Chapter 301: New Year's Pilgrimage

If you talk about the taste of the dishes in the palace, in addition to the spicy taste is not enough, I think the rest is not bad compared with the later generations, but the variety of Chinese New Year's Eve meals in the palace makes me sigh, this meal is estimated to be worth a few years of income of an ordinary people's family, Xie Daoqing is usually quite frugal, mostly vegetarian-based, occasionally extravagant I don't say much, not to mention that this is the most grand royal Chinese New Year's Eve dinner of the year,

This Chinese New Year's Eve dinner was eaten very slowly, driven by Quan Jiu and Concubine Qiu, everyone kept laughing and persuading wine, the atmosphere was warm, even Xie Daoqing laughed constantly, compared with the beginning, Xie Daoqing became more and more like an ordinary ancestor, less majestic, but a little more kind, and my earliest memory was completely like two people, after dinner, it was close to the child, at this moment the lanterns in the palace were all in place, illuminating everywhere, straight as day,

After a while, Xie Daoqing said: "Official, set off fireworks to welcome the arrival of the New Year." ”

"Okay."

The firecrackers of the Song Dynasty generally used paper tubes and hemp stems wrapped in gunpowder to weave into a string, so they were made into "braided cannons", with the advent of gunpowder, fireworks have also appeared in large quantities, according to legend, fireworks first appeared in the Tang Dynasty, to the Northern Song Dynasty Xuanhe (1119, 1125) years, the real fireworks with gunpowder as raw materials developed maturely, there have been large-scale fireworks, Xin Qiji wrote in the poem, "The east wind blooms thousands of trees at night, and blows down, and the stars are like rain." This poem vividly describes the fireworks at that time, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, fireworks have become popular among the people on a large scale.

For Chinese New Year's Eve, setting off firecrackers is the most representative way of celebration for the Chinese people, but unfortunately in later generations, many big cities have banned fireworks, which makes the atmosphere of the festival plummet.

According to the tradition of the Great Song Dynasty, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, unless there are very special circumstances such as national funeral and eclipse, the imperial court will hold a grand court meeting, which is not to discuss national events, but to congratulate the ceremony.

Last year's New Year's festival was not long due to the death of the first emperor, so everything was simple, and celebrations such as fireworks and lanterns were not even arranged in the palace.

According to the arrangement of the Ministry of Rites, the first day of the Lunar New Year is more than half (4 o'clock in the morning), the sky is not yet dawn, I have bathed and changed clothes, and came to the New Year's Hall early, accompanied by Ma Tingluan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, I reverently lit a stick of incense, which is the first incense of the New Year in the palace, called "Tianxiang", which means to pray to the heavens for the people of the world to pray for the wind and rain this year, and a bumper harvest of all grains,

Although I watched in the Ningkun Palace until the early hours of the morning last night, I hardly slept all night, but I was still in good spirits, thinking that it was due to the influence of the New Year's atmosphere.

After the incense was completed, the sky had just brightened, I sat on the sedan chair and walked towards the Daqing Palace, at this time, the palace door was not opened, and the officials who had already gathered were waiting outside the door, waiting for the holding of the court.

"Your Majesty, you can summon hundreds of officials to the palace to congratulate." As I sat on the dragon chair in the main hall, Ma Tingluan said,

"Yes, Little Seven."

"The little ones are,"

"The imperial guards led the officials into the palace."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lan Yu, the guard on duty outside the Daqing Palace, hurriedly informed Shen Mo to lead eighteen guards to the front of the palace, and led the officials to enter the palace in order of rank.

During the New Year's court, the layout in the Daqing hall is also slightly different from usual, in addition to the lanterns hanging high in the hall, the most eye-catching is that the four mighty men are wearing brand-new armor, holding the golden axe, the golden axe, the golden lance, the golden hammer, standing majestically in the four corners of the majestic steps of the main hall, these four people are known as the town hall general, according to traditional customs, the town hall general on the first day of the new year to hold all kinds of artifacts, guard the four corners of the hall, you can keep the palace safe for a year, just like the role of the door god, this custom originated from Song Taizu, And throughout the Song Dynasty,

The first to enter the hall is as the head of the hundred officials Jia Nidao, in today's court ministers, although Jia Nidao's power is gradually weakening, not to my liking, but he is still the prime minister, at least nominally still in the first place, and then into the two semi-retired ministers, Lin'an University President He Ji, Guogong Zhao Kui, these two old ministers are a civil and a military, respectively representing the civil and military ministers of the court, and then the next is Wen Tianxiang, an academician of the Government Affairs Yuan, and Lu Xiufu, an academician of the Military Yuan, It was followed by the various Shangshu and Zhongshu orders in addition to Ma Tingluan, and then a group of civil and military officials.

Since ancient times, our country has always paid attention to ranking, especially in the officialdom, Wen Tianxiang and Lu Xiufu, who ranked fourth and fifth in the palace, rose quickly so that all ministers were extremely envious, both feeling that it was reasonable, but also outside of reason.

