In the autumn of the fourth year of Long An, there was a severe drought in the whole territory of Xiliang.

For the people of Dunhuang City, if there is a natural disaster, it will show that God condemns the lord, and the minister of the DPRK and China took the opportunity to write a letter to admonish, accusing the lord Li Hao of doing this and that way inappropriately. According to the old practice, the third brother issued several edicts in a row to review his various mistakes since he succeeded to the throne. He fasted and bathed in the palace, entered the temple three times a day to worship, and even held a general amnesty. However, after a few tosses, the sky in Xiliang was still pale yellow, and there was no rain at all.

Early this morning, when I was passing by the Xuanzheng Palace, I overheard the sound of an argument between him and the minister in the hall.

"Your Majesty, nearly half of the millet and japonica rice in Jiuquan County have not been harvested. If there is no rain, even the wheat will be delayed. If this continues, this year's annual success is really worrying, and people will starve to death in winter. ”

"Oh," the third brother nodded, "and by the winter people will starve to death—that's fine, if you say so." At least so far, there are no hungry people – is that right? ”

But as far as I know, in fact, even on the streets of Dunhuang City, there have been people who have fled the famine, but because they have no way to surrender, they have become "corpses" in broad daylight. Presumably the third brother knows these things clearly, but waiting for these officials to report to him, they will never know the truth, and they will never be willing to report their worries.

The third brother asked, but seeing that the Shangshu was really frightened, he said loudly: "Your Majesty, the minister has to say that in fact, someone has already starved to death!" ”

"Oh," the third brother raised his eyebrows and said indifferently, "Lone has already ordered to open warehouses in various places and release grain for disaster relief, so as not to shake the hearts of the people." Want to do a good job in Laiqing and others? ”

When Shang Shu heard this, he immediately sweated profusely. Disaster relief is a thing that can never be explained.

I smiled wryly. Although even I clearly knew that the magistrates of the counties were doing everything possible to withhold relief food, I had no choice but to whip it out, and this was not the time to pursue it, so I could only act as if I didn't see it. Sure enough, the third brother lowered his head and said while drinking tea: "The disaster in Liangzhou is not serious, and it has always been rich." The local governor of Liangzhou sent grain to Jiankang, Guangxia and other places where the disaster was severe. ”

"Your Majesty......"

"Huh?"

"Do you want to think of another way?"

"Something else?" The third brother muttered, "The grain must be requisitioned, and other things must be done." But what can be done, Lone has almost done it. ”

Shang Shu cautiously mentioned: "Your Majesty, why don't you try the pheasant sacrifice, in fact, the drought in the country has always been solved by the pheasant sacrifice......

……

The Pheasant Offering is a prayer for rain, and of course I understand its importance. However, the third brother may not have thought of this layer, he didn't do it for a long time, thinking that it was a very troublesome thing to invite the big witch out of the mountain. Because he didn't want to give too much power and honor to the Great Witch faction. And Xue Yiren naturally understood his thoughts, so he simply hid in the temple for the past few days and didn't come out all day, demonstrating to the young lord with a seemingly forbearant but arrogant attitude.

But now that Shangshu mentioned it, the third brother naturally couldn't pretend that he hadn't heard anything anymore. So from this day on, he wore a white horse every day, entered the temple in person, and sincerely begged the great witch to save the common people. As usual, the Great Witch has to push back and say, saying that interfering with the mandate of heaven with manpower is disrespectful to God. After three days, the Great Witch finally replied, agreed to preside over the festival, and appointed his disciple Huai Bing to arrange the relevant matters, all demanding perfection.

However, this prayer for rain is unusual. When the drought first appeared, people were already begging for rain everywhere. The third brother was in his palace, and he also led the courtiers to ask for a few times. However, since it is a pheasant sacrifice, it is necessary to hold a prayer for rain at the Jongmyo Temple, which is a national ceremony that cannot be more solemn. If this kind of national ritual fails, it means that it has really angered Heaven and cannot be reversed.

Therefore, this time by the Great Witch Pheasant Sacrifice is naturally extraordinarily grand. And the third brother also put down his words, saying that when the big witch begged for rain, no matter what he asked, he would try his best to meet it, and this time, let it rain from heaven.

Ryujin Siyu. Huai Bing, a disciple of the Great Witch, sent people to cut down the thousand-year-old white sandalwood, gathered a hundred craftsmen, carved it into a giant dragon overnight, and built a three-zhang high platform with cyan soil to worship the white dragon on it. On the other hand, more than 1,000 rice people and dancers from the country were gathered to fast for three days, bathe and change clothes.

Under the scorching sun, the great witch wears a sandpiper crown, wears a green robe, holds a long sword, shouts and dances, sings and cries. Thunder in all directions, spread all over the city of Dunhuang.

But after three busy days, there was still not a single cloud in the sky.

This is almost never the case. For the people of Xiliang, Dawu is a god-like person, and if he goes out to ask for rain, even if he can't turn things around, he can still rain a little and slightly improve the drought situation. However, this time it was a fiasco, and the Great Witch's face became more and more gloomy. Seeing this, the third brother ordered Shangshu to arrange a reward to comfort all the witches.

Shangshu went to comfort the witches, and also visited the great witches by the way. Unexpectedly, as soon as he returned to the Xuanzheng Palace, he said such a sentence: "Your Majesty, in fact, the Great Witch also knows that it is impossible to ask for rain like this." ”