From Chief to Ball

Chen Jian nodded and said: "Do you remember the Ze Rebellion back then? Didn't those slaves kill their masters in anger? This place is not far from Onozawa. Although those fugitive slaves are gone now, the story always remains, right? Let the father die alone, but send many slaves full of resentment, isn't this to let the father's soul be bullied by the slaves? What kind of intention is this?"

Most of the onlookers were incapable of burying slaves. After hearing these words, and recalling the fugitive slave rebellion a few years ago, they felt a little scared, but they felt reasonable.

Everyone thought: "Ji Xia must be right. He has always heard that he was protected by his ancestors, and he must know a lot of things that others don't know. Think about the iron tools, plowshares, and harnesses for carts, which are all things that ordinary people have never seen before." If it wasn't for the guidance of the ancestors, how would they know?"

The face of the person opposite Chen Jian became ugly, and Chen Jian took the opportunity to shout: "That woman, are you willing to be buried yourself?"

A woman's cry came from inside the house: "I don't want to! Although I love Ling's father, if I die when I get old, I will naturally take care of him. But Ling is not married yet, and I don't want to die right now. If his father dies in the future Ask me what my grandson looks like, how should I answer? If I am buried at this time, I will swear that I will not say a word to him, and we will be alone as if we have never seen each other!"

These words were resounding, and the clansmen in the same city also echoed, Chen Jian sighed: "After all, this is a matter for your city, you can decide for yourself. Come here, take me to see the old leader..."

Leading people away from this chaotic place, he held his breath and looked at the deceased leader. At this time, there was no set of rules for thanking gifts, and it was all based on the habits of each city. Chen Jian returned to Xiacheng by himself. A place that sells various goods opened on the side.

It was getting late, and he quietly waited for the show to start.

When the old leader of Fengcheng passed away a few years ago, Chen Jian and Su Yue hit it off immediately, throwing out the excuse of interfering in the succession of the internal affairs of the various ministries, guaranteeing the strong strength of the two countries and the secret alliance, creating a precedent.

Only a few years later, the interests of Xia Guo and Su Cheng had conflicted.The most powerful city of the two river tribes had a different opinion.

Ordinarily Su Yue should not know the news of the death of the chief of the city at this time, but it is obvious that Su Yue will not support someone who has studied Xia Guohua in Yucheng for three years to inherit the position of chief of the city. People who are more or less blood related to him.

At this time, most of the clan's internal election system has existed in name only, and it is only controlled by a few relatives. Since Su Xia conspired to interfere in Fengcheng's internal affairs a few years ago, relatives who are not directly related have basically no thoughts.

In terms of emotion and reason, Chen Jian has no problem going to that city this time.

Now many people know that he will become the high priest of the Dahe Tribes in order to reward him for his expedition to Dongyi to save his relatives, which can be regarded as justifiable and convinced by everyone.

The position of the high priest has to manage a lot, at least the matter of the dead.

Death is a big event for a person. After death, how to bury, how to sacrifice, how to worship children, how to observe filial piety, etc., all need to set a rule and form a convention.

If a civilization wants to be stable, it must have a mainstream in order to form a cultural circle.

It is good for a hundred schools of thought to contend, but in the end, there must be one ideology that becomes the mainstream, otherwise it will plant the seeds of disintegration in the huge empire.

Take funerals as an example, some people say that they should be buried thickly, and some people say that they should be buried lightly. It seems that this can be arbitrary, but it reflects ideological disputes. If an agricultural country has dozens of different ideologies and fields Coquettish, the consequences can be imagined.

This unified regulation can be ridiculous, or it can be considered dross by later generations, but it must be there, so as to form a kind of ethnic cohesion in the long run.

Under the etiquette and rules, there is a set of "universal values" that conform to the ethnic characteristics of that era. All kinds of etiquette and morality are based on this. All kinds of differences after the entire ethnic group.

This is a huge project, so this is the most difficult thing for the high priest Chen Jian to do...

He has to formulate rules, etiquette, weddings, funerals, weddings, dressing and hair, etc., so that this cultural circle that has already been separated can be reintegrated: those who do not abide by it are trespassing, and the solution by force forces them to accept it. .

It's just that these rules must conform to the current habits, and they must be consistent with the worldview thrown out, and customs such as human sacrifice must not be left behind.

It is simply impossible to talk about morality and the Three Views beyond class.What the nobles want and what they want more people to accept may not be good, so there must be enough buffer space acceptable to both parties.

The path that Xia Guo is taking now is fundamentally different from that of other cities. With the current level of productivity and people's wisdom, he may guarantee that the three cities will not be chaotic if he is not dead, but it will be over once he dies.But it is simply impossible for Xiacheng to be the enemy of all the cities. In the end, there is only one way to compromise.

A simple sentence to get rid of the dross and take the essence can be summed up.But these eight words are really important.In the 50 and [-] years of the previous life, hundreds of millions of people in the country have been arguing for more than ten years, but they can't give an answer that everyone is convinced, let alone how can one person do it seamlessly?

When I arrived two days ago, there was paper and a pen on the rocking boat. At that time, with the joy of papermaking success, I was going to write a word like "serving the people with all my strength" and paste it on my wall to motivate myself.

But after looking at the pile of wooden slips, papers and some things that only I can understand piled up near the oil lamp, I picked up the pen for a long time, and finally I just wrote down "Do everything according to human beings and listen to the fate of God", which is full of helplessness. and powerless words.

On the wooden slips are the various etiquette regulations written before, which were prepared after letting go of the psychological burden at the riverside. Up to now, it is only a rough idea, and it is far from perfect.

