"Bell... Clang... Bell ......"

"Boom... Boom... Knock ......"

On the fifteenth day of the first month of the sixth year of Yongle, as the morning light gradually illuminated the city wall of Nanjing, unlike on weekdays, today's morning in addition to the morning bell, there is also the sound of the evening drum.

When the bells and drums are ringing inside and outside the city, the peaceful people in Nanjing are busy with their lives.

Some people exercise in the morning on the roadside, and others buy and sell various goods in the street market.

Vendors of all sizes began to appear in the streets, displaying all kinds of goods, and shouting and chattering filled the city.

Pigs and sheep are slaughtered, roasted and sold in perfumes, and all kinds of scents are intertwined in the air to create a unique atmosphere.

The melodious sound of flutes and low drums are also mixed with the shouting, giving the whole city an indescribable charm.

Nanjing, the city is like a huge machine, everything is running in an orderly manner.

In stark contrast to the tranquility of life inside the city, outside the city is a noisy and exotic world.

A group of elites with distinct armor lined up on the square outside the Qilin Gate, from the city wall to the square, more than 5,000 elites strictly monitored everything.

Under their gaze, the Ming vassal states and toasts at home and abroad carefully walked out of the Qilin Gate with their guards and went to the parade platform that was enough to accommodate thousands of people.

With the passage of time, 25 subject countries at home and abroad, more than 300 toast teams have taken the platform, and the sun has risen higher and higher.

History proves that there is never a shortage of people watching the excitement in this land, so when civil and military officials, foreign envoys, and toasters took their seats on the platform, some places on both sides of the square that would not hinder the military parade were also full of people.

Soon, the square began to become more and more lively, if it weren't for Zhu Gaoxu's foresight, let people repair the platform higher, maybe the envoys could only see the heads.

As the sun rose, when the big chariot representing the Son of Heaven appeared in the square, tens of thousands of people who came to see the excitement knelt down one after another in the greeting of the soldiers, and the envoys and officials at home and abroad stood up one after another to sing and salute.

For a while, the sound of the mountain shouting Banzai almost occupied the square in front of the Qilin Gate.

Facing everyone's eyes, Zhu Gaoxu took the lead in getting out of the car to open the way for Zhu Di.

Zhu Gaoxu was wearing a crimson round-necked robe, which looked no different from his usual clothes, while Zhu Di was wearing the gown of the twelve dragons and twelve chapters.

The father and son walked up to the platform under the escort of the soldiers, and when they walked all the way to the main seat, the envoys and toasts of the countries they passed by saluted one after another, and Zhu Di was also very proud, calmly responding to the salutes of the envoys and Tusi officials of various countries.

When they sat on the main seat, there were eighteen people waiting for the six departments, the six departments, and the palace scholars.

The two of them took their seats, and the sound of the mountain shouting long live was over, and the surrounding people and envoys were able to get up one after another.

They all looked in this direction curiously, and Zhu Di stroked his beard: "You can start." ”

"The parade begins!!"

Hearing this, Wang Yan and Zheng He walked to the front and sang in unison.

As the two of them spoke, the soldiers guarding the emperor and the crown prince around them also sang and spread outward.

When more than 5,000 Ming soldiers in bright armor sang the salute, and some Tusi and envoys of the subject countries were translated by the officials of the Siyi Pavilion, they knew that the thousands of elites in front of them were not all of the parade.

What kind of national strength is this, you must know that 5,000 soldiers wearing Ming armor are an army that can shake the country's foundation in any country in the world, and in the Ming Dynasty, they are only a part of the so-called elite.

"Woooooooo

With the sound of the horn, it was not the army parade that entered the Qilinmen Square first, but a band of nearly 1,000 people, each carrying musical instruments.

A band of such a scale made the envoys of various countries look sideways.

Their entry was quick, and their place was in the open space under the platform.

The base of the platform is one foot high, so even if they are below, it will not prevent them from watching the parade.

When they were seated and their instruments were arranged, the envoys of all the nations thought that the Celestial Empire would play some beautiful sound to attract them, but they did not want to be the first to sound the trumpet.

"Woo-woo-"

The horn sounds, the drum follows, the zither sounds in unison, and the flute and pipa sound one after another.

is different from the glamorous sound that everyone thinks, what is being played at this moment is a golden iron horse, a mighty and majestic military song.

