prosperous age

"Everyone has read Lord Yin's report. Next, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works must work closely together to ensure that the invited diplomatic envoys have accommodation during the ceremony.

The Prime Minister and I just came out of the Ciqing Palace. The palace asked the Ministry of Rites to complete the agenda for His Majesty's wedding as soon as possible and submit it to the palace for review."

Wei Guangde of the Cabinet was on duty, and all the relevant ministries and the Guanglu Temple officials were gathered here, including Tan Lun who was recuperating.

“Ministry of Works, please prepare sufficient manpower. If possible, try to arrange for people to start repairs before the New Year.

Ministry of Rites, the expansion of Huitong Hall that was discussed earlier should be finalized before the New Year.

You two departments must coordinate well on this matter and make sure nothing goes wrong."

Wei Guangde looked at Pan Sheng and Jiang Zhi and said.

The Ministry of Rites had a proposed plan earlier, which was that if there were not many foreign delegations, the old Huitongguan could be renovated.

If there were too many foreign diplomatic missions, the Huitong Hall would be expanded, part of the Siyi Hall's courtyard would be allocated for expansion and renovation, or even the Siyi Hall could be relocated entirely.

During the Ming Dynasty, the tribute and trade exchanges between the Central Plains dynasty and the surrounding ethnic groups and countries required a large number of translators.

In order to train translation talents, the Ming Dynasty set up the Siyi Hall.

The Siyi Hall was the earliest official institution in Chinese history established to train translation talents. It was mainly responsible for translating documents between tributary states and teaching the languages ​​and scripts of neighboring ethnic groups and countries.

In order to welcome diplomatic envoys from various countries, ancient Chinese capitals all had institutions to receive guests.

The Honglu Temple after the Han Dynasty was a government office specifically responsible for this task. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that it was changed to Huitongguan under the Ministry of Rites.

The Honglu Temple was still established in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but its duty was to be solely responsible for court ceremonies and no longer manage reception affairs. Only the official in charge of the Huitongguan would be given the title of Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple.

Huitongguan was a postal agency specially responsible for entertaining tribute envoys during the Ming Dynasty. Initially it was under the management of the Ministry of War and was mainly responsible for all activities including clothing, food, housing, and transportation of the envoys after they arrived in Beijing.

With the improvement of Ming Dynasty's national strength and the enhancement of foreign exchanges, the management pressure of Huitongguan gradually increased. The Ministry of Rites also participated in the management of Huitongguan, but the Ministry of War still retained some management rights.

It was not until the tenth year of the Jiajing reign that Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty ordered that all affairs of Huitongguan be managed by the Ministry of Rites, and the power of the Ministry of War was stripped away.

For the Siyi Hall, Wei Guangde had already ordered the selection of translators who were proficient in Portuguese and various languages ​​from the coastal areas of Jiangnan. In fact, most of the officials or translators in the Siyi Hall were only familiar with writing and were not good at oral communication.

Wei Guangde noticed this because he only knew a few words of English.

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites was specifically instructed to carefully verify the communication level of the officials in the Siyi Hall.

Since it is known that most people can only translate text, we have no choice but to recruit translators from outside, especially those who are proficient in spoken English.

But this is actually not difficult. After all, the coastal areas of Jiangnan have been receiving overseas businessmen for many years, and there are many people who are familiar with oral communication. It just requires the Jinyiwei to verify their identities.

"There are a large number of envoys attending the ceremony. In order to provide a better living environment, all the Siyi Halls will be merged into Huitong Hall. The Ministry of Rites will arrange another courtyard in the capital as soon as possible for the Siyi Halls to use."

Pan Sheng spoke up.

"Well, very good. Ministry of Works, do you have enough manpower?"

Wei Guangde nodded and then looked at Jiang Zhi.

"The Ministry of Works will recall the craftsmen before the New Year to complete the repair plans for various places and ensure that the wedding of His Majesty will not be delayed."

Jiang Zhi replied immediately.

In the Ming Dynasty, apart from a handful of skilled craftsmen, most other craftsmen took turns serving in the capital.

