Jiao Sacrifice, also known as Jiao Sacrifice, has been the most solemn ceremony since the Zhou Dynasty.
Because this is a national ceremony to worship heaven.
In the Tang Dynasty, festivals were held four times a year in spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Zhao Kuangyin was worthy of being the founding monarch of the country and had a pragmatic and good style. He believed that suburban sacrifices were too frequent and was a waste of manpower and material resources. During his seventeen years in power, there were only four suburban sacrifices.
Zhao Kuangyi carried forward this pragmatic style. During his twenty-three years in office, he only held five suburban sacrifices.
Song Zhenzong...well, everyone knows it.
This man liked sacrifices and auspiciousness, so he established the ancestral system to offer sacrifices once every three years.
The next person to appear was of course Huizong of the Song Dynasty. He reigned for twenty-five years and held twenty-three suburban sacrifices.
Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming, who founded the country, have set various etiquettes in the "Da Ming Law". Suburban festivals are held once every ten years. If there are major events, suburban festivals will be added from time to time - such as the new emperor's enthronement, the triumphal return of a general, etc.
Moreover, heaven and earth will no longer be worshiped separately in the northern and southern suburbs, but will be worshiped jointly in the southern suburbs from this year.
Greatly save the cost of sacrifice!
In order to wait for the heroes to return to Beijing, the ceremony was postponed to the end of February.
On this day, envoys from various countries were waiting in line at the Royal Street. In front of them were civil and military ministers, generals, and troops waiting outside the Zhuque Gate.
Sacrifices to heaven and earth in the suburbs, triumphal ceremonies, and awards to heroes are all integrated into one.
"The emperor ascends the stairs!"
More and more people gathered in the streets everywhere, and finally they heard a few bells ringing, and the emperor, queen, prince, and princess appeared at Xuandemen Gate Tower.
In the sound of ceremonial music, the ceremonial officer directed the civil and military officials to come forward, and then the envoys from the foreign countries came forward.
The ceremony of kneeling and worshiping is usually cancelled, but it is still reserved for such important occasions.
The ministers knelt down and worshiped, shouting "Long Live the Mountain", and then danced to celebrate.
"Review the troops and horses!"
As the representative of the meritorious officials, Bai Qi led a group of meritorious soldiers, crossed the Zhouqiao from outside the Zhuque Gate, and came to the Imperial Street to march in formation.
At the front were a thousand heavy armored guards of the prince, followed by a thousand musketeers, then two hundred heavy cavalry, three hundred knights... The space was limited, so only a small number of teams were selected for review.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
The heavy armored infantrymen were selected from the best to participate in the military parade. Even their heights were very similar.
Their whole bodies were wrapped in tin cans, and they moved forward slowly with neat steps.
They didn't shout any slogans, they just moved forward silently, but their feet stepped on the ground as if thousands of troops were coming.
Li Boxiang, the Dali envoy, was subconsciously frightened and asked Li Renli, the Xixia envoy next to him, in a low voice: "How many such soldiers are there in the Ming Dynasty?"
Li Renli said: "I heard there are thousands."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Renli's pupils shrank, and he saw the musketeers following him.
"What's wrong with Ambassador Li Gui?" Li Boxiang followed his gaze and asked puzzledly, "What kind of soldiers are these with iron rods?"
Li Renli said: "Fire gun soldiers."
Li Boxiang still didn't understand: "Your envoy looked calm when he saw the heavy armor soldiers, but why did his expression suddenly change when he saw the fire gun soldiers?"
Li Renli didn't want to answer and watched the firecrackers pass by.
Then there were two hundred heavy cavalry and three hundred valiant cavalry. For the first time, Li Boxiang knew that the cavalry could be fully armored, including both men and horses.
The two Zhenla envoys, Jiumosengge and Mojun Mingji, were already standing there, dumbfounded.
They came to Kaifeng to pay tribute ten years ago, but there was no military parade at that time.
Although the Chenla-Angkor Dynasty was in its heyday, its political system was too loose, most of the land was not developed enough, and a large amount of money was used to build Buddhist temples and statues. It seemed that the territory was huge and the strength was strong, but in fact the army was very bad.
