As the newly minted Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, Wang Yuan officially started working before the Chinese New Year, because every year during the first lunar month, the emperor would worship heaven and earth in the southern suburbs.
For large-scale sacrificial activities, the Ministry of Rites is the prime minister and planning agency, Taichang Temple is the specific execution agency, Honglu Temple serves as an assistant in the ceremony, Guanglu Temple provides and manages sacrificial utensils, Qintianjian selects the date of sacrificial rituals in advance, and eunuchs are responsible for the entire process.
Responsible for supervision work.
Before the great sacrifice, fast for seven days.
The first four days are "precepts", that is, all social activities are stopped, no singing and dancing, no banquets with guests, no sex, and even no condolences, medical treatment, solving cases, fighting, working, wearing beautiful clothes - Wang Yuan meets Duo
Envoy Yan Sanwei, strictly speaking, has broken the precepts and must be fined one month's salary according to the regulations. However, it can be accommodated in special circumstances. He cannot be so sick that he is about to die. Officials are not allowed to see a doctor.
The last three days are "fasting". Not only can you not engage in social activities, but you also have to bathe and change clothes, do not drink alcohol, and do not eat meat. The word "no meat" here does not mean being vegetarian, but does not mean eating spicy foods such as ginger, onion, garlic, and leeks.
, so as not to offend the target of sacrifice due to bad breath.
In order to call on all officials to fast, an oath ceremony is also held.
That is, the officials stood in front of the emperor, led by the Minister of Rites, and swore to observe the fasting etiquette together.
During fasting, you also have to practice rituals. To put it bluntly, it is a rehearsal in advance.
The rehearsal location is Chaotian Palace, which is a Taoist palace. It can be seen that Taoism was truly respected in the Ming Dynasty.
During the Zhengde period, the etiquette system had not been completely corrupted, civil and military officials did not dare to mess around, and even the emperor had to abide by etiquette.
But after Wanli, rituals and music completely collapsed.
There are records of a sacrifice during the Wanli period. The general content is: During the fast, various banquets were held. During the rehearsal, the queues were not organized, people were making noises privately, and spitting everywhere. The laughter reached the emperor, and all the officials looked at ease, and continued
They were whispering to each other. Some people accidentally fell down while playing, some people claimed to be sick and sat down to rest, and some people just lay down on the steps to sleep. In front of the Chengtian Gate, the eunuch read the emperor's edict, and before the reading started, an official escaped from the rain. During the sacrifice process, someone
They brought tents and bedding with them, so they could lie down and rest at any time; some even asked slaves to support them along the way, or even let them carry them on their backs.
An inappropriate analogy can be made, just like during the National Day military parade, the central bosses engaged in the above behavior. Do you think this country can be saved?
The great affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military affairs!
The sacrifices during the Wanli period were all like this, which shows how corrupt the officialdom was. It is not surprising that officials did all kinds of bad things.
If you traveled to the Wanli Dynasty and became emperor, how would you deal with such bad government administration?
Two days before the sacrifice, the emperor needed to report to the temple, that is, go to the Taimiao Temple to ask the ancestors to accompany the sacrifice. One day before the sacrifice, the emperor personally inspected the animals, that is, inspected the three animals used for the sacrifice.
During the Zhengde period, heaven and earth were worshiped together, and they could be worshiped together. The location was the Great Sacrifice Hall of the Heaven and Earth Altar.
Wang Yuan showed up again this time because he was one of the chief officials.
Zhu Houzhao led hundreds of officials to worship heaven and earth in the great sacrificial hall. Yang Tinghe led some officials to worship the Ming Dynasty (sun) in the east; Liang Chu led some officials to worship the night (moon) in the west; Wang Yuan led some officials to worship the night (moon) in the west.
There are also altars for worshiping stars on the periphery; Jin Gui, Yang Yiqing and other important ministers preside over other altars for worshiping.
It can be seen from this sacrificial arrangement that Zhu Houzhao elevated Wang Yuan's status to the third position in the central government, second only to the first and second assistants of the cabinet.
A left minister of the Ministry of Rites actually crushed the six ministers, and also crushed the two cabinet ministers Jin and Yang.
Although some people raised objections to such an act that went beyond the rules of etiquette, it was of no use at all. Because the emperor returned with a great victory, the three departments of law, the supervisor of rites, the royal palace, and the royal guards had just been fucked, and Zhu Houzhao's prestige was at its peak.
period!
Over there at the Great Sacrifice Hall, I saw that the emperor was about to finish offering sacrifices to heaven and earth.
A Zanglilang (Zhengjiupin) of Taichang Temple shouted at the top of his voice: "Five officers, gifts!"
The man of praise beside Wang Yuan shouted: "First offering!"
Wang Yuan immediately picked up the cloth and stepped forward to offer it to the God of Stars.
"Bye!" Zanli Lang shouted again.
When the prostrations are over, the Master of Praise will shout again: "Ya Xian!"
There are many types of gift cloths, and each time the gift is different, the "final offering" is completed.
