Chapter 177 The peace talks delegation returns to Beijing

On November 15, the thirty-fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was Shuntian Mansion.

The Ming Dynasty peace talks delegation arrived in the capital.

"They have achieved victory that was not achieved on the battlefield, and their return this time is a triumph."

According to the instructions of the old emperor Zhu Zhongliang, the Ministry of Rites organized a welcome ceremony of the highest level, just like a ceremony to welcome the victorious troops returning to the court.

After the delegation landed in Tianjin, they transferred to a special train and entered the capital.

But instead of taking the train directly into the Old City like when I left, I got off the train at Xincheng South Station.

All the representatives spent two days repairing at the post station in the south of New City.

Then they took an open-top car prepared by the Ministry of Rites and paraded through the main roads of the new city.

This is actually the key stage of the entire liturgy.

The people of the new city lined both sides of the street to welcome him.

The achievements of the delegation have long been disseminated among the people through various newspapers.

Their achievements and their impact on current life have been carefully analyzed and disseminated.

There are endless orders, higher and higher wages, more space for immigrants to enter, and Huangzhuang has begun to recruit immigrants again.

All are directly related to this negotiation.

Those industries that were opened before the peace talks were directly ripened and fed by the vast land and vast market acquired through the negotiations.

The value of the first batch of people to eat crabs has doubled several times.

Only now do I remember that latecomers who entered the market have already started making money.

No one is unappreciated and no one is unwelcome. There is no need to find someone to greet you or to heighten the atmosphere during the entire ceremony.

On both sides of the road, in the windows on the street, and on the rooftops, there were crowds of people watching and cheering.

The atmosphere in the entire new town was extremely lively.

The members of the clan, the officials in the court, and the returning representatives themselves were also very excited.

At the beginning of the peace talks, everyone thought that this might be the first peace treaty without victory in the Ming Dynasty, and that it might even involve ceding territory.

So much so that everyone dares to mention peace talks, but no one is willing to host them.

As a result, Zhu Jingyuan, the young emperor's grandson, was asked to speak and serve as the plenipotentiary representative of the peace talks.

I originally thought that the emperor's grandson was going to take the blame, so the old emperor made an exception and directly made him a prince. No one had any objections.

So much so that Zhu Jingyuan asked Ming Dynasty to cooperate in negotiations and make reforms, and all officials and clan members accepted it.

In the end, the young emperor and his grandson negotiated a great victory.

All the reform projects became extremely smooth because of the smooth negotiations.

Now the entire Ming Dynasty is in a state of burning oil.

A new era is beginning.

Amid cheers from both sides of the road, the motorcade of the peace talks delegation passed through the entire new capital city and entered the old city from Yongding Gate.

Then turned directly into the Temple of Heaven.

The official ceremony was held directly at the Temple of Heaven, which was actually a special ceremony to worship heaven.

Because the emperor and the Ministry of Rites believed that the merits of the delegation needed to be told to God.

The specific achievements of the Ming Dynasty and the emperor in this peace negotiation were already told to heaven when they were enshrined in Mount Tai.

Now it's time to express your gratitude to the delegation.

But everyone was very excited. Their contribution this time could be dedicated to the heaven, and they could tell the heaven to know about it.

After the tedious ceremony was over, the old emperor returned to the Forbidden City with all the civil and military officials and entered the Fengtian Hall.

The old emperor sat on the throne, and the officials sat on both sides.

The old emperor ordered the cabinet ministers to come out and announce the decree.

Members of the delegation who had just returned from overseas thought they were going to be rewarded.

As a result, what the old emperor announced was an imperial edict for the Zen throne.

The emperor's second son, Zhu Jianyan, was ordered to take the throne immediately, and Zhu Zhongliang himself was promoted to the supreme emperor as usual.

The ministers who had just returned were a little shocked, but the cultural relic officials who stayed in the capital had already expected it.

Ever since Zhu Jianyan replaced Zhu Jianfeng as Minister of Civil Affairs, everyone knew that the old emperor was going to change his successor.

Then the old emperor directly took charge of fewer and fewer things, which shows that after this replacement, there will be a complete decentralization and handover of power.

Especially after returning from the Zen Ceremony, the old emperor completely stopped taking care of things.

At the same time, the end of the year is coming soon, and the time point for the return of the peace talks delegation is a more appropriate time point to announce the abdication.

