"Your descendant Cao Mao has now defeated the rebels and brought peace to the realm, uniting all under heaven. I have come especially to report this to my ancestors!"
The day of the ancestral sacrifice finally arrived.
This was the grandest sacrifice Cao Mao had conducted since taking the throne.
The ministers stood in a vast procession outside the ancestral temple, while Cao Mao stood alone at the very front. Accompanied by numerous Ceremonial Gentlemen, he slaughtered the sacrificial animals and performed the grand ceremony.
Liu Shan, Sun Hao, and the others all had to appear to lend Cao Mao their support.
Their presence here represented Cao Mao's having brought the chaos of the Three Kingdoms to an end.
Following Cao Mao's announcement, the Ceremonial Gentlemen led the ministers in repeated kowtows.
Then came the reading of a series of sacrificial texts, all written by renowned scholars within the realm. Every single one was an exquisite work rarely encountered.
Clearly, Pei Xiu had made extensive preparations. These writings alone showed that he must have begun preparing for this very early.
After the sacrificial texts had been read, an elder of the Imperial Clan stepped forward to announce Cao Mao's achievements to the ancestors, so that they might take comfort in them.
This elder was none other than Cao Ju. Strictly speaking, Cao Yu was actually better suited to the task, but he was far away in the Yan Kingdom and so advanced in years that making him hurry all the way here would have amounted to deliberate murder.
Thus, Cao Mao had put Cao Ju in charge of this task. This worthy elder of the Imperial Clan, who had once contested the throne with Cao Mao, now trembled as he read out Cao Mao's achievements. Who knew what feelings lay