Aggrieved Fish Sprite

He Shilang from the Ministry of Rites breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the sixth prince had returned.

This is the first errand of the year, and it is so terrible.

He Shilang slandered, he didn't want to see Liu Dan, a martial artist, and he also had a problem with the sixth prince running around, but what can he do?He is not a grand tutor, the emperor's son can't be beaten or scolded, even if he makes a big mistake, it's not his turn to teach him a lesson.

With a stern face, He Shilang saluted the young man in brocade clothes, and persuaded firmly: "Your Highness, this neighborhood is a bit remote. Recently, some strong men and bandits have flooded into the county town, and the officials and others encountered several fights on the road. Fighting, His Highness also saw it. The son of a daughter can't sit still, if His Highness is injured by these lawless people, how will the official return to Beijing to reply to His Majesty?"

"He Shilang is worrying too much. If the gangsters arrest me, they will ask for some money at most. Even if you don't care, it's fine." The sixth prince's tone was harder than his, and there was a sarcasm at the corner of his mouth. laugh.

The atmosphere became subtler.

Liu Dan looked at the sixth prince, and at He Shilang, who had a livid face, and felt that there was something he didn't know about it.

The sacrifice in the ancestral temple continued. The sixth prince took the incense, bowed down to his grandfather's tablet according to the etiquette, and under the guidance of a few Taoist priests who lowered their heads and didn't even lift their heads, burned the paper with the words of offering sacrifices to heaven.

Then there is the rain.

Of course, there are no sorceresses dancing and Taoist priests dancing mahogany swords on the imperial tomb, but they still have to go through the process of praying for rain.

In front of the censer stood a golden toad and a jug of well water.

The shapes of tigers and dragons are made out of paper, painted with ochre, stone blue, and gamboge, and the paintings are very vivid.

Then, in the posture of a dragon fighting a tiger, it was lifted by someone, walked slowly around the altar, walked seven times, and then threw it into the fire.

Then hold the big urn, which contains the four-legged snake (lizard) caught in advance, and after taking it out, give it to the person who presides over the rain prayer ceremony with a whip to whip the four-legged snake.

The last one is called Whip Dragon.

Because there is a saying that if it doesn't rain, the dragon is too lazy.

When praying for rain, in addition to going to rivers and other water sources to "invite the dragon", you also need to "startle the dragon", that is, to lure the dragon out and let it compete with the tiger.

Of course there are no tigers, and even the price of tiger bones and tiger skins is very high, so people kill domestic animals instead, and then slowly change to paper-made dragons and tigers to fight each other.Folk dragon dances grab pearls, and there are special rituals and music accompanied by "dragon startling" in the grand festival.

But where it doesn't rain, it doesn't rain, so it's useless to do these things, so I don't know when it started, and there was an extra whip dragon when praying for rain.The so-called please don't move, can't attract, then fight!Whip it!

Even the dragon has been beaten, and if it doesn't rain, there will be nothing to do.

You may not even be able to find a tiger, so where can you find a dragon?Besides, the meaning of the dragon is extraordinary, and it is not just to be played casually.

No one dares to flog stone carvings of dragons, not even dragon-shaped objects. Snakes are generally used, and four-legged snakes are used for those who are more particular.In the previous dynasty, someone wrote a poem saying that whipping the dragon into rain, that's what happened.

Liu Dan has seen praying for rain many times, and for some reason he always feels a bit chilly on his back today.

It shouldn't be!All the money bags were given away, and the evil star was also sent away!

Halfway through the sacrifice, General Liu couldn't look around, he could only glance around from the corner of his eye, and then winked at his personal guards to make them pay more attention.

Qiong County is in the southeast of Yongzhou. It can be said that it is the hinterland of the dynasty. It cannot touch the enemies in the south, and there are no rioters.

What can happen?Liu Dan couldn't understand it.

On the roof ridge behind the ancestral temple, Mo Li looked down at the "Whip Dragon" with a sullen face.

He has excellent ears and can understand various dialects, and he can clearly hear all the words that the Taoist priests chanted.

There has been no drought in Zhushan County in the past 20 years, but there have been flash floods. There is no shortage of water in the area. The Rain Festival has become a temple fair. Everyone also worships the Dragon King and eats spring pancakes. No use, let alone a whip.

This is the first time Mo Carp has seen such a thing as praying for rain.

Those alchemists took the talisman and let the gods and other gods obey orders to store the wind and move the rain, and they could still watch it; the burning talisman screamed at the Dragon King for raining, because it was not the Dragon King of the Four Seas and he could not make clouds and rain, so it was nothing to listen to; Facing a four-legged snake, he said that he wanted to whip the dragon, and it would not rain if he didn't hit it, so the dragon's veins were very unhappy.

"Is this the sacrificial ceremony set by the Qi Dynasty?" Mo Li asked with a frown.

"...No, there are many places, and this custom has been around for hundreds of years."

Meng Qi used to think that it was the alchemist who failed to pray for rain and was playing tricks with broken jars.

——Dare to fight even dragons, and still not scare people?

In this way, the alchemist who cheated the money but did not get the rain can successfully slip away.

I don't know why, but this practice has spread, and it has become more and more widespread, so that it has become a fixed custom.

Meng Qi was also a little unhappy, but he didn't mind as much as Mo Li. Meng Guoshi thought he was a mountain spirit.Shan Ling is what people call a dragon vein, but he is not a real dragon, so let's turn a blind eye to this kind of thing.

"Doctor, the more water is scarce, the more tricks there are to pray for rain."

Praying for rain was quite a long process. The two of them were in Qiong County before, and the people were still inviting the dragon to scare the dragon. They would not whip the dragon until after noon, so the ink carp didn't realize something was wrong until then.

