In the summer of the third year of Shenlong, in June, the emperor and hundreds of officials won the victory in the Taimiao. Immediately, the emperor decreed that Zhang Qian was the founder of the new city and the county marquis, and the actual seal was 1,500 acres. He still served as the chief of the march of the Anxi Dadu Protectorate, and concurrently served as the guard of the Broken Leaf Town, and won the Cattle Guardian Award from the Anxi Dadu to conquer the Turks. - New Tang Dynasty Book - Volume 209

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After the news spread, many people thought that the imperial court was inappropriately rewarding and punishing. Especially compared with the previous treatment of Zhang Qian by the Divine Dragon Prince, this time, it couldn't be thinner.

However, whether it is Yang Qi, the two-legged fox who has already given his way, or Zhang Shuo, who has always liked to speak for Zhang Qian, Bi Gou and other loyal and upright people have remained silent about the decision of Li Xian, the son of the divine dragon.

Chang'an is too far away from the Western Regions, and when the holy decree of sealing Zhang Qian as the founding county marquis was delivered to the army, Zhang Qian had already returned to Broken Leaf with his soldiers. At the same time, there were herds of cattle, sheep and horses, carts of seized materials and more than 100,000 stone military rations!

"Xiaguan Zhang Qian, meet Qincha. Please also ask the Qin to wait for a while, and allow the officials to bathe and change clothes, and at the same time order someone to prepare a table and high incense to receive the holy decree! Although the messenger who came to deliver the decree was Zhang Jiuling, who had a deep friendship with him, Zhang Qian still did not dare to slack off, and personally greeted the door of the town guard envoy's ya, and crossed his hands to salute the other party.

"Alright, alright, Yongzhao, it's almost done. You have great respect for the Holy One, and everyone knows it. Even if you make it simpler, no one will find fault with you. Zhang Jiuling was so angry that he rolled his eyelids, and pouted in return, "It's for my reception banquet, you need to prepare more seriously." In order to send the decree before the expedition to the Turks, I was almost not exhausted along the way. ”

"As it should be!" Zhang Qian smiled and nodded, and then looked Zhang Jiuling up and down. found that the other party's temporarily changed official robe actually turned crimson, and there was a silver fish bag tied around his waist, so he hurriedly congratulated him again: "Brother Zishou has been promoted, congratulations." Broken leaves are far away from Chang'an, and I didn't know until today. ”

"I can't just watch you rise to prominence!" Zhang Jiuling rolled his eyelids, hugged the holy decree and returned the salute, "Thanks to you, the Holy Lord and the Holy Queen suddenly remembered that I had recommended you." Then, in addition to these two years of hard work, I was awarded a rank in the Ministry of Ministers. I took office the first day, and the next day I was ordered to go to Broken Leaf to deliver a message to you. ”

Immediately, he stuffed the holy decree directly to Zhang Qian, and added with a smile, "You hold it yourself, my arm is still trembling." I ran down thousands of miles in more than 20 days, and I am afraid that it is harder than fighting. It's good to catch up, otherwise, I will have to chase you all the way to the Turks. ”

"Brother Zishou is really hard!" Seeing the other party's thin body and sunburned face, Zhang Qian gave up his hand sympathetically. "Hurry up and please, I'll ask someone to take Brother Zishou to bathe and change clothes, and then read the holy decree."

"I really have to bathe first, otherwise I will smell of horse manure all over my body, but I am still a civil official." Zhang Jiuling nodded with a crying face, and then stopped being polite to Zhang Qian, and strode towards the door.

The entourage who came with him stepped forward to congratulate Zhang Qian, everyone was dusty, and their faces were full of skin. Obviously, everyone was half tired on the road.

Seeing this, Zhang Qian hurriedly instructed Zhang Gui to beckon everyone to take a bath and change clothes for him, and at the same time give everyone a gift, so that everyone could share their joy together. Everyone had long heard that the town guard made Zhang Qian's family have a strong family background and was generous, so they didn't shirk it, and left one by one with cheers and thanks.

