12. The princes of the states are assembled, and
orders given to the officers of the various districts
(in the royal domain). They receive the first days
of the months for the coming year[1], and the laws for
the taxation of the people by the princes, both light
and heavy, and the amount of the regular contribution
to the government, which is determined by the
distance of the territories and the nature of their
several productions. The object of this is to provide
what is necessary for the suburban sacrifices and those
in the ancestral temple. No private considerations
are allowed to have place in this.
13. In this month the son of Heaven, by means of hunting, teaches how to use the five weapons of war, and the rules for the management of horses.
14. Orders are given to the charioteers and the seven (classes of) grooms[2] to see to the yoking of the several teams, to set up in the carriages the flags and various banners[3], to assign the carriages according to the rank (of those who were to occupy them), and to arrange and set up the screens outside (the royal tent).
The minister of Instruction, with his baton
- ↑ This last month of autumn, the ninth from the first month of spring, was the last month of the year with the dynasty of 𝖅hin, when it was high time to give out the calendar for the months of the next year.
- ↑ The sovereign's horses were divided into six classes, and every class had its own grooms, with one among them who had the superintendence of the rest. See a narrative in the 𝖅o Kwan, under the eighteenth year of duke Khǎng.
- ↑ Two of these insignia are mentioned in the text;—the 𝖅ing, which was only a pennant, and the Kâo, a large banner with a tortoise and serpent intertwined. No doubt the meaning is, "the various banners."
