Four days passed in a flash, and after a tense and busy rehearsal, Li Yongji finally ushered in his enthronement ceremony.

The location of the enthronement ceremony is the Lingering Garden, one of the four famous gardens in modern society in China, of course, it is not called this now, it used to be called Hanbizhuang, but now that it has become the imperial palace, it has changed its name, called Yonghua Palace.

Speaking of the name Yonghua Palace, in fact, many people were opposed at first, saying that this name is not atmospheric, cheesy, not suitable for being the emperor's palace and the like, Li Yongji listened to it very well at first, after all, he was originally a random name to throw bricks and jade, and then he was impatient, so he simply decided this.

The Lingering Garden, no, there was a fire near the Yonghua Palace, but after such a long time of repair, the ruins have been cleaned up, and a large open space has been opened up, although the road surface has not been hardened, but this was originally intended to be a square.

Since the new manor is called Yonghua Palace, the vacant land in front of it, or the future square, is naturally called Yonghua Square.

According to the plan, Yonghua Plaza is 500 meters wide from east to west and 800 meters long from north to south, with a total area of 400,000 square meters.

At present, the whole square has not been hardened, that is, there is no cement or stone slabs or the like, it is still a hard ground, and even grass is overgrown in many places, but it has been hastily dealt with before, and it is still relatively shabby in general.

In fact, Li Yongji originally planned to build this place into a square, that is, he planned to make Hanbizhuang a government office like the White House, and then there was a government square in front of it, a farm and green grassland, and recreational facilities, which would be convenient for gatherings and citizens to play in the future.

As for the area, this is not Tiananmen Square, where Li Yongji studied in later generations, but the nearby burned open space is almost that large. In fact, it is a little larger, and in order to make up an integer, it has become an area of 500 meters * 800 meters.

Although the area of Yonghua Square is not small, after all, it is still a wasteland that has been leveled in a hurry, so although the enthronement ceremony is mainly in the Yonghua Palace, the unit is good-looking, or do some emergency decoration in the square.

The so-called emergency decoration is to simply sprinkle loess to make the ground look a little drier and smoother. Then make a three-hundred-meter-long red carpet in front of the palace gate, so it's almost the same.

Before entering the palace, there would be a row of Praetorian Guards wearing new uniforms and carrying chrome versions of Type 1860 rifles on each side of the carpet.

These so-called Praetorian Guards were not selected from the active forces, but were temporarily recruited honor guards, which were characterized by the fact that all of them were tall and tall, with an average height of more than 1.75 meters and a good image, with a total of only 2,000 people.

Other words. These people are just human beings, and the only thing they need to do is get dressed and carry a gun, sunglasses and a black mask. Then stand aside and bluff like a wax man.

At the same time, because these people don't have much training, they can't be motionless for a long time, so every once in a while. There would be a rotation of the guards, and they would walk in unison with their guns to the accompaniment of the snare drums, which seemed to be a more detailed patrol. In fact, it is to loosen their muscles and bones so as not to be ugly.

That is to say, the more than 2,000 temporarily conscripted guards had to be rotated once every fifteen minutes when they stood guard, and after the soldiers on rotation patrolled for five minutes to relax their muscles, they went down to rest for ten minutes, and then continued to replace the previous wave.

Because these "Praetorian Guards" all wore sunglasses and masks, dressed the same, were about the same height, and walked in unison with white gloves under a unified order, on the surface, it was impossible to see that these people were strong outsiders, and they didn't know how many of them there were.

Of course, there are some really effective Praetorian Guards, and that is Li Yongji's guard battalion.

Today's guard battalion has been fully special-forces, roughly divided into three parts, namely the Flying Dragon Group, the Hidden Dragon Group and the Dragon Protection Group.

The Wyvern Group and the Hidden Dragon Group are both more aggressive special forces, but one is good at airships and the other is good at land, and the Dragon Guardian Group is a real bodyguard unit and a real personal guard.

On such occasions, the three groups of the guard battalion were naturally all dispatched.

Among them, the Wyvern and Hidden Dragons each occupy all the commanding heights in the vicinity, using the scope of the sniper rifle and the telescope, plus the walkie-talkie, to strictly monitor the dynamics of various places.

