Qin Mubai closed the invitation and asked, "Second brother, why did King Wei want to entertain guests for no reason? How did he know that I was back from vacation?"
"You are so big now that you attract the wind. It is not easy to know that you are back. Yesterday, your appearance at the No. 1 Wine in the World was enough to let the King of Wei know the news. I don't know how many of the officials and scholars who drank and entertained there were Wei "The king's guest." Qin Bin said, "As for the reason for the invitation, Brother Yu seems to have heard that the king of Wei wants to invite all the scholars and talents to play Qu Shui Shang."
"Qu Shui Shui Shang? How funny! It's summer, what's the Qi Shui Shui Shang?" Qin Mubai couldn't help but laugh.
Drinking wine in a meandering stream is an ancient custom that has been spread since the Jin Dynasty. According to legend, Wang Xizhi, a famous calligrapher and internal historian of Kuaiji in the Jin Dynasty, together with his relatives and friends Xie An, Sun Chuo and other 42 people, held the "Qu Shui Liu Shang" activity of drinking and composing poems in Lanting after doing the wedding ceremony, which has become an eternal legend. This Confucianism and elegance have been passed down to this day. At that time, Wang Xizhi and others sat on the ground on both sides of the clear stream in Lanting after holding a ceremony to pray for evil spirits. They placed wine glasses in the stream and slowly floated down from the upstream. After passing through the winding stream, the glasses were swirling in front of someone. Or stop, whoever has to compose an impromptu poem and drink wine.
In this game, 11 people each wrote two poems, 15 people each wrote one poem, and 16 people failed to write a poem, and each was punished with three drinks of wine. Wang Xizhi collected everyone's poems, wrote a preface on silkworm cocoon paper and a rat-whisker pen, and took advantage of his excitement to write the world-famous "Preface to the Lanting Collection".
The current emperor Li Shimin fell in love with Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, which triggered a calligraphy craze in the Tang Dynasty. As a result, the elegant entertainment method of meandering water drinking wine has also spread among the officials and literati of the Tang Dynasty today. However, the Qushui Shangqing Festival is usually held on the Shangji Festival in March of Yangchun, and now it is the summer solstice.
"This stupid brother doesn't know either." Qin Bin shook his head and smiled, "I heard from the guests that in March of this year, King Wei was ordered to accompany His Majesty the Emperor in the palace to discuss the compilation of "Kuo Di Zhi". Therefore, I missed this year's Qushui Shang, so I took advantage of my free time to make up for it. The King of Wei has a very close relationship with many literary talents, and the Qushui Shang has always been an important way for him to communicate with each other, so he must not want to waste it! "
"I see..." Qin Mubai shook his head and said with a smile, "I am a martial artist, and I have only met the King of Wei once. Why did you invite me? Isn't this just trying to embarrass me?"
"Third brother, do you really understand, or are you just pretending to be confused?" Qin Bin smiled, "It's obvious that King Wei just wants to trap you!"
Qin Mubai chuckled lightly: "Then go! Reciting poems is definitely not good for me anyway, so just go and see the excitement. The King of Wei is so generous with his invitation. If I don't go, won't I slap him in the face? Just two Brother, I want to ask - how is your relationship with King Wei now?"
Qin Bin smiled calmly: "It's not like you don't know my father's teachings. Although Brother Yu meets the King of Wei every two days in places like Hongwen Hall and Wude Hall, he rarely talks, let alone friendship. As for the King of Wei, it seems that he also He ignored me, a school secretary with a low-level talent and a low official position. The main reason for inviting me this time was because he wanted to invite you through me, right? Haha, Brother Yu took advantage of you. "
"Haha, isn't it just a matter of eating and drinking? - Second brother, please wait a moment. After the younger brother changes his clothes, he will set off with you."
Soon after, the two brothers arranged their clothes, left their home in a carriage, and headed for the Palace of the Prince of Wei.
Wei Wang Li Tai can be said to be the most favored prince by the emperor today, even far more than Prince Li Chengqian. In the past few years, Emperor Li Shimin, who had always advocated frugality, had continuously personally allocated funds to Li Tai to repair his mansion, and the money and silk he usually provided was almost as much as that of the East Palace. For this reason, many old ministers often gave their opinions and advice to the emperor, but Li Shimin, who had always been open-minded and accepting of advice, remained the same as before and was very fond of Li Tai. In addition, Li Tai himself is indeed somewhat capable, and his expertise in 'civilization' is unparalleled by ordinary princes. In recent years, he led a group of officials and scholars to compile a large number of books, among which Kuo Di Zhi, which introduced ten states and counties in the Tang Dynasty, is the most famous.
The emperor's preference and Li Tai's own efforts made the power gathered around him grow larger and larger. Nowadays, it is a secret known to the world that the emperor intends to abolish the throne and Li Tai intends to compete for the throne.
Li Tai was the first to start a "Qushui Shang" on a hot day. In fact, everyone knows in their hearts that Li Tai is currently busy competing for savings and has "everything to do". Every minute and second is precious. The reason why he invites a large number of people to play with great fanfare is just to take the opportunity to win people's hearts. In the era of the Tang Dynasty, imperial power was like a tree, and officials and scholars were the roots of the tree. With the support and support of the officials, he is undoubtedly the most powerful arm of the prince. Although Li Tai is only twenty years old, he is obviously a wily political advisor who will not do meaningless things when he has nothing to do.
