As a freshly baked Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, Wang Yuan officially put into work before the Chinese New Year, because every year during the first lunar month, the emperor has to worship heaven and earth in the southern suburbs.

For all large-scale sacrificial activities, the Ministry of Rites is the prime minister and planning agency, Taichang Temple is the specific executive body, Honglu Temple serves as an assistant in the ceremony, Guanglu Temple provides and manages the sacrificial utensils, Qin Tianjian selects the sacrifice date in advance, and the eunuch is responsible for supervising the whole process.

Before the Great Prayer, fast for seven days.

The first four days are "precepts", that is, all social activities are stopped, no singing and dancing, no banquets are allowed for guests, and no even mourning, medical treatment, case judgment, fighting, work, and wearing beautiful clothes - Wang Yuan received the envoy of Duoyan Sanwei, strictly speaking, he has broken the vow, and according to the system, he must be fined for one month. But special circumstances can be accommodated, and you can't be so sick that you are dying, and officials are not allowed to find a doctor.

The last three days are "fasting", not only can not engage in social activities, but also bath and change clothes, do not drink, do not eat meat - not eating meat here does not mean eating vegetarian, but not eating ginger, onions, garlic leeks and other irritating foods, so as not to offend the object of sacrifice with bad breath.

In order to call on the hundred officials to fast, an oath ceremony is also held.

That is, the officials stood in front of the emperor, led by the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and swore an oath to observe the etiquette of fasting.

During the fasting period, you also have to practice rituals, and to put it bluntly, you have to rehearse in advance.

The rehearsal site is Chaotian Palace, which is a Taoist palace, which shows that Taoism was really respected in the Ming Dynasty.

During the Zhengde period, the etiquette system was not completely corrupted, and the civil and military officials did not dare to mess around, and even the emperor had to abide by the etiquette.

But after Wanli, it completely collapsed.

There is a record of a sacrifice in the Wanli period, and the general content is: during the fasting period, various banquets are opened. During the rehearsal, the queue was untidy, noisy, and spitting. The sound of laughter reached the emperor, and the hundred officials still looked at ease and continued to talk to each other. Some people frolicked and fell unexpectedly, some people sat down to rest claiming to be sick, and some people slept directly on the steps. In front of the Chengtian Gate, the eunuch read the emperor's edict, and before the reading began, some officials took shelter from the rain and slipped away. During the sacrifice, some people bring tents and bedding and can lie down and rest at any time; There are also people who let the slaves support them along the way, or even let the slaves carry them on their backs.

You can make an inappropriate analogy, just like during the National Day military parade, the central bigwigs engaged in the above behaviors, do you think this country can still be saved?

The major affairs of the country are in the worship and Rong!

The sacrifices in the Wanli period were like this, so it is not uncommon for officials to do all kinds of bad things.

If you travel to the Wanli Dynasty and become an emperor, how should you rectify it in the face of such a bad rule?

Two days before the sacrifice, the emperor needs to sue the temple, that is, go to the temple to ask the ancestors to worship. The day before the sacrifice, the emperor personally sacrificed the animals, that is, inspected the three animals used in the sacrifice.

During the Zhengde period, heaven and earth are worshipped together, and the location is in the temple of heaven and earth.

Wang Yuan showed his face again this time, because he was one of the chief officials of the dedication.

Zhu Houzhao led hundreds of officials to worship heaven and earth in the Great Worship Hall. Yang Tinghe led some officials to worship the Ming (sun) in the east; Prince Liang led some officials to worship Yeming (moon) in the west; Wang Yuan led some officials to worship the stars in the outer periphery; In addition, Jin Gui, Yang Yiqing and other important ministers and nobles presided over other altars.

From this sacrificial arrangement, it can be seen that Zhu Houzhao elevated Wang Yuan's status to the third position in the center, second only to the first and second assistants of the cabinet.

A left waiter of the Ministry of Rites actually crushed six Shangshu, and also crushed the two ministers of Jin and Yang.

Such an act of transgression of propriety, although some people raised objections, did not help at all. Because the emperor returned with a great victory, the three law divisions, the celebrant supervisor, the production room, and the brocade guard have just been masturbated a lot, and Zhu Houzhao's prestige is at its peak!

Seeing that on the side of the Great Worship Hall, the emperor was about to finish sacrificing heaven and earth.

A zanlilang (Zheng Jiupin) in Taichang Temple opened his throat and shouted: "Divide the officials, offer gifts!" ”

Zanlilang beside Wang Yuan shouted: "First offering! ”

Wang Yuan immediately picked up the cloth and stepped forward to offer it to the god of stars.

"Bye!" Zarelang shouted again.

When the prostrations were over, Zanlilang shouted again: "Yaxian! ”

There are many kinds of gift cloths, and each time the offering is different, and the "final offering" is completed.

This thing has changed a lot, at the beginning of the country, after the sacrifice of heaven and earth was completed, the other altars began to be offered. Song Lian believed that this was disrespectful to the sun, moon and stars and other objects of worship, so he changed to sacrifice heaven and earth at the end of the sacrifice.

