Yuan Zhen's ancestors were the royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but by his generation it had completely declined. However, the declining aristocracy is still an aristocracy, and Yuan Zhen is an example of this. Noble background, handsome appearance, elegant words and deeds, beautiful poetry, and that white dress of Shengxue made Yuan Zhi a public lover of thousands of girls. It can be said that Yuan Zhen is another beautiful man in Datang after Wu Yuanheng.

The aristocrat Yuan Shu used to be a child prodigy. Although he lost his father at the age of eight, he did not abandon his studies because his mother, Zheng, was a typical intellectual woman. Under the careful teaching of his mother, Yuan Zhen was able to write essays at the age of nine, and at the age of fifteen he had already been promoted twice, at the age of twenty-four he was awarded the secretary of the provincial school secretary, and at the age of twenty-eight, he should be promoted and won the first place in one fell swoop. Not only is he in the middle, but the ranking is not low, there are seventeen people behind him, and only eighteen people are on the top at the same time, yes, Yuan Zhen is the leader of that year. In the list of seventeen people behind him, there was a person named Bai Juyi.

The young man is ambitious, and the yuan tree is like a newborn calf, a young eagle with wings, and it is fierce. However, for the most part, the sharp-edged youthful frivolity is not necessarily a good thing, especially in officialdom. In the fifth year of Yuanhe, Yuan Zhi was recalled to Beijing, and on the way back to Chang'an, at a post station called Shishui, the fearless Yuan Zhi will see a kind of power, a terrible power. This power came from a group that he once hated: the eunuchs, or eunuchs.

The reason why Yuan Zhen had such an epiphany was because of a dispute, a dispute between Yuan Zhen and the eunuchs. The cause of the dispute was a house, a house at the water-filling station.

One of the functions of a caravansei is a hotel, and it is a free hotel. Of course, if you are a grass citizen, don't think about such a good thing, because the tourists received here can only have one identity, that is, officials.

Since it is a hotel, it is natural that rooms will be provided; Since there are guest rooms, they will naturally be divided into three, six, nine and so on; Since the rooms are divided into classes, and some of them are free, it is natural that everyone wants to stay in the first-class rooms, and the dispute happened.

When Yuan Zhi arrived at the Shishui Station, the upper room was very vacant, and Yuan Zhi of course lived in it. Unfortunately, someone was one step behind him and also lived in this station. This person is a eunuch, as for his honorable name, some people say it is Liu Shiyuan, some people say it is Qiu Shiliang, it doesn't matter who he is. This eunuch, who is neither male nor female, was very arrogant, insisted on living in the upper room, and ordered Yuan Zhi to roll up the bed cover and get out of the upper room. The young and vigorous Yuan Zhen naturally refused, and the two sides inevitably had a dispute. The result of the dispute was rather miserable, of course, for Yuan Zhen, the dignified superintendent Yushi was not only scolded for being scolded, but also whipped by this shemale, and a long whip mark was clearly left on Yuan Zhen's fair and handsome face.

The matter got big and came to the emperor.

The whole thing is very clear from beginning to end, Yuan Zhen is right, there is nothing wrong at all. If you have to find out one thing wrong, it is that Yuan Zhen should not be so young and vigorous, and he should not say no to the arrogant and domineering eunuchs. Therefore, Yuan Zhen was supported by many important ministers of the imperial court, such as Li Jiang, Cui Qun, and Bai Juyi. It's a pity that in front of Li Chun, the son of the Tang Dynasty, the righteous and strict arguments of the important ministers of the court are far less convincing than the tears of those monsters who are neither male nor female. Therefore, the final result was more shocking, the eunuch who beat people was not punished in any way, but Yuan Zhen, who was beaten and humiliated, was kicked out of Chang'an and became a small Jiangling Shicao to join the army, which was ten years.

In the past ten years, the young talent has sunk into the subordinates, wasted the years, let the flowers bloom and fall, let the stars move, and let the time pass. However, after ten years of wandering, Yuan Zhen did not gain nothing, because, he got acquainted with a person, a very useful person. Of course, there was actually only one kind of really useful person in Chang'an at that time, and that was the eunuch, the damned eunuch.

