Three Kingdoms

The sixth year of Yanping, well, it can no longer be called the sixth year of Yanping, because Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty planned to change the reign name.

Anyway, the matter of era names was also pioneered by the Han family. Originally, the reign name was only used to calculate the number of years the new monarch would reign. Generally, one was used for a lifetime and basically never changed.

At the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the emperor went out hunting and caught a unicorn Bailin. The officials thought it was an auspicious creature worth commemorating and suggested it be used to mark the year, so the reign name was named " "Yuan Shou", that year is called the first year of Yuanshou. However, six years later, a three-legged tripod (imitation) was obtained in Fenyang, Shanxi Province. The officials thought it was an auspicious artifact and suggested it be used to commemorate the year, so the reign name was changed to "Yuan Ding". "That year was called the first year of Yuanding.

From then on, it became a habit for emperors to change their reign names. Whenever they encountered some auspiciousness, good deeds, or just on a whim, they would change their reign names. For example, Wu Zetian even changed her reign names 18 times during her 21-year reign...

This time, Liu Xie felt that "Yan Ping" could not be pacified, so this year name was not good. In addition, there were foreign countries coming to court, which was worthy of commemoration and celebration, so he chose "Tai Xing"...

The meaning is just that. Anyway, the meaning is good, just like a birthday wish every year. A wish is a wish. Whether it can come true or not is another matter.

The first day of May in the first year of Taixing.

The entire celebration officially began.

The first is to worship ancestors.

In front of the Ancestral Temple, Liu Xie was wearing heavy sacrificial clothes, with a jade pendant hanging around his waist and a crown on his head. From a distance, he looked quite majestic and noble.

However, only Huang Men, who was following Liu Xie, could see the sweat dripping down from Liu Xie's temples...

Chapter 12: Although the sacrificial clothes are luxurious and dazzling, they are not breathable. Even in the early morning, after wearing them for a long time, they are still a little stuffy.

Behind Liu Xie, there was a group of two thousand-stone high-ranking officials wearing seven chapters of sacrificial robes, with purple or green ribbons around their waists, lining up one after another. Yang Xiu and Marcus were also among them.

Yang Xiu was naturally accustomed to such scenes, but this time, he was still a little nervous, not because he was nervous about himself, but because he had to keep an eye on Marcus all the time...

"Don't pull your robe..." Yang Xiu pushed Marcus with the jade guide in his hand and warned in a low voice, "Like me, hold it with both hands..."

"It's fun..." Marcus retracted the hand that was holding his robe to fan the wind, and then imitated Yang Xiu and pinched Yugui with both hands. Although his hands didn't move, he raised his arms and wiped the flow from his head with his sleeves. Even though he was sweating, he still muttered, "Le Sile..."

Yang Xiu resisted the urge to roll his eyes and scolded in a low voice: "Shut up! Hold on! Don't move! If you don't move, it won't get hot!"

At the front of the queue, the etiquette officer was already in place, his eyes fixed on the water drain on the side, watching the water droplets falling drop by drop, and then covering the hourly mark of the day drain.

"clang……"

The bronze bell was struck, announcing the official start of the ceremony.

The ceremony officer shouted in a special tone: "The ceremony...begins..."

The big drum rumbled and the little yellow door bent very deeply, almost like a guide dog crawling quickly on the ground, guiding the line of officials to move forward along the designated route. Stand at the Ancestral Temple's position.

All stood still.

Drumming the three links will stop it.

Liu Xie then slowly raised his head and faced the ancestral tablet high above.

The ceremony officer shouted loudly: "Sacrifice..."

The drums were beaten nine times, and the gold was sounded nine times. Then the musicians on both sides of the hall played music in unison, and a group of dancers came in after hearing the drums. Their movements were uniform and the atmosphere was solemn.

Liu Xie knelt down towards the ancestral tablet and saluted.

The two thousand senior officials in the front row knelt down together. Yang Xiu poked Marcus with the jade guide again and urged in a low voice: "Kneel down..."

"Ah? What?" Marcus looked around awkwardly and saw that he was standing like a standout among the chickens. The others knelt down and slapped their mouths, and then he knelt down unwillingly. , "...the Mud Gate can really fly four times...it can fly four times better than the general..."

"Shut up!" Yang Xiu shouted, the sweat on his head rolling down after all.

However, Liu Xie didn't care about the incident that happened later. In other words, Liu Xie was particularly tolerant towards people from friendly countries...

Liu Xie prayed silently and muttered in a low voice:

"My ancestors and clans are on top, bless the common people in the world, bless the world for peace, and bless the great Han Dynasty to rise again..."

"Father..."

