Chapter 960: The City Lord of Suicheng

As for the etiquette requirements for Baoxi, Baifeng's opinion is to align them with his own as much as possible, but just slightly lower; for instance, when others meet him, they must perform the full kowtow on formal and important occasions, but Baoxi does not need to.

Baifeng even wondered if, during sacrificial rites, they should also sacrifice to the Suiren Clan, because after all, the Suiren Clan could be said to be the common ancestor of the entire human race; Youchao gave birth to the Suiren Clan, and the Suiren Clan gave birth to the Fuxi Clan and the Nuwashi, so logically, the Suiren Clan is also his own ancestor, only he is not of the direct line.

Of course, people like Fuxi and Nuwa sound like figures from mythology, and the legend of Nuwa creating humans even makes many people feel that Nuwa is a figure from ancient mythology of the same generation as Pangu.

But in reality, one only needs to treat a certain person in these myths as a tribe; Fuxi and Nuwa were siblings, and there are also legends that Fuxi and Nuwa mated to propagate the human race, including many brick carvings and portraits, such as the Fuxi-Nuwa diagrams that look like DNA helices.

Although such things in ancient times were not impossible, close relatives could not give birth to descendants as intelligent as us, but what if we understand this as two tribes led by the two siblings merging and developing into a larger tribe? Could we not then view it normally?

All tribes are actually descendants of the Suiren Clan, including Chiyou, who is the same; it is just that among these descendants, many powerful Leaders appeared, accomplished great deeds, and then took their own people to develop in other places, gradually becoming independent.

Therefore, it is perfectly fine for Huaxia to sacrifice to the Suiren Clan; from a rational perspective, it is acceptable and there is no problem, and this can also solve the problem of Huaxia lacking a true ancestor, no longer purely sacrificing to Heaven Earth Sovereign Kin Teacher; the ancestor worship consciousness of this era is no less indifferent than the primitive worship of spirits.

Just like the Hongshan Culture, which long ago derived a theory of the soul, believing that ancestors would protect their descendants after death; the Sanmiao Tribe also has a similar saying, that the soul is divided into three parts, which can also protect descendants.

Every tribe will sacrifice to its own ancestors; only Baifeng's Huaxia purely sacrifices to spirits; if they were to sacrifice to ancestors, who should they sacrifice to?

His own father, who is still living well in later generations, his grandfather who accomplished nothing in his life, was indifferent to him, and would beat and scold him at every turn, or his great-grandfather from the end of the Qing Dynasty who gambled away the family fortune? None are appropriate.

Sacrificing to Xuanyuan or the Flame Emperor and Yellow Emperor would be even more absurd; not to mention that they are alive, that would be a direct act of surrender, so the ancestor sacrifice of Huaxia has always been empty; fortunately, everyone basically accepts the theory that Baifeng is a descendant of the Heavenly God, believing that Baifeng is the son of the Heavenly God and that sacrificing to the Heavenly God is sacrificing to the ancestors, but this theory, after all, does not hold water.

Now with the addition of the Suiren Clan, when sacrificing, one can sacrifice to the Youchao, the Suiren Clan, the Fuxi Clan, or the Nuwashi, as they are the common ancestors of the human race; however, the Suiren Clan is clearly a better choice because the Suiren Clan is sufficiently distant, and there is currently no genealogy to verify whether Baifeng is of the Suiren Clan's line.

Moreover, with Baoxi as a legitimate descendant of the Suiren Clan, it is even more logical, and it can also make it easier for those of the Suiren Clan to integrate into Huaxia, because everyone has the same ancestor and is the same person.

Zhigui was also easily persuaded by this theory of Baifeng; he suddenly became deeply convinced of the theory that he was a descendant of the Suiren Clan and felt that treating Baoxi so well was completely reasonable.

As for other aspects, everything remains as usual; although the Suiren Emperor has the highest Nobility, he is not the ruler, so he does not need to kowtow when meeting Baifeng, but others do not need to kowtow when meeting Baoxi either, though this is limited to between Nobles.

On formal occasions, even the lowest Baron can accept the kowtows of those without Nobility; this is also to ensure that those who do not have the ability to be officials can still maintain pride in their Nobility, otherwise, what use would this Nobility have?

Baifeng has not yet come up with more detailed etiquette because he feels that now is not the time to do so; when everything settles down, perhaps he will, like in history, place restrictions on how many carriages each rank of Nobility can ride when going out.

However, regarding clothing and adornment, Baifeng is not prepared to impose restrictions; only consumption can drive productivity, and he cannot restrict commoners from wearing Silk or wearing certain colors of clothing.

Of course, patterns definitely need to be restricted, because these can better represent status, but simple patterns will not affect consumption; if someone oversteps and uses patterns they should not, wouldn't the heart of rebellion be visible at a glance?

Given that Baoxi's current status is rather awkward, with no clear Nobility and no position, it is difficult for everyone to address him; thus, Baifeng thought for only a few seconds, then casually took a piece of paper and conferred upon Baoxi the position of City Lord of the non-existent "Suicheng," and stamped it with his own seal, which made it effective.

Only after Zhigui took it did he feel a bit confused: "King, we don't have a Suicheng at all, and we don't intend to build one; this City Lord of Suicheng..."

Baifeng waved his hand: "Hey, just treat this as a nominal position; Baoxi must have something in Huaxia, after all; however, since it is a nominal position, no other procedures are needed; this written order is enough..."

"Hey, forget it, it still needs to be a bit more formal; how about this, you take this to the Ministry of Personnel, let them register it, and have the City Lord of Suicheng on the record."

"Then go find me a Jiyin; I will carve a City Lord Seal for him; whether he is a City Lord in the future or whether this Suicheng is built, we will talk about it when the time comes; for now, let's just do it this way so it is easier for you all to address him."

Zhigui wiped the sweat from his forehead, took the written order, and left in a hurry; he only remembered when he was about to reach the entrance of the Ministry of Personnel that this should not have been his job, but rather the job of someone from the Secretariat, but since he had already walked this far, what else could he do?

The people at the Ministry of Personnel were also shocked when they received the written order, but the handwriting and the seal could not be faked, so they had to register it according to the requirements; the blank seal was with them, but they dared not let Zhigui take it away and had to personally deliver it to Baifeng.

Although it was unlikely, what if the Jiyin was lost or stolen while it was still a blank seal? What if someone took it and carved it indiscriminately?

Under the current circumstances of Huaxia, this is completely impossible, but Baifeng must consider future situations, so whoever is supposed to do a job must do it; the task of delivering a written order like the one just now was trivial.