female concubine

In the winter solstice sacrifice in the 28th year of Qianyuan, the emperor issued an imperial edict to grant Princess Yiguo and Princess Le'an from Xingqingcheng Zhai Palace, ordered Zuoxiang Wang Wenfu to be the envoy, Liu Miaoyi, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, to be the official of the book, and sentenced Cao Ji, the servant of the door, to be the governor of the palace. .

Three days before the winter solstice, the emperor stayed in the Daqing Hall at night. The five ceremonies and guards of honor were displayed in the hall. Tens of thousands of guards guarding the emperor were lined up outside the Daqing Hall to Taiqing Gate and then to Xuande Gate. Huo Qing led thousands of horses. The army surrounded and guarded the entire palace.

The guards in the Daqing Hall are guarded by the guards in front of the hall. In addition, there are detective soldiers holding black lacquered wooden sticks. There are dozens of teams. The sound of drinking came out to prevent unruly people from sneaking in.

Outside the Xuande Gate, there are warriors of martial arts, with painted drums on two hundred sides and horns tied with colored silk. The soldiers who beat the drums and horns all wear small caps, wrap their heads with yellow embroidered scarves, and wear blue narrow-sleeved shirting robes inside. Wearing a yellow embroidered wide shirt.

On the next day, the Bell and Drum Tower beat drums, and a military academy outside Xuande Gate rode a horse and waved a rattan whip tied with red tassels in his hand. The speed of the drums changed with the rise and fall of red tassels.

After the sound of the drums from the Bell and Drum Tower, Huo Qing, the commander of the Ma Jundu, led tens of thousands of cavalry from Xuande Gate along the Yudao and out of the city from Nanxun Gate to Qingcheng to explore the road.

At five o'clock, the sound of drums changing the time and the libretto of the day came from the Bell and Drum Tower, and the minister of the Ministry of Rites wore court clothes and held a wat board out of the hall and played loudly: "Strictly punished by China and foreign countries!"

The emperor wears the Tongtian crown and crimson gauze robe and rides on the green horse six in jade, while the empress wears the phoenix crown, and the empress rides on a heavy chariot and rides on the green horse six, and then the crown prince wears the Yuanyou crown and Zhu Mingyi rides on the golden horse and rides the red horse Fourth, this time the sacrifice to heaven was in the southern suburbs, and the boat and carriage were exhausted, so the crown prince and concubine were specially exempted from accompanying, and all the civil and military officials wore court clothes and wore beam crowns on the carriages in turn.

"The road is bumpy, don't the officials need to be accompanied by concubines?" Xiao Youqing supported the emperor. They have lived together for 30 years and have never shared a car. The emperor moved her hand away, "I can't die yet."

The crown prince lifted the red skirt and knee cover, and the black boots paused for a moment when stepping on the first step of the car ladder, and then retracted and turned around. First, he helped the emperor and empress to board the car frame one after another, and then turned around and was supported by the servants. car.

The crown prince came to the emperor and bowed: "Your Majesty, Your Highness." Immediately, he stepped forward to help the emperor board the car. The emperor stepped on the silver ladder and glanced around for a week. There were so many people surrounded by the guard of honor and so many pairs of eyes. After taking a cold look at the prince, he raised his hand and let him help him to board the jade chair that can accommodate dozens of people. When the prince bowed and retreated, the emperor put his hands behind his back and walked into the yellow room supported by four pillars carved with oil paintings. If you want to be a benevolent monarch, I will not stop you."

The emperor's prince backed up and stopped, and when the emperor sat on the throne, he knelt down, "I just want to be your Majesty's servant."

Standing in a corner of the carriage was an attendant serving as the chief executive, who stepped forward to help the prince up after seeing the prince finished his salute.

The conversation between father and son caused the two servants beside the emperor to look at each other and shake their heads helplessly.

The crown prince got out of the car, and immediately raised his head to glance at the blurred profile of the emperor inside the green embroidered curtain, and then walked to Chongdi's car, "Your Majesty."

The prince helped Xiao Youqing into the car, and carefully helped him to sit on the red cushion. He reached out to the side of the car and took a hand stove handed over by the waiter. It's cold here, and after offering sacrifices to the Ancestral Temple, we have to go to the Qingcheng Zhai Palace tomorrow."

Xiao Youqing patted the back of the crown prince's hand, and said with relief: "The prince has a heart."

Then he bowed and bowed to the crown prince before returning to his carriage. Under the orders of the attendants on the jade scorpion, the team left from Xuande Gate. In front of the six green horses on the jade scorpion, two officials in court uniforms held wat boards. Walking backward towards the frame, the seven elephants are the forerunner of the guard of honor of the suburban priests. The head elephant walks in the middle and the other six elephants are divided into left and right sides. Before the training of the elephants, there are four soldiers holding horses to block the passage of people and horses.

