I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 691: The Dragon Boat Festival in the Second Year of Wanli

Shen Wanxiang asked in disbelief: "Prefect, you won't arrest him?"

Pan Yinglong looked at him and asked, "How many days until the Dragon Boat Festival?"

"Today is April 29th, and the Dragon Boat Festival is five days away."

"That's right. The Dragon Boat Festival is in five days. The most urgent thing now is the Nanyuan Amusement Fair. We must make sure it runs smoothly for three days."

Shen Wanxiang understood what Pan Yinglong said.

If we arrest people now, the distribution of the 380 yuan worth of vendor signs will have to be started all over again, which will definitely be a mess and cause a lot of chaos.

How can such a lively amusement fair be without fixed and mobile vendors?

Without them there would be no soul.

The prefect is a person who pursues perfection, and he will definitely not allow any flaws in the carefully organized entertainment.

"Prefect, let these people run rampant for a while."

"Oh, by the way, go find Xiang Jinping, Wang Lun, and Gu Quan, and bang the gong hard next to their ears.

Tell them that this year's amusement fair is a peaceful one, and that the vendors fighting and tourists getting sick from eating the same things that happened last year must not happen again."

Shen Wanxiang smiled, "The students know about this. Let's talk to them separately and put pressure on them. I believe they will pass the pressure on Xiu Qiping.

Xiu Qiping must be very skilled in dealing with those small vendors who make a living by bullying others in the market."

Pan Yinglong did not comment, frowned and thought for a while, "Qianhe, I remember that when the reconstruction of South City just started, the most troublesome task was to demolish the old houses, especially the Mule and Horse Market area.

At first, the city hall was unable to move forward and the situation remained deadlocked for more than two months. After being scolded by me and Liu Fuyin more than a dozen times, it suddenly came to its senses and the demolition task progressed by leaps and bounds.

Shen Wanxiang replied: "Prefect, do you suspect there is something fishy going on here?"

"There must be something fishy going on. I thought the people in the city hall had really figured it out before, but now it seems that they have. Please help me make an appointment with Su Zhenshi of the Pacification Department.

Invite him to lunch on the second or third day of the Chinese New Year, depending on which day he is free at noon."

"Yes!"

Shen Wanxiang just walked to the door when he heard Pan Yinglong's voice.

"return."

"What else, Prefect?"

"What are the prizes set up by the Nanyuan Recreation Club? Is there a swallow?"

"Prefect, let me think about it. The dragon boat race is the championship prize, and the Gyeonggi Football League finals added this year are the championship cup prizes. Then there is the variety show, and the public votes for the first, second and third prizes. Yes, they are the Golden Swallow, Silver Swallow and Bronze Swallow prizes!"

Pan Yinglong said without question: "Change it, change it for me immediately."

Shen Wanxiang asked: "Prefect, what award should it be changed to?"

"The Hibiscus Award. Gold, silver, and bronze Hibiscus Award."

"Okay. Prefect, this award is jointly awarded by Shuntian Prefecture and Taichang Temple."

"Got it. I'll tell Cai Zhengqing tomorrow. Ask the gold shop to change the custom-made medal for me. What the hell is this Swallow Award? It sounds so unlucky!"

"Yes, the student will do it right away."

Early in the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival in the second year of the Wanli reign, just as the sky was getting light, the north gate of Nanyuan was filled with people.

Pan Yinglong got out of the carriage, shook his sleeves, and walked to the north gate with Shen Wanxiang and four guards.

Last year it was just a temporary wooden structure, but this year it is made of cement piers and has an arch-style gate, with the main entrance in the middle and smaller side doors on both sides.

Above the archway in the middle is inscribed "Good weather and good harvests", which was written by the former Prime Minister Li Chunfang.

On the left and right sides are "Yiyuan" and "Ningrui" respectively.

Next to the Ningrui Archway Gate, there were hundreds of men gathered with chicken buses parked in front of them. My mother, wife and children got off the buses one after another, carrying food and drinks on their backs.

A bearded man with a loud and proud voice came over.

"I told you to come early and go in early. I also told you to bring more food. There is a lot to do in this garden. Last time I brought less food, and I was so hungry the next day that I had to go back.

This time I want to play for three days."

"Brother Huzi is right!"

"Brother Huzi has traveled a lot, so he has seen a lot."

"That's right. Brother Huzi is the first person in our village to go to Luanzhou to work."

Amid the chatter, a man in his 18s or 19s suddenly asked, "Brother Huzi, didn't they say there's food for sale in the garden? If you're hungry, just buy some."

After a few seconds of silence, Hu Zi's rough voice came again: "Sanmao, you talk as if you don't need to spend money. You made some money working in Luanzhou, and you dare to spend it recklessly?

You just got married and haven't spent all your money yet? Why are you coming here to make money? "

Sanmao was still arguing, "Aren't we here to spend money? Isn't the purpose of earning money to spend?"

"It's okay to spend money to buy something for your parents, wife and children. But you have to spend money on food? Do you think you are the son of a wealthy landlord?"

"They brought their new bride with them, so if they want to spend money, they can spend money."

