At dawn, just after Yin, Qi Ning had already arrived at the eastern outskirts of the imperial tomb, at this time the red sun had risen in the east, and the ministers had already had breakfast and were gathering together, waiting for the emperor to bring them into the imperial tomb.

The light of the rising sun shone on the earth, and the ministers seemed to have rested fairly well last night, and they were all in good spirits, gathering together to whisper, which could be regarded as talking and laughing.

Qi Ning walked quietly among the ministers, but he never found the figure of Ximen without a trace, when the ministers set off yesterday, there were a large number of people, Qi Ning had never seen Ximen without a trace, and he still did not see him today, and secretly wondered if Ximen Wuxian did not come to participate in this sacrifice ceremony.

Suddenly, I heard someone shouting not far away: "Isn't that the old prince coming?" ”

Qi Ning immediately followed the sound and looked, only to see Sima Changshen pushing a wheelchair not far away, and Ma Lan of Zhenguo Company was indeed sitting in a wheelchair.

Qi Ning frowned slightly, but saw that King Huainan had already appeared from the crowd to greet him, and after taking a look, King Huainan had already smiled and said, "How is the old prince injured?" The king thought that the old prince would not be able to come today. ”

Sima Lan sighed: "Thank you for your concern, fortunately, the imperial doctors of the Tai Hospital have rejuvenated their hands, although it will take a few days for the lumbar bone to recover, but it will not be too serious." ”

King Huainan said with a smile: "This is very good, today's sacrificial ceremony, it is absolutely indispensable to miss the old prince." ”

As soon as the words fell, the sound of music was suddenly heard, and the ministers immediately hung their hands and struggled on both sides, and then saw the eunuchs and palace maids hugging the little emperor of Longtai to come this way, and the courtiers on both sides all bowed to the ground, and when Longtai walked by, the ministers got up and followed behind the emperor to the imperial mausoleum.

The imperial mausoleum is very important, even the little emperor of Longtai is not allowed to enter by car, everyone has to walk into the imperial mausoleum, but Sima Lan's situation today is special, Sima Changshen personally pushed the wheelchair and followed behind the emperor.

Fortunately, the road from the eastern suburbs of the Imperial Tomb to the Imperial Tomb is not far, and a road has already been built.

The team entered the imperial mausoleum, only a few miles away, the front suddenly opened up, Qi Ning saw the distance, couldn't help but be surprised, but saw the blue waves not far in front of the rippling, the radius is very wide, there is a huge artificial lake, in the lake, with huge stones built into a small island, it looks extremely magnificent.

On the left and right sides of the lake, two wide roads were made of white marble, and around the lake, there was a wide avenue, which was already guarded by the mausoleum guards on both sides of the avenue, and the avenue led straight ahead, and after a few miles, there was a tall and magnificent circular altar.

The sacrificial platform is divided into three layers, forming three circles, the middle of each is very open, its width is enough to accommodate two or three hundred people, thus forming three white marble guardrails, on the edge of each guardrail, there is a circle of Taoist priests of Longhu Mountain, whisking dust on the arm, and there are words in the mouth.

On both sides of the steps of the sacrificial platform, there were guards wearing snow-bright armor guarding the tomb with guns, and Chi Fengdian led the elite soldiers of the Yulin Battalion to protect the sacrificial platform.

The sacrificial platform at the highest place is extremely spacious, accommodating two or three hundred people is not a problem, at this moment the sacrificial platform has already set up three livestock and six animals to worship the ancestors, the monks of the Great Light Temple are under the leadership of the two high monks of Jingwu and Jingyuan, sit cross-legged on both sides of the separation, knocking on the wooden fish, and the sound of chanting spreads far away.

The Lingxu Daoist was standing at the entrance of the sacrificial platform at this time, his robe fluttering, and the fairy wind bones.

Longtai led the ministers to the sacrificial platform, to the last layer, the ministers stopped, Longtai took a few steps forward, then knelt down, and the ministers behind him also followed the kneeling down, the Lingxu Palm Sect sang a trumpet, Longtai got up, slowly stepped onto the stage, and the ministers stayed under the steps.

King Huainan glanced at Sima Lan on the side, and then slowly followed forward, and Sima Changshen also pushed Sima Lan to follow.

According to the etiquette of the Great Chu Empire, the only officials who can accompany the emperor to the sacrificial platform are the four hereditary candidates of the empire, and the king of Huainan is the bloodline of the royal family, so he is naturally among them.

At this time, a eunuch had already walked to Qi Ning's side, whispered a few words, Qi Ning bowed slightly, and at this time, he saw that Wuxiang Hou Su Yu had also come out of the crowd and went up to the sacrificial platform behind Sima Lan, Qi Ning did not hesitate, and also stepped forward to follow behind King Huainan.

Long Tai's expression was solemn, and the ministers who followed the stage also looked solemn.

The sound of chanting continued, and the Lingxu Palm Sect led Long Tai to walk through it, and walked straight to the front of the incense case, the green smoke curled, and the Lingxu Palm Sect turned around and stood on the side of the incense case, shook the dust, looked up at the sky, and then said loudly: "The sacrificial ceremony begins!" Xiang Longtai bowed slightly and said, "Holy Lord, can you read out the text of the heavenly sacrifice?" ”

Longtai bowed slightly, looking solemn.

The Spirit Void Palm Sect picked up the sacrificial ritual that had been prepared long ago from the incense table, took a few steps forward, slowly unfolded it, glanced at it, and his face changed greatly.

