I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 386: Court Meeting in the Forbidden City

Wang Li was in good spirits today. He got up in the middle of the night to change his clothes, and even put on a brand new court uniform.

Before daybreak, he walked out with a jade tablet in hand.

At the door were the bearers who had been waiting for a long time. Although the emperor did not allow slaves, the bearers still remained.As long as it is a reasonable and legitimate business relationship, it is no problem for officials to keep their own personal bearers.

In the late Northern Song Dynasty, officials were even deliberately encouraged to ride in sedan chairs, not only to save strategic resources such as horses, but also to provide more jobs for the people.

Don't say that the bearers are disrespectful, this is their livelihood.If I really feel uncomfortable, I can compare it to the drivers of sports cars in later generations.

Wang Li got off the sedan chair in front of Zhengyang Gate. There were already many sedan chairs and some entourage parked at the door.

After the royal camp army verified the identity of the waist badge, Wang Li held the wat board and quickly stepped inside.

Because you can't take the royal road, there are special palace maids to guide you. After going around the boss, you can enter the palace area of ​​the three main halls.

There are special palaces on both sides to provide rest, and refreshments are also placed inside.A rough count shows that half of the civil and military personnel of the Manchu Dynasty have arrived, and they are all senior officials.

Some of the refreshments have been used, and some are still chatting while eating, and the whole person seems particularly excited.

Well, it seems that His Majesty had expected it.

"Yuansuke is here!"

When Chen Ji, the Minister of Hubu, saw Wang Li coming, he quickly stood up and bowed.

Wang Li smiled like a spring breeze and said: "It doesn't matter. I thought I got up early enough today, but I didn't want all my colleagues to get up earlier than me."

Lin Jing, the Minister of Rites, said: "Yuan Fu made a serious statement. It is true that we came a little too early. Fortunately, your Majesty has thought carefully about it. There are some refreshments here, and Yuan Fu can use some first."

"Then let me use some first." Wang Li was not polite, found a seat and started eating.

The previous morning morning time was 05:30, but all officials had to get up at the third watch in the middle of the night, travel half of the palace city, and wait outside the Meridian Gate at the fourth watch.

Waiting until the fifth watch, the Meridian Gate bell tower will ring, the Meridian Gate will open, and officials will line up to stand in the square.

After the fifth watch, officially go to court.

Naturally, the new Ming Dynasty was not so anti-human. This not only tormented the bodies of the officials, but also tormented the emperor.Because all the officials get up at the third watch, the emperor also gets up at the third watch.

However, after all, this was the first early morning court held by the Ming Dynasty in the Forbidden City. All the officials would inevitably be too excited to sleep, so they had to make preparations in advance.

In just a short while, many officials were led to the palace one by one by the palace ladies, and the order generally followed the rank.

Sophisticated!
Because some officials arrived too early, their excitement gradually subsided and they began to close their eyes to rest. Others were whispering in twos and threes, generally talking about how magnificent the three main halls were.

It was almost eight o'clock before a palace maid came over to remind and tell: "Please enter the Meridian Gate to wait for the court!"

The civil and military officials from all over the court had already arrived. When they heard that it was finally time to go to court, they all stood up and walked around, correcting their clothes, and arranged in order according to their official rank.

Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The Meridian Gate Bell and Drum Tower sounded three times, and the Meridian Gate slowly opened.

All the civil and military officials led their squads inside. The civilian officials walked through the left gate, and the military attachés walked through the right gate.Cross the Inner Wulong Bridge, then enter Fengtian Gate and stand in the square in front of the temple.

Just after eight o'clock, Honglu Temple Zanyin (Zanyin is equivalent to the master of ceremonies at the court, and there is also a preface class that is the master of ceremonies for foreign vassals) sang: "All the officials enter the class!"

"All officers join the class!"

"All officers join the class!"

"All officers join the class!"

The last three calls were made by the guards in front of the palace. Originally, there was also a eunuch who was responsible for the ceremony and cracked his whip three times outside the palace. He was the whip-cracking eunuch when Qianlong ascended the throne in the finale of "The Legend of Zhen Huan".

However, the new Ming Dynasty had banned the eunuch system, so it was also cancelled, but there will still be music.

