I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 80 Going North
On December 15th of the fourth year of the Zhengde reign, outside the Prince of Jing’s mansion there were loud gongs and drums, blasting firecrackers, waving red flags, and a huge crowd of people.

Zhu Houzhao didn't think too much when he issued the edict. When Zhu Houxuan received the edict, it was already the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. It was not appropriate to spend the New Year in Qizhou before leaving. If he took the Grand Canal, he would not be able to reach Beijing before the New Year. Therefore, he had to spend the New Year of the fifth year of Zhengde on the road.

Zhu Houxuan bid farewell to Concubine Zhang reluctantly and boarded the elephant carriage, which was a horse-drawn carriage decorated with ivory.

The height of the prince's elephant carriage is six inches shorter than the golden carriage, and one foot shorter than the width. The shaft is one foot shorter than the large carriage. The carriage seat is three feet high, and the rest of the decoration is the same as the golden carriage.

The status of princes in the Ming Dynasty was very high, on the same level as the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, slightly lower than that of the emperor but not by much.

Take the elephant carriage for example. Its length, width and height are only one foot shorter than the emperor's golden carriage. People who are not familiar with it really can't tell the difference.

There are as many as 59 kinds of ceremonial objects for the trip, and it takes more than people to carry the complete set of ceremonial objects. The reason why so many people are needed is because there are "ten pairs of halberds, ten pairs of spears, twenty pairs of bows and arrows, and ten pairs of swords and shields".

Although Emperor Zhengde summoned him to the capital, he did not say that he did not need to bring ceremonial guards. The vassal system stipulated that vassal kings had to bring a full set of ceremonial guards when traveling, so Zhu Houxuan had to obediently bring all the ceremonial guards with him when he set off.

To be honest, it is quite grand after the full set of ceremonial guards are put out, but it is only relatively grand. The overall ceremonial guards are not too luxurious, and can even be said to be a bit simple.

All this can be attributed to Zhu Yuanzhang, because it was he who set the ceremonial guards of various levels in the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, before the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's travel ceremonies were still very luxurious. It reached its peak in the Song Dynasty. The jade carriage used by the Song Dynasty emperors was decorated particularly luxuriously and was so heavy that even the chassis of the carriage could not bear it.

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang advocated frugality and did not like the luxurious and complicated style of the Song Dynasty jade carriage. He directly changed the jade carriage into a golden carriage, and even replaced the gold decoration on it with brass.

This simple and plain ceremonial set designed by Zhu Yuanzhang was used until the demise of the Ming Dynasty and was inherited by the Qing Dynasty. Shunzhi, Kangxi and Yongzheng all used this set. It was not until the time of Qianlong that Qianlong could no longer tolerate the plainness of the emperor's carriage, so he personally modified it. As for Qianlong's aesthetic taste, everyone understands it.

Zhang Yong, Cui Yuan and the doctor from the Ministry of Rites each boarded a carriage in the ceremonial procession, and Qin Yuelan and Liu Yourong also boarded the last carriage.

As for why Liu Yourong followed, it was because Concubine Liu learned that Zhu Houxun was going to take Qin Yuelan to the capital, so she sent Liu Yourong over, saying that she was worried about his health and asked Liu Yourong to follow him to take care of him.

What else could Zhu Houxuan say about this? He could only follow suit.

Zhu Houxuan's ceremonial procession slowly walked out of the Prince of Jing's Mansion. Outside, the road was still paved with yellow earth and the streets were still sprinkled with clean water. However, this time Zhu Houxuan had experience and notified the people of Qizhou City three days in advance. He sent a small gift to every household along the road section in advance as compensation for disturbing them.

This action won praise from the people of Qizhou City and also caused the three people from the capital to change their views on Zhu Houxuan.

