"Three hundred miles, three hundred miles, urgent!"
"Announce the golden list, open the gates and let them in. Anyone who obstructs will be punished severely, and anyone who defies the rules will be severely punished!"
At dawn in the morning, in front of the Anqing city gate, a cloud of dust rolled up. Two riders on fast horses came straight towards the city gate out of the dust. The one in the lead was a postman holding a document with a big seal on it, which read "Immediate Delivery". The horse ran straight to the city gate without slowing down.
The rider behind was a little slower, holding a black imperial decree in the form of a scroll with sunflower ebony as the axis. He followed the horse in front and also ran straight to the city gate without slowing down.
In fact, the rider behind and the rider in front were not together. They met when they were near Anqing Prefecture. They both set out from the capital. The rider behind set out two days earlier than the rider in front. However, the imperial edict he delivered only required an expedited delivery of 200 miles, so the rider behind caught up not far in front of Anqing Prefecture.
The soldiers guarding the city gate of Anqing Prefecture watched the postmen riding their horses from afar, then looked at the documents held high in their hands. They did not dare to stop for a moment and quickly cleared the city gate to let them pass.
Finally, the announcement of the golden list and the imperial decree to confer titles on Anren finally arrived in Anqing Prefecture.
At the same time, when the post riders who had been riding for several days arrived at Anqing Prefecture, Zhu Ping'an, who was far away in the capital, had already finished his three-day training in the Honglu Temple and was on the day to present a letter of thanks.
According to the requirements of the Ming Dynasty Code, after the three-day training at the Honglu Temple, the top scholar led all the Jinshi scholars to present a letter of thanks. This was probably a test of the effectiveness of the three-day etiquette training at the Honglu Temple. This time, the letter of thanks was a standard court meeting, which means that this day was just the day when the civil and military officials went to court. Giving thanks at the court meeting was the best way to test the etiquette of the new Jinshi scholars.
This court meeting was held in the Western Garden. It was already a great achievement for Emperor Jiajing to leave the Western Garden and go to the Forbidden City last time. This time, being able to hold a court meeting in the Western Garden in accordance with the "Da Ming Hui Dian" had made all the civil and military officials very satisfied.
It was only the beginning of the year, and being able to see Emperor Jiajing twice was beyond their expectations. You know, Emperor Jiajing never attended court in previous years. They couldn't even think of seeing Jiajing for several years. Xiyuan was Xiyuan, so don't expect too much. Emperor Jiajing was able to take time out from refining elixirs and cultivating immortals to hold court meetings, and the civil and military officials were already very satisfied.
On this day, Zhu Ping'an put on his crown and clothes early in the morning and arrived at the gate of Xiyuan Palace.
In those days, it was much harder for Emperor Jiajing to attend court than to win the lottery jackpot. Opportunities were rare, so all civil and military officials cherished them. It didn't take long for the most elite bureaucratic group of the Ming Dynasty to gather in front of the Xiyuan Palace.
When the time came, the gates of the West Garden Palace opened wide, and the civil and military officials lined up to enter according to their ranks. Zhu Ping'an led the scholars to follow closely behind.
This was not the first time that Xiyuan had come. The last palace examination was held in the Taisu Hall of Xiyuan, and this time the court meeting was also held in the Taisu Hall. The officials of the Honglu Temple led the palace guards early in the morning and placed a table with dragon patterns carved on it about three meters away from the east side of the Taisu Hall door.
Looking at this dragon-patterned memorial case, Zhu Ping'an knew clearly that this dragon-patterned memorial case was where he would place the memorial of thanks on behalf of the other Jinshi candidates. Submitting memorials of thanks was a fixed procedure, and there was no room for creativity in the content of the memorial. Zhu Ping'an's memorial of thanks had already been written under the guidance of the officials of the Honglu Temple during his training there.
Soon, the carriage of Emperor Jiajing, escorted by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, came from a distance.
