Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2335: Visiting Nanjing (II) Duke

There are naturally a series of etiquettes for the emperor to arrive in Nanjing, such as the emperor's need to meet with Nanjing nobles and officials from the six ministries of Nanjing, etc. These trivial matters do not need to be described one by one. As for Gao Youshi, as the chief minister of the cabinet, he had more important things to deal with immediately, that is, to discuss the specific arrangements for paying homage to the Xiaoling Mausoleum with Shen Yikuan and others overnight.

There was a reason why the emperor's trip to the south was not planned in advance. The reason was that the emperor's trip to the south could not be calculated accurately. The trip before the Fengshan Ceremony was easier to arrange, after all, the distance from the capital to Tai'an was limited, and the time could be calculated more accurately. However, the trip after the Fengshan Ceremony left a certain amount of redundancy from the beginning.

Why do we need to leave some redundancy? Because there are so many disasters! The climate in recent years is very strange, with frequent floods, droughts, locusts, winds, plagues, earthquakes and snow. Because the capital is close to the center of the country, the court can still accurately grasp the situation and plan a strict itinerary. But from Shandong to the south, it is hard to say, so we can only leave enough redundancy.

However, there cannot be too much redundancy, because the emperor must arrive in Nanjing before March at the latest, otherwise he will not be able to make it in time for this year's Qingming Festival, and it will be difficult to arrange a suitable time for the visit.

Here we have to briefly introduce a small part of the complex sacrificial system of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, here we will only talk about the sacrifices at the imperial tombs and the time of the sacrifices.

There are two types of sacrificial times for the imperial tombs during the Ming Dynasty: one is the regular sacrificial time, such as New Year's Day, Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, etc. During this regular sacrificial time, the emperor occasionally went to worship in person, but of course most of the time he sent officials to worship on his behalf.

The other is an unconventional time for offering sacrifices, such as when the emperor chooses his own longevity site and naturally pays homage to his ancestors' mausoleums when he goes on an inspection tour. However, Zhu Yijun's imperial mausoleum had already been chosen and was under construction, so he naturally would not choose any longevity site in Nanjing, so he could not use this excuse to pay homage to Taizu Xiaoling Mausoleum.

As the emperors changed, the system also changed. The original sacrificial seasons were either cut or new sacrificial seasons were added. The principle of increase or decrease was basically based on the emperor's will, and the emperor considered maintaining his own orthodoxy and authority as the main factor in changing the principle.

Generally speaking, the major sacrifices in ancestral tombs are on the winter solstice and the first day of the first lunar month, and the minor sacrifices are on the Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, the first month of winter, and the first and fifteenth day of each month. In the imperial tombs, Tailao is offered on the winter solstice and the first day of the first lunar month, and Shaolao is offered on Qingming Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, and the first month of winter, all with officials performing the ceremony. The regular sacrificial times of the imperial tombs and ancestral tombs are the same.

It is now the end of February, and the winter solstice and New Year's Day have passed. We cannot let the emperor wait here for half a year before paying homage, so we can only choose a small sacrifice day nearby, that is, Qingming Festival is the most suitable, because Zhongyuan Festival has to wait until the second half of the year.

Qingming Festival is not a festival with a fixed time. It is the 104th day after the winter solstice, and this year's Qingming Festival is on the third day of March - so the emperor finally arrived in Nanjing at the end of February because at least three days of fasting were required.

It has to be said that the navigation efficiency of the canal has indeed improved after the repair and widening, and the new hard sail that Gao Youshi forced Jinghua to research in the early years was also very helpful in increasing the speed. Otherwise, in a month and a half, with occasional delays on the way due to some matters, the emperor would not have been able to reach Nanjing.

After arriving a few days in advance, the emperor only had to fast for three days, while the cabinet, the Ministry of Rites and other relevant government offices had a lot to consider.

  Since the mausoleum sacrifice is part of the Ming Dynasty's national sacrificial system and one of the Ming Dynasty's public sacrifice activities, and this visit to the Xiaoling Mausoleum has great political significance, it is inevitable that many institutions and personnel are involved. From an institutional perspective, the personnel involved in the arrangements and preparations for this visit can be divided into three parts:

The first is the state management institutions directly related to the mausoleum sacrifice, including the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial Academy, the Imperial Academy, the Imperial Academy, the Imperial Academy, and the Imperial Observatory.

The second is the institutions indirectly related to the mausoleum sacrifice, such as the Censorate and the Six Departments responsible for supervision, the Imperial Guard responsible for protection, and the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue also participated in a small amount of work;

The third part is the mausoleum and sacrificial institutions set up locally, such as the ancestral temple and sacrificial offices and mausoleum guards.

Of course, as the power of the cabinet continues to expand, the cabinet also has "leadership responsibility" for the above three parts. It needs to coordinate the opinions and suggestions of the above three parts and make the final arrangement for the emperor to review and approve.

Fortunately, the basic etiquette system of the Ming Dynasty was very clear. Even if adjustments were needed, they would only be adjustments to the details. In general, it could still be carried out according to the existing system, and these systems had clear records that could be checked in the Ministry of Rites.