The location of the Qu Shui Shang is in the huge and magnificent back garden of Prince Wei's Mansion.
As soon as the Qin Mubai brothers arrived at the mansion by car, a doorman came to greet them. After all the invitations were given, the disciples stretched their necks and shouted - "Qin Mubai, the envoy of Baiqi, and Qin Bin, the school secretary of Hongwen Hall, are here!"
It's a bit like a waiter in a wine shop greeting guests with a promise.
At this time, there was a lot of traffic in front of the gate of the palace, and as many people were coming in and out as crucian carp crossing the river. Most of them were young people dressed as officials. Menzi's voice attracted many people's sideways glances, and some even whispered.
"Look, those are the two young masters of Qin Shubao's family!"
"The taller one is Qin Sanlang, the general of the Hundred Cavalry Envoys who is currently in front of the emperor, right?"
"I didn't expect that he would also get together with King Wei! King Wei is so fast and his strength seems to have greatly increased!"
…
The door led the two of them to the back garden. Along the way, they saw a large number of young officials gathering in groups under the flower front pavilion, laughing and chatting happily, or changing cups and cups and singing to the wind and moonlight. The decoration of Prince Wei's Mansion, in addition to luxury, exudes a literati atmosphere. Steles and archways can be seen everywhere, and many of them contain excerpts of wonderful poems from the ancients. The setting of the back garden is also quite ancient, and has the meaning of the "Orchid Pavilion" in the past.
Along the way, Qin Mubai saw no less than three to five hundred officials and scholars. What surprised him was that most of these people were young, and it was rare to see a middle-aged man over thirty-five years old.
"Second brother, the friends of King Wei are interesting, mostly young people." Qin Mubai said.
"The King of Wei has always been like this." Qin Bin whispered, "Most of the people around him are the nephews and nephews of meritorious veterans, or the rising stars who are new officials in the imperial examination. You should be able to imagine why this is."
Qin Mubai frowned and thought carefully, and gradually understood in his heart.
There is a prince in the Tang Dynasty now. No matter how much Li Chengqian disappoints the emperor and disfavors him, he is still a genuine prince. According to his usual practice, Li Shimin must arrange for many important officials to work part-time in the East Palace and let them assist the prince Li Chengqian. The courtiers are also bound by the traditional concept that "the prince is the foundation of the country", and most of them favor the prince in their stance. For example, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, the two most influential ministers, have always clearly supported the prince.
Due to etiquette and stereotypes, Wei King Li Tai could not win over the current ministers, so he had to focus on their descendants. The Tang Dynasty paid great attention to Menyin's family background. Maybe after ten or twenty years, these "princeling" members would become powerful and completely replace those veteran ministers. As for those young officials and scholars, let alone them. When they first entered the official career, they could be accepted and supported by the famous King of Wei. How could they not be desperate and determined to serve them? At that time, the world will be his, King Wei's.
"King Wei's deep thoughts are profound!" Qin Mubai smiled and whispered.
"King Wei, he has always been as wise as a fool and has a deep understanding of the city." Qin Bin concluded with one sentence and said concisely, "Third brother, you must not underestimate him."
"My little brother knows."
The two brothers wandered around Houhuawanli for a while. They had never interacted with officials and talented people, and they didn't meet many acquaintances. About half an hour later, a voice sounded: "The King of Wei has arrived!"
Three to five hundred young people crowded towards the back garden. Many of them looked anxiously, fearing that they would run too slowly and not get a good spot.
This Huaxi was obviously man-made and built specifically for entertainment. A winding stream runs through the entire back garden. There were many exotic pines, flowers and stones placed by the stream. Everyone sat on the ground with their futons, with some ink in front of them, and there was no shortage of snacks and harps.
It is truly a literary event.
The chubby Li Tai had already arrived, and there were too many people present. He couldn't say hello to them all. After making some opening remarks, he asked everyone to sit down. The elegant music started to play, the atmosphere became relaxed and elegant, and the music and drinking began immediately.
Li Tai himself was not in a hurry to sit down, but walked back and forth on both sides of the flower stream, laughing and chatting with several young people from time to time. Most of the officials who were talking to him looked flattered. And most of the others looked at them with envy.
The Qin Mubai brothers were sitting in an inconspicuous corner, smiling at each other and remaining silent.
This Li Tai is very popular among officials.
As if by accident, Li Tai walked up to brother Qin Mubai. When he saw them at first glance, Li Tai sighed in shock: "Oh! Aren't these the brothers of the Qin family? How can you sit in this last position? The slaves are stupid, stupid!"
After saying that, Li Tai puffed out his fat body and walked quickly towards the two of them and cupped his hands: "Forgive me, forgive me! Brother Qin, please follow Xiao Wang to the upper chamber and sit down!"
"You're welcome, King Wei. I'm not good at poetry. I'm just here to watch, so there's no need for that, right?" Qin Mubai cupped his hands and replied.
"Brother Mubai, what are you talking about?" Li Tai smiled and narrowed his eyes, holding Qin Mubai's wrist with one hand and dragging him forward, "No, no, how can a very romantic person like you hide in the creek? Where’s the tail? Come and change seats with Xiao Wang!”
There were low boos in the audience, and hundreds of pairs of eyes fixed on Qin Mubai.
"It turns out that he is Qin Mubai! -"