New Shun 1730

"Angels will not come to Ryukyu unless they are enthroned. This time, the angels came suddenly. The power of God is unpredictable, and there is no good or bad luck. Could it be... could something happen?"

Shang Jing felt that Fa Si's opinion was a bit nonsense. He was also the king of a foreign vassal in the Celestial Dynasty, and he was not a prince who had not yet been canonized. How could he run to the shore to lead a team to greet the angel?

Moreover, the person who reported back said that the small boat docking at the port clearly stated that it was an envoy from the Celestial Empire, but the shape of the large boat was Western-style, and it seemed that there were many cannons. What was going on?

People sent by Satsuma Domain secretly controlled Ryukyu's government, from court to religion, and tried their best to weaken Ryukyu's independence. After the request to grant thirty-six more surnames in the thirty-fifth year of Wanli failed, there were not many thirty-six surnames in southern Fujian left in Ryukyu, and most of them were Ryukyuanized.

Shang Jing understood that Ryukyu was a small country and could only oscillate between China and Japan. Although China was a huge thing, the previous experience of more than a hundred years showed that this behemoth was just puffy and fat, and its military strength could not reach Ryukyu. On the contrary, the Satsuma clan, which was not far away, was even more terrifying.

The biggest worry at this time was that the Celestial Empire knew of the 130-year deception and came to question him.

The people of the Satsuma Domain didn't know what the situation was. After discussing it for a long time, they also felt that Hoji's actions were a bit deliberate and guilty.

When he was at a loss, a gray-haired veteran came forward and said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. In the past, when angels came, they were canonized. This time it is a canonization, so naturally we cannot prepare in advance. You can arrange them at the Angel Hall first. After resting, the king can send his younger brother to greet him. He will only say that the king will stay behind while the others prepare the ceremony for the angels. "

The old minister who spoke, surnamed Cai, given name Wenpu, courtesy name Tianzhang, nickname Ruting, had studied abroad in the Imperial College in the capital for several years. Because "Chinese" was too heavy, he was not highly used in Ryukyu controlled by the Satsuma Domain. As the official lecturer for the crown prince and grandson. The official ranks range from second-grade Zijin doctor, but he does not hold real power.

This person's cultural level is still very high. When he was conferred the title of Shang Jing, he wrote poems to reconcile with the angels. Although they were all poems of gratitude such as "The East Fan Xianghua is loyal and sincere, and the Beique was awarded the title Jade Dew Deep", but It can be seen to some extent that his level is high. It is estimated that he can pass the Eight-part Examination in Jiangnan and other places where literary styles are prosperous.

He not only studied in the Imperial College, but also had extensive research on etiquette systems.

After all, a lot of preparations have to be made to welcome the angel, and China also understands this unspoken rule. At this time, there is no phone call to notify, and they usually rest at the Angel Hall for a while. When the Ryukyu side is notified that they are ready, they can get down to business.

It's like suddenly going to someone's house for a visit. The person doesn't know anything about it and rushes to work in the kitchen. You can't keep asking when to eat. You can only go when someone asks you to eat when the food is cooked. Same reason.

The reason why I asked Brother Wang to greet him was because he had a good relationship with the angel who was canonized back then and left a good reputation.

When King Shang Jing was canonized twenty years ago, his younger brother Shang Che was still underage, only fifteen or sixteen.

My hair has not yet grown, and I have never been to the Imperial College to study abroad, so I wrote a farewell poem, but it is still somewhat talented.

The phoenix flies over the east coast of the sea, and its plumage sings Yongyong; in August, I come to gather at the Chu Peak, and I go back to ride on the long wind.

Riding on the long wind, it will never stop, the sky is just one way away, and it will start here; the deer's brush and the cocoon paper book, I will give you my love and chat with you far away.

The phrase "The phoenix flies over the east coast of Haidong, its feathers sing Yongyong" from "Daya·Juan" is already quite good for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old foreigner, and it should be a good idea to go to Dashun. Can be a scholar.

Now Shang Che is in his thirties, in his prime, and has become the Prime Minister of Ryukyu.

Yu Gong is the Prime Minister of Ryukyu, and Yu Private is the brother of the King of Ryukyu. Yu Qing has a good relationship with the previous angel, so they are both suitable candidates.

Ryukyu King Shang Jing looked at the faces of the Satsuma clan, but the Satsuma clan people objected to letting Cai Wenpu go. Instead, they suggested that the king's younger brother could come forward, but Cai Wenpu was old and weak, so they shouldn't bother and replace him with Zijin, who was closer to them. The doctor went with Brother Wang.