The eunuch Yuan Zhen got acquainted with was Cui Tanjun, and at that time, Cui Tanjun was serving as a supervisor in the Jiangling area. Under the deliberate welcome of Yuan Zhen, soon, the two took over a deep friendship.

However, in the most downset period of Yuan Zhen, the first to help him in the depths was Ling Hu Chu, and the prime minister Ling Hu Chu. It was under the maneuvering of Ling Huchu that Yuan Zhen finally ended his ten-year wandering in the rivers and lakes and returned to Chang'an, which was haunted by his dreams. If you want to say that Ling Huchu's motive is actually very simple, it is to cherish talents.

Yuan Zhen, who re-entered Chang'an, is no longer the jealous and hateful young genius of the past. He passed through Cui Tanjun and climbed another big tree to know the privy secretary Wei Hongjian. From then on, he called brothers and sisters with eunuchs of all sizes and talked about wine. He believes that as long as he unswervingly follows the eunuch route, he will definitely climb to the peak of his career. Now, all he's missing is an opportunity.

Here's the opportunity, soon! The opportunity originated from a fortuitous discovery by Cui Tanjun.

It turned out that Li You, the Son of Heaven, was a fan of Yuan Zhen, and he was very early. As early as when he was in the East Palace, Li You liked Yuan Zhen's poetry and liked it very much. The concubines on the left and right often recited for him those famous aphorisms of Yuan Zhen, and several of the poems were also composed by Li You and sung in the deep palace. Therefore, the palace is called Yuan Zhen, neither by name nor by official position, but by "Yuan Caizi".

The emperor is a fan of Yuan Zhen! Hearing the news by chance, Cui Tanjun's excitement was like a surging river, because he finally had the opportunity to repay his buddies!

When Yuan Zhen's 100 new poems were placed in front of him, Li You forgot to breathe excitedly. After a long time, he trembled and asked the poet about the current situation. Cui Tanjun replied unhurriedly: The poet is in Chang'an, but he is a little miserable, and he is a small Sanlang.

The idol of the dignified Son of Heaven is just a small Sanlang! Is it tolerable or unbearable! Litre! Litre! Litre!

In the past few months, Yuanzhen's official position has soared like a rocket! Transferred to the ancestral hall Langzhong, the knowledge system, and soon, he had another position that everyone envied: Hanlin Bachelor.

There is the favor of the Son of Heaven, there are Cui Tanjun, Wei Hongjian Zhao, and a group of eunuch buddies carrying a sedan chair. Suddenly, Yuan Zhen became one of the hottest figures in Chang'an.

With Yuan Zhen's momentum today, stretch out his hand to help his benefactor, perhaps, Linghu Chu will not leave Chang'an, at least, he will not be sent to Hengyang. It's a pity that Yuan Zhen will only add icing on the cake or fall into the well, and will never send charcoal in the snow. With Linghu Chu's current situation, it is impossible to add the icing on the cake, so Yuan Zhi chose to fall into the well.

In fact, the reason why Yuan Zhi did this is that people have a hard time, and this hard work can be summed up in two words, that is, "ambition": Yuan Zhen wants to be the prime minister, and he wants to dream of it. In fact, the Hanlin Bachelor is known as the "Inner Minister", and he is only one step away from the real Prime Minister. It's a pity that Yuan Zhen has spent a lot of effort, and this step just can't be taken. What he lacks is not the emperor's favor, but the support of the courtiers, because, in the eyes of Chang'an people, Yuan Zhen is a person with poor character and a person with bad feelings.

"The Legend of the West Chamber", I believe everyone is familiar with it, it is a beautiful love story: the suave Zhang Sheng and the late Xiangguo's daughter Cui Yingying fell in love at first sight, and married privately with the help of the maidservant matchmaker. Later, under the pressure of Mrs. Cui, Zhang Sheng entered Beijing to take the exam, won the high school prize, and married his sweetheart in a beautiful manner. This kind of happy ending of "lovers eventually become dependents" is very much in line with the appetite of Chinese. Therefore, "The Legend of the West Chamber" has had a profound impact on the creation of later generations, and the novels of talented and beautiful women that were flooded in large numbers in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties almost without exception adopted the story model of "private lifelong back garden, the champion of the fallen son".