"What kind of trick is this? If it doesn't rain, they will beat the dragon, but if the fields are not harvested, they will beat the soil?"

Mo Li almost turned around and left, but there was no clue on the Huangling's side, and the strong smell of smoke made him dizzy.

Then something happened below.

The Taoist was going to give the whip to He Shilang, but the sixth prince came back, so the whip was in the young man's hands.

According to the etiquette, just tap the ground with the whip, and just hit the four-legged snake.

But the sixth prince raised his hand, and the four-legged snake flew straight out, lying on the hem of He Shilang's robe.

He Shilang was caught off guard, saw something flying, and then there was something crawling on his robe, he was so frightened that he shook his clothes quickly, and in the panic, he trampled on the four-legged snake to death.

"..."

The Taoist was so startled that his whisk fell off.

"Dragon" is dead, how can we fight?

This is not a sacrifice, but a symbol of the dragon. Isn't it bad luck if you die?What more rain do you want?

Several Taoist priests looked at each other, but He Shilang stared at the sixth prince and almost fainted.

If this is not Qiong County, but the capital city, if something like this happens during the sacrifice, there will be a big mess.In any case, it was an ominous omen. He Shilang had to kneel down and plead guilty immediately, and then wrote the confession and went home to wait for the emperor to punish him.

He Shilang pointed at the sixth prince with trembling hands, his lips trembling for a long time, but he couldn't make a sound.

Just when Liu Dan thought he was about to fall straight, He Shilang suddenly wailed.

"Your Majesty!"

The voice was high-pitched, floaty, and extremely shrill. Liu Dan, who was idly watching the play next to him, almost bit his own tongue.

The expression of the sixth prince also froze, watching He Shilang throw himself at the gate of the ancestral temple, talking about etiquette, morality, Confucius and Mencius.

"He Shilang, it's inappropriate for you to say these things now, right? We're all praying for rain now, why would you invite a sage of Confucius?" Liu Dan reminded.

Then he received the approving gaze of the sixth prince, and the different eyes from Mo Li and Meng Qi on the roof.

"Liu Qiandai's head is quite easy to use." Meng Qi casually played with a small piece of broken silver in his hand.

This is the chestnut money Moli took out from the purse and threw it to Mr. Meng.

Doctor Mo believed that if he didn't care about the money, when he arrived in Taijing, all the money would unknowingly turn into fragrant roasted chestnuts, and then disappear.

Liu Dan didn't get promoted so quickly, and he couldn't push the sheep too hard.

Forget it, let's keep an eye on the purse!

"I think this sixth prince is a bit strange."

The whip just now by the young man in brocade clothes was clearly aimed at He Shilang, and he did it on purpose.

The whip was still skillful, and it rolled the four-legged snake around without hurting it at all, so the four-legged snake crawled up quickly after it fell.

He Shilang was reprimanded by Liu Dan, his face was green and pale, and he couldn't get off the stage immediately.

He gritted his teeth and said, "You are not a scholar, how dare you mention Confucius?"

The Taoist originally wanted to rack his brains to come up with an excuse to confuse the fact that the "dragon" was dead.

But the four-legged snake is commonly known as the dragon son, and He Shilang trampled it to death in front of the prince. The sixth prince can make use of the problem and hold He Shilang accountable.

These Taoist priests are not stupid, they know that they can't speak at the moment, and they might offend someone if they want to smooth things over.

Mo Li stared at them for a while, and had to be sure that these Taoist priests had no martial arts at all.

"Strange." Doctor Mo said to himself.

Did Zangfengguan really give up the treasure of geomantic omen of the imperial mausoleum in Qiong County?Why is there no one here who looks like the confidant of Patriarch Qingwu?

Is it really necessary for Meng Qi to show up among the Jiang Hu people as the national teacher of the Chu Dynasty and attract the attention of Qingwu Patriarch?

Even if it was a good idea, Doctor Mo was not happy.

Can't take care of the patients, but also follow the patients to clean up the mess-is it plausible?

"Throughout the ages, emperors have called themselves dragons. I don't understand. How can this dragon fight at will? Since He Shilang told me the way of Confucius and Mencius, how can I remember that Yasheng Mencius once said, 'Wen Zhu Yifu Zhou, I have never heard of killing kings. Look, He Shilang, Mencius has never heard of such a thing as killing kings. He only heard that people killed a man named Zhou. If the dragon refuses to rain, it is Can't you just whip it casually? Anyway, it's not a dragon, but a lazy and useless four-legged snake."

The sixth prince said with a smile, and deliberately glanced at Liu Dan.

General Liu's heart skipped a beat, and he finally realized what was wrong with the sixth prince.

The prince seemed to be causing trouble all the time. He looked stubborn, but in fact he had a strong dissatisfaction in his heart, which he couldn't suppress.

I don't know whether this sharp hostility is towards the courtiers or his father, but the sixth prince is like a hedgehog, stabbing anyone he sees.

Because it won't rain, the ink carp that was beaten into a four-legged snake for no reason: "..."

The author has something to say:

Today's doctor is also laying down the gun

It is said that whipping a dragon can make it rain. It is said that there is indeed this custom.

Although the doctor is not happy, this custom actually reflects the way our country treats gods and ghosts.It is very in line with the thinking of our country. If it is useful, pray, and if it is not useful, get out.

----

The flying stream is three hundred feet long, and there is a mysterious Lingqiu in the cave.The gorge opens the thunder axe, and the sky is empty and the moon is hooked.When transforming into shape, try the bowl, exhale or build a building.I want to whip the dragon up and spread the rain all over Kyushu.

——Wang Shouren in Viewing Jiuhua Longtan