Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, is mighty and majestic. The city wall alone has four layers: outer wall, capital (inner city), imperial city, and palace city.
On December 1, the 14th year of Guangwu's reign, the Guanyin Gate, the north gate of the outer city of Nanjing, opened. Crown Prince Zhu Ruoji led the civil and military officials to wait anxiously outside the city. Emperor Guangwu had an edict, "The Ming Dynasty's imperial army returned in triumph, and the emperor
The prince welcomes the meritorious soldiers in my suburbs."
Zhu Ruoji did not dare to neglect, and ordered people to arrange the triumphal passage early this morning. Early this morning, he braved the wind and rain and led the civil and military officials to wait anxiously outside Guanyin Gate.
Guanyin Gate is the northernmost city gate of Nanjing Waiguo. It is located in the Guanyin Valley in Yanziji, about 20 miles away from the capital. The old emperor ordered the gate to be greeted in the suburbs outside Guanyin Gate, which is equivalent to more than 20 miles in the suburbs.
"Coming!" someone whispered.
Zhu Ruoji looked around and saw an endless formation of snakes appearing in the Guanyin Valley. At the front of the snake head was a team of extremely elite cavalry. The two leaders, wearing red cloaks and majestic, were none other than the King of Ji, Zhu Ruodeng.
and Zhu Ruofeng, King of Yu.
"Second brother, third brother," Zhu Ruoji greeted him happily.
"Brother", the two kings had the same joy on their faces and got off their horses.
The three brothers embraced each other enthusiastically and asked each other for warmth and warmth. It was a warm scene of brothers and sisters respecting each other.
In the Changchun Palace, Zhu Hengjia received a secret report from the Jinyi Guards and learned that the three brothers were friendly and harmonious. He was greatly relieved. His character was split and contradictory. On the one hand, as an emperor, he deliberately used his second son and third son to check and balance his eldest son.
Provoke competition among brothers to stabilize his throne; on the other hand, as a father, he does not want to see his sons kill each other and cause a tragedy like the Xuanwu Gate.
This is actually a delusion. In the face of absolute power, family love pales pitifully. The more saintly the king is, the more reluctant he is to delegate power in advance, which leads to constant tragedies in the royal family. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty deposed the crown prince Yang Yong, and Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty had the Xuanwu Sect incident.
Emperor Taizong was involved in the rebellion of Prince Li Chengqian, and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty executed his three sons??
Although Emperor Guangwu thought he was talented and capable of handling internal conflicts within the royal family and would not follow in the footsteps of previous emperors, in fact, his level was not necessarily better than that of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. The conflict between the Crown Prince and King Ji became more and more serious.
He slept on top of the volcano without knowing it.
The stove was lit in the Changchun Palace, and it was as warm as spring. Zhu Hengjia happily sipped the fragrant tea brewed by Huang Guifei herself, and praised: "Wan'er's tea skills are getting better and better, and the tea soup she brews is more fragrant than usual.
It tastes better.
Huang Wanran smiled and said, "In my opinion, it's not that my tea-making skills have improved, but that Your Majesty is in a good mood, so you feel that today's tea soup tastes better than usual."
After saying that, he left his seat and saluted, "I congratulate Your Majesty on your great victory in northern Xinjiang and on taking over thousands of miles of Siberia. This is an achievement that has never been achieved by China since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors!"
"My dear concubine congratulates me. The contribution to the expansion of the land is not mine alone, but also belongs to my dear concubine and all the subjects of the Ming Dynasty." Zhu Hengjia's old face was so happy that he was praised by his beloved woman.
"Your Majesty's longevity is approaching, and I have prepared a gift to express my feelings." Huang Guifei asked someone to bring a roll of paper and spread it out. It was densely packed with the word "longevity" written on it. "This picture of longevity is on the
The word "longevity" in "Shou" was written by me myself. I wish your majesty to be as blessed as the East China Sea and live as long as the Southern Mountains."
"Okay, okay, my beloved concubine is interested, and I like it very much. But I have already strictly ordered that the Longevity Festival can be celebrated simply in the palace. My beloved concubine should not make any big announcements, so as not to disturb the people."
