The cheers continued for a long time, until the civil servants got tired of shouting, and then Xu Xuemo, the Minister of Rites, quietly looked at Taichang Secretary Qing, and soon after, all the cheers were cheered, signaling that the suburban welcome had officially begun.
Gao Jingshi was not Zhou Yu, and he didn't have the ability to "catch up if the music is wrong", but the music played today was very familiar to him, and it surprised him - it was "The Song of Taihe", one of the Zhonghe Shao music. 》!
Because the Ming Dynasty was based on expelling the Tartar slaves and restoring China, it attached great importance to the restoration of traditional Chinese etiquette. Etiquette is often referred to as "ritual and music" in ancient China. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang also attached great importance to the construction and use of ritual and music. As early as when he first conquered Jinling, he did not neglect his duties. He opened the second round of ritual and music, recruited senior scholars, and divided Cao Cao studied and discussed, determined the sacrificial canons, ordered the revision of ritual books, and re-established the elegant music. During his thirty-two years in office, he must be sincere and respectful whenever he encounters sacrifices, fasts, or animal sacrifices.
In order to warn himself, he specially ordered Taichang Temple to make a sign, writing down the sacrificial times of Yuanqiu, Fangze, Sheji, Ancestral Temple, Xiannong, Fengyuleishi, Mazu, etc. on the sign, and hung it in front of the east ear room at all times. remind. He also ordered the Ministry of Rites to cast a bronze figure, holding a simple letter in his hand saying "fast for three days", and put it in front of him before the sacrifice, so that he would be wary and not dare to let it go. He also ordered each government office to set up wooden plaques with the words "Each one has his own permanent constitution, and the gods have his own supervision." This was to remind the officials during the sacrifice.
In order to show his respect for the gods, he specially set up a god to worship Yale with the Daoliu palm "for purity". As Wang Zhi said, "The dynasty attaches the most importance to sacrifices, and everyone recommends heaven and earth, ancestors test , everyone has fun, and those who make fun must choose their people carefully. Those who learn Laozi's method are quiet and pure, so they choose their disciples carefully, and they should be optimistic and dedicated to their work." It is precisely because of the emphasis on sacrifices, The functions of the Taichang Music Officer in the Ming Dynasty became more single than that of the previous generation. They were only in charge of various sacrificial rituals and music. In modern language, it is "highly specialized".
Of course, there is no need to describe in detail the extremely complex music official system of the Ari Ming Dynasty, only the music itself used in sacrifices and ceremonies (any ceremony requires sacrifices, so the music used in sacrifices is basically the music used in ceremonies).
The sacrifices in the Ming Dynasty were divided into three categories: large sacrifices, medium sacrifices, and small sacrifices: the large sacrifices included Yuanqiu, Fangze, Ancestral Temple, Sheji, etc.; the middle sacrifices included Chao Ri, Xiyue, Xiannong, Tai Sui, Xingchen, Fengyun Leiyu, and Yuezhen. , Haidu, mountains and rivers, emperors of past dynasties, ancestors, banners, Siming, Simin, Silu, longevity stars, etc.; the gods are small sacrifices.
Corresponding to the level of sacrifice, sacrificial music is divided into four grades: nine pieces are used to worship heaven and earth; eight pieces are used to worship gods and Tai Sui; seven pieces are used to worship Ming Dynasty, Taishe, Taiji, and emperors; six pieces are used to worship Yeming, Taisui, and the Emperor. The Imperial Society, the Imperial Palace, the Ancestral Temple, and the First Master.
There are two main types of sacrificial music: Zhonghe Shao music and Confucian Temple Da music. Zhonghe Shaole was widely used in important sacrificial ceremonies of the imperial court, with a large scale. The sacrificial music of the Ming Dynasty all has the word "harmony", such as "Zhonghe Zhizhi" and "Guanghe Zhizhi". Different levels of sacrificial ceremonies use different music.