When the officials heard this, they quickly divided into two classes: civil and military. The civilian class had significantly more people than the military attache class.Because most military generals are either training and garrisoning troops in various places, or fighting in border towns and setting up military camps. Few of them can actually come to court, and they are mainly officials of the Privy Council.

The four cabinet ministers held their heads high and held the wat board before stepping onto Danbi. All civil and military officials were waiting outside the steps on both sides of Danbi.

Zhu Yijiong, wearing a dragon robe and court uniform, walked to the Fengtian Hall and sat down on the golden dragon chair.

Zan Yin of Honglu Temple raised his head and looked at the self-ringing bell hanging above the dragon chair. The technology of self-ringing bells had been introduced to China as early as the Wanli period. Emperor Wanli couldn't put it down and even kept a clockmaker from the envoy in China.

Seeing that the hour hand finally pointed to 08:30, the Honglu Temple Zen Master immediately shouted: "Go to court! Hundreds of officials enter the palace!" "Go to court! Hundreds of officials enter the palace!"

"..."

The four cabinet ministers led the way, followed by hundreds of civil and military officials, holding wat tablets in hand and walking into the hall.

After the officials entered the palace, they quickly began to line up and strictly followed the order of official rank.There is no room for sloppiness, otherwise if you fail, your name will be recorded. Impeachment or not is not the point, but it must be seen by the emperor.

Officials from the National Academy of History have already taken up their positions in front of His Highness, even further forward than the cabinet ministers.

Well, he is responsible for recording the entire morning court process.

"kneel!"

This ceremony had been performed countless times as early as the palace stay. At this time, all the officials were familiar with the process, and they all knelt three times and kowtowed nine times to the emperor in the Jinluan Hall.

"Long live my emperor! Long live!"

Zhu Yijiong was also serious at this time: "You are all exempt from courtesy!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

All civil and military officials thanked him and stood up.

Wang Li stood at the front. The moment he stood up, the sunlight from outside the palace shone into the palace, reflecting on the dragon throne in the Golden Palace.

The emperor sitting on the dragon throne seemed to become harder to look at and became more majestic in an instant.

Your Majesty is indeed the Dragon Emperor!

In fact, Wang Li was overthinking it. This was purely the unique architectural light and shadow effect of the Forbidden City.If time goes forward, the effect should be even better.

Zhu Yijiong was in a good mood and said: "Today is my first court meeting in the Forbidden City since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. I don't want to say empty words. The foreign invasion of the Hulu has not been eliminated, and the world is full of wastes waiting to be revitalized. Dear gentlemen, are you willing to work with me to clear it out? Will the world work together to create the prosperous age of the distant Han and Tang Dynasties?"

"I am willing to follow Your Majesty and create a peaceful and prosperous age for the world!"

"Dedicate yourself to the best of your ability, and die after death!"

"..."

All the civil and military officials were equally excited, and the emperor expressed his feelings. They also had true feelings.

Seeing that the officials were almost venting, Zhu Yijiong signaled His Highness to be quiet and said: "In this way, there will be no discussion of political affairs in today's meeting. I have asked the imperial kitchen to prepare meals. If you have no use, you can keep some. But you are not allowed to drink alcohol. In the afternoon I still have to work on duty.”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the food."

All the officials bowed their hands to thank him.

"Retreat!"

"I'm waiting to send you to Your Majesty!"

The officials again respectfully sent the emperor off and stood up to leave.

This was the end of our first court meeting in the Forbidden City.

It seems like nothing has been done for a few hours?

There was nothing to do. The early dynasty during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was essentially formalistic.

Work matters have long been dealt with by the cabinet in advance, and it is nothing more than taking them out in the morning and rereading them again.

If serious matters were discussed in the early morning, it would usually only be due to fierce party disputes, or there would be a serious gap between the emperor and the cabinet, and it would be necessary to go beyond the cabinet to handle matters.

In fact, all dynasties have found this kind of formalism annoying, but they cannot cancel it.

If it is cancelled, many middle and low-level officials may never see the emperor in their lifetime.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty thought of a way to directly change the early morning dynasty from every day to three times a month, which was considered to give middle and low-level officials a chance to meet the emperor.

Zhu Yijiong also used it.

　There are easter eggs at the back
　　
　
(End of this chapter)