Coming out of the Fengtian Palace, there was a light snow all the way in the palace, covering the earth in a white expanse, and there were faint bells and songs in the palace city in the distance, which was the sound of the palace ladies rehearsing the New Year's celebration.

In the blink of an eye, the vigorous first year of Yongle seemed to be about to pass.

There are not many people walking on the road, because everyone is busy with the things at hand, these days, because of the double reason of the examination of the law and Jingcha, the various yamen are getting busier and busier, and the military and political center of gravity of the Ming Dynasty is about to move north, the warlike emperor in order to completely cut off the Qin and Jin feuds, hurt the Mongols, and even have to clean up the Jurchens and beat the Koreans, the emperor will often summon important ministers in the court to the Fengtian Hall to discuss countermeasures, and now it coincides with the war in the northern Xinjiang is about to be tense, It also led to the five military governors' mansions also becoming busier.

Everyone knows that this winter will not be so easy to get through.

However, the good news is that now the southern front of the Ming Dynasty has been quiet, Annan and Zhancheng have surrendered, under the command of the five-star general Li Jinglong, the east and west armies have been withdrawn from Guangxi and Yunnan from Guangxi and Yunnan with the help of the Ming Dynasty.

"National teacher."

Walking to the vicinity of the Inner Five Dragon Bridge in the Imperial City, seeing that they were about to go to the duty room of the sixth department and parting ways, Zhuo Jing and Xia Yuanji said almost in unison.

"You go first."

Again, in unison.

Jiang Xinghuo also guessed what was going on, and said, "I'll go to the Ministry of Rites first, and then to the Ministry of Households." ”

Xia Yuanji nodded, and Jiang Xinghuo followed Old Man Zhuo into the Ministry of Rites.

Zhuo Jing sat down, made Jiang Xinghuo a cup of tea without hurry, and then sat down.

"You don't drink?"

"When I'm old, I don't like to drink anymore."

Zhuo Jing twisted his silver beard with a smile, looked at Jiang Xinghuo and said.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the teacup suspiciously, the tea seemed to be fine, and the water was fine, so what was the problem?

"There's something wrong with your eyes."

"Ahem, the old man has a granddaughter"

"Get down to business." Jiang Xinghuo said angrily.

I take you as a comrade-in-arms, do you want to be my grandfather?

Zhuo Jing sneered, his face was not red and his heart was not beating and he said business: "Two things, the first thing is the gift of the Hu family and his son, the emperor, the prince, and the emperor of the puppet Dayu Dynasty, the captives are back, and they will take the land route for safety, but they can also go to Nanjing at the beginning of next year, so we must make sure what to do about this matter, and make a charter and report it to Your Majesty; The second thing is the division of the Jiaozhi Political Envoy Division, how to determine the guard station of the Xingdu Division, which is under the control of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, and we can't control it, but Li Zhigang and Huang Fu are still both bare-bones commanders. ”

"Offering a captive? Didn't Da Ming? This really asked Jiang Xinghuo's knowledge blind spot.

In fact, in the first year of Hongwu, in the seventh month of the leap month, Lao Zhu issued an edict to give a military salute, so the ministers of Zhongshu Province at that time would study the old chapters of the past dynasties with the Confucianists, and make out a clause.

Zhuo Jing muttered slowly: "The Zhou system, the Son of Heaven is similar to God, it is suitable for the Great Shrine, built in the ancestral temple, only in the land of the conquest, and the sacrificial place to cross the mountains and rivers. The division is also returned, then the Kai sacrifice prisoner in the temple society, and the later generations have the system of Xuanlu cloth, if the teacher is sent out, then awarded the festival, and also told the temple community, the sacrifice, the flag and then the line. Song also had a gift to King Wucheng, and when he returned, he played Kai and offered prisoners, and then the Son of Heaven rewarded him for his meritorious deeds. It is determined to be a pro-conscription and a repatriation of generals. ”

"The specific ceremony, in fact, is quite simple, the musician plays a triumphant song, and then His Majesty leads the generals to list outside the south gate of the Taimiao, outside the north gate of the Taisha, and then let the criminal department read out the prisoner's guilt, and the presiding officer sacrifices outside the door, which is the same as the ceremony of the teacher's sacrifice. Taimiao is busy here, go back to the noon gate, offer the prisoner will lead the prisoner from the Donghua Gate to take in, to the noon gate to hold the prisoner, the ceremony is completed from the Xihua Gate, during the period still play the army Kaile, His Majesty wears the crown of the sky, the silk robe, in the noon gate to congratulate the speech, wear the official court dress of the hundred officials after the four bows, it can be over. ”

"You've got it all, what are you going me to say?" Jiang Xinghuo became more and more puzzling.

Isn't it for you to leave this and this?

