In the fifteenth year of Dayue Xinghua, in the golden autumn of September, the national capital was Luoyang.

Today, it has been 15 years since Zhou Liguo of the Great Yue Dynasty, and even eight years have passed since the capital was moved from Bianliang, which was easy to attack and difficult to defend, to the current Luoyang.

In the past eight years, the people of the Central Plains and the country of Dayue have lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the prefectures and counties have also been peaceful and prosperous. Relying on the commercial foundation of the Zhao and Song dynasties of the previous dynasty, coupled with the many years of hard work of the emperor Sun Tu, and the various policies of paying equal attention to agriculture and commerce, the hundred industries of Dayue were more prosperous than those of the Song Dynasty.

And the national capital of Luoyang City is even more lively and prosperous to the extreme, the city gates that lead to the world will handle hundreds of thousands of people and goods every day, and the number of people and residents here is even more than 1.5 million, which is far more than the most prosperous Song capital Bianjing.

Such a prosperous capital city naturally attracts countless merchants to open a variety of different shops and pavilions here, and the most talked about and desirable among them is the first floor of the world Fan Tower, which also moved from Bianjing. Although the owner of the Fan Mansion has long been replaced, and more than eighty percent of the assets are completely controlled by the imperial court, everything here is still luxurious and beautiful, and it is the most famous gold cave in the world.

The delicious food and wine, the beautiful dances, and all kinds of entertainment that have never been heard of are enough to attract people from all over the world, and even people from other countries to come here to enjoy the style of the first floor in the world.

Just into the change, the lanterns are on, there is already laughter inside and outside the Fan Building, and the silk and bamboo songs and dances are resounding, attracting pedestrians from time to time to linger. And in the building, it is even brighter, and several guests in the building are weaving, they are either drinking, or having fun, it is really harmonious.

Of course, there are also some drunk guests who have some trouble because of some trivial quarrels, and then their own guards in the building come forward to persuade them, and if they don't listen, they will be punished. With just a famous thorn, the troublemakers can be closed in the Luoyang Mansion for ten days and a half months, after all, this is an official property.

Not everyone likes to make trouble when they are drunk, and some people prefer to laugh loudly, and no one interferes with this when it comes to the world, and sometimes it seems that it can attract other drinkers to participate in the discussion. Whether it is national politics and military, or imperial examination business, there is no taboo in the Dayue Kingdom, which is the spiritual outlook of a confident and powerful country and imperial court.

At this time, in the highest and most famous color dance building, on the stage below, the first flower lady of Fan Lou Liu Niang is dancing, which directly attracts countless drinkers around to applaud. In the private room on the third floor, several guests talked more strongly because of the wine, and after a few words, they brought the topic to the differences and advantages between today and the Song Dynasty.

"If you want to say that our Dayue is the most powerful compared with the former Song Dynasty, it is still in foreign martial arts. Think about how aggrieved our Central Plains court was back then, always pressed by the Liao State, and later there were foreign countries with wolf ambitions such as the Western Xia and the Jin Kingdom, and they saw that everyone was going to kill our country. But now, it's completely reversed, our Dayue army continues to expand north and west, killing those large and small countries that are unwilling to submit to the, and can only obediently call the ministers and pay tribute, which really makes me feel proud as a subject. ”

"Brother Song said this very much, and what makes me feel that His Majesty is amazing today is that he is not like those emperors of the previous dynasty, but he is good at using troops by himself, and then he completely ignores it after helping his children and grandchildren to conquer the country. Our emperor sent the crown prince to the north early on, to fight against the remnants of the Liao Jin people, in order to sharpen his temperament. That's the crown prince, the prince of the country, who else has such courage besides His Majesty today? So in my opinion, His Majesty has long since advanced to the Qin Emperor and Han Wu, the Tang Dynasty and Song Zu and other emperors, no wonder he was able to make such a majestic poem as 'pity that the Qin Emperor and the Han Dynasty are slightly inferior to the literary talents, the Tang Dynasty and the Song Ancestor are slightly less coquettish, and the generation of strongman Yelu Dashi only knows how to flee westward in a hurry'! ”

