Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1081 New Year's Day Nap
This New Year banquet was so grand that the details of it are still talked about even hundreds of years later.

The second day, the first day of the first lunar month, was relatively boring and tedious. After offering sacrifices in the ancestral temple, Zhu held a grand court meeting in the Fengtian Hall. The court ceremony was solemn, the princes and officials were in a state of strict discipline, and the ceremonial guards were majestic and imposing.

The emperor marched out of the Qianqing Gate, and his golden chariot ascended to the three platforms amidst a mighty escort, passing through the Jinshen Hall and the Huagai Hall, and finally the Emperor arrived at the Fengtian Hall, where he sat on the golden throne to accept the New Year's worship from his subjects.

But after all this, it was the annual leave that all officials loved. Zhu Yuanzhang was a workaholic, and he rarely had time to rest, so he made all the civil and military officials plunge into work like him. In addition to daily rest, officials in the Ming Dynasty only had three days off a year, which were Zhu Yuanzhang's birthday, the winter solstice, and the first day of the first lunar month.

This shows how rare this one-day holiday on the first day of the first lunar month is. When the ceremony was over, all the officials left the palace in twos and threes, happily saying goodbye.

Zhu Su's side was more troublesome. After the outer court ceremony, the emperor had to return to the inner court to accept the greetings of the concubines, princes and grandchildren. After completing this process, Zhu Su called Zhu Biao, Zhu Chong, Zhu Gang and Zhu Di. The five brothers were just looking for a place to have some fun, but the head of the group, Zhu, spoke.

"Old Five, please stay here. I have something to tell you."

Zhu Su's face froze. Zhu Di and Zhu Chong gave him a look that told him to wish him good luck. Zhu Biao saw the eye contact between them and shook his head and laughed.

Zhu Su followed Old Zhu to the inner courtyard, and saw that Old Zhu had changed into a purple Chengzi robe and a pair of short-faced thousand-layer boots under the service of several eunuchs, dressed like an ordinary wealthy man in the market. He originally looked quite down-to-earth, and now with this outfit, he looked like an ordinary citizen. However, he had been in a high position for a long time, and his arrogance could not be concealed.

However, since he was wearing common people's clothes, no one would think of him as an emperor.

Seeing him in a daze, Lao Zhu waved at him impatiently: "What are you doing, you idiot boy?"

"Come here quickly and change your clothes. This fancy robe will only attract people's attention if you go out."

Zhu Su secretly complained that this robe was not designed by you, but he still opened his arms and let the eunuch change his clothes for him.

By this time, he could already guess that Old Zhu was going to disguise himself with him, go on a secret tour, and have fun with the people.

Soon, Zhu Su was also dressed up by the eunuchs in the palace. Old Zhu was dressed like a wealthy landlord, and his dress was naturally similar to that of a landlord's stupid son.

He was wearing a bright red poplin robe with the cuffs turned up, revealing a thin white gauze lining and jade ornaments on the wristbands. He had a gold peace lock around his neck and a pair of red square-toed cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles. His whole outfit was bright red with emerald green, and with the large gold chain around his neck, he looked as rustic as could be.

How can a man in his thirties still wear a safety lock? Zhu Su fought hard against this outfit, but Old Zhu wouldn't let him change it. He even used the excuse of resisting the order. What else could Zhu Su do? He had to swallow the humiliation and live a miserable life. Su Wu herding sheep... From Old Zhu's expression, it was obvious that this guy was careless on purpose.

Old Zhu left the palace from the corner gate with only Zhu Su and Er Hu. Of course, there were many guards in secret, but at least on the surface, this group of people was just a rich old man, with his son and a guard, who went out to the street to enjoy the New Year's celebration.

"You may not know, but in the early years during the New Year's Day, after receiving the worships of all the civil and military officials, my sister and I often disguised ourselves like this. I pretended to be a rich landlord, and my sister pretended to be a landlord's wife, and we strolled on this street until the sun went down..." Old Zhu was obviously in high spirits today. He looked around all the way and chattered to Zhu Su.

Zhu Su was very dissatisfied in his heart. How could he not know that Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma had often visited the people in disguise in their early years? At that time, he was still young, and Zhu Yuanzhang strictly prohibited them from mixing with the people. But he himself often went to the people to do private things.

