On August 15, the full moon is at the head, and it is the time to worship the moon.

The moon festival is the only ceremony in which a woman officiates at all the rituals, usually by a queen. After King Zhao ascended the throne, his mother was the master, and he also married the daughter of King Qi, and this year's moon ceremony was naturally presided over by her. Although Qi Jiang has been the queen for many years, after all, he is young, and the sacrificial affairs have to rely on the elders of the Zhao family to handle it. Among the female elders of the Zhao family, the longest is already a grandmother, and there are more grandmothers and mothers. Unlike the men of the Zhao family, who were all born and raised in Handan, these women came from all over the world, various vassal states, and even Yidi, each with its own customs, traditions, doctrines and teachings, and the rituals of sacrifice were made extremely complicated!

As early as the beginning of July, the queen discussed with the king of Zhao about the sacrifice of the moon, when the king of Zhao was disturbed by the war in Changping, and where he was in the mood to take care of the affairs of these women's families, he handed them over to the queen to deal with. sent Zhao Kuo away and emptied the granary. Lian Po and a group of veterans returned from the front line, and Pingyuan-jun and Pingyang-jun immediately arranged for them to prepare reinforcements after the autumn. Lian Po, who was full of combat experience, immediately understood what was going on: Zhao Kuo was sent to death, and he wanted to use his death to buy three months of autumn harvest time for Handan and prepare for Handan's defense! Lian Po was greatly moved, and immediately undertook all military affairs, just waiting for the end of the autumn harvest, and immediately sent troops to Changping and took out Zhao Kuo.

Soon after Lian Po returned, it was August. The queen handed over the sacrificial ceremony prepared by herself to the king of Zhao, who was shocked at first sight, and in addition to the regular three animals, he added many sacrifices, from dates, chestnuts, melons, fruits, to rice, millet, millet, wheat, and even beans, peppers, ginger, cinnamon, five colors, five spices, five flavors, five grains, five beans and five fruits, and even five birds. King Zhao was a little annoyed, his treasury was poor, why did the queen sacrifice the moon more than before?

But the queen's explanation left him speechless. The Zhao army guarded the long peace for many years, and the Zhao men were all in the army and did not return all year round; The wife and children at home are in suspense, and the old mother is crying. During the moon sacrifice last year, because there was no war, many Zhao clan relatives were not invited; Since February this year, the war has flare-up; Within half a year, a large number of Zhao clans were killed and wounded in battle, if they didn't invite their wives and mothers to participate in the moon sacrifice, how could these wives and mothers not be disappointed, how could those soldiers not be disappointed! Especially the widows of those who died in battle...... Therefore, this year must be very grand, so that the families of those who have made meritorious contributions can get supreme glory, so as to inspire the front line and fight bravely!

When King Zhao heard the discussion, his heart sank. From the beginning of the year to the sixth half of the year, many soldiers have reported casualties on the front line; And he said that he had been rotated for half a year, and he didn't come back. There are already 200,000 Handan and 50,000 Taiyuan people on the Changping front, and there are 200,000 Changping people! Under the leadership of Zhao Kuo, they had to use a month's quota of grain to support them for three months, until the autumn harvest in Handan was completed, and he would have food to send to the front line, and he would have soldiers to fight for a year! And those Zhao family disciples, some of them have never returned home since they followed Pingyuan Jun on the expedition; There are also those who go out with Lian Po, those who go out alone as officers, and those who go out with Zhao Kuo...... There are thousands of people, and tens of thousands of women are involved!

King Zhao sighed, took the list, and went to find Pingyuanjun. After Lin Xiangru became seriously ill, Pingyuan Jun took on almost all the state affairs. There are also many disciples under Pingyuan Jun, who can give him advice and help. Pingyangjun does not have such convenience. Yu Qing is in charge of diplomacy and is not good at government affairs. Lian Po naturally only manages the military.

