There are three major statutory holidays in the Ming Dynasty, the winter solstice, New Year's Day, and the Lantern Festival.

The winter solstice has a three-day holiday, New Year's Day starts from the first month, civil and military officials have a five-day holiday, and the Lantern Festival is from the eleventh day of the first month to the twentieth day of the first month.

Approaching New Year's Day, at the last court meeting of the eleventh year of Tianwu, Zhu Cihong convened the ministers to discuss the matter, and the first thing was the retirement of the three old ministers of the cabinet.

There are Zhang Guowei, the secretary of the household department, Feng Ying, the secretary of the criminal department, and Fang Kongzhao, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, all three of whom are old ministers of several dynasties.

Feng Ying and Fang Kongzhao even went through the four dynasties of Wanli, Tianqi, Chongzhen, and Tianwu, and to put it mildly, they are all old nails in officialdom.

With the gradual increase of talents in the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Young Zhuang faction, the three of them all felt the pressure, and the Ming Dynasty has been raising troops at every turn in recent years, and their busy bodies are gradually unbearable.

Zhu Cihong repeatedly retained him, but the three old ministers resolutely dismissed him in the name of old age and infirmity.

Zhu Cihong looked at the three gray-haired ministers and thought of how much they had made to the country for more than 20 years.

Now, they are about to leave the dynasty, and they can't help but feel sad in their hearts, as if they have lost an old friend......

Zhang Guowei, the secretary of the household department, said: "The minister resigns today, his heart is related, the white clouds and dogs, the vicissitudes of the sea, twenty years are fleeting, and the Ming monarch is under the rule, and the minister's ambition has been fully expressed."

Lai Your Majesty is wise and blessed, the Ming Dynasty is thriving, and the old minister is pleased, and he does not dare to do nothing because of old age and decay, delaying major national affairs, and hopes that His Majesty will resign from the court. ”

Zhu Cihong's eyes were red: "Since you have made up your mind, I will not stay anymore, and I will give you three mansions in the capital, so that we can meet the monarchs and ministers in the future." ”

"Wu Zhong, the purpose is to set up a banquet in the Wenhua Palace, and let the Shang Shan Supervisor arrange it according to the specifications of the imperial banquet and make a meal for the three Aiqing."

The three old ministers immediately burst into tears: "Your Majesty is so sorry for the old ministers, how dare the ministers not sing praises for Your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty in their twilight years, and celebrate the promotion of peace!" ”

Before leaving, the three of them kowtowed in tears and walked out of the Fengtian Temple.

The cabinet suddenly vacated three seats, and the ministers in the hall were suddenly eager to try, looking at the emperor on the throne with expectant eyes.

Zhu Cihong sighed that five of the original six departments have been replaced, and the local governors of various provinces have also played unanimously in the past two years and want to retire.

For example, Shi Kefa, the governor of Huguang, Qu Shiyun, the governor of Guangxi, Huang Daozhou, the governor of Jiangxi, and Wang Tingchen, the governor of Guizhou, all of them could not do anything.

In fact, they couldn't do it for a long time, and Zhu Cihong didn't urge them, waiting for them to write and resign.

According to Zhu Cihong's idea, the following court centers and local officials should use the young and strong faction, those young and strong, brave to change, fierce progress, and energetic officials.

He preliminarily planned to transfer Li Yan from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Household Affairs to serve as Shangshu, Yang Shicong from the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of Education, Honglu Siqing Maoxiang to transfer the Hanlin Academy to the cabinet, Zhejiang Governor Fang Yizhi to the cabinet to serve as Honglu Siqing, Yunnan Governor Yan Yingyuan to be transferred to the Ministry of Criminal Affairs as Shangshu, and Yang Wanli, a waiter of the Ministry of Works, to be promoted to the Ministry of Works.

Yang Tinglin, the chief assistant of the Ministry of Finance, and Shen Tingyang of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs are also unchanged, all of whom are new cabinet ministers.

