eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 199 Change Your Thinking
The courts of all dynasties attached great importance to the Spring Festival, and the Ming Dynasty was no exception.There are also the most festivals in the first month, including Zhengdan Festival (that is, the first day of the new year), "Lichun Day", "Lantern Festival", "Swallow Nine Festival", and "Filling Festival". The most important ones are Zhengdan Festival and Lantern Festival. Festival.

During the festival, there are temple fairs, lantern fairs, sacrifices to the kitchen god and other activities among the people, and all people celebrate together, which is very lively.

In the palace, the emperor had to offer sacrifices at the ancestral temple, and then held a grand court meeting in Fengtian Hall.The ceremonial activities of court congratulations are solemn, the princes and officials are purged, and the guards are majestic and majestic.The emperor drove out of the gate of Qianqing, and the golden chariot was raised three times in the mighty guard queue, passing the Jinshen Hall, the Huagai Hall, and finally the Yufengtian Hall, where he sat on the golden throne to receive the New Year's worship of his subjects.After the ceremony in the outer court, the emperor returned to the inner court to accept the empress and concubines to salute, and the prince and grandson to salute.

The emperor is so busy, the queen can't be free either, and noble wives such as princes, concubines, princes and uncles also have to bring their family members to pay homage to the queen.

The prince could not escape, and the ministers also congratulated him.

After the Dachaohui, there will be a 'big banquet'.

That is, after the officials pay their respects, there will be a large banquet in the palace, and officials, members of the royal family, and foreign envoys can all participate, and then the wives will have dinner with the queen mother and others in the harem.

The scale of the Dachaohui is very large, and the banquets are also varied. They are divided into large banquets, medium banquets or small banquets. Different banquets also correspond to different dishes.

In short, on this day, from the time when the palace burned incense and set off firecrackers at five o'clock, I couldn't be idle.

But this year there is a special situation, that is, Emperor Hongzhi is not in good health, and his body is weak and afraid of the cold. There was also heavy snow.

Zhu Houzhao came out of Qingning Palace with a heavy heart, with a big cloak on his shoulders, and snowflakes in his hair. The two rows of court ladies and eunuchs behind him dared not show their atmosphere, because the people in Qingning Palace were in worse condition.

Qingning Palace is the place where the Empress Dowager Zhou lives. Nowadays, the court affairs have been reduced a lot because of the Chinese New Year, but the housework has increased again.

To put it in layman's terms, Hongzhi, the man with the highest status in the palace, can't get out of bed now, and the empress dowager Zhou, the woman with the highest status in the palace, can't get out of bed either.

Empress Zhang is a woman from a small family. Although she has been an empress for so many years, she has such a good husband, and she didn't even have a 'competitor' in the harem. How much can she grow?
Now that her husband is lingering on the sick bed, she is taking care of her and worrying at the same time. She probably won't be able to hold on in a few days.

So this person can't be counted on.

Counting and counting, he is the 15-year-old Prince of the Eastern Palace who can make decisions on matters big and small.

Zhu Houzhao didn't even think about it, and first ordered: "No one is allowed to hear about the serious illness of the Empress Dowager."

In the wind and snow, the meaning of the words made people feel even colder. These eunuchs and maids did not dare to say more, so they could only respond in a low voice.

Historically, the Empress Dowager Zhou died in the 17th year of Hongzhi.

Emperor Hongzhi had suffered in childhood, and the Empress Dowager Zhou took him over and brought him up with one hand. With such an experience, how could the relationship between the two of them be so weak?
Now the Empress Dowager Zhou has been in a coma for several hours every day, saying that 7384, the king of hell will not pick her up, the old man is obviously already 74, but her physical condition is so poor.

If Emperor Hongzhi knew about this matter, something might happen, so he could only keep it a secret.If there are any consequences in the end, he, the prince, will bear it.

At this time, a young eunuch came over despite the wind and snow, "His Royal Highness, the three elders of the cabinet are here, waiting to be summoned in the East Palace."

