Time passed slowly like this. At seven quarters before sunrise the next day, the Qintian Supervisor and Taichang Temple officials placed the memorial of time in the Shichen Pavilion of Zhai Palace. Then Lu Fang took out the memorial and handed it to the emperor.
"Your Majesty, this is the memorial of the hour." Lu Fang respectfully handed the memorial in his hand to Jiajing.
Jiajing also solemnly took the memorial from Lu Fang's hand and slowly opened it. After reading the time recorded on it, Jiajing solemnly closed the memorial and placed it next to the desk where memorials are stored. place.
"Your Majesty, please come this way." After Lu Fang finished speaking, he led the way to Jiajing's right front.
At this time, Jiajing was wearing sacrificial robes and following Lu Fang's guidance, he walked out of the Yangxin Hall.
Under the stairs of Yangxin Hall, there is a dragon chariot parked. Later, Jiajing will take the dragon chariot to the sacrifice site! On the right front of the dragon chariot, the leading minister stood respectfully. His duty was to guide the emperor to the place of sacrifice.
Jiajing slowly came down the steps. The leading minister did not salute the emperor, but stood there solemnly, like a standing pine tree.
After Jiajing sat on the dragon chariot, the leading minister said loudly: "Get up!"
Then the dragon chariot was lifted up, and the minister leading the way was responsible for leading the way on the right front. The dragon chariot moved very slowly, not much different from the speed of normal walking on the road.
Due to the requirements of the sacrificial process, Jiajing could only look straight ahead.
The long journey and the bumps on the road gave Jiajing the urge to sleep.
I don't know how long time passed. Just when Jiajing was bored and started to think wildly, the dragon chariot slowly stopped.
"Your Majesty, we're here!" The leading minister turned around and said respectfully.
Then the former minister leaned down and let Jiajing's feet step on his back.
'Dong dong dong' A dull bell rang from the Bell Tower of Zhai Palace.
On the square not far away, there were civil and military officials from all dynasties standing, their expressions solemn and motionless.
At the front of the team, Yan Song, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Yan Shifan stood in a row. It was not until the moment the bell rang that they were considered "alive."
Then all the officials present knelt on the ground and said in unison: "O ministers, I respectfully welcome your Majesty to offer sacrifices. May my Ming Dynasty be prosperous!"
Jiajing walked slowly past the ministers kneeling on both sides, and then came to Fang Ze's altar.
Fangze Altar is a two-story square altar facing north. There is a pool surrounding the altar, which is more than eight feet deep and six feet wide. The upper level of the altar is six feet square, and the lower level is about ten square feet. The altar surface is paved with yellow glazed bricks. On the lower level of the altar, there are two stone seats on the east and west sides.
After Jiajing stood under the Fangze altar, two deacons came forward. One of them held a gold basin with some water in it, while the other held a silk towel for wiping the water.
"Your Majesty, please clean your hands!"
After Jiajing placed his hand in the gold basin for a moment, he raised it. Then another deacon came forward and respectfully handed over the silk scarf, asking Jiajing to wipe the water off his hand.
After doing this, a minister of the Ministry of Rites came forward and began to recite the sacrificial inscription: "Any way to govern people, don't rush to rituals. There are five classics in rituals, and don't focus on sacrifices. Those who offer sacrifices to husbands are not things that come from the outside. , is born from the heart; the heart is frightened and it is offered with courtesy. Therefore, only the virtuous can fulfill the meaning of sacrifice. The virtuous will surely receive blessings from their sacrifices. This is not what the world calls blessing. Those who are blessed are prepared; Those who are prepared are called obedient. Those who are not obedient in everything are called prepared."
"Exerting everything on the outside and fulfilling the ambition on the inside is the heart of this sacrifice. Therefore, the emperor personally cultivated the southern suburbs to share the prosperity; the queen cultivated the silkworms in the northern suburbs to share the purity. The princes cultivated in the eastern suburbs, also with Let's prosper together; my wife is swarming in the northern suburbs to serve together..."
