Zhai Yuan took his tribe and people from other tribes to live in Tongwen Hall. Everything about the Ming Dynasty shocked them so much that they could not express it in words.
The vast land, the densely packed tribesmen, and the magnificent city are like giant beasts crawling between the sky and the earth. The armor on the defenders' bodies, the weapons in their hands, even the clothes worn by the people of the Ming Dynasty, and the endless variety of delicacies all surprised Zhai Yuan and others.
In their view, this is no different from their ancient kingdom of gods. It is even more perfect than the kingdom of gods in their legends. After all, according to their oral tradition, the kingdom of gods only has temples built with tall boulders, and there are indescribably beautiful women, and nothing else. . After all, their imaginations are very limited. Apart from temples and women, they don't know what else should be in the kingdom of gods.
On the contrary, what they saw in Daming made them unable to take their eyes away. Take the Huitong Hall where they live now, for example. It is a three-story pavilion, and both the doors and windows are decorated with exquisite decorations and carved beams. Although this kind of house is also made of wood, compared with the ones in their tribe...
"Well, there's no way the clan can compare with these..." Zhai Yuan shook his head.
When he was learning Chinese with Fang Xiaoru, he once curiously asked what kind of country Ming Dynasty was. But at that time, Fang Xiaoru just smiled and told him that he wouldn't understand just by telling him. If you want to understand the Ming Dynasty, go see it yourself.
Originally, Zhai Yuan thought that Fang Xiaoru didn't want to tell him, but now he knew that even if Fang Xiaoru told him about the Ming Dynasty, he might not believe it.
...
Since Han Du came back, he has not even left the house except entering the palace to meet Lao Zhu and Zhu Biao, like a homebody.
On this day, Fang Xiaoru found Han Du.
Han Du invited Fang Xiaoru to the inner hall, poured him tea with his own hands, and asked with a smile: "I heard that you have been studying those pieces of jade these past few days, why do you have time to come to my place?"
Fang Xiaoru took a sip of the tea, closed her eyes and enjoyed the aroma of the best tribute tea. After a while, she opened her eyes and said, "Well, in the past few days, the emperor has asked some great scholars to work with me to research the origins of those pieces of jade. After our discussion, we all agreed that it was indeed an ancient artifact from the Yin Shang Dynasty. Therefore, everyone now believes that those Yin Di'an people do have a connection with us."
Han Du glanced at Fang Xiaoru in surprise. If those Yin Di'an people were really related to the Ming Dynasty, it would be a great good thing for the Ming Dynasty.
He quickly asked again: "It's only been a few days, and you can be sure?"
Fang Xiaoru shook his head and said: "This is just the opinion of a few people outside, but if we want the world to agree, just a few of us are not enough. This matter cannot be rushed, we must take our time."
Han Du nodded. It was not an easy task to research the Yin Shang Dynasty thousands of years ago. After all, although the Chinese inheritance has not been cut off, by the Ming Dynasty, the understanding of the Yin and Shang Dynasties was limited to some descriptions in history books.
If you want to verify it, the best thing is to find objects from the Yin and Shang Dynasties and compare them one by one. Of course, if you can find the corresponding text, that would be the best. This is why Fang Xiaoru wanted to make rubbings of the characters from the Zhaiyuan tribe, just to facilitate comparison back to the Ming Dynasty.
These are just the methods for verification. This also includes everyone's opinion on this matter. Some people think it is, and naturally some people think it is not. I am afraid that I don't know how much time has passed until they come up with a result.
"I came to you today because of another matter." Fang Xiaoru continued.
Han Du didn't think much and nodded casually and responded: "Why are we so polite? If you have anything to do, just tell me."
Seeing what Han Du had said, Fang Xiaoru made a request directly, "Zhai Yuan has almost learned Chinese in the past few days, and there is no problem in reading and writing. They also wanted to know more about our history, so they put forward their ideas. I want to go into the academy library and have a look."
