Compared with last year's Zhengdan court meeting, this year's one will undoubtedly be much grander and more lively.
Although the capital was moved to Dengzhou this year, and the palaces here are simple and not as good as the Forbidden City in Nanjing, the number of foreign envoys who came to pay homage to the emperor increased a lot this year, all because the Ming Dynasty was now flourishing.
The palace is filled with gold and purple.
The majestic fortress, the mighty cannons, and the swarms of formidable imperial troops all amazed the envoys who came from afar. Some of them had been to Beijing to pay homage to Emperor Chongzhen two years ago, and some were in Nanjing.
Those who paid homage to Emperor Hongguang, and some even went to Beijing to pay homage to Shunzhi, but compared to the current Emperor Shaotian, the emperors in the past, although they occupied the northern and southern capitals, felt that they were in a doomsday and barbaric state.
But now the Shaotian Dynasty is full of vitality and momentum.
Many civil servants and generals from all over the Ming Dynasty came to celebrate this time. Even Mu Tianbo, Duke of Guizhou of Yunnan, came. This Yunnan native emperor, who was about the same age as Emperor Shaotian, came here specifically to apologize.
After causing such a big mess in Sha Dingzhou, he lost all of Kunming, but the emperor still refused to pursue him, and instead promoted him to a higher rank. Mu Tianbo was naturally very grateful.
Especially last year, the emperor dispatched troops from Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou and several provinces into Yunnan to assist in the suppression. It can be said that this relieved his urgent need. Although the war is still going on, Kunming has been recovered.
Mu Tianbo was finally able to return to Kunming from the remote and wild land of Baoshan, so he came here to express his gratitude to the emperor and express his loyalty.
Ding Layin, the returning general from Gansu, also entered the court together with He Hongqi from Longyou.
Qin Liangyu from Sichuan, Li Chixin, Gao Bizheng, Yuan Zongdi, He Zhen, Sun Shoufa, Wang Guangtai from Huguang, Jin Shenghuan, Yang Tinglin, Wan Yuanji from Jiangxi, even Li Jiyu, Xu Dingguo from Henan, and Zheng Hongkui, Zhu Chenggong, Dongjiang from Fujian
Geng Zhongming et al.
Most of these frontier officials have arrived.
This is a gesture that must be obtained this time no matter what the current local situation is.
Jin Shenghuan, Ding Layin, Xu Dingguo, Li Jiyu, Geng Zhongming, and He Zhen were all local military leaders, but this time they also took the initiative to request to come to the court to congratulate them.
Not to mention surrendered generals such as Li Guodong, Tu Guobao, Liu Liangzuo, etc.
The Ministry of Rites has been busy for several months for this day. Since most of the world has been restored, the Ministry of Rites now has enough officials. Many old members have returned and are familiar with the etiquette system. The whole ceremony is done
It's very grand.
The emperor only added one more ceremony to the court meeting, which was military parade and flag raising.
The Zhengdan Dynasty Meeting lasts from morning to noon.
Then at noon, the flag was raised and the military parade was held at the South Gate Square of Penglai Palace.
There were more than 300 people in the three armies of the royal standard-bearing guard. They showed what a guard of honor is with high spirits. They marched across the square in goose-step, and then raised the sun and moon flag of the Ming Dynasty.
This sun and moon flag is also the national flag designated by Zhu Yihai. There was no such thing as a national flag before. Although there are sun and moon flags, there are many styles.
Later, Zhu Yihai chose the sun and moon flag commonly used by maritime merchants, modified it, and decided that the red flag with blue sky, sun and moon on the ground was the national flag of the Ming Dynasty.
In the past, maritime merchants found that the merchant ships of the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries generally flew their own national flags to show distinction, so many merchants flew the sun and moon flag to represent the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty. However, there was no unified standard, so there were green flags, yellow flags, etc.
The current standard set by the emperor is a square flag with a red ground and a smaller blue square in the upper left corner, with the sun and moon arranged on it, symbolizing the blue sky, sun and moon.
Although someone once suggested using the dragon flag, Zhu Yihai felt that the dragon flag was more complicated and not as simple and eye-catching as the blue sky, sun, moon and red earth.
And he likes the color red very much, and has always liked the red color all over the floor.
He didn't even plan to use cyan, so he just used red all over the ground, with the sun and moon on the upper left, and then he planned to add thirteen stars, which symbolized the thirteen provinces of Han Dynasty.
But then I thought about it, if we get thirteen stars now, then after the Central Plains is restored, how can we go outside the customs and recover Liaodong? Or even recover Annan, Qinghai-Tibet, Luchuan and other places in the future? Therefore, we should not set restrictions too early.
In the end, the blue sky, sun, moon and red flag on the ground were adopted as the national flag of the Ming Dynasty.
The dragon flag serves as the royal flag.
Countless officials and foreign envoys could not help but stand up from the viewing platform when they saw this majestic guard of honor approaching.
"This honor guard of the three armed forces is really majestic and majestic!"