"Not only that, but I've heard that Your Majesty has already set a rule for future generations early on, and in the future, all the princes of Dayue must first experience three years at the border before they can determine the identity of the prince. In this way, I can ensure that every generation of the Heavenly Sons of Dayue has a pioneering and enterprising spirit, and it is impossible to have a weak scene like the previous Song Dynasty. ”

"You only talk about military affairs, if you want me to see, what is more remarkable than the previous Song Dynasty is the reform of the imperial examination. I think that at the beginning, as long as the poems and essays were written well, I could become an official, so what kind of ability was that? Now it's different, for example, arithmetic, law, military affairs, water conservancy, engineering, ...... Almost every piece of knowledge in the imperial court has set up a special imperial examination, as long as you can learn something and apply what you have learned, you will have the opportunity to become an official. Come to think of it, there are so many yamen official positions in the imperial court, if they are all controlled by those guys who only know how to read and can only write a few poems and songs, then it will not be messed up? ”

"What Brother Li said is the right way, today's imperial examination is indeed much stronger than the original, I have heard that it is a Ministry of Industry Langzhong named Liang Fa who was admitted from the imperial examination of the Ministry of Industry in the previous two years, and made great contributions to the flood of the Yellow River last year, guarding the Yellow River that almost burst, and saving hundreds of thousands of people and countless fertile land on both sides of the river."

"There is also maritime trade, and our Dayue is much stronger than the former Song Dynasty. At that time, we didn't see many people and goods from Fuso and other countries, but now, just today when I come here for a feast, I see four or five groups of merchants from other countries. It's all white silver, but it's much easier than the copper coins used back then. ”

These people say a few words, I say a few words, the more they talk, the more energetic they become, and the sound becomes louder and louder, completely passing through the walls between the private rooms, which are not very soundproof, and thus entering the ears of a few people drinking in the private rooms on the side.

If the people next door who were talking about wine saw the appearance of some of them drinking here, they were afraid that they would immediately close their mouths, and maybe even the little wine they had just drunk would turn into a cold sweat and flow out. Because the few people sitting here are none other than the current Dayue Emperor Sun Tu, Prime Minister Tong Mu, Prince Sun Jie, and a slightly nervous young man.

Time flies, and nearly twenty years of time have finally left a lot of traces on Sun Tu's face, not only making him have a few deep wrinkles on his face, but even his temples have shown some gray color. After all, he is almost fifty this year, but the whole person is still full of energy, even if he is sitting and drinking, his body is still as straight as a gun.

is Tong Mu, because he is older than Sun Tu, and as the prime minister, he is busy with government affairs, so he looks even older, and even his body is a little rickety. Sun Jie was in his prime and in good spirits, constantly looking curiously at the young man in front of him who was several years younger than himself.

He knew that this was his father's old man in Yuncheng's hometown, and his name was Yu Kui. Two days ago, he was recruited by the imperial court because he was proficient in winemaking, and then his father discovered that his father Yu Dayong, grandfather Yu Xiaohe was his shopkeeper and good friend back then, so he had a special opinion on him. And in order not to make Yu Kui too nervous, he even chose to be here in Fan Lou instead of seeing him in the palace.

But even so, Yu Kui was still extremely restrained and nervous in front of Sun Tu and others, and often only answered simply when they asked the last question. However, from his answer, Sun Tu also knew that the Yu family had been living very well in Yuncheng, although Yu Xiaohe had passed away many years ago, Yu Dayong had carried it forward after taking over the original Sun Hotel, and now it has become one of the few big restaurants in Shandong.

Sun Tu is also very happy that the deceased has such a career, although with his current powerful status, it is completely effortless to help the Yu family. But for the sake of the fairness of the imperial court, he still didn't do it, and even chose to see Yu Kui here in Fanlou.