This thing changed a lot. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, after the sacrifices to heaven and earth were completed, other altars began to offer gifts. Song Lian believed that this was disrespectful to the objects of worship such as the sun, moon and stars, so he changed it to offering sacrifices to heaven and earth when it was about to end.
Before the Hongzhi Dynasty, Fenxian officials did not need to kneel down when offering gifts, because they were presenting gifts on behalf of the emperor. The Minister of Civil Affairs at that time said that this was very unethical, so he changed the content of the sacrifice, so that Wang Yuan had to bow when offering gifts at the altar.
Jiajing was worthy of being the Taoist Emperor, and sacrifices were within his professional scope. He once again made major changes: he separated heaven and earth for sacrifices, and reduced the fourteen altars to four.
After Wang Yuan finished offering sacrifices to the stars, he took the accompanying sacrificial officials behind him and went to the Great Sacrifice Hall to join the emperor and together complete the final offering to heaven and earth.
After the sacrifice, we set off back to the city.
According to the law, the prince could not participate in the sacrifice, not to mention that he was still young, even if he was an adult. Because the emperor went out of the city to perform sacrifices, the prince automatically took charge of the country and took charge of the country, which means "a country cannot live without a king for a day".
"Erlang, get in the car!" Zhu Houzhao waved.
Wang Yuan had already stolen the limelight and did not want to irritate the civil and military officials any more. He rode next to the imperial chariot and said, "I will just follow you."
Zhu Houzhao said: "Then get closer."
Zhang Yong, Jiang Bin and other close ministers were so envious in their hearts that they wished they could push Wang Yuan away from them.
After returning from this great victory, Zhang Yong once again took control of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
Jiang Bin was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army of the Rear Army, and was also given the title of "Prince Taibao", ranking among the three orphans, and the rewards he received were much more outrageous than those of Wang Yuan.
But Jiang Bin's crown prince Taibao did not attract as much attention as Wang Yuan's Zuo Shilang. As for military attaches, as long as they don't rebel and don't provoke civil servants, what can they do if they become Taishi?
When Wang Yuan was riding next to the imperial chariot, Zhu Houzhao suddenly said: "Qian Ning is dead, and I did not send anyone to kill him. After he was dismissed, the concubines and their servants were separated, and they left the capital with only their wives and children. They did not leave the city.
When he reached ten miles away, he was killed by horse thieves, and no one in his family was spared."
Hearing this, Zhang Yong and Jiang Bin both trembled. Because this was the fate of Xingchen. Even if the emperor softened his heart and let him live, it would be difficult to escape the tragic death.
Qian Ning used to be too greedy for money and too ruthless in his actions, forcing countless officials and people to die.
It just so happened that during this period, thieves were everywhere in the capital, and among them Qian Ning's enemies were inevitable. He had probably been targeted a long time ago, and his whole family died as soon as he left the city. I heard that even the bodies were taken away, maybe to bring the thieves back.
Divide them in the nest and eat them.
Zhu Houzhao sighed a little: "Erlang, you still remember that when you and I first met, Qian Ning was also there. It was just outside Nancheng, not far from here, it feels like yesterday. I can't bear it, but Qian Ning... Sigh...
!”
Wang Yuan comforted him and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry about it. Qian Ning only brought the blame upon himself. He is favored by Your Majesty, but has he ever repaid Your Majesty's kindness? Even if there is no case of Ning Fan, he deserves to die. Your Majesty, you know that Qian Ning sent the Imperial Guards last year.
He went south with a hundred thousand guan of treasure banknotes, and each province allocated 20,000 taels for forced sales, and easily got a hundred thousand taels of dirty silver. Every penny he made was destroying His Majesty's prestige as emperor!"
Zhu Houzhao remained silent.
This time, Qian Ning's hometown in Yunnan was not even searched during the house raid. More than one million taels of silver were confiscated from his home in the capital alone, and this did not include property, shops and residences.
After a long time, when he saw that he had arrived at the city gate, Zhu Houzhao suddenly asked: "Erlang, I copied a jade mountain from Qian Ning's house, which is priceless. I will give it to you and Ling'er as your wedding gift. You won't think it is unlucky."
Bar?"
Wang Yuan replied: "A gentleman respects ghosts and gods and keeps them at a distance. As long as he walks upright, sits upright, has no evil thoughts in his heart, and does not lose his virtue in his body, what else can he do in the world?"
Zhu Houzhao laughed: "I heard that Erlang demolished and rebuilt all the Avalokitesvara statues in Zhejiang. As expected, he is not afraid of ghosts and gods."
Wang Yuan also smiled and said: "I did it to save the drowned baby, and my merits are immeasurable. There really is Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, and with the compassion of the Bodhisattva, he will not blame me for destroying the Buddha statue, but will bless me for the success of my administration. If the Buddha can ask for it, then that's it.
Go and ask for it; if you cannot ask for Buddha, I am Buddha!"
"Erlang's arrogance is similar to mine!" Zhu Houzhao's mood improved again.