釋鑑稽古略續集 2.8

2.8

In the wushen year, the first year of the Hongwu era, in the first month on the fourth day yihai, His Majesty personally composed a liturgy to sacrifice and announce it to Heaven and Earth at the southern suburbs. When the rites were completed, he ascended the imperial throne to the south of the suburban altar, established the dynastic name for possessing all under heaven as Great Ming, and established the reign era as Hongwu. He posthumously honoured the ancestors and fathers of four generations as emperors and empresses, established his primary consort Lady Ma as Empress, and established his eldest son Biao as Crown Prince. On that day, the celestial vault was pure and clear, fragrant mist condensed, and the Central Star alone was visible: truly a sign of Heaven opening an auspicious destiny. He appointed Li Shanchang as the Left Grand Councillor of the Secretariat, Xu Da as the Right Grand Councillor, and Zhang Yi as the Vice Censor-in-Chief. His Majesty appointed officials for the Eastern Palace, saying: 'Promoting the worthy and employing talent is the foundation of establishing the state; revering virtue and esteeming age is the way of honouring the worthy.' He also said: 'Timber of many spans must be entrusted to an expert artisan; a jade disc of ten thousand gold must not be handed to an unskilful worker.' He ordered the establishment of standard sacrifices: the Round Mound, the Square Mound, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and the Altars of Soil and Grain, to sacrifice to Heaven, Earth, the ancestors, and all the spirits. He promulgated the penal code and administrative ordinances, instructing: 'The penal code and ordinances are the laws for governing all under heaven. The ordinances are to instruct them beforehand; the penal code is to regulate them after.' He instructed the officials of prefectures and counties, saying: 'The feathers of a bird just learning to fly cannot be plucked; the roots of a tree newly planted cannot be shaken.'