Today is June 27, the day when a state funeral is held for Zheng Huizhen, the first king of Yanping in the Ming Dynasty. Just twenty-one days ago, June 6, the day that Xiang Xiaoqiang called "D-Day", was also Zheng Yucong's birthday.
Prince Ananta of Siam arrived in Nanjing and put a bomb in his bulletproof car, killing King Zheng Xizhen of Yanping. Twenty-one days have passed since that day, and the "March 7th" period has been completed. The funeral will be held today.
.
This is a state funeral, but it is not a state funeral. A state funeral only represents the national standard of the funeral itself, while a state funeral requires all citizens across the country to mourn and pay filial piety, and all banquets, weddings, etc. are prohibited during the state mourning period. And this kind of
National mourning has not existed in the Ming Dynasty for decades. Although it is not a national mourning and citizens are not required to wear or observe mourning, but when the hearse and the royal funeral procession slowly passed by Changping Road, many people on both sides of the road, which were crowded with people, still wore them voluntarily.
Flowers, or black gauze.
The long royal funeral procession carried coffin flags. After a few dozen meters, there was a hearse in the middle of the procession. The hearse was open and pulled by eight snow-white Central Asian Dawan horses. A Ming Dynasty flag was covered on the coffin.
The clothes and crown of King Yanping were placed on top of the national flag.
These eight white horses were obviously well trained. They lowered their heads and moved forward at an extremely slow pace, completely in tune with the slow pace of the entire queue. Surrounding the hearse were six people who were qualified to hold the coffin of King Yanping.
.They are:
On the left front of the coffin: Zhu Yourong, Empress of the Ming Dynasty, granddaughter of Prince Yanping;
On the right front of the coffin: the eldest son of the first King Yanping, and the new King Yanping Zheng Gongyin;
Middle left of the coffin: Princess Zhu Youmei of Xiuning, the granddaughter of King Yanping. She is the representative of the princesses of the Zhu clan, and is also the legal first crown prince in the current situation where Zhu Yourong is unmarried and has no children.
In the middle right of the coffin: the eldest son and grandson of the former Prince Yanping, and the newly appointed Marquis of Changping Zheng Yutang;
Rear left of the coffin: Zheng Yucong, the eldest son and granddaughter of the first Prince Yanping and the new Princess of Leping;
Behind the coffin on the right: the new king of the Kingdom of Siam, Rama VIII Bhumibol Adulyadej.
King Bhumibol arrived in Nanjing from Bangkok by plane just the day before. He was the only outsider among the six people. But the position of holding the coffin of the late King Yanping was something he had to fight for.
Although the death was not his fault, it was committed by his brother after all. It was all related to the Kingdom of Siam. Therefore, he came to the Ming Dynasty to personally hold the coffin of King Yanping, and apologized to the Ming Dynasty on behalf of the entire Kingdom of Siam.
He wanted to take this opportunity to show off and show his gratitude and loyalty to the Ming Dynasty for supporting his rise to power. In addition, he also wanted to show the world that there were no rifts in the relationship between the Ming and Siam countries because of this incident. On the contrary,
, we treat each other like family members (see, the Empress of Ming Dynasty’s grandfather passed away, and the king of Siam came to support the coffin).
…
Behind the hearse was a long funeral procession, and they were walking slowly at an extremely slow pace. The "first party" in the first few rows were all royal relatives of the Zhu family and the Zheng family.
They were also relatively close relatives of the first King Yanping, and they were considered "members of the family" of the mourning party.
The "second and third teams" immediately behind these people were all the top military and political officials of the Ming Empire.
At the front of the "Second Formation" is the Chief Minister Shen Rongxuan. Behind Shen Rongxuan are the ministers of various cabinet ministries, including the Minister of War and the Minister of the Navy. The ministers of these two ministries have always been served by retired military personnel and belong to the civilian system.
.These civil servants of the Ming Dynasty were all dressed in black funeral attire, with white flowers on their chests and black veils on their arms. They walked slowly and solemnly.
