Episode 125 State Funeral

Today is June 27th, just 21 days ago, on June 6th, the day of the "D day" in Xiang Xiaoqiang's mouth, that is, Zheng Yuxuan's birthday, Prince Ananta of Siam arrived in Nanjing, and he put a bomb in a bulletproof car, killing Zheng Qizhen, the king of Yanping. Since that day, 21 days have passed, and the "37" has been full, and today there is a funeral.

It's a state funeral, but it's not a state funeral. The state funeral only indicates the national specifications of the funeral itself, while the state funeral means that all subjects of the country must wear funeral and filial piety, and all entertainment, marriage, etc. are prohibited during the national funeral period. And this kind of national mourning has not been in the Ming Dynasty for decades. Although it is not a national funeral, and the people are not required to wear filial piety and keep filial piety together, when the hearse and the royal funeral procession slowly pass through Changping Road, many people on both sides of the road are still crowded with people spontaneously wearing flowers or black yarns.

The long royal funeral lead procession was waving a grey flag, and after a few dozen meters, the hearse was in the middle of the procession. The hearse is open, drawn by eight snow-white Central Asian Dawans. A Ming national flag was placed on the coffin, and the crown of King Xianyanping was placed on the national flag.

The eight white horses were clearly well trained, and with their heads bowed, they walked slowly at a very slow pace, perfectly in tune with the slow steps of the whole procession. Around the hearse, there are six people who are qualified to support the coffin of King Xianyanping. They are:

The left front of the coffin: Zhu Yourong, the granddaughter of King Xianyanping and the empress of the Ming Dynasty;

The right front of the coffin: Zheng Gongyin, the eldest son of King Yanping and the new king of Yanping;

The coffin is left in the middle: Zhu Youmei, the granddaughter of King Xianyanping and the eldest princess of Xiuning. She is the representative of the princesses of the Zhu family, and she is also the legal first crown prince when Zhu Yourong is currently unmarried and childless.

The right center of the coffin: the eldest son and grandson of King Xianyanping, the new Marquis of Changping, Zheng Yujiao;

The coffin is left behind: Zheng Yuxuan, the eldest son and eldest granddaughter of King Yanping and the new lord of Leping;

Behind the coffin on the right: the new king of the Kingdom of Siam, Rama VIII Bhumibol Adulyadejd.

King Bhumibol had arrived in Nanjing by plane from Bangkok the day before. He was the only outsider among the six. But this position of supporting the coffin of King Yanping was won by him with great difficulty. Although the death of King Xianyanping was not his sin, it was committed by his brother after all. In any case, it has something to do with the Kingdom of Siam. Therefore, he came to the Ming Dynasty to personally support the coffin of the King of Yanping, which meant to apologize to the Ming Dynasty for the entire Siam Kingdom. He wants to take this opportunity to show himself well and show Daming his gratitude and loyalty for supporting his position. In addition, it also showed the world that the relationship between Ming and Siam did not have any rift because of this incident, on the contrary, they were treated like relatives (look, the grandmother of the Ming Empress died, and the King of Siam came to help the coffin).

……

Behind the hearse was a long funeral procession, and they also walked slowly at a very slow pace. The "first team" in the first few rows are all relatives of the Zhu family and the Zheng family, and they are also close relatives of King Xianyanping, and they belong to the mourning party's "own family".

The "second and third teams" followed by these people were all the top military and political officials of the Ming Empire.

At the front of the "second team" is Shen Rongxuan, the first auxiliary minister. Behind Shen Rongxuan are the ministers of various cabinet ministries. Including the Minister of War and the Secretary of the Admiralty. Traditionally, the ministers of these two ministries have been retired military personnel and belong to the civilian system. These Ming civil officials were all dressed in black mourning dresses, wearing white flowers on their chests, and black veils on their arms, and walked slowly with solemn expressions.

The "third team" behind is the senior general of the Ming army system. At the front, of course, was Zhang Zhaoxian, chief of the general staff of the General Headquarters, followed by the chiefs of staff of the army and navy. Immediately followed by Xiang Xiaoqiang, commander of the People's Guard. After Xiang Xiaoqiang, there are the commanders of various large units, such as the commander of the army aviation, the commander of the naval aviation, the commander of the submarine force, the commander of the railway troops, the commander of the Yangtze River defense line, and the commander of the capital garrison......

These Imperial cabinet ministers and top military officials walked by, and the "fourth party" behind them were the Imperial Police Chief, the Dongchang Factory Governor, and the Imperial Bank President...... These seven-seven-eight-eight characters.

At this point, the queue of military and political dignitaries of the empire is over. As for the "three courts and one meeting" of the Ming Empire - the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Procuratorate, the Court, and the Congress, these four units do not participate as usual. They didn't come because they weren't good enough, on the contrary, they were too good. They do not belong to the Ming bureaucracy, but are outside the government, or even higher than the government. Therefore, according to the convention, it is also necessary to make such a gesture to show their supremacy.

There are also two "squares" at the back, and the "fifth party" at the front is a queue of other royals and foreign envoys. The "royal family" is also a member of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, but most of these people are not related to King Xianyanping, and they are just ordinary royal representatives. These people are mainly idle clans with low titles, because the annuity is relatively low, and they can no longer afford to live a luxurious life, so many people have devoted themselves to business. Many of these people are now both royalty and business tycoons.

But there are exceptions. For example, fourteen squares are also in this queue. Her title is the highest rank of female nobility - princess, and her age is staggering - 700,000 Ming Yang. She was dressed in a black dress and walked in the queue very low-key, but she couldn't keep a low profile at all. The people around her were looking at her, and they couldn't help but have a feeling that the stars were holding the moon.