"My child is working hard... But the Han Dynasty is still not overthrown, nor is it cut off by Han Zuo. There are also donations from various countries to come to congratulate... Father, have you seen... The Han Dynasty will not fall, Han Zuo will not fall." It will be cut off...never..."

Liu Xie couldn't help but think of what he had experienced over the years, the hardships he had suffered, and the humiliation he had suffered. For a moment, his eyes turned red and he almost shed tears...

"Present...offer..."

Liu Xie was awakened from his memories by the loud shouts of the ritual officer. He stood up slowly, took the lacquer plate filled with grains from the eunuch on the side, and then presented it to his ancestors.

Then the three sacrifices are offered again, and finally the three offerings of fresh fruits, water and wine are concluded.

"Come in... 虙..."

The music became a little short and fast, which seemed to express joy.

Liu Xie first drank a small glass of wine, then ate a small piece of meat presented by Official Fu Xun, and then began the process of dividing the cold meat...

Marcus naturally got a small piece, pinched it with his fingers, and looked at Yang Xiu sideways.

Yang Xiu cursed in his heart, how many times had he taught this lesson, but he still forgot it when the time came! Yang Xiu had no choice but to signal, put the piece of meat he was assigned into his mouth, chewed it a few times and swallowed it.

Marcus also quickly stuffed the meat into his mouth, but soon frowned, "Ugh...no salt..."

The pork belly is just boiled meat, where does the seasoning come from?

real! Boiled!

And it doesn’t necessarily ensure that it is cooked. After all, the emperor’s piece is of course cooked. Is it divided among so many officials? The one that looks cooked is fine...

Yang Xiu ignored Marcus and prayed that this session would end as soon as possible.

"Withdraw... the food..."

The sharing of cold meats was finally over, and it was the most critical moment.

"Dong dong dong..." The drum beats the three links. The sound of the music changed again, becoming majestic, passionate, and magnificent. This is the song of "Da Wu".

The eyes of Liu Xie and other officials couldn't help but focus on Marcus...

Unaware of it, Marcus rubbed his fingers and felt they were greasy, so he wiped them on his sleeves, thinking that no one would notice his little move...

In the ancestral temple square, music and dance gradually reached a climax. "Yu Huangwu King! No competition for Wei Lie. Allow King Wenwen to defeat the later ones. Siwu accepted it, defeated Yin and restrained Liu Dynasty, and Qi Dinger's meritorious service..."

The dancers sing the Book of Songs that praises the two generations of Zhou Wenwu and his son. It is naturally very suitable to be used as a memorial. The entire dance segment is divided into six sections, which respectively show the great achievements of Zhou Gong and simulate some battle scenes. Naturally, the dance is divided into six sections. Somewhat majestic and majestic.

Just when the Dawu Dance was almost over and about to leave, the dancers suddenly gathered into a square formation, then raised their wooden swords, guns and shields high, and shouted in unison:

"The strong wind is blowing and the clouds are flying! We are returning to our hometown in the sea of ​​Weijia! The warriors are here to guard the four directions!"

Suddenly, the bells and drums rang together, shaking the earth and the earth.

Liu Xie's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly turned his head to look at the ceremony officer, only to find that the ceremony officer, who was supposed to have his neck stretched out, like a rooster standing on a branch in the early morning, ready to crow, now had his head shrunk. Like a plague-stricken hen, quiet, obedient, and plague-ridden.

Originally there was no Da Feng Ge in the session...

The next step should be for Marcus to come forward and give a gift on behalf of Fan Bang, and then Liu Xie accepts it, and then gives Fan Bang a gift in return, and then talks about how the world is and how the people are, and then it ends perfectly.

But what happened to this sudden extra Da Feng Ge?

This gale song is naturally familiar to Liu Xie. It’s not that Liu Bang’s gale song is not good. It’s just that the problem is that after Guangwu, it gradually stopped being used in celebrations or sacrifices. This one by Liu Bang The wind sang. After all, Liu Xiu and Liu Bang can be said to be two completely different Lius. They even built a separate Ancestral Temple. How could they use Liu Bang's great wind song when commemorating Liu Xiu's bloodline?

This is like putting a BMW logo on a Mercedes-Benz car. As a basic common sense for memorial ceremony, how could the ceremony officer in charge of this celebration not understand?

Since it is impossible not to understand, then it is done intentionally...

Liu Xie gritted his teeth and shouted to the ceremony official in the middle of the loud triple chorus of Da Feng Song on the square: "What do you mean!?"

The official buried his head deeply under his neck, maybe he was still thinking in his heart, you can't see, you can't see, so he didn't dare to respond to Liu Xie at all.

