Fan Xian smiled and shook his head, indicating that he was not impatient with the loneliness of the journey. He knew that ever since he often stayed in Si Lili's carriage, in the eyes of these people, he was probably inseparable from the word romantic. After pondering for a while, he suddenly asked, "It's been a long time since I've been traveling for so many days, and the speed along the official road is extremely fast. It should have exceeded the distance from the border to the capital... This Northern Qi seems to have a rather large territory."
There was a strange silence in the carriage.
After a long time, Lin Jing smiled and said, "That's right. Although the imperial court snatched a large area of land from Northern Qi last year, when it comes to its territory and population, Northern Qi is still the largest country in the world. It's just that there are years of civil strife and the separation of people's hearts, so it is not our opponent. .”
Fan Xian frowned slightly, thinking that if this Northern Qi could really cheer up, the country he lived in would be really troublesome. Just as he was thinking, he heard Gao Da say in a deep voice: "It seems that there is still a huge piece of territory waiting for us people to conquer it."
Gao Da said very little, and after he was no longer in charge of escorting Xiao En these days, the short words he often uttered felt extremely absurd and full of laughter. Fan Xian couldn't help laughing, thinking that the officials of the Qing Kingdom, under the influence of twenty years of victories, had indeed cultivated an extremely terrifying self-confidence.
On the other side, Wang Qinian smiled wryly and said, "Master Gao, please don't take away my job as a fan."
…
…
Along the way, the missions stayed at various post stations in the Northern Qi State, and rarely stopped in larger towns. Although the Qing Kingdom Mission was a little bit reluctant, but because of the careful reception and attentive service of the officials on the other side, they did not hesitate to stop. It's hard to say something. Everyone knew in their hearts that Northern Qi had lost a lot of face in this agreement, and naturally they were ashamed to let the people of the whole country see the missions of the Southern Dynasties passing through the city swaggeringly.
But there will always be some ordinary people on the road. One day, Fan Xian asked a question that he had been curious about for a long time: "Why do these Northern Qi people don't seem to hate us very much, but instead look at us with a hint of contempt, contempt, and even sympathy?"
"In the eyes of the Northern Qi people, we are still southern barbarians after all, uncivilized objects." Lin Jing replied with a smile: "As for the war between the two countries, the Northern Qi royal family naturally kept it a secret, although the northern people also knew about us. The Qing Kingdom is extremely powerful now, but deep down it still looks down on us."
Fan Xian shook his head and sighed, "If you are covered with a black cloth, you should pretend that you are not afraid of the dark."
"After all, the Northern Qi Dynasty is the continuation of the Northern Wei Dynasty. They always think that they are the orthodox in the world, so naturally they look down on other countries."
This is an honest statement, although the Northern Wei Dynasty had already destroyed the country twenty years ago, but at that time that behemoth was entrenched on this continent, casting its shadow on all the small countries around it, it was indeed the most powerful state machine in the world. The prestige of the four barbarians still lingers in the hearts of the northern people, so they always think that the Northern Qi still retains the glory of the past, they are still the people of the most powerful country in the world, and when they look at other citizens, they always get used to it. He raised his chin slightly, his eyes drooped slightly, with self-respect, self-pity, and self-respect.
People like to live in the past. Of course, the officials of Northern Qi knew that the world had changed a long time ago. This can be seen from the etiquette they treated the Qing mission.
"There is another very important point." Lin Jing continued to analyze calmly: "The Northern Qi inherited most of the territory and officials of the Northern Wei Dynasty, so scholars in the world basically regard the Northern Qi as orthodox, and the way of literature lies in the Northern Qi. There is nothing wrong with that. Every year during the Spring Festival, the imperial examinations in the Northern Qi Dynasty are much more lively than ours. Not only the talented scholars from the counties in the Northern Qi Dynasty will gather in Beijing, but even the scholars from Dongyi City will travel thousands of miles to go to Beijing."
Wang Qinian interjected and said, "That's right, even many of our Qing Dynasty scholars went to Beijing to take the imperial examination a few years ago."
"Ridiculous." Fan Xian scolded with a smile: "Could it be possible that Qing people can still go to Northern Qi to be an official?"
Lin Jing smiled wryly and said, "Of course it's impossible. It's just that everyone in the world seems to recognize this, so as long as a talented person who can enter the top three in the Northern Qi Dynasty, no matter which country in this world, he can be regarded as having the ability to be an official." Qualifications. This is not an exception even in our Qing Kingdom. My lord has served as the imperial scholar Fengzheng, so you naturally know the Shuwu Grand Scholar, right?"
Fan Xian nodded.
Lin Jing sighed and said: "This Master Shu, he studied in Northern Qi, and his teacher was Zhuang Mohan, that's why he claimed to be Zhuang Mohan's student in his life... Think about it, my lord, this Master Shu It is clearly the work of the Northern Qi Dynasty, but if you can return to Qing to be an official, you will know that the literary style of the Northern Qi Dynasty is flourishing."
