My father is Jiajing

Chapter 238 Hey~ It didn't fall down
April 17th is the birthday of Zhu Di, the Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty.

On this day, Zhu Zaigui was ordered to come to the royal cemetery in Changping, outside Beijing, together with the ceremonial officials of the Ministry of Rites.

Now, all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty since Zhu Di are buried in this mausoleum. Of course, there are exceptions, such as Baozong's younger brother and Uncle Yu Qian's close partner - Guo, oh no, Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu.

Zhu Qiyu is the only Ming emperor who was not buried in the Changping Imperial Mausoleum, except for Zhu Yuanzhang who was buried in Nanjing and Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen whose burial place is unknown.

Of course, the reason why he could not be buried in this royal cemetery was not because he built his own mausoleum somewhere else, but because after his good brother Baozong restored the throne, he directly destroyed the mausoleum he had built for himself, and then deprived him of his emperor title, gave him the bad posthumous name "Li", and buried him in Yuquan Mountain with the ceremony of a prince.

Therefore, the Changping Imperial Mausoleum is very large, but it cannot accommodate a tragic emperor who saved the country from collapse.

However, Zhu Zaigui did not come here today to lament the fickleness of history, nor did he come for an outing or tourism. He came here in compliance with the imperial decree to pay homage to Emperor Chengzu’s birthday according to past custom.

Officials from the Ministry of Rites and officials in charge of guarding the mausoleum accompanied Zhu Zaigui and led him along the main sacred road of the imperial mausoleum towards Changling, the highest point of the Changping Imperial Mausoleum.

When you get here, unless it's the emperor or the crown prince, you have to walk.

Therefore, it still takes a long way to walk from the main shrine to Changling.

Zhu Zaigui had no complaints about this. After all, those sleeping here were all emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Walking into the mausoleum was a kind of respect for them.

Huang Jin, the envoy specially appointed by Emperor Jiajing to accompany Zhu Zaigui to worship Emperor Chengzu, also followed beside Zhu Zaigui.

If the date of April 17th is converted into the Gregorian calendar which was popular before Zhu Zaigui traveled through time, it should be the middle of May.

The weather at this time is early summer. It is not cool, but it is not hot either.

Therefore, even though he walked all the way along the main sacred road, Zhu Zaigui did not feel much of the hot air.

But even so, this does not mean that others are not hot. The ceremonial officers who followed, especially those carrying sacrificial items, were already sweating profusely from the heat.

However, they could not show any impatience, after all, today's sacrifice was different from the past.

In the past, whenever the birthday or death anniversary of these deceased emperors came, the reigning emperor would at most issue an edict after being reminded and requested by the Ministry of Rites, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites would then carry out the sacrifices on their behalf.

But a small accident happened today. His Majesty the Emperor actually ordered Prince Yu to go to Changling in person to pay homage to Emperor Chengzu on his birthday. As soon as this ordinary decree was announced, all the officials in the capital immediately sensed the unusual meaning.

You must know that last year, Prince Yu must have hosted a banquet on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor in the Wuying Palace for all the heroes who participated in the defense of the suburbs of Beijing.

At that time, everyone thought that His Majesty the Emperor had made up his mind to make Prince Yu the crown prince, but after waiting for a long time, His Majesty the Emperor did not make any further move.

As the Chinese New Year approached, the Minister of Rites Xu Jie could no longer hold back and submitted another memorial requesting the emperor to establish a crown prince. As a result, this memorial was again withheld and not sent out.

Then, when the Cabinet and Shuntian Prefecture requested to expand the capital, the Emperor unexpectedly adopted Yan Shifan's suggestion and ordered Prince Jing to be appointed as the Chief Minister of the Capital Expansion. All officials were confused again.

Could it be that the candidate for crown prince that His Majesty the Emperor has in mind is Prince Jing?

But King Jing was the youngest son, and if he was made the heir, it would be against etiquette. So for a while, the undercurrent in the capital could not help but surge. Those who adhered to the rules began to write memorials to express the importance of Prince Yu, while those who took advantage of the situation united around Yan Shifan and cheered for King Jing.

