In mid-September of the ninth year of Wude of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty officially held a ceremony to worship the heavens after the autumn harvest. In ancient times, agricultural societies were dependent on the sky to eat, many times the weather was good and did not encounter floods, floods and droughts and other disasters, that is, God blessed, coupled with ancient feudal superstitions, that all kinds of disasters are God's attitude, so everyone for the agricultural harvest is to express gratitude, and sacrifice to God. If the climate is right and there is a good harvest, then thank the heavens, so sacrifice is necessary. If the weather is bad and the defense of the city is poor, then it is even more necessary to sacrifice, hoping to get God's forgiveness and have a good harvest in the coming year. Therefore, no matter what, sacrifice is indispensable.

In an agrarian society, governments at all levels will organize sacrifices to the heavens, and different levels of government have different levels of scale and cost, of course, the rich places are more grand, and the ordinary places are simpler. However, as the central court of the Tang Dynasty, it is naturally more grand, especially the first sacrifice of the new emperor to the sky, which is much more grand. Especially Li Shimin has just been forced to withdraw from the army with the Turks, and the world is peaceful, so it is natural to prepare well and prepare to sacrifice to the sky.

Now anyone with a discerning eye can see that Datang will completely dominate the world. Although there are two separatist forces of Liang Shidu and Yuan Junzhang, they are also unsuccessful, and they can be destroyed at any time. As for Luo Yi, anyone knows that Luo Yi's head won't last long. It is impossible for him to rebel, because in this era when both the people and the army yearn for peace, Luo Yi wants to rebel, it is simply an egg hitting a stone, and it is impossible to succeed. No one doubts this, so anyone knows how long Luo Yi's head can't stay.

Shi Bufan followed a performance to worship the heavens, although he was more inclined to believe in idealism, but it did not mean that he would believe that there were gods in this world, and idealism and theism were not equated. As for Shi Bufan, he also clearly knows that the rain in the sky, drought and flood disasters, etc., are not the cause of God, although he does not know much about the meteorological principles here, but even if he is a liberal arts person, he will know that this has his scientific basis.

However, Shi Bufan knows the truth of survival of the fittest, so it is impossible for him to popularize any advanced knowledge in this era, and they can't understand it anyway. After Shi Bufan carried out the ceremony of sacrificing to the heavens, according to the custom, the emperor would give a banquet. Shi Bufan began to eat these meats in the palace, and the taste was not bad.

"This dog meat is good, but it's a pity that it's not crispy dog meat, otherwise it tastes better." Shi Bufan said.

The county lord of Dingxiang next to Shi Bufan smiled and said: "I have long heard that Shi Xiaoshulang is quite proficient in cooking, and my beautiful sister is full of praise." I didn't expect that Shi Xiaoshulang was still so particular about eating! ”

"Of course, it's not easy to eat this dish. Forget it, let's not talk about it now, let's eat it first! Shi Bufan said.

Shi Bufan has a good relationship with the county lord of Dingxiang, because their fiefdoms are all in Dingxiang. However, this Dingxiang is of no use, and it is a territory that has not received wealth. In addition, the identity of the county lord of Dingxiang is also embarrassing, she was born to Li Shimin's concubine Wei Qi and her former husband, although she was adopted by Li Shimin and became an adopted daughter, she even gave the identity of a county lord a long time ago. However, since Li Shimin became the emperor, the county lord of Dingxiang was not promoted to a princess like Li Shimin's other biological daughters, but still maintained the identity of the county lord. From here, it can be seen that there is a difference between a biological daughter and an adopted daughter, and there is still a big gap.

Even the feudal province is only a county that is still in the hands of the Turks, and the county lord of Dingxiang cannot get the income of the feudal estate, just like the times. Therefore, because the identities of the two people are more embarrassing, it is natural to talk about it.

"This dog meat is obviously not very good, and it still smells a lot. If you can use Lingnan tangerine peel to remove the tangerine, it may be better! Shi Bufan said.

The county lord of Dingxiang said: "Forget it, tangerine peel is a medicinal material, not much!" As for dog meat, that's not bad, it's once a year anyway. Only at the time of the autumn harvest will the words "Qunchen dog meat", and it is rarely eaten at other times. ”

Shi Bufan nodded, this dog meat is actually quite good. Perhaps many later generations' perception of dog meat is often a sentence "dog meat can't be on the table", which is the cognition of many people in the 21st century. But in fact, in ancient times, it was the opposite, in ancient times, dog meat was a very common dish, even earlier than pork. It was during the Song Dynasty that pork was introduced in large quantities into all social strata, but dog meat is a food that is eaten by all strata of society.

