Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 430: Sleeves
Xin Qiji listened to Fei Tianlu's words, thought for a moment and said: "Dengzhou, in the second year of Jian'an, Cao Cao fought a great battle in Wancheng and besieged Zhang Xiu in Rang, and used the Dengzhou waterway to transport troops and food.

In the 13th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao used Dengzhou as his granary for the Battle of Chibi. What a great place!

In his eyes, good places are, of course, places that are useful for combat.

"Huh?" Fei Tianlu narrowed his eyes and looked at the burly young man on the horse.

With his keen eyesight, he could naturally tell at a glance that the young man in front of him was not very old.

However, it is rare for someone to have such a great stature at such a young age.

Fei Tianlu smiled and said, "My little brother is well-informed. I am just a businessman and I don't know these old stories."

Seeing that there were more and more people walking in front of the city gate, Xin Qiji dismounted and led the horse to walk along with the truck.

Xin Qiji laughed and said, "Although I am young, I am the best at military affairs. How can a good military officer not know geography? Therefore, I know a little about Dengzhou.

Uncle is a businessman from Dengzhou. How is your business over there?"

Fei Tianlu answered without thinking, "Fortunately, we have a trading post in Dengzhou, where we can trade with the State of Song.

I bought Song goods from Dengzhou Market and sold them to Zhongdu to earn a hard-earned living."

Xin Qiji asked curiously, "So, uncle, you can often see people from the Song Dynasty?"

Fei Tianlu smiled and said, "Little brother, are you curious about this too?
There is no difference between southerners and northerners in appearance, conversation, and clothing. It is not unusual."

Xin Qiji murmured, "Yes, people in the north and south have the same ancestors, so naturally everything is the same..."

Although Xin Qiji was not very old, he had a cheerful personality. He chatted with Fei Tianlu and walked towards the city gate together.

The Jin soldiers guarding the city checked Xin Qiji's "public identity" and saw that he was a scholar who came to Zhongdu to take the imperial examination, so they did not dare to make things difficult for him.

The Jin Dynasty now attached great importance to scholars, so the status of scholars was very high.

After the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty moved south, the Jin people held an imperial examination in Zhending, Hebei.

The purpose of holding the imperial examination was that they had occupied a large area of ​​territory but lacked talented people to govern it.

Unfortunately, no scholars came to take the exam.

Seeing that the big exam was approaching, there was not a single scholar who had signed up. The Jin people had no choice but to send soldiers to search house to house. If they found a scholar, they would take him to take the exam as if he were a treasure.

Even so, in such a hurry, they only gathered seventy-two scholars.

Because there were so few people taking the imperial examination, all seventy-two people were admitted and were known as the "Seventy-two Sages".

The top scorer in that subject was named Xu Bi, who was awarded the title of "Langzhong" by the Jin Kingdom.

Doctor Xu was a person with a destiny that made him unable to control his unexpected wealth. When he was riding his horse through the Zuoye Gate of the palace, he accidentally fell down.

As luck would have it, his head hit the stone threshold and he died.

Therefore, rumors spread among the people that he was unworthy of the position and that he was clearly not qualified to be the Wenquxing, but he insisted on taking the position by force, and so he was punished by heaven.

This incident made the Jin people very embarrassed.

By now, the Jin people had ruled the north for more than 30 years. More and more scholars had accepted the reality of being ruled by the Jin people and began to take part in the imperial examinations to strive for fame.

Despite this, the Jin Dynasty was still very eager for talents and still attached great importance to scholars.

In addition, after the Jin Kingdom moved south and occupied the Central Plains, it was quickly assimilated into the Central Plains culture.

The powerful people of the Jin Dynasty began to pretend to be cultured and were crazy about Han culture.

They even paid little attention to the flourishing culture and education in the Song Dynasty, but instead particularly praised Li Houzhu, a master of poetry who became emperor.

Therefore, the Jin soldiers guarding the city did not dare to offend Xin Qiji, a scholar.

Xin Qiji took back the "official certificate" and said to the soldier guarding the city: "The owner of this caravan is on good terms with my family. Please give him some favors."

As he said this, he stuffed a silver ingot over.

The soldier guarding the city put the silver in his sleeve, agreed with a smile, got on the car, hurriedly ate a few times to complete the task, and then let them enter the city.

