Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

On New Year's Day of the first year of Qiongyuan, the Daping Dynasty was established and the country's name was changed to "Qionyuan".On the same day, a grand founding ceremony was held in Beijing.

Although the capital was dilapidated and in the midst of war, Wu Shigong ordered to "simplify the process", but a lot of preparatory work was carried out for the founding ceremony.

The Ministry of Rites set up supervisors, Qin Tianjian, Shangbao Division, and Jiaofang Division all took action.The division and supervisor is equivalent to the logistics department of the ceremony, with the prime minister, management, book, book, director, writing, supervisor and other staff; the affairs of the Qin Tianjian are to observe the sky, calculate the solar terms, and formulate the calendar.There are supervisors, supervisors, etc., who report the so-called "God's will" to the emperor; Shangbao and Jiaofang are two departments, one is responsible for the placement of equipment, and the other is responsible for theatrical performances during the ceremony.These several departments are the main institutions preparing for the "Dengjiyi".

The soldiers and civilians in the capital also mobilized, and they cleaned up the entire capital.Although the inner city is still in ruins, the scattered garbage is always cleaned up.Coupled with the captive population and the dredging of the sewer ditches, the plague that had spread in the capital for a year was finally brought under control. This was a surprise!

In the early morning of that day, the new imperial court sent officials to report to the Tiandi Zongshe.The emperor's Dagon clothes (dragon robes) were used to worship ancestors and gods.The founding ceremony also kicked off.First, officials from the Ministry of Rites should go to the Temple of Heaven, Xiannongtan, and Taimiao to inform the ancestors.At that time, the bells and drums sounded, and the emperor obeyed the Fengtian Gate (**).The enthronement ceremony officially began when the Qiongyuan Emperor Wu Shigong, who was wearing a yellow uniform, boarded the Fengtianmen tower.

The officials who had been waiting in front of Fengtian Gate for a long time were all dressed in court uniforms, under the guidance of officials from "Honglu Temple".They entered the Forbidden City through the Jinshui Bridge.But at this time they can't enter the "Huangji Hall", because the emperor is still praying on Fengtian Gate, so.The ministers could only stay in the square outside the Meridian Gate.They knelt on both sides of the Yudao in the way of "Wen Dong Wu Xi", and came down from the Fengtian Gate after offering sacrifices to heaven.

After Qiongyuan Emperor Wu Shigong came down from the Fengtianmen tower, he entered the Huangji Hall and sat on the dragon chair.Only then did the ministers file in according to their ranks to congratulate the new emperor.Then, the second assistant Zhou Yanru officially read the edict to confirm the identity of the new emperor.Thus began a new dynasty.

Congratulations from "foreign" envoys, etc. followed.

But in the whole founding ceremony.It didn't go very smoothly.First of all, Zhou Yilun, the censor, made an admonition to Wu Shigong at the same time when he made the list.He proposed: Wu Shigong was at the beginning of the new dynasty.Na married the princess and concubine of the former Ming Dynasty. This behavior was not conducive to clearing up the remnants of the former Ming Dynasty, but also proved that Wu Shigong, the emperor, was lax in state affairs and indulged in beauty.So I hope Wu Shigong will repent a little bit about this.

This remonstrance made Wu Shigong furious.This is not to say that this remonstrance is unreasonable.Rather, he was quite disgusted with Zhou Yilun's behavior.He could obviously give this remonstrance before and after the founding ceremony.Doing this today is simply eyeballing and threatening yourself.

In fact, Zhou Yilun's remonstrance this time is an extension of the "excellent tradition" of the former Mingke Daoist officials, and he does have his own selfish intention to deceive the imperial staff and fight.But the deeper reason is: the civil official group's exploration of the scope of the monarchy in the new dynasty, and a "trial run" of means to limit the monarchy.

When Wu Shigong encountered the "nuclear weapon" used by the former Mingke Daoist for the first time, he was also furious.If the remonstrance was aimed at state affairs, Wu Shigong could bear it.But this remonstrance is completely a private matter of the royal family, which makes Wu Shigong intolerable.under rage.Wu Shigong immediately ordered Zhou Yilun to be dragged out and beheaded.Fortunately, Wu Shigong finally controlled his emotions, and at the last moment he kept someone under the sword, and ordered Zhou Yilun to be confined in his house and placed under house arrest until later.

However, Zhou Yilun's behavior also made Wu Shigong firm in his determination to reform Yushitai, an institution.

In the congratulations of the "foreign" envoys, Wu Shigong also encountered rude behavior.

In the current Beijing city, there are actually only two groups of "foreign" envoys.One group were envoys sent by Nanming to negotiate; the other group were envoys left behind by North Korea in Beijing.However, neither of these two envoys performed the three-kneeling and nine-kowtow salute when congratulating.

For the envoy sent by Nanming, it is understandable that he refused to kneel down.After all, this envoy came to negotiate, not to surrender.Therefore, the Nanming envoy would never kowtow to Wu Shigong.So Wu Shigong saw him being rude, so he drove him away without even saying a serious word.

And the envoy of the Korean country was originally stationed in Beijing.Although the current North Korea has surrendered to the Qing Dynasty long ago, North Korea, a small country that is deeply afraid of the majesty of the Celestial Dynasty, is still afraid that the Ming Dynasty will come to conquer the army in the future. Therefore, they secretly sent envoys to Beijing City, where they are stationed, to sit on the wall and watch .

