Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"This is a real change!"

This thought arose in the minds of many ministers.

This resulted in a sudden decrease in the number of people opposing.

For them, it was natural to oppose the emperor's change of the calendar.

If the emperor punished himself for such a thing, it would be his honor, just like being beaten with a stick in the court in the past.

Unfortunately, the current emperor has never punished anyone with a stick since he ascended the throne.

This even made some people sigh secretly, feeling that they had missed a shortcut to fame.

Therefore, they did not hesitate to express their opposition when the emperor changed the calendar.

Even if it means giving up their vacation time, they must make contributions to maintaining the orthodoxy.

However, things changed abruptly after the emperor proposed to move the official court ceremony to the Mingtang.

Because they realized that the emperor was not only changing the date of the court ceremony, but also its scope.

This is a real change of course, not just talk.

Then they must be cautious about this matter.

Because it involved the Mingtang, the matter became related to the Congress and the re-establishment of rituals and music.

If they stood on the opposing side when the reformation of rituals and music had already received widespread support and the establishment of a parliament was also anticipated by the entire Ming Dynasty, the consequence would most likely be that they would never be able to recover.

Just like the ministers who opposed Emperor Jiajing during the Great Ceremony Debate, none of them could turn the tables.

The current emperor's major ritual discussion is to re-establish rituals and music.

Liu Zongzhou, who was in charge of the reformulation of rituals and music, was shocked and delighted that the emperor planned to hold the official court ceremony in the Mingtang.

As the person who was responsible for the re-establishment of rites and music, he had long realized that the emperor's so-called re-establishment of rites and music would bring about changes to the Ming Dynasty no less than a change of dynasty.

In this case, changing the calendar is not that difficult to accept. He said excitedly:
"The middle chapter of the Book of Documents, Book of Zhou, Tai Shi says: Heaven sees as the people see, and Heaven hears as the people hear."

“Whatever God sees and hears comes from the people.”

"Your Majesty, as the Son of Heaven, it is only natural for you to come to the Mingtang to accept the congratulations."

This is why the ministers believed that when the emperor held the official court ceremony in the Mingtang, he changed from being appointed by heaven to being appointed by the people at the same time.

When the emperor accepted congratulations from the people's representatives in the Mingtang, it showed that he would listen to the people's opinions.

The sentence "Heaven has mercy on the people, and will follow the people's wishes" in the first chapter of "Shangshu·Zhoushu·Taishi" will naturally have a binding force on the emperor.

This was exactly what the ministers, who had always been committed to restraining the imperial power, wanted, and it was also the reason why they supported the establishment of the parliament.

After the emperor linked the Zhengshuo Court Ceremony with the Mingtang Congress, it was no longer a simple issue.

Many officials began to consider accepting this, while enjoying the holidays stipulated in the new calendar with peace of mind.

However, changes to the calendar were never easy. There were still many ministers who opposed it, especially after the current emperor reformed the court meetings and made the new moon and full moon ceremonies more important.

Minister of Rites Cheng Jiming said:

"Your Majesty previously changed the ceremony for the new moon and full moon. Now you want to adopt the new calendar and change the new moon and full moon days. What should be done with the ceremony for the new moon and full moon?"

"How should the rituals related to the first and fifteenth lunar months, such as the sacrifices at the ancestral tombs and the incense burning at the first and fifteenth lunar months of Confucianism, be changed?"

The implicit meaning is that the new moon and full moon are of great importance and should not be changed easily.

In response to this, Liu Zongzhou, who now supports the Zhengshuo court ceremony, said:
"The rituals for the morning and evening ceremonies are originally for the beginning and middle of the month."

"Since the new moon and full moon days have to be changed, let's set them to the first and fifteenth day of the month."

"It's still these two dates. What's the problem?"

The new moon used to refer to the first day of each month, but under the new calendar, the first day and the new moon are no longer the same day.