However, in order to ensure the civil engineering needs for Emperor Wanli's wedding, craftsmen were recruited from all over the country to come to Beijing in the middle of the year.

However, the candidates who had been confirmed were initially required to set off for the capital after the New Year.

After all, at that time, it was uncertain when Yin Zhengmao's delegation would return, so the quota was set but the meeting was not yet underway.

Now it seems that we have to ask them to set off for the capital before the New Year.

The Ming Dynasty really had no shortage of skilled craftsmen. As long as sufficient preparations were made, even tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of craftsmen could be assembled.

"There shouldn't be any problem with Guanglu Temple, right?"

Wei Guangde was very satisfied with Jiang Zhi's statement, and immediately looked at Guanglu Temple Minister Jia Sanjin and said with a smile: "Dexiu was the governor of the Four Barbarians Hall in his early years, so I think he is not unfamiliar with this.

At that time, Guanglu Temple will have to coordinate closely with the Ministry of Rites and Huitongguan to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

"Don't worry, Lord Wei. I will do my job conscientiously and will not make any mistakes with the food for the delegation."

Jia Sanjin said immediately.

In the third year of Wanli's reign, Jia Sanjin was appointed as the Superintendent of the Siyi Hall as the Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple, so he had some understanding of the Ming Dynasty's foreign affairs activities.

Last year, he was evaluated as excellent in the imperial examination and was promoted one level to the position of Guanglu Temple Minister, a third-rank official.

"Zhang Shangshu, Zhang Situ, the Ministry of Revenue must review the relevant projects on time and pay the money as needed. Don't let it get stuck here."

Wei Guangde called out the names one by one and asked each government office to fulfill their responsibilities.

The above all cost money, but in fact, as long as you have money, you don’t have to worry about not getting things done.

So, all the problems finally came down to the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhang Xueyan had just come out of the Prime Minister's duty room in the morning. Naturally, he knew that the Ministry of Revenue would do its best to guarantee all expenses for His Majesty's wedding, so he agreed immediately.

Any excuses at this time would only be scorned, and even the Censorate would think it was meddling.

As for whether the Ministry of Revenue has silver or not, no one else cares.

Fortunately, the petition to borrow money from Changying Treasury should have been delivered to the palace by now.

With money, the Minister of Revenue felt more confident.

After everything was arranged, Wei Guangde looked at Tan Lun and said, "I didn't want to call the Ministry of War this time, but I talked to the Prime Minister about the foreign envoys at noon, and I remembered that there was a tradition during the Yongle period to hold a grand review outside the capital to publicize the military power of the Ming Dynasty."

When Wei Guangde said this, all the officials in the room naturally knew what was going on.

"It has been ten years since the Longqing Grand Review. After the envoys arrive in Beijing, the Grand Review will be held at the parade ground outside Beijing. Your Majesty's wedding ceremony will be held in a month."

Wei Guangde continued, "However, after I reported to His Majesty in the palace today, His Majesty proposed to summon soldiers from Liaodong, Xuanfu, Jizhen, and even the southwest who participated in the war in Burma to participate in the review. His Majesty wants to see these soldiers who fought for the country with his own eyes."

Sure enough, when Wei Guangde said this, the pupils of Tan Lun and the others suddenly dilated.

Without waiting for them to speak, Wei Guangde continued, "After discussing with the Prime Minister, I decided that since the Southwest Army is to be recalled, it would be better to order the Nanjing Guards and Thirteen Commands, as well as the Burmese Army mentioned by Your Majesty, to each dispatch a thousand households to Beijing for military exercises.

The results of the military performance will be recorded in the Ministry of War’s Examination and Merit Bureau, and will also allow Your Majesty to see the strength of the Ming army.”

When Tan Lun heard Wei Guangde say that only one thousand households would be transferred, his expression became noticeably better.

If a garrison is transferred, it may be difficult to put together some of the commanders.

But it's just a thousand-household unit with a few thousand people, so it's still easy to get them together.

After all, the old, weak, sick and disabled are definitely not allowed to be employed. Only the strong and healthy have to be capable of doing their jobs.