Pingyuan Jun patiently listened to King Zhao's statement and said, "Queen Xian, the ministers should do their best!" ”

King Zhao said: "Will the plan be released?" ”

Pingyuan Jun said: "There is a giant businessman Guo in Handan, and there is a surplus of everything. If you go to consult them, you will get something! ”

King Zhao said: "The outnumbered are miscalculated. You can do it! ”

At night, Pingyuan Jun came to see King Zhao and said, "The Guo family is willing to offer sacrifices such as wine and meat, jujube chestnuts, and rice." The king was rewarded after the autumn. ”

King Zhao said: "All the king's gifts!" ”

Pingyuan Jun said: "How dare the minister! The long peace war is tight, and it has not been slowed down! ”

King Zhao said: "What is the battle? ”

Pingyuan Jun said: "There have been repeated battle reports, and you should fight with Qin soon!" ”

King Zhao said: "Bai Qi is fierce and stubborn, and it is not light." ”

Pingyuan Jun said: "Oh! ”

The two of them were uneasy, but they couldn't say anything. After sitting for a while, Pingyuan-kun took his leave.

From the first day to the fifteenth day of the new year, Guo's vehicles transporting goods continued to gallop from Handan City to Zhao Wangcheng, and handed over to Shaofu to collect the warehouse. At the same time, in order to hold a grand sacrificial ceremony, the school field next to Zhao Wangcheng was completely vacated, and on that day, all the samurai returned to the palace and escorted their families from all over the city into the city, and they could only wait outside the city. King Zhao also built a square altar on the east side of the school grounds. In front of the altar, there are eight large tripods lined up.

The queen handed over the ceremonies agreed upon with the king of Zhao to the female officials; The people waiting at the altar were all the children sent by various families who had not yet reached adulthood, and most of them were eleven or twelve years old. They entered the palace ten days in advance and practiced the sacrificial process and rituals every day. The female officials were very busy, and each had their own family responsible for contact. The queen was also very busy.

The battle report of Changping can be delivered every day, and the victory of the Zhao army in the first battle once brought short-term joy to the king of Zhao; The autumn rain for several days forced the two sides to resort to small-scale white-knuckle battles, and bows and arrows were completely unusable, and they reached a stalemate. The Qin people used tricks to pick up Zhao Jun's arrows, which once made King Zhao worried, and asked Pingyang Jun to urge craftsmen to make more arrows. Yesterday, the newspaper reported that Zhao Kuo's design of the shield that hit the Qin people made King Zhao feel that it was a clever plan, and he also urged Pingyang Jun to speed up the production of the shield. The women in the harem disturbed one after another, and King Zhao was worried about the war in Changping, so he simply did not go to the harem for many days, allowing those women to make trouble.

Today is August 15. After beating the drums and beating the army, the warriors of Zhao Wangcheng all returned to the palace and escorted the invited female dependents of the palace into the city. Those who can serve as warriors in Zhao Wangcheng are all disciples of the Zhao family, even if their parents are not qualified to enter the palace, their grandfather's family must have them!

After breakfast, people entered Zhaowangcheng from Handan City or the suburbs one after another. The scale of this invitation was huge, with tens of thousands of people. After the samurai sent the ladies of the house into the city, they themselves were on duty outside the castle, and only after the moon festival was over, they sent their ladies home and then returned to the barracks.

From the beginning of the sun, Zhao Wangcheng began to play elegant music: "Yo yo deer singing, eating wild apples." I have guests, drummers and sheng......" over and over again, welcoming visitors from all over the world.

The ladies dressed up and dressed according to their own rank. Those who were poor also took out their clothes from the bottom of the box. With excitement, everyone gathered to Zhao Wangcheng from all directions, and after getting off the bus, they walked into Wangcheng. There have already been female officials who have received them one by one. Those who are often involved in the activities of the royal family naturally know their place; Those who participated less had to accompany the careful and ask the female officer for advice.

