Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 364 Shangyuan Festival
"Qi Chu Yan Zhao surrendered?"

"The four countries follow it."

"Nine out of ten people died?"

"live alone."

"Awe-inspiring?"

"Hu Li San..."

"Okay, my lord, you are so tall, I really can't bear it, so these seven lanterns will be given to you."

In Zhengxifang, Nancheng, Beijing, with the surrender of a lantern riddle stall owner, Zhu Youjian easily got seven large lanterns.

"Great!"

There was an endless stream of clapping and applause, and several bouncing male and female dolls coiled around him.

Seven people including Zhu Ciran, Li Dingguo, Zhu Cixuan, Zhu Cijiong, Yang Rushi, Zhu Shu'e, and Zhu Shumoo surrounded Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youxiao and Zhang Yan watched the scene talking and laughing behind. .

"Come on, take it all by yourself, let's go to Tonghui River to release river lanterns later."

Zhu Youjian smiled and handed out the lotus lanterns handed to him by the stall owner one by one. Yang Rushi and Li Dingguo carefully protected them after they got them, but Zhu Ciran and the others held the lanterns in their hands and showed off to the surroundings. The people and children coming and going showed off.

The [-]th day of the first lunar month is the first full moon night of the year. In order to celebrate this important festival, the folks regard it as a continuation of the New Year celebration, named "Lantern Festival", also known as "Shangyuan Festival". , has become the four most important festivals for the Han people besides the Zhengdan Festival.

The Shangyuan Festival has flourished since the Tang and Song Dynasties and reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty.

Different from the later Lantern Festival, which is only held for one day, in order to highlight the peaceful and prosperous age of the Ming Dynasty and the fact that the culture of the Han people has been cut off for nearly a hundred years, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Imperial Academy to search the history books, and simply followed the example of the Tang and Song Dynasties. There are fixed holidays for festivals that play a role in spreading culture.

Such an important festival as the Shangyuan Festival actually begins on the eighth day of the first lunar month and does not end until the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, a full ten days.

Throughout the Shangyuan Festival, people all over the world, rich or poor, high or low, can hang up colored lanterns to guess riddles on lanterns.

The Shangyuan Festival in the Ming Dynasty can be described as the heyday of Lantern Festival celebrations, "every family goes out of the house, and everyone looks at the lanterns".

The atmosphere of the late Ming Dynasty was extravagant and rich in materials, which was even worse than that of Tokyo City in the Northern Song Dynasty.

The Shangyuan Festival in the ninth year of the Apocalypse, perhaps because of the few rains in the spring, gave the northern land a chance to breathe, so it was held in an unprecedented grand occasion.

Walking on Xishi Street in Nancheng, there are small stalls on both sides of the [-]-zhang road that has been repaired by Tianqi in the past four years. There are various kinds of lanterns.

For example, Zhu Youjian and the others walked together in twos and threes, and there were countless people admiring various lanterns along the way.

"Clang clang clang-"

"The dragon lantern is here! The dragon lantern is here!"

Some people shouted excitedly, and everyone retreated to both sides of the road spontaneously. Zhu Youjian and the others were protected by Jin Yiwei, and others could not squeeze in, so they could see what the so-called "Dragon Lantern" was at a glance.

What caught everyone's eyes was a dragon lantern team with a scale of thousands of people, and hundreds of cows were pulling a combined lamp stand more than [-] feet long.

Although the lamp stand is full of lanterns, they are arranged according to the pattern of a lantern and a piece of dragon scale. The head of the dragon lantern is a vivid bamboo faucet. The faucet is composed of two huge lanterns, and someone inside controls the bamboo curtain. , rolling up from time to time, falling down from time to time, just like a real dragon in the blink of an eye.

The whole dragon lantern team was full of brilliance, pushing the whole festive atmosphere to a climax.

"That's what my dad did!"

Zhu Ciran slapped his chest and shouted proudly, the people next to him only thought he was joking, while some children made funny faces at him and muttered: "King of Cowhide".

But even so, Zhu Ciran was not angry, but proudly puffed out his chest, the surrounding people and Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youjian and the others cheered happily around the dragon lantern team.

Since the night cannot be restrained, the ten-day Lantern Festival can be said to be all the people enjoying the lanterns all night long.

Some restaurants and teahouses also invited professional dancers to dance and play music upstairs.

Singing and dancing, fireworks and firecrackers...

Even some young women will gather in groups on this day to enjoy the lanterns with joy.

