Liangzhou.
Some kind of grand ceremony was being held in the city.
A locally renowned shaman was leading the people in praying to spirits and gods of every kind, hoping they would protect their farmland and spare them the ravages of cold and hunger.
They wore masks and strange clothes hung with all sorts of feathers, held hooked shields, and leaped back and forth, chanting who knew what.
The common people gathered around them, slaughtering livestock as sacrificial offerings.
Wang Hun, Inspector of Liangzhou, stood at a distance under the close protection of numerous armored guards, watching the scene helplessly.
Had this happened in the Central Plains, the Imperial Court would certainly have punished it. Such sacrifices were unlawful; the Imperial Court had its own lawful sacrifices.
The lawful sacrifice was called the Nuo Ceremony, a solemn rite led by the Son of Heaven himself.
Its original purpose was to drive away spirits and expel pestilence.
By the Wei-Jin period, the Nuo Ceremony had gradually become secularized, turning into Nuo Opera.
With Xuanxue in vogue at the time, these events had grown even grander. Local officials usually took the lead, with nearly a thousand performers and strict requirements governing every aspect. Rather than expelling pestilence and offering sacrifices to gods, they had become celebrations of peace.
These were official sacrifices, and they were lawful.
But the many sacrifices in Liangzhou were organized spontaneously by the people, which made them unlawful.
They were supposed to be severely suppressed by the Imperial Court.
Unfortunately, this was Liangzhou.
Superstition had always run deep in Liangzhou. Exorcism rites passed down from the early Han were still practiced.
Even though physicians had already supplanted shamans, the shamans of Liangzhou remained active and still occupied the place of physicians in many areas.
"Inspector, should we stop