The most lively place in Tokyo's Lantern Festival is naturally the Imperial Street opposite the main entrance of the palace. The palace will build huge Aoshan on this street every year. The so-called Aoshan is the shape of a giant turtle made of colorful lanterns. It is the largest lantern in the entire Tokyo city. It looks extremely spectacular. During the past two days, countless people will come to watch every day, and the water squeezes down Aoshan is thrust away.

It is also worth mentioning that Yujie is not a complete road, but is divided into two halves by a river in the middle. This river is a tributary of the Bian River in the city, which can directly lead to the imperial palace and intersect with the Jinshui River in the palace. Because this river is mainly on Yujie, it is also called Yuhe, and Aoshan is built on this river surface.

After Zhao Yan and Cao Ying left the Prince's Mansion, they first came to Yu Street to watch Aoshan. However, when they arrived at the foot of Aoshan, the sunset in the sky had not completely disappeared, and the colorful lights on Aoshan were not ignited. This made Zhao Yan a little confused. He couldn't understand why Cao Ying and the others came so early? What made him even more strange was that at this time, the foot of Aoshan was already crowded with people. If they hadn't led the guards to open the way, they would have really not been able to squeeze in.

"My wife, there is no light on this Aoshan yet. Why are we here so early?" Zhao Yan couldn't help asking Cao Ying in the end, and his eyes were also looking at Aoshan in front of him. He saw that this one was about a few feet high and occupied half an acre of land in a radius, blocking the wide Yuhe River tightly. The streets on both sides were full of people watching Aoshan, and even the surrounding houses, trees and walls were filled with people, each with excited smiles on his face.

"Hehe, my husband, don't be impatient. It is precisely because Aoshan has not been lit yet that there are so many people. You will know later." Cao Ying smiled and kept a secret. They are now standing by the Yu River just around Aoshan. There is a river surface in front of them. There is no one blocking them. Naturally, the natural vision is wide, and the scene of Aoshan can be completely seen. It can be said to be one of the best positions.

Seeing Cao Ying not answering, Zhao Yan was also helpless and embarrassed to ask others. She had to wait patiently, but the sunset in the west was completely set, and the street finally became dim, but strangely, no one was lighting the lights on the entire Yu Street.

But at this moment, I suddenly heard a dull drum sound from the distance from the Yu River. Then, lights suddenly lit up on the Yu River in the distance, and with a loud horn sound, the lights in the distance began to move. And the speed was getting more and more, and it seemed that they were rushing towards Aoshan.

At first, Zhao Yan couldn't figure out what the lights were in the distance, but with the sound of neat trumpets, the lights in the distance were getting closer and closer. At this time, Zhao Yan suddenly realized that these so-called lights, followed by dragon lanterns on the water, and so-called dragon lanterns were actually narrow and long. The bow and stern of the boat were glued into dragon heads and tails respectively. After igniting, a strong man operated them and rushed towards Aoshan quickly.

"Today is the Lantern Festival and not the Dragon Boat Festival. Why race dragon boats on the Yuhe River?" Zhao Yan asked with confusion as he looked at the dragon lantern boats rushing for the first time.

"My husband is wrong. This is not a dragon boat racing, but it is called a dragon lantern. A small boat is a dragon lantern. If any dragon lantern arrives at Aoshan first, not only can it obtain the colorful head hanging on Aoshan, but the lights on his boat will also be taken away and sent to the palace servants sent by the official family, asking her to light the lamp on Aoshan with her own hands. When the lamp on Aoshan is lit, the lamp on the entire imperial street will be lit, and then the lantern festival in the entire Tokyo city will officially begin." At this time, Cao Ying smiled and explained.

"So that's it. I thought I could light the lights as soon as it was dark, but I didn't expect there were so many things to pay attention to." Zhao Yan suddenly realized that it seemed that the people of the Song Dynasty were also very good at playing. Just lighting the lights could come up with so many flower heads.

On the wide Yu River, hundreds of dragon lantern boats were scrambling to row. The boatmen on the boat were rowing desperately. In the winter night, they only wore a vest with their arms exposed. The muscles on the thick arms were tangled and shining with grey colors. They looked very masculine, which made people on both sides cheer and shout. In the end, a red dragon lantern boat was the first to arrive at Aoshan with a subtle advantage. As a result, an eunuch who had been waiting on Aoshan for a long time immediately stepped forward and asked the victorious boatman to climb Aoshan to take away the colorful heads hanging on it.

Just as the boatman climbed onto Aoshan, another palace maid in colorful clothes came over, boarded the dragon lantern boat to take away the torches above, then climbed Aoshan step by step, and lit the main lamp in the middle of Aoshan. As a result, the entire Aoshan became extremely bright for a moment. At this time, some of the sub-lanes around were ignited one after another. Soon the entire Aoshan emitted colorful lights, which looked spectacular and a bit dreamy. No wonder so many people were waiting to appreciate the beautiful scenery of Aoshan.

