Chapter 238 Gifts from Kings

After the seat allocation has been decided, it’s time to pass the meal and sing the ceremony.

The two sessions were carried out at the same time. The meal was passed around normally, while the ceremony officer stood beside the emperor and recited the list of gifts presented by the vassals, civil and military nobles.

If the emperor hears something he is interested in, he will order someone to bring it up for a look. If the emperor is delighted, he will reward him on the spot.

Even if you don't give a reward, even if you just take the gift out of the warehouse and comment a few words, it is enough to make the gift giver happy.

After all, how many people have given gifts but not even left an impression in the emperor's mind?

As the etiquette officer sang, all the officials' ears stood up.

Even though the maids and eunuchs brought the dishes and drinks one after another, no one had the intention to taste them. They all secretly glanced at the emperor's face to see which gifts he was interested in.

"The Duke of Song Dynasty presented a bronze tripod from the Western Zhou Dynasty!"

"Dong Guo Ying presents a pair of Ru porcelain vases from the Song Dynasty!"

"The founding father presented a luminous stone in the shape of longevity!"

"Send it up!"

"promise!"

Not long after, the three people's gifts were brought up by the ceremony officer, which aroused everyone's admiration.

"It is rare to see such a neat bronze tripod. It seems that Song Guogong spent a lot of money this time!"

"The Ru porcelain presented by Duke Ying is also good. Ru porcelain of this quality is considered rare in the world!"

"The founding father is such a strange stone...tsk tsk, let's just make do with it."

Compared with the flattery of military generals, the civil servants are a bit sour.

Lao Zhu is a person who strictly adheres to the rule of poor civility and rich military. For the generals and nobles, as long as you fight bravely and don't always think about rebellion, you will just turn a blind eye if you are greedy and gain points. But for the civil servants,

, it means punishing each one found and never condoning it.

Therefore, civil servants are generally poor and cannot afford good gifts.

"The patina on this bronze tripod is so bright, as if it had just been made..."

"This Ru porcelain is indeed good, but it's a pity that it's not the most noble azure color after the rain. I always feel it's a little less interesting."

"As for this longevity-shaped stone... it is indeed too ordinary and not worthy of His Majesty's honor..."

After being influenced by Zhu Yunxi's "Yiwu Small Commodity Wholesale", everyone has become immune to stones.

At first, everyone was quite happy, thinking that they could buy such a magical thing at such a low price.

But as more and more people bought it, it became less valuable, and the price plummeted.

As a result, many people bought strange stones but did not dare to donate them, and just regarded them as spare parts.

However, this kind of person is usually a big shot in the court who wants to win His Majesty's favor by giving birthday gifts.

For ordinary officials in the capital, they don't pay attention to this. When they give gifts to the emperor, they just have the mentality of making up the numbers.

I don’t ask the emperor to remember it, I just ask him not to hate me.

Lao Zhu saw everyone chirping and said it was almost done, so he commented on it himself.

"The Duke of Laosong has spent money!"

When Feng Sheng heard His Majesty's praise, he quickly stood up and left the table to thank him, and recited the lines prepared for him by Fu Youde.

"Your Majesty, you are welcome!"

"I have received the kindness of Your Majesty, but even though I am heartbroken, I cannot repay you in return!"

Lao Zhu nodded slightly when he heard this, and then looked at Fu Youde beside him.

"Gong Guo Ying is also interested."

Fu Youde, like Feng Sheng, left the table to thank His Majesty for the compliment.

"The humble minister is grateful for the emperor's favor, and often feels so deeply that he can't sleep at night. I accidentally obtained two porcelain vases, and I deeply feel that my merit is not enough, and I am afraid that I will waste it. It is the birthday of His Majesty, so I can just offer it to His Majesty, so as to avoid the regret of casting a pearl in the dark.

!”

Fu Youde's words of gratitude seemed like nothing to the civil servants, but the generals were secretly dumbfounded. They began to compose congratulatory messages one by one, starting a new round of involution.

When Fu Youde returned to his seat, Feng Sheng stretched his head over again.

"Old Fu, you are not kind!"

"Why did you only make up a few words for me, but when you came here, it was like this long speech!"

Fu Youde rolled his eyes at Feng Sheng with disdain.

"If I make up too many things for you, will your brain be able to remember them?"