This is possible because the Shangyuan Festival Lantern Festival is held by the imperial court, and the number of soldiers and horses in the city increases on this day, and those who dare to gather crowds to fight, steal and rob on this day will often be sentenced to severe sentences.

It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the Lantern Festival was no longer held by the imperial court, and the duration was shortened from ten days in the Ming Dynasty to three days.

"This year's dragon lantern has not been done well, and ten days is still not enough to play. Sure enough, we still have to put the Shangyuan Festival holiday on fifteen days."

"Fifteen days is not bad."

As the dragon lantern team left, Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian had an extra bowl of "noodles (glutinous rice balls)" at some point in their hands. Zhu Ciran and others also took a bowl of noodle dumplings and ate them as they walked. .

Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian walked side by side, chatting without saying a word, the background lights behind them were brightly lit, and the lights all over the city reflected the night sky like daytime.

Walking on the street, thousands of houses in the city are lit up, decorated with festive lanterns, and some restaurants and teahouses even make people burn cheap medicinal materials, and the streets are filled with the fragrance of flowers for a while.

Some of the carved BMW cars that passed by them from time to time also rolled up the bamboo curtains, revealing the rich and beautiful women in the carriages, quite a feeling of driving a convertible sports car in a busy city.

These people are basically the sons of rich businessmen, relatives, and officials in Beijing. Compared with them, Zhu Youjian and the others are more like men and women from ordinary families, walking slowly in the market with the old and the young.

A group of them walked horses and watched flowers, watched dragon and lion dances, listened to music and storytelling, and various talent performances made people overwhelmed...

Under some arranged lantern stands, many romantic and talented people guess lantern riddles, just to win the smiles of the beauties sitting on both sides of the lantern stands.

Naturally, on the street, there were still those high-ranking officials and nobles who changed into casual clothes and had fun with the people. Occasionally, when they met Zhu Youxiao and the others, they were so frightened that they hurriedly saluted.

In short, the capital city on this day is like a city that never sleeps.

Such as some huge lantern wheels, lantern trees, lantern posts, fish-shaped lanterns and other styles of lanterns are overwhelming.

When everyone reached the intersection of Zhengyangmen Street and Dongxi Caishi Street, a huge fifteen-foot-tall light wheel appeared in the center of the intersection.

On this light wheel, there are also fifty thousand lanterns that can be rotated.

This place was surrounded by soldiers and horses from the Daxing Camp, and after Zhu Youjian and the others arrived, the soldiers and horses from the Daxing Camp immediately let them go.

On the periphery of the soldiers and horses, tens of thousands of people were watching the huge light wheel. They climbed up the wall and stood on their feet to look up. In short, they all wanted to see the moment when the big light wheel was lit.

"Let's let my younger brother shoot this year. I'll have someone prepare the Nine Power Bow."

The generals of Daxingying offered their bows and arrows, and Zhu Youxiao also signaled Zhu Youjian to shoot arrows.

Zhu Youjian didn't refuse when he saw this, he just took the bow and arrow with a smile, and then watched the people light the arrow, and he opened the bow and set the arrow. With the attention of tens of thousands of people, he pulled the bow and arrow for a full moon, but heard " With a bang, the rocket was fired.

Shooting lanterns has extremely high requirements for archers. After all, all the matchsticks of the lanterns on the lantern wheel are placed in a copper ball in the middle of the lantern wheel.

Although the copper ball is three feet in diameter, the hole that can accommodate arrows is only the size of a human head, and it hangs over seven feet high, fifty steps away.

To shoot an arrow into it is no less difficult than piercing Yang with a hundred steps.

It's just that for a master of archery like Zhu Youjian, this kind of difficulty is only mediocre.

"boom--"

Sure enough, he only shot the arrow one second before, and the next second the lantern was lit. The copper ball in the middle burst into flames, and the fuses were ignited. All the lanterns hanging on the lantern wheel were lit one after another in less than a breath.

The lights are shining everywhere, which can be seen for tens of miles, and the light catches the moonlight, which makes people can't help cheering.

"Long live Daming!"

"Long live--"

At this time, Daming was in its heyday. In terms of single-round national strength, it far surpassed that of Hongwu and Yongle.

The only thing that Ming still lacks at the moment is that Wanbang came to court during the Hongwu and Yongle years to show that he is the master of the world.

Only the Ming Dynasty had such a strong national power to produce such exquisite lanterns, just to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

In front of such bright lanterns, the stars all over the sky will be eclipsed, as if just like the glory and prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

The common people sang and cheered, and Zhu Ciran and others jumped up and down happily, clapping and applauding.

