The fourth day of the eighth month is the Christmas of the Son of Heaven, the Day of Longevity.

It is said that in China's thousands of years of history, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding king of the Ming Dynasty, can be regarded as the most hardworking and hardworking emperor. No matter how big or small, he has to ask questions, and he is open all year round, even if it is the New Year or his birthday, he still goes to court and reviews and recites, which can be said to have achieved the adjective of diligence to the extreme.

As a workaholic, Lao Zhu is not only diligent in his own government, but also set the rules early on, so that his children and grandchildren are as diligent in political affairs as himself. It's a pity that he may still be able to control everything while he is alive, but once he dies, his children and grandchildren will not really come according to his expectations, and the only exception may be the obsessive-compulsive way of naming.

The fastest thing for future generations to break is the almost year-round working state set by Emperor Taizu. From the beginning, a lot of work was handed over to subordinate ministers, such as the establishment of the cabinet and the celebrant supervisor, and later even the early dynasty began to change the way not to participate, and this point was even developed to the other extreme in the Wanli period, and the Son of Heaven did not go to the early dynasty for thirty years, and even did not see foreign officials. Maybe it's another balance......

Of course, when the throne passed to the current orthodox emperor of the Son of Heaven, Zhu Qizhen, he didn't dare to do things too much. For the early dynasty whose symbolic meaning is far greater than its practical function, he does not dare to stop at will, and only on the days from the Chinese New Year to the Lantern Festival, and on the birthday of himself or the Queen Mother, he will take the opportunity to rest for a day.

And today, it is his birthday, so the early dynasty can be exempted. It's just that for the ministers, this doesn't mean that they don't have to enter the palace today. In fact, those important ministers of the court still had to meet the Son of Heaven, not to discuss any political affairs, but to congratulate the Son of Heaven on his birthday - although he was only twenty years old, and it was still a little earlier to say that the word "longevity".

Generally speaking, courtiers do not need to prepare too good gifts to congratulate the Son of Heaven on his birthday. After all, the salaries of the officials of the Ming Dynasty were not high, and if the courtiers came up with gifts that far exceeded their own income, they would make the officials find a reason to attack. However, you can't just say happy birthday to the emperor empty-handed, so at this time, everyone has to come up with all kinds of methods and tricks.

In fact, this is not too difficult for some civil officials, some of them are outstanding in writing, they can write an article that praises flattery and flowers as a gift; You can also write a word or a picture to express your admiration for the Son of Heaven. It's just that the only drawback is that there are too many courtiers who do the same thing every year, and it is difficult to remember them if they don't have poetry, calligraphy and painting that far exceed the level of their colleagues.

And those eunuchs in the palace, at this time of year, will also be quite disdainful to carry this basket of useless poems, calligraphy and paintings into it. As for their final fate, they were either piled up in a corner of a storeroom or burned by a fire.

Early this morning, when the eunuchs waited in front of the palace gate to receive the gifts according to the old practice, their minds were no different from those of previous years, just waiting for those useless things to be carried into the palace by themselves.

The development of things seemed to be no different from what they expected, some officials of insufficient rank could not enter the palace, so they could only send their scrolls of books wrapped in red silk to the hands of the eunuchs, and then only kowtowed a few times in front of the palace gate, shouted a few long live or something, and went back.

But just when everyone thought that nothing would change, an accident really happened.

Halfway through, when a group of civil officials were about to leave, a carriage that looked quite wide slowly drove to the place not far from the palace gate.

Seeing this, everyone only said which old minister of the court was also coming to congratulate his birthday, so he couldn't help but stop and look over there, waiting to meet this old man and say a few words.

But as a result, everyone was stunned. I saw that the curtain of the car was lifted, and the one who jumped down was actually a young man in a green robe in his twenties. Seeing this scene, the faces of many officials sank, and they secretly said that it was unreasonable. There were even a few officials who had made up their minds to impeach this impudent guy.

Although there is no explicit rule, out of respect for the Son of Heaven and the royal family, no cars and horses are allowed in front of this palace. Only those old and virtuous elders were able to take a sedan car and go straight to the palace gate because of the emperor's special permission. Ordinary officials, even if they had any carriages and horses, would stop at a distance of two miles and come on foot.

But this young official is good, he actually took a car to the palace gate, it was really daring!

"It's not like words, it's really not like words. But who is he, who dares to be so rude? An old man from the Ministry of Rites blew his beard and glared at his colleagues around him.

