In the 15th year of the rise of Vietnam, in the ninth month of the golden autumn, the capital of the country was Luoyang.
Today, it has been fifteen years since the Dayue Dynasty established Zhou Dynasty, and eight years have passed since the capital was moved from Bianliang, which was easy to attack and difficult to defend, to the current Luoyang.
During these eight years, in the Central Plains, the people of Dai Viet lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the states and counties were also peaceful and prosperous. Relying on the business foundation of the previous dynasties Zhao and Song Dynasty, coupled with Emperor Sun Tu's years of hard work and various policies that paid equal attention to agriculture and business, Dai Viet's industries were more prosperous than in the Song Dynasty, and each day was above the official level. Cars and horses come and go in a hurry, and the fields are completely covered by golden rice and wheat, as well as countless busy figures, which makes people feel relaxed and happy.
The city of Luoyang, the capital of the country, is extremely lively and prosperous. The city gates connecting the world handle hundreds of thousands of people and goods every day, and the number of residents here reaches 1.5 million, which is actually 1.5 million. Far surpassing Bianjing, the capital of the Song Dynasty at its most prosperous time.
Such a prosperous capital has naturally attracted countless merchants to open various shops and pavilions here. Among them, the most talked about and yearned for is the Fan Tower, the best building in the world, which was also moved from Bianjing. Although the current owner of Fan Tower has long since changed, and more than 80% of the assets are completely controlled by the imperial court, everything here is still luxurious and beautiful. It is the most famous gold-selling cave in the world, and even the classic fifth floor stands side by side. The layout of Ruomeihua was completely copied, but everything inside was of a higher standard than in Bianjing.
The fine wines, delicacies, beauties dancing, and all kinds of entertainment items here are enough to attract people from all over the world, and even people from other countries take the trouble to come here just to experience this best place in the world. The style of the building.
Just after the watch, the lanterns were turned on, and there was already laughter and laughter inside and outside the Fan Tower, as well as singing and dancing of silk and bamboo, attracting passers-by outside from time to time. Inside the building, the lights were even brighter, and there were many guests in several places. They were drinking or having fun, and they were really enjoying themselves.
Of course, there are also some drunk guests who cause trouble due to some trivial quarrels, and then the guards in the building will come forward to persuade them. If they don't listen, they will be punished. With just one famous assassination, the troublemaker could be imprisoned in Luoyang Mansion Yazhong for ten days and a half. After all, this is a government property.
Not everyone likes to pick fights and make trouble when they are drunk. Some people prefer to laugh loudly and talk about the world. Naturally, no one interferes with this. Sometimes they even attract other drinkers around to participate in the discussion. Whether it is state affairs and military matters, or imperial examinations and commerce, there are no taboos in Dai Viet Kingdom. This is the spirit that a confident and powerful country and court should have.
At this time, in the tallest and most famous Caiwu Pavilion, on the stage below, Madam Liu, the first oiran in Fan Pavilion, was dancing gracefully, which attracted countless drinkers around her to cheer. Some people got excited and drank heavily. Of course. In the private room on the third floor, several guests became more sexually active because they were drunk. After some conversation, the topic turned to the differences and advantages between today's world and the Song Dynasty.
"Compared with the former Song Dynasty, our Dai Viet is most powerful in external military affairs. Think about how aggrieved our Central Plains court was at that time. We were always suppressed by the Liao Kingdom. Later, there were wolfish ambitions such as the Xixia and Jin Kingdoms. The foreign country of Vietnam is seeing that they are about to kill our country. But now, it is completely reversed. Our Vietnamese army continues to expand north and west, killing all the countries big and small that are unwilling to submit. , I can only obediently surrender and pay tribute, which really makes me feel proud as a subject."
"Brother Song is very true about this, and what makes us feel that what is so incredible about His Majesty today is that he is not like those emperors of the previous dynasties who were just good at using soldiers, and then completely ignored them after helping their descendants to conquer the country. . Our emperor sent all the princes to the north long ago to continue fighting with the remaining Liao and Jin people to temper his temper. That is the prince, the crown prince of the country. Apart from your majesty, who else has it? Such courage? So in my opinion, His Majesty is already far away from the Qin Emperor, Han Wu, Tang Zong and Song Zu and other emperors of the past dynasties. No wonder he was able to do something before: "It is a pity that the Qin Emperor and Han Dynasty lost their literary talents, the Tang Zong and Song Zu were less charming, and the strong man Yelu Dashi only knows how to write a powerful poem like "Flee West in a hurry"!
