Hua Rong observed carefully and saw that this Baichengzi had a solid wall foundation and was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Especially the Sifangtai, which was simply a large fortress that could be attacked or defended. Suddenly he realized that what Jin Wushu once said was "the ruler of the world." "Where the virtuous and powerful live" may not be a pure joke. Compared with Huangkou Xiaoer Heci, he spent half his life on a war horse and conquered half of the country. This idea is not incredible.
Jin Wushu stopped and said, "Hua Rong, you go to the viewing platform first, and I'll change into the sacrificial robes."
"You don't have to worry about me, just go about your business."
Lu Wenlong held his hand excitedly: "Dad, am I going with you?"
He glanced at Hua Rong, who was noncommittal, and then he said happily: "You are my son, of course you have to pray together, so that the old Dragon King will always bless our Baichengzi with good weather and good life, and the people can live and work in peace and contentment."
A tent for praying for rain has been set up on the square platform.
The tall old Dragon King is enshrined in the center, and the incense table below is decorated with five-color silk threads, five-color livestock, five-color fragrant fruits, and five boys and girls, all made of colorful papyrus. Originally, according to the old Jin Dynasty The barbaric method of praying for rain requires the use of real boys and girls, but with the gradual Chineseization over the years, Jin Wushu ordered the cancellation of this terrible bad habit and replaced it with papyrus figures.
Hua Rong did not go to the viewing platform, but stood in the crowd and listened to the whispers of the people.
"In the past, real people were used to sacrifice the old Dragon King. Fortunately, the Fourth Prince ordered it to be abolished..."
"It's not necessarily true. Maybe it's just because the real person was not used that the Dragon Prince was angry and stopped raining..."
Hua Rong couldn't help but said calmly: "The Dragon Prince would not be so unmerciful. He is a god, how could he treat his people so cruelly?"
Everyone didn't know who she was, but one person quickly said: "Yes, yes, use a real person. If it is your son or your daughter, would you like it?"
“…”
While they were arguing, they suddenly heard the high priest's high-pitched and deep voice, as if he was killing a chicken half dead: "The fourth prince is invited, the sacrificial ceremony begins..."
Everyone immediately fell silent. On the left side of the high platform, two rows of honor guards with rain cloud-shaped fans were seen opening the way. In the middle, two people wearing big robes slowly walked out. The leader was naturally Jin Wushu, who was carrying Gao Gao. The crown and robe on his body were improved black and white, with a huge Bagua pattern in the middle. It is said that in the late Three Kingdoms, this Bagua pattern was spread among the major ethnic minority tribes, but Hua Rong did not expect that when they offered sacrifices, The witch costume turned out to be a Bagua costume. Jin Wushu was holding a treasure vase in his hand, his eyes were straight and focused, and his expression was solemn and serious. Behind him, Lu Wenlong also had the same solemn expression, looking completely like a young adult, serious and serious. Holding an emerald green jade bottle of the same color. It is said that the bottle contains the "source of water" prayed by the wizard. It will be used to worship the Dragon Queen and sprinkled on the earth. In this way, dark clouds will roll and rain will be summoned. God, get precious rain.
I have known Jin Wushu for many years, and my impression of him, apart from being an enemy on the battlefield, being real and sometimes fake, being arty and sentimental, apart from his superb power-playing and conspiracy tricks, in a word, apart from being a war criminal and a traitor A black politician, Hua Rong's other impressions of him were all about fighting over his wives and concubines, Yelu Guanyin, Wang Junhua, Xiao Wei... all kinds of women, romantic in nature, and ruthless and unjust.
This was the first time that she broke away from these impressions and looked at him from a fair perspective - to evaluate a man, in addition to his tactics and his private life, what is more important is his character, especially those in power. It depends on his reputation in the eyes of the people and how much he has done for his people.
It turns out that in Baichengzi, Jin Wushu was a different figure, a real hero. He did little corvee and paid little tax, encouraged land reclamation, opened warehouses for disaster relief, personally prayed for rain, and even caused small-scale riots caused by drought and hunger. Because of the food obtained and rumors of the arrival of the Fourth Prince, the situation quickly subsided on its own.
The high priest's voice was still flat, like a chicken with its neck strangled: "The worship begins... The Dragon King prays for rain... Ulamamiwala..." After he chanted a series of strange incantations, Jin Wushu left. He went to the statue of the Dragon King, knelt on the futon, raised the vase above his head, and bowed to the Dragon King three times and kowtowed nine times. After the ceremony, he turned around and stood up, and then Lu Wenlong followed and imitated him. After saluting, he walked to his father and stood side by side with him. Both father and son raised the vase, climbed to the top of the square platform, opened the green vase, and went down to pour the water in the vase up. The ground swayed down. After a faint rain and mist, a prepared wild Ganoderma-like plant was inserted into the vase and placed next to the Dragon King on the high platform.
Then, the high priest waved a sword, muttered words, and struck sixty-six thirty-six times to the east and west respectively, which meant that he was driving away all kinds of monsters and monsters that blocked the rain god.
The honor guard on the stage started singing songs, singing, dancing, and dancing like primitive savages.
