Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 946 Is it a sacrifice to heaven or to people?

The altar for offering sacrifices to the gods has already been built, and it was too late to tamp it down, so it was built with a wooden frame. Although it is not very high, the upper, middle and lower floors are covered with flags, and then wrapped with cloth and silk gauze, which looks full. It's like the same thing.

"...the chariot of the spirit, forming dark clouds, driving a flying dragon, with colorful feathers. Under the spirit, it is like a wind horse, with a dragon on the left and a white tiger on the right. When the spirit comes, the spirit is full, and the rain first, and the descendants. To, Qing Yin Yin, release each other, shake the heart..."

  The musicians neatly wore their crowns, draped silk gauze over their Gebu robes, and sat on the fine reed mat. They played the song of the suburban sacrifices in a serious manner, announcing the beginning of the entire sacrificial activity.

  Although the Song of the Suburbs is a bit too high for the etiquette of offering sacrifices to gods, it is not a big deal, because it is actually a song of the same level...

The Song of the Suburbs is a ritual of the Suburbs formulated by the great Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and such a movement is specially listed in the Yuefu, and Li Yannian composed the music, and Sima Xiangru wrote the lyrics. The feeling of Taiwan performing arts...

  Chiyang is in the north of Jingshui, so some people call it Jingyang. Because the Jingshui is clear and it is close to Gaoling in the north, it is more in line with the ancient academic point of view on Wangqi. Therefore, it has become a region that Li Jue pulled into his arms as his own fief. To the altar ten miles away, some simple thatched sheds were built along the way, and some expensive silks were wrapped around the thatched sheds. It can be said that this alone cost a lot of money.

The Han Dynasty has to be said to be a relatively old dynasty. From Liu Bang to Liu Xie now, it has lasted for more than 400 years. This can be regarded as the first time in Chinese history under the premise of long-term peace and stability. , Naturally, the so-called gods, or the spirits of the ancestors, have developed to a greater extent, and the amount of money spent far exceeds that of the Zhou Dynasty or the Qin Dynasty.

  Sacrifice is the most direct manifestation of this culture. If you can get the favor of God, money and so on are just floating clouds...

People live in this world and always struggle hard for survival, strive diligently, and always have good hopes, so the rulers also take advantage of this, and use mysterious and grand ceremonies to show that they are the spokesperson of the will of heaven and earth or gods , has the right to govern all peoples.

This may also be the most fundamental reason why Guo Bang is willing to hold such a ritual of offering sacrifices to the sky. People from Xiliang, or Guo Si himself, are definitely the darlings of heaven and have supreme power.

  In fact, the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven was not the most high-end sacrificial activity in the Han Dynasty, but the ceremony of enshrining Zen was the highest level.

"Built earth on Mount Tai as an altar to sacrifice to the sky and repay the merits of the sky, so it is called Feng. On the hill under Mount Tai, the land is removed and the merits of the earth are repaid, so it is called Zen. Those who talk about Zen are also gods." It is grand, and according to the usual practice, it will be held at Mount Tai, so it can only be the next best thing to hold a second-class sacrifice.

Among the second-class sacrificial activities, they are divided into three types, which are suburban sacrifices, stove sacrifices, and other sacrifices. Unfortunately, it may be different from most dynasties in later generations. In the Han Dynasty, the ritual activity of worshiping heaven belonged to other sacrifices. .

   As a suburban sacrifice, it was very popular during the Western Han Dynasty, especially during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, once every three years, and the scale was grand, and many etiquette norms were established during that time period. But what is very interesting is that in the Eastern Han Dynasty Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu, he only performed suburban sacrifices once in his life, and I don’t know if he was influenced by Emperor Guangwu. The subsequent emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty did not perform any special suburban sacrifices.

The stove sacrifice is also more advanced than the simple ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven. Not only official sacrifices, but also folk sacrifices. It is an activity for the whole people to worship the God of Taishe in February. The "February 2" festival in later generations will also That's where it comes from.

But it is only the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, that is, worshiping the gods of heaven, which are listed with the gods of earth, sun, moon, stars, wind, rain, thunder, and electricity. Of course, among all the gods, the gods of heaven are the highest. Whether it is the emperor's ascension to the throne, oaths, worship, etc., it is inseparable from the worship of the gods.

However, it is obvious that for the gods, the things in the world are too insignificant, so they have almost no time to pay attention to them, just like human beings generally do not pay attention to what the ants are worshiping. Know the words of sacrifice.

