Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 332: Ceremony for Protecting the People
Those who are "commemorated" in the Humin Temple are naturally the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to "protect the people", most of whom are soldiers who died in battle.
Some of them are grassroots officials who died in accidents or sudden death from overwork while working on various livelihood projects .
As an envoy of Xuzhou Prefecture, Jian Yong was also invited to watch the ceremony. If he had not been told in advance, given the scale of the ceremony, Jian Yong would even have suspected that it was a sacrifice to heaven and earth.
What surprised Jian Yong even more, and even made him "uneasy", was...
Not only were countless Jinling citizens dressed in solemn attire and watching the ceremony outside the city walls that day, but even some citizens from other counties and prefectures in Yangzhou came spontaneously!
Jian Yong had even inquired about it, and it was really spontaneous, not forced conscription...
When welcoming back the martyrs, Bai Tu personally walked barefoot at the front, chanting the eulogy in the style of Chuci and Wuyun, and led the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the martyrs' families who were holding tablets behind him. When they sent their tablets to the Humin Temple, the people around them also sang the eulogy...
Feeling other people's emotions is Jian Yong's strong point.
He could sense that the people around him and the families of the martyrs were not only mourning, but also respecting the owners of these tablets. The families of the martyrs were also filled with pride...
And what made Jian Yong most uneasy was that the crowd was surging with... fighting spirit!
Not only the staff and ministers of the General's Mansion, but even the people under its rule did not lose confidence in the General's Mansion because of the unfavorable war situation. Instead, they were full of fighting spirit.
This fighting spirit turned into worry in Jian Yong's heart.
The people under the rule of the General's Mansion no longer seem like the tools being "exploited" in the fighting among princes. Instead, they are like those in the heyday of the Western Han Dynasty and when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched the Northern Expedition against the Huns, when they were united and young and strong people enthusiastically joined the army. The people were happy to see battle reports, and they could hold their heads high even if someone in their family died on the battlefield.
This not only meant that the people under the General's rule were not affected by the unfavorable war situation, but also meant that... there was not much loss of people's strength - no matter how much emphasis was placed on "sentiment", if the common people were already overworked and their strength was overdrawn, it would be difficult for them to have such a reaction!
Just like in the late period of Emperor Wu, when the national strength was declining, it was useless to give the people a boost...
Bai Tu took the lead and after sending the tablets of the heroes into the Humin Temple, he began to give a speech on the podium.
The entire square in front of the Humin Temple and the surrounding walls were designed with sound amplification and sound gathering in mind. There are also dry wells buried underground for sound transmission. In addition, Bai Tu uses a giant copper sound barrel on the stage, as well as the sound amplification function of the armor... Even if there are tens of thousands of people around, they can still hear Bai Tu's words when it is quiet!
What impressed Jian Yong even more was that Bai Tu's speech was obviously made for these people. It did not contain any cumbersome formalities, and its choice of words and sentences was close to the folk vernacular.
"This year is the fifth year of Jian'an. On the road to supporting the Han Dynasty and fighting for the people of Jingzhou, 1,762 soldiers fell forever on the battlefield. More than 500 of them have not even returned to their cenotaphs...
But I believe that their heroic spirits will not be blocked by the mountains and rivers, and they have already returned to their hometown, watching us continue to fight for supporting the Han Dynasty and for "the benevolent love others"!
In the water conservancy construction of Haihun County, Poyang, there is also such a group of people who get up early and stay up late every day to survey the local hydrological conditions. In order to find out the specific situation after the rainstorm, they even risked entering the flooded area to measure the flow rate after the rainstorm in Poyang on May 17. Zhang Pu, Xu Ding, and Lu Dong, county officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Haihun County, fell into the water and died..."
Bai Tu then recounted several examples of people who died in the line of duty, and these people were also moved into the Humin Temple.
Jian Yong was almost certainly convinced that although these stories were true, the way they were told must have been written by someone special to make them sound more appealing.
Moreover, Jian Yong did see a side of the general's mansion that was different from Xudu, Xuzhou, and other places in the world - sentiment.
Nowadays, the princes of the world are divided, and nine out of ten of them attack each other for personal gain. The army can be gathered together half by relying on the huge profits after victory and half by coercion. The grassroots generals are almost treated as consumables, so it is naturally difficult for them to have any "sentiment".
Although there are some officials at other levels who truly serve the people, they are few and far between...
Under the rule of the General's Mansion, even if the filter is removed, from officials to the people, the "sentiment" is dazzling compared to other princes, and even compared to the Han Dynasty when it was powerful!
Even though Jian Yong always felt that his lord was a sentimental man who truly cared about the people and the Han Dynasty, he was much more sentimental than Bai Tu, whose true personal intentions could not be seen at all.
However, compared with the General's Mansion under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou... it is far behind!
Is it just relying on those opera troupes? On some civilian newspapers? On the "performances" of the White Map?
Jian Yong was also trying to figure out the reason for the General's Mansion's success, but unfortunately he couldn't get the point.
He always felt that what he saw seemed to be helpful, but at the same time he also felt that... it shouldn't have such a big effect!
"May the heroes who have fought and sacrificed for the welfare of the people of the world, sacrificed for grassroots construction, and sacrificed for exploring new routes and a new future in the past year be immortal! May the heroes who sacrificed for the sake of 'benevolence and love for others' thousands of years ago and thousands of years later be immortal !" Bai Tu ended his speech in an impassioned manner.
During his stay, Jian Yong used his ability to observe people and secretly observed Bai Tu. He originally wanted to see if he really served the country and the people as he said, or if he was really a "fake that looks like the real thing"...
However, because Bai Tu's mental power was too strong, Jian Yong could not see any clues at all - it was the same when they were face to face before. The young man who could be easily "cheered" to be happy in Xuzhou was now so unpredictable to him!
Bai Tu spoke for a long time this time, so Jian Yong wanted to read it slowly.
It just so happened that the rules of the General's Mansion were somewhat different from those of other places. Not only did the people below not need to bow their heads, they were even encouraged to look at the white map.
Unexpectedly, after half an hour, Jian Yong still couldn't see through it at all, but at the very end...
A dazzling seven-color rainbow light suddenly burst , almost blinding Jian Yong. He lowered his head and squeezed out a few tears!
The others were confused, especially Jian Yong, who were surrounded by the general's staff. When they saw the envoy from Xuzhou Prefecture, they actually... "burst into tears" after their master's speech?
After a brief moment of astonishment from those around him, Jian Yong noticed that eyes filled with a mixture of disdain, embarrassment and admiration were being cast towards him.
As expected, he is the envoy of Xuzhou Prefecture, and is on par with Sima Lang from the Prime Minister's Mansion!
And working hard enough!
Even when listening to other people's lord's speech, he could pretend to be so moved...
They squeezed together and found that they couldn't cry at all, so they looked at Jian Yong with even more resentment.
Jian Yong: ...
Jian Yong, who was good at reading people's emotions, quickly understood what everyone was resentful about, and felt even more aggrieved!