The ministers also held their breath at this time, and there was silence in all directions.

After waiting for a while, they didn't see the Lingxu Palm Sect reading the rites, many officials couldn't help but wonder, Long Tai also squinted his eyes, and couldn't help frowning when he saw the Lingxu Palm Sect standing there.

Qi Ning was not far behind the emperor at this time, and when he saw the Lingxu Sect in a daze, he knew that something was wrong, but at this time, he heard the King of Huainan cough and asked, "Lingxu Sect, why don't you read out the rites?" ”

The Lingxu Palm Sect hesitated, but the King of Huainan had already walked over, everyone saw it, they were a little surprised, the King of Huainan walked in front of the Lingxu Palm Sect, stretched out his hand, the Lingxu Palm Sect bowed slightly, and presented the rite with both hands, after the King of Huainan took it, he glanced at it, smiled faintly, walked towards Longtai, a few steps away, knelt down, and presented the rite to Longtai with both hands.

Seeing this scene, everyone was even more surprised, thinking that since the founding of the Chu State, whether it is to worship the heavens or to worship the ancestors, it is the Taoist master who reads the rites, and there has been no change, and today's scene is too weird, and I have never seen the rites presented to the emperor.

Long Tai's face was slightly solemn, he stretched out his hand and took the rites, he also glanced at it, his face was even more ugly, and suddenly he said in a deep voice: "Where is Old Shangshu Yuan?" ”

Yuan Laoshangshu of the Ministry of Rites heard the voice, and immediately passed, the last step was not high, everything that happened on it, the ministers standing in front could see it clearly, although Yuan Laoshangshu was old, but everything that happened on the sacrificial platform was also seen very clearly, he heard the emperor's call, immediately climbed the steps, went to the side of Delongtai, and was about to kneel, Longtai had already asked: "The sacrificial rite is prepared by Lao Shangshu?" ”

Yuan Laoshangshu was stunned for a moment, and arched his hand and said: "Back to the saint, the sacrificial text was written by the old minister himself!" ”

Long Tai handed over the rite in his hand and said, "Look, this is the rite you prepared?" ”

Yuan Laoshangshu took it respectfully with both hands, glanced at it, his face changed suddenly, and he lost his voice: "Holy Lord, this ...... This is not a ritual prepared by the old minister, this is ..... This is a confession! ”

Qi Ning heard it from behind, his brows tightened, and he was surprised.

"It's interesting that the sacrificial rite has become an offering." Longtai said lightly: "This confession is signed by Hu Bowen, and Lao Shangshu naturally knows who Hu Bowen is. ”

Qi Ning heard the word "Hu Bowen", and his heart sank, but he was extremely familiar with this name.

A few days ago, he took a delegation to Dongqi, with him as the chief envoy of the mission, and the deputy envoy of the mission was Hu Bowen, the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites.

Hu Bowen and Liang Xiong were in cahoots, and the two colluded with the assassins to try to destroy all the gifts of the mission and prevent the Chu delegation from going to Eastern Qi.

When he went to Eastern Qi, Qi Ning handed these two people over to the custody of the Qin Huai Army, and when he returned, he handed them over to the King of Huainan to escort them into Beijing.

Now that he heard that the sacrificial rite had become Hu Bowen's confession, Qi Ning was naturally surprised.

Although Yuan Laoshangshu was surprised, after all, he was also an old minister, and he saw a lot of storms and waves, so he kept calm and said: "Back to the Holy Lord, Hu Bowen was originally a waiter of the Ministry of Rites, but he had ill intentions and plotted against him, and he was already convicted and imprisoned in the prison of the Criminal Department, and the Criminal Department has been interrogating this case. ”

"The confession of the criminal department's interrogation appeared here." Longtai's face was grim: "Where is Qian Raoshun?" ”

Soon, I saw an official step forward quickly on the stage and knelt on the ground: "Qian Raoshun, the secretary of the Ministry of Punishment and Punishment, knock on the emperor!" ”

"Qian Raoshun, Hu Bowen's case, are you interrogating?" Longtai glanced at Qian Raoshun, took the text from Yuan Laoshangshu and threw it in front of Qian Raoshun: "See for yourself, is this Hu Bowen's confession?" ”

Qian Raoshun glanced at it and said respectfully: "Back to the saint, this is indeed a confession signed by Hu Bowen, and the minister is about to present it to the emperor, but he appears here for some reason." ”

Long Tai said coldly: "You really don't know? ”

King Huainan stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the confession appeared on the sacrificial platform, perhaps because it was forced to do so. ”

"As a last resort?" Long Tai frowned and said, "Uncle Wang, what do you mean by this?" ”

"Your Majesty, although many twists and turns in the court want to be played for you, not every fold can be seen by you." King Huainan sighed: "For example, if this confession does not appear on the sacrificial platform, maybe the emperor will not have a chance to see it at all." ”

"Uncle Wang, I don't understand what I said." Long Tai said: "Hu Bowen's big case, if the case is closed and the report is played, how can I not see it?" ”

King Huainan glanced at Sima Lan, Sima Lan was sitting in a wheelchair, expressionless, looking unusually calm, King Huainan stepped forward and arched his hand: "Your Majesty, there are traitors in the court who obstruct the Holy Hearing, deceive the Holy Lord, cover the sky with one hand, many important folds have been blocked out of the door without being sent to the imperial study, and the emperor naturally does not know many truths." ”

As soon as King Huainan said this, everyone who heard this was in their hearts, and Qi Ning was also cold.