"Mr. Wang already knows about this?"
Yang Guang walked into the pavilion with the gait of a dragon and a tiger, swept his sleeves, and sat down with a majestic look. The eunuch brought tea and placed it on the stone table. As he bowed and quietly left, Wang Banxia, who was standing by the fence, stroked the tuft of goat beard under his chin.
"Your Majesty, I learned how to observe the night sky from my master. Although I am not as good as my second junior brother, I have my own unique skills."
Back then, I was just a fortune teller on the street, trying to make ends meet. If I hadn't been blessed with a good teacher, I wouldn't be so proud of myself today when the current emperor calls me "old gentleman".
His eyes were calm and there was an unfathomable smile on his face.
"Haha, everyone has entered the city, how could I not know... Anyway, Master is not here, so I am the boss. With Second Junior Brother's temper, if the four national masters really cause trouble, he can handle it alone. I just need to pretend in front of the emperor and make a name for myself, so as not to let Master down."
Thinking of the wonderful thing, he chuckled. When he heard the emperor behind him ask, "Why are you laughing, Mr. Wang?" he was not panicked. He turned around with his hands behind his back naturally. It seemed that his lifeless eyes could see the stone table. He walked around it and sat down opposite Yang Guang.
"Your Majesty, I am laughing because these four small foreign countries overestimate their own capabilities. Last night, I observed the celestial phenomena. Your Majesty, the Purple Star is prosperous. Although it is a little unstable, it is obvious that there will be mischief. However, the position of the star is stable, which means there is no danger."
"Mr. Wang, I know what's going on now."
After a lot of boasting, Yang Guang on the opposite side was so intimidated that he nodded repeatedly. Even Wang Banxia himself thought that this was the case. He maintained the demeanor of a master and excitedly said some terms about observing the qi and the stars. Only then did he leave the palace with his hands behind his back, feeling satisfied and being carried away by the guards.
The figure of the old man disappeared in the Xianju Courtyard. The eunuch who was waiting outside the pavilion approached the pavilion with a look of joy on his face. "Your Majesty, Master Wang said there is no problem. It seems that there will be no problem."
The butterfly flapped its colorful wings, fluttering in the flowerbed, perching on the petals, and then was startled away by the waving robe. Yang Guang walked out of the pavilion and onto the cobblestone path, humming.
"You are the only ones who believe it."
Two years after ascending the throne, the young man already had his own aura. He looked sternly at the corridor where Wang Banxia was being invited to leave. After a while, he turned around and walked straight to the villa.
"I just want to hear some reassuring words."
A powerful voice came from outside the pavilion and flower garden: "Except for the Imperial Master, I don't trust anyone else!"
…
The news that the envoys from the four countries came to the capital and stayed at the post house yesterday had already spread throughout Chang'an. The merchants and common people who had originally left the city heard the news halfway and hurried back to join in the fun.
People with free time from the counties and prefectures surrounding Chang'an rushed here overnight. In the early morning, a long queue of people lined up outside the city gate waiting to enter the city. This morning, they all entered the city gate early and booked inns just to watch the grand spectacle of the four countries coming to pay tribute. For a while, all the streets, inns, teahouses, and restaurants were crowded.
"Speaking of foreign nations entering the court, that was a few years ago!"
Teahouses and restaurants stopped performing erotic dances by Hu Ji, and instead put on storytellers to attract business.
“… Our great Sui Emperor Wen swept across the north and south, unified the country, and brought peace and prosperity to the people. He was admired by all quarters. He was truly a sage and wise ruler. As a result, even the foreign and small countries outside our great Sui Dynasty were in a state of panic. At that time, the Turkic, Silla, Mohe, Bitasi, Heduo, Chuanyue, Unahe, Pala, Tocharian, Kulujian, Hulun, Mohe, Heduo, Peihan, Qiuci, Shule, Khotan, Anguo, Caoguo, Heguo, Muguo, Bi, Yimi, Shifanyan, Jiazhe, Khitan and other countries sent envoys to pay tribute. The Eastern Turkic Khan Qimin, who was frightened by the defeat, even called our Emperor Wen the sage Khan.
