I want to be emperor

856 Tradition
The Xiannongtan in Jinling City of the Great Chu Empire is located in the southern suburbs. This place was originally the Xiannongtan in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, built the Xiannongtan here and held a plowing ceremony here.

Later, Zhu Yunqi and Zhu Di both performed the emperor's personal cultivation ceremony in this Xiannongtan, until Zhu Di officially moved the capital to Youzhou City.

However, after more than 100 years of desertion, this place has long since disappeared.

After the Great Chu Empire established Jinling City as the capital, in the first year, due to time constraints, they only repaired the dilapidated buildings before, and waited until the second year to completely overthrow it and start over, designing and building a brand new Xiannongtan.

The building structure has changed from a civil structure to a brick and tile structure. At the same time, many ancillary buildings have been built, such as the hall for the emperor to change clothes and rest, and the hall for a group of ministers to change clothes and rest. The main hall for planting farm tools and so on.

The reason why there are so many buildings, and the purpose is not only to serve the emperor, but also serve the ministers, is because the emperor's plowing ceremony is not just the emperor himself farming...in fact, the emperor brought a vote The ministers farm together.

The number of participants reached as many as dozens... This is not a certain level, not even the top qualifications, let alone farming with the emperor.

The emperor's plowing ceremony, which began in many feudal dynasties in the past and continues until now, has evolved into a very important political ceremony.

At present, the emperor's personal plowing ceremony in the Great Chu Empire is as important as the annual Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival state banquet. They are all very rare. The important ceremony held by hundreds of officials not only involves farming, but also includes a series of sacrificial activities.

The overall scene is very serious and symbolically significant.

The Son of Heaven’s personal farming reflects the great Chu Empire’s emphasis on agriculture and people’s livelihood... because other things can be done without, but people can’t live without food. From this we can see the importance of agriculture and mulberry affairs.

In the Great Chu Empire, it seems that a lot of industry and commerce have been engaged in, but in fact, the Great Chu Empire attaches great importance to a series of primary industries such as agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishery, far exceeding the traditional feudal dynasties!
You can even simply think that the ultimate goal of the series of external expansion actions of the Great Chu Empire is to obtain land and then more food.

This is also the reason why the Great Chu Empire's series of behaviors during its external expansion were completely different from those of European colonists.

European colonists, their colonial activities are to obtain economic benefits... But the overseas expansion of the Great Chu Empire, there are not so many vain things, it is purely to obtain more food and economic crops, while the economic To some extent, crops can also be regarded as food, because a large number of imported cash crops can make the domestic land grow food instead of cash crops, thereby ensuring domestic food security.

Then there are various water conservancy and flood control irrigation measures that have never been slack in the past 30 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The ultimate goal is to obtain more food... Among them Including the artificial diversion of the Yellow River, a super large project.

Therefore, regardless of the various industries and commerce of the Great Chu Empire, in fact, the most important thing is the primary industry of agriculture and animal husbandry.

After all, gold and silver don't fill your stomach!

The only thing that can fill your stomach is food!

So in overseas trade, even if you make money in the end, a considerable part of the funds are used to import food and various economic crops.

Food and economic crops, but the largest amount of goods imported from overseas by the Great Chu Empire at present, and the proportion is very high.

The Great Chu Empire, which attaches so much importance to food security, naturally also attaches great importance to the political occasion of the emperor's personal farming.

Early in the morning, Luo Zhixue took the crown prince, dozens of important officials of the empire, and more than a hundred high-ranking nobles who were qualified to participate, and set off from Haohao Tangtang in the imperial palace.

Luo Zhixue rode in the imperial golden carriage, and on both sides were dozens of imperial guards belonging to the palace hall riding tall horses like Jinling horses.

These royal guards were all wearing shiny breastplates... sabers, and looked armed... of course, the breastplates they were wearing were just a show... It looked shiny, but it was actually very thin.

Not only them, but also the First Cavalry Regiment of the Guards who acted as guards on the outside and also served as the emperor's honor guard. The half body armor they wore was also just a show...very thin!

The plate armor has gradually withdrawn from the equipment sequence of the regular army of the Chu army, especially after the single-shot breech-loading rifles and breech-loading artillery began to be equipped in batches, the Chu army equipped with new-style breech-loading guns now has no queues. Let's play, let's start playing skirmishers... who would wear heavy armor on the battlefield.

But in ceremonial occasions, the armor still exists, just for the convenience of the soldiers... After all, soldiers need to wear ceremonial armor to stand guard for a long time, so this kind of ceremonial armor was simply created... Say It's armor, not to mention decorations.

