When it came to the day of ancestor worship, the servants of the Zheng family had already arranged the incense case, sacrifice case and sacrifice to the ancestors. In the center of the altar, there is a table about four meters long, on which is placed a huge spiritual tablet - the spiritual seat of the ancestor of the Western Zhou Wen King Ji Chang, and on both sides are the spiritual seats of the ancestor Zhou Xuan Wang Ji Jing and the ancestor Zhou Situ Zheng Henggong Ji You. In front of it is the spiritual seat of the men of the Zheng family, and there is a large incense burner in front of the desk, and three incense sticks about one meter long are lit in the incense burner.

The surname Zheng originated from the surname Ji, is the descendant of King Wen of Zhou, the founding monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the younger brother of King Xuan of Zhou. Later, in order to save King Zhou You, who died in the Fengqi Rebellion initiated by Rong Di, his son Zheng Wugong took advantage of the Zhou Rebellion to expand his territory and set the capital of Rongyang. During the Warring States Period, Zheng Guo was destroyed by one of the three Jin Dynasty Korea, and its descendants took the land as their surname, and the descendants were mostly concentrated in the Rongyang area, after nearly a thousand years, the current Rongyang Zheng Gate Valve was slowly formed.

Standing at the front of the incense burner are all the males of the Zheng clan in Rongyang, since Zheng Yi is the patriarch of the Zheng clan, so standing in the first place, next to his grandson Zheng Weikang and son Zheng Yuancong, and behind are the other six brothers of the Zheng clan. Then there are the members of the Jiangnan Zheng clan who returned to the Rongyang genealogy from Jiangnan.

Because in the period of Wuhu and Sixteen Kingdoms, the Western Jin Dynasty had fallen at that time, and the royal clan of the Western Jin Dynasty organized a regime in exile in the Jiangnan area, the Zheng clan patriarch at that time let his younger brother lead his family to move to the Jiangnan area to settle down, forming the Jiangnan Zheng family gate valve, and the elder brother took his children to guard Rongyang, and broke a piece of jade into two halves, half of which was left by his side, and half was given to his younger brother, and agreed to unify the north and south in the future, so he took the family to return to Rongyang from the new, and then the jade was closed. Now that the north and the south are unified, the Zheng family in Jiangnan also took the opportunity to return to Rongyang and realize the last wish of the ancestors.

On the left and right are the viewing platforms, on the left are the in-laws of the Zheng family, the daughters who married out and their husbands, and the daughters who have not married, and on the right are the guests who came to watch the ceremony, because they are worshipping the ancient ancestors, so the musical instruments used are the bells and drums of the Spring and Autumn Period. At noon, Zheng Yi nodded to the ceremonial officer in charge of the sacrifice. The ceremonial officer began to sing:

"The time has arrived, the bells and drums are ringing in unison, the music is sounding, and the cooked food is being sacrificed." With the musical instruments composed of chimes and drums from the Spring and Autumn period, the servants of the Zheng family placed boiled chickens, ducks, fish, meat, and three animals (pigs, cows, and sheep's heads) in front of the sacrifice table.

"Sacrifice meat on the table, the clansmen are respectful, kneel!" Under the leadership of the patriarch Zheng Yi, all the Zheng men knelt down.

"Distant ancestor Shengde, descendants and descendants, our clan is prosperous, and the blessing is far-reaching. Worship the ancestors three times and bow their heads, worship. All the Zheng men kowtowed respectfully to the ancestral tablet.

"The ancestors are separated, the flesh and blood are reunited, and the spirit card is returned! Brothers return together, the soul returns to their hometown, the mind is at peace, and the distant ancestors of the Jiangnan clan are invited to return to their positions," a man from the Zheng clan in Jiangnan respectfully placed a tablet in the middle of the pile, and took out half a piece of jade from his body, closed it with the jade on the table, and then knelt on the ground and kowtowed respectfully.

"Father, the last wish of you and your ancestors has finally come true for you."

"Bow to the bow, and the men of the clan will offer incense." One by one, all the Zheng men inserted their incense into the incense burner. With wisps of green smoke drifting into the sky. Under the gaze of the crowd, the ceremonial officer shouted:

"The ancestors returned, and the salute was completed. Everyone bowed and knelt to send their ancestors! The people knelt down again and kowtowed to the sky. It will be dispersed. Zheng Yi opened his mouth and said:

"All the clansmen have come from afar, the old man has not seen you for a long time, the old man has prepared a few tables of wine and banquets in the inner house to invite you, and please don't shirk. In addition, Kang'er, the in-laws of those clans and the guests who came to congratulate you are greeted by you. "Those Zheng clan people are all human spirits, so they naturally know that it is not as simple as an ordinary banquet, but they still maintain hypocritical politeness on the scene. After resigning, he followed Zheng Yi into the inner house. At night, in the inner house of Zheng Yi's mansion.

"You should all know, now there is a dispute within the royal family, the eldest son of the former prince - Yang Yan, the king of Changning, has sent someone to contact the old man, hoping that we can reach out when they overthrow the current prince, and I heard that the king of Han is also ready to move, I am afraid that this court is going to have a storm again, as the saying goes, once you are not careful, you will lose all the plates, so the old man takes this opportunity to sum up with you, how should our Zheng family deal with this turmoil?"

