The Taoba Xianbei indeed had their “rebels,” and they staged quite a spectacle—just one month before Shao Xun’s spring plowing ritual.
The cold in Shengle during the first month was biting beyond measure.
Wild winds swept in, snowflakes swirling like scattered joss paper.
The birch forests groaned and rustled; branches stretched out like claws—like the arms of devils.
The wind howled fiercely, and the people’s faces were frozen—cold in that indifferent, heartless way.
Since the Taoba clan of the Greater Xianbei migrated west of the Shanxi region, they adopted the old customs of the Xiongnu and began to hold sacrifices to Heaven.
In the days of the tribal era, the time and place of these sacrifices were rather casual.
But after Taoba Yilu established his kingdom, he set up two annual sacrifices, in the first and ninth lunar months.
Recently, court officials debated whether to add a third sacrifice in the fifth month or move the spring sacrifice to the fourth month.
It seemed messy on the surface, but it actually symbolized the gradual refinement and formalization of the nation’s regulations.
The Taoba Xianbei revered Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, and the stars as their deities.