Have they ever seen heavy armored cavalry or heavy armored infantry?
Mojun Mingji whispered: "This Ming Dynasty is more powerful than the previous Song Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty's army is invincible. I should tell Your Majesty when I go back. The Ming Dynasty Emperor asked us to send young people to come to Kaifeng to study Confucian classics.
It must not go against the emperor's wishes.
Brother Jiumoni said: "Of course I know...are their armors all made of iron?"
"It should be so." Mojun Mingji couldn't figure it out either.
On behalf of the soldiers, Bai Qi knelt down and bowed in front of Fu Que. The other soldiers all stood and saluted because they were in armor and could not move easily.
Zhao Yu, the Minister of War, began to read out the military exploits, starting from Yang Zhi's defeat of Xixia to last year's victory.
Ceremonial music was played loudly, and civil servants and military generals danced again to celebrate.
"Present prisoners!"
The drums beat and the trumpets sound.
Several teams of light cavalry escorted the Jin captives from outside Zhuque Gate to Xuande Gate.
People along the street cheered and shouted, and some threw rotten vegetable leaves at the prisoners.
Tokyo was besieged and many people starved to death. Of course they could not blame Prince Zhu, so they vented their anger at the death of their relatives on the heads of these golden soldiers.
Wanyan Huonv limped in front because he had the highest status among the prisoners.
When she was captured last year, Wanyanhuo's legs and tibias were broken. She only had to bandage the bones and it was all done. After she recovered, she became a lame.
Zhang Guangdao stepped forward to introduce: "This person's name is Wanyan Huonv, and he is the son of Wanyan Loushi. Wanyan Lousi was the second most powerful general under the command of the Golden Chief Aguda, and his son Wanyan Huonv also made many military exploits in the Jin Kingdom.
, under his command were the most elite troops of the Jin Kingdom, who were united in Meng'an... When this man destroyed the Liao Dynasty and attacked the Song Dynasty, he was cruel and murderous, and countless people died at his hands..."
An official from the Ministry of War came to verify his identity.
One after another, more than thirty Jin generals, officers, and soldiers were brought up.
Zhao Yu ran to the gate and asked for instructions: "All the prisoners have been identified. Please give instructions from your majesty."
"Fa-rectification!" Zhu Guoxiang said.
"Dharma!"
"Dharma!"
"Dharma!"
One after another, the sound spread from the tower to the outside of the city gate.
Several generals with broad shoulders and round waists temporarily served as executioners, dragging the prisoners to the south end of Imperial Street and beheading them.
At the end of the prisoner presentation ceremony, Meng Zhao, the Minister of Rites, came out and began to read out the contents of the reward.
The first person to be granted the title was Zhang Gen, who was about to retire: he was granted the titles of Duke of Gan, Grand Master, Shangzhu, and Doctor Jin Ziguanglu.
As soon as the ministers heard about these officials, they immediately understood that Zhang Gen was leaving the court, otherwise it would be impossible to organize a large wholesale of rewards.
"My lord, thank you Your Majesty!" Zhang Gen was extremely excited.
Even if he is about to retire, having this honor while still alive is enough to honor his ancestors.
The second person to be granted the title was Li Bao. He was responsible for the destruction of the country and destroyed the small imperial court in the southeast. He was granted the title of Duke of Puyang, with a settlement of 1,500 households, and a real grant of 800 households.
Next is——
Zhang Guangdao, the Duke of Yangchuan County, had a settlement of 1,400 households and a real seal of 700 households.
Yang Zhi, the Duke of Jiyin County, has a settlement of 1,400 households and a real seal of 700 households.
Six people including Chen Ziyi and Hua Rong were granted the title of marquis, and twenty-seven people including Han Shizhong and Yao Pingzhong were granted the title of uncle.
There were nearly a hundred people who were granted the title of viscount or baron. They did not return to Beijing, but were all leading troops at their respective stations.
Han Shizhong was among the conferees, and he was excited but also a little guilty, because based on his qualifications and military exploits, being conferred the title of earl this time was really reluctant.
