688 Sacrifice to Heaven, I am the Emperor, Who am I afraid of?
At daybreak, civil and military officials appeared at the east gate, and when the time came, they attended the morning court in the main hall.
Snowflakes fluttered and landed on the frame of the car, and quickly melted. Then another snowflake fell. Although the snow was much smaller, it seemed that the momentum would not stop in the short term.
"This damn heavy snow, I don't know when it will stop." A thin official lifted the curtain and stuck his head out. The snowflakes fell right on the tip of his nose. He shivered from the cold. He shrank back a bit, but still got out of the carriage obediently.
Everyone says that officials in Beijing are good, but who knows the hardships of officials in Beijing under the feet of heaven? Let’s not talk about anything else, just take the morning court as an example. It is a good thing that the emperor is diligent in his work, but attending court every day is really not a life for human beings.
"Who said it wasn't true? It's been snowing for half a month. It's really strange that the snow won't stop. If it goes on like this, not to mention the common people, even we will freeze to death or starve to death." Upon hearing this, an official next to him got off the carriage, and the two walked together and talked as they walked forward.
At this time, when everyone gets together, the only thing they talk about is heavy snow, which is the safest thing to say.
"Alas, it is said that auspicious snow means a good harvest, but the snow is so heavy, where is the trace of auspicious snow?" The person who made this sigh was the official in charge of agricultural affairs. Originally, he was not taken seriously, but because of the food shortage caused by the snow disaster, his status as an official in charge of agricultural affairs also rose.
When it comes to the snowstorm, everyone has endless topics to talk about. They chatter non-stop while walking together to keep in touch with each other. Because it is a small meeting, everyone is more casual, but...
What shocked them was that when the morning court was about to begin, two people who should not have appeared suddenly appeared.
The palace maids sang loudly: "The Ninth Prince has arrived, Prince Su has arrived."
Huh? The officials were stunned. The emperor was diligent in his duties and held a small court meeting every day. He held a big court meeting every three days. Prince Su and the Ninth Prince only came to the big court meeting. Today was the day of the small court meeting. Why did these two Buddhas appear?
Did something happen?
The officials were all confused and worried, after all, none of them was clean.
But they didn't have time to think too much at this moment. They all fell silent, straightened their robes and lined up in two rows according to size, leaving the middle path, and paid their respects to the two adults at the same time.
"Meet Uncle Nine."
"Meet Prince Su."
"Yes." The Ninth Prince was dressed in a black brocade robe with a princely dragon embroidered on it with gold thread. The sleeves and collar were also outlined with gold thread. The golden light was extremely eye-catching in this snowy day, but what was even more eye-catching was the Ninth Prince's attitude that kept people at a distance.
The Ninth Prince walked along without even glancing at the ministers, enjoying their giving way and greetings as a matter of course. It seemed that the Emperor's imprisonment of the Ninth Prince for a month had not only failed to smoothen his temper, but made it even more sharp.
Compared to the Ninth Imperial Uncle, Prince Su is much better. Although he is strict, he is at least more popular than the Ninth Imperial Uncle. When faced with officials paying their respects, the Ninth Imperial Uncle only said "hmm" and didn't even look at the officials, while Prince Su would at least say, "No need to be polite."
The two men walked to the front as if no one was around. To show respect to Prince Su, the Ninth Prince kept lagging half a step behind. When the two men stood in the front, the Ninth Prince still had a stern look on his face, and stood there motionless, like a statue.
In fact, the Ninth Prince usually looks like this, more like a clay statue than a human being.
"What's wrong with you, kid?" Prince Su felt that the coldness of the Ninth Uncle seemed to have worsened. Who made him angry?
Even the emperor has been bullied by him, and there are still people in Dongling who dare to make him angry. He must be tired of living.
The Ninth Prince looked at Prince Su expressionlessly and shook his head: "It's okay." When did Prince Su become so gossipy? He was not the type to meddle in other people's business.
"I saw that you had gained some popularity some time ago and were willing to talk more. How come you have returned to your old self? Have you been upset by something?" It's no wonder that Prince Su thought this way. This was the first time Prince Su had seen him since his Ninth Uncle was imprisoned.
"No, to avoid suspicion." He was not provoked and did not want to say much to the civil and military officials in order to avoid suspicion. Whether he was willing or not, he had to give an explanation to the emperor for the sake of face. The power he displayed this time was enough to make the emperor guard against it. If he wanted to make friends with ministers again, the emperor would probably be unable to sit still.
He was about to go to Xuanxiao Palace and he didn't want anything unexpected to happen.
He would not explain these to Prince Su. As for what Prince Su wanted, that had nothing to do with him. The Ninth Prince's eyes followed the nose and the nose followed the heart.
As a result, as the Ninth Prince wished, Prince Su had the wrong idea: "You kid, really... You are worried about Feng Qingchen, right? Don't worry, for Feng Zhan's sake, I will take care of her. If outsiders want to bully her, I will definitely step in." Others don't know that as Zhai Dongming's grandfather, Prince Su knows about the appearance of Feng Qingchen's fiancé.
Thinking of how the Ninth Prince had insisted on interacting with Feng Qingchen despite the impeachment of the Censor and the people saying that he was marrying his niece, Prince Su said that he understood why the Ninth Prince had returned to his original self-admiring self.
