September 18th is the Tianshou Holy Festival, which is also Boss Zhu’s birthday.
In the Ming Dynasty, this was one of the three most important festivals of the year. The other two are Zhengdan and Winter Solstice. Zhengdan is the Spring Festival. Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, and the days will get longer and longer in the future. So.
It is regarded as an important day when "Yang Qi rises and the ruler becomes a leader", and it has been highly valued since the Han Dynasty.
These three days are also legal holidays in the Ming Dynasty. Officials of the Hongwu Dynasty can take one day off in each of these three festivals, so they are all eagerly looking forward to the holiday... Bah, no, it is to celebrate the longevity of Emperor Hongwu!
In fact, this Holy Birthday Festival did not exist from the beginning. Not to mention before the founding of the People's Republic of China, even in the first year of Hongwu, Boss Zhu was too busy to care about his own birthday.
It was not until the second year of Hongwu that Boss Zhu started celebrating his birthday. But at that time, it was still called "Christmas Day" and was not designated as an official holiday.
It was not until the third year of Hongwu that, at Li Shanchang's suggestion, Boss Zhu's birthday was officially designated as the 'Tianshou Holy Festival', a nationwide holiday, and various activities were held to celebrate the emperor's birthday.
On the Tianshou Holy Festival, slaughtering and funerals are prohibited nationwide; the government ignores criminal names for several days; civil and military officials must wear court uniforms according to regulations; incense tables must be set up in government offices everywhere, and local officials will lead the gentry and common people toward the capital.
Big gift.
The city of Nanjing was even more lively. Yingtian Mansion and Liangfu Guo County put up lanterns and streamers, organized folk song and dance performances, and led the people to play music and music outside Hongwu Gate to celebrate the emperor's birthday.
This year's celebration was much grander than in previous years because just last month, the emperor gave up on moving the capital and decided not to leave.
This is bad news for the people of Zhongdu City, but it is great news for the people of Nanjing City.
In order to celebrate Boss Zhu's wise decision and make Boss Zhu believe that he made the right choice, Nanjing's craftsmen used colorful paintings to decorate several major streets in the capital, as well as the banks of the Qinhuai River, with colorful flowers. The people also spontaneously
They took to the streets to celebrate, singing and dancing everywhere, and shouts of 'Holy longevity has no boundaries' and 'Long live Nanjing' came and went, hoping to convey their feelings to Boss Zhu.
Inside the palace, there were also lights and colorful decorations everywhere, making the festival lively and lively.
On this day, all of Boss Zhu’s tacky rules can be temporarily relaxed.
Those low-level little fire maids can wear their favorite clothes regardless of the regulations. They can also wear Fang Sheng gourds with various glyph patterns on their bodies.
In addition, if you can have two good meals at noon and evening, you will also be rewarded by the emperor.
And you will definitely not be reprimanded today. No matter how bad-looking the ladies are on weekdays, you have to control your temper and smile today. Otherwise, are you dissatisfied with the emperor?
~~
As the longevity minister, the emperor is of course the focus today.
So when he got up in the morning, Ma Niangniang cooked longevity noodles with her own hands and poached two eggs for him.
"This bowl of noodles is exactly the same every year." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed as he looked at the noodle bowl.
"What, are you tired of eating?" Queen Ma asked.
"How is this possible? We are just sighing." Zhu Yuanzhang quickly picked up the bowl and ate the noodles and said, "We wish we could eat it every year until we reach ninety-nine!"
Three times five times divided by two, a bowl of longevity noodles is so dry that no soup is left.
He then put down the bowl, held Ma Niangniang's hand and said: "After our parents died, we didn't celebrate birthdays, but I got married to you, my sister, and now someone celebrates my birthday again. So I order you,
You have to live a good life, if you dare to go ahead of us, we will do nothing!"
"It's my birthday, let me say something auspicious." Madam Ma sheepishly took out her hand, and there was a palace maid waiting on her side.
She took the Wusha Yi Shan crown and placed it on Zhu Yuanzhang's head, saying, "Who are you ordering?"
"No, no, I was wrong. I am begging you." Zhu Yuanzhang held his hat in his hand, stood up and took Queen Ma's hand: "Come on, mother-in-law, accompany us to the court."
~~
Boss Zhu and his wife went to the Fengtian Palace together and accepted the congratulations and gifts from the princes, officials and envoys from all over the world.
Regardless of whether you are an adult or a child, whether you are an emperor or a beggar, you are all very happy to receive gifts, and someone like Boss Zhu who has suffered a lot since childhood is no exception.
However, giving him a gift is particularly troublesome. Gifts that are too expensive will be scolded as too extravagant, and people may even check your financial resources.
But if you give a gift that is too ordinary and the emperor doesn't say anything, he will inevitably feel that you don't care, can't do things, and even deliberately criticize him. With Boss Zhu's unyielding temper, he will definitely have to wear small shoes in the future.
Even his sons have big heads and are not good at giving gifts. Although they will not wear small shoes, they will still be penalized, and they will be beaten later because they step left foot first when entering the door.
Therefore, the princes and ministers have spent a lot of time preparing gifts for Boss Zhu. On the Holy Birthday Festival, they brought carefully selected gifts with trepidation and accepted Boss Zhu's criticism.
After congratulating the emperor on having this day every year and having this day every year, it’s time to give birthday gifts that everyone loves to see.
The first person to appear was His Highness the Crown Prince. Of course, the Crown Prince had no pressure at all. Even if he gave Old Zhu a shit, Boss Zhu, who preferred to visit his grandma's house, would always look intoxicated and say how delicious it was.
The birthday gift prepared by Zhu Biao was a copy of the "Book of Filial Piety" that he personally copied.
Zhu Yuanzhang took it from the prince, and he was really happy. He looked through the prince's Liu Kai, which had smooth and straight hands and strong bones, as if he had found a treasure, and praised it profusely:
"If you want to ask who understands us best? It must be the prince. Last night, we had a dream. I dreamed that my parents celebrated my birthday just like they did when I was a child. My father praised me and said, 'Chongba!
You have done a good job and brought glory to our old Zhu family.'
"We are also very happy and say, 'Mom and dad, just follow your son and enjoy the blessings.'" Boss Zhu said, wiping the corners of his eyes and making a nasal sound.
"It's a pity that when I woke up, I remembered that they have been gone for thirty-two years. So, those of you who still have parents must seize the time to respect them. Don't be like us, who want to support your children but don't wait for them. Oh, it's really
It’s a pity…”
"Yes, I will obey the Holy Instructions." The princes and ministers hurriedly responded in unison.
But when several princes heard this, they always thought it was strange.
"Okay. Don't cry for this special occasion. Your parents-in-law and mother-in-law must also want you to have a happy birthday." Queen Ma on the side gave Zhu Yuanzhang a few words of advice, and then asked King Qin: "Second brother, what gifts have you prepared?
"
"Son, I have prepared a... nice one for my father." Zhu Xi has been scurrying around in the military camp for a while. He just returned home after fishing it out yesterday. Even the birthday gift was prepared for him by Lao Liu.
When the gift box was presented, Zhu Yuanzhang opened it and saw that it was a brass tube.
"What is this? A weapon?" Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the copper pipe and looked up and down.
"Father, be careful, this thing will make you have dark circles under your eyes!" Lao Qi was shocked when he saw it.
ps. I did fall asleep last night, haha, look, this is called self-knowledge (embarrassing)
