National Division

The altar for worshiping heaven is at the south corner of Miyagi.The nine-storey platform is entirely built with foot-high white marble strips, surrounded by a huge square, paved with alabaster slabs, cleaned spotlessly, and shining brightly under the noon sun.

On the high platform are the nine tripods, all of which are made of bronze. The main tripod is in the middle, and eight geese are lined up from the left and right sides of the tripod, ranging from large to small. The smallest is also two feet high and wide. , Four-legged climbing tiger.The four tripods on the left place pigs, dolphins, dogs, and chickens as domestic animals, and the four tripods on the right place four wild animals as deer, wolves, foxes, and geese. The horses, cattle, and sheep were all slaughtered yesterday.Agarwood firewood is piled up under the tripod, ready to burn sacrifices to feed the gods.

Zhen Mingzi stood high on the altar, holding the astronomical scriptures in his hands, but he glanced at the main tripod from the corner of his eyes from time to time.Although the sacrifice has not yet been held, there was originally an incense burner on the table, in which sandalwood was burned to dispel the bloody smell of the sacrifice.This is also fire, if some sparks splash into the main cauldron... Zhen Mingzi shivered involuntarily, and moved his gaze to the audience.

Worshiping the sky was originally done by the emperor himself, but Emperor Jing'an had recently recovered from the cold and had autumn diarrhea, his waist was weak and his legs were weak. Such a cumbersome ceremony of worshiping the sky was really unbearable. Let the prince sacrifice on his behalf.There were only two adult princes, so it took a lot of trouble to find out who would perform the sacrifice, and in the end it was Emperor Jing'an who made the decision—the crown prince, as the crown prince, should perform the sacrifice on his own.

The auspicious time is approaching, all the officials gathered together, each wearing official uniforms and kneeling on the square.Because the four princes are of royal blood, they can go under the altar and lead all the officials to worship.Headed by Qi Jun, he walked in slowly from the entrance of the square, followed by Qi Zhang and the third prince born out of Concubine Xian, and the fourth prince was too young, so he had to be followed by his big companion.

Qi Zhang followed behind Qi Jun, feeling hot and cold intermittently.Qi Jun is wearing a black prince's robe today, with eight golden dragons embroidered on the dark black satin, only one dragon less than Emperor Jing'an's robe.Except for him, the rest of the princes could only wear inch-python tufted flower robes, and this alone distinguished their status from high to low.

Qi Zhang lowered his head, looking at the hem of black clothes that Qi Jun dragged on the ground.It was freezing cold, and the princes all wore cloaks over their robes. Qi Jun was wearing a red fox fur cloak today. It is said that because of the cold weather this year, Emperor Jing'an was ill again, so he divided his share. All the mink furs were dedicated to Emperor Jing'an to make clothes, and he only used fox furs.As a result, no one in the palace would say that the prince is filial.

Qi Zhang secretly clenched his fingers in his sleeves.Where is the imperial palace? Even if this year's mink fur quota has been surrendered, is there no more mink fur cape?But Qi Jun wanted to wear this fox fur, obviously he was acting to gain a good reputation.Even though it was fox fur, the tribute items were also of the highest quality, even and bright in color, it looked like a ball of fire in Qi Zhang's eyes, burning his eyeballs with pain.For a moment he wished he could pounce on Qi Jun to the ground and step on it hard, but for a moment he thought that Qi Jun would be turned into a cloud of fly ash after the sacrifice to heaven, he was the future king, and countless thoughts were in his chest So much so that although I heard a low exclamation in my ears, it still took a while to react.

All the officials kneeling on the ground raised their heads in disgrace, and even pointing their hands in the air a little bit impatiently.Qi Zhang also raised his head, only to find that the phoenix that was resting in Zhaoming Hall unexpectedly flew over at some point, circling above the four of them, and seemed to intend to land.

Qi Zhang stopped involuntarily.Why did the phoenix fly over?Do you really want to fall down?Who will it fall on?If it fell on him, wouldn't it mean that Qi Zhang felt hot all over his body, and he wanted to reach out and grab the luan bird and pull it into his arms.Immediately afterwards, someone hit him on the back, and when he turned around, the third prince was looking at him inexplicably: "Why did the second emperor stop?"

It was only then that Qi Zhang realized that he was a long way behind Qi Jun. When he was thinking wildly just now, Qi Jun never stopped. Now he has passed the crowd and walked to the center of the square.He was about to pull up his legs to follow, when suddenly everyone exclaimed, the phoenix hovering in mid-air landed and flew around Qi Jun, as if it was very close to him.Qi Zhang's face turned pale, and someone shouted in his ears: "The prince is watched by the heavens, blessed by the gods, the prince is a thousand years old!"

