Chapter seven hundred and sixty seventh congratulations
With white sails like gulls, an official ship flying the tribute flag sailed from the Yuxi River into the Yangtze River waterway, which attracted the attention of passing boats.
Near dusk, the official ship slowly docked at Jinghaimen Pier. The official ship's envoy from Liang State commanded his men to carefully hoist a large box more than ten feet high off the ship and load it onto a heavy-duty carriage.
"What stuff is in there? It looks like it's being sent to the palace?"
Seeing the Banzhi guards in the palace wearing gorgeous armor and riding tall horses, as well as many Dachu officials and Liang envoys escorting the carriage packed in a large wooden box, heading straight towards the palace, causing a large crowd near the pier.
People's attention and discussion abounded.
"It should be the birthday of Empress Dowager Changxin, a congratulatory gift from the leader of the Liang Kingdom," someone familiar with the situation said, showing off gossip, "Since Tangyi established the envoy Chan to succeed the leader of the Liang Kingdom, not only the Liang Kingdom has been interested in our great Chu
Proclaiming himself a vassal, he would send more than a million tributes every year. Every year on the birthday of the Empress Dowager Changxin, the leader of the Liang Kingdom would also send people the rare things he collected from the Liang Kingdom to please the holy face. It was a novelty every year.
Art, last year, two sets of bronze dolls were sent to the palace. I heard that water flow is used to drive the wheels below, and the bronze dolls move like troops in formation, which is really beautiful; and the year before last, it was an automatic string harp with a swing
When you go under the flowing spring, you can play "Qing Ping Yue" with tinkling dong dong, which is as good as the musicians in the band. I don't know what is in this big wooden box this year..."
"The leader of the Liang Kingdom has gone to great lengths to please the Holy Queen."
"Of course. The leader of the Liang Kingdom and the Queen Mother Changxin also have an old friendship - if it weren't for the leader of the Liang Kingdom, the Queen Mother Changxin might not have been able to marry into our country. Naturally, we need to put more thought into this gift!"
"Master Liang has an old friendship with the Queen Mother. What's going on?" Many people raised their ears excitedly.
When Yang Yuanpu was alive, many things were strictly forbidden to be discussed, and many people did not know the old news of that year. However, no matter how serious the crime of "disrespect" was, there was a natural ground for spreading secrets among the people in the market.
There is probably nothing in this world that is more worthy of inquiry and speculation than the old friendship between a man and a woman, not to mention that the matter involves the most powerful man and woman in the world.
"...This goes back to the time when we went against the throne and killed our Emperor Gaozu of Chu. At that time, the leader of the Liang Kingdom was still a Chu minister, and he was ordered to send an envoy to the Shu Kingdom to welcome his bride. When the rebellion happened, the Chu Kingdom almost fell apart, and many people were
I thought that the marriage could not be saved, but the Liang Lord at that time made a decisive decision and directly kidnapped the Queen Mother Changxin and left the Shu Kingdom to welcome our Da Chu to marry the late emperor. If it hadn't been for the Lord Liang, let alone the Queen Mother Changxin.
The marriage with the late emperor would have been ruined, and I, Da Chu, might have turned against the Shu Kingdom and started a fight. Later, it was also the Shu Kingdom who saw that Queen Mother Changxin and the late Emperor had already cooked rice, so they had no shame to kill them.
The Empress Dowager Changxin asked her to go back to Shu, and the matter was successfully completed."
"Hehe, I'm afraid you still don't know that before Empress Dowager Changxin married into Dachu, she disguised herself as a man and went to Dachu with the Lord of Shu as an envoy. She should have met Lord Liang at that time. Otherwise, how could Lord Liang spend so much money later?
Do you have the strength to take such a big risk to welcome the Queen Mother Changxin into Chu? I also heard that the Queen Mother took the initiative to cooperate with the Liang Lord to kidnap and go to Xuzhou first, otherwise it would not be so easy to leave Shu..."
