Chapter 8: The first courtship

Surrounded by Zheng Qing and Qing'e, Chen Wanrong left the house and saw that it was dark and it was not dawn at all. He muttered: "Will people live in court in such a morning?"

Zheng Zhou came up and comforted her with a smile: "Wanrong, stop complaining, just once, at least I can bear it."

It makes sense. If nothing unexpected happens, this is the only time Chen Wanrong has been to court in his life. No matter how hard or tired he is, he has to endure it. What's more, he gets up early and nods, "Thank you for your mother-in-law's reminder."

"Go quickly, don't be late!" Zheng Zhou took Zheng Qing and Qing'e to see him off. He came to the gate, but saw that the gate was closed and had not opened yet. With a "bang", the street drums were already ringing. The doorman was yawning, tilting his shoes, holding the keys, and swaying out to open the door.

There are strict regulations on opening and closing of Chang'an city gates, all of which are based on the sound of drums. When the door is opened in the morning, the drums must be beaten three thousand times. This is just a rule, not three thousand times. It is knocked from five o'clock in the morning until you can see objects in a distance. This is called "distinguishing the color and stopping".

In the morning and evening, drums were used as horns, which provided great convenience for people. The Tang people called this drum "Dongdong". According to regulations, when the drum sounded, the surrounding city gates were first opened, and then the Fangmen. The doorman heard the doorman shouting at the top of his voice: "The Fangmen is open..." The key shaking and the Fangmen opened.

Chen Wanrong came to Chang'an many times, but never before he slept until dawn. This was the first time he saw the door open. He couldn't help but feel funny when he smelled the thunderous drum sound. Although he had heard the drum sound in the past, he used it as a lullaby in his sleep, but today he was thrilling.

Zheng Qing snuggled beside Zheng Qing and accompanied Chen Wanrong out of the gate. Chen Wanrong smiled and said, "You go back, I'll go there now, the East Palace is very close to here."

"No, I'll give you another trip!" Zheng Qing didn't want to part. Zheng Zhou thought that Chen Wanrong's courtship today was a great honor, and he didn't want to go back immediately, so he said, "We'll give you another trip."

As he was talking, Chen Zairong's voice sounded: "Brother, hurry up." Then came the sound of footsteps of Dingdeng, and Chen Zairong appeared in front of him.

"Auntie, sister-in-law, you guys go back. I'll take my brother there." Chen Zairong said to Zheng Qing and his daughter.

With Chen Zairong coming to pick him up, he was naturally relieved. Zheng Qing smiled and said, "Come back early." He lowered his voice in Chen Wanrong's ear and said, "I'm making delicious food for you." He only drank half a bowl of porridge in the morning, and felt a little apologized.

Chen Wanrong smiled and said, "I know! I'll go again." The two of them stride away, and Zheng Qing and the others did not turn back until they disappeared.

Before we arrived at the East Palace, the drums had stopped, and Chang'an was noisy again, with traffic and people coming and going, and it was very lively. Li Longji was riding a horse, watching the roadside, and saw the two Chen Wanrong and his brothers coming, and slapped their horses and greeted him, "Didn't you disturb your good dream?"

Chen Wanrong hurriedly saluted and said, "I have seen the prince! Going back to the prince, getting up early is good for your physical and mental health."

Li Longji laughed and said, "You always say something about it. Get on the horse." A soldier led a horse, Chen Wanrong took the reins and turned over the horse. Li Longji saw it and commented, "I'm very skilled, and I'm riding a lot?"

Chen Wanrong answered truthfully: "The prince doesn't know anything. I have a pretty decent horse at home. I have to get up every morning to walk around. After a long time, I will become more mature."

Nodded, Li Longji waved his hand and said, "Let's go." He slapped the horse's back and walked in his head. Chen Wanrong, Chen Zairong, Gao Lishi, Yang Sixu, and Wang Maozhong hurriedly rode the horse and followed.

The Tang Dynasty dynasty meeting was held in the Daming Palace. The East Palace was very close to the Daming Palace. Follow the street north and passed Guangzhaifang, and soon arrived at Danfeng Street and walked east along the street. Danfeng Street is a street outside the Daming Palace, 176 meters wide. Danfeng Street is now very lively, with high cars and horses coming in a steady stream, passing through Danfeng Gate and entering the Daming Palace.

Occasionally, an official riding horse saw the prince and saluted Li Longji. Li Longji just waved his hand and said he would not give up the gift, driving the horse away. Chen Wanrong and the others hurriedly followed.

