Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 36 Clan Sacrifice (Please vote for it, thank you very much.)
"Good luck to you, sir!"

"Greetings to the Second Young Master."

When Zheng Guohui arrived at the front hall, there were many people standing in the courtyard and the rooms. Each of them was wearing a black priest robe, and they all bowed and greeted him when they saw him.

Those who can come here are all important members of the Zheng clan, either the heads of each branch, or the clan elders or leaders of branches of the Zheng clan scattered around the country and prestigious clan members.

Zheng Guohui dealt with the situation along the way and entered the lobby. He saw the old man Zheng Shouren sitting at the top, looking energetic. He had already changed into a black ritual robe and was chatting with the clan elders next to him.

When Zheng Guohui walked into the lobby, everyone's eyes fell on him.

"When is it?"

"It's almost time. If you don't come, I'm going to call someone to invite you."

"Well, let's play some music to cheer everyone up."

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away." Fourth uncle Zheng Shouye was the lead of the sacrifice. After receiving Zheng Guohui's instructions, he immediately arranged for the wind and percussion band to play music.

This is a signal to gather the tribesmen. All the tribesmen who hear the music must rush to the sacrificial site as soon as possible.

The passionate and sonorous music soon sounded, and the tribesmen present turned their heads to look, their expressions becoming solemn.

The crowd that gathered in the night heard the exciting music and immediately started jogging, urging each other to come as soon as possible.

The music played for more than ten minutes and then suddenly stopped.

24 horns suddenly sounded, and the dull and melodious sound spread far away, echoing through the night sky.

The big red lanterns on the small bluestone square were lit up one by one, as were the 99 lanterns surrounding the altar. The family's ancestral hall was brightly lit, and all the big tallow candles as thick as arms were lit.

The middle door of the Dafang mansion opens
The first to come out were the 36-member vanguard bugle corps, followed by the 36-member marching drum corps, and a 36-member wind and percussion band, and beside them was a long line of tribesmen holding lanterns.

Behind these people

They were Zheng Shouren, the patriarch of the Zheng family, who was wearing a black sacrificial robe, as well as Zheng Guohui and a group of important clan members. They all wore black robes and there were more than two hundred of them.

On both sides of them were 400 soldiers serving as a guard of honor, followed by a tribute team carrying ox heads, whole pigs, and whole sheep, and behind them was a carriage team.

The 36 large horse-drawn carriages were filled with steamed buns, cakes and other items decorated in the shape of longevity peaches, as well as baskets of fish and rice that symbolized a good harvest, and piles of pork and mutton.

The long procession passed through the small bluestone square where the tribesmen gathered, circled the altar, and then, led by the chief priest, the master of ceremonies, the communicator, and the usher, a group of elders went up to the altar.

The blazing fire on the altar was lit, followed by 12 earth-shaking cannon shots. This procedure is called "raising the cannons", which means to make some noise.

Let the ancestors in heaven take note, the clan sacrifice is about to begin.

After the gunfire
The chief priest Zheng Shouren stood by the fire on the altar, holding a green scroll in his hand and began to read the sacrificial text. These were all green words written by the most knowledgeable scholars. After reading them, they were thrown into the fire, and turned into a wisp of green smoke and sent to the sky.

Who knows how many members of the Zheng family are crowded around the altar?
Under the light, everyone's face was filled with fanatical and sacred expressions. They all knelt down in the direction of the altar, silently chanting "Ancestors bless you."

on the altar

"Bow to the Eastern Azure Dragon Star Lord..."

"Bow to the Southern Vermillion Bird Star Lord..."

"Bow to the White Tiger Star Lord of the West..."

"Bow to the Northern Xuanwu Star Lord..."

The eunuch shouted in a drawn-out tone, and Zheng Guohui and his son, along with the other elders, kept kneeling down and kowtowed, then standing up again. They knelt down and kowtowed again, then stood up again...

"Respectfully inform our ancestors, Zheng Guohui, the 31st generation of the Zheng family, was precocious, brave, wise, and talented. He led the Tongzhou militia to suppress the bandits and put down the rebellion, and his contributions were invaluable, earning him great respect from the imperial court..."

After praising themselves eloquently, Zheng Shouren and his son Zheng Guohui knelt down again to thank their ancestors for their protection and prayed for good weather, good health for their clansmen, and freedom from illness and disaster in the coming year.

After more than an hour of struggling on the altar and bowing dozens of times inside and outside, it finally came to an end.

However, this was only the beginning of the entire clan's sacrifice. After the cannons were raised, the order was set, the gods were ushered in, the sacrifices were offered, and the worship was paid, the chief priest Zheng Shouren walked down the altar with a group of important figures in the clan.

The vanguard bugle corps, marching drum corps, and wind and percussion band at the front began to play again, and the entire long sacrificial team moved forward along the road and needed to walk around Tongzhou City.

Zheng Guohui directly arranged for someone to send the master Zheng Shouren and more than twenty elderly and frail elders back to the mansion. They had to make some ginger soup immediately and then feed them some tonic food such as chicken soup to warm their bodies.

Otherwise, we will definitely not be able to bear this severe cold weather.

As for the circumambulation of the city, it was done by the young and strong members of the tribe, and Zheng Guohui naturally took over as the main priest.

There was music from gongs and drums, and firecrackers were set off, making a huge commotion. The residents of Tongzhou City woke up early and flocked to the streets to watch the fun, shouting "good" all the way.

The carriage was loaded with many longevity peaches and cakes, which were distributed wherever it passed, and once again won a lot of applause. The people of Tongzhou City praised it in unison.

What do you call this… this is a display of respect. Years after this ancestral worship, the people of Tongzhou City would remember the grand spectacle of this ceremony, showcasing the Zheng family's immense strength.

