On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of Wuding, when the New Year was approaching, it snowed heavily in Dongzhili (formerly Jinan Prefecture). Snowflakes were flying all night long. The interior and exterior of Dongdu were covered with snow, and the snow covered the shins of pedestrians. All construction projects are suspended.
Although the heavy snow has affected Daqi's preparations for war, it is a good thing for farming. The auspicious snow heralds a good year. The heavy snow indicates that the dry and cold small glacier climate may be temporarily over. Next year should be a good year.
On New Year's Eve, Emperor Wu Ding finished his inspection of the forts, chambers of commerce, and barracks in northern Shandong Province, and hurried back to the Dongdu Palace to reunite with his family.
Inspections of factories, mines, salt fields, and shipyards were postponed until after the third day of the first lunar month.
A farewell is better than a wedding. The emperor has been touring various states and counties for a month and now he has finally returned. Yang Qing'er and Chen Yuanyuan are naturally overjoyed. Together with the two beauties Amber and Cuckoo, they can't wait to wait in the palace. Several people serve the emperor attentively, and they are like glue and sorrow. Lingering, not much to say.
Early in the morning on the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, Liu Zhaosun woke up from his dream and heard the eunuchs outside the palace shouting "auspicious". He lay on the Babu bed and took a nap, but did not get up immediately.
The queen and the concubine were both awake at this time. The two beauties had sleepy eyes, one on the left and one on the right nestled in the emperor's arms. However, they could see the messy hair on their temples and the mist-like sadness between their brows and eyes.
Chen Yuanyuan asked:
"Your Majesty, what are the eunuchs saying outside?"
"It's the little eunuch who is reporting auspiciousness. Dongfangzhu should have arranged for someone to do it. Dongfangzhu is a careful person. It's time for us to get up and freshen up."
Now that the three of them had finished grooming, the emperor took Queen West and Concubine Chen to various places inside and outside the palace to burn incense and worship Buddha, make offerings to ancestors, and pray for the protection of the gods.
At this time, the palace was busy inside and outside... Each palace gate had a new door god, couplets, signs, and peach charms, giving it a completely new look.
There is a large bright-cornered lantern at the palace gate, shining brightly on both sides, and there are street lights everywhere. The people in the palace, all dressed up in flowers, were noisy, laughing and talking, and there were endless firecrackers and fireworks.
We had just had breakfast at Chonghua Palace, and it was noon in the blink of an eye. According to the New Year custom of his hometown in Junzhou, Liu Zhaosun held a big banquet in Chengyun Hall and had the New Year's Eve dinner at noon.
Although it was a family banquet, the etiquette was not very formal. In addition to his family, Liu Zhaosun also hosted a banquet for the single ministers who stayed in Shandong and invited these people to celebrate the festival together.
The ministers invited to the banquet include:
Fleet Admiral Meng Jinbao, Australian Propaganda Ambassador Lu Demin, Deputy Chief of the Northern Expedition Li Sanguang, nun and Brother Daphne of the Assassin Brotherhood, and Royal Physician Lao Songtou.
Several subordinates were flattered and did not dare to refuse the emperor's invitation. The emperor now shows no emotion and anger, and his actions are becoming more sinister and ruthless. Not only his enemies, but also his own people feel shuddering. In just one month, more than 500 plane trees have been planted by Daming Lake, and under each tree One or two enemies of the Empire buried alive...
At the beginning of noon, the Heshao music played, the Emperor of Da Qi came to the throne, and the eunuch in charge Dongfang Zhu stepped out of the palace and announced the start of the family banquet in a high-pitched voice.
The queen, concubines, and ministers entered the banquet in turn. Amidst the music, the eunuch began to pass around the hot soup and gave the emperor a pair of soup boxes. On the left was a red and white duck vegetable soup and a japonica rice meal, and on the right was bird's nest and chicken soup. , one product each of tofu soup.
The emperor asked the eunuch Dongfang Zhu to serve Li Sanguang some food and pour him wine.
Li Sanguang only has one right arm left. Like Yang Tong, he also wears an iron hook, which he hides in his sleeve on weekdays. His body is weak. The trip to Sakhalin Island was a big blow to him. After returning to Shandong, his body became even thinner. , gradually losing human form.
After Emperor Wu Ding listened to Li Sanguang's account of what happened on Sakhalin Island, he did not blame the chief officer for finally choosing to retreat. What surprised Liu Zhaosun was that the large-scale winter invasion of the Cossacks was three to five years earlier than in history. ten years. According to the experience of the northern expedition team fighting the Cossacks, this group of warriors is extremely powerful and resembles beasts. Historically, Kang Mazi fought back and forth with the Cossacks in Yaksa. The heavily armed Manchu Qing regular army actually fought hard with the expedition-type Cossacks. Due to geographical transportation and other reasons, our Qing Dynasty has never been able to effectively invest. They sent troops to this barren land, but in the end they besieged the city for several months and were able to barely push back Tsarist Russia, which had run out of ammunition and food. This cannot but explain some problems.
Thinking of the decisive battle with the Cossacks and gnawing at the fortresses on Sakhalin Island one by one regardless of the rivers of blood, Emperor Wu Ding couldn't help but have a headache.
