Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 231 The Emperor's Wedding
Ten miles of red makeup, the whole world celebrates.

Half a month later, the Ming Dynasty ushered in the emperor's wedding.

After the national audition to the final three-person competition, the current emperor Hongzhi finally finalized the final candidate for the queen.

After Naji asked the horoscope, accepted the levy and gave the bride price, announced the date and set the auspicious date, and offered sacrifices to the ancestral temple and heaven and earth, the wedding was held on September 22.

The resplendent Forbidden City is decorated with lanterns and festoons, and the entire palace is full of festive atmosphere. In particular, Fengtian Hall is equipped with thrones, cases, festival cases, brine books, and celebration gifts from local officials and envoys.

The sun is shining, and it's a rare autumn day.

"I hereby choose Chang Yourong, the daughter of Chang Fu, the governor of the military mansion, as the empress, and order the ministers to perform the ceremony of accepting and asking for fame!"

The chief and deputy envoys set out from Fengtianmen, walked out of the Forbidden City through the Meridian Gate, and then went to Fengtianmen to put the system and festival cases in Caiyu.

As the palace music played, the chief and deputy envoys took off their court clothes and rode on horses, and led the drum music welcome team to set off from Daming Gate and head towards Dashi Yongfang in a mighty way.

The streets along the way have already been decorated with lights and festoons, and every household is posting happy words like a festival, and a long red carpet has been laid on West Chang'an Avenue.

"Empress Chengyu, enter the palace!"

The chief and deputy envoys quickly greeted the queen out of the Changfu, and then there was a great ceremony and music.

Eunuchs in auspicious attire lead the way, with the guard of honor in the front, the phoenix in the middle, the principal and deputy wedding envoys on the left and right, and all the eunuchs and maids of honor following neatly behind.

"It's too far away, can't see the queen clearly?"

"Our new empress looks amazing!"

"I met my cousin during the draft, and I guessed it must be her!"

"My distant aunt also said at the time, as long as there is no inside story in this draft, the queen must be surnamed Chang!"

……

Many people in the capital came to witness this rare grand ceremony wearing new clothes. Although they were kept away by the people from Wucheng Bingmasi, they couldn't stop their gossiping hearts.

Even in today's world, it is difficult to escape the law of "judging a woman by her appearance", and now among the women recruited from all over the world, there really is such a rare beauty in a century.

It's not that the people in the capital realized it later, even the common people who had to guess Xie Yuan in the Shuntian Township Examination had already "voted" for the queen, and Chang Yourong had always been at the top of the list.

It turned out that the eyes of the masses were discerning, and Chang Yourong, whom they admired, was indeed elected as the queen.

Today, all the yamen in the city are on holiday, so civil and military officials in court uniforms are waiting in front of the Chengtian gate, separated from the east and west sides.

"I am the only one who is overwhelmed by the responsibilities of heaven and earth. Qian Yuan must be funded by Kun Shun, the queen of the king governs the teaching of yin and yang, and the foundation of the country's governance is based on the family... I am hereby sending a special envoy to hold the festival, and take the gold book Jin Baoli as the queen, the Lord Leading the Changqiu, the mother's ritual letter to the summer... the way of the country, the family is the foundation. The relationship between husband and wife, the righteousness of the universe. Qinzai."

The new empress, Chang Yourong, was formally conferred before the court case. Witnessed by civil and military officials, the female official put a crown of nine dragons and four phoenixes on Chang Yourong's head.

At this moment, she can be regarded as officially becoming Empress Daming, Hongzhi's first empress.

"I will send the empress to the palace respectfully, thousand years old, thousand years old, thousand years old!" All civil and military officials saw Fengjia going to the Forbidden City, and immediately saluted in a polite manner.

Feng Jia came to the Meridian Gate, at this time the main gate of the Meridian Gate had been opened, and there was a seemingly endless royal road in front of him.Enter directly from the central gate of the Meridian Gate, pass the Jinshui Bridge in the center, and then go straight to Fengtian Temple.

"Empress, please come out."

A young girl with a peerless face, her eyes like autumn water raised her eyes to the long royal road in front of her, symbolizing wealth and power.

Only the emperor can walk this royal road, and the empress only walks it once when she is married, and today she will get the honor that all women in the world dream of.

Chang Yourong was wearing a pair of red embroidered phoenix shoes, a set of dark blue phoenix-patterned Zhai clothes, a crown of nine dragons and four phoenixes on his head, and a jade belt hanging from his waist. He was walking steadily along this palace road in accordance with etiquette .

From the beginning of the draft at the beginning of the year, she went through six rounds of selection before entering the Forbidden City as one of the [-] outstanding girls, and then after a lot of competition, she finally became one of the three queen candidates.

