Luoyang Imperial Palace, the main hall of Jixian Palace, set up the desk and candlesticks early, countless palace maids and eunuchs shuttled in the meantime, it was not yet night, and there were already guests coming one after another.

Jixian Palace, also known as Yingxian Palace, Jixian Palace, was built for Wu Zetian's later years.

In the later period of the Wu Zhou Dynasty, Wu Zetian favored Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Zongchang brothers, so it was not enough, and he was a beautiful boy in the world, and he entered the house to worship, and created officials such as the Crane Supervisor, Cheng, and the Master Bookkeeper, and selected a bachelor's talent, as a companion, and used Si Weiqing Zhang Yizhi as the Crane Supervisor, and Zhang Changzong and others as the Crane Supervisor.

In addition to listening to politics in the court, Wu Zetian is drinking and playing with this group of worship officials in the Yingxian Palace.

In the thirteenth year of Kaiyuan, Tang Xuanzong feasted in the Yingxian Palace, Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province officials, ceremonial officials and bachelors, he saw that the house was full of talents, relieved, Xuanzong said in public, the immortal said that the words of the gods are ethereal, I do not accept it, the virtuous is the foundation to help me govern the country, and the Jixian Palace should be renamed the Jixian Palace.

Since then, Yingxian Palace has been officially renamed Jixian Palace, and at the same time, the Lizheng Academy in the hall has been renamed Jixian Academy, which is the largest library in the Tang Dynasty and the most magnificent cultural palace in the world.

Li Longji in the Kaiyuan period was still an enlightened monarch, diligent in government affairs, and held banquets to invite courtiers, and at the same time did not shy away from talking about state affairs.

However, the court was open to speech, and it was easy to face the saint, and the minister did not need to make a direct statement at the banquet, so that the atmosphere of the banquet was extremely detailed and lively.

Zhang Jiuling and Pei Yaoqing came late.

At this time, many ministers had arrived first, and when they saw the two, they all gathered around to salute and greet, especially many officials who were not often prime ministers, and they rarely had the opportunity to see Zuo Xiang after the New Year, so they all took the opportunity to come and get acquainted.

Zhang Jiuling is not very enthusiastic, he has been in the court for many years, and he greets the officials who are famous or talented in the court, and occasionally stops to say hello, but for those officials who rely on nepotism and hereditary ancestors, they are obviously estranged, and they only nod slightly when they meet, and only the ministry can get him to give a salute.

The day was different from the usual banquet, and the envoys of the ten dynasties in the world all went to the eastern capital to report to the emperor, and these people were also invited to the palace banquet.

Because Zhang Jiuling was the initiator of the envoys of various provinces and the envoys of the DPRK, and he was also the current prime minister, when he arrived, these envoys of the DPRK couldn't help but rush to him, wanting to talk to him about the situation in his area.

As for Li Linfu, who had just become the waiter of the Yellow Gate, because of the obstruction of these court envoys, he didn't even have the opportunity to greet Zhang Jiuling face-to-face.

was ignored, which made Li Linfu, who had just ascended to a high position, extremely embarrassed.

Li Linfu returned to his seat, sullen for a long time, and when someone came to congratulate him on his promotion, he barely managed to squeeze out a smile.

……

……

The banquet was about to start, and Li Longji still did not show up, at this time, a group of princes, accompanied by the guards, appeared at the gate of Jixian Palace.

The first is the crown prince Li Ying, in addition to the king of Hubei Li Yao, the king of Zhen Li Wan, the king of light Li Ju, the king of Yong Li Lan and the king of Shou Li Mao.

Li Longji went to Luoyang this time, but did not bring all the princes and princesses, and most of them stayed in Chang'an.

The princes sat down, and suddenly there was drum music.

The court musicians on both sides of the main hall began to play the "Little Breaking Array Music", which was adapted by Li Longji from the "Breaking Array Music" in "Libu Tricks" as the opening music of the palace banquet.

With the sound of music, four palace maids in gold armor came out from behind the gauze tent and danced in the venue.

The princes and ministers all stood up to greet them.

Li Longji, accompanied by Concubine Wu Hui and Princess Xianyi, walked in from the gate of the main hall, and the princes and ministers everywhere he passed by bowed and saluted.

Li Longji came to the main seat, turned to face the princes and ministers, the music stopped, the dancers withdrew, Li Longji waved his hand and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, come to the table." ”

All the princes and ministers saluted together, and only after Li Longji and Concubine Wu Hui sat on the throne did they sit down one after another.

The main seat is on the top of the three-story jade steps, in addition to the seats of Li Longji and Concubine Wu Hui, there are also seats of the crown prince Li Ying and Princess Xianyi on both sides.

There is no need for Li Longji to come forward to preside over the banquet, every palace banquet has a specific person as the person who toasts on behalf of the Son of Heaven, and this time it is Li Linfu, the newly promoted Huangmen waiter, who came out of the seat to make a toast.

……

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The banquet begins.

The palace banquet is festive and lively, and after Li Linfu toasted three times, it was immediately a palace song and dance performance.

When the Tang Dynasty arrived at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the relationship between the monarch and the minister was harmonious, and the court banquet did not have too many constraints.

After the dance began, the princes and ministers relaxed, ate and drank on their own, and from time to time exchanged ears and whispered about the dance itself, and the banquet was held in a slightly noisy environment.

Naturally, what everyone is looking forward to the most is the performance of Gongsun Auntie, the first sword dance master in the Tang Dynasty.

However, Aunt Gongsun is going to appear in the finale, and everyone can only pack up their mood and watch the dancing girls trained by the palace teaching workshop, even if the talent of these dancers is slightly inferior to that of Gongsun Auntie, but they are much better than the dancers raised in the families of ordinary ministers.