"That's right. Logically speaking, it is enough for the Liang Kingdom to declare itself a vassal and pay tribute. Why does the Lord of Liang bother to collect these rare treasures and send them to the palace every year? It turns out there are so many twists and turns in this!"
"Ahem..." Someone coughed, indicating that it was okay to talk about the topic here, and it would be taboo to talk about it any further.
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The gifts had to be entered into the palace through Jingjiang Gate, and they needed to open the wooden box to check whether it was hidden. Feng Yi and Wen Ruilin stood tall and chatted with Han Jianji, who had been stationed in Jinling on behalf of Daliang in recent years, while looking at the repairs left behind
Below are the burn marks from uterine changes.
Zheng Xixuan, the deputy commander of the Guards and Horses Division in front of the palace, and Cai Chen, who had been transferred to the supervisor of Honglu Temple in recent years, saw officials from Honglu Temple and the Internal Affairs Bureau. After opening the wooden box, there was a strangely constructed sandalwood tower with a height of one person.
Wooden shell instruments.
The instrument has a metal disc covered by glass, two gold-cast hands, and a long pendulum hanging down. When you open the back cover of the sandalwood shell, you will find precision-cast gears and reeds inside.
It makes people feel dizzy.
Zheng Xixuan asked Feng Yi curiously: "What did Lord Liang send again this time to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday?"
"There are only two new chronograph clocks made in Luoyang so far. They are fully wound, and the reeds drive the hands, which can time the clock on time at twenty-four hours-" Feng Yi said.
"Master Liang is really attentive to the Queen Mother." Zheng Xixuan said with a smile.
"My Majesty thought that since the Empress Dowager lives in seclusion in the palace, rare things must be common, so he issued an edict to send one of them to Jinling." Feng Yi said.
The clock set out from Luoyang. Even if you were very careful along the way, some parts would inevitably come loose. Luoyang College also specially sent people to calibrate the clock nearby. At the same time, it also guided the engineers of the Chamber of Commerce on how to repair and maintain it.
Feng Yi and Wen Ruilin, as Liang envoys, of course cannot enter the palace casually and see the chamberlain. Officials from Honglu Temple checked that it was correct and carefully transported the clock to the palace. They also had to go to Liang's office on Dutingyi South Street first.
The National Embassy awaits the summons.
Before going to Liang Guoguan, Feng Yi warmly invited Zheng Xixuan to have a banquet, but Zheng Xixuan just declined with a smile.
In the past two years, Zheng Yu and Zheng Chang both left the Chu court due to old age and illness. Neither of them stayed in Jinling City, but returned to their ancestral home in Huangzhou to spend their remaining years.
However, in addition to Zheng Xixuan who served as the main general guarding the personal army, Zheng Hui was also the feudal official stationed in Prince Xing's Mansion by Da Chu. The Zheng family's foundation in Jinling has never been shaken.
However, even though it was the Zheng family who vigorously promoted the Liang-Chu peace treaty and was also a pro-Liang faction in the Chu court, as a bodyguard and pro-army general, if Zheng Xixuan accepted the banquet from the Liang envoy in private, there might be many impeachment memorials flying in tomorrow
What about the political hall?
Feng Yi's invitation was only polite, and he was immediately accompanied by Cai Chen and went to Liang Guoguan.
"Ruan Yan's son Ruan Tao came to Jinling again the day before yesterday, two months apart. He didn't see any other ministers. He stayed in Prince Shou's Mansion for the past two days. Maybe the Sima family and Prince Xin have already talked about it.
"Cai Chen, as the minister of Honglu Temple, received him and took care of the envoys of the Liang State. He accompanied him into the Liang State Pavilion and sat down in the Mingxi Hall. While the accompanying officials were entangled with other errands, he
He told Feng Yi and Wen Ruilin some information he had, and asked curiously, "Sima's family Xu Si has always been a speculator and a slippery loser. Why didn't your Majesty send someone to fight for it?"