Shang Jing also knew that the people of the Satsuma Domain were afraid that people like Cai Wenpu, who had studied abroad in the Imperial College, would stir up too much trouble with people from the Celestial Empire, but since he was under the roof, he had no choice but to agree to be replaced by Dr. Zijin, who was pro-Japanese, to follow him.

…………

on board.

It was approaching noon, and the captain's five trainee captains were leading a group of Jinghai Palace interns who were new to the ship this year, teaching them to use a sextant to determine when it was twelve o'clock at noon.

Surveyors used telescopes to observe Naha Port, where they recorded the time and size of midday tides.

Several trainee captains were half-complaining and half-helplessly joking with Liu Yu.

"Sir, our navy really has more officers than soldiers, and more captains than ships. Groups of Jinshi are all thrown into the county's official school to become poor students. Four or five trainee captains are crammed into a ship, and they say three things Years, three years, three years and three years, sir, we have almost been interns for ten years..."

Ten years, that is a bit exaggerated.

Now the Naval Academy in Dashun is on the right track, trying to control the number of people. There are still more than a hundred graduates a year, but there are not so many ships, and they are crammed into the ships in groups. Some old people who had been interns on the "Dawn" were almost crying when they saw the young men behind them growing like leeks.

They had already passed the exam after the internship, but now they could only use the name of internship captain and work as actual first mates, gunners, and surveyors on various ships... because there were not enough warships. Dashun's total naval tonnage is now less than 10,000 tons.

Liu Yu heard such complaints more than once, and replied almost reflexively: "Don't worry, there will be some in the fleet... In terms of seniority, you are also ahead of the young guys who are new to the ship..."

While answering mechanically, he took out his pocket watch and listened to the group of interns who were learning how to use the sextant. They reported that it was now twelve o'clock in true solar time. Look at this pocket watch, which has an error of six or seven minutes. , took out the solar time watch, checked it, and shook his head.

"No matter how expensive a pocket watch is, it's not a marine clock. How far is it from Matsue to Ryukyu? The error is so bad that it's almost impossible to see."

Finally, he adjusted the time to twelve o'clock, the local mean solar time, and shouted to the back: "Commander!"

An orderly soldier wearing a blue and white sailor's vest ran over. Liu Yu said: "Order, except for this messenger ship and troop transport ship, the other warships will retreat and cruise on the sea, waiting for orders. No ship is allowed to leave. This ship And troopships, lower sails!”

The messenger repeated the story and hurriedly started to raise the flag. Through the telescope, Naha also sent more than a hundred small boats, taking advantage of the noon tide to approach and drag the Chinese envoy ship into Naha Port.

The Celestial Dynasty's envoy ships could not just find a place to stop, but had to stop in front of the "Ying'en Pavilion" established during the Hongwu period of the previous dynasty. Of course, except for the envoys, other ships are usually not allowed to approach the Ying'en Pavilion.

Seeing that Ryukyu's ship was approaching, Liu Yu also issued the last order.

"The Marine Corps left a hundred men to guard the ship. This is to go to the vassal country, not to the enemy country. It is not easy to get the cannon directly to the 'Ying'enting' and 'Angel Pavilion'. The remaining people carry sixty rounds of ammunition and check Flint, take off your bayonet. All troops must be restrained. No whispering, no threats by force, no casual leaving of the team, no casual conversation with the locals."

After finally conveying the order about the army, Zhao Baiquan, who had been worried that Liu Yu was going to do something big, said helplessly: "Uncle Ying Suo, please be polite before sending troops, be polite before sending soldiers! This is a vassal of the Celestial Dynasty, not an enemy country."

Liu Yu tilted his head, looked at Zhao Baiquan with a smile, and asked, "Have you read your Majesty's imperial edict?"

Zhao Baiquan was stunned, shook his head and said: "Your Majesty said that this imperial edict can only be opened after meeting the King of Ryukyu. Does Ying Saobo think that I dare to break it privately? As for when to meet the King of Ryukyu, I have to listen to Ying Saobo. Could it be... Could it be..."

Could it be that after a long time, Ziwu Maoyou didn't come out, thinking that His Majesty would directly arrest people and bring them back to the capital for questioning, right?

Thinking about it again, although the King of Ryukyu is a county king, he, a doctor, dare not arrest him casually. The emperor still has the qualifications to arrest him.

Seeing that the sailors on the ship were checking their short guns, some swivel cannons and large hand cannons used for close combat were left on the ship. It seemed that they were preparing to launch a shot, and they couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

Liu Yu laughed and said: "Don't worry, don't worry, you should be polite before fighting. I understand this. Well, Mr. Zhao understands etiquette and law. Let's talk about what to do in a while."

Zhao Baiquan swallowed the dry and hard-to-accumulate saliva, and when he talked about his "professional", the nervousness slowly dissipated.