Zhu Youjian put down his bow and arrow, and the general of Daxingying took it with both hands.

"Okay, let's continue playing."

With his hands behind his back, Zhu Youxiao had a smile on his face, and he didn't worry that the common people would recognize them, because in the past, those who shot arrows were all the children of Xunqi or the generals of the frontier army.

"Okay!" Zhu Youjian smiled when he heard the sound, followed Zhu Youxiao, and continued to wander towards the East City with the people around him.

Compared with the West Market, the East Market is more lively. At the intersection, you can see some shops renting horses, mules and donkeys, or sedan chairs and carriages. The wide streets are full of people playing and playing.

As we walked, an Aoshan lantern surrounded by crowds appeared in front of us.

This Aoshan lantern is six feet high. Although it is not as elegant and elegant as Zhu Youxiao's lantern wheel, it has a special scenery.

"This man is a good crafter. Ask if you would like to work as a lantern master in the Ministry of Industry."

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but praise, and explained to Wei Zhongxian who was wearing casual clothes next to him.

Wei Zhongxian bowed in return, and then arranged for people to look for this person.

Later, when encountering a circus troupe performing hard, Zhu Youxiao asked Wei Zhongxian to inquire again, while Zhu Ciran and others surrounded the salesman with all kinds of lights when they saw them.

There are extremely rich kinds of lanterns in various shapes, such as watermelon cannons, colorful lotus boats, purple grapes, tyrant jade whips, Qiongzhan jade platforms, silver moth golden bullets, eight immortals holding longevity, seven saints descending demons, Huang Yan'er, and shopkeepers. Dan'er, Bao Laoche'er, Five Ghosts, Flying Daggers, etc., are full of lanterns, such as objects, people, and mountain scenery.

"I want this!"

"I also want!"

"I want that tiger lamp!"

"I want a two-headed dog lamp!"

"I want……"

A group of dolls were chattering and making a lot of noise, which made Jin Yiwei, who was guarding them, a headache.

"Okay, stop arguing." As soon as Yang Rushi opened his mouth, the six little ones immediately shut up.

Yang Rushi selected them one by one according to their preferences, and finally took out the money in his purse, asked the merchant to weigh it, and cut off enough money to pay with scissors.

The shopkeeper took the silver and happily pushed the lantern cart away. When Zhu Youjian turned his head, he saw Zhang Yan standing in front of a small stall complaining to Zhu Youxiao:
"Sanggong has hired so many people this time, how can the imperial city let it go..."

"What's the matter?" Zhu Youjian walked over curiously, while Zhu Youxiao was holding a wooden plate with many different types of snacks on it.

"Brother, look, look, this is chopped fish balls, this is Suncheon ham, this is crab stuffed with oranges, this is bad soup..."

Zhu Youxiao pointed with his fingers, and also handed out a toothpick to signal Zhu Youjian to eat.

Zhu Youjian was not worried about someone being poisoned at all, because all those who could set up stalls on the street were left with no underwear left, so he took the toothpick, poked a crab stuffed orange and put it in his mouth.

After several times of chewing, it tasted a sweet and sour taste, which stimulated the taste buds very much.

"It tastes pretty good." Zhu Youjian nodded, and Zhu Youxiao took the opportunity to push the wooden plate into Zhu Youjian's arms:
"It's delicious, brother, eat more."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youjian had no choice but to take the tray and eat while shopping. It felt a bit like he went to a market town in a mountain village in his later generations.

It's just that their group basically followed Zhu Youxiao's footsteps and wandered around, and Zhu Youxiao was very greedy, so Zhu Youjian, Zhang Yan and others' hands were piled up after a hundred steps. something.

"This fried shrimp cracker is delicious, brother, eat more."

"This glutinous rice balls are good, my brother will eat them."

"This green plum wine tastes sweet, brother, try it..."

"This... this..."

Zhu Youxiao often bought a bunch of things just after taking a sip, and then stuffed them into Zhu Youjian's hands.

They didn't even finish shopping on Dongshi Street, and a group of more than ten people started wandering around with some packed pastries and delicacies.

"Sanggong, there are too many things, let's go home and rest first."

Zhang Yan couldn't move anymore, so she could only beg Zhu Youxiao, but Zhu Youxiao was very interested, running around like a headless fly.

