After Li Shimin confirmed the reward for Wang Dazhu, he went on to say: "As the so-called meritorious service should be rewarded, if there is a mistake, it will be punished." The Taishi Bureau failed to predict the appearance of the solar eclipse in time this time, shouldn't it also accept punishment? ”

"Your Majesty, the ministers are guilty, and the ministers are willing to accept punishment." Listening to Li Shimin's words, the officials of the Taishi Bureau immediately knelt on the ground.

"The observation of celestial phenomena is related to the fortune of the country, but you are derelict in your duties, and you are ashamed of me, and even more ashamed of the whole world." Li Shimin's face sank, and he looked at the officials of the Taishi Bureau who were kneeling on the ground, and his killing intent had been decided.

"The Taishi Bureau Supervisor and the Young Eunuch should take the main responsibility, and I will sentence you to be decided, and the rest of the people will be demoted to the people and will never be hired."

After listening to Li Shimin's verdict, the people of the Taishi Bureau were shocked on the spot and collapsed to the ground. They never imagined that Li Shimin would impose such a heavy punishment.

"Your Majesty, by all means, although the eunuch and the young eunuch of the Taishi Bureau are at fault, their crimes are not to death! Just ask Your Majesty to open up the net and give them a warning. ”

"Your Majesty, although the officials of the Taishi Bureau have made mistakes in the first place and should be punished, but the prediction of celestial phenomena has always been mysterious and unpredictable, and some omissions are inevitable, Your Majesty must not be angry because of this and put them to death, otherwise it will be too late to regret it in the future!"

"Your Majesty, the ministers have heard that the benevolent monarch should be generous to the courtiers, and never kill out of anger. Only a tyrant like Su and Ji would easily kill his courtiers. ”

……

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng and others immediately stepped forward to persuade Li Shimin to intercede on behalf of the officials of the Taishi Bureau.

"Please spare your life!"

"Please forgive us, Your Majesty!"

The officials of the Taishi Bureau, seeing that someone was interceding for themselves, also quickly kowtowed and begged for mercy.

This scene made Li Shimin, who was sitting on the dragon chair, his face blue with anger, and the green tendons on his forehead burst out, feeling that his majesty as the emperor had been provoked.

"Okay, are you all going to rebel? Today I have made up my mind, and whoever dares to intercede for them will be punished with your sins. Li Shimin leaned forward, pointed his finger at the officials below, his eyes were round, and the imperial momentum on his body was trembling.

Seeing the emperor's thunder and anger, the officials of the Taishi Bureau lowered their heads, knelt on the ground and did not dare to beg for mercy anymore, and others did not dare to intercede for them anymore.

In the Tang Dynasty, the Taishi Bureau was responsible for observing celestial phenomena, divining good fortune and evil, and examining the calendar, but this time the solar eclipse occurred, and the people of the Taishi Bureau did not predict it in advance.

It can be said that the officials who should be punished the most are the officials of the Taishi Bureau.

The Taishi Bureau has existed a long time ago, the Taishi Bureau was called the Taishi Supervisor during the Sui Dynasty, and it was renamed the Taishi Bureau in the fourth year of Tang Gaozu Wude, and the name of this institution was changed to Si Tiantai not long after, although the name has changed, but the distribution arrangement of the entire institution has not changed.

There is one supervisor and two young eunuchs in the Taishi Bureau, the supervisor is the official position of the third grade, and the young eunuch is the fourth grade, in addition to two doctors of astronomy, 90 astronomical students, and 50 astronomical students; There is one doctor and fifty-five students; There are six doctors and forty students.

Seeing that the officials of the Taishi Bureau were about to be executed by Li Shimin, there was silence in the hall, and only the sound of each other's breathing could be heard.

"Come on, drag the officials of the Taishi Bureau down to me!"

A few guards immediately came out, and according to Li Shimin's order, the officials of the Taishi Bureau were dragged out of the palace.

Wang Dazhui originally thought that Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling and others would persuade Li Shimin to change his mind, but he didn't expect Li Shimin to go his own way today.

Wang Dazhui thought to himself, although the officials of the Taishi Bureau were wrong, but just like Wei Zheng and others said, the crime is not to death.

Human life is at stake, and if you don't run into it, forget it, but since you have encountered it, I really can't help but see them die because of it.

As the saying goes: "Saving a life is better than building a seventh-level floating slaughter." ”

"Wait, Your Majesty, the vassal sledgehammer has something to say." Wang Dazhui stepped forward and said.

"Wang Xiannan, what do you have to say? If it's to intercede for them, you don't have to. Li Shimin asked.

Wang Dazhui smiled lightly and said to Li Shimin: "Your Majesty, although the things that the ministers want to say have something to do with them, I am by no means interceding for them. ”

Li Shimin said: "Then you can say it! ”

"Your Majesty, what the minister wants to say is that there is a reason why the officials of the Taishi Bureau failed to predict the appearance of this solar eclipse."

"What is the reason?" Li Shimin asked.

"Because the calendar we use in the Tang Dynasty today is wrong, the Wuyin Yuan Calendar, so we can't predict this eclipse in time." Wang Dazhui turned his head to look at Li Chunfeng: "Master, you are proficient in astronomy and geography, can you tell me if there is a problem with our current calendar?" ”

Li Shimin listened to Wang Dazhui's words and looked up at Li Chunfeng.

Li Chunfeng nodded, and said affirmatively to Li Shimin: "Your Majesty, according to the calculations of the minister and the senior brother, the "Wuyin Yuan Calendar" we are using now is indeed wrong. ”

"Really?" Li Shimin asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the ministers will never dare to deliberately deceive Your Majesty." Wang Dazhui and Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang testified at the same time.

"In this way, I almost made a big mistake and killed these people by mistake." Li Shimin waved his hand at the guards guarding the officials of the Taishi Bureau and said, "Go down!" ”

"Since there is an error in the calendar, then you can't be blamed for this matter, but as an official of this dynasty, you didn't find out that the calendar of this dynasty was wrong, and it was also your dereliction of duty, so the death penalty can be avoided, and the living crime cannot be escaped."

The officials of the Taishi Bureau, who escaped death, immediately cried with joy, and hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Li Shimin: "Thank you Your Majesty for forgiveness, long live my emperor, long live, long live." ”

When the other ministers saw that things had taken a turn for the better, they also immediately shouted: "Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" ”

In the end, Li Shimin did not kill the officials of the Taishi Bureau like Emperor Zhongkang of the Xia Dynasty, but the punishment was still inevitable.

However, it is already great luck for them to be able to escape death, if it were not for Wang Dazhu, Li Chunfeng, Yuan Tiangang and others, they would definitely not be able to escape.

Next, in order to calm the adverse effects of the solar eclipse, Li Shimin still ordered that from the day of the solar eclipse, all extravagance and waste should be eliminated, singing and dancing were strictly prohibited, and at the same time, a ceremony to worship the sky was held, and vegetarian clothes and vegetarians were held to save the sun.

Through this solar eclipse, Li Chunfeng found that there were often obvious errors in predicting future solar and lunar eclipses according to the "Wuyin Yuan Calendar".

So he decided to compile a new calendar, and he synthesized the advantages of many calendars of his predecessors, and incorporated his own new insights, and finally compiled a new calendar, which was dedicated to the imperial court. Of course, the credit of Wang Dazhui is indispensable.

Although the imperial court vigorously promoted the solar eclipse as a natural phenomenon, the vision of the solar eclipse still caused a lot of panic among the people. Some people even take advantage of this to make a living.

(End of chapter)