The carriage passed Qianming Temple and arrived at the gate of the Taimiao. The emperor stayed in the Taimiao, and the sacrificial ceremony began at the time of his son. All officials stopped, and only the clan relatives accompanied him.

The sacrificial rites and music sounded, and the officials played in front of the gate of the main hall to the civil and military officials below the hall: "Martial law in the atrium, and guards outside the temple."

After the sacrifice, the queen, the crown prince, Princess Yiguo, Princess Le'an, and all the ceremonial officials came out one after another, but the emperor was nowhere to be seen.

The emperor knelt in front of the altar and closed his eyes in silence for a long time. When he opened his eyes again, his eyes were full of sadness. The emperor looked at Yu Zhen of Wu Zong, "There are too many things that a person cares about in his life, so the son chose his best. Those who care, even as an emperor, still have a lot of doubts in their hearts, the more they have, the more they care, but I have to give up a part to make up for the debt that I can never make up for."

Outside the main hall of the Ancestral Temple, there were several Gaitian flags fluttering in the wind, and the imperial guards held their torches aloft. Many civil and military officials below stood behind the crowd with their heads lowered and drowsy.

Several prime ministers wearing Diaochan dragon scarves and seven-beam crowns turned their heads one after another, "The official family has been alone in the hall for half an hour, and there are so many people waiting below, and they have to hurry..."

Wang Wenfu replied to Dao Zhanghou, "This is the Taimiao, do you dare to go in?"

Zhang Hou thought for a while, then walked behind Xiao Youqing with the wat board and bowed, "His Royal Highness."

"Is there something wrong with Mr. Zhang You?"

"The official..."

Xiao Youqing turned around, and after understanding what the prime minister meant, he let out a long sigh, "I'm going to invite you."

Zhang Hou bowed and backed away holding the wat board.

The gate of the main hall of the Taimiao Temple was gently pushed open by the servants, and the light from the torch penetrated. Xiao Youqing stepped into the main hall with Rui Zhai, and when he went around the inner hall, he found the emperor lying in front of the portrait of the late emperor Yuzhen, and immediately stared forward. Quickly calling anxiously: "Officials!"

When Xiao Youqing was about to pick her up to find the imperial doctor, the emperor grabbed her sleeves, and the emperor knelt down and leaned into her arms, "I'm fine."

Xiao Youqing grabbed the hand in the emperor's crimson sleeve and stretched out his hand to feel her pulse. After a while, he raised his hand and touched her forehead, and then he breathed a sigh of relief, "If it wasn't for Zhang Xiang's request, the concubine would still be worried that the officials would not let her in." If so, the concubine is the queen, and also the minister of the official family."

The emperor clutched his sleeves and closed his eyes, took a sigh of relief and struggled to get up, Xiao Youqing then got up and helped her out of the hall, after resting for a while, the emperor boarded the jade scorpion, and Fajia Lubo went east from the Taimiao to the Imperial Palace. All the way down the street, cross the Zhou Bridge, pass the Zhuque Gate, and then cross the Longjin Bridge to exit the Nanxun Gate and go to Qingcheng Zhai Palace in the southern suburbs to rest overnight.

After the emperor's chariot arrived, the Gaitian flag was tied up in front of the main hall of the Qingcheng Zhai Palace. At the time of his son, the emperor changed his robe and set off from Qingcheng on a jade ruin. The torches in the procession continued for several miles, and the chariot frame Go south for a few miles and then turn west for more than one mile to reach the altar of the suburbs.

There are three low earth walls around the altar. Inside the second wall on the east, facing south, there is a curtain called Daci for the emperor to change sacrificial clothes. "The palm is a big fur, which is used for the king to worship the sky, and the winter solstice sacrifices to the God of Haotian, and the fur is quilt." The emperor then wore a big fur crown, a 10-piece crown, and a short robe made of black lambskin, which was layered on ten Under the clothes of the second chapter, the queen wears the Yi clothes, the Kowloon and four phoenix crowns, the crown prince wears the Dagon crown, the nine-handed crown, and the nine chapters. The Order of Hundreds of Officials is located at the bottom of the altar, facing north and standing in a row. There are hundreds of thousands of officials and soldiers participating in the sacrificial ceremony inside and outside the altar.

The prime minister and the consul knew that the affairs of the Privy Council were equal to those of the prince, and they all wore nine-pronged crowns with painted money flowers, rhinoceros hairpins, green clothes and red clothes, five embroidered chapters on the clothes, four chapters embroidered on the lower clothes, and crimson-coloured knees. Bai Luo Zhongdan, with a gold belt around his waist, painted with silver decorations, and Zhu Lu.