After asking a few people, one finally recognized the identity of the other party: "This person was in the limelight some time ago." It is Lu Jin, Lu Shansi, who was promoted to a member of the military department after making military exploits in Shanxi before. ”

"Is it him?" Many people were moved in their hearts, and their eyes at Lu Zhen became even more ill-intentioned.

Now everyone in the capital knows the grievances between him and Wang Zhen, and they also know that the prince wants to get rid of him for a day or two, but due to various internal and external reasons, he has not been able to take it down. And today, he actually made such a mistake in front of so many people, isn't it just creating an opportunity for everyone to please the prince?

For a while, those officials who were interested in having a good relationship with the now powerful Wang Zhen, or taking refuge in the past, had the intention of impeaching Lu Zhen. Let's just think that this is my vote for the prince.

Just as they were thinking about these vile ideas, and even began to plan how to write this bullet, the curtain of the car was completely lifted again, and then two men who were quite stocky came down one after another, and after a few low shouts, they tried to carry down an object covered with red cloth that had been placed in the car.

"Huh...... This is ......" Everyone was immediately attracted by this abrupt thing, and then they realized that this Lu Zhen came by car regardless of the rules to transport such a thing.

This realization made many people feel blushing, and some secretly felt pity, it seems that it is impossible to impeach Lu Zhen through this. It's just that what is it that he has taken so much trouble to ship? It is a congratulatory gift to the Son of Heaven, but what kind of congratulatory gift can he come up with as a five-grade petty official?

Everyone was curious, and couldn't help but stop and look carefully at the round table, which was bigger than the average round table, and looked at the thing weighing about a hundred or ten pounds, trying to see what it was.

However, the top of this thing was covered with a red silk cloth that was larger than it, and they couldn't see what was underneath. The only thing that can be seen is that the surface of this thing seems to be uneven, because the red silk covering the head is also undulating.

Lu Zhen was not familiar with these officials, so he just nodded at them, arched his hand again, and passed them by and came to the palace gate.

At this time, several eunuchs waiting there had already been their eyes on this object, and they all showed curiosity, guessing in their hearts what it would be.

Lu Zhen walked up to them, saluted first, and then said: "A few fathers-in-law, this is the birthday gift that Lu Jin, a member of the staff of the Ministry of Officers and Soldiers, entered for His Majesty's birthday, and I hope that a few fathers-in-law will work hard and send it to Your Majesty." ”

"Cheng, you put it down!" One of the leading eunuchs immediately nodded, waved his hand again, and motioned for the person next to him to come forward and accept the gift.

Lu Zhen saw that he said it so lightly, and his heart moved. Almost all of the people in this palace are Wang Zhen's people, if they are asked to do something on the side, their hard work will be in vain.

Fortunately, he was prepared, and while watching the four little eunuchs take the sand table with difficulty, he said again: "By the way, there is another matter that the lower official forgot to mention, His Majesty already knew that the lower official would offer this thing, and maybe he would also summon the lower official to deal with it, so he also asked a few fathers-in-law to send it in earlier, so I will wait here for a while." ”

"Huh?" Several eunuchs glanced at each other, and there was a look of surprise on their faces.

Just as Lu Zhen was worried, they actually had the intention of throwing things away just now, anyway, this person has a grudge against the prince, and he can be regarded as helping the old ancestor to export his evil anger.

However, if it is true as he said, the Son of Heaven is already waiting in the palace to accept this gift, then there can be no more chaos.

If someone else had said this, they might not have believed it. But this Lu Jin, although he is only a five-grade petty official, has won the attention of several important ministers in the court, maybe they really brought the news to His Majesty early. So just in case, although several eunuchs were unwilling, they still agreed, and carried the 100-pound sand table to the nine-fold palace.

Along the way, several eunuchs were also curious about what they were carrying. It's just that the rules in the palace are strict, and since it is a congratulatory gift from His Majesty, under the condition of being covered with a red cloth, they really don't dare to secretly open it to see what is going on. Because if the matter leaks out, they will inevitably be condemned for disrespect.

Suddenly, a few people finally came to the Wuying Palace, where he was meeting several important ministers with the sand table on their shoulders. After waiting outside for a while, and hearing their words for a while, a eunuch cautiously stepped forward, came to the door, and reported to the inside: "Your Majesty, a congratulatory gift from Lu Jin, a member of the current military department, has been sent to the palace, can Your Majesty want to take a look?" ”