Before the Hongzhi Dynasty, the sub-commissioners did not have to bow down when offering gifts, because they were offering gifts on behalf of the Son of Heaven. At that time, the official department Shangshu said that this was very unceremonial, so he changed the content of the sacrifice, causing Wang Yuan to worship when he offered gifts at the altar.

Jiajing is worthy of being the Daojun Emperor, and the sacrifice belongs to his professional category, and there is a major revision again: the heaven and the earth are separated from the sacrifice, and the fourteen sub-altars are reduced to four.

After Wang Yuan finished sacrificing to the stars, he took the attendants behind him to the main hall to meet with the emperor and jointly complete the final offering to heaven and earth.

After the sacrifice was over, we drove back to the city.

The prince can't participate in the sacrifice according to the system, not to mention that he is still young, even if he is an adult. Because the Son of Heaven went out of the city to worship, the prince automatically sat in charge of the country, taking the meaning of "the country cannot be without a king for a day".

"Erlang, get in the car!" Zhu Houzhao beckoned.

Wang Yuan had already exhausted the limelight, and he didn't want to stimulate the civil and military officials anymore, so he rode a horse and followed the imperial chariot and said, "Just follow the minister." ”

Zhu Houzhao said: "Then get closer." ”

Zhang Yong, Jiang Bin and other close ministers were so envious in their hearts that they couldn't wait to push Wang Yuan away.

After returning from this victory, Zhang Yong once again took control of the celebrant supervisor.

Jiang Bin was directly promoted to the left governor of the army, and also added the title of "Prince Taibao", ranking among the three orphans, and the reward was much more outrageous than Wang Yuan.

But Jiang Bin's crown prince Taibao did not receive as much attention as Wang Yuan's Zuo Shilang. Military attaché, as long as you don't rebel and don't provoke Wenchen, what can you do if you become a prince?

Waiting for Wang Yuan to ride next to the imperial chariot, Zhu Houzhao suddenly said: "Qian Ning is dead, I didn't send someone to kill him." After he was dismissed, his concubines and domestic servants were scattered, and he left Beijing with only his wife and children. Less than ten miles out of the city, he was killed by horse thieves, and none of his family was spared. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Yong and Jiang Bin both trembled. Because this is the fate of Xingchen, even if the emperor soft-hearted and let him live, it is difficult to escape the tragic death.

Qian Ning used to be too greedy for money and too vicious in his work, forcing countless officials and people to die.

It just so happened that during this time, there were thieves in the land of Gyeonggi, and among them there was inevitably Qian Ning's enemy. He estimated that he had been targeted for a long time, and as soon as he left the city, his whole family died, and he heard that even the corpses were taken away, probably to be taken back to the thieves' den to be eaten.

Zhu Houzhao was a little embarrassed: "Erlang still remembers that when you and I met for the first time, Qian Ning was also present at that time. Just outside the southern city, not far from here, the experience is like yesterday. I can't bear to do this, but Qian Ning ...... Alas! ”

Wang Yuan comforted: "Your Majesty, don't mind, Qian Ning is just to blame." He is favored by His Majesty, has he ever repaid His Majesty's kindness? There is no such thing as Ningfan, and he deserves to die. Your Majesty can know that Qian Ning sent Jinyi Wei to the south last year with 100,000 yuan of treasure money, and each province apportioned and sold 20,000 taels, and got 100,000 taels of dirty silver without much effort. Every penny of money he makes is ruining the prestige of His Majesty's Son of Heaven! ”

Zhu Houzhao was silent.

This time, he did not copy Qian Ning's hometown in Yunnan, and only copied millions of taels of silver from his home in the capital, and did not include the land, shops and residences.

After a long time, seeing that he had arrived at the city gate, Zhu Houzhao suddenly asked: "Erlang, I copied a jade mountain from Qian Ning's house, which is worth a lot of money." I will give it to you and Ling'er as your wedding gift, you won't feel unlucky, right? ”

Wang Yuan replied, "The gentleman respects the ghosts and gods and stays away. As long as you walk right, sit upright, have no evil thoughts in your heart, and have no loss of morality, what can you do in the world? ”

Zhu Houzhao laughed: "I heard that Erlang is in Zhejiang, and he has demolished and rebuilt all the statues of Guanyin, and he is really not afraid of ghosts and gods." ”

Wang Yuan also smiled: "The minister is to save the drowning baby, and the merit is immeasurable." There is really Guanyin Bodhisattva, with the compassion of the Bodhisattva, he will not blame the ministers for destroying the Buddha statues, but will bless the ministers for the smooth administration. If the Buddha can ask for it, then ask for it; I can't ask for a Buddha, I am a Buddha! ”

"Erlang is arrogant, and I am the same!" Zhu Houzhao's mood improved again.

The emperor was for a while, and it seemed that he would not worry about any troubles.

It can also be said that there is no heart and no lungs.