Volume 2: The Eighth Route Army's Festival Envoy - Chapter 13: The Past of Luoyang (2)

As the greatest capital in China's 2,000-year history, Chang'an is still there, but it is no longer the Chang'an of the past......

Like the surrounding acres of people, Shanglin Yuan has been barren, the pickaxe pond has dried up, and the fairyland of fish and birds in the past is now only a mud trail that has been dried by the years. The Daming Palace, which once entertained the Siyi monarchs and dignitaries of various countries, has only left a piece of ruins and broken tiles, on the pedestal of the Hanyuan Palace, a few lazy jackdaws perched on the noisy, the Da'an Palace in Beiyuan has been erased all traces of existence, the location of the Qin Wangfu that was prominent in the past, now there are a few families living sparsely, the bluestone paved palace wall of the Daming Palace is still there, but it has been mottled to the point that it is not the same, how many years of wind and rain have already lost the spirit of the year.

The situation in the city is also similar, except for the architectural pattern of the lifang, which has not changed, everything else has changed. Suzaku Street is sparsely populated, the originally prosperous West Market is now only a dozen or so small traders in the operation, the girls of Pingkangfang no matter how to apply grease and powder, can not wipe the years on their faces, the wild grass in the hibiscus garden is overgrown, the loaches in the Qujiang Pond are rampant, and the Taiji Palace in the north of the city is ...... Except for the palace walls, most of the buildings have been buried in rubble.

Once a glorious city with a population of one million, the city now has less than 3,000 residents.

This is Chang'an in December of the third year of Guangshun, a symbol of an era that has gradually faded away.

When Li Wenge first entered Chang'an, he could hardly believe his eyes. The city in front of you, not to mention that it is inferior to the capital of the Tang Dynasty back then, is inferior to the current Yanzhou, which is a city that has completely lost its vitality and vitality.

Garrisoned in Chang'an is Wang Chun, the nephew of Wang Jun, who is currently the right to know the affairs of Jingzhao Mansion with the position of Ma Bujun Marquis of the palace guard, and only three commanders of less than 1,000 garrison troops, Chang'an, Wannian County, Wannian County, the position of Wannian County Order has been empty for nearly 40 years, but no one has filled it, and has been known to Chang'an County Order.

This is not difficult to understand, Wannian County is mainly inhabited by the royal relatives, princes and grandchildren, a large area of land, mountains, forests, acres, tea gardens, pastures and other industries are the private property of these nobles, with Zhu Wen's steps to usurp the Tang Dynasty step by step, almost all of these people have been moved to the eastern capital Luoyang, the remaining population of Wannian County after these years of famine and war, now there are not even two hundred households. With such a small population, it really doesn't make much sense to set up a separate county government for 10,000 years.

Although he is a relative of the prime minister, and he is actually in charge of the military administration of Jingzhao, sitting in Chang'an overlooking Guanzhong, but after all, it cannot be compared with the authoritarian Jiedu envoy. With Li Wenge's identity at this time, not to mention Wang Chun, even Wang Jun himself is qualified to sit on an equal footing. Although Wang Chun sat in Chang'an, there were really few people in Guanzhong's feudal towns who looked at him, not to mention the Feng family, which was the Gao family at the beginning, and he never took him as a person in his eyes. To take advantage of his incompetence to seize Chang'an, these local princes do not have the ability, but no one is worried that Wang Chun will be unfavorable to him.

Joke, if a tiger squats next to him and naps, who cares about a dirt dog?

However, Wang Chun himself did not think so, since he squeezed out Li Hongxin, he thought that he could succeed this old warlord and claim the king and hegemony in Guanzhong, but the emperor did not appreciate the appointment of several dynasty veterans in the middle of the dynasty second only to Feng Dao in the Xuanhui North Yuan envoy Zuo Qianniuwei General Zhai Guangcheng as the Yongxing Army Festival Envoy Quan Zhijing Zhao Mansion, he, the great hero who forced Li Hongxin to enter the court, only got the name of "Tongzhi Jingzhao Mansion Affairs", fortunately, Cui was a man of thin life, and died of illness in October. Chang'an, this is his turn to be in charge of Wang Chun.