"Baozhu, are you tired?" Zhu Youxiao unconsciously looked at Zhang Yan, then at the calm Zhu Youjian, and then at a group of "dragon spirit and tiger fierce" dolls, and then said unwillingly :

"It's only six o'clock in Haishi (22:30), and there's nothing to do when you return to the palace so early. If you don't play to the ugly hour (1-3 o'clock), it's too shameful for this Shangyuan Festival."

"Then take a carriage to the Tonghui River in Dongcheng to release the river lanterns, and sit and rest by the way." Zhang Yan really couldn't walk anymore, so she could only signal to take a carriage.

"Okay, you can take Ran'er and the others, and my brother and I will go shopping again." Zhu Youxiao was in high spirits, and directly chose to leave his wife and children behind and get tired of staying with Zhu Youjian.

"Okay..." Zhang Yan was very helpless, but there was nothing he could do.

The sharp-eyed Wang Tiqian immediately stopped some car rental dealers, rented a carriage, and took more than 30 Jinyi guards in plain clothes to guard the carriage and headed towards Tonghui River.

"Your Highness..."

Yang Rushi didn't want to leave Zhu Youjian, so he walked over and looked up at Zhu Youjian, his eyes were misty and crystal clear, I felt sorry for him.

"Go to Tonghui River first with your sister-in-law." Zhu Youjian comforted her, then withdrew his hand and walked towards Zhu Youxiao.

Yang Ru had no choice but to follow Zhang Yan and the others into the car.

It's just that after they left, Zhu Youxiao had fun again.

Here he took Zhu Youjian to fish in the big wooden basin at the roadside stall, and later he dropped the fishing rod impatiently, and took Zhu Youjian to "tread the water wheel".

This kind of treading water wheel actually uses human power to step on the pedals, and then turns the water wheel, and the water wheel steps up some hot and cold drinks in the vat, flows into bamboo tubes of different sizes, and finally flows into fist-sized bamboo tube cups.

In Zhu Youjian's view, playing this kind of thing at his age is indeed a bit "mentally retarded". However, Zhu Youxiao is interested, so he can only bite the bullet and accompany him.

The row next to them was full of eight or nine-year-old children, and everyone looked at these two "weirds".

Some passing women also half-covered their faces with fans, looking at these two good-looking "fools" with weird eyes.

"Brother, it's almost done..."

Zhu Youjian blushed when he was seen by others, he had had enough of this embarrassing attention.

"I haven't had enough?" Zhu Youxiao stepped on vigorously, and he didn't feel too flustered after drinking cup after cup of drinks.

"Let's go." Zhu Youjian forcefully pulled Zhu Youxiao down, and then dragged him away.

Lu Wenzhao suppressed his laughter for a long time, and seeing the two of them leaving, he left more than ten cash and followed them with others.

"Eh! Good good!"

"Stick your legs! Stir him under!"

"Hey! Those who play dirty tricks are out!"

Not far from the shameful "treadmill" place, Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao immediately saw an open-air sumo wrestling not far away.

In the circle, two shirtless men faced each other, and outside the wooden circle, there was a group of spectators sitting on tables and chairs in the open air applauding.

It's just that most of these spectators are ordinary people, people who are a little more luxuriously dressed, and there are only Zhu Youxiao and the others.

"Is this sumo wrestling? Why is it only for men? Isn't there any for women?"

Zhu Youxiao looked around, and Zhu Youjian just wanted to persuade him not to look when he heard the words, but the boy in charge of pouring tea next to him smiled and said:
"If you want to watch women's sumo wrestling, you may wish to move a hundred paces to the east. Women's sumo wrestling, Sheryu, and Tsushimaru are all over there."

"Then go!" Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao ran away, but it was too late for Zhu Youjian to catch him, so he had to lead others to follow.

"Eh..."

The group of people walked a hundred steps, and before they got close to the women's sumo wrestling place, Zhu Youjian heard a burst of shouting from the crowd in front of him from a long distance away.

When Zhu Youxiao heard the words, he leaned forward as if he had been beaten with blood, and Zhu Youjian also stepped forward to see that it was really the women's sumo wrestler Zhu Youxiao wanted to see.

It's just that after he saw it clearly, he lost any interest at all.

Because the sumo wrestlers in the ring are two burly peasant women, they tied up their sleeves and wore middle clothes that covered their arms and calves, and they continued to sumo in the ring.

There was a dull sound when they fell on the sand, and Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao who saw it immediately frowned.

Not only them, but also the other spectators shrank their heads back when they saw this, as if they didn't hurt the person involved, but they, the spectators, hurt them.