Zhuo Jing coughed and explained the reason for the matter: "But this thing has not been operated by the Hongwu Dynasty, and we are now in the Yongle Dynasty, and we have no experience, and I don't know if the Fu is not to His Majesty's taste." ”

Jiang Xinghuo: "??? ”

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, after the first year of Hongwu, there were so many battles and so many enemy princes and nobles were captured, did you tell me that you didn't use the prisoner gift?

After Zhuo Jing's explanation, Jiang Xinghuo understood what was going on.

In fact, although the Hongwu Dynasty formulated a system of offering prisoners, it did not hold a prisoner ceremony, and Lao Zhu directly refused the only two opportunities.

The first time to offer prisoners was Hongwu three years, the old Zhu let the general Xu Da and Li Jinglong his father Li Wenzhong soldiers divided into two ways, out of the north to conquer the remnants of the Yuan, at that time the Yuan Shun Emperor was dead, his son Aiyou knew the heir of Lida, and this battle Cao Guogong Li Wenzhong led the army to run thousands of miles to attack Yingchang, quite a Wei, Huo Zhifeng, captured the Northern Yuan Emperor's son bought Li Ba and the concubines, palace maids, kings, generals and other hundreds of people, sent to Beijing, it was an out-and-out victory, at that time there were many courtiers who advocated to buy Li Ba Ra to sacrifice prisoners in the Taimiao, However, due to some factors, Lao Zhu did not carry out this high-level sacrifice of prisoners.

"Some factors?" Jiang Xinghuo asked playfully.

"Ahem." Zhuo Jing also said clearly, "At that time, Emperor Taizu Gao said so, although Yuan Yidi, into the Central Plains, within a hundred years, there are many teeth, the family is sufficient, and my ancestors and fathers also enjoy their peace." Although there was a gift of prisoners in ancient times, I couldn't bear to add it. Only let the clothes of the vulgar be given to the court, and the court is finished, and the Chinese clothes are given. ”

Jiang Xinghuo understood after listening to it, didn't Lao Zhu hate the Mongols? It must be hate, this passage is basically against the will, and why is there no better way to win the country than Ming? It's not because the Ming Dynasty expelled the Tatars and restored China.

However, the specific issues should be analyzed in detail, and in the context of this era, Lao Zhu is to comprehensively de-Hu in terms of politics, culture, and education on the one hand, and to recognize the orthodox status of the Yuan Dynasty on the other hand.

For the latter point, modern people may be more difficult to understand, but in ancient times, the orthodox inheritance between dynasties is very important, and at the same time, Lao Zhu also has to distinguish between the Yuan Dynasty and the Northern Yuan Dynasty, orthodoxy lies in whether to "enter the Central Plains", and now it is the Ming Dynasty that rules the Central Plains in the pan-geographical concept, so the Ming Dynasty is orthodox, and Lao Zhu's attitude is actually a kind of political game between the two countries.

"What about the second time?"

Zhuo Jing Twist recalled: "The second time was the fourth year of Hongwu in the surrender of Shu Mingsheng after the failure of the separatist forces, Emperor Taizu Gao ordered Zhongshan Marquis Tanghe, Yingchuan Marquis Fu Youde to lead the water and land armies to attack Shu, the land general Fu Youde led the division from Hanzhong in Shaanxi to the south, directly smashed Jiangyou to attack Chengdu, and the waterway was to attack from Hubei, breaking Qutang Pass, Kekuizhou, and attacking Chengdu from the east. Guozijian collectively negotiated the surrender system, at the beginning according to the story of Song Taizu being surrendered by Meng Chang, the lord of Shu, but Emperor Taizu Gao did not allow it, indicating that Sheng and Meng Chang are different, Meng Chang is a luxury in governing the country, and Mingsheng is young and subordinate, so he just met and awarded Mingsheng as the Marquis of Guiyi, gave him a crown and clothes and lived in Beijing, which is to exhort his subordinates to be loyal and gentle and far away. ”

In this case, it is obvious that things are difficult to do.

Difficult? Can you stop doing it? Not quite really.

So after Jiang Xinghuo thought about it, he pondered Zhu Di's taste, Zhu Di is a person, you say that he is so happy, but he is not objective, Zhu Di is still more pragmatic, don't care what he does, he has a strong purpose, and he is clearly running for profit, but it is not wrong to always think about the meritorious deeds of building an immortality, and it is the son of heaven immediately, for the matter of winning the battle and sacrificing prisoners, even if he doesn't say it on the surface, he must want to be more grand in his heart to show his martial arts.

"I think it's going to be grand, and there's a lot of consideration."

Jiang Xinghuo said in a low voice: "You have to deter the unsubordinate." ”

"So the focus should be on two aspects, the first is that the time of etiquette should be long, not a single day, but a few more days, not a day to finish hastily."

