At the end of March and the beginning of April, the intermittent spring rains, large or small, made the crops in the fields, the weeds on the side of the road, and the flowers in the flower beds already full of rainwater, which was extremely moist.

It is said that "spring rain is as expensive as oil", but if this oil is always sent endlessly, no matter how expensive spring oil is, it will become cheap gutter oil.

The damp weather always makes people feel unrefreshed, and the clothes that have been in the house for many days also smell of mold when worn on the body, but this continuous annoyance actually came to an abrupt end one night.

Among all the festivals of the Great Song Dynasty, there is a special and important festival, that is, the birthday of the emperor, the emperor is the lord of a country, and his birthday is naturally the top priority of the country.

Originally, birthdays and festivals are fundamentally different, the former is a private matter, and the latter is a national custom. However, due to the peculiarity of the emperor's status, his birthday evolved into a festival.

Not only that, but also "the world is on vacation, and the scale is comparable to that of traditional festivals".

On April 14 of the seventh year of Tiansheng, it was appointed as the "Qianyuan Festival", which was the birthday of today's son Zhao Zhen.

The night before this day, the spring rain stopped without warning, and in the early morning of this day, it turned out to be a clear sunny day, the sky was blue, and it was extremely fresh.

"After all, the official family is the son of heaven, and God also knows how to give a small gift, so that today, the big guys are happy."

"What Master Li said is not bad at all, the official family is benevolent, and the heavens will also be moved. The official family is comfortable, and we are relieved to be courtiers. ”

Outside the vertical arch hall, the sky has not yet dawned, the Wenchen military generals who have already arrived are in groups of three or five, greeting each other, competing to say auspicious words, for fear that if they say one step late, they will be robbed of the limelight, and they will also be criticized for being disrespectful to the emperor.

The vertical arch hall was originally the place where the emperor Zhao Zhen listened to the government on weekdays, and the real birthday or ceremony was usually held in the Tian'an Palace, but because of this or that reason, in short, Zhao Zhen in order to show his low-key, not extravagant, put his birthday celebration in the vertical arch hall.

At this time, Zhao Zhen, who was wearing a gown, sat on the dragon chair and accepted the birthday congratulations of the civil and military officials in order, and then the envoys of various countries stepped forward one by one to congratulate them. All procedures have not changed in seven years and are not the same.

But all this is different, the person who has hung the curtain behind him since the age of twelve is gone, and the feeling of confusion and unwillingness when sitting on the dragon chair is gone, replaced by the calm of power.

Zhao Zhen's face was calm, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, his young face had long since faded from childishness, and his slightly cyan chin added a little maturity and charm to him. The seven-year career as an emperor made him full of the majesty of the Son of Heaven.

After congratulating, Zhao Zhen moved to the Zichen Hall and gave a banquet to the ministers and envoys of various countries.

Zhao Zhen raised his glass to the ministers below, drew a semicircle from east to west, and signaled the banquet to begin. The music sounded, and the cabaret performance made the scene relaxed and cheerful.

Looking at the imperial wine and food that flowed from outside the hall, the young man sitting in the position of a foreign envoy quietly said to the people around him: "Big brother, today's banquet is much worse than Danri, almost shabby. ”

"Hugh is nonsense!" Yelu Zongzheng secretly glared at his younger brother, looked at Zhao Zhen, his eyes showed admiration, and said: "The king of a country, it is easy to be extravagant, and it is difficult to be diligent and thrifty. The Great Song Dynasty was prosperous and the treasury was full, but it was not easy for the emperor to be so frugal. ”

Yelu Zongyun was educated by his eldest brother, so he had to eat with his head bored.

When the wine was half-drunk and the music was paused, the next person suddenly stood up, raised his glass and said loudly: "Yuan Hao congratulates His Majesty on a long life and a thousand years of the Great Song Dynasty." He raised his head and drank the wine in his glass.

The sound was loud and slightly shook the temple. Everyone looked at that place, and the man who spoke was in white and black, and it was Li Yuanhao, the prince of Xia Kingdom.

Zhao Zhen picked up the wine cup, smiled back, took a sip of the wine in the cup, and nodded. Seeing that Li Yuanhao still hadn't sat down, he said strangely: "Prince Yuanhao has something to say." ”

Li Yuanhao raised another glass and said loudly: "Yuan Hao took the liberty of leaving, before he left for the Song Dynasty, his father had told him a thousand times to take care of Yuan Hao's request to marry the daughter of the Great Song Dynasty, and he was willing to form a friendship with his in-laws, so that my Xia Kingdom and the Great Song Dynasty would be reconciled forever. ”

Zhao Zhen put down the wine cup, looked back at Li Yuanhao, his eyes were playful, and asked, "Who does Prince Yuanhao want to marry?" ”

When Yelu Zongzheng heard this, he was stunned at first, and a person appeared in his mind, thinking of this, his usually calm face changed greatly. Zong Yun, who was sitting on the side, was secretly surprised and asked, "Why did the eldest brother change color?" ”

Yelu Zongzheng shook his head and said nothing, his eyes were fixed on Li Yuanhao, only to see how he said that person.

Li Yuanhao said with a smile: "Yuanhao once saw her for the first time in the Great Xiangguo Temple, and saw her again during the banquet, and then met a few times because of fate, and admired her for a long time, so he dared to ask for marriage and ask for His Majesty's permission." ”

Zhao Zhen's eyes flashed, his expression remained unchanged, and he smiled lightly: "Ask to marry my Great Song woman, Prince Yuanhao has been to the woman's house since he came to the door, please get the order of his parents, and ask for the matchmaker's words, how can I come here to ask for marriage?" ”

Li Yuanhao smiled again: "Because this woman is a member of the royal family of the Great Song Dynasty, the daughter of the eighth prince, and the current princess of Huayi, Zhao ...... Refined! ”

As soon as these words came out, one stone stirred up a thousand waves.

"The barbarian son of the Xia Kingdom, who is not self-sufficient, dares to ask to marry my princess of the Great Song Dynasty." The ministers in the lower seat whispered and discussed, and the eighth prince sitting in it did not move, waving his hand to signal his son to be restless.

Zhao Zhen coughed lightly, and the hall was immediately quiet. He shook his head and smiled: "It turned out to be my cousin, but it's just her, but I can't be the master." ”

Li Yuanhao put down the wine glass in his hand, took out something from his arms, stood out of the banquet, shook his hand, and the thing spread out.

He lifted the thing high with one hand, but it was a picture, and Li Yuanhao continued: "Yuanhao is willing to take Shandan Racecourse as an appointment and ask His Majesty to marry Princess Huayi as my wife Li Yuanhao." ”

The words 'Shandan Racecourse' shocked the audience. Everyone knows what these four words mean.

The Great Song Dynasty was rich and populous, and it was well known to the world. People say that a big country must have strong soldiers and strong horses, but although the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty are not weak, the horses are not strong, and it can even be said that there are too few horses.

Therefore, the infantry of the Great Song Dynasty is famous all over the world, but the cavalry cannot say what it is.

The reason is that there is no good horse farm in the Great Song Dynasty to raise horses, and there are no horse breeders who are good at breeding war horses. Therefore, every year, the Great Song Dynasty spent a lot of money to buy horses from the Xia and Liao countries, and the reopening of the border "Rongchang" was also to exchange for good horses.

Shandan Horse Farm in the Taizu, Taizong years, was the best horse farm in the Great Song Dynasty, to the first emperor period slightly decayed, after the first emperor died, but was robbed by the Xia Kingdom.