The Lantern Festival Lantern Market in the Ming Dynasty lasted for ten days, which was the ancestral system set by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di.

Among them, from the Yongle Dynasty to the Xuande Dynasty, due to the social affluence and the happiness of the people, they often "put the lights on for 20 days", from the 15th day of the first month to the 5th of February.

And from beginning to end, not only is the curfew open, but the people can also enter the imperial city to watch the lanterns for three days. In addition to not being able to break into the Forbidden City, ordinary people can wander around casually, and if they have the strength to avoid the guards of the imperial city, it is possible to sneak into Zhu Houzhao's leopard room quietly.

When going out, Wang Yuan took the initiative to hold Song Linger's hand.

Song Ling'er only struggled for a moment, and then let him pull him, his heart was like eating honey, and the smile on his face never spread.

Yu Ben, Xu Chengming, Zhang Bi and Zhang Chao, who lived in the same courtyard, the four big men could only travel together, and they were caught off guard by Wang Yuan's wave of dog food.

Some of them are married, some are not married, but they have just entered the Hanlin Academy, and they still live in a collective dormitory, and they can only live the life of a single dog for three years. Thinking about it this way, it is easy to understand that young scholars go to Qinglou, and it is difficult to hold back for three years.

Outside the door is East Chang'an Avenue, which is brightly lit everywhere, as if it were daytime.

Xu Chengming said: "I have long heard that the two Beijing Lantern Markets in the north and south look like the stars of the Heavenly Palace, and today I finally witnessed its grand occasion with my own eyes. ”

"It's a blessing for me to be so prosperous." Yu Ben said with a smile.

Zhang Chao said: "It would be better if the four seas could be peaceful." ”

The crowd was silent.

Song Ling'er also saw that everything was rare, and dragged Wang Yuan around. In fact, there was a test light on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, and she had already seen it last night, but it was not on the same scale as tonight.

Everyone traveled all the way north and soon came to Dong'anmen Street.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Lantern Festival Lantern Market in Beijing, the most prosperous was the Donghua Gate to the Dong'anmen generation, and there were three prosperous lantern markets outside Dong'anmen.

It's hard for you to imagine that the usually heavily guarded imperial city actually allowed merchants to come in and set up stalls to sell goods during the Lantern Festival. This is really the Son of Heaven enjoying with the people, and he has no serious defense against the people. If it is replaced by the Qing Dynasty, hehe, let alone entering the imperial city, the Han people can't even enter the inner city.

"Wow, Wang Yuan, look, the lanterns over there are so beautiful!" Song Linger pointed ahead and said.

It is a huge lantern that rotates on its own through the heat generated by combustion. Moreover, there is a villain in the lamp, and between the rotation of the lamp, there is also a shadow puppet show of the three heroes fighting Lu Bu.

Wang Yuan took Song Ling'er and walked over, and it was full of people watching the lanterns.

A big man in a silk robe said, "Are you a Min lantern or a Cantonese lantern?" ”

The boss said proudly: "This is the style of Suzhou, built by craftsmen in Guangzhou!" ”

"Sure enough, it's a good light!" Everyone praised it.

Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there is a saying called "Suzhou style, Guangzhou craftsman".

That is, Suzhou commodity style is the best in the world, leading the fashion trend, and Suzhou is the fashion capital of Daming. At that time, people called it "Su Yi", which is equivalent to the "foreign atmosphere" of later generations!

In history, an official went to Hangzhou to take up a post and tried a criminal wearing narrow socks and shallow shoes. This was a fashionable dress at the time, and the officials couldn't figure out how to close the case and seal the book, so in the end, they had an idea and described the criminal as a "Suyi prisoner", that is, a prisoner dressed in a very foreign style.

The goods in Guangzhou are extremely exquisite, and skilled craftsmen emerge in endlessly. Once the product is marked as "Made in Guangzhou", it will be trusted by customers immediately, and the price can be greatly increased.

Correspondingly, there is also a name for "Hangzhou style": cheesy, exaggerated, ugly, love to brag, love to spread rumors, and useless.

The people of the time sarcastically used a proverb: "The wind in Hangzhou will be hollowed out." Good and bad, set up a case. Youyun: "Hangzhou wind, a handful of green onions." Flowers are clustered, empty inside. ”

The Hangzhou goods in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were probably equivalent to the Wenzhou goods at the beginning of the reform and opening up, which were synonymous with counterfeit and shoddy.

The above is by no means a territorial attack, but a pure narrative of historical facts.