Li Sanguang's current position is the technical general consultant of Daqi Mine. Based on the mineral knowledge he learned from his master Xu Xiake and missionary Jin Nige in his early years, he guides the miners during the mining process. This time, in order to prepare for the Liaodong war, the workshop needed more iron ore to cast cannons and water muskets, and more sophisticated steel was needed for armor and stirrups. Jinni Pavilion, Song Yingxing, Mao Yuanyi and others are not here, and all the important tasks fall on Li Sanguang.
The family dinner continued, and after drinking hot soup, Liu Jingting commented on the classic song "Jin Baya's Assassination After the Battle of General Xuanwu" for everyone.
Chen Yuanyuan listened to this story for the first time. When she heard General Xuanwu say "Behead Amin five times," she couldn't help but be angry.
Liu Jingting was originally a storyteller under Zuo Liangyu's army. It is said that he was very famous in the south of the Yangtze River. When the Jiangbei Fourth Battalion was defeated in Linqing, he was captured by the Qi army and now he became the royal storyteller of the imperial palace.
"Who is sitting in the military tent? Ningnan Chehou Kunshan Gong. With his fingers, he pops out lions and elephants, and his breath becomes like tigers and bears. In front of the tent, there is a mat of willow pockmarks. The storytellers in the world are incomparable. A long bow can make the ancestors of the Han Dynasty shocked, shaking their heads and saying nothing. Prime Minister Chu is dead."
These lines of poems describe the scene where Liu Mazi is storytelling for Zuo Liangyu.
The emperor and his concubines presented milk tea and various snacks, all of which started from the emperor.
Turn the soup bowl first, then turn the side dishes, snacks, fruit cups, cakes, abalone, golden spoons, etc.
Then the main banquet began. In front of the emperor, there were forty items of cold meals, hot meals, group meals, twenty items each of wine meals, and tea meals, plus a hundred items of pastries, side dishes, soups, porridge, candied foods, etc. Level 08;
The Queen's first-class banquet table was reduced to sixty-four items;
The second-class meal for Concubine Chen and the ministers was thirty-two items.
There is no need to go into details about the banquet situation.
That day, as the wine wore off, the emperor left the banquet and drove back to the palace. The ministers also dispersed.
Since then, the New Year’s Eve family dinner of the first year of Wuding has finally come to an end.
Returning to the palace, Emperor Wu Ding congratulated Dongfang, who was busy with his business, and said:
"Eunuch Dongfang, you did a good job on New Year's Eve this year,"
Eunuch Dongfang was flattered and said with a flattering smile: "This is what I should do."
Emperor Wu Ding suddenly stared into Dongfang Zhu's eyes and said word by word:
"Eunuch Dongfang, have you ever resented me?"
Dongfang Zhu, who was making tea for the emperor, heard this and quickly knelt down on the ground, saying in a panic: "Your Majesty, forgive me! Your Majesty treats me with a sea of kindness. How dare I express my resentment?"
Liu Zhaosun took the tea cup and took a sip, trying to make the expression on his face less ferocious:
"Eunuch Dongfang, when I asked you to enter the palace, it was not out of prank. Although I am cruel, I am never ridiculous. I am saving you, do you know?"
Dongfang Zhu hurriedly kowtowed and said, "I know that my life was given by your Majesty. If the emperor hadn't saved me, my family would have been confiscated and exterminated in Linqing. How could I have lived a happy life now? Your Majesty has shown me the kindness to rebuild my life." .”
"Will you be reshaped?" Liu Zhaosun whispered silently in his heart. Of course he would not believe Dongfang Zhu's nonsense, but he still nodded magnanimously.
"You can also see the situation in Linqing at that time. If I want to establish my authority, I must kill people. What's the difference between killing one person and killing a thousand people? Besides, those profiteers and subordinates are looking for death! If we don't drive them all out, How can I feel at ease! How can the army conquer other states and counties in Shandong with peace of mind!"
Dongfang Zhu said yes again and again.
Emperor Wu Ding patted his father-in-law on the shoulder and lowered his voice: "It's not just this. I have found out that when you were in Linqing, in order to cope with your family's one wife and six concubines, you often took aphrodisiacs, such as Vajra Powder and Epimedium. At that time, I Let Lao Songtou see that your Yintang is turning black, you don't have much time, and if you take those medicines for a long time, you will die."
When Liu Zhaosun said this, he thought of the final ending of the male protagonist in "The Plum in the Golden Ping", which was his death from overdose.
"So, I asked Liu Yidao to castrate you. It is better to save a life than to build a seven-level pagoda. I can't bear to see you die in Linqing, your family property is taken away by outsiders, and your wife and concubines are also taken by others, so That’s what we did next.”
Dongfang Zhu burst into tears of gratitude when he heard that the emperor took such good care of him. He couldn't even kneel down.
"My emperor is wise, and I will go through fire and water without hesitation."
In the early morning of the first day of the first lunar month, the emperor got up early to have a meal. "Qigong Meal Stalls" records that in the second year of Wuding, on the first day of the first lunar month:
"Long live the dumplings in the Yangxin Hall. The first time I put twelve dumplings stuffed with pork and longevity vegetables. The second time I put twelve dumplings stuffed with spinach."
At that time, the emperor led the Kaiyuan army in bloody battles for many years, resulting in countless deaths. To show his repentance, he once swore to heaven that he would make vegetarian dumplings every New Year's Eve to pay homage to the deceased.
From then on, there was an unwritten rule in the Daqi court: eating dumplings with vegetarian fillings on New Year's Eve.
