The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"It is important in ancient times that Xia officials were appointed during the Zhou Dynasty. Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, it has been recorded in the history of the country. The two saints of Xuanying were held one after another. The establishment of the constitution is clear. The legacy is not far away. When the emperor Huanqi Shenmoguang revised the order All rituals and rituals should be carefully scrutinized to establish the grand events of the Xi Dynasty and follow the rules of future generations. However, the systems of previous dynasties were different from each other. If we examine it, many of the rituals in the previous dynasties were not prepared.

I would like to take a brief look at the ancient system, and consider it appropriate to discuss it at the appropriate time. I would like to request:

On the first day of the first stage, people wear regular clothes, conduct a grand procession in person and announce it in the inner hall, and perform four salutes with a speech, just like the usual ritual when leaving the countryside.

On that day, the Supervisor of Ceremonies set up a royal gate on the general platform, the General Association and the ministers of politics and military affairs inspected, and the officers and governors of the Department of Science and Technology led the troops to preemptively guard the inside and outside of the teaching ground.

On the first day of the solstice, officers were sent early to worship the god of flags and banners in the training ground. The officers and soldiers of the three camps all wore bright armor. Banners and weapons were laid out in the main camp. Four generals were still selected to command two thousand soldiers on horseback. Named, serving the generals outside the left gate of Chang'an, serving as officials of the civil service halls, the Sixth Section, the Thirteenth Palm Seal Officer, the Etiquette Section, the Military Section, the Ceremony Department of the Ministry of Rites, the Fourth Division of the Ministry of War, and the Censor of the Ritual Supervisor and the Honglu Temple Serving officers and military officers, except for those who should be read, are the governor and above. They are also in the royal guard hall, as well as the Nanzhen Fusi chief seal and secretary. They are all wearing bright red casual clothes, leading the retinue, and wearing dental plaques. They all serve in the teaching field.

On the first day, when the court is away, the chariot is set up under the Huangji gate with clothes and guards prepared, and the chariot is in regular clothes and goes out from the left gate of Chang'an. The officers and soldiers are led in front and behind, and the gongs and drums are used to vibrate."

Lu Tiaoyang, the Minister of Rites, read the etiquette notes for the Grand Reading drafted by the Ministry of Rites in a melodious voice, and everyone in the room listened quietly.

This is the duty room of Wei Guangde in the cabinet. As the general person in charge of the Grand Parade, after the Ministry of Rites completed the ritual notes, he summoned Feng Bao, the eunuch in charge of the Royal Horse Supervisor, as well as relevant officials from the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Metropolitan Inspectorate and other yamen, as well as the Fifth Military Governor's Office. Come here to review the Etiquette Notes for the last time.

Once the draft is finalized, it will naturally be submitted to Emperor Longqing for a royal review as soon as possible, and at the same time, all ministries must start making preparations in advance.

The emperor went on a tour to participate in the Grand Parade. This was a major event that both the inner and outer courts participated in, so naturally it could not be taken lightly.

In the palace, the emperor would go to the Fengxian Hall to pay homage to his ancestors the day before, following the usual rituals of leaving the countryside.

On the same day, the Supervisor of Ceremonies will also decorate the grand parade, the General Association of the Beijing Battalion and the political officers will inspect the camp, and the Chief Supervisor of the Department of Science and Technology will lead the troops to pre-empty the teaching ground.

On the day of the Grand Parade, the palace sent officials to the school grounds to offer sacrifices to the banners, and the Beijing camp sent troops to escort them. At the same time, they also listed the officials who were qualified to accompany Emperor Longqing to participate in the Grand Parade to avoid confusion on the day.

After Lu Tiaoyang finished reciting the ritual notes, he sat down and waited for other people's opinions.

However, this draft was completed through the cooperation of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War. Naturally, officials from other yamen didn't have much opinion, and they all nodded in agreement.

Seeing that no one had any objections, Wei Guangde asked: "Eunuch Feng, do you think there is anything that needs to be modified in this ritual note?"