The cooking skills of the imperial chefs in the palace were extremely poor. They always cooked the same few dishes. After eating them for a few years, people would vomit. At that time, if Zhu Su and his brothers wanted to eat something delicious, they had to rely on Zhu Biao, who was already married, for help.

But sometimes Zhu came back to the palace to test their knowledge, and the pancake crumbs and tofu pudding residue on their mouths were never wiped clean. God knows how much resentment the Zhu Su brothers felt at that time.

But I never thought that Lao Zhu actually thought he was hiding well...

Zhu Su looked strange, but Old Zhu did not take it as an offense. He had long been attracted by the busy New Year scene on the street. Zhuque Street was the most prosperous street in Yingtian Prefecture. Today was the New Year's Day, and the street was even more crowded.

The sun was setting, the lights were on, and the remaining sunset light shone through the sparse leaves of the locust tree, onto the bluestone slabs, leaving mottled shadows. The voices of the vendors hawking their wares echoed in the air. They were just ordinary hawking sounds, but they sounded quite rhythmic. The steam from the steamer, carrying the aroma of food, mixed with the pedestrians on the street.

The street stalls were filled with a wide variety of goods. Children were chasing and playing with each other, most of them holding food such as candied haws and candy figurines. Occasionally, there were the sounds of firecrackers, which were the older children having fun. The snow was still falling, but in such a lively atmosphere, it had lost some of its coolness and had become a simple accessory to set off the festive atmosphere.

Old Zhu went from door to door to see the Spring Festival couplets posted on the doors of these families. Speaking of Spring Festival couplets, they are well-known in later generations. Everyone has to post a pair during the Spring Festival. Later, Zhu Su learned that this thing actually originated from Old Zhu. In the Tang and Song dynasties, the custom during the Spring Festival was to hang peach wood charms and post door gods at the door.

It was Zhu Yuanzhang who ordered that every household should post a spring couplet with festive words on its door. Since then, the spring couplet has spread across China.

Since it was his own "feat", Old Zhu naturally paid special attention to the Spring Festival couplets. He was a bit of a pretentious person. In his early years, he often wrote poems such as "Kill millions of soldiers in Jiangnan, the sword on his waist is still bloody" and "The cock crows once and the cock sticks out its head once, the cock crows twice and the cock sticks out its head twice". At this time, he was also very interested in reading these different couplets along the way. If he saw a good sentence, Old Zhu would stop and comment on it, and then applaud.

Fortunately, today is New Year's Day, and the Spring Festival couplets are meant to attract tourists and be seen by people. Otherwise, an old man like him who shouts and yells in front of other people's shops, affecting business and refusing to go in to consume, will definitely be driven away.

Along the way, Zhu Su bought a sesame cake for Old Zhu. The old man didn't like seafood or mountain delicacies, but he liked these street snacks very much, and his beard was full of crumbs. While eating the cake and walking on the street, he came to a teahouse. An old scholar was telling a story in the teahouse. Old Zhu and Zhu Su happened to be tired, so they went into the teahouse to ask the tea master for a cup of tea, and found a corner to rest and listen to the story.

Today is New Year's Day, and stories with blood and war like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" are not suitable for telling, so the story in the teahouse is "Journey to the West". Although Wu Cheng'en was not born at this time, the story of Sun Wukong in Journey to the West had been circulated in the Song Dynasty. Telling this mysterious and bizarre story of Journey to the West at this time is not only festive, but also very fascinating, and everyone in the teahouse cheered loudly.

Old Zhu was also very supportive, shouting and yelling like these people. Zhu Su laughed at what he saw, but he was also happy in his heart. Not long after, the old scholar finished his story and left the stage amid the applause and calls from the crowd to stay. The audience was still reluctant to leave. Old Zhu and Zhu Su were also telling the story of Journey to the West that they had just heard in this teahouse. Suddenly, a few Confucian scholars stood up and said, "Everyone, today is the New Year's Day. Seeing such a grand event and listening to such a good book, how can we not be inspired to write poetry?"

"How about we write a poem based on this grand scene and the story of Journey to the West to accompany our drinking?"

