Chapter 17 Big Wedding

Baohe Hall, located in the north of the inner palace, is a palace built specifically for this wedding. It is divided into the hall front avenue, the hall square, the main hall, the side hall, etc.

The avenue in front of the hall is wide and straight, with square white bricks neatly built on the ground, with canals dug on both sides, and tall flowers and trees are planted next to it.

Walking along the avenue in front of the hall, you will see the open palace gate. The palace gate is made of gold and gold nails and red paint, carved dragons and phoenixes flying clouds, and the gate tower is covered with glazed tiles. It is not only grand, but also gorgeous and gorgeous.

Going inward along the palace gate, you can see the vast square and the altar in the center. The tall main hall is magnificent. It has a heavy-eaved hip roof and a three-layer white jade base. The wall is carved with golden dragons and seals, and the ridge is decorated with immortals and small beasts.

The reason why Fang Ling dressed up with his subordinates was that every official brought gift boxes, so naturally they would not hold them by themselves, and were all given to his followers.

So Fang Ling naturally won’t attract attention when holding the gift box.

At this time, many officials gathered in front of the avenue, and Xue Zhiqiu whispered to him.

Among the officials of Chu, except for the princes enthroned by the royal relatives, the court officials in the imperial city were generally divided into six categories:

The first one is the Three Dukes, namely the Taibao, the Taishi and the Taifu, both of whom are first-rank officials, but although they have more reputations, they have no real power.

The second is the six ministries headed by the prime minister. Cui Yixuan is the prime minister and has six ministries: responsibilities, punishment, military, rituals, households, and official departments. Although the six ministries can have the right to directly advise the emperor, they are usually responsible to the prime minister, and Cui Yixuan's power can also be seen.

Especially now that her youngest daughter has become the crown princess, her status is at its peak.

The third is the Censorate, which is a supervisory department directly under the Emperor Chu, and has officials such as left and right prison envoys.

The fourth is five temples, the so-called five temples are Dali Temple, Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, Taipu Temple, and Honglu Temple. Except for Dali Temple, which manages criminal cases, the other temples all manage chores and banquets.

The fifth is the Hanlin Academy and the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, who are all civil officials who manage state affairs.

In addition, there is the most important category, namely the military generals. These military generals include the General of the Cavalry, the General of the Assistant State, and the General of the State, etc. Most of these people are of high power. Empress Song's grandfather is the first-rank general of the Cavalry in the previous dynasty. He promoted many powerful officials and generals in the court, and then combined them with the power of civil officials selected by Cui Yi, which is a great success.

Fang Ling listened to Xue Zhiqiu's introduction and kept these people silently in his heart. At the same time, he also found Tang Zihao's figure, so he lowered his head so that he would not find it.

After waiting for almost an hour, the eunuch informed him in the front hall that when it was time to enter the hall, everyone stepped into the gate and came to the square in front of the hall.

From the side door, you can see foreign envoys coming.

More than a dozen countries on the land, except for a few remote countries, almost all nearby countries sent envoys, and even Cai and Wu, which had been in war, were no exception.

Of course, anyone with discerning eyes understands that the other party is very likely to take this opportunity to spy on the information, and some even suspect that the murder of Eunuch Jia was done by the other party.

But firstly, there is no evidence, and secondly, it is now a major event for the prince’s wedding, so the death of Eunuch Jia is gone.

Xue Zhiqiu introduced these foreign envoys to Fang Ling in detail. Of course, what attracted Fang Ling's attention the most was the envoy of Cai State Wei An.

Wei An is in his forties, with a sharp face, his eyes slightly narrowed, like a slit, and he has two beards on his mouth, looking quite like a big mouse.

However, this guy is a real Marquis of Cai State, and he is from a family of military generals. It is said that his martial arts are extraordinary. When he was guarding the border of Cai State, he repeatedly led troops to invade the border, which made the generals in the court gritted their teeth. However, he did not expect that he would come as an envoy at this time.

Next to Wei An, there was an extremely strong man standing. This guy had two heads taller than an ordinary person. Logically speaking, his body should have been stretched thin, but he grew into an inverted triangle body. His upper body muscles were about to bulge out of his clothes, which looked very scary.

Although Fang Ling didn't know what the martial arts realm of these two people were, just looking at this momentum, he guessed that he was at least above the strength realm.

Without thinking too much, when the foreign ministers stood on both sides of the square in turn, a loud voice came from the side of the hall, "Your Majesty is here."

At this time, the horns on the outside of the square were roaring, drums shook the sky, all the court officials knelt down, and foreign envoys bowed, Fang Ling knelt on the ground, took a deep breath, raised his head slightly, and looked towards the hall. He saw a tall middle-aged man walking under the crowd, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, majestic weapons, wearing a golden dragon robe.

Needless to say, this person must be the emperor of Chu State - Emperor Chu Fang Hongtian.

