Since then, Li Ke has devoted all his passion to investigating and dealing with corruption and bending the law for personal gain, basically to the point of forgetting to sleep and eat.

After that, not long after, the eldest grandson Wuji asked Li Chengqian to hold a ceremony to worship the heavens according to the usual practice.

According to the weekly ritual sacrifice ceremony, the suburban sacrifice ceremony is performed every three years, the first year is to go to the suburbs to worship the sky, the second year to sacrifice to the earth, the third year to sacrifice to the five gods, every three years on one side.

The time of the festival is set in winter, and the location is set in the suburbs south of the capital division, so it is also called the suburban festival.

In ancient times, it was believed that the major affairs of the state lay in the sacrifice and military, and the sacrifice became the top priority of a dynasty, which was held every year and presided over by the emperor himself.

Worshipping the heavens is the first of the great rituals, which must be presided over by the emperor himself, which is also a manifestation of the emperor's diligence to the heavens and his subjects.

Thank God for mercy and blessing the people, and pray for good weather in the coming year.

In the later stage of a dynasty, when the emperor neglects his administration, he will let officials replace the sacrifices, and a complex set of etiquette will be simplified a lot.

After all, there are many ceremonies that need to be done by the emperor himself, and officials cannot replace them, and often at this time, it also indicates that the dynasty is about to fall.

Although this is an absurd statement, the ancients believed in it.

After all, worshipping God and ancestors is the most basic value concept of ancient society, and disrespecting God and ancestors is to be punished by God.

What is an emperor?

The official explanation is that he is appointed by Heaven and is the representative of Heaven on earth, obeying the will of Heaven and ruling over the world.

The ancient ruling class consolidated its position and preached one of the important theories of "divine authority of the monarch", saying that he was obedient to the will of heaven and accepted the mandate of heaven as emperor.

When the emperor no longer worships God, the dynasty has basically come to an end, and God will not be used to disrespecting people who worship God.

God will re-select a spokesperson in the world, anyway, there are so many people in the whole world, and a suitable spokesperson will always be selected.

The new dynasty will replace the old dynasty and will continue to rule on earth on behalf of the heavens.

Therefore, sacrifice is the top priority of a dynasty.

Worshipping the heavens is a complex and long-term activity, but fortunately, all of these are handled by officials of the Ministry of Rites.

"How's the preparation for the Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony?" Li Chengqian asked.

"Everything is ready, just wait for a few days, everyone will go to the southern suburbs in person and personally preside over the sacrifice!" Wang Quan said.

In addition to the various preparations, it was also necessary that before the sacrifice, the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials should fast and examine the sacrifices and sacrificial vessels offered to the gods.

On the day of the sacrifice, the emperor led hundreds of officials to the suburbs early in the morning.

It is the highest specification and the largest guard of honor dedicated to the emperor when traveling.

All the three major festivals of the mound, the valley of prayer, and the suburbs of Changyan, such a guard of honor will be used in the military parade.

The emperor of the Tang Dynasty was composed of several parts, such as the guide, the guide, the car, the rear propaganda, and the rear guard.

Walking in the front is the guard of honor, whose main duty is to be responsible for opening the road and clearing the road, so as to ensure the smooth travel of the emperor behind.

Behind the guard of honor is the guard of honor, which is different from the guard of honor of the guide, mainly based on music and battles, and the civil and military officials who accompany the emperor are also among them.

The guard of honor was led by 12 rows of cavalry armed with horizontal swords, bows and arrows, arranged at intervals.

Behind it is a large drum band, in front of which two drum commanders are in charge of the performance. The band has a wide variety of instruments, and the entire band consists of more than 750 people.

The band is followed by a flag array composed of various flags, buildings, flags, etc. Some of the accompanying officials and the emperor's 24 imperial horses were also mixed in the flag.

After the flag array, there are the green dragon flag and the white tiger flag on the left and right. Behind the two flags is an accompanying procession of court officials.

In the middle of this team, there were also interspersed and mixed with cavalry and infantry soldiers armed with weapons.

Next is the car, which is also the emperor's special car.

The emperor's chariot is the core of the entire honor guard, so the guards are also extremely strict.

The jade chariot was personally controlled by the imperial servant, surrounded by 41 drivers in front and behind, and escorted by the left and right guard generals on both sides.

Behind the jade chariot were the senior generals and eunuchs of the Tang Forbidden Army.

On the periphery of these escort officers were teams of Forbidden cavalry and foot soldiers with helmets and swords, mainly to deal with any unexpected situation that might arise.

Following the forbidden army was a guard of honor composed of peacock fans, small group fans, square fans, Huanglu, Jianglu, Xuanwu and so on.

Then there was a "rear drumming" band behind the emperor's car, and the instruments configured in the band were similar to those in front of the jade chariot, but the scale was relatively small, and the number of people was not as large as the previous one.

Behind the "rear preaching" are all kinds of cars dedicated to the emperor, which is the so-called ten cars of the Son of Heaven.

Behind the car, there was also a team of Weiwei soldiers who followed the leopard tail car as a cover.

In this procession, there were also some officials from the imperial court office who rode with the chariot.

Finally, there is the rearguard unit behind the guard of honor, led by two generals, a total of 48 teams of left and right wing infantry teams, divided into two phalanxes in the front and rear, each team of 30 people, with a flag as the lead.

The soldiers all wore scarfs on their heads, wore armor, and carried bows, swords, and shields, and each team was dressed in the same color, with a total of 5 colors, arranged alternately, etc.

Finally, there is a flag array of 24 cavalry and 12 flag teams.

The flags held by each flag team are painted with the same kind of legendary gods and monsters, such as evil spirits, jade horses, yellow dragons, unicorns, .......

Behind the flag array is a yellow battle composed of infantry soldiers, and is guarded by cavalry.

The total number of the entire honor guard is about 5,000 or more.

The mighty honor guard came to the altar in the southern suburbs.

The altar of worship to the heavens is generally round, also known as the mound, which means that the sky is round and the place is round.

First, the gods began to dance the gods to welcome the gods to the world, and then the emperor led the hundred officials to salute.

Then there is a set of processes such as the first offering, the first offering, the second offering, and the final offering.

The whole process of sacrificing the day is over, and the time of this day is basically over!

After the sacrifice, the worshippers also share the liquor used in the sacrifice, which is called "嘏", and later generations are also called "drinking blessings".

The emperor also gave sacrificial meat to his subordinates, commonly known as "gloss".

In this way, the ceremony of sacrificing to the heavens was truly completed, and the emperor led hundreds of officials to return to Beijing under the escort of the mighty guard of honor.

Soon after he returned, Li Chengqian found that some officials from Beijing and other prefectures had given him some tribute dogs, horses, eagles, and falcons, which he felt was very bad.

So he issued an edict: "In the future, officials of the DPRK and China and those who have dogs, horses, eagles and other playthings from other states will be convicted." ”

First, his legs and feet are inconvenient, and no matter how good the horse is, he can't ride it, so it is better to use it for the cavalry, and it can enhance the strength of the cavalry.

Second, he is not the kind of person who boils eagles and walks dogs, and it is really a waste to give him these offerings, not to mention, it costs to transport everything along the way.

It's better to save this money and use it where it's needed.

It's a waste for him personally, and it's better to use good steel on the blade.