Your Majesty has inherited the style of the previous emperor and gradually revealed the appearance of a wise ruler, which makes these barking and howling people tremble with fear and dare not not come! "
"good!"
Every time he added fuel to the fire, the audience would applaud and cheer. On the noisy street, the runners from the Chang'an government office were patrolling the street all the time, staring at the green forest knights carrying weapons passing by. The latter would either squat silently on the eaves of the street or avoid the runners and turn away.
In the crowded crowd, there were also monks wearing robes and holding golden bowls, making gestures to the people and chanting Buddha's name.
The dim sunlight fell on the long city walls. Birds flew over the crowded city walls. A one-armed knight with a long sword on his back and a bearded man with a wooden box on his back walked into a remote tavern in the city one after another.
"I wonder if Fellow Daoist Lu has returned. I never thought that a national master from another country would come to provoke me."
The bearded man who was speaking took off the wooden box on his back and leaned against the leg of the table. The one-armed knight next to him took off his bamboo hat, took out the two long swords on his back, put them on the fence, called the waiter, heated a pot of wine, ordered some side dishes, and laughed out loud with his thick beard.
"It's because Fellow Daoist Lu doesn't like to show off, so people look down on him." The man who put down his bamboo hat was Zuo Zhengyang, who left with Yan Chixia two years ago. The two of them traveled all over the country together, looking for the fragments of the monster star, and they made quite a few gains along the way. When he heard that the four countries were coming to pay tribute and brought foreign national masters with them, he obviously sensed that the newcomers had bad intentions.
Yan Chixia picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of fat meat and put it in his mouth, then took the wine pot and poured wine for everyone, "He has that kind of personality. Come on, drink a bowl first!"
He clinked his wine bowl with Zuo Zhengyang, drank it all up, and wiped the wine stains from his thick beard: "But even if he didn't come back, how could the cultivators from all over the Central Plains just sit there and do nothing?"
Over there, the one-armed man nodded, drank a bowl of wine and put it down, picked up the chopsticks to pick up some fried beans and put them into his mouth to chew slowly, his eyes looking at the roofs outside the building and the city walls in the distance.
"I just don't know what these people will do. Forget it, why worry so much? Maybe Fellow Daoist Lu has already made arrangements. There is also Old Jiao in this city. Now many fellow Daoists who have heard that the foreign Taoist priests have come to Chang'an are rushing here."
Soon after, the sky darkened, but the city was still bustling and noisy.
When the sky in the east began to turn pale, the morning sun broke through the clouds, pushing away the darkness, and quickly extended along the earth and the city walls, covering the huge city in gold.
Boom—
The morning bell rang in the clock tower of the imperial city, and the long street from the post house to the imperial city was filled with city dwellers and outsiders who had gotten up early. When they saw the post house open, the people standing on the street and on the upper floors started shouting.
"Quick, stop talking, come out!"
"So they are Tuyuhun, Gaochang, Yiwulu, and Turkic people? Why do Tuyuhun and Turkic people look similar?"
"Of course they look alike. They are both from the grassland."
Amid the sounds of whispering, the four teams walked through the long street escorted by Sui soldiers. There were also ruffians in the crowd who laughed, cursed, and even spit at them. They were discovered by the bailiffs and expelled. After all, they came to the city to pay tribute, so they had to give them some respect.
Soon, the team entered Shunyi Gate, walked along the palace wall for more than a hundred feet, and turned into Chengtian Gate. Soldiers from the four countries were taken to the side door carrying gifts, and the rest of the people dismounted and followed the palace guards in front into Daxing Palace.
"The envoys of the four countries come to see His Majesty, take off your shoes and hats—"
Outside the Daxing Palace, the eunuch flicked his whisk and stood on the Baiyan Imperial Steps. He saw the envoys from the four countries bowing their heads and doing as he was told. They took off their shoes and socks, took off their fur hats, and then moved aside.
Gao Xuan: "Enter the palace and pay homage to my emperor!"