The ceremony of conferring the empress could not be completed in a short time. The imperial edict was read out to announce it to the world, and a welcoming ceremony was held; and the imperial decree of conferring the title was read out again.
After the enthronement ceremony, the emperor would put on his imperial crown and the empress would put on her formal attire and go to Fengxian Hall to pay homage to the ancestors. This was to tell the ancestors: I am married and have a wife. Bring your wife to show these plaques.
After paying homage to their ancestors, the emperor and empress returned to the palace and drank from the wedding cup.
Of course, this process is quite complicated. In simple terms, it involves changing clothes, sitting in an east-west orientation, drinking wine offered by the court ladies, eating the dishes on the table, eating the main course, drinking wine again, and eating more dishes. Only then is the ceremony considered complete.
Zhu Youxiao learned about this Heqin (drinking wine from the same cup) only after being taught by officials from the Ministry of Rites. It was different from the later way of drinking with arms linked.
The correct way in the palace was for the emperor to pour himself a glass of wine, take a sip and pass it to the queen. After the queen drank it, she also poured herself a glass of wine, took a sip and then gave it to the emperor.
Well, this seems to be more intimate than the later ones. Is it like kissing with a cup?
After the wedding, according to the rules, Zhu Youxiao had to go to the Huangji Hall to give a banquet to entertain the meritorious officials.
Eat and drink well, drink and eat well! We have all contributed, so a meal of wine and food is indispensable.
As an emperor, he certainly didn't have to toast every table like an ordinary groom, and no one dared to force him to drink.
But there was also an imperial edict to be read out regarding "ennobling and bestowing favors", which was mainly used to reward the relatives of the empress and the imperial concubine.
According to royal convention, the queen's father, the father-in-law Zhang Guoji, must at least be granted the title of earl.
However, Zhu Youxiao had hesitated before because according to the report from Wei Daye, the director of the East Factory, Zhang Guoji was very close to several Donglin Party civil servants.
The Donglin Party is truly omnipresent, investing and planting people everywhere!
Zhu Youxiao believed that if Zhang Yan had not been chosen as the queen, how could those Donglin Party civil servants be interested in Zhang Guoji, who was just a student?
Just like betting on Emperor Tianqi in the "Palace Move Case", the Donglin Party turned the tables in one fell swoop and gradually became the only dominant party in the court.
The Donglin Party was very good at political speculation and planting spies.
However, their abilities only extended to this point. Even the historical carpenter Zhu realized that something was wrong and released the old dog, Uncle Wei, and dealt with Zhang Guoji in every possible way.
Influence the people around me, so as to find out or influence my thoughts and decisions. Zhu Youxiao came to such a conclusion and did not find it strange.
Don't think the civil service is weak and can only talk nonsense. If they want to harm someone, even Conan can't catch them or find evidence of their crime.
Historically, the death of Emperor Taichang was quite suspicious; as for Carpenter Zhu, there was also a high possibility that he was assassinated.
Although there is no real evidence, judging from the consequences of Zhu the Carpenter's death, the eunuch party fell, and the "upright gentlemen" took over the court and had the right to speak, so the civil service group is undoubtedly highly suspected.
There are always villains who want to harm me!
Zhu Youxiao didn't think he was just imagining things, and he was very careful about protecting his personal safety. What divine dew, what elixir? I'm educated, you can't fool me.
Precisely because he was wary and fearful of the civil service group, Zhu Youxiao did not want the concubines and their relatives to get close to the civil service group.
After receiving the report from Uncle Wei, Zhu Youxiao originally wanted to give his father-in-law a warning by not granting him the title, but after much thought, he felt that a more direct approach might be better.
Without doing anything to keep others guessing, Zhu Youxiao directly sent an eunuch to Zhang's house to tell Zhang Guoji that as a relative of the emperor, he was very displeased with you for associating with court officials, so you should take care of yourself!
This warning must have frightened Zhang Guoji. Although his daughter had been designated as the empress, the emperor's son-in-law couldn't return her. But if the emperor's son-in-law was unhappy, how could his daughter have a good life in the palace?
Zhang Guoji had no intention of befriending officials to expand the Zhang family's power. He also wanted to explain to the emperor's son-in-law that it was not him who befriended them, but they who were trying to curry favor with him.
When Zhang Yan knew about this, she was also feeling uneasy.
She hadn't even gotten married yet, but she had already made the emperor unhappy. I'm afraid he wouldn't be welcome in the palace.
In history, there were many queens who were not favored, neglected, or even deposed!
After being warned by his son-in-law and blamed by his daughter, Zhang Guoji felt remorseful and afraid. He quickly wrote a letter of apology and then kept his distance from the civil servants.
I am not feeling well when invited to a banquet to drink; I will not accept gifts when visiting someone.
Zhang Guoji was an honest man who only wanted to appease his son-in-law's dissatisfaction, so that his daughter would not be embarrassed during the wedding and would have a smooth transition into the harem.
Historically, Zhang Guoji was probably close to the Donglin Party officials. During the Tianqi reign, although he was the father-in-law of the emperor, he was not granted a title. This set a record in the Ming Dynasty.
Although Zhang Yan was not favored in the palace, the powerful Mr. Wei and Ke Shi could not dethrone her from the position of queen no matter how hard they tried.
Therefore, Zhang Guoji couldn't understand why his son-in-law disliked him so much.
Now, I’ve made it clear. If you don’t change, not only will you lose your title, but I’ll also find trouble with you in the future!
"Your Majesty, I bow to you and thank you for your grace. Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!"
When Zhang Guoji heard that he was conferred the title of Taikangbo in the Enfeoffment Decree, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, kowtowed to express his gratitude, and knew that he had "corrected his mistakes" and was temporarily forgiven by the emperor's son-in-law.
Looking up, Zhang Guoji saw Zhu Youxiao's intriguing gaze and smiled. "It's no problem to confer a title, but I can confer it on you and I can also deprive you of it."
Zhang Guoji seemed to understand what his son-in-law meant. He stood up and went to the banquet with a few relatives.
"Father-in-law Zhang, please sit here." Minister of Rites Sun Shenxing stood up and greeted him warmly.
At this table were the Prime Minister Ye Xianggao, the Minister of Personnel Zhao Nanxing, as well as Gao Panlong, Yang Lian and others, all of whom were the backbone of Donglin, or the great sages of Donglin.
In the past, such courtesy would have made Zhang Guoji overjoyed.
He is just a student of the Imperial Academy, but he is honored because he is a girl. He can sit at the same table with the bigwigs of the court and the great scholars of Donglin. What a great honor it is!
But now, Zhang Guoji only felt that there was a cold gaze staring at him from behind.
He hurriedly bowed to Sun Shenxing and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Lord Sun, for the invitation. However, the Zhang family's relatives have never seen the world, so I have to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't cause any trouble."
After saying this, Zhang Guoji bowed again and led a few relatives to a table a little further away. Perhaps it was due to psychological factors, but Zhang Guoji felt that the gaze behind him had disappeared, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Father-in-law Zhang is really cautious." Sun Shenxing watched Zhang Guoji walk away in a daze, then turned around and gave a wry smile to the people at the table.
Gao Panlong smiled faintly and said, "Today is the auspicious day for Zhang Guofu's daughter to marry. It is understandable that he is worried that his relatives will lose their manners in front of the emperor."
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