The song and dance performance reached the most wonderful part, and the princes and ministers pointed and pointed, and their faces were full of intoxication.

At this time, Li Longji quietly called Li Linfu to his side and whispered a few times, which made many people present smell a trace of "conspiracy".

The two rounds of singing and dancing performances are over, and it is time to make poems.

The poems that should be made at the palace banquet are basically poems in which the ministers praise the emperor, praise the country and the people, and wish the country prosperity.

The audience fell silent, Li Linfu stood under the jade steps, and said loudly: "Your Majesty has set ten ways in the world, each of which has set up envoys, interview envoys, and court envoys, and all the government affairs in the world are governed by the grace of God. Take the best poetry talents, and give them to the two dancers. ”

The title is a poem, and all the ministers can create it according to the situation, just like a competition, with colorful heads.

The title of the poem that day was "Fenghe Shengzhi Sends Ten Interview Envoys and Chaoji Envoys", and the color head is two dancers who have just performed at the banquet.

Because there is no decision on which two to send, and the dancers who have just performed are naturally among the alternatives, which makes those who praise the court dance music secretly moved, just now I want to how to train their own dancers, now it is saved, who wins the emperor will send two directly, choose as you like, who is not tempted by such a good opportunity?

The heart is moved, but the mouth is not easy to move.

In front of the emperor, there are many Hanlin, these people specialize in creating poems and entertainment in the palace banquet as their main business, and there are many well-known talents attending the banquet.

After Li Linfu made the topic of the emperor's announcement public, many people looked around, wondering who dared to come out and make poems for this.

Some people who are about to move are also very difficult in their hearts.

This topic is too "grotesque", since it is a poem that sends ten interview envoys and court envoys, in addition to the requirements of praising the emperor's wisdom and martial arts, it must also have the meaning of exhorting these people, reflecting the emperor's grace, which is a little more difficult to love the poem, than the usual praise of song and dance, or simply to practice for anyone, or to tout the emperor is much more difficult.

It is not the first time that Li Linfu has presided over a palace banquet, and he has long been able to cope with such a scene.

When he saw that no one got up to compose poems, he smiled at Zhang Jiuling, who was in charge of the chief position on the left, and asked: "Zhang Linggong, you have always been good at poetry in the court, and the Shidaozhi interview envoy and the Chaoji envoy were also proposed by you and Your Majesty. ”

Li Linfu obviously wanted to give Zhang Jiuling a problem.

Let you just treat me coldly, I have a chance to take revenge on you now?

With such a difficult topic, you don't have much time to think about it, if you can make a good poem, it will really become a rare thing, if you can't say it, it is equivalent to making a fool of yourself in front of others.

Everyone looked at Zhang Jiuling, and even Li Longji looked at him with a smile.

Concubine Wu Hui's voice suddenly came: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang's poetry is unparalleled in the world, I heard that all the scholars in the world want to go to visit, so he specially made a difficult question, so far no one has been able to come to the door, I don't know if there is something wrong?" ”

Zhang Jiuling was disgusted with Concubine Wu Hui, but at this time he had to stand up and replied respectfully: "If you go back to Concubine Hui's words, there is indeed something wrong. ”

This attracted a lot of discussions, and even looked at Zhang Jiuling and laughed meaningfully.

Zhang Jiuling didn't know what these people were laughing at, and he didn't know where to start if he wanted to defend himself.

Suddenly, Li Longji snorted, and then said: "Zhang Qing's family is now the Duke of Ling, and he is an example of Wenchen, and it can also be said that he is the teacher of the world's scholars...... Why not ask questions from teachers to students and test students' knowledge? ”

Even the emperor spoke, and others naturally didn't dare to say much.

Li Linfu interjected: "It is natural for the teacher to take the examination of the students, but if the teacher's talent and learning cannot convince the public, what should it do?" ”

"Li Qing's family, you must not be rude to Zhang Linggong."

Li Longji seemed to be reprimanded, but there was no annoyance on his face, as if he was joking, "Who in the world doesn't admire Zhang Linggong's talent?" said that he is the teacher of the world's scholars, isn't there anyone else who is not convinced? Even I have to call him a division commander. ”

The emperor put on a high hat, and if he didn't show it, it would really be in vain.

Zhang Jiuling's gaze at Li Linfu was full of disgust, and his anger rushed straight to his head...... The two have a long-standing grudge, mainly from Zhang Jiuling's disdain from the bottom of his heart for a person like Li Linfu who studies power techniques.

Li Linfu thought that Zhang Jiuling couldn't write poetry in a hurry, it was based on his own talent, but he didn't know that Zhang Jiuling was rich in learning and five cars, and his poetry talent was even better.

Zhang Jiuling twisted his beard and said, "The minister will be ugly." ”

In Li Linfu's surprised gaze, Zhang Jiuling read out the poem he created in public:

"Every three years, all countries tend to Heluo.

The lesson is the most powerful, and the reward is reborn.

Hanging clothes are deeply compatible, and they are salty.

The first way back to the bamboo talisman, divided into the wooden duo.

The precepts are in the past, and the edict is not flooded.

Zhao is clear and astronomy, and he is diligent in people.

Long-lasting hope is entrusted to the end.

Be self-reliant, ploughing in spring and harvesting in autumn. ”

A poem is recited, neat and tidy, both for the interview envoys and the envoys of the court, but also for the emperor's grace and gratitude, under the ardent hope, the heart of the courtiers is shown in the poem with a very high poetic talent.

After Zhang Jiuling finished reading a poem, the people present were silent.

Li Linfu's face was dark, and he was speechless for a long time.