Daming: I asked you to hang yourself, but I didn’t ask you to rebuild the Ming Dynasty

The car and the book are in harmony, which refers to Qin Shihuang's "car on the same track, book on the same text, and the world is determined to be unified", which is a symbol of dynasty inheritance.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, was very scheming when he decided on the nine programs for the state banquet...

(Of course, this is a joke.)

In the fifth round, "The Song of Zhenhuanggang" was played and the "Dance of the Hundred Operas" was danced.

The meaning of this is that the emperor has the greatest power, and all walks of life must abide by the rules of the dynasty.

In the sixth round, "Song of Jinling" was played and "Eight Barbarians Presented Treasure Dance" was danced.

This song and dance were specially set by Zhu Yuanzhang. At that time, the capital was Nanjing, which was Jinling.

This round represents the Ming Dynasty overwhelming the barbarians and all races coming to court.

The depth of Lao Zhu's thoughts is evident.

(Those who attack Zhu Yuanzhang and belittle others, take a closer look. Can you imagine this order?)

In the seventh round, "Changyang Song" was played and "Lotus Picking Team Dance" was danced.

This represents peace in the world, peace and prosperity for the country and the people.

"Changyang Song" was derived from the Han Dynasty Yuefu song "Changyang Fu", which praised the merits of emperors of the past dynasties.

The presence of Lao Zhu here is an affirmation of the achievements of all Chinese monarchs.

As the saying goes, there is no trivial matter in politics, and every action has profound meaning.

If we talk about the merits of resisting the Yuan Dynasty, who is greater than Zhang Shicheng?

They directly smashed Prime Minister Tuotuo's million-strong army, leaving the Yuan Dynasty no longer able to suppress the rebels.

Why did Lao Zhu win the world in the end?

Those who are not sons of man should think before they slander others!

With Lao Zhu's political wisdom, can you be prepared for the worst?

In the eighth round, "Fragrance Song" was played and "Fish Leap in the Deep Dance" was danced.

The meaning of this is the most interesting, it represents - you are happy to hang out with my old Zhu family, you have jumped over the dragon gate.

It also means that the Ming Dynasty selected scholars from the people, and every common person in the Ming Dynasty had the opportunity to leap over the Dragon Gate.

In the ninth round, "The Song of Riding the Six Dragons" was played.

This is to reiterate the sanctity of imperial power...

This song is in contrast to the first two. These three times, there is only music and no dance.

有音乐有舞蹈的，只有六轮，也就是第3/4/5/6/7/8轮。

All officials need to toast the emperor nine times.

Because the drinks shared by the samurai after the dance are not included in the nine rounds of toasting.

Nine is the ultimate number, representing the ninety-nine in the world.

After nine rounds of toasts, the minister of Guanglu Temple wanted to take away the emperor's wine title.

The eunuchs wanted to take away the wine cups from the officials.

In fact, the rules for the emperor's banquet with hundreds of officials are very strict, and the drunken and troublemaking situations on TV and in novels will never happen.

After that, it’s time to serve the big meal, that is, the main course.

When serving dishes, great music, that is, formal music, is played. According to the pre-Qin term, this is elegant music!

Just like Confucius who didn’t know the taste of meat in March...

The great music of the Ming Dynasty was a mixture of sheng, drum, Xiao, pipa, guqin, etc. According to modern terms, it should be a symphony.

Generally there are "Music for Congratulations on the Holy Chao", "Music for Putian Le", etc.

Along with the great joy, the eunuch will present flowers.

The maids grabbed the petals and threw them into the sky.

This petal should be sprinkled on everyone except the emperor, queen, and prince.

This is why in Taoist novels, the prototype of a sky full of petals appears as soon as the powerful man appears.

Because the emperor could not sprinkle flower petals on his body, there was a move to offer flowers.

It is also said that the petals are produced by flowers, and this scene represents the royal power bestowed on officials.

At this point, the banquet lost its sanctity and entered its true climax.

(Actually, the ancient banquet rules of the Han family can still be found in life. For example, at a wedding, as long as the bride and groom are showered with flowers, it means hurrying to grab a seat and the banquet is about to start...)

When great happiness begins, all officials should eat and drink.

Even sometimes, the emperor would withdraw from the scene, leaving room for the officials to express themselves freely.

Of course, many emperors will also stay at the scene.

After all, the relationship between the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and his courtiers was not as disparate as that of the slave dynasty of later generations.

In the Ming Dynasty, officials could spit on the emperor's face, but in the Qing Dynasty, officials had to kneel down to answer questions...

Being happy with the world has been the ancestral motto since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

The bliss lasts for a long time, sometimes even several hours.

This time is the time for all the officials to feast.

When the music ends, it heralds the end of the banquet.

At this time, if the emperor leaves the table, he needs to sit back in his seat.

The young minister from Guanglu Temple will come up and take away the table in front of the emperor.

The eunuchs and maids came up and took away the officials' tables.

At this time, Baiguan still couldn't leave.

This is the time to really feast your eyes!

There was a dance to end the banquet, all performed by beautiful women, called the "Hundred Flowers Dance".

To be honest, if you really travel through time, you must not miss this dance, because the dancers at this time are the most beautiful.

……

Amidst the singing and dancing, Guanglu Temple withdrew the imperial court, and the preface eunuchs withdrew the ministers' table.

The length of this dance is performed based on the time it takes to clean the scene.

After all, it was a big banquet for hundreds or thousands of people, so it was inevitable that someone would accidentally break something.

If the dance time is short and the cleaning is not done, the price will drop.

Therefore, the quality of the dancers at this time is quite high!

After the scene was cleared, all officials had to stand up and salute the emperor according to their shifts.

This is called worshiping and giving thanks.

After the ceremony, the ceremonial director reported to the emperor that the banquet was over and the emperor was invited to return.

The ministers bowed to see him off respectfully, waiting for the emperor to stand up and leave.

……

Let me digress: before the mid-Ming Dynasty, state banquets followed the ancient ritual of sitting down and eating while kneeling.

There is a misunderstanding about kneeling in later generations. They all think that the hard kneeling in Japan is the kneeling in China.

Actually it is not.

Before stools were popularized, when sitting on the knees at high-end banquets, there was a small saddle-shaped saddle that was placed under the buttocks and covered with a skirt.

Although this small stool can ensure that the legs will not be numb in a short period of time, it is still too short and will still cause numbness in the legs after a long time.

There are some funny records of ancient people who suffered numbness in their legs after sitting on their knees. You can still see some in ancient books.

Beginning in the Tang Dynasty, stools with backrests after improving the Hu bed have appeared and appeared in ancient paintings. However, high-end banquet venues still mainly kneel and sit.

Beginning in the Song Dynasty, this pony was gradually replaced by a brocade stool at state banquets, which is a round stool without a backrest.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Taishi chair with a backrest appeared, which is also commonly known as an armchair.

During state banquets in the palace, the round stools were replaced with chairs with square backrests.

The upper picture is "Han Xizai's Night Banquet" by Gu Hongzhong of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the lower picture is "Wenhui Picture" by Song Huizong Zhao Ji

After the banquet, Zuo Liangyu followed the officials, bid farewell to the emperor, and left the palace one after another according to their official rank.

When Zuo Liangyu reached the palace gate, Qin Zhien walked over.

"General Zuo, please stay!"