I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 362: Offering Prisoners
According to the normal process of the emperor leading the army in person, the emperor had to hold a "sacrifice ceremony" at the Circular Mound, Taiqiu Mound, and Taimiao before leading the army in person.

Zhu Houzhao led the army to fight this time completely secretly, and no "sacrificial ceremony" was held at all, but no one dared to jump out and criticize the emperor for his mistakes.

The twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month in the eleventh year of the Zhengde reign was an auspicious day favored by the Ministry of Rites.

The day before the prisoner presentation ceremony, the emperor ordered Zhu Houxun to go to the Taimiao and Sheji Altar to offer sacrifices. At that time, the officers of the Ministry of War escorted the prisoners in from the Chengtian Right Gate, knelt in the front yard of Duanmen, outside the Taimiao Street Gate, and tied the prisoners with white silk.

Zhu Houxuan performed ceremonies at the Taimiao and Sheji Altar, presenting the captives to the ancestral gods. After the ceremony, he escorted the captives back along the same route.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, the Ministry of Works set up the imperial throne in the middle of the Meridian Gate Tower. All the ministers in formal attire led the guards to stand on the two pavilions of the Meridian Gate; the general commander of the Han Dynasty led the generals of the Han Dynasty wearing swords and stood in a circle at the bottom of the two pavilions.

The Wubeiyuan hung a yellow canopy on the top floor; the Luanyiwei set up a procession at the foot of the palace and in front of the Wumen Gate. In front of the procession, there were golden drums in the east and cymbals and songs in the west.

Civil and military officials were divided into classes and stood in order, following the same sequence as in the grand court ceremony.

One hundred and eight Mongolian captives were tied up with white silk and escorted by officers from the Ministry of War to stand to the south of the golden drum. Officials from the Ministry of Justice stood below them.

The Ming Dynasty's ceremony of surrendering captives was relatively civilized and did not humiliate the captives in any way.

For example, the Sheep-Leading Ceremony during the Jin Dynasty was a more humiliating ceremony for the captives. It required the captives to be shirtless, covered with sheepskin, with a rope tied around their necks, and be led like sheep, which also meant that they were at the mercy of others like sheep.

Emperors Huizong and Qinzong performed the ceremony of leading the sheep.

When everything was ready, the official from the Ministry of Rites went to the Qianqing Palace to invite the emperor to come. The bell at the Meridian Gate rang and the emperor, wearing dragon robe and ceremonial robes, left the palace in a carriage escorted by a guard of honor.

The emperor arrived at Fengtian Gate in his carriage. In front of Wumen Gate, gongs and drums were played. The emperor got off the carriage and took his seat at Wumen Gate. The music stopped. The officials of the Honglu Temple announced the shifts, and the officers of the Ministry of War led the prisoners to the west of the imperial road and stood facing north.

The officers blew whips to quiet the crowd, and the whole place was in a state of solemnity. The ceremonial officer sang loudly: "Enter!" The officials presenting the Lu Bu (a manifesto of victory) bowed four times facing the Meridian Gate, and the ceremonial music started again, and the music stopped after the emperor's death.

The ceremonial officer sang: "Present the Lu Bu!" The music started, and the officiating official lifted the case and placed it in the middle of the road in front of the Meridian Gate, and the music stopped.

The ceremonial officer chants: "Announce the decree!" The official who announces and displays the decree kneels down, then stands up and goes to the table to get the decree. They kneel down to announce the decree, and after reading it, they place it on the table.

The ceremonial officer sang: "Present the captives!"
The officers of the Ministry of War stepped forward and performed the ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows. After the ceremony, they brought the captives to kneel in front of the golden drums.

Zhu Houxuan stood beside Zhu Houzhao, and together with Zhu Houzhao, they looked down at the prisoners below. Zhu Houzhao was very excited, as it was the first time for him to conduct such a large-scale surrender of prisoners at the Meridian Gate, and it was quite new.

To be honest, there was no surrender of prisoners during the Anhua King's rebellion and the Liu Liu and Liu Qi Rebellion. These two events were not shameful enough, so naturally they would not be brought out for surrender of prisoners.

