novelcrest Chapter 2944
Chapter 2944
Chapter 2944
Li Zhi was bewildered, and he couldn't believe it: "Take history as a mirror, and you can know the ups and downs. If you can't even trust the history books, what else is there to be trusted? Is our generation's tireless reading day and night all empty?"
Since ancient times, the so-called reading is nothing more than a subset of classics and history.
"Jinzhong Jingbo" changed the Liulue into four parts, that is, Part A records scriptures, which is equivalent to the Six Arts, Part B records Zishu, including philosophers, military books, mathematics, and Fang skills, Part C records history books, and Part D contains poetry and prose etc., laid the foundation for the four classifications.When Wei Zheng compiled "Sui Shu", he proposed that "the two capitals gather four books in each, with A, B, C, and D as the order, and list the four libraries of classics and history collections", and finally established the four-part system, officially labeling the names of classics, history, Zi, and collections, and It is further subdivided into forty categories.
Ancient books are all-encompassing and have many categories, but most of them are classified as "miscellaneous books" and are useless to read.Especially after Dong Zhongshu "dismissed all schools of thought and only respected Confucianism", most of the ancient books were discarded, and most of the ones that were really valued were history books.
If what Fang Jun said is true, even the history books are not credible, so what books are there to read?
Fang Jundao: "Using people as a mirror can clarify gains and losses. Don't tout the truths summed up by the so-called predecessors, but to understand from the book and understand what each ancient person did under different circumstances. judge."
Li Zhi looked bewildered: "But my brother-in-law said just now that the history books cannot be trusted, who knows whether those things are true or not?"
Fang Jun took a sip of his tea and said with a smile: "Even if it's not true, it was fabricated by the history book compilers. Scholars who have been able to participate in the compilation of history are all great Confucians. These people compile a history book with what they have learned in their lives. It has condensed a lifetime of hard work, even if it distorts the facts, it still contains countless wisdom of life. What does it matter if it is true or not? We read history books, and we should learn the essence of these people."
Every history book is a masterpiece of humanities. Although there are false and twisted parts in it, the profound thoughts in it are more important than those recorded past events. This is the essence of a history book.
Li Zhi felt that he had been greatly upgraded, and suddenly didn't know how to respond.
Fang Jun ignored him and dealt with the official documents on his own.
At noon, Cui Dunli went into the duty room and reported: "Your Highness, Minister, the layout of the circular mound has been properly arranged. Would you like to inspect it on the spot to see if there are any omissions?"
The Circular Mound is the Temple of Heaven, where the emperor worships the heavens. For such a major event as the Eastern Expedition, it is necessary to pray to God for victory before taking the oath to the expedition. It is indispensable and the most important thing.
Fang Jun said to Li Zhi: "Your Highness, let's go and have a look together?"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "This is a major matter, there should be no negligence, and it is time to urge it."
The two put down their teacups, got up together and walked out of the duty room. Surrounded by all the officials of the Ministry of War, they left the Yamen of the Ministry of War, rode their horses out of the imperial city, and went straight south along Zhuque Avenue to the Mingde Gate.
The Circular Mound is about two miles outside the Mingde Gate. It is a huge conical mound surrounded by three low walls. When worshiping heaven, except for the emperor and some important ministers, other people are not allowed to enter the most important place. There is a wall inside, and the ceremony band, foreign envoys, etc. are all outside the inner wall.
When Fang Jun and others arrived, the surrounding area of the circular mound had already been heavily surrounded by soldiers in helmets and armor, to ensure that no one disturbed, officials from the Ministry of Rites came in and out, and arranged all the corresponding facilities.
After getting off their horses, Fang Jun and Li Zhi came to the bottom of the circular mound and looked up at this place of worship.
The round mound is plastered with white ash for the four-story round altar.Each floor of the round altar has twelve passages leading directly to the top of the hill, which are called "bi", which means that the twelve stars are distributed around and radiate in twelve directions, which roughly reflects the twelve stars in the sky in the eyes of Tang people. , respectively named after the twelve hours, among which Zi, Wu, Mao, and Youbi are also called Bei, Nan, Dong, and Xibi.
The Wu Majesty facing south is wider than the other eleven Majesties, which is the royal way for the emperor to ascend the altar.
"Your Majesty has met His Highness, Duke of Yue!"
Guo Fushan, the right servant of the Ministry of War, and an official from the Ministry of Rites rushed up to greet him, bowed and saluted.