The academy library was something Han Du had been preparing since he started building the academy. By now, the academy's library has completely surpassed the Imperial College's reputation as the place with the largest collection of books in the world.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Lao Zhu also attached great importance to books. At first, he just hid the books in the Imperial College, but as the number of books increased, Lao Zhu built a secret pavilion in the palace specifically for collecting books, and moved all the books from the Imperial College to the secret pavilion for safekeeping.
After Han Du built a library in the academy, he set his sights on Lao Zhu's collection of books. He repeatedly encouraged Zhu Biao to ask for books from Lao Zhu, until he made a copy of the entire secret pavilion's collection and put it in the library.
In addition, people in the academy are accustomed to printing the research results into books and putting them in the library.
As a result, the academy library became the place with the largest collection of books in the world. Moreover, Han Du also knew that it was true that Zhai Yuan and others wanted to know the history of China. After all, they were also curious about whether they were of the same origin as China. However, when Fang Xiaoru said that Zhai Yuan and others proposed to go to the library to have a look, Han Du didn't believe it.
This was probably Fang Xiaoru's suggestion to Zhai Yuan and others. After all, Zhai Yuan and others didn't even know about the library, so how could they think of asking the library to verify historical materials?
However, this is a good thing. If Zhai Yuan can be conquered by thousands of years of Chinese culture, then it doesn't matter whether he is a survivor of the Yin Shang or not. Maybe he himself has been assimilated by the culture, and it's not necessarily the case that he stands in the Ming Dynasty's position.
Han Du nodded and agreed to let Zhai Yuan and others enter the library. "However, they can enter the library and check historical materials without any problem. But books on mathematics, physics and chemistry are absolutely not allowed to be seen by them."
"Why is this?" Fang Xiaoru was a little confused.
Moreover, the books in the library are not separated specifically, they are all mixed together in a messy manner. Now if we want to prevent Zhai Yuan and others from seeing mathematics, physics and chemistry books, we need to sort out these books and separate them, which will take a lot of energy.
Han Du smiled, and after thinking about it, Fang Xiaoru said: "Those who are not from our race must have different minds. Regardless of whether Zhai Yuan and others are from the Yin and Shang dynasties, we cannot treat them equally. Mathematics, physics and chemistry knowledge and historical materials are different. Likewise, once leaked, the consequences will be endless.”
Mathematics, physics and chemistry can open the door to natural science. The academy has only been teaching this knowledge for a few years, and it has already begun to follow the path of mechanics. If it is obtained by outsiders, it may not come up in the same way. Han Du didn't want to take any risks, so he naturally guarded against this knowledge.
"Okay." Fang Xiaoru saw that Han Du said so solemnly and realized the importance of mathematics and physics.
With Han Du's nod, Zhai Yuan and others walked into the academy. The books in the library have been reorganized, and all the mathematics, physics and chemistry books have been placed on the third floor.
As soon as Zhai Yuan and others walked into the door of the library, they saw wooden bookshelves taller than a person, neatly filled with various books. One wooden shelf can hold hundreds of books on the left and right sides, and there are dozens of rows and hundreds of wooden shelves on just one floor.
...
The winter solstice is approaching, and Lao Zhu is preparing to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth this year. Although Lao Zhu worships at Zhongshan Yuanqiu every winter solstice, this year's sacrifice is particularly different.
This year, Han Du brought back magical food. Food that can benefit all people can be regarded as the most auspicious thing in history. With such an unprecedented achievement, Lao Zhu naturally wanted to solemnly make a memorial to heaven and earth.
Moreover, people from across the sea come to worship, which is also a very important event. As mentioned before, Lao Zhu has a very good reputation, and he feels very unhappy that Damen has not been able to replace him as the veritable leader of the world. And now that Zhai Yuan and others traveled thousands of miles to come to the Ming Dynasty, it was equivalent to an affirmation of the Ming Dynasty's national prestige.