The Ming Dynasty was built on Longshou Plain and was built according to the terrain. The south was rectangular and the north was trapezoidal. The city wall was 1.5 kilometers wide from east to west and 2.5 kilometers long from north to south. The walls were all rammed earth plates, with a wall foundation of 10.5 meters wide, with bricks widened at the city gates, and a city tower and a corner tower were built.

There are nine city gates, with Danfeng Gate in the south center, Wangxian Gate in the east, and Jianfu Gate in the west. The famous Xuanwu Gate in the north center, which is here. It was here that Emperor Taizong of Tang launched the "Xuanwu Gate Incident" to ascend to the throne and began the famous "Zhenguan Gate Gate". The east side of Xuanwu Gate is Yinhan Gate, and the west side is Qingxiao Gate. There is the left Yintai Gate in the east wall. There is Jiuxian Gate in the north of the west wall and the right Yintai Gate in the south.

It was Chen Wanrong's wish to see the Daming Palace, but he had never had the opportunity. He was lucky today, so Chen Wanrong naturally had to take a good look. After passing Danfeng Gate and passing Jiacheng, Chen Wanrong looked at it and was stunned by the majestic buildings in the Daming Palace.

From a distance, I saw the Hanyuan Hall where the tiger lies in the dragon plate. Hanyuanzhan is the main hall of the Daming Palace, 600 meters away from Danfeng Gate. The main hall is eight rooms wide and four rooms deep, each with five or three meters wide. There are Xiangluan Pavilion in the southeast and Qifeng Pavilion in the southwest. The Quqi corridor connects the two pavilions with the main hall, in the shape of a concave character.

Hanyuan Hall was originally built on Longshou Plain, and the terrain was very high. However, Hanyuan Hall was not built on a flat ground, but on a foundation close to sixteen meters from the flat ground. It is more majestic, majestic and spectacular, with a broad vision. You can overlook the entire Chang'an from Hanyuan Hall. "Thousands of officials look at Chang'an, and thousands of countries worship Hanyuan" is a portrayal of its majestic momentum.

The foundation of the Hanyuan Hall is nearly 76 meters long from east to west, nearly 42 meters wide from north to south, and around with a sub-stairs five meters wide. In front of the main hall is a dragon tail road with a width of 78 meters, intersecting the steps and slopes, with flower tiles, with imperial roads in the middle and edge roads on both sides.

Hanyuan Hall mainly holds major celebrations, called the Outer Dynasty. Wang Wei has a poem that says, "The palace is opened in the nine heavens, and the clothes and crowns of all nations are worshipped by the crowns", which is a good explanation of its purpose.

The main venue for the Tang Dynasty is now in Xuanzheng Hall, called Zhongchao. Xuanzheng Hall is 300 meters north of Hanyuan Hall, with a base of seventy meters long from east to west and forty meters wide from east to west. In front of the hall is the Central Government Office of the Secretariat, Menxia Province, Hongwen Hall, Historical Hall, and Censorate.

Nearly a hundred meters before Xuanzheng Hall was the Zichen Hall, which was called the Inner Dynasty. The important officials came to see the emperor here, which was called "Enge Pavilion".

The Daming Palace has a profound influence on the layout of the outer dynasty, the middle dynasty and the inner dynasty of Hanyuan, Xuanzheng, and Zichen, which was imitated by later generations. Taihe, Zhonghe and Baohe in the Forbidden City came based on this layout.

The servants ran around, busy leading horses and driving the carriage, but no one spoke, silent and orderly. Chen Wanrong dismounted and handed the reins to a servant. He learned from the court officials, sorted out his clothes and followed Li Longji. Chen Zairong and others led the servants aside. This is the palace, and although the prince's identity is special, he does not need guards.

The court officials were in groups of three or five and walked quickly towards Xuanzheng Hall. It was light now, but it was around six o'clock. If you go to work in such a morning, you would definitely be criticized as exploitation. The palace was already busy, and Chen Wanrong had to sigh that the ancients were diligent in political affairs. If they were in modern society, they were still sleeping in a long time, at most they would get up and prepare for work.

Shi Jianwu, a Jinshi of the Tang Dynasty, lamented his early years of attending court and wrote the poem "Watching the Morning Court in Winter". In the poem, the poet wrote, "Purple smoke holds the sun incense burner and moves to the new cold. He wears a robe and wants to return to the court at a young age, but the beauty is still dreaming of a brothel." When the court officials came back almost after the court, the beauty was still sleeping, which shows that he was early.

The ancient emperors pursued the word "early", and they often used whether they went to court on time as a standard to measure whether the emperor was diligent. If there was no right reason for the emperor to court early one day, the censors would give advice and beg the emperor to visit the court on time.

