Soon, it was the day of the imperial court meeting every five days. Although the sage still did not go out that day, Yuan Zhi from the Palace Office came to the Zichen Hall, the main hall of the inner palace, and announced to all officials that after the Yulan Festival next month, the sage will choose a day to take the royal family, ministers, officials, and officials from various vassal states in Beijing to Cangshan to escape the summer heat. All civil and military officials above the sixth rank in Beijing who received a middle or higher grade in the performance evaluation last year can go with him. Not only that, a military parade will be held, and the Jiaofang will be ordered to rehearse music and dance to break the formation to boost the prestige.
This news immediately made the entire Purple Palace restless, and it was filled with the buzz of officials discussing with each other.
It was not the fault of the whole court to lose composure, but this matter was really unexpected. The current sage had been on the throne for nearly 20 years, and he had never visited Cangshan Mountain once. The officials had long been accustomed to this and almost forgot that there was such a thing. No one would have thought that he would suddenly make such a decision.
In less than half a day, the news spread like wildfire in the Southern Court. Everyone was talking about it. Apart from some people who were privately speculating on why the Saint suddenly went out this year, more people were excited. After all, Chang'an was hot in summer, and it was a great opportunity to go out to escape the heat. Although nominally they had to go there on business, it was much more comfortable and relaxed than staying in the Southern Court all day, going in and out of the palace gates and taking turns on duty. The court's annual performance evaluation of officials, except for a few who really couldn't make sense, it was not difficult for most people to get a good performance evaluation. It can be said that, except for some who stayed behind, this meant that the Saint wanted to take almost all the Beijing officials above the sixth rank to Cangshan to escape the summer heat.
As for the dance of breaking the formation, it is a kind of martial dance compared to the civil dance, used to show the bravery and invincibility of the soldiers in the army. Three years ago, the war in the western frontier ended. After it was performed once in the ceremony of surrendering captives after the victory, it has not been performed again in the past few years. This time it will be performed again, and it will be accompanied by a military parade. You can imagine how magnificent the scene will be. This dance requires 120 dancers. The Jiaofang has gradually declined in the hands of the saint in recent years. Where can so many majestic dancers be gathered at once? There is no doubt that they have to be selected from the warriors of the various guards in the capital. When the news spread, everyone regarded it as a great honor to be able to participate in the performance. Not only did many children compete for it, but even King Kang took the initiative to ask for it and got the permission of the saint.
Although there were still some days before departure, the Ministry of Rites, the Palace Office and other departments had already sent teams to Cangshan in advance to make various preparations to welcome the emperor. The entire Southern Court was almost immersed in the enthusiastic atmosphere of leaving Beijing for the summer vacation. Many people didn't even have the heart to do anything, just looking forward to the arrival of that day.
The impact of this incident naturally also affected the Fengyi Palace, which had been relatively calm.
This palace was the residence of the current Empress Xiao Liu. At this time, she came out of De'an Palace, where the Empress Dowager lived, and the phoenix sedan chair was on the road. Even before returning to the palace, she could not suppress the disappointment and resentment from the bottom of her heart. Although her face was covered with makeup, it still could not hide the deep gloom. The palace supervisors and palace maids accompanying her were all terrified and held their breath, fearing that they would accidentally anger the Empress and cause a disaster. When they walked to a section of the palace road leading to Zhaowen Pavilion, suddenly, five or six people came from a fork road a few dozen steps away from the phoenix sedan chair. Except for the two eunuchs, the remaining few looked like people from the direct courtyard of Jixian Hall. The group seemed to be going to Zhaowen Pavilion, but suddenly noticed the Empress' phoenix sedan chair and immediately came over, all calling her Her Majesty the Empress and paying homage. Only a young man who looked like a young man did not get on and stopped where he was.