She really wanted to discuss it with Concubine Yu, but it was definitely not appropriate to go there at this time. She could only wait until tomorrow to find an opportunity. Speaking of which, it would be much more convenient to go to Concubine Yu's place when she docked and checked into the palace tomorrow.
Just as Wei Jingxuan said, in the afternoon of the next day, the boat sailed to Yangzhou waters. This place was already in the center of Jiangnan and was much more prosperous than the places they saw along the way.
Before the boat docked, you could see a large crowd of people gathered on the pier. The man at the head, wearing a prefecture official uniform, was looking anxiously. When he saw the back of the boat, he waved to the back.
, and immediately music started playing.
Mrs. Huang saw this scene in front of the boat rail and chuckled: "I don't know how long the Yangzhou magistrate has been waiting here before he can greet the boat in such a timely manner."
Xianyue, who was standing next to her, chuckled and said, "I guess I was waiting at the dock before dawn."
Huang smiled and said: "After so many days on the boat, we can finally go ashore. I have never been on a boat for so long in my life. In the past, it only lasted half a day at most."
While they were talking, the boat gradually moved closer to the shore. The royal boat was the first to dock. The guards got off the boat first, holding the hilts of their swords and guarding them closely. Then came the palace servants, who set up the steps to go ashore and held incense burners and palace fans.
, banners are waiting on both sides.
After playing the song three times, Hongli, who was dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe, appeared in everyone's sight, supporting Ling Ruo. Next to them was Mingyu, who was wearing a queen's phoenix robe.
Seeing the three of them, the prefect of Yangzhou excitedly raised his hand to stop the music. Then he stepped forward, clapped his sleeves and knelt down, saying: "The humble minister Yangzhou prefect Zou De led all the officials in Yangzhou to welcome the emperor. May the emperor live forever."
Long live!"
Then he kowtowed to Ling Ruo and Mingyu and said: "I respectfully welcome the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother is here with you. I wish the Queen Mother Phoenix good health, and may the Queen Mother be blessed and safe!"
These words were not spoken by him alone, but by dozens of officials shouting them out in unison and loudly. Not to mention Hongli, even Xianyue and his crew could hear them clearly.
Zhichun pursed her lips and smiled: "No need to ask, I must have practiced beforehand, that's why I spoke so clearly."
Qi Kuan joked: "I don't know how many times they practiced, and whether they practiced together in front of the bronze mirror."
Huang said in a funny tone: "You two are so talkative. It wouldn't be surprising even if Zou De and the others actually practiced in advance. For such a big event as the Emperor's southern tour, of course we must prepare carefully to avoid any mistakes."
Zhichun and the two laughed and said nothing. On the other side, Hongli had already helped Lingruo get off the boat, and Chongde said respectfully: "The emperor and the queen mother have worked hard all the way, why don't we let you and the ladies go to the palace to rest?"
Hongli was in good spirits, but he saw a hint of tiredness lingering between Ling Ruo's eyebrows, so he said, "Okay, let's go to the palace first."
After them, Xiayue, Huang, Yufei and others got off the boat one after another and followed everyone to the palace. On the way to the palace, the Yamen stood along the way and blocked the people on both sides until Hongli and his party came over.
At this moment, everyone knelt down and saluted, and the mountains shouted long live. It was so spectacular.
Since the palace was still some distance away, he took a horse-drawn carriage instead. After traveling for dozens of miles, there was no trace of dust in sight, and he could faintly smell the fragrance. Xia Yue knew that it must be Zou De who ordered someone to sweep the water early in the morning.
The reason for cleaning the streets and burning incense shows that in order to welcome Hongli's southern tour, he really made a lot of efforts.
After getting off the carriage, what came into view was a palace with three courtyards and nine entrances. It was originally a Dragon King Temple. It was converted into a temporary palace in the 23rd year of Kangxi's reign, and was expanded several times to reach its current scale.
After Hongli entered the palace and settled down, Chongde once again led the officials to salute, and then left. Hongli personally helped Lingruo to the main courtyard of the East Palace, where there were cypress, persimmon, tung, chun, and locust trees.
, Yang Liushu, taking "one hundred cities have the same spring"
, meaning "to cherish Yang forever"; in addition, there is also the attached Dongkuoyuan, which has pavilions, pavilions, small bridges and flowing water. In addition to the common peonies and peonies, there are also many exotic flowers and herbs.
It's so beautiful that even Hongli couldn't recognize some of it.
Hongli saw it in his eyes and said with satisfaction: "I remember that when the emperor's grandfather was alive, he once told me about the palace here. When the emperor's grandfather came, the palace was not as good as it is now." After a pause, he said
He added: "This place is so quiet and elegant, it is suitable for the emperor's mother to rest. It seems that this evil spirit has put a lot of thought into it."
Ling Ruoxiao smiled and said nothing. After entering the main hall, she said, "Emperor, do you think what Chou De did was good or bad?"
Hongli was startled and said: "He thinks everything carefully and manages the palace so well. It is naturally very good. Is there anything dissatisfied with the emperor?"
Ling Ruo shook his head and said: "It's not that I'm not dissatisfied, but that I'm too satisfied."
Hongli thought for a moment, but still couldn't understand what she said, so he had to say: "I forgive my son for not understanding what the emperor meant."
Ling Ruo glanced at him and said: "Before the emperor's trip, he sent an edict to warn the place: to avoid glitz; to always think about the difficulty of material resources, and to abstain from extravagance in everything; to please the emperor, to please the emperor, mobilize troops and sweep away the water.
Even incense was burned in the streets, the palaces were renovated in every possible way, and countless exotic flowers and plants were brought in. What is this if not glitz and luxury?"
When Hongli heard this, he said with some embarrassment: "Perhaps the palace has been repaired long ago, and Chou De just took care of it a little."
Ling Ruo shook his head and said: "The late emperor has been in power for thirteen years and has never visited the south. The palace is vacant, so how can he repair it? I think he knew about the emperor's tour to the south this time, so he made a lot of repairs. Look at this pillar, the color of the paint is like this
Bright, clearly painted with new paint
." She glanced at Hongli meaningfully and said: "Emperor, the late emperor didn't like waste and luxury the most when he was alive. He didn't want to waste even a grain of rice on his daily meals, because he knew that these were the sweat of the people.
Sown with hard work."
Hongli was silent for a while and said: "It doesn't matter if my son lives in an ordinary place, but the emperor's mother..."
"The Aijia knows that you have filial piety. The Aijia is not a person who has never endured hardship. Today, this day is already the best of blessings for the Aijia, so there is no need to do anything else. Do you understand? In addition, the reason for your southern tour is
We care about the sufferings of the people and respect the officials in various places. They must not go around and enjoy themselves. This is the case for you and the same is true for the Ai family. Otherwise, your emperor, Ama, has a spirit in heaven and will definitely be unwilling to do so."
Hongli said guiltily: "Yes, my son understands that he will severely reprimand his evil deeds and order local officials in the future not to mobilize troops and mobilize people to waste money and people."
"It's good that the emperor understands." Ling Ruo took the tea from Shui Xiu and said, "By the way, what happened to the emperor and the queen?"
Hongli's face froze, and then he said: "My son and the queen are very good, why does the emperor ask like this?"
"The Ai family heard that there was a dispute in the Queen's residence last night. Today the Queen's eyes were red and swollen. When she looked at the Emperor, she was a little scared, but there was a dispute."