The Shangyuan Festival is the most grand and lively festival in the Ming Dynasty. None of them, even the Spring Festival has to stand aside. There is one special feature of this year's Shangyuan Festival, that is, the eldest son Zhu Zaiji, just ten months old, so this year's Shangyuan Festival will be more lively than in previous years.

In fact, as early as the beginning of the twelfth lunar month last year, Jiajing personally issued an order to organize the Lantern Festival of the Ministry of Rites. At that time, he would visit the Lantern Festival in person to have fun with the people. The eldest son of the emperor Zhu Zaiji would also appear in public for the first time, which was quite a sign of becoming a crown prince.

The Ministry of Rites naturally did not dare to neglect this. Even the Minister of Rites Xi Shu, who had been in charge of his old arms and legs, took action personally and worked hard to arrange it. It is said that the Ministry of Revenue has specially approved a budget of 500,000 taels of silver for this year's Lantern Festival. It is conceivable that it will be so lively and grandly that it will be no different from burning silver.

It is worth mentioning here that Qin Jin, the former head of the Ministry of Revenue, had already retired and returned home because Jiajing insisted on moving Emperor Xingxian to the Taimiao. Otherwise, with his iron cock-like personality, it would be absolutely impossible to approve this expenditure.

The current Minister of Revenue is Xu Zan, whose courtesy name is Tingmei and whose pseudonym is Songgao, a native of Baoling, Henan. He was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Hongzhi. He was also a newcomer of Zhang Cong. He was accustomed to welcome the favor, so he would not be able to say 500,000 taels of silver. I was afraid that Jiajing would spend 5 million taels of lantern festivals and he would also approve it.

In the blink of an eye, the year was over, and the Shangyuan Festival in the ninth year of Jiajing also came as scheduled. The Shangyuan Festival was celebrated together. The entire capital was immersed in an extremely lively and festive atmosphere. The streets and alleys were crowded with lanterns, and lanterns were hung everywhere. At night, all the lanterns were lit up and bird's eye viewed from the sky. But the lights in the whole city were bright, and it turned into a sea of ​​lanterns, which was so beautiful.

Especially in the area of ​​Imperial City and Chang'an Street, all kinds of giant lanterns are competing for beauty, and almost all the people in the city are coming here, which is exactly: fire trees and silver flowers never sleep, and I will have fun tonight and never sleep.

At about the second hour of Mo Xu, a bright moon hung high. The people in front of the Wu Gate had their necks until their necks grew. Jiajing and Empress Dowager Jiang finally led the concubines in the harem to appear on the city tower. The whole audience was suddenly filled with excitement. The officials, the people, and the yamen soldiers under the city who were responsible for maintaining order all knelt down one after another, kneeling in the direction of the city tower and shouting long live, like a tsunami thunder, and the sound shook the sky.

I saw Jiajing wearing a yellow robe and a winged crown, standing on the city tower at the Meridian Gate with great enthusiasm, looking down at the crowds of people kneeling on the entire Chang'an Street and countless dazzling lanterns, a kingly spirit that ruled the world arose.

At this moment, the most popular person was Queen Wu standing on Jiajing's right hand. She was holding the eldest son of the ten-month month in her arms. Although she tried her best to show her solemn and majestic appearance as the mother of the country, her red pink face still exposed her inner excitement at this moment.

At this time, those who are qualified to climb the city tower and take a seat, except for Jiajing's harem family, there are only Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and nobles at the level of Duke. Even the six ministers of the ministers have to stand under the city tower. Oh, there are exceptions. For example, the people of the Wu family were able to climb the city tower and take a seat after being exposed to Empress Wu.

As the only king of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Jin was naturally qualified to occupy a place on the city tower. Not only him, but also Xie Xiaowan, Fei Ruyi and Fei Jixiang came. They were here with Empress Dowager Jiang at this moment. They all had imperial edicts. Xie Xiaowan was also a first-rank imperial edict wife, and the Fei sisters were third-rank imperial edict wives.

In fact, Xue Bingxin also has a fifth-rank imperial decree. Although her rank is a little lower, if she wants to come, the Ministry of Rites will also arrange seats for Xu Jin's sake. However, Bingniu is cold-hearted and does not like lively. Due to her background, she is really not very interested in the Zhu family and has not come to participate in this official grand lantern festival. As for Wang Cuiqiao, she is not qualified to participate.

Soon, everyone sat on the city tower according to the established seating order. Jiajing and Empress Jiang sat in the middle, Empress Wu sat on the other side of Jiajing, followed by the imperial concubine He Zhier, Concubine Shu and Concubine De followed closely, and the famous women sat in the back row on the side of Empress Jiang according to their ranks. Xu Jin and other ministers were arranged at the rear of the right side of Jiajing's seat, which was clearly distinguished between men and women.

As a prince of a different surname, Xu Jin was still in front of his seat, but it was not his turn to rank first, because the vassal kings from all over the Zhu family sent representatives. It was Xu Jin's turn after they sat down, and then Xu Pengju and other nobles of the Duke level, Wang Zan, Xia Yan, Zhai Luan, and Xi Shu were ranked behind a group of Dukes. The six ministers (including Zhang Cong) could only stand under the city tower. There was no way, the space on the city tower was limited, so there was no place to arrange so many seats.

Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, sat next to Xu Jin, and was laughing at him and getting close to him. He only heard him say with a little regret: "The first game of this year's Cuhua Competition is so exciting. It's a pity that Prince Beijing didn't go to watch it."

Speaking of which, under the management of Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, the football league in the Ming Dynasty is now in full swing. Xu Pengju not only made a fortune, but also became a fan of Zhishen.

Xu Jin smiled calmly and said, "I have been leading troops outside for the past two years. During the Chinese New Year, I want to take the opportunity to accompany my family. I can watch the game of Cuhua. Anyway, I will just pay a lot of dividends every year."

Xu Pengju smiled and said slightly obscenely: "Yes, the fields in King Beijing's home have been drought for a long time, so you have to water them carefully, but you must also pay attention to moderation and not overwork. Just as my country's family has prepared the Ten-Full Tonic Pills. Let's go back and give them two bottles to the prince. This pill is very effective in strengthening the foundation and cultivating the Yuan. It is better to give warm wine to the servings before going to bed. Hehe, I guarantee that you will not lose your vigor day and night."

The nobles around all showed meaningful smiles. Xu Jin was calm and smiled: "I would like to thank Duke Wei for this. But the two bottles are too shabby. How can I take them out? At least ten or eight bottles are needed."

Puff!

As soon as he finished speaking, someone burst into laughter. Xu Jin frowned and turned his head to look at him. He saw that he was a young man about twenty-seven or eight years old. He looked quite handsome, but his face turned pale, his tears were blue, and his eyes were lustful. He looked like a powerful child whose body was hollowed out by wine and sex.

Xu Jin did not recognize this person, but he recognized the one next to him, who was exactly the one Wu Deyou, the father-in-law of Xinping, and that young man looked a little similar to Wu Deyou, so he should be one of the two elder brothers of Queen Wu.

As mentioned earlier, Empress Wu had two elder brothers, one was Wu Hao and the other was Wu Kun. Since Empress Wu gave birth to the eldest son of the emperor, not only Wu Deyou was granted the title of Marquis of Xinping, but also Wu Hao and Wu Kun were awarded the title of Earl, which just happened to be the saying: One person is attained, and the chickens and dogs are ascended to heaven.

At this moment, the eldest son Wu Hao was sitting next to Wu Deyou. The second son Wu Kun was absent from such a grand occasion for some reason.

Let’s talk about Wu Hao’s look at Xu Jin when he saw Xu Jin turning his head to look at him, and he looked at Xu Jin proudly, with an expression that I was not afraid of you. Xu Jin felt uncomfortable with this kind of wine bag, so he just glanced at him and looked away as if nothing had happened, and continued to chat and laugh with Xu Pengju.

Master Wu clearly felt the contempt from Xu Jin and couldn't help but be angry. If I hadn't stopped him with a stern look, this ignorant Master Wu would have gone crazy on the spot!

There is no way. Since the Wu family suddenly became noble, there are too many people who are flattering each other every day, so that Mr. Wu has become more and more arrogant and thinks that their Wu family is the best in the world.

"Bah, that's so cool. When my nephew sits on the throne in the future, I'll see how I can't help you." Wu Hao spat and muttered unanimously.

At this time, the moon was in the middle of the night, and more and more people were rushing to Chang'an Street to pay tribute to the sky. The highlight of the lantern festival tonight, the fireworks performance, began. Various colorful fireworks rose into the sky, and various sky lanterns were mixed with rising, which caused the audience to cheer.

Jiajing was excited and actually hugged his ten-month-old son Zhu Zaiji from the wet nurse's arms to the female wall, pointing at the fireworks and lanterns in the sky, which made the eunuchs and guards very nervous. On the one hand, he was worried that Jiajing would accidentally drop the prince, and on the other hand, he was worried that an assassin would mingle among the people below to shoot cold arrows.

"Long live the emperor!"

"The prince is thousands of years old and thousands of years old!"

When the officials under the city saw Jiajing appearing behind the female wall with the eldest son in his arms, they immediately bowed and shouted. The people on the street followed suit and knelt all over the street in one go.

Queen Wu was so excited that she clenched her fists tightly. How she hoped that the emperor would suddenly announce the appointment of her son as the crown prince in public. Wu Deyou and Wu Hao were so nervous that their hearts were raised to their throats, staring at Jiajing's back.

Queen Wu was excited and glanced at He Zhier next to her with the corner of her eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn't see a trace of jealousy on the latter's face. On the contrary, He Zhier was admiring the fireworks and lanterns in the sky with excitement, and her attention was not even on Jiajing.

"Pretending, it must be pretending. In fact, I don't know how jealous I am!" Queen Wu thought to herself in dissatisfaction.

The Wu family was disappointed. Jiajing did not announce the enthronement of the prince in the end, but waved to the people on the street, and then carried his son Zhu Zaiji back to the imperial seat.

At this time, He Zhier clapped her hands and shouted hard, pointing to the sky and said, "Look, the dragon is rising!"

Jiajing looked up and shouted excitedly: "Look at the queen mother, that's the lantern designed by the son minister."

Everyone looked up and saw a magnificent dragon-shaped lantern rising into the air, as bright as the scorching sun, and its huge body was lifelike and was about to fly away from the clouds.

Princess Yongchun said in a daze: "Brother, did you really make this Tenglong lantern?"

Jiajing said proudly: "It's my design, Sister Zhier...hehe, it looks good!"
Chapter completed!