Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 28: Poor Exiled Immortal, Hongwu Morning Court [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

Zhu Huilan was only sixteen years old. Although she was quiet and introverted, it would be a lie to say that she was not curious about who her future husband would be.

Hearing Queen Ma's question, she finally raised her head, her clear eyes filled with anticipation.

Empress Ma didn't continue to tease Zhu Huilan and said, "Although you are in the palace, you should have heard about the sudden appearance of the bridge on the river yesterday, right?"

Zhu Huilan nodded, and at the same time had a vague guess in her mind, but it was not quite clear.

Empress Ma's voice continued, "That man came with the cross-river bridge. His name is Liu Kuan. Although he is the same age as Biao'er, he is still unmarried."

"He's wandering around in Ming Dynasty, all alone. Once you marry him, he'll be part of our family."

Is that really the person?!

Even though Zhu Huilan was quiet and composed, her heart was in turmoil at this moment.

From yesterday afternoon to this morning, many people in the inner palace were discussing this matter. Although she did not participate much, she also listened to it.

The most talked about thing is that the man was an immortal banished from Tianshan Mountain.

After all, the cross-river bridge is not something that can be found in the mortal world. The strange man who came to the Ming Dynasty with the bridge is most likely a banished immortal.

Then the most discussed topic was that the banished immortal had been banished to the mortal world for some unknown violation of the heavenly law.

At that time, Zhu Huilan thought it was just like listening to a story, and she never expected that today she would learn that she would be betrothed to that "exiled immortal"!
Coming back to her senses, she couldn't help but say, "Mother, when my sisters were discussing that man yesterday, they often said he was a banished immortal who had descended to the mortal world. Can a banished immortal marry and have children?"

After hearing this, Empress Ma shook her head and sighed, "Liu Kuan is not some exiled immortal at all. He is just a poor man who accidentally drifted to the Ming Dynasty..."

···
The fifth day of August.

It was the third day since Liu Kuan arrived in Daming.

Because he had a relatively good sleep quality last night, and Qiuyue, who was on duty, was given a "wake-up task", he got up at 6:00 in the morning.

After washing up and having breakfast, Liu Kuan came to the back garden, thinking about whether to go for a morning run in the mansion to exercise.

The medical conditions at that time were far inferior to those in later generations, so having a good body was particularly important - Liu Kuan didn't want to be like Zhu Biao in the future and couldn't stand a cold.

Just as he was about to run, he suddenly remembered something.

"Xia He, do officials in our Ming Dynasty have to attend morning court every day?"

Xia He said, "That should be the case. I'm not too sure."

"Then do officials in our Ming Dynasty have to get up very early to attend the morning court?"

Xia He nodded, "It's quite early."

"How early exactly?"

Xia He couldn't answer, so she suggested, "Why don't you ask Lieutenant Zhao?"

"That's a good suggestion. Zhao You should know about the morning court."

Liu Kuan immediately went to the Second Hospital and found Zhao You staring at the sycamore tree in a daze.

Then, through Zhao You's narration, Liu Kuan gradually understood the current court meeting rules of the Ming Dynasty.

First of all, court meetings are divided into large and small ones.

Among them, the grand court meeting was held not only on important days such as New Year's Day, the Winter Solstice, and the Emperor's birthday, but also on the first and fifteenth day of each month, so it was also called the New Moon and Full Moon Court.

Small court meetings were held every day during the Hongwu Dynasty, usually in the morning and evening, but there were occasionally court meetings at noon, so they were also called regular court meetings, or morning court meetings, evening court meetings, and noon court meetings.

Originally, regular court sessions only required the attendance of the top two leaders of the Secretariat and various ministries and agencies. However, since Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister and the Secretariat in the 13th year of Hongwu, the requirements for regular court sessions changed.

At first, it was required that all officials above the ninth rank in Beijing must attend the morning court.

In the afternoon, all officials above the fifth rank in Beijing were required to attend the evening court session.

But perhaps Zhu Yuanzhang soon discovered that such court meetings were too inefficient, so he lowered the requirements slightly.

Nowadays, all officials in the capital who are of the seventh rank and above must attend the daily morning court.

Only the four assistant officials and the top two leaders of various ministries and agencies were required to attend the evening court session.

As for the morning court time, it is already very early.

The current stipulated time for early morning court is the middle of the Mao period, which is six in the morning.

Ming Dynasty officials certainly could not arrive at court on time like later students and office workers.

Generally speaking, one had to arrive at least half an hour early to wait for the emperor to ascend the throne.

"In other words, it's best to arrive outside the Meridian Gate before the hour of Mao and wait?" After hearing what Zhao You said, Liu Kuan couldn't help but ask with a strange look on his face.

Zhao You nodded seriously, "That's true, but there are also diligent officials who wait outside the Meridian Gate before the middle of the Yin hour."

In the middle of the Yin hour?
Liu Kuan converted the twelve hours into 24 hours according to what he remembered yesterday afternoon.

I thought, isn’t that 4 a.m.?
The corner of his eye couldn't help but twitch slightly.

Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang required the morning court to start at 6 a.m., and officials were required to wait outside the Meridian Gate before a.m., which was already inhumane enough.

I didn’t expect that some people would roll up and arrive before 4am!

Does this still make people live?

"So, even if I don't participate in the internal competition, I still have to rush to the Meridian Gate before 5 am?"

