I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 64
The army returned to the camp, and all the officials returned to their positions. After returning to the palace, Li Tian ordered the Imperial Catering Supervisor to arrange a banquet.

In fact, during the national funeral, the palace is not allowed to hold palace banquets, but the scene of the [-] troops arrayed today frightened all the officials in the court. Until the palace banquet started, no minister dared to speak out.

Although the palace banquet was not a small one, it was impossible for all the officials from the city to attend, and Li Tian was planning to officially announce the Tiangongyuan at the palace banquet, so he only invited the top leaders of various yamen departments.

Replacing the bulky Jiuliang crown and wearing the lightweight Yishan crown, Li Tian led Empress Zhang and the princes to the table first.

In the Ming Dynasty, the left was the most respected, and the ranking of seats in palace banquets was also very particular. No one dared to think about where to sit. Even the princes and princes had to find their own seats and not sit randomly.

In the past, naturally the crown prince sat first in the left column, the chief assistant took the second, and the right column was reserved for generals.

But today's palace banquet was obviously held by the emperor for Zheng He, so Zhu Zhanji took the second seat with great interest and left the main seat to Zheng He.

But after the old god Yang Shiqi sat leisurely in the fifth position, Zhu Zhanji was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly picked up his buttocks and sat in front of Yang Shiqi, asking for advice in a low voice:
"Master Yang, what's the big deal today?"

Yang Shiqi was old and stayed up all night last night. He still hadn't regained his energy at the moment, and suddenly he didn't hear Zhu Zhanji's question.

Zhu Zhanji thought that Yang Shiqi didn't want to tell him, so he curled his lips and had to turn around and sit down honestly.As civil servants and generals entered the table one after another, Zhu Zhanji had a lot more question marks in his mind.

It doesn't matter if the father doesn't take the final seat today, why is Wu Zhong, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, sitting on the same table with Yang Rong, and what the hell are those two people in civilian clothes behind, common people?

Of course, it's not just Zhu Zhanji who has question marks in his head, except for the cabinet and the Ministry of Industry who know the reason, the rest of the ministers are also full of confusion.

After coming and going, the seats of the palace banquet suddenly became chaotic, and Qin Tianjian was in charge of a civil official, who actually sat among the generals.

Seeing that the tables were full, Li Tian, ​​who was sitting high, let go of the queen's little hand, raised his glass with a smile and said:

"At today's banquet, I firstly clean up the dust for Zheng He and Eunuch Zheng, and secondly, I want to inform you of some matters. Without further ado, please drink this cup with me first."

The emperor raised his wine glass, and all the civil and military officials hurriedly took it up, and when the emperor drank it all, they all poured down their throats.

As the musicians of the Bell and Drum Division played the ceremony and music, the beauties of the Jiaofang Division waved their long sleeves into the hall to add to the fun.

The first palace banquet after the new emperor ascended the throne began.

Li Tian is not in a hurry to get down to business. The banquet must at least satisfy the officials. After tasting the delicious food, Li Tian turned to Zheng He and said with a smile:
"I've been on an embassy to the West for more than a year, I'm afraid I've long missed our Ming's dishes."

"Yes." Zheng He let out a long sigh, turned sideways and cupped his hands and said:
"Your Majesty, you know that there is a country called Guli Kingdom far to the southwest of my Ming Dynasty. The people there are extremely ignorant. Not only do they go to the toilet on the street, but they even grab food with their hands."

Li Tian laughed loudly when he heard the words, isn’t the Guli Kingdom the India of later generations, not to mention now, even 600 years later, brothers Asan still eat with their hands.

Zheng He's voice was not loud, but the nearby ministers could hear him clearly. Huang Zhun waved his sleeves and cupped his hands and said with a smile:
"Your Majesty, I dare to assure you that there is absolutely no such thing as shabu-shabu in the Guli Kingdom that Director Zheng is talking about."

As soon as Huang Zhun said that, all the ministers immediately laughed out loud as they imagined the people of Guli eating shabu-shabu with their hands.

Li Tian knew that Zheng He would bring back many envoys from Western countries in addition to maritime trade every time he went on a mission to the West, so he said:

"Zheng He, how many envoys are there who came back with you this time?"

Seeing the emperor asking about something serious, Zheng He straightened his face, cupped his hands and said:
"Your Majesty, the envoys from nine countries including Champa, Siam, Luzon, Adan, Java, Guri, Mount Ceylon, Sumatra, and Zhubu came back with this old slave. Among them, Zhubu is the farthest from my Ming Dynasty. It's eighty thousand miles away."

After Zheng He's words came out, many ministers knew that Zheng He sailed very far, but they still took a breath when they heard the words of [-] miles.

Li Tian nodded without changing his face. Except for the first few places that Zheng He said, he is still familiar to him, but he doesn't know anything about the latter, unless he finds a map of the world of later generations and asks him to compare them one by one.

But precisely because he didn't know, Li Tian could better understand the difficulty of Zheng He's six voyages to the West. He raised his glass and said:

"Let Honglu Temple arrange all these envoys. They come from [-] miles away. Regardless of their national power, they always respect my Ming Dynasty. Come, Zheng He, I offer you a toast."

Today, after being greeted by hundreds of officials and thousands of troops, Zheng He's psychological endurance has become much stronger, and he did not lose his temper in panic. He respectfully raised his wine glass and had a drink with Li Tian.

As the night approached, without Li Tian speaking, the eunuchs in the inner court hurriedly lit nearly a hundred red candles in the hall, and the originally dark hall suddenly became as bright as day.

Candlelight was flickering, cups of wine were intertwined, and the eunuchs of the Imperial Catering Supervisor shuttled around, filling wine and removing plates from time to time. Unknowingly, the palace banquet had been held for almost an hour.

Many ministers knew that the emperor would have important things to say tonight, so they all kept their hands down and did not drink recklessly. Of course, some generals who were addicted to alcohol were not included.

When Li Tian saw that it was almost time, he told Jiang Bao to let the Imperial Food Supervisor serve some sober soup, got up and asked with a smile:

"Are you all ready to eat?"

All civil and military officials bowed their hands in salute when they heard the words, and they should say something like the food is ready.

Li Tian nodded upon seeing this, looked at Yang Rong and Wu Zhong and said:
"Wu Shangshu, let you announce it for me."

In fact, Li Tian originally planned to ask Yang Rong to talk about it. After all, Yang Rong is the chief officer in charge of Tiangong Academy and Tiangong Bureau in the future.

But seeing Wu Zhong sitting upright between the banquets, not daring to drink at all, after thinking about it, Li Tian decided to give Wu Zhong a chance to shine.

Wu Zhongqiang suppressed the excitement in his heart, only felt that his mind had been muddled for several years, and there was no time to be more sober at this time, so he stood in the center of the hall with his hands together, and said loudly:
"I respect the emperor's imperial edict, and I will work with Mr. Yang Ge to establish two yamen, the Tiangong Bureau and the Tiangong Academy, within half a month, so as to open up a way for craftsmen all over the world to learn and become officials.

The Tiangong Bureau temporarily affiliated the Yamen under the Ministry of Industry, and the Tiangong Institute has planned to establish a courtyard next to Wang Gong's factory in Fucaifang.

At that time, the Ministry of Industry and the Yang Ge Laohui will prepare for my first Ming Dynasty labor examination, and select skilled craftsmen from all over the world for the emperor, and all craftsmen who pass the labor examination.

They will join the Tiangong Bureau temporarily. The director of the Tiangong Bureau will be temporarily held by the official, and the post of Tiangong Institute will be temporarily held by Mr. Yang Ge. "

(End of this chapter)