Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1209 Zetian
In the sixth year of Kaiyuan, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Shangyuan night.

Luoyang Ziwei Palace, the main entrance is Tianmen.

As the south gate of Ziwei Palace, Zetianmen is splendid and majestic.

It is a huge concave-shaped building complex composed of a gate tower, Duo tower, Dongxi tower and corridors between them.

Zetian Gate has two directions and three gates, with a total of twelve gates on the east and west sides. This is the highest level of city gate system and the highest ritual system that can only be enjoyed by the emperor.

The city gate is more than forty feet long from east to west, and the gates on both sides are forty feet high (35.3 meters, higher than Tiananmen Square).There are also two views on the door, with Ziwei written on it, the left and right are connected, and the middle is connected by corridors and verandas, just like a castle in the air.

Also known as Wufeng Tower.

This is an important place for the imperial court to hold grand ceremonies such as ascension to the throne, change of Yuan Dynasty, amnesty, banquets, and reception of envoys from all nations.

Today, on the night of the Yuan Dynasty, the emperor will watch Luoyang lanterns here with all the officials and envoys from various countries.

On Zetianmen Square, there will also be performances from various counties. Each county has a parade float, which is very beautifully decorated, and there are lights of various shapes. Kabuki, dancers and music troupes perform on the car. There are bullock carts pulling.They lined up to perform in front of Zetian Gate, and then went out of Tianjin Bridge to perform in a parade of floats throughout the city.

Upstairs are civil and military officials, nobles and envoys, and in the square below the city, in addition to waiting for performers and guards, there are also many lucky people who are selected as representatives of the people. Most of them are active or retired. Soldiers from the Imperial College, Imperial College graduates, Juren who participated in the imperial examinations, teachers from various schools, officials from the capital, and the leaders of the 270 lines in the three cities, etc., in short, they are more or less prominent in one aspect , and someone who is clean and has a certain reputation.

They sat and watched on both sides of the square.

Zetianmen Square is very wide, but the imperial army had already marked out areas with stone powder, each marked.There are regulations on which entrance the performers enter from, which exit to exit from, where to wait, and where to perform.The representatives of the common people all have their own seat number to watch. They have to go through inspection before arriving in Tianjin. They arrive at the square after a series of inspections. Finally, they have to get a number plate.

Once they crossed the line or sat indiscriminately, they would be reprimanded at least, expelled or even beaten with a stick.

In order to ensure safety, all the yamen are going all out. The Luoyang government office and the two counties below, as well as Xuncheng Yushiyuan, Jinwuwei, Jianmenwei, Qianniuwei, etc., canceled all vacations today, and everyone took to the streets .

The convoy lined up to perform from Zetianmen to Tianjin Bridge, with a total of more than 200 floats. However, after rounds of performance competitions, the qualifications for performing in front of Zetianmen were finally determined.

From the first day of the Lunar New Year, every day at dusk, these convoys began to parade and perform in Luoyang City, until finally around [-] lantern cars were selected as representatives of each county.

Tonight, they will perform in front of Zetianmen, and finally the saints will select the top three.

For those who are engaged in singing, dancing and music all over the world, this is their imperial examination.

On the Ziwei Tower of Zetianmen, it was originally a Taoist temple when it was newly built in the Sui Dynasty, but the emperor of this dynasty did not allow monks, temples and Taoist temples to be built in the city, let alone Wufeng Tower.

Today, in the Wufeng Tower, there is still a banquet at this time. The emperor, officials and envoys of various countries have a banquet here. After a while, you can watch the float performance directly on the Wufeng Tower and overlook the whole The lights of Luoyang City are brilliant.

At this time, those who can enter the Wufeng Tower and have a place at the banquet must be at least the official rank above the third rank.Either the royal family, the princes, the ministers, ministers, or local officials of the frontier.

The emperor didn't wear the dragon robe today, but unexpectedly put on a commoner garment.The Supreme Emperor, Crown Prince, Empress Dowager, Empress, four concubines and nine concubines all wore commoner clothes, which seemed a bit special among the purple robes and jade belts all over the building.

The emperor seems to want to tell everyone that today he wants to have fun with the people, but the royal family is originally for the people.

All the princes of Luo Cheng arrived except King Song. King Song was still at the home of Zhang Tieqiang and his son in Chang'an Bashang without the emperor's permission. After going to Chang'an, Luo Cheng kept staring at him, knowing that he was also affected It was a bit hard, but Luo Cheng felt that it should be done. King Song changed a little, but not much, so Luo Cheng thought that he should continue to stay in Bashang to undergo reform, and he would be allowed to return to Luoyang to participate in these activities after his reform was completed. banquet ceremony etc.

"The scene of the prosperous age!" University scholar Yu Shinan exclaimed, looking at the beautiful scenery of fiery trees, silver flowers and endless sky in the distance.

Luo Cheng asked the prince.

"Prince, do you know how much money was spent on the Lantern Festival in Luoyang this year?"

"It should cost a lot." The prince sat on the left side of the emperor.

Luo Cheng smiled, "It's really costly to be so lively, but in fact, the imperial treasury didn't cost a penny, and the palace treasury didn't spend a penny either. Even, the imperial court made a lot of money because of the Lantern Festival. "

The prince was surprised, "How is this possible?"

"If you ask Cui Xiang, you will know that it is impossible."

Cui Junsu, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Pingzhang Shi, crossed his hands and introduced to the prince, "This is all thanks to the saints!"

In fact, it seems magical, and it is not complicated to explain in detail. Emperor Luo Cheng just turned the Lantern Festival, which was originally organized by the imperial court, into a commercial operation.Just like the well-developed newspaper industry, you can make more money by selling advertisements than by selling newspapers.

The emperor also asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to operate in this way. For example, before thousands of floats entered Beijing, the emperor left advertising spaces on these lanterns to solicit sponsors from businessmen all over the country. Through competition, whoever pays the most money can become a sponsor Now, their advertisements can be printed on the floats, and even on the lights in the neighborhoods of Luoyang City.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs even divided the sponsors into three levels according to the instructions given by the emperor. The first level is the Shangyuan Lantern Festival partner, the second level is the sponsor, and the third level is the supplier.

Only [-] first-level partners were selected, all of which are the most famous and powerful business groups and chambers of commerce in the world, and they also paid the most money.The number of second-level sponsors and third-level suppliers is larger, and the sponsors also pay money, and the suppliers directly supply the items needed for the Lantern Festival. For each commodity or material needed for the Lantern Festival, one company will compete for exclusive supply.

These three levels of sponsors can obtain different advertising positions and different promotion efforts, but there is no doubt that in this highly anticipated Shangyuan Lantern Festival, the advertisements of these sponsors can appear overwhelmingly on every lamp. On every float, this advertisement is not weak.

It is actually worth paying sponsorship fees for this. After all, newspaper advertisements are more effective. Nowadays, more and more businesses have realized the value of commercial advertisements.

(End of this chapter)