Zhuo Jing was thoughtful, he didn't have a deep study of the etiquette system, he could only say that he was involved, and the matter of presenting the prisoner in front of him was the first major event after he took over as Li Zhigang's appointment as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, so he paid special attention to it, but no matter what, it seemed that the gift of prisoners in the past was a day?

"I've never heard of a prisoner offering for several days."

Jiang Xinghuo knocked on the teacup: "Not now." ”

Zhuo Jing's train of thought was obviously still not open: "The sacrifice of prisoners can be over in one day, what do you do at the rest of the time?" ”

Jiang Xinghuo thought for a while and said: "The first day is still the same, the Taimiao side goes through the process, the second day you can perform the opening ceremony, the military officer will read out the Lu Bu, and on the third day, the celebration ceremony will be carried out, and everything else will be the same as before, but when the prisoners are presented at noon, you can make it more lively, and allow the people to watch our army Tianwei." ”

"That's great!"

Zhuo Jing's frowning eyebrows finally relaxed, this kind of thing is not easy for him to discuss with others, who to discuss? Wang Jing got out of here and went home, Song Li? This kid's business ability is even worse, and he is still in Lianghuai, and Zhuo Jing is embarrassed to ask Mr. Dong Lun, who is also at home.

And now Jiang Xinghuo's plan for him is obviously very good, and it should be more in line with Emperor Yongle's taste.

So Zhuo Jing roughly drafted the process on the paper, "Go to the gate of heaven, the Hu father and son are equal to kneeling outside the noon gate to wait for the guilty table, the waiter holds the table in, the official pronounced the official of the inheritance system, the Hu father and son are all prostrate on the ground, the waiter is uplifted, and his subordinate officials all kneel to listen to the system." On the release of their sins, the Hu father and son waited for five bows and three shouts long live, the official system was given clothes and crowns, and the waiter led him into the Danqi four bows, and the attendant made the decree, and the Hu father and son knelt down to listen to the proclamation, prostrate four times and shouted long live, and four bowed out, and the civil and military officials made congratulatory gifts. ”

"The second thing is the division of the political envoy of Jiaozhi, the Hu father and son have successively made the road and the commanding mansion, and the layers of commissions are really annoying, how to sort it out, the national teacher also has to check it."

Jiang Xinghuo finally experienced the pleasure of drawing national boundaries against the map of the colonists of Dai Yu and Falangxi in his previous life, he looked at the existing administrative division map and mountain and river topographic map of Annan and studied it for a moment, and gave his own suggestions.

"The area of the Jiaozhi Political Envoy Division is not large, and it is smaller than the Guangxi Political Envoy Division, after all, it is only the northern part of Annan that is ceded out, so it is not easy to divide too many state capitals, but too little is not good, or compare the area of the Ming Dynasty's domestic government."

"I don't think it's as good as this, the line of 'Jilingguan-Fuliangjiang' is an important place for soldiers, and it must be divided into a separate prefecture, so it will be called Langshan Mansion in the name of Langshan."

"How about the coastal one that has to be renamed Xin'anfu? A new sense of stability. ”

"Chen, what kind of subordinate, he was called Sanjiang Xuanfu Envoy before, right? This place where the three rivers converge is simply called Sanjiang Mansion according to the name of Annan. ”

"The governance of the Jiaozhi Political Envoy does not have to be called Jiaozhi Mansion, well, during the Three Kingdoms, it was under the rule of Jiaozhou, so it was called Jiaozhou Mansion, which has the same meaning, and can also be distinguished from the Political Envoy Division."

"This."

Jiang Xinghuo demarcated seven prefectures and one Zhili Prefecture (Taiyuan Zhili Prefecture) to the Jiaozhi Political Division in a few words, and fully experienced what it means to pat the head to make decisions.

However, the adaptation is not a random compilation Jiang Xinghuo is not arbitrary, at least the general division, which is based on the existing roads and commander's mansions in Annan, but some prefectures have been adjusted according to the terrain of mountains and rivers.

Of course, Jiang Xinghuo's drawing was only a draft for reference, and Zhuo Jing would definitely consider it according to this draft, combined with some other factors, and finally draw up a similar final draft for Emperor Yongle to review.

However, the two unresolved matters have finally been resolved.

I don't know if Zhuo Jing is lazy or Jiang Xinghuo is really capable, in short, the moment he walked out of the duty room of the Ministry of Rites, Jiang Xinghuo actually remembered a joke.

"Daming, two capitals, and thirteen provinces, can you still transfer after leaving Xiaoge? Just hold on. ”

However, this thought was fleeting, and Jiang Xinghuo knew very well how empty his power base was, so he came to the household department in a low-key manner.