Zhu Youjian glanced at the onlookers, and found that most of them were girls from good families. These girls from good families covered half of their faces with round fans, staring straight at the field, wishing they could play in person.

"It's nothing to look at, let's go..."

Zhu Youxiao, who had been beaten up just now, seemed to have entered the moment of a sage after seeing the two peasant women in the circle, and was about to leave with a wave of his hand.

Not only him, but Lu Wenzhao and a group of people showed expressions of nothing to see.

Obviously, it's not that they don't want to see it, but they don't want to see two peasant women in their [-]s and [-]s.

"You guys..."

Zhu Youjian sighed and shook his head, as if lamenting that these guys really judge people by their appearance.

"Are there any good-looking female sumo wrestlers in Beijing?"

After Zhu Youxiao walked out of the crowd, he asked around enthusiastically, but none of the Jinyi guards dared to answer.

"Okay brother." Seeing Zhu Youxiao like this, Zhu Youjian had no choice but to step forward to dissuade him, but Zhu Youxiao said indignantly:
"Those civil and military ministers have read these things in private, so why not let me see them?"

"There's nothing to see, let's go to Tonghui River first, don't let my sister-in-law and the others wait too long..." Can Zhu Youjian know what Zhu Youxiao is thinking?He can't let Zhu Youxiao go to that kind of place.

In case the officials see him, Zhu Youjian will surely put the excrement basin on Zhu Youjian's head, saying that he has corrupted the emperor.

Therefore, without waiting for Zhu Youxiao's rebuttal, he dragged Zhu Youxiao to Dongcheng, walked through the long avenue, and finally arrived at the Tonghui River Wharf.

There was a sea of ​​people on the edge of the pier, and everyone squatted by the river to light a fire and set off river lanterns.

I don't know if the little ice river has not reached its peak yet, anyway, after entering the first month, the Tonghui River began to thaw slowly.

Zhu Youjian and the others found Zhang Yan and the others, and after accompanying Zhu Ciran and the others to set off the river lanterns, they wandered around the pier of the Tonghui River.

Compared with the prosperity inside the city, although the market towns outside the city do not have so many lights and festoons, they are full of fireworks everywhere.

All kinds of snacks, iced and hot drinks, and amusement equipment are in an endless stream.

Fearing that Zhu Youxiao would pull him to do something embarrassing again, every time Zhu Youjian saw those playing things, he would pull Zhu Youxiao away.

The group of them wandered around for a long time, until after midnight, many fireworks appeared in the sky inside and outside the capital.

The sound of "booming and booming" came in an endless stream, and all kinds of fireworks were arranged and released by the imperial court. For a while, the sky over the entire capital was filled with fireworks, which was too beautiful to behold.

The fifteen-hour-long fireworks viewing ended quickly, and at the end Zhu Youxiao was still reluctant to part with it, wanting to stroll until dawn.

It's just that Zhu Youjian and the others were tortured so much by him that everyone was drowsy.

Seeing that his younger brother was not interested, Zhu Youxiao could only reluctantly return to the palace, and Zhu Youjian also called a carriage after he left, and returned to Qi Palace under the guard of Jin Yiwei.

He just returned to the gate of the palace, and before he got off the car, he saw a long line of people waiting at the gate.

"What's the situation?" Zhu Youjian pulled the window secretly and asked Lu Wenzhao outside the carriage. When Lu Wenzhao saw this, he asked people to go up to inquire. Afterwards, the person who inquired ran back and informed Lu Wenzhao. Wen Zhaocai ran back to the carriage and whispered:
"Those who want to invite Your Highness to a banquet during the Lantern Festival are probably for the purpose of choosing a concubine..."

"Then go back to the house through the back door." Zhu You inspected the team, and his scalp felt a little numb.

However, he also knew that if he did not establish a concubine, this group of people would not stop for a day.

Everyone wants to become King Qi's father-in-law and climb high.

"Concubine Li..."

Zhu Youjian murmured, frowning slightly, obviously he didn't care what he said, but he still had standards in his heart.

He didn't know if the selection of concubines, which had been delayed for several years, would be like in history, and he would choose another wonderful father-in-law for himself.

"Wait a minute..."

With a sigh, Zhu Youjian's carriage also drove towards the back door of the palace...

　I still dragged on for a while, today is the fifth day, apart from a sore throat and a little soreness all over my body, I am basically more comfortable.

　　It is estimated that the normal updates at [-]:[-] and [-]:[-] will be restored the day after tomorrow, and one chapter will be updated at [-]:[-] and [-]:[-] tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)