The New Year is quietly coming, the Chinese New Year's Eve is the day when every family worships their ancestors, generally at night when the ancestors are worshipped, before dawn, the civil and military officials in Chang'an will rush to the imperial court to participate in the New Year's ceremony, and then the Son of Heaven will set up a banquet to entertain the hundred officials.

On Danfengmen Square, the ministers gathered in twos and threes to chat.

Guo Song came in from Danfeng Gate, and Xue Xun, who had been waiting for him, hurriedly greeted him, "Virtuous nephew, why did you come here?"

Although Guo Song is already Xue Xun's quasi-son-in-law, before he gets married, he is generally called his son and nephew, and only when he returns to the door after marriage will he be called Weng son-in-law.

Guo Song said apologetically: "There is something in the military camp temporarily, and it has been delayed. ”

Xue Xun was stunned, "The virtuous nephew came from the barracks?" ”

"I have been in the barracks during this time, and last night's Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, also with the soldiers, I think there will not be too many such opportunities in the future, so try to stay with the soldiers as much as possible to win everyone's recognition."

Xue Xun nodded, "You did the right thing, you treat the soldiers as friends and family, and the soldiers will really regard you as handsome." ”

"Thank you Uncle Shi for your teachings!"

Xue Xun said again: "I have time to come to my house for a meal in the past two days, and invite Zhang Dongzhu's family to get together." ”

"No problem!"

Guo Song said happily: "I'll make an appointment with my senior brother later, determine the time, and then send a letter to Uncle Shi." ”

"Just invite your senior brother and Li Tianshi as well!"

Guo Song was a little embarrassed: "Senior brother, I'm afraid I don't have time, the Chinese New Year is his busiest time, he has to go out every day to do things, and he is scheduled to go to the end of the month, he said that they are all powerful people, and it is not good to let disciples replace them." ”

"Then invite him next time, and the proprietor Zhang's family can come over."

Guo Song nodded, "I remember!" ”

"Old Xue!"

Someone was waving to Xue Xun, and Xue Xun smiled and said, "It's a few old friends, let's go over together!" ”

Xue Xun took Guo Song to several officials, and the leading officials said with a smile: "Weng and his son-in-law are ministers in the same palace, which can be regarded as a good story." ”

"Let a few of you laugh!"

Xue Xun introduced several ministers to Guo Song, "This is Yang Ji in the Ministry of Officials, my classmate and friend in Luoyang." ”

Yang Ji was born in the Hongnong Yang family, with a pair of slender eyes, and there was always a hint of a sly smile in his eyes, but I don't know if this smile came from the eyes themselves or from the heart.

His wife and Xue Xun's wife Han are best friends, but they are also the objects of comparison with each other.

Xue Xun introduced the other two to Guo Song, "This is Taichang Shaoqing Wei Lun, and this is Dali Temple Shaoqing Gao Shen, both of whom are my colleagues in the East Palace. ”

Wei Lun and Gao Shen didn't say much, they smiled kindly, and greeted Guo Song, "I've heard the name of Guo Dudu for a long time." ”

Guo Song suddenly had a hint of enlightenment, Taichang Shaoqing Wei Lun, Dali Temple Shaoqing Gao Shen, and Secretary and Young Eunuch Xue Xun are all from the East Palace, they are obviously their own people that Li Shi wants to cultivate, this Yang Ji has never looked down on Xue Xun, but now he is desperately trying to mix with them, obviously he is also a smart person, and he is also a person who is good at drilling.

"Brother Yang, do you have any news for us?" Xue Xun asked with a smile.

"I was just about to say!"

Yang Ji looked to both sides, lowered his voice and said, "Chang Gon is going to quit, this is the exact news." ”

"Okay, how can you stop the prime minister?" Wei Lun asked puzzled.

"Xinjun doesn't like this person, and the news from the palace says that Xinjun's comment on him is that he is narrow-minded and has no prime minister's quantity, which may be related to Guo Xian's nephew."

Several people looked at Guo Song, and Guo Song said lightly: "Once a son of heaven and a courtier, it is normal to change appearances, I don't carry this black cauldron." ”

"Then I don't know who will succeed Chang Xiangguo?" Wellen asked.

"Yesterday afternoon, the Son of Heaven issued four decrees in a row, preaching Sima Yang Yan of Daozhou, Cui Youfu left behind in Henan Mansion, Li Mi of Hangzhou, and Qiao Lin of Huaizhou Assassin Shi entered the court, and it is estimated that the person who succeeded Chang Gon Xiangguo will be produced among the four of them."

Gao Shen smiled, "If the person who succeeds Chang Gon is Cui Youfu, it will be interesting, the mountains do not turn around, and these two rivals have met again." ”

"Does the new emperor want to restore the polyphasic system?" Guo Song asked.