After much calculation, I only led troops to capture Zhijiang County in a surprise attack, participated in the confrontation with the Jin soldiers in Gyeonggi, and participated in the recovery of Shouyang County in Shanxi. They were soon transferred to Shandong for training, and faced with the surrender of the puppet army, they managed to regain ten of them in a daze.
There are many cities, and his identity is only a deputy general.
The only explanation is that His Highness the Crown Prince attaches great importance to it.
Not only that, he was also appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province, completely taking over the Zhejia's territory, which was even much larger than the Zhejia's.
Han Shizhong looked up at the Xuandemen Gate Tower, but it was too far away to see clearly. He felt that the prince was too kind to him, and it was worth selling his life to the prince. A scholar should die for his confidant.
Zhe Keqiu, Yao Gu, Liu Yanqing, Liu Guangguo and others were standing in the ranks of the military officials.
They returned to Beijing one after another these days, and soon received their appointments, and they all stayed in the Privy Council and the Grand Marshal's Palace.
Because Yao Gu was the first to submit, he also had the largest official position and had certain real power.
As for Liu Yanqing, Liu Guangguo and Liu Yanqing have neither high nor low positions. They seem to have a reasonable arrangement, but in fact they have no real power. They basically stay in the capital to retire.
Their focus was not on Han Shizhong, but on Yang Weizhong and Wang Yuan.
Wang Yuan was granted the title of Marquis this time, and he had a lot of achievements: he put down the Huainan rebellion, organized and trained the Huainan New Army, organized and trained the Zhejiang New Army, and participated in the overthrow of Zhong Xiang.
Yang Weizhong was awarded the title of earl and had more towns than Han Shizhong. His contribution was to defend Taiyuan twice.
The once famous Western Army of the Song Dynasty was now obviously headed by Wang Yuan.
But Yao Gu didn't care. His son Yao Pingzhong was also awarded the title of uncle this time - Yao Pingzhong didn't have high military exploits, but his generals were very good, so they also gave him a part of the military exploits.
Among the current Ming Dynasty armies, the most powerful one is the Sichuan faction, followed by the Gyeonggi faction, then the Shandong faction, and then the Western military faction.
The Hebei faction has not yet grown up, and the southern generals are just soy sauce.
The title does not represent everything, such as Li Cheng and Zhao Li. The former only became a baron, but was appointed as the deputy general of the Shandong Army. Zhao Li was also a baron and always served as the chief general of Denglai, under the direct dispatch of Li Bao.
Everyone kowtowed and rewarded them, and then the emperor and the prince went downstairs and led the civil and military ministers to the southern suburbs to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth.
Ju Ming rode forward slowly, and countless pairs of eyes fell on him.
As the head coach who won the great victory in Hebei, the prince did not receive any reward. Some people even suspected that the emperor and the prince were not getting along...
Of course, those who think this way are definitely not in the core power circle.
"Long live the Ming Dynasty!"
"Long live the official family!"
Among the onlookers, a scholar shouted excitedly, and the people around him also shouted.
The accompanying soldiers and horses were well-dressed, mighty and majestic, and their military discipline was excellent, so the people naturally felt proud.
Li Hanzhang turned to look at the cheering people and thought: "It would be great if Bai Sanlang was here. I met the prince in the countryside of Yangzhou that day. How could he have expected the grand event today?"
Bai Chongyan is still serving as the prefect of Hangzhou and is expected to be promoted to the prefect of Kaifeng next year.
Li Renli turned his head to look at the fire gun soldiers from time to time, always thinking that it was a monster. He wanted to steal a few fire gun soldiers and take them back to Xixia.
After all, being hurt by firearms, Xixia was also quietly researching and had already developed a primitive fire door gun.
It requires the use of a fuse (not a match rope), which is not very powerful. Accuracy depends entirely on luck, and it is extremely slow to build.
Li Qianshun mobilized craftsmen last autumn, and only now have he hammered out more than a dozen.
After much back and forth, Li Qianshun decided to build artillery first.