In Wang Chun's opinion, there is nothing remarkable about the festival envoy who came out of a small remote place like Yanzhou. Compared with him, a prime minister's relative from the Central Plains who has seen the world, this transit Li Wenge is purely a native hat.

Having said that, if you don't welcome or send, don't feast or invite, after all, there are a number of rudenesses, and besides, there is a letter from Uncle Jingcheng here, and there is still work to be done on the surface.

Therefore, after receiving the report of Zuodu Zhiya, who was in charge of patrolling the city, Wang Chun still took his own soldiers to the west of the city to greet Li Wenge and his party in a sedan chair that had been in vogue for less than two hundred years. He is also a military general, and sitting in a sedan chair is not purely for comfort, but to show his identity. I have been in Bianliang for a long time, and most of the ministers under the Zhongshu Sect and the ministers of the ministries and temples are sitting in a sedan chair, that is, the former Quan Zhijing Zhaocui, who is also dangling in a sedan chair, and in addition to the military generals, there are some border ministers and marshals. Wang Chun's identity in Bianjing is too low, so he naturally doesn't dare to be arrogant, but at this moment in Chang'an, he is the emperor of the soil, so naturally he doesn't have to care too much.

When they met, he was about to get off the sedan chair, and through the raised sedan curtain, he saw that Li Wenge had not dismounted, so he sat back again. In the sedan chair and Li Wenge.

Without Li Wenge's order, Kang Shishi and other guards did not dare to move, but Lu Duan, who was responsible for leading Li Wenge into Beijing, stepped forward to speak and blamed Wang Chun for being rude.

Where is Wang Chun willing to put Lu Duan in his eyes, the title of Liupin, and he works in an idle yamen like Taifu Temple, what is the greatness? If he hadn't known that this person had the emperor's order, he would have asked his entourage to beat him......

Li Wenge was so self-contained, not only did he not get angry, but he also stopped Lu Duan, who wanted to have a good reason with Wang Chun, in time.

When it was time to set up a banquet in the evening, Wang Chun's words once again made Li Wenge and Lu Duan look at each other.

This straw bag gripped his teeth and said to Li Wenge: "Li Jiedu has entered Beijing, but I want to go and meet my uncle!" ”

Li Wenge couldn't help but smile and said politely: "When I entered Beijing for the first time, all the ministers of Zhongshu were in power, and they all wanted to visit them one by one, so naturally they would not miss Wang Xiangguo's ......."

Wang Chun shook his head again and again: "...... Don't go to others, as long as there is an uncle to take care of him, Li Jiedu will have a bright future in the future, and the rest of the people are corrupt, and there are more than enough successes and failures, so Li Jiedu doesn't have to waste time on their side! ”

These few words were old-fashioned, and Lu Duan couldn't help but sneer: "Huairen has achieved a feudal town in just one year, the right Xiaowei general, the inspection of the Taibao, without the care of the prince, the future does not seem to be bad......

Wang Chun said angrily: "...... You Confucian scholar is so ignorant, in front of this official and Li Jiedu, how can you speak? ”

He has always called Li Wenge "Jiedu", and he refused to call Li Wenge "Jiedu" according to the unified name of the Jiedu envoys in this era, nor did he refuse to call Li Wenge "Great General" according to his official rank, because these two titles made his old man deeply unhappy. There are soldiers and territory in his hands, his own territory is bigger than him, and he has an uncle who is the prime minister, why can he be a festival envoy and a general at a young age, but he can only hold the title of Yuhou "Quanzhi Jingzhaofu"?

Li Wenge didn't look very annoyed, stretched out his hand to stop Lu Duan, who was about to continue speaking, and said with a smile: "Since it's a banquet, eating and drinking well is the most important. ”

As he spoke, he glanced at Lu Duan again and again.

Lu Duan knew that he was playing tricks on this agent, Jing Zhaoyin, shook his head, sighed, smiled bitterly, and stopped talking.

"How is it that it doesn't matter?"

Wang Chun got serious, put down the wine glass and pretended to be mysterious: "Uncle wrote a few days ago, and told the official that Li Jiedu was in Yanzhou before, and it seems that he had a little trouble with his old man......"

"Oh——?" Li Wenge's eyebrows moved slightly, and he put down the wine glass in his hand with a smile, listening to Wang Chun's words.