Li Zhi stood with his hands behind his back, stood under the circular mound, looked up, and asked, "According to the process of offering sacrifices to heaven, how are you preparing for everything?"
The official from the Ministry of Rites said: "Returning to Your Highness, there are dozens of officials from the Ministry of Rites here, and they are preparing one by one in strict accordance with the procedures. Right now, everything is going smoothly, and I dare not slack off in the slightest."
The Minister of Rites was originally Linghu Defen. After being scratched by Wu Meiniang, he had to resign his post. This position had been idle for a while, and was temporarily represented by several ministers. Recently, Song Guogong Xiao Yu officially took over.
Xiao Yu was tactful and thoughtful, so he naturally dispatched elite soldiers from the Ministry of Rites to prepare for such a major event, so that no mistakes would be made.
Li Zhi nodded, and said: "The matter of worshiping heaven is the most important thing, we must do our best, and we must not be negligent."
The officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites all bowed, and their solemn appearances should be the same.
Then Li Zhi said to Fang Jun: "Do you want to go up and have a look?"
Fang Jun said: "That is natural."
The top of the hill is a place for worship, and various facilities need to be arranged, which are extremely complicated and must be checked one by one to confirm that they are correct.
Surrounded by a group of officials, the two walked up the stairs next to Wu Majesty and Wei Majesty.
The entire round mound is three feet high, and it is built with rammed earth, which is very strong. The surface is plastered with white ash, which is neat and grand.Standing on the top of the circular mound, overlooking the four fields.
The act of offering sacrifices to God Haotian in the feudal dynasty belonged to the highest standard of etiquette activities, so the status of the Circular Mound in the royal ritual buildings was correspondingly extremely important. No buildings of any kind are allowed within ten feet, so standing on the top of the mound has a wide field of vision, looking down at the vastness of the earth, and looking up at the sky like a cover.
Chang'an City in the north is majestic and majestic, and Zhongnan Mountain in the south is dominated by tigers and dragons. Since Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, the emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties will sacrifice to God here for hundreds of years. In front of them is the "God of Haotian" , holding the jade bibi offered to the heavens in his hands, praying for the country's Kangtai.
……
"Zuo Zhuan" has a saying: "The major events of the country lie in the worship and the army", which is the core function given to the country at the beginning of its birth.
In ancient times, the functions of the state were these two.Looking at the history of China, it is the history of the meeting of "Sacrifice and Rong".
Those who "sacrifice" practice rites and music to educate and respect heaven, earth, ghosts and gods; those who "Rong" consolidate the stability of the society and attack indecent and unkind.If the education of rites and music cannot secure the country, it will be replaced by "conquest".
There is nothing more important than these two, so in many cases "sacrifice and military" are closely linked.
Fang Jun took the roster handed over by the officials of the Ministry of Rites, which recorded the various procedures and corresponding utensils required for the sacrifice, and checked them meticulously one by one.I dare not make any omissions in this matter, otherwise no one will be able to afford the consequences. If there is a slight difference, it is estimated that more than half of the officials in the entire Ministry of Rites will be exiled.
So no matter how strict his inspection was, the officials of the Ministry of Rites were not even half dissatisfied.
Li Zhi strolled around with his hands behind his back. Although he had participated in many sacrificial ceremonies, the level of the ceremonies of offering sacrifices to heaven before the national war was probably only slightly worse than the ceremony of the new emperor's ascension to the throne, which he had never experienced before. Yes, so curious everywhere.
Fang Jun checked and checked for an hour before he heaved a sigh of relief and returned the roster to the officials of the Ministry of Rites. He still worriedly said: "No one is allowed to touch everything here from now on. Violators will be severely punished! How important is the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, I think I don’t need to remind you, if something goes wrong, you will not only lose your future, but even your family will suffer, so you must be careful!”
It's just a large-scale event full of "feudal ideas". Can it really affect the outcome of the Eastern Expedition?
The answer is yes.
"Respecting the Heavenly Father" is the origin of China's humanities. People fear the power of the sky and think it is irresistible, but the sky looks down on the common people in the world all the time, and their joy, anger, sorrow and joy will be given to the world through various natural phenomena. warning.
Once there is a mistake in the part of offering sacrifices to heaven, it must be God warning the world that "this battle is not good", which will greatly weaken the morale of the army.If something goes wrong during the battle, the "warning" from heaven will be magnified infinitely. In severe cases, the morale of the entire army may be low and completely defeated.
In many cases, mental effects are often the decisive factor leading to victory or defeat...
(End of this chapter)