Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 121
"Cough cough..."

The smell of medicine, the sound of coughing...

These existences that should not have appeared in Qianqing Palace appeared at the end of the twelfth lunar month.

Lying on the Babu bed, Zhu Yuanzhang's body was slightly thinner than it was more than half a month ago.

At this moment, he was looking at the imperial doctor who was diagnosing his pulse. Under his gaze, the old imperial doctor completed the pulse diagnosis under great pressure.

"Your Majesty's pulse is still the same as before. It's still wind chill caused by cold air entering the body. As long as you continue to take about five doses of medicine, you should be able to recover."

The imperial doctor truthfully reported the pulse condition he diagnosed. Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been a traveling monk in his early years, would also diagnose his pulse from time to time, so he knew that what the imperial doctor said was correct.

He waved his hand to signal the imperial doctor to step back, and then signaled the military attache standing in the corner to come forward.

The imperial doctor quickly stood up and left in a sensible manner. When the military attache came forward, he had already walked out of the Yangxin Hall.

"Your Majesty..." the military attache spoke softly, but Zhu Yuanzhang coughed a few times, and then said: "What's wrong?"

"The King of Bohai did not go against his will, but he selected craftsmen and bodyguards according to what he promised to your majesty."

"In addition, 16 people among the guards and craftsmen have been bribed by me. Even if His Highness takes them to Jilin Guard, as long as the people waiting in advance when passing through Liaodong give them carrier pigeons, they can communicate with Nanjing. No News cut off.”

The military attaché told him what Lao Zhu had ordered him these days, and Lao Zhu nodded after hearing this, with a bit of comfort on his face.

His grandson has never been disrespectful to him, and this is the happiest moment for him after experiencing the third son's fight for the reserve.

For more than half a month, he had been paying attention to Zhu Gaoxu, and what he wanted to see was whether he would try to change the situation without telling him, and bring some craftsmen who were proficient in firearms into the vassal team.

Fortunately, he did not disappoint himself. He did exactly what he had promised himself.

Seeing that he could do this, Lao Zhu felt more at ease, so he told the military attaché:
"Send someone to send a message, saying that after all, Song Guogong has a meeting with his master and apprentice, and you can pay him a visit before leaving."

"I accept your order..." the military attaché agreed, and Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask:

"How is it in Wuying Palace? Did anything happen while I was sick?"

"Not at all." The military attache shook his head and said, "The Crown Prince of Jin took the Crown Princess to the Duke Ying's Mansion to guard the spirit for seven days. After that, they returned to Wuying Palace as before, but their spirits were much lowered."

"The Prince of Qin is still the same, the Prince of Yan is a little quieter, and all the memorials in the palace have been handled in an orderly manner by the grandson."

After his words came out, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't speak for a long time. After a word, he raised his hand and waved it, signaling the military attaché to retreat.

Upon seeing this, the military attache withdrew and then arranged for someone to send a message to Zhu Gaoxu.

However, due to being drunk yesterday and staying up all night chatting with Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan, Zhu Gaoxu was not able to get the message right away. Fortunately, Yi Shiha woke up early and opened the door in time to answer the message.

When Zhu Gaoxu woke up and learned the news about Lao Zhu, it was already noon.

Zhu Gaoxu did not show too much joy for this sudden good news.

Not only that, even in the next few days, he never went to the Song Dynasty Duke's Mansion.

Such waiting did not change until New Year's Eve.

"Crackling-"

"It's a holiday! It's a holiday!"

"Mom, I want to go shopping!"

"Go after dinner!"

At dusk, with the sound of crackling firecrackers, the annual New Year's Eve festival has arrived.

Compared with the indifference of the New Year in later generations, although the Ming Dynasty of Wuhua Tianbao still has curfew rules, starting from New Year's Eve every year, people all over the world who have been "banned" by curfews for a year have a fifteen-day festival. Lift the ban.

This is not the first time Zhu Gaoxu has spent New Year's Eve and Spring Festival in Daming. But compared to last year when he just arrived in Daming and felt confused about his future, this year he has experienced a lot and is about to go to the north, so he cherishes and enjoys this New Year's Eve. .

