Huilongguan is also known as "Xuanfu Temple", was built in the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, completed in the tenth year of Zhengde, and was renamed "Xuanfu Palace" after completion. This is the annual Qingming Festival, the royal family goes to Tianshou Mountain to pay homage to the imperial tomb, and the place where the tomb is stationed on the way back and forth.

Hyunbokgung Palace sits on a grassland bordering the river, which was originally a pasture for Gyeonggi horses. Because the scenery is beautiful, and it is the only way to go to Tianshou Mountain, so the Hongzhi Emperor of that year came up with the idea to establish a Taoist temple here, in order to be used as a resting place on the road during the Qingming Dynasty every year.

It is about 16 kilometers away from the victory gate, which is just a day's journey out of Beijing. Depart from the capital in the morning and stop at Xuanfu Palace in the afternoon.

And Xuanfu Palace goes 23 miles to the north, is Changping County, out of the north gate of the county is a grassland, and in the north of the grassland there is a big mountain, here is the royal cemetery where the twelve emperors of the Ming Dynasty are buried, that is, the so-called Tianshou Mountain.

Tianshou Mountain, formerly known as Loess Mountain, has become a royal mausoleum since Yongle set the capital of Beijing. The mountains in the northwest of Beijing have the same trend as the Taihang Mountain, but only this mountain moves in a different direction from the mountains and is self-styled. From a distance, it looks like the northwestern mountains are going east to worship this mountain.

Moreover, the upper part of Tianshou Mountain is steep and gentle, the forest in the mountain is dense, the spring water is everywhere, and the trees here are also rejuvenated earlier than other places, so it is considered to be the place where the earth is deep.

Eighteen mountain peaks, with a radius of more than 80 miles, are stationed in 5 thousand households and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Yong'an Battalion and the Sinophobic Battalion to guard the mausoleum. The first is to protect Tianshou Mountain and prevent the surrounding people from hunting and cutting firewood in the mountains, which alarmed the local atmosphere of Tianshou Mountain. The second is to protect the safety of the emperor when he goes to Tianshou Mountain every year.

Although according to the regulations, there are four major festivals and three small festivals every year, but more attention is paid to the spring and autumn festivals. Before Emperor Jiajing, the emperor of the Spring and Autumn Festival would generally go to Tianshou Mountain to worship in person, and this was also the day when the emperor could leave the capital every year.

But after Jiajing, the number of times the emperor personally went to worship was about the one left every year. Chongzhen had just ascended the throne last year, and he had adopted a cautious and obedient attitude towards all the old rules of sacrifice.

However, when Qingming went to Tianshou Mountain to worship this year, he greatly modified the travel fleet. The first is the streamlining of staff and the change in the way of travel.

The magnificent, but slow-moving chariots were replaced by light-moving four-wheeled carriages. The escorted army only brought 500 cavalry, and the attendants were reduced to 12 people, and the two concubines of Zhou Hou Hetian and Yuan stayed in the palace.

There were only a few ministers who accompanied him, including Feng Quan, Qian Qianyi, and Sun Zhiji, so the entire convoy of worshiping Tianshou Mountain was only more than 900 people in the end. Compared with the scale of tens of thousands of emperor's personal worship convoys in previous years, the convoy of Qingming worship this time can be regarded as very shrunk.

It took two days to go to Tianshou Mountain, three days to worship the Twelve Tombs, and when Chongzhen returned to Xuanfu Palace with the team, it took exactly 7 days.

On the way to Tianshou Mountain to worship before, Zhu Youzhen was still immersed in the carriage studying official business, so he didn't have the heart to appreciate the Xuanfu Palace, which was considered by Emperor Hongzhi to be an excellent place for scenery.

Waking up early the next morning, Chongzhen, who felt some back pain, heard the sound of birds chirping outside the house, and immediately decided to stay in Xuanfu Palace for another day to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the sea of begonia flowers in Longguan.

Huilongguan is dedicated to the Zhenwu Emperor, and the host of the view is also the Taoist official of the royal canonization. Hearing that Chongzhen intended to stay here for a day, the host came to accompany the emperor and several ministers to tour the temple and explain the allusions in the temple to them.

Chongzhen's marching worship action made Feng Quan, Qian Qianyi, and Sun Zhiqi also feel a little bitter, compared to the young and energetic Chongzhen, they felt more deeply about the bumps of the carriage. Being able to rest here for a day and relieving their strength was something they couldn't ask for, so they quickly complied with the emperor's wishes.

After going back and forth to Xuanfu Palace several times, Zhu Youzhen didn't take a good look at the detailed situation in the palace, and his only impression was that the area of Xuanfu Palace was very vast.

First of all, the mountain gate has two layers of inside and outside, and there are many buildings in the palace, which are complete and exquisite, and it is a little amazing. "Lin Gong Bei Yu, outstanding Xiao Han, perfect wheel, Danbi Shine" is Feng Quan's comment on the building of Xuanfu Palace.

For Zhu Youzhen, whether it is a carved lintel, or an azure glazed tile, or a wooden building with not a single nail visible. These beautiful ancient buildings of the Ming Dynasty are like treasures that people want to discover, and under the reflection of the sea of green trees and flowers, it really makes him a little forgetful.

