Flowers on the other side [Comprehensive Red House]

The crown prince's words excited the cabinet, "Three crops a year, there really is such a place, and it is really not afraid of disasters from now on."But these people are all elites with many years of experience. After a moment of excitement, they immediately regained their composure and asked the prince whether the news was accurate.

Under the oppressive stares of the cabinet ministers, the prince said steadily: "In the past, I have read in a book describing overseas exotic lands. Thirteen lines have a lot of contact with barbarians, and I have also heard about barbarians. As I mentioned before, there are places overseas where summer is all year round, and there is a globe presented by missionaries at Father's place."

The sage signaled Liang Jiu to bring the globe.

The prince caressed the globe in his distant memory, rotated it slowly, took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and continued: "We are here, and there are large sea areas to the east and south."

The prince pointed to the rough globe and slowly guided the cabinet ministers and the sage.

"In our cognition, the sky is round and the earth is round. In the books brought by the missionaries in the West, the ground we stand on is also round. What else is the earth-centered theory and the sun-centered heliocentric theory?" .”

The prince moved the globe to make it rotate once, stabilized the globe, and spoke more slowly.

"I don't care what I think, if this is the case, the earth is rotating by itself, and the sun does not move, so there will be a change of day and night. If the earth rotates around the sun at the same time, there will be a cycle of seasons."

The crown prince pointed to the middle of the globe, "This area is where the barbarians call the natives to live. There is no country, no imperial court, only natives. Here is summer all the year round, and three crops a year. Guxiang, Whether it’s true or not, send someone to check it out, if it’s a land of no man…”

There are no words behind the prince, and the cabinet ministers all understand that it is an inexhaustible achievement in opening up territories!

All eyes turned to the saint.

The sage inspected the crowd, and said slowly in a dignified voice: "Decree Honglu Temple and Thirteen Lines, let them work together to find out this matter as soon as possible."

Several cabinet ministers were a little excited and a little flustered. There is still a geocentric theory and a heliocentric theory in this world, which shocked their minds too much.Fortunately, these people are not scholars who pursue academics. A few of them have put aside the center of the earth and the center of the sun. Their goal now is to rule the world, and they are looking forward to it like the saints—to find a place that can produce more food and let the people Being able to eat enough and clothe warmly will increase the size of the country and make the country more stable.

When the cabinet ministers walked out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation with vain steps, they excitedly left.The sage got up and went to the prince, and spun the globe a few times.

"Becoming a virtuous person is the learning of Westerners, just listen to it. We still need to pass down the classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics for thousands of years to govern the country."

"What the father said is true. Chinese learning is for the body, and Western learning is for practical use."

The prince answered sincerely and solemnly.The saint thought about it and couldn't help laughing.

"Yes, that's how it is. The guns of the barbarians are better than ours. We have to learn and use them. Dai Zi heard that the progress is very fast. When will you go and have a look?"

"Okay, father, my son will arrange a time to go there."

The sage looked at the memorial that Liang Jiu had brought over, rubbed his brows, "Wait until after offering sacrifices to heaven."

The father and son cooperated, and finally, a few days before the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, all the backlog of affairs from the previous month was dealt with.

Because after the emperor's grandson was born, the sage ordered people to repair the Temple of Heaven in an all-round way. On the hundredth day of the emperor's grandson, he performed a sacrifice to heaven.At this time, there is another sacrifice to heaven after a short interval, and the workload of repairs is not too great.Even so, Prince Ning led the cleaning and repairing of the Temple of Heaven, as early as the saint and the cabinet had said that they would worship the heavens, and before the Qin Tianjian had selected a date, he began to lead the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry to carry out repairs on the Temple of Heaven. A new repair was carried out.The craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry and the people of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were also so busy that one person drove two people to order them around. When Prince Fu and Prince Ning went to check, everything was prepared.

Prince Fu and Prince Ning are in charge of coordinating with the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple to prepare for offering sacrifices to heaven.The two of them were very serious about offering sacrifices to heaven, and upon inspection, there was no room for the slightest mistake.Prince Fu went to the sacrificial place in person, carefully inspected the animals prepared for sacrifice to heaven, watched them wash and prepare the animals for sacrifice, and told the breeders that they must raise them well in the past few days, so that there should be no mistakes.

