The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"Your Majesty had a dream between Wei and Wei?"

In Chen Bao Temple in Chencang County, the gray-haired and sallow-faced Wu Zhi looked at the panting black-faced young man and had already guessed his purpose.

"Your Majesty asked the Minister of the Imperial Household to ask me to interpret the dream?"

"Yes."

Hei Fu took the soup handed over by the witch and drank it all. Only then did he have time to observe this small temple.

The most eye-catching thing about this temple is that there is a big ceramic rooster standing on the eaves outside, with its head held high and chest puffed out, pretending to crow towards the morning sun.

The name of the temple is "Chenbao Temple". Heifu saw a record when he was reading "Qin Ji" in the Xianyang storage room: "In the 19th year of Duke Wen, a stone cloud was found and worshipped in the city of Beiban, Chencang. The god sometimes did not come every year, or came every year. He often came at night, shining like a meteor, coming from the southeast to gather in the temple city, like a rooster, and its voice was like a pheasant crowing at night. A prisoner was worshipped and named Chenbao..."

In the final analysis, this is just a meteorite that fell from the southeast to the north of Chencang. The meteorite fell in the silent night and startled a mountain of pheasants to cry. People thought it was the appearance of the pheasant god, so they called it "Rooster Crowing God Land".

The stone was sent to Duke Wen of Qin by the locals, but they saw that its texture was like stone, but its shape and color were like liver and lungs. Duke Wen of Qin was surprised and thought it was a treasure. After the witch explained it, he enshrined it in the temple on the hillside north of Chencang City and called it Chenbao.

Now, hundreds of years have passed, and the Chenbao Temple is no longer as prosperous as it used to be, but the Qin Dynasty still arranged special witches to offer sacrifices here in all seasons. That is the old witch Zhi who has pheasant feathers on his head, wears a feather coat, speaks with a mouthful of phlegm, and asks his apprentice to pass him a spittoon every half a minute...

Although Wu Zhi looks weak, he is one of the two most famous witches in Qin today. The other is "Wu Ya" from the Xichou Temple in Weiyi, and Qin Shihuang also sent Wang Li, the commander of the chariots and cavalry, to invite him.

Hei Fu finally got this job, and didn't want to be too late than Wang Li, so he said: "Your Majesty has arrived in Longxi first, and sent us to invite the great witch. There is not much time, great witch, let's talk in the car!"

Wu Zhi knew that he couldn't refuse, and he counted on his fingers. Since the establishment of the ceremony of the twelve golden men, the emperor hasn't summoned him for a long time, and he didn't even come to see him when he passed by during the western tour.

This was a rare opportunity to see the emperor, so he did not dare to neglect it. He asked his disciples to bring the necessary tortoise shells and other things, and then hurriedly followed Hei Fu out...

However, Hei Fu was surprised to find that among the necessities brought by Wu Zhi, there were several rolls of dried marijuana leaves, which were the kind of smokable marijuana that the doctor Chen Wujiu found in Yunmengze a few years ago.

"Why does the great wizard have this thing?" Hei Fu asked after helping the wizard to the car.

Wu Zhi wanted to maintain his mystery, and said mysteriously that this was a spiritual thing. After lighting it, you can travel to the sky and communicate with ghosts and gods...

"Nonsense." Hei Fu thought to himself, isn't it just smoking marijuana and getting high?

It turned out that this was the "good stuff" that Wu Ya got from the merchants in Nanjun when she went to Xianyang to help with the sacrifice last year because of the incident of the twelve golden men.

After he tasted it once, he couldn't stop, thinking that he was really communicating with the gods, but he didn't know that it was just an illusion caused by nerve anesthesia.

In just a few years, this substance has become popular among wizards and alchemists.

Heifu secretly cursed Chen Wujiu, the initiator, and also felt that after returning to Xianyang, he should report to the relevant departments of the Shaofu who were in charge of the pass inspection and list Nanjun marijuana as a contraband!

He tactfully reminded Wu Zhi that when interpreting dreams in front of His Majesty, it is better not to smoke, and it is better to be sober.

"Shaofu Cheng, what did His Majesty dream about?" Wu Zhi disagreed and asked about the business.

