Everything that happened in the Imperial Palace of the Forbidden City was basically exactly the same as the one at the Zhengdan Dynasty in the second year of Chongzhen.

First of all, Li Guoyan, the first assistant of the cabinet, read out the congratulatory table prepared by the Ministry of Rites, and then led the ministers to kneel three times and bow nine times to pay homage to the emperor, which is equivalent to paying New Year's greetings to the emperor.

Next, under the arrangement of the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Court, the envoys of the vassal countries, the feudal tribes, and foreign nations were presented with congratulatory tables and a list of gifts.

Then, it was Emperor Chongzhen who said a few auspicious words of joy and joy in the world.

Finally, Cao Huachun, the eunuch with the palm print of the inner court celebrant of the inner court, read out a holy decree to worship the Heaven and Earth Society Ji Tai Temple, which reads:

On behalf of the emperor, Li Guoyan, the first assistant of the cabinet, led the team to the Temple of Heaven.

Xu Guangqi, an assistant minister of the cabinet and secretary of the Ministry of Rites, led a team to the altar on behalf of the emperor.

Zhang Weixian, the British minister of military aircraft, led a group of nobles to pay tribute to Sheji on behalf of the emperor.

Xu Yunzhen, the representative of the Ming Dynasty and his relatives, took a group of imperial relatives to the temple on behalf of the emperor.

Unlike in the past, this time there were many more envoys from vassal countries, vassals, and foreign nations than last year.

The most conspicuous are, of course, the representative of the Dutch East India Company's envoy to the Viceroy of Batavia, and the representative of the Portuguese envoy to the Governor's Palace, Pérez.

Perez, the Portuguese representative of the Governor's Office in Manchuria, who had been in the East for a long time and had a request from the Ming Emperor, understood the etiquette of the Ming court, and did not hesitate to kneel on the ground.

Before entering the palace, the representative of the Dutch East India Company, Biedneau, also accepted the advice of the missionary Vanderlie and the new head of the Jesuit Society, Condenius, and performed the ritual of kneeling down on one knee to worship.

Whether it is the Portuguese or the Dutch, at this time they have suffered at the hands of the Ming army, and even suffered defeats, and when facing the Ming Emperor, they have long lost the arrogance of the past.

And after coming to the Ming Jingshi this time, I heard that the Ming Emperor personally led the army to defeat the barbarian army attacking from the north at the first time, so he naturally dared not have any disrespect.

In particular, at this time, both the Portuguese Peres and the Dutchman Biedno had heard of the riots in the northwest, and that several Catholic Jesuits who had gone to the mission had been killed and missing, so they all accepted the advice of Condenius and Vanderlie to satisfy the Chinese emperor on matters of etiquette.

When Cao Huachun finished reading out the arrangements for the separate sacrifices to the Jitai Temple of the Heaven and Earth Society, Li Guoyan, the first assistant of the cabinet, and others bowed to the emperor again, and then according to the division of labor in advance, under the guidance of the ceremonial officials, they led the ministers and nobles to go to various places to worship.

Emperor Chongzhen, under the escort of Wang Chengen, the chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, Gong Yonggu, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, Gao Wencai, the commander of the Tiance Guard, Li Ruolian, the commander of the Yulinwei, and a group of attendants and military attachés, left the scene of the imperial court meeting of the Huangji Palace, returned to the Qianqing Palace for a short rest, changed into regular clothes, and then went to the smaller Zhongji Hall to summon the envoys of various foreign domains.

On the morning of the first day of the first month of the third year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen came to the Zhongji Palace, and the envoy of the Li Fan Yuan, who had already been ordered to wait here, was Gongshun Hou Wu Weiying, and the deputy envoy Jiang Yueguang, with a group of subject countries, feudal departments and foreign envoys, and saluted outside the Zhongji Hall to greet him.

Emperor Chongzhen entered the Zhongji Hall with his attendants, and then sat down on the throne in the middle of the Zhongji Palace, and said to Wu Weiying, the Gongshun Marquis who followed in: "Let's start!" ”

Wu Weiying bowed down and said that he obeyed the order, and immediately stood up straight and said loudly outside: "Your Majesty has a will!" It is rumored that the envoy of the Korean State, Ayahara Maharaja Li Li, and the deputy envoy Yin Xuan came to see him! ”

During the Ming Dynasty, the status of Korea was still relatively high among the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

In the order of tributary at that time, the subject state came first, followed by the vassals, and then the foreign states.

Whether it is the Portuguese or the Dutch, although the strength is much stronger than Korea, Annam, Ryukyu and so on.

However, in the Ming dynasty's vassal system, their status was ranked behind those of vassal states such as Korea and Mongolia, Qinghai, and Tibet.

For this long-standing rule, Emperor Chongzhen didn't want to deliberately break it, and everything followed the arrangement of the Li Fan Yuan itself.