"Haha, this ritual is perfect. The Za family has nothing to say. Mr. Wei Ge, just move on to the next step."

Feng Bao replied cheerfully.

"Haha, that's good."

Wei Guangde smiled, then faced where the Ministry of War officials were sitting and asked, "Has the discussion on the rewards from the Ministry of War been completed?"

"Mr. Wei Ge, a gift from the Ministry of War's Grand Parade"

Immediately, a minister from the Ministry of War stood up with an extra document in his hand, which was naturally a draft of the rewards for the officers and soldiers of this parade.

"If the official's horse hits six arrows in three steps, he will be rewarded with ten taels of silver medals. Five taels of silver will be awarded. He has never been famous and has been recommended by people who still remember him. If the horse hits four arrows and five arrows in three steps, he will be rewarded. , reward five taels of silver medals with a folded color and three taels of silver on one side. If the horse fails to hit the mark at all, he will be punished as usual. If he is a teacher's servant, he will still be punished with one stone of monthly rations."

"Please kindly ask Eunuch Feng to take these two memorials back to His Majesty for his inspection."

After the discussion, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War sent memorials to the various yamen. Naturally, they had nothing to say. Even the most picky censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate chose to agree.

After that, the memorial was sent to the inner court. Feng Bao happened to be here, so Wei Guangde naturally sent the memorial to him and he took it back.

"It's easy to talk about. You and I are old acquaintances. We supported each other in Yuzhuan to be where we are today. We just need to support each other for some matters."

Feng Bao still had the same smiling face that had remained unchanged for thousands of years and said politely.

"Even if Eunuch Feng said this, I won't be polite. This matter is here. I'm hosting a banquet in my house. Eunuch Feng can't refute my reputation. He must come when the time comes."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"Your wine is not ordinary. I will be there when the time comes."

Feng Bao replied with a smile.

Wei Guangde sent Feng Bao out of the cabinet and then returned to his room. He thought about it carefully for a long time and made sure that all the procedures had been taken into consideration. Then he breathed a sigh of relief.

There are only a few days left before we can unload this big burden.

There are reasons why Wei Guangde was so polite to Feng Bao. First, he wanted to replace the original Li Fang with Feng Bao and become his support in the inner court.

The second reason is that Chen Ju sent a message from the palace the day before yesterday that the eunuch of the inner court had begun to take action against Chen Hong.

Although you can't kill someone with one blow, you can still gradually divide his rights, just like you did with Li Fang.

Chen Hong is now also in charge of Dongchang, which is the target they want to compete for, and the final beneficiary may be Feng Bao.

If this happens, Feng Bao will be the imperial eunuch and the owner of the East Factory, while Chen Hong will only retain the title of imperial eunuch.

Between the rise and fall, the status in the inner court naturally changed greatly, especially for a very special yamen like Dongchang.

All officials are afraid of Dongchang, but the people in the inner court are not the same.

Most of the officials in the duty room had already left at this time, but this time, Wei Guangde, the governor of Rongzheng, Zhenyuanhou Gu Huan, the assistant minister Wang Zhigao and other officials were left behind. Now that the others were sent away, Wei Guangde naturally wanted to detail Ask them how things have been since they took over.

"Mr. Wei Ge, please rest assured. We have practiced twice in the past two days and there were no mistakes at all."

Regarding Wei Guangde's concerns, Zhenyuan Hou Gu Huan just glanced at Wang Zhigao and assured him.

"It's best. Qi Yuanjing was originally supposed to be the governor-general of military affairs, but the commander-in-chief of Jizhen was vacant, and it was an important position, so he was allowed to be released after repeated requests.

As the successor, General Gu has a heavy burden on his shoulders and cannot afford to make mistakes. "

Wei Guangde just reminded, "Everyone will naturally receive a reward as long as the review is over."

"Wang Shilang, please pay more attention to the Beijing camp to make sure there are no mistakes."

Wei Guangde then said to Wang Zhigao, the Minister of War.

"boom."

A palm was slapped heavily on the book case, and the two Ming army generals wearing helmets and armor in front of the case couldn't help but feel trembling.

