Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 480: Fengshan at Mount Tai (Special thanks to book friend 2023…0699 for the 2 monthly tickets!)

Chai Zongxun continued:
“Moreover, Mount Tai has beautiful scenery. With this newly built mountain road, the many wealthy people in our Great Zhou Empire will naturally come to Mount Tai to play after the Fengshan ceremony. The food, accommodation and transportation can bring endless income to the local people.

The key to people’s income lies in the social distribution system.

If the distribution system is unbalanced, no matter how much social wealth the people create, it will not be distributed to them, and only polarization will be formed. "

Empress Fu Zhenzhen took Empress Dowager Fu's hand and said with a smile:

"Mother, don't worry! Your Majesty is right. Over the years, whenever the court started recruiting laborers for construction projects, the people rushed to sign up. This shows that these projects benefited the people."

Empress Dowager Fu nodded and said with a smile:
"That's good. When my mother saw the beautiful scenery of Mount Tai today, she thought of the prosperity of our Great Zhou Empire under your majesty's rule.

I only hope that the prosperous era created by Your Majesty can be passed down through the generations to come in the hands of my descendants and emperors."

After resting for a night in the royal villa, Chai Zongxun led all the people participating in the Fengshan ceremony to continue climbing Mount Tai early in the morning of June 8th.

Even though the ascent was divided into two days, the concubines, princes, princesses, nobles and ministers were still exhausted and out of breath after climbing down on their own.

After walking on the newly built mountain road for several hours, they arrived at the top of Mount Tai at 3 p.m. and rested temporarily in the Taishan Temple on the top.

Thousands of attendants from the Imperial Household Department prepared for the "fengshan" ceremony of Emperor Chai Zongxun on the top of Mount Tai after dinner, which lasted almost until the early hours of the next morning.

On the second day, in the early morning of June 9th, the 34th year of Kaixi, the Great Zhou Emperor Chai Zongxun's "Fengshan Taishan" ceremony officially began at an auspicious time.

The top of Mount Tai is also known as "Dai Ding" and has beautiful scenery.

There are the jade plate of sea of ​​clouds, the golden belt of the Yellow River, the blue clouds and precious light, the rising sun, rime and rime, an old man playing with his grandson, the stone lodge of the immortal, the stone watch of the strong wind, the thousand-foot-high clothes, Lu Zhan Qingyun, the immortal crossing the dangerous bridge, the cloud road of heaven, the holy traces of Wu, Taishan Beidou, and the grand view of calligraphy and painting.

At 1:00 am, Chai Zongxun performed the first offering ceremony at the Jiangchan Altar on Mount Tai. After reading the Fengchan text to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, all the deacons withdrew.

The eunuchs came on stage and covered the four sides of the altar with brocade curtains.

Empress Dowager Fu, Empress Fu, and the Fifth Empress led the concubines, princes, and princesses from the six palaces to ascend the altar and perform the second offering ceremony.

The first minister Li Hang and the second minister Wang Dan led all civil and military officials and envoys from vassal states to perform the final rites.

That day, the weather was sunny and the sun was warm at the top of Mount Tai.

By the afternoon, the Fengshan ceremony was over, and Chai Zongxun issued an edict, granting amnesty to the entire country and exempting the people of more than 60 prefectures and cities around Mount Tai from taxes for two years.

After the imperial edict was announced, the people were all delighted, and the prestige of Emperor Chai Zongxun, the imperial family, and the court greatly increased.

Chai Zongxun felt that the title of "king" bestowed upon the God of Mount Tai by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was too low of a rank, so he changed it to "Emperor of the Heavenly Benevolence and Supreme Being of Dongyue". People later called him the Great Emperor of Dongyue.

After the Fengshan ceremony was completed, Chai Zongxun saw a stone statue of a jade girl next to the Jade Girl Pool while strolling on the top of Mount Tai. He arranged to build a shrine to worship her, and named her "Bixia Yuanjun, the Celestial Jade Girl". He also established the Zhaozhen Temple. Bixia Yuanjun was later known as the Goddess of Mount Tai among the people.

Two days later, Chai Zongxun, who had reached the foot of Mount Tai, led the imperial family, civil and military officials, and envoys from vassal states. After resting for a day in Mount Tai, they set off back to Bianliang.

