Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 377 Mingmei Palace

In May of the first year of Qianxi, Zhu Gaoxu also canonized eight princes at the same time a few days after he was crowned prince.

The eight princes of the Ming Dynasty are Zhu Zhanqi, the king of Shen, Zhu Zhanjing, the king of Ji, Zhu Zhanjing, the king of Lai, Zhu Zhanwei, the king of Li, Zhu Zhancheng, the king of Yue, Zhu Zhanqi, the king of Yin, Zhu Zhanmo, the king of Mo, and Zhu Zhanmo, the king of Mei. Zhu Zhantang.

In order of their teeth, they are Zhu Gaoxu's eldest son (eldest son), third son, fourth son, fifth son, sixth son (second legitimate son), seventh son, eighth son, ninth son (third legitimate son). ).

In March of the sixth year of Qianxi, as soon as the second anniversary of Queen Xu's death passed, Zhu Gaoxu issued an edict, ordering the Three Treasures eunuch Zheng He to escort the Eight Kings out to sea by boat to conquer Donghuawozhou.

After the promulgation of this edict, the entire officialdom of the capital immediately became excited.

Many officials originally thought that the vassals of King Shen, King Ji, King Lai, and King Yue would be arranged in Shandong or Wuyue.

After all, Shendi is Songjiang Prefecture (later Shanghai), Jidi is the land of Jiguo among the Eastern Zhou Dynasties, which is adjacent to today's Penglai, Laidi is Penglai, and Yue is the land of Wuyue or Nanyue, all within the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

However, as soon as the vassal edict came out, the four kings of Shen, Ji, Lai, and Yue had to follow the four kings of Li, Yin, Mo, and Mei across the ocean to go to Donghua Wozhou to establish their country.

According to the regulations of the Hongwu period, the prince of Ming Dynasty founded the vassal state. In addition to building the royal palace, he also set up three guards and the royal palace chief Shisi and other subordinate officials.

According to the imperial court structure, each palace has three guards and command departments, one ceremonial guard department, and one long history department.

The palace guard commanders are in the same position as the imperial guards. There is one commander of the third rank, two commanders of the third rank, four commanders of the fourth rank, two governors of the fifth rank, one person of experience from the seventh rank, and governors of the eighth rank. One person, one person from the ninth rank, one ambassador and one deputy envoy who have not entered Liucang.

Each guard has five stations on the left, right, front, back and center, each with two persons from a thousand households and ten persons from a hundred households. There are also two stations for besieging soldiers (waizishou), with one person from each thousand households.

According to the Ming Dynasty, each thousand-household station had a total of 120 people. If calculated this way, the number of the prince's first guard would be about 600, and the total strength of the third guard and the second station of the besieging army would exceed 9000.

The Royal Palace's Ceremonial Guards Department has one official fifth-rank ritual guard, two junior fifth-rank deputy ritual guards, and six senior sixth-rank official guards.

The Chief Secretary of the Royal Palace has one person each for the left and right chief historians of the fifth rank, one person for the ninth rank official, one person for the chief judge of the sixth rank, one deputy judge for the seventh rank, one person for the chief eighth rank, and one deputy chief judge for the eighth rank. There is one person for the meal, one person for the main eighth-grade worship temple, one person for the eighth-grade deputy worship temple, one person for the positive ninth-grade dianle, one person for the eighth-grade dianbao, one person for the deputy dianbao of the eighth grade, and one person for the eighth-grade dean of good deeds. There are two good people, one is a good doctor and one is a deputy good doctor, one is a good doctor and one is a deputy doctor. One is a chief official and one is a deputy doctor. There is one person to be a professor, one person to be an accompanying student from the ninth grade, no fixed number of professors from the ninth grade, two people from the unofficial rite house, one person from the Cang ambassador, and one person from the Ku ambassador.

Calculating this, a royal palace needs at least two to three hundred subordinate officials.

During the Yongle period, Zhu Di changed the title of kings to establish kingdoms outside China. The original prince's palace was upgraded to a vassal palace. The number of subordinate officials required for this palace increased to more than [-].

Even if a vassal king's palace needs to be equipped with at least [-] subordinate officials, then eight princes will establish a vassal state, which will bring about [-] vacant official positions!

It’s four thousand!

Not four hundred!
And he’s an official!

Not an official!
Even if he had to travel far across the ocean to take up his post in an overseas vassal country, an official was still an official, and he was a palace official assigned to a kingdom by the Ming Dynasty vassal king. He was not an ordinary local official.