"You... just wait with us and see how we can feed you later!"

While the two were chatting, His Majesty the Emperor commented on Chang Sheng's birthday gift.

"This thing is extremely rare. It's hard for you to think of us!"

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang said these words, all the courtiers were shocked. The two big bosses who had just given away the bronze tripod and Ru porcelain vase even exclaimed in their hearts, "Fuck!"

They gave such valuable things, but His Majesty the Emperor just said it was a waste of money and had no intention of sending it away. When he came in front of Chang Sheng, he actually said so many words for the first time, almost saying, "I want to honor the founding father."

Got it!

When the generals saw that the founding father was praised by His Majesty, except for a few who felt a little sore, they were generally sincerely happy for him.

As for the civil servants, there was total silence, secretly wondering about His Majesty's intention.

Is it an excuse to promote the founding father's family, or is it to cultivate important ministers who "entrust the orphans"?

If it is the latter, then the status of the founding father will inevitably increase. I am afraid that the Governor's Office of the Five Armies may not be enough, and the Ministry of War may be handed over to Chang Sheng.

But in this way, the imperial court's national policy of using civility to control military affairs will be destroyed, and the generals and nobles will no longer be able to suppress it...

Next are the gifts from the three "distinguished guests" on the civil official side.

Compared with the luxury on the noble side, the civil servant side is much shabby.

Qin Kui and Chen Zongli each donated a piece of "non-luminous longevity-shaped stone", which was sold in the wholesale market for thirty taels of silver.

Qi Tai was even more shabby. He only presented a picture to celebrate his birthday. Including the money for mounting it, the total cost did not exceed 300 Wen.

Of course, this is only the cost of materials. If his reputation as Qitai is included, it would be worth thirty taels in the market.

Because of the popularity of Jin Ping Mei, the prices of Qi Tai's calligraphy, calligraphy and paintings have skyrocketed several times.

The literati in the capital were all proud to collect Qi Tai's works.

Lao Zhu also commented on the birthday gifts of the three people, especially praising Qitai's "character" and praised him for being reserved and restrained, making him a model for civil servants.

The generals were not touched when they heard this, but the civil servants exclaimed secretly in their hearts, Your Majesty is trying to promote Qi Tai and intentionally move his position higher!

Zhao Mian, the Minister of Rites, was on pins and needles, because Qi Tai was already the Minister, and he could only be promoted to Minister, which corresponds to his position!

It seems that I need to readjust my relationship with Qi Tai. I heard that this guy has a younger brother who is young and not yet married. Can he marry his daughter to win over him?

When everyone had different thoughts, the ceremony officer began to sing rites to the vassal kings.

"His Royal Highness the King of Qin presents a large open-mouthed rough porcelain bowl!"

"His Royal Highness the King of Jin presents a luminous Hongwu sacred stone!"

"His Royal Highness, King Yan, presents a blood-blooded horse from the Western Regions!"

"His Royal Highness the King of Zhou presents a Qingluan, the divine bird of good words!"

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu presented rare stones..."

"His Royal Highness the King of Qi presented a rare stone..."

Since His Highness the King of Chu, all the vassal kings have presented birthday gifts with strange stones of various shapes, which made Lao Zhu's face turn green.

Did these guys make an appointment? Why did they all use stones to make up the numbers?

Furthermore, where did they collect so many strange stones and still have them all shine?

But what interests her the most is the large cracked porcelain bowl presented by the second Qin King Zhu Xi. She is very curious as to who gave this guy the courage to offer such a "divine object".

"Bring them all over!"

Not long after, all the vassal kings presented all the birthday gifts. Lao Zhu stepped down from the dragon chair and looked at them one by one, focusing especially on the "big open-mouthed coarse porcelain bowl" presented by the King of Qin.

After looking at it, he determined that it was really just an ordinary coarse porcelain bowl, and Lao Zhu called Zhu Chong out on the spot.

"Second brother, get out of here!"

"I didn't expect you to spend any money on my birthday, but by treating me with such a big bowl, do you want to insinuate that I am a beggar and unworthy of being the emperor of the Ming Dynasty!"

When Zhu Xi heard this, he fell to his knees and kowtowed in apology.

"Father, calm down!"

"My son, I swear to God, I never have this intention!"
To be continued...