Heifu also listened to the interpretation of the dream by Prime Minister Wang Wan, so he knew the general dream of Qin Shihuang:

The emperor dreamed that the dog and horse used for sacrificing Feizi came to life, he rode on a white horse, and the black dog led the way, walking eastward along Longshan Mountain, and walked and walked, and actually returned to Xianyang Palace, and the twelve golden men standing in front of the palace stood up...

At this time, a cockcrow came, and the emperor woke up with a start. He always felt that this dream was quite meaningful, and summoned Wang Wan and others who were accompanying him to interpret the dream.

Although Wang Wan was erudite, he was too deeply influenced by Confucianism. He felt that dreaming was not a mysterious thing, and interpreted it according to the six dreams in "Zhou Li". He believed that Qin Shihuang's dream was "dreaming about what he thought about when he was awake", which is to say, "dreaming about what he thought about during the day, and dreaming about it at night..." This is a scientific conclusion. Heifu also wanted to give a thumbs up to Prime Minister Wang, who was feudal but not superstitious, but Qin Shihuang believed more in mysticism. He was not satisfied with Wang Wan's answer, so he asked people to invite two of the most famous witches. The emperor spoke, and Heifu ran his legs off. He could only take people back to Longdong again and ran all the way to Chen Bao Temple. The witches were really experts in interpreting dreams. As early as the Shang Dynasty, there were many records about the Yin Emperor's dream interpretation in oracle bone inscriptions. Yin Emperor Wu Ding always asked witches to ask ghosts and gods for him, whether his dreams had any disasters or calamities. In the Zhou Dynasty, people liked to interpret dreams even more. It is said that King Wen and King Wu of Zhou had many good dreams at that time, which foreshadowed that Zhou would definitely replace Yin. For example, King Wen once dreamed that "the sun and the moon were on his body." The sun and the moon are symbols of the emperor, which obviously means that King Wen was appointed by heaven. His wife Tai Si's dream was: "I dreamed that the court of Shang produced thorns, and the crown prince Fa (King Wu) took the catalpa from the court of Zhou and planted it between the gates. The catalpa turned into pine, cypress, mulberry, and oak."

The Zhou wizard interpreted the dream in the Mingtang and thought it was a good omen. It was the Emperor of Heaven who wanted to give the Zhou people the "great destiny of Shang". In the future, his son Fa would carry the tree to the great city of Shang!

The Qin people rose in Zhou land and inherited the Zhou Dynasty's emphasis on dreams. Qin Mugong was ill for seven days and dreamed of going to the residence of the Emperor of Heaven, traveling in Juntian, and playing Guangyue. After waking up, he also regarded this as a good omen that God wanted him to dominate.

Now, Qin Shihuang had another dream, and it was still a strange dream in the place where Feizi was grazing horses. Of course, the emperor would think that this might be a sign brought to him by his ancestors?

After telling the story, Hei Fu asked in the bumpy carriage: "What do you think the great witch thinks this dream should be interpreted?"

Wu Zhi closed his eyes: "This is a secret of ghosts and gods, and can only be told to Your Majesty, not to others."

In fact, he had not yet figured out how to respond.

Although Hei Fu wanted to interfere, he did not dare to be too obvious and upset Wu Zhi. With a turn of his eyes, he talked about another thing indirectly.

"I remember that when the Twelve Golden Men were established, in addition to several great witches in Qin, Your Majesty also asked the alchemists from Yan and Qi to participate in the sacrifice..."

It would have been better if Hei Fu did not mention it. As soon as he mentioned those oracles from Yan, Qi and Shandong, Wu Zhi was furious.

The major affairs of the country are war and sacrifice. Sacrifice, divination, dream interpretation, etc. have been the forbidden food of local witches since the founding of Qin. For example, a hundred years ago, when the Qin and Chu states were fighting fiercely, King Huiwen of Qin ordered the Qin wizards to carve a stone to curse the Chu state for defeat in order to pray to the Emperor of Heaven and the great god Wu Xian to bless the Qin state to win, so it was called "Curse of Chu".

In addition to offering sacrifices to Baidi Shaohao and Chen Bao pheasant god, the Qin wizards mainly believed in the "Three Wizards", namely "Wu Xian", "Da Chen Jue Qiu" and "Yatuo", which formed their own system.

But since Qin Shihuang unified the world, the arrival of Shandong Fangshi has brought unprecedented impact to the ancient Qin wizards.

The same industry is an enemy, and the Fangshi also engaged in astrology, gods, bedroom, witch doctor, divination and other things, which conflicted with the Qin wizards.

