I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 39: The Empress
As soon as Liu Ju entered the backyard, he saw Dong Zhongshu with disheveled hair.

I haven't seen him for a few days. His hair has turned a lot whiter. He was holding a volume of bamboo slips and excitedly shouting to the sky.

"Hahaha, Your Highness, you've come just in time. I, an old minister, have lived up to Your Majesty's grace and finally found the rules for the Fengshan Ceremony in the Book Mountain!"

As soon as he saw Liu Ju, Dong Zhongshu immediately became more excited and rushed over with a bamboo slip in his hand.

Fortunately, Guo Zhen stepped forward to stop him in time, thus preventing Liu Ju from being hit.

"Your Highness, look, I really found it!"

Even so, Dong Zhongshu did not calm down.

He stretched out his arm and excitedly handed the bamboo slips in his hand to Guo Zhen to see.

“Did you really find it?”

Liu Ju was completely confused. What a weird development.

He just wanted to get rid of Dong Zhongshu's magic enlightenment, so he casually gave him a difficult question with no answer. Who would have thought that he could actually figure out the answer.

With infinite doubt in his heart, Liu Ju took the bamboo slips and looked through them.

This volume of bamboo slips is obviously very old. Not only has the surface of the bamboo strips been worn away and turned brown, but the hemp ropes used to tie the bamboo strips have also become hairy and are even on the verge of breaking in some places.

On the outside of the bamboo slips, where the title of the book should have been marked, is now blurred.

Even if you lie on it and look carefully, you can only see a narrow word "单".

Therefore it is not difficult to judge.

This is definitely not a complete word, but half a word.

Moreover, this character "单" is most likely not the small seal script used during the Qin and Han dynasties.

Liu Ju opened the bamboo slips again and continued to look at the contents.

At this moment he was completely certain that the font used in this bamboo slip was definitely not small seal script, but large seal script from the pre-Qin period, or it could also be called bronze inscriptions.

This puts him in a difficult position.

He couldn't understand most of the words in it. After all, the large seal script was the official writing of the Zhou Dynasty during the pre-Qin period.

However, because the central government had weak control over local areas, many vassal states evolved their own writing methods and habits based on the large seal script, making it difficult for even many professional archaeological experts to recognize all the characters of the time.

Not to mention that he is a layman who can only be called a history enthusiast.

Seeing Liu Ju frowning, Dong Zhongshu immediately explained to him excitedly:
"It's a great gift of Yinggu!"

"This contains records of the ancient Yinggu ceremony, Your Highness."

"The book says that Huangdi fought with Yandi at Banquan and with Chiyou at Zhulu, and both consulted Wuxian for divination and performed grand ceremonies with drums and pillars."

"Later, Emperor Huangdi held the Fengshan Ceremony, and also performed the Yinggu Ceremony!"

"Although this ancient book only records a simple ritual process, it points out the general framework of the ceremony. It only needs to be partially supplemented according to the rituals in the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty to be complete!"

"Old minister, I will not fail the grace of the Holy Lord!"

"..."

After hearing this, Liu Ju already had an idea of ​​this so-called "Yinggu Ceremony".

If Liu Che wanted to hold the Fengshan Ceremony, this thing could indeed serve as a reference and basis.

But to see whether it is useful or not, it is necessary to see whether it can summon the dragon.

Then the benevolent sees benevolence and the wise see wisdom.

In any case, Liu Ju certainly didn't believe it. Even as a time traveler, he still scoffed at the talk of immortality and riding a dragon to heaven.

What's more, the origin of this ancient book is unknown, so it's hard to say which liar alchemist compiled it. It's just that it was written hundreds or thousands of years earlier.

Maybe not even that long ago.

After all, with the burial technology of the Zhou Dynasty, it is almost impossible to preserve a bamboo slip to this extent for hundreds or thousands of years.

But anyway.

No matter how bad this thing is, it is definitely much better than the "Zha" book that Gongsun Qing presented to Liu Che. After all, this may really be an ancient book. At least the appearance and font are very good.

"Then congratulations, Mr. Dong..."

Thinking about this, Liu Ju began to worry about his situation.

Now that Dong Zhongshu has found the answer, will he continue to pester me to lecture on the scriptures every day?
What other question could I ask to attract his attention?
Dong Zhongshu shook his head again and said, "This is not enough. I need to check the rituals of the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty and complete the missing parts one by one. Otherwise, I will not be able to report to Your Majesty."

Wow, even Mr. Dong has learned to answer questions quickly.

Liu Ju breathed a sigh of relief and immediately encouraged with a smile:

"My father has a minister like Lord Dong, so the Han Dynasty will surely prosper. Lord Dong, I have high hopes for you!"

……

Jiaofang Hall.

Amidst the gloomy atmosphere, Wei Zifu was still forcing herself to smile and receive guests.

Today's guests are also considered family members.
——Princess Pingyang Liu Zhao.

Liu Zhao was Liu Che's sister from the same mother, and now she was Wei Qing's wife, so she was naturally Wei Zifu's sister-in-law.

However, Wei Zifu did not dare to neglect her sister-in-law at all.

Because before being favored by Emperor Wu of Han, Wei Zifu was a singer in Liu Zhao's mansion.

Wei Qing was also Liu Zhao's riding slave.

Later, Wei Qing became a general. As Liu Zhao had lost her husband a few years ago, she remarried this former slave.

"Sister, you are visiting me today. Have you come to any conclusion about the matchmaking I asked you to do for Juer?"

Even though Wei Zifu was the queen, she still had to respectfully call Liu Zhao "sister".

The relationships among them are a bit confusing because of the marriage, so they can only discuss their own affairs. What else can they do?
"I came here today for this very reason. I'm afraid this marriage won't be possible."

Liu Zhao also sighed, lowered his eyes and shook his head.

"Why is this?"

"The Shi family sent someone to tell them that an elder in the family had passed away. Wanjun was heartbroken and insisted on observing mourning for three years. They really couldn't force her..."

Liu Zhao said helplessly.

"It's just that an elder in the family passed away, and he wasn't my parent, so why should I observe mourning for three years?"

Wei Zifu's face instantly turned cold, and she gritted her teeth and said, "I think the Shi family just saw that Juer was losing power and didn't want to marry their daughter to me, so they found this excuse!"

"Otherwise, Shi Wanjun is just a junior and should follow the orders of her parents and the matchmaker."

"Can it still be the head of the Shi family?"

If Liu Ju were here, he would be able to immediately determine the information about Shi Wanjun just by looking at her surname and the incident.

Shi Wanjun, Shi Liangdi, is also called Empress Li in history books.

Born into the Shi family of Lu, a wealthy local family.

At the same time, someone from the Shi family married Liu Guang, the Prince of Lu, as his queen, which made her a member of the royal family.

According to historical records.

It was in this year that she married Liu Ju and later gave birth to three sons.

The eldest son was named Liu Jin, who gave Liu Ju a grandson named Liu Bingyi.

And this Liu Bingyi was the tenth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty

——Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun.

Unexpectedly, in this life, because of Liu Ju's "retrograde actions", historians judged the situation and directly rejected this marriage.

In this case, it would be difficult for Emperor Xuan of Han to be born in history...

(End of this chapter)