In addition to the fourteen Gege, there was also the Ryukyu king Shanggui, who brought his son Shangrong to the funeral. There are also envoys from other countries to the Ming Dynasty, and some foreign nobles who have been in exile in the Ming Dynasty for a long time, mainly Russia, Korea, and the Ryukyus.

The last funeral "team" in 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 Zen masters, Taoists, and teachers...... Of course, the most representative "patriotic society" of the Ming Dynasty is indispensable: the Heaven and Earth Society...... Qiu Laohu also put away his fierce eyebrows today, wore elegant white Hanfu, took out the style of Chen Jinnan, the national teacher of the Zheng family in Taiwan and the founder of the Heaven and Earth Society, and walked in the queue very sacred and solemnly.

But at the moment, there was a sense of satisfaction in his heart. It stands to reason that a figure of his level as a Qiu Tiger is thrown in the elite piles of "Sixth Party Team", that is, the cold peanuts on the Chinese New Year's Eve Chinese New Year's Eve rice - he will not pay attention to it at all. But now it is different, there are many people around him who have a higher status and greater social influence than him, and they all look at him with respect, envy, or jealousy. Everyone knows that this black boss is Commander Xiang's father-in-law, and his daughter is the famous Mrs. Qiu of the Xiang family, and she is also called a sister to Mrs. Shang, the princess of the Ryukyus.

In addition to these people, there are also many heads of social groups. Many of them are political associations and belong to political parties. Although the people of the Ming Dynasty can now freely and legally form associations and form political parties, these "opposition parties" are relatively small, and none of them can threaten the ruling position of the Donglin Party. Moreover, although the Donglin Party also has the word "party", it is not a well-organized political party, but a general term, which mainly refers to the civilian-bureaucratic groups that are mostly from the upper class of society, well-educated, and have a more traditional and stable style at the current stage of the Ming Dynasty, which is relative to those "grassroots political parties" among the people.

Today's state funeral is King Xianyanping, who belongs to the royal family that everyone respects, so these opposition party leaders also came to participate and show their faces. If the state funeral was a government dignitary like Shen Rongxuan, then they would definitely not come.

……

The long state funeral procession took a morning to walk through Changping Road, walked out of the East City Gate, and came to 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 transported by train to the Tianmu Mountain Royal Cemetery in the western suburbs of Hangzhou for burial.

At present, the emperors of the Ming Empire are buried in three places. The first place is the filial piety mausoleum at the foot of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing. There is only one emperor buried here, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Empire. After that, the entire Northern Ming Dynasty, except for Zhu Yunwen, the Ming Hui Emperor who disappeared in the Jingyan Rebellion, the following thirteen emperors were buried in Changping, Beijing, that is, the Ming Tombs. In 1644, the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs and the Northern Ming Dynasty perished, after which the Southern Ming Dynasty was established, and the mausoleums of the emperors of the Southern Ming Dynasty were not buried in Nanjing, but a royal cemetery was drawn in the Tianmu Mountain in the western suburbs of Hangzhou and buried there.

Because the Nanming Dynasty had not been established for a long time at that time, it can be said that it had just caught its breath, and it was uncertain when the Manchu Qing Dynasty would come again. Although the capital is still fixed in Nanjing, insisting that the Son of Heaven guards the country, it is the Son of Heaven, and there is no reason to let the mausoleums of the ancestors and ancestors also stick to the front line of the war. At that time, the largest city from Nanjing was Hangzhou, which was equivalent to the status of "accompanying the capital". Hangzhou is more than 200 kilometers away from Nanjing, which is relatively safe militarily, but not too far away. Even if the emperor dies in the summer, then it will be fine to use some antiseptic drugs on the road.

It was not until later that the Southern Ming Restoration, the Yangtze River defense line was established, and the border was more stable, and the royal cemetery was not changed back to Nanjing, but it was always in Tianmu Mountain.

……

When they arrived at Nanjing Railway Station, according to the arrangement, most of the funeral procession of thousands of people went back. Leaving only the core of more than 100 people, they will follow the coffin to Tianmu Mountain in Hangzhou to participate in the second stage of the state funeral: burial.

These people are mainly the core members of Zhu Yourong, the Zhu family and the Zheng family, the core members of the Ming military and political circles, and some foreign envoys and nobles. Of course, Xiang Xiaoqiang is also among them.

The hearse was now changed from a horse-drawn carriage to a train. The train is very long, with more than twenty luxury carriages. In fact, more than 100 people should be according to the standard of "hard seats" in later generations, and one carriage is enough. But these are the most honorable people in the empire, and they all have to sit in a loose and comfortable box.

The long train lay on the tracks, each carriage painted solemnly pure black, and the carriages hung with white mourning silk. One black and one white, piercing solemnity.

The train starts slowly according to the predetermined auspicious time. Xiang Xiaoqiang sat in his box, with Hu Jiong sitting next to him, as well as Li Changgui and a stomachache. He brought a lot of attachés. Because of this state funeral, including going to Hangzhou, the entire security is the responsibility of the People's Guard Guard. Now the guards in this car are all Praetorian Guards, and even the attendants in the car are all agents of the security team. Therefore, now in the car, 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 swept out of the window by the cool breeze. He was thinking about a question that had nothing to do with the state funeral.

Equipped with the submachine gun of Lianfeng and the armored vehicles of Taipingji, the next thing should be the most important part of the heavy equipment of the Ming army: military vehicles. Military vehicles are more important than tanks, more than aircraft, more than armored vehicles. The biggest advantage of the Ming army over the Qing army, mobility, was the car.

But military vehicles, the purchase volume of this thing is the largest, and it is best to choose Daming's own company. And Daming's own automobile company, the most outstanding is Yuhuacong.

But now there is a question: what to do with those Yuhuacong stocks in my safe?