After intense planning and arrangements, the public memorial event officially entered the implementation stage.
According to Liu Xiang's plan, this public sacrifice should not be too religious, especially not highlight a certain sect. Therefore, Cui Hantang's original plan of setting up a altar at the public sacrifice site and performing the Luotian Jiao for 18 consecutive days to pacify the soul, pray for blessings, and calm the people was shot.
"You can have the Eighteen Heavenly Luotian Jiao in the Five Immortals Temple," Liu Xiang said. "You also have to understand me. If I let you play the leading role, I, the mayor, can't do it."
His attitude was so sincere that Cui Hantang couldn't even complain. He could only curse a few times as "animals in the Senate", received the zoning diagram and flow chart, and went back to revise the plan.
After discussion, it was decided to hold the public memorial ceremony on December 1. The location is located in Haipi outside Zhenhai Gate.
Taking advantage of the public security crackdown, Liu Xiang sent hundreds of policemen and soldiers a few days ago to carry out forced demolition operations in the name of "improving environmental sanitation and preventing the spread of the plague." Various shabby shacks stretched from Zhenhai Gate to the riverside. All the houses were demolished, and all the residents were sent to the "refugee camps" on Hong Kong Island. This blind spot in public security has been completely resolved.
This group of urban lower-class people will be resettled after a month of screening and "purification." Some of those with legitimate jobs can stay in Guangzhou to continue making a living, while those without legitimate jobs will be sent to newly established "new farms" in Kaohsiung, Jeju, and Hainan. The farm is jointly run by the agricultural reclamation system and the national police, and specializes in accepting urban "dregs" cleared from various cities during the mainland conquest campaign.
Nowadays, there is a white land outside Zhenhai Gate, and the original appearance of the riverbank tidal flats has been restored. December is already the dry season for the Pearl River. The water has receded far away and the sand on the river beach has been hardened by the sun. It is a suitable place to hold mass activities.
The workers used large stone rollers to flatten and compact the ground, and then spread a layer of sand and gravel. The carpenters quickly worked in the open space to build the platform.
Although the public memorial sites are all temporary facilities, a small requiem monument was built with reinforced concrete and granite stones at the original site of the Maojia Inn: this is to commemorate the victims of the "5 Maojia Inn Extra Large" of the victims killed in the murder case.
Because this was the first large-scale public event since entering the city, Liu Xiang was particularly concerned and asked the city bureau to maintain the scene well to avoid stampedes. Because he was worried that there would be too many people watching the excitement, the public trial and public execution were omitted.
"The objects of the public memorial are not only the victims of the Maojia Inn, but also the people who died of illness and died in the line of duty during the plague. Executions are somewhat off-topic," said Fang Fei, who was responsible for planning the event from Lingao.
Liu Xiang glanced over the scene with satisfied eyes - really good! Although the stands at the scene are all made of wood, the outside is draped with black and white cloth, which is solemn and generous. We temporarily rented thousands of pots of chrysanthemums from flower farmers near Guangzhou, and the display was spectacular.
In the middle is the altar. The temporarily built altar is decorated with incense burners and wreaths. Generally speaking, it is necessary to implement Liu Xiang's guiding spirit of "simplicity," "grandness," and "no feudal superstition." Therefore, although there is an incense burner on the altar , but did not light the scented wax, just kept its meaning. In the middle, chrysanthemums and black and white ribbons are tied into a large word "Dian". Behind the word "Dian" hangs three long soul-calling flags, written in ink on a white ground, respectively: victims of the plague in Guangzhou, personnel who died in the fight against the plague, and victims of the Maojia Inn case.
On both sides of the altar, there are three "Dharma tables" to display the instruments. They are New Taoism, Catholicism and Buddhism. After many struggles between Cui, Han and Tang, New Taoism gained a bigger position than the other two religions.
As soon as Liu Xiang left the Zhenhaimen gate, he was startled: so many people were here!
He originally thought that not many people would come to observe such a public memorial event, so he specifically instructed Mu Min to ask the security guards to mobilize the masses to participate.
"This mobilization is too much." He muttered to himself as he looked at the crowds on both sides of the street being desperately blocked by the sweaty Nationalist Army.
In fact, Liu Xiang underestimated the excitement of the people in this time and space. There is a serious lack of public cultural and entertainment activities in this time and space, so whether there are street fights, government trials, or public executions, there are always crowds of people watching and having fun. As soon as the news spread that the municipal government was holding a public memorial ceremony, the whole city was in a sensation, and people of all ages came to "watch" the ceremony without anyone mobilizing. It was so noisy that Mu Min had to call the navy to maintain order.
The sedan was carried to the foot of the rostrum, and he stepped onto the stage proudly. On the stage were the elders of the Guangzhou Municipal Government: Director of the Municipal Comprehensive Management Office Lin Baiguang, Municipal Police Chief Mu Min, Municipal Security Bureau Chief Wu Mu, Municipal Finance Director Meng Xian, Taxation Director Ai Zhixin, Industry and Commerce Director Zheng Shangjie, Judge Liang Xinhu, etc.
There are officials, and there are indispensable "social sages". The leader is the high-ranking official. He is wearing a blue Taoist robe today and is very simple. Representatives of the Guangzhou Federation of Industry and Commerce followed behind. Because Zhang Yu's father was a representative, he also came to participate in the event.
