Xuandemen is the Gujiaomen of the main government office of Bianzhou Prefecture in the Tang Dynasty. According to the Tang Dynasty system, the main entrance of the prefecture government office should have two door openings.

In the Five Dynasties, Zhu Wen founded the Later Liang Dynasty and made Bianzhou the capital. He promoted Bianzhou to Kaifeng Prefecture and issued an edict to change the original Bianzhou Prefectural Government Office into an imperial palace.

This is the origin of the present imperial city of the Song Dynasty.

As the main entrance to the Imperial City of Houliang, Gujiaomen was renamed Jianguomen. However, it still had two door openings. It did not change in subsequent dynasties, and it still maintained the basic shape of Houliang, and even its name was not changed.

It was not until the first year of Guangshun in the later Zhou Dynasty (951) that the national gate was renamed Mingde Gate.

But, that's all.

The warriors of the Five Dynasties were busy killing people and had no time to take care of the imperial city of Bianjing. It was 'still not as good as the king's system', and Mingde Gate had an 'extremely despicable system'.

After the founding of the Song Dynasty, large-scale renovation and expansion of the imperial city finally began.

As the face of the imperial city, Mingde Gate is naturally a key target for expansion and renovation.

After the completion of the project, Liang Zhouhan, a civil servant close to Taizu, was ordered to write an "Ode to the Five Phoenix Tower" to praise the new Mingde Gate.

The poem says: A hundred feet away from the ground, in the middle of the sky, the five-phoenix tower has its upturned wings, like a peng carrying the wind, and the two dragons have their heads tilted, like the Ao carrying the palace... The two towers stand by themselves, they can be seen thousands of miles apart, and reflect nine levels in depth.

Although literati always like to exaggerate, this poem by Liang Zhouhan still basically outlines the shape of the expanded and renovated Mingde Gate - double towers and three door openings, with two towers on the tower, and the towers are connected to the tower.

And the scale is grand.

After that, the name of Mingde Gate began to change with the changes of the times - in the third year of Taiping and Xingguo, it was renamed Danfeng Gate, in the eighth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, it was renamed Zhengyang Gate, in the second year of Mingdao, it was renamed Xuande, and

Still in use.

But its scale and nature have never changed.

At most, all kinds of fancy operations have been started on the exterior decoration.

And under the city gate, a gate tower was built.

In Xining, the Japanese monk Cheng Xun came to Bianjing to seek Dharma. He saw Xuande Gate with his own eyes and recorded it: Xuande Gate, the south gate of the imperial city, has seven gate towers, with two floors on the left and right, each weighing about five feet and high.

It is quite low. There are rows of left and right corridors on the inside, and there are left and right corridors on the outside, like the Japanese Suzaku Gate.

Cheng Xun's records are quite objective, as Zhao Xu can prove.

Because when Taizu expanded and renovated Mingde Gate in the past, he built it based on the Yingtian Gate of the Tang Dynasty in Luoyang - Taizu, a native of Luoyang, dreamed of moving the capital to Luoyang and establishing Sangzi as the capital.

When the actual conditions are no longer met, the only option is to copy the iconic Yingtian Gate in Luoyang to Bianjing and pretend to be the capital of Luoyang.

Therefore, the current Xuande Gate, whether in width, height or thickness, is almost the same as the Yingtian Gate in the Tang Dynasty.

At this moment, Zhao Xu, surrounded by ministers, came to the tower of Xuandemen.

The imperial street in front of Xuande Gate has been cleaned up by the Imperial City Department.

From a distance, Zhao Xu saw flags fluttering and armor like a forest, approaching.

"Good!" Zhao Xu smiled, took a step forward, walked out of the curtain, and appeared on the viewing platform on the tower.

Xuandemen, since the founding of the Song Dynasty, has been a place where emperors of all dynasties have enjoyed themselves with the people.

Every year, there are Shangyuan (Lantern Festival), Zhongyuan (today's Ghost Festival, July 15th), Xiayuan (which has disappeared, on October 15th, the day for Shuiguan to relieve his misfortune), and the Emperor's Holy Festival.

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In the past dynasties, Zhao Guan's family would appear on the Xuandemen Gate Tower to have fun with the people all night long. Xuandemen would even be decorated with palace lanterns to turn it into a colorful neon building.

However, now Zhao Xu is observing filial piety.

These celebrations cannot be held.

However, Di Yong's triumphant victory is an exception.