Outside the south gate of the Jingwang Mansion, there are three white marble archways, one with six columns and five rooms and one with four columns and three rooms, arranged in a Chinese character "品". The main columns of the archways are decorated with auspicious clouds and coiled dragons, with exquisite relief craftsmanship. The horizontal banner on the archway reads "屏藩帝室" in four large characters.

In front of the six-column archway, there stands a huge monument nearly 2 meters high and 1 meter wide with the inscription "Civil and Military Officials Dismount Here".

It was the first time that Zhu Houxuan saw the Prince of Jing's Palace from this angle, and he felt it was both familiar and unfamiliar.

The team boarded the ship at the dock outside Qizhou City. The full set of ceremonial guards and accompanying personnel filled seven or eight ships, and there were also several warships of Wuchang Guards as escorts. Zhu Houxuan stood at the bow of the ship, and the Qizhou City behind him was getting farther and farther away, gradually disappearing from his sight. The cold winter wind blew on his face, and he took a deep breath. Freedom tastes so good!

In ancient times, traveling was a very patient endeavor. It would take them an estimated 40 days to reach the capital.

After a few days, the novelty of the journey wore off. Zhu Houxuan still insisted on exercising every day, but other than that he could only chat with Zhang Yong and Cui Yuan to pass the time. As for the doctor from the Ministry of Rites, he hid on another ship.

If rumors spread that he had close contacts with Zhu Houxuan, the vassal king, his official career would be greatly affected. This was an unspoken rule established in the Ming Dynasty officialdom.

Zhu Houxuan quickly became familiar with them and got along well with them.

In terms of seniority, Cui Yuan, the son-in-law of the emperor, was Zhu Houxuan's uncle, and Zhu Houxuan had been calling him uncle.

They went down the Yangtze River and soon arrived in Nanjing City. Liu Bo, the eunuch garrisoning Nanjing, personally brought Nanjing officials on board to visit Zhu Houxuan.

Logically speaking, Zhu Houxun should have gone to the Xiaoling Mausoleum to pay homage to Zhu Yuanzhang when he passed through Nanjing City, but paying homage to the Xiaoling Mausoleum had too strong political implications, so as soon as he mentioned it, he was politely rejected by Liu Bo.

Zhu Houxuan did not continue to request to go to the Xiaoling Mausoleum to pay homage. What he needed was to make this gesture so that no one would find fault with him. In the end, he placed an incense table and offerings on the boat and paid homage to Zhu Yuanzhang from afar in the direction of the Xiaoling Mausoleum.

Then they continued downstream to Zhenjiang, where they would head north along the Grand Canal.

"Uncle, people always say that ships come from the south and horses come from the north. Uncle is from the north, so he must know how to ride a horse?" Zhu Houxuan asked a few days after entering the Grand Canal.

"Of course, I'm a good rider." Cui Yuan said with a smile.

"Then please teach me how to ride a horse, uncle!" Zhu Houxuan requested.

"That's easy. I'm tired of staying on the boat, but there are no horses on the boat, right?"

"This is easy. We can borrow it from the post stations along the way. In fact, our riding skills are pretty good too." Zhang Yong also interjected.

The three of them hit it off immediately, and the horses were soon borrowed. Zhu Houxuan began to practice riding along the canal. In fact, he had practiced riding in his previous life and had a certain foundation, so he was able to ride a horse by himself very quickly. This learning speed also surprised Cui Yuan and Zhang Yong.

It’s just that Qin Yuelan and Liu Yourong don’t get along so well. Although they live together, they don’t talk much to each other.

In this way, they slowly arrived at the border of Shandong. When the New Year came, local officials of Shandong came on board and invited Zhu Houxuan to disembark to celebrate the New Year. However, Zhu Houxuan felt that it was too troublesome to get the ceremonial guards off the ship, and it would also disturb the people, so he decided to celebrate the New Year on the ship. Officials on the ground sent a lot of New Year supplies, and the whole team welcomed the fifth year of Zhengde in this way.

(End of this chapter)