The mausoleum sacrifice ceremony of the Ming Dynasty was an important way to show the authority and legitimacy of the emperor, so there were many ceremonies and grand scenes. As mentioned earlier, there are two main forms of mausoleum sacrifice ceremony: one is the emperor's personal sacrifice, and the other is the sacrifice by officials.

The emperor's personal sacrifice is generally divided into three parts, namely: leaving the capital, offering sacrifices and returning to the palace, but preparations must be made before that.

First, when the emperor decides to offer sacrifices to the mausoleum, he notifies the Ministry of Rites, which then chooses the specific date for the sacrifice and submits the details of the ceremony to the emperor. The emperor is exempt from court on the day of departure from the capital. The emperor's carriage leaves from the left gate of Chang'an, and the empress's sedan chair leaves from the Dong'an Gate - this refers to when he is in Beijing, but Nanjing also has a corresponding gate, so this is not a problem.

Offering sacrifices: During the Qingming Festival, the emperor performed the spring sacrifice ceremony under the guidance of the internal officials. Returning to the palace: After the sacrifices were completed, the officials who accompanied the emperor went to the gate of the Gansi Hall to wait for the emperor. On that day, the emperor's carriage set off for the capital and the court was not held.

If the emperor could not personally offer sacrifices to the mausoleum, he would often send the crown prince, princes, nobles, and important officials to offer sacrifices on his behalf to express his thoughts and feelings. The status of the person offering sacrifices on his behalf must be noble. For example, when Gao Youshi was in Beijing, he was ordered to go to Wanshou Mountain to offer sacrifices on behalf of the emperor on many occasions. This is easy to understand and I won't say more.

  Since this visit to the Xiaoling Mausoleum was Zhu Yijun's political show and the last part of "worshiping heaven, earth and ancestors", the only way was to offer sacrifices in person. Now time was very tight, and the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites had to come up with a detailed plan as soon as possible and submit it to the emperor for "examination". Therefore, Gao Youshi, Shen Yikuan, Yu Shenxing, Fang Congzhe and Shen Yongmao convened an "enlarged cabinet meeting" overnight to discuss arrangements for the sacrifices. (Two cabinet ministers, Zhao Zhigao and Zhou Yong, stayed in Beijing to handle daily affairs.)

However, having said that, Shen Yi Guan did not come to Nanjing for nothing after all. Although he had no control over when the emperor would arrive, the advance preparations, especially the material preparations, had already been done in advance. One of his main tasks in today's meeting was to find Gao Yousi to report and approve the funds.

As I said earlier, there are three major sacrifices and five minor sacrifices at the mausoleum every year. The emperor would sometimes visit the mausoleum in person, so there are many mausoleum sacrifices in a year. Many related items are always available. The same is true in Nanjing, so the job of preparing supplies does not seem difficult.

The problem is that the scale of this mausoleum sacrifice is too grand, and there are too many people participating, so the corresponding materials required will naturally increase greatly. Moreover, this mausoleum sacrifice has great political significance, and the pomp and circumstance must be as ostentatious as possible, so the cost is bound to be even higher.

These expenses include the expenses of sacrificial items and the expenses of the relevant travellers during the sacrifice. The food, clothing, housing and transportation of the travellers require a lot of expenses. In addition, the emperor often rewards the relevant entourage, guards and soldiers, and even the surrounding people as a token of his grace, and reduces or exempts taxes. In addition, the additional maintenance and repair of the Xiaoling Mausoleum itself is also a considerable expense. According to the rules, most of these expenses are paid by the Ministry of Revenue, and a small part is paid by the local government. It should be pointed out here that the expenses for the sacrifice to the mausoleum, including the emperor's rewards, are all paid by the Ministry of Revenue, and the inner treasury is usually not paid.

What are the specific expenses? Gao Youshi opened the pile of proposals presented by Shen Yiquan.

The first thing that caught my eye was the expenses for sacrificial items. According to Shen Yiquan's list, the main sacrificial items during the mausoleum sacrifice, such as various animals used in worship, incense and candles, filled several pages.

This kind of items is mainly handled by the Taichang Temple, and they must be delivered to the incense and silk pavilion two days before the sacrifice. After Gao Youshi's reform of the Ministry of Revenue, the expenses of the Taichang Temple also need to be paid by the Ministry of Revenue, and must be reviewed by the Ministry of Revenue. The scope of tonight's "enlarged cabinet meeting" is limited, only including him and Shen Yiguan, two cabinet ministers, and three officials from the Ministry of Rites. The Taichang Temple is not included, so the proposal of the Taichang Temple is also submitted by Shen Yiguan.

Gao Youshi took a quick look and found that these sacrificial items were prepared by many government offices. For example, incense, candles, silk and other items were originally obtained from the Imperial Household in Beijing, but although Nanjing had a palace, it did not have a real Imperial Household. Therefore, this time it was the Nanjing garrison eunuch who was in charge of handling it. Now he reported the expenses to the Ministry of Revenue for payment.

