Before entering the fortress, the Qianzu originally belonged to a branch of the Xiongnu, so many customs are somewhat similar to those of the Xiongnu. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 After many years in charge of the Central Plains, not only were they nomadic like their ancestors, but some of them were engaged in agriculture like the Han people of the Central Plains. However, there is one thing that the people of the Qiang people attach great importance to, and that is the end-of-year festival.

In the eyes of the Qiang people, the year-end festival is an important day to communicate with the ancestral gods, one is to thank the ancestors for their protection of the past year, and the ancestors are blessed by the gods of the ancestors to give them a better life in the coming year.

As for the sacrificial ceremony, it is also a ritual, Shi Hu, as the emperor of the Qian regime, is naturally equivalent to the head of the tribe, and his ancestors and heirs need to salute him, and the tribal sorcerer's "spell" will transfer Shi Hu's will to the ancestral gods to show the filial piety of future generations.

At least that's what Shi Hu and his people think.

The location of the festival is in the northwest of Yecheng, where it was built after Shihu moved the capital to Yecheng, and the reason why it was built in the northwest is because the Qian people originally migrated from the northwest of the Central Plains, and sat facing north in order to reflect the reverence for the ancestral gods. Shi Min had never been here before, because first, he had not reached the age of the traditional sacrifice of the Qiang people in previous years, and second, the people of the Qiang people attached great importance to the sacrificial ground, except for the year-end sacrifice, the rest of the time it was heavily guarded, and no one was allowed to enter.

Due to the heavy snowfall that had just fallen the day before, people stepped on the snow, and the snow barely reached their knees. Shi Min's horse could only move forward step by step in the snow, and could not run at all.

After nearly an hour, Shi Min finally arrived at the place of sacrifice, and Lu An was already waiting for Shi Min at the entrance early. Lu An saw Shi Min riding over from a distance, and hurriedly greeted him, helped Shi Min hold the horse, and said: "Master Min, you can count it, Your Majesty ordered me to greet the sacrificial personnel here, but I will send you." ”

Lu An said, looked behind Shi Min again, and saw nothing.

Shi Min saw Lu An looking behind him, he also subconsciously looked back, but didn't see anything, so he asked Lu An, "What's wrong?" What are you looking at? ”

Lu An's face was a little embarrassed, and he said, "Master Min, Master Hou didn't tell you...... Is it necessary to give a gift to the ancestors to participate in this sacrifice? ”

Hearing this, Shi Min smiled slightly, patted the burden on the horse's back, and said to Lu An: "Don't worry, it's all here, I'm already ready." ”

Lu An looked at the burden in Shi Min's hand suspiciously, and didn't say anything more.

Shi Min followed Lu An into the place of sacrifice. As he walked, he could only see where the snow had been shoveled off, and it was a smooth bluestone paved road, and it was not a problem for the two carriages to go side by side. On both sides of the bluestone road, every ten steps or so is a pair of stone carvings, symmetrical left and right, carved cattle, sheep and horses respectively, after all, in the eyes of the Hu people, these three kinds of livestock are indispensable. The field was unusually empty, and there was nothing. Shi Min originally thought that the year-end festival was so valued by the Qian people that there would be a more luxurious building, but he didn't expect that it was just such an ordinary place, and there was not a single room to be seen.

"Lu An, why is this place empty? There are not many trees. ”

"Hui Gongzi, in the tradition of the Qi people, the year-end sacrifice is generally carried out on the grassland. The Qiang people are a nomadic tribe of the grasslands, and all festivals have been carried out on the grasslands since ancient times. However, now because His Majesty has set the capital of Yecheng, and Yecheng has no such place for sacrificial sites, he can only order people to build a place here to simulate the style of the grassland, and it is said that when the weather is good, the ground here is covered with pasture. ”

Shi Min nodded slightly: "So that's the case." ”

After walking for a while, I finally saw the altar. The altar was built on a high mound, about a zhang above the ground, and the altar was square and several zhang wide. On the altar there were already four or five men standing on the altar babbling and dancing strange dances, dressed like wild beasts, with feathers on their heads, animal skins, and colored faces. The leader was a little older, with a gray beard, wearing a wolf's skin, and the feathers on his head were also colorful, holding a bone in his left hand that he didn't know about the Shimin animal, and holding a small drum in his right hand, babbling and singing while dancing.