The "third party" at the back are the senior generals of the Ming Dynasty's military system. The first one is of course the Chief of General Staff of the General Headquarters Zhang Zhaoxian, followed closely by the Chiefs of Staff of the Army and Navy. Following closely behind is the Commander of the People's Guard
Xiang Xiaoqiang. After Xiang Xiaoqiang, there are the commanders of various large units, such as the Commander of the Army Aviation Force, the Commander of the Naval Aviation Force, the Commander of the Submarine Force, the Commander of the Railway Corps, the Commander of the Yangtze River Defense Line, the Commander of the Capital Garrison...
The imperial cabinet ministers and top military officers passed by, and the "Fourth Square" behind them were the Imperial Police Chief, the East Factory Superintendent, the President of the Imperial Bank... these various figures.
At this point, the queue of military and political dignitaries from the empire has finished. As for the Ming Empire's "Three Courts and One Meeting" - the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Procuratorate, the Courts, and the Congress, these four units do not participate as usual. It is not because they did not come to participate.
Because they are not awesome enough, on the contrary, they are too awesome. They do not belong to the bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty, but are independent of the government, or even higher than the government. Therefore, according to convention, they have to make such a gesture to express
Their supreme status.
There are two more "square teams" at the back, and the "fifth square team" in front is a queue of other royal family members and foreign envoys. The "royal members" are also members of the Ming Dynasty's royal family, but most of these people are not related to King Xian Yanping.
, they are just ordinary representatives of the royal family. These people are mainly idle clan members with lower titles. Because the annuity is relatively low and they can no longer afford a luxurious life, many people have joined the business world. Now many of these people
Shao Ren is both a member of the royal family and a business tycoon.
But there are exceptions. For example, Shi Shigege is also in this queue. Her title is the highest level among female nobles - princess, and her annual salary is astonishing - 700,000 yuan. She wears a black dress and walks very low-key
She was in the queue, but she couldn't keep a low profile at all. Everyone around her was looking at her, and she couldn't help but feel like she was surrounded by stars.
In addition to the Fourteenth Gege, King Shanggui of Ryukyu and his crown prince Shang Rong also came to attend the funeral. There were also envoys from other countries to the Ming Dynasty, and some foreign nobles who had been in exile in the Ming Dynasty for a long time, mainly Russia, North Korea, and Ryukyu.
country.
The last funeral "parade" at the back is the unofficial dignitaries from all walks of life in the Ming Dynasty. Famous entrepreneurs, business tycoons, cultural celebrities, writers, artists, movie stars, singers, famous scholars, and religious figures, such as
Several accomplished Zen masters, Taoist priests, masters... Of course, there is also the most representative "patriotic society" in the Ming Dynasty: Tiandihui... Qiu Laohu also put away his fierce eyebrows today, wearing elegant white Hanfu,
Showing off the style of Chen Jinnan, the national master of the Zheng family in Taiwan and the founder of the Tiandihui, he walked in the queue in a very sacred and solemn manner.
But at this moment, he felt a sense of satisfaction in his heart. Logically speaking, if he, a person of Qiu Laohu's level, was thrown into the "sixth team" of elites, that would be the cold peanuts served at the New Year's Eve dinner - there were
No one would notice him unless he was around. But it was different now. There were many people around him who had a higher status and greater social influence than him, and they all looked at him with respect, envy, or jealousy. Everyone knows that this
Boss Hei is the father-in-law of Commander Xiang, and his daughter is the famous Madame Qiu of the Xiang family, and she is also called sister to Ryukyu Princess Shang Madam.
In addition to these people, there are also heads of many social groups. Many of them are political associations and are of a political party nature. Although people in the Ming Dynasty can freely and legally form associations and form political parties, these "opposition parties" are relatively small. , there is currently no one that can threaten the Donglin Party’s ruling position. And although the Donglin Party also has the word "party", it is not a well-organized political party, but a general term that mainly refers to those many people in the current stage of the Ming Dynasty. The civil service group, which comes from the upper class, is well-educated, and has a relatively traditional and stable style, is different from the "grassroots political parties" among the people.
The state funeral today is for King Xian Yanping, who belongs to the royal family that everyone respects, so these opposition party leaders also came to attend and show their faces. If the state funeral was for government officials like Shen Rongxuan, then they would definitely not come.
