Chapter 827: The Funeral Ends

After all, a Marquis had died in Huaxia, someone of sufficiently high status and with enough contributions, so Baifeng ordered a three-day period of national mourning; however, it was not mandatory, and no one would be punished for not feeling sorrowful.

Only those who felt regret over the death of Wu could go to pay their respects; in these few days, others were not permitted to drink wine, hold weddings, or engage in other entertainment activities, and everything else proceeded as usual, with no possibility of a holiday.

As for the offerings, considering that in all of Huaxia, resources were not yet abundant enough to be casually given to a dead person, and ordinary households actually had nothing more than grain, the Royal Family took the lead and used only fresh flowers.

There were no flowers in Winter, so that could be ignored, and they could pay their respects in other ways; but now, the September chrysanthemum—a type of small, yellow wild chrysanthemum that was also a medicinal herb needed by Huaxia—had not yet fully withered and was still blooming sparsely.

Therefore, picking some wild chrysanthemums and tying them into a bunch with Grass to place before Wu's tomb was sufficient; this had already been explained to Zhigui, and Zhigui had told all the guests on the first day that the type of flower did not matter—if one had the skill, even paper flowers were fine, as long as there was no excessive waste.

Thus, when the body had been held for three days and preparations for the burial were made, everyone who came to attend the funeral held flowers in their hands, whether a bunch or just a few, having picked every kind of flower that bloomed at this time.

If they could not be found within Huaxia City, then Slaves were arranged, or tenant farmers were sent to pick flowers in the nearby forests and mountains; in any case, no one cared who had picked the flowers.

The Coffin, Outer Coffin, and tombstone were all rushed out at the fastest speed possible, though they were somewhat crude, as there was no custom yet of preparing these things for the living in advance; in fact, apart from these high officials and nobles, ordinary people would not care about such things after death.

It was only because Huaxia required it from a legal standpoint: once a person died, the Ministry of Justice had to be invited to inspect, and after confirming it was a natural death, they would provide a certificate allowing the family to go to the place in the Ministry of Revenue that managed household registration to cancel the information of the deceased.

The current population of Huaxia was not yet that large, and with a majority of young people and children, this task was not difficult to handle; having the Ministry of Justice inspect also ensured that no murders occurred, and if there really were any, they would have to be sentenced according to the law.

The dead needed to be buried; previously, public cemeteries were used, but now they were required to be buried in their own family land, and there had to be a distinct burial mound; whether due to custom or other reasons, Baifeng believed that anything able to be passed down for so long must have its reasons, so he simply stipulated it this way; as for what ordinary people thought, he did not care, and in a few generations, no one would ask, because it had been this way for generations.

Wu's Coffin was carried by his sons; Wu's children were not born in vain, and he had many sons, whether they were successful in their careers or just ordinary people, there were enough of them to carry a Coffin into the graveyard.

The reason Wu valued Shaohe so much was because Shaohe was the Legitimate Son who would inherit his title of Changping Marquis in the future, and he could be considered the master of such a large family; plus, he was the oldest and had the best career, so Wu naturally placed all his expectations on him.

On the day Wu died, the Changping Marquis Seal that represented his status was returned to Baifeng; only after Wu was buried would the seal be handed over to Shaohe again, which meant that Shaohe had become the new generation of Changping Marquis.

The music Regiment ultimately did not have any sorrowful music, because in their ideology, music was used to please Heaven; later, because of Baifeng, they began to perform for people, but only for festive occasions, and now that there was a funeral, a piece of a completely different style was needed.

Although their music theory was already quite solid and they could compose, they truly could not compose a piece suitable for a funeral in just a few short days; Baifeng did not make things difficult for them, and if there was none, so be it, but they had to consider this aspect and prepare, as it would certainly be needed in the future.

Wu's Coffin was slowly lowered into the burial pit, and then Slaves went down to place the various prepared burial goods into the pit; however, they were also very afraid, as above their heads were a group of people with Iron shovels ready to throw dirt at any moment, and the pit was dug very deep, so they could not climb out; they were also afraid that they would be buried as burial goods, for Slaves were not considered people, but property.

But fortunately, the ladder was not pulled away in the end, and they returned to the ground.

Baifeng still came in person to attend the funeral; after all, this was a Marquis, and both in terms of emotion and reason, he had to come; Baifeng did not say much, but instead tossed in a coin made of gold—this was something Baifeng had told Wu about before, but unfortunately, Wu had not been able to see it.

The coin had just been minted, with the words "One Jin" on it, and "Huaxia Tongbao" on the front; this could be considered the first currency of Huaxia, and it had great commemorative significance, so he let it accompany Wu.

Along with the coin, a golden "Changping Marquis Seal" was also cast, which Baifeng carved himself; compared to the real Changping Marquis Seal, the gold seal was too soft and not practical, but in Baifeng's view, it was luxurious enough and easier to carve.

After it was carved, it had already been placed inside Wu's Coffin; thousands of years later, Wu's tomb would certainly be dug up by people, and Baifeng believed this was unavoidable; at that time, this seal would also be able to prove Wu's identity, and perhaps it could earn this crude, cannot-be-more-crude tomb a status as a cultural relic protection unit, preventing it from being wantonly destroyed.

Just like that, the dirt was filled back in bit by bit, and then Workers used Cement and Green Brick to build up the entire burial mound; once it solidified, with the strength of this era, it would be very difficult to break open the tomb.

The tombstone was cast from a Cement slab, and then, while it was still wet, the words "Changping Marquis Wu Tomb" were written on it; there was no time to carve a stone tablet or make one, but a Cement tombstone was already solemn enough—how many people's burial mounds did not even have a wooden sign?

The burial and the erection of the tombstone were completed, and then the people who came to see him off placed the flowers they had brought and left; this funeral was then considered over.

Baifeng threw the coin in and left after waiting for the dirt to be filled back in; Yulong represented the Royal Family and was the first to leave after placing flowers, and since Yulong's status was higher than Wu's, he did not bow or anything.

Wu's sons knelt before Wu's tomb and did not rise until everyone had left; Zhigui also told them all the precautions, and only after accompanying them back home did his task end; the Changping Marquis of Huaxia thus completely disappeared from the view of Huaxia.