Zhu Houzhao probably knew what was going on, put on the hat behind the cloak, and said, "Go back to the palace."

The day after tomorrow is the Great Court Meeting, but Emperor Hongzhi is still lying down and unable to move. There are many occasions where the emperor is needed.

It's fine if the emperor doesn't attend the banquet, sacrifices and court meetings are all very important things.

In the East Palace, the teacups in front of Liu, Li, and Xie elders were all smoking, but they dared not sit down because the prince had just entered the door and was unbuttoning his cloak.

Then he walked to the central charcoal basin and stretched out his hand.

"A snowy day, isn't it cold enough?"

Li Dongyang said: "Your Highness, it is important to take care of yourself, we people are not in the way."

"Come and bake together. You all know Ben Gong, and know that the joints that Ben Gong cares about the most are not these ceremonies."

The three pavilion elders looked at each other, but still stretched out their relatively stiff hands, feeling a trace of warmth.

Zhu Houzhao sniffed, "Maybe it's my palace's illusion. This winter is getting colder every year. After the next year, the cabinet should pay more attention to the provinces, and report early if there are disasters. Also, it's colder on the grasslands, and they will wait until next spring." After the food is finished, the cattle, sheep, and horses will eat fresh grass for a month to grow fatter, and the people at the border of my Ming Dynasty will be exposed to their machetes again. The palace should not be at the festival. Mentioning this, I still can’t bear it.”

"Your Highness cares about state affairs. This is a blessing for the court and the common people. However, there are Zhang Youchi, and His Highness should not work too hard." Old Liu Ge's lips were also hard from the cold, and he couldn't speak smoothly. He couldn't utter several words. Piao, "Besides, the Zhengdan Festival is the day after tomorrow. Earlier, His Majesty said that he was sick and exempted from court, so should the Grand Court Conference be the same?"

Zhu Houzhao didn't answer first, but asked, "What about the cabinet's opinion?"

Liu Jian straightly said: "The three of you, the minister, all thought that His Majesty's dragon weighed more than everything else, and His Majesty should not be forced to support his sick body. Moreover, His Majesty's celestial appearance, even if some foreign envoys knew that the Emperor of Ming Dynasty's dragon body occasionally had slight ailments, Sifang Xiaoxiao didn't dare to act rashly."

Yes, this time the cabinet's idea touched his heart.

"Approved. For all kinds of sacrifices, court meetings, banquets and other activities, the prince of this palace will replace the father. In addition..." Zhu Houzhao pointed, "Let the Ministry of Rites use their brains. My palace is the prince, and it is still different from the father. , Don’t just copy the previous rules and procedures, look through the history books, find the previous dynasty if there is no current dynasty, and see what the crown prince should pay attention to when presiding over similar etiquette activities on behalf of the emperor, and there must be differences.”

"That's natural, please rest assured, Your Highness."

"Okay. Is that all?"

All three of them nodded, and even if there was something next to them, there was no need to talk to the prince on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao rubbed his hands, "I have worked hard for a whole year, and I am still very fierce on weekdays. You can stay today and have dinner with me. Just now, Mr. Liu Ge said that there is Zhang and Chi, I think it is necessary Yes, no matter how much work is done, it will be divided into several years. While there is nothing to do today, let's chat while eating?"

Xie Qian thought to himself, you also know that you are usually fierce.Now the three of them are a little afraid, waving their hands repeatedly to refuse.

But Zhu Houzhao felt a little rushed to put the ducks on the shelves, "It's today, 29 and [-], you just want to stay, and I don't want to stay! Liu Jin, pass on the meal."

"Yes."

In this way, the three old men stayed with him.

In the Hongzhi Dynasty, the status of the cabinet was actually not as good as that of the six ministries.But in Zhu Houzhao's mind, the setting of the cabinet is actually quite good.It's just that there is a problem with the structure. For example, they are all civil servants, which makes some other forces not have enough voice at the top leadership level of the country. Of course, this is all for later.

