Gao Pragmatic was thinking about things while walking with Chen Ju.

The Ming Dynasty was not the Qing Dynasty, and there were no privileges such as riding in the Forbidden City and riding horses in the Forbidden City. In history, Shen Li's old age and poor health were when he was old, and he fell a lot when he was sick, and he was recorded in the annals of history as "the world pities him", and Gao Pragmatism is of course no exception, even if the road from entering the palace to the prince's residence is really far enough, he can only walk.

But as he walked, he noticed that something was wrong, and hurriedly asked, "Gong Chen, it doesn't seem to be the direction to Ciqing Palace?" ”

"Ah, the slave should die, it was the slave who forgot to say it." Chen Ju explained: "Although Ciqing Palace is the main palace of the prince, because the prince is young, the saint is very pitiful, so he ordered the prince to temporarily live in Zhongcui Palace, so that it is convenient for the noble concubine to visit and take care of it. ”

Gao Pragmatic breathed a sigh of relief, and said in his heart: It's strange that as long as you take the wrong route in the palace in those TV series, basically everything will have an accident, which makes me scared...... But Longqing is really good to his son.

But...... It's really far away when I walk to Zhongcui Palace, will I have to exercise like this every day in the future?

Gao pragmatic thought about it, and it seemed that it was really the only way to do it. It is strange that China's royal gardens and imperial palaces have always paid attention to scale, and the more they are built, the bigger they are, and the same is true of the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty, so that it takes a long time to walk from outside the palace to its center, and Zhongcui Palace is in the East Sixth Palace of the harem, which is even farther.

Of course, this can be solved by setting off in advance, but for his subordinates, especially Gao Shishi's current body, it has become a chore to walk such a long way every day.

It is estimated that it is precisely for this reason that after the Qing Dynasty, there was a horse riding or sedan chair ride in the Forbidden City, also known as appreciating the court horse, and these two privileges became a very noble courtesy to the princes of the clan and the important ministers of the civil and military. It is by no means arbitrarily made up by those who joke about history in later generations, and any governor can ride a horse or sit in a sedan chair into the palace. Although there is no clear rule on who can do this, some rules can be seen from the historical records.

Gao Pragmatic muttered in his heart: I don't know when I will have enough influence to at least get these two privileges out, otherwise, I won't say that my subordinates are tired and panicked, at least this is a waste of time for no reason and reduces administrative efficiency.

However, this matter may be difficult to do, after all, Gao Pragmatic also knows that because of Zhu Yuanzhang, some regulations of the Ming Dynasty have always been very nonsense, and it can even be said that they are showing off for the sake of show, which is very annoying. On the contrary, the Qing Dynasty, which he has always looked down on, although he is simply hehe to the people, but in this attitude towards the courtiers, it is much more humane than the Ming Dynasty...... Of course, there is also a development process.

Let's talk about this Forbidden City, sedan chair and horseback riding. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, only a few princes of the near branch were allowed to enter the Forbidden City on horseback, and they could only enter the outer part of the city and dismount outside the Jingyun Gate, and other ministers could only follow the old system of the Ming Dynasty and enter the court on foot.

"The dynasty is customized, the king, Baylor, and Beizi all ride horses into the forbidden gate, and ride under the Jingyun gate, and the ministers are still in the clear system." Outside the left gate and the right gate next to the Donghua Gate and the Xihua Gate and in front of the Noon Gate, stone tablets are erected respectively, and they are engraved in six languages of Manchu, Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan and Tibetan and Tot Mongolian scripts as "dismount here" and "Officials and others dismount here". The dismounted stele still existed until later generations when Gao Shi went to travel, showing a generation of customization and court majesty.

