C41 Apart from the Minister of Rites

The hunt was held for three days, the last day of the ritual, and the Ministry of Rites took care of everything.

Looking down at the altar, it was 5 meters tall, with a diameter of 5 meters (3 meters = 3.33 meters), and the ground was covered with clear marble patterns. Four. There were 36 stone pillars standing at the side, and the first stone pillar at the entrance of the altar was the mouse. They were the heads of the 12 zodiacs, and the last pillar was the pig guard. It meant: The 12 zodiacs sat on the stone pillars, and the wind and rain went smoothly for hundreds of years.

There were twelve steps in total between the altar and the ground. The bottom of the altar was a circle with a diameter of seven zhang. The dark color was the main color, and there were ten zhang tall green bricks surrounding the wall. The top of the wall was made of glass tiles, shining brightly under the sunlight.

On the altar, there was a huge bronze square lamb feet cauldron. In front of the cauldron, there was a round table made of pear blossom wood, and on the table, there was a golden shrine. Around the altar, there were 36 red Heaven Ritual Flags, a total of 36 of them.

At the main entrance of the altar stood a 40 feet tall tiger door. The exquisite carvings were intimidating.

At the time of the day, all the officials were dressed in official robes, and the princes and princesses were standing in front of the hundreds of officials. The person who worshiped the heavens was the Emperor and Empress, accompanying the concubines to serve by the side.

The Emperor and Empress wore a large fur coat with imperial robes (Ornaments of the sun, moon, moon, mountains and dragons and phoenixes). Wear her head. From the front to the back. He wore a crown with twelve tassels hanging down from it, and a large Gui hung from his waist. Holding the Gui in his hand, he faced the west and stood on the southeast side of the mountain. At this time, the drums and music rang out, and the Emperor and Empress held each other as they walked in, and then they placed the slaughtered livestock along with the jade wall, the Jade Gui, the blood cloth, and other sacrificial offerings on the firewood pile. The emperor lit the firewood, making the fireworks rise high up in the sky. Then, according to the first time, five different types of wine of different quality were offered, known as five sets. After that, the Emperor and Empress lit the incense, and everyone present paid their respects.

After offering the incense, they left.

Noble Consort Long sat in the carriage, and the carriage quickly exited the heaven worshipping door. For some reason, a few horses turned around and pulled the carriage horizontally. The driver did not move no matter how hard he whipped. One of the horses screamed in pain. The remaining horses were startled. The carriage rushed straight towards the altar. Everyone panicked. No matter what, they couldn't stop the carriage that was charging forward.

"The horse carriage staggered up the stairs. Noble Consort Long rolled around in the carriage, her whole body in pain.

"The moment the carriage rushed to the altar, the carriage fell apart and Noble Consort Long came out of the carriage. Yu Longtang and Yu Longchen caught her at the same time and the crazy horse rushed towards the shrine.

"Bang! In an instant, the shrine fell, and the four corners of the cauldron trembled. The horse heavily fell to the ground, seeking death.

Noble Consort Long was so scared that her face turned pale and her legs trembled. Looking at the furious Emperor, she endured the pain, knelt down, and cried sorrowfully, "Emperor. The Emperor is merciful! I don't know! It's this horse that has gone crazy!"

" Royal Father! Today is the Heaven-Worshipping Feast. Noble Consort Long disrespected the heaven and earth and looked down on the gods! She should be sent to the Cold Palace according to the law! "Yu Longzi stepped forward and glanced at Noble Consort Long. He said calmly and in a fair tone," The Heaven-Worshipping Feast will be handled by the Ministry of Rites. It is a dereliction of duty to not investigate such a lowly horse! According to the law, it is a dereliction of duty! The Minister of Rites will be sentenced to 50 with a staff and will be exempt from duty! "

Yu Longtang knelt on the ground and begged," Royal Father, Royal Mother did not mean to offend the shrine. I hope that Royal Father will treat Royal Mother with respect and let her off lightly! "

The Ministry of Rites official was so scared that he knelt down and said in a wronged tone," Emperor, this official was wronged. This official carefully selected this batch of horses and definitely would not have such bad horses. I hope the Emperor can investigate clearly!"

At this moment, Yu Longtang could no longer care about the Ministry of Rites official. Yu Longchen frowned. His tone was calm. "Royal Father! The Ministry of Rites official has held the ceremony for many years and has never made a mistake. Today's matter is strange! Send the horse breeder and veterinarian to see if this horse has been tampered with!"

"Alright!" The Emperor looked at Yu Longchen and replied in a low voice.

"Send the veterinarian and the horse breeder to me!" Two people came to check the horse after a short while.

Yu Longzi coldly looked at the two of them, turned his head and said, "Today's matter is indeed a lot more strange, but Noble Consort Long has offended the gods by charging into the shrine! If you do not blame her, then... If the gods send down punishment, will Second Brother be able to bear it alone? The Ministry of Rites official has been in charge of the ceremony for many years without making any mistakes. Today's mistake should be a horse's hoof. I see that the Minister of Rites has been in charge of the Rites for many years and has worked hard for decades. He has been racking his brains, so much so that he did not investigate today. Maybe it's time to take a break! "

" Replying to the Emperor, there are no abnormalities with this horse! " The veterinarian respectfully knelt on the ground and replied.

