On the morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the civil and military officials above the fifth rank in the capital all wore white mourning clothes and rushed to the Qianqing Gate of the Forbidden City, lined up in front of the Qianqing Gate according to the official rank, and the eunuchs of the inner court led them into the Forbidden City to the Qianqing Palace to pay homage to the remains of Emperor Xuande and send him on his last journey.

Along the way, the long queue of officials was silent, the dull footsteps sounded even more depressing, and the palace maids, chamberlains, and pro-soldiers who were ordered to be on duty along the way all wore heavy filial piety, and the entire Forbidden City was immersed in a solemn and oppressive atmosphere.

Because the ancients paid attention to the end of life, no matter where the emperor died, the coffin, that is, the Zigong Palace, had to be transported to the dormitory for three days, and the dormitory was the Qianqing Palace for the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

According to the process, the coffin of Emperor Xuande will be transported to the Shouhuang Palace in Jingshan three days after the mortuary in the Qianqing Palace, before which it will be paid homage to the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty.

After the death of the emperor, he was renamed Emperor Daxing, and his funeral ceremony had a complete set of etiquette system, which was extremely grand, mainly including small funeral, large funeral, stopping the spirit, moving the tomb, going out of the funeral, and entering the funeral.

Small funeral: On the day of the emperor's death, the emperor was dressed and hated, and at the same time, the prince and grandson should wear filial piety, and cut off a lock of hair to express mourning, and the female dependents in the palace should take off a qiē ornament.

Great funeral: Held the day after the small funeral, the Daxing Emperor will be placed in the Zi Palace, that is, the emperor's coffin, and the civil and military officials will come to pay homage to the emperor's remains.

Stop: After the funeral, the emperor's Zigong was parked in the main hall of the Qianqing Palace for hundreds of officials to mourn, and at the same time, a posthumous summons was issued to mourn the whole country, and entertainment was prohibited for 27 days.

Moving spirits: Parking in the Qianqing Palace for a period of time, usually after three days, the emperor's Zigong Palace is moved to the Shouhuang Hall or Guande Hall in Jingshan to prepare for the funeral.

Funeral: Hide the emperor's azusa palace in the mausoleum.

In ancient times, there was a saying that "the Son of Heaven was buried in seven days, and was buried in July", but the funerals of the emperor and the empress of the Ming Dynasty were not implemented according to this, only the queen had the record of "not a hundred days" issued by the Zigong Palace, and the emperor only chose the auspicious burial time and the length of time was not customized.

For example, Ming Taizu was buried in the filial piety tomb seven days after his death, and Emperor Taichang of Ming Guangzong stopped worshipping after his death, which was also known as "Yu Li" in ancient times.

There are nine times of Yu ceremony, one to seven times on the road, eight Yu held outside the capital, all by the funeral officials to preside over the ceremony, nine Yu ceremony in the palace of the "several feast hall", the emperor bowed in his own clothes.

After the Jiuyu ceremony, the god enjoyed the temple, and the funeral ended.

Emperor Daxing usually stopped for 27 days, and the Son of Heaven correspondingly also kept the spirit for 27 days, which is different from the people, who mourned for 27 months, but the Son of Heaven replaced the month with the day and the month but 27 days.

It must be pointed out that in ancient times, the saying that Ding Wei would take three years after the death of his parents was only an approximation, and he was not prepared, but in fact Ding Wei was twenty-seven months.

That is, on the first anniversary of the death of the parents, that is, twelve months later, the festival of small auspiciousness is held in the thirteenth month, and on the second anniversary of the death, that is, twenty-four months later, the festival of great auspiciousness is held in the twenty-fifth month, and then one month in between, the festival is held in the twenty-seventh month, that is, the sacrifice of removing clothes, and the observance is over.

This is also what the folk usually call "three years of keeping the system", because it happened in three years, so over time, it is called "three years", which is actually twenty-seven months.