Seeing the corners of Sun Tu's mouth curled up and smiling happily, Tong Mu joked: "It seems that Your Majesty, you don't like to listen to people as you say, as soon as you hear someone on the side keep saying how my Dayue is stronger than the former Song Dynasty, you are so happy that you can't hide it." ”

Sun Tu smiled bitterly when he heard this, and glared at the other party angrily: "You old thing, do you really think that I am such a superficial person?" If even these few words can make my heart flutter, then the courtiers will flatter and pat the horse. ”

After a pause, he looked at his son again: "Jie'er, but one thing they say is good, the most important thing for a country is to maintain strong competitiveness and competitiveness, and it must not relax because of how many achievements there have been before, which will only lead to destruction." There is a Tao that is born in sorrow and dies in peace, and this is the truth. Take my Da Yue as an example, don't look at the fact that now Liaoxiajin and other foreign enemies have been wiped out by us, it seems that we can sit back and relax, but in fact, maybe there are terrible opponents hidden somewhere. By the way, have you ever heard of a Mongolian ...... in the northern steppes? Is it a small tribe called Murowei? ”

"My son has heard about it and has been in contact with them. It was just a group of uncivilized steppe tribes mixed with dozens or hundreds of small tribes, and there should be no threat. ”

"They are not a threat today, but they may not be in a few decades, or a hundred years. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent trouble before it happens, and send more elite soldiers and strong generals to suppress them, and it is best to constantly provoke the conquest between those small tribes to make it difficult for them to pose any threat to the Central Plains. Sun Tu said.

For the Mongols who could sweep across the Eurasian continent and kill all countries in a few decades, Sun Tu was still quite jealous. But after all, that was decades later, not to mention himself at that time, even his son was no longer there, so I can only mention it a little, I just hope that with my appearance, I can make that period of history change.

"Yes, my son wrote it down." Sun Jie admired his father a lot, so naturally he did what he said.

Seeing this, Tong Mu laughed again: "Okay, if you don't talk about state affairs today, why did you talk about any foreign enemy Mu Wei." It should be punished! ”

Sun Tu also laughed, and now he can laugh with himself, and this Tong Mu is the only one, and he nodded disapprovingly at the moment: "Okay, who called me the emperor, I must speak my words." Then punish it, it's okay for me to punish myself for three cups, right? ”

But just as Sun Tu raised his glass to drink, Tong Mu waved his hand to stop: "It's not appropriate, I can't let you go so easily." What's more, drinking alcohol is a good thing, how can it be punished? ”

"What's the punishment?"

"Hmm...... Do you remember the first time you and I drank in Fan Lou? ”

"This ......" Sun Tu narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling that decades ago, he had just succeeded in the palace and became an official of the court, and then Tong Mu invited him to Fanlou to have a banquet to celebrate, and a smile of remembrance immediately appeared on his face: "Of course I remember, I didn't even drink a few glasses of wine that day, and I left in a hurry because of a conflict with those sour people." ”

"I remember that at that time, you also made a special song "Breaking the Array" to deal with them, which was really full of momentum. Today is Fan Lou again, so if I want to punish you, I will punish you to make another good song, and it must be as good as this song and the Qin Yuanchun you made a few years ago! Tong Muxiao looked at Sun Tu and made his request.

Sun Tu was stunned again, but he didn't expect this old friend to make such a request to embarrass himself: "You should also know that I really don't have any knowledge of poetry......

"I don't believe it, since you can make two good songs, you will definitely be able to make a third." Tong Mu insisted.

Sun Tu was speechless for a while, and at the same time, he was quickly searching for a suitable "past life" memory in his mind. And this search finally allowed him to find a song. After coughing for a while, he said, "Okay, then I'll satisfy you." But this is just one time, and you can't force me to write lyrics in the future. ”

"Listen up."

"The rolling Yangtze River is passing away, the waves are sweeping away the heroes, the success or failure of right and wrong is empty, the green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times. On the white-haired fisherman Jiangzhu, accustomed to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze, a pot of turbid wine is happy to meet, how many things in ancient and modern times are all laughing and talking. ”

As Sun Tu slowly pronounced out this poem, everyone's breath in the private room stagnated, and they fell into silence for a long time.

Scenes of the past came to mind......

(End of book)