In ancient times, the Chinese New Year was much more grand than in modern times, and generally after Laba, each family had to start preparing for the New Year. The government held a sacrificial stove ceremony on the 23rd day of the lunar month and the 24th day of the general private house. After the festival is held, preparations for the New Year begin in earnest. Every year, from the 23rd day of the lunar month to Chinese New Year's Eve, the folk call it "Spring Festival".

It is believed that a few kind words from the Lord of the Stove in front of the Jade Emperor will bring happiness to the family and bless the family in the coming year. Therefore, every year on the twenty-third day of the lunar month, every household has to sacrifice to the god of the stove, asking him to say more good and auspicious words after going to heaven. This ritual of sending the god of the stove is called "sending the stove" or "reciting the stove".

It is said that on the twenty-third day of the lunar month every year, the Lord of the Stove will go to heaven to report the good and evil of the family to the Jade Emperor, so that the Jade Emperor will reward and punish him. Therefore, when sending the stove, people put candy, water, beans, and straw on the table in front of the statue of the king of the stove, among them, the last three are to prepare materials for the mount of the king of the stove to ascend to heaven. According to folklore, the Lord of the Stove went to heaven to tell the world about good and evil, and once the defendant had evil deeds, the life expectancy of the major crime should be reduced by 300 days, and the life expectancy of the minor crime should be reduced by 100 days. This saying is widely circulated.

When sending the stove, in order to let the stove prince "go to heaven to say good things and return to the palace to be auspicious", people used various methods to deal with him. Some saluted it with gum tooth candy, so as to stick the teeth of the king of the stove, so that he could not talk nonsense; Some use sake lees to smear the stove door, which is called "drunk commander", so drunk that the stove god can't talk nonsense. The god of the stove is specially entertained by people, and "eats other people's short mouths", of course, it is not good to speak ill, which is actually a kind of ethical and moral self-discipline of the people.

Seven days later, on Chinese New Year's Eve, the "Vesta" will be brought back. Because, on the night of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the king of the stove will come to the world with the gods to celebrate the New Year, and there is also a ceremony of "receiving the stove" and "receiving the gods" on that day. According to the customs of the general place, the king of the pick-up stove is presided over by the male host, and the female dependents do not participate.

After sending away the "stove god", it is the turn to worship the ancestors, and the folk call it "hanging shadow". On this day, the portrait or photo of the ancestor should be hung on the wall, wine and tribute should be prepared, and the tribesmen should be worshipped until the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve.

It's the New Year, this is the first time Sima Shu has celebrated the New Year in ancient times, and he is very surprised to see anything. Especially the stove sugar, Sima Shu eats it so sweetly. Stove sugar is a kind of maltose with a large sticky surname, and the sugar stick that is drawn into a long strip is called "Kanto sugar", and the flat type is called "sugar melon". In winter, it is placed outside the house, because the weather is cold, the sugar melon is solidified and there are some tiny bubbles inside, and it tastes crispy, sweet and crispy, and has a unique flavor.

After Laba, everyone began to carry out the year-end cleaning, which is called "sweeping the house" in the north and "dusting" in the south. Sweeping the dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional habit of the Chinese people. Every Spring Festival is coming, every household has to clean the environment, clean all kinds of utensils, dismantle and wash bedding curtains, sprinkle and sweep the courtyard of Liulu, dust and cobwebs, and dredge nullah culverts.

There are still a lot of people in the Huangzhuang now, everyone does it together, but it doesn't take much time, after sweeping the house, the weather in the house is new, everywhere is clean and dust-free, fresh and pleasant. The palace lamps are hung high everywhere, the horn lamps are hung on the halls, the wall lamps are hung on the walls, the palace lamps are hung indoors, and the silk lanterns are hung on the garden pavilions and verandahs.

On the day of the New Year, after dark, lanterns were lit everywhere in the house, and Sima Shu was also wearing a python robe, a soft flipper hat on his head, and a formal suit.

The main priest naturally has to be the head of the family, and Sima Shu should take on this 'great responsibility'. Sima Shu was a little nervous when he entered the house, he didn't understand the rules here! Fortunately, someone is there to guide him, otherwise he would really be a big fool!

This room is a place to worship the cooking offerings of the ancestors and ancestors, called the Divine Kitchen, of course, it is also a kitchen, and it is the highest level kitchen in the house. Sima Shu looked up and saw the 'Lord of the Stove' hanging alone on the stove. An offering table has been set up in front of the stove, and offerings are placed in turn, including longan, lychees, red dates, chestnuts, a few kinds of snacks, as well as forage, water, incense candles, and paper horses.

As soon as the door closed, only the chief steward of the priest was left beside him, "Your Highness, please offer incense!" He said as he handed over the three sticks of incense.

Sima Shu took the incense, lit it on the candle, bowed three times, and recited the two words he learned when he came, "Thank the king of the stove for bless the safety of the house, and after returning to heaven, he will tell the heavens, and say more good things......" After speaking, he inserted the incense on the incense burner.

"Etiquette...... After the ceremony, please ascend to heaven! The chief steward shouted, the people in the courtyard heard the shout, lit the firecrackers that had been prepared long ago, and for a while the 'crackling' cannon sounded, and the two stewards took off the portrait of the king of the stove, and Sima Shu lit the portrait and the paper horse, and ended the ceremony in the misty green smoke.