Even though the big gentry families sent people after receiving the notice, they were all members of the family or concubines. None of the owners showed up. But Liu Xiang discovered a good change, that is, no one who received the notice dared not send someone to come - this has never happened in the past.
"You know how powerful we are." Liu Xiang thought to himself, "When all your dirty materials are sorted out, I will slaughter you fat sheep one by one!"
When the hands of the watch pointed to nine o'clock, a drum beat sounded as dense as a shower. Mu Min, who was sleepy and resentful, resisted the urge to yawn and walked slowly towards the podium - she had been sleep deprived for a long time and had to stay up several nights to prepare for this event at the request of the morbidly excited Liu Yuanlao. When she passed by Liu Xiang, she glanced at his excited and slightly nervous face and wished she could slap him in the face.
Mu Min first gave a brief review of the witchcraft case. As the sound of the microphone spread throughout the venue, the emotions of the citizens watching the excitement were gradually aroused. There was a slight commotion in the crowd, and some even started shouting angrily. The National Army who maintained order and the spies mixed in the crowd also became nervous. The police kept running back and forth and shouted loudly to maintain order.
After Mu Min's speech, Lin Motian gave a speech on the recent plague prevention and control work. Compared with Mu Min's more or less "routine" speech, Lin Motian was much more emotional, especially when it came to the prevention and control work. The personnel who died in the line of duty choked up many times and could not speak. There was a lot of mourning on and off the stage, and even those who had lost relatives and friends in the plague were bursting into tears at this moment.
At the end of his speech, Liu Xiang announced the start of the public memorial ceremony. Intensive drumbeats sounded again, followed by the "Requiem" played by the bugle, with a long and solemn tone - the Fubo Army Requiem was to the tune of the lights-out trumpet. It turned out that Fubo Army's fallen soldiers had been Used during memorial ceremonies
The first thing that appeared in people's sight were two rows of Fubo Army soldiers. They were dressed in gray military uniforms, wide-brimmed hats, light blue leggings, long rifles on their shoulders, and shining bayonets. Walk out from behind the rostrum.
Amid the music, the procession passed the rostrum at a slow pace. Liu Xiang stood up first, and then all the people stood up. Civil servants paid attention and the military attachés and police officers performed a military salute. The procession arrived in front of the altar, and the soldiers, under the command of the officer, spread out in a straight line, three in a row. When the team was arranged, the officer gave an order: "Ready! - Release!"
I saw the three soldiers on the easternmost side carrying their guns, holding their butts, crossing their left foot diagonally half a foot to the left, raising their guns to the sky at a 70-degree angle, aiming and pulling the trigger. After the gun went off, they immediately put their guns away and stood at attention. At the same command, other soldiers completed all the actions in sequence and lined up to leave.
Gunfire roared and smoke filled the air. The bugle begins to cry
After presenting the flower baskets, Wen Desi, Liu Xiang, Lin Baiguang, Mu Min, Wu Mu, Meng Xian, Ai Zhixin, Zheng Shangjie, Liang Xinhu, Chen Ce, Zhang Yikun and others slowly came forward, stopped and stared in front of the flower baskets, and carefully arranged the flowers on the flower baskets. ribbon. Afterwards, all those who participated in the event bowed deeply three times to the soul-calling flags of those who died in the line of duty, commemorating the great achievements of the martyrs.
At the same time, members of the leadership team of the Guangdong Region, leaders of the Guangzhou Municipal Government and representatives from all walks of life expressed their deep condolences to the people who died in the "extreme homicide" and those who lost their lives in the city-wide epidemic, and extended cordial condolences to the relatives of the victims. . And everyone observed three minutes of silence. However, the silence was not over yet. Earth-shattering cries rang out from the onlookers. Some family members of the deceased fell to the ground and cried, while others rushed forward excitedly. The police and the army quickly blocked the scene, making the scene a bit chaotic.
After the memorial service, Mayor Liu delivered a speech calling on people of all ethnic groups in the city to turn their grief into strength, work hard to promote the reform and development of Guangzhou, and work hard to build Guangzhou into the first city in Guangnan.
Liu Xiang then announced the end of the public sacrifice activities, and then announced: In view of the rampant witchcraft and beggars in Guangzhou City, harvesting and harvesting, harming the peace of the world; the people are stupid and do not admire the road, worshiping evil gods, causing plague, the Senate of the Song Dynasty in Guangzhou The district government specially invited "virtuous people" from the three religions in the city to practice here to offer salvation to the people who died in Guangzhou City and to pray for the living people of Guangzhou City.
Watching monks and Taoists chant sutras was a popular entertainment activity for the common people in medieval society. Even the chanting practices of monks and Taoists included considerable performance and entertainment. The spectators immediately divided into three groups and surrounded the altar of the three religions with water.
Naturally, the group that attracts the most attention is New Taoism. Taoism, especially Tianshi Taoism, is known for its gorgeous and complicated ceremonies and rituals. The Taoist robes and instruments are bright and gorgeous, and the Taoist music is abundant and quite beautiful. If you meet a Taoist priest who is handsome and sings well, then you will have to break the threshold to see the Taoist priest performing rituals and chanting sutras.