Fei Tianlu smiled at Xin Qiji and said, "Today I have benefited from you, little brother."

Xin Qiji said: "We are all Han people, we should help each other, why should you be so polite, uncle?

My home is in Jinan Prefecture. If you pass by there, just ask 'Jinan Xin Family' and you will be able to find out where my home is. You are welcome to visit my home."

"My little brother is kind-hearted. I will remember this."

Fei Tianlu said with a smile: "Brother, if you have the opportunity to go to Dengzhou, you can go to a Feilong store, and I will definitely treat you as a guest of honor."

The two men said goodbye at the city gate, and Xin Qiji went to the Ministry of Rites to register.

On the way, a close follower couldn't help but ask: "He is just a merchant, why do you treat him so politely?"

Dengzhou is located at the border between Song and Jin, and there is a waterway leading to the Yangtze River. Maybe one day, I will really go to Dengzhou.

Xin Qiji did not say this out loud, but just smiled and said, "More friends mean more paths. It's just a small favor, so why not give him a hand?"

Fei Tianlu and his crew drove into the city in a truck and went looking for a place to stay.

We saw some big carriage shops along the way, but we didn't stop.

Suddenly, a man who looked like a businessman came up to him and laughed, "A hundred-foot pole with five taels of slant, in this life, anywhere is home.

Shopkeeper Chen, you brought so many goods with you, are you planning to make Zhongdu your home?"

Fei Tianlu's eyes flickered slightly, and he jumped down from the shaft of the cart, saying with a smile: "I have been chasing profits from east to west every year, and my name is not in the county register.

All the hard work is just to make a living. He, shopkeeper, long time no see. "

The two of them bowed and laughed.

When passers-by saw them, they thought they were two businessmen they knew, and no one was surprised.

However, Fei Tianlu and Shopkeeper He had never met before.

There were secret marks on Fei Tianlu's truck, and the poems that the two men just recited, which seemed to be intelligible, were actually the secret code for contact.

This shopkeeper He is a spy from the Chanzifang (Chanzifang) machine room stationed in Yanjing.

However, as a contact person, he only knew that the State of Song had sent someone to carry out confidential tasks, but he was not clear about Fei Tianlu's true identity.

Fei Tianlu invited the shopkeeper He to sit in the passenger seat and drive together.

Shopkeeper He whispered, "I have selected an inn for you, it is on the street of Prince Guangping's Palace.

Kong Yanzhou comes and goes with great fanfare. If you live there, it will be easy for you to monitor his comings and goings or take action if you want."

"Good work!"

Fei Tianlu agreed, raised his whip, and a crisp "whip flower" exploded in the air.

Fei Tianlu personally led a team to sneak into the Jin Dynasty's Zhongdu Yanjing in order to assassinate the Jin Dynasty's Prince Guangping and the big traitor Kong Yanzhou.

After Kong Yanzhou was conferred the title of Prince of Guangping, he moved into the mansion granted to him in Yanjing.

Kong Yanzhou was originally a notorious bandit. During the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty when the country was in chaos, he was recruited by the Song court and became a general.

Later, when he saw that the Jin army was powerful, he defected to the Jin Kingdom, led the Jin people to attack the Song Kingdom, and helped the Jin people occupy large tracts of Song territory. He was a die-hard traitor.

Although this man was a Song citizen, after surrendering to the Jin, he was more enthusiastic about invading the Song State from the south than the Jin people.

Therefore, after Wanyan Liang conferred the title of King of Guangping on him, the State of Song listed him as a target for execution.

Otherwise, the presence of this person would have been too much of an incentive for the Song officials who defected to the Jin Kingdom.

When Fei Tianlu set out for the Jin Kingdom, the results of Yang Yuan's palace examination had not yet been announced, and the content of his prelude had not yet been spread.

Therefore, Fei Tianlu did not know that the reason why the Jin people gathered troops in Caizhou and intimidated the Song Dynasty was because of Yang Yuan's memorial.

Now, after hearing Manager He talk about this matter and knowing that after Caizhou gathered troops, Kong Yanzhou repeatedly requested to fight and was willing to be the vanguard to attack the State of Song, he could not help but get furious.

