Chapter 1327: Five Blessings Arrive at Once!

On the seventh day of the seventh month in the twentieth year of Hongxing of the Great Ming — the Qixi Festival.

Crackling firecrackers resounded, and the whole of East Lake Town was immersed in the jubilation of four blessings arriving at once. On both sides of Imperial Road Avenue in East Lake Town, heads crowded and surged. Everyone jostled and pressed together, waiting to see the new brides — not one, but five!

How had one more appeared? Hadn't it been said before that four blessings were arriving at once? It turned out that the Guards Army division to which Luo Kedi, son of Luo Xiushen, belonged had just captured Yangping Pass and withdrawn from the Hanzhong front for rest and recuperation. Seizing this opportunity, Luo Kedi, already promoted to Provost (official rank) and regimental commander, had requested leave from the Grand Commander Wu Sanfu and hurried back to Wuhan Prefecture to wed Princess Jinshan, Zhu Tianfeng. Counting this marriage, it made a full "palm" — five blessings arriving at once.

If one also counted the capture of Yangping Pass as a blessing, that would make six. But the battle for Yangping Pass had been somewhat bitter, with many dead, so it was not dragged in to make up a blessing.

In that campaign, the Shun army fought desperately to hold, and the Great Ming army risked their lives to attack; the terrain was also exceedingly perilous, so the two sides could only contest the ground hill by hill, seizing and losing it in turn. Even with the commitment of elite troops like the Guards Army, the tug-of-war between the two sides still dragged on for more than three months, from the third month all the way to the sixth, before the Shun army was driven off Yangping Pass. Ming casualties reached as high as more than twenty thousand, including over ten thousand southern Shaanxi volunteer troops, and the number killed in action exceeded ten thousand!

The Shun's casualties in this great battle at Yangping Pass were also not small, estimated at around fifteen thousand. Although their losses were fewer than the Ming's, they had been defending from strong positions, and moreover had no volunteer troops assisting them — all their losses were regular garrison soldiers!

While the Yangping Pass campaign was underway, a New Army division that had entered Sichuan from Huguang via Shizhou Guard also reached Wanzhou, drove back the counterattacking Shun forces, and in passing recovered Wuning, Zhongzhou, and Shizhu. The Shun forces in eastern Sichuan likewise fell into crisis.

But things were not entirely without good news on the Shun side. Ai Nengqi's western expedition army won victory after victory, heavily mauling ten thousand elite troops of the U-Tsang Military Commissioner Dayan Ochir near Chamdo and capturing the city of Chamdo!

Dayan Ochir and the Grand Lama urgently dispatched messengers to Wuhan Prefecture seeking aid, but because most of the elite troops of the Hexi Garrison near U-Tsang were fighting in Shaanxi, the Zhu Emperor was unable to help with U-Tsang. He could only order Dayan Ochir to send troops as quickly as possible to escort the Grand Lama into the jurisdiction of the Anxi Grand Protectorate for resettlement — no matter what, this great deity must not fall into the hands of the Great Ming's mortal enemy.

Of course, however critical the situation in U-Tsang, it could not affect the five blessings arriving at once in East Lake Town!

Although this five-blessings celebration had been somewhat rushed from preparation to execution, the scale was by no means small. Painted ceremonial archways were erected one after another, from the western end of Imperial Road Avenue all the way to the gate of East Lake Palace at the eastern end. Strips of red felt carpet covered half the street — a full two li and more! At every crossroads along Imperial Road Avenue a band was stationed, blaring away, and beside each band were baskets heaped with candy, red dates, and peanuts — passersby, help yourselves!

A stage had been set up at the main gate of East Lake Palace, where Kunqu opera was being sung in lilting tones — all auspicious plays about bearing sons early and great wealth and rank. Around the stage, the residents of East Lake Town had already crowded in to watch the excitement.

The Crown Princess Ding Yuying had already entered the palace ahead of time — this was of course in accordance with ritual propriety. Kong Yinzheng had personally consulted the bamboo slips handed down from the ancestors, from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods — it could not possibly be wrong!

Of course, during these days in the palace, Ding Yuying was not permitted to meet the Crown Prince. While waiting for the matchmaking formalities to be completed (all handled by Kong Yinzheng — the Confucians had been doing this sort of thing from the very beginning), she studied how to be a Crown Princess under Kou Baimen and the Chief Steward Huang Dabao.

Kou Baimen was responsible for teaching Ding Yuying how to attend to the Crown Prince, and at the same time Zhu Cilang had Ding Yuying work together with Huang Dabao to organize this five-blessings grand ceremony — Huang Dabao was getting on in years, fat and wheezing, and could not serve as Chief Steward for many more years. Once he retired, Ding Yuying would have to take over the Chief Steward's duties. So she had to begin learning now — not only learning, but also doing an internship!

