Qin Official

"Your Majesty was dreaming between Mi and Wei?"

In the Chen Bao Temple in Chencang County, Wu Zhi, who had gray beard and hair and a sallow complexion, looked at the panting black-faced young man and already guessed his purpose.

"Your Majesty asked the young master to come and ask the old man to interpret dreams?"

"Of course."

Heifu took the soup handed over by Wu Zhu and drank it all before he had time to observe the small temple.

The most eye-catching thing about this temple is a large ceramic rooster standing on the eaves outside, with its head held high and its chest raised, as if it was crowing at the rising sun.

The name of the temple is "Chen Bao Temple". Heifu saw a record when he was reading "Qin Ji" in the Xianyang Tibetan Room: "In the 19th year of Duke Wen, he obtained Ruo Shiyun and placed it in the temple in the north city of Chencang. His god may not be old yet. Perhaps as time goes by, it often comes at night, shining like shooting stars, coming from the southeast and gathering in the temple city, like a rooster, its voice is like a cloud, and the pheasant crows at night. There is a prison temple, named Chen Bao..."

After all, this is just a meteorite that fell from the southeast one night in Beibei, Chencang. The meteorite fell in the quiet night and startled a mountain of pheasants to crow. People thought it was the pheasant god appearing, so they called it "the pheasant god." earth".

This stone was sent to Duke Wen of Qin by the local people, but they found that its texture was like stone, but its shape and color were like liver and lungs. Duke Wen of Qin was curious about it and thought it was a treasure. After Wu Zhu explained it, he enshrined it in the temple on the hillside north of Chencang City and called it Chenbao.

Now hundreds of years have passed, Chen Bao Temple is no longer as prosperous as it was in the past, but the Qin Dynasty still arranged special shamans to offer sacrifices here in the four seasons. They wore pheasant feathers in their eyes and hair, wore feathered clothes, and spoke in a phlegm-like voice. , the old Wu Zhi who asked his apprentice to pass the spittoon and spit out it every half a moment...

Although Wu Zhi looks weak, he is still one of the two most famous Wu Zhu in Qin. The other one was "Wu Ya" from the Xichou Temple in Qianyi. Qin Shihuang also sent Wang Li to invite him.

Hei Fu finally got this job, and he didn't want to be too late behind Wang Li, so he said: "Your Majesty has arrived in Longxi first and sent us to greet the great witch. We don't have much time. Great witch, you and I should go to the car and talk!"

Wu Zhi knew that he could not refuse, and he calculated that since the ceremony of establishing the twelve golden men, the emperor might not have summoned him for a long time, and he didn't even come to see him when he was on his way to the west.

This was a rare opportunity to meet the saint, and he did not dare to neglect it. He asked his disciples to bring the necessary tortoise shells and other items, and then hurriedly followed Hei Fu out...

However, Heifu was surprised to find that among the necessities Wu Zhi brought, there were several rolls of dried marijuana leaves, the same kind of smokeable marijuana that the doctor Chen Wujiu found in Yunmengze a few years ago.

"Why does the wizard have this thing?" Heifu asked after helping the wizard to the car.

Wu Zhi wanted to maintain his own mystery, and the gods kept saying that this was a psychic thing. After it was lit, he could travel to the sky and interact with ghosts and gods...

"What nonsense." Heifu thought to himself, wasn't he just getting high from smoking marijuana?

It turned out that this was a "good thing" that Wu Ya got from a merchant in Nanjun when she went to Xianyang to assist in the sacrifice of the twelve golden men last year.

After he tasted it once, he was out of control. He thought he was really communicating with gods, but he didn't know that this was just an illusion caused by nerve anesthesia.

In just a few years, this thing has become popular among wizards and alchemists.

Heifu secretly scolded Chen Wujiu as the instigator. At the same time, he also felt that after returning to Xianyang, he should report to the relevant departments of the Shaofu in charge of the pass inspection that Nanjun marijuana should be classified as contraband!

He tactfully reminded Wu Zhi that when interpreting dreams in front of His Majesty, it is best not to smoke and to be sober.

"Shaofu Cheng, what dream did your Majesty have?" Wu Zhi disagreed and asked about business.

Heifu also listened to Prime Minister Wang Wan's dream interpretation, so he knew the general dream of Qin Shihuang:

The emperor dreamed that the dogs and horses used to sacrifice Feizi came to life. He was riding on the white horse, with the black dog leading the way, walking eastward along Longshan Mountain. As he walked, he returned to Xianyang Palace. The twelve golden figures standing in front of the hall suddenly stood up...