Now she has been selected as the Empress of Ming Dynasty, and her family members have also been appointed in her honor. The whole family even came to the capital from Yunnan to start a new life.

Everything is like a dream.

As Fengtian Temple got closer, she felt an inexplicable sense of tension, and the beads on the nine dragons and four phoenixes swayed accordingly.These strings of pearls are shining, all of which are South Sea pearls picked from Tokyo Bay this year, and they make a crisp sound when they are hit.

The base of Fengtian Temple is eight meters high. Although there are court ladies supporting it, when seeing today's emperor standing on the top, there is an invisible coercion.

Chang Yourong was caught in the dilemma of keeping his posture and not letting His Majesty wait too long, but when he speeded up, he would inevitably make mistakes.

"You can walk slowly!" Zhu Youtang, who was wearing a Yan suit, had already descended to the first step along the east side of Danxia, ​​stretched out a hand to support Chang Yourong who was about to trip.

Chang Yourong's feet were raised too low and almost fell, and he couldn't help being slightly moved. Seeing such a considerate emperor right in front of him was like a good dream after another.

"Queen!"

"The concubine is here!"

"Let's just say that today is bitter before sweet!"

Zhu Youtang looked at the Fengtian Palace in front of him, and said something confusing to the queen.

The emperor's big wedding is very festive, but it is also very cumbersome.

Zhu Youtang changed into a brand-new set of crown clothes, and took the queen to the Fengxian Hall to visit the family temple and comfort the ancestors.

Today's marriage has many special features, for example, the queen can enter along the royal road, and this time she can follow Zhu Youtang into the Fengxian Hall to worship the ancestors, etc.

Even if it is an imperial wedding, they will change into traditional groom and bride costumes like ordinary people.

It's just that the emperor and the empress will naturally not have a marriage ceremony. The two parties hold a wedding ceremony, commonly known as drinking a cup of wine.

The husband and wife sit opposite each other, and the female deacon holds a large plate full of vegetables and puts it between them. Then the female official pours wine for the emperor and queen with four pure gold wine glasses, called Jinzun wine.

In the process of this ceremony, a total of three glasses of wine are drunk, and the process is relatively complicated. After drinking a glass of wine, a few mouthfuls of vegetables and a few mouthfuls of staple food will be arranged.

The bride pours a glass of wine and hands it to the groom.The groom takes a sip and hands it to the bride, who drinks it all down.

The groom pours a glass of wine and hands it to the bride.The bride takes a sip and returns it to the groom, who drinks it all in one gulp.

At the end of the third glass of wine, the emperor and empress each poured wine for each other, and then saluted each other.

It's just that the emperor and empress are not ordinary people after all, they will all have their own confidants.

According to historical records, it is called the food of the emperor's followers, and the food of the emperor after the followers.To put it simply, the emperor's attendant should eat the queen's leftovers, and the queen's maid should eat the emperor's leftovers.

Zhu Youtang felt strange about this arrangement of "sharing meals", but it was not easy to interfere too much.

In fact, this kind of arrangement is equivalent to elevating the status of the queen, at least it can make people around me remember who is the queen. People like Guo Yong and Liu Jin around me can be regarded as admitting the identity of Chang Yourong's mistress.

In the same way, the people around the queen must also understand whose emperor's meal he is eating, so they also have to be loyal to the emperor Hongzhi.

After the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom's clothes will be replaced, and they will return to ordinary clothes.

According to the usual practice, the location of the emperor's wedding chamber is arranged in the Kunning Palace.

The main style of the bridal chamber is red, red happy characters and couplets are pasted on the door, Baizi tents are hung on the bed, Baizi quilts are spread on the bed, and a big red curtain embroidered with dragon and phoenix Double Happiness is hung at the head of the bed.

The door of Kunning's palace was closed. This was an extraordinary wedding night.

Although Zhu Youtang was a little tired, but when he saw the peerless beauty sitting on the edge of the marriage bed, the tiredness in his body disappeared inexplicably, and instead, he felt an expectation that all hardships would be rewarded.

At this moment, Chang Yourong had already changed into the common clothes she wore as a queen, and her well-proportioned identity was revealed, but she was wearing a big red hijab on her head.

Seeing that Chang Yourong was clenching his hands nervously, Zhu Youtang couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly. He reached out to pick up a scale on the table, and then came to the bed and gently picked up the red hijab.

The red wax is light and thick, and the beauty is picturesque.

Chang Yourong has exquisite facial features, a taller figure, and a natural aura of a queen, especially those beautiful and majestic eyes.

If a woman is a flower, then at this moment, Chang Yourong is ushering in the best season, blooming the most glorious side, looking like the most beautiful bride since Youming.