Zhu Houzhao has been dealing with political affairs for so long, but he actually has a lot of routine work, which should not take up a lot of the emperor's time.As far as he is concerned, it is more efficient to convene relevant personnel to deploy relevant work in the form of listening to reports.

But those routine jobs cannot be avoided, which requires the cabinet.

"You have to treat guests like a treat, and it's the Chinese New Year. I'm going to be more generous today." Zhu Houzhao has always been mature in his speech. In front of a few old men, except for his immature appearance, other things such as speech, actions, and expressions are like dozens of years old. Calmly, "Mr. Liu Ge, Mr. Li, and Mr. Xie Ge, you have all worked hard this year!"

The three old men all stood up to accept the ceremony, they insisted on doing so, but there was nothing they could do.

"When Hongzhi opened the Yamen in 18 years, I want to change my thinking, and you can also think about it."

"Please speak, Your Highness."

Zhu Houzhao said: "From the 12th year of Hongzhi to the present, I always feel that we have passed a year and counted it as a year. It is said that there are some achievements, but it is also an eye-opener. Can we have any goals for ourselves?"

"What does the country want to look like, rich people? Strong country? There must be a goal to work hard, right? Set the goal and then set the measures. Some problems, such as the problem of clearing the empty salary, are a long-standing ailment for hundreds of years. The court does not Maybe a decree will scrape it all off."

"But there must always be a rhythmic way to spend a few years to solve it, maybe three years, maybe five years, the key is to have a process of getting better, and you can't see that the problem is too difficult to say that it involves too much, and you will die. If you retreat, will it be more difficult in the future? Generation after generation, putting aside all difficult problems, it will be a day if it can be delayed, what is the difference between this and being a monk hitting the clock for a day?"

"So I am also thinking, what the court will do in Hongzhi's 18th year must be listed first, and then look at the next three years, and what needs to be solved must also be listed. First put the problem, then put the measures, and then divide The steps are arranged in a planned way. By then, I will not be able to deal with people in this palace, and I don't have to get a bad reputation of being punished for not teaching."

Liu Jian was 'named' and pleaded guilty, but the crown prince didn't care too much.

Li Dongyang was still stroking his beard and thinking about the prince's words, a little strange, "Your Highness, have you thought about these words for a long time?"

"Forget it. Today is neither a court meeting nor an early court meeting. We just talk about it at the table. I am because of Yang Yiqing's incident a few days ago. The court wants to clear up the empty salary. He seems to be under a lot of pressure, but my prince has never said that he will Solve all these problems in the whole country within three or five months, I mean... such a major problem, the imperial court can't take it for granted, it has to be done step by step. But the atmosphere in the officialdom is not like this, so I thought Write down the goals that the court wants to achieve, so that everyone knows what measures the East Palace and the cabinet will implement."

Xie Qian quite agrees, ""The Doctrine of the Mean" says: When you travel far, you must feel inferior, and when you climb high, you must feel inferior. You make progress year by year, and you accumulate small victories. .”

Zhu Houzhao's proposal did not violate any interests, and it also showed a positive and promising spirit. The three members of the cabinet did not think there was any problem after hearing it.

"Then let's wait until after the Chinese New Year. You can prepare it yourself, or you can convey it separately. After the Chinese New Year, the cabinet and the six ministries and nine divisions will hold a special meeting, and spend two or three days focusing on discussing it. Classified discussions are related to the common people. Life, frontier security, and other major categories have to be discussed, and a three-year plan is also tried. The plan is certain, just like a military flag planted on the top of a mountain. Once the military flag is erected, you know where to go!"

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　It's going to be a difficult time recently. The subject had a high fever of 38 degrees last night and was positive. I don't know how long it can last. It is currently negative.

　　She didn't go to bed early and had to wait for me to finish typing. It was past eleven o'clock at that time, so I said that I would stop coding and ask for leave tomorrow. She said no, she had to be virtuous, and the break would have an impact on the future. QAQ
　　
　
(End of this chapter)