As for the dragon protection group, they were dressed as Praetorian Guards, some of them followed Li Yongji's side, and some of them guarded the passages of Yonghua Palace in advance to prevent accidents.

Needless to say, the Qianlong Group and the Flying Dragon Group, Yishui's modern weapon, although the Dragon Protector Group carries an 1860-type large-cover rifle on the surface, has two USP pistols on their bodies, and they are both sharpshooters fed with bullets, and they are also wearing body armor, and the Qianlong Group and the Flying Dragon Group also keep the information flowing at any time, and they can completely deal with a crisis when necessary.

Just these, Li Yongji's safety is enough to be guaranteed, and in order to be more secure, on the day of the enthronement ceremony, Suzhou City was under martial law in advance, although the people were not prohibited from traveling, but Yonghua Palace and the Yonghua Square outside were all armed garrisons and police forces.

Although there are more than 3,000 black-clad policemen in the garrison of Yonghua Square, Li Jinbao's security regiment is still the main one.

Li Jinbao turned out to be just the director of the security department, and his main task in the past was to protect the Li family's property and personal safety, but because of the strong support of Li Zhengxiang and Li Yongchang, especially after the funds were paid by themselves, this unit began to expand on a large scale.

At the beginning, the unit led by Li Jinbao was only expanded into a battalion, and then it was formed into a reinforced regiment of 5,000 people.

The weapons of the defense regiment were all purchased from Li Yongji's Sharps rifles, and a lot of revolvers and grenadiers were also purchased, so that each person had one Sharps, two revolvers, and one grenadier for every 20 people, and an average of two bicycles per person.

The training method of the entire regiment is also copied from the Class A troops of the Jingwu Army, but the training intensity is not so strong, and there are not many heavy weapons.

The expansion of this security regiment is not for the sake of fighting for power and profit, at this point, the Li family may be very united because of the small number of people, and Li Yongji is the center.

Therefore, the real situation is that this unit is a rapid reaction force set up by Li Yongchang in order to facilitate the suppression of localities. It is a bit similar to the armed police force, you must know that when the local government sets up its own police at the beginning, it will inevitably have problems, so it is necessary to form a rapid response strike force.

After all, although Li Yongji's elite army is strong, it often has to be mobilized everywhere and cannot hold on to one place for a long time, so that the core of the local government is somewhat empty. So. In order to deter the localities, it is necessary to expand the Security Service to the size of a reinforced regiment.

In the past, the security regiment usually left a battalion in the old house, but now, the entire security regiment has been dispatched to cooperate with the local police force to completely surround Yonghua Square to ensure that no idle people are allowed to enter.

Of course, although the common people can't get into the square. But it's okay to look outside the square, or even visit from above.

In order to take care of everyone's curiosity and enthusiasm, we have set up visit points in advance at various commanding heights around the square. It is equipped with sightseeing binoculars, tables, chairs and benches, and can provide tea and food.

The price of such visits is expensive, and every seat must be booked in advance. That's it, it was already robbed, before the ceremony began. The ticket for a scalper for an ordinary seat has risen to fifty taels of silver.

This is still clear, in fact, in the dark, the agents of the Judge Advocate General's Office and the Intelligence Department, as well as the dart masters of the Jingwu Dart Bureau, are also scattered everywhere in civilian clothes, closely watching the movements everywhere, and if there is any abnormal movement, they will blow the whistle first, and then arrest people, in short, it is necessary to ensure the safety of the enthronement ceremony.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the invited celebrities from all walks of life at home and abroad began to enter Yonghua Square under strict scrutiny, with invitations, and then the Chinese and foreigners were divided into two groups and stopped at different places.

The guest stopping point is on both sides of the red carpet of Yonghua Palace, that is, on both sides of the Standing Guard Guards, the east side is Chinese, the west side is foreigners, the meaning is very obvious, especially note, the south gate of Yonghua Palace is called Yong'an Gate, which is also the place where the red carpet is laid, and it is the place where Li Yongji wants to pass by.

According to the process, during the enthronement ceremony, it is the courtiers who come to visit the emperor, so they must worship in the inner hall first.