When I saw all the officials entering, I said, "Ma Aiqing, let's start." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Ma Tingluan, who is well versed in etiquette, said loudly, "First of all, please ask Taishi Jia Yidao to lead hundreds of officials to perform the New Year's ceremony. ”

Jia Rudao walked in front of the officials, in accordance with the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple pre-formulated movements, the so-called ritual dance, refers to a series of actions such as bowing, throwing sleeves, kneeling, getting up and other actions to worship the ceremony, not commonly said dance, in the first day of the first month of each year before the court, officials have to rehearse repeatedly, no one dares to make a mistake on this occasion,

Nearly 100 officials completed a full set of actions with Jia Rudao, although it was not beautiful enough, but it also looked neat.

"The salute is complete." Ma Tingluan said, "All the officials congratulate His Majesty the Emperor, long live long live." ”

Under the leadership of Jia Rudao, the hundred officials knelt down again and shouted in unison: "The ministers wish the emperor a good New Year, long live the borderless, long live the emperor, long live long live, long live long live." ”

"Zhong Aiqing, I also wish you good health and all your wishes."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Ma Tingluan continued: "The guards are here, and they are thundering around the temple. ”

As Ma Tingluan's voice fell, several guards in green clothes appeared in the Daqing Palace, these guards were all five big and three thick, their voices were loud, and they shouted in unison with a loud voice to stretch the syllables, "Roar." The sound resounded through the hall like thunder, and this method was called "thunder around the temple." This is also a unique way of celebration in the Song Dynasty, and no one can tell its meaning.

After seeing the green-clothed guards leaving, Ma Tingluan stepped forward and said, "Please send a New Year's message to Your Majesty." ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, today is the first day of the second year of Xianchun, on the occasion of the New Year, I wish my Great Song Dynasty prosperity in all walks of life, early to Zhongxing, ladies and gentlemen, this year is a very critical year for my dynasty, in this regard, I have three requirements, the first is the need to vigorously develop the economy of our dynasty, whether it is agriculture, handicrafts, commerce, etc., must be on a higher level, I have said before, the war to the end, is no longer a simple military competition, more is a financial competition, of course, Another important purpose of economic development is to ensure that the people of our dynasty have enough food and clothing, so as to ensure the stability of our dynasty. The second is to be sure to achieve the government is clear, the court officials are the people's example, only the government is clear and effective, in order to make the people happy and convinced, since this month, I will set up a clean government office in the DPRK, and this year extended to all roads, provinces, in order to supervise the words and deeds of our officials, the third is to strengthen armaments, everyone knows, Mongolia is not extinguished, our dynasty has never been peaceful, I want to go north, Mongolia does not want to go south, so this year is also a critical year for northern Mongolia, who can grasp this year, It will take the lead in the war, so I require that in military affairs, we need to be able to achieve good soldiers, train and train again, so as to ensure the victory of the Song and Mongolian wars. ”

I paused for a moment and continued: "In the new year, everyone has a good rest to meet the greater challenges of this year, and finally, I also wish you and your families a happy new year. ”

When Ma Tingluan saw that I had finished speaking, he said again: "Play music." ”

According to my request, the music played at this year's court meeting was changed to the military song of the Imperial Forest Army, that is, the song "Jing Loyal to the Country" that I taught at the founding ceremony of the Imperial Forest Army, there is no national anthem in this era, so the music played at each New Year's court meeting can be called national music, and the last time the Chinese music was reformed was in the Shenzong period in the sixth year of Yuanfeng (1083).

At the end of the song, everyone's hearts were hot, and people who had never heard it thought one after another, "What kind of song is this, it makes people worship so much." ”

"Ma Aiqing, what is the process below."

"Your Majesty, according to the etiquette system, the Great Dynasty will be divided into three steps, the first step is in the Daqing Palace, this step has ended, the second step is for Your Majesty to lead the hundred officials to the New Year's Hall to worship the heavens and the earth and the spirits of the emperors of this dynasty, and the third step is the royal feast and song and dance performances."

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, follow me to the Hall of Prayer."

Compared with the Daqing Palace, the prayer hall is much smaller, can not accommodate all the officials, the worship ceremony can only be arranged outside the hall, this form is nothing more than a formality, worship heaven and earth, in order to bless the wind and rain, worship the ancestors, in order to bless the country and the people,

In the morning, I put on incense here alone, called "Heavenly Fragrance." At this time, all the officials each put on a stick of incense, which is called "earth incense." In the afternoon, the ladies in the harem, under the leadership of the Queen Mother Xie Daoqing, will come here for the third time to incense, called "human incense." This is the palace on the first day of the Lunar New Year three incense ceremony, collectively known as the three incense of heaven, earth and man, its meaning is also to ask God to bless,

Under the careful arrangement of the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple, after worshipping heaven and earth and ancestors, the second step of the ceremony of the Great Dynasty Meeting will end.

Don't look at these things are very simple, but the collective action of hundreds of people also took a lot of time, and when they left the prayer hall, it was already noon.