From Chief to Ball

During the alliance a few years ago, Chen Jian could have proposed better rules of mutual compromise that could be accepted by the divided clans, but instead of proposing, he hid in Onozawa to investigate and let the divisions of Dahe split.At that time, the prestige was not enough, and it was impossible to become a position similar to the high priest if it was proposed, and it was not his turn.

Now that it is proposed, it is possible to convince the clan and become a high priest in this name. The reputation is enough and the strength is strong enough.

It's just that no one thought that this high priest would vow to be the biggest traitor to theocracy.

Now Chen Jian only said half of what he said, and he didn't even agree to the policy of Yucheng not only to the outside world but to the inside. One time to threaten to prevent Su Yue from going back on his word.

In the previous secret talks, they had compromised with each other.

The result of the negotiation was that Chen Jian got the position of high priest, but he had to set rules to make the position of high priest lose its divinity, and the rules themselves replaced the divine guidance to judge right and wrong, turning the position of high priest into a judgment for anyone who can read and remember. People with rules can take on the role. After a long time, the status may only be equivalent to the Ministry of Rites in the previous life, but before that, the high priest has the status second only to the leader of the clan.

The price Chen Jian has to pay is to strictly prohibit Xiacheng from using the method of exporting ideology to influence the rest of the city, to minimize the rebellion of the workshop workers and the relationship between the people and the city, and to promote the theory of kinship unity to anesthetize the bottom. Resist, perfect the justice and sanctity of foreign wars, be responsible for cultivating the relatives of each clan, use "the nominal knowledge selection to cover up the actual blood lineage", and not recruit civilian children from other cities - in order to increase the cost of public education The method is to cut off the possibility of learning for the common people in other cities, strictly prohibit the dissemination of knowledge among the non-ruling classes in other cities, strictly prohibit Xiacheng people from opening private schools in other cities, and let the nobles master knowledge to complete the differentiation before the bloodline theory goes bankrupt.

The result of this agreement is that Chen Jian betrayed the fugitive slave class and the lower class of civilians who consolidated his power for the sake of rights, but he did not betray the fugitive slaves and the lower class.The elimination of a certain class never depends on massacres. After the massacre, the people of the original class are gone, but new people replace them and the class itself is still there.Just as the class of slave owners and slaves was roughly eliminated in Yucheng, the old class itself was replaced by new tools and new production relations instead of being exterminated.

Therefore, this compromise will only make those fugitive slaves in the Xiacheng system slightly emotionally resistant, but they will not resist violently. What Chen Jian betrayed was the generalized class of fugitive slaves, not their group of people, on the contrary they Became a vested interest in Xiacheng's deformed system.

Internally, Chen Jian did not lose the support of the Xiacheng group that supported him the most; externally, he eased the conflicts between Xiacheng and the rest of the cities, won the opportunity for Xiacheng to recuperate, and also paved the way for the clan alliance that will compromise in the future. The new country that has turned into a violent unification and wiped out the old classes has accumulated strength. Anyway, the signing of the covenant is to tear it up in the future, and history is calculated in units of centuries.

Chapter 60 Small, Humble, Reluctant, Lost

Under the circumstances that both parties believe that it is beneficial to them, the matter of next summer's alliance between various ministries will be considered settled.

Since there will be an alliance next summer, the scale of the sacrifice this time cannot be too large, it can only be a small-scale sacrifice.

At this time, Chen Jian was not yet the high priest, so it was still Suyue who presided over the sacrifice.

Chen Jian is no longer the person who knew nothing about the rules of sacrifice a few years ago, this time he learned it well.

In fact, the sacrifice at this time is still extremely simple and does not have too much cumbersome content, because this group has been a relatively rational group from the beginning, knowing the difference between the living and the dead. The sacrifice of utensils for the survival of living people has not fallen into the terrible vicious circle of irrational sacrifice.

It's just that with the expansion and development of the city, the rules of sacrifice are gradually changing.

The number of cattle and sheep used to fool the ancestors of the gods due to insufficient surplus products has decreased significantly, and more living animals have begun to appear.Many bronze wares appeared in the sacrificial utensils, and horses and wheat also replaced certain animals and food as important sacrificial supplies.

Sacrifice is continuously improved with the improvement of productivity. When bronze is insufficient, even if you want to use bronze to sacrifice, it is impossible. The best things cannot be given to dead souls. You only need to use fake ones to fool them. consistent style.

It's just that under the normal process, the rules originally established because of reason were gradually forgotten, and most leaders gradually raised the standard of sacrifices in order to divide the ethnic group spiritually, and turned the witchcraft and ghosts of the whole people into a unique class. , to achieve a monopoly on the right to communicate with their ancestors - they may not believe it, but they need the symbolic meaning in it.

The process of the ceremony itself is essentially a kind of knowledge, and it is knowledge that only a few people can master.People who know this knowledge hope that the fewer people who know it, the better, but the reality is that more and more people know it, so when there are too many people who know it, it is necessary to change a method.

The more cumbersome and formal the ceremony, the more property is consumed. In the end, knowledge itself is no longer the key, but the practical ability to practice knowledge becomes the key. In the end, sanctity is connected with property and status, and a group is formed to maintain the group itself. Interests.

There is a trend today, but it is not so complicated that it cannot be added.

Fortunately, this time it was just a small sacrifice, not the highest ritual sacrifice that all the tribes had, and it was only necessary to worship the ancestors, so it was not too unbearable.

This time the sacrificial ceremony was held in the city, the scale was not large, and the items needed were not very large. It was just to let the ancestors know the military exploits this time through some rituals.

One of the most crucial rituals is a fire.

Chen Jian used to think that lighting a fire during a sacrifice was just a worship of fire, but later he discovered that it was not all.