"I will kill this bastard Kong Yanzhou this time!"

Shopkeeper He reminded: "Kong Yanzhou is a man with great skills. He is not afraid of sticks, fists and kicks, and is good at avoiding swords, spears, and halberds.

His fists were like iron. Even the hardest stone could not withstand his fists.

Moreover, this person is very particular about pomp and circumstance. He is always accompanied by a large number of followers when he goes out, so he is very difficult to approach.

If you want to take advantage of him, you must make a careful plan to make sure it goes well. Otherwise, if you fail, it will be difficult to take advantage of him again."

Fei Tianlu nodded, his expression becoming more serious: "I understand, I should be cautious in my actions."

……

When Yang Yuan received the official appointment, he sent someone to Lin'an Prefecture to report the news, stating that he would report there the next day.

In those days, when officials took office, they were not accompanied by officials from the Organization Department.

Therefore, when officials took up their posts, they would contact the government offices they were assigned to on their own.

For example, an official going to a local place to take up a post would not go to the yamen immediately upon arrival on the day of his arrival, but would first find an inn to stay in and then send a notice to the yamen to inform it.

If he was the head of a yamen, the officials would come to the inn where he was staying to greet him the next day and invite him to the yamen.

If he is a deputy, the Zhengyin official should inform all his colleagues in advance and ask them to make time the next day to meet his new colleague.

After instructing someone to go to Lin'an Prefecture to report the news, Yang Yuan rode a horse to the Prince of Jin's Palace.

The Yang family now has their own horses. If Luxi gets married and there are female members in the family, they will also need to prepare a carriage and sedan chair.

The Prince of Jin was making arrangements to move to his villa on Gushan Mountain.

The King of Jin was afraid of heat, so every year when the weather started to get hotter, he would go to his villa in Gushan to live for a long time.

However, his villa in Tianmu Mountain is about to be completed, where it will be cooler in the summer.

I think he will go to Tianmu Mountain often to spend the summer in the future.

When Zhao Qu moved house, he needed to prepare a lot of things.

The eunuchs, maids, slaves and servants in the mansion were coming and going, busy all the time, giving a feeling of chaos and turmoil.

Seeing Yang Yuan coming, Zhao Yu laughed happily: "Geese, geese, geese, isn't this Yang Tongpan from Lin'an Prefecture? Have you reported to Lin'an Prefecture?"

Yang Yuan said: "I have handed the note to Governor Qiao and will report tomorrow."

Zhao Yu casually pointed to a seat and motioned for him to sit anywhere.

Zhao Yu slumped down in his armchair and sighed, "I originally wanted you to work as a proofreader in the Secretariat.

It is such a leisurely and noble place. Just proofreading a few classic historical books would be a great achievement. What a pity..."

Yang Yuan was startled and said with a pale face, "Your Majesty, do you want me to be the proofreader?"

Zhao Yu said confidently: "Yes, you are the top scholar, well-versed in history and modern times, and have brilliant literary talent. Can't you be a proofreader?

Those prime ministers are clearly bullying my brother who has just ascended the throne, and are using you as a pretext to show their displeasure to my eldest brother.

It's just that this game of generals and ministers has implicated you."

Yang Yuan was terrified after hearing this. You implicated me? Thank you!

The thought of sitting among piles of old papers all day, looking through historical materials and checking ancient books, coupled with my limited knowledge of classical Chinese, made me realize that I might end up proofreading a book full of errors.

In that era, editing and publishing books were extremely sacred and important matters.

Otherwise, how could Lin Yifei, Zhang Mi and others be promoted because of editing books?
How could it be easy for a clerk or proofreader in the Secretariat to get promoted?

But correspondingly, if in this process you demonstrate abilities that are not commensurate with your abilities, that would be extremely bad.

Especially since you have the halo of being the top scholar.

"Your Majesty, this kind gesture has been received. Yang is already very grateful. Lin'an Prefecture is very good."

Yang Yuan said thankfully: "Getting in touch with practical work as soon as possible is a great way to hone one's ability as an official."

Zhao Yu nodded and said, "I knew that you, Erlang, are a broad-minded person and will definitely not blame me for this.

In fact, it is good to be an official in Lin'an Prefecture. If you have some political achievements, the government will notice it.

