On August 15th, the full moon is shining, which is the time to worship the moon.
Moon Sacrifice is the only ceremony among all sacrificial rituals in which a woman presides over the ceremony, and the officiant is usually the queen. After King Zhao came to the throne, his mother took charge and also married King Qi's daughter. Naturally, she will preside over this year's moon sacrifice ceremony. Although Qi Jiang has been the queen for many years, she is still young and has to rely on the elders of the Zhao family to handle the sacrifices. Among the Zhao family's female elders, the oldest is already the grandma's generation, and there are even more other grandma's and mothers' generations. Unlike the Zhao family's men who were all natives of Handan, these women came from all over, from various vassal states, and even Yi and Di. Each had its own customs, traditions, and doctrines, and the sacrificial rituals were made extremely complicated!
As early as the beginning of July, the Queen discussed the moon sacrifice with King Zhao. At that time, King Zhao was very disturbed by the war in Changping. He was not in the mood to take care of the affairs of these women's families, so he handed them over to the Queen. Zhao Kuo was sent away and the granary was emptied. Lian Po and a group of veterans returned from the front line. Lord Pingyuan and Lord Pingyang immediately arranged for them to prepare reinforcements after the autumn. Lian Po, who had full combat experience, immediately understood the whole story: Zhao Kuo was going to die. He wanted to use his death to buy Handan three months of autumn harvest time and prepare Handan's defense! Lian Po was greatly moved and immediately took over all military affairs. As soon as the autumn harvest was over, he immediately sent troops to Changping to pick up Zhao Kuo.
Not long after Lian Po returned, August entered. The queen handed over the sacrificial ceremony she had prepared to King Zhao. King Zhao was shocked when he saw it. In addition to the regular three animals, many sacrifices were added, ranging from dates, chestnuts, melons, and fruits to rice, millet, millet, and wheat. , even beans, peppers, ginger, cinnamon, five colors, five spices, five flavors, five grains, five beans, five fruits, and even five poultry. King Zhao was a little annoyed. His treasury was extremely poor, so why did the queen ask for more for the moon sacrifice than before?
But the queen's explanation left him speechless. Zhao Jun has been guarding the army for many years, and all the sons of the Zhao family are in the army and have not returned all year round. At home, his wife and children are looking forward to it, and his mother is in tears. During the moon festival last year, many Zhao family members were not invited because there was no war. This year, war broke out suddenly in February. Within half a year, a large number of Zhao family members were killed or injured in the war. If their wives and mothers are not invited to participate in the moon festival again, , how can these wives and mothers not be disappointed, how can those soldiers not be disappointed! Especially the widows of those who died in battle... Therefore, this year must be very grand, so that the family members who have made military exploits can receive supreme honor, so as to inspire the front line and fight bravely!
When King Zhao heard the discussion, his heart sank. In the past six months since the beginning of the year, many soldiers have reported casualties from the front line; and the replacement soldiers who were supposed to be rotated every six months have not returned. There are already 200,000 Handan people and 50,000 Taiyuan people on the Changping front line, and there are still 200,000 Changping people! Under the leadership of Zhao Kuo, they had to use one month's quota of grain to sustain them for three months. Only after the autumn harvest in Handan was completed did he have grain to send to the front line and soldiers to replace the soldiers who had been fighting for a year! As for the children of the Zhao family, some of them have never returned home since they went to war with Lord Pingyuan; there are also those who went to war with Lian Po, those who went as officers alone, and those who went with Zhao Kuo... There are all kinds of them, about Thousands of people, tens of thousands of women involved!
King Zhao sighed, collected the order, and went to find Mr. Pingyuan. After Lin Xiangru became seriously ill, Lord Pingyuan took on almost all state affairs. Mr. Pingyuan also has many disciples who can provide him with advice and help. Pingyang Jun does not have such convenience. Yu Qing is in charge of diplomacy and is not good at government affairs. Lian Po naturally only cares about military affairs.
Lord Pingyuan patiently listened to King Zhao's statement and said: "The queen is a virtuous minister, and I should do my best!"
King Zhao said: "What's the plan?"
Lord Pingyuan said: "There is a great merchant named Guo in Handan, and every time he has something left, I will consult him and I will definitely gain something!"
King Zhao said: "I have lost my plan. You will do it!"
At night, Lord Pingyuan came to see King Zhao and said, "The Guo family is willing to offer wine, meat, dates, chestnuts, rice and other sacrifices. The king will pay for it with what the Queen of Autumn will bring."
King Zhao said: "It's all a gift from the king!"
Prince Pingyuan said: "How dare I! The battle in Changping is tight and there is no way to slow it down!"
King Zhao said: "How is the battle going?"
Lord Pingyuan said: "There have been repeated reports of battles, and we will fight against Qin soon!"
King Zhao said: "Bai Qi is fierce and stubborn and should not be taken lightly."
Mr. Pingyuan said: "Here!"
The two of them felt uneasy, but they couldn't say anything. After sitting there for a while, Mr. Pingyuan took his leave.
From the first to the fifteenth day of the lunar month, Guo's vehicles carrying goods continued to drive from Handan City to Zhaowang City and were handed over to the Shaofu for collection. At the same time, in order to hold a grand sacrificial ceremony, the school grounds next to King Zhao City were completely vacated. On that day, all the warriors returned to their homes and escorted their families from all over the city into the city. He could only wait outside the city. King Zhao also built a square altar to the east of the school grounds. There are eight large cauldrons lined up in front of the altar.
The queen handed over the ceremony agreed upon with King Zhao to the female officials; those waiting at the altar were all underage children sent by various families, mostly eleven or twelve years old. They entered the palace ten days in advance and practiced the sacrificial procedures and ceremonies every day. Those female officials are particularly busy, and each has a family that they are responsible for contacting. The queen was also very busy.