Immediately, the voice of a thousand years was endless, and all the officials kowtowed together.Qi Zhang looked around in a daze, but felt that his clothes were being pulled a bit. He turned his head and met the eyes of the third prince who seemed to be smiling but not a smile: "Why doesn't the second prince kneel down?" Big Companion hugged and knelt, and he was the only one left standing in the whole square, extremely abrupt.

Ma Mingzi's hand holding the astronomical documents trembled involuntarily.No one expected that the luan bird, which was an omen of auspiciousness for the fetus in Zhou Cairen's womb, would surround the prince. Doesn't this mean that the prince is the destiny?How could this be so?Is the prince really the destined monarch?Then he has been against the prince all these years, what will happen?He stood there in a daze for a long time, and suddenly met a pair of dark eyes, only to realize that the crown prince had already walked to the altar, waiting for him to recite the ritual scriptures.

If Emperor Jing'an came in person, he should have come up to the stage, and offered sacrifices immediately after he finished reading the document.But because he had already set up a mechanism, in order to avoid blowing himself to pieces, he deliberately proposed that the prince was different from the emperor and his ministers, and that the prince should not be on the stage until he finished reading the documents and walked off the altar.It's just that Ma Mingzi regrets it now, he had to read the astronomical documents here by himself.But under the eyes of everyone, no matter how surprising the phoenix descended, he, as the national teacher, could not lose his composure, so he could only unfold the document written on the yellow silk, and recited aloud: "I am overwhelmed by the sky, and the clouds are so oily!" ..."

The ritual scriptures are long and gorgeous, and while Makiko was reading, she couldn't concentrate, and she couldn't help but look down the stage.Qi Jun stood there steadily, with a fiery red fox fur cloak over his black robe, which was indescribably dazzling in the sun.His complexion is slightly dark, it is not suitable for a black color, it will look gloomy, unlike Qi Zhang's fair complexion, wearing black looks like a beautiful woman.However, at this time, when set off by the fiery red cloak, the brows appear to be full of vigor and heroism, but it makes Qi Zhang look pale and weak.The phoenix still circled around him, its five-colored feathers fluttered, making the person standing there as stable as a mountain peak, worthy of the word "Jun".

Ma Mingzi felt that his voice seemed to be trembling, he wanted to clear his throat, but he was afraid that someone would find out that he had lost his composure, so he had to bite the bullet and read on.As soon as he read the words "be blessed by God, beg for auspiciousness, and kill evil spirits", he suddenly found that Qi Jun raised his hand and pulled out a rope from his collar, and a black thing was hanging on the rope. , Like gold, but not gold, like iron, but not iron.Before he could see clearly, Qi Jun had already smiled at him, with an indescribable sharpness in his smile, like a hunter seeing a tiger caught in a snare.Immediately, a ray of red light shot out from the black thing, and the incense candles on the table suddenly burst into a ball of sparks, and a few sparks splashed in all directions, falling into the main cauldron that was close at hand.

Ma Mingzi was numb for a moment, watching the sparks fall, he suddenly thought of something while breathing, but before he could run away, a loud noise came from inside the cauldron, his eyes were suddenly closed due to the sudden red light After that, there will be no chance to open it again.

Startled by the loud noise, Qi Zhang raised his head, and saw smoke and flames rising from the nine-story high platform, gravel mixed with copper flakes flying around, and even the disemboweled pig was thrown off the high platform and hit hard. On the ground of the square, there was a muffled noise, and he even saw the pig's flesh trembling.There was buzzing in his ears, and he vaguely heard someone screaming: "Tianlei! The national teacher was killed by Tianlei!"

Killed by thunder?Qi Zhang was a little confused for a while.who?National Division?Shouldn't it be Qi Jun who was struck to death by lightning?He tried his best to raise his eyes and saw that Qi Jun was slowly turning around in front of the smoldering altar. His black robe was pressed down by the fiery red cloak. Against the red flames and black smoke behind him, he looked like a god. Like a demon again...