Other families are stingy when they offer sacrifices to their ancestors, so they are bound to be compared with them.

As we cruised around the city, the sky had already turned pale, casting the cool morning light across the earth.

By the time the parade around the city ended, it was already bright outside, around 9 a.m., and more and more people were gathering to watch.

Back to the Bluestone Square

The people here were so crowded that it was almost impossible to get through. The parade team took more than half an hour to finally get in.

It turns out
Zheng Guohui was right to let the elders have a rest. After they went back to drink ginger soup, eat some food and take a nap, all the old men returned to the ancestor worship site in high spirits.

Afterwards, the ox head, whole pig and whole sheep sacrifices were brought into the ancestral hall and the "first offering ceremony" was performed. Only important members of the Zheng clan could enter the ancestral hall and line up to worship.

Following the ancient rituals, there are steps such as burning incense three times, making three offerings, reciting sacrificial texts, giving instructions, playing drums and music, and accompanying the carriage. In addition, every time a sacrifice is offered, a grand kowtow is performed.

The host then "reads out the blessing", and the clan members below bow... bow again... bow three times... The process is very long and boring.

Zheng Guohui got up at around 4 o'clock and has not eaten or drunk anything since then. His stomach is growling with hunger. He has kowtowed seventy or eighty times and is completely numb.

But there is no way around it. The clan sacrificial procedures must be followed one by one. The more complete it is, the more solemn it appears. There is no such thing as skipping a few steps, as that would be a blasphemy to ancestors.

It would be a bad idea to sneak around under the noses of our ancestors.

By the time the worship ceremony in the ancestral hall was over, it was already around 11 o'clock in the morning.

Everyone came to the altar in the square again and offered the animal plates (animals: cattle, sheep and pigs for sacrifice), the meat plates (meat for sacrifice), soup pots, firewood and charcoal, washbasins, towels, incense tables, incense burners, candlesticks, sand basins, fire stoves, silk, incense money and paper, worship mats, etc.

Every time an animal was offered, the offering clan member had to kneel down and kowtow. Thousands of Zheng clan members in the square also knelt down and kowtowed, then stood up, knelt down and kowtowed again, then stood up again...

The burning incense, money and paper caused thick smoke to billow up into the sky around the altar, and the beating of drums and music created a strong sacrificial atmosphere.

Wang Shouren of the Ming Dynasty said, "Ritual sacrifice is the most important, and one should treat the dead as if they were alive."

This time, the Zheng clan's grand ancestor worship ceremony not only greatly inspired the confidence of the clan members, but also consolidated the clan members' strength. Zheng Guohui attached particular importance to the latter point.

Taking advantage of this ancestor worship, he selected more than 400 young talents from the Zheng family who came to Tongzhou City. The worst ones were all scholars, and he planned to bring them with him for training.

According to their interests, those who were willing to engage in clerical work or teaching were sent to Chongming Island or Tzu Chi School respectively, and those who were willing to join the army were directly sent to the Jinling Military Academy for training.

After six months of military training and receiving complete British officer education, they can be assigned to serve in the Inspectorate Battalion.

The proportion of officers in the Dubiao Battalion is much higher than that of other Green Camp soldiers. It is now about twice as much. After the injection of this batch of fresh blood, the proportion of grassroots officers will increase significantly.

Zheng Guohui is willing to train more young officers in his army and does not care about the ratio of officers to soldiers. He can still afford this cost.

When necessary, the troops can be expanded quickly and the overall combat effectiveness will not decrease too much.

When the ancestor worship was held, it was already January 1865, 3 (note: all dates used in this book are in the Gregorian calendar), and the domestic situation was once again in turmoil.

After disbanding the Hunan Army, Zeng Guofan led the main force of the Huai Army northward to encircle and suppress the Nian Army. However, he was defeated repeatedly in the flexible and maneuverable battles of the Nian Army. The original approach of "building a strong camp and fighting a stupid battle" no longer worked.

The court's latest appointments have also come down. The Huai Army's reorganized local troops, "Shu" (Zhang Shusheng) and "Qing" (Wu Changqing), were promoted to general, and Wu Changqing was promoted to deputy general. Neither of them had the word "Jiangnan" in their names.

That is
The Huai Army troops could be dispatched to other areas as needed and were a mobile field force.

Zhang Shusheng's troops were the "Gu Su Town" and Wu Changqing's troops were the "Changzhou Association", both of which were under the unified command of Jiangning General Xianghou. The two troops were not subordinate to each other and were independent armies.

It is true that it is easy to become an official if you have someone in the court. Li Hongzhang fought for a general-in-chief position for his favorite general Zhang Shusheng. This is a very important military position. A general who commands an army must at least have the title of "general".

Zheng Guohui could only feel envious after hearing the news. Even if his Du Biao Battalion tried its best, it could only be a "coalition", and was still far from being an independent "town".

A "town" is equivalent to an independent division, and a "association" is at most a brigade.

The situation in Jiangnan Province where Du Biaoying was the only dominant force has now become a three-way competition, with Gusu Town still the most important one.

This invisible
In order to weaken the power of the Du Biao Camp, Zheng Guohui also stationed a small number of troops in Changzhou Prefecture, about 300 people in Xishan County and more than 200 people in Jiangyin County.

I guess it won't take long

Deputy General Wu Changqing would send an official letter, asking the Du Biao Battalion to withdraw to its own territory and stop interfering in Changzhou Prefecture.

Zheng Guohui pretended to be stupid for the time being. Anyway, if he occupied more places in Changzhou Prefecture, he could expand the sales of private salt and make more profits.

There is really no other way. It will not be too late to retreat then.

(End of this chapter)