The Great Desolate Stygian River

Chapter 73

No matter how conceited Emperor Xin was, he was also a promising monarch. He ruled Dongyi in the east, flattened the Nanman in the south, advised farming and mulberry, and promoted virtuous people without knowing their background. He had a high prestige and won the support of the people. Therefore, although the nobles were dissatisfied, But he could only dare to be angry and dare not speak out. Even Shang Rong, the prime minister and high priest, avoided his sharp edge, which made Di Xin think that everything was under control.

It's the [-]th day of March again, the birthday of Empress Nuwa, which coincides with the tenth anniversary of this year.

Emperor Xin went to the palace in the early court and set up a gathering of civil and military personnel.But see:
The auspiciousness is different, and the king sits on the golden palace; the auspicious light is lingering, and the white jade steps are in front of the civil and military.Shen Tan's eight hundred gold-sprayed furnace, you can see that the bead curtain is rolled up high; the orchid musk cage is surrounded by a treasure fan, and you can see his pheasant tail is lowered.

The emperor asked the driving officer: "There is a memorial to the class, and there is nothing to leave." Before he finished speaking, he saw a person from the right class coming out of the class and prostrated himself on the golden steps: "The ministers and merchants are tolerant to crimes. Play. Tomorrow is March [-]th, the birthday of Empress Nuwa, please come to Nuwa Palace to deliver incense." Di Xin frowned, this old guy didn't know what he was trying to do, and asked: "Mr. What merits and virtues does Wa have, that I despise ten thousand times and go to send incense?" Shang Rong was shocked, and said: "Nuwa Empress is an ancient goddess, born with holy virtues. She made people from earth, and quarried stones to mend the sky. At that time, Gonggong The family's head touches Buzhou Mountain, the sky tilts to the northwest, and the earth sinks to the southeast. Nuwa picked five-color stones and smelted them to mend the blue sky, so she made contributions to the common people. Li and common people set up sacrifices to repay them. Today's song worships this god of good fortune, and the four seasons will be prosperous. , The country is long and long, the weather is smooth, and the disasters disappear. This righteous god who blesses the country and protects the people, Your Majesty should go and make incense." Hearing this, Emperor Xin nodded and said: "Zhunqing Memorial." Emperor Xin returned to the palace.The decree came out; the next day, the emperor took a chariot, accompanied by two groups of civil and military personnel, and went to Nuwa Palace to offer incense.

The next day, I drove out of the south gate of Chaoge, every family burned incense and set fires, and every household decorated with colorful carpets.Three thousand iron cavalry, eight hundred imperial forests, escorted by Wu Chengwang Huang Feihu, accompanied by civil and military officials of the Manchu dynasty.Go to Nuwa Palace.The emperor left the chariot, went to the main hall, and burned incense in the furnace; the civil and military classes paid homage to him.King Zhou looked at the splendor in the palace.How can it be seen: the front of the hall is gorgeous, with colorful gold makeup; golden boys hold banners opposite each other;The jade hook hangs obliquely, and the half-round crescent moon hangs in the air; the treasure tent is whirling, and thousands of pairs of colorful luan are fighting.Beside Biluo's bed, there are all dancing cranes and flying phoenixes; the throne of agarwood makes flying dragons and phoenixes.The fluttering and strange colors are extraordinary, the golden furnace is auspicious: the purple mist is soaring, and the silver candle is brilliant.

The presiding high priest, Shang Rong, saw that everyone had seen the ceremony, so he ordered people to carry out the next item and offer sacrifices.

I saw countless palace maids filing in with their entourage, and sacrifices such as cattle, sheep, and pigs were filled with incense tables.At this time, Shang Rong, the high priest in disguise, also stepped onto the altar to preside over the most solemn ceremony.I saw that Shang's face was painted with oil paint, he was wearing an animal skin robe inlaid with flying feathers, a feather crown on his head, strings of precious stones on his neck, wrists, and ankles, and he held a wooden bird's head in his right hand. The staff began the ceremony.

Di Xin was waiting boredly for the ceremony to end, when he suddenly saw soldiers escorting countless slaves, counting them as heavy as three thousand!
Seeing that the human sacrifice was about to begin, Di Xin quickly ordered it to stop!But those soldiers were Shang Rong's bodyguards, and Di Xin was too far away. When Di Xin stopped the crowd, [-]% of the slaves had died.

Di Xin looked at the altar with a dark face and said: "I have ordered to control the number of human sacrifices before, why is the number tripled this time?"

Shang Rong replied: "This time is the day of Daqing, it is not comparable to the past, and I communicated with God before, and God was dissatisfied with the number of sacrifices before, so I prepared more this time, and God should be satisfied."