That night, the town guard envoy Yamen set up a feast to entertain the Qincha who came from afar. As for the ceremony of receiving and announcing the decree, as before, the guest and the host tacitly go through the motions and settle the matter.

That Zhang Jiuling was born in the third year of Yifeng (678 AD), a full eight years older than Zhang Qian, and much older than Zhang Qian's civilian staff, such as Wang Han, Mu Nanfeng, Fu Sheng, Zhu Maolin, Fan Wuhen, Qiu Ruofeng, Huang Jingyu, etc. Everyone respects his character and admires his poetic talent, and they all call him a brother and come forward to toast. And Zhang Jiuling did not refuse to come, and he was dazzled with everyone.

After the banquet ended, Zhang Jiuling ignored his fatigue and drunkenly proposed that he wanted to reminisce with Zhang Qian. When the two sides came to the study, lit the candles, and brought the tea, this person quickly put away the wine all over his body, looked around, and solemnly bowed his hand to Zhang Qian: "Yongzhao, quickly find a way to leave the foolish brother in the Western Regions." Over there in Chang'an, I can't go back for the time being. Otherwise, I'm afraid the result will be shattered! ”

"You want to stay in the Western Regions? Brother Zishou, are you sure you're not talking drunk? During the day, he was still celebrating Zhang Jiuling's promotion to the examination of the fourth-grade officials, but at night, he actually heard that the other party wanted to stay in the Western Regions, even if Zhang Qian's reaction was sharp, his thinking was a little unturned, and he blurted out questioning words.

"Between me and you, I shouldn't have a chance yet, and I need to use the trick of spitting out the truth after drinking!" Zhang Jiuling sighed, shook his head and smiled bitterly, "You don't know, right now, how many people in Chang'an City envy you and can hide so far!" Everyone is like swimming by the whirlpool every day, and if you are not careful, you will be swept up and die with no place to be buried. ”

"Vortex? How so? Holy well? Zhang Qian didn't deliberately control when he drank, and he overdid it a little, and his brain couldn't keep up. Frowning, trying to understand what Zhang Jiuling meant, he asked in a low voice.

According to the little historical knowledge he still had in his mind, Zhang Jiuling would be the prime minister under Tang Xuanzong in the future. Even if there is a turbulent undercurrent in Chang'an City recently, it is impossible to threaten this person's life.

However, if everything is according to the original history, at the moment, Suo Ge is still showing off his power in Anxi, and Mo He, the lord of the Shi Kingdom, is also eye-to-eyeing with the big cannibal. The Anxi army may not have the strength to protect itself, how can it be possible to go straight to Bahanna? It is even more impossible to cooperate with the Shuofang army to flank the Turks!

If I fanned Zhang Jiuling into the gutter because of the fact that I was a butterfly flapping my wings casually, I am afraid that this sin would be much worse than being a "copyist"! Suddenly a burst of drunkenness came up, Zhang Qian thought with annoyance. was about to ask a few more questions, but saw Zhang Jiuling admiring him:

"Yongzhao is really powerful, and he has reached the key point in one sentence. The saint, the saint's body is sick, since you left Chang'an last year, the holy queen has been in charge of the government instead of him. From the beginning of this year to the present, the saint has only appeared in front of people once, or because of the victory of the expedition to Shiguo, he went to the Taimiao to offer his victory. ”

"I, I'm guessing, I don't deserve such praise from Brother Zishou." Zhang Qian's face suddenly became hot, and he hurriedly waved his hand gently, "And through the Six Gods Trading House, I can also hear a little about the situation in Chang'an." ”

Half of these two sentences are true. Liushen Commercial Bank is located all the way west from Chang'an, although there is no commercial benefit in sight at the moment. However, in terms of information transmission, it has brought great convenience to Zhang Qian. Many things happened in Chang'an City, and before the newspaper was delivered to the army, the news of the commercial bank arrived first. And what Zhang Qianshaoye and Shi Guo did, through the channels of the trading house, could also be transmitted back to the ears of Guo Nu and Ren Cong as quickly as possible.

