Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 110 New Year's Day Banquet, Master Hu of Yangzhou

In the first year of Hongzhi, the first day of the Lunar New Year, this is destined to be a joyous day.

The Grand Court Meeting was originally very lively, but the Grand Court Meeting in the first year of Hongzhi was of great significance. After all, it was the first New Year's Day Grand Court Meeting of Hongzhi's ascension to the throne.

The eunuchs and maids of Qianqing Palace received Zhu Youtang's "Year-end Award" last night, and each of them also got a new set of clothes, so everyone's face was filled with bright smiles.

In fact, eunuchs and court ladies don't want much, now that Zhu Youtang treats them so favorably, they naturally want to serve their master more wholeheartedly.

Zhu Youtang also put on a brand-new dragon robe today, rode a dragon chariot to Fengtian Hall according to the time, and accepted the worship of civil and military officials on the throne.

This court meeting is mainly composed of two parts: the first half is composed of hundreds of officials congratulating and presenting gifts to the emperor, which is called the court ceremony.The second half is the banquet given by the emperor, which is called the big banquet.

During the congratulatory ceremony, Wan An and other officials presented their congratulatory forms one after another, and Wan An sent auspicious things: two red rabbits.

Naturally, this matter is not a surprise. Sending Chitu will only be delivered after a private report, and Zhu Youtang has also finalized the corresponding reward.
Zhu Youtang is becoming more and more comfortable with being an emperor, and he is resolutely a boss who can grasp his propriety.

Xu Pu and other officials looked at the young emperor with ease in front of him, and found that age was no longer important.

Which young emperor has only been enthroned for less than half a year, and he has completely grasped the situation of the court, and he has firmly grasped the [-]th Battalion of the Beijing Army.

If they still look at this new emperor with the same eyes as before, and despise this emperor who insisted on beheading Qing Yunhou, it can only be said that they are indeed too stupid to be cured.

In this grand court meeting, in addition to civil servants and military officials, foreign envoys can also participate, and the North Korean envoy Cao Shenpan Li Shi, who happened to go to Beijing, came to participate in this grand court meeting in the first year of Hongzhi.

Similar to the Six Departments of the Ming Dynasty, North Korea set up six Caos, and Cao Zhong set up a judge (second rank), a judge (second rank), and a counselor (third rank).

Li Shi yearned for Chinese culture very much, and now, after learning about the various actions of the new monarchy, he looked at the Ming emperor in front of him with a bit of fear in his eyes.

Although Zhu Youtang was a little surprised by the appearance of the North Korean envoy, he didn't take it too seriously, and just announced lightly: "A feast!"

Huh?
The civil and military officials present couldn't help but look at each other when they saw the "end" of Chaohe Yi, and then they all turned their heads to look at Xu Pu, the leader of the Protectorate Sect.

Xu Pu naturally knew the meaning of these gazes, but he closed his eyes silently, not intending to stand out.

According to the normal procedure, in this congratulatory ceremony, the new emperor would confer the title of empress, and even the crown prince at the same time, but now Zhu Youtang directly jumped over it.

Naturally, it is impossible to forget such a major event, and even if Zhu Youtang forgets, someone will keep reminding him. The only explanation is that Emperor Hongzhi did not intend to designate the crown princess Zhang Yujiao as empress.

In fact, Zhu Youtang's doing so has already had signs, and many officials have even known it in advance.

Not to mention that Zhu Youtang did not favor Zhang Yujiao after he ascended the throne, but some preparations had to be done in advance for the canonization of the queen.It's just that Emperor Hongzhi neither agreed to the request from the Ministry of Rites nor ordered preparations for canonization, so naturally he would not canonize the crown princess as empress today.

This……

The officials present looked at each other in blank dismay, only to find that not only Xu Pu did not stand up, but none of the ministers of the court stood up to ask for the crown princess.

"Thank you Long En!" The sect party headed by Wan An immediately expressed their gratitude as if everything was justified.

Some people may think that Zhu Youtang's actions are inappropriate, but the officials of the Manchu Dynasty are not willing to make fun of their official careers, and bet their treasures on a princess who is destined to fall out of favor.

Xu Pu, the strongest backer of the Zhang family, has fallen out of favor. The empress dowager who chose Zhang Yujiao as the crown prince is already in harmony with the emperor. As for the crown princess Zhang Yujiao, she has nothing to boast about.

Officials at the upper level dare not follow in Li Min's footsteps, and officials at the middle and lower levels may speculate in previous years, but this year happens to be the New Year of the Beijing Police.

The imperial court of the Ming Dynasty will assess officials every three years. The assessment of local officials is called external inspection, while the assessment of officials below the fourth rank in the capital is called Jingcha.