Di Xin was filled with anger, knowing that this was an act of disobedience by Shang Rong taking the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction on behalf of the people behind him, but as a human emperor, how could he bow his head to these courtiers?Moreover, Di Xin has long been dissatisfied with the worship method of human sacrifice.

"An upright god, if you need human life and blood to eat, how is it different from a demon?" Di Xin took two steps forward, lowered his head and stared at Shang Rong and asked.

When Shang Rong heard this, he was terrified: "Your Majesty, be careful! How can the gods in the sky allow mortals in the earth to slander them?" He couldn't help but speak harshly.

Di Xin was furious, my Great Merchant Emperor still has to bow down to others?Pacing around angrily, he was about to deal with Shang Rong.Suddenly a gust of wind blew up, rolled up the curtains, and the statue of Nuwa appeared, with a beautiful appearance, auspicious colors, national beauty and natural beauty, graceful as life; it is really the fairy of Ruigong who came to the world, and Chang'e of the Moon Palace came to the world.There is an old saying: "When a country is going to prosper, there must be auspiciousness; when a country is going to perish, there must be evildoers." When Di Xin saw it, his spirit wandered.Thinking to myself: I am the son of heaven, rich in the world, even though I have six courtyards and three palaces, I don't have such beauty.And being furious by Shang Rong, didn't you say that I bow my head and need to be devout and reverent, but I want to hold my head down!After thinking about it, he shouted, "Take the four treasures of the study." The driver officer hurriedly took the future and offered it to His Majesty.Di Xin moistened Zihao deeply, and wrote a poem on the powder wall of the palace:
"The scenery of Fengluan Treasure's tent is very beautiful, and it is full of ingenious makeup.

The pear blossoms are beautiful with the rain; the peony cages are beautiful with smoke.But he had to be enchanting and able to act to get back Changle to serve the king. "

After Emperor Xin finished his work, Shang Rong turned pale with shock, and hurriedly said: "Nuwa is the righteous god of ancient times, the blessing of court songs. Veteran, please drive incense and pray for blessings, so that all people can work happily, the rain will be smooth and the wind will be smooth, and the fire will be peaceful. Today Your Majesty's poems are blasphemy and devoid of piety and sincerity. They are sinning against the holiness, and are not a gift for the emperor to visit and pray. May the lord wash it with water. I am afraid that the people in the world will see it, and it is rumored that the sage has no virtuous ears." Di Xin replied. "I see that Nuwa's face is peerless, but because she wrote poems to praise her, is there any other intention? You don't need to say too much. Kuang Gu is the lord of ten thousand chariots, and I leave it to all surnames to see her. It can be seen that the empress is peerless and beautiful. See the pen ear left by the orphan." After saying that, he returned to the court.All civil and military officials nodded silently, no one dared to say anything, they all turned back in jaws, Di Xin couldn't help laughing when he saw that none of the officials dared to speak out again.

In the Shang Dynasty, the struggle between Shang kings and priests, royal power and divine power lasted from the founding era of Shang Tang and Yi Yin to the era of Emperor Xin and Shang Rong.

The Human Emperor maintains a delicate relationship of mutual compliments and mutual suspicion with the Prime Minister and High Priest.There is also a record that the emperor was deposed by the high priest. After all, the high priest claims to be able to communicate with the Huoyun Cave, and the monarchs of the Shang Dynasty can be traced back to the Yellow Emperor in terms of blood.

When the struggle between the two reached its peak, it was Di Xin's father, Di Yi, who asked the high priest at that time to act as a "god of heaven". , doing everything possible to humiliate.Then, Emperor Yi stabbed the high priest with his hand, let the blood out, put the prime minister's blood in a leather bag, hung it high, and shot it with a bow and arrow, which was also called "Shooting the Sky". (Later, when Emperor Yi was out hunting, he was struck to death by lightning.)
Di Xin is just in the same line, continuing the old routine of his father Di Yi, trying to evade the so-called prime minister and the actual high priest Shang Rong, consolidating the royal power, alienating relatives and veterans, and using low-born rookies.

The fundamental purpose of the confrontation between Di Xin and Shang Rong this time is still to take a firm stand, to suppress the priests, to establish in the world, the Human Sovereign is the greatest, even the gods and Buddhas in the sky cannot override the Human Sovereign!

Emperor Xin won the confrontation this time, and Shang Rong was disheartened and embarrassed.But Di Xin was only focused on confronting Shang Rong, and forgot that this is the era of immortal gods, saints should not be humiliated, and it is not so easy to fight against saints.

(End of this chapter)