The envoys of all countries have heard the majestic military song played by thousands of people, and when the song was played, the elite of Shangzhi who had prepared early on the east side of Qilinmen Square began to enter.

The sun shone on the armor, shining brightly, the wind followed, and hundreds of flags hunted and hunted.

The first to appear was the Jurchen horse infantry of the Sixteen Guards, they lined up in a long phalanx, 200 steps from north to south, and one mile long from east to west, and the size of the team was as much as 20,000.

The trained horses march majestically in the military music, and the sound of the horse's hooves and the sound of the armor cooperate with the military music, which makes people feel more intuitively what is the golden iron horse.

Almost all, all the envoys stood up in surprise, and looked at this 20,000 horse infantry wearing Ming armor, and their hearts were shocked.

"It's a good song, what's it called?"

Zhu Di heard this song for the first time, and asked Zhu Gaoxu without thinking.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at him, with a heavy smile on his face: "Elephant King Xing ......"

Elephant man, Heavenly King, hearing the name of this song, Zhu Di stroked his beard happily.

He set his eyes on the Qilinmen Square, and saw 20,000 Jurchen horse infantry marching in unison in "The Elephant King's Journey", and the military appearance was not chaotic at all.

They were dressed in Ming armor, carrying arquebuses, holding spears in their hands, and holding gourd hammers and long knives at their waists.

"Wan Sheng! Wansheng! Victory ......"

"Good! Hahahaha......"

Looking at the neat horse infantry, Zhu Di laughed happily, but this is not over.

Immediately behind the Jurchen horse infantry were the infantry phalanx of the Jurchen cavalry and the Jurchen infantry.

The 20,000-scale infantry and cavalry phalanx brought people no less shock than the horse infantry phalanx of the former, because the infantry and cavalry phalanx of the Ming army were neat and closely linked.

The close coordination of this kind of arms is enough to show the strength of this army.

At the end of the song "Elephant King Xing", it is "Ambush on All Sides" that is matched with the infantry phalanx.

The sound of the song combined with the gaze of the soldiers of the phalanx gave the envoys of the countries a chilling feeling.

Joseon prince Li Chun, envoy to the power of the minister, Japanese prince Ashikaga Yoshii, envoy Ashikaga Manchu, Siamese prince......

For a moment, the envoys and princes of the various countries only felt that they were under siege, and they could not believe how their own army would behave against the army of the Celestial Empire.

Ashikaga Yoshitsugu couldn't help but think of the two thousand Ming troops available for the Ashikaga family to mobilize, and couldn't help but clench his fists, his eyes yearning and revealing longing at the same time.

"Two thousand heavenly soldiers are enough to destroy 30,000 in the south."

The southern country in his mouth seems to refer to the countries south of Gyeonggi.

There were also envoys of various countries who thought the same way.

Even the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, which controlled the Western Regions, couldn't help but sweat, and couldn't imagine that if this army launched a western expedition, what would the Eastern Chagatai Khanate have left.

It's just that their ideas haven't fallen into practice yet, and the band's tune has changed, and a song "Breaking Array Music" has begun to play.

Joining the Breaker was an army wearing only armor and carrying arquebuses.

They had no long soldiers, only short soldiers, but no one dared to underestimate them, because they were now followed by all kinds of artillery.

One hundred field guns, fifty siege guns, twenty-five naval guns, ten shore defense guns.

These four types of artillery are drawn by one to four horses, and the length and size of the guns are proportional to the number of horses pulling them.

The Shangzhi artillery unit was composed of Jurchen and Yanfu soldiers and horses, and the artillery unit composed of nearly 20,000 people did not pass directly like the army in front, but turned the muzzle of the cannon to the city of Nanjing, and loaded the propellant in front of the envoys and the people of the countries and lit the fuse.

The music stopped suddenly, and the deathly silence appeared in the square in front of the Qilin Gate, which made people feel oppressive.

Just as someone was about to speak, the lead burned out.

"Boom, boom—"

The sound of the cannons fired from the air was even more solemn, and many people were so frightened that they sat on the ground, and the envoys and Tusi of the various countries were not good-looking, and there were not a few people who were so frightened that they sat down.

