Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 49 Supervising the Country
At dawn, the sky was still dark, but the palace was already brightly lit.
In the bedroom, red candles as thick as arms were lit, illuminating the room as if it were daytime.
Zhu Lang sat in front of the mirror, wearing a brand new dragon robe. Five or six maids surrounded him, combing his hair and putting on his crown.

Zhu Lang looked at the figure in the bronze mirror in front of him, his expression was a little dazed.

Yes, today is the day Zhu Lang officially takes the throne as regent.
Compared to the haste of the previous life, this life has Zhu Lang's intervention. Zhu Lang's own strength has greatly increased. With the silver from the Guangzhou Treasury, he has become a dominant force in Zhaoqing City. Therefore, Zhu Lang's regent ceremony has become more solemn.
Zhu Lang completed the third persuasion on October 12. The ceremony should have been completed immediately on the same day.
However, because the ceremony of supervising the state in the city was more grand than in the previous life, the court postponed the date for another three days, and officially held Zhu Lang's supervising ceremony on the 15th.

With a creak, the door opened, and Li Guoyong, wearing a brand new red eunuch robe, walked into the room and spoke respectfully.

"Your Highness, Eunuch Wang and the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple are already waiting outside the courtyard."

"understood"

Hearing Li Guoyong's voice, Zhu Lang came back to his senses and replied softly

Zhu Lang stood up from the mirror, exhaled lightly, and turned around and walked out the door.
The maids and eunuchs behind him spontaneously lined up in two rows, following Zhu Lang closely.
"See Your Highness"

As soon as Zhu Lang reached the gate, Wang Kun and a group of officials from the Ministry of Rites bowed to him.

"Everyone please stand up"

Zhu Lang waved his hand gently, and the ministers stood up and thanked him.
"The high platform in the front yard is ready. Your Highness, please move to the front yard," Wang Kun said respectfully to Zhu Lang.

Zhu Lang nodded to Wang Kun and walked towards the high platform in the front yard.
Wu Jisi and Li Chengzhi led the way with the palace guards, Wang Kun and Li Guoyong followed on both sides, and the ceremonial officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple lined up in two rows, following behind Zhu Lang.
According to the normal ceremony of the emperor's accession to the throne, Zhu Lang should go to pay homage to the late emperor to show that he has taken over the legal throne from the late emperor.

However, Zhu Lang inherited the Longwu Dynasty, and the Longwu Emperor had already died in Tingzhou, and no one knew where he was buried. It was impossible for Zhu Lang to find another Longwu Emperor to pay homage to.

So the officials of the previous dynasty thought of another way. They set up a high platform in front of the Guiwang Palace, facing Fujian Province, and ordered Zhu Lang to offer sacrifices to Longwu from afar to show that he had taken over the Ming Dynasty's legal system from Emperor Longwu.

Zhu Lang arrived at the front yard, climbed onto the high platform, and, as he had rehearsed, kowtowed and worshipped towards the Fujian Province in the east. After the officials from the Ministry of Rites finished reading the prayer in front of the high platform, he was escorted back to the backyard by the crowd.
Zhu Lang entered the bedroom in the backyard, and the dragon robe he had just changed into was taken off again. A group of maids and eunuchs surrounded Zhu Lang and worked hard. After two quarters of an hour, Zhu Lang was already wearing a bright yellow five-dragon crown.

This is the second step of ascending the throne. After paying respects to the late emperor, the crown prince can put on the dragon robe. From this moment on, he is no longer a subject, but a monarch, and officially takes over the legal title.

Zhu Lang put on the dragon robe, and was then welcomed by Wang Kun and the officials of the Ministry of Rites to a hall in the backyard. The room was filled with brand new tablets.

This is the third step of the emperor's accession to the throne. After putting on the dragon robe, the new emperor will once again pay homage to the late emperor as an emperor.

But this time he didn't need to kneel before the late emperor like he did the first time, because he was already the emperor and didn't need to kneel before anyone.

After paying homage to the late emperor once again, the new emperor would go to the ancestral temple and pay homage to the previous emperors as an emperor, informing the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty that the Ming Dynasty had welcomed a new emperor, and that the Zhu family's inheritance of the country would continue and there would be successors.

After the fall of the capital, the tablets of the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty could no longer be found, so the tablets in front of us were hastily made in Zhaoqing City.

Zhu Lang completed this step after worshipping the new tablets above.
After paying respect to the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Lang was led to the hall in the backyard, where Wang Shuyu and Ma Yuying were already wearing phoenix crowns and sleeved robes.
According to the normal process, Zhu Lang should have paid his respects to the late emperor's empress, that is, the new emperor's mother, the empress dowager, but Empress Longwu died in Tingzhou with Emperor Longwu, so it was impossible for him to pay his respects to her at this time.

Therefore, the previous dynasty replaced Wang Shuyu with Zhu Lang, and asked him to come to the back hall to pay respect to Wang Shuyu, the former Princess of Gui. This step was to show the etiquette of filial piety.

Zhu Lang, wearing a dragon robe, bowed to Wang Shuyu, who was wearing a phoenix robe, as he had rehearsed. Wang Shuyu also followed the previous instructions of the Ministry of Rites and asked Zhu Lang to stand up.

But when Zhu Lang was about to leave, the Xiangui Palace Concubine finally couldn't help herself, she stood up from her seat, looked at Zhu Lang in front of her wearing the five-dragon crown, and said

"If the prince could see you now, he would be extremely happy."

"Silang will definitely be a good emperor in the future"

Zhu Lang looked at the woman in front of him with red eyes and could only bow again and whisper a few words of comfort.

