Chapter 70. Deqing’s birthday (Part 2.
With the arrival of Zhao Junchen, the congratulatory gifts filled with dozens of carriages made all the officials waiting outside the Meridian Gate marvel. They pointed and talked. Many officials from the DPRK and the Central Government gathered at Zhao Junchen. Junchen left and right, deliberately trying to please.
While Zhao Junchen was dealing with the greetings from the officials, he was marveling at Emperor Deqing's generosity.
Along the way, Zhao Junchen has noticed that the capital has changed greatly because of Emperor Deqing's birthday. From the west of Beijing to the Forbidden City, Qingyi is connected. Along the way, there are colorful squares one after another, and there are lantern shops, lantern towers, etc. There are countless lantern galleries and dragon sheds; ordinary people's houses and various shops all have colorful incense tables, burning incense and praying for blessings; temples along the route have large prayer altars for celebrations; all the ministries, temples, prisons and other government offices in the capital along the road also build scripture sheds and set up colorful prayer sheds. The square is very lively.
However, after arriving at the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen realized that compared with the changes in the palace, the lively celebrations in the capital were nothing.
At this time, the Meridian Gate opened early, and hundreds of officials entered one after another. Zhao Junchen was stunned by the luxury in the palace.
I saw in the Forbidden City that craftsmen used colored paintings, cloth, silk and other materials to make colorful walls and corridors, and decorated the palace aisles in a colorful way. Big characters such as "Ten Thousand Years" appear prominently on the colorful walls; everywhere you look, the trees in the palace are decorated with red and green silks, which are gorgeous and colorful; and there are high sheds everywhere, and artists from the workshops are singing and dancing. Near the palace, there are entertainers. They played "Qianqiu Music", "Qianqiuzi" and other birthday celebration songs in unison. When one wave got tired, they would change to another wave without interruption.
Emperor Deqing spent nearly 400,000 taels of silver from his inner treasury for his birthday. Zhao Junchen originally thought that an eunuch in the palace had tampered with it, but with just a glimpse outside the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen already understood , these 400,000 taels of silver were probably used without complaint. Even if the eunuch in the palace tampered with it, the amount of money that was greedy was only a fraction.
Not to mention other things, just look at the colorful walls and colorful corridors made of silk and satin. If they were really spread throughout the palace, tens of thousands of taels of silver would be spent, not to mention renovations inside the palace and purchases outside the palace.
"Is this singing and dancing to bring peace? Or is it whitewashing the peace? Or is it extravagant and lustful?"
Zhao Junchen shook his head secretly when he thought of the embarrassment of the people he saw in Lu'an Mansion.
While Zhao Junchen was thinking about it, the palace guards had already inspected the gift brought by Zhao Junchen. They were a little stunned, but there was nothing prohibited, so they quickly let it go.
………
After entering the palace, all kinds of congratulatory gifts were arranged and carried by the people in the palace. Zhao Junchen came to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to wait. Looking around, he found that the Hall of Supreme Harmony at this time was completely different from that in the morning. On weekdays, there were few people. The nobles of the clan can be seen everywhere, but there are not many officials in the court. The officials who are qualified to wait in the Hall of Supreme Harmony are all important ministers in the court.
In fact, so many people came to congratulate Emperor Deqing on his birthday that all officials in the court and below the third rank had to wait outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony to pay their respects.
Perhaps due to the poor reputation, although there were many unfamiliar noble clan members in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there were not many who were interested in making friends with Zhao Junchen. Most of them were surrounded by Prince Zhu Heyu, Chief Assistant Zhou Shangjing, Pavilion Elder Huang Yourong, Shen Changmao and others. , but Zhao Junchen was only accompanied by Zuo Lanshan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, who was chatting with each other.
Just when Zhao Junchen was feeling bored, the bells and drums rang, and Emperor Deqing, with his queen, concubines, and princes, finally arrived.
"My dear friends, please stand up quickly."
After shouting "Long Live the Mountain", Emperor Deqing asked everyone to stand up with a loud voice.
