In the second year of Yonglong, on the eighth day of December, the most noble princess of the Tang Dynasty, Princess Taiping, will marry General Zuo Qianniuwei and General Liu Yi of the right Yulin of the inspection school.

Liu Yi is also lamenting that his marriage has benefited the people, taxes in some places have been reduced or reduced, and even some criminals have been pardoned, and he has really done good things for the people of the world.

In order to hold the grand marriage of Princess Taiping, the palace has been preparing as early as when Liu Yi has not returned to Beijing, and the dowry is not ordinarily rich, as far as Liu Yi knows, when the wedding will be held, in the name of the imperial court, thousands of palanquin men in Chang'an City were requisitioned, and the dowry was raised.

After returning from this expedition, Liu Yi only went to the Yulin army to be on duty for a few days, and after getting familiar with the situation, he took another vacation to prepare to marry Princess Taiping.

Liu Yi probably knew that in the original history, when Princess Taiping married Xue Shao, the scale of the wedding was not ordinarily large, but after Liu Yi understood the situation, he had a hunch that his wedding with Princess Taiping was likely to be more than that, but what kind of grand occasion it was, only the wedding was known.

Liu Yi went to the Taiping Princess Mansion where they lived after marriage, and the architectural scale and luxury of the decoration of the mansion made Liu Yi a little staggered, in his estimation, at least thousands of square meters of courtyard brothers, which was several times the original Liu Mansion where he lived, and the luxury of the ornaments inside was even less than that of Liu Mansion.

Because the royal marriage daughter, there is no need to prepare anything in the Liu Mansion, all the wedding materials are from the royal family, and even the layout of the Liu Mansion is at the mercy of people from the palace, and the utensils and supplies required are all sent from the palace.

However, all etiquette is indispensable, and Liu Yi also participates in most of them.

Since the beginning of the wedding, Liu Yi has truly realized how hard it was to marry a wife in ancient times, especially to marry a wife with a noble status like Princess Taiping.

The wedding process is divided into six stages according to the weekly ceremony, which is called the "six rites", namely Nacai, asking for names, Najib, Nazheng, inviting dates, and greetings. The most important part is the laying of geese. In a marriage that is carried out according to the six rites, except for the levy, the other five rites require the man's envoy to carry the goose as a gift to the woman's family, even if the royal marriage is no exception.

Nacai is the first step in a formal proposal from a man to a woman. Geese are migratory birds, flying south in autumn and returning to the north in spring, coming and going at a regular time, never dishonestly, as a symbol of unswerving faith between men and women, and the spouse is fixed, one dies, and the other no longer chooses a mate; The ancients believed that the wild goose from the south to the north was in line with yin and yang, the spouse was fixed and in line with the righteous ceremony, and the marriage was based on the wild goose, which symbolized the harmony of yin and yang, and also symbolized the loyalty and single-mindedness of the bride. He also took geese to fly into a row and stop in a row, so as to make it clear that the marriage must be orderly and cannot be exceeded.

On the day when the two parties agreed to carry out the "Nacai" ceremony, the matchmaker sent by the man said that he held a live goose as a gift. After the hostess was informed, she went out of the door to greet her, and after the guests and hosts exchanged concessions, the matchmaker once again expressed to the hostess the intention of coming to perform the etiquette. The master replied, accepted the live goose and gave in humbly. The matchmaker saw that the marriage was officially agreed by the woman's parents, so he took his leave and went back to his life.

Asking the name, that is, the man asks the matchmaker to ask the woman's surname, date of birth, etc., reported to the man's family, used for divination marriage auspiciousness in the temple, the so-called eight characters are calculated according to the birth year, month, day, time and genus of both parties, check whether it is mutually restrictive, and it is called the eight characters.

Najib is the etiquette for the man to inform the woman of the auspicious sign of the marriage after asking for his name and combining the eight characters, and to give a gift to express his engagement.

Nazheng means that the man's family sends a dowry to the woman's family.

The date of the invitation is the date when the man's family sends someone to the woman's house to notify the marriage and marry.

Because of the backbone of the house, Liu Yi's father Liu Xianli has passed away, and some etiquette is a little different, but some etiquette Liu Yi does not need to participate in person, and those etiquette that requires him to participate are also completed by the matchmaker with him, Liu Yi also thought that if all the etiquette had to be completed by himself, I don't know if he would be tired or annoyed.

Liu Yi's mentor Pei Xingjian was regarded as the man's officiant, and poor Pei Xingjian, a veteran who had just returned from the war and had not rested for a while, ran over again to preside over the marriage for Liu Yi.

The wedding of Princess Taiping, which caused a sensation throughout Chang'an, also began at the end of November, and it was carried out step by step.

The etiquette of Nacai, asking for names, Najib, Naji, and inviting dates, some of which need Liu Yi to participate, Liu Yi followed Pei Xingjian to complete, Liu Yi, who has never been dizzy, after a series of complicated etiquette, the whole person was also dizzy, he couldn't even remember what he did, just did things mechanically according to the etiquette.

Finally, the previous etiquette was completed, and it was time to greet him.