When Chen Wanrong went to court for the first time, he was a little surprised and a little fresh. Looking around, he saw that there were many buildings in the Daming Palace, but they could not be named.

The north of the Daming Palace is a garden with sparse layout and diverse forms. The Zichen Palace was two hundred meters away from the northern edge of Longshouyuan, and below it is the famous Taiye Pond. The Linde Palace is located in the northwest of the Daming Palace. It is the place where the emperor holds banquets, watches music and dances, and receives foreign envoys. It is an important place for the Daming Palace.

The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty was surnamed Li, and he considered himself a descendant of Lao Tzu and especially admired Taoism. Therefore, he built Taoist buildings such as Sanqing Hall, Dajiao Temple, and Xuanyuan Emperor Temple in Daming Palace. There were dozens of other halls, pavilions, and temples. There were extremely numerous buildings. Chen Wanrong did not know these, and what he saw was just a drop in the tank. Even so, Chen Wanrong was secretly amazed, impressed by the exquisite and grand momentum of the Daming Palace.

The Daming Palace was originally the summer palace of Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan. It was originally named Yong'an Palace. The reason why it was called Daming Palace also has an allusion with three mythological colors.

After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Yuan was forced to abdicate and became the Supreme Emperor. Everyone knew that Li Yuan liked pleasure and loved wine and sex. Once he had no political affairs, he would be more enjoyable. He regretted that he did not build a place to enjoy himself when he was an emperor. At that time, there was only one palace in the Tang Dynasty, namely Tai Chi Palace. Tai Chi Palace was located in the west of the city, low and humid, and Li Yuan was very dissatisfied with it.

The reason why Tai Chi Palace is humid is that the terrain of Chang'an is high in the east and low in the west, and the west is mostly flooded, while the east of the city is dry and clean, so the mansions of high-ranking officials and important officials are often located in the east of the city.

Li Yuan had nowhere to enjoy himself and felt unhappy. Emperor Taizong of Tang asked him why he was not happy when he was paying homage. Li Yuan was embarrassed to say this son who was dedicated to the treatment. He did not say it several times, but Emperor Taizong of Tang went to ask Empress Dowager Dou. Only then did Empress Dowager Dou tell Li Yuan's heart disease.

Looking at Li Yuan who was depressed, Emperor Taizong of Tang felt uncomfortable and decided to build a summer palace for him, named Yong'an Palace. Emperor Taizong of Tang did not increase taxes, nor did he use the money from the treasury, but donated the money he had used for private use. But he didn't know that Li Yuan died of illness shortly after the construction started. Emperor Taizong of Tang thought that his father was dead and his mother would be built for Empress Dowager Dou to live.

When the craftsmen were digging the foundation, a dazzling golden light suddenly shone out from the ground. The craftsmen did not dare to dig again, so they reported to Emperor Taizong of Tang. Emperor Taizong of Tang also felt incredible and took Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling to the construction site and ordered them to continue digging. After digging for a while, something appeared to shine, shining with his eyes. It turned out to be a bronze mirror.

This treasure mirror is five feet nine inches tall and four feet wide. Its face is like the sun, its golden light shining, and its back is like the moon. Its clear light is visible. The patterns around it are simple and dust-touched. Emperor Taizong of Tang did not recognize it, so he asked Fang Xuanling. Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng refused for a while, but Wei Zheng started talking. This was a Qin mirror that had been treasured in Qin Shihuang's Xianyang Palace.

The special feature of Qin Jing is that if you look at it from the front, a reflection of a person appears. If you stroke your hands with your chest, you can see the human internal organs, and the image is clear and visible. In addition, there is one special feature that this mirror can tell the authenticity and identify loyalty and treacherous. However, Qin Shihuang only used Qin Jing to reflect the beautiful palace maids, but there were "the one who was bold and moved", and he was killed by someone who was different intent.

After the fall of Qin, Liu Bang entered Xianyang. Prime Minister Xiao He did a very visionary thing, that is, when the generals were competing for gold, silver and treasures, Xiao He took away the books and classics of Qin, which laid a solid foundation for Emperor Gaozu of Han to understand the general trend of the world.

Of course, this Qin Jing was also taken away. Therefore, the Han Dynasty was spread. By the end of the Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos and Qin Jing disappeared. I don’t know where it was wandering. I didn’t expect that it was found here again, so Emperor Taizong of Tang was naturally happy.

Wei Zheng congratulated Emperor Taizong of Tang: "Today, Qin Jing is born, and the Tang Dynasty will last forever! This is the great blessing of Your Majesty, I would like to congratulate you."