As early as the Zhou Dynasty, it was not easy to eat dog meat, and only when the Son of Heaven held an autumn harvest sacrifice to Tianzhi would he give dog meat to the ministers. Therefore, the status of dog meat is still not low, and as for the gradual decline of dog meat, it may be related to the entry of nomads into the Central Plains. Nomads often treat dogs as friends and comrades-in-arms when hunting, so they do not eat dog meat, and bring the custom of not eating dog meat to the Central Plains. Over time, under the effect of strong inertia, dog meat does not enter the table for a long time, but it will make people have a saying that "dog meat can't be on the table".

However, during the Tang Dynasty, the ancient tradition was continued, and after each sacrifice to the heavens was completed, the Son of Heaven would give the ministers dog meat to eat. Therefore, Shi Bufan also commented here that this dog meat is not authentic, it is much worse than the dog meat of later generations, and there are no spices to remove the fat, and the taste is not very good.

"Dr. Du Yan has arrived!" There was a sudden shouting outside the door, apparently someone was delivering orders.

Shi Bufan heard the words "Du Yan", and then his face changed. Even, not only Shi Bufan, but also the minister who tasted dog meat here did not have a good face. As for Du Ruhui, who is the secretary of the Ministry of Officials and the Secretary of the Ministry of War, his face is even more displeased.

"Du Yan, this guy who broke the ground is actually back?" Shi Bufan complained.

The county lord of Dingxiang also said: "It seems that the emperor is going to compensate Du Yan, when Yang Wengan incident occurred, Du Yan was exiled by Emperor Taishang, and now he is finally recalled." And together with the recall, there was also Wang Qi, a subordinate of Li Jiancheng. ”

"Oh? Yang Wengan incident? Shi Bufan seemed to understand something.

Long before the time was extraordinary, this Yang Wengan incident had already happened. The Yang Wengan incident is also quite controversial in later generations, and the specific inside story is actually a chicken feather. However, this Yang Wengan incident is a sign that Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin's struggle for power and profit has reached a white heat, and it is also the first open and fierce conflict. However, the specific inside story is not known to future generations at all, and it is difficult to restore the truth no matter how you guess. But in the end, in order to reconcile the contradictions between his two sons, Li Yuan chose to play fifty boards each, and exiled Li Shimin's subordinate Du Yan and the prince Li Jiancheng's subordinate Wang Qi.

In the Yang Wengan incident back then, Shi Bufan had no mind to care about it, and he had no interest in it. There are so many conspiracies in this that it is not necessarily a good thing to know too much. Anyway, for these, it doesn't matter. Even if Li Shimin wants to seize power, what can he do? If you have the ability, you will go up, and if you don't have the ability, you will get out, this is reasonable in the eyes of Shi Bufan. This seizure of power cannot be entirely blamed on Li Jiancheng or Li Shimin, but also on this era, which did not give them a fair and reasonable means of competition, and did not give them a reasonable stage for competition, so they had to use this bloody method to compete. If there is a reasonable channel for competition, then you will be willing to lose, you will have nothing to say, and you will not lose your life.

Now that Li Shimin has ascended the throne and recalled Du Yan and Wang Qi, on the one hand, it is to appease the heroes, after all, Du Yan is a scapegoat, so it is inevitable to compensate Du Yan. And the recall of Wang Jue was mostly to appease Li Jiancheng's subordinates, and Wang Jue soon became a servant of the Tang Dynasty, which can be regarded as becoming the prime minister.

However, this Du Yan is obviously not very popular.

"Du Yan is also just a political opportunist." Shi Bufan made a judgment for Du Yan.

Du Yan is a person with ability, but he is an out-and-out political opportunist. And even Du Yan's nephews Du Ruhui and Du Chuke hate Du Yan. When Du Yan and Du Chuke were captured by Wang Shichong, Du Yan was the most undisciplined and took the initiative to help Wang Shichong serve. But that's all you can do, you should also find a way to protect your nephew. But Du Yan not only did not defend his nephew, but continued to fall into the ground, slandered Wang Shichong, and killed Du Ruhui and Du Chuke's eldest brother.