In order to save trouble in the judgment hall, the six ministers and the three princes also wear nine crowns, no forehead flowers, white silk in the middle, and Zhu Lu; the reading official, Da Siyue and Jiuqing wear the seven crowns, three embroidered chapters on green clothes, and two Zhu clothes. Zhang, Zhu Lu.

Officials of the fourth and fifth ranks, such as the chief official, Guanglu Temple Cheng, and Dale Ling, wear Xuanmian and Wuxuan, Qingluo clothes are disorderly, and Zhulu is worn.

Officials below the sixth rank have Xuanmian with five shackles, no sword, pendant, and ribbon, and purple clothes and red clothes.

The altar is located on the triple low earth wall, with three floors and 72 steps in total. The four steps up to the altar correspond to the sundial time and are named after the correct time. The top enshrines the spiritual tablets of God Haotian and Emperor Taizu, which are placed on two yellow mattresses respectively, and there are two low tables for offering sacrifices in front of the spiritual tablets.

The sacrificial music institutions are the Taile Bureau and the Advocacy Bureau under the Taichang Temple. There are chime bells and jade pans on the stands. There are also two bell pans on the top of the altar and more than ten main roads and kun roads for singing songs. Dancers go to the bottom of the altar before worshiping heaven. When the dance starts, the music is hitting the 柷, and the Taiyue Bureau will play the music. The dancers come forward to perform the dance.

A minister presented Qiu Mian and Yiyi clothes and then retreated from the curtain. The servants helped the emperor down from the jade scorpion. The official knelt down and said, "Your Majesty and Queen's Highness, please come to Daci to change the sacrificial clothes."

There was no one else in Daci except the emperor, there was a pot of fire outside the tent, and the black reflections of the people standing outside could be seen printed on the tent from inside, the emperor didn't speak, and Xiao Youqing didn't speak, just kept quiet Put on the sacrificial clothes for her.

"Why don't you ask me, why do you want Queen Yaxian?"

Xiao Youqing just lowered his head and tied the accessories around the emperor's waist on the jade belt, he didn't seem to care about the emperor's words, the hand that was in front of the red jade belt was suddenly held.

"All along, it seems that you will not object to anything I do to you."

Only then did Xiao Youqing raise his head and look at her, "All the people in the world are ministers of His Majesty, such as ministers and concubines."

The eyes under the crown are open and motionless, "Really?"

"Isn't it?" Xiao Youqing took a step back, leaned forward and said, "Your Majesty!"

"..."

After putting on vermilion shoes, the emperor left Daci without saying a single word. The two servants waiting outside Daci helped the emperor into the last low earth wall and went to the screen hall with the throne below the altar to rest and wait. .

The Minister of Taichang Temple walked to the curtain hall and bowed: "Your Majesty, please come to the altar." Since the former Taichang Qing He Shi was dismissed from the country, Tai Changqing has been promoted by a female official, and she is also the official who presides over this sacrifice.

Seeing how young the official was, the emperor smiled and said, "You are young and promising, don't waste your time."

Tai Changqing was stunned for a moment. He had met the emperor a few times when setting up the sacrificial process, and it didn't take long. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your compliment."

The guide officials who followed the emperor bowed their waists and sent the emperor to the bottom of the altar and then retreated. A gift made Wang Wenfu follow the emperor to the altar.

The emperor clasped his blue sleeves and walked up step by step. The Tai Le Bureau changed to the elegant music on the altar. Halfway through, the emperor suddenly asked: "Jiezhi has followed the altar to sacrifice many times, right?"

"This is the third time that I have served as prime minister."

"This is the last time," said the emperor.

The pot of fire in the elevated shelf swayed with the wind. When Wang Wenfu reached the third floor of the altar, he stared at the god of March twin birds in the shrine on the left, and suddenly stopped. There are twelve shrines in the inner wall of the fourth step on the third floor of the altar. Sacrificial to the Zodiac Lord Chen Xing, under the light of the fire, the August Scorpion God on the right seems to have gradually faded the paint over time.

"Why did your majesty say that, your majesty is only in the year of destiny..."

"Everyone is mortal, please..." The emperor climbed onto the altar, feeling the cold wind blowing from all directions, seeing only darkness and not being able to see all the small mountains, "Guard this peaceful land. "

Wang Wenfu knelt behind the emperor wearing a nine-pronged crown, "I will do my best to protect Your Majesty for the rest of my life."

When the emperor climbed to the top of the altar, the music played by the Tai Yue Bureau stopped and the musicians on the top of the altar played music. The wine cup, kneel down to worship the god of ancestors for the first time, and then Wang Wenfu went down with the emperor, and the ceremony and music were exchanged again.

After the emperor stepped down from the altar, Tai Changqing went up to Xiao Youqing and cupped his hands: "His Royal Highness, please come to the altar."