Fang Ling frowned fiercely, and felt a twitching pain in his heart. After all, he was not a flesh-free person. Facing his father he had never met, he felt indescribable. He didn't know if it was hatred, indignation or something, but he suppressed any emotion and turned it into a coldness.

No matter what affection he had for this father, Fang Ling would never be grateful or hold any extravagant hope. He understood very well that if he wanted to leave the palace, he could only rely on his own hands instead of seeking his sympathy and pity.

From the time he and his mother were taken down to the cold palace, he had given up his existence.

The one who walked with Fang Hongtian was Empress Song wearing a phoenix robe. As the lord of the harem and the noble of the world, Empress Song seemed elegant and luxurious. However, in Fang Ling's view, she was just a poisonous woman in human skin.

After Fang Hongtian and Empress Song sat down, the prince Fang Ce appeared. It was the day of the wedding, and he was wearing a red dress with a proud look on his face.

The one who came from another direction was the daughter of Prime Minister Cui Yiyuan, the current Crown Princess Cui Xiaoxiao.

She was only 14 or 15 years old, with a nice face and a bit tender. She was wearing a big red wedding robe and was surrounded by a group of palace maids.

After the two of them came, they knelt in front of Fang Hongtian at the same time and greeted him.

Fang Hongtian raised his hand with relief and said, "Get up, today is your happy day, so there is no need to be so restricted. Ma Qing's family, start to sacrifice to the sky."

After Ma Chang, the minister of Taichang Temple, got up, walked to the sacrificial platform in the center of the square, spread out the scroll in his hand, and read the text of offering sacrifices to heaven aloud. It was nothing more than the virtue of the heaven, the country was prosperous and the people were safe, and of course, there was also words such as how virtuous the prince was, how virtuous the prince's concubine was, how virtuous the prince's concubine was.

After reading the long and tedious astronomy, incense candles were lit on the stage, and officials from Taichang Temple brought up raw and cooked offerings, and the surrounding guard of honor blew loud horns to the sky.

After the sacrifice to heaven was over, the little eunuch beside Fang Hongtian said aloud: "Now the envoys of various countries are presenting congratulations to His Highness and Princess Princess."

So, Wei An, who was in the front, strode up, handed over an exquisite box, and smiled slightly, "Congratulations to the prince's wedding. If you have time in the future, don't forget to come to our country of Cai to have fun."

Fang Ce immediately showed a little disgusting expression, looking too lazy to pay attention to him.

Fang Hongtian seemed very calm and said lightly: "Marty Wei is polite. I hope you will see you again next day, and you will still greet him with a smile."

Although it was just a few words, the murderous intent hidden in these words was very deep. Wei An laughed loudly and stepped aside.

The eunuch next to him opened the box and read: "The envoy of Cai sent a pair of white jade carved Qilin."

Then, every envoy gave gifts, and the eunuchs would recite the things they gave out. All of these envoys were gifts for the country, mostly gold jade, beautiful jade jewelry, all of which were worth a thousand gold and exquisitely carved.

Fang Hongtian listened to the gifts and the praises he had said by envoys from various countries, and nodded slightly with satisfaction, and said a few words to Queen Song from time to time.

Queen Song smiled and looked noble as if she was a mother in the world.

After the envoys from various countries gave the gifts, the eunuch shouted again: "The court officials will present the gifts to you!"

So, according to the official rank, first the royal relatives, princes, etc., then according to the first and second ranks, the eunuch still opened the inspection and recited it out loud.

Fang Ling saw it and understood that the gifts given by these officials were also very knowledgeable. You should know that the salaries of officials were not high, and although the court also had subsidies, it could not be compared with those of the giant merchants and wealthy businessmen.

If you give away gold, jade, jewelry, etc., it is expensive and can easily be called a corrupt official. If you give away some cheap things, it is really difficult to take action. After all, this is a gift for the prince's wedding.

Therefore, the officials cleverly chose rare medicinal materials. Although these medicinal materials are hard-won, they can be said to be collected by relatives and dug up from their hometowns. Just make up a story to avoid the suspicion of corrupt officials.

Moreover, these medicinal materials are also necessary for the royal family. One hundred years of medicinal materials is just right.

Of course, there are also really poor officials who send some more ordinary objects. Just a thought comes out, it will cause whispers among the court officials. Although they do not laugh at them in public, they are regarded as aliens.

After everything was over, Fang Hongtian nodded slightly and said, "Today is Ce'er's wedding day, and I am very happy, especially with so many foreign envoys coming here without hesitation. At noon, I will hold a banquet at Qingming Palace, and all the ministers can enjoy it at the same time. Now, let everyone appreciate the dance of the singer of the palace of this emperor and add some joy to this wedding day."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xue Zhiqiu strode to the front of the hall, kneeled down, and shouted loudly: "Report to Your Majesty, I have something to report!"
Chapter completed!