The official explicit permission for ministers to ride into the palace began in the Qianlong period, mainly considering that the ministers entered the court at night and encountered rain and snow, making it inconvenient to walk. In addition, civil and military officials inside and outside the country who have made great contributions or received special favors will also be allowed to "ride horses in the Forbidden City". For example, in the middle of Qianlong, the general Yue Zhongqi gave the "Forbidden City Horseback Riding" because of the "Liangjinchuan" Tusi, and Zhaohui granted the "Forbidden City Horseback Riding" to conquer the Northwest Hui Military Merit. Qian Chenqun, a retired minister, went to Beijing in the 36th year of Qianlong to congratulate the Empress Dowager on her birthday, and specially ordered the Forbidden City to ride a horse, which was regarded as a special honor at that time. When he arrived in Jiaqing, ministers over 70 years old were allowed to take a small sedan chair in the forbidden city, and since then there has been a matter of "shouldering" in the Forbidden City.

There is a record in the "Xiaoting Continuation": it explains the general situation of the "Forbidden City Horseback Riding" in the Qianjia and Jia periods: "In the Qianlong period, the ministers of Shangnian were waiting to leak into the straight, and every time they encountered a snowstorm, they walked for several miles, which was very bumpy, because they allowed the ministers to ride horses into it to show their honor. Jiaqing Jisi, the ministers who are over 70 years old will be given shoulders and straight, especially in the clouds. ”

As for entering the palace by sedan chair, during the Qianlong period, there were already special cases of ministers entering the palace in a sedan chair, because some ministers were old and frail, and it was actually difficult to ride a horse, such as the Qianlong scholars, Ortai and Zhang Tingyu, who were "too old to ride", and "were allowed to walk in a sedan chair in the Forbidden City." In the ninth year of Jiaqing, when the scholar Wang Jie entered the palace, he was over 80 years old, and he was specially allowed to enter the palace in a sedan chair and enter the inner court with a cane, which was a very special "grace".

Therefore, from this point of view, riding a horse and taking a sedan chair into the interior in the early Qing Dynasty is also a very high courtesy, and only the old ministers who are old and virtuous can enjoy this honor. In practice, not all of the ministers who were given the privilege of riding horses in the Forbidden City actually rode horses, and some people switched to a small shoulder, using a chair tied to both sides of the pole and carrying them into the palace. In fact, such adaptations were also made during the Qianlong period.

This is actually a necessary adaptation: first, considering that the horses are not well controlled, they are afraid of colliding with the honor guard in the palace, and second, many of the ministers who were actually given the "Forbidden City Horseback Riding" are very old, some people have difficulty riding horses, and some people can't ride horses at all.

It is said that in the 55th year of Qianlong, Qianlong issued an edict specifically for this purpose, giving a special gift to the ministers of horseback riding in the Forbidden City, and some people who are old and have difficulty getting on a horse. Such an edict was praised by later generations, especially for the elderly. ”

As for this kind of small shoulder that walked in the palace, it was similar to the emperor's "foot court", but the chair was smaller and carried by only two people. It is still consistent with the situation of "using two people to ride a small chair" mentioned in the above material. This kind of walking tool in the palace is generally only lifted on the waist, not on the shoulder.

After Jiaqing, the scope of horseback riding and sedan chair riding in the Forbidden City was gradually relaxed. In the tenth year of Jiaqing, the Forbidden City Horseback Riding Minister who was over 70 years old was allowed to ride with two people carrying small chairs. In the twenty-fourth year, it was ordered that the ministers of the banner were over 60 years old, and those who were over 60 years old and had rewarded the court horses could enter the court on their shoulders and go to the place where they should get off the horse. Older officials can also take a sedan chair into the inner city. Later, there was a situation of sitting in a warm sedan chair in the Forbidden City. For example, during the Daoguang period, the 77-year-old scholar Changling, the 80-year-old scholar Cao Zhenyong, and the eighty-six-year-old scholar Fujun could all sit in a sedan chair in the Forbidden City to keep out the cold, which was also a special treatment for the elderly minister.

Thinking of this, Gao Shishi suddenly felt that he should find an opportunity to speak and see if there was a chance to fight for the privilege of entering the palace for the elderly Wenchen.

Of course, Gao Pragmatic suddenly had an idea, he would not be idle and have nothing to do, he had his own considerations.