Many of the envoys turned pale with fright, and before they could react, the artillery units had turned their guns and continued to advance westward when the thick smoke cleared.

The band played music, and the infantry and horse phalanx of the eight guards of Yanfu appeared one after another.

Just when everyone thought that this was the previous change of flag, all the troops entered separately from the east and west, and occupied the entire square.

The elite who couldn't see the edge at a glance made many envoys understand the national strength of the Ming Dynasty more clearly, if it was such a national strength, it would not be surprising that Annan would be destroyed in a few months.

Just before they could breathe a sigh of relief, the officials of the Siyi Pavilion began to introduce them to the difference between Shangzhi and the local army.

After learning that the Ming Dynasty did not even dispatch directly to the upper ranks, and that the local troops alone had achieved the destruction of all the regimes in Annam in six months, the countries and Tusi of the Indochina Peninsula closed their mouths one after another.

Before they could react, the dense army in front of them began to chant in unison:

"Yunnan Dusi presents eight hundred Dadian lords to the Son of Heaven!"

"Yunnan Dusi presents eight hundred Dadian lords to the Son of Heaven!"

When tens of thousands of people sang in unison, the shock was indescribable, and only the envoys of the countries facing them could feel the tingling of their scalps.

With the translation of the Siyi Pavilion, the envoys of the Indochina Peninsula learned that the Kingdom of Chiang Mai (800 Dadian) entrenched in the north of Siam had been destroyed two months earlier by the troops of Mu Chun, the Duke of Qian, He Fu, the Marquis of Ningyuan, Qu Neng, the Marquis of Jianchang, and Wang Xuan, the Governor of Tongzhi, and others, and their lords and their royal families were captured alive.

Before the envoys could stop being amazed, the army sang again.

"The Navy Governor's Mansion presents the Nanyang thief Kou Chen Zuyi to the Son of Heaven!"

"The Navy Governor's Mansion presents the Nanyang thief Kou Chen Zuyi to the Son of Heaven!"

"What?!"

When the news of Chen Zuyi's capture spread, not only the envoys of the Indochina Peninsula began to be surprised, but even Korea, Japan, Dagura and other countries and Tusi were shocked.

As the leader of tens of thousands of pirates, Chen Zuyi's group had 100 warships and hundreds of merchant ships at its peak, dominating the seas of Japan, the South Seas, and the Indian Ocean, plundering 10,000 passing ships, and attacking more than 50 coastal towns.

Now that they learned that Chen Zuyi had been captured, even the princes and envoys of Ashikaga Yoshiji, Li Chun, and Quan Jin, all looked ahead.

Under their gaze, the lord of the Eight Hundred Dadian, Phaya Sanfang, and his family, as well as Chen Zuyi, the Pirate King of the South Seas, were escorted to the bottom of the platform.

At this time, Zhu Di got up and walked to the platform, looking at them condescendingly.

The eyes of the envoys of the countries then looked at him, not daring to move the slightest.

"Eight hundred Dadian blocked the ceremonial team, but did not use the sword, so the capital crime can be avoided ......"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!!"

Hearing that he still had a way to live, the lord of the Eight Hundred Dadian, Phaya Sanfang, hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, and his words were also heard by the envoys of Luchuan, Mengyang, Mengken, Siam, Laos and other countries and the Xuanwei Department who were familiar with the Thai dialect, and sighed.

Eight hundred Dadian is also a powerful country in the Indochina Peninsula, although it is not as good as Annan, but it is also a strong country goalkeeper, but it was captured by Mu Chun from Kunming across more than 1,400 miles in less than half a year.

If it weren't for this more than 1,400 miles of rugged roads, I am afraid that Piya Sanfang would not be able to withstand it for even ten days and would be captured.

"Death crimes can be avoided, but living crimes cannot be escaped."

Before Zhu Di's words were finished, he said directly in front of the envoys of all countries: "Eight hundred Dadian will be lowered by the Xuanwei Division as the government, and the Xuanwei will be dispersed to the Tu Governor's Mansion!" ”

In Zhu Di's words, 800 Dadian became the direct territory of the Ming Dynasty, which also represented the demise of the Kingdom of Chiang Mai.

