How did the ancients ask for rain?

According to ancient records, a rare drought occurred in China shortly after the establishment of Shang Dynasty, which lasted for seven years. "Guanzi Light and Heavy Articles" said: "After seven years of drought, people have no food to sell their children." "History of Food Goods in Han Dynasty" contains: "Yao and Yu suffered from water for nine years, and Qi Tang suffered from drought." This drought is also recorded in the chronicles of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Zhushu. The drought for seven years in a row is undoubtedly the most severe test for the unstable Shang Dynasty. At that time, in the Shang Dynasty, the sun was blazing, rivers and wells dried up, plants withered and seedlings were not born. People are fleeing and starving everywhere. At the beginning of the drought, Shang dynasty also organized manpower and material resources to fight drought, such as digging wells and ditching, and diverting water for irrigation. However, with the increasingly serious drought, these original drought-resistant strategies have been of no help. Shang Dynasty believed in divination, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions at that time had the meaning of "it doesn't rain, but it falls from heaven". The rulers of Shang Dynasty believed in God, and the historical records recorded that "Yin people respected God, led the people to serve God, and followed the ghosts and rituals". Therefore, after the drought, the merchants ordered to set up an altar in the suburbs, and arranged "suburban sacrifices" every day to pray for rain. The primitive ceremony of this "suburban sacrifice" is: burning firewood, using cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs and other raw animals as sacrifices. During the sacrifice, the historian held a three-legged tripod filled with meat such as cattle and sheep and prayed to the mountains and rivers devoutly: "Is it because the king's political affairs are unrestrained?" Is it because the people have suffered? Is it because officials take bribes and embezzle? Is it popular because of the slander of villains? Is it because women interfere in politics? Is it because the palace is too luxurious? Why don't you rain people? These six "whether" are actually the orders of historians to state six self-blaming things in order to give rain to the gods. However, although day after day, year after year, historians begged for sacrifices in the suburbs, there was no sign of rain in the sky. When the drought lasted for the seventh year, Tang couldn't sit still any longer. He ordered historians to set up an altar in a place called Sanglin, and personally led Yi Yin (an important minister in the early Shang Dynasty) and other ministers to hold sacrifices for the rain, but God still did not give Tang face. Tang ordered historians to divine, and the result of divination was that this kind of burning wood to worship heaven needed "human sacrifice" The so-called "human sacrifice", that is, human sacrifice, is to burn the living on firewood to touch the gods of heaven and earth. After listening to this, Tang pondered for a while and said, "I sacrificed divination and prayed for rain to save the people. How can I burn it with someone else? "Use myself instead!" After that, he ordered the woodpile to be set up, so that the left and right sides could cut off their hair and nails, take a bath and clean themselves, and prayed to God: "My sin alone should not implicate everyone; If all countries are guilty, I will bear it alone. Don't harm the people because of my own immorality. " After praying, Tang resolutely sat on the woodpile and ordered people to make a fire around. At this moment, suddenly dark clouds billowed, the wind blew hard, and a heavy rain suddenly came. It should be a coincidence that the heavy rain was naturally not caused by Tang's "artificial" desire. It is a natural phenomenon that long-term drought is accompanied by heavy rain. However, the ignorance of the Shang people decided that this was because Tang bravely sacrificed himself and touched God. The old genius sent down dew to help all the people. Therefore, people wrote Tang Le to praise Tang.