At today's festival, a special area was set up, right next to the altar, with three layers of seats, higher than the surrounding ones, for the female dependents of those children fighting on the front line, and there were always thousands of people. - Of course, this is not all the daughters of the Zhao family, but only women who are qualified to participate in the sacrifice. Just this one measure made the status of those women instantly improved, and it also made participating in the Changping War the envy of women!

Since the early dynasty, King Zhao stayed in the vestibule of the palace and sat with Pingyuanjun, Pingyangjun and others. The reports from all over the country, King Zhao either read it or not, let the two monarchs of Pingyuan and Pingyang dispose of it, and if he needed to dispose of it, he generally approved the word "may" or "quasi". Lian Po was originally working here, but he had to deal with all kinds of military affairs and was often absent. Yu Qing is a guest secretary, and he usually doesn't go to work in the palace, so he asks him for advice.

At about noon, a military envoy sent a military report from Changping: it was found that more than 20,000 people in the Qin army had passed through the mountain pass, and it seemed that they were going to Shangdang. Pingyuan-jun and Pingyang-jun didn't dare to make a final decision on the military, so they immediately sent someone to invite Lian Po. King Zhao came to the screen and looked down at the topography map of the Shangdang area, wanting to restore the situation on the battlefield through this brief military report. But in Zhao's opinion, this task is still too difficult.

After a while, Lian Po returned. He was very familiar with the situation of Changping and Shangdang, and easily pointed out on the map the direction where the Qin army appeared and the direction in which they might be traveling. Seeing that Qin Jun seemed to be about to make a large-scale detour back to Zhao Jun's back, Lian Po's expression was very serious, and he said: "This must be Wu Anjun's strategy, and hit my back." Must consult, send more sentinels, and secretly observe the Qin army, not for a while! When King Zhao saw Lian Po say this, he felt that there was no big problem, so he asked Lian Po to write a decree on his behalf, which was issued by Pingyuan Jun. - just a regular reminder, be careful!

After dealing with this matter, Lian Po's face was still serious, and he looked down at the map of the party for a long time, as if he was thinking about something. Since King Zhao didn't have much to do, he often went to the back of the screen to look at the map, and Pingyuanjun and Pingyangjun still had a lot of political affairs to deal with, so he couldn't take care of it for a while.

King Zhao found that Lian Po's expression seemed to be a little wrong, so he asked, "Qing seems to be uncertain?" ”

Lian Po said: "The Qin people will have a big move, and I am afraid it will be difficult to support it." ”

King Zhao was a little surprised and said, "What's the matter? ”

Lian Po said: "The minister also does not know. or hit me in the back......"

King Zhao said: "I am outnumbered, and the army is deep, don't do it!" ”

Lian Po said: "In terms of normality, it is like a king's plan." However, Wu Anjun is very human, and he must have other plans! The minister asked the king to take it, but he held on to it, and he could not fight. ”

King Zhao said: "The general is outside, and the king's order is not affected." But it's okay to hear it! ”

Lian Po also knew that if he stubbornly persisted, food would be a big problem; But if you abandon the defense and turn to the attack, I am afraid that you will fall into the trap of Wu Anjun. Two dilemmas.

The Yale of the harem turned into a feast: "There is a Jiayu in the south, and it is covered with a bright cover." The gentleman has wine, and the guest Yan Yile ...... "Since the female relatives of Pingyuanjun and Pingyangjun's family were also summoned to the palace, they didn't go home today, and they just had dinner in the palace of King Zhao." Although Lian Po is also a nobleman of the Zhao State, he is not the Zhao family, and the female dependents were not invited, so he went back alone.

At the same time as the ladies began the banquet, King Zhao's dinner also came up. The food of Jiuding and Eight Hundred Pounds cannot be eaten by one person at all, and the three people of Pingyuan Jun and Pingyang Jun are still rich. Due to the unexpected military situation in Changping, everyone also had a bad appetite, so after eating a little, they withdrew and taught it to the female officials in the harem.