It was about many years ago that a certain priest among the relatives discovered that when the flames rose, the hot air would carry some grass ash into the air and fly up.In the consciousness of the ethnic group, the soul is lighter than the body and also flies into the air, so the sacrifices should be brought to the souls of the ancestors by using the hot air caused by the burning of the flames.

Jade objects need to be placed in the fire, the blood of livestock needs to be dripped in the fire but not on the ground, and the news that needs to be heard by the ancestors must be recited when the blood turns into steam in the fire, in order to gain the protection of the ancestors .

The people of Feng and Wei also wanted to elect elders with high moral character to cry about the sufferings they had suffered in Dongyi, and to thank their ancestors for guiding them in rescuing them from their status as slaves. Words, pray that the ancestors will always take care of this young man.

The biggest difference from before is that because of the appearance of wooden slips and characters, there is an extra step of burning sacrificial texts.

Since writing seems to them to be derived from the guidance of ancestors, then ancestors must have been able to read, even if these ancestors did not know when they were alive.

Chen Jian had already written all the major events of this expedition. He counted the battles on a certain day, the victories on a certain day, and how many captives and slaves he killed. He did not write about how many cities closed their doors. Several cities are very satisfied.

There are two copies of the wooden slips, one for offering sacrifices to the ancestors and the other for historical records, which are only for merit and not criticism.

The wooden slips were burned to ashes, and as the hot smoke rose, it became closer to the people's sacrificial thinking. These slight changes were not made difficult by accusations.

By the way, Chen Jian also wanted to tell his ancestors that in addition to making these contributions, he also temporarily became the leader of thousands of people in Weicheng.Once these contents have been communicated during the sacrifice, it will be considered a certainty, and you only need to wait until next year's grand sacrifice to symbolically tell the leaders of the other clans.

Even though the ceremony was not too cumbersome, it still lasted for a whole day before it ended. During the banquet at night, it was decided that representatives from various cities would go to Yucheng on November [-]th, and follow Chen Jian back to Xiacheng.

So far, the affairs of the other clan leaders and nobles have been finished, but for Chen Jian, it is not over yet.He is about to become the high priest of the various tribes, so he needs to take the opportunity to consult the priests of the other clans to master a lot of sacrificial content.

Before, there were no books, nor strict rules. It was very slow and time-consuming to learn only by word of mouth. Fortunately, Su Yue asked several people in Sucheng who were in charge of preparing for the sacrifice to follow Chen Jian back. This was the solution. There is an urgent need.

For Chen Jian, who is about to become the high priest, matters such as sacrifices and theocracy should not be sloppy at all, not only in the process, but also in the future of the ethnic group.

Chen Jian doesn't quite understand whether ancestor worship is a religion or not.

Perhaps there is no basis for the existence of a formal religion, and perhaps one day ancestor worship will emerge as the society divides into a system of immortals similar to the structure of secular rights; or perhaps the wisdom, courage, and strength implied by the concept of ancestors will be condensed into godhood and personality. The vague concept of ancestors is transformed into many gods; it is also possible to transform ancestors into omnipotent, single gods.

In any case, the concept of religion or pan-religion is a hurdle that ethnic groups cannot get around, and no one knows what it will lead to.

When formal religions emerged, most of them were actually progressive at the time, and perhaps also had the spirit of resistance and maintenance of the bottom, but in the end it was just replacing the original theocracy with another kind of theocracy.

In the end, the gods changed, but the theocracy itself remained unchanged, and it could easily be combined with power and wealth to become a new ruling tool.

This is unsolvable. Chen Jian's only thought is to rely on productivity to overwhelm the past. The more developed the society, the less theocratic flavor of secular rights. Shortening the period of religious prosperity may be the only way he can practice.

It’s just that everything is reversed. After indulgence with no moral constraints prevails, moral religions will rise again. Most people always have a spiritual sustenance, but they don’t know what the sustenance of this world will be changed by future generations.

Now that he was about to become the high priest of the various ministries soon, some heavy things began to quietly weigh on his shoulders when facing the priest.

It is difficult to be a high priest, the difficulty lies in the difficulty of prestige, the difficulty of meritorious service, and the difficulty of being trusted and supported by everyone.

It is even more difficult to be a high priest who wants to betray the divine right, because he wants to betray the seat under his own ass.

After thinking for a long time, there is no solution once and for all, so I have to find a way to destroy the position of the high priest when the time comes, let the divine right and secular rights be linked together but downplay the significance of the divine right, so that the rulers of later generations will be extremely opposed to the emerging religion.

Only the old theocratic leaders are radically opposed to the new gods.In another sense, the extermination of the Buddha, the suppression of the Dao, and the banning of the white lotus in the previous life is the struggle between the eldest son of the real dragon and the Buddha and Bodhisattva for divine power.

It’s just that this degree is too difficult to grasp. If it is too high, it will be religious anesthesia. If it is weak, it will allow outsiders to take advantage of it. Perhaps some kind of worldly learning that has extremely high moral requirements but does not talk about gods and ghosts will eventually become a long-term rule. the best choice for

This is the first time that Chen Jian has felt his own humbleness and insignificance so cordially since he traveled. Only then did he understand that history is written spontaneously by thousands of people. One person cannot create history, he is too weak.

On the way back to Yucheng, Chen Jian frowned.

In the era of catching birds and shrimps, he was able to do a job with ease, but now he is already frowning, and maybe he will just disappear from everyone in the future.

It is a great thing for the ethnic group to become a person who is out of the crowd in the shortest time, and it is also his dream, but there is still a slight sense of loss in his heart.

It is always reluctant to smash the foundation of the existence of one's own altar.

Chapter 61 Untie the knot

The road back is not long, but the loss and reluctance and the inner expectations and beliefs are in conflict every moment, making time pass extremely slowly.