Wu Weiying had just finished announcing it, and Jiang Yueguang quickly brought the Korean envoy Li Li and the deputy envoy Yin Xuan to the Zhongji Palace.

Ayahara Maharaja Li is the younger brother of the current Korean lord Li Liang.

This time, Li Liang asked him to be the envoy of the court, on the one hand, in order to highlight his importance to this court, in order to highlight his respect for His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, he also asked the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to send his younger brother Ayahara Maharaja to come, also hoping to let him be received by Emperor Chongzhen smoothly.

As for the deputy envoy Yin Xuan, he had already been to Daming before, and he was an old friend of the Li Fan Yuan.

The two entered the Zhongji Hall, and according to the etiquette explained by the Imperial Court in advance, they immediately knelt down to greet them, shouted long live, and performed the etiquette of kneeling and prostrating three times.

While saluting, Ayahara Maharaja Li Li said: "Ayawara-jun Li Li, the envoy of the small Korean country of Weichen, and Yin Xuan, the deputy envoy of the court, knock to see Your Majesty, long live my emperor, long live, long live, long live!" ”

Seeing his courtesy, Emperor Chongzhen nodded, first let him calm down, and then said: "I heard that the lord of the country of Er'er sent Er and others to congratulate him this time, and he really wanted to discuss the purchase of the standard ordnance, armor and even gunpowder guns produced by my Daming Military Institute. ”

Ayahara Maharaja Li Li came this time, of course, not just to congratulate.

One of his missions was to purchase the standard ordnance, armor and even muskets and artillery of the Ming army.

For such a thing, if there is no reason, of course, he does not dare to bring it up suddenly.

And the reasons he explained had actually been reported to the Imperial Court before, but this time the emperor asked, and he had to answer seriously.

I only heard Li Li say: "Your Majesty!" After the re-establishment of the border between the small country and the Ming Dynasty last year, the arable land of the contempt country decreased sharply, and the displaced people from the north to the south became more and more, and the land in the south supplied more grain and grass to the general military office of Donggang Town, and the officials and gentry of the small country were unable to settle the displaced people from the south of Jin, and since October this winter, the hungry people in Gangwon Province and Jeolla Province have gathered to make trouble.

"The small country has a quota for military preparation, but with the existing quota, it is still not enough to follow the army of the Great Ming Dynasty to attack Jianqing, and it is even more ineffective to suppress the rebellion of the hungry people in the south.

"The monarchs and ministers of the country have long heard that the Great Ming Dynasty has excellent armaments and sharp guns, and if they can buy a batch to return to the country and quell the rebellion of the hungry people in the south, it must be easy to think about it. The minister does not ask for His Majesty's favor, he is willing to buy it with money, and asks His Majesty's permission! ”

After saying this, Ayahara Maharaja Li Li bowed to the ground again.

Emperor Chongzhen had already learned from the report of the Lifan Yuan that Joseon had claimed his intentions, and he also knew from the reports of Jaang Pu, Qiao Qitai and others that there had been civil unrest in many places in Gyeongsangnam-do and Jeollabuk-do in southern Korea.

This time, when I was receiving them in the Middle Pole Hall, I brought it up again just to take this opportunity to give them a clear answer.

Therefore, after listening to Li Li's words, Emperor Chongzhen said: "The affairs of the country are handled by yourself. However, if the monarchs and ministers of the country can't deal with it, they can also write to me and solve it by my big tomorrow court.

"Back then, the Japanese invaded the country, and I could do the same, and today the people of the country gathered to make trouble, and I can do the same.

"Besides, the country is small and poor, and the muskets and artillery of my Ming Arsenal are expensive, and the powerful buyers of the non-country are also!"

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen thought for a while and said: "As for the armor, bows and arrows, swords and shields, and spears of the Ming army equipment produced by the Armament Academy, if the armament of the Er Kingdom is insufficient, I can pass on the Armament Institute and sell it to the Er Kingdom at a cost!"

"As for what you said about North Korea's original quota as a Ming vassal state, from now on, it can be written off! The monarchs and ministers of the country can do what they can! ”

After Emperor Chongzhen said this, Li Li, the Ayabara Maharaja who was full of expectations, was disappointed, but he didn't dare to say more.

At this time, Yin Xuan, who was the deputy envoy of the Korean court, kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty! Joseon was a vassal of the Celestial Empire, and his loyalty could be shown to the sun and the moon. The monarchs and ministers of small countries seeking to buy Daming firearms are definitely not born to resist the Celestial Empire, let alone do something wrong! Your Majesty, please!

"And the small people of the eastern country are poor, and it is no longer possible to support the 20,000 standing battalions with the existing money and grain taxes, so how can they have the spare strength to recruit more troops? It is also small to pacify the civil unrest in the south, and it is a big matter to resist the invasion of the Japanese invaders! Your Majesty, please be clear! ”