The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

Zhao Yao did not pay attention to what happened in the capital. He was now preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival. Before the trade conference begins, the Dragon Boat Festival must be celebrated first.

When Zhao Yao sent people to deliver invitations to the trade conference to foreign guests, he first invited them to Marsh Mansion to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival so that they could feel the atmosphere of the Great Zhou Festival.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, the most exciting event is of course dragon boat racing. Zhao Yao is preparing to hold the first dragon boat competition in Marsh Mansion and invites people and soldiers to participate. The fleet that comes out on top will receive generous rewards. Prizes for first place: a coin, a pig, a cow, and a stone of grain. Prizes for second place: one rice, one sheep, three chickens and three ducks. The prize for third place: a stone of grain and a sheep.

These prizes are very practical. Zhao Yao held the dragon boat race just to make the people happy. If too many gold, silver and jewels were awarded, the nature of the race would change.

When the people saw the announcement that a dragon boat race would be held with generous prizes, everyone signed up very actively. In fact, a long time ago, people in Lingnan also held dragon boat competitions. During the war in the previous dynasty, the people had no food to eat, no thought, and no strength to hold the dragon boat race. After the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, the people in Lingnan still did not have enough to eat, so the dragon boat race was still not held.

Now His Highness the King of Han is going to hold a dragon boat race, and the people are naturally willing to participate. The most important thing is that His Royal Highness the King of Han said that foreigners will watch this year's dragon boat race, and they must perform well to let those foreigners see how powerful they are.

Although the people of Marsh Mansion have not held dragon boat competitions in the past few decades, it does not mean that they did not row dragon boats during the Dragon Boat Festival. Many villages have dragon boats and they have a long history.

People formed dragon boat teams according to their villages, and then went to the Yamen to sign up.

The guards of the Han Palace can also form two dragon boat teams to participate in the competition.

Zhao Yao also asked Zhennan Camp to form four elite dragon boat teams to participate in the competition.

During the audition, every dragon boat team can participate, but only ten dragon boat teams can remain in the finals. On the Dragon Boat Festival, these ten dragon boat teams will compete for the top three in the finals.

These days, Marsh Mansion is very lively and festive, because this year's Dragon Boat Festival is different from the previous ones, and everyone is looking forward to celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival.

In addition to the dragon boat race, there are other fun activities during the Dragon Boat Festival, such as playing polo, kicking Cuju, shooting rice balls, eating rice dumplings, etc.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, although there are no polo and Cuju competitions, there will be performances of these two activities. When the trade conference is held, Zhao Yao will invite foreigners to participate in polo or Cuju competitions, and then there will be a friendly match.

In the past few days, Zhao Yao has been running around checking on the progress everywhere.

The dock has basically been built, but Zhao Yao is still not satisfied. Let’s expand it in the future. The restaurant next to the pier has also been completely built and decorated very elegantly and luxuriously from the inside out.

In addition to the four restaurants in the southeast, northwest and northwest, there are also other guesthouses beside the pier. Although these guest houses are not as good as the four restaurants in the east, south, west and north, they are more luxurious than ordinary guest houses. These guest houses were used to entertain the entourage and servants who came with the guests.

There are also teahouses, theaters, shops, etc. beside the pier. However, most of them are empty. After all, no businessmen have come to rent these shops. After the trade conference is over, these shops will be robbed.

The main street of Marsh City is very wide. Zhao Yao originally planned to build four lanes, but thinking that there would be many people and carriages in Marsh Mansion in the future, he widened two more lanes.

There is a green belt in the middle of the main street, planted with flowers and plants unique to Marsh Mansion, which is very beautiful. The main street is divided into two halves by a flower belt, and each half can accommodate three carriages traveling in parallel, thus preventing traffic jams.

The shops on both sides of the main street are built according to uniform specifications and are very neat and beautiful. There are still empty spaces on both sides of the street for ordinary people to set up stalls. There is no fee to set up a stall, and whoever comes early can set up a stall.

Currently, the shops on both sides of the main street are empty. The people of Marsh Mansion are too poor and have no money to open shops and do business. These shops are prepared for foreign businessmen who come to Marsh Mansion to do business.