"Even if my residence is close to the Imperial City, including the time for washing and eating, I should be up at 4:15 at the latest, right?"

"Even when I was in boarding high school, I never got up this early!" For a moment, Liu Kuan thought about getting up at 4: a.m. every day, and he suddenly felt like not wanting to work for Lao Zhu.

"I must make Old Zhu change this inhumane system of early morning court, otherwise I am afraid I will die young like Zhu Biao - yes, I will persuade Old Zhu by saying that lack of sleep and getting up too early are harmful to health."

Liu Kuan, who had decided to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to postpone his morning court session, felt a little relieved.

Then he secretly rejoiced that although Zhu Yuanzhang had promised to appoint him as the Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry, the official imperial edict had not yet been issued, so he did not have to attend the morning court yesterday or today.

He originally thought that if the imperial edict did not come down today, he would ask Zhao You to inquire about the situation.

Now I don't want to ask.

I think the later this imperial edict comes down, the better.

Anyway, Zhu Yuanzhang had previously rewarded him with a thousand strings of precious coins and a hundred pieces of silk, and Empress Ma had also rewarded him with a lot of daily necessities, so he was not in a hurry to make money to support the people in this mansion.

Afterwards, Liu Kuan asked Zhao You for some other relevant information about the morning and evening court sessions.

For example, officials attending the morning court would all wait outside the Meridian Gate.

There was a court room where officials could go in and sit or stand to rest, avoiding dew, rain, wind and frost.

In addition, when attending court, officials could only enter through the left and right side doors on the two sides of the Meridian Gate Tower.

As for the three doorways in the middle, the middle one is the imperial road, which only the emperor can walk on; on both sides of the imperial road are the left and right gates, which are for the generals and captains on duty to walk on.

From the moment you enter the Meridian Gate, you need to line up according to your rank. This is to show etiquette and to avoid accidents caused by overcrowding.

In addition, officials entered and exited the imperial city not by wearing official uniforms or scanning their faces, but by their own ivory cards - the palace guards recognized the cards, not the people.

Therefore, the ivory token had to be brought with him every time he went to court, and it could not be lost on ordinary days. It had to be kept as well as the official seal.

In addition, there are many other rules, which made Liu Kuan feel overwhelmed.

"Perhaps before my first court session I should seek special training from someone who understands these etiquette and rules?"

Thinking this in his mind, Liu Kuan took off his coat, tied it around his waist, and started running in the mansion.

Xia He hurriedly followed behind and asked anxiously, "Sir, is there something urgent?"

"Nothing urgent, I'm just running to exercise."

Running to exercise?

Is there such a method to strengthen the body?

Xia He was stunned for a moment, feeling a little worried, so she also ran, trying to catch up with Liu Kuan.

However, although Liu Kuan did not run fast, Xia He's clothes were not very suitable for running.

In addition, although she did not have bound feet, she had never done such "intense" exercise since she was a child, and she could not run after running for a while.

Liu Kuan paused for a moment and said to her, "Don't worry about me, just do your own thing."

Xia He could only respond breathlessly with a "yes" and let Liu Kuan run by himself.

Liu Kuan hasn't exercised much in the past few years of work, and has developed a bit of a beer belly.

So after jogging around the mansion for about half an hour, he was too tired to run anymore.

He returned to the side hall, poured a cup of tea brewed by Chunlan, drank it in gulps, and then heard Zhao You calling him in the yard.

"Master Liu, the imperial edict has arrived, come out and receive it!"

"coming!"

Liu Kuan put on his coat and walked towards the Second Hospital.

At the same time, I kept muttering in my heart: Could this be the imperial edict from Zhu Yuanzhang appointing me as a Yuanwailang?

In the hall of the Second Courtyard.

Zhao Cheng stood there with a smile on his face, holding a bright yellow scroll in his hand.

Seeing Liu Kuan, he said, "Master Liu, quickly have someone set up the incense table and prepare to receive the decree."

"it is good."

Liu Kuan immediately ordered a group of servants to set up the incense table according to Zhao Cheng's instructions.

Everything was ready. Before Zhao Cheng opened the imperial edict, he said, "The emperor said that Liu Kuan does not need to kneel when receiving the edict."

Because he received a formal imperial edict today, Liu Kuan was hesitating whether to kneel or not. After hearing this, he simply bowed.

Finally, Zhao Cheng opened the imperial edict and said in a high, slightly shrill voice: "The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, proclaims: Today, there is a wise man named Liu Kuan, bestowed upon me by Heaven, who has great vision..."

Although the content of this imperial edict was not spoken, it was not the kind of obscure writing. Therefore, when Zhao Cheng finished reading it, Liu Kuan, who had some basic knowledge of classical Chinese, also understood it.

The imperial edict first praised him and Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming Dynasty, and then appointed him as the Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry, temporarily responsible for supervising the construction of trains and railway-related matters.

"Alas, I don't know why Old Zhu is so anxious. It's not like a train can be built in a short time. Can't you give me more time to adapt to life in the Ming Dynasty?"

After receiving the imperial edict from Zhao Cheng, he couldn't help but complain a few words in his heart when he thought about attending the morning court soon.

Then he asked Zhao Cheng, "Eunuch Zhao, when should I report to the Ministry of Works and when should I start attending court?"

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(End of this chapter)