Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The 122nd Christmas Day Grand Court Meeting

Xie Yan was woken up at midnight.

He was going to court today.

The regular court of the Ming Dynasty had been reduced to three days a month, which was held on the day after the ten-day holiday. Moreover, the number of officials attending court was limited, with only fifty or sixty people participating at most.

The son-in-law of the emperor could not discuss politics, so he was not qualified to attend the regular court meeting!

Today, Xie Yan was going to attend the grand court meeting.

There were only three regular grand court meetings every year, namely: New Year's Day (the first day of the first lunar month), May Day (the first day of the fifth lunar month), and Winter Solstice.

But they were often suspended.

For example, in the Northern Song Dynasty for more than 160 years, there should have been nearly 500 grand court meetings, but in fact only 50 were held.

There were many reasons for suspension: solar eclipse, war, national mourning, rain and snow, famine, sacrifice, emperor's illness, etc.

Xie Yan wore a seven-beam Diaochan crown, a white silk middle single inside, a purple silk robe outside, a purple knee-length skirt on the lower body, and various belts such as a large belt and a leather belt.

Even though Emperor Taizong shortened the court robes, they were not as wide and sleeved as those in previous dynasties. But generally speaking, they still seemed a bit cumbersome.

"Pay attention to etiquette and don't make a fool of yourself." Zhu Tangxi sent her husband out of the house and repeatedly reminded him with concern.

Xie Yan smiled and said, "We have practiced it in the Ministry of Rites."

It was dark and the carriage was moving.

This was not a commercial area. There was no extra light along the way, only lanterns hanging in front of each house.

The regular court meetings were held three times a month, and the time for court meetings was very late, so there was no need to get up in the middle of the night.

Because there were too many people participating in the grand court meetings, they had to prepare in the dark, otherwise they would have to wait until noon to line up.

Xie Yan sat in the carriage and yawned all the way.

When he got off the carriage outside Donghua Gate, many officials had gathered here and were lining up to show their official badges to the guards of the imperial city.

Xie Yan stood at the end of the queue. The official in front of him said: "Xie Fu Ma is wearing a purple robe, so you can go to the front."

"Thank you for reminding me." Xie Yan realized that he had special treatment.

It was his first time attending a court meeting, and he didn't know anything.

He walked quickly to the front of the team. Many purple-robed officials were chatting and walking in while laughing.

Xie Yan quickly came to the end of the purple-robed officials, and the red-robed officials stopped for a while to let him in.

"Xie Fu Ma is here too?" The purple-robed official in front of him greeted him in a familiar manner.

Xie Yan vaguely remembered that this was a military official. He had seen him when hunting that day, but he really couldn't remember his name, so he bowed and said: "I slept too late yesterday and almost couldn't get up."

The purple-robed military official smiled and said: "It doesn't matter if you are late. You still have to wait slowly when you go in. But today is Christmas, and it's more respectful to come early."

In addition to the three fixed court meetings every year, the grand court meetings can also be temporarily increased, such as: Christmas!

That is, the birthdays of the emperor and the empress dowager.

Christmas has many nicknames, such as: Wanshou, Tianchang, Tianxing, Jiangsheng, etc.

Today is Empress Dowager Ye’s birthday, so a Christmas court meeting was temporarily added, and even the prince living in Luoyang had to attend.

The ministers of the cabinet and the court had many speculations about this.

Because this is the first time that Empress Dowager Ye has held a grand court meeting for her birthday since the young emperor ascended the throne. What political signal is she sending?

Perhaps, she just wants to increase her presence.

After all, Empress Dowager Ye does not interfere with the cabinet much, but she must maintain her authority, so holding a Christmas court meeting has become a cost-effective choice.

But the ministers are still a little worried, fearing that Empress Dowager Ye will gradually seize power.

Just two months ago, one of Empress Dowager Ye’s cousins ​​was transferred to Kaifeng as a general. And one of Empress Dowager Ye’s cousins ​​was promoted to the right governor of Hunan at the beginning of this year.

All these actions show that Empress Dowager Ye is increasing the local power of her family.

Xie Yan gradually walked to the gate of Donghua. He showed his official card, and the guards at the gate let him go without even looking at it.

The dignitaries who frequently come in and out of the imperial city can just scan their faces.

Xie Yan followed the crowd to the waiting room of Dongkuo City. There were many carriages in the parking lot today.

"Sir, please have some tea." A waiter brought the tea over.

The waiters in Dongkuo City did not use eunuchs and palace maids. They were all regular servants who had undergone strict political review.

In other words, there were no eunuchs or palace maids in the imperial city area outside the inner east gate.

More than a dozen people had already come to this waiting room.

Xie Yan took a rough look and found that they were all people he had seen before but could not remember their names.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness Prince Qi!"

Suddenly, the dignitaries in the waiting room stood up one after another.

Xie Yan also stood up and bowed, curiously looking at the Prince Qi in front of him.

Prince Qi seemed very rude, and he was too lazy to even return the greeting. He walked over and sat down. And he didn't even know how to sit. He occupied the seats of two people and lay crookedly on the bench with his nose facing the sky.

Everyone was ignored by King Qi, but they were not angry.

Because they all knew that King Qi did this on purpose: the more rude and disrespectful he was, the more the Queen Mother and the Emperor would be relieved.

This was the uncle of the young emperor.

The nobles and officials also had to avoid suspicion. After paying homage to King Qi, they did not say much, and even did not sit on the same chair with King Qi.

"Puff!"

King Qi spit out a mouthful of tea: "This tea is not as good as the one in my palace. I won't drink it!"

Everyone thought: Your Highness King Qi, your acting is a bit too much.

Soon three more purple robes came, a cabinet minister, and two ministers.

When they saw King Qi, they were stunned, and hurried forward to greet him, and then left to change to another waiting room.