In the early Ming Dynasty, Hu Feng was very serious, but due to the promotion of Zhu Yuanzhang and the imperial court, many activities from the Tang and Song Dynasties were brought to the forefront again. The people of the Ming Dynasty, who had experienced the baptism of festivals for more than [-] years, also played New Year's Eve with the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival and other festivals. Out of the flowers.

"There are probably a lot of people on the street today, so you all should be careful to put your money bags away."

Before going out, listening to the sound of firecrackers coming from all around and smelling the smell of sulfur in the air, Zhu Gaoxu, who was wearing a scarlet round-neck robe, put on his shoes and told everyone in the courtyard.

In the courtyard, Yi Shiha, Yang Zhan, and Wang Xuan arranged each other's clothes. These three of them are living in this courtyard these days, because not only Zhu Gaoxu and Yi Shiha are leaving Nanjing before the Lantern Festival, Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan They also have to leave Beijing before the Lantern Festival to take up their posts locally.

The three of them wore ordinary silk robes and net scarves on their heads, which was more cumbersome than Zhu Gaoxu.

After finally putting on his shoes, Zhu Gaoxu touched his arms again before leaving. After feeling the presence of the money bag, he led the three of them out of the alley.

As soon as you exit the alley, you can see some little dolls running back and forth holding windmills and wearing fat coats.

They were running around in groups in the alleys, and some were poking at the piles of firecracker debris in front of other people's houses, trying to find a few unlit firecrackers.

It was a bit dangerous to do this, so Zhu Gaoxu made a sound to disperse them. They were also startled by Zhu Gaoxu's voice, but after they came to their senses, they made a funny face at Zhu Gaoxu and ran away.

"These dolls..."

Looking at the group of dolls with blush on their faces and flowers on their eyebrows, Zhu Gaoxu laughed and walked out of the alley with Yi Shiha and the others.

When you come to the long street, you can see many shops decorated with lights and colorful decorations. Many lanterns are hung in front of their doors. The five or six feet wide road is lined with people celebrating the festival. Everyone brings out their best. Clothes on.

In such a festival, you can hardly tell who is engaged in what profession, as if everyone is a country squire.

In the center of the road, there are many performers with facial makeup on the floats, and they are performing the most joyful and lively activity... exorcism.

Exorcism is a traditional Chinese activity to expel ghosts and welcome the gods.

In Chinese folklore, "Nian" is originally a ferocious monster. The so-called "Celebrating the New Year" is to drive the monster away.

Since it was "fighting monsters", it was natural to form a group and go out.

Therefore, the people have a long history of "driving out Nuo" activities.

This activity was discontinued in the Yuan Dynasty, but was later vigorously promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang and the imperial court, and then reappeared among the people. Over the past twenty years, a variety of exorcism performances have gradually emerged.

Zhu Gaoxu stood in the crowd. Because he was tall, he could easily see the men and women and the orchestra standing on the floats.

The woman wore a mask of an old woman, and the man wore a mask of an old man. The two of them led the dance in the front float, and the orchestra behind them followed the accompaniment, playing and singing some popular folk songs.

"Clang clang..."

Suddenly, the gong rang, and many dolls on both sides of the street put on masks and followed the float. The masked man and woman on the float also began to pass candies to these dolls.

These dolls wear all kinds of strange masks and jump around happily.

Some dolls are too shy to go up, but their parents will smile and encourage them to push them up, then put on masks and follow them into the queue.

"Your Highness, the man and woman in front of the car are Nuo Weng and Nuo Mu. These dolls that go in are common people's dolls. After following the car, they become a part of the performance, also called child guardians."

Yang Zhan knew that His Highness had little understanding of folk customs, so he went out of his way to explain it to him.

Zhu Gaoxu was happy when he saw the scene, but he was still worried: "These dolls are all wearing masks. What if they get separated?"

"Your Highness, don't worry..." Yi Shiha explained with a smile: "From New Year's Eve to Lantern Festival, everyone in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and the Five Cities Military and Horse Division will be on duty. Look over there..."

Yishiha pointed in a direction, and Zhu Gaoxu looked along, and sure enough he saw groups of neatly dressed soldiers and horses.

They patrolled back and forth in the alleys, with as many as three teams on one street alone, and the city gates were closed. Even if the group of traffickers who wanted to harvest and cut crops did not dare to commit crimes today, they did not dare to do so today.

