She is different from the empress in the history books

Chapter 158 sacrifice

The people in the county have a popular practice of offering sacrifices. They not only offer sacrifices to their ancestors, but also to the gods of nature such as the mountains and rivers of the country, the sun, the moon, the stars, wind, clouds, thunder, lightning and rain.

When disasters occur frequently and things go wrong at home, they will also set up altars of violence. The powerful ones are also evil spirits, causing those who have "no descendants", "lack of sacrifices", "violent death", "unjust death", "unjust death" and "soldier death". The soul has returned and is no longer powerful.

Not only that, as far as Pei Peng learned, in some remote villages, obscene sacrifices are more common, not only for orthodox gods, but also for a local wild fox, a hedgehog, and even older ones. An old tree is also the object of sacrifice.

Among scholars, although they do not have as many beliefs as ordinary people, worshiping the ancestors, sages and Confucians in the Confucian Temple is also a must-do every month.

Therefore, when it comes to folk sacrifices, it is better to block them than to sparse them. Instead of banning them all, it is better to guide them. In addition, today’s county governments also need to gather people’s hearts through sacrifices. Therefore, every year, County Magistrate Zhou will bring the county officials, big and small, in Special altars are set up to offer sacrifices. Spring plowing and autumn harvest are sacrifices, Qingming and Zhongyuan are sacrifices, droughts are sacrifices, rain is disaster sacrifices, grains are not abundant, and grain harvests are even more important. And at the beginning of each year, it is even more important. There's going to be a big ceremony.

As for the sacrifice at the end of this year, County Magistrate Zhou left it to Pei Peng to take the lead.

The scale of this kind of sacrifice is actually not large, but the meaning it represents is different.

In particular, the current sacrifices led by women, except for some families who do not have male relatives, are the unique customs of remote alien tribes, and are not sponsored or led by the imperial court.

Therefore, when Zhou Keping did this, he was often regarded as disrespectful to officials by the old-fashioned scholars or officials in the county, and Pei Peng's acceptance of the invitation was even more criticized.

Of course, they wouldn't make noises in Pei Peng's ears, but it was inevitable that they would bring it out in their private conversations. Some people were thinking that Pei Peng should ask his consort to come forward, right?Although the consort has no official position, he is still a man.

Unfortunately, Pei Peng's choice disappointed them.

Not only would Pei Peng not let Xu Qing be the officiant, she was not even prepared to take Xu Qing with her.

She understands very well that in many things, she must be domineering and exclusive, because once a man puts his name on it, he will be deemed to be the dominant one in the end.

Therefore, Pei Peng decided to take Xu Shu with him.

A married woman and an unmarried girl, the former should be content in the back house in the eyes of the world, and the latter is not yet an adult in the eyes of the world, but this year's sacrifices in Chengyang County are led by them.

When Pei Peng arrived in the eldest princess chariot given to her by Pei Wei, everyone was already standing waiting.

Starting from the Zhou county magistrate, the Meng Xiaowei, the county magistrate, the county officials, the public officials, and then the heads of local clans, village chiefs, sages from various townships, some well-known scholars in the county, etc., are arranged in order. Some people turned around and talked, but it was not noisy and the volume was very low.

When Pei Peng stepped down on the low stool and Xu Shu also stepped off the tall horse on the outside of the chariot, everyone's conversation also stopped.

The atmosphere was stagnant for a moment, but before they could make any move, the people watching from the outside knelt down like a wave. Among them, there were those who had received food distributed by the princess's palace when the foreigners besieged the city; and had used medicine distributed by the princess's palace. There are those whose family members have sons serving as soldiers under Meng Xiaowei and who have met Xu Shu; there are those whose family members who were soldiers died defending the city, but received sufficient pensions because of Pei Peng's letter; there are also those who have entered the winter. Later, Pei Peng donated porridge to survive the winter; as well as the people of Xiaoli Village.Of course, there are also some people who have not received Pei Peng's favor, but to them, the nobles and nobles who do not disturb the lives of ordinary people are already worthy of their gratitude. Therefore, they have no objection to Pei Peng's officiating. He followed the crowd and knelt down.

One person's kneeling may not be enough to shake people's hearts, but when so many people kneel down spontaneously, even the old-fashioned person who is prejudiced against Pei Peng can only sigh inwardly, "there are no heroes", but so what, in the No one can openly oppose such people in front of the public support.

Pei Peng stepped forward to help Magistrate Zhou, and Xu Shu then helped Captain Meng. The four of them looked at each other. Magistrate Zhou breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that a big stone fell from his heart without causing any splash. He took a step back, turned sideways, and signaled Pei Peng and Xu Shu to move forward.

A smile appeared on Captain Meng's lips. This decision was actually the result of discussions between County Magistrate Zhou and him.
Both civil and military affairs must reach a consensus on the general trend of the county in order to move forward. Magistrate Zhou does not need to discuss with the magistrate who is from a local rich family, but he must communicate with Lieutenant Meng.

Fortunately, Lieutenant Meng is a warrior, and the battlefield is constantly changing. No one will follow the ancestral family method to arrange troops, and they know how to be flexible.

He had long felt that Chengyang County itself was Pei Peng's fiefdom. Pei Peng had soldiers, money, ways of doing business, and recipes for making wine. He could defend himself against enemies on the outside and provide food for the people on the inside.

So what if the name is completely fulfilled?So what if Chengyang County is under the jurisdiction of Pei Peng?Wouldn't Wang Yin, the governor, discuss Taizhou matters with Princess Chengyang if he didn't see him?It can be seen that the other party is also happy to see Pei Peng exercise his authority.

It's unprecedented for a woman to preside over a county's annual festival, but how can there be so many things that have existed since ancient times?

After Captain Meng voted in favor, Magistrate Zhou finally made up his mind.

Therefore, Colonel Meng was quite satisfied with bringing about such a change, and Pei Peng's move of bringing Xu Shu made Captain Meng feel that he was wise.

Needless to say, the relationship between Xu Shu and their Meng family is needless to say. It can be said that among all the large and small families in Chengyang County, the Meng family is the one Xu Shu is closest to, and his youngest daughter, Meng Rongzhi, is deeply devoted to Xu Shu. Take out your lungs, Xu Shu also knows this.

Pei Peng deliberately pushed Xu Shu to the front of the stage, which was naturally beneficial to the Meng family. Even Meng Rongzhi might not be able to take advantage of the friendship between the two parties to occupy a position in Xu Shu's team.

Some people standing far away wanted to see if the consort was following. After Pei Peng had taken a few steps forward, they gave up in frustration - this woman was so domineering. I had never seen such a big woman before. Instead of letting her husband come forward, she brought a daughter out.

The altar has been set up, and at the end of the year, the God of Sheji will be sacrificed to express gratitude for the good weather and abundant grain harvest in the past year. This sacrifice is officiated by Pei Peng, and it is also the most solemn and significant sacrifice in this ceremony.

Today we also have to worship the City God, which is led by the Zhou County Magistrate. The County Magistrate is the chief official of a place in the human world, and the City God is the god who protects the city and protects against disasters. Naturally, it is the County Magistrate who should offer sacrifices.

We also want to offer sacrifices to the generals who died in battle in this dynasty, hoping that they can protect the peace of Chengyang County. This is the ceremony held by Lieutenant Meng Xiao.

The ceremony was complicated and the process was long, but because of its profound significance, everyone present looked solemn.

(End of this chapter)