"Inner gold is a sign of harmony. Bundling silk and bi is also a sign of respect." [Book of Rites, Ritual Utensils]
On the first day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Jian'an, the night was not over for seven-quarters of an hour.
Weiyang Palace, front hall.
The sky was just dawning, and the sky was filled with lead-gray clouds. The air after the snow fell was particularly fresh and cold, and the cold wind blew away the snow on the eaves from time to time. The towering front building was originally solemn and majestic, but the overall tone was mainly dark.
The temple is now covered with white snow, adding to its solemnity and magnificence.
Among the people standing below were some old people who had come to the imperial court from Guandong and had never seen the Weiyang Palace in Chang'an before. While waiting quietly, they could not help but compare what they saw with the palaces they had seen in Luoyang South Palace in the past.
For comparison:
"The front hall of Weiyang Palace was built on Longshou Mountain. It is indeed magnificent and majestic, and it cannot be compared with the Wende Palace in Luoyang."
"The palace has been built for hundreds of years, and traces of repairs can still be seen in subtle details. This shows that the country is determined to revive and lives in a frugal manner."
In such a serious occasion, there were still people whispering. Jushou, the admonishing doctor who was standing in the middle, couldn't help but look over and saw that the two people were Zhang Cheng, the admonishing doctor, and his brother, Yilang Zhang Fan.
These two brothers are from a prominent family in Hanoi. Their father and ancestors were three princes for two generations. Zhang Fan was admired by his great master Yuan Kai, and the two families almost got married. Zhang Cheng was conquered as "Fangzheng" and entered the court as Yilang and Yique Duwei. Dong Zhuo specializes in
In the imperial court, brothers Zhang Cheng planned to launch an army to kill Dong, but the plan failed, so the brothers fled to Yangzhou and were protected by Yuan Shu.
Because their proposals to Yuan Shu were not accepted many times, the Zhang Cheng brothers sought an opportunity to escape. Just last year, the imperial court conquered the world, and because they were quite famous, they were recommended by the government.
An old official of the Yuan family...
Jushou silently thought to himself that since the emperor issued an edict to liquidate the Yuan family in Jizhou, all the scholars who had attached themselves to the Yuan family had been severely punished such as being exiled and imprisoned. But now it seems that there are still many people in the court who are related to the Yuan family.
The connection is superficial, presumably. The Yuan family has been in business for hundreds of years and has disciples and former officials all over the world. If they really want to be implicated, who in the court can escape?
At this time, a regular visitor standing outside the crowd seemed to have noticed the movement here, and began to look at Zhang Cheng and others.
Zhang Cheng had not been able to enter the court for a long time and was inevitably a little excited to participate in the imperial court. At this time, when he saw the young visitor looking at him, he lowered his head even though he was older and more senior.
, lest he be caught by the visitors who were monitoring the dignity of the ministers in the palace.
Not long after, everyone was led inside. They listened to the sound of bells and drums, and the emperor, wearing a crown, slowly walked out from the side. Everyone bowed to Fushan and shouted, "Long live the emperor." This happened again and again, until Taichang Chen Ji personally guided the emperor to the throne.
On the way up, the sound of bells and drums stopped, and all the officials stood up one after another.
Mu Shun of Xiaohuangmen lowered the curtain to cover the emperor's appearance. After the emperor and his ministers were seated, Dahong Zhou Huan knelt aside and said, "I'd like to congratulate you."
After being approved, the chief ceremonial officer loudly praised: "The emperor has ascended the throne!"
The order of congratulations is first to the kings, then to the princes and others.
The Zhengdan Dynasty is an important ceremony for the pilgrimage to the emperor. As a vassal of the emperor, paying tribute is an extremely important part. Jade is undoubtedly an indispensable part of the tribute, and it is also the most noble one. There are only a few in the entire ceremony.
People can offer jade to the emperor.
The Liu family kings who enfeoffed various places have experienced extermination, rebellion and other reasons in the past two hundred years, and now only a dozen or so are still guarding the feudal state. This time the dynasty not only wanted to celebrate the revival, but the emperor also wanted to use this to issue an edict.
The Liu family declared their orthodox status and their status as a major clan. Therefore, according to the Han system, the vassal kings made a pilgrimage every five years. Starting from this year, the vassal kings began to pay their respects:
Zhou Huan sang praises to the names of the kings one by one on the side: "The king of Zhao is pardoning, the king of Qi is accepting, and so on. Each of them presents a white jade, and congratulations again!"
The kings in front of me are all distinguished by their seniority. Each of their hands is lined with jade bis with a piece of animal skin or silk. The jade bis are made of different materials and sizes, from which we can get a glimpse of the current financial resources of each country.
The kings left the table and bowed to the emperor from afar. The emperor ordered his people to remove the bamboo curtains and stood up from the table. Then the kings came closer and bowed to the ground again, and the emperor sat down again. The kings presented the jade bis to the table one by one. , and finally bowed again, the ceremony was considered over.