This is the holy scripture for the army returning from an expedition and returning in triumph, and presenting the prisoners to the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

The most important affairs of the country are military service and sacrifice.

The army returned in triumph and presented prisoners to the Ancestral Temple. This was a great national gift and could be an exception.

Therefore, the capital will do everything possible to arrange for Di Yong to enter Beijing today.

I just want Qingshou Palace to have a comfortable birthday.

Of course, since it is a prisoner gift.

It was inconvenient for the two palaces to show up, so they could only sit in the curtain of the tower behind Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu walked to the tower and looked down at the imperial street below the towering tower.

Under the city tower, the generals of the three yamen were all dressed up, leading the marriage officials of the Imperial City Department, and lined up in the north and west position under the Xuande Gate, facing Zhao Xu on the city tower.

Directly opposite them, a ceremony platform specially prepared for the presentation of prisoners has been built.

Under the city gate of Xuandemen, there is a queue of Yulong dragons.

Accompanied by the sound of a drum, Han Zhongyan, the Minister of Rites, dressed in court robes and holding a medicine, walked forward along the corridor on the tower, arrived at the place three steps in front of Zhao Xu, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the Ambassador of the Sifang Pavilion.

, Weizhou Defense Envoy, Dragon Guard, Divine Guard Commander of all four compartments and the first general to control the dragon, Envoy Yong, was previously ordered to march south, but now we have defeated the enemy and returned triumphantly, I beg your Majesty to review the army, and accept the surrender after being captured!"

Zhao Xu nodded slightly: "Yes!"

Han Zhongyan immediately bowed again: "No!"

"I obey your will!"

Then he stepped back, turned around and looked at the governors standing in court uniform on both sides of the city tower. He cleared his throat and said loudly: "Your Majesty, Deyin, allows the first general of Yulong to sacrifice prisoners!"

"I obey the order!"

Han Jiang and Lu Gongzhu led the officials and bowed four times in the direction of Zhao Xu.

So, everyone in the inner chamber knew that Li Xian took a clean whip and walked up to the tower.

He swung the net whip vigorously.

Snapped!

The long whip tore through the air, and the sound spread from the top of the tower to the bottom of the tower.

Accompanied by the sound of cleansing whips, the grand prisoner presentation ceremony began.

On both sides of the city gate under the city tower, military musicians from Jun Rongzhi's first class and second class on horseback began to play various musical instruments and walked slowly around Xuande Gate.

Following the encouragement of Jun Rongzhi, the prisoner presentation ceremony officially began.

The Imperial Guards from the tea and wine class began to appear from both sides of Imperial Street.

There are those who breathe fire, those who ride on seesaws, and those who do magic...

There were also soldiers from the archery squad, who began to perform various fancy archery methods.

In short, if a modern person were here, his scalp would probably go numb and he would feel deeply inconsistent and awkward.

Zhao Xu looked a little awkward.

Always feel like something is missing?

After thinking about it, Zhao Xu finally knew, what was missing?

Motorcycle acrobatics show!

If you add this, the third brother's military parade will have a sense of dazzling you.

However, this is the characteristic of the Song Dynasty.

Celebrations and etiquette are all designed to please the audience, especially the emperor and empress at Xuande Gate.

Today's battle was actually quite restrained.

The Imperial Guards have not yet developed their full form, not even one-tenth of their abilities have been unleashed.

If you want to see the full strength of the Forbidden Army, you have to go to Jinming Pool.

Every April, there is a dragon boat race in Jinmingchi.

That’s the real event!

Everyone who has seen it has praised it.

Every time the Jinmingchi Competition is held, people from the entire Kaifeng Prefecture will be attracted to watch.

There are even people who travel thousands of miles to Bianjing just to see Jin Mingchi's performance.

Jin Mingchi's dragon boat performance is considered a failure if the number of spectators is less than 300,000!

In feudal society, a performance could attract an audience of more than 300,000 people.

You can imagine how amazing the acrobatics and magic of the imperial guards of the Song Dynasty were.

Zhao Xu recalled the several times he visited Jinmingchi in his previous life and had fun with the people.

He pursed his lips, looking a little embarrassed.

The Imperial Guards in Beijing of the Song Dynasty were capable of everything except fighting!

Eating, drinking, whoring, gambling and having fun, he is good at everything.

They also have a special artistic aesthetic. The yards they build and the projects they build are beautiful, simple and of excellent quality.
To be continued...