On February 2nd, the dragon raised its head.

In the blink of an eye, it is already the beginning of spring in the Jingzhe River. It is said that the dragon raises its head, also known as the Spring Plowing Festival. At this time of year, the Dragon Head Festival is celebrated to honor the dragon and pray for rain, so that God can bless the harvest.

Butler Zhang came over to talk to Zhang Chao about returning to Bashang.

The land temple built by the Zhang family and the villagers have worked hard to build has been ready. The village is waiting for Zhang Chao to go back and invite the Land God to be the chief throne and congratulate the Land God on his birthday.

Because on February 2nd, it is also said that it is the birthday of the Land Lord. Bailu Township has the custom of holding land meetings for the Land Lord. Every year, every family in the village raises money to congratulate the Land God on their birthdays, goes to the Land Depot to burn incense and sacrifices, beats gongs and sets off firecrackers.

This year, Zhangjiagou Village also has its own land temple. The statue of the land father-in-law carved by workers is invited to be placed in the temple on the birthday of the land father.

"I have to attend the spring farming ceremony tomorrow morning. Thirteenth Lady will go back first in the morning, and I will go back in the afternoon." The villagers are superstitious about building temples and worshiping gods, praying gods and asking for rain, so Zhang Chao followed the customs. The main part of the construction of land temples and statues was done by the Zhang family. The Zhang family is willing to pay more money for tomorrow's ceremony.

This is a big deal for the villagers in Zhangjiagou.

February 2nd is also extremely important for the emperor. If we are unified today, Emperor Li Yuan also plans to hold a spring plowing ceremony this year.

There had been a piece of land in the southern suburbs, and tomorrow the emperor would lead all civil and military officials to personally support the plows and plow fields. This also shows the emperor's importance to farming. The emperor supports the plows, the prime minister leads the cows, and the minister sows the seeds. Originally, this ceremony was supported by the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the emperor would just watch it, but this year Li Yuan planned to personally support the plows and plows a few ridges of land.

Zhang Chao is not the prime minister of the three provinces, nor is he the minister of the six ministries, and he is not even the nine ministers, so he is not qualified to sow seeds.

However, because Zhang Chao was the inventor of the curved plow, this plow has long been proven to be extremely useful and has greatly increased its efficiency, and the paddy fields and dry land in the south and the north have increased a lot of efficiency.

Therefore, this year, Li Yuan issued a special order, asking Zhang Chao not only to participate in this year's spring farming ceremony, but also to go to Qianniu as well. Qianniu enjoys the treatment of the prime minister. As soon as the decree was issued, many people were jealous and envious.

Zhang San, a fifth-rank official, can actually lead the cow.

Because Zhang San only has the fifth rank, the emperor's special gift of robe and goldfish bag were also conveyed according to the will.

Giving a red robe and a goldfish bag is a bit similar to the bullfighting robe given in the Ming Dynasty, and the crowds are given a yellow jacket and a peach feather.

After Zhang Chao received the reward, he was urging him to try it on by his father and Cui Yingying. He wore a purple jade belt and a goldfish bag around his waist, which was very conspicuous. Especially with Zhang Chao's young man in his early twenties, he became more and more tall.

Although giving purple gold is just an honor, and the grade has not been improved in fact, when Zhang Chao changed into a purple robe and appeared in the morning court wearing a goldfish bag, it still attracted countless officials to look at him.

In the past, Zhang Chao's official position did not require early courtship in the palace, or he did not have the qualifications. Unless it was a grand ceremony during the New Year, he would join in the fun and lined up outside the hall.

But today Zhang Chao received a special order to go to the palace and could have a place at the entrance of the palace.

It was still early, but the ministers in the palace were all very energetic. Zhang Chao was glad that he had only got a temporary opportunity, otherwise it would be a painful thing to get up in the middle of the night to get to court every day.

In the Golden Hall, Li Yuan sat high on the dragon throne, and under the Danba and Jade Steps was the prince built.

Among all the officials, Li Shimin ranked first. What made him ranked in this position was his position as General Tiance, which was under the Third Division and above the Three Dukes.

Among the officials of the Tang Dynasty, this was the fourth official position, and it was also one of the only seven first-rank positions in the Tang Dynasty. The other three divisions and three dukes are currently vacant. The third division is currently vacant, and the third duke Li Shimin has two, and Li Yuanji has served as one.

General Tiance was above the prime minister and prince, so Li Shimin was the real third leader of the Tang Dynasty.

Then the second place was King Li Yuanji of Qi, who was also the third duke.

Then came the prime minister Pei Ji, Zuo Pushe of the Shangshu Province, but he was not the largest official in the Shangshu Province. Li Shimin also served as the Shangshu Ling. Behind him were Xiao Yu, Chen Shuda, Feng Deyi, Yang Gongren and others.

Further down are the six ministers and nine ministers.

The status of military generals is obviously lower than that of civil officials. Some senior officials in the Eastern Palace are also involved in the court meetings, including the prince, the youngest secretary, the left and right sons.

The content of this morning court was quite brief and there was no specific matter.

Zhang Chao was behind the court officials and arrived at the entrance of the hall. Those who lined up here were all a group of blush robes, most of whom were in their forties or fifties. Zhang Chao, a young man in his twenties, sat there wearing a purple robe and a goldfish bag, which was indeed very conspicuous. So the officials around him turned their heads to see from time to time.

Zhang Chao sat there honestly. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty was quite conscientious. The officials also had a mat when they went to court, such as Pei Ji and other prime ministers, and even a soft cushion. It was much more comfortable to sit there on their knees than to stand.