The host Li Yunhu, who accompanied Chongzhen around the palace, was called Xuan Xuanzhen. He was only in his 40s, with a beard that reached to his chest, and he looked quite fairy.

He spoke eloquently, and when he talked about the allusions of Xuanfu Palace, it was completely easy, interspersed with a few Taoist secrets from time to time, which made Chongzhen a little fascinated by it.

Chongzhen's view of this person is that if he can travel to the 21st century and talk about Taoist culture in hundreds of forums, he will definitely be able to gain fame and fortune.

After talking with this Xuanzhen Taoist for a few words, Zhu Youzhen learned that this person was still a monk halfway, originally a Jiangxi Confucian student, because he liked immortals, so after failing in the imperial examination, he abandoned his family and business to visit famous mountains and rivers, and visited friends to learn some true immortal skills. In the end, the immortal was not found, but he became the host of the royal Taoist temple.

Zhu Youzhen was unmoved by the immortal rumors thrown out by Xuan Zhen Daoist from time to time, but he was very interested in his travel career, and kept asking him for nearly an hour.

Regarding the wrong direction that Chongzhen paid attention to, Li Yunhu, who kept talking, was disappointed. Although he is the presiding officer of the Taoist temple dedicated to Xuanfu Palace, it sounds very famous, but in fact it is a chore.

Because although Xuanfu Palace is a royal Taoist temple, it is not a Taoist priest who presides over the affairs of the temple, but the inner government. After all, in addition to the Taoist temple here, it is also the palace where the emperor is stationed, and it is obviously impossible to hand it over to a group of Taoist priests to manage, otherwise there will be a big problem in terms of security.

In addition, the area of Xuanfu Palace is vast and there are many buildings. The annual cost of maintenance and repair is a lot of money. Since it is a royal Taoist temple, it is naturally funded by the palace. How could the inner government throw money to a group of Taoist priests for nothing, and naturally it had to be managed personally.

As a royal Taoist temple and the emperor's palace, it also makes it possible to enter the Huilong to enjoy the scenery and incense in addition to the emperor coming to incense every year.

However, Huilongguan is too far away from the capital, not suitable for one day to go back and forth, and there are also very few nobles and nobles who come to incense. There are many temples and Taoist temples near the capital, so there is no need to come here to make incense.

The Taoist temple was built only for the emperor, if the emperor was a person who loved Taoism, then these Taoist priests would not live so badly. But since Emperor Jiajing, successive emperors have no special hobby of Taoism. In this way, the Taoist priests in the Huilongguan have become a group of lonely ghosts.

Therefore, the host Li Yunhu rushed the opportunity for Chongzhen to stay, and desperately tried his best to get close in front of the emperor, hoping to make this young son of heaven have a little good impression of Taoism. He didn't expect this emperor to be able to refine the pill and seek immortals all his life like Emperor Jiajing, but he hoped that this emperor would notice the existence of Huilongguan and add some money to him and his disciples.

However, with the current situation, Li Yunhu felt that his hope was a little slim. After Zhu Youzhen asked many questions with relish, he finally put away his curiosity and asked him instead: "How many Taoist priests are there in Longguan this time, and how many fields are under their names?" How many people come to incense on weekdays? ”

Li Yunhu's mind suddenly became active again, he answered the emperor's question one by one, and screamed a few bitter without a trace.

After Zhu Youjian listened, he did not reward Longguan with a few acres of land, but nodded and said: "The number of Taoist priests and the number of fields are quite appropriate, and there is no need for more."

However, the main function of the Taoist temple is to pray for the blessings of the people, and now it is enclosed in the palace, isn't this such a large Taoist temple built in vain?

Moreover, it is a bit of a waste to maintain such a large palace just to stay a few nights a year when I go back and forth to worship the shrine. The people of the capital say that the begonias in Huilongguan bloom well, but there are few people who can really see such beautiful scenery.

Locking such a beautiful scenery deep in the palace and not allowing outsiders to see it may not be too disappointing to live up to this spring. I think it should be changed. Lv Qi. ”

Zhu Youzhen turned his head and shouted to Lu Qi, who was accompanying him, and only after he stood up did he order: "After you go back, let the steward who manages this place draw up a plan to separate the scope of the Taoist temple from the palace."

The people are allowed to come here to enjoy the scenery and incense, and as for the palace, except for the temporary closure of the place where I rest, the rest of the place is renovated into a building to rent out to tourists who come here to offer incense. The proceeds are used to cover maintenance costs.

In addition, in other palaces, those that can change their use will be repurposed, and those that cannot be changed will be reduced in size or simply abolished. There is money in the inner house, and it should also be spent in more important places. ”

Lu Qi agreed, and Sun Zhiqi, who was standing next to him, immediately clapped his hands and said: "Your Majesty is still thinking about the people when he travels, and he is really a saint tomorrow..."

With Sun Zhiqi taking the lead, Feng and Qian also decisively began to shoot Chongzhen's horses, which made Zhu Youzhen a little embarrassed.

Although he did not receive the land rewarded by Chongzhen, Li Yunhu was still quite happy, after all, if it could be opened to the outside world, it would at least be much better than cultivating in the deserted forbidden palace now.