Fan Xian smiled and shook his head: "No wonder His Majesty has been vigorously pursuing martial arts these years, and he probably can't stand this kind of uselessness."
"That's right. When it comes to martial arts, no one in this world can compare to our country." Lin Jing said: "It's just that in terms of writing and dao, there have never been a few real talents."
"Literature is the end of the road," Fan Xian said.
Lin Jing thought of something, and said with a laugh: "Of course, Lord Tisi was born out of nowhere and shocked Zhuang Mohan, the Northern Qi family, to vomit blood. Since then, no one dares to say anything to us, Qingguo."
Even Wang Qinian claimed yes, and Gundam also nodded. Although Fan Xian's rise in the capital may not make all parties feel comfortable, but on the level of foreign affairs, he can have one more talented person who suppresses the arrogance of Northern Qi outside of the battlefield. Presumably, all Qing people are willing see the situation.
※※※
This kind of boring, boring journey without beautiful women, Fan Xian hoped that it would end sooner, but that long official road seemed to never end, the yellow dust brought up by the four wheels of the carriage flew on the wide road. It was like a yellow dragon, but it was firmly bound in the middle of the road by the two rows of trees beside the road, unable to jump out, it looked like it was struggling pitifully and writhing constantly.
The leaves of the ashes-blocking trees on both sides of the official road may be large or small, but overall, compared to the leaves of the Qing Kingdom, they appear to be much wider. The trunk is thick and thick, and there is one tree separated by several feet. Fan Xian stuck his head out of the carriage window, squinted his eyes, and looked at the trees passing by against the wind. For some reason, he remembered the world that he hadn't thought of for a long time. He still remembers when he was on a train bound for Beijing many years ago, when he passed by Hebei, that kind of tree on both sides of the railway track was thrown backwards in such a boring way.
There was no ashes by the window, because Fan Xian, as the envoy, was riding in the first carriage, and the ashes were naturally those poor subordinates and the reception officials of the Northern Qi Dynasty.
Without warning, a black shadow appeared at the end of the road, suddenly piled up right above the line of trees that gradually became thin and pointed, looking a little scary.
Fan Xian thought it was dark clouds, so he couldn't help smiling. Although he didn't plan to ask everyone to collect their clothes like he did on the roof in Danzhou, he was going to remind the driver to put on his raincoat.
…
…
The carriage gradually moved forward, and everyone finally saw the dark shadow clearly. At this time, the clouds in the sky also dispersed suddenly, as if to welcome the guests from afar, and cast the warm light of spring on the shadow. .
It turned out... It was a huge city.
This city is even taller and more majestic than the capital of the Qing Dynasty. It is built with large blocks of bluestone. The three-foot-high city wall is slightly inclined, but it still gives everyone who comes from afar an indescribable sense of oppression. It seems that the wall may crush you at any time. There are still pavilions with double eaves on the city, perhaps used as turrets, and soldiers are walking and patrolling back and forth on the high city walls.
A majestic and majestic feeling emanated from this huge city wall.
The area in front of the city gate had already been cleared, and there were no idlers staying here. Officials from relevant departments of the Northern Qi Dynasty were waiting for the arrival of the Nanqing Mission in that square.
On the official road, the speed of the carriage gradually slowed down. Fan Xian squinted his eyes and turned his head back from the window. He didn't expect that the capital would appear in front of him in such a stunned way, so that he wasn't even mentally prepared.
The Northern Qi Dynasty has arrived in Beijing.
※※※
The ceremony started, and both parties greeted each other. The Northern Qi officials were dressed brightly and luxuriously, while the Qing Dynasty Mission was overwhelmed with horses and horses, so it was unavoidably a little tired. Comparing the two, it was very obvious.
Fan Xian calmly looked at all the cumbersome procedures in front of him, but nodded slightly when he introduced himself. In the eyes of the Northern Qi people, this handsome young official was an arrogant villain, but Fan Xian didn't care about the impression he made on the other party.
His attention was all on the buildings in Shangjing in Northern Qi Dynasty. This huge city has stood on this land for an unknown number of years, and has experienced many winds and rains. The outer edge of the huge bluestone has been somewhat weathered, but it still stubbornly maintains its hardness.
Fan Xian was a little emotional. His emotion was different from that of all travelers. He just felt that seventeen or eighteen years after he came to this world, he seemed to finally be able to touch the history of this world, although it was only some remnants of history. Although the capital of the Qing Dynasty is also extremely grand, everything seems to have a certain fresh smell. Fan Xian knows that this smell is left by his mother, so it feels a bit inexplicably vicissitudes to be able to see ancient buildings today.