Li Shimin's evaluation was somewhat crude, but for those in Ganlu Hall who had lived through the chaos at the end of Sui, it carried little real weight.
After all, whether the Song counted as losers was still debatable. But the civil and military figures of the Zhenguan era were unquestionably winners.
The only one who seemed to have any opinion was Empress Zhangsun. She gave the Great Tang ruler a half smile, half smirk, making Li Shimin immediately feel a little guilty and turn his head away.
Bad timing. He had gotten carried away and forgotten that the empress was also here.
The complicated situation faced by Northern Song made him feel as if he had returned to those years of warring heroes. So he had blurted out the kind of crude curses he used to shout in his tent at people like Wang Shichong.
Fortunately, it was not a serious problem. After a glance, Empress Zhangsun withdrew her gaze and said,
"Your Majesty has won victory after victory. As the old year is sent off and the new year welcomed, the palace should be filled with great celebration so that all under Heaven may rejoice together."
These words made Li Shimin tug at his slightly curled beard in thought.
He could hear the deeper meaning in Guanyinbi's words. She spoke of the palace, but she really meant the whole realm.
Granting dukes and chief ministers red or yellow painted gates could still be taken as imperial favor. But perhaps many of the restrictions placed on the common people were not truly necessary.
The black painted gates in Chang'an that were already done naturally did not need to be changed. But in terms of door decorations, it did seem possible to loosen things up a bit.
After all, compared to what he saw on the light screen, where later generations changed years with whole cities full of red, the sea of black gates he had seen last New Year when he secretly slipped out of the palace to wander the wards really was not festive enough.
But that was not really his fault, right? Li Shimin excused himself in his heart.
Those rules were set by the Retired Emperor back then. It had nothing to do with him.
And if it was for celebrating the New Year, making the doors a bit more colorful should not really cause any trouble, right? Li Shimin muttered to himself.
[And when all preparations are complete, the New Year festival reaches its most critical point, what people today call New Year's Eve.
Regarding this festival, the earliest records that are almost identical to today come from the Western Jin. The "Fengtu Ji" records a complete and very busy New Year's Eve process.
On the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, friends exchange gifts while it is still light, called "sending off the year."
Close friends invite one another for food and drink, called "farewell to the year."
After hosting friends, everyone returns home. Elders and juniors take their seats and drink together, exchanging full blessings. This is called "dividing the year."
After the feast, they do not separate, but stay up all night until dawn, called "keeping the year."
After dawn, exhausted people use the morning light to exchange good wishes for the new year, called "presenting the year."
This full set of rituals is New Year's Eve.
The exact origin of New Year's Eve can no longer be verified. But because ancient people lacked understanding of the world, when there was a good harvest they appeased the gods, and when disasters came they drove out ghosts. So when sending off the old and welcoming the new, it was only natural to make peace with good gods and drive away evil spirits forever.
From history, from Zhou to Song, more and more common people gradually participated in New Year's Eve celebrations.
From Shang and Zhou to pre-Qin, the Son of Heaven would hold Great Nuo rituals and conduct exorcism ceremonies in the palace to drive away ghosts. At that time, this kind of celebration was still a privilege of the ruling class.
After Emperor Wu of Han unified the calendar, because of fear of witchcraft, Nuo rituals gradually spread into the common people by the late Han, with regulations. As long as they did not violate the rules, commoners holding Nuo ceremonies faced little trouble.
By the Wei and Jin period, fairly complete New Year's Eve customs had formed. On one hand, this was related to the unprecedented rise of aristocratic clans, who competed to display the elegance of famous gentlemen. On the other hand, it was because fear of witchcraft gradually faded, and the elite needed a gentler ritual that could also strengthen family cohesion.
However, by the Song dynasty, these rituals became much simpler. People would go to the streets to watch Nuo performances, then return home and lay out all the prepared food.
After night fell, they would carry oil lamps and shine light into every corner of the house to drive away ghosts, and finally stay up with family until dawn.
This was the New Year's Eve process of an ordinary Song person, also called "lighting away emptiness" or staying up for the year.
Relatively speaking, what Song commoners valued most about New Year's Eve was reunion.
From pre-Qin transmission passes for leaving one's village to Tang travel documents, the manorial economy of agricultural serfs gradually declined, and the shackles landlords placed on the people gradually loosened. It became easier and easier for ordinary people to travel far.
After the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Song formally became a fully feudal tenancy-based economy. The people gained freedom of movement. Objectively, this did promote economic and cultural prosperity. Some modern people even call Song the dawn of the modern age, and there is indeed some truth to that.
Under these conditions, even though Song's territory was far smaller than Han and Tang, the movement range of ordinary people far exceeded that of Han and Tang. This ultimately gave New Year's Eve a stronger meaning of reunion.
Unfortunately, although Ming and Qing legally continued systems pioneered in Song such as separate review of appeals and divided judicial authority, and on the basis of separation of power perfected joint trials of the Three Offices, circular reviews by the Nine Ministers, court reviews, hot reviews, and grand reviews, Zhu Yuanzhang instead created the travel permit system.
Farmers did not leave their villages. Daily life did not leave their wards. The travel permit system once again pressed the people firmly onto a tiny plot of land.
Perhaps because it restricted the vitality of commoners, Ming and Qing New Year's Eve and New Year celebrations were only extensions of Song practices, with no special new creativity.
And if one speaks of the grandest year-end celebrations on the entire globe, modern China's Spring Festival must rank first.]
Kongming, Pang Tong, and the others were instantly energized.
Compared to other matters, what they cared about most was institutional change over these thousand years.
There was no helping it. Song could use Han and Tang as mirrors. Tang could look at four hundred years of Han history to correct mistakes. But Great Han's four hundred years had truly been crossing the river by feeling the stones.
The several men who held strategist roles talked most often, when they had time, about the rise and fall of great aristocratic clans.
From those centuries of change, one could glimpse the evolution of power structures, the strengthening of central control over localities, and more complete systems of taxation and collection.
However, perhaps due to habitual thinking, they previously mostly discussed the affairs of kings and ministers. It was not until this criticism of the travel permit system that they once again shifted perspective to look at Tang and Song.
"Manorial economy turning into tenancy economy…" Pang Tong murmured to himself.
"Living people make a living state…" Kongming became even more firm in his support for the measures now being promoted in Chang'an.
"Separate review of appeals, divided judicial authority, joint trials of three offices?"
Fa Zheng muttered, repeating these not-so-easy-to-understand terms.
He was well versed in Han law and had studied it deeply. But with only these few words, it was hard to infer much. For a moment, he even found himself missing Zhang Song and Liu Ba, believing that if they were here, they would surely have different insights.
But perhaps he could discuss this with Lu Zijing? Fa Zheng glanced at Lu Su beside him, who was also lost in thought.
Fa Zheng remembered the later praise of Lu Su, describing him as someone whose authority and kindness spread widely, with clear rewards and punishments, fair and impartial.
If so, perhaps he also had unique insights into the way of power and law.