I

Both Lu Xiangsheng and Yang Zhenqing returned to Beijing by boat urgently, and led the army to offer prisoners on behalf of the frontline generals.

Followed back, there are five thousand soldiers.

The remnants of the Tartars fled to Ningguta, so there is no need for so many troops in the Northeast. As a result, Yang Zhenqing's independent regiment was cancelled, some were broken up and incorporated into brother troops, and some returned to Nanjing to serve as imperial troops. Other troops in the Northeast were also transferred, and they were all those who made meritorious service in the battle last year.

In this way, the number of regular troops in the entire city of Nanjing (including the Forbidden City) finally reached 10,000.

Lu Xiangsheng rode a tall horse with a guard of honor and a band in front of him. Behind him was Yang Zhenqing who was also riding a horse, and then the soldiers who had returned from the northeast, and a long list of captives. There were Tartar prisoners of war and Dutch prisoners of war. The Dutch who surrendered in Malacca, except for a few civil servants, were all escorted back to Nanjing.

The band played "Steel Torrent March", and the Datong soldiers strode forward. Yang Zhenqing turned his head to look at the captives behind him, with a smug smile on his face, it didn't matter if he was dismissed from the military or feudal state, the most important thing was to destroy the Man Qing.

It's a pity that there are still some remnants of Tartars who hide in Ninggu Pagoda and dare not come out, which makes Yang Zhenqing feel quite regretful.

"Ping Da," Lu Xiangsheng said, pulling the rein, "I heard that Mr. Pang Ge was going to be your matchmaker, but you directly rejected him, and you didn't give him any face."

Yang Zhenqing smiled and said: "I am a hunter in the mountains. Even after joining the army, I can read a thousand words. The in-laws that Pang Ge told me about are from a scholarly family. How can I afford it? Me, just marry me. As a peasant girl, it is enough to pass on the incense to the ancestors."

Lu Xiangsheng said with emotion: "Oh, that's fine, as long as it doesn't get too much contamination."

As soon as Lu Xiangsheng returned to Nanjing, he felt that the court was a little strange. He probably won't be able to return to the front line, and he is very likely to take over as Minister of the Ministry of War as a tool for the emperor to balance the factions of civilian officials.

In the past few days, civil servants from Jiangxi came to visit one after another, and they kept mentioning Song Yingxing overtly and secretly.

Lu Xiangsheng knew what it meant, it was nothing more than that after Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua left, Song Yingxing would be promoted to the chief assistant of the cabinet. Those officials from Jiangxi wanted to bring Lu Xiangsheng in, implying that he would pay a visit to Song Yingxing's house.

In this regard, Lu Xiangsheng pretended not to understand, he did not want to touch the emperor's mold.

Now it's not as simple as "the court is half Jiangxi". Although Zhao Han deliberately suppressed it, there are more and more Jiangxi officials in the court, and 70% of the Beijing officials above the fourth rank are from Jiangxi. It's simply unstoppable. The qualifications and achievements of Jiangxi officials are there. Even if the nepotism is ignored, normal promotion will also cause this situation.

"Wan Sheng, Wan Sheng!"

The team arrived at the bank of Xuanwu Lake, and the people along the way cheered and cheered for them.

These soldiers who came back from the Northeast were all beaming, with their heads held high and their spirits uplifted.

The Tartar captives turned pale with fright. They were all captives who had been convicted of felony crimes. Their hands were covered with blood. Even if they were not beheaded, they would still be thrown into the mountains for mining.

The Dutch captives were better off. The company had not been in Malacca for a long time, and it hadn't had time to turn against the Han people. It is a normal act of war to kill and wound Datong soldiers in battle, and the Chinese emperor does not intend to kill them. Even, they can immigrate to the north and settle down to divide the land, but the land allocated is half of that of the Han people.

Zhao Han has already issued an order to overseas officials. Once the Dutch captives are caught, the heinous ones will be beheaded directly, and the rest will be moved to northern China to enrich the population. The Netherlands has only a few people, and the population of its overseas colonies is even smaller. It is estimated that it will not be able to recruit soldiers after a few more attempts.

