Zhu Bai said: "Hey, forget it, let's keep it for ourselves. I just want to find a reason to give extra food to my father, queen, mother, queen, brothers and sisters."
Lao Zhu said: "Well, the Taichang Temple Minister will lead people to arrange the god tablets, offerings and sacrifices tonight. Just leave it alone."
Zhu Biao smiled: "After the sacrifice tomorrow, my twelfth brother may really feel hungry. It will start seven quarters before sunrise. There are more than a dozen procedures for the sacrifice. My father started fasting three days ago."
Zhu Bai patted his chest: "Oh, it's so dangerous. Fortunately, I don't have to."
Firstly, he is not a prince, and secondly, he is not an emperor. There is no need to stand in front, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't show up.
Then Lao Zhu said something, and Zhu Bai couldn't stop laughing: "Gui Zi, do you still want to be lazy?! You and your elder brother must go."
Zhu Bai said to Zhu Biao sincerely: "Brother, I can't stand with you, otherwise I will be overstepping my bounds and I will be scolded."
Just kidding, if he stood next to Lao Zhu like Zhu Biao, those rhetoric officials, such as Liu Shengun and others, wouldn't spray him to death.
Why would he want to be half dead from exhaustion and become cannon fodder?
Lao Zhu said: "Haha, I have never seen you so well-behaved and polite. Do you think we can't see that you want to be lazy? If you are afraid of overstepping, you will stand half a step back from your elder brother. . You have to go tomorrow morning. If you don’t go, God will think that our Lao Zhu didn’t give birth to enough outstanding sons.”
After Lao Zhu finished cursing, he left.
Zhu Bai grimaced: "Brother, is it still too late for me to pretend to be sick?"
Zhu Biao laughed out loud: "I think it's too late. Just bear with it. Anyway, it's only a whole morning of hard work."
On October 15th of the tenth year of Hongwu, the sky was clear and the yellow leaves of the ginkgo trees were dazzlingly bright in the early morning sunshine.
The Fengtian Hall was filled with smoke, bells and drums were ringing, and it was solemn and solemn.
Civil and military officials in sacrificial robes walked into the Fengtian Hall in two rows, led by the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the prince Zhu Biao and the king of Hunan Zhu Bai, who were all dressed in crown robes.
Zhu Bai mentally greeted all the generations in the Ministry of Rites.
He found out in the morning that he had to wear special clothes for worshiping heaven.
The hat alone weighed three kilograms, and his neck was about to be broken by the pressure.
And sure enough, as soon as he appeared behind Zhu Biao, the civil servants stared at him, eager to find something wrong with him so that they could scold him in court.
He deliberately stayed away from Zhu Biao, but he was also afraid that Lao Zhu wouldn't be able to see him out of the corner of his eye and scold him for being lazy.
What a sin...
The rituals of offering sacrifices to heaven in the Ming Dynasty were inherited from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and also referred to the additions and subtractions of the Tang and Song Dynasties. In fact, they never depart from the same origin. They are all for offering sacrifices to heaven and praying for blessings, as well as offering sacrifices to the sun, moon and stars, wind, rain, thunder and lightning, and all human beings in this period. Things that cannot be understood.
The procedure is very cumbersome, first welcoming the gods, then playing music, and then burning the whole cow in the altar.
Then Lao Zhu led Zhu Biao, Zhu Bai, and all the civil and military officials to kneel down twice.
Then Lao Zhu washed his hands and went up to the altar, knelt down and worshiped, burned incense, offered jade and silk, and placed the sacrificial plate himself. Wash your hands again, burn incense, and offer wine.
In the past, the congratulatory officer would hold out the sacrificial text and kneel before reading it out.
Today, it was Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang who read the memorial in person.
His rough voice echoed in the Fengtian Temple without hesitation, carrying absolute majesty and piety.
Zhu Bai thought the memorial essay would be boring, but it turned out to be very literary and sincere.
