Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 767: Destroying Yuangexi
According to the order of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the New Year's Eve holiday was connected with the Lantern Festival holiday, and two extra days were taken from other places to make a rare long holiday since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Although we don’t know why His Majesty has changed his temperament, this is definitely something worth celebrating for all civil and military officials.

Therefore, after obtaining the emperor's approval, officials from various departments also carried out the sealing ceremony of officials from the Song Dynasty.

The seal and ribbon were sealed to indicate that work had stopped, and officials then settled down to their respective places to spend the New Year. This has been a tradition since the Song Dynasty.

The system during the Yuan Dynasty was quite chaotic. Most of the time, the Yuan court had very limited control over the provinces. Whether the Han officials at the local level retired or not was entirely up to the Mongolian nobles, so there was no such thing as a so-called sealing ceremony.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it was simply because there was too little rest time that officials had neither the mood nor the leisure to perform the sealing ceremony.

After all, although the former Song Dynasty had many difficulties in realizing its ambitions, it could take a relatively relaxed month-long break when bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, so people naturally had the confidence to seal the ribbon.

What about our Ming Dynasty? From the time the sealing ceremony was held to the time the seal was reopened, I'm afraid the ink on the seal hasn't even dried yet.

Now we have the confidence to carry out the sealing ceremony, but His Majesty the Emperor has also issued an additional order that all Ming government departments will not take official days off during holidays, and all departments must leave officials on duty. After the sealing ceremony begins, they must be compensated for the days they have been on duty according to the number of days they have been on duty.

Although it is difficult to compare with the previous Song Dynasty, for the officials of the Ming Dynasty, the first month of the 14th year of Hongwu was indeed spent quite comfortably.

For more than half a month, they could temporarily forget the name Hu Weiyong in their minds, and also put aside everything else such as the strict emperor and the approachable crown prince.

I rode my horse through the city for forty miles, drank for ten miles, wrote poetry for ten miles, sang for ten miles, and toasted with friends and relatives for ten miles.

Walk through the streets to watch acrobatics, go to the tavern to see the foreigners, walk through the alleys to see groups of children holding candies and shouting, stop at the end of the alley to listen to the storyteller's lingering sound of his strokes.

If you have some spare money, you can charter a small boat and wait until dusk, with thousands of lights lighting up the starry sky, and the sounds of flutes, pipa, and zither. Let the boatman slowly drift along the Qinhuai River and listen to the joyful laughter flowing from the green-tiled and red-roofed palaces and Buddhist temples. That is the second best pleasure in the world.

As for the first-class pleasure that can only be enjoyed by entering these places... civil and military officials still need to make a choice between it and wearing an official hat.

After all, there are rumors that the Jinyiwei newly set up in the palace is a combination of multiple departments led by the emperor and the crown prince, and its jurisdiction covers all aspects of Yingtian Prefecture. They, the officials, must not act recklessly just because they have a rest for more than half a month.

But in short, even if they only enjoyed the second-best pleasure in the world, it was enough to make all the officials forget themselves. After all, they had always been trembling with fear in the court. Who would have thought that this day would come?
But in short, in the first month of the fourteenth year of Hongwu, the combination of two holidays finally allowed this new empire, which had been busy since its birth, to enter its first normal rest rhythm.

In the harem of the imperial palace, Crown Prince Zhu Biao picked up the dice on the table and when he looked up, he saw his father behaving strangely.

All officials in the world were on leave, and no reports were made except for major events, so the true center of the Ming Dynasty also became idle.

It was a rare occasion for the brothers to reunite, so at Zhu Di's suggestion, the brothers simply found a play to destroy Yuan Ge.

Since the emergence of Leaf Play in the Tang Dynasty, later generations have continuously improved this play. In the Song Dynasty, Yang Danian took the name of Red Crane and modified it into Crane Style.

Later, the ways to play Leaf Game became more diverse, but generally speaking, it can be divided into two types: with or without grids. The without grids game still requires each player to grab leaves, take turns to play cards to catch small cards and count other players' cards, focusing on the game. The with grids game requires playing on a grid board, using a spinning top or dice to determine the number of grids to be played, and then using the leaf to count the size to ultimately determine the benefits of each step, focusing on the game.

After a brief discussion, the brothers, except Zhu Su, did not want to play a game that required their brains, so they finally chose the grid play. This kind of game often has a simple background. For example, the promotion map originated in the Tang Dynasty requires players to start from a commoner and use dice to bet on the results of "virtue, talent, merit, corruption" and eventually become the highest official.

What the brothers are playing now is the very contemporary game of destroying the Yuan Dynasty. They start out as soldiers, using dice to gamble on "win, raise, unite, and lose", and under the leadership of Emperor Hongwu, they step by step become generals, and drive out the Mongols and restore China.

Now it was Zhu Biao's turn to throw the dice. He noticed his father's uneasy expression. He was holding a book in his hand but it was obvious that he didn't read a single word. Instead, he looked at the roof from time to time, and then looked out the window at the relatively deserted palace outside.

Queen Ma, who was standing by, put down the last stitch, bit off the thread with her teeth, and then lifted up the small piece of clothing and looked at it with satisfaction. Then she noticed the look on her son's face when he looked at his father, and she said directly:
"Your father is tired of us wives, daughters and the elderly, and is thinking about his Ming Empire."

"That's impossible!" Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly denied.

"Where isn't it?"

Empress Ma put her hands on her hips and slapped the table:
"Two days ago, on the night of the second day of the lunar year, I thought about your Majesty's hardship, so I took you for a walk in the snow to relax."

"What was the result? I said the light snow on my face was like the first snow of the year we got married. Your Majesty said that it was like this snow the night when Xu Da, Tang He and I decided to leave Haozhou, Nanlue and Dingyuan."

"I haven't had a conversation with just the two of us for a long time. Your Majesty said that after we destroy the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, make the Japanese surrender, and march to the South China Sea to permanently pacify the Strait Road, we will also take the opportunity to conquer Annan and then make a plan for Java. Then we can retire halfway. This is what we do every day."

"I said I wanted to go out of the palace in disguise in a few days, but His Majesty said he was afraid that something unexpected might happen and he would not be able to find the emperor. How could I leave so easily? After all the officials have their seals, I can slowly find a day to go out of the palace for fun."

As Empress Ma scolded him more, Zhu Yuanzhang retreated further, and finally he simply covered his face and fled. However, as he left, he turned back and shouted angrily at his sons who were all staring at him:
"What are you looking at? Go play that game. After the Lantern Festival, you are not allowed to waste time like this!"

After saying this, she left in a hurry without looking back. Empress Ma stuffed the sewn clothes into Zhu Biao's arms:
"Take it back to Xiongying. If it doesn't fit, bring it back to me and let me modify it."

After saying that, he hurriedly chased in the direction where Emperor Ming left:

"Zhu Chongba!"

The brothers looked at each other. Zhu Biao pinched the small piece of clothing in his hand, and a helpless smile suddenly appeared on the corner of his mouth.

At this time Zhu Zhen whispered:

"Brother, do you still want to play? If you don't want to play, then it's time for me to leave. I will be able to win the title of General in the next step!"

(End of this chapter)