Chapter 48: Escorting the Founding Emperor of Shun into the Imperial Ancestral Temple

After the Court of State Ceremonial officials struck the quiet-whip three times, Chu Yan entered through the North Gate of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, passed the Nine-Dragon Screen, walked up the imperial terrace, and took a seat on a chair placed before the dragon throne, signifying that he had not yet formally ascended the throne.

"Prostrate!"

The officials of the Court of State Ceremonial began to chant the rites. The civil and military officials kneeling inside and outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony performed three kowtows, rose, and then knelt down to kowtow again.

Because the ascension had not yet taken place, one set of kowtows was omitted, reducing the ritual to two kneelings and six kowtows.

Sitting before the dragon throne, Chu Yan looked out at the officials assembled in the hall. Standing on the left were the meritorious generals and officials of the Prince Qian's Mansion: Chu Ming, Li Changjin, Su Dingbian, Zhou Kaiyue, Xie Defu, and others. Standing on the right were the princes and officials of the Shun Dynasty of the third rank and above, looking sparse and numbering fewer than ten.

Xie Defu had not been able to find historical precedents on how to kneel or where to stand for such an occasion, so Xu Zhiyi had made the final decision on how the ceremony should be conducted.

Chu Yan also agreed. Although China was a land of propriety, ceremonial institutions were meant to be displayed for people to see, and they changed with every dynasty and generation; there was no need to adhere rigidly to ancient rites in everything.

When the rituals concluded, Chu Yan said, "Confucius said, 'Revive states that have been extinguished, restore families whose lines have been broken, and raise up those who have lived in obscurity, so that the hearts of all under heaven will turn toward you.' In antiquity, King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty, established sacrificial offerings for the Yin at Luoyi, and enfeoffed Wu Geng, the son of King Zhou of Shang, at Yin. Today, I too have received the Mandate of Heaven, raising arms to destroy the Shun. Though the Shun is rightfully extinguished, its ancestral sacrifices ought not to be cut off."

Chu Yan looked toward Prince Zhongshun and the other members of the Shun Dynasty's imperial clan. They all kept their heads lowered, their expressions sorrowful.

Ignoring their feelings, Chu Yan gave his instructions: "All officials shall proceed to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to accompany me in sacrificing to the Shun Grand Progenitor. Once the sacrifice is completed, the former Emperor of the Shun shall escort the spirit tablet of the Shun Grand Progenitor into the Imperial Templo-Mausoleum of Successive Dynasties!"

During the century since the founding of the Shun Dynasty, the only person deemed worthy of entering the Imperial Templo-Mausoleum of Successive Dynasties was the Shun Grand Progenitor himself.

With these words, Chu Yan signaled Xia Shouzhong, the chief eunuch.

Xia Shouzhong hastily chanted the protocol: "All officials shall proceed to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to accompany His Highness, Prince Qian, in sacrificing to the Shun Grand Progenitor!"

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Chu Ming, Prince Zhongshun, Zhuang Jin, and others had already learned of this matter beforehand; hence, they knelt and respectfully saw Prince Qian off.

However, the minor officials of the fifth rank and below outside the hall were hearing of this for the first time, and a commotion inevitably rippled through their ranks.

It was common enough for the founding emperor of a new dynasty to sacrifice to the emperors of the preceding dynasty, but having the former emperor personally escort the spirit tablet of the founding ancestor into the Imperial Templo-Mausoleum before the new ascension had even taken place was completely unprecedented.

Did Prince Qian intend to use this to demonstrate the transference of the Mandate of Heaven?

But what about the reigning emperor?

Cold sweat began to bead on Prince Zhongshun's forehead.

...

Chu Yan left the Hall of Supreme Harmony to rest briefly in an adjacent minor hall. Once the officials had arranged themselves in formation, he proceeded to the Shun Dynasty's Imperial Ancestral Temple.

The civil and military officials stood in the plaza outside the temple, while Chu Yan, alongside the Shun imperial clan and the meritorious officials of the new dynasty, entered the interior of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and faced the divine niches.

Within the niches stood the spirit tablets and portraits of four Shun emperors, five ancestral emperors posthumously honored by the Shun Grand Progenitor, as well as their primary empresses.