"But not only that, I can
I heard that His Majesty has already set a rule for future generations. From now on, all Dai Viet princes must first practice on the border for three years before they can confirm their identity as heir apparent. In this way, we can ensure that every generation of emperors in Dai Viet has a pioneering and enterprising spirit, and it is impossible to be as weak as the previous Song Dynasty. "
"You only talk about military affairs, but let me see, what is more remarkable about our dynasty than the previous Song Dynasty is the reform of the imperial examination. In the past, as long as you could write good poems and essays, you could become an official. What kind of ability was that? It's different now , including arithmetic, law, military affairs, water conservancy, engineering... the imperial court specially set up imperial examinations for almost every subject of knowledge. As long as you can succeed in what you learn and apply what you have learned, you will have the opportunity to become an official. I think so, the imperial court There are so many government offices here, if they are all controlled by those guys who only know how to study and can only write a few poems and poems, what will happen?"
"What Brother Li said is the right way. Today's imperial examination is indeed much better than the original one. I heard that there was a doctor named Liang Fa from the Ministry of Industry who passed the imperial examination of the Ministry of Industry two years ago. We made great contributions when the Yellow River flooded last year. We saved the Yellow River, which was almost bursting, and saved hundreds of thousands of people and countless fertile fields on both sides of the river."
"As well as maritime trade, our country, Dai Viet, is much stronger than the former Song Dynasty. At that time, we couldn't see many people and goods from Fusang and other countries further away. But now, just coming here for a banquet today, I can see We got four or five groups of businessmen from other countries. It was all just free money, but it was much less troublesome and labor-intensive than the copper coins we used back then."
You say a few words to these people, and I say a few words. The more you talk, the more enthusiastic you are, and the voice becomes louder and louder. It completely passes through the weak soundproof walls between the private rooms, and then enters the drinking room in the Tianzihao private room on the side. In the ears of several people.
If the people next door talking while drinking wine saw the appearance of some of the people drinking here, I'm afraid they would shut up immediately, and maybe even the little wine they just drank would turn into cold sweat and flow out. Because the few people sitting here are surprisingly the current Dai Viet Emperor Sun Tu, Prime Minister Tong Mu, Prince Sun Jie, and a slightly dull and nervous young man.
Time flies, and the nearly twenty years have finally left a lot of marks on Sun Tu's face. Not only has there been a few deep wrinkles on his face, but even his temples have become a little gray. The color comes. After all, he is almost fifty this year, but he is still full of energy. Even when he is sitting and drinking, his body is still as straight as a gun.
On the other hand, Tong Mu, because he was older than Sun Tu, and because he was busy with government affairs as prime minister, he looked older, and even his body was slightly rickety. Sun Jie was in his prime and full of energy, and he was looking curiously at the young man in front of him who was several years younger than himself.
He knew that this was Yu Kui, an old friend of his father's hometown in Yuncheng. Two days ago, he was recruited by the imperial court because he was good at brewing wine. Then his father discovered that his father, Yu Dayong, and his grandfather, Yu Xiaohe, were his shopkeeper and good friend back then, so they met him specially. In order to prevent Yu Kui from being too nervous, they even chose to meet him here in Fan Lou instead of in the palace.
But even so, Yu Kui still behaved extremely reserved and nervous in front of Sun Tu and others, and would often only give a simple answer when they asked a question. However, Sun Tu also understood from his answer that the Yu family had been living a good life in Yuncheng. Although Yu Xiaohe passed away many years ago, Yu Dayong carried it forward after taking over the original Sun Family Hotel. Now it has become one of the largest restaurants in Shandong.
He is also very happy that his old friend has such a promising future, although with his current position of power, it would be effortless to help the Yu family. But for the sake of the fairness of the court, he still did not do this, and even chose to meet Yu Kui here in Fanlou.