Xue Xun pondered and said: "When the first emperor restored the system of left and right phases, the prince did not approve of it, he once said to me that the multi-phase system is conducive to brainstorming and decentralization of the independent power of the phase country, I think the new monarch is more inclined to the multi-phase system, of course, it will not be completely empty as before, but how to change it, we can wait and see." ”

At this time, the bell rang, everyone gathered under the Longwei Road, today the New Year's Dynasty was held in Danfengmen Square, and then everyone entered the Hanyuan Hall to participate in the New Year's banquet.

The New Year's Dynasty is not a discussion, but the Son of Heaven congratulates the New Year to the civil and military officials and the people of the world, because this is the first New Year's Dynasty after the new emperor ascends the throne, he will announce some important things, such as the New Year's name, amnesty to the world, etc., generally not too long, generally about a quarter of an hour to end.

At this time, the sound of drums sounded, wearing a crown of cupola, wearing a red and yellow robe of nine dragons, and a jade belt around his waist, Li Shi, the son of heaven, surrounded by a large group of guards and palace maids, came from the side, two palace maids crossed long feather fans, and the guards behind held up the Huangluo umbrella cover.

Li Shi sat down on the dragon couch on the steps, and the ministers knelt down and bowed, "Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live!" ”

"Everyone, Aiqing is free of courtesy!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The ministers stood up, and Li Shi nodded, "Read it out!" ”

Zhao Qiong, a scholar of Hanlin, unfolded the holy decree and read aloud: "On the occasion of the arrival of the New Year, the blessings will be restored, and the national fortune will be prosperous, and this edict is hereby issued to inform the world of .........."

Yang sprinkled thousands of words, most of them were to sing praises to the great cause of the first emperor, and Zhao Qiong read for a quarter of an hour, and finally announced, "The country name is more Jianzhong from today, this year is the first year of Jianzhong, in order to celebrate the enthronement, it is hereby announced that the world is amnesty, and I hope that the civil and military ministers will continue to do their best for the Tang Dynasty Sheji, and create a great cause of Zhongxing, the first day of the first month of the first year of Jianzhong, Qin this!" ”

Everyone shouted long live again, Li Shi smiled slightly: "Everyone worked hard last year, I will put a little wine to entertain you, please enter the Hanyuan Hall and take a seat, and return happy." ”

"New Year's feast, ready to be seated!"

The guards shouted, and in the sound of drums, Li Shi was surrounded by the palace maids and guards and left, the eunuchs removed the dragon couch, and the civil and military officials and relatives of the imperial kingdom were divided into two teams, and walked along the dragon head road to the top of the main hall and entered the Hanyuan hall.

Thousands of low tables have been placed in the main hall, and soft seats are spread on the ground, and officials above the fifth grade have their own seats, and they must find their own famous brands, and officials below the fifth rank can sit at will, but the rank cannot be wrong.

Guo Song quickly found his seat, which read 'Yinqing Guanglu Doctor Guo Song', Guo Song sat down, and most of the officials around him did not know.

This is also the reason why many young officials are still willing to stay in the imperial court despite their good conditions and a lot of oil and water, and staying in the imperial court means that they can gradually establish their own various personal relationships, and even squeeze into a certain circle, which is very beneficial to the future career development, and going to the local government will lose this opportunity.

However, after a certain period of time, officials will try to go to the local government to serve as chief officials, not to make money and water, but to earn qualifications, and the rule for thousands of years has always been that 'you do not enter the prefecture or county, and you cannot enter the province and Taiwan', and if you have not been a local official and do not understand the people's suffering, you will have no capital to govern the country.

In history, even Tang Xuanzong Li Longji wanted to promote Yang Guozhong to be the prime minister, and he had to let him go to Shu County to be a long-term history gilded for half a year.

Therefore, Guo Song has never had the experience of being an official in the court, except for a very few court officials he knows, he is a black eye on other court officials.

At this New Year's banquet, Guo Song had to pour himself a drink, and he was very depressed.

In fact, he is not the only one who is depressed, basically all the officials are depressed, they can't change positions at will, they can't make loud noises, they can't drink and lose their temper, if they are lucky, they can sit with familiar people, they can talk to each other, they can chat and drink in a whisper, and if they are unlucky, if there are no familiar people around, they can only drink alone like Guo Song.

Fortunately, they could leave the table early, and after many officials pretended to drink for half an hour, they slipped away under the pretext that they were not strong enough to drink, and ran to the restaurant to drink together.

Drink! Just pay attention to the atmosphere, everyone gets together to push the glass and change the lamp, drink and chat, and laugh loudly, which makes people laugh, what kind of wine to drink, what kind of food to eat, in fact, it doesn't matter.

Of course, the wine at the imperial banquet is all good wine, Meishou wine or Jiannan roasted spring, Meishou wine or Gaochang wine, which makes many ministers who are hungry for alcohol relieve their addiction, so there are often two extremes in the New Year's banquet, those who slip away in advance, or they are greedy and refuse to leave, and finally get drunk.

Guo Song saw that someone was withdrawing, and he couldn't sit down, so he also followed him.

(End of chapter)