Zhao Rong returned to the wilderness camp before the rising sun.
After resting for a quarter of an hour, Qian'er came on time and brought him breakfast.
After eating, Zhao Rong went out.
Originally, he had planned to take Xiao Qian'er and Su Qingdai up the mountain to enjoy the scenery along the way, but things were too busy today. He had to make final preparations before being enshrined, and he also had to welcome the arrival of a certain old-fashioned woman.
He had no choice but to give up and let Qian'er and Su Qingdai stay in the camp. However, Zhao Rong was afraid that the two girls would start fighting again, so he assigned them special tasks.
Qian'er reads the Book of Songs, and Su Qingdai continues to read the Mo Jing, both of which are beneficial to the realm of the two women... He will go back and check randomly.
Zhao Rong took Li Bai and set off to find Gu Yiwu and other students from the Hall of Justice.
Everyone gathered together, got ready and headed towards the Moon Festival Mountain.
Accompanying him were many officials from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Works.
On the road, Zhao Rong and Gu Yiwu took the lead. The latter raised his head, glanced at the crisp autumn sky, and said:
"Ziyu, in the past few days, according to the arrangements you made before, my classmates and I have sent officials from the Ministry of Industry to build an altar on the top of the mountain... and to set up an altar on a hill to the east at the foot of the mountain.
The altar was opened and a second altar was built.”
Zhao Rong nodded, saw some students showing some confusion, and patiently explained:
"Feng Chan, the so-called 'feng' means offering sacrifices to heaven and repaying the merits of heaven. The so-called 'sacrifice' means offering sacrifices to the earth and promoting the virtues of the earth."
He squinted at the distant Mount Moon Sacrifice Mountain, "Although we don't know what the ancient rituals of the Feng Chan are, it should be unmistakable that the Feng Chan requires two altars, the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth."
Gu Yiwu nodded, "Shan."
Zhao Rong turned around and said, "Have the second altar been built?"
Gu Yiwu immediately said: "We have been working day and night and 90% of it is completed. It can be completed today."
Zhao Rong warned: "Don't be eager for quick success and follow the plan and process I gave you."
Gu Yiwu took out a hiking pole, turned it around in his hand, and said with a smile: "Don't worry Ziyu, I'm supervising you, no need to worry."
"OK."
Zhao Rong glanced at the stick dancing in his hand and nodded without saying anything:
"Let's go to the Temple of Earth first."
Zhao Rong led everyone to a hill to the east at the foot of Jiyue Mountain.
This mountain is heavily guarded and surrounded by Dali soldiers.
On the top of the mountain, a brand new altar has been erected and is about to be completed. More than a dozen officials from the Ministry of Industry are supervising the craftsmen building the altar.
Gu Yiwu walked in front and introduced to Zhao Rong:
"Tzuyu, according to the plan you gave me, this altar is one foot and two feet wide and nine feet high. It has three floors. It is surrounded by five emperor altars of green, red, white, black and yellow, and is sealed with five-color soil..."
Zhao Rong listened, squinted for a while, and nodded gently:
"Can strange animals and rare birds be placed on this mountain to symbolize auspiciousness?"
Gu Yiwu nodded, "According to your order, half of Dali's treasury has been emptied. All the elixirs and beasts that Dali has have been placed on this mountain. This is already a treasure mountain.
"
The burly Confucian scholar smiled and pointed at the foot of the mountain with his hiking stick, "Look at those armies. The Dugu family is probably worried. Many of their belongings are here. When I informed her of this before, the empress was still hesitant.
It took a while before I agreed, probably because I thought we were taking the opportunity to catch the autumn wind again."
Faced with his friend's joke, Zhao Rong smiled and did not answer.
He turned his head to look at the hill and ordered loudly:
"Tomorrow morning, your Majesty will first perform a Zen ceremony and worship at the place... Wearing a bright yellow dress, he will first ascend this auspicious mountain and play solemn ritual music. At the same time, we will kill white deer, pigs, white yaks, etc. as sacrifices.
