Yan Li said: "I see! Father-in-law's kindness, Yan Li is very grateful!"
After Eunuch Liu left, Menzi came over to congratulate him and said, "Every year, the officials who preside over the spring ox fight are important members of the imperial court. It seems that the emperor attaches great importance to the prime minister, so he let the prime minister do this."
Yan Li frowned, and shook his head: "What do you know!"
Menzi murmured: "How come the prime minister got a good job, but he is not happy on the face! I really don't know what he thinks."
Yan Li returned to the study and read the imperial decree again. I thought to myself, Li Hai asked him to preside over the spring bull fight and be a spring official, not because he valued him, but on the contrary, because he was suspicious of him. Hosting the Spring Festival may seem important, but in fact it is nothing more than idle things. Li Hai wants to gradually marginalize Yan Li, keep him away from finance, military affairs, and have no real power, so there is no big threat to Li Hai.
Thinking of this, Yan Li curled up a cold smile, and said to himself, "He suspects me, but he doesn't know that I'm pure in heart, since I'm asked to preside over the spring cow fight, I'll do it well. "
Two days later, according to historical records, Yan Li erected a clay sculpture of a green bull outside the east gate; outside the west gate, a white bull; outside the south gate, a red bull; and outside the north gate, a black bull. . This is prepared according to the Five Elements and Eight Diagrams. Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth correspond to the directions of west, northeast, south, and middle, and the colors facing each direction are white, cyan, black, red, and yellow, so Yan Li erected spring bulls of these colors outside each city gate. .
Yan Li came to the east gate early and hung the spring banner on the city tower, while he sat under the shade of the green willows, waiting for the people who came to see the excitement. Yan Li said to the door: "In a moment, I will tell you to beat the cow, so you can whip the spring cow with a leather whip until it breaks into pieces!"
Menzi had seen officials beat spring cattle before, but he didn't know why they beat spring cattle: "Prime Minister, this custom has been around for a long time, but why can't I understand it? Cows are animals that help us plow the fields. Do you want to whip it, or smash it into pieces?"
Yan Li said with a smile: "Beating the spring ox actually means to let the ox listen to us, let the ox cultivate a wider field for our people, and let the people have no worries about food and clothing. When the spring ox is broken by the whip, the people will come to grab the pieces , Whoever snatches it will get auspicious."
Menzi grinned and rubbed his hands on the back of his head: "So that's the case! Now I finally understand. Prime Minister Yan is so knowledgeable that he can tell why. I remember when we came to see Dachunniu, people asked Mr. Zhao the same question. But Mr. Zhao is like a hum-ha general, he can't say anything. So he opened his mouth and said, "I'll hit it, ask what's the matter! Don't you guys spank your butts when you are plowing? "Say it and make us laugh."
Don't talk about those common people, even Yan Li found it funny when he heard Menzi's words. It's so funny that a dignified minister of the Ministry of Rites didn't follow the scriptures to find out the meaning of whipping spring cattle, but used "beat it and hit it" to explain it all.
The sun was warm, and it shone obliquely from the city tower, and fell on the blue spring bull standing proudly outside the east gate, and the gentle east wind made the spring flags flutter. But when it was ten o'clock at noon, there were not many people watching the spring cow whipping ceremony, Yan Li felt very strange.
"Menzi, go and find out where the citizens of the imperial capital have gone! Didn't the emperor's list be posted a few days ago, saying that today there are spring cow-beating ceremonies at the four city gates, why are there so few people here!"
Menzi agreed, and went to the south gate, north gate, and west gate to see, and the situation was the same. There were a few ordinary people standing sparsely outside the gate, and their interest was not high.
The doorman told the situation, Yan Li felt strange: "Could it be that they stopped coming because I, Yan Li, came to host?"
A commoner was pulled over by the door, and Yan Li asked him, "Don't you know that there is a ceremony of whipping spring cattle today?"
The people said: "I know."
"Now that you know, how come there are so few people here. Where have they all gone?"
It's fine if Yan Li didn't say anything, but once he said that, the commoner showed distress on his face, and stared at Yan Li with doubtful eyes: "Prime Minister, don't you know?"
