On August 15th, the full moon was supposed to be in the sky, and the sweet osmanthus was fragrant.
After nightfall, a red full moon quietly hung at Donghua Gate.
However, on the platform of Fengtian Hall, there was no scent of osmanthus, but a suffocating stench.
"What does it smell like?" the uninformed guest asked in a low voice.
"It's like that stench." Those who have been on the battlefield are more familiar with it. It's like the smell of the dead. But people who are celebrating a big holiday avoid saying it openly.
"Prime Minister, have you seen the secret?" Wu Liang asked Li Shanchang, who was sitting on the left, in a low voice.
"What can't you see about this? It's smelly and bitter." Li Shanchang sat upright and said softly: "And the music played here is not palace Shao music, but the Northern Song "Sheep on the Hillside"."
"Slope sheep?" Wu Liangmeng said.
Although Zhonglu's "Sheep on the Mountain" had many lyrics written by famous writers, Li Shanchang knew very well that the superiors must only know the song "Tong Guan Gu Gu"——
"The peaks and mountains are like clusters, the waves are like angry waves, and the mountains and rivers are like Tongguan Road inside and outside." He then hummed along with the music:
"Looking at the Western Capital, I feel hesitant. I am sad. Wherever the Qin and Han Dynasties passed, thousands of palaces and palaces have been turned to earth. When they prosper, the people suffer; when they die, the people suffer..."
After hearing this, Wu Liang whispered uneasily: "Singing this in front of the newly built Fengtian Temple seems unlucky, doesn't it?"
"Who says it's not?" Li Shanchang said with an indifferent smile.
He knows that the superior is very unhappy, so he should let the superior express his feelings as soon as possible.
After he has finished his work and calmed down, everyone will persuade him to move into this 'Palace of Ten Thousand Rooms' as soon as possible.
At this time, the palace servants poured wine for the guests. Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the golden cup and said, "Come on, let's drink this cup together first."
"Yes." All the guests quickly stood up with wine cups in hand and followed the emperor to drink up the wine in one gulp.
The next moment, everyone's expressions changed drastically, and they were miserable.
"Ahem, why is this wine so bitter?" The guests covered their faces with their sleeves and whispered:
"Even wine is bitter, and I'm really going to suffer through it all tonight..."
"How is it?" Zhu Yuanzhang showed the bottom of the cup and said calmly: "Isn't this gall wine bitter?"
"Haha, it's bitter..." The ministers laughed, thinking to themselves, wouldn't the superior pierce the snake's gallbladder and use the bile to drink in the bar?
"Although it is bitter, there are many benefits." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "Everyone has lived a good life for so long that they have forgotten what bitterness feels like. Today we are setting up this banquet to remember bitterness, just to let everyone remember it.
Let’s take a look at the hard days of the past.”
As he spoke, he picked up a chopstick and said, "What are you doing standing there in a daze? Eat vegetables, eat vegetables!"
"Hey, thank you, Your Majesty..." The ministers had no choice but to endure the hardship. In the suffocating stench, they ate a bitter banquet that was hard to swallow and drank a bitter wine that was unspeakably bitter.
But the show has not yet begun. Zhu Yuanzhang took a few bites of the food and said, "How can there be no singing and dancing for such a wonderful banquet?"
As he spoke, he raised his glass to the fellow villagers who went to the capital to celebrate the New Year and said: "You sang Fengyang Huagu for us in front of Fengtian Hall in Nanjing during the New Year. The flower drum lyrics were good. We remember the applause from all over the country, right?"
"It's all the wrong love between the emperor and the elders." The fellow villagers also felt fear, wishing that they had the skills of King Wu, how could they dare to sell melons to the king's mother-in-law?
"Hey, it's good. By the way, how do you sing those words?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked with great interest: "Chen Sandi, you were the lead singer at that time, right? Come on, let's sing it again."
"Yes, that villain has made a fool of himself." Chen Sandi, who was the lead singer at the time, was Zhu Yuanzhang's mother's cousin. Hearing this, he had to stand up and clear his throat.
"Sing it seriously. Come on, give him a flower drum, stand in the middle and sing." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.