Liu Zongzhou thought that it would be sufficient to change the name to the first day of the lunar month, just like the first day of the first lunar month is no longer referred to as the first day of the lunar month.

The full moon day is no longer linked to the fifteenth day, but is changed to the fifteenth day.

Zhu Youjian agreed with this and said:

"If the 15th is the day off, it would be better to change it to the 16th."

"From now on, the ceremonies on the first and full moons will be held on the first and sixteenth day of each lunar month."

"It is held once every half month and is called the Half-Month Chaoyi, or Moon Chaoyi for short."

"The officials who participated were still conventionally called Chao-san-guan, corresponding to Chang-chao-guan and Chang-san-guan."

"The sacrifices on the new moon and full moon days were also changed to the first and sixteenth day of the month, and they were no longer called new moon and full moon."

This made the officials who could only attend the new moon and full moon court sessions feel relieved.

Only the regular court officials were somewhat unhappy, because the sixteenth day happened to be the 3rd, 6th, and 9th day, and their regular court time was occupied by the half-moon court.

In the future, they will be demoted from nine officials to eight officials, and their opportunities to communicate with the emperor will be reduced by one.

In particular, the officials from the Kedao and Daoist provinces who were given preferential treatment when attending regular court sessions reacted strongly to this.

Facing these people's objections, Zhu Youjian said:
"The 15th is a holiday, so you shouldn't have any work scheduled for it."

"But if you are willing, you can also volunteer to work overtime."

This made those minor officials who could not attend the regular court sessions dissatisfied. Most of them attended the court sessions just for show and rarely got the opportunity to speak. Of course, they were unwilling to reduce their vacation day for this.

Those ministers who often met the emperor were even more dissatisfied with this.

They originally felt that there were too many officials in the court, making it inconvenient to handle affairs.

The emperor's reduction of regular court sessions was something they had been longing for. The Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Zaijin said:
"Before this, the Wangri court meeting was followed by the regular court meeting. Officials who attended the court meetings consecutively felt exhausted."

"I think this kind of large-scale court meetings should be reduced. The regular court meetings can be changed from once every five days to one or six days like the Tang Dynasty."

Minister of Personnel Guo Yunhou, Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan, Minister of Punishment Wang Yongguang and others all echoed this.

Regular officials generally do not like to attend court meetings. They prefer to communicate with the emperor face to face.

Even Zhu Youjian was somewhat tempted, because after more than two years on the throne, he was somewhat tired of the regular court sessions that had to be held every three or four days.

Otherwise, he would not have taken the opportunity to reduce the number of court sessions during the reform. Holding court sessions on the 15th and 16th day in a row was even more tiring for the emperor.

The 120-day vacation plan he set was not only to give his officials a rest, but also to give himself more leisure time and time to rest.

Once the vacation time is confirmed, the person on duty will handle anything that happens during the vacation. Unless it is an extremely urgent matter, there is no need to submit it to him.

If it were changed to once every five days as Wang Zaijun suggested, he would be more relaxed and comfortable.

However, the regular court officials who were not allowed to attend the regular meetings naturally strongly opposed this plan.

If they really changed it to the first and sixth days as Wang Zaijun suggested, after removing the court ceremonies on the first and sixteenth day of the lunar month led by the court officials, they would only have four opportunities to attend the regular court on the sixth, eleventh, twenty-first and twenty-sixth days.

Compared with the six officials in the Tang Dynasty, they were inferior, not to mention that according to the current reduction method, they were only reduced from nine officials to eight officials. It was only when there were holidays on the 3rd, 6th and 9th days that the number would be reduced occasionally.

So these people came to think that there was no problem in subtracting the 16th day from the regular court session, and the regular court session should still be held on the 3rd, 6th and 9th days.

This made Zhu Youjian feel regretful that he was unable to take the opportunity to reduce the number of court meetings.

However, this little episode also made him realize that the ministers were not so resolute in opposing the change of the new and full moons.

