Chapter 773 0768 [Fire trees and silver flowers never sleep in the sky]

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Some people live like a new year and finally look forward to New Year's Day.

Countless officials met for a drink to celebrate the survivors of the catastrophe, and they burst into tears when they got emotional.

Officials who were beheaded, exiled, and imprisoned accounted for 12% of the total number of officials in the country.

Including the convicted gentry and merchants, as well as the families of officials and civilians who were implicated, a total of more than 30,000 people were exiled.

Even Tsushima Island and Sado Island each exiled hundreds of people.

The exiled civil and military officials all adopted the Zhenyuanbao model. Depending on the harshness of the local environment, the KPI population base was determined, and calculations were made based on this base. They could leave the exile for each number of Han people they reproduced or naturalized.

Dexing.

Retired Prime Minister Zhang Gen also lamented that his sons were well educated and his family was very wealthy, so they were not investigated or punished.

However, two of Zhang Gen's cousins ​​were killed and the rest were exiled.

The Wu family and the Ying family, the in-laws of the Zhang family in Dexing, each had their families confiscated and exiled, and one of them lost his head.

Where there is punishment, there is reward. Zhang Gen's son and daughter, Wu Dian, was found to be a super upright official. (Wu Dian was a student of Li Gang's uncle.)

This person had applied for retirement in the former Song Dynasty. As a general magistrate of Yuezhou, he did not even have the travel expenses to return to his hometown. He had been living in a foreign place teaching and waited until he had earned enough travel expenses before returning to his hometown.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Dian was recommended by Zhang Gen to be an official. As a prefect, he was not greedy for money, and he also donated his salary to fund volunteer studies.

At a time when corrupt officials are everywhere, such honest officials are rare. Zhu Guoxiang ordered a reward of 300 guan and informed the whole country to publicize his character.

Then Wu Dian took the opportunity to resign because he was older than Zhang Gen.

When he went around Dexing to visit his children's relatives, Wu Dian said with emotion: "Since ancient times, there has never been such an iron-fisted person in the rectification of officialdom as the current dynasty, which can sweep away the filth and filth of the previous Song Dynasty!"

Zhang Gen said: "The prince still acted too hastily, and the officials in various places were unable to handle government affairs."

But Wu Dian shook his head and said: "No. How can scraping bones to heal wounds not damage the vitality? But the long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain. It is time to take advantage of the early establishment of the country to kill the corruption in the officialdom."

Intellectually, Zhang Gen agreed with this statement and joked: "Sheng and brother are famous all over the world. Everyone knows that brother is as honest as water."

Wu Dian curled his lips: "Everyone in the world is arrogant, but I am the only one who is pure. Although I am famous all over the world, I am also criticized by thousands of people."

"Officials will scold me first," Zhang Gen sighed. "The person who caused such a big case was my good son-in-law. My cousins ​​and their family came to beg me to come to Beijing to help intercede. The prince

Who can persuade me to raise my sword so high? Now my tribe blames me for being cold-blooded and ruthless, and not caring about my family ties at all."

"How do they understand their family, country, and world?" Wu Dian said disdainfully.

We met old friends and spent the whole day sightseeing. Wu Dian stayed at Zhang's house for more than a month before leaving.

He suddenly fell ill on the way. The seventy-year-old man couldn't bear it and died immediately.

When the news reached the capital, Zhu Guoxiang was filled with emotion and wrote a plaque inscribed with the words "Model for Officials", letting Wu Dian's son hang it at home, and then recruited one of Wu Dian's grandsons to study at Taixue.

Xu Fuyan's eldest son, Xu Ying, was also reinstated in the spring and transferred to other provinces at the same level.

As for the second son, we’ll talk about it next year.



In the spring of this year, Yelu Dashi suddenly sent troops to capture Zhaisangbo and the surrounding pastures, and occupied the pastures north of Ala Lake.

It is tantamount to completely owning the Tacheng area of ​​Xinjiang and seizing a small piece of Kazakh land for future generations.

The Eastern Kara Khanate reacted violently and sent envoys to question him.

Then, there is no more.

Because the Eastern Kara Khanate suffered a disastrous defeat in the war with the Seljuqs last year, and even surrendered directly to the Seljuq Sultan.

The army suffered heavy losses and there was another rebellion in the country, so it was impossible to start another war with Yelu Dashi.

Further east.

After the snow on the grassland melted, the Kingdom of Jin also sent troops.

The Jin soldiers caught the Wanggu tribe and gave them a beating. They drove the disobedient Wanggu tribe back to the north of Daqingshan and once again made the tribes in Ulanqab, Hohhot and other places surrender.

At the same time, Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongqian joined forces to reform the system.

The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel were established one after another. The Kingdom of Jin officially opened schools to recruit scholars, and the Ministry of Personnel appointed and removed civil servants. These powers were controlled by Wanyan Zongqian.

The Bojilie Conference thus became the political and military decision-making and deliberation body of the Jin Kingdom, and other functions were gradually replaced by various departments. The Bojilie Conference was controlled by Wanyan Zonghan.

The two of them joined hands to become powerful ministers, and Wu's begging and shopping became completely a decoration.

After the emergence of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel, the internal affairs system of Jin Dynasty became more formal, and several prominent Bohai families further seized power, and their voice in the court and local governments was greatly enhanced.

Except for the stubborn Jurchen areas, the military commander system was abolished in the Jin Kingdom.

Local garrison generals may no longer serve as prefects or prefects.

