For some reason, Zong Luo always felt that there should have been a touch of red there not long ago.
After completing the Emperor Yuan’s order on the surface, Zong Luo continued to squat in the palace and did not go out.
When the people in the Imperial City heard that the Third Prince had actually gone out for a spring outing, they sent congratulatory notes to the Third Prince’s Mansion one after another, hoping to get close to this prince who had moved into Yuchun Palace and now had amnesia and was ill, to see if they could find out some news.
But to everyone’s surprise, Zong Luo refused all of them.
At this point, those without connections went to curry favor with Gu Ziyuan, the newly promoted official who was personally appointed by the Third Prince.
After the New Year, Feng Chang presented a memorial on the first day of spring about how to hold the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony and the specific process.
In theory, the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony should have been held last year. But at that time, the whole country was mourning, and the memorial was directly rejected by Emperor Yuan in a fit of anger, and no one dared to mention it again.
But by this year, the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony could not be delayed any longer.
Emperor Yuan knew that once the Heavenly Destiny Big Birthday was over, the matter of designating a crown prince was imperative.
This time, the memorial was passed without any danger, and it was finally set for the summer and autumn.
According to the rules of the Great Yuan, there must be a great joy before the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony would be held.
So after the New Year, all the troops began to prepare intensively, planning to continue to send troops to the remaining two countries, and complete the long-cherished wish of pacifying the Central Plains as soon as possible.
Now that there were only two countries left, there was no need for any previous deployment, just start on two fronts directly. In recent days, Emperor Yuan had been summoning the leaders of several troops, including Yu Beizhou, who usually seemed idle, and they have been frequently entering and leaving the palace, ready for battle.
Zong Luo was also thinking about when he should let his eyes recover a bit more.
A few days ago, the Imperial Medical Courtyard diagnosed his pulse and said that he could take the elixir to replenish his body in two days.
If it had been before, Zong Luo would definitely wait until the layout was completely completed, confirmed to be correct, and even drag it to the last moment of the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony, before announcing that his eyes had naturally recovered.
But now….
Before the fifteenth of this month, Pei Qianxue, who was relieving the disaster outside, finally returned to the Imperial City with the Xuan Cavalry.
Because the matter was handled very properly, Emperor Yuan’s dragon face was very pleased and let Pei Qianxue extend the New Year’s holiday that he had not been able to rest before to now.
So these days, Pei Qianxue often ran to the palace for no reason, to have tea and chat with Zong Luo.
Because of the dream a few days ago, Zong Luo had particularly complicated feelings about these male supporting characters. So he didn’t refuse.
As they chatted, they talked about the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony, and naturally, they also talked about the divination of the Great Witch.
“Compared to destiny’s choice, the divination of the Great Witch is more like cause first, then effect.”
Zong Luo had always been confused about how the Great Witch calculated the national fortune as a reference. Unexpectedly, Pei Qianxue knew something.
“The Witch Sacrificial Ceremony should have been held last year. It just so happened that Feng Chang was on leave, and I also had the honor of presiding over it for a while, so I know something.” Pei Qianxue explained.
Many court ministers speculated that the Great Witch’s calculation was the national fortune, not absolutely who was more suitable to be the crown prince.
These two were considered together, because the future was unpredictable, so the personality factors of each prince were certainly important, and the scope of the prince’s own strength would also be taken into account.
So even if the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony decides the final choice for the crown prince, those who wanted to participate in the fight for the crown still fought fiercely, vying for each other’s connections and power, just to add bricks and tiles to themselves.
That was to say, if the talent was not enough, make up for it later.
“But how much the scope of strength will be referenced is unknown.”
Pei Qianxue smiled bitterly. “The principle of divination and selection of the Great Witch has always been a secret content, only known to the emperors of all dynasties, and unknown to others.”
In fact, Pei Qianxue was more inclined to think that the speculations of the ministers were smoke bombs that have been released.
After all, when Emperor Yuan was still a prince, an unusual disturbance occurred at the Witch Sacrificial Ceremony. The calculated wooden plaque was inexplicably destroyed, and in the end, the former emperor had to personally designate an heir, making his most beloved little prince the crown prince.
At that time, no one knew exactly what happened, only that two days after the crown prince’s ceremony, Emperor Yuan picked up his weapon and rebelled. He cut down his own brothers and directly washed the Imperial City with blood, killing his way into the Zhang Palace to see the former emperor.
Since then, everyone has been deeply taboo about the mysterious Witch Sacrificial Ceremony.
Many old ministers said that the crown prince calculated on that day should have been Emperor Yuan, but the former emperor stubbornly insisted on making the little prince the crown prince, which led to the tragedy afterwards.
Zong Luo smiled, his eyes filled with contemplation.
No matter what, although most of what Pei Qianxue said was hearsay and not guaranteed to be accurate, the only thing that could be confirmed was that the Great Witch could indeed calculate who would finally ascend to the throne, not who was most suitable to ascend to the throne.
After sending away Pei Qianxue, he sighed.
Tonight, as soon as Zishi passed, it was another fifteenth. (TL: the period of the day from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m)
