The Lantern Festival is traditionally held over three days, on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of the first lunar month. However, the 14th and 16th are generally for ordinary people to enjoy lanterns freely, while the 15th is the day reserved for royalty and high-ranking officials.
On this day, there were not only performances, but also a lantern competition.
Some particularly precious and exquisite lanterns also have riddles; whoever guesses the riddle correctly can take the lantern home.
Even before the advent of electric lights, the people here had already mastered the art of lantern making, even creating a revolving lantern made entirely of gold.
This year's lanterns have even more variety, and Xie Yushu can't help but feel a little excited.
The lantern festival is held at night, and this year there are envoys from various countries, so Emperor Qingyuan directly set up the banquet outside the palace in Kyoto's largest central square.
This central plaza is located right in the heart of Kyoto, at the intersection of the East, West, South, and North sections of the city.
The area is surrounded by eight wide main streets, and the open space in the middle is the size of eight basketball courts, more than enough to host a banquet.
The area has been under lockdown since noon. Only those who are going up to place lanterns and those who are guessing riddles can enter with their household registration certificate and entry token. All other people are prohibited from entering.
Although people are not allowed to enter the venue, they can still watch the excitement from the outside.
So by noon, even the windows of the surrounding shops and taverns outside the venue were packed with people.
If the Fifth Prince and his faction were to make a move, they would inevitably eliminate dissidents, with the Third Prince's faction and their families bearing the brunt. Therefore, Han Zhongyu and his group had already made preparations, gathering people together for protection and creating an empty city ruse for each prefecture.
The "Rainbow Feather Robe" clothing shop and the "Elegant Wine Cup" teahouse on the east side of the venue were both owned by Xuan Yuanche. Now, they have been transferred to Xie Yushu's name and are being managed by the Divine Eagle Guard.
Outsiders only know that the people behind these two shops are of noble status and cannot be offended, but they never know who these noble people are, so they always have a sense of awe towards these two shops.
Those who can afford to spend money here are just a few wealthy idlers.
This time, Xie Yushu secretly brought the Han family members and her own family here.
On the surface, the princess's mansion appeared normal, but inside, it was guarded by Zhao Hu and a hundred guards.
On the Han family's side, all the valuables were moved to a secret room, and all the servants were moved to the princess's residence.
The families of other officials from the Third Prince's faction who were able to go to the Third Prince's residence were taken around the city and then sent there. Those who were unable to go, or who were unable to leave, were accommodated in the Bafang Study north of the meeting place.
That's the Third Prince's property.
Xie Yushu's side was guarded by Qingfeng and a hundred Divine Eagle Guards.
The remaining two hundred are on standby.
The Third Prince sent three hundred elite soldiers into the Bafang Study across the street.
They are all large two-story shops in the city center, and you can't tell how many people are inside from the outside.
With those concerns resolved, the next issues were the area around the venue, Emperor Qingyuan's surroundings, and the Third Prince. The area around the venue was relatively easy to manage, as it was guarded by the Imperial Guards. The leader of the Imperial Guards, Qiao Rong, was Emperor Qingyuan's confidant, and since Emperor Qingyuan dared to use him, he naturally wouldn't betray him.
The worst fear is that there might be ambushes in the palace and on the way back to the palace.
Therefore, the Third Prince specially arranged for two thousand elite soldiers to disguise themselves as commoners and disperse along the way back to the palace, secretly escorting Emperor Qingyuan.
Xie Yushu was still a little uneasy, so she ordered Qingfeng to send out a hundred Divine Eagle Guards to high points along the streets that Emperor Qingyuan and the Third Prince would be passing through.
At the same time, people set up many fireworks and firecrackers in the alleys along the street.
There would be plenty of fireworks and firecrackers tonight, and with the ones they prepared, it would be enough to drown out the gunfire.
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