The Yin army returned triumphantly, and the king of Yama sent an envoy to reward the meritorious ministers in front of the ghost gate. Among them, the marshal of the day tour and the marshal of the night tour actually won the reward of "adding twenty years of yang longevity to the book of life and death", which is really enviable!

And I also won the honor of being the first to enter the city gate, won the "first merit", was promoted to a Yin general, and also got a Zhangba snake spear made of fine iron. However, as for which army will be commanded after promotion, I am afraid that we will have to wait for the completion of the next reorganization of the Yin army.

That night, the nine officers of the Yin Army whose names were mentioned in the holy decree and were rewarded had all bathed and changed their clothes, changed into clean military uniforms, did not wear armor or swords, and went to the Yama Hall for a banquet together under the leadership of the two marshals of the day tour and the night tour.

I have taken turns standing guard at the gate of the Yama Hall several times before, but I have never been there. This is a rare opportunity to enter the temple, so naturally you have to have a good look!

Entering the temple gate, there is the front hall first, and there are left and right side halls. This is the place where the king of Yama is waiting to be summoned before staying, and from the direction of going out, the left side hall is the place where the ministers listen to the announcement, and the right side hall is the military general's. Even if we arrived early, we could only wait obediently in the right hall, and we did not dare to make a loud noise after an occasional chat.

The time of the feast was set at the end of the day, and when there was still a quarter of an hour left, the chamberlains finally came and led us into the hall one by one, and we were seated according to our positions.

After entering the hall, I was busy looking around, and found that the Yama Hall was indeed a spacious and majestic place. There are a total of 7749 thick stone pillars in the hall, and the number of 7749 to Yin is still taken. Each stone pillar requires three people to hug each other, and it is carved with a black dragon on the pillar, which is the symbol of the king of Yama.

Although Jiao looks like a dragon, and is also classified as a type of dragon in many ancient books, it has a low status. But on closer inspection, there is still a big difference between the two.

The horns on the dragon's head are similar to the antlers of a deer, thick, rounded and forked, while the horns on the head of the dragon are like goat's horns, with a thin and slightly curved tip without forks. The dragon's nose is wide, the mouth is large, the jaw is bearded, the nose is small, the mouth is pointed, and there is no beard. In addition, one of the most obvious differences is that the dragon has two pairs of claws, while the Jiao has only one pair, and has a long tail trailing behind it, and the tail feathers are not as developed as the dragon.

Since ancient times, the emperors in the yang world have claimed to be true dragons, but they are often flashy. Throughout history, there are many emperors in history who are faint than those who are bright, there are fewer long-lived emperors, and there are more short-lived emperors.

In contrast, the successive kings of Yama are much more powerful, not only have a long lifespan and high Yin Gong cultivation, but also have a far greater control over the underworld than the emperor of the Yang world. Therefore, it is most appropriate to use Jiao, who is good at turning over rivers and seas, as a symbol.

What is especially rare is that the successive lords of the underworld have called themselves kings, not emperors. Not competing with the lord of the yang world for the level of fame further reflects the low-key way of doing things of the mysterious group of yin cultivators. It is no wonder that the rule of the underworld can last for thousands of years without ordinary living people knowing its details, even if it is occasionally leaked, but the living generally think that it is just a fabricated legend and will not believe it.

In the middle of the Yama hall is a high platform with a chair of seven dragons. Of course, the seven dragon reliefs on the back of the chair are actually dragons. There is no doubt that this is the exclusive dragon chair of the king of Yama.

Under the dragon chairs, there are two rows of small tables on the left and right, and only one chair is placed behind each small table. Judging from the direction in which the king of Yama sits in the south and faces north, the same is the left and the right is martial, the left is the civil minister seat, and the right is the military general seat. In ancient times, the highest level of court banquet was the meal system, where a single person ate at a single table, and ordinary people only ate together at the same table. The seating arrangement of the officials is the most particular. The civil officials arranged their seats in the order of rewarding the good, punishing the evil, inspecting, and judging the four divisions of yin law, bull head and horse face, and black and white impermanence. At this time, all the officials were seated, and I finally had the opportunity to recognize all these underworld bigwigs.

Wei Zheng is a white-bearded old man, kind eyebrows, steady and majestic, looking like an amiable old grandfather, and it is very suitable for him to be in charge of the Reward and Benevolence Division. However, he can rank first among the four divisions, I'm afraid that his cultivation and methods are not ordinary!

And Zhong Kui's image is almost the same as what the Yangjian people depict in New Year's paintings and illustrations! His face was as big as a basin, his leopard eyes were round, and his beard was bulging like black nails. Especially his burly figure and voice like a bell, people can't help but be afraid at first sight. With him in charge of the punishment division, it is a perfect match!

I have already met the two judges, Lu Zhidao and Cui Yu, before, and even had dinner with Lu Zhidao. The two of them, a pair of "sworn enemies" who are fighting openly and secretly, are arranged to sit together, but they never say a word, and their eyes are deliberately avoided intersecting, which is really awkward even for me to look at!

