Dongyang Lake, outside the Dragon King Temple.
At this moment, the two black-clothed priests were doing the ritual, murmuring some incantations, saying that no one could understand what they said, and they probably couldn't understand it themselves.
Li Shimin stood beside the two priests, lit the incense candle, and inserted it into the incense candle holder.
Bow three times, worship the sky, the earth, and the Dragon King!
Around Li Shimin, there was a group of onlookers.
Immediately afterwards, Wei Zheng hurriedly ran to Li Shimin's side, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the old minister has already made arrangements for the boys and girls, and they will send them over with the worship ceremony soon! "
"Did you come here in a red sedan chair? But don't let the crowd know that we use virgin boys and girls as sacrifices, otherwise, it will cause commotion and suspicion among the crowd!"
Li Shimin said in a low voice.
Wei Zheng nodded quickly, and said: "Yes, yes, please rest assured, the emperor, Lao Chen has already arranged it! Although people know it well, they will not say it! After all, it is not a matter of offering sacrifices to the Dragon King. Once or twice! Last year, the drought was sacrificed once, basically, the neighbors and people in the ten miles and eighth streets knew about this, but they would not talk nonsense!"
"Well, that's fine! Let's do it like this! Have you given me the deposit? But don't miss anything!"
Li Shimin said.
Wei Zheng nodded, and said, "The deposit of 500 taels of gold has been paid, and there are still 500 taels of gold left. After offering sacrifices to the Dragon King, let's pass it on!"
"Oh, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine!"
Li Shimin pursed his lips and sighed repeatedly.
This is something that he cannot control, otherwise Li Shimin absolutely does not want to use the lives of living people to sacrifice to the Dragon King!
"Prime Minister Wei Zheng, did you see my Eighth Prince and Princess Changle? I saw them both under the Yunque Bridge yesterday, but they ran away when they saw me, and they disappeared in the end. Did they go back to the East Chamber?" Li Shimin asked.
Wei Zheng shook his head and said, "This, I don't know! But with the Eighth Prince protecting Princess Changle, nothing major will happen!"
"Hmph, don't you even come to the sacrificial ceremony? They are really two ignorant children!"
Li Shimin snorted coldly, his expression very melancholy!
…
Soon, two red sedan chairs were slowly carried over from afar!
Many common people thought that this was a tribute to the Dragon King.
But only a few people such as Li Shimin know that there are actually a pair of boys and girls inside.
Originally, the two sacrificial priests proposed to release the two virgin boys and girls so that the common people could see their real appearance, and then sacrifice to the Dragon King.
In this way, if the Dragon King can hear the inner prayers of the common people, he will bless Datang with good weather and good weather this year.
But Li Shimin felt that something was wrong.
This is already a blatant murder! Do you want to kill those two children in front of many people in Chang'an City?
What do you make a child think?
Don't you just treat Li Shimin as a monstrous devil?
So Li Shimin finally rejected the request, and instead said, just sink all the tributes into Dongyang Lake.
As long as the Dragon King receives the tribute.
The tribute was ready, and Li Shimin felt relieved.
Soon, the sacrificial ceremony began, and the final sacrificial ceremony was about to end.
Then all that is left is to sink the tribute into Dongyang Lake.
Today's weather is not bad, no rain.
It was a cloudy day, the sky was a little dark, and the breeze was blowing, which meant a little bit of cold.
Li Shimin pursed his lips tightly, his face looked thinner?
At this moment, Li Chengfeng was still eating and drinking in the big sedan chair, and even fell asleep.
On the other hand, Li Lizhi, who was at the side, was already so anxious that she was about to jump out!
"Brother Feng'er, why haven't you started to act yet?"
"Brother Feng'er, what's wrong with you? Nothing will happen to you, right?"
"Brother Feng'er, are you making trouble like that?"
So, Li Lizhi couldn't hold back anymore, she started to shout loudly in the big sedan chair: "Help! Everyone, help us!"
"What? Is the virgin's seal loose?"
When Li Lizhi yelled so loudly, the expressions of all the people present suddenly changed.
Especially Li Shimin, his face suddenly turned red.
Because he didn't want the people to see that there were virgins and virgins in the tribute.
At this moment, those common people are also confused, looking like a fog.
They looked around, wondering who was yelling for help?
"Quick, sink down, sink down quickly!"
Li Shimin immediately began to direct the guards to sink the big sedan chair.
But Wei Zheng was a little confused. He came to Li Shimin and said, "Your Majesty, why do I sound like Princess Changle?"
"Changle? It's a bit like it!" Li Shimin hesitated for a moment, and then shouted: "Sink quickly! Be careful that the Dragon King is angry, I can't spare you!"
"Yes, yes, emperor, let's sacrifice the tribute to the Dragon King!"
Those guards carried the sedan chair and strenuously walked towards Dongyang Lake.
"Help, Father, it's me, Changle! Father, help!"
Li Lizhi still shouted in the sedan chair.
Li Shimin's fur froze when he heard it.
Afterwards, Li Shimin immediately waved his hand and shouted: "Continue to sink!"
Hmph, you still want to lie to me, Li Shimin?
How could Princess Changle appear in this sedan chair?
Don't think your voice is like Changle, you are Changle?
I, Li Shimin, are not so easily deceived.
Moreover, Changle is now with the Eighth Prince, and it is impossible for the Eighth Prince to let his sister enter the sedan chair of the tribute.
Unless, the sedan chair on the left is filled with the Eighth Prince.
But this is impossible.
Li Chengfeng is very shrewd, how could he be caught and put into the sedan chair?
Therefore, Li Shimin concluded that the virgin girl only had a voice similar to Li Lizhi's, and she wanted to pretend to be Princess Changle to win the sympathy of the emperor and the common people, so as to let them go.
However, the sacrificial ceremony is over, and now it is time to offer the tribute!
The sacrifice cannot be interrupted, otherwise the Dragon King will be angry!
So Li Shimin decided to sink quickly to avoid future troubles.
…
However, at this moment a voice of opposition suddenly appeared from the crowd, shouting: "Emperor, keep people under your command!"
"Slow down, slow down, emperor, you can't sink, you can't sink!"
"Your Majesty, I can't sink, this time you really can't sink!"
Who?
Who was yelling outside?
Li Shimin frowned, his anger was written all over his face.
However, when Li Shimin turned his head, he found several familiar people.
"what?"
"Fan Meng, the proprietress of the East Chamber Pavilion? Xu Qingmo, a girl in green clothes? And that girl Wu Xu? And Li Junxian also ran over?"
"What are these people doing?"
"Why do they want to prevent me from sinking into the tribute?"