There is a paragraph in it: "I am a farmer, well aware of the difficulties of growing crops. I pray for the blessings of heaven and earth to bless my territory in the Ming Dynasty with good weather, good harvests, good health for my people, and clear seas and rivers. May the souls of my departed warriors and heroes return to their hometown..."
It made many people's eyes red.
After Lao Zhu finished reciting the sacrificial poem, he continued to offer wine.
The sacrificial wine alone needs to be served three times. The first time is called the first offering, the second time is called the sub-offering, and the third time is called the final offering.
Then it was Lao Zhu who led Zhu Biao and Zhu Bai to "drink blessings and receive gizzards".
"Fu" refers to the blessing wine given by God, and drinking blessing means drinking the wine sacrificed to God.
"胙" refers to the sacred meat given by God, and "receiving 胙" means accepting the sacrificial meat.
Zhu Bai was very thirsty at first, but when he saw Zhu Biao and the others taking such small sips when they were "drinking blessings", he lamented that the prince was really gentle. When it was served in front of him, he realized the reason.
The "lucky wine" was just turbid and yellow, and there was a layer of black ash floating on the surface. I don't know if it was dust blown by the wind or the ashes of burning incense and paper money as sacrifices. It was off-putting just looking at it.
Zhu Bai stared at the unknown liquid and refused to move.
The ceremony officer whispered: "Your Highness, drink as much as you can. This is a blessed wine sent by God. Drink it and you will be blessed by God."
God bless? ! Are you sure you won't "go to heaven" directly if you drink this?
He was not afraid of death, but dying from drinking this "blessed wine" was even more senseless than being kicked in the head by a donkey. It was considered suicide.
Zhu Bai frowned and took a step back.
Everyone is waiting for Zhu Bai.
Lao Zhu turned around and glared at him, giving a silent warning: "Young man, drink quickly."
Okay, just think of it as Fu Shui.
Anyway, when Master Zhang was here, he got a lot of talisman water for himself to drink, and he didn't see the old Taoist priest having diarrhea, so he should be fine.
Zhu Bai gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, took a sip, and rolled his eyes: Yue... what kind of poisonous stuff are these? They are sour and spicy, and they taste really bad.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Then the ceremony officer removed the sacrifice and sent it to the gods.
The Ministry of Rites and the Director of Ceremonies will transport the sacrificial text and the sacrificial wine and fruits to the burning place.
Lao Zhu would stand in the burning position and watch the things burn until half of them were burned. Then he could go back to his residence to rest, and the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven would be completed.
Zhu Bai couldn't even remember how many times he got up, knelt down, and repeated it.
When the ritual of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth was over, he felt as if his legs were no longer his.
Lao Zhu and Zhu Biao were not much better. The three of them were leaning in the imperial study room, letting the eunuchs beat their legs.
Zhu Bai asked: "Who wrote today's memorial text? It's pretty good."
Lao Zhu glanced at him: "It's rare. You can also tell whether the article is good or bad."
Zhu Bo sneered: "That's right, people who are not good at cooking can also taste the food..."
Zhu Biao replied: "Chen Nanbin led the students of the Imperial College to do it."
Lao Zhu said: "We also specifically asked Chen Nanbin who was the main writer. Chen Nanbin said it was Ouyang Lun. Ouyang Lun's literary talent is really good, it just depends on his ability to perform on the spot."
Zhu Bai frowned slightly: This guy really tried every means to show his face in front of Lao Zhu. It seems that he came here to be the No. 1 pick.
Zhu Biao also felt this way, but couldn't express it clearly.
Again, although he didn't like Ouyang Lun, he couldn't use his personal preferences to interfere with the independence and fairness of the imperial examination marking.
Zhu Bai looked at Zhu Biao: "Brother, we haven't visited the Imperial Academy for a long time. Let's go and have a look tomorrow morning."
Zhu Biao immediately understood and nodded: "Yes, it seems necessary to go and take a look. Otherwise, it will appear that we don't pay enough attention."
They were also afraid that someone would do something behind their backs.
After all, the people in the Imperial College will most likely become his ministers.