The current Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Li Yu, is a genuine imperial party. If anyone jumps out now, then they will definitely be "eliminated" in the next Beijing inspection.

After ten years of hard work, now is the best time to get promoted and make a fortune. Who is willing to bet their hard work on a princess who knows she has fallen out of favor?

Just like this, at the Great Court Meeting in the first year of Hongzhi, the Crown Princess Zhang Yujiao was not conferred the title of Empress as she wished, but all the officials chose to remain silent about it.

The Ministry of Rites was responsible for the overall planning of the New Year's Day banquet in the Ming Dynasty, and Guanglu Temple was responsible for the implementation of specific affairs.According to the size of the official position, the banquet tables are divided into four categories: upper table, upper middle table, middle table, and lower table.

The dishes served on the table are: tea and food like raw flowers, five kinds of fruits, five kinds of roasted fried chicken, phoenix chicken, double stick bones, big oil cakes with big silver ingots, five kinds of wine, four kinds of vegetables, three kinds of soups, and two big steamed buns.Horse, beef, mutton, meat rice and wine for five minutes.

When it comes to the big banquet ceremony, there are actually a lot of corresponding etiquette.

According to the etiquette system of the Ming Dynasty, there will be nine times of drinking in the banquet, and there will be music and dancing during the banquet.

For example, when drinking the first wine, you have to play "The Song of Flame Essence and Good Luck" and "The Song of Shang Wanshou", and at the same time there is a dance to calm the world.Whether it is serving wine or holding chopsticks, it must be started by the emperor.

Zhu Youtang actually doesn't like these flashy etiquette, but who makes him the biggest beneficiary of the etiquette?

Naturally, the officials who attended the banquet did not come here for the food, especially the more high-ranking officials, the more exquisite they should be. Therefore, after accepting the emperor's banquet, the minister wrote a poem: "Take the tripod for ten years to accompany the food, and the king's kindness will be rewarded with a meal." Disaster".

Zhang Luan, Minister of the Honglu Temple, was sitting in front of the table, but faced with the table full of delicacies, he had no appetite at all, looking resentfully at Xu Pu who was not far away.

After Xu Pu was one year older, he found that he could not do enough for his beautiful concubine, and just now he was too lazy to jump out to fight in the ring.

It might be important to support a queen in the past, but now I can't even get into the cabinet, so what's the use of supporting a queen?

But suddenly, the two frustrated people noticed some movement above, and when they saw the person walking towards Zhu Youtang, their hearts immediately hung in their throats.

While the Forbidden City was enjoying itself, a cold wind raged thousands of miles away at a wharf in Yangzhou Prefecture. Hundreds of lightly dressed dock workers were loading and unloading goods.

Surviving in this era is not easy, not to mention that there are cannibalistic gentry and corrupt officials doing evil in the local area, and there are often various unpredictable natural disasters.

Due to the disaster in Shandong, a group of refugees from Shandong came here to work as coolies.

Even though today is the first day of the new year, they still have to work hard to get food, and now they are moving wood from nowhere.

The wind on the first day of the new year was chilly. At this time, the wind kept blowing from the river, so cold that the hands and feet of the workers who were carrying timber here were already red.

Two young men were carrying lumber, one strong young man worked like an ox, but the other handsome young man was complaining bitterly.

It's just that this handsome young man who was crying was very tough. Although he kept crying and crying, he still worked hard to carry the wood that had just been unloaded from the ship.

"Have you heard?"

"What's the matter?"

"The body of the imperial envoy has been recovered!"

"Which imperial envoy? Why don't you understand what you are saying?"

……

Someone lit a fire in the lee of the pier, and some workers who were resting gathered there to chat and drink some hot water to quench their thirst.

An old man in a ragged cotton coat came here, and the other workers recognized him. Next to him was a rather old strong man Gouge who yelled to make room for Mr. Hu.

Mr. Hu acted like an old man, showing a bit of arrogance. He picked up the firewood next to him and added a piece to it, and then took out the steamed buns he brought and put them on the side of the fire to roast.

Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but secretly swallowed their saliva.

"Which other imperial envoy, of course, beheaded the king who beheaded a bunch of corrupt officials in Huguang!"

"I heard that Wang Yue was a good official, why did he drown?"

"Hehe...it is good officials who will drown, if they are corrupt officials, they will send money to solve it!"

……

Brother Gou continued the topic just now, and the biggest thing in Yangzhou now is naturally the imperial envoy Wang Yue who fell into the water and disappeared, but the latest news just now is that Wang Yue's body was fished out.

"Why has there been no movement from the imperial court for so long?"

"Your Majesty asked the Governor's Mansion of Water Transport to look for Wang Yue along the river, and I heard that he will send imperial envoys to investigate!"

"It's useless for anyone to come down. Corrupt officials will be fed with money, and honest officials will be stabbed again!"