At the end of the court meeting, the emperor led all officials to the southern suburbs under the escort of the large group of guards. The scene was quite big and very pompous. Zhang Chao rode his horse in the team and couldn't help feeling floating.

On February 2, it was actually a bit cold.

But today is actually a ceremony. Li Yuan changed into a black dragon robe, wearing a black bull head, holding a whip in one hand, and holding a curved plow in the other, with red silk tied to the plow.

Although they used curved plows, the ones who pulled the plow today were still two big oxes, weighing at least one thousand pounds, and they were extremely majestic, carrying a wooden bar.

The first ridge of soil was ploughed by Prince Li Jiancheng and Zheng Shanguo, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, each led a cow and led it in front.

Li Yuan personally held the plow.

"Hi!"

The cow walked forward with a plow on his back, and the curved plow turned up the frozen land for winter, and the black mud churned, emitting the unique fragrance of the land.

The ridge of soil did not grow long, so I quickly walked back and forth.

Then he replaced the Shangshu Ling Li Shimin and Si Nongqing to help the plow and pull it.

"Shangshu Zuo Pushe Pei Ji, Hanlin Academy Bachelor Zhang Chao, Qianniu!" Officials from the Ministry of Rites sang loudly, and Zhang Chao and Pei Ji stepped forward. Pei Ji took the cow rope from Li Shimin, and Zhang Chao took the cow rope from the Si Nongqing's hand.

When Li Shimin passed by Zhang Chao, he glanced at him and the two exchanged their eyes. There was admiration in Li Shimin's eyes and smiles on his lips.

"I still can't believe that this curved plow was invented by Wen Yuan." Pei Ji smiled at Zhang Chao through the two cows.

"It's just improved some based on the predecessors." Zhang Chao was modest.

Li Yuan ploughed two ridges of land behind him and was quite excited. "Sanlang, don't be humble. I personally helped the plow, but I really felt that this plow was much more useful than the original straight long plow. I helped the plow twice and was not tired at all. Good plow!"

The weather is very good, the sun rises, and the three ridges are finished.

Li Yuan wiped the sweat on his forehead and smiled and said that he was very happy today. The officials faced the emperor to the high platform that had been prepared long ago, so the emperor would just watch it here.

Seeing that the officials had finished plowing the remaining bit of land, even if they were done with their own plowing, the Ministry of Rites would still sacrifice to the God of Heaven and Earth.

All officials welcomed the emperor to return to the palace.

Zhang Chao's two-month-old boots were covered with a lot of mud. After rubbing on the grass for a while, there was still a lot of mud on it. Relying on his way, Zhang Chao rode his horse back to Beijing.

After returning to the capital, the emperor had to go to the palace to discuss matters, but Zhang Chao had nothing to do. It was only a qualification to go to the palace to participate in the court. After personally ploughing, he was still the Hanlin scholar, the deputy director of the Chongwenguan, and the prince washed his horse.

After returning to Beijing, changing his clothes and boots, Zhang Chao rode his horse back to Zhangjiagou.

Zhangjiagou is particularly lively today. All the young and old in the village have come out. Even the workshops and academy are on holiday today. Everyone joins in the fun.

The village selected twenty-four strong young men to carry the land-based statues to the temple.

Zhang Chao is also one of them. Ke Wu and Keshan, two officials from Zhangjiagou, took off their shirts with Zhang Chao, and were naked, carrying the statue of the gods around his waist.

The statue is a mud tire, with painted and painted outside, which is lifelike.

It's not heavy to lift it up.

Gongs and drums are loud and there are crowds of people.

There were also people sprinkling copper coins in front, attracting countless children behind to pick up money.

Carry the statue of the god around the village and pass by every household.

Whenever I arrive in front of a house, the head of the household will come out to set off firecrackers, burn incense, and take out some copper coins. However, the copper coins are not for people, but when the statue is calmed down, they will put all the copper coins into the belly of the statue.

Practicing guns and archery every morning makes Zhang Chao very strong now. In February, he lifts the statue of the god with his upper body naked, not cold or tired at all.

In addition, there are shifts, and each of the twenty-four people is one shift for eight, and they are rotated from time to time, which makes Zhang Chao feel quite relaxed.

After the statue of the god was finally installed in the newly built land temple, the lively ceremony did not end.

The village prepared many tables of banquets, and the whole village had a meal, and men, women, young and old had a meal together. The cost of this banquet was the money paid by the whole village. Of course, the Zhang family paid the most, but the other villagers also produced one.

The picture shows a lively atmosphere.

After dinner, I gave the three sacrifices prepared for the land father-in-law, praying for good weather and good harvests this year.

"It's spring, I'm busy, and I'm plowing and drying the fields."

In the afternoon, men from every household drove the cows to pick them up and plow them down the ground.

Although it is still cold now, millet still has to be planted later. As the saying goes, it is the right time to sow early Grain Rain late Qingming Festival. However, the fields have to be plowed now and the land is turned over and let it dry, and then the soil is broken and the base fertilizer is applied.

This year everyone has the Zhang family’s cows and new plows, and the villagers are very excited.

Zhang Chao also changed into thick veil clothes, barefoot, carrying plows and rakes. Cui Yingying held the head of the big buffalo behind him, and Zheng Hongxin drove the little buffalo. Even the two Hu Ji and Du Shiniang changed into coarse cloth clothes, wore a handkerchief on their heads, and followed the basket to the ground together.

My father was also wearing a coarse cloth today, barefoot, carrying a load of slags and following behind. Qi Niang took Lianer and Laner sisters, carrying a pot of boiling water behind.

The family starts spring plowing. To be continued.
Chapter completed!