During the sacrifice ceremony, the national teacher was struck to death by lightning from the sky. This happened in full view, and he couldn't hide it even if he wanted to.Although Emperor Jing'an didn't come in person, Wang Jin passed by. When he came back to deliver the message, his face was shocked, and his words were a little confused: "...the national teacher was reading the document, and suddenly there was a loud bang...the servant listened to the national teacher's reading. What kind of demon... the national teacher has lost half of his body, exactly the same as the person who was killed by lightning in the Zhaoming Palace last time! Now people are saying that the national teacher is—— was punished by heaven..."

Emperor Jing'an's face was as gloomy as the sky outside.The dignified national teacher was punished by heaven?What about him, the emperor who made him a national teacher?What crime did Ma Akiko have to be struck to death by lightning?

Wang Jin looked carefully at Emperor Jing'an's face, and said in a low voice after thinking about it a few times: "My servant heard someone say that the national teacher is—intent to act against the sky, to control my dragon veins..."

Emperor Jing'an was startled: "How did you say that?"

Wang Jin lowered her head and closed her mouth.Emperor Jing'an impatiently picked up Yu Ruyi in his hand and threw it at him: "Hurry up! Wait for me to invite you?"

Wang Jin knelt down on the ground with a plop: "I dare not say..."

"Say!"

"Some people say that the phoenix will not go to the crown prince, and the crown prince will bring Li Zhu back. It can be seen that the destiny belongs to him. His Majesty made him the crown prince. It is His majesty's wisdom. And the national teacher—has the heart to abolish him!" The prince abolished and established a new crown prince, didn't he change the continuation of the dragon vein?

Emperor Jing'an clenched his fingers violently: "Nonsense! Why did the national teacher ever talk about abolishing the establishment?"

Wang Jin didn't dare to argue, and just kowtowed: "Slave is a death penalty, slave is a death penalty."

Emperor Jing'an yelled angrily: "Find out those slaves who chew their tongues and beat them to death! I want to know who started saying this."

Wang Jin looked embarrassed: "There are a lot of people... slaves, let's go down and check one by one!"

"Stop!" Emperor Jing'an stopped him again.Wouldn't it make a lot of noise to investigate in this way?The national teacher is not good, so what's so good about him who is a national teacher?

"Your Majesty..." Wang Jin hesitated for a long time, and finally spoke again, "I am guilty of capital punishment, but I dare not say anything to Your Majesty. Although the national teacher did not say anything to His Majesty, but--he always provokes His Majesty and the prince's father-son relationship. "

"Nonsense!" Although Emperor Jing'an scolded him, he couldn't help turning up many things in his heart.Wang Jin is his personal eunuch, he really sees some things, and he has never said much, this is the first time in more than [-] years that he speaks like this, "How dare you be so bold?"

"The servant is for His Majesty's fame." Wang Jin kowtowed until his forehead was bruised, "The national teacher has offered the golden pills for these years, but Your Majesty's dragon body is in good shape, isn't it because of eating the elixir of the moon? Immortal Master Xiuming is His Highness Please go back to the palace, but the national teacher is making things difficult for Immortal Master Xiuming..."

He spoke upside down, but every word was on point, Emperor Jing'an remained silent, but his fingers became tighter and tighter, and he said after a long while: "Then tell me, what should I do?"

Wang Jin had already reached the point of her mouth, and suddenly remembered the prince's advice, and swallowed it abruptly: "There is no room for servants to talk too much about government affairs."

Emperor Jing'an glared at him: "Then what did you just say?"

Wang Jin quickly kowtowed again: "Your servant is your Majesty's servant, and if you don't say anything, it is to deceive the emperor. But about the affairs of the government, the servant will never dare to say too much."

Emperor Jing'an's expression turned pale: "How dissatisfied do you seem to be with the national teacher?"

Wang Jin was quite calm this time: "The servant just feels that the national teacher claims to be someone from outside Fang, but he always wants to interfere in the affairs of the palace. In the past, the servant only felt a little bit, but since Immortal Master Xiuming entered the palace, the servant felt that the so-called Fangwai people should be like immortal masters."

Emperor Jing'an couldn't help but slightly nodded.There are some things that people don't know better than they don't know. Only when they have knowledge can people see how restless Ma Akiko is.What's more, he was reciting the astronomical book at that time...

"Which sentence did you say the national teacher read at that time?"

"What kind of evil spirit... I don't know how to write, I only remember these two words..."

"Bring the documents!"

The document was drafted by the Ministry of Rites, Ma Mingzi made several changes, and the original manuscript is still kept by the Ministry of Rites.Emperor Jing'an looked over each word, saw the eight characters "begging for auspiciousness, to kill evil spirits", and slowly put his hands down.It was the time to pray for the auspiciousness from the heavens to ward off evil spirits, and then there was a thunderbolt from the sky... plus the ostriches could not fly around Qi Jun...

