The most lively place of the Lantern Festival in Tokyo, of course, is the royal street facing the main entrance of the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Palace will erect a huge Ao Mountain on this street every year, the so-called Ao Mountain, that is, the shape of the giant Ao piled up with colored lanterns, is the largest lamp in the whole Tokyo city, it looks spectacular, in the two days of 15 and 16, there will be countless people come to watch every day, and the Ao Mountain is crowded under the water.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the royal street is not a complete road, but is divided into two halves by a river in the middle, this river is a tributary of the Bianhe River in the city, which can go straight to the palace, and intersects with the Jinshui River in the palace, because this river is mainly on the royal street, so it is also called the royal river, and Aoshan is erected on this river.

After Zhao Yan and Cao Ying left the county king's mansion, they first came to the royal street to watch Ao Mountain, but when they arrived at the foot of Ao Mountain, the sunset in the sky had not completely dissipated, and the lanterns on Ao Mountain had not been lit, which made Zhao Yan a little puzzled, and couldn't figure out why Cao Ying and the others came so early? What made him even more strange was that at this time, the foot of Ao Mountain was already crowded with people, if they hadn't opened the way with the guards, I am afraid they would not have been able to squeeze in.

"Lady, this Aoshan has not been lit yet, why are we here so early?" Zhao Yan finally couldn't help but ask Cao Ying, and at the same time, his eyes were also looking at the Ao Mountain in front of him, only to see that this was about a few zhang high, and the square circle occupied half an acre of land, blocking the wide royal river tightly, and the streets on both sides were full of people watching Ao Mountain, and even the surrounding houses, big trees and walls were full of people, all with excited smiles on their faces.

"Giggles, don't be impatient, husband. It is precisely because Aoshan has not yet been lit that there are so many people, and you will know later. Cao Ying smiled and said to the pass, they are now standing on the side of the royal river on the left and right of Ao Mountain, the river is in front of them, no one is blocking them, the natural vision is broad, you can completely see the scene of Ao Mountain, it can be said to be one of the best locations.

Seeing that Cao Ying didn't answer, Zhao Yan was also a little helpless. I'm embarrassed to ask anyone else. I had to wait patiently, and just as the sun had completely set in the west, the streets finally became dark, but strangely. There is still no one lit up on the entire royal street.

But that's just the time. Suddenly, I heard a dull drum beat in the distance of the river. Immediately after that, the lights on the Yuhe River in the distance suddenly lit up, and then with a loud trumpet, the lights in the distance began to move. And the degree is getting more and more, and it seems that it is rushing towards Aoshan.

At first, Zhao Yan didn't know what the lights in the distance were, but with the sound of neat trumpets, the lights in the distance were getting closer and closer, and then Zhao Yan suddenly appeared, it turned out that these so-called lights, and then the dragon lanterns on the water, the so-called dragon lanterns, in fact, were small and narrow, and the bow and stern were glued into the lanterns of the dragon's head and tail respectively, and after being lit, they were operated by a strong man, and they flew towards Aoshan.

"Today is the Lantern Festival and not the Dragon Boat Festival, why are you racing dragon boats on the Royal River?" Zhao Yan looked at the dragon light ships that were scrambling and asked with a puzzled expression.

"The husband is wrong, this is not a dragon boat race, and it is called a dragon lantern, a small boat is a dragon lantern, which dragon lantern reaches Ao Mountain first, then not only can you get the color head hanging on Ao Mountain, but also the lights on his ship will be taken away, and then sent to the palace people sent by the official family, let her light the lamp on Ao Mountain with her own hands, and wait until the lamp on Ao Mountain is lit, the lights on the entire royal street will be lit, and then the lantern festival in the entire Tokyo City will officially begin." At this time, Cao Ying explained with a smile.

"I see, I thought I could light the lights as soon as it got dark, but I didn't expect there to be so much exquisiteness." Zhao Yan suddenly realized at this time, it seems that the people of the Song Dynasty are also very good at playing, and they can come up with so many flower heads just by lighting a lamp.

On the wide royal river, hundreds of dragon lantern boats are scrambling, the boatmen on the boat are desperately rowing, in the night of the big winter, they only wore a shoulder with their arms exposed, the muscles on the thick arms when rowing are tangled, shining with oily colors, it looks like there is a kind of masculine beauty, provoking people on both sides of the strait are desperately shouting, and finally there is a red dragon lantern boat with a slight advantage to arrive at Ao Mountain, as a result, Ao Mountain has been waiting for a long time A servant immediately stepped forward, Ask the victorious boatman to climb Ao Mountain and take the lottery head hanging on it.

At the same time as the boatman ascended Ao Mountain, there was a palace maid wearing colorful clothes to come, board the dragon lantern ship to take the torch above, and then step by step to climb Ao Mountain, and lit the main lamp in the middle of Ao Mountain, as a result, for a time the whole Ao Mountain became extremely bright, at this time some of the surrounding secondary lights were also lit by 6 consecutive people, and soon the whole Ao Mountain emitted colorful lights, which looked spectacular and with a bit of dream, no wonder there were so many people waiting to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Ao Mountain.