His Majesty the Emperor seemed not to notice these actions and just let the two sides fight each other in this way.

So now when Zhu Zaigui was ordered to pay homage to Changling, all these officials could no longer suppress their restlessness.

The officials from the Ministry of Rites followed behind Zhu Zaigui. They looked at his tall and straight figure and found him pleasing to the eye. They thought Prince Yu had the qualities to be a great ruler.

But unfortunately, from the time Prince Yu received the imperial edict and came to Changling to offer sacrifices to Emperor Chengzu's birthday, Prince Yu did not even look at them and remained solemn and serious.

Therefore, those officials from the Ministry of Rites who wanted to make themselves known to Zhu Zaigui never found an opportunity.

They could only watch as Prince Yu, accompanied by the chief eunuch Huang Jin from the Imperial Household Department, walked step by step to the gate of Changling.

The overall layout of Changling is "front and back circle", including the mausoleum gate, god treasury, god kitchen, stele pavilion, Zun'en Gate, Zun'en Hall, Lingxing Gate, Baocheng, Minglou, etc. The Baocheng at the back, where Zhu Di is buried, is a brick-built circle with a diameter of about 340 meters and a circumference of more than 1 kilometer. It has battlements on it and is a large tomb shaped like a castle. The thick mound is covered with lush greenery, and it is solemn and majestic.

Zhu Zaigui stood in front of the gate of Changling Mausoleum, looking at the tall and majestic Mausoleum of Emperor Yongle, with infinite emotion in his heart.

Before traveling through time, Zhu Zaigui knew about the fame of the Ming Tombs, but he had never had the chance to see them.

I didn't expect that after traveling through time, I would have the opportunity to come here and visit to pay homage by such a coincidence.

Huang Jin followed Zhu Zaiqi and reminded him in a low voice: "Your Highness, if you go in from here, you will reach the Changling Mausoleum, the auspicious place where Emperor Chengzu will be buried forever."

Zhu Zaigui nodded lightly, and then, accompanied by the ceremonial officer, Huang Jin and others, walked into the mausoleum gate and entered the first courtyard of Changling.

This courtyard is the first courtyard after the Changling Mausoleum Gate. There are wall-type corner gates built on the left and right. However, these corner gates have been demolished and sealed in later generations.

In the courtyard, there are five rooms on the left and the right, respectively, for the kitchen and the storehouse. There is also a stele pavilion in front of the kitchen, which looks very solemn and magnificent, allowing people to feel the imperial style of the royal family at a glance.

But unfortunately, these sacred kitchens and sacred storehouses were destroyed by a hypocritical thief under the guise of repairs in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.

But it’s okay now. It’s still the Ming Dynasty and no one dares to covet this place, so everything in Changling still maintains its original appearance.

After passing through a courtyard, Zhu Zaigui arrived at the Ling'en Gate. The name of this Ling'en Gate was changed by Emperor Jiajing himself in the 17th year of Jiajing's reign. The word "Ling" means "to offer sacrifice and receive blessings", and the word "En" means "boundless grace".

It can be said that Emperor Jiajing racked his brains to come up with this name, because it was in the 17th year of Jiajing that Emperor Jiajing happily changed Zhu Di's temple name from Emperor Taizong Wen to Emperor Chengzu Wen!
Therefore, the gate in front of the Ling'en Hall has a name. Zhu Di had to thank Emperor Jiajing for his filial piety, otherwise his gate would have no name at all.

When Zhu Zaigui arrived at the Ling'en Gate and looked at the imperial calligraphy on the gate, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "The old Taoist priest is so filial, I wonder if he will be beaten in the underworld? But it seems unlikely, after all, the old Taoist priest is cultivating the way of immortality, and he may go to heaven in the future!"

Finally, Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but think about it with such evil fun, but at this time, a gust of wind blew, causing the plaque with "Ling'en Gate" hanging in front of Ling'en Hall to shake~~
Eh~ it didn’t fall down.

(End of this chapter)