Next, Wei Guangde continued: "Liaodong and Jizhen will dispatch one battalion each of chariots, horses and infantry, Xuanfu will dispatch two battalions of cavalry, and Baoding will dispatch the garrison and the Beijing battalion to complete this review together.

Next, the Ministry of War must issue orders to all departments as soon as possible, asking them to select elite troops and go to Beijing for military demonstrations after the New Year.

Ministry of War, is there any problem?"

After hearing this, Tan Lun thought for a moment before asking, "Should the generals of Liaodong, Xuanfu, and the thirteen provinces also be transferred to the capital to participate in the military exercise?"

Jizhen is very close, so there is no problem with the general leaving, but Liaodong and Xuanfu are a bit tricky. If Qi Jiguang and Ma Fang are transferred to Beijing, although it will not allow Mongolia to take advantage of the situation, more precautions will have to be taken.

"Not afraid."

Wei Guangde smiled and said, "Not to mention that we just defeated the enemy cavalry at Hongtu Fort. When our army gathers in the capital, they should be more worried about His Majesty ordering the army to march north.

Moreover, the imperial court will invite the Prince of Shunyi to Beijing to watch the ceremony. By then, we will know whether anyone in the northern border dares to cause trouble."

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, Tan Lun also reacted.

When the Ming Emperor got married, Altan Khan, the King of Shunyi of Mongolia, would definitely be invited.

Altan Khan might not dare to come, but he would send his adult son to the capital to congratulate.

Huang Taiji may not dare to come, but one of the other princes must come.

The person coming here is naturally equivalent to a proton.

If the Mongols really dared to cause trouble in the north at that time, the Ming army would simply kill them as a sacrifice before going to war.

Therefore, as long as the Mongolian prince enters the Ming Dynasty, it can be basically confirmed that Mongolia will not move, and the northern border will naturally be stable.

As for the Tuman tribe, which had always been anti-Ming, they had just suffered a heavy blow and naturally did not have the courage to cause trouble.

Speaking of which, it was thanks to Huang Taiji that this battle gave the Ming Dynasty the opportunity to weaken the strength of the Tuman tribe.

"The Ministry of War has no objection. We will urge all the ministries to send their best troops to Beijing for military exercises as soon as possible."

After Tan Lun figured it out, he immediately nodded and agreed.

“The deployment of the troops of the nine frontiers and the various military divisions should be reported as soon as possible. In principle, the military performance should be modeled after the Longqing Grand Review.

Qi Yuanjing has experience, so when the time comes, he will be asked to submit a memorial to express his ideas on how to demonstrate military power.

By the way, the South China Sea and East China Sea navies, ask them to dispatch one thousand households each to Beijing to participate in the military exercise."

Wei Guangde thought of future military parades, which would include the army, navy and air force, and even some countries would have aerospace forces participating in the review.

Now that there is no air power, let's pull the navy out for a walk.

During the Longqing Grand Review, the Ming Dynasty navy was not conspicuous.

But after a few years, the navy had become a powerful tool for the Ming Dynasty to publicize its national prestige to the outside world.

Whether in Southeast Asia or in the West, the navy made great contributions.

Naturally, they are indispensable for the grand review.

The current navy is no longer a force affiliated with the various dusi.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty navy was basically under the jurisdiction of the garrisons under the Dusi. Even if they were temporarily put together, they were still under the command of the Dusi and had very little power.

The current navy is on the same level as the Dusi. When they encounter a veteran like Yu Dayou, whose official rank is one level higher than that of the Dusi, their status has been greatly improved.

"The navy is also going to participate?"

However, Wei Guangde's proposal made Tan Lun frown.

Well, what he thought of as a thousand households meant ten large ships, or dozens of small boats.

The capital city is accessible by sea, and small sea vessels can reach the capital city via the Jinmen River, but large and medium-sized sea vessels cannot, unless the Huitong River is dredged on a large scale.

Wei Guangde thought of sending the naval gunners and musketeers to Beijing for military demonstrations. After all, nothing could enhance the country's prestige more than the use of firearms.