The grand rite envoy Wang Wenfu went up to the altar again with Xiao Youqing, and the sub-offering and final kneeling worship wine were no different from the emperor's first offering, the only difference was that after decades, a small number of veterans at the bottom of the altar had never seen it in most of their lives. The woman ascended the altar to worship heaven instead of all the people in the world.

Some court officials closed their eyes under the crown one after another, as if they would not be upset if they couldn't see it, and they murmured softly, "It's against the way of heaven, it's against the way of heaven."

The officials in the same row with five crowns shook their beads and smiled, "What is against the law of heaven? Officials are heaven."

When he ascended the altar for the second time, the etiquette system was the same as the first time. Wang Wenfu looked at the emperor's thinner figure over the years, "Did the officials deliberately alienate Her Highness the Queen?"

"Is there any alienation?"

"I saw complaints in the eyes of Her Majesty the Queen."

"Does Qing believe that eyes can be deceiving?"

"..."

"The official family asked Her Royal Highness the Empress to offer Yaxian. In the old system, they were qualified to accept worship. The official family is not afraid of the Wei family's country..." Wang Wenfu said worriedly.

"She won't want it, she wants it..." The emperor looked sideways at the direction of the sunrise in the east, and it was still dark at this time, "It's just me."

"I don't know what the officials and His Royal Highness have experienced, but the care and concern for each other is enough to make the world envious."

After worshiping at the top of the altar, the two officials displayed the sacrificial texts to each other, and the book reader Liu Miaoyi knelt down to read, "..." The process of Yaxian and Final Xian's second kneeling on the altar is also the same as the emperor's first offering.

For the third time on the altar, officials entered the jade cup containing the blessed wine, and the emperor drank it. He went up and down the altar for a total of three times. After the third time, after the crown prince Yaxian stepped down from the altar, a priest sent the sacrificial items to a place 100 meters away from the altar. The multi-step smoldering furnace was burned, the sound of ritual and music stopped, tens of thousands of people stood solemnly, and only the sound of wind whistling in the ears could be heard inside and outside the altar. "

Tens of thousands of people knelt and knelt at the same time after the order was given. In addition to the movement of the clothes when kneeling, the winter wind blew through the rings and made a crisp jingle.

More than two hundred attendants and guards held candles as thick as oaks and lined up from the small one to the big one, and the two close servants helped the emperor from the bottom of the altar back to the big one where he changed his clothes, and changed the sacrificial clothes.

Changing back to the robe she wore when she was riding a chariot, Xiao Youqing sat down beside the emperor, wrung out the silk handkerchief in the copper basin and wiped off the cold sweat on her forehead, "The wind on the altar is so strong, and now It's the coldest time of the winter solstice, and the officials are tossing back and forth, and it's just me who suffers so much."

The emperor turned his head and didn't answer, stood up and left with the table beside him. After leaving the tent, he returned to Qingcheng Zhai Palace with the empress who came out together in a chariot. It stretches for several miles.

When they arrived in Qingcheng, all the officials changed their official uniforms and entered the hall to pay homage to the emperor, empress and the crown prince who had ascended the altar.

"kneel."

All the officials, Quhu, bent their left knees and cupped their hands on the ground, "Congratulations to Your Majesty, Your Highness the Empress, and Your Highness the Crown Prince, who will carry the heavenly fortune, and the country will prosper forever."

After Chaohe had breakfast, the holy car returned to the palace. At this time, the sky had gradually faded and the sun rose from the sea. Presented before boarding the chariot.

"Officials, here comes the medicine." The servant tested the poison prepared by the medicine boy accompanying the Imperial Medicine Academy and presented it to the emperor.

The emperor frowned and glanced at the steaming soup, and then he stepped onto the chariot. Xiao Youqing helped him up and ordered, "Give it to me."

"Yes."

Seeing that the emperor turned his head and refused to take the medicine, Xiao Youqing raised his eyebrows and said sternly: "Could it be that the official wants to drink the medicine and the ministers and concubines are begging for it?"

The emperor turned his head and stared at her, "Did I become a medicine jar?"

Xiao Youqing was stunned for a while, since the emperor suffered a serious illness a few years ago, the decoction has not been stopped, "If the officials don't drink it, how can you get well?"

The emperor took a deep breath, reached out his hand from his sleeve, took the celadon medicine bowl in Xiao Youqing's hand, and suffocated the soup in one gulp. After the departure, all the civil and military officials who followed the holy car dragged their tired bodies to hold on He squinted and sighed for this suburban sacrifice.

"In such a situation, the mother is strong and the son is weak. In ancient times, the mother was left to keep the son. The official family is good, but it's the other way around..."

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the most popular now. If the mother is kind and the son is filial, nothing will happen to Empress Lu."

"That's not necessarily the case. Don't underestimate the desire aroused by things like power. People's hearts are unpredictable. When father and son become enemies, mother and son will also turn against each other."