Zhao Yan accompanied Cao Ying and they enjoyed it for a while under Ao Mountain, in fact, for Zhao Yan, Ao Mountain did shock him a little when it first lit up, but it didn't take long to feel a little boring, after all, the neon lights at night in the future generations are much brighter than the Ao Mountain in front of them, and even sometimes during festivals, some buildings are covered with neon lights, which is definitely more spectacular than the Ao Mountain in front of him.

Next, they finally waited until Cao Ying and they were tired of seeing Aoshan, and then a group of people began to enjoy the lanterns on both sides of the royal street, not only everyone on the street was holding a lamp, but also the shops on both sides were also tied with lanterns in front of the door, the bigger the shop, the more beautiful the lanterns in front of the door, although it could not be compared with Aoshan, but it was also unique, and even Zhao Yan was very amazed by these various lanterns, and it was the first time he had seen so many lanterns in two lifetimes.

Although there is a word for appreciating the lanterns, the whole process is not only appreciation, but also an important activity, that is, shopping, and even Cao Ying deliberately did not eat dinner when they went out, in order to keep their stomachs to taste the snacks on both sides of the lantern market, and there are many other kinds of small vendors, such as those who sell masks, rouge gouache, jade ornaments, etc., of course, the most are still selling lanterns, which is simply more than those stalls that sell food.

Zhao Yan personally bought a lot of snacks for Cao Ying and them, everyone ate while walking, it must be a little indecent to do this, but at this time, no one cares about these at all. Of course, Zhao Yan did not forget to buy the most important lanterns, the styles of the lanterns are also different, there are goldfish, ladies, pavilions, etc., Zhao Yan picked one of them and bought them, and then each person carried a lantern on the crowded streets, surrounded by all kinds of pedestrians, everyone had a kind smile on their faces, which was definitely a scene only in the prosperous era.

"Hey, why are there still servants holding prisoners?" As Zhao Yan and Cao Ying were talking and laughing forward, the corner of his eyes inadvertently swept over the corner of the street, and now there were a few prisoners wearing shackles standing there, and a few officials next to them were watching, as if they were showing the public.

"Hehe, just look at the sign hanging around their necks!" Hearing Zhao Yan's question, Xue Ning'er saw those prisoners first, and immediately smiled and pointed.

Zhao Yan only appeared when he heard Xue Ning'er's words, it turned out that those prisoners had a sign hanging on their chests, with a lot of words written on them, and when he got closer, he saw that one of the prisoners had a letter written on his chest: "Prisoner Xu San, stealing property during the Lantern Festival, hereby show the public!" Another prisoner wrote: "Prisoner Wang Qing, touch the woman's body during the lantern festival, hereby show the public!" Several of the other prisoners also had their crimes written on their chests.

Seeing this, Zhao Yan asked with some puzzlement: "Stealing property must be punished, but why do you have to be punished for touching a woman's body, there are so many people at the Lantern Festival, men and women are crowded together, it is inevitable that there will be some prevarication, if this is also a crime, then wouldn't it be to arrest the men at the Lantern Festival?" ”

Seeing Zhao Yan's puzzled look, Cao Ying explained with a smile at this time: "If you touch the woman's body because there are too many people, you will naturally not be punished, the government mainly arrests those who take advantage of the crowding of the Lantern Festival and deliberately take advantage of the woman's apprentices, and these prisoners standing on the side of the street are not necessarily really guilty of crimes written on their chests, most of them are prisoners in prison, and they have been temporarily raised in the past two days and hung up a sign to show the public, so as to warn the people who participate in the Lantern Festival not to commit crimes!" ”

"I see, I said that the crimes of these prisoners are not the same?" Zhao Yan also laughed when he heard this, he didn't expect that the government of the Great Song Dynasty still knew how to prevent crime, although it was impossible to completely eliminate crime, but it could also give those who were preparing to commit a warning in their hearts.

The accident brought to Zhao Yan by the Great Song Dynasty official mansion was not only the above, just after they walked forward along the royal street, they saw a guy in official uniform with a group of servants and clerks, walking along the street while giving copper coins to the small vendors on both sides, and only when they approached Zhao Yan did they appear, the guy in official uniform turned out to be Yin Fengjing of Kaifeng Mansion who had a relationship with each other last time, and the head of the dynasty was also mixed in the officials, with a smile on his bearded face, From time to time, he grabbed a handful of copper coins from the bag in the car behind him and threw them to the vendors.

This time, without waiting for Zhao Yan to ask, Cao Ying took the initiative to explain: "Every year during the Lantern Festival, Kaifeng Mansion Yin will personally take people to the street and put copper coins on those small vendors, which is called buying the market, to thank the small vendors for not resting during the festival and still insisting on trading." In addition, the shops on both sides will also be sent a batch of candles and lamp oil by the government, all to make the lamp market more lively. ”

Zhao Yan also understood when he heard this, it turned out that the Lantern Festival was so lively, in addition to the power of the people, the government also actively promoted it, which is the same as some cities in later generations in order to promote the customs of the time, and then contribute money and efforts, not only for political achievements, but also for people's livelihood has a positive effect.

"Sister Shu Ning, Sister Ying'er, it turns out that you are here, but I have been looking for you for a long time!" At this moment, suddenly Zhao Yan heard someone next to him called Princess Bao'an and Cao Ying, and he felt that this voice was very familiar, so he turned his head to look at it, and immediately showed a wry smile. (To be continued!)

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