Before and after the imperial carriage, there are more than 100 important imperial officials and high-ranking nobles, and they also move forward in four-wheeled carriages.

On the outside, there are a group of mid-level officials and nobles on foot.

Then there is a large number of Guards soldiers who act as guards and guards of honor, including the [-]st Cavalry Regiment and an Infantry Regiment.

The mighty team set off from the imperial palace, and then went all the way to the southern suburb of Xiannongtan.

After arriving at the Xiannong'an, Luo Zhixue went to one of the main halls to rest for a while, and at the same time changed into a formal dress, a dragon robe, and a crown robe that the emperor only wore on important occasions such as sacrifices.

Followed by sacrificial activities!

After the sacrifice, they came to the special land plowed by the Son of Heaven... The land plowed by the Son of Heaven was no more, no less, exactly one-third of an acre.

This piece of land also has a history... It was here that Zhu Yuanzhang cultivated it himself.

Although almost all the buildings in Xiannongtan are newly built, the land has not changed, it is still the same.

After everything was ready, Luo Zhixue started to help the plow. The nine most prominent ministers of the empire, that is, the nine ministers of counselors, performed their respective duties. Some were leading the oxen, some were planting the seeds behind, and some were fertilizing...

At the same time, there were more than 20 co-organizers scattered around the field, pretending to be doing other things!
As for the others... they are all outside the fields. They are not qualified to work with the emperor, so they can only watch from outside.

Plowing by the Son of Heaven is a ceremony, not real farming. After Luo Zhixue helped the plow back and forth three times, he announced the end of the Son of Heaven... The Son of Heaven left first, then the Minister of Counselors left, and the last co-organizer also left!

Of course, after they leave, there will be professional agricultural researchers here to carry out the whole planting, and follow-up fertilization and watering, etc., and in autumn, Luo Zhixue will bring the minister to the autumn harvest... There will be an autumn court meeting.

During the great court meeting in autumn, food will be distributed to the emperor and his courtiers... This food is grown in the three-acre field cultivated by the emperor himself.

After finishing the farming ceremony, Luo Zhixue returned with a group of ministers!
The whole process seems to be quite simple, but in fact, the whole process is very complicated for such a ceremonial occasion, and the time spent before and after is still very long.

By the way, at the same time, Queen Wang also took a group of court wives to the silkworm altar in the northern suburbs to perform sacrifices and silkworm ceremonies, including picking three mulberry leaves... and finally spinning symbolically. However, the spinning machine used is not an ancient spinning machine, but a new hand spinning machine that started the Imperial Industrial Revolution 30 years ago.

In this way, the emperor personally cultivated the southern suburbs, and the empress kissed the silkworms in the northern suburbs. ,
It is an ancient tradition that has lasted for thousands of years in China, and it cannot be exempted from the Great Chu Empire.

After a series of various ceremonies, Luo Zhixue returned to the palace, and summoned the ministers for a small court meeting...and imposed some blockades on those who have made meritorious service in agriculture...Of course, this is also ceremonial, and various rewards , The promotion and so on have been finalized early, and the parties have known about it and made preparations. Today is just a public announcement.

This is to further reflect the emphasis on agriculture.

Similarly, the king and queen in the harem also rewarded some court wives...the court wives they rewarded were actually the wives or mothers of ministers who had made contributions to agricultural affairs in the previous dynasty and received rewards and promotions.

In many respects, the Great Chu Empire is actually very traditional, especially in terms of etiquette, which basically follow tradition.

Even what they say every day is benevolence and filial piety, self-proclaimed to build the country with filial piety, and rule the country with benevolence...

After all, this is related to some philosophical concepts of the distinction between monarchs and ministers. When you deny such things as benevolence and filial piety, you basically deny a whole set of traditional feudal traditions that have been passed down for more than 1000 years.

This is related to the sacred issue of monarchy, not just the issue of benevolence and filial piety.

As a monarchy empire, even though the Great Chu Empire started from bandits, in fact the Great Chu Empire has always cared about these seemingly vain things.

And don't forget to promote it.

It’s just that I don’t know how many people believe it. Anyway, those natives must have different opinions on the benevolence and filial piety of the Great Chu Empire.

----

After the end of the emperor's plowing ceremony, it also means that all parts of China have entered the spring plowing period one after another.

The Great Chu Empire has a vast territory, and the spring plowing period is actually different in each place. For example, in the southern region, it is obvious that the warmer spring comes earlier, and then spring plowing begins.

But in the northern region, the weather will warm up later. For example, if rice is planted in the northeast, the sowing time will be later than in the southern region.