As for the other half, it was a secret he couldn't tell. According to the history of another time and space, Tang Zhongzong Li Xian died in the joint murder of Empress Wei and Princess An Le. Immediately, Datang entered a period of turmoil for a long time, until Li Longji killed Princess Taiping and truly monopolized power.

Therefore, as soon as Zhang Jiuling mentioned the word "whirlpool", he instinctively thought that Li Xian had been poisoned and died. Unexpectedly, I directly guessed the crux of all the problems!

"Sometimes, being able to guess in advance is equivalent to an unpredictable prophet." How did Zhang Jiuling know that Zhang Qian was a traverser? Listening to him humbly, he admired him again, "Yong Zhao, you know, what many people admire most about you now is not that you are good at making sharp weapons, nor are you famous in foreign lands, but that you can almost take the lead in everything." Without waiting for others to spy on your industry, you will be the first to become an official. Before the drought occurred, he took the lead in offering windmills and machine wells to the imperial court. didn't wait for Empress Wei to come to the court, and left Chang'an first. ”

"Brother Zishou, if you praise me again, I'll turn my face!" Zhang Qian was praised for being so hot that he could still paint, frowning and protesting. Immediately, he was shocked, "There is a drought in Gyeonggi this year?" Serious or not, what is the price of grain in Chang'an? ”

"It hasn't rained much since the beginning of summer. But Gyeonggi was not affected by the disaster, and it relied entirely on the windmills and machine shafts that you had seen the year before. Zhang Jiuling grinned and shook his head slightly, "In order to deal with the flood, Long Weng put those two utensils all over the place around Gyeonggi. As a result, there was a sudden drought this summer, and instead of draining the water, the windmill and the well were drawn out of the river, irrigating tens of thousands of acres of farmland, and the wheat was ripe. ”

"That's good, that's good!" When Zhang Qian heard this, he was immediately relieved, and then, a little pride surged in his heart.

As a traverser, he did not blindly rely on gunpowder to bully the ancients. After all, he did something beneficial to this era, and it was counted as outside the conquest and rewarded Datang.

When people drink too much, it is difficult to concentrate. Thinking of the windmill and the machine well, in front of Zhang Qian, Bi Gou's gray-haired appearance appeared again. When I thought of Bi Gou, I thought of Zhang Ruoxu and He Zhizhang, who introduced themselves to Bi Gou. Thinking of He Zhizhang, Zhang Shuo's face appeared in front of him again.

These people are all elders he respects. Although he has no blood relationship with him, he hopes that these elders will all live a long life, and never get involved in the political whirlpool that is secretly forming in Chang'an City!

"Long Weng was promoted to the assassin of Shaanzhou because of his work in controlling the water, and he is going to take office." Knowing that Zhang Qian missed the old days, Zhang Jiuling took the initiative to introduce him, "I was promoted on the same day, and then, I came to the Western Regions to preach the decree, and he left Chang'an to go to Shaanzhou to take up his post." Zhang Shilang was ordered to go to Taiyuan to supervise the grain and grass for the Shuofang army, and also walked with me. Ji Weng was busy compiling a large dictionary, and basically hid in the secretary and prison all day long. It's just me, and I'm still insisting on going to court, so the more I go up, the more I feel that something is wrong. ”

"What's wrong? Zishou, you know, I'm too far away from Chang'an, and many things, when I know it, the turmoil will have already passed! Zhang Qian's train of thought was finally pulled back into place, frowned, and asked in a low voice.

"A lot of places!" Zhang Jiuling thought about it, and his face became more and more solemn, "I can't say it for a while." However, I feel as if someone is secretly arranging it. Including Long Weng going to Shaanzhou and Zhang Shilang going to Taiyuan, they are all one of the steps. ”

"Who is it, do you have proof?" Zhang Qian was secretly frightened when he heard this, raised his hand and rubbed his face a few times, and continued to ask in a low voice.