"Master Jiang."

Xia Yuanji's expression was not as hesitant as Zhuo Jing, and he greeted him very relaxedly.

When the two sat down, Xia Yuanji laughed even more.

"Relieved, relieved!"

Without waiting for Jiang Xinghuo to speak, Xia Yuanji presented the account book with a fluttering eyebrow.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the account book, and was slightly surprised, for no other reason, this number is really big enough!

"Master Jiang, don't you know, for most of the past half a year, spending money is like a bottomless pit, repairing the "Yongle Canon", Jiangnan disaster relief and building a handicraft workshop, and conquering Annan, which one is not spending money like flowing water? Not only is my hair gray, but even this household department is about to lose money, but fortunately, with the case of the salt envoy, not only is the Tai Warehouse (about equal to the national treasury) directly rich, but also can afford next year's military expenses, ship building expenses, and vassal king's reward expenses. ”

In the first half of the first year of Yongle, Xia Yuanji was indeed under a lot of pressure, just spending money and not making money, and there were too many warehouses to run mice.

Jiang Xinghuo took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "I heard Xu Jingchang say that a large number of cotton textiles have now been shipped from Jiangnan in batches, Annan to Qinghua Port, and Zhancheng to Tuo Ha Port (Da Nang), but the dumping is not so fast, and it will take a while to recover the capital, but in any case, the funds that the household department will give to the Jiangnan handicraft workshop area next year will definitely be able to be returned." ”

Although everything is bumpy now, it can be regarded as officially on track, Jiang Xinghuo's mood is also good, although there must be a bunch of small things, but at the end of the first year of Yongle, the major events are only left in Jingcha, the examination method, and the procurement rights of the various yamen as the introduction.

Following Xia Yuanji's expenditure for the second year of Yongle just now, Jiang Xinghuo continued: "The matter of building a ship really can't be delayed, the funds still have to keep up, the old monk can't get less before, it's better to allocate a little more, it's so cheap to build a ship, why don't you build more?" ”

Xia Yuanji nodded, and he didn't have any objection to building a ship.

The reason is simple, it is really cheap to build battleships in this era.

Compared to the era of ironclads, there is no need for steam engines, special steel and naval guns.

The cannon can be directly changed with the army's field artillery, and it can be directly put on the ship, and the dockyard and skilled craftsmen also have it, and the labor cost is a fraction.

The only thing that limits production capacity is the big wood that can be used as a keel.

At this time, I have to thank Lao Zhu for his foresight.

Although Lao Zhu persistently promoted the maritime ban policy from his accession to the throne to his death, Lao Zhu was really concerned about building warships, not ordinary ones.

Why?

It's not the Battle of Poyang Lake PDST yet.

The burning of Chibi in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is based on this.

Lao Zhu is a fire burned Chen Youliang's huge fleet, but it is undeniable that when Chen Youliang came with this invincible armada, Lao Zhu's pressure was really full at that time, and he almost felt that he wanted to completely GG.

Since then, Lao Zhu began to vigorously build a naval division, objectively speaking, whether it is the Yangtze River naval division or the coastal naval division, the level of the Ming Dynasty is good, the ocean is almost a problem, but there is no problem with coastal defense.

In the middle and late Hongwu Dynasty, limited by the relatively tight financial situation, Lao Zhu basically stopped the construction of the water division, but the matter of reserving big wood, Lao Zhu never left, which is also one of the precious treasures he left to future emperors.

Because of this, in the history of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, the Yongle Dynasty was able to quickly build a huge Zheng He fleet from scratch, which had both stock and a small number of increments.

Now, even if the major docks are running at full capacity, relying on the large logs in reserve, a few years of time will not be exhausted, and with sufficient financial support, it will be enough to build a world's first navy.

"Where is Zheng He?"

As a close cellmate, Xia Yuanji took the time to care about Zheng He, who had not been heard from for a long time.

"I used to repair ships at Thanh Hoa Port in Annam, replenishing fresh water, fruits and vegetables, and now I guess I've landed in Luzon, right?"

Of course, the Age of Discovery was not achieved overnight, just like playing a game, you have to explore the surrounding map first, and then explore the distant fog of war.

And Jiang Xinghuo's three-ring diplomacy plan has basically taken shape now, the first ring has been settled by four or five percent, and the last two rings need Zheng He to continue to explore.

For the first time to go to the West now, well, the time I went to Wanli Shitang to dig guano is not counted, and I didn't even go out of the country that time.

The goal of Zheng He's first trip to the West, Jiang Xinghuo's goal was not high, and the ultimate goal was to control the Strait of Malacca, which is now Manchuria, of course, Zheng He may also face an inevitable obstacle in this process, that is, the current pirate king of the South Seas - Chen Zuyi.

(End of chapter)