And the Dutch soldiers at the bottom will be assimilated in a few years when they serve the people in northern China. It's just that these guys have red hair and green eyes, and there are more men than women in the north. Whether they can marry a wife and start a family is no one to care about. It is estimated that many of them will spend their entire lives as bachelors, and their only role is to farm land and pay for the government.

After passing Xuanwu Lake, the team finally entered the city, circled around the Forbidden City, and was guided to enter through the main gate.

There are too many triumphant soldiers, and it is certain that they cannot all go in. Only 300 were selected as representatives. They escorted the captives and walked forward for a while, so they were arranged to wait there first.

Before the Meridian Gate, civil and military officials were already in place, and envoys from other countries also arrived one after another.

In addition to the envoys from the Southeast Asian countries, North Korea, Toungoo (Myanmar) and other countries also sent envoys. It was not a coincidence, but an official tribute trade by celebrating the birthday of Emperor Datong.

The king of Korea is the most filial, and he sends envoys every year, arriving in March every year, waiting to congratulate the emperor on his birthday in April.

"The emperor ascends the building!"

"play music!"

Amidst the majestic and solemn ceremonies and music, the umbrella guard of honor appeared first. Then came Zhao Han in formal attire, Queen Fei Rulan, and Crown Prince Zhao Kuanghuan. The harem concubines and princes and daughters were also allowed to show up to watch the ceremony as an exception today.

Zhao Han walked to the center of the Meridian Gate tower, and the master of ceremonies immediately shouted: "Let's finish the music, all officials step forward!"

Civil and military officials lined up in two rows, holding wat boards in their hands, and came to stand at the bottom of the Meridian Gate.

Under the instructions of the master of ceremonies, all the ministers put away the wat boards to pay respects, and then shouted long live, wishing the emperor a long life without bounds, and almost sang a happy birthday song to the emperor.

"Fanbang envoys step forward!"

A bunch of envoys stepped forward, with much the same etiquette. After wishing the emperor a happy birthday, they lined up behind all the civil and military officials.

Sitting on the Meridian Gate tower, Zhao Han glanced at the officials and envoys below the city, feeling a sense of heroism in his heart. No wonder the monarchs of all dynasties liked to hold such ceremonies, and the satisfaction in their hearts was overwhelming.

Today, China's territory extends as far north as the Mongolian grasslands, with only the Hetao not yet recovered.

As far west as Jiayuguan, although Qinghai, Tibet, and Xinjiang were not recovered, they all nominally expressed their surrender.

In the northeast, Liaoning and Jilin were all returned to the imperial court. However, Jilin has not yet established a province, while Liaoning is preparing to officially establish a province (Jilin is temporarily under the jurisdiction of Liaoning). South of the Yalu River, which was later known as Sinuiju in North Korea, approximately 200 square kilometers were actually controlled by the Datong Army.

The south is bigger, including the entire Ryukyu Islands, half of Vietnam, Luzon Island, Champa, Palembang, and Malacca.

"Present prisoners!"

The person who shouted this was Yang Zhong, the left minister of the Ministry of War.

This guy is a scholar from Jishui County, and Zhao Han took refuge with him when he captured Jishui County. First he worked as military secretary for Zhao Han for three years, and then he was directly sent to the county magistrate. When his territory expanded, he quickly became the magistrate. Then he was transferred back to work as a doctor in the Ministry of War.

An inconspicuous Jishui scholar, just because he worked for Zhao Han early and had certain abilities, was able to rise through the ranks and become the left minister of the Ministry of War.

There are a lot of Jiangxi officials like this!

In fact, it was the Minister of War who should have presided over the presentation of the prisoners, but Fang Shengchang, the Minister of War, fell ill.

Fang Shengchang was also from Jiangxi. The brothers raised their own troops and took two and a half counties to join him. This time, when Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua leave, Zhao Han will let Fang Shengchang join the cabinet and free up the position of Minister of War to be given to Lu Xiangsheng.

