When Li Yuanji led a group of orioles and swallows to the front of the Tai Chi Hall, the sky was completely dark. The lights inside and outside the Tai Chi Hall were brightly lit.
Wearing heavy mountain armor, red silk around their necks, and bronze masks on their faces, the Qianniu Bishen of the Left and Right Bishen Mansion stood like stone figurines all over the square in front of the temple.
In the middle of the square, there are one hundred and eight stone pillars standing.
On the top of each stone pillar, there is a brazier, and a raging fire is burning in the brazier, reflecting the orange color of the square in front of the temple.
Under each stone pillar, there are several palace servants in strange costumes and uniform masks.
All of them were bent over, as if they were waiting for orders from the Nine Netherworlds of Heaven and the ghosts and gods from all directions at any time. In the middle of the stone pillar, there was a high platform similar to an altar guarding them.
There is an incense table on the high platform, and there are also three animals used to worship the gods.
"Alang, you, Ling'er and the others are here to watch the ceremony. I will take the sisters to attend the big ceremony."
After Yang Miaoyan saw the high platform in the middle of the stone pillars, she dropped these words and hurried to the side hall on one side of the square with a group of warblers.
Li Yuanji, Li Chengqian, and Li Ling were left standing there with big eyes staring at them.
It was also at this moment that Li Yuanji realized that Yang Miaoyan had not only hosted the Nuo Opera Festival, but also brought all the orioles and swallows in the family to participate.
Li Yuanji can more or less understand this.
After all, the Nuo Opera Festival is a large-scale sacrifice involving thousands of people, and it is reasonable to require a lot of people.
The officiant was Li Yuan, and the accompaniment was Li Jiancheng. Naturally, others could not substitute servants at will.
Otherwise, it will humiliate Li Yuan, humiliate Li Jiancheng, and fool the ghosts and gods by the way. If the Tang Dynasty has good weather in the coming year, it will be nothing.
If there is any disaster in Datang next year, this kind of thing will be made a big fuss about.
Therefore, when it comes to other sacrificial personnel, naturally we cannot be careless.
The chief sacrificer is Li Yuan, and the accompanying sacrificer is Li Jiancheng. Then the other sacrificers should be relatives of the royal family, civil and military officials.
As an important member of the royal family, Yang Miaoyan naturally had to participate.
This is also the only sacrificial event that Yang Miaoyan can participate in as a daughter.
Because this sacrifice is a performance, there are not only many male characters, but also many female characters.
If it were another sacrifice, Yang Miaoyan would not even be qualified to participate, let alone participate. "Father, I want to play with my mother and concubine."
Li Xu watched helplessly as Yang Miaoyan left in a hurry with a crowd of warblers. He couldn't help but crane his neck, and while looking at the direction in which Yang Miaoyan was leaving, he loudly asked his father for instructions.
Li Yuanji gently scratched Li Xu's nose and said with a smile: "Tonight's Nuo Opera Festival is an annual grand festival. You can't just go and play if you want to. If your grandfather is
When the time comes, I'll definitely give you a spanking."
Hearing that she would be slapped, Li Xu pouted with displeasure and said nothing. Although she was young, she knew that her father did not lie to her about this matter.
Li Yuan is a standard feudal patriarch, and the idea of preferring sons over daughters has been deeply rooted in his bones. He treats his biological daughter in a different light. He doesn't even care about his granddaughter who is a concubine. Li Xu has never seen Li Yuan since he can remember. What kind of smile did he show her?
If you really want to cause trouble in such a big festival, if Li Yuan finds out, you will definitely be slapped. However, with Li Yuanji protecting you, it is impossible for the slap to fall on Li Xu.
But even so, it was enough to stop Li Xu from going to Yang Miaoyan to play. Li Chengqian, Li Ling and Li Chengye actually wanted to go too.
But after seeing what happened to Li Xu, they suppressed their curiosity and restlessness.
"I have met His Highness the King of Qi...I have met His Highness the King of Qi..."
One or two minor officials who came to watch the ceremony, after discovering Li Yuanji's figure, immediately came forward to salute.
Li Yuanji just nodded slightly in response.
Among the officials who came to watch the ceremony, there was no one above fifth rank.
Almost all of them were officials below the fifth rank, and they did not need much courtesy from Li Yuanji.
As for the officials of fifth rank and above, they should have rushed to the side hall on the side of Taiji Hall to claim their sacrificial robes and masks.
They will accompany Li Yuan to perform sacrifices and act as a group of minions around Li Yuan.
Li Yuan will arrange different identities and positions for them according to their status in his heart.
To be more specific, the higher the status and the closer you are to Li Yuan, the more favored and trusted you will be in Li Yuan's heart.
On the contrary, it means that you are not favored or trusted.
Li Yuanji didn't need to use this to fight for anything, nor did he need to use it to show his identity, so he had no interest in participating in the Nuo Opera Festival.
Without Yang Miaoyan's kind invitation, Li Yuanji wouldn't even want to come to the ceremony.
After all, standing stupidly in front of the Tai Chi Hall for several hours, watching a group of people stupidly dancing to the masters, is really not interesting at all.
"You! You! Go find me some sitting beds."