"Yes." Chen Sandi responded, took the flower drum, walked to the carpet in front of the emperor, beat the drum and sang:
"Speak of Fengyang, talk about Fengyang, and beat the flower drum with your hands. Fengyang is really a good place. The red dragon rises to the sky and the golden phoenix flies. Count how many stars in the sky, how many generals are dotting Fengyang.
"Speaking of Fengyang and talking about Fengyang, the flower drums are beating with hands. Fengyang is really a good place. The emperor's favor is great in all seasons. If you don't do the corvee and don't pay for food, both sides of the Huaihe River are filled with joy..."
"Okay!" After singing, Zhu Yuanzhang took the lead in cheering, and his ministers also cheered.
"It's a great singing. It's so beautiful in my heart that I'm almost drunk." Zhu Yuanzhang raised his glass and said with a smile, "I have to drink a glass of bitter wine quickly to wake up."
The ministers quickly raised their glasses to accompany him, and the palace servant also brought a glass to Brother Chen San.
After drinking the cup together, Brother Chen San was about to thank him and return to the table, but Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Wait a minute. We also heard a version of "Flower Drum Ci" and asked people to sing it. Let's compare which one is better. Let's go
Whichever one you sing next.”
As the ministers responded in harmony, the emperor clapped his hands, and a woman holding a small flower drum came onto the stage. After bowing to the emperor, she stood facing everyone.
"Do you understand the rules? How dare you point your butt at the emperor?" an old man yelled.
"It doesn't matter, this is sung for you." Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand indifferently.
The woman then played the flower drum and sang:
"Speaking of Fengyang, Dao Fengyang, Fengyang is a good place. Since Emperor Zhu came out, there has been a drought of nine to ten years.
Three years of drought were followed by three years of floods, and rice was as valuable as pearls. Every family ran out of food. The founding heroes openly grabbed it and worked hard to build the country.
"Rich people sold their mules and horses, poor people sold their sons and sons, and the common people suffered.
Our family has no sons to sell, so we work as cows and horses as long laborers..."
Her voice is slightly hoarse, as if it has just been burned by fire, but it fits the sadness and resentment of the lyrics...
~~
After the woman finished singing, there was a dead silence in front of Fengtian Hall.
Chen Sandi was sweating profusely, and the members of the flower and drum troupe who entered Beijing were also shaken.
All the ministers also changed their expressions, but Li Shanchang was the only one who was still there.
"Come on, let's judge, which one is better, the flower drum poem in front of the Jinluan Hall in Nanjing, or the one in front of the Jinluan Hall in Zhongdu?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
"..." After a moment of silence, someone finally had the courage to stand up and said: "Sir, these two paragraphs are completely incomparable! The second paragraph is completely treasonous and fabricated to smear the superior and our hometown!"
"That is, 'Fengyang is a good place' and 'Since something happened, there have been nine droughts out of ten years'. We dare not repeat it..." Someone took the lead, and the others also agreed:
"Your Majesty, don't listen to her evil words to confuse the public. She must be an evildoer from the Ming Cult!"
"Kill her! Ban this Huagu Ci..."
The shouts quickly died down, because Zhu Yuanzhang's face had become terrifyingly gloomy.
"Which part of Huagu Ci is true and which part is false?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked quietly, and then raised his voice and said: "Han Yike, come and tell them!"
"Yes!" Han Yike came up from His Majesty Dan, holding a thick book in his hand.
"Your Majesty, I patrolled the Yamen and released complaints for ten days. A total of 23,127 complaints were received!" Han Yike raised the booklet in his hands and said loudly:
“Among them, 17,000 lawsuits were filed against local households for occupying people’s land, forcing people into slavery, extorting money, and making false accusations!
"Seventeen thousand three hundred cases were filed against Fengyang County. Fengyang Prefecture was corrupt and perverted the law, shielded the powerful, sentenced without trial, and wasted no time on human life!
"Nineteen thousand three hundred cases were filed against the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in China for extorting donations and apportionment, raping civilians, abusing workers, and disregarding human life..."
ps. I really didn’t have the energy to write last night. I got up at 5:30 this morning and finished writing this chapter, but I haven’t finished writing the rest yet. I’ll hurry up.