The Ming Dynasty was now flourishing in culture. First, the new school advocated practical application of knowledge, encouraged Confucian scholars to travel and expand their knowledge, and took the old Confucian scholars of the Tang and Song dynasties as examples, and did not fear their unruly behavior like the Neo-Confucianists. Second, Zhu Su "wrote" several poems, making poetry popular in the newly established Ming Dynasty, and it also brought about a considerable trend of popularity. Many Confucian scholars were enlightened and influenced, and like the Confucian scholars in the Tang Dynasty, many poets emerged.

It was normal for a group of scholars to recite poems on the spot when they were in a good mood. The tea master seemed to be accustomed to this and immediately ordered people to take out pens and ink. If any of the scholars had a good poem, he would ask them to write it on the teahouse.

If the poems can be sung in Yingtian, the teahouse's business will naturally increase. This is indeed a very clever advertising method.

The scholar immediately waved his sleeves and composed a poem in front of everyone. The poem was not the best, but it was not bad either. The tea drinkers and his fellow scholars complimented him, and the scholar bowed to everyone with a proud look.

Then another scholar stood up and chanted a poem. The common people didn't understand such a thing, but since they had seen it with their own eyes, they couldn't help but sigh and cheer. The second scholar sat down happily. Then the third and fourth people came. Regardless of whether they were good or bad, most of them actually wrote poems.

It may be difficult to connect the story of Journey to the West with the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, but the Tang Dynasty when the story took place is similar to the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty today. Starting from this aspect, it is not difficult to write some poems praising the Ming Dynasty.

Old Zhu listened with great interest, nodding his head from time to time to appreciate it. Zhu Su thought he was just bragging, after all, many of these poems were praising him.

"Old Five, you have some talent for poetry, why don't you write a poem?" Old Zhu teased Zhu Su.

Zhu Su rolled his eyes and was about to refuse, but the Confucian scholars over there heard this and turned their eyes to Zhu Su. One of the Confucian scholars smiled and said, "Brother, are you also a poet?"

"Today is a happy New Year's Day. Since you want to recite a poem to add to the festivities, why don't you tell us the poem so we can appreciate it together?"

His companions were also beside him, speaking festive compliments to Zhu Su, but in private, they were winking and making small looks, as if they wanted to make fun of Zhu Su.

Zhu Su thought about it and realized that these people judged him by his clothes and really regarded him as the ignorant son of a landlord. He turned to look at Old Zhu, only to see that Old Zhu seemed to be smiling, as if he was just watching the joke quietly.

Zhu Su also found it funny. After thinking for a while, he simply stood up and went to find the tea master and said, "Excuse me, please bring me the pen and ink."

"Don't hide it. I saw you ask me to take out the pen and ink and put it on the counter."

Tea Master wanted to say no, but Zhu Su pointed it out, and he was at a loss. He looked at Zhu Su's outfit and didn't think he was a poet. Maybe he was a man who didn't have much sense for himself. Let him scribble in the teahouse, and when the boss comes back, won't he be blamed for the pen and ink? But since Zhu Su said so, he had no choice but to hand over the pen and ink, but secretly cursed his bad luck in his heart.

Zhu Su did not speak. He saw from the corner of his eye that everyone was pointing at him, as if waiting for him to make a fool of himself. He thought it would be nice to show off a little on New Year's Day with his old man, so he found a pillar and wrote a poem.

"When wind and thunder rise from the earth, there will be a pile of bones. Monks are fools and can be taught, but demons are ghosts and will cause disasters."

"The golden monkey rises with great strength, and the jade cloud clears the air. Today I cheer for the great sage Sun, only because the evil mist has returned."

The poem was so majestic and magnificent that the Confucian scholars who were mocking him changed their expressions when he was halfway through writing it. Old Zhu read the poem several times and couldn't help but clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Good! Good!"

"As expected of our son, these four lines of poetry are really good!"

He always wrote poems in this grand and majestic style, so he loved these four lines of poetry very much.

Zhu Su threw the pen, and the tea master bent over and took it obediently. When Zhu Su wrote half of it, he knew that this stupid son of the landlord was a man of ink. This poem is more than worthy of being written on the pillars of their teahouse, it is enough to be passed down as a legend. A group of tea drinkers and Confucian scholars also watched, and they felt that the poem became more and more interesting the more they read it.

One of them looked at it and found something. He squinted his eyes and looked for a long time, then said to his companion: "That's not right."

"This character... the more I look at it, the more it looks like the handwriting of His Royal Highness Prince Zhou?"

(End of this chapter)