During the Hongwu period, subordinate officials in the vassal prince's palace would feel somewhat inferior when facing official officials of the same rank.

However, after the kings changed their feudal status to overseas countries and established kingdoms, although the vassal kings and vassal states were on the same level as the Ming Dynasty in terms of institutional status and must abide by and use the Ming Dynasty laws and regulations and were not allowed to mint money privately, the vassal kings still had great power.

Not only could the vassal king appoint officials on his own, and he had the final judicial power without the need to appeal to the court, he also had the right to expand his territory to the outside world.

It can be said that the Ming Dynasty vassal state at this time was very similar to the vassal states entrusted by Zong Zhou, except that it did not have the right to mint money and completely independent military operations, diplomacy and other powers.

Therefore, the palace subordinate officials of the Ming Dynasty after Yongle's re-enactment were equivalent to the combination of the Ming emperor's inner court officials and the six central officials of the imperial court.

Therefore, starting from mid-March in the sixth year of Qianxi, local officials in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Liaoxi, Liaodong, Henan, Shandong and other places close to Zhili, who wanted to find a way out for family children, relatives and friends, would all be hanged. He tried his best to rush to the capital, just to recommend the "Eight Kings' Officials" to the Ministry of Personnel.

Hu Hui was a person who was greatly admired by the American King Zhu Zhantang. The "talents" he recommended were naturally selected by Zhu Zhantang without any suspense. Later, he followed His Royal Highness the Ming Dynasty King Mei across the ocean and settled in Wozhou, Donghua.

Among these "talents", there is one person with a very special resume, that is Xu Jue, who took the exam three times before passing the exam.

Xu Jue, a native of Wuxian County, entered the social school (primary school) at the age of seven, passed the children's examination at the age of 11 and was admitted to the county school (middle school), and passed the provincial examination at the age of 14 and was admitted to Suzhou Prefecture's Changke Academy (big school).

Five years after he entered the regular college, he took the Huaidong Provincial Regular Academy exam as required, but failed the first time. He took the exam again the following year and still failed, until he was 21 years old for the third time. Only after taking the full-school examination to obtain passing grades, he finally successfully obtained the imperial examination and was qualified to take the imperial examination.

However, when he took part in the examination hosted by the Ministry of Etiquette in March of the following year, he unexpectedly failed.

Although Xu Jue was surprised, his cousin Hu Bi believed that Xu Jue's failure was reasonable.

Because in Hu Xi's view, the subjects that Xu Jue studied were very complicated. Even though the subject he took for the scientific examination was martial arts, one of the most promising subjects at present, Xu Jue did not concentrate on studying this subject in depth.

In the past, Xu Jue might have been able to pass the exam with his scores this time, but now there are many students choosing to take the martial arts subject, and the Ministry of Rites will admit students in order from high to low based on their test scores, so it is inevitable that Xu Jue will fail. .

Although Xu Jue was short in stature, he was shrewd and capable, quite scheming, and loved fame. In order to enter the official career as soon as possible, he found his cousin Hu Hui after learning that "the Eight Kings were about to join the vassal".

He believes that although the beautiful king Zhu Zhantang likes clever things, he is wise and courageous, open-minded, good at accepting advice, and meritorious, and he is a person who can achieve things.

Moreover, according to his inquiry, the American King's fiefdom is in Donghua Wozhou, West Jinwei and the surrounding areas. There are abundant products and crisscrossed rivers. The American King will benefit from water transportation and will definitely be the first to make some achievements in the future.

Therefore, he asked Hu Hui to recommend him to the beautiful king Zhu Zhantang.

At this time, Xu Jue was in his prime, an ambitious young man with high morale and determined to establish his career. Of course, Hu Hui had no reason to refuse.

As a result, after Hu Hui's polishing, Xu Jue became a young talent who studied astronomy, geography, art of war, water conservancy, yin and yang and the five elements.

However, Xu Jue was exactly the person in history who suggested that the imperial court move southward after the Tumubao Incident, but was condemned by both the court and the public.

Xu Jue later changed his name to Xu Youzhen during the Jingtai period.

On the day of the restoration of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, he greatly rewarded those who had contributed to the coup. Xu Youzhen was appointed concurrently as a Hanlin scholar, a member of the cabinet to participate in Jishu government affairs, and a minister of the Ministry of War.