Sima Shu was just about to instruct everyone to set the meal, when he heard a rush of footsteps outside, and the door curtain was lifted, only to see Manager Liu running in with a happy face, "Your Highness, Master Zu is back!" ”

Sima Shu didn't react at first, but it wasn't until Manager Liu said it twice that he reacted and hurriedly ran outside. When I came to the front yard, I saw that it was not Zu Ti who was standing in the courtyard. It's just that Zu Ti at this time looks more vicissitudes, and it seems that he has endured hardships during this time.

"Ancestor of the Prince, see His Royal Highness the Prince!" When Zu Ti saw that Sima Shu had come out in person, he quickly knelt down and saluted, and the two men standing next to him also knelt down.

"Shizhi, please get up! What have you been doing for more than two months? There was no news to send it, which made the palace worried all day, who are the two strong men behind him? Isn't Shizhi an introduction to the main palace? Sima Shu grabbed Zu Li's arm and picked him up.

"The minister has been dealing with the affairs of the northern family for the past two months, and these two are the minister's brothers: Zu Gai and Zu Yue, and now they have come to His Highness with the minister. In addition, there are more than 1,000 people who hope that His Highness will be able to take them in. Zu Ti hurriedly introduced the two big men behind him.

"Shizhi can come to take refuge in Lonely, that is the honor of this palace, how can there be any reason not to take it in? In this way, your clansmen let Manager Liu deal with it, rest assured that they will be properly accommodated, you go in with the palace to drink, and today we will not get drunk and not return. Saying that, Sima Shu pulled the three of them into the hall together.

Everyone sat down according to the guest and host, Sima Shu picked up the wine glass, "There are no outsiders here, come to the palace to introduce to you, this is the former East Palace Changcong Governor Xu Chao, and the one next to him is Sima Ya, the Governor of the Left Guard, these two are people with unique skills, and the palace can go here smoothly from Luoyang, thanks to the protection of the two." ”

"The one who just came in with the palace is the famous ancestor Shizhi, hehe, it is estimated that everyone here should have heard of Shizhi's name, so the palace will not introduce much. The two beside him were his brothers, Zu Gai and Zu Yue. The remaining two are Donggong Xima Jiangtong and Zhongshe Du Xi, and everyone will work together in the future, so let's get to know each other. ”

With Sima Shu threading the needle in the middle, everyone quickly became one. When the wine was hot, Sima Shu asked about Zu Ti's trip to the north. Zu Ti drank a glass of wine and replied: "Then the minister said goodbye to His Royal Highness, and quickly returned to his home in Youzhou, and then discussed and agreed with his family, and then decided to move south. ”

"Then we followed the footsteps of His Highness and found it all the way here, by the way, this time the minister also brought two hundred horses from the north for His Highness, although they are not high-class horses, but they are more than enough to train cavalry."

"Really? That's great! Hongu has always been worried about what to use as livestock for ploughing after the year, but with these two hundred horses, there is no need to worry about ploughing cattle after the new year. Sima Shu had no intention of using this horse for training cavalry, on the one hand, the number of horses was too small, and there was no replenishment, and the cost of cavalry was too high, so he temporarily gave up equipping cavalry.

"Why doesn't Your Highness train cavalry troops? Do you know that you will have to rely on cavalry to deal with the Hu people in the future? Zu Ti had some doubts about Sima Shu's arrangement, while Jiang Tong and others, who knew the inside story, understood this.

"Cavalry is a bit of a luxury for us for the time being, but Shizhi can rest assured that when the conditions are ripe in the future, this palace will definitely vigorously develop cavalry. By the way, Shi Zhi has just returned from the Northlands, but is there any new news? ”

"Alas! After returning to Youzhou this time, I found that my Great Jin Dynasty was really at the most critical moment, and Murong Xianbei was expanding rapidly in Youzhou, especially after Murong Diao became the leader, they successively united with Duan's Xianbei, and defeated the Yuwen Department many times, and at the same time they also wantonly recruited Han people who were displaced to the north. After the implementation of these policies, the Murong tribe has become a force to be reckoned with in Liaodong. Zu Ti said worriedly.

After listening to Zu Ti's words, everyone fell silent, and even Sima Shu felt that his development was a little slow, and it seemed that all undertakings after the Chinese New Year would speed up the steps, especially mining, steelmaking, and gun-making, which must be developed as soon as possible.

In addition, Sima Shu felt that he should muddy the water in the court, otherwise Empress Jia and the family would be staring at him all the time, and it would be inconvenient to do anything. At the same time, you also have to think of gaining the right to rule the new city, and it seems that you have a trick!

The next day, when Sima Shu got up, the snow in the yard had been cleaned up by the small yellow door that got up early, and he still came to the martial arts arena in the backyard as before.

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and according to the tradition of the previous life, Sima Shu should give everyone a red envelope. This time he did not fall behind, accompanied by Mr. Liu, he sent a thick red envelope to each person in charge of the Huangzhuang, and as for the others, it was handed over to Mr. Liu.

In addition to preparing for the New Year, Sima Shu also quietly asked Manager Liu to send a letter to the capital, which no one else knew about except Manager Liu, not that Sima Shu didn't believe them, but even if they knew, they couldn't help.