Uh...Prince Su, your logic is amazing.
The Ninth Prince silently turned his head and looked at the doorpost in front of him without saying anything else. In the eyes of Prince Su, this action was a tacit agreement. There was an added sense of heartache in the look of the Ninth Prince.
He watched this child grow up, and he never saw anything he wanted since he was young. It was rare for him to meet a woman he liked, but... his fate was really unfortunate.
Prince Su was filled with emotion, but the Ninth Prince said silently in his heart: He was wrong, he thought Prince Su was smarter than Zhai Dongming, but it turned out that they were the same. He said nothing, and Prince Su told the truth on his own, without even giving him a chance to speak.
Sure enough, silence is the best weapon.
Looking at the prince and others walking towards them, the Ninth Prince didn't think any more and waited for the emperor to make a move.
"Prince Su, Ninth Uncle." All the princes, led by the Crown Prince, appeared together, and all the civil and military officials were even more shocked.
What was going on? Why were the Crown Prince and the other princes here? Why did they come out in person to greet the Ninth Uncle and Prince Su? What on earth had happened? The ministers looked at each other with uneasiness on their faces, but no one dared to ask.
"Your Highness is too polite." The Crown Prince is the monarch, the heir to the throne. Prince Su and the Ninth Prince are still subjects no matter how powerful they are, but these two people did not move to accept the Crown Prince's courtesy.
Having accepted the Crown Prince's gift, there was no need to say more about the other princes. In order to show the difference in treatment, Prince Su, like the Ninth Prince, just said "hmm" in return to the other princes.
The Crown Prince always had a graceful smile on his face. Noticing the attitudes of Prince Su and the Ninth Uncle, the Crown Prince smiled to the bottom of his eyes. He said respectfully but with the demeanor of a crown prince: "Prince Su, Ninth Uncle, everyone, my father has ordered that today's morning court is cancelled. My father wants to offer sacrifices to the heavens at the altar, praying that God will bless our Dongling country with peace and prosperity, and that the heavy snow will stop soon."
The emperor was of course offering sacrifices to heaven and praying for blessings, but he didn't dare to say too much. With the previous sentence "May our country of Dongling be peaceful and the people safe", the emperor would look good even if the snow didn't stop.
Of course Prince Su and the Ninth Prince knew about this, which was why they showed up today. After hearing what the Crown Prince said, they nodded and followed the Crown Prince towards the altar. All the civil and military officials became uneasy.
Offering sacrifices to the heaven? Why would the emperor offer sacrifices to the heavens? And so suddenly, without any news leaking out. What is the emperor planning to do?
Nonsense, this is so nonsense!
This is governing a country, not a child's game. How can the emperor act recklessly? Several veteran censors have already begun thinking in their minds how to write the impeachment letter and which words of the saints to quote.
What did you say? Impeach the emperor for treason? Tsk...they would impeach the emperor even if he did something wrong. Otherwise, how could they clear their names in history if they didn't impeach the emperor? As for their lives?
It's worth it to exchange one life for eternal fame!
Of course, although these stubborn elements are dissatisfied with the emperor's antics, the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the gods has been set up. No matter how dissatisfied they are, they will not say it to the emperor's face to avoid disrespecting the gods. They will submit memorials after the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the gods, asking the emperor not to act so recklessly next time. The emperor is an emperor and the future of the people of Dongling is connected to him. How could he act recklessly?
The group walked towards the altar in a mighty manner. Although the altar was also in the palace, it was completely different from the place where the morning court was held. As they walked along this section, those pampered officials were so tired that they were gasping for breath, and the crown prince's face also looked a little unhappy.
Alas... A good body is the foundation for being an official. Being an official is a physical job. Without a healthy body, there is really no way to survive in officialdom.
Fortunately... when the prince was about to reach his limit, the altar arrived.
The prince barely suppressed his rapid breathing and took the lead in paying respects to the emperor who was kneeling on the altar.
Yes, the emperor has knelt down, who can still stand at this time?
Offering sacrifices to heaven is a very tedious matter. If you follow the rules, it will take forever to finish from morning to night. The emperor certainly knew this. In addition, the preparations were rushed and many of the sacrificial utensils were not fully prepared. So the emperor ordered that everything be kept simple.
No matter how simple it was, it took the ministers an hour and a half to trouble themselves. It was not until the 9th hour that the ministers stood up under the leadership of the emperor. At this time... the emperor stood on the altar and began to read the edict of repentance.
Yes, the emperor played this tactic today very beautifully. First he offered sacrifices and prayed for blessings, and then he blamed himself. The emperor issued twelve self-criticism edicts, each of which was obviously wrong, but in fact it was praising his own merits.
The so-called confession of guilt seems to be asking for forgiveness from God, but in fact it is telling the ministers present that I blame myself for what happened today, so please don't write any more memorials saying that I don't observe etiquette.
The emperor blamed himself, saying that he was too diligent in governing the country, too hardworking, too... In short, he was such a good emperor, why was God dissatisfied? In the end, the emperor said to the heaven in a tragic way: "Heaven, if you are dissatisfied, punish me, not my people! I am willing to bear the wrath of heaven, and I only ask you to let my people go!"
The last word fell at exactly three quarters past the hour of Si!