Chapter 36 Exorcism
The Gong'an County Government had another day off during the Lantern Festival, but Jiang Wan was not happy at all.
Since he went to Liu Jingzhou's banquet on the Spring Festival, people around him seemed to point fingers at him more and more.
But when Jiang Wan looked carefully, everyone was at peace again.
Another change was that the work, which was not much to begin with, became even less.
"Either you are going to assign me a more difficult task, or are you going to send me back to my hometown in Lingling?"
Jiang Wan did not accept either of these two possibilities. Now, as a book assistant, he only needed to copy official documents when he had nothing to do. The rest of the time, he could watch birds and flowers and sit by the door and watch the people hawking. He was very leisurely and comfortable.
Although Lingling was his hometown, it was quite troublesome to do things. He had to flatter the governor when he went in and out. He came to Gong'an because he could not stand this.
As for promotion... Jiang Wan thought of the name Zhuge Liang, and pain climbed onto his handsome face.
It is said that the amount of copying done by the three assistants in Jiang Wan's office in one day is only the amount of work done by the military advisor general in half an hour. If he went to his side...
He sighed again, but he still had to watch the Lantern Festival holiday.
It is said that Xudu or Luoyang and Chang'an have the habit of hanging lanterns and colorful decorations today. Gong'an County did not have these things at the beginning. However, a few vendors made pale paper lanterns by themselves, with crooked paintings of the two evil door gods Shentu and Yulei on them.
Jiang Wan walked over without looking away. He wanted to watch the exorcism.
The stage had been set up in front of the county government, and the surrounding people were crowded. Jiang Wan relied on his eight-foot-tall body and good vision to squeeze into a place with a good view. He looked around and laughed.
He saw that Ma Youchang, who was talking with him at the banquet, was wearing a crooked Nuo hat and was talking to Zhuge Liang, who was three points more handsome than him, with a bitter face.
As time went by, more and more people gathered here. Even the roofs were full of people, all waiting eagerly, leaving no space at all.
Fortunately, we came early!
Jiang Wan was very grateful.
As the sun officially disappeared behind the mountain, the bonfires and torches around the platform were all lit. For a moment, the surroundings were as bright as day, and the people became solemn.
Jiang Wan saw that Ma Youchang stretched out his voice and shouted:
"Qiang Zibei, please drive away the epidemic——"
Dozens of men and women came to the stage solemnly, wearing a variety of masks, and stepped on the wonderful Nuo steps barefoot on tiptoe.
One of the tall bronze ghost-faced people shouted, and the others followed suit:
"... Jiazuo eats evil, Yuefuwei eats tigers, Xiongbo eats ghosts, Tengjian eats bad luck, Lanzhu eats trouble, and Boqi eats dreams!"
"Qiangliang and Zuming eat phosphorus and parasites, Weisui eats Guan, Cuoduan eats giants, Qiongqi and Tenggen eat poisonous insects! All the twelve gods..."
The people around also sang along quietly, and Jiang Wan also sang along with the beat.
This is the most familiar exorcism lyrics for the Han people. Singing this is to hope that Jiazuo, Xiongbo, Tengjian, Boqi and other twelve beasts can eat twelve kinds of disasters.
After singing twice, the people wearing the twelve beast masks on the stage also chased the other ghost-faced masked people, and finally drove all the people with the disease ghost masks off the stage, and cheers broke out among the people.
After the epidemic was driven away, some masked men and women climbed back onto the stage, led by the bronze ghost mask. This time, they changed the lyrics:
“…Go and carry Liu Jun to exorcise his anger, the smoke from the Red Cliffs spread all over the sky…Then we can stabilize the country and the Han Dynasty will inherit forever…”
“Because of this, the Taibao calmed down, the good gods protected our Jiangyuan, Jingzhou was peaceful, the emperor was on the bank of Qujiang…All the people congratulated the Taishou, and he wished him a long life.”
The people didn’t quite understand what was being said, but they could tell that it was about Liu Jingzhou’s victory in the previous battle, which saved everyone from Cao’s invasion.
So many people sang along.
In front of the county government, Kong Ming and Guan Yu stood together and watched the exorcism. Guan Yu pinched his beard and whispered:
“I didn’t expect that my third brother had such a skill.”
“The third general’s voice is like a bell, and he is the best candidate.” Kong Ming said.
