It was the Lantern Festival, Hangzhou was open all night long, and with the densely populated cities of Liangzhe and the Emperor Zhao staying there, many people came to West Lake to celebrate the festival. Today, they saw the Emperor riding a boat to tour the lake, and many people came out. Not only was it difficult to move on the Su Causeway in front of them, but also countless people gathered on both sides of the river to climb up to see the dragon boats.
What can be seen from such a distance? No one knows.
How were the interior and exterior of the dragon boats decorated? What were the differences between official boats and folk pleasure boats? No one knew.
They said they were going to see the emperor, the minister, and the imperial guards. But did the emperor leave the cabin? Did the minister wave his hand? How many imperial guards were there? Was Yang Yizhong, the treacherous minister who had forced the great good man Wang to death, among them? No one knew either.
But they just wanted to rush in to watch, to fill the banks and embankments to look out. Amid the hustle and bustle, countless pleasure boats were launched from all sides, circling around large and small Wulong boats and many official boats, almost covering half of the West Lake, and responding to the shouts from the shore.
In the chaos, those cabinet members who were able to accompany the emperor on the official ship had already become obsessed. Who still remembered the impeachment, the support for the two wise ministers, the suicide of Mr. Wang, and the evil policies of the local inspection?
But I just feel that this life is enough, and I wish I could go back and tell my fellow villagers that I was at West Lake that day, only three boat spaces away from Emperor Zhao’s house!
A few people still remembered what was going on, but they could only sigh in their hearts, thinking that the official was really smart enough to refuse advice. As long as the boats drifted on the West Lake until midnight, went back to stay overnight until dawn, and sent away Zhu Shengfei, the Lantern Festival envoy the next day, Liu Dazhong, who had come to make up the numbers, would be alone and powerless, and the matter would be over.
However, for some unknown reason, Liu Dazhong and Zhu Shengfei, the two instigators, held hands on the official ship. Although they looked at each other without saying a word, they also seemed somewhat relieved.
The boat moved forward slowly, and in the evening, when the sun shone from west to east, illuminating the lake with a golden glow, the Big Wulong arrived in front of the Su Causeway Bridge. Naturally, it could not go any further, so it had to turn around. At this moment, another climax appeared... Emperor Zhao, wearing a right-angled futou, a brand new light yellow robe, a gold-plated red belt, and black boots, in a manner that completely met the imagination of the people of Hangzhou, actually came out of the Big Wulong's cabin with a group of close ministers in purple, red and blue, and waved at the Su Causeway, which attracted the prime ministers, ministers, officials, and cabinet members on other official ships to follow suit.
Although it was only a moment when the bow of the boat turned, it caused the river bank and both banks to roar like thunder, and even scared away countless crows on Phoenix Mountain across the Sunset Mountain.
The bow of the boat turned around, and the people on the dike came to their senses. Although not many of them saw it clearly, they could not help but feel dry mouth. They just said that Emperor Zhao looked at me, and said that they saw the gold and red belt with their own eyes. Some who knew the allusions said that when Emperor Zhao was in danger on the day of the Huai River, he went alone to see Prince Han, who gave him a jade belt. After that, he never wore a jade belt again, only a gold belt, a cowhide belt and so on. It was really confusing.
That was not all. The boats turned around and slowly returned. As dusk gradually fell on the way, Emperor Zhao issued another decree, ordering all boats to light lanterns. Although the official boats were large, they were extremely simple. Only the bow and stern could be hung with ordinary lanterns. But as the two boats, Big Wulong and Small Wulong, lit a few lanterns, the whole lake and the city seemed to have received a signal. Starting from the lake, people lit up their lanterns before it got dark.
For a moment, the lights flickered, the stars gradually connected into one, and the entire West Lake was illuminated like heaven on earth. Even at this time, the moon was slightly visible on the horizon, and the setting sun was still lingering on the west of the lake, but it could not completely cover the lights of the world.
All I can say is that it is a beautiful scene of great unity among the monarch, his subjects, and the people in the feudal era.
If you don’t know, you would think we have returned to the Tokyo City of the Feng Hengyu era.
However, just as the lights were hung on the boat and everyone thought that Emperor Zhao was going to take advantage of the situation to wander around the West Lake until midnight to avoid Zhu and Liu, something unexpected happened... As dusk fell and the lake was full of lights, Da Wulong still took advantage of the last ray of sunset to return to the Yongjin Gate. Then the emperor went ashore and led the ceremonial procession back to Fenghuang Mountain.
Along the way, there was another decree that as the government officials and people in the southeast had offered a lot of offerings to Phoenix Mountain before the Lantern Festival and the Spring Festival, in order to prevent waste, they would all be issued at the foot of Phoenix Mountain.
Among them, all the offered money and silk were used to reward the cavalry soldiers in the imperial camp, all the popular and interesting things were distributed at a lantern riddle party under the Leifeng Pagoda for the common people to profit from, and all the food and specialties were distributed at a banquet in front of the Phoenix Mountain to entertain the ministers and officials who were accompanying the emperor that day, to show that everyone was having fun together.
Most people were naturally delighted to receive this decree, but a few people like Liu Dazhong, Zhu Shengfei and others could not help but complain - it was because with such a momentum unfolding, how could those of them who had previously expressed their determination in public hide?
I'm afraid I'm bound to be a bad guy.
As expected, as the moon gradually rose, the people of Hangzhou heard that the government was giving out profits on Xizhao Mountain, and they had already gathered on the south bank of West Lake. The military camps on both sides of Fenghuang Mountain also cheered after receiving rewards. At this time, at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain, on the site where the martial arts conference was held in the past, a banquet had already been spread out, and everyone sat down. Thinking of the original business, they felt that there were cheers and shouts from all directions, and they inevitably lost confidence. As expected, many people tried to avoid and perfunctorily deal with it.
What's more, some of them simply pretended to have forgotten the previous agreement and were determined not to care about the matter anymore. They actually started to enjoy themselves openly at the foot of the mountain, making the atmosphere even more subtle.
The banquet started with Prime Minister Lu hosting it first, followed by a brief banquet ceremony, to celebrate the birthdays of the Second Saint who was in seclusion, the Third Queen Mother who was being well-fed, and the Emperor who was sitting up there with a smile on his face, and also to congratulate the Emperor on having a new prince last year... After a few rounds of drinking, everyone was a little tipsy.
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