In this way, preparations will be made in the last month of the year, the enthronement ceremony of the new emperor will be held on the first day of the year, and the Yuan will be officially changed to the first day of the new year.

This was a practice established during the reign of Emperor Sejo.

Zhu Jianyan first went to the apse to change the emperor's robes. After coming out, he saluted the old emperor Zhu Zhongliang and succeeded to the throne in front of the old emperor.

Then the new emperor Zhu Jianyan accepted the homage of all civil and military officials, and Zhu Zhongliang left the palace briskly and returned to the harem.

Zhu Jianyan and all the officials bowed and sent Zhu Zhongliang out of the hall, and formally took Zhu Zhongliang's original seat.

Today's simple ceremony is not a formal enthronement ceremony.

Now it is just a direct handover of the emperor's power. Under the supervision and instructions of the previous emperor, the new emperor begins to act as emperor.

After the enthronement ceremony on Yuan Day was completed, the era of the new emperor officially began.

Zhu Jianyan sat at the place where he had looked up countless times, looking down at the officials on the left and right sides, feeling excited and anxious.

My family knows my own affairs, and most of my throne was earned by my precious son...

After Zhu Jianyan secured his position, he began to award rewards to the returning delegation.

The first is Zhu Jianfeng, the representative of the clan. Although he is not present now, in theory he has the highest status.

Zhu Jianfeng is already a prince, so of course there is no way to improve his title.

Zhu Jianyan could only give him land ownership and the right to dividends from the imperial village in accordance with the practice after the Renwu Dynasty.

After Emperor Shizu rebuilt the Ming Dynasty, he established a stricter land control and recovery mechanism.

Emperor Shizu stipulated that all land in the world belonged to the Ming Emperor.

Half of the farmland obtained from land reclamation belongs to the land reclamation developer, and the other half belongs to the imperial estate controlled by the emperor.

When all land reclamation, rewards, ancestral land and farmland are to be sold to external parties, Huangzhuang has the right of priority to buy them back.

In other words, all new farmland opened up and all large and small land transactions must go through the procedures here in Huangzhuang.

Anyone who violates Huangzhuang's right of first refusal and trades land privately will be directly confiscated once discovered.

The current land annexation in the Ming Dynasty was very thorough, but most of it was annexed into the hands of the emperor.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was the largest landowner in the Ming Dynasty, controlling nearly half of the developed land in the Ming Dynasty and owning all undeveloped land.

The land awarded to the clan by the emperor can be used to build holiday estates, rent it out to make money, or sell it.

But the sales target can only be the emperor or the royal consortium.

The Huangzhuang dividend right is to designate one or several Huangzhuangs to receive a maximum dividend of no more than 30% within the next thirty years.

The basis of this dividend ratio is not the amount of dividends from all the income of the Imperial Estate, but the amount of dividends that should have been distributed to the emperor.

The emperor could take up to 30% of his own dividends and distribute them to designated clans with meritorious services.

Zhu Jianyan divided one hundred square kilometers from the Huangzhuang land east of Tongzhou in the east of the capital as Zhu Jianfeng's reward.

In addition, 30% of the royal family’s dividends for the next fifteen years will be given to Xiyang Cape Palace.

As for Zhu Jingyuan, the real leader of the peace talks, Zhu Jianyan did not directly reward him and skipped it for the time being.

It's not that Zhu Jianyan is reluctant to reward his son, but he wants to discuss it directly with his son and ask the boy what he wants.

Then he was directly promoted from the status of young minister of Honglu Temple to the full-time minister of Honglu Temple, and also received the title of earl.

Other senior officials have also been promoted by one level, and many mid-level and low-level officials have been directly promoted by two levels.

And this promotion is just the beginning.

After Zhu Jianyan's enthronement ceremony, there will be a number of large-scale promotions.

At that time, it will not only be rewards for the peace delegation, but also a large number of middle and high-level officials will have the opportunity to be promoted.

It is customary for the old emperor's contemporaries to retire with the old emperor, unless the two generations of emperors specifically retained them.

If the new emperor's brothers serve in the court, all existing actual positions will be removed and transferred to the Clan's Court.

In this way, a large number of positions of real power will be vacant in the court, and the new emperor can directly appoint people he once liked.
To be continued...