   There was a sound of golden drums at the city gate of Chiyang County, and several bright banners first appeared in the crowd's field of vision from the city gate, followed by the colorful canopy chariots, and the mighty knights...

  At this moment, Guo Si was under the protection of the personal guards, sitting on the canopy car, trying to control the stability of his body while swinging three times, and slowly headed for the altar. For Guo Bang, this sacrifice is naturally a very important thing...

Although the location in Chiyang made Guo Si feel a little uncomfortable, but it was just to give Li Jue a face. More importantly, this time the sacrifice was presided over by Guo Si. The emperor was still young and stayed in Chang'an That's fine, and as a royal nobleman, naturally he can't move lightly. For such "hard" things, of course it's good that he, an "important" minister, can do it for him.

Emperor Tian Houtu is a very important existence in the eyes of ordinary people, and if Guo Bang performed the sacrifice of the gods, it means that he plays an important role in the ruling and opposition parties, and naturally becomes the "legitimacy" of his current status The best footnote is like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who was keen to go to Mount Tai once every five years to enshrine Zen.

  As the new post-general of the current dynasty, this guard of honor will naturally not be too shabby. As a formal occasion, Guo Bang could not ride a horse, but a chariot, that is, that kind of canopy chariot, and it was not one car, but four chariots, that is, four chariots with canopy drawn by four horses.

  Guo Bang, of course, cannot sit in four cars at the same time, but what he wants is such a style, and what he wants is this tone, which has the same meaning as the long list of wedding cars in later generations.

  The one at the front is called the golden car. In fact, it is the guide car of the guard of honor team. The car is usually equipped with a golden cymbal or a golden cymbal, which is used for hitting and the sound is loud. Behind the golden chariot is the drum chariot, on which stands a pair of drums, on both sides of the drum there are drummers, holding drumsticks, beating hard, mixing the dull sound of the drums with the crisp sound of Mingjin , passed far, far away.

  The third canopy car is naturally seated in Guo Bang. Under the decoration of the incomparably gorgeous toga and sleeves, this former horse thief seems to be a little more elegant today...

Of course, in addition to the last clothes cart with the banners planted, there were also knights advancing slowly on both sides, fighting in twos on the left and right, holding spears, daggers, halberds, battle-axes, spears, and shields, exactly twelve of them. And behind the convoy, the chariots were still moving forward, and the soldiers, Qi servants, Taoist servants, and field servants holding various utensils dragged the whole queue long.

   Chariots and horsemen.

   Banner utensils.

   Swaying across the long street.

   It is the infinite scenery.

As the crowds on both sides of the road bowed down, from the perspective of the canopy car, only the lowered heads and raised buttocks could be seen. Such a situation naturally made Guo Bang, who was sitting in the canopy car, , feeling complacent, feeling that at this moment, it seems that the glory of the whole world is concentrated on him, and he can't help but twist his beard, just like a bride in a sedan chair. a smile...

  The ten-mile road, whether it is long or short, will soon reach the altar. Those ceremonial personnel and martial dance performers who had been waiting under the altar for a long time also bowed to both sides of the road amidst the ceremonial officials' loud and long chants.

  Guo Bang, who was sitting on the canopy car, walked forward slowly without squinting, maintaining a mighty and majestic posture, but this posture did not last long...

   For some unknown reason, a puff of black smoke suddenly rose from the temporary colored sheds on both sides of the road, and soon a flame burst out and began to burn!

The flames spread on the silk yarn, burning very fast, and quickly ignited the dry grass on the straw shed. Coupled with the wind blowing in the field, the wind suddenly helped the fire, and the fire took advantage of the wind. Just thick smoke billowing and sparks flying!

   "It's flooded! It's flooded! Come on, come on!" Someone immediately shouted for the personnel to put out the fire. The people who were originally watching the ceremony on both sides of the road broke into chaos, and they ran into a mess, disrupting the orderly queues...

  The bare-chested martial dancers who were lying on the ground, under the eyes of the leader, got up silently one by one, and then gradually approached the Huagai convoy where Guo Bang was.

   "This is the moment!" Someone in the convoy shouted loudly, "Punish **** and eradicate evil! Eliminate national thieves! Do it quickly!"

   Immediately, many people among the supporters also shouted in unison: "Punish **** and eradicate evil! Eliminate national thieves!"

  The crowd immediately "boomed" and became chaotic.

  Guo Siteng stood up from the canopy car, he never thought that such a situation would happen!