The emperor took a cursory glance and found that among the jade presented by the kings, the one presented by Chen Wang Liu Chong was of the best quality, while the one presented by Huaiyang King Liu Hao was the worst. This was because the Chen State was rich and the Huaiyang State suffered from the Yellow Turbans in its early years. After the bandits killed him, the king even abandoned the country and ran away.
This time Liu Hao tried his best to borrow jade from other clans, hoping that the emperor would allow him to rebuild the palace after his restoration.
After the kings presented their gifts, then came the princes. Among the princes, the clan surnamed Liu was especially the leader. After they recommended the jade with the same etiquette, the three princes came last.
The whole ceremony was strict and orderly, extremely authoritative, and the worship was in line with the Han system. The ministers who were watching and waiting couldn't help but have tears in their eyes, and secretly wiped them with their sleeves: "After ten years of mourning, I didn't expect to see you again. The majesty of the Han family."
This is the emotion in the hearts of many people, but when they heard Chen Ji shouting: "Emperor Yan Taiwei, etc.", many people couldn't help but sneered in their hearts: "That is to say, there are shortcomings among the three princes."
Regardless of what some people thought, after hearing the admonition, Taiwei Dong Cheng, Situ Zhao Wen, and Sikong Huangwan, headed by Taiwei Dong Cheng, went to the palace to present the jade to the emperor at the same time. After that, they were awarded two thousand stones and two thousand stones. , Qian Shi and other officials began to congratulate him and presented geese, pheasants and other gifts to the emperor according to his rank.
After the gifts were presented, the main event began. The emperor ordered people to read out the edict in public, conveying the imperial court's message of rest and nourishing the people, inspiring innovation, and encouraging all the ministers to devote themselves to the country and serve the people. Everyone with more than two thousand stones went to the palace to shout long live the rest. Outside the hall, there was also a constant roar of the mountains. So the ministers served soup, the chief ministers and farmers served rice, and all the officials were given banquets. After the court meeting, the court banquet began.
After the kings paid their first pilgrimage, they entered the palace again in the first month. The emperor took this opportunity to get acquainted with the so-called "relatives" and found many talented clan members, as well as some princes and kings with dim talents. Although they were all Emperor Guangwu After that, the blood relationship between them had long been estranged. They were afraid that the emperor would ignore their common ancestry and downgrade or deprive them of their titles. This was not without precedent.
Therefore, the kings were all sincere and frightened when they met the emperor, and the emperor was also very generous, giving many rewards, and encouraging them to cultivate their moral character and guard their ancestral temples after returning home. The kings all praised the emperor as the well-deserved master of the ZTE. The wind of light and martial arts.
But on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, when the princes and kings were about to leave for their respective countries, the emperor suddenly issued an edict, officially abolishing the extinct kingdoms of Lecheng, Xiapi, Jiyin and so on, and reorganized them into counties.
Chang'an, the residence of Langxie.
State residences are residences built by princes and kings in the capital. They are named after the feudal kingdoms. They are generally used as temporary residences for princes before leaving the country or for princes to attend royal court.
"I won't go!" In the residence of Langye Kingdom, Langye King Liu Xi blushed and sat stubbornly on the couch. He was wrapped in a thick brocade robe, which was much worse than those of his shabby-dressed compatriots. Even more wealthy: "I didn't commit any crime. Now that I'm in the palace and I'm confessing, aren't I exposing my shortcomings?"
The officials and servants brought from Langye Kingdom were dispersed far away, and no one came to add to them even when the charcoal fire was about to go out.
Standing in front of Liu Xi was his uncle, Marquis of Yangdu Liu Miao, who was also the Taiyuan governor of the imperial court: "God knows whether you are guilty or not!" He pointed at the roof, his face as cold as frost, and looked directly at Liu Xi.
He lowered his head and said, "You and Xiao Jian were planning something in Langxie, do you really think no one knew about it? People like Cao Cao, Zang Ba, and Dong Zhao are not close to you, and they will report you at any time in the future."
"If you do this, they will have nothing to do with it!" Liu Xi said stiffly.
Liu Miao sighed and said seriously: "So Xiao Jian is dead!"
"Uncle died for me." Liu Xi said with a lonely look. He remembered that his best friend committed suicide in front of the palace and he was helpless, so he clenched his fists tightly: "Not only that Guo Jia, but also
He said it himself, nothing will happen to him after he dies... He won't lie to me!"
He initially glimpsed the chaos in the Central Plains and wanted to imitate Liu Chong in raising troops to fight, so he asked his confidant Xiao Jian to contact Zang Ba. Cao Cao and others tried to strengthen his wings. At first, these people had an ambiguous attitude with him and had many contacts. The power of the Langxie royal family seemed
It expanded to Qingxu. But the good times did not last long. The Chang'an court, which was like a dead tree, rose rapidly and once again came to the world with strong authority. Zang Ba and others immediately drew a clear line with him, and even forced him to death in order to avoid future troubles.
Xiao Jian.
"How can you trust their words? If Xiao Jian's words...are really useful, why are you here today?" Liu Miao said sincerely: "Now they have almost cleaned themselves up, and what about you? I didn't let you take the initiative.
If you plead guilty, you won't even come with me to the palace? When you return to Langye tomorrow, when will your uncle and nephew see you again?"
