and don't care about fame and fortune. But the bigger things get, the greater the risks. You still have to be careful."

"In the world between heaven and earth, there are things that people must do, so why should they be afraid of life and death?" Yuan Chonghuan suddenly looked up at the sky, his face suddenly turned sideways, and he quickly took out fifty yarrow sticks and threw a hexagram. Before Hong Chengchou could wait,

After seeing the hexagram clearly, he put away the yarrow and sat there for a while, "I always plan before taking action... Only when I reach a desperate situation, can I do it all..."

"Brother Element, what's going on?"

Yuan Chonghuan frowned deeply, then thought about it, and then relaxed: "Now there is an earth-shattering figure in the capital, who is going to do something earth-shattering. Let's have a drink together and just watch.

"

Emperor Wanli came to the West Palace, and the Shenji Battalion of the Royal Forest Army, together with the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division, Jinyi Guards, East and West factories, and six gates, organized the entire capital so that no one walked on the streets. The six ministries and cabinets all rested, and ministers were not allowed to stay at home.

Go out and wait for the imperial edict.

The Tiger Guard Camp and the Pioneer Camp have completely blocked the perimeter of the Forbidden City. No one is allowed to enter the Forbidden City. The crown prince is under supervision in the East Palace. If he makes any unauthorized move, he will be shot to death immediately.

Today is the day when the Hunyuan Golden Pill was created.

Emperor Wanli seemed to have taken strong medicine. He issued thunderous edicts one after another and mobilized troops and horses with lightning speed to control the capital. Although the Confucian ministers were dissatisfied, they could not resist openly.

"Your Majesty, I have used magic to deceive my spirit. Those ministers will never be able to figure it out. Although there are people in the capital who know about it, I will not come to intervene. I am just refining this golden elixir to increase your life. This move has already
To be continued...