Chapter 53: The Royal Birthday Banquet

As soon as the time came, the well-dressed Empress Dowager was surrounded by a group of palace people and sat on a gold-lacquered seat in the middle of the Tianyi Palace. At this time, the people who came to celebrate the birthday began to come forward one after another to offer their gifts: the first Renzong who came forward offered a picture of Taizu and Taizong on the picture of Taizu and Taizong brothers leading two teams to play games with the ministers, all of them were elated; this painting was hand-painted by Renzong's son, the brushwork is delicate, the characters are expressive, and you can see that it is a treasure in the painting at a glance.

Next came the king of Changyi, who offered a birthday gift of a palace ornament the size of a basin carved from a single piece of fine mutton fat white jade. This object is carved from the scene in 'Han Yue Fu Jiangnan '. Poetry: Jiangnan can pick lotus, lotus leaves He Tiantian. Fish play lotus leaf east, fish play lotus leaf west, fish play lotus leaf south, fish play lotus leaf north. Look at this thing again, only to see that the carp on it is all fat and plump, the carving is extremely fine; even the scales on the fish are meticulous, staggered, on the top of the fish is the lotus leaf made of fine jadeite polished into thin slices; the fish is smart, the lotus leaf is light and thin, this thing is not only very valuable material, the carving is extremely exquisite, and full of elegance, the end is a rare treasure!

The next princess of Lu who stepped forward to present presented a string of shining, smooth and round, blackened pearls. The name of this object is Black Pearl. Native to the South China Sea, because it grows at a very deep seabed, it is extremely difficult for the world to see a little finger belly-sized one, but like this one is as big as a pigeon's egg, it can be said to be rare in the world, and what is especially precious is that the whole hundred beads are also carved with a hundred different forms of 'Shou' characters written by Renzong himself. Although the birthday gifts of the two were very precious, the Empress Dowager always sat upright on the high chair, only smiled slightly and ordered the palace people to accept them one by one.

It was followed by Princess Changyang and Wei Guogong Shi Shouxin. Among them, Princess Changyang gave a huge coral more than half a person tall. And Wei Guogong didn't wait for the gift to be offered, and only opened his mouth to say 'Imperial sister-in-law!', which made the Empress Dowager happily close her mouth. This Shi Shouxin and Taizu were not only righteous brothers, but also made great contributions among the founding heroes. After the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty, he was the first to hand over the military power and enjoy the pastoral life, which can be said to be the most intimate and trusted person of Taizu. In addition, most of the people in the imperial court are now young juniors, so how can the old people not make the empress dowager overjoyed? The birthday gift presented by the Duke of Wei Guo is also extremely good, that is, a 'picture of the eight immortals wishing their birthdays' carved from a huge clams. Han Zhongli shakes a fan on a wave in the picture, Zhang Guo rides a donkey, Han Xiangzi blows the flute, Cao Guo's uncle holds a yin and yang board, Lan Cai and the bamboo flute are played horizontally, and Lu Dongbin carries a sword...... All of them are vividly surrounded by a circle, and He Xiangu in the center steps on the lotus flower, holding a huge birthday peach and flattering. The Empress Dowager was overjoyed and personally got up to take it over and handed it over to the palace people.

The gifts from the vassal states were varied, including the queen's phoenix crown made of pure gold and inlaid with precious stones, the silk and satin ornaments woven by skilled women, and the rare birds and insects that were rare in the world, the most precious of which was a white deer personally sent by Li Yuanhao, the lord of Great Xia. This thing is slightly smaller than the general elk's body, but the whole body is snow-white without a trace of miscellaneous hair...... Not long after, as soon as the auspicious time arrived, the people of the palace of the palace were guided, according to the order of first the relatives of the emperor and the country, then the envoys of various countries; and finally the order of the civil and military officials bowed to the empress dowager one by one, and as soon as the people of the palace announced the completion of the ceremony, the palace people in the Tianyi Palace had been renovated, and the carpet was re-laid and the seats were placed; and then the palace people began to serve dishes one by one.

Due to the large number of people who came to celebrate his birthday, except for some royal nobles who were left to dine in Tianyi Palace, the rest of the people were invited to dine in the palace. Zhao Weiming could have stayed in Tianyi Palace for dinner, but he saw that Duan Siping and Li Yuanhao were all arranged to the matching hall, so he followed them to the matching hall. Because he was very familiar with Duan Siping and Li Yuanhao, Zhao Weiming deliberately found a table to sit alone with the two. At noon, after the Empress Dowager announced the opening of the banquet, everyone began to eat. During the banquet, Zhao Weiming and Duan Siping kept shouting hotly, and Li Yuanhao and Duan Siping drank a lot of wine; Just when Li Yuanhao was still holding the wine from the palace, Renzong personally held two pots of wine and walked closer. After filling the three of them one by one, Renzong picked up his wine glass and said to Li Yuanhao and Duan Siping, "Thank you to the two lords for taking the time to come for the emperor's grandmother's birthday. After drinking three cups in a row, seeing that Li Yuanhao was still unrelenting and Renzong still wanted to drink, Zhao Weiming stopped and said, "My imperial brother has a heavy state affair, so he should take care of the dragon body;

After the two of them couldn't help but be shocked, they hurriedly said in unison, 'It's okay like this, it's okay!', so they no longer pestered Renzong, and only pushed the cup and drank it with Zhao Weiming. On a whim, Li Yuanhao proposed to find another secluded place to drink again. When it was time to leave, Li Yuanhao stared at a plate of dishes on the table and muttered, "Although I also have daily delicacies from the mountains and seas in the Great Xia Kingdom, they are not as exquisite as those eaten by the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty!" It is a 'set of four treasures', this dish is made of quails, pigeons, geese and other things; first remove all the ingredients and then pour the seasoning into them; then put the quail into the pigeon's body, and then put the filled pigeon into the belly of the wild goose, and finally simmer it in the pot together; the meat is delicate and tender, and the aftertaste is long, and it is the freshest and most beautiful taste in the world! Seeing that he had a soft spot for this dish, Zhao Weiming picked up the plate of 'Four Treasures' and ordered the palace people to bring a few jars of wine, and then led the two to the back garden of Tianyi Palace, found a corner of the flat place, spread a tablecloth, and a few people sat on the ground to eat and drink.

During the banquet, when talking about the wine fight with Li Yuanhao outside Chang'an City and the fact that he went to the Black Tiger Gang alone to borrow troops, in Li Yuanhao's continuous exhalation, the few jars of wine brought by him were drunk not long after, and several people began to gossip. But before he could say a few words, Li Yuanhao, who was very interested, proposed to add Duan Siping to worship again. Seeing that the three of them had no objections, several people immediately bowed down the iron tree on the side. Among them, Duan Siping is the eldest and is the eldest brother of the three brothers, Zhao Weiming is the second brother, and Li Yuanhao is the youngest, and he is the third brother of the three brothers. As soon as the ceremony was over, Renzong, who got the news, also hurried over to congratulate the three of them. Seeing Renzong, Zhao Wei remembered something in the twilight, so he asked Duan Siping, "Big brother, what happened to Wang Yuanheng, the emperor of the Southern Zhao Kingdom, that my brother listened to me?