Zhao Junchen stood behind the queue. When he stood up, he secretly looked up and saw that Emperor Deqing was in a very good mood, with a rosy face and a radiant face. His three strands of beard had been deliberately trimmed, making him look much younger.
After everyone in the palace stood up, Emperor Deqing then raised his voice and said: "I am very happy today, not because it is my fifty-fifth birthday, but because everything that you have done before and after this birthday ceremony has made me see The prosperity of the Ming Dynasty has allowed me to see the loyalty and filial piety of the officials and the people of the world towards me, and has allowed me to see the harmony between the kings and ministers in the court! In this way, why should I worry about the Ming Dynasty not being able to be passed down for hundreds of thousands of years?"
As Emperor Deqing finished speaking, all the officials in the palace honored the clan and shouted "Your Majesty is wise".
Emperor Deqing then continued: "To show the universal celebration, I decree today to grant amnesty to all officials in the court. Officials of the second rank and above will be given pearls, gold and silk, officials of the fourth rank and above will be given gold mirrors, and officials below the fifth rank will be given I will give you a bag of pearls and silk, and all the states in the world will give you a three-day holiday for feasting!"
When Zhao Junchen was shouting "Your Majesty is wise" along with the crowd, another eunuch screamed: "The longevity ceremony has begun, let's have fun!"
In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's birthday was also called the "Wanshou Festival". When juxtaposed with the two major festivals of "Chao Sui" and "Sacrifice to Heaven", it added a solemn atmosphere and gave it a more noble meaning. As a result, the rules and etiquette are naturally extremely complicated.
First of all, all the officials, nobles, and clan members paid a grand salute to Emperor Deqing. It was not an ordinary salute, but a thirty-three salute. Zhao Junchen only had to follow suit. After the salute, I saw that many older officials and nobles were trembling and their faces were pale, but Emperor Deqing was not aware of it and just looked on with a smile.
Then, the famous officials, nobles, scholars, and princes from the government and the public presented their congratulatory messages to Emperor Deqing in turn. Although Zhao Junchen was the number one scholar in the 29th year of Deqing, he did not have enough reputation and qualifications for such a ceremony. He still had nothing to do, just listen to those acid Confucians reciting long essays mostly composed of parallel prose and Li sentences.
To be honest, Zhao Junchen didn't understand most of the words and sentences in these articles, but he still looked intoxicated and deeply convinced.
During this period, there were all kinds of elegant music, singing and dancing.
When all the ceremonies were over, it was finally time for everyone to present congratulatory gifts and birthday messages to Emperor Deqing, and it was finally time for Zhao Junchen to steal the show.
As expected by Zhao Junchen, the congratulatory gifts given to Emperor Deqing by the officials and nobles in the palace were relatively ordinary. Most of them were calligraphy, famous paintings, antiques and other elegant items. They seemed precious, but compared with the net worth of everyone in the palace, But it was a drop in the bucket, and Zhou Shangjing, the chief minister of the cabinet, only presented Emperor Deqing with a birthday poem written by himself.
In the face of these congratulatory gifts, Emperor Deqing also responded with many words of thanks and comfort, but there were fewer surprises and the process was a little dull. Emperor Deqing was a little enthusiastic at the beginning, but later he became a little dull. .
Just when everyone was bored, a eunuch called out sharply: "Zhao Junchen, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the general manager of the internal transportation warehouse, would like to send you a birthday message!"
As the eunuch's voice fell, everyone in the palace focused their attention on Zhao Junchen. Even Emperor Deqing was refreshed.
Obviously, without knowing it, everyone regarded Zhao Junchen's gift as a highlight of the Longevity Festival.
"Oh? It's Zhao Aiqing's turn to present birthday gifts?" Emperor Deqing rarely spoke before the birthday gifts appeared, with a look full of expectation: "I heard about it before I came to the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In order to carry the gifts, a total of thirty-seven carriages were used. In previous years, the gifts sent by Zhao Aiqing were unique, and this year’s gift will not disappoint me, so I will send it to you as soon as possible.”