The nine-piece, eight-piece, seven-piece, etc. mentioned above are roughly equivalent to the number of musical instruments required to complete the ceremony, and each musical instrument is equivalent to a stage of the ceremony. The more grand and grand and high-level the ceremony is, the more music will be played.
The nine memorials are roughly divided into the following nine steps: welcoming the gods, laying jade and silk fabrics, entering the altar, first offering, sub-offering, final offering, thoroughly feasting, sending off the gods, and looking forward to burning. Each step of the music played can roughly determine the level of the sacrifice from the first piece of music played - of course this is not very accurate, because among a large number of sacrifices of various grades, the "Music of Neutralization" is played most often.
However, the first performance of "The Song of Taihe" is rare, and usually it is performed to worship the Ancestral Temple. This is also the reason why Gao Yingshi is very familiar with this piece of music at this moment, and the ritual music is eight pieces, which is of very high quality.
Some people may ask, since the triumphal return was to be dedicated to the Ancestral Temple, wouldn't it be appropriate to use music dedicated to the Ancestral Temple at this moment? That's not the case. Offering prisoners to the Ancestral Temple and offering sacrifices to the Ancestral Temple are two different things. In the Ming Dynasty, where the etiquette system was extremely strict, they could not be confused at all. Because in a sense, if the two are compared, there will be a sense of madness in the descendants who think they can equal their ancestors. Who dares to mess with this?
However, the first song played in Taichang Temple at this moment happened to be the "Music of Taihe" that was first played in sacrifice to the Ancestral Temple. It can be seen that today's ceremony is either a copy of the grade of the sacrifice to the Ancestral Temple, or it is a new grade directly.
At this time, Gao Jingshi couldn't move around at will. Instead, he immediately straightened his face after the music started, dismounted and walked out of the crowd. Qi Jiguang beside him was even more agile than him, dismounting even faster, and then waited for Gao Jingshi. When you come forward, follow closely, stand south and look north.
After the ceremony official sang, Gao Jingshi and Qi Jiguang immediately knelt down - not just the two of them, but in fact everyone in the venue had already knelt down, and they all knelt facing north, including the emperor and the Mongolians. Inside.
Gao Pragmatic, who was bending down and kowtowing, quietly glanced at the emcee's stand and found that the ceremony official had solemnly held out a gold plate with various treasure books on it, and a row of nine people stood solemnly waiting for the next move. At this time, Gao Pragmatic was finally sure that the etiquette used today was to offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple!
The second step in offering sacrifices to the Ancestral Temple is not to lay jade and silk fabrics, but to "consecrate treasures". Now that the treasure book has been brought out, it can be seen that it is not wrong. If you really want to be more cautious, then look at what music is played next.
At this time, Gao Pragmatic also followed the ritual officer's singing and recited a prayer and blessing. This blessing was very long and took a long time to read each sentence, so I won't go into details here. After the congratulations were recited sentence by sentence, the ceremony officially entered the next step. The ceremony officer who presented the treasure book directly presented the treasure book to the north - but the problem was that this was not the Ancestral Temple, and Gao Pragmatic was also curious about what they were going to do.
The result was something new. The ceremony officials presented the treasure book to a row of incense tables that had been set up in the direction of the Ancestral Temple. Although Gao Pragmatic is far away, it is estimated that the incense table contains the tombs of successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty. This...maybe Zhu Yijun invited his ancestors out for a military parade. This might be the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The music at this time has also been changed, and the music played is "The Song of Xihe", which is perfectly in line with the music used for worshiping the Ancestral Temple.
The subsequent procedures are still extremely complicated, and there is no need to elaborate. In short, the next six pieces are as follows: Jinzu, "The Song of Ninghe"; Chuxian, "The Song of Shouhe" and "The Dance of Martial Arts"; Yaxian, "The Song of Condensation"; "The Song of Yuhe" and "The Dance of Wende"; Zuxian, "The Song of Xihe" and "The Dance of Wende"; Che Dou, "The Song of Yonghe"; Sui Shen, "The Song of Anhe".