However, Zhu Di did not kill them all, but gave Peiye Sanfang an official position in the prefect's mansion.

Although everyone knows that Phaya Sanfang has no real power since then, for Phaya Sanfang, it is already an extrajudicial favor to be able to leave his life and get some money.

He kept kowtowing to thank Zhu Di, but Zhu Di looked at Chen Zuyi on the side.

At this moment, Chen Zuyi did not have the arrogance of the Pirate King of the South Seas, and hung his head, like a poultry waiting to be slaughtered.

"Betray Chen Zuyi, behead the public!"

Zhu Di did not show mercy to Chen Zuyi, but used it to deter countries.

Chen Zuyi also knew his fate, he couldn't say anything, but he couldn't say anything, just because his tongue had been cut off by Ji Gang to avoid him making any jokes on such a day.

He was pressed down like a dead dog, and the executioner who was waiting early next to him raised his knife and dropped his hand.

In an instant, Dou Da's head flew up and fell, and blood sprayed on Phaya Sanfang's body, scaring him so much that he collapsed to the ground.

Such a bloody scene not only made him paralyzed to the ground, but even the envoys of all countries looked sideways, and even almost vomited.

Fortunately, Chen Zuyi's body was quickly taken away, and the venue was also cleaned.

After a while, Zhu Di returned to the chair and sat down, and the envoys of various countries also sat down uncomfortably.

In the next military parade, the Ming army showed cavalry outflanking, infantry assault, infantry and cavalry combined attack, car battalion to resist the enemy and other projects, the most moving of which is the Ming army's artillery siege.

The goal of the artillery siege was to deal with the several walls built in front of the Qilin Gate, each of which was made of concrete, seven feet thick, two feet high, and three feet long.

At a distance of less than three hundred paces, the walls were reduced to a pile of ruins after six rounds of continuous shelling by ten heavy shore defense guns and twenty-five naval guns.

The envoys of all the nations had seen the walls when they came, and some of them had even touched them.

Now they are watching these walls being breached, and their mood is self-evident.

The Ming army used artillery to tell the envoys of the countries what the future path was, and why the Ming army was able to destroy a country in a short period of time.

"Your Majesty, wouldn't it be nice to show the artillery in such a grand way?"

The palace scholar Xie Jin saluted, but Zhu Di stroked his beard and said indifferently: "Since ancient times, I have never heard of anything that can be kept private for a lifetime. ”

"The imperial court built sea ships for the countries, and there were Hongwu iron cannons on the sea ships, although the power was not as good as the artillery of this dynasty, but it was also a way."

Zhu Di didn't think that the artillery technology of the Ming Dynasty could be hidden for a lifetime, after all, the Mongols had already begun to use firearms to attack the countries, and his second brother also said that the countries in the west were also studying artillery, but they were not as fast as the Ming Dynasty.

"If something is hidden, it will only fall behind, and only when a hundred flowers bloom can we progress."

Compared with Zhu Di's words, Zhu Gaoxu is more relaxed.

He knew very well why the Ming Dynasty's firearms lagged behind the world in the middle and late stages, in the final analysis, it was the strength of the opponent.

After the frequent wars in the European theater, after the emergence of more advanced firearms in various countries, other countries will rush to follow suit, which can be regarded as promoting the progress of firearms in disguise.

On the other hand, in the Ming Dynasty, the most used by the Mongols in the north was a tiger squat cannon of dozens or hundreds of catties, and it was enough to fight an ordinary iron cannon in the south, which is why firearms have not progressed.

On the contrary, it was the successive invasions of the Portuguese and the Dutch that made the Ming see the Western artillery and immediately imitate it.

The former's Fran machine is good to say, although it has reached the middle and late stages, the Ming Dynasty still has the finance to iterate on firearms.

However, at the end of the Hongyi cannon, even if the Ming Dynasty had the technology to imitate it, it was also trapped in financial constraints and could not equip the army in large quantities.

Just like the Battle of Songjin, although the Ming army had hundreds of artillery pieces, most of them were small cannons.

Although the Qing army had few artillery, it was all artillery.

Because of this, when the artillery of the two armies was bombarded, the Ming army was unable to maintain its firepower superiority, but was killed by the Qing army.