Emperor Taizong of Tang didn't think so, and smiled and said, "I have a treasure mirror that is thousands of times better than Qin's mirror. Why do you need this useless thing? My treasure mirror is Wei Zheng!"

Wei Zheng hurriedly declined: "How can I dare to compete with Qin Rui? Your Majesty's misunderstanding!"

Emperor Taizong of Tang explained seriously: "Using copper as a mirror, you can make up your clothes and hats, using ancient as a mirror, you can know the rise and fall, and using people as a mirror, you can understand the gains and losses. Wei Aiqing often advises me, so that I can understand the gains and losses. Isn't it a high-rise mirror for me? In order to remember today's meeting of the monarch and ministers, I have specially changed this Yong'an Palace to the Daming Palace!"

This is the origin of the Daming Palace. From then on, the name of the Daming Palace spread all over the world. After the palace was established, Emperor Taizong of Tang used Qin Jing as the treasure of the palace, making it the real "Daming" palace. It was circulated among the scholars and common people in Chang'an that "every room saw the bright light shining in the Daming Palace on Longshou Plain, as bright as daytime."

However, the wise ruler, Emperor Taizong of Tang did not move to the Daming Palace, but still lived in the Taichi Palace. It was not until Emperor Gaozong of Tang that he moved to the Daming Palace to handle the government affairs until Emperor Ruizong of Tang Dynasty.

Not long after I walked, I came to Xuanzheng and saw two rows of fully armed soldiers standing in front of the hall. They were tall and energetic, with bright armor, standing straight on both sides, like wooden stakes, motionless, as if the ministers entering the hall did not exist.

"I'm here." Li Longji said to Chen Wanrong, waved his hand, and an officer trotted over: "What are the instructions of the prince?"

Li Longji ordered, "Take him in." He whipped his sleeves and turned around and left.

Chen Wanrong knew that Li Longji had a special identity, and was both the crown prince and the governor. More importantly, he was one of the "three giants" of the Ruizong Dynasty. Naturally, it was impossible for him to enter the court like a hundred officials to wait for Ruizong to attend the court, but there was something else to do.

The officer looked at Chen Wanrong in surprise, and the light of surprise flashed in his eyes and said lightly: "Come with me!" He led Chen Wanrong to Xuanzheng Hall.

Chen Wanrong ignored why the officer was surprised, and he couldn't figure it out, just follow him in. Just as he walked in, Wu Jing held the jade scepter in his hand, with a solemn face, and walked in his head. Looking at his eyes and nose, it was different from talking and laughing with Chen Wanrong, and he couldn't help but feel a little funny and coughed.

Wu Jing turned around and saw that it was Chen Wanrong. He was very surprised. He nodded slightly at Chen Wanrong, turned his head and quickly walked into Xuanzheng Hall. This was the most important time of the court meeting. Of course, he could not come to meet, and Chen Wanrong could understand.

After entering Xuanzheng Hall, Chen Wanrong saw a world of purple clothes and blush clothes. The ministers held jade scepters in their hands and stood in two sides. They were either wearing purple clothes or goldfish bags on their waists or blush clothes. They all looked solemn, like an old monk who had entered into meditation. Looking across the entire hall, there was no green clothes or blue clothes.

In front of me is the throne of the emperor, with golden light shining, and golden dragon patterns that are particularly beautiful, lifelike and somewhat majestic.

"There!" The officer pointed to the last corner, and Chen Wanrong strode over and stood at the end.

An official in a frivolous dress heard the footsteps behind him, turned his head and looked at Chen Wanrong with a look of surprise. He opened his mouth and wanted to ask Chen Wanrong why he was here, but fortunately he reacted quickly and immediately closed it. He glanced at Chen Wanrong for a few glances, and then turned his head. Chen Wanrong could think of the word surprise written on his face without thinking.

The court meeting is divided into the Sun and the New Year and New Year meeting. The New Year and New Year meeting is the new day of each month. When the sun is on the sun, all officials in the ninth rank or above will go to see the emperor. The Japanese and New Year are once a day, and not every official can go to see the emperor. He must be above the fifth rank or above.

According to the costumes of officials in the Tang Dynasty, officials qualified to participate in the Japanese dynasty were either wearing purple or breeze clothes. Chen Wanrong stood in the hall with green clothes, either standing taller than a crane or a native chicken crawling into the crane group, which was extremely abrupt. Many officials had discovered Chen Wanrong and kept looking at him, and were surprised.
Chapter completed!