The two looked at Zhang Fei on the stage wearing the bronze ghost mask, and they could see that Zhang Fei was also having fun.
"Can it be done by just sending Zilong to protect my elder brother?" After hesitating for a long time, Guan Yu still asked this question.
"Lord Sun is sincere in making friends, so General Guan can rest assured." Kong Ming explained:
"Moreover, the combat effectiveness of General Zilong's 'Matched Horse Volunteers' is not inferior to that of the White Horse Volunteers. They come and go like the wind, so the lord will definitely not worry about his life."
"Moreover..." Perhaps it feels bad to say this, but Kong Ming still said:
"Moreover, Zhou Gongjin planned Jingyi with his sick body, but God will not give him long and will be jealous of talents. How can he succeed with such desperate planning?"
There are some hidden words that are not said, that is, in Kong Ming's view, the moment he received Lu Su's secret letter, Zhou Gongjin's plan was impossible to succeed.
Even though General Zhou was talented and planned, Sun Quan was helpless and he was indecisive, lacking the ambition of a ruthless hero like Sun Ce.
Thinking of Sun Ce, Lu Su who died of illness at the age of 40, and Zhou Yu whose life was already in the countdown, Kong Ming sighed.
In Jiangdong, are all talented people short-lived?
"There is one more thing for General Guan to pay attention to." Kong Ming said softly: "Mrs. Sun has just arrived, and she must be arrogant and domineering."
Kong Ming is already planning what to do next:
"General Guan and General Zhang should plan something to intimidate Mrs. Sun, so that the lord's backyard can be quiet."
"Sister-in-law, this..." Guan Yu hesitated. Isn't this inappropriate?
"Sun Hou was stabbed in the back in the battle of Xiangfan." Kong Ming suddenly mentioned something unrelated:
"For ten years, Marquis Sun sat and watched his lord capture Jingyi and Hanzhong. It was not until General Guan's battle came to Xiangfan that Marquis Sun stabbed him in the back."
Guan Yu's face looked very ugly when he mentioned this incident. He had no regrets about dying at the hands of a hero, but he was defeated by such villains...
"After taking Xiangfan, in the words of Xiangrui Guangmu, it was like putting a knife between Cao Cao's neck."
"But this knife was also placed on Marquis Sun's neck. Such actions caused the alliance to break up."
"From this point of view, it seems that Marquis Sun is deeply afraid of his lord."
"So General Guan, feel free to do whatever you want, as long as you don't violate etiquette."
After studying the light curtain discourse recently, Kong Ming also gained new insights into the word contradiction, and he also had a clear understanding of Sun Quan's situation.
Even though Zhou Yu was Sun Ce's orphan before his death, Sun Hou did not fully trust Zhou Yu. He was from Jianghuai, but Sun Hou's behavior was neither biased towards the Jianghuai faction nor completely towards the Jiangdong faction.
Sun Hou, it seems that everyone believes it, but no one believes it.
To Sun Hou, Sun Shangxiang was just a chess piece that could be summoned and left at the same time.
Perhaps, he also wanted to use her to monitor the inside of the Public Security County?
On the stage, Zhang Fei's lyrics had changed to the third verse:
"...the ghosts of the old years have been expelled from other rivers in the territory. Cattle and sheep are everywhere, and grain is like Tianzhu Mountain. Brothers serve and obey brothers, and aunts and sisters are connected."
"Men and women respect each other, and fathers and sons have been reunited for generations...sons and sons sing in unison, wishing that Peng and his ancestors would live together in the same year."
This time Jiang Wan and the people cheered and sang loudly, trying to let the gods and ghosts hear their best wishes for the new year.
In the meantime, some people were sobbing softly, "Alang's father...maybe he can rest in peace?"
Looking at the people whose faces were illuminated by bright firelight, Kong Ming suddenly had an interesting question in his heart:
"Marquis Sun...do you know the injury of Governor Zhou?"
Thanks to [book friend 20220714113026253] for the reward of hundreds of gold and five baht~!
Dude, I really update twice every day, and today I will send the first update.
The first poem to drive out Nuo comes from "The Book of the Later Han: Etiquette"
The second and third poems for expelling Nuo were adapted from the Dunhuang posthumous writings for expelling Nuo 4011 and 3270/2.