Chapter 380: Report to the King, Founding the Yuan Dynasty
Mausoleum.
The burial place of the emperor.
Ji Zhao's tomb was built in a place with beautiful mountains and rivers. According to his will, it was not very luxurious. Compared with the later tombs that were more majestic and magnificent than the last, it was far inferior.
But a mountain is not high, but it is magical if there are immortals there. Ji Zhao was buried here, and this is the most sacred place.
Thousands of years have passed and the world has changed dramatically.
According to legend, when the goddess of Luo River, Ji Lingjun, was buried here, peach blossoms bloomed all over the Suwang Mausoleum overnight.
As countless people came here, they walked along the straight path paved with bluestone in the mausoleum towards the altar. The rumbling sound startled the birds in the forest, and they started chirping. The branches and leaves of the peach trees kept shaking, as if welcoming Luo Jing who was walking in front.
At the end of the straight road, a large altar appeared in front of us. The altar was built entirely of bluestone. Some of the bluestone on the altar even had some cracks, adding some traces of time.
This altar has a very long history. It was built during the reign of King Kang, who held a memorial ceremony for Ji Zhao here. At that time, Ji Zhao did not have such a high status as it does now.
Later, when the Zhou emperor moved eastward, this place became the place for the Luo family to worship their ancestors. During the period when the two countries were most hostile, the Qin State tried to cut off the Luo family's sacrifices to Ji Zhao, but soon gave in. Then a strange scene appeared, the royal family of Luo State appeared outside Xianyang of Qin State in a swagger.
Liu Che stepped down from the imperial carriage and looked at the somewhat familiar scene around him, feeling a little emotional. It was here that he wore the crown of the emperor of the Xia Dynasty and became the man appointed by heaven.
Jia Yi, Luo Jing and others surrounded him, and the waiters placed the offerings on the altar one by one. The most conspicuous one was a medium-sized tripod, which was one of the most important ritual vessels in the sacrifice, called the "Tongtian Ding".
As the name suggests, according to legend, this tripod can communicate with heaven. The person performing the sacrifice would write down the words and then put the carrier into it, which would then reach heaven directly.
When everything was ready, everyone's eyes turned to the emperor, and Liu Che's face was solemn.
"Woo~~~"
The heavy sound of trumpets rang out, followed by instruments that sounded one after another. Hundreds of musicians played in turn, and it was naturally the most grand hymn.
"Please invite the emperor to the stage!"
Luo said loudly.
"Please invite the emperor to the stage!"
All the civil and military officials said in a loud voice.
"Please invite the emperor to the stage!"
Everyone who came to the Suwang Mausoleum said in unison.
The sound was so loud that it even exceeded the sound of the constantly swaying branches and leaves. It was like a huge bell or drum, constantly echoing in the peach blossom forest, and the echoes kept changing.
The two princes carried the wide emperor's robe to the altar for Liu Che, leaving Liu Che alone there.
"Your Majesty, I, your servant Liu Che, the Prince of the Xia Dynasty and the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, lead all the civil and military officials of the Han Dynasty, the civil and military officials of the Zhaogong Kingdom, and the civil and military officials of the Lingnan Kingdom to offer sacrifices to the Supreme Emperor of Heaven."
Liu Che inserted incense and lit the flame in the Tongtian Ding. Then he saw everyone under the altar kneeling down like a tide.
Liu Che himself also knelt down. The emperor offering sacrifices to heaven was like a son offering sacrifices to his father. Kneeling down was reasonable.
Liu Che crossed his hands and raised them high above his head, while the others crossed their hands and lowered their heads in front of their chests.
"Buzz~"
This is the sound of strings. During a ceremony, musicians are the only exception. After all, they are part of the ceremony themselves and it is impossible for them to play music and perform rituals at the same time.
The grand hymns of praise resounded throughout the land, and even now, even in the land of Qinchuan, there were no people who could not sing these hymns of praise.
People like that are all traitors. They cannot be officials, cannot join the imperial guards, and cannot come here.
"The spirit of the Su Wang is in heaven, and the glory of the Xia will last for thousands of years!"
After the song was sung once, everyone stood up. Jia Yi and Luo Jing held a cylinder with bamboo sticks in it. Each stick had a name written on it. Upon closer inspection, they were all deceased kings, dukes and ministers. Below the name was the posthumous title and the explanation of the posthumous title.
After the invention of paper, bamboo sticks gradually lost their function as a carrier of text, but other uses have been discovered, such as sacrifices and as a carrier of various mystical sciences.
The two men walked at a leisurely pace, even their feet were raised at about the same height. They slowly walked to Liu Che's side and held out the bamboo tubes. Liu Che took one out and saw that it was Zhao Tuo, the King Huan of Lingnan.
He threw the bamboo sticks directly into the Tongtian Ding. Almost instantly, flames rose up like a fire dragon, directly swallowing up all the bamboo sticks.
"Your Majesty, I, Liu Che, as the emperor of the Xia Dynasty, hereby present the posthumous title of Zhao Tuo, King of Lingnan, as Huan!
Please ask the Supreme Emperor to examine this matter."
As Liu Che spoke, the bamboo slips burned fiercely in the Tongtian Ding, and then a clearly visible wisp of white smoke floated from the cauldron straight into the sky.
Everyone opened their eyes wide. Even though they had seen this scene before, they were still shocked because the wisp of smoke was so straight, as if it had been measured with a ruler.
Regarding this scene, if anyone tells everyone that this is actually scientific and a normal formation, he is treating everyone as a fool. This is why posthumous titles are basically true evaluations, and a few praises or criticisms are not outrageous, because the people who evaluate the posthumous titles have seen this scene.