The crown prince from North Korea, Li Hao, was very excited. Next to him were two ministers who came with him, Kim Sang-heon, the left-hand leader of North Korea, and Cui Ming-gil, the right-hand leader of North Korea.
"These cavalry are really majestic." The two North Korean prime ministers were also stunned. Although the honor guard totaled only more than 300 people, it fully demonstrated the various elite arms of the Ming army.
For example, among the cavalry, those who walk at the front are those with shiny breastplates and iron helmets with flower feathers on their heads. They are equipped with shiny breastplates, sabers and muskets.
Horses, coupled with elite cavalry, all of whom are over 1.8 meters tall, are well-equipped heavy cavalry.
As soon as he appeared on the stage, he had an overwhelming momentum.
"It's true that the mountain hangs lower than the chicken egg!"
At noon, the warm sun was in the sky.
The polished breastplate reflected the sun's rays and shone brightly.
Following them were the dragoons. They did not wear heavy armor, but wore cotton armor. They were actually mounted musketeers. Their spurred riding boots were very shiny, and they were equipped with muskets and sabers. Their muskets had shorter barrels.
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The dragoons in the imperial camp of the Ming Dynasty were actually mainly positioned as mobile musketry infantry. They could pursue, reconnaissance, cover, and even attack enemy formations. Their biggest feature was that they mounted their horses to maneuver and dismounted to fight, which was similar to the Tatars' mounted heavy infantry.
"What kind of cavalry are these?" The prince pointed to the cavalry coming out from behind. Their equipment looked lighter, with horsetails on their helmets and bright red military uniforms.
"Your Excellency, these are the hussars of the royal camp. They have fast horses and light swords. They come and go like the wind. They capture flags and kill generals. This is a real light cavalry. Anyone who can get in needs excellent riding skills. Your Highness, look
The hussars that arrived are mainly Mongolians."
"Mongol?"
"Well, it is said that there are thousands of Mongolian soldiers in the imperial camp of the Ming Dynasty. They mainly serve as hussars. These people are tough and brave, and have superb riding skills. Their favorite thing is to raid, kill generals and capture flags. They are deeply loved by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
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"Look at the clothes they are wearing. They are wearing cowhide armor inside and a shark skin cloak outside. These copper nails and the dyeing of red, blue and other colors look so gorgeous."
This kind of cape jacket is a thick coat with a fur-trimmed collar. It is usually worn only half and draped half over the shoulders. When the horse is charging, the clothes will flutter in the wind, showing its rugged nature.
But this is not to look cool, but because there is a big temperature difference between day and night on the grassland, so they are used to wearing big robes, wearing half and half during the day. If the sun is strong, they simply take off the upper body robe and wrap it around their waist. When it gets cold,
Put it on again.
The hussars are equipped with this cloak jacket to facilitate their long-distance raids day and night.
Even this thick cloak jacket with copper nails is actually equivalent to a piece of soft armor and has good protective capabilities.
"What kind of cavalry is this?"
Behind the hussars came another group of cavalry. They were also equipped with muskets and leather armor, but they were very different from the hussars.
"These are chasseurs, light cavalry with muskets. They are different from dragoons who mainly fight on foot with muskets. They are musketeers who ride and shoot. These people's riding skills are better than dragoons, but worse than hussars. And you
Look at their muskets, which are longer than those of the dragoons. These muskets have a longer range and are more powerful. Their main task is to conduct reconnaissance, or even pursuit, to stop and kill the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry."
Chasseurs are equivalent to low-level hussars. They are mainly used to counter enemy scouts. They are easy to supplement, have low training costs and are fast to train.
Immediately afterwards, another group of cavalry came up with lances on their backs. Their weapons were one-foot lances, and they also had a pair of wings on their backs.
"This is the winged cavalry, also called lancers. His Majesty the Emperor has two elite lancer battalions, one is called the red lancer battalion and the other is called the black lancer battalion. It is said that this kind of lancer is mainly used to attack enemy infantry. They both
They are good at riding lances and are also proficient in using sabers. They can charge and break formations, but also fight against cavalry, so each one is very elite. They are usually used on large battlefields and will not be used for reconnaissance, warning, etc."
The lancers are elites like the hussars, but the hussars are light cavalry, while the lancers are good at fighting at both distance and close range. They are also good at frontal charges. Compared with the hussars who are good at outflanking and outflanking, the lancers are a tough opponent.
Of course, the lancers are not as tough as the heavily armored cuirassiers, but their riding skills are definitely not inferior to the cuirassiers.
Zhu Yihai attaches great importance to cavalry. From the very beginning, he established the Jinwu Town Cavalry Army. Until now, he has continuously increased the number of cavalry, and even divided the types of cavalry into different types, each performing their own duties, so as to maximize the performance of the cavalry.
In this military parade, they appeared one after another, all of them were tough young and elite cavalry.
Immediately after, the infantry were equally powerful.
Especially after the flag was raised, the three armies were paraded in formation, and the infantry formations of various arms perfectly demonstrated their power.