On the eighth day of December, the weather was not bad, there was no rain or snow, early in the morning, Liu Yi was called up by his mother Zhang, Zhang and Liu Yi talked in detail about the etiquette of welcoming this day, especially after going to the Taiping Princess Mansion as the main wedding venue, must not be rude, this is about the façade of Liu's house, Liu Yi listened to his mother talk about a lot of what son-in-law, makeup, knee covering, car barriers, transfer seats, worship halls, prison and other etiquette levels, said that these ceremonies can only enter the cave room after the ceremony, and some faint, this marriage is really more tormenting, Liu Yi thought that it would be good not to have a next time.

However, if you want to marry Shangguan Wan'er's beauty, there will definitely be a next wedding in this wedding, but it shouldn't be as lively and grand as that.

After Liu Yi got up, Zhang commanded those maids to put on makeup for Liu Yi, and after more than an hour of tossing, he finally finished putting on makeup, Liu Yi looked at his face that was painted insincerely in the bronze mirror, and had some urge to cry. However, in the urging of his mother, Liu Yi didn't have time to protest to Yun'er and several other maids and express his dissatisfied opinions, so he was hugged by the beaming maids and walked out of the room.

Because there was still a good minister at the wedding, Liu Yi didn't know too many people who were not married, so he invited Huan Yanfan, who had a good face, was very handsome, and was also unmarried, to be his guest. Huan Yanfan, who was trusted by Liu Yi and felt a great honor, also ran with Liu Yi for many days, and has been resting on Liu's mansion these days. It was quite tiring to accompany Liu Yi to complete these etiquettes, and Huan Yanfan's face had lost weight.

Huan Yanfan, who was pressed by some other people to put on makeup, also walked out of the house at about the same time, Liu Yi saw Huan Yanfan, whose handsome face was also painted miserably, couldn't help laughing, and his face was painted with thick stucco and fell down, causing the people on the side to exclaim and almost be scolded by his mother.

In the anger of the villagers, Liu Yi smiled and had to trot out the door, and Huan Yanfan also hurriedly followed.

Before going out, there must be some etiquette, first of all, to welcome the ancestors before, in the atrium to place the Xi'an sacrifice plate, to tell the ancestors, everyone in the Liu Mansion under the leadership of the Zhang family knelt in front of the case, by Liu Yi's uncle Liu Yanjing read out the sacrifice, telling the ancestors of the Liu family, the heir of the Liu family Yi An has reached adulthood, to marry His Majesty the Emperor and the most noble princess born to the Queen of Heaven, so that the ancestors' spirits in the sky also share this joy.

Liu Yi, who was kneeling behind his mother, also mechanically followed the salute.

After a sacrificial activity held in Liu's mansion, it was almost time to go out, Liu Yi knelt in the north in front of the hall and said goodbye to his mother and the elders of the clan, and then led a group of people to welcome their relatives out of the mansion in the repeated instructions of his mother and uncle.

Although it is said that the Taiping Duke mainly lives in the princess's mansion after marriage, he still has to take him back to Liu's mansion when he welcomes him in person.

Outside Liu's mansion, there were many Jin Wuwei soldiers who maintained order, and they stopped the people who were crowding the crowds outside, and Liu Yi and other people who were a little stunned by this situation all looked at each other, and the scene was too spectacular.

Liu Yi stepped on his horse outside the mansion, which was also decorated and draped in ribbons, and the others also followed, and a large number of Jin Wuwei soldiers ran in front, driving away the people who were watching the excitement and squeezing out a passage for Liu Yi and his party.

In the face of so many people watching the excitement, Liu Yi, who was riding on a horse, also hurriedly straightened his body, and together with the crowd of people behind him, he kept bowing and trying to squeeze out a smile. From Liu's Mansion to Princess Taiping's Mansion, it was only a few miles away, but he walked for nearly an hour, and Liu Yi, who was saluting all the way and smiling, felt that his whole body was sore, and the muscles on his face were no longer obedient.

Finally arrived at the Taiping Princess Mansion guarded by no idlers outside, only the soldiers of the Jinwuwei and the Yulin Army, looking at this posture, Liu Yi knew that his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian should also come to the mansion.

The gate of Princess Taiping's Mansion was open, and Huan Yanfan, who was the prime minister, ran in first, and distributed red envelopes to those who came to block, and received red flower sticks, Liu Yi followed behind, and also suffered from the saffron stick method of many female envoys in the palace, and also recited a few crooked poems that had been thought out in advance to express the festive atmosphere.

Finally, the etiquette of entering the door was over, and Liu Yi entered the inner courtyard under the "protection" of others.

As soon as he entered the main house, Liu Yi saw that Emperor Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian were sitting majestically in the main hall, and today's Li Zhi and Wu Zetian were both dressed in brand-new gifts, with a beaming look on their faces, especially Li Zhi, Liu Yi had never seen this sick emperor so happy. And poor Shangguan Wan'er, also dressed in festive clothes, stood not far from Wu Zetian's side with a smile on her face, her eyes looking ahead, but her gaze was empty.

Today, most of the important ministers of the court have come to attend the wedding, everyone is wearing a festive dress, there are a lot of people, dense, and they all look like human heads, even Pei Yan, the person who once carried the bar with him, and Liu Renliang, an old minister with white hair, also came.

After Liu Yi entered the main hall, the ceremony of welcoming the relatives was about to begin, and all the people who followed the people who came to greet the relatives stepped aside, ready to watch Liu Yi, the groom official, perform...

(To be continued)