At that time, Yu Qian, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, and Wang Wen, a great scholar, were arrested and imprisoned. They were falsely accused of "increasing the establishment of the East Palace" and "plotting to welcome Prince Li Xiang". They were convicted of treason and sentenced to death.

Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty believed that Yu Qian had made great achievements and could not bear to kill him, so he hesitated. However, Xu Youzhen said: "If you don't kill Yu Qian, the restoration will be done without a name."

Therefore, Ming Yingzong made up his mind to kill Yu Qian and Wang Wenchu ​​on the 23rd of the first lunar month.

However, the beautiful king Zhu Zhantang did not know what Xu Jue did in history.He only knew that Xu Jue was a great talent who knew astronomy and geography, the art of war, water conservancy, yin and yang and the five elements.

Therefore, in June of the sixth year of Qianxi, after Zhu Zhantang had a conversation with Xu Jue, who was only 22 years old at the time, on the ship, he decisively ordered him to be appointed as Zuo Changshi, the Chief of the Royal Palace.

After that, Zheng He led a fleet to escort the Eight Kings and their officials, guards and family members through the Tsushima Strait, all the way north along the Whale Sea, and then northeast through the Iwazhen Strait (Soya Strait) and into the North Sea (Okhots). Kehai), and finally sailed eastward through the North Sea and into the North Atlantic Ocean (North Pacific Ocean).

Four months later, in October of the sixth year of Qianxi's reign, Zhu Zhantang and other eight kings, who were aboard a sea-going ship equipped with a powerful small steam engine, and escorted by Zheng He and other naval officers and soldiers, successfully arrived at Donghua Wozhou. The Yani'an Kingdom in the northwest (the Yani'an Kingdom in the "Kunyu Wanguo Complete Map", that is, the Alaska region).

The Ming fleet was warmly welcomed by the chiefs of the Ya Nian nation, and after resting at the coastal port for a few days, it headed south along the west coast of Donghua Wozhou.

In November of the same year, the American king Zhu Zhantang disembarked at the port near Xijinwei (San Francisco). After bidding farewell to Zheng He, he led his family and servants to live in Xijinwei. As for his three bodyguards and other officials, they lived in Xijinwei. Outer suburbs.

The reason why Zhu Zhantang wanted to live in the Acropolis was because the construction of his Meiwang Palace had not yet started.

That’s right, but no ground was broken at all!

Zhu Gaoxu only designated an area in Xijinwei and its surrounding areas in the west of Donghua Wozhou as a fiefdom for the beautiful king Zhu Zhantang, but he did not send anyone to build a palace for him first.

Even the location of the American Palace was not considered.

This matter requires Zhu Zhantang to discuss the matter with his subordinate Wenwu or make his own decision to build the prince's palace in accordance with the regulations of the court.

Therefore, Xu Jue, who was appointed by Zhu Zhantang as Zuo Changshi, stepped forward and expressed his willingness to lead people to explore five hundred miles into the interior of Wozhou Continent along the Western Jinwei.

Li Junji, the commander of Xijinwei, has already explored the interior of Wozhou Continent for more than [-] miles, and initially established some scattered strongholds and set up more than a dozen hundred-household stations.

He knew that helping the American king Zhu Zhantang choose the palace address was a great achievement, so he naturally did not want to miss this opportunity, so he recommended himself and expressed his willingness to lead his guards to escort Xu Jue deep into the mainland for exploration.

Zhu Zhantang was overjoyed and immediately agreed to Xu Jue and Li Junji's request, and ordered them to set off after the first month of the seventh year of Qianxi.

Since the Ming Dynasty established vassal states overseas and implemented the policy of "Xia Jun rules the barbarians", the guards like Xiyawei and Xijinwei set up on the Wozhou continent all adopted a gentle policy of absorbing the local indigenous people of Wozhou, unless They were actively invaded by the natives, otherwise the Ming Guard would never take the initiative to use force against the natives.

In fact, robbery is the lowest-cost business, but the Wozhou natives cannot defeat the Ming army, so they have to trade with the Ming Guard sergeants in exchange for the clothes, kitchen knives, hoes, sugar, salt, canned bacon and other items needed by each tribe. A variety of daily necessities.

In particular, the kitchen knives smelted and made by Damingwei can't be said to be as sharp as clay, but they are still very sharp and much easier to use than the copper knives used by the indigenous people around Xijinwei.

Then there are the earthenware cans of cured meats, mainly salted fish, which are also particularly attractive to the indigenous people.

Since the early Yongle period, when the Ming Dynasty officially expanded the Nurgan region, Zhu Gaoxu invented the use of clay pots to store pickled products.