"Yu Dayou, Li Xi, I want to ask you, the sailors have been training for half a year, can't they still go to sea to deal with Japanese pirates and compete for sea power?

Since you have found out that Zeng's troops are in Zhelin Port, why don't you mobilize all your troops to encircle and suppress them.

Don't think that there is nothing I can do against you just because someone is protecting you in the capital.

No matter how hard you try, I will definitely impeach you and take you home. "

Behind the desk, a civil servant with a white pheasant embroidered on his chest shouted angrily at the two generals in front of him.

The person who spoke was Su Yu, the Inspector of Fujian Province who was patrolling Xingquan Road. He was currently living in Quanzhou, where the Fujian Navy was stationed.

The two people in front of him were Admiral Yu Dayou, and the other was Li Xi, the general in charge of Fujian.

"Master Su, I have sent a message a few days ago to mobilize the Guangdong Navy to move north. Once the two armies merge, they will immediately go to Zhelin Port to encircle Zengben Japanese pirates."

Facing the angry Su Yu, Yu Dayouzhi patiently explained his battle plan.

It's a pity that Su Yu didn't intend to listen to his words at this time. He just pointed in the direction of the port outside the door and asked: "You have dozens of Fengzhou-class warships. They were built by emptying the treasury of Fujian and Guangdong." .

You kept saying before that once this ship is completed, the Ming Navy will be invincible on the sea.

Now you are timid in the face of the Zengben Japanese pirates who have dozens of warships, and you have to mobilize the Guangdong navy to come to the rescue. Is this because you are cowardly or just a communicator?

Do you have to wait for Zeng Yibu to get the news before leaving Hong Kong? "

At this point, Su Yu had already stood up, waved his sleeves and said: "The army will leave the port before noon tomorrow, otherwise I will definitely take part in your crime of cowardice of the enemy and collaborating with the Japanese. You should take responsibility for it yourself."

After saying this, Su Yu walked out of the house and returned to his place of residence.

Seeing Su Yu's back disappearing, Fujian Commander-in-Chief Li Xi said: "General Yu, it's impossible if we don't send troops. I'll wait for tomorrow."

Yu Dayou just waved his hand in response to Li Xi's words. He silently walked to the chart hanging on one side of the room, looked at it carefully, and made silent calculations in his heart.

As for today's matter, he knew he couldn't delay it.

If the delay continues, Su Yu's impeachment memorial may be sent to Nanjing City, which will cause trouble again.

"We have to fight. We can't wait for the Guangdong Navy."

After thinking for a long time, Yu Dayou finally spoke to Li Xi behind him.

"I only hope that the first battle can win back the morale of Zeng Yiben's Japanese pirates, and finally the Guangdong Navy can arrive in time to complete the containment."

"General Yu, those warships outside should be enough to defeat Zeng Yiben's gang of Japanese pirates."

Li Xi was actually quite puzzled by Yu Dayou's reluctance to take action. You must know that there are thirty Fengzhou-class warships in the port outside, which is definitely the most powerful military force around the Ming Dynasty.

The Fengzhou-class battleship they talk about is actually not the Ming Dynasty of this kind of battleship, but the title of canonization.

Fengzhou was sent by the Ming Dynasty to Ryukyu and other vassal states for canonization purposes to show national prestige.

According to records, Fengzhou was fifteen feet long, two feet six feet wide, one foot three feet deep, divided into twenty-three cabins, with five large masts erected front and rear, seven feet two feet long, and six feet five inches in circumference.

After conversion of this data, the sealing boat is 47 meters long, 12 meters wide, 16.5 meters deep, 4 meters draft, and 12.5 meters high.

This size is only slightly smaller than the British "Sea Sovereign", the largest battleship in the West a few decades later, but it can be considered a battleship of the same level.

The "Fengzhou" used by the Ming Dynasty's envoys was actually a large-scale fortune ship. It was large in size and well-made. However, compared with Western specialized warships, its firepower disadvantage was also very obvious.