According to the custom, on the day of the emperor's death, the halogen book and the big car and other objects are complete, and the children of the royal family go home to fast after the funeral, and the officials of the large and small yamen in the capital go to the yamen dormitory to stay and fast collectively and are not allowed to go home, and the idle officials gather at noon to fast and stay.

After the expiration of the fasting period, civil and military officials below the king are not allowed to have fun, and it is forbidden to engage in mourning clothes and wedding activities, and the people in Beijing are not allowed to take off their crowns and wear vegetarian clothes during the 27-day period of the ceremonies, and they are not allowed to marry within one month, they are not allowed to have fun within 100 days, they are not allowed to slaughter for 49 days, and they are not allowed to engage in prayers and sacrifices for 27 days, so as not to collide with the emperor's funeral.

Moreover, before the end of the funeral, the tickets of each ministry are intended to be printed with blue pen, and the text is also printed with blue ink, and the capital has been ringing the bell 30,000 times since the day of the great funeral.

It is worth mentioning that Emperor Daxing did not drop out of the dynasty when he was mourned, and the prince would still deal with some government affairs, but he had to go to Emperor Daxing's Zigong Palace every day to guard filial piety, and all ministries and institutes also worked as usual.

After the death of Tang Taizong, the edict said: "After the funeral, it will be buried in seven days." The crown prince is the emperor in front of the coffin, according to the old system of the Zhou and Han dynasties, military affairs, can not be stopped, ordinary leisure affairs, and there is a division. ”

This sentence means that after the death of Tang Taizong, the funeral can be carried out in seven days, because the temple needs to be governed, the country can not be left without an owner for a day, so according to the practice of the Zhou Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, the crown prince can be enthroned in front of his coffin, and military affairs must be handled in person, and ordinary affairs are only responsible for various departments.

However, generally speaking, when the court situation is stable, the new emperor will observe filial piety for 27 days, and will not ascend the throne until the coffin of the Daxing Emperor is funeral.

Unless the situation is unstable, the new emperor will ascend the throne during the mourning period of the Daxing Emperor, in order to calm the world, for example, several emperors in the Ming Dynasty have no heirs, and the new emperors after their deaths are all enthroned during the mourning period......

Now that Emperor Xuande has died, whether the prince will wait for Emperor Xuande to come out of the funeral before ascending the throne, or whether he will inherit the throne during the mourning period, and a qiē will not be decided until Emperor Xuande moves his spirit.

Qianqing Palace.

The coffin of Emperor Xuande rested quietly in the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, and the coffin of the Son of Heaven was naturally different from ordinary people, and it was made of golden silk nanmu transported from the southwest, and the workmanship was extremely exquisite.

The coffin was not covered with a coffin, and Emperor Xuande, who was dressed in imperial clothes, lay calmly in the coffin, as if he was asleep.

It was the civil and military ministers of the imperial court who were able to enter the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, and the other officials only stayed in the courtyard, gathered together densely, and bowed three times and nine bows to the coffin under the auspices of the officials of the Ministry of Rites.

Crying spirit is the duty of the courtiers, but also the foundation of the Ming Dynasty three outlines and five constants, if any courtier can still "Mount Tai collapsed in front and the color remains unchanged", then wait for bad luck, then will definitely be impeached for the crime of great disrespect, at least lose the official dismissal, or lose his life.

Just when the ministers bowed to the coffin, Jingshan in the north of the Forbidden City began to burn a large amount of dark money, making the sky above the northern city filled with black smoke, which looked particularly spectacular.

"Your Majesty, why don't you wait for your brother, your brother is still a step too late!" Just when the civil and military officials were crying in the Qianqing Palace, a middle-aged man in plain clothes walked into the palace gate of the Qianqing Palace crying, beating his chest and shouting as he walked, looking very sad.

