Li Zhi looked dumbfounded and said in disbelief: "If we take history as a mirror, we can know the ups and downs. If even the history books cannot be trusted, what else can be trusted? Is our tireless reading day and night all in vain?"
Since ancient times, the so-called reading is nothing more than a subset of classics and history.
"Jinzhong Jingbu" changed the six chapters into four parts, namely Part A records scriptures, which is equivalent to the Six Arts, Part B records books of Confucius, including books of scholars, military books, numerology, and Fangqi, Part C records historical books, and Part D records poems and poems. etc., laid the foundation for the four-part classification. When Wei Zheng compiled the "Book of Sui", he proposed that "the two capitals each gathered four parts of the book, followed by A, B, B, D, and four libraries of classics and history", and finally established the four-part system, officially labeling classics, history ,Zi,sets the names of the four parts, and is further subdivided into forty categories.
Ancient books are all-encompassing and come in many categories, but most of them are classified as "miscellaneous books" and are useless to read. Especially after Dong Zhongshu "deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism", most of the ancient books were abandoned and were really taken seriously. Most of them are historical books.
If what Fang Jun said is true and even history books cannot be trusted, then what books should we read?
Fang Jundao: "You can understand gains and losses by looking at people as a mirror. Don't praise the truths summarized by the so-called predecessors, but learn from the books yourself and experience what each ancient person did under different circumstances. judge."
Li Zhi looked confused: "But my brother-in-law just said that history books cannot be trusted. Who knows whether those things are true or false?"
Fang Jun took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "Even if it is not true, it was fabricated by the compilers of history books. The scholars who have been able to participate in the compilation of history are all great Confucian scholars of the time. These people use what they have learned in their lives to compile a history book. It is the accumulation of a lifetime of hard work, and even if it distorts the facts, it still contains countless wisdom of life. Whether it is true or false, what does it matter? It is time for us to read the history books and learn the essence of these people."
Every history book is a masterpiece of humanities. Although there are falsehoods and distortions in it, the profound thoughts in it are more important than the recorded past events. This is the essence of a history book.
Li Zhi felt that he had received a huge shock, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond.
Fang Jun ignored him and just dealt with the official documents.
At noon, Cui Dunli entered the duty room and reported: "Your Highness, Shangshu, the layout at the Circular Mound has been properly arranged. Do you want to inspect it on site to see if there are any omissions?"
The Circular Mound is the Temple of Heaven, where the emperor worships heaven. For such a major event as the Eastern Expedition, one must pray to God for victory before embarking on the expedition. It is indispensable and the most important thing.
Fang Jun then said to Li Zhi: "Your Highness, let's go and have a look together?"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "This is a big matter. There should be no negligence. It is time to urge it."
The two put down their teacups, stood up and walked out of the duty room together. Surrounded by a group of officials from the Ministry of War, they left the Yamen of the Ministry of War, rode their horses out of the imperial city, and headed south along Zhuque Street and out of Mingde Gate.
The Circular Mound is located about two miles outside the Mingde Gate. It is a huge conical mound surrounded by three low walls. When offering sacrifices to heaven, except for the emperor and some important ministers, no one else can enter the inner mound. There is an inner wall, and the ceremonial bands, foreign envoys, etc. are all outside the inner wall.
When Fang Jun and others arrived, Circular Hill was already heavily surrounded by soldiers wearing helmets and armor to ensure that no one would cause trouble. Officials from the Ministry of Rites came in and out and arranged all the corresponding facilities.
After getting off their horses, Fang Jun and Li Zhi came to the bottom of the circular mound and looked up at this place of worship to heaven.
The circular mound is a four-story circular altar plastered with white plaster. Each circular altar is equipped with twelve passages leading directly to the top of the mound, called "Bi", which means that the twelve stars are distributed around and radiate in twelve directions, about
It embodies the twelve stars in the sky in the minds of the Tang Dynasty, and they are named after the twelve hours. Among them, Zi, Wu, Mao and Youbi are also called North, South, East and West.
The Wubi facing south is wider than the other eleven, which is the royal road for the emperor to ascend to the altar.
"I have met His Highness, Duke of Yue!"
Guo Fushan, the right minister of the Ministry of War, and an official from the Ministry of Rites rushed to greet him and bowed.
Li Zhi stood with his hands behind his hands, stood under the circle and looked up, and asked: "According to the process of offering sacrifices to heaven, how are the preparations for everything?"
The official from the Ministry of Etiquette said: "Returning to Your Highness, there are dozens of officials from the Ministry of Etiquette here, and they are preparing one by one according to the procedures strictly. Everything is progressing smoothly at the moment, and we don't dare to slack off at all."