Unexpectedly, Fang Shengchang suddenly became seriously ill. He was not yet fifty years old, so he didn't know whether he could survive it.

Lu Xiangsheng and Yang Zhenqing led the army to escort the prisoners of war.

They were allowed to ride horses to the gate of Meridian Gate, where they immediately dismounted to pay homage and presented victory documents to the Ministry of War.

The paperwork for reporting victory has been submitted a long time ago, today is just a matter of going through the process.

After Yang Zhong announced the merits of each unit, he also announced the rewards for the meritorious officers in public. Including Hong Xu, who led the troops to capture Malacca, the titles of the generals were promoted. Only Wang Tingchen and Wang Yaochen, who violated military regulations, only received honorary titles.

As for Yang Zhenqing, his contribution was so great that he could not suppress him even if he violated military regulations. This time he was named "Jianzhou Hou".

"Prisoners come forward!"

"bye!"

More than a hundred prisoners were taken to kowtow to the emperor.

Zhao Han smiled and said, "Take it."

Yuju Lian, the palm print of the Royal Horse Supervisor, shouted: "Take it!"

Zhu Youdong, the commander of the guards next to him, shouted louder: "Take it!"

The guards at the bottom of the city shouted: "Take it!"

Yang Zhong, the left minister of the Ministry of War, shouted again: "Take it!"

Lu Xiangsheng waved the order, and the Datong soldiers escorted the prisoners of war to retreat and handed them over to the officials of the Ministry of Punishment for their fate. It’s time to behead people, it’s time to mine, it’s time to immigrate, anyway, it won’t be a bloody mess today.

"Play music and dance!"

Whether they were civil or military officials or envoys from foreign countries, they all fastened their wat boards to their belts and began to dance amidst the sounds of ritual music.

This is a ritual ceremony that continues from ancient times. After the captives are taken away, everyone has to dance together to celebrate. Even Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua danced with their old bones.

No one felt embarrassed, and everyone was smiling.

Although the North Korean envoy was not familiar with this, he knew about such a dance ceremony from his country's history books. But those envoys from Nanyang found it very new. They had rehearsed before and now they were doing it with the Han officials.

In Zhao Han's eyes, the group of people below the city were just doing radio gymnastics.

At the end of the dance, all the ministers stood up, took out the wat tablets and bowed again, shouting "long live the mountain" and the ceremony was completed.

"The ministers give you a banquet!"

On the third day after the ceremony, Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua officially retired, and Song Yingxing took over as chief assistant.

Fang Shengchang, the Minister of War, Fei Chun, the Minister of Finance, Liu Ziren, the Minister of Personnel, and Yuan Yunlong, the Minister of Industry (Fei Ruhe's brother-in-law), all four Jiangxi natives entered the cabinet as prime ministers.

Lu Xiangsheng, a native of Jiangsu, took over as Minister of War.

Wu Yingji, a native of Anhui, took over as Minister of Finance.

Zhang Bingwen, a native of Anhui, took over as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

Li Rixuan, a native of Jiangxi (Li Banghua's nephew), took over as Minister of Industry.

Zhao Hanming made it clear that he wanted to weaken the influence of Jiangxi officials, and handed over all military affairs, finance, and personnel to non-Jiangxi officials.

Even so, it can only be slightly relieved, after all, there are too many people from Jiangxi in the court. Moreover, after this adjustment, all the cabinet members are from Jiangxi.

There was nothing Zhao Han could do to create a Jiangxi cabinet.

They are all heroes, and they have not made any big mistakes, so how can they be suppressed by force? If you really want to change the situation in the court, you have to raise the butcher's knife against the heroes, and you have to make a few major cases.

Zhao Han finally understood Zhu Yuanzhang's mood and knew why Comrade Lao Zhu killed the heroes.

Zhao Han's heroes were relatively disciplined, but they still made him very uncomfortable. And Zhu Yuanzhang's heroes were so domineering that they had to kill several batches.