Capital city, Xiyuan.
The sky is blue and white, the air is clear, the Taiye Lake is rippling with blue waves, a line of white cranes is circling in the sky, and the royal palace with red walls and golden tiles is shining in the sun. Such a beautiful scenery is like a fairyland on earth.
Although the sun was shining, the atmosphere in the West Garden was as if covered with dark clouds, cold and depressing.
No matter if they were eunuchs or palace maids, they all seemed to have mastered the world's most advanced lightness skill. They walked and did things without making any sound. They performed their duties with fear and trepidation, treading on thin ice, and even wished to hold their breath.
It’s nothing, Emperor Jiajing was in a very bad mood today.
The weather in Xiyuan was not controlled by the heavens, but by Emperor Jiajing. If Emperor Jiajing was in a good mood, Xiyuan would be sunny; if Emperor Jiajing sneezed, Xiyuan would be cloudy; if Emperor Jiajing was in a bad mood, Xiyuan would be covered with dark clouds, and even turn into a violent storm.
Today, Emperor Jiajing was in a very bad mood, so the weather in the Western Garden was overcast and the palace maids and eunuchs were walking on thin ice.
In fact, Emperor Jiajing has not been in a very good mood recently.
The day before yesterday, the northern bandit chieftain Altan led his troops to invade Datong again. Why use the word "again"? Because this is the fourth time Altan has invaded Datong this year. This time, Altan led more than 3,000 cavalry to invade Datong, and looted Dayong, Weilu and other forts. The commander of the cavalry camp, Wang Gong, led his soldiers to resist Altan's troops in Pingchuandun, but they were not strong enough. Wang Gong and his men were all killed on the spot. Lieutenant General Zhang Teng stationed his troops in Zhuma Fort, which was very close to the battlefield Pingchuandun, but he was afraid and stayed in the fort. Altan then led his cavalry south from Gaoshancheng and Zhuanyaoer, and looted Shijing Village in Huairen County and other places.
He robbed whenever he wanted, and he had robbed four times in half a year. Altan Khan treated the border of the Ming Dynasty as his own backyard!
Do you think our master, Emperor Jiajing, is miserable
Not only that!
In recent days, severe floods have occurred in Daming, Baoding, Hejian, Shunde, and Guangping prefectures in Northern Zhili, and all the fields have been submerged. Local officials in Northern Zhili submitted a disaster report yesterday, and the damage is quite serious.
While the north was flooded, the south was also not idle. Drought hit Nanchang, Linjiang, Ji'an, Ruizhou, Yuanzhou, Fuzhou, Ganzhou, and Nan'an in Jiangxi. It had hardly rained for a year, and the fields were so dry that smoke was coming out of the ground. Not to mention the crops were gone, even the trees were dying of drought. The disaster reports from Nanchang, Jiangxi and other places were only one hour later than those from Northern Zhili.
Floods in the north, drought in the south! Why is it raining so much in Northern Zhili? It would be better if you could go to Jiangxi!
Isn’t it infuriating
Can Emperor Jiajing be in a good mood? !
However, all of the above are just foreshadowing, and are not the reason why Emperor Jiajing is in a very bad mood today.
The reason why Emperor Jiajing was in a bad mood today was that he had been refining a furnace of elixirs since the beginning of the month, and today was the day to open the furnace and take out the elixirs. However, in the morning, a strange smell began to come from the furnace.
The elixir is now ready, it should have a fragrant smell! But there is a strange smell coming from the elixir furnace, which is not a good sign!
Emperor Jiajing had high hopes for this batch of elixirs, because the recipe for this batch of elixirs was the "Eight Gentlemen's Recipe".
