Chapter 304: The prince is allowed to wear the five-clawed dragon robe, Zhu Xian is promoted to the second-rank viceroy

Time passed quickly, and soon there was only one day left before Zhu Gang and Xu Miaoyun's wedding ceremony.

At this time, Li Yun, the Minister of Rites, and Liang Min, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Wardrobe, were helping Zhu Gang try on the final wedding dress.

"According to your majesty's order, this wedding dress was tailored by the Shangyijian according to the ancient style of upper garment and lower skirt.

It consists of a black robe, a purple skirt, a white silk belt, a yellow knee-covering, a plain gauze inner garment, and red shoes.

The shoulders of the black robe are woven with the sun and the moon, while the back is woven with stars and mountain patterns.

The sleeves are woven with fire, Hua insect and Zong Yi patterns, and the collar, cuffs, sides of the lapel and hem are all natural color.

There are also patterns of embroidered algae, pink rice, fu and fu as embellishments for wedding dresses.

Except for the lack of dragon pattern, this wedding dress is exactly the same as the imperial ceremonial dress Zhu Yuanzhang wore.

Zhu Gang clearly remembered that the only person who had enjoyed such treatment before was Li Zhen, the father of Li Wenzhong who was already bedridden.

"I am only a vassal king. Holding a wedding in clothes that are no different from the emperor's formal attire will probably cause controversy!"

Historically, the Silijian, one of the twelve academies, was first established in the 17th year of Hongwu, and had eunuchs such as the governor, seal-holder, pen-holder, and attendant.

According to Zhu Gang's suggestion, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department was in charge of supervising all rituals and criminal law within the imperial city, as well as managing the duties of serving and hearing cases.

This directly led to the newly established Silijian, which quickly became known as the "first department in the inner court" among the twelve departments.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang took into account the existence of the Neishutang and did not appoint a supervisor for the Silijian.

Therefore, the most powerful person in the Imperial Household Department is the eunuch in front of him who holds the seal.

“Thanks to your majesty’s grace, all princes, heirs, and dukes can now wear dragon robes and are allowed to use the five-clawed dragon.

Of course, dragons have many forms, and some forms can still only be used by Your Majesty."

After listening to the explanation of the eunuch Liang Min, Zhu Gang immediately understood that this must be the suggestion of Empress Ma.

After all, although Li Zhen was Zhu Yuanzhang's brother-in-law, he was a person of a different surname after all.

Even he was qualified to wear the dragon robe, but the Crown Prince Zhu Biao and his sons who were vassal kings could only wear the inferior dragon robe, which was obviously not appropriate.

As for why no dragon pattern was added to this wedding dress, Zhu Gang guessed that he should be the "first person to try something new".

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Imperial Clothing Bureau to remove the dragon pattern, mainly to avoid causing unnecessary criticism.

After the Minister of Rites Li Yun and the eunuch Liang Min, who held the seal, turned around and left the Prince of Jin's Mansion, Zhu Gang immediately got up and went to the Five Military Commanders' Office.

As soon as he walked into the gate, he saw Zhu Xian, the eldest son of Yongjia Marquis Zhu Liangzu, wandering there wearing integrated plate armor without a helmet.

"I, the deputy commander-in-chief Zhu Xian, pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin!"

Seeing Zhu Xian saluting to him, Zhu Gang quickly helped him up.

“My father once said that Zhu Xian was both wise and brave. In his early years, he followed the Marquis of Yongjia to support him and made great contributions in his expeditions to all directions.

At that time, you were only a captain in the Imperial Guards' Mansion. I never thought that you have been promoted to the rank of Second Rank Vice Governor. It is really a cause for celebration!"

Since the establishment of the Five Military Governor's Office last year, the left and right governors of the first rank, the associate governor of the first rank, and the deputy governor of the second rank have been set up.

Under normal circumstances, it is very difficult for a military general to be promoted to the second rank.

Especially for a noble like Zhu Liangzu who surrendered repeatedly, it would be extremely difficult for his eldest son to get promoted.

In addition, among the Huaixi nobles, Zhu Liangzu and Hu Weiyong were the only ones who were closest to each other. This is obviously a "black history" that cannot be erased.

Perhaps it was for this reason that Zhu Xian had a very tragic ending in history. On September 3, the 13th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Zhu Liangzu to Yingtian because of the Daotong case.

In a state of rage, he whipped Zhu Liangzu and Zhu Xian, the then commander of the Fujunwei, to death.

Now that the "Hu Weiyong case" broke out nearly four years ahead of schedule, Zhu Xian, the son of Yongjia Marquis Zhu Liangzu, was promoted instead of demoted. Zhu Gang concluded that Han Guogong Li Shanchang must have put in a lot of effort.

Sure enough, what Zhu Xian said next directly verified his judgment.

"My father learned from Duke Han that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan has recently been training a heavy-armored infantry phalanx.

Ordinary soldiers cannot adapt to this kind of integrated armor in a short period of time.

Considering that I have already signed up for the officer training at the Yingtian Military Academy, His Royal Highness Prince Yan agreed to give me another chance. "

Zhu Gang had not originally thought of using this elite breakthrough force of the Ming Dynasty in actual combat so quickly.

However, the alliance of Jiangnan families was so bold and reckless that they dared to secretly plan an assassination.

Although Yao Guangxiao did not specify the time, place and target of the assassination in the intelligence, there were only a few valuable people.

Moreover, the joyous wedding between Prince Jin and Xu Miaoyun, the daughter of Duke Wei, was a rare opportunity to strike. How could those traitors be willing to miss it?

To put it another way, even if they couldn't think of it, Yao Guangxiao would be there to remind them.

What Zhu Gang is most concerned about right now is how much combat effectiveness the ace breakthrough force trained by his fourth brother Zhu Di can exert?

After all, in order to conceal their tracks, this elite breakthrough force of the Ming Dynasty had been undergoing secret training in Lishui County.

On the way back to Yingtian Prefecture, Zhu Gang directly separated a part of the 3000 soldiers of the Shenjiying Camp to be responsible for the guard work of this secret ace army.

Before entering the training ground, Zhu Gang heard the governor-general and deputy governor Ping An telling the soldiers the history of heavy infantry.

"The earliest heavy infantry in history were the Wei Wuzu, who were personally selected and trained by Wu Qi.

According to relevant historical records: If you want to become a member of Wei Wuzu, you must first have outstanding physical strength.

Because during their daily training, Wu Qi required the Wei Wuzu soldiers to wear full-body armor.

So that they can use tactical moves freely on the battlefield.

In addition, the Wei Wuzu also had to carry long spears and short swords. The weight of these weapons and equipment was already difficult for ordinary people to bear.

Secondly, as heavy infantry, the Wei Wuzu not only needed to master sophisticated close combat skills, but also had to be able to fire a powerful crossbow weighing twelve stones.

This allows them to cause effective damage before engaging the enemy in close combat, thus enriching the commander's tactical options.

In addition to possessing powerful strength, Wei Wuzu also had to possess excellent endurance.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the marching speed of chariots was about thirty miles per day.

Wu Qi required the Wei Wu soldiers to be able to march a hundred miles in half a day, which implicitly put forward extremely high requirements for the soldiers' speed and physical fitness. "

Zhu Gang stood aside, and only spoke after Ping An stopped lecturing, "As the saying goes, you raise your troops for a thousand days and use them in one moment.

You are all elite soldiers secretly selected from the Seventeen Guards.

I came here today just to test your training results.

Those who perform well will be rewarded, and those who take advantage of the situation will be punished.

Now, just like you did in previous training, let me see how good you are!"

(End of this chapter)