"However, I feel that Third Uncle and Mr. Xiao deliberately asked me this question because the meaning isn’t as simple as I understand," Zhao Yao pointed to the character "戎" and said, "I shouldn’t be mistaken about the meaning of the character ’戎’, but the character ’祀’, besides sacrifice, must have other meanings." Content originally comes from N0veI.Fiɾe.net
"What other meanings?" Lady Liang said, "祀 basically only relates to sacrifices, you shouldn’t overthink it. I believe your understanding is correct."
"Sacrifice, offerings, why did people of the past like to conduct sacrifices?" Zhao Yao asked, "Was it because of frequent natural disasters?"
"That’s one reason, but mainly it’s to pray for God’s blessings, like favorable weather and a bountiful harvest," Lady Liang said, "Initially, it was the High Priest who conducted the sacrifices, later it became the emperor. The emperor personally performed the sacrifices to pray for God’s protection."
"Why was it initially the High Priest conducting the sacrifices, and later it became the emperor?"
"To be precise, it wasn’t the emperor but the Son of Heaven. Sacrifices by the High Priest would earn the people’s reverence, making the High Priest more important than the Son of Heaven in the people’s minds. The Son of Heaven also had to be restricted by the High Priest, so later they abolished the High Priest and it was changed to the Son of Heaven personally conducting the sacrifices."
"In fact, the Son of Heaven simply wanted to control the power of sacrifice and thus control the people, right?" Zhao Yao asked pointedly.
"Then in ’The major affairs of the state lie in sacrifice and military’ the ’祀’ represents the people’s support."
Upon hearing this, Lady Liang was initially taken aback, then nodded in agreement and said, "That’s one way to interpret it."
"Third Uncle and Mr. Xiao are trying to tell me that the major affairs of the state lie with the people’s support and the army," Zhao Yao said, rubbing his chin, "In the past, people tried to win the people’s support through sacrifices, but nowadays, people are not that naive. Simply relying on sacrifices won’t win them over."
Lady Liang asked, "Then what do you think is needed to win over the people’s support?"
"Mother, how long can the support of the people, once won over, last?" Zhao Yao said earnestly, "Actually, gaining the people’s support is very simple."
Lady Liang playfully asked, "And how simple is it?"
"It’s just about making sure that the common people have enough to eat and wear," Zhao Yao replied matter-of-factly, "People simply want enough food to eat and clothes to wear; they don’t ask for much else. Especially after experiencing the upheaval of the previous dynasty."
"Indeed, the people just want to have enough to eat and warm clothes to wear," Lady Liang said with a long sigh, "But ensuring that every common person is fed and clothed isn’t easy, no emperor has managed it. Even during the peaceful and prosperous times of the previous dynasty, there were still many who didn’t have enough to eat or wear."
"Third Uncle and Mr. Xiao mean that the people’s support and the army are extremely important," Zhao Yao brought the topic back, furrowing his brow thoughtfully, "The people’s support and the army are like a double-edged sword; if used well, the nation will be stable. If not used well, the nation will be thrown into turmoil."
Lady Liang felt a secret jolt in her heart. Although she had long known her son was intelligent, she hadn’t expected him to infer so much from a phrase like "The major affairs of the state lie in sacrifice and military."
She listened as Zhao Yao continued, "’Sacrifice and military’ this double-edged sword, how to wield it well depends on the wielder, which is the emperor, so being an emperor isn’t easy." What’s so great about being an emperor, she couldn’t understand why the Crown Prince and his brothers were so eager to compete for the throne.
Sometime later, Zheng Xilin, far away in the countryside, received Zhao Yao’s reply, and seeing his understanding of the phrase "The major affairs of the state lie in sacrifice and military," he marveled in his heart: truly, the student surpasses the master.