"Yes, I think Sanmao is right. Isn't the purpose of earning money to spend? The Nanyuan Garden Fair is held once a year. If we don't spend money now, when will we spend it?"

"Yep!"

During the discussion, Hu Zi got angry and said, "The money is yours, you can spend it however you want. I just want to remind you that you are spoiled after just a few days of good life.

The old scholar once said, "Be prepared for danger in times of peace!"

"Brother Huzi, if you had really listened to the old scholar, you wouldn't have gone to Luanzhou that year."

There was some shouting over there, and a few policemen came over and started pointing fingers at them.

"You guys, park the chicken bus over there."

"Ah, why do we have to stop there?"

"Park there. Each car will be given a wooden number plate and someone will watch over it for you."

"Is there such a good thing?"

"Last year, one of your people had his chicken bus stolen, and he was crying and wailing at the gate. Damn, it's the emperor's birthday, and you're blocking the door and crying, what's the big deal? Fortunately, the emperor is kind, otherwise he would have been sent to Jilin to open up wasteland.

This year, Shuntianfu has already made plans, so you don’t have to cry about losing your car.”

"Hehe, the chicken bus is our property. Who wouldn't be heartbroken if it was lost?"

"Officer, where are we stopping?"

“Then, on the right, go straight ahead, there’s a big sign with a picture of a car and a horse, a parking lot, chicken buses, horse carts, and donkey carts are all parked there.

Cars with animals charge a fee, but your chicken bus is free."

"What a great relationship! The master of Shuntian Mansion is really wise!"

With a smile on his face, Pan Yinglong put his hands behind his back and walked leisurely through the main entrance which was in good condition.

Shen Wanxiang and four guards hurriedly followed.

As you walk through the main gate, you will be greeted by a huge flower bed with a 45-degree slope and a circumference of 36 meters. In the middle are sunflowers and solar flowers, forming a circle with a diameter of two meters, and its golden color is like the midday sun.

Surrounded by a circle of red peonies, it is elegant and graceful, contrasting beautifully with the sunflowers and day flowers inside, golden like the sun and red like fire.

Outside of that is a circle of violets, forming a purple ocean that surrounds the sun and the fire.

The outermost part is decorated with roses, hibiscus, peonies, etc., and the colorful flowers are always in spring. Under this flower bed is a wooden frame, on which pots of flowers are placed. Pan Yinglong spent a lot of effort on it. Now it is officially unveiled, it is indeed eye-catching.

Passing the flower bed, there are two hot air balloons on each side rising 50 meters in the air, tied firmly with ropes.

The hot air balloon dropped two huge banners, each 50 meters long and 5 meters wide. The banners were pulled by the hot air balloon on top and tied to the ground stakes by ropes at the bottom, pulling them straight.

Red gold characters, on the left is "Long live the emperor!", on the right is "The Ming Dynasty is peaceful and the people are prosperous!".

When people entered the garden, they were first startled by the flower beds, and then when they looked up they were shocked by the two huge banners.

Thousands of people gathered below, looking up at the two banners as if they were seeing a miracle.

In the middle of the banner, there were three screens that looked like walls. On the middle one, there were large characters written on it: "Da Ming Industrial and Commercial Bank wishes our emperor long live!"

Anyone who looked at the banner could see it as soon as they lowered their heads.

The 21,000 yuan that won the bid was not wasted.

On the left is written "Da Ming Luanzhou Iron and Steel Group wishes the country of Da Ming to be strong and the people to be prosperous!"

On the right is written "Da Ming Ping An Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. wishes the people of Da Ming peace and safety every year!
The money spent by the two deputy bidders was not wasted. Everyone who enters the garden will be attracted by the two huge paintings, and once they lower their eyes, they will definitely see these three screens.

On the left is still the performance venue for acrobatics.

Last year, various circus troupes were invited, but they were skeptical and hesitant. Some even felt that they were forced by Shuntian Prefecture to come under the pretext of celebrating the emperor's birthday.

As a result, right after last year's amusement fair ended, the invitations received by various circus troupes were queued up until this year.

Not only can I win a bonus, but I can also become famous. I wish such a good thing could happen every day.

At the beginning of spring this year, the owners of various acrobatic troupes rushed to Shuntian Prefecture to inquire whether the Dragon Boat Festival and Longevity Entertainment Festival would be held as usual this year.

open!

Great, we come here for free and show off our ancestral skills.

Pan Yinglong asked the people in the city hall to push back in a neutral manner.

I'm sorry, there are too many acrobatic classes that have signed up for the carnival this year, but the number of places is limited, so preliminary selection is required.

How is the primary election method?

The rules for the primary election were set by Pan Yinglong. In this year's Spring Festival celebrations, public voting accounted for 50% of the vote.

During this year's Spring Festival celebrations, your class was busy attending the temple fair and didn't come to apply?
Excuse me!
You are not even eligible to participate in the primary election.

The Spring Festival celebrations were for the common people to enjoy together, and the government only provided food and lodging, and the remuneration was not high, far less than that of performing at temple fairs and halls. Many opera troupes were petty and found various excuses to decline.