"King Yue!" This action of the middle-aged man immediately attracted the attention of the ministers in the courtyard, and when they saw his face clearly, they were all shocked, and they all showed shocked expressions, no one would have thought that he would appear here.

This middle-aged man with a sad look is none other than King Yue, who was driven out of the capital by Emperor Xuande not long ago, Emperor Xuande's own brother, and the second son of Empress Dowager Zhang.

"Strange thing, King Yue didn't go to the fiefdom, how could he appear here?"

"Could it be that the Queen Mother summoned it?"

"This time is not right, the emperor has just died and King Yue has arrived, no matter how you say it, you can't catch up."

"Did King Yue enter Beijing without permission?"

"King Yue came so soon, didn't he leave the capital?"

……

The sudden appearance of King Yue caused a commotion in the courtyard, and the officials at the scene whispered in private, according to the order, after the death of Emperor Daxing, the vassal kings of various places were not allowed to enter Beijing without an edict, otherwise they would be turned out of rebellion.

Under the surprised gaze of all the ministers in the courtyard, King Yue entered the main hall of the Qianqing Palace with tears in his eyes, and the civil and military officials in the hall looked at him in surprise, and were quite shocked by the sudden appearance of King Yue.

"Your Majesty, you once told your brother to celebrate your mother's 60th birthday together, and now it is the time when you are in the prime of life, why did you leave in such a hurry, and didn't give your brother a chance to see the last time, when you were a child, you loved your brother the most......"

King Yue walked quickly to the coffin, knelt on a futon laid in front of the coffin, and cried bitterly, recalling the bits and pieces of the time when he was with Emperor Xuande before.

"What, King Yue is here?" Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Zhang was appeasing the concubines in the harem, and was taken aback when she learned that King Yue appeared in the Qianqing Palace, in her opinion, King Yue had already left Beizhili now.

Empress Sun, who was sitting at the place where Empress Dowager Zhang was at her disposal, suddenly changed her face when she heard this, although she had lived in the harem for a long time, she knew very well that King Yue's return at this time meant that the crown prince would have one more contender for the throne.

Compared with the eight-year-old prince, King Yue is not only mature and stable, but more importantly, he is the concubine of the Empress Dowager Zhang, with a noble status and the qualifications to compete for the crown prince.

"Queen, take the prince and the mourning family over to have a look." Empress Dowager Zhang's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and then she got up and walked out, she couldn't let King Yue stay in the Qianqing Palace, otherwise it would make the outside world think about it, and at the same time, it would also stabilize the situation on the scene.

When Empress Sun heard this, she bowed to the Empress Dowager Zhang, pulled the prince on the side and followed closely behind the Empress Dowager Zhang, her heart was up and down, she finally understood why Emperor Xuande wanted to give her those two strange holy decrees, it turned out that Emperor Xuande had long expected that King Yue would come back, and then threatened the crown prince's accession to the throne.

"The Queen Mother and Queen Mother have arrived!" When Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Sun and her entourage came to the Qianqing Palace, the ministers in the courtyard of the Qianqing Palace were crying with their throats, and after hearing the news of the attendants at the palace gate, they all cast their eyes over, secretly waiting for the development of the situation.

"Queen Mother!" After Empress Dowager Zhang entered the main hall of Qianqing Palace, King Yue, who was kneeling in front of the coffin and crying bitterly, hurriedly knelt in front of her, and said with tears in his eyes, "The emperor and the queen mother should take care of their health, and the emperor must not want the queen mother to be sad about this." ”

Empress Dowager Zhang looked at King Yue kneeling in front of her, her eyes couldn't help but moisten, she gave birth to three princes, and now she never expected that Emperor Xuande, who was her brother, would die in the front, which made her feel sad again.

King Yue knelt there and cried while secretly observing the face of the Empress Dowager Zhang, and when he saw the gloomy look behind Mrs. Zhang, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, it seems that the Empress Dowager Zhang did not come to ask him about the guilt, and the things that followed were much easier.