Just when the father was kind and the son was filial, it was a happy time in Laoshan Palace. Hongwu Street and Hongxing Street in Pukou are already full of citizens wearing gorgeous clothes. These two streets are newly opened, spacious and flat, and rows of yellow trees are planted on both sides of the street. poplar. Pukou now has a vague appearance of being the residence of the emperors of the Celestial Dynasty.
Most of the citizens living here were supporters of the Celestial Empire and beneficiaries of the Ming Dynasty's rule. They were impressed by Zhu Cixiang's behavior of congratulating Emperor Chongzhen on his birthday, summoning all the vassals from all over the world to come to the court to celebrate his birthday, and displaying the majesty and glory of the emperor. , they all responded with a warm welcome. Therefore, in the early morning of December 24th, the citizens who were on holiday for the emperor's fiftieth birthday spontaneously took to the streets to watch the grand scene of the vassals from all over the world and the envoys from all over the world coming to congratulate him on his birthday.
This is the true coming of all nations! They are not vassals and foreign envoys "hired" in disguised ways, but these foreign vassals come from thousands of miles away out of respect and worship for the heavenly kingdom... There is absolutely no reward element in it, let alone thick or thin!
Although there is no "thickness" and "thinness", these envoys who came to congratulate are full of sincerity! As early as early December, people began to arrive in Pukou one after another. Because there were so many people, the limited space of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Guest House could not be accommodated. Fortunately, there are many newly built palaces in Pukou and Laoshan, all of which were prepared for the descendants of Emperor Zhu Cihong and Chongzhen. They are now used to entertain distinguished guests.
Today is the day when distinguished guests collectively enter Laoshan Palace to kowtow to Emperor Chongzhen and celebrate his birthday!
So early in the morning, distinguished guests from foreign countries, vassal countries, and some vassal towns within the country all braved the severe cold and gathered on Hongwu Street. Then, under the watchful eyes of the citizens on both sides of the street, they began to line up in accordance with the order stipulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty.
The people at the front of the queue were not the envoys sent by the great powers who were on equal footing with the Celestial Empire, but the birthday celebration group led by the King of Japan, Tokugawa Mitsukuni himself!
The strength and size of Japan are there. After joining the Celestial Dynasty system, it must be the first vassal state!
The congratulatory mission of the Kingdom of Korea came second, led by the chief minister He Luohui. Dongguo, who served as regent, returned to the country long ago and is now Zhu Cihong's noble concubine. The King of North Korea (the son of Zhu Cixiang and Dongguo) was still a little baby, so of course it was impossible for him to join the country, so he had to let Ling Yizheng lead a team to celebrate his birthday.
The third vassal state was of course Annan Kingdom, and the leader was Prince Li Weiyu. King Li Weiqi of Annan was old and seriously ill and could not come to Ming Dynasty, so he had to let the little boy Li Weiyu lead the team. But both Li Weiqi and Li Weiyu are just decorations. The ones who really have the final say in Annan are the four princes Zheng, Ruan, Mowu, and their envoys also came to Ming Dynasty with them, and they all prepared a separate gift.
The envoy led by King Nare of Siam ranked fourth. This king of the Ayutthaya Dynasty was now wearing a warm mink coat and a mink hat on his head, sitting in a beautifully decorated car. The four-wheeled carriage decorated with carvings and gold paint was shivering inside - the winter in Yingtianfu was too cold for him, the king of Siam!
But no matter how cold it is, he still has to come!
Because it was Zhu Cizhao who personally went to Ayutthaya City to invite him in accordance with Zhu Cixang's imperial edict!
The reason for inviting him to come north is of course to promote Confucianism and help Siam organize the "college entrance examination" - Siam's position in the Chinese circle is also relatively outside! Not only are they far apart, but culturally and religiously, Siam is tied to the Ming Dynasty by Theravada Buddhism... The popular Buddhism in the Ming Dynasty, Korea, Japan, and Annan is Mahayana Buddhism, and Theravada Buddhism. The gap is still quite big.
At the same time, there is no such thing as Confucianism in Siam. Therefore, the vassal state of Siam is not very reliable after all!
