Chapter 2159 What do you want to say?
At this moment, the great altar is brightly lit.
On the three-tiered altar, along the outermost pillars, a soldier stood in front of each stone pillar, holding a torch in his hand. Although the flames were constantly shaking in the night wind, these people did not move.
The flickering flames illuminated the entire altar as bright as day.
All the ministers were divided into four teams and stood at the northeast, northwest, southwest and southeast positions under the altar. Duke Chengguo Wu Yingqiu, as the leader of all the ministers, stood at the front.
A pair of shrewd eyes quietly looked at the road leading from the Sai Palace to the altar.
The sound of drums and music never ceased.
Although all the ministers stood in their respective positions in an orderly manner, this was the first time that the current emperor held such a grand ceremony to commemorate the death anniversary of the late emperor. Everyone knew that it was he who rebelled less than three years after the late emperor's death. In the name of "pacifying the rebellion", he drove the late emperor's heir, Emperor Wen, off the throne and inherited the throne himself.
What would he say to his father at such a ceremony?
So, everyone stretched their necks cautiously and looked at the other end of the avenue.
Finally, at a place where the end seemed to be out of sight, the gate of the Sai Palace finally opened, and everyone saw a burst of fire shining from the avenue over there. In the dazzling light, a tall and burly figure slowly walked towards the altar from the other side of the avenue.
Rituals and music became increasingly high-spirited.
Everyone's breathing became tense at this moment.
Especially Wu Yingqiu.
Behind him, in other places, stood the princes, dukes and ministers who had already formed an alliance with him in his Duke's Mansion. All of them exchanged glances with each other.
The atmosphere was a little weird.
After a while, Zhu Feng, dressed in a formal suit, slowly walked to the altar.
When I looked up, I saw a three-story altar in front of me. Under the circles of fire, the altar seemed to have become a huge brazier, with flames shooting straight into the sky.
When he saw this scene, he suddenly felt that everything in his sight was shaking and changing.
It seemed like it had transformed into another large altar.
This has happened frequently in the past two days.
He suspected that it might be because he did not get enough rest and felt a little sleepy. Although he often stayed awake for several days and nights when he was young, he had never experienced this kind of dizziness or even hallucinations.
However, he had listened to Nan Yan's advice last night and had a good night's rest.
I even slept in today.
Haven’t you rested enough?
Thinking of this, he shook his head gently, and when he looked up again, he saw that the three-story towering altar, with the firelight shining on the human figures, was shaking constantly, and it seemed that even the altar was shaking.
And he vaguely saw that there seemed to be a figure on the shaking altar.
Who is it?
Who dared to step onto the altar before me?
At this moment, the voice of Eunuch Yu came from behind——
"emperor?"
This voice barely brought Zhu Feng back to his senses. He glanced back and saw Eunuch Yu looking at him cautiously, his eyes filled with confusion and concern. For some reason, the Emperor suddenly stopped short when he reached this point.
In fact, they were all a little worried about the birthday ceremony at the Grand Altar this time.
After all, something like that happened during the last sacrifice at the Great Altar. What was more important was that Zhu Feng went crazy because of this incident. As a last resort, they used special means on him to make him lose his memory.
This time, when he proposed to hold a memorial ceremony for the late emperor at the Grand Altar, everyone felt a little embarrassed.
I was afraid that the scene here would bring back his memories.
Although according to He Yi, people who have used "Taishangwangqing" will not have any associations or memories of the scenes and people they have seen in the past, it is better to be safe than sorry.
What if Zhu Feng fell into that kind of madness again...
Who dares to touch him again?
Although everyone was worried, they also understood that as an emperor, it was impossible for him to go to the grand altar and hold sacrificial ceremonies throughout his life.
So this time, from the previous preparations by Queen Xu Miaoyin to the preparations accepted by Eunuch Yu later, the place was arranged completely differently from the previous ceremony, but the appearance of the great altar was still there, and it was impossible to say that there was no worry.
When Eunuch Yu saw the emperor stop under the altar, his heart jumped into his throat.
He said carefully, "Your Majesty, is there anything wrong?"
“…”
Zhu Feng didn't say anything, but turned his head to look at the altar again.
The illusion just seen has disappeared, leaving only the three-tiered altar and the soldiers holding torches around it.
It seems that I was indeed mistaken.
He said, "It's okay."
After saying that, he continued to walk upwards.
Soon they reached the highest altar, where the altar and offerings were already set up.
A ceremonial officer slowly stepped forward, holding a golden plate in his hand, on which was placed a scroll of sacrificial text written by someone from the Ministry of Rites.
Zhu Feng picked it up and took a look.
In fact, he had already read it. This eulogy had passed through his hands and had been revised several times.
What is written above is nothing more than his merits and demerits in the few years since he ascended the throne.
Naturally, merits outweigh faults, and right outweighs wrong.
After all, this was an "explanation" he made to the late emperor after he ascended the throne.
Everyone knows that such a eulogy is just a means of whitewashing his mistakes. It describes him as being deeply favored by the late emperor, and that he launched the Jingnan Campaign only to assist the king in governing the country. After ascending the throne, he was also diligent in his work, loved the people, worked hard, and took it as his responsibility to ensure the security and prosperity of the country.
He had seen these words a long time ago.
As long as it is recited here today, history books will naturally record this and make a conclusion about what he did in the past.
But, I don’t know why.
For some reason, this memorial text, which I have read countless times, now feels as heavy as a thousand pounds when I hold it in my hands.
There is a voice that keeps echoing in my mind -
This is not true...
This is all fake...
All of this is fake!
It's all fake...
Fake!
Zhu Feng gritted his teeth hard to fight against the voice that kept echoing in his mind. At this time, the ceremonial officer beside him also felt a little strange.
He asked softly, "Your Majesty?"
If Zhu Feng delays any further, the sacrificial ceremony will be delayed.
Zhu Fengmantou turned around and looked at him in a cold sweat.
I looked at the memorial again.
Finally, he took a deep breath, raised the sacrificial text, and said loudly: "I, the supreme destiny—"
But just as he had finished reciting the first sentence, Duke Cheng of Wu Yingqiu, who was standing at the front of the court at the altar, suddenly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."
Zhu Feng's breath hitched.
He lowered his head and looked at Wu Yingqiu: "What do you want to say?"
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