Under the altar, Shi Hu was dressed in gorgeous clothes and wore a flat sky crown, standing in front of everyone, looking up at the wizard on the altar. The rest of the crowd stood behind Shi Hu.

Shi Min had just walked to the back of the crowd, Shi Hu turned around, greeted Lu An, who was standing not far away, and asked, "Have you all arrived?" ”

Lu An nodded cautiously: "Back to Your Majesty, all the people have arrived." ”

Shi Hu nodded: "Okay, you go down." ”

Lu An nodded and stepped aside.

At this moment, the drums on the stage stopped, and the wizard stopped dancing, only to see him kneeling on the ground, with his eyes closed, and shouting, "The ancestors said that they want their descendants to give gifts." ”

As soon as everyone heard this, Shi Hu took the lead under the altar, and the rest of the people also knelt down, Shi Min had never seen this kind of scene, and when he saw others kneeling, he also quickly knelt down.

Except for Shi Hu, the entire tribe began to sacrifice in order of age, and Lu An was at the altar, waiting for one person to offer a gift, and then announced in public what the sacrifice was.

Shi Min heard Lu An shouting: "King Yan offers nine bulls and eleven sheep......"

"King Ning sacrificed nine calves and nine lambs......"

"The Spirit King offers a pearl, five hundred taels of gold......"

”……“

Shi Min kept beating the drum in his heart, and he even began to suspect that Qin Huaishan's plan was unreliable, everyone offered cattle and sheep, or gold and silver, but his box contained a handful of soil and a jar of water that could be found everywhere.

Lu An shouted for a while, and finally it was Shi Min's turn. So he untied his burden, took out the Nanmu brocade box where he had put the knife before, held it in his hand, took a deep breath, got up and walked towards the altar.

Now, he can only bite the bullet, I hope what Qin Huaishan taught him will work.

Shi Min knelt behind Shi Hu, put the brocade box on the ground, and kowtowed.

"Min Gongzi, please open the box." Lu An reminded in a low voice.

Shi Min carefully opened the brocade box and set the lid aside.

When Lu An saw Shi Min open the lid, he shouted: "Xihua waits for ......"

Lu An glanced at the black mud-like thing in the box, and there was a bamboo tube next to it, I don't know what it contained, Lu An was also stunned, not knowing how to announce it.

Seeing Lu An stop, Shi Hu turned around and asked, "What's the matter?" Keep announcing. ”

Lu An looked at Shi Hu with some embarrassment, and then at Shi Min, he was not sure what was in this box at all, it looked like a handful of soil, but who would sacrifice mud at such an important festival? And what was in that bamboo tube, he didn't know.

Shi Hu saw Lu An looking at Shi Min's brocade box, so he got up and walked to Shi Min, looked at a handful of soil and a bamboo pot in the brocade box, and looked a little unhappy on his face. Although he usually dotes on the father and son, such an important ancestor worship ceremony and such a thing is a bit child's play.

Shi Hu asked a little unhappily, "Xiao Min, what is in your box?" ”

Shi Min knelt on the ground and replied loudly: "Your Majesty, what I offer on behalf of my father is a handful of soil and a glass of water. ”

As soon as Shi Min's words fell, there were bursts of laughter from the crowd behind him, and indeed, who would offer a piece of mud at this year-end festival?

Shi Shi also looked at Shi Min with some concern in the crowd, he didn't expect that he finally helped Shi Zhan intercede and lift the punishment of the grounding, but he didn't expect to make such a play, and Shi Hu might be angry with him at that time.

Shi Shi sweated in his heart, and scolded secretly: Old Five, what do you want to do?

Shi Zun was secretly proud in his heart, he hoped that Shi Zhan would be killed by Shi Hu the most.

Shi Hu looked at everyone with angry eyes, everyone was immediately frightened and didn't dare to laugh, Shi Hu lowered his head and looked at Shi Min who was kneeling on the ground, and scolded: "Everyone else is offering cattle and sheep, gold and silver, and your father and son are offering soil, which is really unheard of and unseen." Did your father and son rely on me to pamper you, so they had no scruples? Shi Min! Hello so bold! Do you know that this is disrespectful to the ancestors! ”

"Your Majesty, I'm ......" Shi Min was just about to speak, but Shi Hu interrupted him and shouted, "Someone! Escort Shi Min down and send him to Dali Temple Prison! Send someone to Xihuahou Mansion and arrest Shi Zhan too! Shut up to Dali Temple! ”