Seeing Sun Tu curling up his lips and smiling happily, Tong Mu joked: "It seems that Your Majesty, you are not as averse to compliments as you said. When someone nearby kept saying how about my country, I If it is better than the previous Song Dynasty, you will be so happy that you can't even hide it."
After hearing this, Sun Tu smiled bitterly and glared at the other party with feigned anger: "You old man, do you really think that I am such a superficial person? If even these few words can make me happy, then how can I be satisfied? All the court officials are fawning over you."
After a pause, he looked at his son again: "Jie'er, but
One thing they said is right. The most important thing for a country is to maintain strong competitiveness and competitiveness. It must not relax just because of its previous achievements. That will only lead to destruction. There is a saying that one is born in sorrow and dies in happiness. This is the truth. Take Dai Viet as an example. Even though we have defeated foreign enemies such as Liao, Xia, Jin and so on, we seem to be able to sit back and relax, but in fact, there may be another terrible opponent hidden somewhere. By the way, have you ever heard of a small tribe called Mongolia... called Shiwei on the northern grasslands? "
"My son has heard of them and has had contact with them. They are just a group of uncivilized grassland tribes mixed with dozens or hundreds of small tribes. There should not be any threat."
"Although they are not a threat today, they may not be so in a few decades or hundreds of years. Therefore, we must nip it in the bud and send more elite troops to suppress them. It is best to continue to provoke fights between small tribes. , making it difficult to pose any threat to the Central Plains." Sun Tu said seriously.
Sun Tu was still quite afraid of the Mongols who could sweep across the Eurasian continent in a few decades and kill all the countries until they knelt down and begged for mercy. But after all, that was a few decades later. Not to mention myself, even my son was no longer here at that time, so I could only give a brief mention. I just hope that with my appearance, that period of history can also change. .
"Yes, my son has written it down." Sun Jie admired his father very much, so naturally he did whatever he said.
Seeing this, Tong Mu laughed again: "We agreed not to talk about state affairs today, but why did you talk about the foreign enemy Shi Wei? You should be punished!"
Sun Tu also laughed. Now the only one who could joke with him was Tong Mu. He nodded disobediently and said: "Okay, who said I am the emperor? I must keep my word. Then I will be punished Well, it’s okay if I punish myself with three glasses of wine, right?”
But just when Sun Tu was raising his glass to drink, Tong Mu waved his hand to stop him: "It's inappropriate, I can't let you go so easily. Besides, drinking is a good thing, so how can it be considered a punishment?"
"What's the penalty?"
"Hmm... do you still remember the first time you and I drank in Fan Lou?"
"This..." Sun Tulue narrowed his eyes and recalled that decades ago, when he had just succeeded in getting involved in the palace and became an official of the imperial court, and then Tong Mu invited him to a banquet in Fanlou to celebrate, his face suddenly changed. Then he showed a nostalgic smile: "Of course I remember, I didn't even drink a few glasses of wine that day, and I left in a hurry because of a conflict with those sour scholars."
"But I remember that you composed a poem "Broken Array" to deal with them. It was really powerful. Today is Fan Lou again, so I want to punish you, and I have to punish you to write another good poem. I want the lyrics to be as good as this Po Zhenzi and Qin Yuanchun that you wrote a few years ago!" Tong Muxiao looked at Sun Tu and made her request.
Sun Tu was stunned again, but he did not expect that this old friend would make such an embarrassing request: "You should also know that I really have no attainments in poetry..."
"I don't believe it. Since you can write two popular poems, you can definitely write a third one." Tong Mu insisted.
Sun Tu was speechless for a while, and at the same time he quickly searched for suitable "past life" memories in his mind. And during this search, he finally found one. After clearing his cough, he said, "Okay, then I'll satisfy you. But just this once, you can't force me to write lyrics again in the future."
"All ears."
"The rolling waters of the Yangtze River pass to the east, and the waves wash away the heroes. Right and wrong, success and failure are all gone. The green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times. The white-haired fisherman on the river is used to watching the autumn moon and the spring breeze, and happily meets each other over a pot of turbid wine. So many things happened in ancient and modern times. , all in a joke."
As Sun Tu slowly read out this poem, everyone in the elegant room stopped breathing and fell into silence for a long time.
Scenes from the past come to mind...
(Complete book)