The Etiquette Department has been very busy recently, very busy.
For other yamen, the closer to the New Year, the more leisurely they are.
Before the Chinese New Year, the imperial court held a grand court meeting as usual, which was the Winter Solstice Dynasty.
This is one of the most grand ceremonies of the year for the imperial court.
There are only three major court gatherings like this one a year.
Winter Solstice, Zhengdan, and the Emperor's Wanshou Festival.
It is said to be a court meeting, but in fact it is more similar to a festival celebration, singing praises and virtues, and the symbolic significance is greater than the actual significance.
But the process is quite cumbersome.
In the early morning, all civil and military officials in Beijing, under the leadership of the Crown Prince, set up court ceremonies outside Fengtian Hall to congratulate the Emperor on the Winter Solstice Festival.
The main content of the court ceremony is to perform the ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven.
At the same time, among the harem, married women of high rank in Beijing also need to go to Kunning Palace to pay homage to the queen.
As for the civil and military officials who are not in Beijing, they also need to express their congratulations.
After the pilgrimage is over, officials below the fifth rank can leave the palace and return to their homes.
Those who are above the fifth rank need to stay in the palace and pay homage to the Crown Prince first.
At noon, officials of third rank and above and the crown prince must follow the emperor into the Fengxian Hall to worship the previous emperors.
This process basically takes a whole day to complete.
It can be said that the Winter Solstice Great Court is the one with the most complicated etiquette among the three great court gatherings.
As the most important ceremony of the imperial court, the Ministry of Etiquette must ensure that there are no mistakes.
From finalizing the procedures, submitting etiquette notes and registration forms, to assigning etiquette officers to each household to teach etiquette procedures, to providing etiquette guidance and corrections at court meetings, the Etiquette Department was extremely busy.
Fortunately, because the emperor issued the edict a little late, most of the clans were still on their way to Beijing.
Otherwise, the etiquette department would really be too busy to deal with the clan's rituals.
Of course, the good news is that after the Winter Solstice, all the government offices can take a three-day collective rest without working.
This Winter Solstice Dynasty was the first dynasty of the new emperor, and the Ministry of Rites was very diligent in handling it.
Under the warm rising sun, countless officials stood neatly lined up on the square in front of Fengtian Hall.
As the emperor put the sandalwood in his hand into the incense burner in front of him, the ministers, under the guidance of the etiquette officer, saluted in unison.
"Your Majesty will live for ten thousand years, and the country will live for ten thousand years!"
The sound shook the sky, the reverberation echoed through the beams, and the momentum was extremely majestic.
However, the only drawback is that the crown prince is still too young to participate in such an important ceremony.
Therefore, the job of leading the officials to pay tribute is still done by the Heavenly Official.
After that court meeting, everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before the Heavenly Official resigns and returns to his hometown.
But what is strange is that after the second official letter from Tianguan was rejected, the emperor personally sent the middle official to express his condolences.
Then, there is no more content!
The Emperor did not mention this matter again, and the Heavenly Official did not continue to list it.
Although, everyone knows that after sending this official letter twice, there is basically no possibility of turning back.
But this step is missing, and I'm stuck here.
If other officials had done this, they would have been criticized by both the government and the public as being greedy for power and hypocrisy.
But after all, the old Heavenly Official was highly respected, and if he himself did not continue to submit memorials, no one would do anything to him.
After dragging on like this, we have arrived at the Winter Solstice Festival.
The sky was getting dark, and the whole day's court ceremony finally came to an end. The ministers left the palace in twos and threes and returned to their homes.
In front of the direct room of the cabinet, Chen Xun carefully locked the door and walked to the public room in the high valley next to it.
It happened that Gao Gu had also locked the public room. The two looked at each other and went to the room of Chief Assistant Wang Ao together.
Counting the days, this chief minister has been in office for less than half a month.
Although his qualifications and age are not as good as those of Gao Gu and Chen Xun, his ability to do things is no worse than those two.
As soon as he took office, he unceremoniously seized the power of voting and firmly grasped it.
The memorials sent to the cabinet by the General Secretary are usually distributed randomly.
But since Wang Ao arrived, the Secretary of General Affairs would send memorials to him first, and his subordinates would distribute them.
Memorials involving major military and state affairs would only be sent to the palace after he personally drafted and countersigned them.
Such a strong style naturally aroused dissatisfaction between Chen Xun and Gao Gu.
Therefore, after Wang Ao's arrival, the slight rift that originally existed between the two seemed to disappear, and the previous friendship was restored.
At this moment, the sky has turned slightly dark, a winter sky with short days and long nights.
Although it's not yet time to go to the Yamen, today is the Winter Solstice, everyone has been busy all day, and tomorrow is a holiday, so it won't be stuck at this time.
The two came to Wang Ao's official residence and saw that the newly appointed chief minister had already lit candles and was studying a memorial.
Chen Xun cupped his hands and said.
"The Chief Assistant is really diligent in his work. Today is the Winter Solstice. Since the Chief Assistant has been in office, we have not had time to greet him. Tomorrow is the time for rest. I have some wine in the house. I am the same as the Chief Assistant.
How about getting drunk together?"
Among the three people in the cabinet, Wang Ao is about the same age as Chen Xun. Chen Xun is sixty-four and Wang Ao is sixty-three.
As for Gaogu, it is slightly smaller, fifty-eight this year.
But coincidentally, all three of them were Jinshi in the 13th year of Yongle.
From this point of view, they can barely be considered the same sect.
Wang Ao raised his head from the papers, a smile appeared on his majestic face, stood up, cupped his hands, and said.
"Brother Chen is so polite. Since you are willing to invite me, how dare you disobey me?"
Compared with his forcefulness in handling government affairs, Wang Ao's behavior in the cabinet is very low-key and polite, and he never takes the airs of being the chief minister.
Of course, this is largely due to the fact that although the three of them came from the same discipline, Chen Xun ranked first in the first class, which is the so-called top scholar.
Among scholars, especially in private communication, this is still very important.
In comparison, although Wang Ao also achieved outstanding results, he only ranked first in the second class.
Because of this, after Chen Xun passed the entrance examination, he entered the Hanlin Academy and was awarded the title of Hanlin Editor, while Wang Ao was awarded the title of Ministry Officer and circulated among the academic circles.
In this sense, his appointment to the cabinet actually broke the practice of selecting most of the previous cabinet ministers from Hanlin.
So, Wang Ao tidied up a little, locked the public room, and rode in a sedan with Chen Xun and other three people to Chen Xun's house.
As Chen Xun said, a banquet has been set up in his mansion, waiting for their guests of honor to arrive.
However, what surprised Wang Ao was.
This banquet was not a small banquet for a few people as he thought, but a rather large banquet.
When they arrived, many people were already waiting in the hall.
After a brief glance, Wang Ao recognized several familiar faces.
Among them, most are ministers of the Hanlin Academy, some are academicians, and a few are ministers.
All in all, there are about a dozen.
Although they were all officials, they did not wear official robes, but ordinary scholar robes, to show that this banquet was a private banquet.
He glanced at Gao Gu and saw that the other party had no reaction, so he knew about this and the two of them had passed their breath in advance.
Seeing them coming, the officials who were originally gathered in twos and threes came forward one after another, bowed their hands in salute, and said.
"I've met the first assistant, the second assistant, and Mr. Gaoge."
Wang Ao looked intently and saw clearly that the leader among these dozen people was no small figure.
It was Wang Yining, the Minister of Rites, and Jiang Yuan, the Minister of Punishments.
This chapter has been completed!