The Minister of Rites was originally Linghu Defen. After Wu Meiniang scratched his face with blood and had to retire, this position had been idle for a while, and was temporarily represented by several ministers. Recently, Song Guogong Xiao Yu officially took over.
Xiao Yu was a tactful and thoughtful person, so he naturally dispatched elite soldiers and generals from the Ministry of Rites to prepare for such a major event, so that nothing would go wrong.
Li Zhi nodded and warned: "Sacrifice to heaven is the most important thing. We must do our best and cannot be negligent in the slightest."
Officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Etiquette all bowed and looked solemn.
Li Zhi then said to Fang Jun: "Would you like to go up and have a look?"
Fang Jun said: "That's natural."
The top of the hill is a place for worship, and various facilities need to be arranged. They are so dazzling and complicated that they must be checked one by one to confirm that they are correct.
The two of them, surrounded by officials, walked up the stairs next to Wu Bi.
The entire circular mound is three feet high. It is built with rammed earth and is very solid. The surface is plastered with white ash and is neat and elegant. Standing on the top of the circular mound, you can look out over the surrounding fields.
The act of worshiping God Haotian in the feudal dynasty was the highest-level ceremonial activity, so the Circular Qiu played an extremely important role in the royal ritual architecture. Not only were officials from the Ministry of Rites stationed here year-round to be responsible for maintenance, but also with the Circular Qiu as the center, there were five surrounding buildings.
No buildings of any kind are allowed within ten feet, so standing on the top of the circular mound, you have a wide field of vision, overlooking the vastness of the earth, and looking up at the sky like a canopy.
Chang'an City in the north is majestic, and Zhongnan Mountain in the south is a place where tigers and dragons dominate. Starting from Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties would worship God here for hundreds of years. In front of them is the tablet of "Haotian God".
, holding the jade offered to heaven in his hands, praying to heaven for the country's prosperity.
…
"Zuo Zhuan" says: "The great affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military service." This is the core function given to the country at the beginning of its birth.
In ancient times, the functions of the state were these two. Looking at the history of China, it is a history of "sacrifice and military service" meeting each other.
"Sacrifice" refers to cultivating rituals and music and respecting the heaven, earth, ghosts and gods; "rong" refers to maintaining the stability of the country and attacking unethically and unkindly. If the teaching of rituals and music cannot stabilize the country, "conquest" will be used instead. This is
This is the so-called "ritual and music conquest came from the emperor", which means "the world has the right way".
There is nothing more important than these two things, so in many cases "sacrifice and Rong" are closely connected.
Fang Jun took the roster handed over by the official of the Ministry of Etiquette, which recorded the various procedures and corresponding utensils required for the sacrifice, and checked them meticulously one by one. He did not dare to make any omissions in this matter, otherwise no one would suffer the consequences.
We can't afford it. If anything goes wrong, it is estimated that more than half of the officials in the entire Rites Yamen will be exiled.
So no matter how strict his inspection was, the officials from the Ministry of Rites on the side were not dissatisfied at all.
Li Zhi was walking around with his hands behind his back. Although he had participated in many sacrificial ceremonies, the level of the heavenly sacrificial ceremony before the national war was probably only slightly worse than the new emperor's enthronement ceremony. He had never experienced it.
, so I feel curious everywhere.
Fang Jun checked and checked for an hour, and then he breathed a sigh of relief and returned the list to the officials of the Ministry of Etiquette. He still warned uneasily: "From now on, no one is allowed to touch everything here. Violators will be severely punished!"
How important is this ceremony to sacrifice to heaven? I don’t think I need to remind you that if something goes wrong, not only will your future be in jeopardy, but your whole family will also suffer, so you must be careful in handling it!"
It was just a large-scale event full of "feudal ideas". Could it really affect the outcome of the Eastern Expedition?
The answer is yes.
"Respecting the Heavenly Patriarch" is the humanistic origin of China. People fear the power of God and believe it is irresistible. God is always overlooking the people in the world, and its joys, sorrows, and joys will be reflected on the world through various natural phenomena.
warning.
Once something goes wrong in the process of offering sacrifices to heaven, it will definitely be God warning the world that "this battle is not going to be good", which will greatly weaken the morale of the military. If something goes wrong during the war, the "warning" from God will be infinitely amplified, and in serious cases
At this time, the morale of the entire army is low and it is possible for it to be completely defeated.
Many times, mental function is often the decisive factor in victory or defeat...