"Withdraw!" The Emperor frowned slightly and sternly said, "Today is the day of worship. Noble Consort Long has crashed into the shrine and offended the gods. Seizing the power of the six palaces, demote it to a ceremony! The Minister of Rites did not investigate the loss of the Minister of Rites. He has sentenced her to 50 with a cane and is exempt from duty! "

" Thank you, Emperor, for your graciousness! "

No matter what, he should thank the Emperor for his kindness.

The Emperor straightened his expression and looked at the High Duke of Ling as he asked: "High Duke Ling, today, a poor horse has crashed into the shrine, what kind of explanation do you have?"

"Emperor, this official was terrified and did not understand what he meant?" The High Duke of Ling did not understand.

"You have thousands of armor but you are unable to stop an animal!" The Emperor's voice was higher, and his eyes were filled with reproach.

"This official knows his crimes, this official is willing to hand the Ling Family's military token back to the Emperor!" The Duke of Ling knew what the Emperor meant. If he wanted to add more crimes, he would have no choice but to bear the military token.

"Today's matter cannot be said anymore! All withdraw!" The Emperor was filled with dignity.

"Yes!" Everyone naturally did not dare to say anything and slowly retreated.

- - -

Mu Ruqing, who was in the tent, heard about the matter at the Heaven-Worshipping Feast and felt pity in her heart. Noble Consort Long, such a character, was demoted from Rank One to Rank Three...

There must be a problem with the horses. Mu Ruqing came to the stable and saw that Yu Longchen was there. Yu Longtang should go accompany Long Zhaoyi.

"Where is the horse?" Mu Ruqing said lightly, her eyes showing some worry.

However, Yu Longchen did not know what had gone wrong. He felt aggrieved in his heart. He did not notice that his expression was not good. "Kill it. There can't be no problem with the horse!"

"Bring me to take a look."

"Alright."

The two of them arrived at the slaughterhouse. The horse's belly had already been torn open. Mu Ruqing looked at the horse's head, which was dull and dull, and carefully looked at the red spot in the middle of its eyes. Feeling it in her heart, she used a handkerchief to cover her nose and said, "Take off this horse's five viscera, eyes, and head and hand it over to me!"

"Yes!"

Yu Longchen did not know what Mu Ruqing wanted to do, but seeing her sad look, his heart ached. "Why don't you go back first, I will handle this matter."

"No need. Even if we find anything today, we can't use it to convict Eldest Prince. We just need to confirm one thing." Mu Ruqing's eyes were clear and bright, so Yu Longchen naturally followed her. "Okay."

In a moment, Butcher took out a bloody object. He held a long knife and stood by the side, waiting for Yu Longchen's instructions.

"Give me the knife, and you can withdraw!"

"Yes."

Yu Longchen took the knife and looked at Mu Ruqing gently. "Where do you want to see first?"

"Starting from the heart." Mu Ruqing stared at her heart which was still dissipating heat. The discomfort in her heart spread. She thought of Old Hong.

"Qing?" Yu Longchen saw that her expression was not right and called her a few times.

"Hm?" Mu Ruqing went forward to take a closer look. Other than blood, there was nothing else. She was a little disappointed, "Why not directly look at the eyes and head!"

Yu Longchen opened his eyes. In the white transparent liquid, there was a black bug with many legs wriggling.

"What is this?" Yu Longchen looked shocked, "How could there be a worm?"

Mu Ruqing took out a small red box and asked Yu Longchen to pick out the insects.

"There must be more in the other eye, and also in the head." Mu Ruqing did not answer the question and looked straight at Yu Longchen.

Yu Longchen did not ask any more questions. He opened his eyes and head, and took out more than a dozen of them, big and small.

Mu Ruqing carefully put them into the box and slowly opened her mouth, "Has Mistress heard of the witchcraft Gu technique?"

"You are saying that this is the witchcraft Gu?" Yu Longchen's eyes were surprised and his face was shocked, "I have long heard of it but the law has already banned this technique. It has not appeared for hundreds of years since the founding of the country."

"So now, Eldest Prince has a Gu Master by his side." Mu Ruqing had only read about it in the original Book of the World. She did not think that she would actually see a Gu with her own eyes today.

"No wonder you can't find any flaws. So that's how it is?" Yu Longchen became angry!

"Mistress feels that this kind of thing will happen in the future?"

"No, he won't use any unscrupulous means to do so. We broke his wings in a row, that's why he is so anxious today."

"But, everything needs to be prepared." Mu Ruqing gave a bow with a smile, "Mistress must live well."

"Of course. If you die before getting it, wouldn't it be a loss?" Yu Longchen pinched Mu Ruqing's chin and smiled wickedly.

"It's too late. Mistress should return." Mu Ruqing saw that she ignored her threat and felt a little angry in her heart. She flicked her sleeves and left.

- - -

Yu Longzi threw the bag full of gold behind him. A thin man wearing black cloth clothes with a goatee picked it up. He smiled coldly, "Eldest Prince, you are a good man. I still have things to do, so I'll be leaving first. You will definitely have something I need from now on... Haha."

Yu Longzi narrowed his eyes and looked at the person walking out. A trace of uneasiness was spreading in his heart.