After Li Yuanji had dealt with the visits of all the petty officials, he gave instructions to the eunuchs waiting beside him. The eunuchs all stared at each other, but no one dared to move.
Seeing Li Yuanji frown slightly, one of the eunuchs with some status hurriedly said: "Your Highness, the main sacrifices for this grand ceremony are the ghosts and gods from all directions. If you sit and watch the ceremony, you are disrespectful to the ghosts and gods from all directions. If the saint knew about it, he would definitely Angry."
Li Yuanji glanced at the eunuch who spoke, and said in a neutral tone: "It's freezing cold today, and it doesn't matter if I stand and blow the cold wind for a few hours. But my nephew, my child, is still young. Standing If the cold wind blows for a few hours and causes some illness, can you afford it?"
The eunuch hesitated for a moment and then said with a grimace: "Then I will prepare some futons and furs for your highnesses?"
Li Yuanji added: "Prepare a futon and a piece of fur for me, something larger." The eunuch's face became even more bitter, but he did not dare to refuse.
After all, the man in front of me was the only person in the Tang Dynasty who could still live well after beating up the martial arts for half a century in front of the Tai Chi Hall.
Can't afford to offend.
The eunuch apologized and hurriedly retreated with the other eunuchs. Not long after, he reappeared in front of Li Yuanji with several futons and furs.
Li Yuanji distributed the futons and furs to Li Chengqian's four little guys.
He asked them to wrap themselves up tightly, and then took them to find a corner to hide in on the side of the palace gate in front of Taiji Hall.
It was also the first time for the four little guys to break the rules in front of many people in the Tai Chi Palace.
Not only were they not afraid, but their eyes widened with excitement, hiding in their large fur coats, and looking around.
Li Yuanji stared at the four little guys, leaned against the corner of the palace wall, and rested comfortably.
Occasionally I would look at the petty officials huddled together for warmth, and I would also look at the movements in the direction of the Tai Chi Hall.
About half an hour passed.
When Li Yuanji was about to fall asleep, the Nuo opera ceremony officially began.
As a high-pitched sound spread throughout the Tai Chi Hall, dull and heavy drum music sounded together.
Li Yuan wore a bright yellow robe and a bronze mask that not only covered his face, but also protruded half of it. He sang a weird song, danced with a weird step, and appeared jumping up and down.
In the square.
Behind him, royal family members, civil and military officials, each wearing a mask representing a certain kind of god, wearing a variety of weird costumes full of various gods, also singing weird tunes and dancing weird songs
He appeared in the square with a jumping pace.
It felt like a large-scale dancing masters convention. It was obviously funny and ridiculous, but the people watching the ceremony had a solemn look on their faces.
Li Yuan led a group of royal family members, civil and military officials, first went to the high platform and burned the sacrificial table to the heaven.
Then Li Jiancheng was ordered to announce the return of the gods to their thrones.
Four royal family members who served as Fang Xiang's clan took the lead in leading the twelve Huangmen and one hundred and twenty followers, and rushed to the four directions.
Then, according to the level of the gods, they began to announce one by one and return to their positions one by one. After all the gods returned to their positions, Li Yuan muttered a lot of words that no one could understand.
Then the Nuo Opera Festival officially started.
Li Yuanji hid in the corner of the palace gate, far away from the front of the Tai Chi Hall and far away from the high platform where Li Yuan sat. In addition, the sky was dark and only the brazier illuminated, so he couldn't see anything clearly.
You can only see figures moving around one after another. From time to time, there will be strange tunes.
Li Yuanji lost interest in the Nuo Opera Festival less than half the time he spent burning incense.
Seeing that Li Chengqian's four little guys couldn't see anything clearly, but were still staring at the high platform in the distance with great interest, he told the four little guys to watch the show obediently and not run around.
Then I closed my eyes and fell asleep. In a daze, I heard the sound of rapid horse hooves in my ears.
Opening his eyes slightly, he saw a black shadow passing through the palace gate hole beside him and heading straight to the high platform in the middle of the Tai Chi Palace Square.
Weird singing voices, frightened shouts, and angry scoldings instantly flooded into my ears. "Father! It's father!"
Li Chengqian didn't know when he had left his fur behind, and was standing there jumping on his feet and shouting.
Li Yuanji originally wanted to ask, 'How can this fool be so brave and dare to break into the Tai Chi Hall and disrupt the Nuo Opera Festival during the annual Nuo Opera Festival?'
After hearing Li Chengqian's shouts, Li Yuanji knew who it was without asking.
Li Yuanji suddenly stopped feeling sleepy, opened his eyes wide, and sat up excitedly, "We've seen a good show."
As he spoke, he stood up and greeted like a mountain king, "Come on, kids, come with me to watch the show."
Li Chengqian only knew that his father, who was invincible and invincible, like an invincible hero, was back.
He didn't know what it meant for his father to come back at this time.
I don’t know why his father would be so domineering and force his way into the Tai Chi Palace, and even force his way all the way to the Tai Chi Palace.
He heard Li Yuanji's greeting, and without saying a word, he came to Li Yuanji's side, grabbed Li Yuanji's little finger, and moved towards where his father was.
