Amid the shouts of "willing to obey orders", the four-chapter agreement was passed!
These four chapters of the covenant will later be engraved on a copper pillar and erected as a letter. The copper pillar will be erected in Fengtian Gate and can be seen by officials when they go to court.
Since everyone was willing to obey orders, Zhu Cixi reluctantly agreed to ascend the throne.
The enthronement ceremony had been prepared long ago and was scheduled for the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, which was the day after Zhu Cihong accepted the abdication and made an agreement with his ministers.
Early in the morning, Qian Qianyi took officials from the Ministry of Rites to offer sacrifices to the Temple of Heaven and Earth and the ancestral temple. Zhu Cixiang went to worship Chongzhen, who was about to become the emperor. If Chongzhen became the late emperor, Zhu Cixiang would have to wear mourning clothes to worship and pray. Because Chongzhen is still alive and kicking, he changed to a grand ceremony to pay homage and donated a "pension" of 10,000 taels (gold).
Emperor Chongzhen... Although the edict of Nei Chan has been issued and Zhu Cixiang reluctantly accepted it, he is still the emperor now. Firstly, Zhu Cixiang did not officially ascend the throne; secondly, Zhu Cixiang, who did not ascend the throne, could not give Chongzhen the title of Supreme Emperor.
So Chongzhen accepted the worship of the emperor-designate Zhu Cixiong for the last time as emperor!
After receiving a "pension" of 10,000 taels (gold) from Zhu Cixiang, he handed over all the emperor's jade seals to Zhu Cixiang one by one to symbolize the handover of imperial power.
Because the Ming Dynasty did not get the "Jade Seal of the Kingdom" (this jade seal symbolizing the destiny was taken away when Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty ran away, it is said that it is now in the hands of the Qing Dynasty), so it made a large number of jade seals to win by quantity. Seventeen were made in the early years of the Kingdom, and Emperor Jiajing had seven more made, totaling twenty-four square jade seals, known as the Twenty-Four Imperial Treasures.
When Zhu Cixiang was protecting Chongzhen and running away, these twenty-four imperial treasures were "confiscated" by Zhu Cixiang. Chongzhen knew that he would officially retire today, so he saw them again... holding them one by one in his hand, After touching it, he reluctantly gave it to his son Zhu Cihong.
Zhu Cixiang took them one by one and handed them to the eunuch Shang Baojian who held the seal for collection. From now on, Zhu Cihong's orders will not be edicts, but formal imperial edicts.
After the twenty imperial treasures were handed over one by one, it was almost an auspicious time. Bells and drums were ringing inside and outside the Imperial City of Nanjing, and ritual music was played. Zhu Cixiang put on the robes that had been prepared long ago and put on the robe with twelve strands of jade algae. Guan Mian, together with Emperor Chongzhen, went to the platform outside Fengtian Gate, where he accepted the worship of hundreds of officials.
All the officials also put on gorgeous formal attires, and were guided by officials from the Ministry of Rites as they walked across the Jinshui Bridge, entered the Meridian Gate, and entered Fengtianmen Square. Then they were divided into two classes, civil and military. The civil servants knelt on the left side of the royal road, and the military officers knelt on the right side of the royal road. The imperial guards blew their whips, and the Han generals made three bows and nine mouths behind the curtain.
After the ceremony of all officials, Wei Zaode, the first assistant, read out the edict of Emperor Chongzhen's throne, and then Qian Qianyi, the Minister of Rites, read the edict of Zhu Cihong's accession to the throne.
And Emperor Chongzhen sat on the emperor's throne for the last time!
After Wei Zaode finished reading the edict for the Zen throne, Chongzhen had to bid farewell to the emperor's throne forever, stood up and walked towards the chair where Zhu Cixiang was sitting.
Of course, Zhu Cixiang had already stood up. After bowing to his father, he walked towards the emperor's throne.
Then the father and son sat down together!
After Zhu Cihong sat down, Qian Qianyi began to read the imperial edict on the throne.
The reign name belonging to Zhu Cihong will also be announced in the edict read by Qian Qianyi. Taking the meaning of Hongwu's revival, it is called Hongxing!
That is Emperor Hongxing of the Ming Dynasty!
He sounds very majestic and loyal, he must be a good emperor!
However, there will be no change to the Yuan Dynasty this year, and the reign name of the 20th year of Chongzhen will still be used. Starting from next year, that is, 1648 AD, the Hongxing reign name will be used.
The enthronement ceremony is over here. Zhu Cixiang, who has officially become the Hongxing Emperor, is sitting on the throne and looking at the civil and military ministers lined up in two groups on the square. He is really indescribably excited!