Zhao Yan accompanied Cao Ying and the others to admire the Aoshan for a while. In fact, for Zhao Yan, the Aoshan was indeed a little shocked when it first started to ignite, but it felt a little boring soon. After all, the neon lights at night in later generations were much brighter than the Aoshan in front of us. Sometimes, during festivals, some buildings were covered with neon lights, which was definitely more spectacular than the Aoshan in front of us.

Then, Cao Ying and the others were tired of Aoshan, and then a group of people began to admire the lanterns on both sides along the Imperial Street. Not only were everyone holding lanterns on the street, but there were also lanterns in front of the shops on both sides. The bigger the shops, the more grand and beautiful the lanterns in front of the doors. Although they could not be compared with Aoshan, they were unique. Even Zhao Yan was very amazed by these various lanterns. This was the first time he had seen so many lanterns in his two lives.

Although there is a word for lantern appreciation, the whole process is not just about savoring. There is also an important activity, which is to buy things. Even Cao Ying and the others did not eat dinner when they went out, so that they could keep their stomachs and taste the snacks on both sides of the lantern market. There are also many other small vendors, such as masks, rouge and powder, jade jewelry, etc. Of course, the most common ones were lanterns, which were more than those selling food stalls.

Zhao Yan personally bought a lot of snacks and sent them to Cao Ying and the others. Everyone was eating while walking. It was definitely a bit indecent when doing this, but at this time, no one cared about these. Of course, Zhao Yan did not forget to buy the most important lanterns. The styles of lanterns were also different, including goldfish, ladies, pavilions, etc. Zhao Yan picked one of them for each of them, and then each of them carried a lantern on the crowded streets. There were also all kinds of pedestrians around, and everyone had a kind smile on their faces, which was definitely a scene that was only in the prosperous era.

"Hey, why are there still yamen runners escorting prisoners?" As Zhao Yan and Cao Ying and others walked forward with laughter, his eyes accidentally swept across the corner of the street, and found that there were several prisoners wearing shackles standing there, and there were also several yamen runners watching, as if they were showing up in public.

"Haha, the prince will know when he looks at the signs hanging around their necks!" Hearing Zhao Yan's question, Xue Ning'er first saw the prisoners and smiled and pointed.

When Zhao Yan heard Xue Ning'er's words, he found that there were signs hanging on the chest of the prisoners with many words on it. When he approached, he saw that one of the prisoners said: "Criminal Xu San, stealing property during the lantern festival, and hereby show it to the public!" Another prisoner said: "Criminal Wang Qing, touching a woman's body during the lantern festival, and hereby show it to the public!" The other prisoners also wrote their own crimes on their chests.

Seeing this, Zhao Yan asked in confusion: "Theft of property must be punished, but why should one be punished even when touching a woman's body? There are so many people at the lantern festival, and men and women are crowded together, so it is inevitable that they will be a little bit distracted. If this is the case, it is a crime. Wouldn't it be necessary to arrest all the men at the lantern festival?"

Seeing Zhao Yan's puzzled look, Cao Ying smiled and explained: "If you touch a woman's body because there are too many people, you will naturally not be punished. The government mainly arrests those disciples who use the crowded lantern club and deliberately take advantage of the women. In addition, these prisoners standing on the street may not necessarily commit the crimes written on their chests. Most of them are prisoners in prison. They have been temporarily raised in the past two days and hung signs to show their public to warn those who attend the lantern club not to commit crimes!"

"So that's it. Why do these criminals' crimes happen to be different?" Zhao Yan also laughed when he heard this. Unexpectedly, the government of the Song Dynasty knew how to prevent crimes. Although it was impossible to completely eliminate crimes, it could also give those who were preparing to commit crimes a warning in their hearts.

The accident caused by the Song Dynasty government was not just above. Not long after they walked along the Imperial Street, they saw a guy in official uniform with a group of yamen runners and documents walking along the street while handing copper coins to the vendors on both sides. When they approached Zhao Yan, they found that the guy in official uniform was Feng Jing, the prefect of Kaifeng who had met one time last time. In addition, the dynasty was also mixed with the yamen runners, with a smile on his unshaven face. From time to time, he grabbed a handful of copper coins from the bags in the car behind him and sent them to the vendors.

Before Zhao Yan could ask, Cao Ying took the initiative to explain: "Every year on the Lantern Festival, the prefect of Kaifeng will personally take people to the streets and distribute copper coins to the vendors, which is called buying a market. Thanks to the vendors for not resting during the festival and still insisting on doing business. In addition, the shops on both sides will also be given a batch of candles and lamp oil by the government. This is done to make the lamp market more lively."

When Zhao Yan heard this, he realized that the Lantern Festival was so lively. In addition to the power of the people, the government also actively promoted it. This is just like some cities in later generations who contributed money and efforts to promote customs and then contributed money. It not only for political achievements, but also had a positive effect on people's livelihood.

"Sister Shuning, Sister Ying'er, it turns out that you are here, I have been looking for you for a long time!" At this moment, Zhao Yan suddenly heard someone beside him call Princess Bao'an and Cao Ying, and he felt that the voice sounded very familiar. He turned his head to watch, and immediately smiled bitterly. (To be continued, please search for Astronomy, novels are better and faster!
Chapter completed!