On March 23, the 11th year of Yongli, the Nanyang Tianfei Temple on the bank of Lingding Yang, starting from the request for praise voted by the Advisory Bureau, after several months of repair and expansion work, the expansion of the main body was finally roughly completed not long ago.

According to the overall design idea, the complex still stands at the southern foot of Big Horn Mountain, which is lush and green, and the original forest is rarely damaged, not to mention that some trees have been transplanted from other places to encircle the building complex in nature.

The style of the palace is copied from the Meizhou Mazu Temple, which is Mazu's hometown, and that Mazu Temple is also the ancestral temple of Mazu temples all over the world, so it is so.

In order to ensure the effective development of the project, Chen Kai specially invited craftsmen from Fujian who were responsible for maintaining and repairing the Mazu Temple in Meizhou to cooperate with craftsmen from Guangdong. At this point, straight, tall pillars are inserted into the intricately carved column bases, supporting the huge beams. The Chinese-style beam and column structure, with blue bricks and red tiles, looks solemn and solemn.

The complex is mainly composed of a dedication hall, a main hall and a dormitory. Before the three halls, it was the mountain gate, and the statues of clairvoyants and ears were enshrined in the inner hall of the gate, which stood on both sides, because folklore said that they were recovered by the queen of heaven and became the gods who gave fishermen information about the waves and storms.

Further ahead of the mountain gate is the archway, but the book is not the original Tianfei Temple, but directly written Nansha Tianhou Temple, these five golden characters.

The words are naturally written by Chen Kai, who is a respected governor and the proposal and leader of the construction, but it took a long time to practice these five words, and I don't know how much I used just to copy the paper. Now it seems that the hard work pays off, and the writing is indeed quite courageous, highlighting the magnificence of the Tianhou Temple.

However, I know my own affairs, except for these five words, the other characters still do not make much progress in writing, and the improvement of calligraphy level is limited to these five words.

"I guess the next step to get promoted is the name."

Chen Kai wanted to come, and with a group of people who came to worship, they were already waiting for the auspicious time in the square in front of the archway. Today is the annual birthday of Mazu, but it is not like in previous years, either the government organization, or the private gentry and businessmen take the lead, at this moment the square has been occupied by the civil and military officials of Guangdong and the members of the Consultative Bureau, and the other gentry, businessmen and ordinary people who heard the news can only wait in the outer periphery.

The planned building complex has not yet been completely completed, in the past few months, Chen Kai mobilized a large number of craftsmen and people, working overtime, to complete the construction of the three major halls, mountain gates, archways, bell and drum towers, stele pavilions, as well as the expansion and leveling of the square.

Such a large-scale construction is bound to be a waste of labor and money. However, no one in Guangdong today has raised doubts and dissatisfaction, and some are just businessmen, gentry and even civil officials and military generals who want to donate money and property for construction.

This is not due to Chen Kai's rights, and others have to do so. It is said that the Mazu belief is still prevalent in China's coastal areas, especially the civil and military officials and parliamentarians, most of whom are from Guangdong and Fujian, and some are not figures from these two provinces, such as Cao Conglong, who was also born in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and has a lot of dealings with the sea, so it can be said that everyone believes in Mazu. Faith is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and now that the praise has been approved by the Son of Heaven, the expansion is naturally a matter of course.

Donation of silver is naturally indispensable, and the civil and military officials and parliamentarians below Chen Kai in Guangdong officialdom donated a large amount of silver, plus the donations of the gentry and merchants, the amount is quite huge. It's just that it didn't take long for them to be compared to Zheng Chenggong one by one.

Zheng Chenggong did not have any expression for the Advisory Bureau, but he was very appreciative of the proposal and the construction of the Tianhou Palace, and directly took out 20,000 taels of silver, and drove a large number of civil and military officials including Zheng Tai, Hong Xu, Chen Bao and other civil and military officials to donate. There is an inscription of donations in the stele pavilion on the side of the mountain gate, and among the lists below the text, the top one is Zheng Chenggong, who has donated the most, followed by Chen Kai, who has the second most, and a large number of civil and military officials, parliamentarians, gentry, and businessmen in Guangdong and Fujian provinces.

There is no need to worry about the money, the Zheng Group is relying on the sea to eat, even if these silver money is not enough, as long as there is a word, Zheng Chenggong will not hesitate for a second.

In addition, Chen Kai didn't intend to really burden the people with the precious stones, timber and other materials needed, so he simply demolished them directly from the Pingnan Mansion and the Jingnan Palace. Presumably, Mazu Niangniang would not really be willing to really burden the people, that would not be in line with her kindness.

During this period, the members of the Consultative Bureau said that the office of the Consultative Bureau was built with the land and buildings of the Jingnan Palace, and for them, the materials used there would not affect their enthusiasm for work, but the building materials of the Tianhou Temple must be the best, and this is absolutely non-negotiable!