After all, even when the Yuan Dynasty was strong in the past, it could not even conquer a small Japanese country, let alone the mainland across the sea?
As long as Lao Zhu takes this winter solstice to pray to heaven and earth and tell the world about these things, it will be a unique and huge improvement to the emperor's prestige.
Therefore, more than two months in advance, the Rites Department started to get busy. Lao Zhu attached great importance to this sacrifice. Not only did he strictly supervise the Ministry of Rites, but he also personally asked questions from time to time. The standards and scale of this sacrifice were raised to the same level as when he ascended the throne as emperor.
Ten days in advance before the sacrifice, the old man ordered the three ministers of Libu, Libu and Hubu to go to the Circular Qiu Sacrifice to see the sacrifices. Moreover, Lao Zhu also had to go to Taichang Temple in person to save animals and enter the fasting bronze statue.
Then Lao Zhu would go to the Ancestral Temple to report that he would worship heaven on the winter solstice and ask the emperor to accompany the emperor and the gods; he would gather all the officials in the Fengtian Hall to receive the oaths and pass on the oaths; he would prepare the blessing tablets and jade silk with the royal name personally filled in for the sacrifice, and they would be handed down by Taichang. Temple sent to the Temple of Heaven.
As the Marquis of Zhenhai, Han Du was naturally among the sacrificial attendants. As required, I went through various rites hosted by the Ministry of Etiquette for a whole day in Fengtian Hall. When Han Du returned to the house, he still felt dizzy.
The day before the sacrifice, Lao Zhu had to report to the Ancestral Temple again, meaning to tell the ancestors of the Lao Zhu family that the Ming Dynasty had another prosperous year, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the world was peaceful... Anyway, they were all grand and good words. . But this year is different. This year, Ming Dynasty has auspiciousness, and it has received congratulations from countries thousands of miles away, so there will naturally be more happy events.
Then Lao Zhu took the royal boat to the Circular Mound of Dazhong Mountain to inspect the various altars on the circular mound and the God, Pei Emperor, Daming, Night Ming, Stars, and Clouds displayed on the circular mound invited by the Emperor Qiongyu. , rain, wind, thunder god version and god card. In front of each divine tablet, calves, sheep, hogs, jade, silk, and various utensils are placed according to the corresponding levels.
When the winter solstice arrives, the formal sacrifice begins.
On the same day, the drum will be beaten three times at midnight, and then to welcome the emperor. Therefore, on the day of the official sacrifice, Han Du was taken to Yuanqiu in the middle of the night to follow the etiquette of the sacrifice ceremony.
The whole sacrificial ceremony is divided into nine ritual processes, namely welcoming the gods, laying jade and silk fabrics, entering the altar, first offering, sub-offering, final offering, removing the food, sending off the gods, looking at the fire, etc. Each ceremony performed different music, and performed the "Eight Yi" dances of civil and martial arts. There were 480 students of civil, martial arts, music and dance, and 90 students of deacons. This shows the huge number of music and dance teams.
Every time a ritual was performed, the emperor had to kneel three times and kowtow nine times to the main position, the supporting positions, and the subordinate positions. From welcoming the gods to seeing off the gods, he had to kneel more than 70 times and kowtow more than 200 times. For an hour.
Since Lao Zhu is kowtowing, all the officials are naturally unavoidable. Han Du didn't know how others felt, but he felt dizzy and his forehead felt swollen and painful after being kowtowed. Han Du deeply suspected that the ancients made such complicated sacrifices deliberately to make people suffer.
Just imagine, since the ancients wanted the emperor to be in awe, if they simply offered sacrifices, how could they reflect the majesty of heaven and earth? Everyone was laughing and joking with their hands, and after casually placing incense sticks, they could separate themselves from each other. Everyone went home happily carrying several kilograms of meat. Such a sacrifice may have to be entertainment rather than its original intention.
