Tai'an City was deserted by thousands of people, the emperor of the Zhao family and the empress Zhao Zhi waited outside the city, and took all the big and small yellow gates of the Imperial Academy, just to wait for one person. The chief officials of the six ministries all came to gather outside the city spontaneously "lazy". Wang Xionggui from the household department, who came from the same school but eventually parted ways, has a large group of dependent officials behind each of them, which is particularly distinct. There are also many imperial relatives, including Yan Jiexi, who are dignified and detached, and many dignitaries who can no longer participate in court meetings after they get old, and their descendants. It can be said that the only difference is Yin Maochun, the local official who is in charge of the local government outside Beijing, but only a careful person will realize that this unprecedented open-air banquet is actually a bit of a fly in the ointment, because two important figures are missing. , Chief Assistant Zhang Julu, and Tantan Weng Huanwen who holds the power of the province. However, too many dignitaries and traffickers gathered outside Tai'an City. The absence of these two high-ranking ministers intentionally or unintentionally did not affect the hustle and bustle of the capital today.
When the eldest son of the Song family was the overlord of the literary world, who made the father and son Xueye visit but were rejected? With whom did Xu Weixiong's mentor, who was very high-spirited, quarrel with to lose the easily-obtained position of Shangyin Academy Grand Prix? And who is qualified for the Confucianism family led by Yao Baifeng to fight against it with all the strength of the whole family? Who made the emperor of Chu give birth to the feeling that "the public does not come out of the mountain, but the common people live there"? At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, who was facing the pressure of the Xu family's 10,000 cavalry, who walked out alone, and made that Rentu take the initiative to detour with a few words
This is a big man who is recognized by the ruling and opposition parties as "high in knowledge and high in the sky".
It is Qi Yanglong, the current grand priest of Shangyin Academy.
Fifty miles away from Tai'an City, on a slightly remote official road, there was a group of weird travelers. The oldest one had sparse snow hair, was short in stature, was travel-stained, and carried a worn-out bamboo Book box. A man in his thirties was carrying a girl in a green robe on his back. The three of them met on the way north to Tai'an City. The old man, who was still a young man studying abroad, was too shy to rely on them for food and drink. Willing to go, go hand in hand. The little girl in green doesn't like this disrespectful old guy very much. She is crazy and always likes to speak words she doesn't understand. Isn't this half a bucket of water showing off knowledge? Especially when the old man talked about things in Beiliang, Lu Paoer hated to death the feudal lord who made him never see his second grandfather again, so he was even more unwilling to talk to the dwarf winter melon that she took Nicknamed the old man. What's more, the old man liked to see beautiful women along the way and couldn't turn his eyes away. The little girl complained to her younger brother several times, but he always smiled but refused.
At this time, on the official road, a group of children from aristocratic families in fresh clothes and angry horses galloped by. The old man finally took his eyes off a rich woman who was riding a horse, and began to mutter again, "Oh, today's daughter is really getting better and better!" She's getting more and more watery and handsome, much better-looking than the previous fifty or sixty years ago."
After leaving Wudi City, the bridegroom Yu who had gone all the way north laughed softly and asked, "Mr., is there still this particularity?"
The old man carefully stroked his fading snow-white hair, feeling sorry for those old brothers who fell from their heads along the way, squinting his eyes and sighing: "Yes, women can only grow well when the world is good. , the more I envy you young people. Boy, when you get older, you will feel the same way."
Wang Xianzhi, who was called a young man, laughed it off, and the groom was not a person who liked to chat with others, so he stopped talking.
The old man opened his mouth to speak like a sluice flood, unable to stop at all, he said to himself: "The world is like a long flow of water, but after the end of the Spring and Autumn Wars, there was a big turning point, and the flow direction changed. The better. What is the truth, I can’t explain it for three days and three nights, hey, but I just know.”
The green robe lying lazily on the groom's back curled his lips fiercely and said, "Even if you like to talk, do you think I like to listen?"
The old man smiled and said, "Little girl, do you know what it means to like someone?"
Lu Pao'er turned her head, and simply refused to look at this embarrassing old man.
The old man asked himself and answered: "That is, before seeing the other party, you don't know what it is, and after you miss it, you don't know what it is."
The bridegroom, whose realm was far and bottomless, seemed to be touched, and frowned.
The old man jumped up and down, probably hoping to see the city wall of Tai'an City. He carried a heavy bookcase on his back and made this funny move, which made Shi Shi secretly peek at his green robe and laugh out loud. The old man made a face at a female doll, causing the green robe to roll his eyes. He put his little head on the groom's warm shoulder and asked, "Grandpa Shorty Winter Melon, do you have someone you like?"