Otherwise, they would not have discussed the frequency of court meetings in such a serious manner, as if they really wanted to make changes based on this discussion.

However, there were still those who opposed the change of the lunar calendar. After seeing Qian Qianyi’s lack of response, Li Biao, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, said:
"In addition to the New Moon and Full Moon ceremonies, there are many folk festivals related to the moon. How should these be changed?"

"For example, how should the three Yuan Festivals, Shangyuan Festival, Zhongyuan Festival and Xiayuan Festival, as well as the Mid-Autumn Festival, be changed?"

Zhu Youjian had already made a plan for this, and said:
"Mid-Autumn Festival can be defined as a reunion festival or a harvest festival, held during the autumn harvest."

"The full moon of August is its date."

"And then add it to the first and last five and ten, and you'll have six days off in total."

This holiday arrangement made the ministers exclaim, and they obviously thought this holiday was too good. With such a long holiday, people who live not far from home can go home and reunite.

Many officials are more excited about the holiday arrangements after adopting the new calendar.

Then they heard the Emperor say:

"As for the Lantern Festival and other Sanyuan Festivals, they are Taoist festivals."

"Whether it is Taoism, Buddhism or Nestorianism, the imperial court did not make special arrangements for holidays on their festivals."

"Churches can take their own holidays or hold activities. In places with strong religious customs, they can also set local holidays like some tribal festivals such as the Water Splashing Festival."

"Local holidays are decided by local councils, and court holidays will be voted on by Congress later."

This arrangement made Liu Zongzhou, who was in charge of the National Assembly, even more satisfied, and the ministers also felt that the emperor respected public opinion.

Regarding the Lantern Festival, Zhu Youjian said:
"The Lantern Festival, which is a court holiday, is called the Lantern Festival. This festival is mainly about lantern festivals, and it is not as closely related to the moon as the Mid-Autumn Festival."

"Do you think it should be set as the full moon night of the first month, or the 15th day of the first month?"

This has caused some controversy, especially since the emperor planned to shorten the Lantern Festival to three days, a significant reduction from the previous ten days.

Some people who like the Lantern Festival argue that the Lantern Festival should be held on the full moon night of the first month of the lunar calendar. It should be a six-day or even eleven-day holiday like the Mid-Autumn Festival to be worthy of the status of this festival.

Some people also think that the Lantern Festival lanterns are too extravagant and a sheer waste of money and time. They even want to cancel the festival, let alone have a long holiday.

However, there are very few such people, and Zhu Youjian finally decided to hand it over to the Congress for discussion:
"How to set the date of the Lantern Festival and how to change the first and full moons, I think it should be decided by the National Assembly and listen to the opinions of the people."

"If the people think this is a good idea, the court will use the new calendar in the future."

"If you don't think it's good, then follow the original calendar."

"Mr. Liu, when the National Assembly and Zhuolu District Council reconvene after the New Year, let the members discuss whether to adopt the new calendar."

"If you want to use it, then use it together with the old calendar and try it out in the capital and Zhuolu District for three years."

"During the trial period, public officials in the capital and Zhuolu District will take their holidays according to the new calendar."

"Officials can also arrange holidays during the new calendar when they do not need to attend court meetings according to the old calendar. The new calendar time should also be noted on various official documents."

“Salaries, working hours, etc. are all calculated according to the new calendar.”

The plan is to put aside the controversy regarding legitimacy and implement the new calendar as a trial holiday.

Once the officials get used to this kind of holidays, they will be unwilling to use the new calendar in the future.

At that time, there would naturally be great scholars who would use their brains to find explanations from ancient books to defend the new calendar.

The dispute over the orthodoxy thus came to an end, and the officials began to enjoy the New Year's banquet.

Some people ate without appetite, and even thought that this would not be the last New Year's Eve banquet. In the future, as the emperor said, it would be changed to a New Year's Eve banquet attended by officials and parliamentarians. (End of this chapter)