Therefore, it is imperative to promote Confucianism and the "College Entrance Examination" in Siam... and the entry of Confucianism and the implementation of the "College Entrance Examination" will definitely break the existing interest pattern in Siam!
Turmoil is inevitable!
Following the King of Siam were envoys from Chenla and Laos. These two countries were also governed by Theravada Buddhism and had nothing to do with Confucianism. However, Zhu Cihong does not intend to embarrass these two countries for the time being, so the standards of the missions in Chenla and Laos are not high and the scale is not too large.
Behind the Chenla and Laos missions were the missions of the three Mongolian vassal states, namely Chahar, Tumut, and Junggar. Among them, Chahar and Tumote have already had the status of external vassal states, while Junggar has not yet been officially enfeoffed and is only a quasi-vassal state.
This time, the Junggar delegation led by Galdan came not only to congratulate him on his birthday, but also to invite him to be honored. Also coming to the Ming Dynasty with the Junggar envoys were envoys from two Heshuote tribes - the Heshuote tribe of Oara and the Heshuote tribe of Tibet. They also came to invite envoys, but they were not Instead of sealing a vassal state, seal a vassal town.
In addition, the great lama of Tibet also followed him to Yingtian. But the Great Lama is not with three Mongolian vassal states and two Mongolian vassal towns. He is a religious person, so of course he has to be with other religious people...
Behind the Mongols was the Ryukyu Kingdom's mission. The Ryukyu King Shangzhi personally led the team, but the scale was not large - because the Ming Dynasty, Japan, and North Korea had all opened their own countries, the Ryukyu Kingdom had been somewhat depressed in recent years.
Not long ago, Zhu Cixi made a suggestion to Shang Zhi, who was getting poorer and poorer, to "change the country and change the territory" - to move the Ryukyu Kingdom to the territory of Pattani or Perak...
This thing looks good, but can it really be done? Ryukyu King Shangzhi was really unsure of his feelings!
Just as unsure as Shang Zhi is Li Di from Jeju Island. His father Li Hao passed away last year on Jeju Island. The envoys from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ming Dynasty appeared at Li Hao's funeral and brought Zhu Cixi's imperial edict to Li Hao, asking him to go to Yingtian Mansion to meet the saint.
What does face saint mean? Should he inherit his late father Li Hao's title of county king, or should he be deposed as a commoner?
The missions of the Boni Sultanate and the Sulu Sultanate followed the Jeju mission led by Li Di. These two sultanates have always been used as buffers by the Spanish and Dutch, thrown between Luzon and Malacca, and they have been able to survive on their own for many years. But there are no good days to live... Both countries were founded on trade. Among them, Sulu was based on a trade transit island between the Spice Island and the Ming Dynasty. When the spice trade was controlled by the Netherlands, The hard days of Sulu are coming!
The country of Boni also had a difficult life. This country used to survive the trade between Malacca and the Ming Dynasty. After the trade between Malacca and the Ming Dynasty was controlled by Westerners, they had nothing to do.
So after seeing the re-emergence of the Ming Dynasty, these two sultanates have been eager to use the power of the Ming Dynasty to drive the Dutch away from the Spice Island and Malacca...
After the Boni and Sulu envoys, there were the foreign missions, including the Ottomans, Mughals, Persia, the Netherlands, England, France, Portugal (sent from Goa), the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden, etc. and the Ming Dynasty Countries that had established diplomatic relations sent congratulatory envoys.
Among them, the Netherlands, Ottoman and Mughal countries were more solemn. They were not sent by their missions stationed in Yingtian, but sent separate birthday celebration missions. The Dutch birthday celebration mission was sent from Batavia, while the Ottoman and Mughal missions were sent from the capitals of the two countries. They really came from thousands of miles away!
This was the first time since the founding of the Ming Dynasty that such a grand "all nations came to court"!
As soon as the morning passed, with the melodious sound of horns, the delegations from various countries began to advance towards Laoshan Palace one after another.
The Emperor of Heaven, Zhu Cixiang, and the Emperor, Zhu Youjian, boarded the Huangji Gate together to accept the worship and gifts from the envoys from all over the world...