Wang Qiong, the Minister of War, stepped out and shouted to Zhu Houzhao at the Meridian Gate: "Officials, I, Wang Qiong, report that the mighty general Zhu Shou is offering the captives from Datong to the relevant department for your approval."

Hearing this, many civil and military officials looked puzzled, but none of them dared to lose their manners in such a grand occasion.

"Okay!" Zhu Houzhao said.

The ceremonial officer sang: "The captives are handed over to the Ministry of Justice!" The officials of the Ministry of Justice knelt down to receive the order. The officials of the Ministry of War led the captives back outside the golden drums and handed them over to the officials of the Ministry of Justice. The officials of the Ministry of Justice put on the torture instruments and put on the shackles.

Zhang Zilin knelt down in front of the imperial road at the Meridian Gate, with two vice ministers on his left and right. His eyes were gleaming, and his voice was as loud as a bell as he reported to the emperor above the Meridian Gate: "I, the Minister of Justice Zhang Zilin, request that the Northern Barbarians be crucified and executed in the city. I request your approval!"

Then he loudly denounced the crimes of the northern barbarians in a report of a hundred words, with every word ringing loudly.

After saying this, he prostrated himself towards the Meridian Gate. The entire place was in a state of solemnity, as everyone waited for Zhu Houzhao's imperial edict.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao could choose to kill or release. In the end, Zhu Houzhao chose to kill half and release the other half. Which ones to kill and which to release had already been determined in advance.

The Shaoqing of the Dali Temple immediately took the prisoners to the execution ground.

After being released, those who were bound came forward and shouted "Long live the emperor" three times, and knelt down to beg for mercy for not killing them.

Finally, all the civil and military officials shouted "Long live the emperor" three times. After the ceremony, the emperor returned to the palace.
After the prisoner presentation ceremony, Zhu Houzhao no longer wanted to live in the palace, so he dragged Zhu Houxuan to the Leopard Room where he felt more comfortable.

He continued to have a long conversation with Zhu Houxuan.
"Brother, a good warrior may not have great achievements. It was not until the Battle of Yingzhou that I understood this saying. People don't know that more than half of the credit for this great victory goes to you." Zhu Houzhao looked straight at Zhu Houxuan.

"Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. I only provided you with some logistical support. Even if I have made some contributions, I do not deserve such praise from you." Zhu Houxuan smiled and shook his head.

"Brother, you don't have to be modest. I, your royal brother, know very well that the new army can have such combat effectiveness only because you have provided all kinds of advanced equipment and support in all aspects. The money we spent on the new army was not wasted," Zhu Houzhao said with bright eyes.

"Advanced equipment and support?" Zhu Houxuan pretended to be stunned. He said without comment: "I just provided the new army with the best equipment and support I could make."

Zhu Houzhao did not think much about it, but said excitedly: "This war makes me feel that firearms and artillery are the direction of the future."

Zhu Houxuan did not expect Zhu Houzhao to have such an opinion, and asked, "What do you mean, my brother?"

"The power of muskets is getting stronger and stronger. Ordinary armor can't stop the bullets fired by muskets. In this case, armor will soon be eliminated on the battlefield. After all, wearing armor or not can't change the consequences of being hit by lead bullets. It's better not to wear it. As long as the power of muskets can be greater and the rate of fire can be faster, cold weapons and armor on the battlefield will be eliminated," Zhu Houxuan said seriously.

"There are also artillery pieces. They are so useful. We need to equip them with more in the future."

Looking at Zhu Houzhao's excited face, Zhu Houxuan didn't expect that Zhu Houzhao was so sensitive to technological changes and now he has begun to draw inferences from his experience.
But Zhu Houxuan was not going to discuss this topic in depth. He wanted to quickly change the subject.
"Brother, have you figured out how to deal with the Mongols next?" Zhu Houxun suddenly asked this question.

This question really aroused Zhu Houzhao's strong interest. "I have thought about this matter for some time. I plan to take over the Hetao area first, and then attack from Liaodong to subdue the three Wuliangha guards, first cut off the two wings of the Tatars, and then lead the army to the north to sweep across the entire grassland."

Zhu Houxuan nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Zhu Houzhao's military plan was still very good.
But Zhu Houxun was more concerned about other things.

"Brother, have you figured out how to rule the entire Mongolian grassland?"

(End of this chapter)