As usual, the incense oil, paper, and pens were requisitioned from the county government offices. Nanjing was easier to handle, and the Xiaoling Guard was responsible for it. However, the Xiaoling Guard rarely undertook such a large-scale expenditure, so it also submitted a request for more than 800 taels of silver.

The sacrificial animals used were usually brought from surrounding prefectures and counties. This time, Yingtian Prefecture, Zhenjiang Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, Changzhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, and Suzhou Prefecture were involved.

There were also some other items that were purchased directly by the Taichang Temple - for example, the plain clothes used for sacrifices were mostly woven in Hangzhou, and the porcelain among the sacrificial items were mostly fired in Jiangxi. However, these were not routine tributes and required extra money to be paid for.

Some of these items, such as royal porcelain, have their own special specifications and cannot be purchased at ordinary prices because they are almost all specially made. So in general, there are many types, large quantities, and unique specifications... In a word: the prices are high.

Shen Yikuan was probably afraid that Gao Youshi would find fault with him, so he even listed the money for firewood used to cook livestock during the sacrifice. This money alone cost more than 2,000 taels. You have to know that this is just the money for firewood. Compared with the overall expenditure on sacrificial items, this is a negligible expense, which shows how much the overall expenditure was.

Gao Youshi looked at it carefully for a long time before he finally saw the total expense report - the cost of the visit ceremony itself alone was 113,467 taels, the early repairs and renovations of the imperial palace cost 246,421 taels, and the repairs and maintenance of the Xiaoling Mausoleum cost 74,336 taels.

The total cost of these three items is 434,224 taels of silver that the Ministry of Revenue needs to spend.

Gao Youshi frowned. In fact, the total expenditure of 430,000 taels of silver did not exceed his worst estimate, but the proportion of these three expenses made Gao Youshi quite dissatisfied.

"Mr. Shen, the expenses for the visit ceremony and the Xiaoling Mausoleum renovation are clearly listed and the price quoted is moderate. I think it is reasonable. But the renovation of the imperial palace is different... How come it cost more than 246,000 taels, and the listed expenses are not clear?"

Gao Youshi said as he placed the list of expenses for the palace renovation on the table, pointed to a random spot and said, "Also, the proportion of the expenses is weird. The Qianqing Palace is where the emperor lives, so it needs to be carefully renovated, so it's understandable that it costs more.

The renovation of Chunhe Palace cost nearly thirty thousand taels? I am also a land official, so due to my duties, I have to ask, this Chunhe Palace is the outer palace of the former dynasty (the former palace here corresponds to the inner palace, that is, the palaces south of the Qianqing Palace, which are supposed to have certain government functions), and it is not used much this time, so daily maintenance is fine, but why is there such a big renovation?"

Surprisingly, Shen Yi Kuan was not panicked when he heard the question. Instead, a hint of pride flashed in his eyes. However, he immediately concealed this look by lowering his head to answer.

But Elder Shen lowered his head, bowed slightly, and said respectfully: "My Lord, you may not know that the Emperor has issued an oral order to the eunuchs guarding Nanjing, stating that this Chunhe Palace is for you to stay temporarily during your stay in Nanjing, so the Emperor specifically asked us to 'renovate it well'."

Gao Fusi was stunned for a moment, even thinking he had heard wrongly, and subconsciously asked again: "Who is it for?"

Shen Yi Guan did not mind being annoyed and answered respectfully, "The Emperor said that Chunhe Palace is for you, Duke Jingguo, to stay temporarily while you are in Nanjing."

Gao Youshi was stunned for a moment, then he came to his senses and immediately objected: "Although Chunhe Palace is an outer palace, it is still within the Forbidden City. How can a mere official like me occupy it? This is inappropriate. This arrangement must not be made."

Shen Yi Guan said calmly, "Whether it is inappropriate or not, the emperor and the Duke can both hold their own opinions, and I have no right to comment. However, since the emperor has made this request, I and the eunuchs guarding Nanjing have no choice but to handle it seriously. I hope the Duke will understand this."

  Gao Youshi's first reaction to Shen Yiguan's answer was: Your subordinate? What was Shen Yiguan's intention in being so humble?

It's no wonder that he was suspicious. Although the Grand Secretaries of the Palaces and Cabinet of the Ming Dynasty were ranked in order of rank in name, and in terms of actual power there were also differences in rank because of the established practice of "the Prime Minister", but that was not the "regular system" - it was not a system with explicit regulations.

  According to the "Jing System", there is actually no distinction between high and low among the Grand Secretaries, and they all have the same status of "assistant ministers". So how can it be reasonable for a Grand Secretary to call himself "a humble official" in front of another Grand Secretary?

But Shen Yikuan was obviously taking advantage of the loophole, which could be seen from the fact that he did not call Gao Youshi "the chief minister" or "the prime minister", but instead called him "the Duke" - the Duke was a super-class title, the highest nobility for people of other surnames, but he was also a court official.

In this case, how can it be wrong for a university scholar like him to regard the Duke as his "superior" and call himself "the subordinate"? Before Gao Youshi was awarded the title of Duke, he could call himself a subordinate in front of other Dukes - but it should be noted that it was only "possible" and not required.

  So the question is, why did Shen Yi Guan do this?

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