As for the difficulties, it is not just the difficulties of being an official in the capital. If you have any problems that you cannot solve, just come to me.

By the way, you came here today just to tell me that you are going to report to Lin'an Prefecture?"

Yang Yuan shook his head and said, "Not really, Your Majesty, you are usually quite free. I just remembered something that I thought you would like, so I came to ask for an audience."

Zhao Yu glared and said, "What nonsense is this? I am the king who 'takes charge of the government and participates in the decision-making of military and national affairs'. I am busy with all kinds of affairs. How can I not be busy?"

Just as he said this, Miss Handan came over with her slender waist twisted, "My lord, are all the sisters going to Lonely Mountain with you?"

Zhao Yu glared and said, "If I go, you won't go. What are you doing staying in the palace? Are you going to lay eggs?"

Miss Handan pouted her lips and said sourly, "I thought, Your Majesty, you just found a few women from Xifan, so why do you still need the sisters to serve you?"

Zhao Yu said seriously: "Handan, wild vegetables can only be tasted for freshness, not eaten often, as they will hurt your stomach. Go and prepare them quickly."

Handan became happy again, agreed happily, and turned to leave.

When she saw Yang Yuan, she stopped and said with a smile: "If Erlang has time, remember to bring Yuchan and Bingxin to play in Gushan together."

Zhao Qu hurriedly said, "Don't listen to her. You can come anytime you want. But don't bring any Yuchan Bingxin with you. It makes me upset when I see them."

Handan glared at Zhao Yu hatefully, snorted, and walked away.

Yang Yuan sighed and said, "Your Majesty, you are really busy with all kinds of things."

Zhao Yu pinched his chin and pondered for a while, then said uncertainly: "Well..., I always feel like you are laughing at me...

But that doesn't matter. What interesting things do you want me to do?"

Yang Yuan then said something to Zhao Qu, who became very excited as he listened and slapped the armrest of his chair excitedly.

"Geese, geese, geese," Zhao Qu laughed, "Great, great, this is really interesting, Erlang, you are the one who is mean, geese, geese, geese, geese..."

"Someone come, someone come quickly!"

Zhao Yu could not wait to call a young eunuch to his presence and happily ordered:
"Take a few people to Zhongwazi right away and look for the largest opera troupe there, the Li Family Troupe.

Ask their leader, Li Guanyu, to come see me. I have something to tell him."

The young eunuch agreed, ran to the front yard, called a few strong servants, and rushed to the tile house in a menacing manner.

Yang Yuan said: "Your Majesty is busy, I will not bother you any more."

Zhao Yu asked curiously, "Erlang, are you leaving now?"

Yang Yuan asked, "What else does the king have to say?"

Zhao Yu rolled his eyes at him and said, "You didn't even ask about the little girl you left in my palace?"

"what!"

Yang Yuan slapped his forehead, Li Fengniang!
I almost forgot about that little girl.

Yang Yuan hurriedly asked, "The little girl from the Li family is willful and unruly. Has she caused any trouble to you, Your Majesty?"

Zhao Yu curled her lips and said, "What do you mean by willful and unruly? She is just being reckless even though she knows you won't do anything to her.

If you don't spoil her, she will be better than a cat."

Yang Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "That's true. Since you're here, it's good to meet him."

Zhao Yu called over a eunuch and asked him to pass on the message.

In the study room at the back of the palace, Li Fengniang stood obediently in front of the desk. On the desk behind her was a stack of copies of "The Analects of Women" that she had copied.

In front of her, two maids sat upright on chairs, each with a ruler across their knees.

The Princess of Jin was in charge of a huge palace, and also had to take care of the palace's shops and farms. How could she have so much time to help Yang Yuan educate her little girl?

She would only take time to check on Li Fengniang's studies and occasionally explain scriptures to her. The rest of the time, it was mostly the two maids who disciplined her.

Nanny An said with a sullen face: "Today's gentlemen only know that they must control their wives and that they must maintain their dignity, so they train their sons and check them with books.

Little do they know that the husband must be served and that propriety and righteousness must be maintained. If you only teach the boys and not the girls, isn’t that also a misunderstanding of the relationship between the two? Why?