…
The long state funeral procession took one morning to complete Changping Road, walked out of the East City Gate, and arrived at Nanjing Railway Station.
The state funeral is divided into two stages. The first stage is the funeral in Nanjing, and the second stage is the coffin is transported by train to the Tianmu Mountain Royal Cemetery in the western suburbs of Hangzhou for burial.
Currently, the emperors of the Ming Empire are buried in three places. The first place is the Xiaoling Mausoleum at the foot of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing. Only one emperor is buried here, that is Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Empire. After that, the entire Northern Ming Dynasty, Except for Ming Hui Emperor Zhu Yunwen who disappeared during the Jingnan Incident, the following thirteen emperors are buried in Changping, Beijing, which is the Ming Tombs. In 1644, the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, and the Northern Ming Dynasty was destroyed. After that, the Southern Ming Dynasty was established, and the Southern Ming Dynasty continued The emperor's mausoleum was no longer buried in Nanjing. Instead, a royal cemetery was carved out in Tianmu Mountain in the western suburbs of Hangzhou and he was buried there.
Because Nanming had not been established for long at that time, it could be said that it had just taken a breath, and it was uncertain when the Manchu and Qing Dynasties would come again. Although Nanjing was still the capital and the emperor insisted that the emperor guard the country, it was unreasonable for the emperor of the dynasty. Let the tombs of our ancestors also stay on the front line of the war. At that time, the largest city away from Nanjing was Hangzhou, which was equivalent to the status of "accompanying capital". Hangzhou is more than 200 kilometers away from Nanjing, which is relatively safe from a military perspective Yes, but it’s not too far in terms of distance. Even if the emperor dies in the summer, just use some antiseptic medicine on the way.
Until the Nanming Restoration, the Yangtze River Defense Line was established, and the border became more stable, the royal cemetery was not moved back to Nanjing, but remained in Tianmu Mountain.
…
When we arrived at the Nanjing Railway Station, according to the arrangement, most of the thousands of people in the funeral procession went back. Only the core group of more than a hundred people were left. They had to follow the coffin to Tianmu Mountain in Hangzhou to participate in the second stage of the state funeral: the burial.
These people are mainly Zhu Yourong, the core members of the Zhu family and the Zheng family, the core members of the military and political circles of the Ming Dynasty, as well as some foreign envoys and nobles. Of course, Xiang Xiaoqiang is also among them.
At this time, the hearse was changed from a horse-drawn carriage to a train. This train was very long, with more than 20 luxury carriages. In fact, for these more than 100 people, one carriage was enough according to the "hard seat" standards of later generations. But this is all The most distinguished people in the empire are required to sit in loose and comfortable boxes.
The long train lay on the track. Each carriage was painted solemn and pure black, and the carriages were hung with pure white mourning silk. One was black and the other was white, which was dazzling and solemn.
The train started slowly according to the auspicious time calculated in advance. Xiang Xiaoqiang sat in his box, with Hu Jiong and Li Changgui sitting next to him, and he still had a stomachache. He brought more entourage. Because this was a state funeral.
, including going to Hangzhou, the entire security of the People’s Guard is in charge. The guards on the car now are all members of the Guards, and even the waiters on the car are agents of the security team. Therefore, the guards on the car now are
Although Xiang Xiaoqiang's status is not the highest, his power is the greatest.
Xiang Xiaoqiang opened the window, smoked a cigarette, and watched the green smoke being blown out of the window by the cool breeze. But in his mind, he was thinking about a question that had nothing to do with the state funeral.
After being equipped with Lianfeng's submachine gun and inspecting Taipingji's armored vehicles, the next step is the most important part of the Ming army's heavy equipment: military vehicles. Military vehicles are more important than tanks, more than airplanes, more than armored vehicles. The decision for the Ming army is
The biggest advantage to the Qing army - mobility, was the automobile.
But for military vehicles, which have the largest purchase volume, it is best to choose Ming Dynasty's own companies. Among Ming Dynasty's own automobile companies, the one that does the best is Yuhuacong.
But now there is a question: What to do with those Yuhuacong stocks in my safe?