Zhu Yunying was well aware of the arrangements for Xiao Xiao Zhu. Since he wanted to develop Xiao Xiao Zhu's influence, he needed to help with some things, since Xiao Xiao Zhu was still young and there were many things he couldn't do on his own.
Therefore, these matters naturally required Zhu Yunying's attention and effort, which is what a father should do.
Moreover, helping Little Zhu in this way can be considered a small beginning of the court's arrangements and some reforms to the military system. As Little Zhu grows older, he naturally needs to consider certain things.
It's true that Zhu Yunying was only twenty-six years old, and his health had always been relatively good. However, in such an era, there were things that needed to be considered. Especially when it concerned the throne and the fate of the nation, it naturally meant that even the most cautious measures were not excessive.
"I don't want to get up. When we become emperors, we won't have to hold court so early." Little Zhu got up and muttered to himself, squinting his eyes.
As Old Zhu dressed Little Zhu, he said, "This is good. It's already past midnight, and the court is about to begin. If it were a few years ago when the country was first settled, we would all be in the court."
“Now that we’re emperor, we’ll change the time for court to be at 3 AM or 5 AM. 5 AM is best, when the sun has just risen, which is a good omen,” Little Zhu said, as if he had a well-founded argument. “Our Great Ming should always be like this, with the sun always rising in the east.”
Old Zhu helped Little Zhu straighten his sleeves and said, "That won't do, not at Mao Shi (5-7 AM). The government offices start working at this time. If we, the emperor, neglect our duties, everyone below will follow suit."
This is simply a characteristic of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (the first emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty), who held his morning court session around 3 a.m. Of course, the civil and military officials were already waiting outside the Meridian Gate at that time; they actually got up even earlier. As for Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (the young emperor), he figured holding the morning court session at 5 or 6 a.m. wouldn't be so bad.
Little Zhu wasn't easily persuaded. He said, "We know that our father also wants to change it to the hour of Mao (5-7 AM). Civil and military officials can sleep for an extra hour, and our Great Ming Imperial City can use fewer candles. This isn't a chaotic time; we don't need to do that."
"I'll be driven crazy by you guys sooner or later!" Old Zhu immediately laughed and cursed. "All you do is cause trouble. Your father changed a lot of the rules we set, and even encouraged us to change them ourselves. Now you're doing this, you haven't even gone to observe the government yet and you're already encouraging us to change the system. Tell me, was this your father's idea? He was afraid of getting scolded, so he sent you!"
Little Zhu immediately hugged Old Zhu's neck with a grin and pressed his chubby face against Old Zhu's face.
Patting Little Zhu's bottom, Old Zhu said, "You're all grown up now, yet you're still so shameless. You and your father have figured we won't lose our temper with you, so you know you can't argue with us and that we're unreasonable, so you just act like scoundrels in front of us."
“I’m close to my great-grandfather!” Little Zhu said matter-of-factly. “A few days ago, my second uncle wanted to pinch my cheek, but I didn’t like it. My dad is the same way; I don’t like to have my cheek pressed against his. But my great-grandfather, I’ve always liked to have my cheek pressed against his since I was little.”
Old Zhu was quite pleased to see his great-grandson's chubby face pressed against his. His great-grandson was a rascal, but Old Zhu was used to it; his great-grandson had always liked to stick his face close to his own, and talking like that was actually quite nice.
"Shuangquan, get me a cloak, it's cold outside." Little Zhu, who was being carried by Old Zhu to wash up, said, "Also, bring me bird's nest and shredded chicken soup, and egg drop soup. Also, some sesame rolls, Wensi tofu soup, and some fruit if you like."
Just then, footsteps sounded outside. At this moment, only Zhu Yunying would dare to break into the Qianqing Palace.
Zhu Yunying pushed open the palace door and said, "You're really up? That's good, we don't need to wake you up. You really are something, if you had to go to court today, you should have gone back to the East Palace and we would have taken you with us. But you had to make things difficult for your great-grandfather."
Old Zhu chuckled, in a good mood. "We're getting old, we sleep lightly, and we don't like to make a fuss. Ying'er, I'll get you some red bean soup, some pastries, and some pickles to go with your rice. Is there anything else you'd like to eat?"
Zhu Yunying was also amused and said proudly, "It's been quite a while since we had breakfast with Grandfather. We came straight over as soon as we got up. The three of us will have breakfast together. Forget about delicacies, even ordinary food will be delicious."
These words struck a chord with Old Zhu, and there was a reason why he doted on his eldest grandson. When this precious grandson spoke intimately, it brought Old Zhu immense joy.
Little Zhu ruined the atmosphere and immediately said, "We don't eat much ordinary food. It's just that we were ignorant a couple of years ago and tried some of the new things outside the palace, but they're not as good as what we have in the palace."
This is true, after all, the chefs in the palace were imperial chefs, so their skills were undoubtedly superb.
Outside the Meridian Gate, censors were on duty, and there were rules to follow when entering the imperial city.
When officials entered the palace for court, they could only use the left and right side gates. The Meridian Gate was usually not opened, and even if it was, it could only be said that the emperor was using it, as it was the main gate. Furthermore, in the twenty-fourth year of the Hongwu reign, Emperor Zhu was dissatisfied with the chaotic and disorderly procession of civil and military officials entering the court, so there were also rules in place.
The generals entered first, followed by close attendants and officials, then dukes, marquises, sons-in-law, and earls, then the five ministries and six departments, and then the Yingtian Prefecture and other miscellaneous officials in the capital, in that order.
Chang Mao stood casually at the front, mainly because his status was appropriate. There were no generals attending court these days, and the titles of close officials were just for show.
As the founding duke of the Ming Dynasty, the Duke of Zhongshan could rival him. Even if Fu Youde or his uncle, the Duke of Liang, came, they would still have to rank behind Chang Mao. This wasn't because Chang Mao was the emperor's uncle, but because Chang Yuchun was an insurmountable mountain for other military officials.
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