But relatively speaking, most of the hinterland of the empire started planting around February or March.

Therefore, various places will successively hold spring plowing ceremonies organized by the government during this time, and then start spring plowing.

In the Great Chu Empire, not only the emperor personally plowed, but local officials also held spring plowing ceremonies. In addition to the participation of officials, local gentry, celebrities, and old farmers were also invited to participate.

This is also a very old traditional activity.

Even in Songjiang Mansion, which is extremely developed in industry and commerce and has become a standard modern metropolis... the local prefect also held a spring plowing ceremony in the suburbs!
Those who just attended the spring plowing ceremony, except for some officials or business leaders who are related to agriculture, in fact, most of them have nothing to do with agriculture.

For example, Wang Liqing...he was invited to participate in the Spring Plowing Ceremony of Songjiang Prefecture this year.

Feeling the conscience, Wang Liqing himself is engaged in spinning... a serious industrialist, his wife collects rent and runs a restaurant, and the property for rent is not farmland, but a residence or apartment in the city. commercial estate.

To be honest, the Wang family and his wife really have nothing to do with agriculture...

Of course, if you insist on saying that cotton is used for spinning, and cotton is also a crop and belongs to the agricultural category, then Wang Liqing is too lazy to argue with you.

It's a pity that such Wang Liqing was still invited to participate in the spring plowing ceremony.

It's not just him, in fact, most of the people who come here are various dignitaries or business leaders who have nothing to do with agriculture... Nima, even several people from the financial industry came this year.

God knows how these people who play finance are linked to agriculture.

But this is not important, what is important is that the plowing ceremony with the emperor is an important ceremonial occasion in the political arena of the Great Chu Empire, and the spring plowing ceremony here in Songjiang Mansion is also the most solemn political and business conference in Songjiang Mansion in a year!
A group of local senior officials such as the prefect of Songjiang will take this opportunity to gather many entrepreneurs together. In addition to preaching policies and listening to the opinions of entrepreneurs, it is actually more important to give these business leaders a large-scale communication platform to promote various business cooperation.

This can be regarded as the adaptation to local conditions in the spring plowing ceremony in Songjiang Prefecture!

After all, if you really only talk about agriculture, in fact, although there is still agriculture in Songjiang Prefecture, its economic output is far inferior to that of industry and commerce.

After all, Songjiang Prefecture's own agriculture is actually mainly for local consumption, and a large proportion of economic crops are planted.

After all, there is a super metropolis with a population of more than 300 million, which consumes a lot of food, fresh vegetables and fruits every day.

Although food is not considered durable, it will easily become moldy and deteriorate after a few years, but there is absolutely no problem if it is stored for a year or so, so the food can be transferred from the outside, or even purchased from overseas.

But it is difficult for vegetables and fruits, because these things are easy to deteriorate and the storage time is too short.

In the contemporary Great Chu Empire, there is currently no large-scale cheap insurance technology, which has led to the short shelf life of vegetables and fruits. Fortunately, in winter, the weather is cold, which is equivalent to having a natural refrigerator to keep you fresh.

But other times, especially in the summer, it just doesn't work.

But more than 300 million people always want to eat vegetables and fruits, and the consumption power of these cities is very strong. Songjiang Prefecture is not only the first industrial city in the Great Chu Empire, but also the largest consumer city, with more than 300 cities. The population is devouring and consuming massive amounts of supplies all the time.

In order to supply the demand for vegetables and fruits in the urban area, and to further increase the income of farmers in the suburban areas, the farmland in the suburban areas of Songjiang is generally mainly planted with vegetables and fruits, and less food is grown.

Although there are still large tracts of farmland in other places, the overall grain output is quite high... but the economic output is far less than that of industry.

So in Songjiang Mansion, agriculture is just a little brother, and industry and commerce are the big ones.

This has also led to the fact that even in the spring plowing ceremony, where agriculture and mulberry are emphasized, many entrepreneurs who have nothing to do with agriculture come in and participate in the exchange meeting.

Wang Liqing was no exception. He wandered around all day and met many people, especially he was brought to meet the general office of Songjiang Branch of Hantian Machinery Company.

He has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time...but after he was brought up and introduced a few words, he was squeezed out...

Because the surroundings are the same as him, if they want to get to know the big boss and build a relationship, no matter how bad they are, they need to be familiar...

Why?

Because the equipment of Hantian Machinery Company is in high demand, especially their new spinning machine is now a real fragrant bun, the kind that even if you have money, you have to wait in line for three years!

(End of this chapter)