Song Ling'er asked, "How much do you sell for this lantern?" ”

The boss stretched out three fingers: "Three hundred taels!" ”

Wang Yuan was speechless for a moment: "Why don't you go to rob the road?" ”

The boss said disdainfully: "If you can't afford it, don't talk nonsense." I want to first ask the master of Suzhou to set the style, and then invite the master of Guangzhou to come to the capital to make it, and this lamp will take at least half a year's effort. If I don't sell it for three hundred taels, I won't lose money? ”

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "You invited Guangzhou craftsmen to the capital, it is impossible to make only one lamp, right?" In fact, the cost is not so expensive. ”

The boss was exposed on the spot, and immediately disgusted: "If you don't buy it, don't stop me from doing business." ”

Someone next to him recognized Wang Yuan and reminded the boss: "This is Wang Erlang of Hanlin Academy, you should be careful when you speak, otherwise your stall will be lifted!" ”

The boss was stunned, then put on a smiling face, took out two small lamps and handed them over: "It turned out to be Wang Erlang, these two lamps will be given to the two of you for free." ”

"How much?" Wang Yuan said, "I have never accepted people's property. ”

The boss was also inconvenient to say the cost price, so he only smiled: "You can just look at it." ”

Wang Yuan threw out a piece of broken silver, which was probably worth a hundred dollars.

The boss smiled and handed over the two small lamps, Wang Yuan took the lamp but did not leave, but approached to see the big lamp worth five hundred taels.

"What is this?" Wang Yuan asked, staring at a bead.

The boss explained: "This is called burning beads, also called glass beads. Not to mention that this lamp is worth three hundred taels, the materials are very exquisite, in addition to burning beads, there are silk, yarn, bright angles, are valuable materials! ”

The burnt beads of the Ming Dynasty were actually low-temperature glass beads, which were called "five-color burnt beads" or "glass beads" in the Song Dynasty.

Wang Yuan was thoughtful.

It seems that quartz ore is used to burn glass, but unfortunately I don't know the firing process, so I can only ask the pearl burning craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty, and then slowly explore and improve it.

If the whole glass is made, then make glasses, glasses and the like to sell it for money, and by the way, make a telescope for the emperor to look at the moon, which will definitely make Zhu Houzhao so funny that he can't sleep.

Suddenly, the people watching the lanterns dodged one after another, but someone drove over in a sedan car and went straight to the headlight in front of Wang Yuan.

"How much?" A servant dressed in silk asked.

The boss sat on the ground and started the price: "Five hundred taels." ”

"Take the lamp away!" The slave beckoned directly to the back, and two more servants brought the chest, which was full of silver.

Wang Yuan squinted and sneered.

A few days after the thieves in the suburbs of Beijing were cleared, they were buying lamps and getting rich in the capital.

This belongs to the tradition of watching lanterns, probably from the Hongzhi period, due to the continuous development of the commodity economy, the social atmosphere has become increasingly extravagant, and the phenomenon of fighting for wealth has begun to reappear in the land of China.

Every year, there are officials or businessmen fighting for wealth in the north and south of the Beijing Lantern City. They will buy a lot of lanterns with different prices, ten taels with ten taels, and one hundred taels with one hundred taels, to see who buys more, to see who buys more delicately.

Any lamp is enough for the small people to eat for a few years.

There are very few civil officials who fight for wealth, after all, they must pay attention to wind reviews. Those who really like to fight for wealth are those nobles and relatives, who have nothing to do when they are full all day long, so they rely on this to pass the boring and boring life.

Song Ling'er carried the lantern she had just bought, took Wang Yuan's hand and said, "Let's go, let's go see the imperial lantern." ”

The imperial lantern is inside the imperial city, you don't need to buy a ticket, or even check your identity, you can enter directly from Dong'an Gate.

Wang Yuan saw many acquaintances along the way, such as Yang Ting and his family, who came to visit the Lantern Market. When the mistake passed, Yang Tinghe nodded and smiled at Wang Yuan, Yang Shen clasped his fists and saluted, and Yang Shen's wife was the jacquard lantern beside him.

"If you are empty!" Jin Wei suddenly beckoned to Wang Yuan in front of him.

Wang Yuan led Song Ling'er over, and after nodding and greeting Jin Wei, he hugged his fists and said to Jin Gui: "Master Jin, the junior is polite!" ”

Jin Gui returned the salute with a fist and said with a smile: "It's rare to meet, why don't you travel together?" ”

Jin Gui is no longer in charge of the Hanlin Academy because of the fraud in the imperial examination, but he is still in charge of the system, and Wang Yuan's decree of reward is written by Jin Gui.

Looking at it like this, Jin Lan and Jin Wei's marriage should be completed, and they actually enjoyed the lanterns together during the Lantern Festival.

This is thanks to Wang Yuan, otherwise Jin Gui would have looked down on the three top Jinshi Jin Wei who had no background. Just because Jin Wei was Wang Yuan's friend, he was not only summoned by the emperor, but also entered Jin Gui's eyes.

Jin Wei pointed to the front and said, "Brother Mingqing (Changlun) and they are also in front, and they have made an appointment to enjoy the imperial lanterns and watch the fireworks together!" Looking at this time, it should be almost time to set off fireworks. ”

Firecrackers are fireworks, and only when the emperor comes out to watch the lanterns, will the fireworks be set off.

Everyone continued to walk forward, and Song Ling'er suddenly waved her hand and shouted: "Sister Huang, you also come to watch the lanterns!" ”

(I finally made up that chapter, but it came a little late, so don't be surprised.) ）