At this time, a rooster crowed, and the emperor woke up. He felt that the dream had profound meaning, and called Wang Wan and others who were accompanying him to interpret the dream.

Although Wang Wan was knowledgeable, he was deeply influenced by Confucianism. He felt that dreaming was not a mysterious thing, so he interpreted it with the help of six dreams in "The Rites of Zhou". He believed that Qin Shihuang's dream was "dreaming about what he was thinking about when he woke up", which was a dream. To put it simply, he thought about it during the day and dreamed about it at night...

This is a scientific conclusion. Heifu also wanted to praise Prime Minister Wang, who was feudal but not superstitious. However, Qin Shihuang believed more in mysticism and was not satisfied with Wang Wan's answer, so he asked two of the most famous witches to be invited. Come.

The emperor moved his mouth, but Heifu broke his leg. He could only take people back to Longdong again and ran all the way to Chen Bao Temple.

Wu Zhu was really an expert in dream divination. As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, there were many records about the Yin emperor's dream divination in oracle bone inscriptions. Emperor Wu Ding of the Yin Dynasty always asked wizards to ask ghosts and gods for him whether his dreams were any disaster, and whether his dreams were any disaster.

In the Zhou Dynasty, they even liked to play with dream interpretation. It is said that King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou had many good dreams at that time, which foreshadowed that Zhou would definitely replace Yin. For example, King Wen once dreamed that "the sun and the moon are surrounding his body." The sun and moon are symbols of the emperor, which obviously means that King Wen was ordered by heaven. His wife Taisi's dream was: "In the dream, the garden of Shang was growing thorns. The crown prince (King Wu) took the catalpa from Zhou Ting and planted it in the palace. The catalpa turned into pine, cypress, trepan, and oak tree."

The wizards of the Zhou Dynasty interpreted the dream in the Mingtang and believed that this was a good omen. It was the Emperor and God who wanted to give the "great destiny of Shang" to the Zhou people. From now on, his son Fa would carry the tree to Dayi Shang!

The Qin people rose up from the Zhou Dynasty and inherited the Zhou Dynasty's emphasis on dreams. Duke Mu of Qin once stayed awake for seven days due to illness and dreamed of going to the residence of the Emperor of Heaven, traveling in Juntian, and playing Guangle. After waking up, he also regarded this as a good sign that God wanted him to dominate.

Now, Qin Shihuang had another dream, and it was a strange dream in the land of Feizi where horses were herded. Of course the emperor would think that this was an omen brought to him by his ancestors?

After telling what happened, Heifu asked on the bumpy carriage: "What does the witch think should be the explanation for this dream?"

Wu Zhi closed his eyes: "This is the secret of ghosts and gods. I can only tell it to Your Majesty and cannot tell it to others."

In fact, he hasn't figured out a way to respond yet.

Although Heifu wanted to interfere, he did not dare to make Wu Zhi unhappy by being too obvious. He rolled his eyes and talked about another matter in a circumstantial way.

"I remember that when the Twelve Golden Persons were established, in addition to several great wizards from Qin, Your Majesty also asked warlocks from Yanqi to participate in the ceremony..."

It's okay that Heifu didn't mention it, but when he mentioned those Eastern scholars from Yanqi Mountain, Wu Zhi became furious.

Major affairs of the country, including military affairs and sacrifices, sacrifices, divination, dream interpretation, etc., have been prohibited by local witchcraft since the founding of the Qin Dynasty. For example, a hundred years ago, when the struggle for hegemony between Qin and Chu was fierce, King Huiwen of Qin, in order to pray to the Emperor of Heaven and the great god Wu Xian to protect the victory of Qin, ordered the Qin wizards to carve stones to curse the defeat of Chu, which was called "Cursing Chu".

In addition to worshiping Shaohao, the White Emperor, and Chen Bao, the pheasant god, Wu Zhu in the Qin Dynasty mainly believed in the "three witches", namely "Wuxian", "Dachen Jueqiu" and "Yatuo", forming a system of its own.

But since Qin Shihuang unified the world, the arrival of Shandong scholars has brought unprecedented impact to the ancient witchcraft in Qin.

People who work together are enemies, and the alchemists are also engaged in astrology, immortality, housekeeping, witch doctors, divination, etc., which are in conflict with the witches and blessings of Qin.