"Although the Ryukyu Kingdom is small, it has all the internal organs, and the official uniforms are basically the same as those of this dynasty, but the materials are different."

"Ying Suobo must remember the etiquette."

"Kneel down and bow down if you are a Zijin official or above. You have to bow and bow before answering."

"Below the rank of Zijin official and above the rank of Zhongyi official, you cannot bow and must bow your hands."

"Under the Central Committee, you have to sit down and wave your hands, which is called resistance."

"Common people without official positions, you can't wave."

"In addition, this time is not a canonization. Except when welcoming angels and listening to imperial edicts, the King of Ryukyu is a county king and is higher than Ying Saobo. Although Ying Saobo does not need to kneel, if he is sitting, he must stand up when speaking."

"Under the King of Ryukyu, you can sit in the Angel Hall, but when talking, Takasabo doesn't have to stand up, they have to stand up; when I talk to Takasabo in the Angel Hall, I don't have to stand up, but I talk to Ryukyu officials I have to get up when..."

"This is called rank. You must not be careless when saluting, holding hands, or resisting. Your Excellency loves the soldiers in Weihai. You are kind but not powerful. This place is not as good as Weihai. It is the face of the Celestial Empire. You must not make mistakes."

Didi Dudu explained a lot of rules, and Liu Yu remembered them all in his heart, thinking that it was a shame that I had been in the court for so many years, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered these messy things about official positions, serving dishes, etc. Disc etiquette?

After waiting for a while, Ryukyu's small boat approached the battleship. After tying the rope, it took advantage of the noon tide to slowly drag the battleship to Ying'antei in Naha Port.

This pavilion was first built during the Hongwu period of the previous dynasty and has been repaired from time to time. It is still as good as new today.

As soon as we got off the boat, a large number of Ryukyu officials were already lined up in a class. The person at the front was wearing an official uniform embroidered with a white crane. It looked very much like a high imitation of Dashun official uniform. It was easy to tell that there were others. Many different details are probably intentional distinctions.

When Liu Yu walked in front of the officials, all the Ryukyu officials knelt on the ground and shouted: "Hail, holy bow!"

Liu Yu and Zhao Baiquan also hurriedly replied.

"Hail, holy bow!"

After saying these words of "Blessings", I took a look at the official uniforms of Ryukyu officials. They were all of high rank.

Liu Yu is an earl, so there is no need to mention it.

Although Zhao Baiquan was just a government doctor, as a rule, when he went to Ryukyu as an envoy, the emperor would give a first-grade civil official official uniform and be allowed to wear it in Ryukyu, just to avoid the situation where a fifth-grade official was kowtowed by someone wearing a first-grade or second-grade official uniform. An embarrassing situation.

When they arrived at Ying’en Pavilion, the prince’s younger brother, the Prime Minister of Ryukyu, Shang Che, knelt on the ground first, bowed and kowtowed, but it was not yet time for five bows and three kowtows.

Liu Yu thought about Zhao Baiquan’s instructions, straightened his back, bent forward, and responded with a bow.

“The minister of the vassal Ryukyu, the brother of the King of Zhongshan, the Prime Minister of Ryukyu, Shang Che, respectfully welcomes the angel. The King of Zhongshan of Ryukyu is next. Because the angel came suddenly, all departments are also preparing the ceremony in the back. All officials are outside the Ying’en Pavilion, please come in to pay homage.”

“Approved!”

As Zhao Baiquan instructed, they were divided into three waves according to their respective ranks and grades.

Liu Yu also responded with different etiquette according to the etiquette and status.

After completing the Ying’en Pavilion process, the Purple Gold Doctor led the way in front, and the ceremonial guards led the way on both sides. After walking more than a mile, they finally arrived at the Angel Pavilion.

The Chinese-style building marked with a sign opened the door to welcome the angel in. When they arrived at the ceremonial gate, they saw the three characters "Tian Ze Gate" written on the somewhat blurred plaque.

Shang Che asked again: "The plaque on the ceremonial gate was written by Xia Ziyang, the envoy during the Wanli period of the previous dynasty. Ryukyu has been windy and rainy, and the words are not very clear. Please ask the angel to write it again."

"According to the rules, every angel who comes must also write an additional plaque, so that Ryukyu will never forget the grace of heaven."

This question made Liu Yu a little embarrassed. He looked up at the words on the plaque. The dragon and phoenix danced with strong pen power, which was far beyond the reach of someone like him who had not worked hard for the imperial examination.

Fortunately, there was a deputy envoy who came from the imperial examination. Liu Yu thought that the cultural level of a person from the Celestial Empire might not be as good as this group of Ryukyu officials. His face blushed and he nodded in agreement.