However, at first, this beautiful story was actually not beautiful, not at all, because of the end of the story: Chang'an at that time was full of temptation. For thousands of girls, the literary and elegant Zhang Sheng is a temptation, a temptation; For the impoverished Zhang Sheng, the daughter of a wealthy family with deep roots is a temptation, a temptation of interests. In the face of temptation, Zhang Sheng showed his true qualities, and those who knew the times were handsome. Zhang Sheng knows current affairs and is very knowledgeable about current affairs. Therefore, Zhang Sheng, a handsome man who knows the current affairs, quickly fell under the pomegranate skirt of a wealthy daughter without the slightest hesitation. As for the former lovers, the lovers who once swore an oath, and the lovers who used to be skin-to-skin, Zhang Sheng abandoned them without hesitation, as if abandoning them. What's even more jaw-dropping is that Zhang Sheng, who has been abandoned from the beginning to the end, does not have a trace of uneasiness and guilt, and even boasts about his past sexual encounters with complacency, and has won the reputation of "a gentleman who is good at making up for his mistakes".

This story comes from the Tang legend, the name of the story is "Huizhen Ji", and the author of the story is called Yuan Zhen.

The people of Chang'an know very well that the gentleman who is "good at making up for mistakes" is actually not Zhang Shengjunrui, but Yuan Zhen, a talented son of Yuanda.

Yuan Zhen's wife is named Wei Cong. The surname Wei and the surname Du are both one of the five prominent surnames in Chang'an, and there was a saying at that time that "Chang'an Wei Du, go to Tianqi Five". It can be seen that the two surnames of Chang'an Weidu have a very high status, how high is it? Five feet from the sky! is one foot and five inches less than the high-ranking royal family!

In the legend, Zhang Sheng has won the beauty and reputation; In reality, Yuan Zhen won the white eye and isolation. The emperor and eunuchs hidden in the deep palace can change his official position, but they cannot change his isolation.

Isolated and helpless, Yuan Zhen urgently needs to improve relations with his courtiers, and of course, this requires opportunities. In Yuan Zhen's view, Ling Hu Chu's resignation is an opportunity, an excellent opportunity. Linghu Chu has already fallen into the well, as long as he throws another stone, the courtiers will definitely re-examine themselves, and even take them as confidants. Therefore, Yuan Zhen raised his feet high and stepped on his former benefactor fiercely!

The result made Yuan Zhen very disappointed, very disappointed. He betrayed his benefactor, but he didn't get anything, but he confirmed his true face of being unkind.

On that day, it was May, and the sun was shining. At noon, the scorching sun baked Chang'an into a stove, and the prime ministers were having a regular meal. The officials of Zhongshu Province stole this rare moment of leisure, gathered together in twos and threes, opened a watermelon with great interest, and prepared to go to the summer. At this moment, Yuan Zhi paced over with a smile, ready to take the opportunity to climb the relationship with the courtiers and set up friendships.

Catching a glimpse of Yuan Zhen, the officials lowered their heads one by one, or turned their faces to the side, pretending not to see. Only one person stood up, which was quite embarrassed Yuan Zhen felt a trace of warmth.

The person standing up was Wu Ruheng, the cousin of the late Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng. Like his cousin Wu Yuanheng, Wu Ruheng is also a jealous and hateful person, and the reason why he stood up was not to give Yuan Zhen a step, but to give this new favorite of the Son of Heaven something else: embarrassment, even greater embarrassment.

Wu Ruheng exaggeratedly waved the pu fan in his hand, as if to drive away the pesky flies, while still chanting words: "Where does it come from, gather here!" ”

Yuan Zhen's smile froze, and his fair and ruddy face instantly turned as pale as snow, and instantly changed to purple sauce. He subconsciously looked up, the air seemed to suddenly become thinner, he wanted to find a few flies, no, even one fly, it can be confirmed that Wu Ruheng's words were not aimed at himself, but at flies. It's a pity, not to mention flies, not even fly hairs!

In an instant, Yuan Zhen felt that his heart was hollowed out, and he stood in place, at a loss.