However, compared with the appearance of the previous judges, the dignity of the bull head and horse face is more "alternative".

The appearance of the bull's head is particularly similar to that of the people of the Western Regions described in ancient texts, with a high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, baldness, and only a little yellow curly hair on the ears and behind the head. But there were two ugly sarcomas on the top of his head, like horns, and he had a big mouth and a thick nose, and a big nose ring was worn on his nose bones, which at first glance really looked like a cow! I don't know if the previous bull heads are like this?

The horse face still looks like the appearance of the Central Plains, but the appearance is definitely an outlier among ordinary people. He had a long face, long hair, wide separation between his eyes, and thick nostrils. Especially he likes to elongate his face and pretend to be serious, and he does look like a horse's face.

Niu Tou Ma Mian is in charge of the reincarnation team and dungeon on Huangquan Road in the underworld, and there are hundreds of yin cha and jailers under him, and his power is not necessarily less than that of the four judges. And I've always heard that these two love to take advantage of small things, especially to exploit many reincarnated ghosts. Ghosts who are willing to spend money can cut the line to the front, and if they don't have money, they will slowly spend it. The proverb "Money makes the devil grind" is actually about the two brothers!

Then there's black and white impermanence. I often see them when I'm on duty, except for the black and white hats, their appearance is not too prominent. The status of black and white impermanence is at the bottom of the many civil officials in the prefecture, so their seats are also arranged at the bottom.

In fact, there was another civil official who did not come to tonight's court banquet, and that was Meng Po. However, the reincarnation division can not be separated from her for a while, so it is said that Meng Po will never participate in the court meetings and court banquets in the Yama Palace, and belongs to the most special status.

After the civil officials were investigated, the rest of the people sitting in the right seats were all military generals. When I went on the expedition, I dealt with them every day, and I couldn't be more familiar, so naturally I didn't need to introduce them anymore. The seats are headed by the marshal of the day tour, followed by the marshal of the night tour, and the generals behind are arranged according to their rank and seniority.

As a new Yin general, I had the least seniority, so I was led by the chamberlain to the penultimate table and sat down. At the last two tables were Shen Turen and another Yin Colonel of the Japanese Rangers, who were also invited to attend for being the first to reach the city and killing the most enemies, respectively. If I hadn't just been promoted to Yin General, I'm afraid I would have had to be behind them.

However, as soon as I thought of this, I couldn't help but think of Jia Ji and felt sorry for him. The fifth battalion of the night tour army led by Jia Ji was the first unit to operate the siege vehicle to break through the city gate, but he gave me this greatest credit because he died on the spot, and even the remaining half of his battalion is now temporarily in my custody.

It seems that no matter how much credit you have made on the battlefield, you still have to save your life first, and then you will be eligible to enjoy the glory and rewards that this merit can bring!

But if you don't risk your life on the battlefield to fight, you won't get the credit. This is really rich and dangerous!

After sitting down, I realized that a pot of tea and four snacks were already on the small table. The tea is a Umei tea produced in Oni Farm, which has a yin attribute and a sour tea taste, which is suitable for appetizing before a meal. The four dim sum items are strange cashew nuts, candied golden dates, jade bean cake and spade gummies. These are made from melons and fruits from all over the underworld, and have a unique flavor.

At this time, the king of Yama had not yet ascended the palace, so I watched the reactions of the others left and right. The high-ranking officials and generals in front of them looked calm, some were quiet, and some began to drink tea and eat snacks by themselves, but they all stopped at a shallow taste. The low-level officials and generals in the back row couldn't help but start eating, and they couldn't stop eating as soon as they ate them.

After a little thought, I understood: in such a high-level court banquet, good dishes and good things are behind, and fools who have never seen the world start eating as soon as they sit down on the table. So, I also followed the example of the big guys in front of me, and just eat a piece and taste it.

But Shen Turen, who was sitting next to me, didn't have such patience and quickly ate all the dim sum. He also quietly turned his head and asked the attendant standing behind him, "Can you bring two more plates?" ”

The waiter couldn't help but cover his mouth and smiled: "General, don't worry, there are more delicious dishes in the back!" ”

Shen Turen was not reconciled, and continued to ask for it. At this time, I heard a chamberlain standing in front of the dragon chair shouting: "Your Majesty go to the palace!" ”

When the civil and military generals heard this, they all hurriedly stood up to greet them, and shouted in unison: "Welcome to my king!" Banzai! Banzai! Hooray! ”

This formation is exactly the same as that of the Emperor of the Yang Realm. But the emperors of the Yang Dynasty did not say long live, not even a hundred years old can live. The oldest of them was Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, who died at the age of eighty-nine. Among the small vassal states, there was a king of Nanyue, Zhao Tuo, who lived to be more than 100 years old, and it is believed that he was between 101 and 108 years old.

Of course, it is impossible for the king of Yama in the underworld to live to live to be a thousand years old, but I think there may be some hope for living to a thousand years old.