It’s hard to say when the trend of birthday celebrations started. Anyway, this word appears frequently in bronze inscriptions, which shows that this trend has been around in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. China governs the world with filial piety, so the birthdays of the emperors, who are the "parents of the people", are
All dynasties have attached great importance to it. In the later Jin Dynasty, it was called the Qisheng Festival; in the later Han Dynasty, it was called the Jiaqing Festival; in the later Zhou Dynasty, it was called the Tianqing Festival; in the Tang Dynasty, it was called the Qianqiu Festival, etc.; in the Song Dynasty, it was called the Changchun Festival, and in the Yuan Dynasty, it was called the Holy Festival... Especially in the Tang Dynasty, almost every emperor's festival
The names of birthday festivals are all different.
Before Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, there was no ceremony to celebrate the emperor's birthday in the palace. Prime Minister Zhang flattered Xuanzong and said: "Shaohao feels like a flowing rainbow and talks about Tangben's Xuanniao's fate. Your Majesty, the two qi merge with the gods, and the nine dragons bathe in the holy month.
But during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the day falls on the Dragon Boat Festival. On a night when the stars are gone, when the auspicious light shines on the room, please think of it as the Qianqiu Festival??" Xuanzong was so flattered that he happily wrote an edict: "On my birthday, please do me a favor.
On the day of the order, it is a good thing to present your name and honor yourself to the past. According to your invitation, I will declare it to you."
From then on, the emperor's birthday has become a festival for people all over the world. Regardless of whether you are happy or not, I say that the whole world celebrates it, who dares not to celebrate it?
In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's birthday was called the Wanshou Festival.
Zhu Hengjia said that a small celebration is enough, don’t make a big deal out of it. This is true. We have just fought against the Rakshasa people and the national treasury is empty, so we must live a tight life. Well, life is tight, so let’s allocate one hundred thousand taels of silver to celebrate the birthday.
p>
The emperor didn't want to make a big deal, but he couldn't stand the flattery of his subordinates. The banquet had just been held in the palace for King Ji, King Yu and all the generals under his command, and everyone in the court focused on celebrating the emperor's birthday.
Officials from the highest level to the fifth-rank officials presented various gifts to the emperor. Even the vassal states, Korea, Annan, etc., and even the Punt Kingdom as far away as Africa also sent envoys to send congratulatory gifts.
The emperor's birthday finally arrived. The old emperor accepted the congratulations and gifts from the princes and officials in his palace, and then held a banquet for the officials in Ziguang Pavilion, where they enjoyed singing and dancing, eating and drinking.
It was also decreed that the whole country would have a three-day holiday, and "the government and the public would rejoice together." During the festival, slaughtering was prohibited and no criminal charges would be imposed.
On this day, craftsmen in the capital decorated the main streets with colorful paintings, cloth, etc., and there was singing and dancing everywhere. Civil and military officials from all over the country set up incense tables and paid great tributes in the direction of the capital.
Don’t underestimate the Wanshou Festival. In this era, the feudal emperor is the sky. The emperor’s birthday, New Year’s Day and Winter Solstice are also known as the three major festivals.
In later generations, a democratic fighter nicknamed "Yang Yang Da Ming" wrote poems to satirize the old emperor for ignoring the empty treasury and organizing the "Wanshou Festival" in a lavish way:
"Wanshou Festival"
The Purple Light Terrace,
Jinling Huangqi wine is fragrant.
Celebrating longevity every year,
Every household has no money left.
Fortunately, this person was born more than two hundred years late and was not born in the dark and dark era of the Guangwu dictatorship. Otherwise, he would have been stabbed!
After the banquet with the ministers at the Purple Light Platform, Zhu Hengjia was not drunk at all. He ordered people to bring the gift lists from the vassal states and officials of the third rank and above. He really didn't have time to look at the gifts given by other minor officials, so he directly asked the ambassador from the inner transport treasury to count them.
Library.
"Well, the King of Korea is nice. He sent ten thousand-year-old wild ginseng trees. This stuff is good and replenishes Qi," the old emperor said to himself.
"King Bont is not bad either. He sent two Pegasus (zebras). Well, they can be kept in the royal garden, which is also a pleasure."
"Guan Shouzhen was determined and found a huge Shoushan stone."
"Sun Jinding is loyal to me. I heard that he frugally grew cabbage in the yard, so he gave me a priceless jade!"
"Oh, this is Chen Bangyan's gift list. I haven't seen him for a long time. Let's take a look and see what treasures he has brought for me." The old emperor opened Chen Bangyan's gift list with a smile.
This chapter has been completed!