Your Majesty will ascend the five-color earth altar, kneel down and perform a great ceremony. At that time, as the presiding officer, I will read a book of eulogies and declare to the earth the merits of leaving the dynasty..."
The young Confucian scholar paused for a moment, then turned around and said: "By the way, whether the jade ultimatum book recording merits and deeds can be buried under this earth altar is a top priority."
Gu Yiwu nodded on behalf of the other students, "I personally supervised the operation last night."
Zhao Rong breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at the curious crowd, and explained some kind of 'ritual':
"It is not enough for me to read out the edict. It is just a formality. It is read to the officials and thousands of people who are watching. The little emperor wants to meditate and worship the earth. He wants to have a dialogue with the earth. In the form of etiquette,
"Sir, I chose to bury a jade ultimatum in the soil, recording Da Li's merits and deeds, and presenting it to the earth for 'seeing'."
Gu Yiwu felt a little emotional: "This ceremony is easy to understand. Well, Tzuyu is still awesome and has many methods."
At this time, a student next to him joked: "Mr. Zhao Xiao, it seems that this earth does have spirits. Knowing our human language will make communication easier."
The students around him smiled and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.
However, Zhao Rong did frown slightly.
He looked at the altar in front of him that he designed.
After a moment, he sighed softly.
Although Zhao Rong is the one with the most profound etiquette skills among all the students at present, he actually doesn't have much confidence.
The gift of communication between the 'Emperor of the Earth' and the 'Earth' was presented in a jade book buried in the ground, which was actually a moderate move.
The main reason is that he really can't think of any other better way. Is it possible for the little emperor to learn the language of the earth?
And this "gift of communication with the earth", according to Zhao Rong's process arrangement, is one of the two core rituals of the entire Zen ceremony.
Another great gift is the ‘gift of communication with God’.
That is what was done at the Temple of Heaven on the top of the mountain at the end of the Zen Ceremony...
"Feng Chan... Feng... the merit of repaying heaven; Zen... the merit of repaying earth... How can we communicate better..."
The young Confucian scholar murmured.
After a while, he came back to his senses and shook his head.
There will be a Zen ceremony tomorrow morning. It is useless to hesitate and think about it now... Zhao Rong said secretly.
Then he took Gu Yiwu and other students and officials around the altar several times, checked that everything was OK, and then left with everyone.
The group of people climbed all the way to the Moon Festival Mountain.
On the way, Zhao Rong gave instructions and arranged:
"Tomorrow morning, after your Majesty has finished offering sacrifices to the Temple of Earth, he will go all the way up the mountain westward. Your Majesty will ride on a cattail cart with wheels wrapped in cattails. We must avoid damaging the grass, trees, earth and rocks on the mountain. We are Confucian scholars who are assisting in the enshrinement of Zen. We must follow closely behind His Majesty, but
It is insurmountable, the specific behavioral etiquette has been explained to you..."
Gu Yiwu and other students nodded one after another.
About two hours later, Zhao Rong and others finally arrived at the top of the Moon Festival Mountain under the autumn sun.
Zhao Rong originally thought that as a sacred place for Li Di, the Mountain of Sacrifice to the Moon should have many architectural relics left by its predecessors.
As far as he knew, the ancient Li people respected mountains and the bright moon, and many relics were left in places where the mountains and moonlight were most abundant.
For example, Xingzi Lake in Xingzi Town where Zhao Rong and others stayed not long ago.
However, at the top of the mountain, what came into view... was a flat lake.
A lake on top of a mountain.
The lake water is in the shape of a crescent moon.
The surrounding area is desolate and there are no buildings.
In the center of the lake, there is a flat land that can be settled on, which occupies a large area.
In the middle of the flat ground, there is a tall tree, which seems to have been struck by lightning and is not green at all.