Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 221 Winter Solstice Dynasty
The etiquette department has been very busy recently, very busy.

For other yamen, the closer the New Year's Eve is, the more leisurely they are.

Before the new year, the imperial court will hold a grand court meeting as usual, that is, the winter solstice court.

This is one of the grandest ceremonies of the imperial court in a year.

There are only three big court meetings like this one a year.

Winter Solstice, Zhengdan, and the Longevity Festival of the Son of Heaven.

It is said that it is a court meeting, but it is actually more similar to a festival celebration, singing praises, and the symbolic meaning is greater than the actual meaning.

But the process is quite cumbersome.

In the early morning, civil and military officials in Beijing, under the guidance of the crown prince, set up a court ceremony outside the Fengtian Hall to celebrate the winter solstice festival of the emperor.

The main content of Chaoyi is to perform the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven.

At the same time, among the imperial harem, even those women of high rank in Beijing must enter the Kunning Palace to pay homage to the queen.

As for the officials of civil and military yamen 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 residences.

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 the third rank and above and the crown prince must accompany the emperor into the Fengxian Hall to worship the ancestors of the past dynasties.

This process will basically take a whole day.

It can be said that the Winter Solstice Dynasty is the most complicated etiquette among the three great court meetings.

As the most important ceremony of the imperial court, the Ministry of Rites must ensure that no slightest mistake can be made.

From finalizing the process, registering and registering the ceremony, to assigning etiquette officers to each household, to teach the etiquette process, and then to the etiquette guidance and impeachment at the court meeting, the etiquette department is very busy.

But fortunately, because the emperor's edict was late, most of the clans were still on their way and did not enter Beijing.

Otherwise, the rituals of the clan would have to be mixed in, and the Ministry of Rites really couldn't handle it no matter what.

Of course, the good news is that after the winter solstice, all the yamen of the imperial court can take a collective rest for three days without having to work.

This winter solstice dynasty is the new emperor's first grand dynasty, and the Ministry of Rites is very dedicated to it.

Under the warm rising sun, on the square in front of Fengtian Hall, countless officials stood neatly.

As the emperor put the sandalwood in his hand into the incense burner in front of him, all the officials saluted in unison under the guidance of the officials.

"Your Majesty's ten thousand years, the society's ten thousand years!"

The sound shook the sky, the reverberation echoed around the beam, and the momentum was extremely magnificent.

However, the fly in the ointment is that the crown prince is still too young to participate in such a major ceremony.

Therefore, the work of leading hundreds of officials to congratulate is still done by the heavenly officials.

Since that court meeting, everyone has known in their hearts that it will be a matter of time before the heavenly officials retire and return home.

But what makes people feel strange is that after the Tianguan's second official letter was rejected, the emperor personally sent Zhongguan to condolences.

Then, there is no more text!
The emperor did not mention this matter again, and the old heaven official did not continue to report.

Although, as we all know, this official letter has been submitted twice, and there is basically no possibility of turning back.

But it's just one step short, and it's stuck here.

If other officials did this, they would have been discussed by the Shilin government and the public for a long time, as a hypocritical villain who loves power and position.

But after all, the heavenly official is highly respected, and if he doesn't continue to deliver the memorial, no one can do anything to him.

So dragging and dragging, it's the winter solstice festival.

The sky was about to get dark, and the whole day's court ceremony finally came to an end, and the officials left the palace gate in twos and threes, and went back 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 Gaogu.

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, it has been less than half a month since Mr. Shoufu took office.

Although his qualifications are not comparable to Gao Gu and Chen Xun in the cabinet, but when it comes to doing things, he is no worse than them.

As soon as he took office, he unceremoniously grasped the power of ticket drafting firmly in his hands.

The memorials sent to the cabinet by the Secretary of General Affairs are usually distributed randomly.

But since Wang Ao arrived, the General Secretary will send the memorials to him first, and the Zhongshu Sheren under him will distribute them.

The memorials related to major military and state affairs would not be sent to the palace until he had drafted a countersignature in person.

Such a strong style naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of Chen Xun and Gao Gu.

Therefore, after Wang Ao's arrival, the faint rift between the two seemed to disappear, and the old friendship resumed.

At this moment, the sky has been slightly darkened. In the winter sky, the days are short and the nights are long.

Although it's not time to go to the Yamen, today is the winter solstice, everyone has been busy all day, and tomorrow is rest, so there is no time for this.

The two came to Wang Ao's public room, and saw that the newly appointed Chief Assistant had already lit a candle and studied a memorial.

Chen Xun arched his hands and said.

"Shoufu really works hard. Today is the Winter Solstice Festival. Since the first assistant took office, we have not had time to welcome the first assistant. Tomorrow is the time to rest and take a bath. The old man prepares a little wine in the mansion. The old man and the world use the same first assistant. How about getting drunk together?"

Among the three members of the cabinet, Wang Ao is about the same age as Chen Xun. Chen Xun is 64 this year, and Wang Ao is 63 this year.

As for Gaogu, it is slightly smaller, 58 this year.

But coincidentally, all three of them were born as Jinshi in Yongle for 13 years.

From this point of view, they are barely the same year.

Wang Ao raised his head from the case, with a smile on his majestic face, he stood up and cupped his hands, saying.

"Brother Chen, you are being polite. Since you are willing to invite me, how dare you refuse?"

Compared with his strength in handling government affairs, Wang Ao's behavior in the cabinet is very low-key and polite, and he never puts on the airs of the chief assistant.

Of course, this was largely due to the fact that although the three of them came from the same discipline, Chen Xun was No. 1, the so-called No. [-] scholar.

Among scholars, especially in private communication, this is still very important.

In comparison, although Wang Ao also achieved excellent results, he was only No.1 in the second class.

Because of this, after Chen Xun's mid-term examination, he was admitted to the Hanlin Academy and was awarded the editorship of the Hanlin Academy, while Wang Ao was awarded the Ministry of Officials, and circulated in the science and education.

In this sense, in fact, his entry into the cabinet also broke the practice of the previous cabinet ministers, most of whom were selected from the Imperial Academy.

So, Wang Ao tidied up a bit, locked the public house, and three people including Chen Xun rode sedan chairs to Chen Xun's mansion.

As Chen Xun said, a banquet has already been set up in his mansion, and they are waiting for their guests of honor to arrive.

However, what surprised Wang Ao was that.

This banquet was not a small banquet for a few people as he had imagined, but a large-scale banquet.

When they arrived, there were already many people waiting in the hall.

After a quick glance, Wang Ao recognized several familiar faces.

Among them, most of them are lecturers of the Hanlin Academy, some of them are scientific officials, and a few are ministers.

All together, there are about a dozen of them.

Although they were all officials, none of them wore 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 didn't respond, so he knew about it, and the two of them passed their breath in advance.

Seeing them coming, the officials who were originally gathered in twos and threes stepped forward one after another, bowed their hands in salute, and said.

"I've seen the first assistant, the second assistant, and the elder Gaoge."

Wang Ao looked intently, and then he saw clearly that the leader among the dozen or so people was not a small person.

It was Wang Yining, Minister of Rites, and Jiang Yuan, Minister of Punishment.

(End of this chapter)