"Wang Jin, do you think it's time for me to entrust the Second Prince out?"

Just as Wang Jin was about to speak, a small man ran in scrambling, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the second concubine is having a difficult delivery!"

In the first month of the 15th year of Anping in the Sheng Dynasty, Emperor Jing'an decreed that the second prince, Qizhang, was granted the title of Prince Ping, and the land was entrusted to Shu.As for the national teacher Zhen Mingzi, he claimed that he died praying for the country. Because he was a foreigner, he was buried in the mountains outside the capital.However, people in the know are saying that the national teacher is the evil spirit lurking in this dynasty. Although he confused the Holy One for a while, he was struck to death by the thunder of the gods from the sky. If not, why would the Taoist temple in the palace be quietly demolished after his death? Woolen cloth?

In the Palace of Liangyi, Concubine Ye Gui seemed to have aged ten years overnight, as if she didn't even have the strength to talk to her son: "I'm going to let you handle the funeral of the Second Prince's Concubine..."

The maid beside her held her breath, not daring to make any movement.The second concubine was too careful with this pregnancy. She was young, and she stayed in bed for five or six days out of ten to protect her pregnancy. It is one dead body and two lives.A happy event turned into a funeral, and Qi Zhang, the eldest grandson, was not found and became a widower.

"Mother and concubine, don't worry." After all this trouble, Qi Zhang seems to be a little more tenacious, "Father gave me the land of Shu, which is a rich and prosperous land. If I become a vassal king, it may not mean that I will lose my chance , the vassal king of the previous dynasty..." It is not that there are no examples of vassal kings seizing the throne.

Concubine Ye Gui's eyes lit up: "My son, it's good that you have such a heart. Besides, you still have an uncle. Just be careful in everything. Besides, you have never left my side, and now you are going to that place thousands of miles away. I..." Wiping away tears.

In fact, Qi Zhang just held his breath.After so many years of planning, he always felt that he would eventually be able to be a prince and become a great treasure, but now he was entrusted to go outside Beijing.Although there were vassal kings who successfully seized the throne in the previous dynasty, they were really rare.After the vassal kings were enfeoffed, they were not allowed to enter the capital without an edict. Although they had fiefdoms and were able to control the taxation of the fiefdoms, every income had to be recorded and reported to the emperor, and a part of the tribute was paid to the capital every year.Moreover, the vassal king is not allowed to raise more than 800 soldiers in the fief. Although the fief has troops stationed there, they do not listen to the vassal king's dispatch, but have the intention of monitoring.It's really not easy to change from a vassal king to an emperor.Now that Concubine Ye Gui cried like this, I also feel miserable, now that my wife and children are dead, and I have to leave my father and mother...

Concubine Ye Gui cried for a while, but wiped away her tears. She turned her eyes around, and the palace people retreated knowingly. She then lowered her voice: "Shu is fine, but if you want... you still need soldiers." Although your uncle has a lot of them, they are on the bright side. The East Palace has been silent for so many years, but the military pay has been strangled to death, and the private soldiers can't support many. But... your uncle Near the land of Shu, a silver mine was found."

Qi Zhang's eyes lit up suddenly: "Really? Where is it?" If there is a silver mine, how much military pay and food will it take?With soldiers, he has the hope of seizing the throne.

"At the beginning, your uncle could only roughly find out the location, but he didn't dare to move at will. After all, he is in Fujian, and it is too difficult to transfer people to the Shu land to mine. Now that His Majesty has given you the Shu land, it is a chance."

Qi Zhang's eyes were shining, and he clenched his fists: "Don't worry, my concubine, as long as I have a silver mine, I can always succeed! It's just that my concubine stays in Beijing, and my son is afraid that the queen will be unfavorable to my concubine."

Concubine Ye Gui curled her lips slightly, and said with a sneer: "That stupid woman? Well, the more unfavorable she is to me, the better. If you go to the feudal land, if the middle palace still bullies me, it means the crown prince disregards brotherhood Your father still loves you in his heart. The more we show weakness now, the more we can win your father's pity. That's why I didn't ask your father to make you a concubine again. How much do you have to keep? Let's talk in a year."

Qi Zhang nodded again and again: "What the mother said is true. Don't worry, the mother, I will come back sooner or later. At that time, I will let the mother move into the Zichen Palace!"