Haha, the government asked you to come but you didn’t come. Now you are trying to take advantage of the government. Have you woken up?

Regarding such a troupe, Pan Yinglong has only one attitude: get out and stop bothering me.

Now in the performance area by the lake on the left side of Nanyuan, various opera troupes are gearing up to start their performances.

There are twenty-six opera troupes competing for the Golden Hibiscus Award this year, all of which were selected after a preliminary round among hundreds of opera troupes.

The level is generally higher than those troupes that performed last year.

Pan Yinglong walked around and didn't see any mistakes, so he went back to the stadium.

Last year, under the leadership of Yang Jinshui, the first Gyeonggi Football League was held.

The two regions with the strongest football level in the Ming Dynasty, Luanzhou and Jingshi, each selected twelve teams, a total of twenty-four teams, to take turns to compete against each other.

A win gets three points, a draw gets one point, and a loss gets zero points. Each team calculates points, and the top four teams in points will compete against each other until two teams are decided to compete for the championship trophy.

This game, which is watched by hundreds of thousands of fans, was specially scheduled for this afternoon.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the dragon boat race will be held as usual; at two o'clock in the afternoon, the football championship cup competition will be held.

It’s really one climax after another!
Let’s just have a blast today, and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow everyone can enjoy the park and watch the show in peace!

Pan Yinglong, accompanied by several directors of the Gyeonggi Football League Board of Directors, walked around the stadium.

This stadium is an open-air stadium that started construction last year and was completed in mid-April this year.

In the middle is a standard football field, with a 400-meter running track outside and stepped concrete stands surrounding it, with twenty steps from north to south and thirty-six steps from east to west, which can accommodate 16,000 spectators.

There is a rest area, work area and warehouse under the stands.

The rest area is equipped with a team lounge, a canteen, a lottery ticket purchasing point and toilets.

Offices for the stadium maintenance and cleaning staff in the work area.

The warehouse is where the stadium facilities are stored.

This open-air stadium is a fully reinforced concrete frame structure. It is the first large concrete building in the Ming Dynasty. Its total area exceeds that of the Temple of Heaven and its height exceeds that of the Huangji Hall.
For safety reasons, Pan Yinglong seconded 5,000 soldiers from the Capital Guard and the Beijing Camp, who took turns to evenly place 96,000 straw and gravel bags on the stands. Each sandbag weighed 50 kilograms.

This is equivalent to 16,000 people standing in the stands, with each person weighing an average of 300 kilograms.

It lasted for half a month, and every day the three thousand people were asked to disperse in turns, running and jumping on the gravel bags in the stands.

Everything was safe and sound, so Pan Yinglong asked Shuntian Prefecture City Hall to sign for it.

Pan Yinglong stood in the middle of the playground, looking around at the stands, as if he was standing at the center of the world, with everything surrounding him.

This building became a standard building in the capital.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce Architectural Design Office that designed it and the Gyeonggi First Construction Company that built it both gained valuable experience and a great reputation.

After leaving the stadium, it was already past eight o'clock. Pan Yinglong and his group hurried to the area between the stadium and the acrobatic performance area, which was the fixed stall area.

The food stalls are on the left, and those who need a coal stove to make a fire are on the far left, next to the lake.

The stalls sell a variety of hot foods such as stewed noodles, soup noodles, steamed cakes, etc.

Pan Yinglong bought two steamed cakes for himself, Shen Wanxiang and the four guards, and a bowl of soy milk. The six of them sat at a small table next to the stall and began to eat.

Three or five strong men came over, glaring and frowning, and said viciously to each stall: "Observe the law and don't fight. The food is clean and hygienic, and the garden area is kept tidy and clean.

Have you remembered them all?"

The stall owner and his assistant smiled and nodded repeatedly, "I remember, I remember."

"Just remember this. If you dare to violate this rule, I will kick you out immediately and you will not be allowed to do business in the capital anymore."

Pan Yinglong raised his head and took a look, and saw the two men leading the group, who were deliberately shirtless and had a flying swallow tattooed on their right arms.

"Swallow? What bad luck!"

After a quick breakfast, Pan Yinglong came to the dragon boat bidding competition site again. Just like last year, this place is a key area.

In the open area on the west side of the lake, people had already taken their seats early, using stools, small wooden benches and other items to occupy positions with good views.

More and more people were pouring in, all rushing to watch the dragon boat race at 10 o'clock.

In the VIP area on the east side, royal nobles, civil and military officials, as well as students from the Imperial Academy and various colleges, all entered with their tickets.

The place was guarded by the guards, and tickets were required for entry and exit. The security became stricter as you moved towards the middle, and the security of the central area was directly under the charge of the Jinyiwei Fengchensi and the Imperial Horse Administration.

At half past nine, most of the people from the east and west districts had come in. Both sides were dark, covering the originally green grass. Only the red flag inserted in the middle was still fluttering in the wind like a flower branch.

Pan Yinglong stood in a remote place with his hands behind his back, looking at this prosperous scene with a proud heart.

An official came hurriedly to report.

"Sir, the Emperor, the Queen Mother, and the Empress are here."

(End of this chapter)