This kind of high-salt canned food can have a shelf life of up to half a year or even a year. It can not only help the guard sergeants replenish salt, but also supplement meat protein. Therefore, the guard sergeants stationed in the cold Nurgan rely on fishing and hunting. Canned food, opened up wasteland and cultivated land, and gradually became rich.

Nurgan's canned fish was sold to the Jiangnan area of ​​the Ming Dynasty by sea.

From this we can see how attractive Xijinwei’s canned bacon is to the Wozhou natives.

Therefore, Xu Jue and Li Junji did not encounter too many obstacles on their exploration trip. After all, they did not burn, kill, and loot along the way, but stopped and stopped like a sightseeing tour. They will conduct simple trade with local tribes.

In June of the seventh year of Qianxi, Xu and Li returned to Xijinwei and presented a map to Zhu Zhantang, and circled two alternative locations for building the royal city on the map.

Of these two locations, one is Xijin Acropolis, and the other is Dongjin Qianhusuo City (Sacramento), which is 240 miles northeast of Xijin Acropolis.

The location of Xijin Acropolis did not have a name at first. In the early days, a general banner sergeant stationed here accidentally discovered Jinsha in the river shoal, so Zheng He set up Jinsha Qianhu Station here and placed it under the jurisdiction of Xiyawei.

Not long after, when the sergeants of Kansha Senhusho were exploring upstream along the Kinsha River (Sacramento River), they discovered Jinsha again in the upper reaches of the Kansha River at the present site of Higashikan Senhusho.

Therefore, Zheng He asked Zhu Di to set up the Western Jin Guard. The administrative office was located in the former Jinsha Qianhusuo City. He also moved the original Jinsha Qianhusuo to the current Dongjin Qianhusuo site and changed its name to Dongjin Qianhusuo. .

The reason why Xu Jue chose Dongjin Qianhusuo City was because he found that the entire basin of the Jinsha River covered the four to five hundred miles surrounding Dongjin Qianhusuo City and Xijin Acropolis.

According to Xu Jue's exploration, the Jinsha River originates near an unnamed mountain in the northern part of Xi Jinwei and has a total length of more than a thousand miles.

The river flows southwest from its source, passing through the northern part of the valley between the two mountains next to Xijinwei, and not far from its downstream confluence with an unnamed river. Together with another unnamed river, it forms the Jinsha River delta, and finally flows into the northern part of Xijin Bay.

In the entire Jinsha River Basin, the location of Dongjin Qianhu City is precisely the important transportation area that controls the north and south of the river.

The American King Zhu Zhantang did not make a hasty decision. He knew that building the royal city was a major event that would surely go down in history, and he must be cautious.

In order to find out, Zhu Zhantang personally walked along the Jinsha River with hundreds of guards, accompanied by Li Junji and Xu Jue.

In the end, he chose to build his own Meiwang Castle and Meiwang Palace in Togane Senhusho Castle.

As a result, the four-year construction project of Meiwang City and Meiwang Palace began under the leadership of Xu Jue.

According to the regulations set during the Hongwu period, the height of the Prince's City reached two feet, nine feet and five inches, which is close to ten meters high. The moat was fifteen feet wide and three feet deep, which meant that it was more than 45 meters wide and more than nine meters deep.

There are three main halls in the Nanjing Imperial Palace: Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall and Jinshen Hall. The palace also has the same three halls, Chengyun Hall, Wan Hall and Cunxin Hall.

In addition, the prince's palace, gates and gate towers are all covered with blue glazed tiles, which is exactly the same as the regulations of the Crown Prince's East Palace.

As for the size of the palace, it is based on the earliest completed Jin Palace in Taiyuan as a model, that is, "150 feet two inches from east to west, 190 seven feet two inches from north to south", which means it is about 500 meters wide from east to west and about 660 meters long from north to south. The total area About 40.00% of the Forbidden City in later generations.

In the eighth year of Qianxi's reign, it was November [-]th.

After a year and a half of hard work by more than [-] workers (including [-] indigenous people), the main palace of the Meiwang Palace was completed first.

The beautiful king Zhu Zhantang moved into the palace from Xijin Acropolis.

And the then unknown Xu Jui, the eldest son of Wu County, has become a trusted confidant of the beautiful king Zhu Zhantang!
PS: I’ve been working overtime a lot recently, and the updates are difficult to stabilize. I hope you guys can understand me more!

(End of this chapter)