In a year, the imperial court has to hold many sacrificial activities, such as worshiping the sky, worshipping the earth, worshiping the five emperors of the five directions, worshipping the ancestors, pro-farming, silkworms, sacrificing the gods of wind and rain, worshipping holes, patrolling, etc., as many as dozens of kinds. Of course, it is impossible for the emperor to participate in all the sacrificial activities, he only participates in a few high-level activities, and the rest is presided over by the empress, the crown prince, and full-time officials of various departments.

Among all the sacrificial activities, the heavenly sacrifice ceremony, that is, the suburban ceremony, is undoubtedly the highest level and the most important sacrificial activity. Emperors all call themselves the Son of Heaven and are considered to be the ones who govern the world on behalf of the heavens. Naturally, the emperors of all dynasties did not dare to neglect their "employer" in the slightest, because they were afraid that if God was unhappy, their agent would be replaced at any time.

After years of peaceful development, by the tenth year of Taikang, the national strength of the Great Jin Dynasty had developed to a very high level. The imperial court has money, and all kinds of rituals naturally cannot be simplified. The most valued ceremonies to worship the heavens are naturally more spreading. According to the ancient rites, there are six gods sacrificed in the suburbs, and the highest level is Haotian God, that is, the only heaven. There are five gods under the Haotian God, and they are divided into the Blue Emperor representing the spring and the east, the Red Emperor representing the summer and the south, the Yellow Emperor representing the summer and the center, the White Emperor representing the autumn and the west, and the Black Emperor representing the winter and the north.

In the pre-Jin dynasties, there were these six gods in the suburban temples. But at the beginning of Sima Yan's accession to the throne, someone suggested to him: There is only one heaven, and six gods are really redundant. Sima Yan followed this person's advice, and the ceremony was simplified, removing the throne of the five gods of blue, red, yellow, white and black, and worshipping only one god Haotian.

However, in the past two years, the voice of "removing the five gods is against the etiquette system" has gradually intensified. Sima Yan weighed left and right: Increasing the sacrifice of the five gods will undoubtedly increase a fixed expense, but he is the emperor of the new dynasty, and now the national strength is so strong, God is not thin on him! It is better to spend a little more than to slap down on the gods. Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, he ordered the restoration of the throne of the five gods. After the resumption of the sacrifice of the five gods, not only set up five more shrines under the god seat of Haotian God, but also set up special altars in the four suburbs of Luoyang City in the southeast, northwest and northwest according to their respective directions, and worship them according to the five solar terms. It is a round altar that worships the god of Haotian, and a square altar that worships the gods of the five directions. The Blue Emperor is in the eastern suburbs, the Red Emperor is in the southern suburbs, the White Emperor is in the western suburbs, and the Black Emperor is in the northern suburbs. The four emperors all have directions to worship, so where should the Yellow Emperor who corresponds to the center worship? It can't be in the palace, right? Of course, there is a way, in addition to the Yellow Emperor corresponds to the center in the direction, it also corresponds to the season and summer. Ji Xia is also summer, and summer corresponds to the south, so two prescription altars were set up in the southern suburbs to worship the Red Emperor and the Yellow Emperor respectively.

On the day of the beginning of winter, the Black Emperor had just been sacrificed in the northern suburbs, and the winter solstice sacrifice ceremony was to be prepared a month and a half later. As the highest level of ceremony, the festival has a large number of participants and the most complicated preparations. It is necessary not only to prepare a palace for the emperor to rest temporarily, but also to prepare various dresses, ritual vessels, sacrificial offerings, drum music, chariots, etc.

All those who participate in the sacrifice are required to fast. The emperor and the officials who directly participated in the sacrifice, such as Sikong, Taiwei, Taichangqing, Taile Ling, Taiguan Ling, and Taizhu Ling, had to fast for seven days, and the rest of the subordinate officials could fast for one day, but not at home, but in the office of the department.

Shu Yan and Shi Biyu belonged to the ranks of the enshriners, and the day before the winter solstice, they fasted in Shangshutai and the Secretary Pavilion respectively. This move had no impact on Shu Yan, because he didn't have a home himself, and he usually ate and lived in the restaurant. But Biyu is very difficult, she is not allowed to go home, there is no one to serve around, and there are no two beautiful maids Ah Miao and Ah Yan by her side, and they are all provided with boring light food, such a life is like a year.

On the day of fasting, although the officials are not required to perform official duties, they are not idle, because everyone has to learn the etiquette and precautions of the sacrifice on this day. Shu Yan and Biyu are both young people with smart minds, and these etiquettes are naturally easy to master.

There is a special group of people - envoys of various subject countries of the Great Jin Dynasty. For most of its thousands of years, Greater China has been very powerful. Not only is the economy developed and the production technology very advanced, but also a very complete political, cultural and ceremonial system. These excellent material and cultural strengths make China like a bright pearl, admired and yearned for by all countries in the world. The Celestial Empire naturally looked down on these countries, calling them small countries in Fanbang, and collectively calling them Siyi, and those in the east called Dongyi; and the one on the west side is called Sijon; The one to the south is called Nanban; The north is called Beidi, which contains derogatory elements, and itself claims to be the upper kingdom of the Central Plains Celestial Empire. These small states sent envoys to the Celestial Empire one after another, on the one hand, they were afraid of the Celestial Empire's military conquest and expressed their vassal submission to the Celestial Empire; On the other hand, it is necessary to sincerely learn the advanced culture and system of the Celestial Empire.

