On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the third year of Chunhua in the Song Dynasty, the Dragon Boat Festival, also commonly known as the Duanyang Festival among the people, was held in Tokyo City during the Song Dynasty. It was not so hot in the capital in the early morning, and small merchants and hawkers set out their stalls early to occupy both sides of the main streets, some of which were related. Merchants began to enter the outer city of the palace city through doorways;
The Song Dynasty court would open the Wansheng Gate at the west gate of the imperial city every Dragon Boat Festival to facilitate people to visit Jinming Pool; the emperor would also come to Jinming Pool on this day to review the navy and have fun with the people;
Yang Yunfan and Chen Zishan, who had eaten in a hurry early in the morning, set off early to Wansheng Gate, the west gate of the imperial city; Yang Yanzhao wanted to visit Jinmingchi with his wife Yelu Jin'e, so Yang Yunfan and Chen Zishan set off first;
When we arrived at Wanshengmen, there was already a sea of people. Although there were officials at the scene to maintain order, it was still noisy and there was constant shouting;
Yang Yunfan and Chen Zishan, who moved with the crowd, passed through the Wansheng Gate and came to the Jinming Pool. They were shocked by the scene they saw; they saw nine miles and thirty steps around Jinming Pool, with a fairy bridge and a bridge in the middle. There are three rainbows on the face, with vermilion lacquer frames, a row of wild goose pillars at the bottom, and a boom in the center, which is called a camel's hump, like a flying rainbow.
At the head of the bridge, there is the Baojin Tower with five connected halls, located in the middle of the water. It has jade palaces, majestic pavilions, exotic flowers and stones, rare birds and monsters, docks and docks, warships and dragon boats, everything is complete.
This royal garden was built since the first year of the Taiping Xingguo Period. Because the water in the pool was drawn from the Jinshui River, it became the Jinming Pool. Opposite the Five Halls on the north bank, there is an "Owu", also known as Longao, where the dragon boats are parked.
I saw more than a dozen dragon boats parked neatly in the Ouwu. The men who were driving the boats were all elite sailors selected from the Forbidden Army. Year-round training under the scorching sun had tanned their skin and made them look very strong and tough. ;
The original purpose of building Jinmingchi was to train the navy. After more than ten years of repeated construction, various facilities in the pool were gradually improved, and the function of Jinming Pool was gradually replaced by training water troops for water entertainment performances.
While Yang Yunfan and the two were sighing, suddenly a green hand was placed on Yang Yunfan's shoulder. Yang Yunfan turned his head sharply and discovered that it was a young girl. She was only sixteen or seventeen years old, with a tall figure and a light body. The eyes are big and lively, the hair is as black as lacquer, the skin is like jade, and the beautiful eyes are looking forward to it; Yang Yunfan was stunned for a moment;
"You brat, do you still remember this girl? Humph, we are really enemies of each other..." That young girl was Bai Yingying, who had met Yang Yunfan upstairs not long ago.
Standing next to her was a girl wearing a light crimson gauze shirt. She was also Yingying's sixteen or seventeen years old. She smiled half-heartedly at him, with a mischievous look on her face. She was none other than Bai Yingying's maid, Xiaorou.
Although the two met once when they were in Fanlou, Bai Yingying was still dressing up as a man at that time, which was not as bright and attractive as the women's clothes at this time. Yang Yunfan, who originally wanted to retort, was stunned on the spot;
Being teased by the beautiful girl in front of him, Yang Yunfan suddenly blushed, smiled and said: "It turns out to be Miss Bai, thank you for meeting me." Chen Zishan on the side turned his head away in embarrassment, looking at his nose and nose, looking like an old man. the appearance of being here;
"Where's Senior Brother Bai? Why didn't I see Senior Brother Bai coming to the garden with you?" Yang Yunfan quickly changed the subject.
"My brother has important things to do," Bai Yingying said;
Chen Zishan, who was bowing his head in silence, suddenly raised his head and asked: "Your sect is located in southern Xinjiang, thousands of miles away, why did you come to Beijing?"
"Huh, I want you to care, are you so-called decent people in the world just coming to the capital for business, and our Five Poison Sect are here to do bad things?" Bai Yingying asked with an unkind tone, glaring at Chen Zishan;
Yang Yunfan grinned slightly when he heard this, and quickly excused himself: "Miss Bai has misunderstood. Although the Five Poison Sect's style of conduct is different from that of the Central Plains Jianghu, it is still one of the best gangs, and we naturally respect it."
When Chen Zishan saw the smell of gunpowder in Bai Yingying's mouth, he just curled his lips, shrugged, and said nothing;
While everyone was talking, the sound of gold ringing was heard from the inner city of the palace, and people on both sides shouted loudly: "The officials are coming."
As far as the eye can see, what comes into view is a large yellow umbrella canopy, the emperor's jade chariot carried by more than a dozen people, the civil and military ministers are lined up on both sides of the jade chariot, the imperial guard Zhou Cai, the prince and grandson, The queen, concubines and other royal family members rode on the walking chariot behind the jade chariot;
Among the royal guards of honor, Yang Yunfan, Bai Yingying and others discovered Bai Lekang's figure, which made them all look at each other in astonishment;
I saw the royal guard of honor escorting Zhao Guan's family to the Linshui Hall in the middle of Jinming Pool. The entrance to Linshui Hall was tightly guarded and the canopy was solemn.
Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival competition, the Zhao family watched the bidding here and gave banquets to the ministers;
The auspicious time has arrived, and following an order from Zhao Guan's family, a group of small dragon boats went to the "Owu" to pull the big dragon boat to the front of the water palace;
The large dragon boat has carved beams and painted pillars, and a three-story high pavilion stands on the boat; the internal and external structures are clearly distinguishable, and the division of labor among the characters on the boat is clear; there are three oars on one side, and each oar is held by two people; a dragon head stands high on the bow of the boat. The man, waving the flag in his hand, is the "general conductor" of the show;
There are five small dragon boats on each side of the big dragon boat. There is also a person standing on the dragon head of the small dragon boat to command the flag; there are also ten "dragon knights" rowing on each boat;
Before the official bid competition begins, ten small dragon boats have to perform various formations under the command of the person holding the flag.
Under the command of the flag officer, large and small dragon boats shuttled back and forth. The large dragon boat on the front of the scroll is escorted by four dragon-headed and tiger-headed boats waving flags in front and back, head high and forward.
And twelve dragon and tiger boats were beating drums and racing towards the benchmark. I saw the flags flying in the pool and the oars were flying, and I heard the gongs and drums shaking the sky. The soldiers of the Song Dynasty Navy displayed the spectacular scene of the dragon boat race vividly! The crowd watching the game on the shore exclaimed and cheered endlessly. Zhao Guanjia also stroked his beard and nodded.
After the formation performance, it was finally time for the main event: bidding.
Facing the front of Linshui Hall, there are two rows of 12 banners in the pool to mark the distance. In the middle of the two rows of banners stands a pole with a colorful silver bowl. This is the "championship" that the dragon boats compete for. ;
The bid competition began, with the leading flag bearer waving the flag and two rows of dragon boats beating drums to compete; because those participating in this performance and competition were not ordinary people, but soldiers of the Song Dynasty Navy, the competition for the bid was very fierce, and the winning team, because Will receive commendations and rewards from the emperor;
For a time, the sound of drums, shouts, and paddling could be heard all the time, flags were flying, and oars were beating vigorously. The scene was lively and exciting;
In the end, the Dengzhou Pinghai Navy, which was originally part of the Xiangbing Navy, took the lead and came out on top; the Jinmingchi military parade basically came to an end.