Li Fengniang answered docilely, "Nowadays, people only know that being a wife requires discipline, so they focus on educating men on how to be a husband and even write books and biographies to educate men.

However, if we only teach men how to be husbands, but not women how to be wives, how can we achieve mutual respect?"

Nanny An nodded, showing a look of slight satisfaction.

The other one was Aunt Rong, so she asked, "Recite the chapter on self-discipline from the Analects of Women for me."

Li Fengniang said: "Every woman should first learn to establish herself. The way to establish herself is to be pure and chaste.

If you are clean, you are pure; if you are chaste, you are honorable. When walking, do not look back; when talking, do not lift your lips. When sitting, do not move your knees; when standing, do not shake your skirt. When you are happy, do not laugh loudly; when you are angry, do not shout loudly..."

At this time, a young eunuch came in, bowed to the two old maids, and said politely: "Madame Rong, Madame An, Yang Zhuangyuan, who brought Miss Li here to learn etiquette, has arrived. The king wants Miss Li to go to the front hall to see him."

Li Fengniang's eyes suddenly lit up, but she didn't dare to move. She just looked at the two maids eagerly.

Aunt Rong said, "Go ahead and remember what Aunt Rong taught you."

"Yes, thank you both for your teachings. I will leave now."

Li Fengniang bowed to the two of them, then politely clasped her hands to the young eunuch, and then followed him gently and gracefully.

Her shoulders don't shake and her skirt doesn't flutter, she is just like a light cloud just emerging from a mountain.

The two maids smiled with satisfaction. Their efforts were not in vain. The little girl already had some of the air of a lady.

……

"Uncle! Please take me away! I don't want to stay here anymore!

The maids here are so fierce, they hit my palms and they didn’t even give me food, wow…”

As soon as she saw Yang Yuan, Li Fengniang could no longer hold back her grievances and tears immediately flowed like a fountain.

She pounced, hugged Yang Yuan's thighs, and refused to let go no matter what.

I don’t know how much injustice this child has suffered, he is crying with tears and snot all over his face.

"They are so fierce, I have never been bullied like this since I was a child.

Uncle, my dear uncle, please take me away quickly, wuwuwu..."

Zhao Qu felt a little embarrassed when he heard this.

He had just boasted to Yang Yuan about how successfully Prince Jin's Mansion had trained Li Fengniang. This was such a slap in the face.

Zhao Yu coughed and said, "If jade is not polished, it will not become a useful tool. When I was young, the late emperor, the empress dowager, and the teacher also spanked me when I was learning literature."

"I don't want to be jade, I don't need to be carved, uncle, please take me away, I will work like a cow or a horse for you to repay you for saving my life..."

Yang Yuan pulled at her several times, but the little girl held onto the hem of his robe tightly and he couldn't move her.

Yang Yuan couldn't push hard, so he could only say helplessly: "Your father entrusted you to me, if I just take care of your food and drink, then I will fail your father's trust.

You are still young, it is time for you to learn..."

Li Fengniang said with tears in her eyes: "If you want to learn... learning music, chess, calligraphy, painting, singing, music and dancing is also possible.

I don’t want to learn these rules and principles.”

Zhao Yu said: "To be a man, one must first learn etiquette. Without etiquette, one cannot stand. What is the use of knowing how to play the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, singing, music and dancing, but not knowing how to be a man?"

After he finished speaking, he realized that lying slumped in the chair was not very polite, so he quickly moved up and sat more properly.

"Why learn etiquette? I know etiquette."

Li Fengniang wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and suddenly jumped up like a little rabbit, and stood obediently in front of Yang Yuan.

Yang Yuan was surprised and looked back, only to see Madam Rong and Madam An standing grimly in a corner of the room, staring at Li Fengniang.

Nanny An said, "Don't move your knees when you sit, and don't shake your skirt when you stand. Feng Niang, did you do that?"

Rong Mama said, "Don't laugh too loudly when you are happy, and don't shout too loudly when you are angry. Feng Niang, have you done it?"

Li Fengniang shook her head timidly, like a mouse seeing a cat.

Rong Mama smiled apologetically at Yang Yuan and said, "I'm sorry to have made fun of you, Mr. Zhuangyuan. It's true that we have been together for so short a time that my teachings are not enough."

