On Mother's Day, the men, women, and children on both sides of the Jicang River and in the settlement area near the Royal City were in high spirits. Nearly 3,000 people poured into the Palace Square from all directions.
In order to celebrate Mother's Day, Xu Chen not only decorated the square with colorful flags and enhanced the festive atmosphere, but also summoned the Imperial Army, which had been training for a month, to participate in a solemn flag-raising ceremony, and then held a unique military parade.
Xu Chen and three little witches stood on the flag stand in the center of the square. Onlookers were scattered on both sides of the north gate avenue of the royal city.
One hundred forbidden soldiers formed an honor guard formation, holding the royal flag, the Qinglong flag and the Ba flag, and entered from the north gate of the palace. They maintained a neat square formation amidst the sound of drums and marched in neat steps.
Walking to the center of the palace square, there was a phalanx of hunters selected from each tribe behind them. They followed behind and lined up to enter, and then gathered around the flag stand.
Gu Heju still acted as bugler and flag officer, wearing blue official robes and commanding the flag raising.
Everyone squatted on the ground and saluted. After the flag-raising ceremony, the Imperial Guards held a parade performance in the square.
Although it is just a simple daily step training, the neat movements, mighty momentum, and uniform slogans during the performance made the onlookers and the team of hunters excited.
The effect of the performance was obvious. The audience kept cheering excitedly, and it also stimulated the young hunters of various tribes to become restless.
Although they had only undergone a short month of training, the imposing manner displayed by these forbidden troops was completely different from that of ordinary hunter teams, especially in terms of military appearance and posture.
In the past, the hunter teams of various tribes looked very orderly and could follow orders and prohibitions, but whether they were walking or lining up, they had a lazy style and they just looked like that.
But compared with the hundred forbidden troops who were strictly trained, the gap was completely reflected.
Not only were these forbidden troops young and energetic, but they were all carefully selected tall and strong groups. They walked in formation and chanted slogans with great momentum, making the onlookers' team of hunters feel ashamed of themselves.
Moreover, the treatment of these forbidden troops is also very good.
Not only are they fed with fish and meat every day, but they are also provided with food, clothing, and housing. From head to toe, His Majesty the Witch King personally designs and arranges them. At the moment, the palace's garment factory is rushing to make Forbidden Army uniforms and standard armor for them, and even their daily clothes.
Training and learning are all personally guided.
As long as you join the Forbidden Army and retire after three years and return to your respective tribes, you will be a proper officer class. It is said that many of them will be selected by His Majesty the Witch King to serve as officials in the royal city. They can wear various official uniforms and will be promoted every month in the future.
Money is also distributed.
It's a pity that the selection of the Forbidden Army is too strict. A large tribe can only select three or five people, and a small tribe has only one quota. If you want to join, not only is there an age limit, but you also need to be tall, strong, smart, and agile, with a bow, arrow, spear, and horseback riding.
Proficient in everything.
These one hundred forbidden soldiers are the youngest and most courageous hunters among several alliance tribes in the entire Ba Kingdom. They all have the competitive strength of tribal warriors.
After three years of rigorous training and study, many people no longer dare to imagine what heights these forbidden troops will reach in the future. At least in terms of strength, they will definitely be much stronger than ordinary tribal warriors.
Of course, this kind of strength is also based on rigorous training and management.
These forbidden troops have basically never come out since entering the royal city and stationed in the military camp. Therefore, Mother's Day is their first full appearance, and it is also the first time they really leave the military camp.
And it is said that they are not yet considered the real Imperial Guards. During this year, they will undergo various rigorous training and assessments. Only those who pass the test can continue to serve as the Imperial Guards, otherwise they will be dismissed.
As the youngest and bravest hunter in each tribe, they definitely don’t want to be dismissed early, because that would be a lifelong shame for them.
His Majesty the Witch King is their most worshiped idol.
It is their greatest honor and pride in life to be able to become the Imperial Guard personally selected and trained by His Majesty the Witch King, so no one wants to become a joke to the tribe or others.
Driven by this mentality of glory and pride, the Forbidden Army works extremely hard in daily training. In this military parade,
During the exercise, everyone showed their best style, and almost every action and every command was done to the best of their ability.
Therefore, this seemingly small team of a hundred people brought not only excitement to the onlookers and ordinary hunters, but also incomparable shock.
And this short but wonderful military parade performance also brought the climax to the Mother's Day. Stimulated by this atmosphere, the subsequent foot drills and confrontation performances performed by the hunter teams of all ethnic groups also suddenly became extremely exciting.
Under the leadership of tribal officers, deafening slogans and uniform movements were displayed, making the military parade extremely lively. The audience also cheered in unison, and the shaking palace buildings seemed to be shaking.