Of course, according to the size of the territory and the strength of the country, the vassal states of each dynasty are different. Now those who come to participate in the ceremony are: Dongyi's Fuyu, Ma Han, Chen Han, and Wa Guo; Qiuzi, Dawan, and Daqin in Xirong; Linyi and Funan in the Southern Barbarians; The Xiongnu of Beidi, Xianbei and so on. They also fasted like the officials of the Jin Dynasty and learned the rituals of sacrifice. However, because of the differences in language and culture, they will be slower to understand when the ceremonial officer explains to them. The ceremonial officer was impatient. 33

The affairs of Fanguo should be handled by Shangshutai Kecao, and Shu Yan happened to be on duty in Kecao. These ceremonial officials simply threw off their burdens and handed over these Fanguo people to Shu Yan to teach. Due to the large number of subordinate countries, Shu Yan taught so many people alone for fear that the teaching would not be comprehensive enough, so he wanted to leave Biyu to teach together. Kebi Yu had the patience, and he was tired of these cumbersome etiquette. At first, Biyu looked at these people in strange costumes and thought it was funny, so she stayed while they were fresh. But in less than a cup of tea, he found that it was really difficult to communicate with these foreigners, so he lost patience and simply threw up his sleeves and left.

Shu Yan alone did not explain the basic etiquette to these envoys until very late. Because the next day was very early, the emperor's car would set off, so he simply washed up and went to sleep. After sleeping for just two hours, there was a prompt on duty to get up. Shu Yan finished carefully grooming, put on the formal crown hat and dress, and hurried to the Taiji Hall of the Imperial Palace. As soon as I turned into Tongtuo Street, I saw from afar that the main gate of Miyagi was already brightly lit, and many carriages and horses and honor guards were already lined up there.

Suddenly, he was startled by a creaking rumbling sound behind him. When he turned his head, he noticed that a huge black shadow was moving not far away. It was the darkest hour before dawn, and although there were lights shining in the distance, it was not enough to reach here. Shu Yan subconsciously flashed to the side. The huge black shadow sounded in front of Shu Yan with a dull sound.

Ah, it turned out to be an elephant. Hey, that's not right. Shu Yan took a closer look at the back, but this look startled him. It turned out that this was not a lone elephant, and there was a giant cart behind the elephant. The wheels of this car are made directly from two logs; The two wheels are about as tall as a person's shoulders; The axle was three times as long as the axle of a horse-drawn carriage, and the axle diameter was several turns thicker than that of a normal axle. With this huge frame as the foundation, the whole carriage is extremely wide, fortunately the carriage is open-topped, otherwise, where is the car, it is clearly a moving house.

Shu Yan had long heard that there was an elephant car in the imperial court, but he had never seen it. Now he is wondering while making way for elephant carts. But the elephant didn't move, but stared at Shu Yan for a moment, slowly stretched out its long trunk, and patted Shu Yan's shoulder. Shu Yan was inexplicable, and the person riding on the back of the elephant carried a lantern to his face and shouted, "Brother Shu! ”

Shu Yan raised his head and looked at the man through the light: his dark face, big eyes, and slightly convex lips, he looked a little familiar......

"Are you—Brother Ruan?"

"It's me!" Ruan Shan said excitedly.

"Why are you alone? What about Sister Ruan Shui? ”

"The sister stayed in the Taifu Temple and didn't come. Brother Shu doesn't know? Women are not allowed to attend such a major ceremony. ”

"Oh." Suddenly, seeing his old friend, Shu Yan was unprepared and excited, so much so that he didn't know what to say.

"It's really a mountain that doesn't turn around, you and I are really fateful, I didn't expect to meet you here."

"Yes, after so many years, you and I have changed, it's hard for you to still recognize me."

Ruan Shan laughed and said, "I didn't recognize you at first, it was my elephant brother who woke me up." ”

Shu Yan caressed the elephant affectionately: "Is this the elephant that saved my life?" It's getting taller and taller than in previous years, and it turns out that it can remember me, it's really a fetish. ”

The two of them originally planned to recount their feelings after parting, but the ceremony of sacrificing to the heavens could not be delayed, so they just said a few words in a hurry and separated.

The honor guard of the emperor's car driving can be divided into big driving, legal driving, and small driving according to the level of specifications. As the highest-level ceremony, the car used in the festival is naturally the highest-spec car. The scale of the Jin Dynasty was extremely grand, with about 200 vehicles, more than 1,000 horses, more than 20 drum bands, and thousands of other staffs, flags, and guards.

Despite the large scale, the lineup is not chaotic. The whole book is divided into hundreds of different arrays, and the order of the front and back is strictly regulated, and each car, each horse, and each person has its own prescribed rank.

At the head of the procession was the huge elephant cart carrying a drum band of thirteen people. Sima Yan's Jingen car was in the middle of the team, and the twelve flags fluttered majestically. This car is painted with a variety of dragons, tigers, birds and beasts, and the whole body is inlaid with jade, so it is called jade. The carriages that the emperor rode were divided into jade chariots, golden chariots, elephant chariots, leather chariots, and wooden chariots. The jade, gold, and elephant chariots are decorated with jade, gold, and ivory respectively, and the leather chariots and wooden chariots are painted with paint. The world worships jade, so the jade chariot is the most noble, and this is the only vehicle driven by six horses, and these six horses are all beautiful black stallions.

The car is of the highest standard, and the identity of the driver and crew is even more incredible, driven by the highest official in charge of carriages and horses in the imperial court, as one of the ministers of Jiuqing, the Taifu Qing, the general of the three princes level participated, and the guards and attendants around the car were as many as several hundred.

Shu Yan, Shi Biyu, envoys from various countries and others were at the back of the team. The whole halogen book is arranged a few miles away, along the copper camel street all the way to the south, the rear has just gone out of the south gate of the palace, and the front has almost arrived at the south gate of Luoyang Inner City Xuanyang Gate.

Some people died, but not completely......