It is also necessary to go to various cities to ask the priests about some customs and habits, and make some changes without arousing opposition.

Before coming to the city, some ridiculous procedures about the funeral were roughly written on the paper, but no matter how ridiculous it was, it looked more formal than nothing.I just don't know if the student named Ling who practiced it first can make a good start.

Chapter 1 The Fuse

Ling has studied with Chen Jian for several years, and she still understands the truth that people cannot be resurrected after death.And after seeing all the changes in Yucheng, Ling at this time is no longer the young child at that time, and began to have ambitions in his heart that he never had or dared to have a few years ago.

In addition to the sadness in his heart, it is inevitable that there will be an element of show in it, especially when showing off can pave the way for his ambition.

As a husband, Chen Jian provided material support and systematic show skills behind the scenes. He didn't say it clearly, but Ling could understand Chen Jian's implication.

It is true that when Chen Jian said that brothers were harmonious, he said that brothers should not kill each other because of certain rights, and he also said that he would take them to Dongyi to build a new city.

But if you can become the leader in your own city, who is willing to leave.

Under this kind of chaos, they can only do their best to fight for this opportunity.

That night, when Chen Jian was thinking hard in the house of Xiaguo Supply and Marketing Department, Ling was wearing a white sackcloth, knelt down in front of his father's already stinking corpse, and wept loudly.

It is not only a show, but also an emotional outburst. People are not ruthless than grass and trees. Recalling the bits and pieces of her childhood, Ling seemed to be telling others, starting with hunting when she was a child, and reminiscing about everything in the past bit by bit.

Wearing linen is not an ancient custom. Many people in the city are very curious. Before the amount of linen was scarce, it was impossible to wear all linen. How could there be extra linen to wear on the body?

While Ling was crying, the carpenters who followed Chen Jianlai from Yucheng got the pine wood as quickly as possible, preparing to make the coffin the next day.This is supported by Chen Jian, and of course all kinds of tools are available.

In the early morning of the second day, many Chengyi tribesmen surrounded the place where the corpse was buried. Ling's voice was already hoarse, and her crying had become difficult to distinguish.

Everyone watched this scene with grief from their hearts, and couldn't help but think of their deceased parents. They had all felt this kind of sadness, so they could empathize with it at this time.

"Ling, go eat something, it's not an option to cry like this. Your father has already passed away, so we should mourn."

Ling shook her head and said, "Where can I eat? If there is no father to fight and work, how can I have food? Not eating, is to experience the importance of father through hunger."

Everyone was amazed, and after careful consideration, they felt that it made sense, and what they said was extremely wise in the eyes of everyone in the city at this time, so it was still the child who had no ability in the impression of everyone.

However, a cold voice came later, and Ling's eldest brother snorted: "It sounds so nice, you should starve to death and follow your father."

"Brother's words are not correct. The dead have things to do for the dead, and the living have things to do for the living. As the leader of the city, my father wanted to live a better life for everyone in the city when he was alive. His wish when he was alive. Although the father passed away, the son was still alive. He should finish what the father had not done. How could he starve to death at will? If he starved to death at will, the blood would not be passed on. How can this be something that a son can do if it is not realized?"

Ling's eldest brother was speechless for a while, and he couldn't help being alert.What happened yesterday, he still felt that it was Ji Xia who was supporting him, but today's remarks were all made by Ling himself.This younger brother, who looked weak and powerless at the beginning, can now raise his head and talk to himself, and he doesn't even have a chance to refute.

Especially the sentence in the words... the words like "everyone in the city is better off", actually revealed a bit of intention to inherit the power of the leader.In Ling's eldest brother's opinion, Chen Jian must be behind this, but he is not worried.His mother's surname is Su, and Su Yue is the leader of the various alliances. Even though Xia Kingdom has been in the limelight in recent years, it cannot compare with Sucheng's heritage.

Besides, if you want to become the leader now, you need to be recognized by all the tribes of Dahe, and how many people support Jixia?

Thinking of this, Ling's eldest brother heaved a sigh of relief, and decided not to fight for the advantage of the tongue, and said: "Since you are back, father has already left us, I think we will be buried today."

Ling shook his head again, and said: "Father swore an oath with the chiefs of the tribes before he was alive, and all the tribes in Dahe are as one and treat them as brothers. If the father is buried and the rest of the cities do not come to offer condolences, don't you blame us for being impolite? Even if the father's The soul must also blame us for our lack of manners."

Ling's eldest brother said angrily: "The weather is so hot now! Do you want your father to rot? Do you want the leaders to see his father's last face, which is a pool of rotten meat and maggots?"

"When I rushed back from Yucheng, I hired a carpenter from Yucheng to make the coffin. Of course, I would not let the leaders or envoys see what you said. Besides, the time is so short, how can I prepare grass What about sacrifices like horses?"

"Sacrifice? My father is rich, so why use grass dogs and horses? There are copper and jade, and countless pearls and shells. Even if Ji Xia said that he didn't die as a slave, it's possible that our family can't even produce some good things. Do you want to use a grass dog?"

"Life returns to life, and death returns to death. How can the copper jade be used by the soul after being buried in the earth for a hundred years? How can it be used by the soul? The soul is light, so fire is used for sacrifices. Dogs, grass and horses melt with the fire and rise with the wind. It is what the soul can enjoy. The soul buried in the ground but cannot enjoy it, isn't this cheating the soul?"

"Besides, copper jade is not owned by everyone. Don't people feel the same pain for the death of their parents? Since they are the same, how can they use copper jade that the soul can't enjoy at all to express their grief? Could it be said that those who bought Does a person who can’t afford bronze jade mean that he doesn’t respect his parents and ancestors and doesn’t feel sad?”