"Don't know? There is no evidence either! Zhang Jiuling denied it very decisively, however, his face became more and more ugly, "Originally, I thought that it was impossible for Xiao Fushu to be in the same stream as others. However, last month, Xiao Fuchu married his youngest daughter to Cui Wuyan, the son of the Holy Queen's uncle. That Zong Chu Ke and Ji Chu Ne were originally the descendants of the Holy Queen, Yang Zhongshu told the old, Xiao Servant shot and married the Wei family, and the Wei family Originally, two people had already entered the center. Now, it is equivalent to six people with the power of the prime minister, five of them have the surname Wei, and only one Cen Xi is left, and he is still very qualified, and he is not even qualified to sit and speak when he is deliberating! ”

"This ......" Although he knew that Empress Wei would definitely not be able to govern for a long time, Zhang Qian was still shocked when he heard it, frowning and muttering in a low voice.

And Zhang Jiuling, as if he was afraid that the "revelation" was not fierce enough, thought about it, and lowered his voice even lower, "I can be promoted to Kaoxun Langzhong, on the one hand, it is thanks to you." On the other hand, it is because the eldest princess of the peace suddenly admires me! Not only did she send people to invite me to her house for a banquet many times, but she also passed on the poems I had written before to others. ”

"Princess Taiping, would you like to go to his mansion for a banquet?" Zhang Qian lowered his head violently, looked at Zhang Jiuling carefully, and the more he looked, the more he felt that the other party was handsome.

"Don't gloat!" Zhang Jiuling immediately blushed, pushed him hard, and shouted in a low voice, "It's not that you think so dirty. She invited me to come to the house, all in the name of Wenhui, and there were no less than 20 people present at the same time. I'm just one of them. ”

"Okay, don't think about it, don't think about it!" Zhang Qian didn't dare to joke anymore, so he decisively put away his scrutinizing posture, smiled and waved his hand, "So Brother Zishou, I want to escape to the Western Regions." To be honest, if I had changed, I would have run too. The eldest princess of the peace and the queen are on the same page, whether you accept his woo or not, once the queen mistakenly thinks that you are his person, he will definitely give you a blow to the head! ”

"Isn't it just a slap in the face? The key is that Zhang will also have a bad reputation for this! Zhang Jiuling stomped his feet, his face full of depression, "If you can help me, help me." If even you can't help me, I'd rather resign than be a minion for her, like insulting my ancestors! ”

"Of course I'm willing to help you!" Sensei said that Zhang Jiuling was his friend, even if he didn't have a friendship with him, Zhang Qian didn't want to watch him become the guest of your Princess Taiping, thought about it, and nodded decisively, "It's just that although I have the title of the chief of the Anxi Protector's Mansion, in fact, I am exercising the duties of the envoy of the four pins." You are only half a level below me in the Ministry of Officials. Even if I wanted to keep you, I couldn't find a suitable spot. ”

"At this time, who cares about the position!" When Zhang Jiuling heard this, he immediately shook his head again and again, "As long as you give the court a lesson, saying that there is a shortage of people to help in front of the army, I want to ask the court to appoint reliable people as soon as possible." I'll do it myself, and I'll take the initiative to ask to stay and help you. ”

Seeing that Zhang Qian was suspicious when he heard this, he gritted his teeth, and he continued to add, "The Shuofang Army and the Anxi Army joined forces to pacify the Turks, in the eyes of the imperial court, it is a first-class event, and no one can stop it. I am neither the Queen's nor the Taiping's Princess, and both of them wish I didn't go back so that I could make room for their own people. ”

"So? It's a good thing that I'm missing a long history here. "I believe that Zhang Jiuling is not drunk and impulsive, so he wants to stay in the Western Regions at any cost, Zhang Qian hesitated to give an answer." It's just that the level is only five grades, half a level lower than your original. It stands to reason that you are a Beijing official ...... released"

"It's only half a level?!" Zhang Jiuling didn't think about it, so he simply interrupted neatly, "As long as I can leave Chang'an, even if it is two or three levels, I am willing!" ”

It's your choice. If you can't be the prime minister in the future, you can't blame me? Zhang Qian muttered quietly in his heart, but his face was full of smiles, "In this way, it is as Brother Zishou wishes!" ”

"It's the first time I've arrived, please use Zhao to teach me!" Zhang Qian finally got his wish and happily gave it up. In an instant, there was a sense of relaxation all over the body.