On the night before his departure, Chai Zongxun held a family banquet for the imperial family in the main hall in the front yard of the temporary prefectural palace in Mount Tai.

The concubines, princes and princesses had traveled to Mount Tai for more than a month. Now that the "fengshan" ceremony had been successfully completed, they all felt relaxed and happy.

After several rounds of drinking, many members of the imperial family were slightly tipsy and could not help but sing along with the dancing courtesans in the palace, creating an extremely cheerful atmosphere in the entire palace.

Queen Fifth Chaolu smiled and said:

"Your Majesty led all of us, the imperial family, the civil and military officials, to complete the feat of 'fengshan at Mount Tai' and demonstrate our unprecedented achievements to the world!
Today is our imperial family's family banquet. I wonder if I and others have the honor to hear your majesty's new immortal poem?" Chai Zongxun smiled and turned to look at his family members in the hall who were looking up at him with expectant eyes, and finally his eyes fell on the face of Diwu Chaolu.

Although Diwu Chaolu is already forty years old this year, she still looks like an angel, but she no longer has the infinite charm of her youth.

Thinking about how he and Diwu Chaolu had been childhood sweethearts, and how he grew up together with his cousin Fu Zhenzhen in the palace, they have been together for more than 30 years.

Time flies, and now all three of them are over 40 years old, and their youth is gone forever.

Thinking of this, Chai Zongxun couldn't help feeling sad and regretful.

After a moment, Chai Zongxun suddenly had an idea and began to chant slowly:
"Yulouchun·Spring Scenery
Dongcheng gradually feels that the scenery is good.Ripple ripples welcome guests.The green poplar smoke is light outside, and the red apricot branches are full of spring.

I always regret that I have little joy in this life. I would rather spend a thousand gold coins for a smile. I hold a cup of wine for you to toast the setting sun, and let the evening light shine among the flowers.

Diwu Chaolu and other concubines, princes, and princesses all showed surprise on their faces and praised him sincerely.

Concubine Guo Ling'er sighed:

"The line 'Red apricots are making noise on the branches' is so vivid and lifelike that I don't want to think of a second line."

The Fifth Chaolu sighed:

"Leave the evening glow to the flowers! Alas, time is fleeting, and if the sky had feelings, it would also grow old.

Thinking back to the time I spent with Your Majesty since childhood, it really makes me heartbroken..."

Concubine Yi, Zhou Nuying, said:
"Life is full of regrets and little joy. Your Majesty's words are truly vivid!
Alas, no matter how many happy moments we have, they still seem insufficient and pass too quickly! "

On the way back, everyone was eager to return to Beijing, so they drove much faster without realizing it. In just over twenty days, they arrived back in Bianliang on July 16, the 34th year of Kaixi.

Li Fang, the governor of Bian Jing and the Minister of War, led his officials to welcome the emperor ten miles outside the city.

After greeting, Li Fang smiled and said:

"Congratulations, Your Majesty!

Three days ago, the war report from the West Asian front came back:
After one year and two months of fighting, the 13th to 16th Longxiang Army Corps have conquered the eastern half of the Black Caliphate and the capital, Baghdad."

Chai Zongxun was overjoyed and immediately led everyone back to the palace.

After the concubines, princes and princesses returned to the harem to rest, Chai Zongxun came to the Yangxin Palace in the front yard and read the memorials from the West Asian front in detail.

The 13th to 16th Corps of the Longxiang Army arrived in Central Asia in the 33rd year of Kaixi to replace the ten corps on the Western Expedition. In just one month, the troops had been properly arranged.

In addition to the 14th Corps guarding the newly acquired Starry Sky Sect territory, the other three corps were divided into three routes to attack the Black Arabs from the east, southeast and south respectively.

The Black Caliph (king) mobilized almost all the military forces in the country, including 200,000 newly recruited troops, totaling 600,000 troops, and divided them into three routes to meet the enemy.

Due to low morale and facing the extraordinary power of the Zhou army's new weapon "Kaixi No. 33", the black-clad Arab army was defeated on three fronts and suffered heavy casualties. In just four months, they lost nearly half of their territory in the east and fled back to Baghdad.

The three armies of the Great Zhou surrounded Baghdad in January of the 34th year of Kaixi. After attacking for more than five months, they finally broke into the city on June 7.

The Black Caliph did not want to be captured by the Zhou army, so he committed suicide in the palace.

(End of this chapter)