After working hard for almost three years, he finally reached the moment when he ascended the throne and became the emperor... He glanced at Chongzhen sitting next to him with the corner of his eyes, saw a stiff smile on his face, and thought to himself: My face froze with laughter! How happy you are! Think about it, he was originally the last king of the Ming Dynasty who lost his country, but now he is no longer the last king. And there is no need to hang on the coal mountain, and there are still dozens of winter and summer months of happy life.
At least one million taels a year... and tens of millions of taels of silver have to be spent on you! So beautiful!
Zhu Cixiang sighed softly: I'm miserable. I inherited such a mess at such a young age. I've worked hard all my life and never ran away!
But now it's too late to regret, Chongzhen has given up the throne, Zhu Cixiang has taken over, and now they are all Emperor Hongxing...
Although the enthronement ceremony is over, Zhu Cixiang cannot "get off work" for the time being, because there is still one task that has not been completed, which is to honor the emperor's father Zhu Youjian as the Supreme Emperor!
"Royal father!" Zhu Cixi stood up at this time and bowed to Chongzhen, "I would like to ask your royal father to ascend to the throne of the Supreme Emperor and become the Supreme Emperor of the Ming Dynasty!"
This is the Supreme Emperor... Chongzhen sighed in his heart, but he still looked happy on his face - he had just received a "pension" of 10,000 taels of gold, how could he not be happy? If you are not happy, you will not be happy next time...
"Your Majesty," Chongzhen smiled, "My father has long wanted to retire, and today I finally achieved my wish. I am so happy!"
Zhu Cixiang thought to himself: You should be satisfied... In the original history, Chongzhen only lasted seventeen years! It’s been twenty years now, and you’ve lived longer than Li Zicheng, so what’s the reason to be unhappy?
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen asked again: "Your Majesty, has the candidate for the queen been decided yet?"
The choice of queen is still a big problem...Wu Sanmei is pregnant again, but no one can guarantee whether she will give birth to a son. And Zheng Chagu is also favored now. After Wu Sanmei became pregnant, she went to bed almost every night (except for those few days), and she would get pregnant sooner or later!
"Father," Zhu Cihong said, "I do not plan to establish a queen for the time being. Instead, I will choose to serve the Wu family and the Zheng family. They are both virtuous and virtuous, and they will be named imperial concubines.
The Ning family and the Fei family were selected to serve as concubines, with the Ning family as the virtuous concubine and the Fei family as the Shu concubine. "
The emperor's harem levels in the Ming Dynasty included twelve levels: empress, imperial concubine, concubine, concubine, concubine, Zhaoyi, Jieyu, beauty, talented person, nobleman, selected attendant, and lady. There are not so many levels for the prince's concubines. There are only three levels: first concubine, second concubine, and chosen concubine (lady). Any lower than that will have no status.
After following Zhu Cihong, the four daughters Wu Sanmei, Zheng Chagu, Ning Xiangyu and Fei Zhen'e were only selected as attendants, and were not promoted later. However, Zhu Cixi was not lustful and was busy with military and government affairs, so he did not accept other women.
So his harem now consists of four women. Wu Sanmei and Zheng Chagu are both in the same position, so they are both named imperial concubines second only to the queen!
Although Ning Xiangyu and Fei Zhen'e did not have good fathers, they shared the difficulties with Zhu Cixiang, so they both became concubines. The reason why she is not a royal concubine is that there is room for promotion to the first level - after the two of them give birth to a son, they can be promoted to become a noble concubine.
As for the imperial concubine, you still have to compete with your father to become one!
Therefore, in addition to Wu Sanmei and Zheng Chagu, Dorgon's daughter Dongguo Gege is also qualified to be the imperial concubine. After Zhu Cihong ascended the throne, Zuke Fahui once again went to Beijing to propose marriage to Dorgon and requested that Dongguo Gege be made the imperial concubine!
Of course, the Northern Expedition is still necessary... Regardless of success or failure, Zhu Cihong will fulfill his engagement. Even if the Qing Dynasty is no longer there, the imperial concubine of Dongguo will not be old anymore!
Emperor Hongxing is loyal and trustworthy!
"Oh." Emperor Chongzhen nodded, thoughtfully - Emperor Hongxing doesn't have a son yet! He didn't know about Concubine Dona, and he wanted Wu Sanmei and Zheng Chagu to give birth to the emperor's eldest son. Haha, don’t end up without a son to take over! But it doesn't matter if that's the case, the emperor has many sons...
Just when Chongzhen nodded, Prince Fu Zhu Yousong walked to the middle of the platform outside Fengtian Gate and began to read aloud with the "Edict on Respecting the Emperor's Father as the Supreme Emperor" that he had already drafted!