Sure enough, this incident spread in the city of Guangzhou, and the local people praised the members of the Advisory Bureau for what they said for the country and the people, and the fishermen and maritime merchants even bowed to the members of the Council, and the existence of the Advisory Bureau was quickly consolidated in the hearts of the local people.

Members of the Consultative Council are voting for the awards, and they are naturally entitled to visit the shrine together with the civil and military officials of the province. After waiting in the square for a long time, more and more large and small ships arrived, and the merchants and people carrying them also arrived in a hurry with their own tributes.

After a long time, the auspicious time has arrived, Chen Kai saluted and led the civil and military officials and parliamentarians to climb the stairs, solemnly passed through the archway, and sent tribute to the clairvoyance and Shunfeng Ear of the mountain gate, praying that they would continue to forecast the waves and storms for the people.

On both sides of the mountain gate are the bell and drum tower and the stele pavilion, the bell and drum tower have been ringing in unison here, a festive atmosphere. And in the stele pavilion, it is not only the stele that the donation builds, the Ming Chengzu's "Imperial Hongren Puji Tianfei Palace Stele" and Zheng He's "Tianfei Lingying Record" two steles stand in it, the inscription describes the Ming Sanbao eunuch Zheng He was repeatedly blessed by the heavenly concubine, and completed the experience of seven Western feats.

In addition, there is also a "Monument of the Queen of Heaven to Protect the Country and Protect the People", and the inscription records that Chen Kaiyi prayed to the Queen of Heaven before the battle of Guangzhou and Jiangmen, and the result was that both times were the most critical moments to rewrite the turn of the war. Once Chen Qice's sailors rushed to the Pearl River battlefield and joined forces with Guangzhou volunteers to annihilate the Qing army's sailors; One was the Battle of Jiangmen, when the Ming army was fading, Chen Kai suddenly appeared on the northern front, thus laying the foundation for the victory - this is also the evidence that the Queen of Heaven blessed the Ming army and the people.

After passing the mountain gate, it is the dedication hall. The dedication hall enshrines the statue of the queen of heaven in official uniform, and there are also the dragon kings of the four seas, Zhigui, standing on both sides, showing the leadership of the queen of heaven as the goddess of the sea.

Tributes are still offered here, but the official worship is held in the main hall. So, soon the crowd passed through the dedication hall and went straight into the main hall. There, it is the center of Nansha Tianhou Temple, Chen Kai stepped into the main hall, as far as the eye could see, in the wood carving shrine, enshrined in the camphor wood carving, the official uniform of the gold sitting statue of the queen of heaven, until everyone entered the temple, the official of the master of ceremonies determined the auspicious time, Chen Kai strode forward, and fell straight down in front of the god.

"In the winter of the fourth year of Yongli, the Tartars slaughtered the people of Guangzhou, and the letter man once asked the queen of heaven to protect the fleet to cover the evacuation of the people; In the eighth year of Yongli, the king and the Tartar fought a decisive battle in Xinhui County, and the letter man also came here to ask the queen of heaven to bless the king to defeat the Tartar, and promised the queen of heaven that on the day of success, he should ask the son of heaven to add the title of the concubine Niangniang to highlight the merits of the concubine Niangniang. ”

"Today, after the vote of the people's representatives of the Guangdong Consultative Bureau, it was unanimously approved, and the letter man asked the Son of Heaven for his approval. Therefore, the expansion of the original Nansha Tianfei Temple is the Nansha Tianhou Temple, so far the birthday, special worship. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Kai got up and took the edict, personally enshrined it in the tribute, and immediately returned to his original position. The edict has been read out in the previous Tianfei Temple, "Protecting the country and protecting the people, Miao Ling Zhaoying Hongren Puji Queen of Heaven", compared to the praise two hundred and fifty-eight years ago, it is only a word, but it completes the transition from the concubine to the Queen of Heaven. This is the first birthday after the commendation, plus the approximate completion of the expansion of the main building, which is of great significance, so Chen Kai directly presented the edict, and it will be stored in the Tianhou Palace in the future.

Bowing, it was Chen Kai who took the lead, and the accompanying civil and military generals, from the Pingyi Hou Zhou Hezhi and the Zuo Admiral Ke Chenshu, the two water and land military generals, were able to come here on the one hand, and the civil officials headed by the political envoy Wang Jiang and the envoy Cao Conglong were a group of them. And those parliamentarians, arranged by Chen Kai, were not on the other side of the courtesy, but were in the second place, but this did not prevent them from bowing in style.

The ritual is a thorough ritual to show respect to the gods. This is also one of the main tasks of the magistrate, because from the theory of feudal society, the whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister, and the magistrate, as an extension of the authority of the Son of Heaven and a representative of the grassroots, should logically carry out such sacrificial activities. After all, the divine authority of the monarchy, the Son of Heaven's respect for the gods is also a blessing of his own legitimacy, not only the magistrate, but even the Son of Heaven has to hold a series of sacrificial activities every year.