Wu Zhu originally looked down on these outsiders, but when they competed in front of the emperor, the two sides decided.

The alchemists of Yanqi not only borrowed Zou Yan's theory of yin and yang and five elements to package themselves, but also called themselves "Fangxian Dao". They lobbied the emperor with the theory of immortality of immortals who went to sea to seek immortality, and boasted "Three Immortal Mountains" such as Penglai and Fangzhang, saying that the above It is full of rare and exotic herbs grown by gods. If mortals eat them, they will live forever.

Qin Shihuang longed for longevity, and the Yanqi alchemists were eloquent, so he was immediately attracted.

In comparison, Qin's shamans were much more old-fashioned. They only wore feathered clothes, stared, and chanted prayers that had been passed down for hundreds of years in the earthy Kansai dialect, so they were left out in the cold.

This time they were dreaming for the emperor. If the alchemists hadn't stayed in Xianyang, and the water far away could not quench their thirst, they probably wouldn't have had their turn...

"This is what the kid can't figure out."

The journey was long. After spending two days together day and night, and becoming more familiar with Wu Zhi, Heifu pretended to sympathize with Qin Wu and dislike the alchemist:

"Your Majesty has unified the world, and the auspicious sign of the emperor is the twelve golden people. The golden people came from Lintao in Longxi, but the shamans of Qin failed to seize the opportunity and publicized it. In the grand ceremony, they were evenly matched with the Shandong scholars. I It’s really not worth it to be a great witch.”

"They are cunning and deceive Your Majesty with their evil words."

Wu Zhi had a gloomy face. Those Yanqi alchemists were arrogant and arrogant. They went in and out of the palace, but they were ignored. Thinking about it made them angry.

But there is no choice. The wizard Zhu from Qin is not as smart as the alchemist from Yanqi. He is a talker who has been practicing for decades in Shandong princes. He dares to talk about immortality and overseas fairy islands.

"The alchemists said that Eastern Overseas can seek immortality. In fact, they want His Majesty to give them money and silk so that they can go back to their hometowns to squander it."

"No!" Wu Zhi thought deeply.

Heifu tried his best to hint: "But there are three immortal mountains in the east. Is there no similar abode of immortals in the west?"

"The west?"

Wu Zhi felt his throat itchy and spit out another mouthful of phlegm. He raised his cloudy eyes and looked at Hei Fu. Are you saying, "The land of the Queen Mother of the West?"

"Of course!"

The old guy finally caught up with his thinking, and Hei Fu was very pleased. However, Qin Wu was isolated, and Wu Zhi only had a partial understanding of the legend of the Queen Mother of the West, which was far less detailed than the "novel" written by the Wei people.

Heifu then said: "When I was in Xianyang, I was studying in the library and saw a copy of "The Biography of Emperor Mu"..."

This is not made up by a black man. It is really a book written by people from the Wei state. It records the events of King Mu of Zhou’s eight-horse tour to the west. He traveled 35,000 miles and met the Queen Mother of the West. After it was written, it has been popular in Wei for decades. . It was probably a Wei novelist who mythologized the story of Zhou people's account of King Mu's western tour.

After the death of Wei, this book was collected in a stone chamber, and Zhang Cang edited and organized it. Before heading west this time, Heifu asked Chen Ping and others to help copy it onto hemp paper and compile it into a paper book...

He brought two books in total, and now he took one out of his arms and gave it to Wu Zhi with both hands.

Wu Zhi had also seen hemp paper, and was not surprised. He took it with his old hand and opened the place where Heifu had specially clipped a leaf as a bookmark.

"The Queen Mother of the West has a leopard tail, tiger teeth, is good at howling, and has a shaggy-haired hoopoe..."

"The Queen Mother of the West sang a ballad for Emperor Mu: When the white clouds are in the sky, the mountains and tombs emerge from themselves. The road is long, between the mountains and rivers. The general is alive and can still come back..."

"Can the Queen Mother of the West give people years and make them live forever?"

Wu Zhi's eyes widened suddenly. Hei Fu's words and the "Biography of Emperor Mu" were like a wake-up call, waking him up after he had been confused for a long time!

"Why didn't I think of this before?"

In front of Qin Wu, who was almost eliminated by the Yanqi alchemists, a brand new door was opened!

Dogs, horses, twelve golden people, the motherland of the Western Queen... Wu Zhi already knew how to interpret the emperor's dream!