Unexpectedly, Li Zicheng's Dashun Army and Qing Army came in droves. Of course, the envoy did not dare to show his face in public, so in the end, he also fled to the outer city of the capital and survived the same.

And this time the founding ceremony of the Daping Dynasty, in order to support the appearance, the North Korean envoy was asked to go to the court to congratulate.Unexpectedly, the North Korean envoy became stubborn and refused to kneel down to pay respects.

It's no wonder that the North Korean envoy's eyelids are shallow. His previous activities were only around Beijing. A year ago, he didn't even know that there was Wu Shigong's Runing Army in this world.So he has less confidence in this new dynasty.In his opinion: Nanming is Zhengshuo, and Manchu Qing is the suzerain of North Korea. The Daping Dynasty, which was attacked by the north and the south, will not feel good.

Besides, even if the disrespect comes first, the current Daping Dynasty will not be able to take action to punish North Korea, so the future will be discussed in the future!At least now I can't cause trouble for North Korea, after all, the family of the North Korean envoy is in Seoul now.

And Wu Shigong was not polite to the North Korean envoy.After scolding, he immediately ordered that the envoy be beaten out with sticks.And also told the North Korean envoy: Emperor Daping is very angry and will send troops to the small country of North Korea to settle accounts!

But at that time, all the civil and military personnel and the North Korean envoy, except for a few people who knew the strategy of the Daping Army well, did not take Wu Shigong's words to heart.

After the unpleasant scenes had passed, the ceremony went more smoothly.

At noon, the monarchs and ministers simply finished their meals.Qiongyuan Emperor Wu Shigong and his important ministers went to Fengtianmen to watch the ceremony, and began to watch the military parade and have fun with the monarch and the people.In the evening, he had a state banquet with important ministers to celebrate.It's been a busy day.

After the ceremony on the first day, starting from the second day of the first lunar month, Wu Shigong summoned all concubines and princes, representatives of noble relatives, including former Ming princes and princes, former Ming honorable representatives, and internally appointed servants of various ministries and above. Officials, together with military attaches above the vice-commander of the Beijing Association, announced the first batch of new laws and policies of the new dynasty in the Huangji Hall.

Since this political discussion had a lot of content and lasted for three full days, Wu Shigong arranged a seat for everyone who participated in the political discussion.Since then, "sit down and discuss politics" has also become a common practice, and officials will no longer stand and discuss state affairs except when they are in the court meeting.This is also a manifestation of the Daping Dynasty's respectful attitude towards the civil and military people who governed the country.

Let me talk about the new law first.This time, Wu Shigong will promulgate the "Order of Amnesty", "Order of Talent Recruitment" and "Order of Enlightenment" to the whole world.

The first is the Amnesty:

The core idea of ​​the "Great Amnesty Order" is: before the establishment of the Qiongyuan Dynasty, all the rebellious Nanming small courts, Li Zicheng's Dashun Army and Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi Army, other rebellious peasant armies, the Manchu Qing regime in Liaodong, and Mongolia outside the Guan Tribes, etc., as long as they put down their weapons and surrender to the Daping Dynasty, their past crimes will be forgotten.If there is still a stubborn resistance, or a new rebellion is launched, then the Daping Dynasty will severely punish the crime.

Of course, in this core idea, it is absolutely impossible for the small imperial court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng's Dashun Army, the Manchu Qing regime in Liaodong, etc., to put down their arms and surrender.But why should these contents be written in?It’s not that Dapingchao wants to have a good time, but to appease those former rebels and former Ming officials who have surrendered to Dapingchao, which shows that Dapingchao will never settle accounts after autumn.So this is an "amnesty order" that is internal but not external.

In the Amnesty Decree, there are three key points:

[-]. How should their leaders, civil and military officials be severely punished for the small imperial court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng’s Dashun Army, and the Liaodong Manchu Qing regime that were hostile to the Daping Dynasty in the future?It is not clear in the "Amnesty Order", which also leaves room for the flexible handling of the Daping Dynasty in the future;

[-]. About the placement of the royal family, royal family and nobles in the former Ming Dynasty.If the royal family and royal family of the former Ming Dynasty did not resist and surrendered to the new dynasty, they would be granted titles and honors after being deprived of certain properties.If there is a rebellion, the clan will be exterminated and all property will be confiscated.

For example: Prince Zhu Cihong will be named Duke of the Daping Dynasty, the other two princes of Emperor Chongzhen and the Prince of the Ming Dynasty will be named Marquis, the county king will be named Earl, and the following members of the royal family will be converted to civilians.

All members of the royal family with titles will be confiscated except for the 5 acres of land reserved for each person.Moreover, the price of [-] taels for the prince and [-] taels for the county king... the following analogy will be used to pay the atonement silver.

And the titles of these former Ming royal families in the new dynasty will not have salary gold.In other words, it is just an honorary title.And this is a title that regresses every generation.For example: Duke.The next generation will be marquesses, then earls, and then lords.After reaching the lord, each generation can keep this title to prove its "noble status".In the final analysis, this title is to make them look better, but it is actually a title of no great use.

The same is true for the nobles of the former Ming Dynasty. They will also retain the titles of the former Ming Dynasty, which will be regressed every generation, and there will be no salary.But all the family wealth that belonged to Xungui will not be confiscated.This is also because of Wu Shigong's relatives, who have too many former Ming nobles! (To be continued..)