But soon Liu Xie knew the reason, because the people watching the ceremony were like water being separated by the bow of the ship, revealing the battleship inside, uh, the people and horses came out...

A big flag was flying high, and the word "Cao" on it stung Liu Xie's eyes.

"Cao Cao!" Liu Xie gritted his teeth and said two words.

Cao Cao strode forward, and although he was short in stature, he exuded a somewhat majestic air. The surrounding officials, big and small, bowed deeply and saluted when Cao Cao passed by. Even if Cao Cao passed by, they did not dare to raise their heads immediately, just like the strong wind blowing and blowing the barnyard grass one after another, which added to the atmosphere. Cao Cao's momentum.

Before reaching the steps, Cao Cao stood still, raised his head and met Liu Xie's eyes.

At this moment, neither of them spoke.

The dancers all retreated at some point, and even the musicians stopped one after another. The drummer pressed his hand on the drum head. There was no sound in the huge scene for a while, except for Liu Xie's left hand with the word "Han" written on it. The flag of the word was twisting and rolling in the wind, making a sound similar to "that's all"...

Liu Xie's cheeks twitched and he stared at Cao Cao fiercely.

On the contrary, Cao Cao had a calm face and looked at Liu Xie like he was looking at his own cats and dogs.

It seemed that a long time had passed, or it seemed that only a moment had passed. Cao Cao's raised head moved slightly, then lowered it, bent slightly and cupped his hands, "I have seen your Majesty..."

"Cao Sikong..." Liu Xie said slowly, "What do you want? Do you want to ruin my grand ceremony?"

The corner of Cao Cao's left eye trembled, but his face remained calm, and he said with a slight smile: "How dare I... to hear about His Majesty's celebration? I am not talented enough to defeat the bandits, so I specially presented the prisoner in front of the Danjie for His Majesty's congratulations... ...It is the icing on the cake for His Majesty, how can it be called a ruined ceremony?"

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Liu Xie's feedback, he shouted to the courtesy officer on the side: "The auspicious time is about to pass, what do you want to do?!"

The ceremony officer trembled with fright, immediately stretched out his neck, and shouted loudly: "Xian... captive..."

The clanging sound of soldiers' armor came, and a group of soldiers pressed dozens of tied prisoners to the square in front of the Ancestral Temple. Those escorting the prisoners were all veterans of the battlefield. They had an intoxicating aura about them. The scars and cracks on their armors on their faces also fully demonstrated their ferocious aura on the battlefield. During the march, they were actually oppressing those on both sides. The officials couldn't help but take a step back slightly. I don't know if they subconsciously made more space for these soldiers to move forward, or if they were too timid to confront them head-on...

"Plop, plop..."

The prisoners of war were pushed to the ground, wailing, crying, silent, grabbing the ground with their heads, all kinds of things, it was a mess.

The soldiers lined up behind them, standing silently with their swords and spears in hand. There is a cold light shining on the sword and gun. This light is completely different from the light painted on the wooden knife and gun held by the dancers before. Although this light is not very dazzling, it makes people feel cold in the heart and trembles in the hands and feet. , so close that you can even faintly smell the smell of blood...

Liu Xie's breathing was a little disordered. He took a deep breath before calming down again. He stared at the prisoners of war in front of him without saying a word.

Yang Xiu, who was standing in the crowd watching the show, raised his eyebrows and raised the corners of his mouth, and then quickly returned to his serious look, standing motionless like a wooden sculpture, as if he didn't see or hear anything...

On the side, Marcus's eyes shone brightly. He stood on tiptoes without any concealment, stretched out his neck, glanced at Cao Cao for a while, and at Liu Xie for a while. What if he was holding something in his hand instead of a piece of jade? Melon seeds and so on must be like the vast masses of future generations.

"Your Majesty, please issue an edict..."

Cao Cao bent down slightly and bowed his hand to Liu Xie.

"Please! Your Majesty decrees!"

The soldiers escorting the prisoners of war shouted in a deep voice, and the sound echoed in the sky above the Ancestral Temple.

"...Detain him...and punish him in accordance with the law..." Liu Xie was helpless. Although he was unwilling to cooperate with Cao Cao deep down, he had to speak under such a situation.

The soldiers took the order, pulled up the prisoners of war, and took them down again.

Yang Xiu looked at it and couldn't help but let out a breath from his nose, but saw that Guo Jia in front seemed to hear something, turned his head to look, and quickly pretended to be nonchalant and whispered to Marcus next to him: "Don't look, it's your turn... Do you still remember the etiquette? Uh... Forget it, just remember as much as you can... Anyway, you are not the focus now..."