Prince Ning looked at the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry, and checked the three lampstands again before his eyes, whether each lamp pole was strong enough, how about the hanging lanterns, and the special wax made by Panlong All Night.When offering sacrifices to heaven, four such candles should be inserted into each lantern. Each candle is four feet long and one foot thick, and cast with a protruding dragon pattern.This candle can burn all day, not only for a long time, but also after being lit, it will not be extinguished by the wind, neither oil will flow nor wax flowers need to be cut.

The sage received a report from the two princes that everything was going well, and took the prince with him to live in the Temple of Heaven two days in advance for the last fast.

Qi Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites led the main officials of the Ministry of Rites and directed the people of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the Circular Mound Altar, seven groups of gods were set up according to the ritual. Each group of gods was made of azure satin to form a temporary tent.The Zhu Wen issued by Zhang Zhangyuan of the Hanlin Academy has already been written in the Zhu Ban.The prince followed the saint to conduct the final inspection on the day before offering sacrifices to heaven.Read the Zhuban first, go to the emperor's vault to offer incense, go to the Circular Mound Altar to see the gods, go to the God's Treasury to see the beans, go to the God's Kitchen to see the animals, and inspect the 28 calves, 33 sheep, 34 pigs, 2 pigs that have been slaughtered. Only deer and 12 rabbits were correct, and then the father and son returned to the fasting palace in the Temple of Heaven to rest for a while, and they were about to get up at the beginning of Yinshi.

On the eve of the sacrificial day, the Temple of Heaven was extremely busy.The officials of Taichang Temple led by the Minister of Taichang Temple arranged the gods, offerings, and sacrifices. The Ministry of Rites directed the display of musical instruments in the Yuefu. check.

All the officials accompanying the sacrificial offering also stayed overnight at the Temple of Heaven, and they had to stand at the prescribed positions at the beginning of Yinshi.

Seven quarters before sunrise, the prince, who had already bathed and changed his clothes, was new inside and out. Finally, he was covered with a blue four-claw five-dragon dragon robe sacrificial attire, and followed the saint who also wore a blue five-claw nine-dragon robe sacrificial attire in the Temple of Heaven. When the Taihe bell in the palace rang, he stepped out of the fasting palace.

When the saint stepped out of the fasting palace and stood still, the bells stopped and the drums sounded. At this time, the southeast burnt wood stove of the Circular Mound Altar began to burn the calf, and the southwest hanging sky lantern was lit. The mysterious and solemn ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven officially began.

The prince followed the saint three steps, and followed suit.When the sage enters through the east gate of the Circular Mound Altar and pays his respects in the middle layer of the Circular Mound Altar, the crown prince leads the officials accompanying the sacrifice and enters through the west gate of the Circular Mound Altar to the music of "The Chapter of Beginning Peace".As for the middle gate, it is left for the emperor to walk.

When worshiping and offering incense in front of the sage, the upper emperor, and the God of God, the prince and other people who accompanied the sacrifice followed and bowed in the middle.When the sage offered incense before the coronation of the ancestors, the prince followed him to offer incense and kowtow, and then bowed three times and nine times to the gods.

Starting from the burnt calf, the burnt firewood welcomes the god of heaven, followed by the process of laying jade and silk, entering the zu, offering the first gift, offering the second gift, offering the last gift, spreading the food, sending the emperor to the god, and watching the burning process. Every step needs to be accompanied by sacrifices. movement. "Chapter of Shiping" corresponds to "Chapter of Jingping", "Chapter of Xianping", "Chapter of Fengping", "Chapter of Jiaping", "Chapter of Yongping", "Chapter of Xiping" in sequence ", "Chapter of Peace", and finally when the saint watched the burning sacrifices, "Chapter of Youping" was played, and the whole ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven came to an end.

When presenting gifts at the beginning of the ceremony, the "Dance of Relatives" is performed in conjunction with the "Chapter of Fengping", which is a dance of martial arts. 128 musicians and dancers hold axes, shields, and long bows, and dance the Qianqi dance. The dance is mighty and vigorous, symbolizing the peace of the world and the unity of the country

When Si Zhu knelt down to read the Zhu Wen, the music stopped temporarily;

At the time of Xingya Presentation and Final Presentation, the "Dance of Feathers" must be danced in conjunction with the "Chapter of Jiaping" and "Chapter of Yongping".This is a sacrificial dance of Wende. The Wende dancers hold feathers and ancient musical instruments, singing and dancing. The dance is elegant and orderly, implying peace in the world and auspiciousness for the people.

