******
The New Year is here. According to current customs, after the Kitchen God worship on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month before the New Year, every family has to steam snacks and store meat to prepare for the expenses of the 10 to 20 days during the Spring Festival.
On the 30th day, people start to greet each other, which is called "saying goodbye to the old year". They drink and eat a lot, and play music to celebrate.
Peach charms and general charcoal are placed beside the door, and door gods are posted. Paintings of the God of Fortune, the Judge of Ghosts, and Zhong Kui are hung indoors. Gold and silver eight treasures, a Western prayer wheel, or yellow money woven into a dragon are hung above the bed. Sesame stalks are inserted into the oars and cypress branches are burned in the courtyard, which is called "焴岁".
From the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, people wear "Nao Mo" on their heads. It is made of black gold paper and painted with colors.
Some people wear grass insects and butterflies on their hair to match the festive scene. Some people wear small gourds, which are only as big as peas, called "grass gold", two of which are worth two or three taels of silver.
The palace was no exception. Yang Zhi was busy running around. Although the King of Qin had not yet ascended the throne and had ordered things to be kept as simple as possible, Yang Zhi, as the queen, still had little free time. On New Year's Eve, she was busy from morning to noon before she finally took care of the affairs of the palace.
There were hundreds of performances in the streets, and every household had its own entertainment, including cockfighting, playing chess, throwing pots, kicking balls, playing cards, playing mahjong, playing backsixes, kicking shuttlecocks, and flying kites.
Qiao'er is active and likes to fly kites. Qin Ye loves to follow her the most. Surrounded by several maids, laughter can be heard from the yard from time to time.
While having fun, Qiao'er sang a little song: "Kite, the most important thing is the thousand-foot string, so thin and fluttering, I am not afraid that you will fly into the sky. One thread at a time, I hold you by my side. It's not that I won't let go, but when I let go you will never come back. I can hear your sound in the wind, and I will naturally adjust your height and distance..."
This kind of popular song was not composed by Qin Mu. It was a song from the folk song collection "Guazhier" compiled by Feng Menglong. Qiao'er likes to read books with strong market flavor such as "Chu Ke Paian Jingqi" and "Guazhier";
Of course, she is not the only one who likes it. Ordinary people also like it very much. There are many scholars in the folk who make a living by writing lyrics and novels.
Qin Mu sat in the flower hall, watching Gu Hanyan and Li Xiangjun compete in pot-throwing, and asked Han Zanzhou nonchalantly, "Old Han, what did the emperors of the Ming Dynasty do during the New Year?"
"Replying to the King of Qin. The Chongzhen Emperor, whom I have seen, has been diligent and frugal since he ascended the throne. Looking back, he really didn't have many pleasant things. But the previous Ming emperors did have quite a few. Each emperor had a different personality and acted differently. For example, the Yongle Emperor spent half his life fighting in battles, and his favorite thing was hunting."
Han Zanzhou was a man with ambition. Qin Mu had personally fought in the battlefields over the years and could be considered a cavalry emperor, just like Emperor Yongle. So Han Zanzhou challenged Emperor Yongle to a duel.
"I remember the palace recorded a hunting trip in March of the nineteenth year of Yongle. The hunting trip was held in Huailai, north of Yanjing. It was unprecedentedly grand, with a total of 100,000 troops deployed."
"Moving out 100,000 troops for hunting?" Han Zanzhou's words made Qin Mu feel a little unbelievable. The Yongle Emperor was really amazing. Perhaps the entire Ming Dynasty was only able to afford such a thing during the Yongle period.
Han Zanzhou saw that Qin Mu's interest was aroused, and hurriedly continued: "Yes. King Qin, this matter is clearly recorded in the palace. The hunting lasted for a month before it ended. A total of 100,000 troops were dispatched.
At that time, Emperor Yongle carefully selected the elite troops of the Five Military Camps, the Three Thousand Camps, and the Shenji Camp for this hunting event, and practiced the Ming Army's cavalry encirclement, infantry formation, and infantry and cavalry joint attack.
They also brought in coyote soldiers and white-pole soldiers from Guangxi, Yunnan, and Sichuan to practice crossbow volleys and spear infantry assassinations. The envoys from various countries who watched the drill were all shocked, especially the firearms drill of the Shenji Camp, which showed many firearms such as the Tiger Power Cannon, the Bee Swarm, and the Fire Dragon Cart, which opened their eyes and amazed the envoys from various countries.
"Envoys from various countries?" Qin Mu muttered to himself. It sounded like the Yongle Emperor's grand hunting trip was more like a military parade. "I guess the Yongle Emperor mobilized so many troops not just for his own amusement, right?"
"Prince Qin is wise. Emperor Yongle did this for other reasons. As far as I know, since the Ming Dynasty was established by overthrowing the Mongols, a large number of Mongolian and Hui officials who had served in the Mongols fled to various countries in the Western Regions and tried their best to encourage the monarchs of their countries to adopt a hostile attitude towards the Ming Dynasty.