The old man shook his head and smiled: "No, when I was young, there were many women who liked me."
Lu Pao'er scraped his cheeks with his fingers, mocking the old man for his shamelessness.
The bridegroom walked to the intersection of the official road and said with a smile: "Old man, we have to continue to go north, and hope to meet again someday."
The old man waved his hand and said with a free and easy smile, "It will be hard not to see each other again today. I am an old man buried up to my neck in the loess. I don't know the name of the green girl, I will definitely grow out in the future."
The green robe let out an oh.
The groom carried the little girl on his back and continued walking towards Liangliao, while the old man walked towards Tai'an City.
Lived for too many years, hid too many words.
The old man couldn't find anyone to talk to, so he could only talk to himself for many years.
"Old Hong, you have taken in a basketful of disciples, disciples, and only Zhang Julu and Huan Wen have come out. It seems that you cast your net widely, but you haven't caught many big fish."
"Look at me again, Xun Ping, Xie Feiyu, Yuan Benxi, just three unnamed students."
"Old Hong, don't blame me for bullying the small when I come to Beijing this time, but if you have the ability to climb out of the coffin and scold me, that's your ability."
Walking, the old man was finally able to look up and see the majestic outline of Tai'an City. The old man shook the bookcase and hummed a little tune hoarsely.
I came from the mountains with an old bookcase on my back. I'm going to the downtown area, where is my hometown...
…
Tan Tanweng walked on the deserted and lonely street with a jug of good wine, and on both sides were the most prestigious mansions in the capital, but at this time they all went outside the city to meet the old guy who was even older than himself. Closed, it saves a lot of gossip and gossip during his visit. Stopped outside a mansion, looked up at the golden plaque written by the emperor, the plainly dressed "Prime Minister" concierge was a little dazed when he saw this unexpected distinguished guest, but before this year, Tan Tanweng always came in and out It's simple, and there is no such thing as mobilizing the crowd on your own initiative. Instead, Mr. Zuo Servant will grab the pigtails. He just stepped forward to say hello respectfully. Huan Wen smiled and nodded, and said a few words casually, "Old Ma, you Is the little girl married? If not, would you like me to help you kidnap a young man from the lower province of the door?" and other acquaintances, the old concierge of Zhang's mansion surnamed Ma was very happy. Huan Wen was more familiar with this mansion than his own, so he didn't need anyone to lead the way. He went straight to Mr. Shoufu's study without knocking on the door. He crossed the threshold, and Zhang Julu, who was habitually standing and reading with a book, glanced sideways. , did not speak. Huan Wen put the jug of imperial wine on the desk that he had plucked from the Ministry of Rites, sat on the only chair in the study, and said, "The cicadas are really noisy and the forest is more than quiet."
The two old people are close friends, and in Tantan Ong's words, you, Biyan, pouted your butt, and I know what shit to do. Zhang Julu quickly understood, and said flatly: "This is not a noise. Qi Yanglong enters the capital by taking the Yangguan Avenue, and even a dragon enters the sea."
Huan Wen snorted coldly, picked up a few policies on the desk, and suddenly his heart sank, and asked: "Are you really going to make a big move on the water transportation that the nobles in the north manage, and be regarded as the lifeline by those upstarts in the capital?" Your son’s salt policy? In addition, you were in the court a few days ago and proposed to set the rules for the left and right servants of the Ministry of War to inspect the border on a regular basis. Well, the imperial court is a base camp where two scholars gather together, and there are local generals headed by Gu Jiantang, plus Of your four behemoths, not one of them has been left behind, do you, Biyan, think that you are young?"
Zhang Julu didn't raise his head, and said, "You are missing one, and I still have to vigorously rectify the abuses of the subordinate staff. After the poor people in the world advance, they can't be done once and for all, and they still have to follow the rules."
Huan Wen murmured, "Crazy, crazy."