Incense smoke curled lazily upward, and the old officials of the Shun Dynasty wore expressions of profound desolation.

Among the hundreds of imperial clansmen, many were weeping uncontrollably, while a few were trembling with fear.

"Where is Your Imperial Brother?!"

Cold sweat poured down Prince Zhongshun's face.

Prince Qian had ordered the Yongning Emperor to escort the spirit tablet into the Imperial Templo-Mausoleum, yet the emperor was nowhere to be seen. Could he not be summoned, or had he already been killed?

Regardless of which it was, he could foresee Prince Qian's boundless wrath, currently suppressed and awaiting release!

"Simplify the ritual."

Chu Yan commanded.

Fasting, ritual purification, the eight-row dances, and the bestowal of sacrificial meats were all dispensed with. The meritorious officials of the new dynasty—Chu Ming, Xu Zhiyi, Su Dingbian, and others—carried forward the great sacrifices of nine dings, presenting three oxen, three sheep, and three pigs upon the offering tables.

Before the divine niches, Chu Yan unfurled the sacrificial ode written by Xu Zhiyi, and beneath the gaze of the Shun princes and commandery princes, he read aloud:

"By the Mandate of Heaven, the New Lord announces to the spirits of the predecessors' ancestors:

I was originally a commoner, rising from the rustic fields, bearing the brilliant Mandate of Heaven, supported and upheld by the multitudes. The former dynasty failed to maintain the threads of governance; its ruler was benighted, its ministers sycophantic. The Nine Provinces were plunged into chaos, the lives of the people scorched and withered. Jackals occupied the ancestral halls, while hawks and falcons pecked in the alleys...

When Jie of Xia lost the deer, Tang of Shang partook of the sacrifices; when Zhou of Shang burned himself to death, King Wu of Zhou did not abolish the rites of Yin... If remnant elements of the former dynasty use your ancestral lineage to delude the masses, may the gods strike them down!

O Sovereign Heaven and Hallowed Earth, truly hear these words. Pray accept this offering!"

When he finished, he took the three sticks of towering incense handed to him by Chu Ming and inserted them into the bronze censer.

The sacrifice concluded. Chu Yan turned around and faced them.

"Where is Your Imperial Brother?!"

Prince Zhongshun cried out, on the verge of tears. Why had his imperial brother still not arrived?

The gathered imperial clansmen finally snapped to their senses: the emperor had not yet arrived!

"Where is the former emperor of the Shun?" Chu Yan asked.

All rituals were performed for people to see. If the emperor failed to appear to complete the final rites, something vital would always be missing.

Eunuchs could not enter the Imperial Ancestral Temple, so Xie Defu replied, "We dispatched men to invite him early this morning, but none have returned."

Chu Yan cast a sidelong glance at Prince Zhongshun. "In half an hour, I expect to see both the emperor and the retired emperor at the Imperial Ancestral Temple."

Prince Zhongshun nearly leaped into the air. "May Prince Qian calm his wrath! This subject will go immediately to invite His Imperial Brother!"

With that, he grabbed several imperial clansmen and prepared to leave.

Chu Ming called out to stop him: "The empress, imperial princes, and princesses are in the side hall. Take them along to make the request."

Ma Ji grinned broadly and said, "If you can't invite him over, we'll kill his sons! If you dare not kill them, I will slaughter the lot of you!"

Under this barrage of threats, the members of the Shun imperial clan practically tumbled and crawled out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, running toward the River-Viewing Tower to summon the emperor.

...

"Please, Empress, save us!"

Princess Qinghe and her sister-in-law were waiting in the side hall of the Imperial Ancestral Temple when they caught sight of their elder brothers, uncles, and senior kinsmen rushing toward them in tears and dropping to their knees.

The young imperial princes and princesses were terribly frightened, and Qinghe's legs were tightly embraced by the Fourth Princess, Huainan.

Empress Zhang said with a troubled expression, "I may not be able to persuade the emperor. You should take them with you instead." She pointed to the Yongning Emperor's children; if the emperor died, they would not survive either.

Seeing that she was unwilling to go and see the Yongning Emperor again, Prince Zhongshun and the others did not press the matter further, instead leading the group of young princes and princesses hurriedly toward the River-Viewing Tower.