The central store on the east side of the main street has six floors and is the tallest building. This shop was used by Zhao Yao to open a supermarket. It has been renovated and is being loaded with goods.

The name of the supermarket is "The No. 1 Supermarket in Marsh Mansion". Zhao Yao's name was useless and he could only choose such a simple and crude name. The first floor of the supermarket is dedicated to selling things related to "eating". Grain, salt, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, MSG, meat, vegetables, etc.

The second floor sells things related to "living", such as various furniture.

The third floor sells things related to "clothing", such as various fabrics, various ready-made clothes, various shoes, etc. The fourth floor sells things related to "travel" and things needed for daily life.

The fifth floor sells cosmetics-related items, such as rouge, lip balm and other items.

The sixth floor sells jewelry.

Opposite the supermarket, there is a five-story restaurant. Although there are many restaurants along the pier, there must also be restaurants in the city. The restaurant is called "Delicacies from Mountains and Seafood Restaurant". As you can tell from the name, it collects delicacies from all over the world.

In front, there is a five-story bookstore. At present, the bookstore is filled with books and the Four Treasures of the Study, as well as various calligraphy and paintings.

If you continue walking, you will see an embroidery shop that sells embroidery unique to Lingnan, as well as embroidery from inland areas, countries in the Western Regions, and Annan and other countries.

Currently, all the shops that are open are owned by Zhao Yao and the Liang family. However, some shops have already been reserved. The people who made the reservation are the King of Chu and the King of Wei. After a while, their people will come to Marsh Mansion to open a shop and do business.

Behind the main street, there is Fu Sheng Tang, a place that adopts orphans and the elderly. Opposite Fusheng Hall is the Marsh Mansion Library, which is free and open to everyone. However, you can only read books in the library and cannot take library books out. As for borrowing books, Zhao Yao thought about it and decided to forget it. He was afraid that after someone borrowed a book, he would not return it, or even sell the books in the library.

A vacant land not far from the main street will be used to build a free school. The free school is not far from the free library, which makes it convenient for students to go to the library to read books.

Zhao Yao carefully walked around the main street and found something wrong, so he asked people from the Ministry of Industry to correct it immediately.

After visiting the main street, he turned around and went to his guard camp to watch the training of his guards. After several months of training from last year to now, the Guards have completely transformed. Although they have not yet entered the battlefield, they have become sharp knives.

Zhao Yao looked at the rehearsal of the military parade of the Imperial Guards again. The rehearsal went very well, and His Highness the King of Han was very satisfied. However, he told the soldiers not to take it lightly and continue to train hard so that they could show the majesty of the Zhou soldiers at the trade conference.

After watching the rehearsal of the military parade, Zhao Yao played Cuju with the soldiers for a while. He originally planned to stay in the military camp at night and sit around the campfire to drink and eat with the soldiers. Unexpectedly, the Minister of Rites asked him about something, so he had to go back to the Han Dynasty Palace first.

The Minister of Rites told Zhao Yao that on the Dragon Boat Festival, the emperor would give clothes, fans, belts, and hundreds of ropes to the officials.

"Your Highness, I feel that on the Dragon Boat Festival, you can also give clothes and fans to the officials. This is a great honor for the officials."

"Okay, I'll arrange for people to prepare immediately." Zhao Yao plans to give clothes, fans, and belts to the officials who have performed well... As for other officials, they will also be rewarded with a month's salary. After all, they have been doing this since last year. When you are busy, there is no credit, but hard work.

"Your Highness, I have another suggestion."

"Sir, please speak."

"This is your first Dragon Boat Festival in Marsh Mansion. I think you can give some rice dumplings to the people." The Minister of Rites suggested, "You can wrap a copper coin in the rice dumplings and put a colorful head on them."

“Isn’t this a Chinese New Year dumpling-eating event?”

"Your Highness, you have forgotten that the people of Marsh Mansion do not eat dumplings during the New Year." The Minister of Rites said, "Wrap a copper coin in the rice dumplings and the people will be very happy if they eat them."

"Okay, let's do it."

The Minister of Rites also mentioned several activities that could be held during the Dragon Boat Festival, and Zhao Yao agreed to all of them. Afterwards, the Minister of Rites invited Zhao Yao to watch the rehearsal of the program held at the trade conference tomorrow. (End of chapter)