During this period, all invited guests were not allowed to enter, but could only wait outside, and when the enthronement ceremony was over and Li Yongji, who had become emperor, appeared outside the palace gate, they could watch the so-called celebration ceremony, and then enter the palace under the invitation to participate in the celebration ball with Li Yongji, who had ascended the throne as emperor, and congratulate them in person.

This is a bit different from the West, where guests and civil and military officials wait in the palace, and then the emperor comes in from outside, sits on the throne, and announces the start of the celebration, but here the reverse is more prominent.

Time continued to move forward until half past eight, when a melodious bell suddenly sounded outside the palace, which was the so-called Shangchao bell.

As the bell rang, the civil and military officials who had been waiting on the periphery for a long time wore brand-new dresses, and the civil and military attaches were in a row, and then marched towards Yong'an Gate at the same time.

All civilian officials wore the same clothes, all wearing wide robes and large sleeves and black gauze hats, while military attachés wore a new type of iron-gray, overcoat Nazi M32 military uniform.

Of course, it is not right to say that the Nazi M32 military uniform, because this is just a reference to the style of the M32 military uniform, in fact, there are some differences, such as the color, not pure black, but iron gray, so it is actually a hotel security uniform, but with some shiny epaulettes and collar badges and the like, but they are all plum blossom logos.

On one side is a modernist soldier wearing a big cap, overcoat riding boots and tie, obviously with European style, and on the other side is a classical style with wide robes and large sleeves.

However, this is power, willfulness, and Li Yongji insists on doing this.

Originally, people's planning was not like this, and the military attache also had a corresponding set of Chinese-style dresses, and they were armor suits, all of which were revised armor styles from the Tang Dynasty, but Li Yongji didn't look good, so he gave them the M32-style new officer uniforms that he was going to change clothes before, but he didn't have time to use.

By the way, it is naturally Li Yongchang who is the head of the civil official, but it is not Wang Sanwu, nor Zhang Wei, nor the rising star Yu Hongrui, but Su Su, who was appointed as the chief of the General Staff!

Of course, Su Su's current name has been restored to her original surname, and she no longer follows the surname Li, but changes her name to Yin Susu, but no matter what, her role as a woman and as a military attache and a servant of Li Yongji is indeed beyond the imagination of the world.

In fact, Li Yongchang and others have known about this matter for a long time. After all, there is a dress rehearsal. Li Yongchang also persuaded him, but unfortunately after persuading him once, he didn't listen to it anymore. Because he knew that his younger brother was not the master who listened to people's persuasion at all, and if he persuaded him too much, he would be disgusted.

That is, Li Yongji's prestige in the army is too high, and the position of chief of the general staff, many people actually don't know what it is for, and some people even think that it is a prison of the army, and everyone doesn't want to anger Li Yongji, so they acquiesce in this matter silently.

The other one, a civil and military official who participated in the rehearsal. In fact, they are all made up, and they are all completely obedient to Li Yongji, and the real thorns have long been eliminated from this team, otherwise what is the rehearsal for?

In short, the two rows of civil and military officials stepped on the red carpet from the passage formed by the Praetorian Guards, and then entered the Yong'an Gate and directly entered the Great Guangming Hall of Yonghua Palace, which is the official place to go to court.

After the civil and military officials entered the Great Light Palace, they stood up. Then they bent down together and shouted: "Respectfully my emperor! ”

Immediately afterwards, the background music of "Memories of the Forbidden City" sounded, and Li Yongji, who was wearing the emperor's court clothes and the emperor's crown. Under the guidance of the two ladies, they walked in slowly from one side, walked to the dragon chair, and sat down.

At this time. One of the guards stood aside, unfurled a decree, and began to read it with great vigour.

This is the founding edict. Most of them are in classical Chinese, which means that I am doing the right thing for heaven, driving out the Tartars, and restoring China, and now I am in accordance with the will of heaven and ascended the throne as the emperor, and I hope that everyone will continue to work hard to create brilliance.

It's not over yet, after saying this, it's time to announce the new country name, year name, national flag, national anthem and other things, and only then retreat aside.

Immediately afterwards, Li Yongji stood up again and waved his hand forward: "I announce today that the Chinese Empire has been established!" ”

As soon as Li Yongji finished saying this, all the ministers knelt on the ground together and shouted: "Long live China, long live, long live!" My emperor wins, wins, wins! ”

That's right, it's long live China, I didn't say long live the emperor, I only said that my emperor won long live.