Battle reports from Changping were delivered every day. Zhao Jun's victory in the first battle once brought short-term joy to King Zhao; successive days of autumn rain forced both sides to engage in small-scale hand-to-hand combat, with bows and arrows completely unusable, and they reached a deadlock. The Qin people used tricks to pick up arrows from the Zhao army, which worried King Zhao and asked Pingyang Lord to urge the craftsmen to make more arrows. Yesterday, I reported that Zhao Kuo designed a shield to hit the Qin people. King Zhao felt that it was a clever plan, and he also urged Lord Pingyang to speed up the production of shields. The women in the harem were making trouble. King Zhao was worried about the war in Changping, so he simply did not go to the harem for many days and allowed the women to cause trouble.
Today is August 15th. After the drums were beaten and the army was called, all the warriors from Zhao Wangcheng returned to the palace and escorted the invited female relatives into the city. Those who can serve as warriors in King Zhao's city 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 Zhaowang City from Handan City or the suburbs one after another. This invitation was very large, with tens of thousands of people. After the warriors sent their female relatives into the city, they stayed on duty outside the city until the moon sacrifice ceremony was over, then they sent their female relatives home and then returned to the military camp.
Starting from the end of the day, elegant music began to be played in King Zhao's city: "Hey, the deer roars, and the apples in the wild eat. I have guests, the drums, the harp and the sheng..." over and over again, welcoming visitors from all directions.
The female guests were dressed up and dressed according to their own class. Those from poor families also took out the clothes from the bottom of the box. With excitement, everyone gathered from all directions to Zhao Wangcheng. After getting off the car, they entered the Wangcheng. There were female officers who had already received them one by one. Those who often participate in royal activities naturally know their position; those who participate less have to be careful and ask the female officials for advice.
In today's ceremony, a special area was set up. Just next to the altar, there were three floors of seats, which were higher than the surrounding ones. They were specially designed for the female relatives whose children were fighting on the front line to gather. There were always thousands of people. ——Of course, these are not all the female relatives of the Zhao family, just the women who are qualified to participate in the sacrifice. Just this one move instantly raised the status of those women, and made participating in the Changping War the envy of women!
Since the morning court, King Zhao has been staying in the front courtyard of the palace, having a banquet with Lord Pingyuan, Lord Pingyang and others. King Zhao may or may not read the reports coming from various places, leaving them to the two kings of Pingyuan and Pingyang to deal with. If he needs to deal with them, he will usually give them a "yes" or "acceptance". Lian Po originally worked here, but he had to deal with various military affairs and was often away. Yu Qing is a guest and usually does not work in the palace. If you have any questions, please consult him.
At about noon, a military envoy sent a military report from Changping: It was discovered that more than 20,000 Qin troops passed through the mountain pass and seemed to be heading to Shangdang. Lord Pingyuan and Lord Pingyang did not dare to make the final decision on military affairs, so they immediately sent people to invite Lian Po. King Zhao came to the back of the screen and looked down at the terrain map of the Shangdang area, trying to restore the situation on the battlefield through this brief military report. But according to King Zhao's insight, this task is still too difficult.
Not long after, Lian Po came back. He was very familiar with the situation in Changping and Shangdang, and easily pointed out on the map the location where the Qin army appeared and their possible direction of travel. Seeing that the Qin army seemed to be making a large-scale detour to the Zhao army's back, Lian Po's expression was very serious and he said: "This must be Wu Anjun's strategy to attack my back. I must consult Kuo, send more sentries, and watch closely. The Qin army must not act suddenly!" When King Zhao saw Lian Po saying this, he thought it was no big deal, so he asked Lian Po to write the edict for him, and Lord Pingyuan issued it. ——Just a regular reminder, be careful!
After handling this matter, Lian Po's face remained serious. He looked down at the Shangdang map for a long time, as if he was planning something. Since King Zhao didn't have much to do, he often went behind the screen to look at the map. Lord Pingyuan and Lord Pingyang still had a lot of political affairs to deal with and couldn't take care of them for a while.
King Zhao noticed something was wrong with Lian Po's expression, so he asked, "You seem hesitant?"
Lian Po said: "The people of Qin are going to make a big move, but it may be difficult to support it."
King Zhao was a little surprised and said, "What's the matter?"
Lian Po said: "I don't know yet. Maybe you'll hit me on the back..."
King Zhao said: "We are outnumbered and the enemy is outnumbered. We are hanging our troops to penetrate deep. There is nothing we can do!"
Lian Po said: "In general terms, it is just like the king's plan. However, Lord Wu'an is very human, so he must have other plans! I ask Wang Chikuo, but An can't fight if he sticks to it."
King Zhao said: "I will be outside, and I will not accept your orders. But you can just listen to your wishes!"
Lian Po also knew that if he defended, food would be a big problem; but if he abandoned the defense and turned to attack, he might fall into the trap of Lord Wu An. Trouble.
The elegant music in the harem turned into a banquet: "There are fine fish in the south, and the atmosphere is bright. Gentlemen have wine, and the guests enjoy themselves..." Since the female relatives of Pingyuan Jun and Pingyang Jun were also called into the palace, they I didn't even go home today, so I just ate in Zhao Wang's palace. Although Lian Po was also a noble of the Zhao Kingdom, he was not from the Zhao family. His female family members were not invited, so he went back alone.
While the female guests started the banquet, King Zhao's dinner was also served. The sumptuous food of Jiuding and Eight Gui is too much for one person to finish. Plus Pingyuan Jun and Pingyang Jun, the three of them are still rich. Due to the unexpected military situation in Changping, everyone had a bad appetite. After eating a little, they withdrew and taught the food to the female officials in the harem.