After all, the Fuchuan was not a specialized warship when it first appeared, but was actually a merchant ship. Although it was modified to become a warship, it still had many flaws.

But it has to be said that by this period of the Ming Dynasty, in terms of shipbuilding tonnage alone, its technical strength was no worse than that of the West.

This batch of sealing boats was actually the second batch built by Yu Dayou. The first batch was mostly destroyed due to a sneak attack on Guangzhou years ago. That war also became the biggest failure of Yu Dayou's war career.

"I'm not worried that I won't be able to defeat them. Although Zeng Yi's tribe is very powerful, there are only about twenty large warships. It's just that Tuolin Port is not suitable for large warships to cruise."

Yu Dayou expressed his worries.

"What should we do?"

Li Xi also became worried and asked.

"Let's make a sneak attack. I hope this will dissipate the Japanese pirates' morale and leave them with no intention of resisting."

Yu Dayou turned to Li Xi and said: "Give me the order and prepare a supply of materials for the expedition immediately. We will go to Tuoling Port in the dark."

"Night flight, General Yu."

Hearing that Yu Dayou wanted the fleet to go to sea in the dark, Li Xi couldn't help but said anxiously.

"No need to say more, I have made up my mind, that's it, the whole army will attack."

Yu Dayou could only choose to gamble this time. In his calculations, the Guangzhou Navy would arrive in a few days at most. By then, under a combined attack by the two armies, Zeng's troops would undoubtedly be defeated.

In order to paralyze the opponent, Yu Dayou even reduced the number of scouts, because he was worried that the Ming army would be discovered by the Japanese pirates if they monitored too much.

But facing the tough Su Yu, Yu Dayou finally chose to compromise.

Soon, the order was passed on, and the Ming Navy navy began to prepare all the supplies for going to sea. In addition to fresh water and food, there were also gunpowder and other baggage, which were constantly loaded onto the warships.

As the supplies were loaded onto the ship, the naval officers and soldiers who had already assembled on the dock also boarded the ship one after another. Before nightfall, the fleet set sail.

Such a big commotion in Quanzhou Port naturally alarmed the people in Quanzhou City, and Su Yu soon learned about the news that Yu Dayou led the fleet to sea.

After repeatedly confirming that the Ming navy had gone to sea, Su Yu put down his pen and tore up the impeachment memorial he was preparing.

He did not lie to Yu Dayou. Zeng Yiben had been docked at Tuoling Port for a long time. Even if it was repaired, it was almost done. If the Ming army did not attack, it would delay the war.

And if Yu Dayou really didn't follow his orders to fight this time, the memorial to impeach him for being greedy for life and fear of death would definitely be submitted to Nanjing City. He didn't care what kind of support was behind Yu Dayou.

Of course, the capital city thousands of miles away didn't know about these things. Wei Guangde had no idea that it almost led to a big incident.

You must know that letting Admiral Yu Dayou take charge of the Jiangnan Navy is a very important step in opening up the sea. If Yu Dayou is impeached because of this, even if he comes forward to protect it, he is afraid that this official position will be changed.

Is he happy when someone picks the peaches he got?

Of course he wouldn't be happy about it. The final result might be that the Ming Navy he was planning to form would come to an end.

As for state affairs, Wei Guangde may not care that much.

You must know that China has been a continental empire from ancient times to the present, and there is not much awareness of sea power from top to bottom. This is really incomparable with Britain and Japan.

As for why mainland coastal countries such as Spain and Portugal launched the Age of Discovery, they were actually driven by poverty and madness.

The Ming Dynasty has always been self-sufficient and indeed lacks the conditions for external expansion. It is indeed difficult for China to launch large-scale colonial wars.

As for the idea that a time-traveler wants to influence the thoughts of people of this era based on the thoughts of later generations, it is simply impossible.

Everything can only be planned slowly. This is Wei Guangde's plan.

It was also his plan to let the emperor taste the sweetness of opening the sea first, then pull the nobles on board, and finally the civil servants.

Lure them with benefits.