Then, urged by the ceremonial officer beside him, he walked out of the courtyard. Today's schedule was extremely full and there was no time for him to delay.
At this point, according to normal procedures, after the new emperor had dealt with the imperial family affairs and offered sacrifices to the ancestral temple, he should have gone to the front court to formally accept the worship of all officials. However, the officials of the Ministry of Rites in Zhaoqing City still felt that this ceremony was too simple, so they changed the process and changed the step that should have been skipped by offering sacrifices to heaven and earth to Zhu Lang personally offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, to show that Zhu Lang was not only the legal successor from Emperor Longwu, but also the emperor of the Ming Dynasty officially appointed by heaven.

In the Ming Dynasty, all government offices in prefectures and counties were equipped with Wenwu Temple, Sheji Altar and other facilities. Every year during the Spring Festival, officials from prefectures and counties would lead people to worship.

As Zhaoqing City was the seat of the Governor's Office, there were naturally such facilities in the city. So, under the guidance of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, Zhu Lang finally left the palace and headed towards the Altar of Land and Grain in the city.
The Sheji Altar in the city had been renovated by this time. Zhu Lang, wearing a dragon robe, performed a sacrifice to heaven and earth in front of the Sheji Altar as he had practiced before. Then the ritual officials of the previous dynasty read a prayer to heaven in front of the Sheji Altar.

After the process of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth was completed, Zhu Lang was finally recognized as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty by heaven.

Ma Jixiang, who had been waiting by the altar, shouted loudly, and a group of Jinyiwei in flying fish uniforms drove the emperor's carriage and carried Zhu Lang to the Governor's Mansion of Guangdong and Guangxi.
Yes, after Zhu Lang became regent, the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office, which originally belonged to Ding Kuichu, became Zhu Lang's temporary palace. In the entire Zhaoqing City, only this vast Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office could temporarily serve as the imperial palace.
Zhu Lang and the rest of the palace were finally able to move out of the narrow three-story courtyard and live in a bigger house.

The streets along the way in Zhaoqing City had already been under martial law, and soldiers were guarding the road. Zhu Lang sat on the imperial sedan chair and moved forward. He was soon sent to the Governor's Mansion.
In the backyard of the Governor's Mansion, Zhu Lang was taken off the imperial carriage by a group of people and dragged into a room in the back hall.

A group of maids and eunuchs rushed forward again, some wiped their sweat, some put on powder, some adjusted their robes. Another quarter of an hour passed, and Zhu Lang didn't even have time to drink a sip of water. The officials of the previous dynasty came again to report that all the ministers of the previous dynasty were waiting outside the palace. So Zhu Lang was driven to the main hall of the governor's mansion.
The main hall of the Governor's Mansion had obviously been renovated. In the middle of the hall was a square couch, and below was a wide empty area.

As Zhu Lang sat down on the upper couch, a group of officials dressed in red and purple entered the hall one after another. They were divided into two rows, civil and military, according to their previous rehearsal.

On the left side, the civil servants are led by Ding Kuichu, followed by familiar faces such as Qu Shisi and Lu Daqi.
Li Mingzhong, Wu Jisi, Ma Jixiang and others were also in the line of the martial arts hall on the right.

Zhu Lang looked at the military officers in the front row. He could only confirm that Jiao Lian was definitely in the military officer queue on the right. However, after checking, he could not recognize which one was Jiao Lian, his trusted and beloved general whom he had never met before. So he had to give up and sat on the couch without looking around, like a clay puppet.

The officials continued to pour into the hall. When there were about 50 or 60 people, the crowd finally stopped.

The four doors of the hall were wide open, and outside the hall, there were still countless officials lined up on both sides of the road, stretching to the end of the sight.
A quarter of an hour later, the ministers finally stood still. Several imperial censors walked back and forth in the hall, checking the discipline. The ministers in the hall gradually quieted down.
When the imperial censors returned to the court, the palace had become completely silent.

Wang Kun, who was standing by, looked at Zhu Lang for instructions. When Zhu Lang nodded, Wang Kun gestured to the back.

A Jinyiwei wearing a flying fish uniform held a whip in his hand and shook it towards the air. With a snap, the crisp sound of the whip echoed in the hall.

When the officials heard the sound of the whip, they shouted in unison to Zhu Lang, who was wearing a dragon robe, as they had rehearsed before.

"Your Highness the Regent is here to see you."

The officials were about to perform a great salute to Zhu Lang, who then followed the rehearsal and shouted, "No need to congratulate any officials."

The ministers below also followed the rehearsal, shouting out thanks, and then changed the original ceremony to five bows and three kowtows.
All the officials in the hall kowtowed and stood up to pay respect, then kowtowed again and paid respect again. Zhu Lang was the only one sitting on the couch in the entire hall.

At this moment, Zhu Lang and the officials in the city had officially established the relationship between the king and his officials. Zhu Lang would be the master of the people from now on.
After the ministers performed the five bows and three kowtows, they stood in silence in the hall again. An official from the Honglu Temple stepped out and shouted,

"Your Highness, please move the edict."

Zhu Lang also shouted according to the drill

"Announcement"

So the official of the Honglu Temple took from Wang Kun a copy of the enthronement edict that had been written by the Ministry of Rites and read it aloud in the hall.

When the officials of the Honglu Temple were reading the imperial edict in the hall, several officials of the Honglu Temple also left the hall.

Three officials from the Honglu Temple, one in the hall, one outside the hall, and one in front of the governor's office, all three recited together. For a moment, the whole government office was filled with the sound of Zhu Lang's accession edict being read aloud.

When the officials of the Honglu Temple finished reading the edict of accession, the entire regent ceremony came to an end. From this moment on, Zhu Lang officially became the new regent emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
In the second year after the Jiashen Incident, the Ming Dynasty welcomed its fourth regent emperor. No one knew where this new emperor would lead the Ming Dynasty.
(End of this chapter)