Because there were no empty seats except the bench where King Qi sat.

Then someone else came in. It turned out to be Xia Gongchen, Xie Yan's student.

This guy is the grandson of the King of Ceylon. Since there are no other Ceylon envoys in Luoyang, he will represent the King of Ceylon to celebrate the birthday of Queen Mother Ye today.

Xia Gongchen's identity is not so sensitive. After bowing to everyone, he went to sit down next to King Qi.

King Qi looked down on everyone and said, "Just now, you claimed to be the grandson of the King of Ceylon?"

"That's right." Xia Gongchen replied.

King Qi said, "I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty. Why don't you bow to me when you see me?"

Xia Gongchen said, "Bowing is prohibited in the capital."

King Qi said, "No matter how much it is prohibited, the prince can't be stopped. Bow to me quickly."

Xia Gongchen felt very aggrieved and could only stand up and bow to King Qi.

King Qi threw a silver dollar on the ground: "Very good, see the reward."

A correct version at 16191 book and 1 forum!

Xia Gongchen picked up the silver dollar to thank him and sat down silently.

King Qi was satisfied, he finally offended the Ceylon royal family.

If people dislike him, he is a wise king.

Not long after, another King Zeng came in.

King Zeng ignored the greetings of the crowd and walked straight to King Qi and sat down, smiling and said: "I heard that my third brother is here, so I came here in a hurry. How about we go to Lanruoyuan to play mahjong tonight?"

"Just the two of us?" King Qi asked.

Prince Zeng said with a smile: "Don't say you don't have a lover in Lanruo Courtyard. Let's play poker to our heart's content, two men and two women!"

Prince Qi sighed: "Alas, I'm old, and I haven't been to Lanruo Courtyard for several years."

"Hahaha," Prince Zeng laughed, winked and said, "I'll get some Tibetan medicine for my third brother some other day."

Prince Qi asked: "Is it really effective?"

Prince Zeng said: "I guarantee that my third brother will be as vile as he was in the past!"

The two princes began to discuss the magic medicine without paying attention to others, as vulgar as they wanted, as greasy as they wanted.

Xie Yan couldn't help but sigh, these princes are also uncomfortable... bullshit, I just like this kind of life of lying flat all day. No matter how absurd their words and deeds are, they can be understood by everyone, and even sympathized by others, without having to worry about moral etiquette.

After waiting for a while, a courtesy officer came to deliver a message, saying that nobles and officials of the third rank and above (purple robes) can get on the car.

Xie Yan stood up with everyone else and ran outside to randomly choose a carriage.

After getting off the carriage at the Rihua Gate, Xie Yan followed everyone on foot and lined up in the square between the Rihua and Yuehua Gates.

After a while, the red-robed officials also lined up.

After batches of civil and military officials lined up, the envoys of the vassal states entered the queue next.

Dayuan and Nanyu had permanent envoys in Luoyang, and the court provided them with basic food and accommodation for free, and also provided them with consumables such as ink sticks and paper for free every month.

Of course, if the envoys of these two countries want to enjoy, they have to pay for it themselves.

Japan, Chola, and Sina are the same as Ceylon. They do not have permanent envoys, but they often have international students, who are usually asked to play guest roles temporarily.

There is no such thing as a tribute from all nations.

Almost all the countries in Southeast Asia were destroyed, and the few that were not destroyed were also puppet regimes.

The reason why some small countries in Southeast Asia were not destroyed was that it was not profitable for the Ming Dynasty to rule directly, and it was easier to exploit the natives through puppet regimes.

By the way, the Kingdom of Pagan (Myanmar) in Southeast Asia still exists, but its territory is not as large as it was in history.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong Zhu Ming of the Ming Dynasty, the Pagan Dynasty was at its peak. The king of Pagan at that time vigorously promoted Burmese, suppressed Pali and Mon, formulated a national code, and unified weights and measures.

After the death of the old king of Pagan, the country began to decline.

The prestige and power of the young king were not enough, and the other four uncles were also afraid of each other. Therefore, the four uncles formed the Privy Council to handle state affairs with the young king, and the dispersion of power led to nothing being done.

Faced with the gradual encroachment of the Ming Dynasty, the kings and ministers of Pagan dared not to speak out, and had to be obedient vassals of the Ming Dynasty.

Even the powerful royal family in the Privy Council, some of them have been dogs for the Ming Dynasty, relying on selling the interests of coastal ports in exchange for the support of the Ming Dynasty.

Just this year, another new king succeeded to the throne and was eager to take back the power of the Privy Council.

So Myanmar was in civil strife, and now it is being fought vigorously.

The Shan people, who had been bullied by Bai Qi's descendants, took the opportunity to go south and cause chaos, killing the Pagan army in the civil war.

The King of Pagan had asked for help from the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty's monarchs and ministers ignored it. Because the new king lured and killed the Ming lackeys in the Privy Council as soon as he came to power!

It was the descendants of Bai Qi who took advantage of the situation. After learning that the Shan people went south, the Yunnan army immediately attacked the Shan mountainous areas where the troops were empty.

Koko Kaba stood among many vassal envoys, and as expected, attracted onlookers.

The vassal envoys looked at Koko Kaba curiously, and even wanted to touch the material of his clothes-except for the leather skirt, his clothes and pants were sewn with cotton cloth.

The Mayans had cotton weaving technology long ago.

"Woo woo woo~~~"

"Pa pa pa~~~"

The horn blew and the whip sounded loudly.

From the direction of the hall, the sound of ritual music came.

Coco Kaba didn't understand what was going on, but he saw many officials in front of him moving forward in batches.

He was shocked by the grand etiquette and strict order, and thought it could be transplanted into the ceremony where the leaders of the city-states paid homage to the Mayan king.