The advantage of the audition is that the most beautiful woman in the country will be sent here, and she only needs to wash off the dust on her body, and she will be the stunning queen of the world.

"The beauty hides the past and the present, and the lotus is ashamed of its beauty!"

When Zhu Youtang saw the glamorous queen in front of him, he couldn't help but praise her.

It is different from Fan Jinling's charm, Qingyue's intelligence and generosity, and Beifei's liveliness and cheerfulness. The queen in front of her seems to be the most beautiful peony flower, possessing a natural and noble temperament.

In fact, although Chang Yourong is considered a "folk girl", there was once a woman in their family who was honored as a queen, and she was even more eminent after the founding of the country.

It's just that the glory of the ancestors dates back decades, but now Chang Yourong only thinks that she is an ordinary woman, and now she blushes when she hears the emperor's praise.

Zhu Youtang noticed that red dates, longan and other meanings were sprinkled on the quilt, so he grabbed a few red dates: "Queen, you didn't eat enough just now, did you?"

Etiquette is etiquette after all. This process focuses on the rigor of etiquette, and it is unlikely that you can be fed to your full during the process of saluting.

Chang Yourong nodded first, then shook his head.

Zhu Youtang picked up a red date and put it in his mouth, and joked directly: "You won't be dumb anymore?"

"The concubine is nervous!" Chang Yourong responded honestly and crisply.

Zhu Youtang generously handed two red dates: "You must be hungry to feel nervous, eat something to fill your stomach and you won't be nervous!"

"Thank you for the gift, Your Majesty!" Chang Yourong knew that it was not because of her nervousness, but she still took the jujube to thank her.

Zhu Youtang found that the woman in front of him was very good-looking, and continued to eat a red date, so he asked with great interest, "Why don't you eat it? Why are you nervous?"

"The concubine has become His Majesty's empress and the empress of the Ming Dynasty. The concubine is afraid that if she does not do well, she is also afraid that if she does something wrong, she will be disliked by His Majesty!" Chang Yourong hesitated for a moment, then put the worry in his heart at this moment into consideration. speak out.

Zhu Youtang spat out the jujube pit in his mouth, and said very seriously: "I am actually happy, but I am also a little worried! This harem is indeed too deserted on weekdays. After I return to the palace, I can only live in the dry room every night. Qing Palace, now you can come to Kunning Palace to stay for a while. But I am afraid that after you come in, this harem will suddenly become uneasy, if I want to worry about state affairs, and have to deal with the harem affairs, then I will be really burnt out!"

"The concubine must manage the harem well, so that His Majesty won't be worried!" Chang Yourong also wanted to be a good wife, so she promised seriously.

A trace of bitterness appeared on Zhu Youtang's face, and he looked into Chang Yourong's eyes: "Queen, do you still remember the last question I gave you three?"

"Remember, Your Majesty asked the three of us to use all available strength around us to move that stone by the lake? Your concubine did it!" Chang Yourong met Zhu Youtang's eyes, and responded very seriously.

Zhu Youtang threw away the rest of the red dates, turned around and threw Chang Yourong's fragrant body onto the bed: "Don't mention this, the spring night is worth a thousand gold!"

The four eyes met, full of tenderness.

At this moment, Zhu Youtang felt like he had gotten what he wanted. Although he didn't finish the last question very well, the Candlelight Girls were all eliminated, and he undoubtedly chose a very desirable queen.

At least tonight, that option looks sensible.

"One more thing?" Chang Yourong, who was suddenly thrown down, had his heart pounding, but suddenly remembered the unfinished business.

Zhu Youtang was confused for a moment, looking puzzled and said: "What's the matter?"

"What does Your Majesty mean by saying that bitterness comes first before sweetness in front of Fengtian Palace?"

"I... will let you know!"

The corners of Zhu Youtang's mouth rose slightly, thinking of today's busyness, isn't it just for this moment?
In the huge Kunning Palace, there was a touch of softness in the flickering light of Daxi Hongyan, and an unharmonious scene was being staged in the small world on the bed.

Autumn is here, will spring... come?
Life is very strange, but after being broken, I seem to have a new understanding of the world.

In fact, Chang Yourong didn't quite understand why His Majesty would choose her whose family status had declined, but she was already in this position, so she would try her best to be a good wife.

After all, she and him are really connected.

After a restless night of spring, Chang Yourong showed a funny smile on that beautiful face, and even took the initiative to hug Zhu Youtang tightly.

The wedding ceremony, in fact, has arrangements for the next five days.

It's just that the current empire is different from the previous dynasties. It has broken the usual pattern of sharing the blessings of peace with its neighbors through tolerance. The Ming Dynasty took the initiative to provoke the Southwest War.

(End of this chapter)