"When I came to the palace gate from afar, I saw a group of Japanese. Among them was a black man, who stood straight up and squatted with his head down..."

Suddenly, the orchestra of the exorcism float began to play and sang the exorcism ballad in Mandarin.

Perhaps this folk song was widely spread, so when they sang, the dolls next to the float also sang along.

The flow of people moves forward with the float. From time to time, many pedestrians can be seen walking to both sides of the float. One person takes the lead and dances, and the people behind follow his steps and dance and walk with the float.

Zhu Gaoxu also wanted to experience it, but he couldn't dance the exorcism dance, so he could only clap and applaud from the side.

While clapping his hands, he thought of a joke from later generations.

"All the ethnic minorities are dancing, and only the Han people are filming a short video..."

Now it seems that the Han people are also good at singing and dancing, but many dances and music have gradually disappeared in the long history.

"Since the south is thousands of miles away, there is no need to worry about the distance to the north..."

The exorcism songs take a long time to pass, but with Yang Zhan and others by his side, Zhu Gaoxu can often get specific translations after the lyrics are sung.

"Your Highness, the meaning of this song is that a group of monsters are just ahead, and one of them is a black guy lying on the eaves. Let's kick this guy thousands of miles away and capture him in the north and send him to the army!"

In the exciting music, Yang Zhan clapped his hands and explained to Zhu Gaoxu. As the bands on the float started singing, people along the street also started to pick up the rhythm.

Along with the music and the sound of gongs and drums, many people on both sides of the street joined the floats, singing and dancing, and had a good time.

Of course, what really makes them happy is not the imaginary monster, but the hard work of the past year.

No matter what happened in the past year, they remembered all the unpleasant memories in the past year. On this New Year's Eve night, they poured them out heartily and threw them into the year that is about to pass!

It was getting dark, but more and more people were following behind the motorcade. Zhu Gaoxu was also pulled into the group by the enthusiastic people, singing and dancing hand in hand with Yi Shiha, the three of them, and other people he didn't know.

They sang and danced from the streets of Fujun Qianweifang to Huangcheng West Street. Even though the sun had completely set and the night had risen, they still could not stop the enthusiasm of the people.

Huangcheng Street, where things could not be built in the past, also set up lamp sheds early, and various colored lanterns were lit.

The Imperial City is not very lively, so all the floats are heading towards Xihua Street.

Zhu Gaoxu and the others were wrapped up and followed the flow of people for several miles. When they could no longer dance, they walked out of the floats and sat on the promenade on both sides of a stone bridge.Zhu Gaoxu thought he had missed the program just by sitting down, but he didn't expect that the real program was heading towards them in a convoy.

Sitting in the promenade, you can see many long and wide carriages appearing, including eight-wheeled, twelve-wheeled, and sixteen-wheeled carriages, pulling various large stages.

There are acrobats, singers and dancers on the stage, as well as storytelling and opera performers... In short, each stage is more lively than the next.

When it gets completely dark, hundreds of fireworks point directly into the sky, and grains of "golden sand" shoot out and bloom proudly in the sky.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, everything is complete and colorful, decorating the night sky beautifully and gracefully, and illuminating the earth as if it were daytime.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, another huge red fireball rose in the street in the distance.

It flew into the air, and with a "pop" sound, it turned into thousands of small sparks and splashed away, dragging its long, shining tail and falling slowly, like a flying butterfly, spinning down from the sky, and like being blown by the wind. The dandelions were blown away, scattering thousands of floating catkins.

"Boom bang bang-"

I haven't finished watching one yet, but there are colorful flames dragging their long tails, vying for the first place, and jumping up into the night sky one after another.

For a moment, even Zhu Gaoxu was dazzled. Often before the fireworks here were finished, the fireworks over there appeared in full glory. Suddenly, the sky became a garden of fireworks, filled with their own ocean everywhere.

"Your Highness, hurry up! Look!"

Wang Xuan's anxious voice rang in Zhu Gaoxu's ears. When he was pulled by Wang Xuan and looked forward, he saw that the stone bridge in front of him had been evacuated. Two shirtless and muscular men wearing gourds and gourds walked to the bridge. superior.

They set up a three-foot-high furnace on the three-foot-wide bridge and used a strong wind box to turn the pig iron prepared in advance into iron juice.

