Honglu Temple is the yamen that manages the affairs of guests and evil ceremonies, all the four Yi monarchs or foreign envoys come to the court to register in the Honglu Temple, and the Honglu Temple then distinguishes their ranks and positions, and arranges the affairs of the court. The Pawn Bureau, which is subordinate to Honglu Temple, is a full-time foreign-related organization that specializes in dealing with the problems of surrounding ethnic minorities. Therefore, Honglu Temple belongs to the real power yamen in the administrative system of the five supervisors of the nine temples of the Tang Dynasty.

Jiang Renji, as the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, is the second person in Honglu Temple in addition to Honglu Temple, and Li Yuanyu, King Deng of Honglu Temple, is recuperating at home because of his advanced age and serious illness, and now all the big and small things in Honglu Temple are decided by him Jiang Renji alone. Therefore, as the real controller of Honglu Temple now, Jiang Renji's life is very comfortable.

No, the envoy of a small country in the Western Regions had just given him a piece of excellent tribute tea, and he was enjoying it comfortably in his study.

At this moment, suddenly a scribe ran into the study in a panic.

Jiang Renji saw that his subordinates were so reckless, without any rules, and wanted to disturb his interest in drinking tea, so he suddenly became angry and was about to open his mouth to reprimand, but the scribe said in a hurried tone, "Jiang Shaoqing, Your Highness is here-!" ”

"What Your Highness—" Jiang Renji reprimanded angrily, "What are you trying to do in such a panic?" but his words stopped at this point, and he suddenly got up, strode up to the scribe, and asked in a hurried tone, "Which Highness are you talking about?" Is it His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? ”

The scribe was obviously frightened by Jiang Renji's actions, and said in a slightly stammering tone, "Yes, it's Tai, His Royal Highness the Prince!" ”

"You, why didn't you say it earlier-!" Jiang Renji looked shocked and scolded, and he said angrily as he walked out of the door, "What dare you dare?" Come with me to meet Your Highness! ”

"No need—" Just as Jiang Renji was about to walk out of the study, Li Hong's figure appeared at the door.

"Palace—see His Royal Highness the Prince!" Jiang Renji suddenly saw Li Hong at the door of the study, he was stunned for a moment, and then bowed down and saluted.

"Jiang Aiqing, don't be polite!" Li Hong smiled faintly and said, strode into the study and sat on the main seat, and when he saw Jiang Renji still standing respectfully at the door, he said gently, "You can sit too!" ”

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Jiang Renji bowed and replied, and then walked to the chair next to Li Hong and sat down sideways.

For His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's sudden visit today, he was not prepared at all. Yesterday, he went to the East Palace with Liu Xiangdao, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to see Li Hong, but out of respect for the crown prince, he symbolically told Li Hong about the specific work of receiving the Tibetan mission, but Li Hong did not give specific instructions after listening to their reports.

Therefore, Jiang Renji thought that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would not interfere too much in the task of receiving the Tibetan delegation this time.

But now the prince's sudden visit to Honglu Temple did surprise him a little. Therefore, after the scribe served the tea, Jiang Renji spoke, "Your Highness doesn't know what to tell when you go to Honglu Temple today?" ”

"It's nothing, just come and see how your Honglu Temple is preparing for this reception of the Tibetan mission." Li Hong said in a calm tone. Since he was assisted by Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites, and guessed that it would not be long before the Empress Wu would send Le Yanwei, the prime minister, to assist him, Li Hong did not want to interfere in the specific preparations. His coming to Honglu Temple today was just a pretense, and the real purpose was to go out of the palace to have fun.

Because Jiang Renji couldn't figure out the purpose of Li Hong's visit, he could only reply in a formal manner, "Except for the apartment where the Tibetan mission lives that needs to be repaired, other things are basically ready. ”

"Is this apartment the place where the Tibetan mission stayed when they last came to Chang'an? Is something wrong now? Li Hong frowned and asked. Honglu Temple has a courtyard where foreign envoys live, and there are special people who are responsible for cleaning it, so how can there be a problem with such a courtyard?

"Your Royal Highness, it's not that there is something wrong with the apartment, but that Liu Shangshu thinks that the purpose of this visit by the Tibetan delegation to Chang'an is not simple, and that we should not cause dissatisfaction among the Tubo people on such small issues as the residence when we receive them, and give them an excuse to stir up trouble, so Weichen will order to repair it and try to decorate the apartment as magnificently as possible." Jiang Renji explained in detail.

"How much money will it cost to repair this repair?" Li Hong asked in a deep voice.

Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's tone was slightly dissatisfied, Jiang Renji replied cautiously, "It will take about five thousand copper coins." ”

Li Hong was silent after listening, he knew that before the war in the northeast was over, it was impossible for the Tang Dynasty to spare enough troops to deal with Tubo in the northwest, so he would be a little weak on the issue of Tubo, and blindly compromise and forbearance made Liu Xiangdao and Jiang Renji think like this. But now Honglu Temple is doing this, not only can not prevent the Tubo from causing trouble in Chang'an, but will encourage their arrogance.

Therefore, after pondering for a moment, Li Hongcai opened his mouth and asked, "How many foreign missions are there living in Honglu Temple now?" Did they all pay for it from Honglu Temple? ”

"There are missions from eight countries in Chang'an in the Western Regions, seventy Tai students in Fusang in the East, plus the Silla people, and now there are about 300 people living in the residence of Honglu Temple." Jiang Renji thought about it for a moment and said the answer, "Their food and lodging are all provided by Honglu Temple. It costs about 30 pieces of silver a day. ”

Li Hong was surprised when he heard Jiang Renji report such a set of figures, he didn't expect Datang to treat foreign envoys and foreign students in Chang'an so favorably? Not only let them live in the apartment of Honglu Temple, but also raise these people for nothing.

It costs 30 guan a day, and it will cost 900 guan this month, which is 10,000 and 800 yuan of silver a year, which is higher than the annual salary of the prince of the Tang Dynasty. Maybe for the current Datang, this is just a small amount of money, but it can't withstand more than ten years of only one day.

Besides, why does Datang want to raise these people for nothing? They are either envoys of a country's mission, or aristocratic students sent by small foreign countries to the Tang Dynasty to learn cultural knowledge, and they are not without money for food and accommodation.

Thinking of this, Li Hong pondered for a while, and said in a solemn tone, "You immediately stop repairing the apartment prepared for the Tubo Mission, and this time the reception of the Tubo Mission is still using the previous specifications." In addition, from now on, all foreign missions and students who eat and stay in the residence of Honglu Temple will be asked to pay a certain amount of room and board fees at the Pawn Office. As for how much money they pay, it's up to you Honglu Temple to watch it yourself! ”

"Your Highness, I'm afraid this is a bit inappropriate, right?" Hearing that the crown prince was going to collect accommodation and food fees from foreign missions and students, Jiang Renji was dumbfounded, and hurriedly got up and admonished, "This will cause dissatisfaction among foreign missions and students, and it will damage the national prestige of my Tang Dynasty!" ”

"You can write a recital and hand it in now, and I will give you a reply when I go to Guangshun Gate tomorrow to inspect the performances of various departments." Li Hong simply ignored Jiang Renji's advice and said in a stern tone.

"Your Highness, this..." Jiang Renji continued to admonish, but suddenly he thought of something and his body shook, so he immediately shut up. Because he suddenly remembered that in October last year, Gaozong ordered the crown prince to go to Gwangshunmen once every five days to inspect the performances of various departments, and also authorized the prince to handle and decide some small matters.

It was only during this period of time that Li Hong was weak and had been recuperating in the East Palace, and he hadn't been to Guangshunmen for a long time, so he forgot about it.

Now that Li Hong once again said that he would go to Guangshunmen tomorrow to approve his recital, Jiang Renji suddenly understood what Li Hong meant. He knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in front of him had already participated in politics and had the right to make decisions on state affairs, and his words were his will, and he was no longer allowed to question them. Thinking of this, Jiang Renji was only slightly stunned, and immediately bowed down and said, "Weichen obeys the order!" ”

"Hmm!" Li Hong nodded slightly, he was very satisfied with Jiang Renji's understanding and performance just now, so he said softly, "Jiang Aiqing, Honglu Temple will be handed over to you." ”

Jiang Renji was overjoyed, how could he not understand the meaning of Li Hong's words, the current Honglu Temple Qing Deng Wang is very old, Li Hong said that he would hand over the Honglu Temple to him, isn't he ready to let him be the Honglu Temple Secretary? He tried his best to suppress the excitement in his heart and bowed down and said, "Please rest assured, Your Highness, Weichen knows what to do." ”

"But there is one thing you have to remember for Lone, Datang can have today's national prestige, which is dyed with blood by hundreds of thousands of soldiers of Datang with their lives, not by letting you use the money from the treasury to give alms." Seeing Jiang Renji, who was a little complacent with a happy face, Li Hong suddenly warned in a stern tone.

With that, he strode away.

Before Jiang Renji had time to enjoy the joy of being pinned on by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he suddenly heard Li Hong's warning, and his heart couldn't help but froze, looking at Li Hong's departing figure blankly, and only after half a sound came back to his senses and said, "No-!" ”