This reform was mainly aimed at the powerful commanders of various ethnic groups. Those guys were seized by the military and political power, but now they were divided between civil and military affairs by the Jin Dynasty court.

Afraid of forcing the powerful commanders of various ethnic groups to rebel, Wanyan Zonghan established several Wanhu Prefectures and appointed powerful commanders of various ethnic groups as Wanhu. He gave them greater command power in exchange for handing over local administrative power.

A series of reforms did not occur due to Ju Ming's influence.

The Jin Kingdom in history did the same thing, learning step by step from the Liao and Song Dynasties in terms of political systems.



The Jin Kingdom and Xiliao were both developing, but the Ming Dynasty had just experienced "labor pains" and needed to be relieved with Lantern Festival lanterns.

More than one-tenth of the officials in the country were dismissed. This is no joke. The field troops transferred back from the front line did not leave until the beginning of spring.

The garrisons in each province are on alert!

Government affairs in various provinces have not yet been fully restored.

The Seljuk envoy Suleiman who came from the Western Regions was blocked by heavy snow on the way in winter, but he finally caught up with the Lantern Festival in the sixth year of Hongwu.

The first batch of Japan's carefully selected envoys also arrived in Kaifeng at about the same time.

This year's Lantern Festival is particularly lively.

One is that the people are getting richer, and the other is that Ju Ming is deliberately promoting it.

It's not dark yet, and lights are already lit up both inside and outside Tokyo.

Suleiman looked at all this with dumbfounded eyes: "Oh Allah, how rich the Qin Kingdom is, those lamps are worth many, many gold coins!"

Although Abu was also shocked by the lantern festival, he looked like someone who had experienced it before: "The country of Shang Qin is now called the Ming Dynasty, and it is governed by erudite scholars, so it has become richer. There are no poor people in the Ming Dynasty, even the lowest level coolies.

You can also live happily every day.”

On another street, there were more than twenty Japanese, wandering around as if they were country bumpkins entering the city.

Although they were nobles and monks, everything they saw seemed strange.

Especially after it gets dark, the various performances are performed one after another, which is more colorful than watching a Waka performance.

"Look, what is that?"

But on the high platform, among the large copper plates, a paper fairy taller than a human was spinning and moving, dragging fireworks.

The paper fairy's feet, legs, and back are all equipped with "flame throwers", and a string hangs from her shoulders. The flames push the fairy forward and make various movements, as if she is flying in the sky.

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These are called "drug-haired puppets," and there are small paper figures that are sprayed into the air.

The Southern Song Dynasty even invented the "fire rat", which was sprayed with flames and spun around. Once it ran to the feet of the Queen Mother who was watching the lanterns, scaring the Queen Mother so much that she jumped up...

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Firecrackers, also called firecrackers, went off all over the city. Including fireworks, they developed rapidly in the last few years of Song Huizong's reign.

Just when the Japanese envoy was shocked by the drug-haired puppet, an even more shocking performance appeared nearby.

They were several large-scale fireworks that were several feet high.

That is to build a very high shelf and connect various fireworks and firecrackers in series. Different fireworks and firecrackers have different lead lengths and continuously emit flames and make noises.

Four words: fiery trees and silver flowers!

When the fireworks were lit, the Seljuks and the Japanese envoys all stared in a daze.

They can't understand why there are such beautiful things in the world.

The soldiers and patrolmen of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Fire-fighting supplies were prepared on streets throughout the city, and people stood beside every well.

The fun of Lantern Festival in Tokyo City started during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. Especially in the last few years of his reign, gunpowder had been played out and was only one step away from turning into a weapon.

For example, "Meteor" is made by mixing gunpowder with iron powder and putting it into a paper tube sealed with mud at one end. After igniting it, it can fly into the air.

Commonly known as the Sky Monkey.

But this flying monkey only lifts into the air and does not explode after flying out.

Other fireworks only project flames, and the colors are relatively simple.

"The officials are coming!"

"Prince, Prince!"

Lanterns were raised on the city tower, members of the royal family appeared, and the people below the city cheered.

Zhu Guoxiang, together with his wife, concubines, children and grandchildren, waved in the direction of the crowd, which immediately elicited a louder cheer.

"Let's set off the fireworks." Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile.

Fireworks that can take off and explode will soon appear in human society for the first time.

A large circle of fireworks has been erected on the wall of the imperial city, and the musketeers hung match ropes and began to light them in batches.

"Boohoo!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Groups of sparks rose into the sky, exploded in the night sky, and bloomed into colorful flowers.

This time, not only foreign envoys, but also well-informed Tokyo residents looked up to the sky with silly smiles.

A group of Hanlin Academy officials, with little real power, were almost unaffected by major cases last year, and some even took the opportunity to promote themselves. They brought their families to hang out with friends, and they were looking at the gorgeous fireworks in the night sky. They were having a great time tonight.

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One of the guys, who was a poet in Dasheng, waited for the fireworks that lasted for more than ten minutes to finish, and suddenly raised his arms and shouted: "Long live the Ming Dynasty, long live the Ming Dynasty!"

Civil and military officials were also admiring the lanterns at this moment, experiencing the grand fireworks display, as if they had forgotten the turmoil in the officialdom that had just passed.

They smiled happily as if they saw the prosperous age right before their eyes.

Suleiman was completely stunned, pointing to the sky and saying: "What on earth are those?"

Abu muttered: "Maybe it's a miracle."

(End of chapter)


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