As Emperor Deqing finished speaking, there was an uproar in the palace. Some people came early, but they didn't know that Zhao Junchen's gifts this year would require dozens of carriages to carry them.
Under the attention of everyone, Zhao Junchen quickly stepped out of the queue, saluted Emperor Deqing with a smile and said: "Your Majesty, this year's gift is a little different from previous years. There are three items in total, one of which was given to Your Majesty by someone else on behalf of the minister. of."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, everyone in the palace was stunned. This was the first time in so many years of Wanshou Festival that someone had given gifts to the emperor on behalf of others.
Emperor Deqing, however, became even more interested. He raised his voice and urged: "Oh? There are three gifts? Zhao Aiqing really paid attention to them. Please bring them over for me to enjoy."
Following Emperor Deqing's urging, the eunuchs in the palace quickly presented the congratulatory gifts.
After four famous eunuchs worked together to carry it, Zhao Junchen's first congratulatory gift finally appeared in front of everyone.
It is a floor-standing pendulum mechanical clock. It is not only as tall as a person, but also extremely exquisite and luxurious. It is decorated with dragon and phoenix carvings on the outside, gold and jade as the base, dragon needles and jade carvings, and gold threads connecting it.
"Oh? It's a pendulum? But it's much taller than ordinary pendulums. It's also more refined and luxurious. It looks luxurious and grand. Compared with ordinary pendulum clocks, it also has a more royal look. Zhao Aiqing is really interested."
Seeing the pendulum mechanical clock brought by the eunuchs, Emperor Deqing liked it very much and nodded repeatedly.
As early as the Wanli period, foreign envoys presented mechanical clocks. After receiving the gift, Emperor Wanli admired it very much. He watched it almost every day and stroked it every night. He also issued an order to establish a palace manufacturing workshop specializing in the production of mechanical clocks for the exclusive use of him, the emperor's relatives and close ministers.
However, although there were palace manufacturing workshops, most of the mechanical clocks produced were imitations with no innovation, and they were all small mechanical clocks placed on the table.
As for the mechanical clock presented by Zhao Junchen, the manufacturing process is actually not difficult, at least it can be made in palace workshops. However, it is seven feet tall, decorated with gold and jade, and has dragon and phoenix carvings, but it is much more majestic and luxurious. Emperor Deqing naturally liked it. .
Zhao Junchen smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I have made a total of fifty-five large pendulums similar to this to celebrate your Majesty's fifty-fifth birthday. They are not only sent to Your Majesty, but also to all the empresses in the palace. In this way, Come, with the popularity of the palace, Your Majesty can be seen not only wherever he goes."
Emperor Deqing looked surprised and laughed: "Oh? There are actually fifty-five? Zhao Aiqing took the trouble, and I am very relieved. However, such a congratulatory gift is only the first gift. With Zhao Aiqing's temperament, The next two gifts will definitely be more novel and rare, so please bring them over quickly."
Zhao Junchen nodded with a smile and said to Emperor Deqing: "Your Majesty, this second congratulatory gift was borrowed by me to offer flowers to the Buddha. It was not prepared deliberately by me, but someone asked me to give it to your majesty. It's just that the quantity is too large and it's not enough." Just like this pendulum, I brought only one piece for your majesty to see, and I also asked your majesty to move to the outside of the Hall of Supreme Harmony to watch with the officials."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Emperor Deqing became more and more curious. Although Zhao Junchen's request was somewhat irregular, Emperor Deqing was very interested and said with a smile: "Oh? What kind of gift is it? You need to let me come. Watch it outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony? That’s fine, just follow Zhao Aiqing’s wishes. Dear friends, would you like to go with me to observe Zhao Aiqing’s congratulatory gift?”
In response to Emperor Deqing's inquiry, everyone in the palace was naturally unwilling. Under the leadership of Emperor Deqing, they came outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony one after another.
Then, both Emperor Deqing and the officials were stunned by the scene outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
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