Yan Li frowned, a little surprised at the common people's questioning: "What do I know?"
The people's eyes showed their distrust towards Yan Li: "The Prime Minister is an official in the court, so why don't you know about such a big matter?"
What Yan Li said was even more confused. He asked the people to sit down, poured him a cup of tea, and asked slowly: "Tell me carefully, what happened in the court?"
Yan Li felt puzzled, the common people knew about the matter of the palace, but he, Yan Li, didn't know about it, which was a bit strange.
The common people drank tea and said: "In a few days it will be the Empress Dowager's 70th birthday. In order to celebrate her birthday, the Emperor ordered people to demolish many houses in Huairenli to free up a large area. Now the whole capital is noisy. The citizens were watching the excitement over there, so they didn’t come here to watch the spring cattle fight.”
When Yan Li heard this, he just realized that it was the Empress Dowager's birthday in a few days: "The Empress Dowager's birthday, in the past years, is to entertain all the princes, ministers, and relatives in the palace. What is the emperor doing in Huairenli?"
The people looked at Yan Li with strange eyes, and smiled at the corners of their mouths: "Prime Minister, are you joking with us?"
Yan Li said, "Why am I joking with you?"
The people said: "The emperor vacated a place in Huairenli to build a big temple for the empress dowager, as a gift for the empress dowager's 70th birthday! The emperor's mother—the empress dowager is happy, but it has suffered a lot for the mothers of the common people. Already!"
Said, a long sigh.
Yan Li's body trembled slightly: He didn't know such a big thing as building a temple for the Queen Mother? Li Hai actually managed to hide it from him! Sure enough, he guessed right, how could Li Hai entrust him with the matter of whipping the spring cattle? It turned out that he wanted to make a fool of himself, build the plank road secretly, and build the Queen Mother's temple without anyone noticing. Because Li Hai knew that if Yan Li heard about this, he would risk his life to remonstrate!
"Brother, what do you mean by saying that the mothers of the common people are hurt?" Yan Li asked again.
The people said: "This temple is very big, bigger than any temple in the imperial capital! Even the Taimiao Temple can't compare. A lot of workers were invited, some strong men didn't want to go, and some officials drove them away with whips. The fear of demolition There are thousands of people living in Renli, and I don’t know where they will be resettled now? During the demolition, there was a lot of crying, it’s so miserable! Some resettled and relocated, and they didn’t want to leave, so they were beaten to death.”
"The workers who came to ram the foundation and build the walls were also full of sorrow. They don't know how many people will die for this temple in the future! That's why I said, I am happy for the mother of the emperor, but I am worried about the mothers of the people."
Menzi sternly said to the commoner: "What nonsense are you talking about here! Believe it or not, our prime minister tied you to the emperor with a rope, and let the emperor send you off?"
The people trembled when they heard this, and hurriedly begged for mercy: "Prime Minister, I'm just talking casually, and you can't hear me!"
With a flick of his head, he disappeared in the crowd like a puff of smoke.
Yan Li blamed Menzi, "He also kindly told me, why did you drive him away?"
The door quietly whispered in Yan Li's ear: "Maybe there are the emperor's eyes and ears here! If you let the emperor know that you have listened to these disrespectful words, but don't punish that commoner, he will definitely trouble you! That’s what it means to say, don’t talk about state affairs.”
Menzi's thoughts are quite careful, and he has considered Yan Li so thoughtfully.
But can Yan Li stop talking about state affairs? If he can indifferently watch the people suffer from hard labor and bullied by the imperial power, then he will live up to his ambition.
Yan Li looked at the door with deep meaning: "Actually, you are better at being an official than me!"
Menzi didn't understand Yan Li's words: "Prime Minister, the younger ones will only be your doormen, not officials."
Yan Li smiled, looking at the palace with deep eyes.
"After beating the spring oxen, let's go back to the residence immediately." Yan Li looked at the few people gathered around, and said to the door, "The ceremony of whipping the spring oxen, let's begin!"
…