Plowing the fields personally was a very important matter for the emperor.
This indicates that the emperor valued agriculture, and the purpose of doing so was naturally to 'encourage farming'. Even the harvested grain was required to be offered in the Mingtang Hall of the Temple of Heaven, as a tribute to the ancient sages and the Heavenly Emperor.
According to the previous system, this was to be done in the first month of the lunar calendar. However, Zhu Yuanzhang set a precedent: the emperor's personal plowing was on the Hai day of the second month of the lunar calendar. There was a Hai day every twelve days, so naturally, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory needed to determine an auspicious day before the emperor personally plowed the fields.
According to ancient customs, the emperor would naturally hold the plow himself, with the three high officials following behind. This system dates back to the Western Han Dynasty and has been passed down through generations. After all, it was an agrarian civilization, and farming was of paramount importance.
Although the ceremony of personally tilling the land has changed somewhat over the years, and more and more rules have been added, it is still only right to value agriculture. This is not only the emperor's responsibility, but also the task of the civil and military officials of the court.
In fact, after the Wei and Jin dynasties, the emperor not only personally plowed the fields and guided the plow, but also ascended the observation platform afterward to see which civil and military officials had slacked off during the plowing process...
The auspicious day has been set; now the task is to select the civil and military officials to accompany the sacrifice. This poses no difficulty for Zhu Yunying, as much of the work has already been done.
Furthermore, to demonstrate his emphasis on personally tilling the land, Zhu Yunying, accompanied by the Crown Prince, inspected the farming tools in the palace. Even the seeds used for this imperial plowing were carefully selected to ensure there were no mishaps.
"A hoe! It belongs to my great-grandfather!" Little Zhu, with his sharp eyes, spotted a hoe and exclaimed, "It belongs to my great-grandfather! You can't take it!"
Zhu Yunying found it amusing; little Zhu was quite adept at guarding the house, ensuring that outsiders couldn't take anything that belonged to the family. His great-grandfather enjoyed farming in the palace, and little Zhu had accompanied him many times, recognizing his great-grandfather's farming tools.
“We won’t take it; it was lent to us by your great-grandfather.” Zhu Yunying laughed and asked, “Crown Prince, do you have any farming tools?”
Little Zhu immediately replied, "Yes, I have a small hoe to dig mud!"
Old Zhu's farming tools were actually very ordinary. It's not like becoming emperor meant his hoe had to be inlaid with jewels; this was just a regular hoe. At most, it was just that Old Zhu's status was special, and ordinary people weren't allowed to touch his hoe.
As for Little Zhu's little hoe, it's not very practical; it's more of a gaudy toy than a toy.
After inspecting the farm tools and carefully examining the carefully selected grain seeds, Zhu Yunying was quite satisfied.
On the day of his personal plowing ceremony, Zhu Yunying donned his imperial robes and, guided by the imperial procession, proceeded to the Shennong Altar. After paying homage to Shennong, Zhu Yunying headed towards his designated plot of land, which was indeed only one and a half acres—a matter of protocol.
Loose robes and wide sleeves were actually inconvenient for working, but Zhu Yunying didn't intend to change anything. In that era, even as emperor, Zhu Yunying couldn't change the minds of his subjects regarding clothing reform. If he were to actually wear short sleeves and jeans, it would be considered unorthodox and he would be seen as crazy.
Zhu Yunwen's expression remained calm. Although he wasn't interested in personally tilling the fields, he knew his elder brother had given the order, so he naturally had to follow. In reality, as a younger brother, Zhu Yunwen was generally obedient.
Old Zhu, dressed in his everyday clothes, cheerfully waved away the official who wanted to guide the process, saying, "We're just farmers, do we need you to teach us?"
Indeed, there was no need to do that, because Old Zhu knew what he was doing; he was a true-blue farmer. As a child, he worked in the fields with his parents and brothers. Even as a tenant farmer, most of the grain they grew had to be handed over to the landlord. But this was all based on Old Zhu's experience; farming was something he excelled at.
"Your Majesty, Yunwen, you two go and carry the plow over here." Old Zhu said with great interest and happiness, "You two brothers have never suffered hardship, I'm afraid you don't even know how to tie a plow properly."
Zhu Yunying pointed to the plow and said to Zhu Yuntong, "You're not getting any younger, is it alright for you to carry a plow?"
Zhu Yunwen looked at the plow and said softly, "I'm afraid we can't carry it by ourselves. We're not good at carrying heavy loads. How about we ask the third, fourth, and fifth brothers to come and help us?"
When fighting tigers, brothers go to war together, just like fathers and sons.
Although this was the emperor personally tilling the land, civil and military officials were required to attend, and members of the imperial clan were naturally also present. In addition to his own younger brother and sister, Zhu Yunwen's three brothers were also summoned; they were Zhu Yunying's younger brothers.
Zhu Yunying said irritably, "My grandfather told me a few days ago to stop whispering in front of Yin'er. Is this how you arranged the order? I'll pretend I didn't hear you whispering in front of me, but can you talk nonsense in front of others?"
After reprimanding Zhu Yunying, Zhu Yunying said loudly to the three brothers Zhu Yunwen who were waiting to the side, "Yunwen, take the fourth and fifth brothers over there. The fate of the world depends on you all."
Zhu Yunwen's eyes lit up. "The great destiny of the world" was a concept proposed by Jia Yi, and it was the expression for personal farming in the "Memorial on Accumulating Grain".
Jia Yi was a renowned scholar of the Western Han Dynasty. "On the Faults of Qin" is just one of his most classic works. Although this talented scholar studied under Zhang Cang, a disciple of Xunzi, he was also well-versed in Confucianism and broke away from the laissez-faire approach of the early Western Han Dynasty, advocating for the importance of Confucianism.
Zhu Yunwen wasn't the only one excited; many civil officials were also involved. The emperor's deliberate mention of "the great destiny of the nation" at this time—did it mean he would place even greater emphasis on Confucian scholars?
Zhu Yunying never expected that his casual remark would stir up so many people's emotions and cause them to constantly imagine the future.
That wasn't really his problem. He simply walked up to Old Zhu and said, "Grandpa Emperor, although we're not as good at farming as you are, we've done our share of farming over the years, following you and my father."
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