The saint prayed devoutly, offered the wine to the heaven and the earth, drank the sacrificial wine without leaving a drop, kowtowed three times and bowed nine times, every time he knelt down, the saint was as devout as if there was a god in front of him...

During the whole process, the prince followed the saint, and every step required three kowtows and nine prostrations, and the prince also knelt and kowtowed devoutly.He remembered that many years ago, he was a firm, Marxist atheist who did not believe in ghosts, gods, afterlife, and everything.

But now he knows that these are all there, and they all exist in the dark.

After Wang Liao, the music of "The Chapter of Youping" ended, and the sage took one last look at the Liao furnace, and took the prince away from the Temple of Heaven.The mighty royal guard of honor can be seen from the beginning but not the end.Just like when they came, the father and son walked back to the Forbidden City on foot.

The father and son returned to the palace exhausted.The prince sent the saint back to the Qianqing Palace, served the saint with his own hands to change his sacrificial attire, and saluted the saint sincerely.

"Father has worked hard."

The saint shook his head and smiled, "Tugen is the future of the country. For his safety, praying for his safety, offering sacrifices to heaven, and thanking God is what I should do as a saint and a grandfather. Although it was hard work, he bloomed safely. You don’t have to worry anymore. You go back too, change your clothes, get a good night’s sleep, and you don’t need to come over at night. If I’m free, I’ll go see the little suckling pig after dinner.”

"Yes, Father."

After the prince saluted, he took his twenty or so servants back to the East Palace.

He freshened up in the yard of the study first to wash off the smell of fireworks on his body, and then went back to see Mrs. Shi.

"Ming Yun, have you worked hard?" The concubine was watching her son who had just fallen asleep, and when she saw the prince coming in, she quickly stood up and went forward.Worshiping heaven is not only tiring for men, but the princess is also in charge of palace affairs, which is not easy.These days, in order to prepare for the sacrifice to heaven, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has dispatched some people to go out, and the work in the palace is often stretched and it is quite difficult.

"It's okay. How long have you been asleep?" The prince looked at the little suckling pig with clenched fists and protruding mouth.

Shi smiled, and said softly: "I just slept for a while." She looked at the blue eyes of the prince, unable to hide the exhaustion, and said distressedly: "You should sleep for a while."

"it is good."

The prince changed his coat and went to the kang, and hugged the little suckling pig in his arms.The little man pursed his lips slightly, frowned, and was still asleep.The prince patted the little suckling pig's buttocks, the soft and warm little person, he lost a lot of weight than before, but he gained weight quickly.

Almost instantly, the prince fell into a dark and sweet dream.

The princess looked at the sleeping father and son, and a smile that she didn't realize came to the corners of her eyes and brows.She softly ordered Dongmei to watch outside the bedroom, so that no one would come in and disturb the prince's sleep.The last time he came back from offering sacrifices to heaven, the prince slept for half a day.

The prince woke up because a fleshy little hand was touching his face.He held the little hand that touched his mouth, in exchange for the little man's giggles.

"Ming Yun, get up, so that you won't be sleepy at night and won't be able to sleep well."

"Okay." The prince gathered himself together, sat up, hugged the little suckling pig into his arms, nodded his nose and said, "You little rascal, my father will go to sacrifice to heaven for you to make up for a while, and you still make trouble. "

The little man thought the prince was playing with him, so he stretched out his finger and touched the prince's nose too.The prince moved to the side, and the little man's finger touched the prince's eyes.

The prince closed his eyes and shook his head without any seriousness, "Oh, it's better not to hide."

The princess took the little suckling pig away and pretended to be a thug. The prince smiled and said, "What does he know? What time is it?"

"It's nearly midnight. Tell the children to come over for dinner?"

"it is good."

The prince changed his clothes, picked up the teacup, did not drink two sips, Tu Ji, Tu Pi, and Baozhu, brought by the nanny, came over.

The little suckling pig immediately jumped up in the arms of the princess, and happily greeted his brothers and sisters.