Liu Xi really hated Guo Jia in his heart, but now he was too preoccupied with thinking about how to escape, not thinking about revenge for Xiao Jian who committed suicide innocently.
He knew that this uncle cared about him the most, and had been in the court for many years, so what he said was naturally correct. However, when he thought of the young but majestic appearance of the emperor during the Zhengdan Dynasty, he felt frightened:
"Then why is there no movement from Prince Chen?"
If he said that the premeditated attempt failed, then King Chen had already raised his troops brazenly and claimed to be the general to assist the Han Dynasty. His intention was obvious. But since the emperor sent Zhong Shao, a strong-minded man, to serve as the prime minister of Chen, he kept King Chen in check.
All the savings and troops of Chen State were used to support the imperial court in a series of wars.
However, after that, the emperor did not see any further action against Chen. During this pilgrimage, King Chen also came to Chang'an as if nothing had happened. He even boasted privately to other princes and kings that he had contributed a large amount of food, grass, and soldiers to the court.
Mechanical construction has great achievements.
"He saw that the country would not pursue the case, so he was lucky and wanted to get away with it. Just wait and see, sooner or later something will happen to Chen Guo!" Liu Miao snorted coldly, not optimistic about Chen Guo's future: "Today the country issued an edict.
The purpose of abolishing Lecheng, Xiapi and other countries is to warn us that we can not only make a king because of the 'emperor', but we can also eliminate the country because of the elimination of the heir. You get up, we have to enter the palace as soon as possible."
"Yes, but what should I do after entering the palace?" Liu Xi stood up staggeringly. At this moment, he had no idea and could only listen to his uncle Liu Miao's words: "What should I say, nephew?"
"You don't have to say anything." Liu Miao stretched out his hand to tidy up Liu Xi's clothes. While summoning the slaves, he looked at him with gentle eyes. Liu Xi was the one he had grown up with, and he had always regarded him as his own son. Now the father-brother legacy is passed down.
The Langye Kingdom was in trouble when he came down, so he risked his life to save the Langye Kingdom's ancestral temple: "After entering the palace, everything will be handed over to the country."
As he spoke, he sighed again and said: "Back then, Cao Cao's father was cared for by the late king in Langye. I also praised his loyalty when he first entered the court. Now he has committed so many misdeeds and can still control the military for the conquest."
General Xi, you can see that the country... eh!"
Liu Miao was kind to Cao Cao, so he believed that Cao Cao would not be unjust to him. Liu Xi also had this idea at the beginning, but now he scorned it.
The uncle and nephew quickly entered the Weiyang Palace. After receiving the news of the emperor's interview, Liu Miao hurriedly reached out and took the hand of Zhonghuangmen who was summoned. The joint between their sleeves quickly moved a few times, and Liu Miao became intimate.
He smiled and said: "May I ask the name of Zhonghuangmen?"
The young eunuch quickly retracted his hands, weighed them in his sleeves calmly, and said reluctantly: "Marquis Yangdu just calls me sternly."
"Yan Huangmen." Liu Miao stopped where he was, making it seem like he was bowing slightly: "I wonder if Prince Chen has been here before."
"Prince Chen?" Yan Yan glanced at the two of them very intelligently. He was good at observing people's words and had experience. This was the reason why Mu Shun brought him back from Ganling Kingdom. At this time, he felt that Liu Miao was a little strange, and he thought
While sitting, he replied slowly: "Prince Chen did not enter the palace today."
"Why does Marquis Yangdu ask this?" he asked.
Liu Miao breathed a sigh of relief for some reason, and said with a smile: "I don't know who I heard saying that Prince Chen also wants to enter the palace, so I want to ask more."
Asking too much cost me two gold cakes. Yan Yan thought that the price was a bit high.
Liu Xi saw that Yan Jun seemed to want to ask more questions, so he put on the airs of King Langxie and said, "Are you still leaving?"
The emperor was inspecting the new cotton cloth delivered to the weaving room. Due to the continuous improvement of weaving and jacquard technology, the cotton cloth produced by the weaving room has become stronger and more durable, and the patterns have become more complex and beautiful.
Now cotton has been promoted to be planted throughout Guanzhong. The emperor will promote it to Liangzhou and Bingzhou next year, and then set up a new official under the Shaofu to specialize in weaving and sell cotton cloth all over the world and even the Western Regions.
Increased financial resources for the court.
"Cotton cloth is not just for rewards." The emperor said to his attendant Deng Chang, "I think next year we can let the young master recruit weavers and build a lot of fabrics. This will also allow the common people to have a good life in the winter."
Know how warm you are and how cold it is.”
Deng Chang touched the cotton cloth and said softly: "Your Majesty, the powerful families in Guanzhong now all wear silk yarn in summer and cotton clothes in winter. If we can extend this to the common people of Li, thousands of families will be able to live longer in the coming winter."
"Your Majesty, King Langxie has arrived." Mu Shun's sharp eyes saw Liu Xi, uncle and nephew Liu Miao approaching here under the leadership of Taichang Chen Ji.
Deng Chang immediately put down the cotton cloth in his hand and prepared to stand up from the table.