Locally, Zhu Cihong transferred Yang Tingjian, the governor of Taiwan, to the governor of Zhejiang (the first champion of the Tianwu Dynasty), and Zhu Yu, the governor of Taipei Prefecture in Taiwan Province, was promoted to the governor of Taiwan (Zhu Dadian's eldest grandson).

Yang Tingjian is prudent and cautious, and he speaks little, just like Taiwan is isolated overseas, and he never forms a party with the ministers of the DPRK and China.

And Zhu Yu is one of the few young people who have been with Zhu Cihong when he was still the crown prince, and he can be ranked as the governor of a province in his thirties, which shows Emperor Zhu's trust in him.

As for who will be used by the other vacant governors, we will have to seriously consider it and observe it for a while.

In the twelfth year of Tianwu, this major transfer of officials from the center to the local government marked the end of an era.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, the last night of the year, Nanjing City is full of lights and festive atmosphere.

The Ming Dynasty is in a period of rising national strength, the people have been thinking about governance for a long time, the officials are clear, and the national living standards are gradually improving.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty's continuous military victories over the years have greatly boosted the people's morale, and their patriotic feelings and national cohesion have been unprecedentedly improved.

This mood is fully displayed at the time of the New Year, creating a very joyful atmosphere, which is more lively every year.

Under the guidance of the government, the merchants organized major activities such as singing, juggling, lantern fans, fireworks, dragon and lion dances, etc., adding a lot of festive atmosphere to the festival.

The palace is even more lively, and the entire palace is full of lanterns, even at night, it is brightly lit.

On the Chengtian Gate of the Imperial City, a large number of fireworks were set off as if they did not need money, and after the fireworks, the palace organized a large-scale singing and dancing and juggling performance, so that the people of the capital came to watch.

Zhu Cihong even brought the concubines, princesses and princesses to Chengtianmen in person to watch the singing and dancing under the city and have fun with the people.

At this time of year, from Chengtianmen to Hongwumen, there are crowds of people, one after another, very lively, more than 200,000 people come and go, constantly creating a record high!

These expenses were paid by the royal family, and the annual cost was as high as more than 3 million silver yuan, and the officials not only had nothing to say, but many people brought their families to participate in it.

Children like to be lively, all the princes and princesses, except for those who have just been born, all the rest are jumping to the square, joining the ranks of the children of the common people, talking and laughing.

The grounded prince Zhu and His Majesty were also released and accompanied by the emperor, and the two grandparents sometimes walked around the lantern festival to guess the lantern riddles.

Not only is there a bustle in front of Chengtian Gate, but also the major streets of Nanjing are full of crowds, full of various opera performances.

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, millions of people in Beijing almost poured out, making Nanjing a city that never sleeps.

Some foreigners who have just come to Daming are all dissatisfied with the shock of Daming's prosperity and strength, which is difficult for them to encounter in eight lifetimes.

There are even foreign painters, like drugs, excitedly recording this scene.

A few years later, a number of world-class famous paintings were circulated in various places, vividly showing the happy livelihood of the Celestial Empire at that time.

At that time, all the singing, dancing and juggling performances in Nanjing City stopped, and the copper bells on the streets of the city rang together.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!! Knock ......"

Dabao'en Temple, Jiming Temple and other places sounded the New Year's one hundred and eight bells, for a time, the whole Nanjing city was full of melodious and far-reaching bells, indicating that the new year was officially coming.

Amid the sound of bells, people wish each other good luck and good luck in the new year.

When the one hundred and eighth bell died down, it was replaced by an even louder cheer.

In front of the Chengtian Gate, I don't know who took the lead first, shouting "Long live Your Majesty" in the direction of the city tower!

"Hooray!"

"Hooray!"

The crowd of people cheered, and the vast voices of 200,000 people quickly swept through Chengtianmen Square, pushing the atmosphere of the New Year to a peak!