What is the "Eight Generals Pill Recipe"
Have you ever heard of one person's enlightenment bringing prosperity to all his family members? ! Liu An, the King of Huainan in the Former Han Dynasty, had two ambitions: one was to become an immortal through the art of Huangbai, and the other was to rebel and become the emperor. To this end, he recruited many guests, preparing for a rebellion at any time while cultivating immortality and refining elixirs. Among the guests he recruited, Su Fei, Li Shang, Zuo Wu, Tian You, Lei Bei, Wu Bei, Mao Zhou, and Jin Chang were the most talented. These eight people were famous alchemists at the time, all of whom had young faces and white hair and were vigorous. People collectively called them the "Eight Lords". The Eight Lords gathered together to refine elixirs and finally made an elixir. On the day when the elixir was made, Liu An, the King of Huainan, rebelled and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zong Zheng to arrest him. At the critical moment, Liu An swallowed the elixir and ascended to heaven hand in hand with the Eight Lords. Because of the haste of the matter, Liu An ate the elixir in a hurry, and many of the elixir fell to the ground and were eaten by his chickens and dogs. These chickens and dogs that ate the elixir also ascended to heaven with Liu An. This is the allusion of "one person attains enlightenment, and all his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven".
The recipe for the elixir that Emperor Jiajing used to refine this batch of elixirs was the same recipe that Ba Gong used to refine elixirs at that time—also known as the "Ba Gong Recipe."
This is a true immortality recipe! Every ingredient used in this recipe is a priceless treasure.
Therefore, Emperor Jiajing placed very high hopes on this furnace of elixirs. However, the strange smell coming out of the furnace this morning was like a basin of ice water, which poured over Emperor Jiajing's head and chilled him to the bone despite his excitement and anticipation.
So, the "weather" in Xiyuan was cloudy this morning.
Therefore, the palace maids and eunuchs in the Western Garden were all trembling with fear and treading on thin ice, fearing that they would get into trouble.
"Bang, crash..."
Suddenly, there were sounds of overturned tables and broken teacups inside the Yongshou Palace. The two young eunuchs serving at the palace gate were so frightened that their hearts almost jumped out of their throats. They looked at each other with pale faces.
They all knew what had happened in the palace. It was the time when Emperor Jiajing opened the furnace to take out the elixir. The sounds of overturned tables and smashed cups coming from the palace meant that the refining of the elixir had failed!
In fact, when a strange smell came from the alchemy furnace in the morning, everyone knew that this batch of elixirs had failed.
However, because it was not time to open the furnace and take the elixir in the morning, everyone still had a little hope in their hearts. This was the Eighth Duke's elixir recipe. How could the previous elixir recipes be compared with the Eighth Duke's elixir recipe? The previous elixir refining experience might not be applicable to the Eighth Duke's elixir recipe. Maybe when the Eighth Duke's elixir recipe was used to refine the elixir, there would be a strange smell.
Now, the other shoe has finally dropped. The elixir has failed to be refined. The Emperor Jiajing's hopes have been completely shattered...
At this moment, a young eunuch holding a memorial came from Wuyi Hall outside and walked towards Yongshou Palace.
"What is this memorial?"
The two young eunuchs in front of the Yongshou Palace gate asked with fear on their faces, like frightened birds.
Don't let it be bad news!
The two little eunuchs prayed silently in their hearts.
However, the more you worry about something, the more it will happen. The eunuch holding the memorial whispered, "This is the report of the Japanese invasion in Taizhou. It is urgent and cannot be delayed. The elder ordered me to present it to His Majesty for his review. Please pass it on..."
Japanese invasion?!
Taizhou is in trouble with Japanese pirates?!
Isn't this going to cost us our lives?!
The two eunuchs guarding the gate looked at each other palely and uttered a silent word at the same time.
"you go... ... "
"you go... ... "
The two young eunuchs said at the same time.
At this time, none of them wanted to go into the palace to report. They all knew that Emperor Jiajing was angry because of his failure in refining the elixir. Wouldn't it be a good opportunity to report to Emperor Jiajing at this time? Moreover, not only would it make Emperor Jiajing angry, but the report was about the terrible Japanese invasion!
This is adding fuel to the fire! The risk factor has increased exponentially!
If you go in at this time, it will be like the wind whistling and the Yi River is cold, and the warrior will never come back once he leaves...