"Although the Sima clan is disdainful, Xu Si's army occupies six states including Xu Si, Miyi, and more than two million soldiers and civilians. If they can win over them, it will greatly speed up the progress of the war. Luo
How could Yang not fight for it?" Feng Yi patted his forehead and said, "However, it is precisely the Sima family who has been accustomed to selling at a low price these years. He has not fought a tough battle with us in these years, so it is inevitable that he cannot know how much he weighs.
sinews and bones!”
"Maybe the Shouzhou Army is lying west of Surabaya, preventing the Sima family from having other options!" Wen Ruilin said, "If Luoyang can send troops to defeat the Shouzhou Army first, Xu Si's situation may change!"
In addition to war, Han Qian has always paid attention to using various means to solve problems. Naturally, he also sent people to secretly test Sima's attitude.
However, the two reasons mentioned by Feng Yi and Wen Ruilin also hit the point.
One is that the Sima clan was isolated to the east of Surabaya by the Shouzhou Army and did not have many opportunities to engage with the Daliang soldiers and horses. They had not fought hard battles before, so they did not think that the combat effectiveness of the elite Daliang troops was very strong.
They attributed the results of the previous series of battles to the vulnerability of the Dongliang Army, and believed that the Mongolian Army was not as invincible as they imagined.
Therefore, deep down in their hearts, they do not feel that Daliang's soldiers and horses are invincible. They have not yet formed a shadow in their hearts. Naturally, they will never accept the harsh conditions offered by Daliang, give up their ambitions to separate the local area, and join Daliang; and Han
Obviously, Qian would never agree to the Sima clan's separatist rule.
Of course, some people in Luoyang advocated using separatism as a condition to stabilize the Sima clan first, but more generals felt that this was not necessary.
In comparison, the Sima family surrendered to the Chu court at this time and could barely maintain their status as a separate local vassal.
There is another important reason. On the surface, it seems that the Sima family was isolated to the east of Surabaya by the Shouzhou Army.
The Shouzhou Army and the Liang Army have been fighting for so many years and have suffered countless casualties. The Shouzhou Army will not surrender to the Liang State as long as there is a chance. The Xu Si Army, which is isolated to the east of Surabaya by the Shouzhou Army, even if they want to surrender directly to Liang
, will also face the situation of being attacked from three sides by Zhu Rang, Xu Mingzhen and Xin Wang Yang Yuanyan.
Of course, Luoyang has also considered this series of situations. Even if it does not promise to allow it to separate Xu Si, it still works hard through internal channels, hoping that the Sima family can maintain the status quo, and there may not be no opportunities and possibilities for negotiation in the future.
However, judging from the fact that Ruan Yan's son Ruan Tao secretly came to Jinling twice, only had secret meetings with Yang Zhitang, and many other clues, the Secret Service personnel lurking in Jinling and other places tend to believe that the Sima family has reached a consensus with King Xin.
Waiting for Yang Zhitang, who had been recuperating at home for many years, to step forward and officially push Chu Ting to accept Sima's surrender.
At present, the Chu army has also ended the war in Fujian. Gu Zhilong and Huang Lu led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to escort the King of Fujian's Wang family and more than 10,000 generals, and they have rushed back to Jinling from Jianzhou. This has greatly boosted the morale of Chu's court and civilians.
.
This will most likely push the Chu court and the public to accept the Sima family and adopt a tougher attitude towards Liang.
In addition to the Sima family, the actions of many figures in the Shouzhou Army are still the focus of Nansi's attention.
At present, the Shouzhou Army has no determination to tie Zhu Rang and Liang Ren to a tree. Although he was one of the culprits of the Jinling Rebellion and had an insurmountable gap with the Chu court and was unable to make peace, Xu Mingzhen fell ill and was bedridden after the beginning of the year.
Sorry, there has been no improvement so far, so things have changed a lot.
If Xu Mingzhen dies of illness at the right time, the Chu court may accept the surrender of the Shouzhou army.