Hua Rong read Wang Chong's "Lunheng" when he was young. He didn't believe much in the theory of ghosts and gods, nor did he believe in Jin Wu's prayer for rain. There is no dragon king in the world, how can he control whether it rains or not? The so-called praying for rain is just to appease the people.
At this time, the setting sun was blood red, it was going to be dark soon, and there was no sign of rain at all.
The common people ignored this and discussed it one after another. Once the prayer for rain was over, they went home happily, as if it was about to rain heavily.
Jin Wushu was still wearing a big robe. Wearing such a robe in the middle of summer, he was sweating profusely, but he did not take it off immediately. When he looked around, he saw Hua Rong walking through the crowd.
"Hua Rong, why don't you go to the viewing platform and sit and watch?"
Before Hua Rong could answer, Lu Wenlong also ran over and kept fanning his sleeves: "Mom, it's so hot, I'm so thirsty..."
"Okay, okay, let's go drink water right away. Son, we are truly home now," Jin Wushu said with infinite joy, "Son, this is our real home. Here, you are the little king, what do you want to do? What are you doing... Okay, we'll go back right away, there are good things waiting for you... "
Lu Wenlong was so thirsty that he took Hua Rong's hand and left.
Below Baichengzi is a huge palace. It is all made of white marble and marble. As soon as you step on it, you immediately feel a chill, which is in sharp contrast to the scorching heat outside.
In addition, it is not luxurious, it is even considered simple. It is completely different from the luxury of the fourth prince's residence in Shangjing and Yanjing.
Jin Wushu looked surprised when he saw Hua Rong, as if he knew what she was thinking, and said with a smile: "Yanjing and Shangjing are other people's territory. Of course I can be as luxurious as I can; however, Baichengzi is my private , is my territory, so I just want to make the country rich and the people strong, and I must first accumulate wealth and not waste the people and money... "
Sure enough, this was what the Fourth Prince was thinking in his heart, and he was indeed extremely ambitious.
Lu Wenlong ignored this and kept walking forward excitedly. In the open area, there were some dense ancient cypresses, surrounded by thick trees. They were not affected at all by the drought of the past two months and were still growing strong. At this time, finally The glimmer of morning glow had dissipated. Lu Wenlong couldn't wait to pick up the sour plum soup handed to him by a servant and drank it in one gulp. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard a rumbling sound.
Even Hua Rong was startled. The sky was dark and covered with dark clouds. Big raindrops fell down. Soon, the rain turned into a pouring rain. The boundless rain curtain was like an airtight wall. .
Lu Wenlong yelled, stretched out his hand, and big raindrops splashed on his palm: "Hahahaha, it's really raining, Dad, it's really raining. Mom, it's because I prayed for rain... Old Dragon King Hear my father’s and my prayers…”
Hua Rong was stunned. It took him a while to exhale, but it actually rained.
Jin Wushu also jumped up like Lu Wenlong, almost falling off the crown on his head without knowing it: "It's really raining, it's really raining... Thank you, Old Dragon King..."
The whole palace guards, servants, local officials who followed, etc. all dropped all their work and cheered and jumped. They were more happy for this life-saving rain than for the huge victory in the battle.
The power of nature is always awe-inspiring.
Jin Wushu also stretched out his hand like Lu Wenlong, and did not notice that the Bagua robe was covered with rainwater. He said happily: "Hua Rong, have you seen it? It's raining, it's really raining... God is really blessing me..."
This guy is really lucky.
Hua Rong had no choice but to accept it. No wonder he was so majestic on the battlefield and smooth sailing in government. Apart from power and intrigue, was there no trace of luck at all? The so-called time is also destiny, which is really hard to believe.
Does this mean that a person like him will always be unfavorable in anything he does
Her heart was in turmoil, giving birth to infinite hope. As long as he was willing to help her and kill Qin Hui, there would no longer be only two choices of "0 or 1".
The banquet was arranged, all the windows were opened, and no one minded the splashing rain. It was a great honor to participate in the Fourth Prince's banquet. The local officials introduced him to the big and small matters of Baichengzi while eating and drinking. Jin Wushu listened carefully, and from time to time Looking at the curtain of rain covering the sky, I feel happier than ever before. Even the latent internal diseases seem to be suddenly cured. It can be said that people are in high spirits on happy occasions. Lu Wenlong is sitting next to him. This is the first time that he has been so cautious about his actions. The land was introduced to the subjects by his father. He listened meticulously. Occasionally, Jin Wushu heard some reports and asked him for his opinions and encouraged him to express his opinions. Then the local officials understood that this little prince If you really want to inherit everything from the fourth prince, your attitude toward him will be nothing but respect and respect.
Hua Rong was alone in the inner room, and the several female family members he served were far less beautiful than the concubines who came to Beijing from Yanjing, and they didn't understand the language. They were obviously simple maids. The food couldn't be compared with the palace in Yanjing, but it was still exquisite. . She asked the maids to leave, and was not in a hurry to eat. She only drank a bowl of sour plum soup, opened the window, and looked at the dark night and heavy rain outside.