Later, Wang Shichong was defeated, and Du Ru was so angry that he wanted to kill his uncle Du Yan to take revenge. But Du Chuke stopped him, and Du Chuke interceded for his uncle, saying that since the eldest brother was dead, then their Du family should not kill each other. Therefore, Du Ruhui interceded for Du Yan, but he was able to make Du Yan an official under Li Shimin.

But after Du Yan escaped, his style of political opportunism came out again. Li Shimin was unable to get a promotion here, and he soon wanted to join Li Jiancheng. However, Fang Xuanling found out in time and included Du Yan in Li Shimin's Tiance Mansion, so he couldn't escape.

It was not until later after the Yang Wengan incident that he was exiled. However, Du Yan, a political speculator, is now back again, which will definitely cause many people to be unhappy. Even if it was his nephew Du Ruhui, his face was not good, after all, even if Du Yan couldn't help his eldest brother back then, he didn't fall into the ground! So although Du Ruhui interceded for Du Yan back then, the seed of this contradiction has already become a towering tree, and Du Ruhui hated this Du Yan to death.

The scene was a little cold because of Du Yan's name, but Li Shimin still broke the cold scene and took the initiative to say: "Doctor Du is here?" I have just appointed Du Yan as the Imperial Doctor, he just arrived today, since he came early, it is better to come in by coincidence, let's come in together! ”

Du Yan swaggered in, as if he was a winner. But this guy has a thick skin, he doesn't seem to blush because of everyone's contempt for his character, as a political opportunist, the lack of other things is not necessarily the main thing, but the thickness of the face must be able to be used as a city wall. Everyone despised him, and as if he didn't see it, he swaggered directly to the tail of the third-grade official and sat down, because his grade was from the third-grade, and he came the latest, so he naturally sat down at the tail. However, beside him, that is, the fourth rank official. Beside him is Wen Yanbo, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, according to the order, it should be the first six, and the first of the six is the Ministry of Officials, and the waiter of the Ministry of Officials ranks first among the four officials.

"Huh? This meat? Not bad! Wen Shilang, this is a wolf (Shilang) is a dog? Du Yan casually sarcastic.

Du Yan's sentence suddenly made everyone around fall into a cold field, because everyone who did not come out of the cultural circle could naturally hear the meaning of Du Yan's sentence. This "is a wolf or a dog", obviously deliberately scolding Wen Yanbo next to him.

Wen Yanbo's position is a squire in the ministry, which can be regarded as a kind of squire. However, this "squire" and "wolf" are obviously deliberately using this homonym as a sarcasm. And this Du Yan deliberately pretended not to know whether this meat was wolf meat or dog meat, this was obviously pretending to be stupid. As the elite of the literati of this era, how could you not know that after the autumn harvest, the emperor would be given dog meat? At this time, what was given was definitely dog meat, so anyone should understand that this Du Yan actually asked like this, which was obviously ill-intentioned.

"Sure enough, it's a mouth that's poisonous enough, and it started spraying as soon as he came." Shi Bufan thought to himself.

The county lord of Dingxiang took the initiative to whisper and said, "I'm afraid, Du Yan made a mistake this time." He thought that he was an old minister who followed the emperor, and he had received it for the emperor, so he worked hard and achieved great results. So he looked down on this Wen Yanbo, Wen Yanbo used to be Luo Yi's person, and it was the emperor who ascended the throne, so he may think that this Wen Yanbo was secretly demoted by Mingsheng. But in fact, he didn't know that Wen Yanbo was actually very valued. This Du Yan, the popularity is a mess, no one wants to have a deep friendship with him, this kind of person can even sell his nephew, what else can't be sold? ”

"Haha, yes! This kind of guy can even sell his own nephew, and who can't sell it? It's good to give him a doctor. It's a miracle that this kind of person can survive until now. This kind of person is the most unprincipled, and it is already very good not to lose his head. However, I'm afraid he won't be able to do it for long. Shi Bufan replied.

This Du Yan Shi Bufan is not worried, because Du Yan is also a "lame duck", and there is no need to worry about this kind of person. However, this Du Yan's open-mouthed opening made Shi Bufan feel that there was an opportunity, a very good opportunity. At least the opportunity to make friends with Wen Yanbo will be good for the next annual routine position adjustment. (To be continued.) )