The assessment of Ding Yuying was in fact not yet over. She had to prove not only that she could pass examinations, but also that she could handle affairs — or at least learn to handle affairs!

After the grand wedding, she would also have to participate in the management of the Royal Commercial Company, attend properly to Zhu Hexing, that "Lucky Crown Prince," and bear children for the Great Ming — being the Zhu Emperor's daughter-in-law was no easy job!

But however hard it was, Ding Yuying had to do it with full vigor and do it well!

And over this past month and more, she had coped reasonably well — at least Kou Baimen's assessment of her was good. Huang Dabao, however, had complained more than once before the Zhu Emperor about this little girl who asked about everything. How could a place like the imperial palace be without its unwritten rules? Although Ding Yuying had not interfered with these unwritten rules, she asked too many questions in too much detail, and sometimes even jotted things down in a little notebook.

What was that for? Preparing to lodge a complaint against them with the Zhu Emperor?

The senior eunuchs managing affairs in the palace were all veteran eunuchs who had endured hardship — each had rendered great service. What was wrong with skimming a little? Even the Emperor had not questioned it, so what business did a little slip of a girl have poking her nose into so much?

But Eunuch Huang only grumbled before the Zhu Emperor. Seeing that Zhu Cilang said nothing, he did not dare make things difficult for this Crown Princess.

Ding Yuying, who had been busy for more than a month, left East Lake Palace yesterday morning and returned to her maiden home — that is, the residence of Ding the Skinflint in East Lake Town.

This residence was one Ding Yuying had arranged herself for her father and brothers. The Zhu Emperor was only responsible for paying; he asked nothing else and sent no one to help her.

This little slip of a girl had sought help from the Rent-Collecting Prince Zhu Cixuan, renting a house neither large nor small, where her father, brothers, and younger sister from Yiling Prefecture moved in. And she herself was to be married out from this house, carried in a great sixteen-bearer sedan chair through the main gate of East Lake Palace!

At this moment she was already seated inside the swaying sedan chair, the sound of music and drumming growing ever more urgent in her ears, her heart like a fawn darting about. At the thought of the skills Kou Baimen had taught her, she felt both shy and delighted, so much so that she could scarcely keep her bridal veil steady.

The procession escorting the Crown Princess into the palace was of course the grandest — half of the Great Banner Guard had been mobilized. Some carried the sedan chair, some held the great banners aloft, and still others played music and drums — a tremendous bustle.

But today there was more than one bridal procession — there were five! And the most eye-catching of them was, surprisingly, not the Crown Princess's procession, but that of Princess Nisha. Others went to their weddings in sedan chairs; she entered the palace riding a tycoon's elephant.

And her dowry was so lavish it was outrageous. Strongmen of the Great Banner Guard carried several hundred chests, all with lids open, all glittering with gold. Oh, and there were also twenty foreign dancing-girl attendants in the dowry, their entire bodies draped in gold ornaments — veritable twenty golden figures, barefoot, walking ahead of the elephant, tossing rupees to both sides of the street as they went. Not only lively, but practical — so as Princess Nisha's procession passed, both sides erupted in enthusiastic cheers! Many people shouted at the top of their lungs: "May you bear a son soon!"

Princess Nisha herself, however, was not the least bit ostentatious. She wore a simple red sari gown and a veil, seated with a heart full of joy in a small golden pavilion on the elephant's back.

The other three bridal processions were not headed to the palace. The Rent-Collecting Prince and the Tycoon Prince each had their own princely mansions, and the Imperial Son-in-law Luo Kedi also had a son-in-law's residence. Among them, Princess Zhu Tianfeng was being married out from the palace — she would exit through the main gate of East Lake Palace and turn after leaving, so she would not meet the two processions entering the palace.

The Zhu Emperor was also quite busy today — he had to rush from one venue to another!

He did not need to attend Zhu Cixuan's wedding. The Retired Emperor had already arrived from Yingtian Prefecture and would go himself to the Prince of Fu's mansion to play the father-in-law.

The other four venues all required the presence of this Great Ming Emperor!

The order had been arranged: first, in the Eastern Palace within East Lake Palace, he would receive the obeisance of the Crown Prince and Ding Yuying. Then he would go with the Imperial Noble Consort Zheng to the Prince of Shen's mansion, to let the Tycoon Prince and Wu Ahuan kowtow to them. After that, he would go with the Empress to the son-in-law's residence, to let Zhu Tianfeng and Luo Kedi pay their respects. Once all these had finished their obeisance, he would return to East Lake Palace to attend the wedding of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, and finally he could return to the Red Fort to hold an Indian-style wedding with Princess Nisha.

(End of Chapter)