At the gate of the Chu Palace, the two tall and prominent vermilion lacquer inlaid copper nail gates are particularly conspicuous, and there are two stone lions as high as Zhang Xu on both sides of the gate, which is even more mighty.

At the foot of the steps of the palace, there was already a group of servants of the palace, who were surrounded by a man in a red robe.

When the guard of honor came to the palace of the king of Chu, when Zhu Cihong stepped down from the dragon chariot, the man in the red robe immediately greeted him, bowed down and saluted: "The minister sees His Royal Highness the Prince!" ”

Fang Kongzhao, the governor of Huguang, reminded Zhu Cihong in a low voice: "Your Highness, this is the prince of the King of Chu. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded and said, "The prince is exempt!" ”

The prince of Chu is about thirty years old, his body is slightly fat, he looks white and clean, and he is a little elegant, in Zhu Cihong's opinion, he is more stupid, and he looks quite pleasing to the eye.

Some of the personal entourage and generals behind Zhu Cihong were angry in their hearts, the old thing of the king of Chu asked the prince to come to greet the crown prince, but he was hiding in the palace, this king of Chu's face is quite big.

After seeing the ceremony, the prince led everyone to the palace, in addition to a group of people such as the major officials of Huguang, the chamberlains of the Chu Palace, the captains, and the left and right supporters, Huang Degong and Xu Sheng and a large group of brave guards also entered the Chu Palace.

The specifications in the palace are quite similar to the palace, and the three major halls in the center are also established, and there are other palaces, temples, academies, warehouses, and other houses around the two sides of each hall, which are smaller than those in the Forbidden City, but much more generous than the Duanwang Mansion where Zhu Cihong once lived.

Zhu Cihong had lived in the Forbidden City for several years, and was accustomed to seeing large-scale palace buildings, but he did not have much feeling for the architecture of the Chu Palace.

The group passed through the Duanli Gate and entered the carrying hall, at this time Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, was sitting on the golden throne, and more than 20 subordinate officials of the Chu Wangfu stood on both sides, and there were some eunuchs, maids, and school captains, a total of about sixty or seventy people.

Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, is fifty-seven years old this year, with gray hair and a fat body like a pig, and has been kept as a pig for more than 50 years, so it is no wonder that he has this body shape.

The king of Chu was dressed almost the same as Zhu Cihong's, wearing a winged crown, wearing a red regular dress with a disc collar and narrow sleeves, a gold woven five-clawed coiled dragon on the front and back and on both shoulders, a jade belt around his waist, and soapy leather boots on his feet.

After seeing Zhu Cihong enter the main hall, Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, got up from the throne, stood aside and said calmly: "His Royal Highness the Prince, please take a seat!" ”

Zhu Cihong glanced at the gold-wrapped throne above, and subconsciously smiled, he remembered the historical record: In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong attacked Wuchang, and the local officials of Huguang gathered in the palace of the king of Chu, kneeling down and begging Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, to donate money, but Zhu Huakui pointed to the gold-wrapped throne given by Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and said, this should be used to pay the army, there is nothing else!

Being scolded by the king of Chu like this, what else can the officials do, this world is the world of the Zhu family, and the clan vassal kings don't contribute, what qualifications do they have to ask the officials and the people to contribute money and efforts?

After Wuchang was captured by Zhang Xianzhong, all the millions of gold and silver in the palace of the king of Chu were taken away by Zhang Xianzhong, and hundreds of cars were not loaded.

Zhang Xianzhong scolded the king of Chu for being raised by a son of a bitch, mocked him again, and then tied him to a stone and threw him into the Yangtze River and drowned.

Later, Zhang Xianzhong drove all the clans of the King of Chu to the Yangtze River and let them throw them into the water.

Only one clan named Zhu Shengxun drifted for more than 30 miles without drowning, climbed to the shore and fled into the mountains, and changed his name to Xie Shiren, and later married a wife and had children, and his son lived to be 90 years old.

According to the Ming ritual system, when the crown prince and the vassal king meet, no matter how many generations the vassal king is older or how old he is, he must take the crown prince as the upper seat, and the vassal king pays homage with courtesy, and then discusses the ranking of the clan's seniors and performs family rituals.

Therefore, Zhu Cihong was not polite, and went straight to the golden throne to accept everyone's worship.

Zhu Huakui has been the king of Chu for nearly 60 years, and he has never visited others, but now he sees his throne being sitting, and he still has to pay homage to him, and he always feels that it is not a taste.

After everyone finished saluting, Zhu Cihong looked around and just wanted to talk about business, but heard a voice from the main hall: "Why doesn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince greet His Royal Highness the King of Chu?" ”

The person who spoke was Ji Haoyan, the governor of Biyuan, who decided to take the lead in attacking and bring a direction to the officials of Huguang.

Ji Haoyan continued: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince should get up and greet His Royal Highness the King of Chu as a junior, how can the kiss gift be abolished?" ”

Several officials immediately responded to Ji Hao's words, and also said that the crown prince should bow to His Royal Highness the King of Chu.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, stipulated the generations of the descendants in the "Emperor Ming Ancestral Training", and the East Palace and the prince each took 20 characters to represent the generations.

Under the East Palace: Yunwen obeys the ancestral teachings, Qinwu Dajun wins, Yifeng Ji by the way, and Shi Liang is good at using Sheng;

Under the throne of Yan: Gao Zhan Qi Jianyou, Hou Zai Yi Changyou, Ci He Yi Bozhong, Jian Jingdi Xianyou;

Under the throne of Chu: Meng Jijun was honored and prosperous, and Rong Hongcai was promoted to Bo Yan and Mao Shi made full merits;

.........

Zhu Yuanzhang's sons each have their own generations, that is to say, the descendants of the Zhu family are basically three words, and the first two were set hundreds of years ago, such as Zhu Cihong, who is the eleventh generation of the Yan Wang lineage, according to the generation, Zhu Cihong has to call Zhu He when he gives birth to a son.

The king of Chu is four generations higher than Zhu Cihong, and it stands to reason that Zhu Cihong should salute him and call him great-great-uncle, which Zhu Cihong can't call anyway, I feel more uncomfortable than being a grandson, it's too disgusting!

Zhu Cihong looked at Ji Haoyan, he was very unhappy in his heart, his face was slightly angry, and he said, "Thank you for the reminder!" I hope you can be so loyal to your duties as an official! ”

Huang Degong and other generals of the Tianwu Army were all angry, and some even pressed their hands on the hilt of their swords, ready to draw their swords and kill one or two of the fastest things.

Zhu Cihong got up and looked at the King of Chu and said, "The King of Chu is four generations higher than the palace, how should he be called?" Please also ask the King of Chu to make it clear! ”

The king of Chu is nearly sixty years old, after all, he is not stunned, he knows very well that the crown prince does not want to salute, although the ceremony is this ceremony, but it is not always more serious, now the vassal king is weak, it is not worth offending a crown prince with a heavy army because of this little thing.

The King of Chu smiled and said, "Forget it, forget it, it's just a little bit." ”

Seeing what Ji Haoyan and the others wanted to say, King Chu hurriedly said: "Everyone take a seat, the wine banquet prepared by King Gu for everyone is about to start!" ”

The king of Chu waved his hand and ordered a banquet to not give the Huguang officials a chance to speak.

After everyone was seated, all kinds of exquisite wine and food were delivered to everyone's seats like flowing water, and at the same time, the singers and musicians of the palace sang and danced during the banquet.

Zhu Cihong said a few polite words, and didn't bother to say anything, sat back on the throne, just glanced at Ji Haoyan, and glanced at some officials who had just come out to help him.