After this long process, everyone was kneeling until they were numb. Veterans like Xu Guo, who was nearly seventy years old, knelt tremblingly and swaying here and there, but no one dared to stop midway. He didn't even dare to be helped - no one dared to help him.
Zhu Yijun himself didn't seem to be feeling well either. He had always suffered from "foot disease" and many of his sacrifices were made by honorable ministers and cabinet ministers. This time, it was no surprise that he knelt down and sweated profusely. The only preferential treatment he could enjoy was probably that after the ceremony, the eunuchs in charge of rituals quickly got up and helped him get up.
There was a section in the prayer just now where the ritual officer recited an imperial edict on behalf of the emperor, and the imperial edict contained the reasons and reasons for this sacrifice. There is also something different here than usual, that is, the Ancestral Temple is a grand ceremony for descendants and junior emperors to pay homage to their ancestors. In the imperial edict, one usually reports one's achievements to the ancestors as a junior. Even if ministers are mentioned, it is only mentioned in passing without naming them.
However, this time it was different. Gao pragmatic found that his name appeared three times directly and openly, mentioning three points respectively: knowledge, culture and martial arts.
There was nothing to say about his knowledge, but he emphasized that he was the only six-headed scholar since the Ming Dynasty in 224 years. Wenzhi emphasized that he "followed Wen Zhenggong's legacy" to solve financial problems, so that the annual revenue of the imperial court reached its first level last year. The most important aspect of the ceremony is martial arts, which lists in detail his great achievements since he became an official.
Not only did he contribute to the four great battles of Monan, Liaonan, the Pacification of the Northwest, and the Northern Expedition to the Remaining Yuan Dynasty, but he even counted the Battle of Burma as one of his "strategies, no matter how far away the grain mountains and grain seas are, they will come; decisive victory" Thousands of miles away, gold, pearls, and jades increase instead of decreasing." The power of dispatching... Well, the second half of the sentence is probably not just dispatching, but plundering other countries. Of course, nominally it was the compensation he demanded from the failed invaders. Well...it was fine in nominal terms.
His knowledge, culture, and martial arts are all outstanding and superb. From this point of view, the high pragmatism is simply rare in history, which shows that the emperor thought highly of him.
Therefore, Zhu Yijun, the emperor of Wanli, also "expanded" a little here, quoting a sentence from "Qunshu Zhiyao·Wei Zhixia": "There is an immortal king; he must be able to use immortal ministers. Use it." An immortal minister will surely achieve immortal achievements." to summarize these achievements.
Fortunately, if this was his own boast, it would certainly be too outrageous, but he used it very cleverly because he added a sentence before it: "In the past, the late emperor once taught earnestly..." and added a sentence after it: " ...Although it is not as good as it is now, I can give you comfort." In this way, the madness disappeared, but it showed that he attached great importance to the teachings of the late emperor and always took the expectations of the late emperor as his responsibility. Now he has finally achieved some results and can comfort his father. ——This is another excellent manifestation of filial piety.
It has to be said that with Zhu Yijun's operation, even Gao Pragmatic could only raise his thumbs and say that it was well done - he was worthy of being his classmate for ten years. His thick skin and clever use have really been integrated into one. Called perfect.
After the process was completed, Gao Pragmatic stood up and walked towards the emperor to hand over the tiger talisman, customs defense and other items in his hands. The emperor had now recovered from kneeling to a state of numbness. With a spring breeze on his face, he messed up the etiquette that had been set before. Originally, according to the procedures set by the Ministry of Rites, he should have been pragmatic on the stage and handed it over in front of the audience. It was a token symbolizing military power, and then the emperor praised him, and then the ceremonial supervisor announced the imperial edict of awarding him.
But Zhu Yijun had promised well before, but now he did not comply. Instead, after Gao Pragmatic came over, he walked off the stage with a smile on his face, helped Gao Pragmatic up on the spot, and took off his cloak. He dropped it and put it on Gao Pragmatic's back.