After a while, under the curiosity of Zhu Gaoxu and the people, a man took out a fresh willow stick as thick as a fist and as long as a foot.

Seeing that they were ready, a dozen more men dressed in the same clothes as them squeezed out from the people.

After the dozen men lined up in groups of two, the two men in the center of the bridge began their performance.

They hold the upper rod in one hand to contain the iron juice in the iron furnace, and the lower rod that is not filled with iron juice in the other hand.

In front of all the people watching, they quickly ran to the flower shed and slammed the upper stick filled with iron juice with the lower stick...

"boom--"

For a moment, fireworks shot up into the sky. Before it completely dissipated, the dozen or so men rushed forward, one after another, one after another, going back and forth between the furnace and the garden shed.

Under their relay, the fiery trees, silver flowers and sticks are connected in an endless stream and dazzling.

They watched like this for a long time, and it wasn't until a quarter of an hour later that they withdrew.

Zhu Gaoxu thought there would be some kind of show, but unfortunately it was the magistrate of Shangyuan County who was waiting.

In front of the people, the officials of Shangyuan County brought pine firewood and set them up as high as a house.

After a while, the magistrate of Shangyuan came forward with a torch, prayed to heaven on behalf of the people, and finally lit the fire.

Under Yang Zhan's explanation, Zhu Gaoxu learned that this was a custom called "burning a brazier".

Originally, Zhu Gaoxu thought that the magistrate of Shangyuan County would stay and talk about some poisonous chicken soup after finishing this matter, but in the end, he didn't want him to leave directly with the government officials.

Zhu Gaoxu was a little dazed, but Yi Shiha explained with a smile: "The official is probably busy going back to watch the New Year's Eve. It's been like this in previous years."

"That's good." Hearing that there was no interference from the Yamen, Zhu Gaoxu also smiled and continued to watch the program on the bridge.

As he expected, after the official left, eighteen-wheeled carriages began to pull one by one to the stage and stop for performances.

Opera in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties was more developed than in the Song Dynasty, so theater viewing was the highlight of the Ming Dynasty people during the half-month period from New Year's Eve to Lantern Festival.

Including but not limited to "The Injustice of Dou E", "Wangjiang Pavilion", "Song General Yue Fei Jingzhong", "Single Sword Club" and other Song and Yuan operas.

In addition to these, there are many opera themes that have been lost in later generations. Among these opera themes, the opera of gods and demons is the largest production.

Operas with mythological themes require the use of various "special effects" scenes, such as fire breathing, explosions, escape from the ground, flying, etc. Special effects can be displayed.

The people in the audience couldn't understand it, but Zhu Gaoxu laughed heartily.

Breathing fire is relatively simple, just igniting fire with mouth oil and spitting it out, but for explosions, gunpowder is stuffed into the bamboo forest on the set in advance, and it is detonated one by one when the actor swings his sword.

There is also the ability to escape from the ground, but it is just a mechanism hidden under the stage, giving people the illusion that they will sink into the ground when they jump up.

Feitian also used some ropes of the same color as the curtain to hang up the actors. Although it can be seen, it still does not affect Zhu Gaoxu's enjoyment of watching.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu was happy, Yishiha also walked to the bridge, walked onto the stage of the carriage holding a sling of money the size of his thumb, and put the money into the hat with several corners.

By the time Yi Shiha comes back, the drama is almost over.

The stage of gods and demons was taken away by a carriage and replaced by the historical drama "The King of Yue Prospered the Nation to Death in Prison".

Yue Fei's story was widely circulated in the early Ming Dynasty, so there were more spectators than the previous dramas about gods and demons.

Although many people have watched this play many times, some people still couldn't help crying when the play was performed.

"Qin Hui the dog thief!"

Suddenly, there was a loud roar from the crowd, and a theatergoer suddenly rushed onto the stage, grabbed the actor playing Qin Hui and beat him severely.

"That's an actor!"

"I hit the wrong person!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Zhu Gaoxu was stunned. Some people beside him cried and laughed, trying to persuade the man that he was an actor.

After a few punches, the man touched his head when he realized what he was doing, and he knelt down to Qin Hui's actor in embarrassment.