“…… Jiedu is really lucky, and Lord Xiangguo does not have the slightest grudge, which can really be described as magnanimous...... Embrace all rivers...... Oh—the Prime Minister's mind—"

Listening to him talking to himself there, Li Wenge secretly sneered in his heart, Wang Jun had always bet on the Gao family, and he was only afraid of causing trouble for himself in the court, anyway, from beginning to end, neither Ruan nor Li Bin had ever reported any hope for this person. Speaking of magnanimity...... Now that he has toppled the Gao family, he is in a strong position, and if he doesn't settle this old account with Wang Jun, he will save some face for Guo Wei's deputy commander and close comrade-in-arms. No matter what outsiders think, Wang Jun should understand this, although this person is arrogant, he is by no means stupid and ignorant. The Gao family has fallen, and it is difficult for them to say what value they have for Wang Jun, at this time, Wang Jun should be in turn to marry him, how could he let this straw bag nephew humiliate him?

“…… There is one thing, which is that my uncle told Li Jiedu that he had told him—"

Wang Chun continued to be dizzy and said: "Uncle said, as long as you are willing to lead the performance and ask Your Majesty to appoint him as the envoy of the festival - whether it is Pinglu or Tianxiong, his old man will definitely repay the favor and give a hereditary title, the prince is not easy to say, but the prince can manage the ......."

Li Wenge suddenly saw a burst of gold stars in front of him, and he was angry and funny in his heart, Wang Jun wanted to reconcile with himself, which he had already experienced through Wang Chun's words, but the candidate who was in initial contact with him was really wasteful, and he actually said such unimportant words in front of Lu Duan, the imperial court.

However, Li Wenge knew that just based on such words, Guo Wei would not treat Wang Jun as such. So how can an iron relationship be separated by a few words? In the end, Wang Jun didn't have anything, but he may not be. In history, Wang Jun has always wanted to be the prime minister, and he did become the prime minister in the end, but Li Wenge knew that it should definitely not be his own leading invitation.

He originally thought that Lu Duan would immediately stand up and refute it, how could the famous weapons of the imperial court be used to give and accept transactions casually?

Unexpectedly, Lu Duan glanced at Wang Chun lightly, picked up the wine glass and drank it by himself, as if Fang Cai's words had nothing to do with him.

It is impossible for him not to hear this, Li Wenge can be sure of this.

……

"If you have any ideas, please say it bluntly!"

On the way back to the pavilion, Li Wenge suddenly said to Lu Duan.

"The general's words are serious, what can Duan Neng think?" Lu Duan said with a smile.

Li Wenge laughed: "Wang Xiufeng, this straw bag nephew, is really interesting, don't you think it?" ”

A subtle smile appeared at the corner of Lu Duan's mouth: "Xiaguan knows that the general is suspicious of Xiaguan...... But it doesn't matter, the official rank of the lower officials, I'm afraid that if I stay in the Taifu Temple for another ten years, I may not be able to get a chance to face the saint. Wang Xianggong and today's saints are close friends, how can a subordinate official and a small official be able to influence it? Besides, Wang Xianggong is not a fool, doesn't he know what kind of character his precious nephew is? Since he dared to let this person talk to the general even if he knew that this person was like this, it means that either he concluded that the matter would not be leaked, or he thought that even if this matter was leaked, it would not matter......"

Li Wenge heard these words and smiled faintly: "...... Did Yi Zhi think that the Cultural Revolution was afraid of these words? ”

Lu Duan shook his head and said, "The general is naturally not afraid, you haven't done anything, what are you afraid of?" Wang Xianggong is only afraid that there is more than one general in this matter, even if the general is not listed, there will be other feudal towns on the table, this is just a trick, even His Majesty has a number of things in his heart, why should the general be afraid? ”

Li Wenge smiled bitterly...... Lu Duan is not confused about big things - sure enough.

Although he has changed the historical trend of the northwest corner, it has not deeply affected the overall trend of the Central Plains, and Wang Jun is still sliding step by step towards the end of his fate according to the trajectory of history.

Although this powerful minister who has never met has been helping the Gao family to oppose him, Li Wenge does not have the slightest hatred and disgust for this person in his heart. One is that the two have never met, and the other is that it is now the end of the second year of Guangshun, and this powerful and hot man is running out of time, what else is there to say about a person who has less than a year left in his life?