Zhang Julu put away the books in his hands, and put them back on the bookcase meticulously. The tall chief assistant of the dynasty stood in the shadows and said slowly: "Our Liyang is not the great Chu that was on the left side of the Anjiang River back then. When the time goes out, the imperial court continuously transports the grain and material resources from the rich and prosperous southeast to the capital. This is a national plan that needs to be operated for a hundred years. What's more, the frontier war is coming soon, which has become an urgent need. I proposed the matter of shipping grain in the past, but the facts have proved that it is not possible. Okay, the risk is too great. The disappearance of the fleet in the last years of Yonghui is still unknown whether it was a shipwreck or was robbed by others. This canal has a bad word for scraping the southeast, but it also shows that it has great influence on the imperial court. The importance of the importance of the canal, the strategy I set at the beginning was indeed to support the Northern Liao army with taxes from the southeast, and by the way forced the Western Chu to rebel, and even the people along the canal caused civil uprisings every year to fight for the river, so I deliberately did not suppress it. , but in the past few years, the northern nobles from the land of Longxing have profited by holding the lifeblood of a country, but they don't know it, and they are acting more and more rampantly. It has been decreasing year by year, and now it has dropped sharply to less than eight million shi. Where did it go? Even if grass bandits and horse thieves are allowed to swagger and carry away the food, how much can they take away? Official water transportation officials, under the jurisdiction of the grain transportation department and the distribution department, and the eight senior officials who are all above the fifth rank, if they can earn money in peace and contentment, that’s all. The sending of grain to the north has not yet ended, and even Lu Baijie, Minister of the Ministry of War, dared to use the so-called ancestral system to forcefully reject the order to dispatch troops. If I don’t come to disturb the water administration, who will do it? At that time, will the soldiers from the north go to Beimang hungry? Combat? Is it possible that soldiers who want to die for the country eat food to fill their stomachs, but also depends on people's faces? Even begging grandpa to sue grandma to beg those water transport officials who never pay attention to the Ministry of Households?"
Huan Wen sighed, and shook the paperwork on his hand, "Then this Yanzheng? Whoever makes money doesn't make money, and they want to eat a piece of fat that goes into the mouths of people outside the court, so you have to pull out your teeth?"
Zhang Julu sneered and said, "Still water stinks, but living water is clear. The power issued by Yanyin has been in their hands for more than ten years, and they have earned money that their descendants can't spend in ten lifetimes. Isn't the reward from the court generous enough? Great military exploits It's time for the rewards to end. It's time for a new group of people to sit in Zhuang Ri and fight for gold!"
Huan Wen asked: "Are you going to give it to a wealthy family in the south of the Yangtze River who boast that they have a breeze in their sleeves and a bright moon in their shoulders?"
Zhang Julu nodded and said: "No, how could they sincerely contribute to the imperial court, otherwise the imperial court has been wrestling with Xichu for decades, and they can still enjoy their decades of romantic affairs leisurely, the bad habits of the powerful have always been like this. There are only two things that make them take the initiative to bow their heads, official hats and money bags."
Huan Wen hesitated to speak, if in previous years, if he picked up any matter, he would discuss it with Bi Yan'er day and night, until he confirmed that it would not seriously harm the people's livelihood, and then he would join hands to implement the national policies. It's like slowly channeling the meridians of the entire empire.
Zhang Julu walked out of the shadows, and in the twilight, the dim afterglow reflected on one side of the tall old man's face.
Huan Wen sighed.
Zhang Julu asked: "I heard that you had a bad cough a while ago?"
Huan Wen stared and said, "Small illness and disaster, or drinking hard alcohol without restraint, which one do you think will die sooner?"
Zhang Julu laughed it off.
Huan Wen hesitated for a moment, and was about to speak when Zhang Julu smiled and said: "The young man from Beiliang who lives in Xia Province under your family, I will give him a comment of 'more ingenuity but less skill, can be used or not', It can always keep him safe for a few years."
Huan Wen took a deep look at this old friend, then walked out of the study silently.
Zhang Julu opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything. He just looked at Huan Wen's old back and waved his hands lightly.
After Tan Tanweng left Zhang's mansion, where people dared to write a letter at the door to insult Mr. Shoufu, he went straight to Zhaojiaweng, and came to the Hanlin Academy, which was almost empty except for the handyman and small officials.
The old man smiled mischievously. Tai'an City thought that as long as the old dragon was born to save the common people, what deer would it need
Huan Wen walked to a secluded room and asked someone to bring a key to open it. Although there hadn't been a big and small yellow door working here for many years, it was often cleaned by people, and it was still elegant and clean.
Back then, he and Bi Yan'er were in this room, Huan Wen was high-spirited and had no eyesight, after drinking, anyone would dare to scold him, what is going on in the world and I can't give Huan Wen advice
And Bi Yan'er never drank, she always listened, and every time Huan Wen got drunk, she had to carry him home.
Huan Wen rummaged through a bookcase in the corner, found the pair of cups and chopsticks, and put them on the table.
After Huan Wen sat down, he tapped the porcelain cup with a chopstick.
Clinking.
The old man choked with sobs and said: "The spring mountain is still green when it is not old. People are old and rare, and there is no one to accompany them. They only listen to logging."
Ding ding ding.