The wizards originally looked down on these outsiders, but when they competed in front of the emperor, the two sides were immediately judged.

The alchemists of Yan and Qi not only used Zou Yan's Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory to package themselves, but also called themselves "Fangxiandao" and lobbied the emperor with the immortal immortality theory of going to sea to seek immortality. They boasted about the "Three Immortal Mountains" such as Penglai and Fangzhang, saying that they were full of rare and precious herbs planted by immortals, and mortals could live forever if they ate them.

Qin Shihuang already yearned for longevity, and the alchemists of Yan and Qi were eloquent, so he was immediately attracted.

In comparison, the witches in Qin were much more old-fashioned. They only wore feather clothes, stared, and chanted prayers that had been passed down for hundreds of years in the rustic Kansai dialect, so they were ignored.

If the alchemists had not stayed in Xianyang to interpret the emperor's dream, it would probably not have been their turn...

"This is what I can't understand."

The journey was long. After two days of getting along with Wu Zhi, Hei Fu became more familiar with him. Hei Fu pretended to sympathize with Qin Wu and dislike the alchemists:

"Your Majesty unified the world and said that the auspicious sign of the emperor was the twelve golden men. The golden men came from Lintao in Longxi, but the Qin Wu Zhu failed to seize the opportunity and made a big fuss about it. He even shared the same glory with Shandong Fang Shi at the ceremony. I really feel sorry for the great witch."

"They are cunning and deceived Your Majesty with their evil words."

Wu Zhi frowned. Those Yanqi alchemists were arrogant and went in and out of the palace, but they were ignored. It made him angry just thinking about it.

But there was nothing they could do. The Qin witches were not as smart as the Yanqi alchemists. They had practiced their eloquence by jumping around in the Shandong vassal states for decades. They dared to brag about everything, such as immortality and overseas fairy islands.

"The alchemists said that immortality can be sought in the East and overseas. In fact, they wanted Your Majesty to give them money and silk so that they could go back to their hometown and squander it."

"That's right!" Wu Zhi agreed.

Hei Fu tried his best to hint: "But there are three immortal mountains in the East. Isn't there a similar residence of immortals in the West?"

"The West?"

Wu Zhi felt his throat itchy and spit again. He looked up at Hei Fu with his cloudy eyes. You mean: "The land of the Queen Mother of the West?"

"Yes!"

The old man finally caught up with the idea, and Hei Fu was very relieved. However, the Qin witches were closed, and Wu Zhi only had a superficial understanding of the legend of the Queen Mother of the West, which was far less detailed than the "" written by the Wei people.

Hei Fu said, "When I was in Xianyang, I read in the storage room and saw a book called "The Story of Emperor Mu"..."

This is not something Hei Fu made up. It is a book written by a Wei person. It records the story of King Mu of Zhou driving eight horses to the west. The journey was 35,000 miles and he met the Queen Mother of the West. After the book was completed, it has been popular in Wei for decades. It is probably the Wei State that made the story of King Mu of Zhou's western tour a myth.

After the fall of Wei, the book was collected in the stone chamber and Zhang Cang compiled and sorted it. Before this trip to the west, Hei Fu asked Chen Ping and others to help copy it on hemp paper and compile it into a paper book...

He brought two books in total. At this moment, he took one out of his arms and presented it to Wu Zhi with both hands.

Wu Zhi had also seen hemp paper, so it was not surprising. He took it with his old hands and opened the place where Hei Fu specially clamped a leaf as a bookmark.

"The Queen Mother of the West has a leopard's tail, tiger's teeth, is good at whistling, has disheveled hair and wears a crested phoenix..."

"The Queen Mother of the West sang a song for Emperor Mu: White clouds are in the sky, and mountains and hills emerge by themselves. The road is long and far, between mountains and rivers. My son will not die, and he can come back..."

"Can the Queen Mother of the West give people years and make them immortal?"

Wu Zhi's eyes widened suddenly. Hei Fu's words and this "Chronicle of Emperor Mu" were like a wake-up call, awakening him who had been confused for a long time!

"Why didn't I think of it before!"

In front of Qin Wu, who was almost eliminated by the alchemists of Yan and Qi, a brand new door was opened!

Dogs, horses, twelve golden men, the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West... Wu Zhi already knew how to interpret the emperor's dream!