After the wonderful military parade, the little witch led two witches from the Five Ghost Tribe and the Gonghuo Tribe and a group of students from the Witch College to hold a lively sacrificial song and dance in the square, and then led the young men and women who participated in the marriage and the chiefs of each tribe.
We went to the temple to worship the statue of the First Mother, visited and explained the murals, and finally held a lively wedding event in the temple.
However, after the reform, the marriage activities no longer have the eye-catching on-site mating ceremony of the past. Instead, they only need to choose between two and two. If they think they are suitable, they can hold hands and go to the three witches to express their desire to marry, and the three witches will rub their hands for them.
Give blessings and register them on the animal skin.
"The marriage between xx male x and xx female x was successful."
After the matching, there was a routine and lively spanking and marriage activity.
The wedding ceremony was held in the palace square, where men and women from each tribe gathered together to give the young men who were about to marry into their tribes a hard spanking.
Among the crackling sounds, there are still the sounds of ghosts crying and wolves howling one after another, and there are even a few screams occasionally, but they only cause a burst of laughter.
A group of clan leaders gathered around the three witches and began to discuss with each other the various conditions and betrothal gifts for intermarriage.
As living conditions get better and better nowadays, the requirements for betrothal gifts are naturally getting higher and higher.
In the past, crude primitive wealth such as ordinary animal skins, brocade feathers, bones and teeth could no longer be obtained. Now at least they were pottery and linen. Even for the strong and brave young people of various tribes, coppers and even kilograms of salt were required.
Although marriage is not a business, betrothal gifts are indispensable. Xu Chen once hated sky-high betrothal gifts in later generations, but now he is unable to force a change on this matter.
Because this is the age when men marry into wives, every man is a powerful labor force. In the past, it was even regarded as the core pillar of the tribe's survival and reproduction. Although women dominate marriage, they cannot weaken the value of men in the slightest, and even reflect the value of men.
After all, women are using their bodies to please and seduce the strongest and bravest men to join their tribe. Not only will they bring new strong bloodlines to their tribe, but they will also add a powerful guardian to the tribe.
and labor force.
Just like a pride of lions that is also a matrilineal clan, in order to survive and expand the population, young lionesses must constantly use their bodies to attract and tempt wandering male lions to join. If no male lions join for a long time, the pride will
It will slowly fall apart.
When placed in a human group, it becomes even more obvious.
A tribe that cannot attract outside men to join will decline very quickly, and may even die out completely within a few decades.
A strong young foreign man will be favored by many tribes at this kind of exchange meeting. If he cannot pay enough wealth, the male tribe has the right to refuse the marriage.
In the past, marriages were all within the respective alliance tribes. There were intermarriages and even exchange marriages. It was not so obvious to dislike the poor and love the rich. Moreover, at that time, everyone was so poor that they could only eat a beast or a few animal skins.
Feathers are a great wealth.
But now, there are more than 2,000 people from seven major ethnic groups and dozens of tribes gathered near the royal city. With so many targets and objects to choose from, the dislike of the poor and the love of the rich has become even more intense.
Later generations say that you can't get a wife without money, but now you can't get a man without money.
Although Xu Chen also wanted to change this situation, he had to say that this was the most normal natural selection of survival of the fittest. The stronger the tribe, the stronger the tribe, and the weaker the tribe.
.
But fortunately, everyone now lives near the royal city. Although the conditions are different and the gap between the rich and the poor is obvious, as long as the man's conditions are not particularly harsh, he will basically succeed.
After all, this is just a ritual and tradition. Marriage is not only the result of the voluntary choice of men and women, but also the result of the guidance of the gods. The bride price is just a form, and it is impossible to form a marriage relationship that is completely mixed with status and wealth. Gods and beliefs occupy the main reasons.
Therefore, even if there is a big gap in betrothal gifts in many cases, the two tribes will not collapse, and the bargaining will always reach a condition acceptable to both parties.
Unless they are tribes that are hostile to each other, it is completely impossible to negotiate.
But it is impossible for this situation to happen near the royal city at the moment. His Majesty the Witch King, who is respected by thousands of people, is holding the battle, and a great witch is presiding over the wedding ceremony. No tribe is willing to bear the major crime of disrespecting His Majesty the Witch King and destroying the wedding ceremony.
However, as society continues to progress, wealth continues to increase, and the division of labor between men and women in social production and life gradually changes, future marriages will gradually change. People who are well-matched, dislike the poor and love the rich will appear, and the bride price will also become
more and more important.
As for reaching a certain level, the sense of ritual is no longer important.
And once marriage loses its sense of ritual, the ethical and moral bottom line of society will become lower and lower.
From sacrifices to gods to parents’ orders and words from matchmakers, to freedom of love and marriage, when having children is no longer an inheritance that humans must abide by, marriage actually doesn’t have much meaning.