The Jinyiwei set up a Lubujia. The word "lu" in Lubujia does not mean braised meat, but a homophone of "lu", which means shield. The "Han Guanyi" has a specific description of the specifications of the Lubujia: "The emperor's carriage is called Lu, and the soldiers and guards are in armor and shields outside as the front. They are all called books, so it is called Lubu."
The Jinyiwei guards held large silver shields, golden gourds, pagodas, flags and other ceremonial weapons and guarded the Jiajing Emperor's carriage, accompanied by court musicians. Music was played all the way.
A whip sounded in the clear sky, and Emperor Jiajing made a brilliant appearance.
The civil and military officials shouted "Long live the emperor!" and knelt down three times and kowtowed nine times, performing a great ceremony. Zhu Ping'an led the scholars to stand at the bottom of the steps. He could not hear the noise in the hall clearly, so he could only kneel down with the others.
After the greetings between the emperor and his subjects, the main topic of the court meeting began. The champion presented a letter of thanks on behalf of the newly promoted Jinshi.
An official from the Honglu Temple walked down the steps and led Zhu Ping'an up the steps to the dragon-patterned table outside the east gate of the main hall, and asked Zhu Ping'an to place the letter of thanks on the dragon-patterned table.
Zhu Ping'an came to the table with dragon patterns, and under the guidance of the officials from the Honglu Temple, he knelt down and held the letter of thanks and placed it on the table.
After putting the watch away, Zhu Pingan performed the three kneeling and nine kowtows ceremony again according to the requirements of the training in the Honglu Temple. After the ceremony, Zhu Pingan returned to the position at the bottom of the steps again and led the new Jinshi to stand at the bottom of the steps.
"Enter the table"
The Mingzan official shouted with full energy.
As soon as he finished speaking, an official from the Honglu Temple stepped out from the queue, walked to the dragon-patterned table, took the letter of thanks that Zhu Pingan had placed there with both hands, walked to the main hall, bowed deeply, and knelt down, holding Xien in his hands and kneeling in the center of the hall.
"Proclamation"
The Mingzan officer shouted again with full energy.
The officials from the Honglu Temple knelt down and began to read out the letter of thanks, only reading out the table of contents and the summary at the end.
"The newly-appointed Jinshi comes to see the emperor." Mingzanguan called out again.
Zhu Ping'an led the newly-appointed Jinshi into the main hall and performed the solemn ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows to Emperor Jiajing, who sat on the dragon throne.
"You may enter the Imperial Academy or one of the six ministries, and serve me in writing and peace. I will accumulate your talents and virtues for your future. Do not be lazy, or I will never forgive you."
Emperor Jiajing, sitting high on the dragon throne, looked at the newly-appointed Jinshi kneeling in the hall, nodded with satisfaction, and spoke.
"We will obey the imperial edict." Zhu Ping'an and others knelt down and replied.
After that, Emperor Jiajing stopped talking and was very frugal with his words. The Mingzan official announced that the ceremony was over. Zhu Ping'an and others stood up to express their gratitude. Then, led by an official from the Honglu Temple, they came to the end of the civil servants and stood in line.
Generally speaking, once the thanksgiving was presented, the court meeting was successfully concluded, Emperor Jiajing returned to the palace, and all the civil and military officials returned to their homes.
But today is a little different.
When the Mingzan official finished reading out the procedure and was about to end the court meeting according to procedure, a voice suddenly came from the ranks of civil and military officials.
"I have a memorial."
A clear voice broke the silence of the hall and attracted everyone's attention.
In the eyes of the crowd, they saw an official in his forties, with elegant looks and wearing a flying fish robe, walking out of the queue of civil and military officials. He was holding a tablet and strode out of the queue with big strides. He shouted to the Jiajing Emperor who was sitting high on the dragon throne, "I have a report to make."
The voice was clear and powerful, the expression was solemn, and he was ready to die. (To be continued.)