You must know that the sacrificial rituals were formulated by officials of the Ministry of Rites of the past dynasties and were left behind. Han Du couldn't help but think maliciously that maybe these officials wanted to see the emperor's embarrassment, so they deliberately made the ritual process so complicated.
The discipline requirements at the sacrificial site are extremely strict. The accompanying officials must be pious and tidy. They are not allowed to arrive late or leave early, they are not allowed to cough or spit, they are not allowed to move around and make noise, they are not allowed to look around randomly, and they are not allowed to mess up the order.
In short, the meaning is that once you enter the sacrificial team, it is best to treat yourself as a robot, and you will do what others do.
Lao Zhu stood on the circular hill and read the prepared sacrificial inscription. This memorial text was difficult to understand and extremely difficult to pronounce. Anyway, Han Du did not understand a single word from beginning to end. He was deeply impressed by Lao Zhu's ability to read it smoothly in one breath.
But thinking about it with his toes, Han Du also knew what Lao Zhu was talking about. It was nothing more than reporting to God, thanking God for the auspiciousness that came to Ming Dynasty, etc.
This year Lao Zhu obviously had a lot to report to God, and he didn't finish reciting it until the sun went down in the morning.
In the sacrificial team, there is also this special group of people, that is, the Yin Di'an people of Zhai Yuan. This heaven and earth sacrifice is not only a sacrifice to heaven and earth, but also for Zhai Yuan and others to see.
Zhai Yuan was shocked after seeing the sacrificial ceremony. Only then did he understand why Han Du looked so surprised when he saw his people worshiping the Sun God.
Because these two kinds of sacrifices are so similar. The place where other tribes worshiped the sun god was a mound made of specially made soil, while in the Ming Dynasty, it was a specially built circular mound. The specifications and appearance of the circular mound are very similar to the mounds in his tribe. They are both three-layered, but the surface of the circular mound is paved with a layer of stone slabs and has finely carved white jade railings.
To put it simply, Yuanqiu is a kind of sacrificial mound.
There are also dances used for sacrifices. The Ming Dynasty is the "Eight Yi" dance. What is the "Eight Yi" dance? It means that there are eight people vertically and horizontally, and eight, eight, sixty-four people dance collectively. This dance has slow steps and ups and downs, giving people a solemn feeling. Such dance steps are also similar in Zhai Yuan's clan, and they have been passed down from generation to generation.
Finally, there was sacrifice. Not only did the emperors offer sacrifices to the heaven and earth in a similar manner to their chiefs offering sacrifices to the sun god, they both stood alone on the highest platform to offer sacrifices. However, Ming Dynasty reported his achievements to God in lengthy documents, while the chief prayed to the sun god.
Even the objects placed there are very similar. Perhaps the only difference is that Zhai Yuan and the others worshiped their ancestors, while the Ming Dynasty worshiped gods and gods.
These days, Zhai Yuan also found many records about the Yin Shang Dynasty in the academy library. I was extremely curious about Xia, Shang and Zhou, and even suspected that his people might have really been separated from the Yin and Shang dynasties. Now seeing such similar sacrifices again, Zhai Yuan couldn't help but feel a little convinced.
At the end of the sacrifice, all blessing tablets and silks must be sent to the burning place for burning. Only wisps of green smoke can bring the achievements of the world to heaven.
Then Lao Zhu would take hundreds of officials to the Ancestral Temple to report the completion of the ceremony to the ancestors again. The officials followed Lao Zhu back to Fengtian Hall to celebrate the ceremony.
After the sacrifice is over, meat must be distributed to relevant officials in accordance with system regulations. Han Du is the Marquis. He received ten pounds of beef and went home happily.
Other officials, according to their rank and the department they belong to, will also be allocated various meats ranging from ten kilograms, seven kilograms, five kilograms, and four kilograms.
The meat distributed this time was nothing to Han Du, but for some poor officials, it was a rare opportunity for them to eat meat. Therefore, among the officials, there are still some people who are looking forward to the final division of meat.
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