After learning that Ma Teng led the troops to pass Chang'an to Xinfeng, Guo Si basically relaxed a lot, and even became a little optimistic, because as long as he joined hands with Ma Teng and Han Sui, he could really be said to be in the Guanzhong area. The strength of Xiliang has become an absolute advantage!

It is precisely because of this that Guo Si wanted to hold such a ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven before Fan Chou, Han Sui, and even Li Jue and Ma Teng, so as to add some weight to his words, but he did not expect Encountered such a thing in front of me!

   "Protect the general!"

   Several nearby cavalry guards approached Guo Bang's canopy cart!

   "The national thief is dead!"

A servant holding a copper basin in his hand turned around and slammed the copper basin in his hand at the face of the knight on the side, then rushed forward without hesitation, hugged the cavalryman's waist, and dragged him to one side, trying to move him to the side. The cavalry pulled off their horses...

  A dancer waved his relatives silently, and slammed it on the face of a Guo Si soldier. Although the ax used for the dance ceremony is not sharpened and is still painted with wood, it is still a heavy blunt weapon after all, and it also has a shield, which can be used to resist the counterattack of some Guo Si cavalry...

   "Father! Mother!"

   "Lady!"

   "Lang Jun!"

  The people watching the bustle on both sides of the road, who had no idea what was going on, were scared out of their wits by the situation in front of them, and immediately ran away in chaos, pushing and stamping on each other, crying...

  In a valley in the distance, Fei Qian is ambushing here with his hands.

With the help of local snakes, the latent work is actually not as difficult as imagined, otherwise the Han Dynasty would not be known as the era with the most fugitives, and even those imperial convicts could openly become the guests of the county guards everywhere, so Fei lurked Under the cover of Pang's two people, Shi Shiran broke into pieces, and then came to the vicinity of Chi Yang.

  Of course, the so-called whole is not much, even if it is the hundred cavalry that Zhao Yun detoured together, it is only 600 cavalry, not many, but if you want to do something, how much is enough.

  The few scouts who stayed on the top of the mountain saw the black smoke and flames on the other side of the altar, and immediately turned their heads to the valley and shouted: "The fire is on! I see the fire!"

   "Let's go!" Fei Qian got on his horse, then waved his hand, and without a second word of nonsense, he directly pressed up to the altar in front of him together with Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun.

  Among the chaotic din of the chaotic fire scene, Fei Qian's 600 cavalry did not attract the attention of Guo Bang and others at first.

Guo Si even angrily tore off the neat brocade robe on his body, took the spear handed over by the cavalry guards around him, stood condescending on the canopy cart, and assassinated several guys who dared to challenge his majesty. He commanded the guard cavalry to kill these etiquette personnel who didn't have many sharp weapons in their hands...

Guo Si did not expect that these people would dare to do such a thing. Of course, he also brought some cavalry and infantry as guards, but because of etiquette, ordinary soldiers could not follow him to the altar. So now most of the infantry are on the periphery, and they are separated by these people and the etiquette personnel who risked their lives rushing up in a hurry, but as long as these personnel who try to block them are killed, they will be killed. Gathered in one place...

   At this moment, a muffled sound and vibration that was much smaller than the crazy shouts near the altar slowly spread...

The dull sound of horseshoes kicked unhurriedly at first, then gradually accelerated the speed of their ups and downs, and then in a blink of an eye, it turned into a continuous and dense sound of knocking on the ground, like a whirlwind, towards the altar. Sweeping and coming!

The 600 cavalry brought by Fei Qian were all elite soldiers who had gone through the battle formation, and each of them was a capable soldier in the prime of life. In addition, there were 300 cavalry among them. For the sake of weight, the war horses were only equipped with leather armor, but when the three hundred heavy cavalry galloped ahead, it still made people feel an unstoppable force!

According to Fei Qian's old habits, these cavalrymen not only have iron armor and helmets, but of course they also come standard with masks painted with ghostly faces. There is a light shining in the hole...

When these cavalry are pressing forward like moving armored fortresses; when the manes of war horses are fluttering in the wind; When the cold light shone under the sun, the six hundred cavalry who lined up neatly and rushed into the formation burst out with an overwhelming majesty!

   Six hundred armored cavalry are getting closer and closer!

The peripheral soldiers who were gathering at Guo Bang felt that something was wrong. When they turned their heads to check, they suddenly found that Fei Qian's team had just shouted the word "enemy attack" and saw it. A wave of arrows shot from all over the sky, and then everything went black...

   "Slay the national thief!"

   Six hundred armored cavalry crashed into Guo Bang's guards!

  (end of this chapter)