But in Tan Lun's ears, it became a demonstration of the navy's combat power by sailing the gunboats to the Huitong River, which was really difficult.

"If that's the case, why not move the martial arts performance site to Tianjin City and perform it along the coast?"

Finally, Tan Lun still thought that it was impossible to complete the task of having the water diversion team participate in the performance, so he made a proposal.

Wei Guangde listened to Tan Lun's proposal. He thought that Tan Lun suggested holding an army military exercise along the coast and a naval fleet review at sea at the same time.

In the past, Chinese people did not understand much about this naval review, but in recent years the navy has held similar activities many times, so they have become more familiar with it.

"I didn't expect Brother Zili's opinion. Holding a grand review in Tianjin is a good idea."

Wei Guangde praised it sincerely, saying that this could fully demonstrate the strength of the Ming Dynasty's navy and army.

In particular, there were nearly a hundred gunboats from the East and South navies gathered together. Even if they fired a salvo, the scene would be so spectacular that it would be difficult to describe in words.

Although the cost is also high, the loss from this kind of salvo is probably no less than the loss from a salvo from a long-range artillery battalion in later generations.

For the Ming Dynasty at that time, gunpowder was actually not cheap, otherwise there would not have been such a thing as the garrison officers secretly reselling gunpowder to firecracker merchants.

“First, communicate with the border towns and the military governors and ask them to prepare this morning.

Let me think about the matter of the navy some more.

Anyway, the South China Sea Navy and the East China Sea Navy will gather in Tianjin by then, so it doesn’t matter what happens.”

Wei Guangde said, "We can inform Xu Qiaoan in advance and let him prepare early."

Wei Guangde was very confident in the South China Sea Navy. They had experienced many actual combat operations, so he did not think it would be difficult to deal with a naval review.

Everyone is a little worried about the East China Sea Navy, after all, it was established only a short time ago.

Just sailing out to sea shouldn't expose any problems, but if we launch a salvo, it shouldn't be a big problem either. It's just one round, and it's dense artillery fire.

It doesn't matter whether you can hit accurately or not, what matters is the power.

"I'm afraid we need to report this to the Gunpowder Department of the Arms Bureau first so we can make preparations early."

Tan Lun nodded, but still reminded.

In fact, the Ming army's firearms were managed by three government offices. The Ministry of War determined the firearms standards and reviewed local manufacturing applications. Each province had to report its firearms manufacturing plan to the Ministry of War and could only start production after approval.

The Ministry of Works’ Yuheng Qinglisi had a Military Equipment Bureau under it, which was responsible for the manufacture of conventional weapons and some standard firearms.

During the Yongle period, a Gunpowder Bureau was established to specifically manage gunpowder production. It was later incorporated into the Imperial Household System, which was now the Bingzhang Bureau.

These were the two government offices responsible for the research and development and production of firearms in the Ming Dynasty. The most important gunpowder manufacturing was strictly controlled, and only the Inner Court Armory was allowed to manufacture and research new gunpowder formulas.

In addition, the Armory was also responsible for the manufacture of firearms for the imperial guards and the palace.

This was also a measure taken by the emperor to further control firearms. Since the Jingtai period, the right to manufacture gunpowder has been gradually taken back.

"The gunpowder bureau has sufficient supplies, so there won't be any mishaps."

In response, Wei Guangde nodded.

However, after being reminded by Tan Lun, Wei Guangde thought of the Tianqi explosion in Beijing a few decades later. Some said it was caused by a meteorite impact, while others said it was caused by the explosion of the Wanggongchang gunpowder bureau.

However, the explosion was so powerful that it shook the entire city and the smoke and dust covered the sky.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde's heart moved slightly.

It is really unsafe to have such a big firecracker in the old city. Although the record shows that the explosion occurred several decades later during the reign of Emperor Tianqi, the Wanli Grand Review and the Emperor's wedding are different from history after all. It would not be fun if the Tianqi explosion turned into the Wanli explosion.

However, if this batch of gunpowder is moved away, I am afraid that the inner court will not be safe. (End of this chapter)