If feudal society is a top-down realization of the legitimacy of rule, then since the members of the Consultative Council are theoretically elected from among the people, then rights emerge from the bottom up. Compared with the divine right of the monarchy, Chen Kai's idea is that the executive retains the power to enforce the law and cede the legislative power and the Consultative Bureau in exchange for legitimacy. In this way, this pair of conveniences is the opposite.

However, this is only the beginning, and the members of the Consultative Council themselves are still elected from the people selected by Chen Kai. He doesn't plan to go to the election stage so quickly, because his first priority should be to make the system deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, not overnight. In the meantime, Chen Kai was able to enter the court on the grounds that the parliamentarians voted on behalf of the broad masses of the people in Guangdong and had a commendation, which was already a lot of progress, and he did not intend to excessively stimulate these civilian and military generals.

The sacrificial activities were carried out in order, and after everything was completed, Chen Kai led the crowd to leave the Tianhou Temple and go to the dock to return to Guangzhou. At this time, the gentry, merchants, and common people who had been waiting for a long time were able to enter to worship and pray for a good year.

"The tower in the back mountain will be built after the sacrifice for Mazu's birthday is over. In addition, the three major halls, the mountain gate and the bell and drum tower, the unfinished parts of these places must also be completed as soon as possible, and Mazu must not be like this again when he ascends to heaven. ”

Mazu's heavenly day is the ninth day of the ninth month of September, and as usual, sacrifices are still held. The Zheng group's essential attributes make their belief in Mazu so high that no previous military and political group can compare with it. Even Zheng He, as well as the crew members of the treasure ship fleet who went to the West seven times, were just between them.

After seven voyages to the West, the Ming court began to ban the sea, and even burned treasure ships, drawings and records for this purpose. Therefore, even if it was later Longqing opened the sea, the dependence on the sea trade during the Wanli period continued to deepen, the Ming court's own political inertia is still there, and the power base of the civil officials as the political leader comes from the internal governance, and the real benefit of the sea trade is the eunuchs and military generals - the benefits of the sea trade can make the presiding eunuchs get the praise and trust of the Son of Heaven, and open up the territory to the outside world.

"Unless civilian officials are allowed to benefit from the process of going to the sea, they will definitely oppose it in order to suppress other political forces."

This is the inevitability of the central center to the local in the peaceful years, but now it is a troubled era, the Ming court itself is still precarious, and the Zheng Group is naturally popular in maritime trade. But for Chen Kai, the successful achievement of the praise is actually just a signal, and it is not enough to really let the country go to the ocean.

"It's still a profit."

Thinking like this, Chen Kai couldn't help but recall the names, origins and origins of those parliamentarians, especially their current political components, how many of them were related to maritime trade, he knew best. But that's not enough, he needs to do more.

Back in Guangzhou, the councillors had another topic to discuss, so they went straight back to the Consultative Bureau. The construction work there was completed more quickly than the Tianhou Palace, and the main body was composed of a council hall, and around the council hall were the buildings where each councillor worked independently, and the treasury where materials and other items were stored.

Everything is still very simple, just like the relevant system of the Consultative Bureau, the basic system has been discussed and voted on, which has taken a lot of time, and it will be constantly added in the future. However, now that the basics can be carried out, the rest can be studied until there is a real problem.

Like them, Chen Kai also went directly back to the governor's yamen office, and did not intend to use the sacrificial activities to embezzle the rest of the time before the next duty.

However, at work, Chen Kai is still dealing with a matter involving the Advisory Bureau, to be precise, a letter from Chen Bao. Among them, Chen Bao directly asked Chen Kai whether the establishment of the Advisory Bureau was properly discussed with Zheng Chenggong, and this bluntness seemed very awkward.

If it were someone else, Chen Kai might have to think more. But Chen Bao is a straight man, and he is loyal to Zheng Chenggong, and he has nothing to say. In this way, in fact, it is also derived from the power structure within the Zheng group - Chen Kai has full authority to control the military and political affairs of Guangdong, and Chen Bao is theoretically Chen Kai's subordinate, responsible for the military affairs of Chaozhou, and is not directly responsible to Zheng Chenggong.

Chen Bao had this move, Chen Kai understood what he meant, the letter was received before departure, and when he returned to the governor's yamen, Chen Kai immediately began to write a reply. In fact, Chen Kai wrote a letter to Zheng Chenggong to report on the establishment of the Advisory Bureau and the proposal of praise, but there was an element of cutting first and then playing, and Zheng Chenggong did not give any statement to the Advisory Bureau.

"I believe that my reasons are enough to convince Zheng Chenggong. Don't ask for support, as long as you can not oppose it. ”

………………

This month's New Year, it's a little busy, and the update is really bad, sorry, sorry. It will return to normal as soon as possible, and as for the chapters in arrears, I will try to make up for it in the future, and how much can I make up.

Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: book guest residence