After a short silence, the first to speak was Zheng Yi's son Zheng Yuancong: "Father, uncles, now that our Rongyang Zheng clan is declining in popularity, and its prestige is not as strong as it was back then, the child thinks that we should follow the prince closely and take this opportunity to show the power of our Zheng clan to the imperial court, and the prince will remember our Zheng clan after he ascends the throne, and then the revival of the Zheng clan will be just around the corner." Since Zheng Yi's eldest son Zheng Shanyuan is dead, Zheng Yuancong has been staring at Zheng Yi's title. But Zheng Yi wanted to leave his title to his grandson Zheng Weikang, so Zheng Yuancong has always been dissatisfied with this in his heart. On the one hand, he proposed this for the sake of the Zheng family, and on the other hand, he hoped to take advantage of this opportunity to take the line of Yang Guang and inherit Zheng Yi's title at that time. Zheng Yi didn't know what he thought, but after all, he was his own son, and he didn't want to be too suppressed in front of outsiders. So I only asked the others:

"Do you have any ideas? Today's situation is related to the safety of our Zheng family, not the honor and disgrace of each family. You must know that our Qifang and Jiangnan Zheng are of the same lineage, and it is difficult to write two Zheng characters in one stroke. Moreover, most of the families who came today are here to inquire about the news, and if we still adopt neutrality or step on two boats as before, no matter which side wins the final victory, we will be suppressed by the Zheng family. Hearing this, everyone in the audience lowered their heads and thought.

"The old patriarch, I thought that the icing on brocade was better than sending charcoal in the snow, and now the king of Han is sitting on hundreds of thousands of troops in the north, in charge of the government affairs of more than 100 states and counties, and the authority is quite heavy, and the emperor is now more and more suspicious, and more and more moody, it is difficult to guarantee that he will not put the sacred heart on the king of Han in the future. Now the King of Han has sent us a message asking us to cooperate, if we don't cooperate, in case the King of Han becomes the climate one day later, our Zheng family will not be able to escape the catastrophe. And the foundation of the family's ancestral industry is in Rongyang, this time Yang Yan and the King of Han colluded, once the army is raised, not to mention implicated, if we do not agree to Yang Yan's request, Yang Yan will first turn his face with us, and then the ancestral foundation will not be guaranteed, as a descendant, this is a big unfilial piety! "It was Zheng Weishan of the Zheng family's third room, the current household servant, who had the highest official position among the peers of the Zheng family, and his eldest son Zheng Gang served in the Taiyuan military camp, and he knew the movements of the Han King best, and the first contact was his son. This time I came back, just to help King Han find out the news of other clans, to be able to help win them over to serve King Han is the best, if King Han succeeds, the first merit will not be missing him, of course, as a family, he still has a trick useless, he believes that as long as he plans well, the position of the patriarch of the Zheng family will not be able to run.

"Humph! With me here, I see who dares to touch the ancestral business of our Rongyang Zheng family, and I will definitely not let him go. It was Zheng Yi's cousin Zheng Su who spoke, who used to be a military general and later retired because he was seriously injured on the battlefield, but his fiery temper has not changed.

"Brother Su, your temper is still so hot, Zheng Weishan, is there any high opinion that you have said so much! In addition, the Zheng family in the south has been included in your clan house, and the matter of their ancestors returning to their ancestors is also up to you, so you must have some plans! Zheng Yi said to Zheng Weikang with a smile.

"Great patriarch, I don't have any high opinions about my nephew, everything is only the patriarch of the horse." Zheng Weishan said respectfully.

"Hey, hey, hey! I am old, and the position of the great patriarch will have to be given up sooner or later, but as long as I am in one day, I will have to consider the safety of the entire Zheng family. Zheng Guangxing, your southern Zheng clan has had a lot of contact with the current prince in Jiangnan. Let's talk! ”

"Oh! I have been in contact with the current prince in Jiangnan, in my opinion, his martial arts knowledge is no less than any emperor in ancient and modern times, when the imperial court just pacified the Chen State, Jiangnan was waiting for a hundred times, and the major rebel separatist forces emerged in endlessly, and its power of one person continued to divide and disintegrate, the means were changeable, and it was impossible to prevent it, which can be seen that this person is quite scheming, if I choose, I will stand on his side. Zheng Weishan looked at Zheng Guangxing hatefully.

"Brother Guangxing is right, based on my observation of the princes of the imperial court over the years, the current prince must not be underestimated, just take the fact that after the imperial court pacified Nanchen, the people in Jiangnan were in turmoil, he governed properly with the power of one person, and after quelling the chaos, the people's livelihood in Jiangnan was prosperous in a short period of time, and now the Jiangnan area can be said to only know that there is a prince, but I don't know that there is an emperor." The one who spoke was Zheng Yuantong, the fifth of the seven rooms of the Zheng family, his wife was from the Xie clan in Jiangnan, and he often went to Jiangnan to walk, and he knew the most about Jiangnan except for Zheng Guangxing, who was born in Jiangnan. And it seems that he is also on the side of the current prince. Zheng Yiyou began to ask the other clansmen:

"Is there anything else you have to say?" The rest of the clan bowed their heads and stopped talking.

"Weikang, you tell Gang'er, closely monitor the movements of King Han, keep in touch with us, remember, communicate more with King Han. As for the King of Changning, we will come forward to contact the ancestral residence of Rongyang. Light line, Yuan Tong! It's up to you to communicate with the prince. The old man will go to the capital to face the saint when he is free, and also, you should communicate more with your in-laws, don't reveal any news, this crisis The old man hopes that you can work together. After speaking, his eyes glanced at Zheng Weishan meaningfully.