"The general is really good at cultivating ......"

Lu Duan interrupted Li Wenge's thoughts with a smile, "That straw bag is so arrogant and rude, the general can actually bear it, and the lower officials really admire it!" ”

Li Wenge shook his head and said with a smile: "What's the point of talking to this person?" He is not Wang Xiufeng himself! ”

This sentence startled Lu Duan for a moment, and he turned around and said: "What does the general mean is that if he meets Wang Xiangguo, the general will not be so humble and polite?" ”

Li Wenge smiled and shook his head: "Yi Zhi doesn't have to be too sensitive, although he is not afraid of Wang Xiufeng, he will not take the initiative to go against him!" The Tao is not the same, since we don't like each other, it's better to avoid it......"

Lu Duan was speechless for a long time, and said for a long time: "The general is an extraordinary person......

Li Wenge was silent for a long time before he said an irrelevant word: "Yi Zhi go back and rest early, and early tomorrow morning, follow me to visit Zhaoling......"

……

Tang Zhaoling, located in the northwest of Xianyang County, on Jiuzhi Mountain, covers an area of nearly 40,000 hectares, within a radius of 16 miles, all belong to Zhaoling. Within the main peak of Jiuzhi Mountain, the greatest monarch and the most immortal empress in Chinese history sleep, and there are very few surface buildings in the mausoleum, which is comparable to the imperial tombs of later generations. The scale and momentum are much worse. However, the stone inscriptions, the statues of the four statues, and the six horses that are still full of energy even if they are turned into stones, all of these all show the great martial arts of the master in the mausoleum.

In front of the inscription written by Taizong himself, Li Wenge and Lu Duan stopped at the same time, since the end of the Tang Dynasty was stolen, many places in Zhaoling have become a mess, but this stele is still standing as usual, on it is the handwriting of Emperor Wen of Tang Dynasty: "The king takes the world as his home, why bother with things in the mausoleum, but for himself." Now because Jiuzhi Mountain is a mausoleum, there is no gold and jade, people and horses, utensils, and civil engineering tools are just used. ”

Lu Duan sighed softly: "What a big heart...... Majestic ......!!!! ”

Li Wenge snorted, and said with a sarcastic taste unique to powdered sugar: "In the final analysis, I am still afraid that tomb robbers will target me, what is the use of not hiding gold and jade human and horse utensils?" When I met someone who knew how to do it, a genuine copy of "Orchid Pavilion Collection Preface" was dug out, which was enough for a family to eat for ten lifetimes......"

Lu Duan's head was suddenly full of black lines...... Turning his head and looking at Li Wenge like a monster.

"What?? Am I not right?? Li Wenge asked seriously.

Yes—I can't say no—because what the new envoy is saying is the truth......

It's just - there are some people who live the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, right??

"Because the mountain is a mausoleum, it is Empress Wende's deathbed will, and Emperor Taizong is just following it—" Lu Duan replied with a reluctant smile.

Li Wenge nodded: "How strong are the women of the Tang Dynasty...... From Taimu, Wende to Zetian Dasheng, generation after generation has been involved in politics, Gaozu, Taizong, and Gaozong have three generations, and the trend of women's participation in politics is extremely strong, which can really be described as big-minded...... Majestic ......!!!! ”

Lu Duan was stunned here, and thought about it carefully, Li Yuan's wife was indeed a strong old woman, the wife of Gaozong Li Zhi...... Needless to say, it's a terrifying existence that makes every man shudder when he talks about it.

But...... Empress Wende's eldest grandson......

"Empress Wende is especially the leader of the harem politics in the past dynasties, and she has done it without a trace, so that the history books and literati of later generations have taken it as an example of not interfering in politics in the harem......" Li Wenge vented his feelings regardless of it.

"General—where do you start?" Lu Duan finally couldn't help it, Li Wenge's views were inevitably a little too outrageous.

"Oh - over there", Li Wenge pointed to the west side of the main peak of Jiuzhi Mountain, with a bright smile on his face, and said: "The mountain over there is called Phoenix Ridge, and there is a mausoleum with a burial place, in which sleeps an old guy with a goat's nose, and the handwriting on his tombstone is clear and blurred, which was carved and then rubbed away...... Ask him, what does he know!!! ”

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