Zhu Gaoxu believed that after his own reforms, the financial system of the Ming Dynasty no longer relied too much on the ability of the king, and even if there were a few lazy emperors like Wanli, they could not shake the financial system in the slightest.

As long as there are no financial problems, and firearms can be iterated normally, then Daming may be able to live longer than in history.

Of course, if there is anything wrong in the middle, it is something that Zhu Gaoxu can't control.

"Since Your Majesty and Your Highness have said so, the minister has nothing to say."

Xie Jin frowned and retreated, but the taste in his words was quite heavy, and Zhu Di couldn't help frowning.

If it weren't for the fact that today is more important, maybe he would have already started to scold Xie Jin.

Such a scene was seen by Zhu Gaoxu, although he knew that Xie Jin had crazy capital, but in the eyes of the Heavenly Family, there was no possibility that he could not be replaced.

"And let you be arrogant for another two years......"

Zhu Gaoxu took a sip from his teacup and got up as time passed.

At dusk, the military parade ended successfully, and the envoys of various countries through this parade became more aware of the strength of the Ming Dynasty.

For Mu Qiang's Korea, Japan, Siam, Champong, Chenla, Manraka and other countries, hugging the thighs of the Ming Dynasty was more important than anything else.

Their attitude is more humble, and those who don't know think that they are the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Compared with them, the Tusi in Xifan, Southwest, Sanxuan Liuwei, Nanyang and other places are more afraid than respectful.

At present, the Ming Dynasty's land reform and return to the stream is in full swing in the southwest, and no one knows when it will be changed to them.

After Zhu Di, Zhu Gaoxu and the Ming officials left, some close Tusi directly discussed the matter of changing the land and returning to the river on the spot.

Seeing that the Ming Dynasty was strong, coupled with the fact that they knew the strength of Mu Chun, Wang Xuan, He Fu, Qu Neng, Gu Cheng and others, they couldn't help but be inclined to accept the change of land and return to the stream, and took the new policy announced by the imperial court a few days ago to persuade their close toasts.

Lay down the military power, take the official position that can be hereditary for seven or eight generations, and keep half of the land.

Although he lost power, he was able to keep his family and some of his money and food.

Judging from the emperor's attitude towards the Eight Hundred Dadian today, as long as he is honest and obedient, it should not be a big deal.

Such an idea has been affirmed by many Tusi, after all, they have a population of tens of thousands of people, and the cultivated land is only tens of thousands of acres.

It is not unacceptable for them to give up half of it, and they don't have the strength to resist Da Ming anyway.

In the past nearly forty years, the southwest Tusi has been wiped out by at least a quarter of the two emperors of Hongwu and Yongle.

They don't want to be the new quarter, so accepting a change is what they want to do.

However, compared with them, some of the big Tusi with more population, soldiers and horses, and cultivated land under their command are somewhat unacceptable to this way of changing the land and returning to the stream.

The first to discuss the reform of the land and return to the stream of the great Tusi is the Mu clan of Lijiang, and it is also the commander of the Duogandu who is currently reused, and the Mu Tu of the Lijiang Tu Governor's Mansion.

Since Mu Tu discovered gold in the Santang area and obtained permission from the imperial court to mine it, Mu Tu has set his mind from the land to the gold mine.

The cultivated land in Lijiang in his hands is only hundreds of thousands of acres, and although there are 10,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, most of them do not have Ming armor.

Instead of raising 10,000 such soldiers and horses, he prefers to raise 3,000 elites wearing Ming armor.

Therefore, the bottom line for him to accept the land reform and return to the river is to keep a certain number of soldiers and horses, but he is willing to hand over the governance rights and half of the cultivated land in Lijiang.

The other great toasts could not accept his idea, because the land was their foundation, and giving up half of the land was equivalent to giving up half of their lives.

Seeing that it didn't make sense, Mu Tu didn't bother to communicate with them, but adhered to the Naxi people's concept of "small clans don't fight with big clans", and was ready to talk to the court about specific treatment.

Soon, many of the toasts dispersed, and their discussions and actions on the platform were also recorded by Jinyiwei and Xichang, who were hiding in the shadows, and sent to Miyagi in time......

(End of chapter)