This discovery made Yang Jing even more excited, and he carefully peeled off the silk. The first thing that caught his eye shocked Yang Jing.
This turned out to be an imperial edict, and it was an edict from Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty!
The imperial edict began with the eight characters "By the Mandate of Heaven and the Successor of Heaven, I decree" followed by densely packed content, and finally the emperor's seal and signature. After Yang Jing read it once, he finally understood what the imperial edict meant.
It turned out that in the 25th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1392 AD, six years before Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the Angkor Dynasty sent envoys to meet the Ming Emperor Hongwu and presented many rare treasures. The Hongwu Emperor was very happy and rewarded the envoys of the Angkor Dynasty with many things.
This situation existed in ancient China, especially during the heyday of the prosperous dynasties such as the early Ming Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty. Many vassal states would come to pay tribute to China and pledge allegiance. Many countries surrounding China were vassal states of the Chinese dynasty.
It is said that the Ming Dynasty was the most legitimate dynasty since the unification of China by Qin Shi Huang, and this is beyond doubt. Counting the twenty dynasties in Chinese history, excluding the three dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou in ancient times, whether it is the Qin Dynasty that unified the world, or the Han Dynasty that "whoever dares to offend the Han Dynasty will be punished no matter how far away they are", or the Tang Dynasty that established the reputation of "Heavenly Khan", or the Song Dynasty that was the richest in the world, in fact, their means of gaining power were not authentic.
Although Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, it can only be regarded as an internal struggle; the same is true for Liu Bang's Han Dynasty; as for Li Tang, it is almost the same; and Zhao Kuangyin simply "put on the yellow robe", and the means he used to gain power are even more impossible to mention.
Since the reign of Qin Shi Huang, only the Ming Dynasty truly gained the world by the means of "expelling the Tartars and restoring our Han". Although Zhu Yuanzhang had a humble background and looked even more distinctive than Guo Degang, it must be said that this Hongwu Emperor was indeed a remarkable emperor!
Back then, Emperor Hongwu drove the Yuan Dynasty Tartars, who had been plaguing the Central Plains for nearly a hundred years, out of China with lightning speed, and established the Ming Dynasty. This made the prestige of the Han people unprecedented, so many small countries around the Ming Dynasty consciously submitted to it, and the Angkor Dynasty was no exception.
The Angkor Dynasty, thousands of miles away, came to pay tribute. As a great emperor, Hongwu Emperor naturally would not be stingy with rewards, so he gave many treasures to the envoys of the Angkor Dynasty with an imperial edict. This imperial edict must have been regarded as a sacred treasure by the king of the Angkor Dynasty at that time, and it was actually preserved. But unfortunately, it was taken away by the Japanese.
The value of this imperial edict is inestimable. So far, only two imperial edicts of the Ming Dynasty have been discovered in the world. One was issued by Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty in the 12th year of Zhengtong (1447) to Guo Shixian, the father of Guo Yan, who was the director of the Yunnan Qingli Division of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, 568 years ago. This imperial edict is also the only imperial edict of the Ming Dynasty found in China.
As for the other one, it was discovered from a Chinese-American collector in the United States. This Chinese-American collector has an imperial edict handwritten by Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty, and its value is inestimable.
But whether it was Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen or Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao, they were all Zhu Yuanzhang's grandchildren. How could the imperial edicts issued by these grandchildren, or even their grandchildren's grandchildren, be compared with the imperial edicts issued by Zhu Yuanzhang, the real ancestor?
Moreover, no matter whether it was the imperial edict issued by Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty or the imperial edict issued by Emperor Zhengde, they were both "帝曰", while the imperial edict issued by Zhu Yuanzhang was a formal "昭曰". The former two were far inferior to the latter in terms of format!
After Qin Shi Huang conquered the world and united the six kingdoms, he was no longer satisfied with the title of king. So he named himself emperor and called himself "朕". He called his orders "定" and his decrees "照". Therefore, "照" was the first term used by Qin Shi Huang.
The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system and gradually established a complete imperial system. The two words "Zhao Yue" were first used in the imperial documents of the Han Dynasty. After that, they were used by emperors of all dynasties. However, the words "Feng Tian Cheng Yun" had never appeared in history before the Ming Dynasty.
The earliest inventor of the term "Fengtian" was Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Starting from Zhu Yuanzhang, the words "Fengtian Chengyun Emperor" were included in the imperial edicts of the Ming Dynasty. Whether it was "Zhao Yue", "Zhi Yue" or "Chi Yue" followed by them, they all represented different styles of imperial edicts.
The imperial edict uses different wordings depending on its specific content, the main three being "edict says, decree says, and imperial edict says".
"The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, decrees" is used to announce to the world. For any major political affairs that need to be announced to the subjects of the world, "The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, decrees" should be used.
"Zhi Yue" was used by the emperor to express his grace and to announce it to all officials. Whenever the emperor expressed his great grace in an imperial edict, it would begin with "By the grace of Heaven and the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees this." "Zhi Yue" was only used to announce it to all officials and was not issued to ordinary people.
"Edict" means to warn. When the emperor promoted officials, he warned them to guard against arrogance and impatience, to keep up the good work, and not to be proud and complacent.
In other words, "Zhao Yue" is the imperial edict that is truly issued to the world; "Zhe Yue" is a little worse, being merely a notification within officialdom; and "Chi Yue" is even worse, being merely issued to a certain official.
The imperial edict was written with the phrase "Zhao said". Although the Angkor Dynasty was only a vassal state, it was a major national event for the vassal state to pay tribute. The emperor must issue an imperial edict to let the people all over the world know about the mighty achievements of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it is not surprising that Emperor Hongwu issued such an imperial edict!
If this imperial edict from Zhu Yuanzhang were taken out, its value would also be inestimable!
PS: I would like to thank "很懒的鱼" for the reward of 100.
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