The first in line is the Iron Man Army, heavy infantrymen in full iron armor, double-layered armor, and equipped with a super-long-bladed saber.
Everyone is over 1.8 meters tall, with double layers of armor, iron helmets, iron face armor, iron shields, two sabers, and bows and arrows.
Dragons have scales and warriors have armor.
A double-layered armor that can protect against musket lead bullets, coupled with a sword that is more than two meters long, can break the body of a man, break the legs of a horse, and cause death or injury wherever it goes.
A battalion of five hundred Iron Man soldiers stood on the battlefield. It was a copper wall and an iron wall. It was so impregnable that even the cavalry could not break through it.
The Iron Man Army of the Imperial Camp of the Ming Dynasty not only severely damaged the Tatar Eight Banners cavalry in Xuzhou, but also annihilated 240 Dutch musketeers on the battlefield in Taiwan last year, killing all the Dutch commanders. From then on, the Dutch
People huddled in the fortress and never dared to come out again.
No matter how hard you work, you can defeat ten groups with one force. What the Iron Man Army needs are the strongest warriors, equipped with excellent two-layer or even three-layer armor, and equipped with the most powerful horse-killing sword, under the cover of other troops.
, it is the mainstay on the battlefield and is indestructible.
The crown prince and prime ministers of North Korea looked at these soldiers, their faces flushed with excitement.
"If only we in Korea could build these cavalry and infantry, we would no longer have to fear the Tartars!"
The heavy infantry represented by the Iron Man Army shocked the entire audience, followed closely by the armored soldiers with spears, light infantry with swords and shields, and then the musketeers.
Groups of musketeers include bird musketeers, nine-headed bird heavy lancers, and even larger wall-blocking musketry infantry.
Then various types of artillery appeared, some carried directly on the shoulders, some carried by two people, some horse-drawn, and some mounted on vehicles. All kinds of artillery appeared one after another.
Even the envoys from the Ruan family in Annan were shocked when they saw these cannons. The Ruan family had been trading with the Netherlands and others for a long time. They also hired Dutch mercenaries early on and even established their own cannon foundry. The level of firearms was quite high.
But now looking at the firearms of Daming Imperial Camp, the quality is obviously much better than theirs.
If Dengzhou Port hadn't been frozen, Zhu Yihai would have even planned to show off the navy's giant ships and cannons.
But even this infantry and cavalry phalanx parade, which totaled only more than 30,000 people, shocked the envoys from various countries. Even the military leaders who came for the pilgrimage for the first time, such as Jin Shenghuan, Ding Layin, He Zhen, Mu Tianbo,
Xu Dingguo, Li Jiyu and others were so shocked that they did not dare to say a word. This strength was much stronger than they imagined.
Jin Shenghuan and Wang Deren secretly looked at each other with shock in their eyes. Since they joined the Ming Dynasty, they have been a little dissatisfied and even regretful because they did not get the treatment they wanted, but were constantly squeezed out.
Pressure, repeated requests for reorganization, etc.
If the surrounding areas were not controlled by the Ming Dynasty, the Tatars would be in decline. They would have rebelled long ago. Last winter, the court reorganized the ministries again. Jin Shenghuan, Wang Deren and other ministries were required to be reorganized into a foreign town, with troop quotas, military pay, etc.
The treatment is not as good as that of Yuying and others.
Even the number of residences has been reduced, which made them very dissatisfied.
This time I came to congratulate you, and I also wanted to have a good bargaining with the court.
But now that they saw the imperial camp's momentum, they were deeply shocked.
If the honor guard of the three armed forces is surprising at the beginning, it only consists of a few hundred people. It is not difficult to select a few hundred strong men from the army and equip them with good equipment. Even the leaders of the Jiangxi vassaled army can do it.
But there were more than 30,000 cavalrymen who appeared later, one square after another, and each battalion had 500 people at a time.
Each battalion is so tall and majestic, and the equipment is so sophisticated. Even these soldiers show a kind of toughness that has been tempered by the fire of war. This thing is not just a matter of recruiting new soldiers to change their equipment.
They are all veteran soldiers, and they can see this murderous intent at a glance. They must have been tempered by blood and fire.
Tens of thousands of people.
Not to mention that this was just a small part of the imperial camp, even if all the elites of the imperial camp were here, Jin Shenghuan had to think carefully about whether he should be more honest to the court.
After all, with just tens of thousands of people, it was more than enough to destroy him, Jin Shenghuan.
He has many soldiers, and Wang Zamao is also very good at fighting, but even if he adds the Longwu Army of Dongman Zhang An and others, they are no match at all.
Before, in front of Yang Tinglin, Wan Yuanji, etc., I felt that I had a lot of chips in my hand, but now I look at them, and they are very thin.
The emperor wanted to reorganize the Huguang camp and the Huguang and Jiangxi provincial camps into two towns, and divide them into Yuezhou and Jiujiang. Now it seems that he has no qualifications to bargain at all.
Jiujiang, I have to hand it over honestly this time.
