Since officials do not live in the Forbidden City, and some of them are far away, officials should prepare in advance according to the distance before going to court. According to the record of the "Daming Huidian", every morning dynasty, the ministers must get up at midnight and rush to the noon 'gate' through half of the capital. Fortunately, my emperor did not arrange for me to participate in the early dynasty, and only when I encountered major events, I would be temporarily notified to participate.

At three o'clock in the morning, the minister must arrive at the noon 'gate' to wait, when the drum on the noon 'gate' tower beats, the minister must line up, until about five o'clock in the morning, the palace 'gate' opens, the hundred officials enter in turn, cross the Jinshui Bridge in the square and form a line. Today, because it is a big New Year's greeting, it is not according to the convention, and the time of the last dynasty has been postponed to the end of the Mao time.

There is also a special 'gate' in charge of picketing, if there is a cough, spitting or unsteady walk among the officials, it will be recorded and dealt with. Usually, the emperor comes to the Taihe 'gate' or Taihe Palace, and hundreds of officials kneel and bow three times. Only officials above the fourth rank can enter the main hall to discuss state affairs with the emperor, and the rest have to wait in line outside the palace.

When we arrived outside the noon 'door', there were already a lot of officials, and everyone was busy greeting the New Year, because there were many officials who went to the wedding, so now we know a lot, and I have greeted the etiquette 'sex', I am looking for it, Xing Zhiwei and Liu Taoran. Because this court meeting is the first time for the two of them to participate, I have to 'hand' over to one of our ya'men first, and rank them according to their grades, for fear that they will not be able to find a place to make a fool of themselves.

It was not easy to find them, now in front of the noon 'door', there have long been crowds of people, more than 1,000 officials, plus the family sedan chair 'guard', the 'chaos' mess adds up to tens of thousands of people, the three of us saluted each other for the New Year, I told them how to line up, how to see, and explain the matters that should be paid attention to to them, then came to the front, my level is high, I can be qualified to enter the hall to pay New Year's greetings to the emperor, like a few of them, but also can only be outside the hall, kneeling to wish the emperor a happy New Year.

Today's court meeting, different from the previous court meeting, this is to pay New Year's greetings to the emperor, the emperor may have any reward or extend the holiday of the grace, everyone is also looking forward to it, because the 'spring' holiday court regulations are only five days, sometimes the emperor will decree that a few more days off, it depends on how the year was last year, and the emperor's mood, so most officials, are looking forward to the emperor's grace this year, a few more days.

As soon as the time came, the officials of Honglu Temple, who were in charge of the court, began to arrange, and the civil and military were divided into two classes to enter the court, with the text from the left and the right from the right. After entering, first in the south of Jinshui Bridge according to the grade order, waiting for the whip, each to cross the bridge in the second time, the text is the left class (east class), Wu is the right class (west class), standing on both sides of the royal road.

After the hour arrived, the band waiting on the side began to play, and the emperor came out of the imperial 'gate', and the Ouchi 'attendant' guard opened five umbrella covers and four fans, and rose from the east and west to the left and right; There are two envoys, one holding the umbrella cover, standing on the seat, one holding the "armament", miscellaneous two fans, and standing in the middle of the seat. After Tianshun, the umbrella and fan Lux moved to the south of Jinshui Bridge, leaving only the umbrella on the seat and two fans; The umbrella on the seat is also removed when the wind is strong.

After the emperor is seated, the whip is sounded again, and the Honglu Temple "sings" into the class, and the left and right classes enter the royal road together, and then arrange the shift. At this time, civil officials "go north to west", and military attaches "go north to east", and perform one bow and three kowtows, which is for the "Taipan". The princes, horses, and uncles formed a class (Xunqi class), and they were in front of the military attache class and left slightly.

After the salute, the officials of the Honglu Temple announced their gratitude to the throne and reported the number of officials who came to participate in the court meeting, and these people had registered in the ya's 'gate' the day before yesterday, and at this time they bowed five times and kowtowed three times under the court or outside the noon 'gate'. If there is a short note played on the side, "the big one declares the 'dew' cloth, and the small one has a playbook, all of which are announced before the early dynasty is played, so Zhang Guowei and Zhao martial arts also." Then, enter the most important part of the court meeting - the recital.

Today's recital is different from the past, first of all, several ministers of the cabinet, a summary of the work of the year, what to the emperor's blessings, the country and the people's peace, are good words to praise virtue, after the end of several ministers, it is the recital of each book, similar to the same, but also the emperor's wisdom and martial arts, the luck of all the people in the world, this year is still smooth and rainy, the emperor is in good health, and then it is the congratulations of the emperor's relatives and relatives, of course, we just want to say, and it is not our turn, so it is not an hour to finish. We were still fine in the main hall, and the officials standing outside were already shivering from the cold, and it took another half an hour before the performance was finished.

Emperor Mu Zong began the rivers and lakes, it is also a good word, Cheng Aiqing conscientious, fulfill their duties, I have a good atmosphere of today's national peace and security in the Ming Dynasty, followed by the reward, the reward is not everyone has, first the cabinet three, each of them a 'jade' Ruyi, the size is the same, the quality and the color 'color' are also the same, six books, each is a piece of 'jade' Pei, the emperor's relatives are also 'jade' Pei, as for the general's side, it is a sword. The rest of us have nothing, but in the end, the emperor announced that this year's holiday is connected with the Lantern Festival, and everyone is happy now, this is ten more days, plus five days of the Lantern Festival, this New Year is a full twenty days.