At that time, the Ming army was far from reaching the Western Regions and Hezhong, and the rulers of the small countries in the Western Regions also had doubts about the military strength of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Emperor Yongle carefully organized this grand hunting event in order to declare the national strength and military power of the Ming Dynasty.
Starting from the 16th year of Yongle's reign, Emperor Yongle sent Chen Cheng as an envoy to visit the Western Regions, Hezhong and other places, inviting the monarchs of those small countries to send delegations to return the visit with the Ming Dynasty delegation.
In July of the 18th year of the Yongle reign, a delegation of 600 people from 20 small countries arrived at Jiayuguan. Emperor Yongle also dispatched 6,000 elite cavalry to escort them along the way, passing through the Nine Frontier Military Towns. The powerful military strength of the Nine Frontier Military Towns also left a deep impression on the envoys from various countries.
In November, envoys from various countries arrived in the capital. Emperor Yongle received them in the palace. All the envoys performed the kowtow ceremony, except for the Timurid envoy who insisted on bowing. Emperor Yongle did not care. Two months later, the envoys from various countries received a notice that the Ming emperor would start a grand hunting event around Beijing and invited the envoys from various countries to come and watch.
This grand hunting event lasted for a whole month. The great military power of the Ming Dynasty and its policy of good neighborliness and friendship caused a huge response in various countries. After that, the friendly relations between the Western Regions and the Ming Dynasty continued until the end of the Ming Dynasty. The Timurid Empire alone sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty more than 60 times.
Han Zanzhou's words shocked Qin Mu greatly. As a latecomer, Qin Mu suddenly despised himself for not even thinking of the military parade.
This grand hunting event organized by Emperor Yongle was actually a military parade to demonstrate military power and thus to defeat the enemy without fighting.
This is much more labor-saving than sending hundreds of thousands of troops on an expedition, and the effect may not be much worse.
It is true that the Qin Dynasty has won one great victory after another, but these victories are relatively abstract to those who have not been on the battlefield in person. They only know that, oh, the Qin Dynasty won another victory, and that's all.
Even those who have personally experienced a war often only have a one-sided understanding of the strength of the Qin Dynasty. How to comprehensively display the overall strength of the Qin Dynasty and the power of various weapons can only be achieved through this large-scale "hunting" form.
So far, although the Qin Dynasty has repeatedly won great victories, it has risen so fast that not only the small countries around it, but even the "warlord" Zheng Zhilong is also reluctant to surrender. This is very telling.
You have risen too fast, some people are completely unaware of it, and some people who know about it still have doubts about you, fearing that you will rise too fast and fall too quickly;
In short, rapid rise often means a huge gap between hard power and soft power. If you want to convince others, soft power is indispensable in addition to hard power.
The military parade can be regarded as a peaceful way to demonstrate one's hard power. With some supplements, it becomes a display of both hard and soft power.
Qin Mu thought about it for a while, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that a large-scale hunting event was necessary to further boost morale and strengthen the cohesion of the people. Externally, it would show the overall military might of the Qin Dynasty and deter all hostile forces.
"Old Han, good, good, what you said today is very interesting, there is a reward!"
"Thank you, King Qin."
Qin Mu secretly decided to send envoys to visit neighboring countries immediately after the Chinese New Year. The round trip would take several months, and by then the imperial palace would be completed. At that time, he would also hold a grand military parade.
Well, you need to read more history books. There are so many things in history worth learning. A person who lacks historical knowledge can be said to be superficial.
At this time, the pitching pot competition between Li Xiangjun and Gu Hanyan had just ended. Each of them threw ten arrows. Li Xiangjun beat Gu Hanyan by three arrows. She said happily, "Sister Hanyan, I accept the defeat. The Green Landscape Painting you embroidered can be mine."
When Qin Mu heard this, he realized that the two of them were actually betting.
Gu Hanyan's embroidery of "Green Landscape" took several months to complete, but she lost it just like that. Qin Mu felt sad when he heard this. He also liked the painting very much, so he went forward and hugged Li Xiangjun and said, "You only know how to bully Hanyan. Let me come, let's compete, if I win, the embroidery will be mine."
Li Xiangjun was wearing an apricot-colored embroidered brocade dress. She was petite and pretty. After hearing what Qin Mu said, she said coquettishly, "The King of Qin is the most partial. He always protects Sister Hanyan. I won't compete with you."
Gu Hanyan felt a little embarrassed, lowered her head and said, "If the King of Qin likes it, I will embroider another one for him."
Qin Mu laughed and whispered in her ear: "Hanyan, can you embroider a picture of Tang Bohu's erotic painting for me..."
*****************
ps: I've been typing away all day and night, I don't even know what to say... ... To be honest, the results of this recommendation are not satisfactory, the number of collections has increased little, and I feel a little disappointed... ... .. Well, today's update is here, please give me some monthly tickets, brothers, please give me some comfort! Please give me monthly tickets, please recommend, please give me rewards, please give me everything, just like my messy mood... ... ...
.(To be continued..)
...