……

The few people around the fire seemed to have seen through this era, thinking of those corrupt officials in Yangzhou who bought houses to raise beautiful concubines, they couldn't help but feel disheartened.

Brother Gou, who has been talking eloquently, sighed, and said with aggrieved expression: "I lived my life honestly, but there was a kitchen chief on top, a chief reminder on top of the company, and an ambassador and deputy envoy on the salt farm. A bastard who eats people without spitting out his bones, and now he has to work hard to get a meal at a young age!"

"Master Dog, didn't you just come out to sue because you were always urging your house to be set on fire and your mother killed? Why don't you sue now?" A young man next to him asked curiously while drinking hot water.

Hearing this, Brother Gou gritted his teeth angrily and said: "I want to sue, but these moths have already been collaborating with the government, can I win the sue?"

When the people present heard this, they couldn't help sighing silently again, the officialdom in Yangzhou had already formed a group.

"Come on, let's share a share!" Master Hu said generously after warming up a few steamed buns.

The people present had already smelled the aroma of steamed buns, so they naturally divided them up unceremoniously, exactly half for each person, and brother Gou handed back the more half to Mr. Hu in a very authentic way.

Master Hu took the steamed buns and started to eat them. He said to the honest middle-aged man in front of him, "This old man knows a little about physiognomy. If you go to Yangzhou to appeal next month, you will definitely find someone who will uphold justice for you!"

"If that's the case, I'll treat you to dog meat!" Brother Gou's eyes lit up, and Dang even expressed his opinion authentically.

Mr. Hu looked at Brother Gou in front of him strangely, but nodded very straightforwardly and said: "Okay, let's say a word for Dingmin!"

Just at this moment, two young men came to the fire, and one of them was a handsome young man who looked at Master Hu resentfully.

"Master Hu, you have raised two capable grandchildren, I'll go to work first!" Brother Gou put the remaining steamed buns into his mouth in embarrassment, and then left in a hurry.

The other workers who were eating steamed buns saw the two young men appearing, and they had already quenched their thirst with hot water, so they left the fire one after another.

It's just that the workers who left looked at Mr. Hu with complicated eyes. Although they liked Mr. Hu's generosity, this old man was squeezing two capable grandsons every day to make his face swollen and fat.

"Where's the bamboo stick?" Master Hu spread his hand, but asked directly to the two grandsons.

The handsome young man took all the bamboo sticks and prepared to boil water for drinking.

"Why are there so few today?" Master Hu looked at the bamboo stick in his hand, looking dissatisfied.

The handsome young man scooped up the water and said angrily, "Why don't you try it tomorrow?"

"The wind blew tears out of his eyes, and the frost on his beard turned into ice. I remember passing through this place last year, and the iron clothes sweated bitterly. You have never been to the frontier, so what is your suffering?" Master Hu counted the bamboo in his hand The lottery is to preach the Tao in a polite way.

"Wang Da...Grandpa, Hu Yu really isn't lazy, he's just not used to it!" Hu Jun handed all the bamboo sticks in his hand to Master Hu, but helped him to speak.

"You got a good harvest today, you guys are waiting here, I'll go back and change the money!" Master Hu straightened his waist immediately when he saw Hu Jun's bamboo stick.

In the last attack, the other party dispatched hundreds of people, which made him realize that the water in Yangzhou was much deeper than he had imagined, and it was even more dangerous than he had imagined.

Faced with this harsh situation, he chose to do whatever he could.

Lu Song, a hundred households in Jinyi, reported that he was missing after saving the water, but he pretended to be a refugee from Shandong and entered the boundary of Yangzhou, but he wanted to find out the bottom line.

The leader responsible for porting at the wharf was surnamed Li. He was nicknamed One-Eyed Li because he was blind in one eye.

"That's right, your two grandsons are really good at their work!" One-eyed Li said after clearing the bamboo sticks and immediately settling the money.

When Wang Yue took the money and silver, he stuffed back several copper coins and said: "Master Li, please take care of me if I have any good work in the future!"

"Many people have gone back at the end of the new year now. There is indeed a good job tonight, but you must be strict with your mouth. Do you want to let your two grandsons come and try?" One-eyed Li's heart moved slightly, and Dang even asked .

Wang Yue knew that the private salt factory he had been looking for had a clue, so he secretly said happily: "The old man can come too!"

"Forget it! Don't say whether people want it or not, you should keep your bones and live for a few more years!" One-eyed Li looked at Wang Yue in front of him contemptuously, and said with disgust.

Wang Yue knew that he really had to rely on his grandson to track down the private salt farm, so he nodded happily and said, "Okay, then I will let Hu Yu and Hu Jun's two grandsons come over on time tonight to listen to your orders!"

(End of this chapter)