This is also Li Yongji's own change, he thinks that calling himself long live is too nonsense, calling the country better, and more inspiring people's patriotism, as for himself, Wan Sheng is better.

In this way, even if the enthronement ceremony was completed, and then Li Yongji walked down the dragon chair first, and after passing by the passage of the civil and military officials, the hundred officials automatically followed behind, and then walked out of the palace gate.

At the moment when Li Yongji walked out of the palace gate, the salute began to fire three salutes, and at the same time, a passionate brass horn sounded.

Li Yongji ignored it, and directly led the civil and military officials to the national flagpole, and then stood up straight and saluted.

At this time, the master of ceremonies continued to shout: "The Chinese Empire is established, raise the national flag, and play the national anthem!" ”

Immediately afterwards, the sound of "Singing the Motherland" sounded, and then all the civil and military officials sang the national anthem together with their right hands covering their hearts, and the five-star red flag representing the national flag was slowly raised in the song.

After the five-star red flag was fully raised and the national anthem was sung, the master of ceremonies continued to shout: "The flag-raising ceremony is over, long live the Chinese Empire, long live, long live!" ”

As soon as he shouted like this, all the civil and military officials, as well as the officers and soldiers except the guards, also shouted long live, and at the same time, the bell began to ring, to ring sixty times in a row, representing the heavenly stem and the earthly branch, symbolizing the meaning of the heavenly cycle.

Originally, when the bell was struck, the ceremony would be over, and it should be the time to invite guests, but I didn't expect that with the ringing of the bell, when the news of the establishment of the Chinese Empire spread, the surrounding people were all boiling, and began to spontaneously kneel and bow, and while bowing, shouting long live.

At the beginning, the sound outside was still a little chaotic, just a black pressure, but as everyone shouted wave after wave, by the time of the fourth wave, they had begun to shout in unison.

Soon, almost all the people in the entire city of Suzhou began to throw aside a qiē and run to the streets to kneel and shout long live, as if they could not express their feelings and loyalty without this.

It's just ordinary, but many people are obviously kowtowing, but they continue to kowtow and shout, it is estimated that if it goes on like this, many people will shout dumb.

Therefore, this wave of chanting Long Live not only did not weaken, but also became stronger and stronger, just like a tsunami, a wave of strong waves came over.

This, naturally, Li Yongji himself did not expect, he never thought that he could have such a great prestige, so that the people could be grateful to Dai Decheng for this.

Li Yongji usually lives in a simple place, of course he doesn't know, since he occupied Suzhou and ruled Jiangnan, although many policies were confusing at the beginning, but if you think about it carefully, the benefits to the people are real, in just one year, the lives of all the people have undergone earth-shaking changes, and they are better than the life of a year ago, I don't know how much,

If the improvement of life and economy is fundamental, then the victory of the elite army has strengthened their pride and began to have a sense of ownership. At least for the people of Suzhou, they have regarded Li Yongji as their own family, and the elite military army as their own troops, and now Li Yongji has ascended the throne in Suzhou and called the emperor, what a glorious thing this is!

"Did you hear them?" Listening to the shouts of the mountains and tsunami outside, Mai Huatuo, who had been officially appointed as the minister to China, began to say sternly to the French envoy to China, Gosel, "It seems that we are really going to change our views on China in the future, and this country is no longer the same as in the past." ”

Ge Shiqi nodded with a complicated expression: "Yes, I agree, I really can't look at them with old eyes anymore." ”

"Hey, that's weird." Mai Huatuo shook his head, "I haven't been in China for a short time, it wasn't like this at all before, why has it only been more than a year, how did this ancient and obsolete empire become like this, and it is full of strangeness." Sure enough, this mysterious Eastern Empire is really incomprehensible. ”

"If you can't see through it, you can't see through it, there are many things in this world that can't be seen through." Ge Shiqi shrugged his shoulders, "In comparison, I would like to know what the faces of the Russians will be like now, and then there is, whether the Russians will go to war with the Chinese in the future, this is what I am most concerned about, aren't you?" (To be continued......)