That "Qin Hui" received a few punches, and after he came to his senses, he still wanted to be angry, but when he saw the man kneeling down and bowing, he could only step forward to help him up, ask him to come off the stage, and continue to bear the punched face. Performance.

Although this scene was a bit of a farce, it really made people laugh and cry. Even Zhu Gaoxu laughed so hard that he slapped his thigh.

Unfortunately, this play was the last one, and when the stage curtain was closed, the people on both sides of the stone bridge and the river dispersed one after another.

Zhu Gaoxu, who had also lost his temper and still had unfinished thoughts, said to him:
"Your Highness, it's time to watch the New Year's Eve. You have to enter the palace to pay your respects to His Majesty."

"That's right! I forgot about it." Zhu Gaoxu was reminded by Yi Shiha, and then he remembered that he had to go to the palace at midnight.

"Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan, you guys go shopping on your own. When you're busy, go to the restaurant in the alley over the courtyard to order food and wait for me."

Zhu Gaoxu told Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan, and then walked to the imperial city with Yi Shiha.

Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan continued to play in Nanjing City, while Zhu Gaoxu and Yi Shiha called a donkey cart and took them to Xihua Gate.

Although Zhu Gaoxu did not want to see Lao Zhu, he did not go to visit Lao Zhu on New Year's Eve. This was heard by the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and he was afraid that he would be severely impeached.

With this in mind, Zhu Gaoxu and the others were also sent to Xihua Gate by donkey cart.

Since he was a eunuch of the royal palace, Yi Shiha could naturally follow Zhu Gaoxu into the palace this year.

On this New Year's Eve, the entire Forbidden City is also decorated with lights.

Since many of the emperor's grandchildren have grown up, in order to avoid causing trouble in the palace, the Forbidden City holds two family banquets in Jinshen Hall and Huagai Hall.

The concubines of the harem and the underage princesses and princes had family banquets in the Jinshen Hall, while many royal grandchildren, adult princesses, princes, and consorts had family banquets in the Huagai Hall.

Compared to ordinary days, the Forbidden City tonight was decorated with lights and colorful decorations. There were dozens of piles of pine wood piled on the square in front of Fengtian Hall, and thousands of lanterns of various colors hung on ropes.

Walking under this lantern feels like walking in the Starlight Night Market.

Unfortunately, time was running out, so Zhu Gaoxu did not delay here, but went to the Huagai Hall through the left door.

Just after passing through the middle left gate, what appeared in front of him were dozens of Princess Huangsun who were having fun in the Huagai Palace Square. They were chasing and fighting, followed by hundreds of palace people.

There was a banquet in the square, and some naughty imperial grandsons wanted to poke the lanterns with sticks, but some palace maids were frightened and stepped forward to stop them.

Not long after Zhu Gaoxu entered the square, some people's eyes were on him.

There is no way. After all, Zhu Gaoxu is the most eye-catching grandson of the emperor in Nanjing this year. Whether it is his personal talents or the things he has done, it is difficult for others to recognize him, not to mention the many grandsons of the emperor who studied together in the main hall. .

It's a pity that even though he came, not many people greeted him.

The emperors and grandsons of Dabentang were afraid of offending this 'fierce god', while the princes who stayed in Beijing felt that there was no need to welcome Zhu Gaoxu.

At this time, a figure stood up with difficulty and walked towards Zhu Gaoxu holding a wine glass.

"Second brother, you're here..."

Zhu Gaochi held the wine glass and handed it to Zhu Gaoxu with an embarrassed look on his face, squirming and seeming very uncomfortable.

Since he took the throne, he felt very sorry for Zhu Gaoxu. Even though he felt that the throne should belong to him, he knew better that he was not as good as Zhu Gaoxu, which was why he was embarrassed.

"Here we come." Zhu Gaoxu didn't make so many twists and turns. He took the wine glass and drank it in one gulp, not caring about the issue of the crown prince's position.

Although the throne was conferred by Lao Zhu, what Zhu Gaoxu wants is not the position of King Yan, but the future East Palace and the future throne!

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the head of the banquet. Zhu Yunwen, who was sitting there, had already stood up with a normal smile on his face.

Looking at his polite expression, Zhu Gaoxu also showed a fake smile.

"Son of the Emperor, those who have strong soldiers and horses should be chosen. I would rather have the talent..."

(End of this chapter)