After reciting the sacrificial inscription, Jiajing took three sticks of incense from the attendants on the side, and then stepped up the steps of Fangze Altar step by step.
"Huh, luckily everything went well."
Seeing that the sacrificial ceremony was proceeding normally according to the procedures, Li Chunfang couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. This was the first thing he had done since he became the Minister of Rites! If something went wrong in this matter, he would not be able to hold his head high in front of his colleagues in the future.
Jiajing finally set foot on the Fangze Altar. There was a long table on the Fangze Altar. The table was covered with red cloth and placed with animals for sacrifice to God.
According to the simplified sacrificial process, Jiajing only needs to insert the three sticks of incense in his hand into the incense burner, then stand on the same spot, lower his head, and recite a sacrificial text silently. This humerus ceremony is considered to be over.
After Jiajing put the three sticks of incense in his hand into the incense burner, he did not stand on the spot and lowered his head to recite a sacrificial inscription silently as stipulated in the process. Instead, he pointed his finger to the sky and said loudly: "I am worshiping heaven. Emperor Zhu Houcong, the Emperor of Transport, is here to pray to God for three things. If he agrees, he will sound the signal with a sound of thunder!"
"What are you doing, Your Majesty? This is so disrespectful to God!"
Li Chunfang, the Minister of Rites, looked anxious when he saw that the emperor did not follow the previous sacrificial procedures.
"What is your Majesty doing? Why is there thunder in such a clear weather? Is it because the Ministry of Rites did not familiarize Your Majesty with the specific procedures of the sacrifice?"
Xu Jie looked at Jiajing standing on Fang Ze's altar and couldn't help but wonder.
"Li Chunfang, this loser, can't even do this little thing well!"
Yan Shifan on the side couldn't help but gritted his teeth.
"Quiet!"
Yan Song glanced at everyone and said coldly.
Not long after Jiajing finished speaking, the originally clear sky suddenly turned dark, and then, a loud thunder exploded in everyone's ears.
"God has responded! God has really responded! Your Majesty is truly your destiny!"
At this moment, Jiajing's figure was like a god in the eyes of countless ministers.
"There are only three things I want to pray to God for. First, my Ming Dynasty will have good weather in the coming year! Second, my Ming Dynasty will always be prosperous! Third, the people of my Ming Dynasty can live and work in peace and contentment! If God agrees, please also pray for me after three thunders. The rain falls."
As soon as Jiajing finished speaking, three more thunders sounded in the sky, and then the sky gradually became gloomy, and soon it began to rain lightly.
"It's really raining. God has promised it. Your Majesty is wise, Your Majesty is wise!"
Seeing that all the things Jiajing prayed to God were agreed to, all the civil and military officials present looked at the figure on Fang Ze's altar with more or less fanaticism.
After finishing all this, Jiajing walked down the stairs and slowly came down from Fangze Altar. The moment he stepped down from Fangze Altar, the sky returned to its previous clearness and the sun came out!
"I bow to your Majesty, long live my emperor!"
Immediately afterwards, under the leadership of Yan Song and the other five, all the civil and military officials present knelt down to Jiajing again, and no one was not convinced.
Jiajing looked at the civil and military officials kneeling respectfully in front of him, and said in a deep voice: "You are all ministers of my Ming Dynasty, please get up! As the father of hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty, I have this responsibility I pray to God, and hope that you will be sincere in your work in the future and think more about the people."
"I will live up to His Majesty's great trust!"
After the ministers finished speaking, they bowed again.
The historian responsible for recording this incident wrote: “On the eighth day of the second lunar month in the 40th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Houcong led hundreds of officials to offer sacrifices and pray to God for three things for the millions of people in the Ming Dynasty.
"One is that the weather will be good in the coming year, the other is that the Ming Dynasty will be prosperous, and the third is that the people live and work in peace and contentment. God agrees to all of them, and rains down after three thunders!"
(End of chapter)