When he helped Gao Pragmatic stand up before, Gao Pragmatic hesitated for a moment and then got up. But when the cloak was draped on him, he was so frightened that he quickly bowed down again, panicking - or at least it looked panicked - saying that I didn't dare accept it.
Not only that, he even said his refusal in a rather incoherent way, with the first words not matching the second words. This was actually the first time Zhu Yijun had seen him behave like this since he had known him.
But Zhu Yijun was very happy and forcibly lifted him up again. He recited a poem with a smile and said: "The black geese fly high in the moonlight, and Shan Yu escapes at night. When I want to chase Qingqi away, the heavy snow covers my bow and knife."
Then he tightened the cloak tied to Gao Pragmatically, and said with a smile: "I asked the imperial supervisor to make this cloak for you overnight. Just wear it with peace of mind. Hey, if you refuse again, then I can only He said, 'This is a gift from you, and you cannot refuse it.'"
Gao pragmatic was stunned for a moment. He didn't look at the style of the cloak just now. He didn't know if it was made by the emperor. But at this moment, he couldn't take it off and take a closer look. Since the emperor had already said this, he refused again. Obviously, it was disobedience, which was not acceptable, so he stayed for a while and had no choice but to bow down again and thank the Lord for His kindness.
Gao Jingshi bowed three times, Zhu Yijun supported him three times, then waved his sleeves and walked back to the general stage, saying: "Chen Ju, declare the decree!"
This imperial edict is very long, and it is not convenient to describe it in detail. I will only select a few: "The Minister of the Ministry of Households is highly pragmatic... He is a master of tools, capable of planning and making decisions, and he is loyal and loyal. He is a member of the imperial court. He holds the responsibility of the ministry. If you have a wealth handle, you can clear your remaining debts and accumulate tens of thousands of gold; after self-governance, you can lead a heavy army, and your outstanding achievements will be seen in the Ming Dynasty.
He was a man who cared about the country and had the tools to help the world. He conquered the south and the north and conquered all the barbarians. These are all dedicated to the area, and they are in charge. When their success or failure is not clear, they do it alone regardless of their reputation or reputation.
He became an official in the first year of the year, and within ten years the country was purged. All barbarians were subdued, and Taicang's grain could last for several years. The money accumulated in the temple reached more than six million. Chengjun's virtue is restrained, and he has been rigorously tested recently. He has a good reputation, a postal biography of the Qing Dynasty, an area of acres, and a talent for economics. Be open and honest, tolerate the virtuous and catch the sycophants, hold them to the limit, and guard against the tendency of generosity. How can we increase the virtuous ministers of ancient times? It is appropriate to add a ceremony of award to persuade ministers in charge..."
Because his martial arts have been praised before, these paragraphs can be said to focus on commending his martial arts. However, in any case, they are just foreshadowing. All in all, they are all for the last sentence: "It is appropriate to add a ceremony to encourage him to do things." minister."
At this time, the entire audience was silent. No matter the civil servants, military generals, Ming or Mongolian troops, they all had their ears pricked up to listen, wondering what kind of reward the emperor would give Gao Pangshi in the end.
"...I have ordered the nine ministers, big and small, to discuss the qualifications for joining the cabinet in a pragmatic and pragmatic manner. Why don't you, a great talent, use the help of the court assistants to make more achievements? I also remember the intention of my ancestors to confer titles to reward loyalty and advancement. , dare not violate it. Therefore, the canonization is: Gao Jingshi is granted the title of Marquis of Nanning, which is hereditary. Also, most of the titles awarded in the dynasty are military honors, but Gao Jingshi is not among them. His title is like the story of a Korean prince. I admire this."
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PS: I didn’t rush home until eight o’clock in the evening. My whole body was sore and I was still working on the manuscript. I was so confused. If there are any textual flaws in this chapter, please forgive me.