There is a god above us. Once people truly believe that there will be retribution for their actions and that everything has cause and effect, it will greatly improve their moral bottom line.
Everyone held their breath and waited for the follow-up results until the white smoke gradually dissipated and there were no unusual phenomena. According to Luo, this meant that the Supreme Emperor of Heaven had approved this posthumous title.
Liu Che took out another bamboo slip and threw it into the Tongtian Ding. "Your Majesty, I, Liu Che, in the name of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, present the posthumous title of Marquis Wuyang Fancheng, Yuanzhuang!"
When Wuyang Yuanzhuang Hou and Lingnan Huan Wang submitted their posthumous titles, Liu Che's title changed. Submitting posthumous titles is such a boring process that has to be submitted one by one. During the reign of Liu Heng, most of the posthumous title submission matters were handed over to Luo Jing, an idle person. Liu Heng was very busy and had no time to do these things.
However, it was only submitted once a year, and it was impossible for people to die every year. Sometimes no kings, dukes, or ministers passed away in a year, so it was generally easy. But for some reason, nine kings, dukes, and ministers passed away last year, which was the year with the most posthumous titles submitted since the establishment of the system.
Liu Che repeated it over and over again, but there was no perfunctory look on his face. None of the ministers under the altar showed any perfunctory attitude either, but were fully focused.
This is a very different place in this world. On the earth where Ji Zhao lives, there are no real gods. The emperor and those high-ranking nobles used to believe in gods and that heaven exists, so their sacrifices were very crazy.
However, as the wisdom of various schools of thought exploded, these smart people began to doubt the existence of gods. In addition, after countless sacrifices, no miracles appeared, so they gradually came to regard sacrifices as a simple act of maintaining rule.
With such a mentality, people are bound to be perfunctory in their treatment of sacrifices. However, in this world, miracles clearly exist, not only are they recorded in history books, but even right before the eyes of these people, some things beyond common sense are happening.
In real history, the idea of respecting ghosts and gods but keeping a distance from them teaches people not to pay attention to those gods and ghosts, but to focus on people themselves. The key lies in the word "distance".
But in this world, it really tells everyone that people should rely on themselves and not expect help from gods and ghosts, but they must respect them. The key is not only "stay away" but also "respect"!
Liu Che and his ministers waited quietly for the last wisp of white smoke to dissipate. No accidents happened and all the posthumous titles were approved.
Liu Che turned to face his ministers and said in a loud voice: "Today I come to worship the Su Wang Shang Huang Tian to announce a major event. This event has never been done before. If I don't submit it to the Su Wang Shang Huang Tian, I dare not carry it out."
Jia Yi and Luo Jing looked at each other in shock. This was not in line with the procedure. What did His Majesty want to do?
Jia Yi advised in a low voice: "Your Majesty, may I ask what the important matter you are talking about is? The king is in front of you, and it is not worthy of being presented unless it is a major event for the country."
Liu Che smiled and said, "What I am going to do is a major event that will benefit the country and the people. Prime Minister, I have a question. When did the late emperor die?"
Jia Yi was somewhat puzzled as to why Liu Che would ask a question that everyone knew the answer to, but he still answered directly: "Xiao Wen died in his fortieth year."
"Prime Minister, I would like to ask you again, when was the year forty years ago when Emperor Xiaowen was born?"
"The thirty-ninth year of Emperor Xiaowen's reign."
Liu Che laughed and said, “You told me it was the 39th year of Emperor Xiaowen. If you were in the 39th year of Emperor Xiaowen, and someone asked you what year it was today,
How would you like to answer?
Jia Yi frowned instantly. After the emperor passed away, he would naturally be referred to by his posthumous name or temple name, but what about when he was alive?
Jia Yi hesitated and said, "The emperor is thirty-nine years old."
Liu Che asked again: "What year is it now?"
Jia Yi said without hesitation: "The emperor will be in office for three years."
Now, not only Jia Yi, but everyone understood what the emperor wanted to say. The records of time were too confusing, especially the various imperial edicts and records, all of which were "the emperor's years". Once the filing was wrong, it would be very troublesome to check the time.
"Your Majesty, please give us your instructions."
Liu Che said excitedly: "People have names and surnames, so there are distinctions. I want to create names for years and months, called era names. From now on, the year will have a name, and the subjects of the world can call the year by its name and surname, and all documents will be recorded with the era name."
Dong Zhongshu walked up to the altar holding a bamboo slip in his hand. Liu Che took it and held it high, then threw it into the Tongtian Ding and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I, your servant Liu Che, will establish a reign title to rectify the world. I submit this: Jianyuan, Taichu!"
"Tai" means big and above, and "chu" means the beginning. It was the first era name in history, and it was meant to be a very commemorative one.
Just when everyone thought that everything would go smoothly, the bamboo slip turned into ashes before it even fell into the cauldron. Then a new bamboo slip jumped out of the cauldron and fell directly into Liu Che's hands.
Liu Che was completely shocked and subconsciously reached out to catch it. He saw four big characters engraved on the bamboo slip - Jianyuan, Yuanshi!
Liu Che was stunned. He turned the bamboo slip over with trembling hands, and then he saw the words "Great is Qian Yuan, the source of all things" written on the back, with every word profound.
Total silence!
————
"This ordinary-looking bamboo slip is the legendary 'Su Wang Granting Han Dynasty Era Name Slip'. Historical records state that Emperor Wu of Han invented the era name, and then Su Wang sent down this bamboo slip, thus the first era name in history was created - 'Yuan Shi'. 'Great Qian Yuan, the origin of all things' is the origin of this era name." - National Museum
Written out
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