Although there is no reward, but everyone is very happy, after all, it is a long holiday, officials close to home, can go home to save relatives, after thanking the emperor Enhao 'dang', we watched the emperor leave, we retired in turn.

Originally, I wanted to go to see Zhang Juzheng first, but many officials surrounded him to pay tribute, so I didn't rush over, but arranged for a sedan chair to be carried directly to Zhang's mansion to wait, Zhang Juzheng also had to enter the palace to pay New Year's greetings to the Queen Mother, such a glory is only available to the emperor's relatives and the cabinet.

When I arrived at Zhang Juzheng's house, there were already people waiting outside to greet him for the New Year, but my identity was different, Liu Lianjiang went up to report, and the 'door' came out immediately, saying: "Lord Lan, have a good New Year, I wish Lord Lan a step by step and good health." My lord said, if you are coming, go to the living room to serve tea first. ”

I took out ten taels of silver and handed it over, this is also the meaning of the New Year, the New Year, people give you New Year's greetings you want to mean, the 'door', smiled and took over, took me to the big living room, there is no one else in the big living room, the family sent tea, just took a sip, Zhang Juzheng's eldest son Zhang Jingxiu also came back early, after I got up to see the ceremony, Zhang Jingxiu beckoned me to sit down and drink tea.

At noon, Zhang Juzheng has not come back, I also drank two pots of tea here, ran to the toilet several times, and saw that the sky was not early, Zhang Jingxiu said: "Brother Lan, I see that today is a meal in the palace, my father will come back in the afternoon, I asked the family to prepare a few dishes, we ate first and waited slowly." ”

I saw that Zhang Jingxiu was indeed sincere in staying with me for dinner, and I also felt that it was not good to go back like this, since I came, I would wait until I saw Zhang Juzheng, so I agreed to come.

In the palace, in the Cining Palace, the emperor's relatives, as well as the cabinet members, under the leadership of the emperor, came to the queen mother to pay New Year's greetings, there are not too many people, there are more than 50, as for those concubines or something, if they want to come to pay New Year's greetings, they can only wait until they are over.

Uncle Li is indispensable among the people who pay New Year's greetings, and they are brothers and sisters with Empress Dowager Li, no matter what, this New Year is still coming, this is the relationship between broken bones and tendons. Uncle Li Guo saw Gao Gong standing there, the anger in his eyes couldn't be hidden, if it wasn't for the Queen Mother, it was estimated that he would go up and slap him, this time Uncle Li's loss reached the extreme, not only lost face, but also lost the first floor, although it was not the direct cause of Gao Gong, but Uncle Li Guo sprinkled his anger on him.

First the emperor gave the queen mother a New Year's greeting, then the emperor's relatives and relatives, and finally when it was Gao Gong's turn, the queen mother suddenly said: "How is the health of Lord Gao, is he so busy with official business, can he afford it." ”

Gao Gong didn't expect that the Queen Mother would suddenly come to such a sentence, but he couldn't help but answer, even if he was arrogant, but here in the Queen Mother, he only bowed his head: "Queen Mother, the old minister's body is still bearable, thank you for the Queen Mother's concern." ”

Originally, everyone thought that the Queen Mother would not say anything, but who knows, the Queen Mother said unrelentingly: "Lord Gao, you are old, this state affairs are heavy, and in the future, please ask the emperor to arrange some political affairs for Lord Gao." ”

When the Queen Mother said this, the emperor was not easy to refute, after all, it was the Queen Mother who spoke, and it was still the New Year, so she couldn't make the Queen Mother unhappy, so she said: "Queen Mother, I will definitely not let Lord Gao be tired, Lord Gao is the pillar of our Ming Dynasty." ”

The words of the emperor and the queen mother made Gao Gong stand there, and beads of sweat appeared on his face in the winter, and everyone here heard that this was the queen mother's words to Gao Gong, but many people didn't know how Gao Gong offended the Empress Dowager Li.

The New Year's greetings have ended, and the emperor held a banquet in the Qianqing Palace to entertain the three cabinet ministers, but the emperor did not come back from the queen mother, so let the three of them go over and wait. On the way, Zhang Juzheng said with a smile: "Lord Gao, congratulations, the Queen Mother cares about you so much, this is a great honor." ”

Gao Gong was also embarrassed to say that this was the Queen Mother sarcastically mocking herself, so she had to say unnaturally: "There, there, the Queen Mother also asked by chance." ”

Zhang Juzheng continued: "Lord Gao, it seems that this New Year's omen is good, the Queen Mother and the Emperor care about you, which is like the two of us, and the Queen Mother doesn't even ask." ”

On the surface, this is flattering Gao Gong, but in fact, he is satirizing him, Li 'Chun' Fang is also an old fox, where he will not understand, and on the side, he also conforms to the words: "Yes, Lord Zhang is right, Lord Gao's holy grace is long, not only the emperor is a pillar, but even the queen mother is also very concerned." ”

Zhang Juzheng and Li 'Chun' Fang sang and harmonized, and the Qianqing Palace, which has been said from Cining Palace, is very uncomfortable, but he can't say anything, he can't say it, the Queen Mother is sarcastic about herself.

However, Gao Gong secretly scolded in his heart, let you be cross, you will know in a few days, how can the old man be bullied.