Princess Qinghe followed along as well, her heart filled with a complex mixture of emotions as she wondered how she should persuade her imperial brother later.

Upon arriving at the River-Viewing Tower, Princess Qinghe stayed downstairs while the others went up. After waiting a short while, she saw her imperial brother walking down from the upper floor with a numb expression, tightly surrounded by a crowd of people.

His hair was still disheveled, and several fresh wounds marked his body—evidently inflicted when the eunuchs came to summon him that morning. Now, with everyone pressing him, her imperial brother had finally agreed to come down.

They paid him no mind, simply shoving and pushing the Yongning Emperor to make him walk faster.

Hiding to one side, Princess Qinghe had originally intended to remain silent, but unexpectedly, her imperial brother suddenly turned his head to look at her: "Qinghe, did all my imperial concubines go to the Hall of Heavenly Purity last night to sing and dance for him?"

Qinghe instinctively thought: Who told my imperial brother?

Ah, of course—it must have been those gossiping eunuchs who came to summon him!

"My empress... did she also go to warm his bed?!" The Yongning Emperor's voice began to tremble.

Qinghe's face flushed with shame, and she dared not answer.

Although her sister-in-law had not shared his bed last night, she had ultimately failed to escape that man's grasp—and even she herself had suffered the same fate...

No wonder her sister-in-law had refused to come and see him.

"That scoundrel Chu deserves to die! I—"

Seeing the expression on her face, how could the Yongning Emperor not guess the truth? He cursed bitterly through clenched teeth.

His realm seized, his wife defiled...

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

Sensing something was amiss, Prince Zhongshun quickly covered the emperor's mouth, shouted at the imperial clansmen, and together they hoisted the emperor up by his hands and feet, rushing straight toward the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Amidst the noisy commotion along the way, they finally reached the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The civil and military officials watched as the former emperor was shoved into the main hall of the temple by a group of princes, looking even more wretched than a beggar.

Prior to this, the Retired Emperor in the Eastern Palace had also been carried over by several eunuchs. The former Daoist sage who once practiced alchemy and ingested pills had grown even more frail and withered than before, and the eunuchs practically dragged him along.

"Unfilial descendants of the former Shun, pay homage to your ancestors!"

As an official of the Court of State Ceremonial chanted the protocol, the loyal ministers of the former Shun wept as they dropped to their knees. Even Shi Nai, Han Mujiejie, Song Rui, and other loyal ministers who had previously refused to attend the morning court to kowtow to Prince Qian were now kneeling outside the Imperial Ancestral Temple, weeping bitterly together.

In the side hall, Princess Qinghe observed the ceremony alongside Empress Zhang, weeping until her eyes were red and swollen. The young imperial princes were also led into the Imperial Ancestral Temple to kowtow, leaving only the female family members in the side hall.

After a long while.

"Escort the spirit tablet of the Shun Grand Progenitor out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple!" chanted the official of the Court of State Ceremonial once more.

Surrounded by a throng of imperial clansmen, the Yongning Emperor clutched the spirit tablet of the Shun Grand Progenitor as he stumbled out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, being pushed and shoved toward the Imperial Templo-Mausoleum of Successive Dynasties.

The spirit tablets and portraits of the remaining emperors and empresses inside the Imperial Ancestral Temple were carried out by the meritorious officials of the new dynasty and temporarily stored in an empty room.

Finally, the gates of the Imperial Ancestral Temple were locked. The civil and military officials paid their respects to Prince Qian and dispersed from court, awaiting four days later when Prince Qian would perform the sacrifice to heaven in the southern suburb and formally ascend the throne.

"The Shun Dynasty has perished."

Princess Qinghe cast one deep, lingering look at the locked gates of the Imperial Ancestral Temple before returning to the inner palace with her sister-in-law.

The news that Prince Qian had sacrificed to the Shun Grand Progenitor and removed the spirit tablets from the Imperial Ancestral Temple quickly spread throughout the imperial palace. Some palace maids and eunuchs wept quietly in secret, for there were still a few who remained loyal to the Shun Dynasty.

Yet everyone knew that the Shun Dynasty was truly dead, with no possibility of restoration. From this day onward, Prince Chu Yan would rule all under heaven.