Nanny An said, "We two were originally in charge of training female officials in the palace.

The newly recruited maids in the palace, as well as the king's new concubines, are all trained by the two of us.

Don't worry, Mr. Zhuangyuan, we will definitely train Miss Li into a lady."

Rong Mama smiled at Li Fengniang "kindly" and said, "Miss Li, let's go."

Li Fengniang didn't even dare to look up at Yang Yuan. She lowered her head, agreed obediently, and followed the two maids away.

Yang Yuan couldn't bear to see this, and said to Zhao Yu: "Your Majesty, she is still a child, isn't it... a little too harsh?"

Zhao Yu sneered and said, "You must have heard that spoiling a child is like killing him and spoiling a child will lead to a rebellious child. The same principle applies to her.

It's just a slap on her palm and asking her to eat half an hour later. It's not a big deal. Is it really that hard? She will just cry."

Zhao Qu himself was a lawless guy who had been relying on the favor of others since childhood. Yang Yuan saw Li Fengniang crying pitifully, but he could see through the little girl's pretending to be pitiful at a glance.

Yang Yuan thought so too. How could the Prince of Jin's Mansion make things difficult for her?
Shishi is due to give birth in two months. I must discipline my child well after he is born and not be soft-hearted just because he cries.

When Yang Yuan thought about spanking his child if he was disobedient, he immediately became heartless.

Having prepared himself mentally, Yang Yuan said goodbye and left.

When leaving the palace, Yang Yuan saw several people tying up a weak scholar-looking man and dragging him into the palace without touching the ground.

Yang Yuan was a little curious, but he thought that given Zhao Qiu's character, it was impossible for him to do anything criminal, so he ignored it.

Zhao Qu was also surprised to see the leader of the Li family troupe tied up. He thought that he had not explained clearly, so he quickly asked someone to untie him and take off the gag.

As soon as Li Guanyu was free, he immediately knelt on the ground and said in panic: "My lord, I haven't arranged any tragedies recently!
Really, it’s all according to what you said, my king, to shoot that... Oh, right, a sweet pet drama!
The kind where they kissed eight times for the same story, kissing for no reason, kissing crazily!"

Zhao Qu frowned and said, "Don't tell me such immoral things."

Boss Li quickly said, "No, no, it was all a borrowed position, there was no real kiss."

Zhao Qu asked, "So that means they are deceiving the audience who paid for the show?"

Boss Li was stunned for a moment, and said cautiously: "They are really a couple, so...why don't we let them really kiss?"

Zhao Yu rolled his eyes and said, "What's the point of a couple kissing? Who wants to watch it?"

Boss Li looked confused.

Zhao Yu waved his hands and said, "Forget it, forget it. It's up to you to kiss or not, but it's not good to just arrange sweet pet dramas. It will get sick of eating too much fat.

I have a new play here, and I want to tell you about it. Go back and arrange it carefully."

Boss Li said with a bitter face: "What new play does the king have?"

Zhao Yu said solemnly: "The court redressed the injustice of loyal officials and severely punished treacherous officials!
This king named it - Public Case Drama!"

……

Lin'an Prefecture, Duting.

When Master Qiao Zhen looked at the wedding invitation in his hand, all the joy that his concubine Tian Tian was pregnant again was instantly swept away.

He felt a little upset.

He had not been dealing with Yang Yuan for a long time, but he could see that Yang Yuan was not the kind of official who followed the rules.

But he is an official who abides by the rules.

It would be very tiring for officials who follow the rules too much and officials who do not follow the rules to work together.

Especially since Yang Yuan passed the imperial examination, a palace examination turned the holy prime minister into a corrupt official who would be infamous forever. A petition to the emperor brought down the prime minister.

Although the new emperor ascended the throne and the new dynasty was in its infancy, Yang Yuan was just taking advantage of the situation, but this kind of restlessness was enough to give people a headache.

And this person is about to become his assistant.

What evil did I do in my previous life? It's not enough to be in the capital, but I have to send such an assistant official to torment me?
Master Qiao raised his head to the sky and sighed, then ordered Song Yasi, "Go, notify the Tongpans of the East Hall, North Hall, and South Hall, as well as all the staff officials and Cao officials.

Tomorrow the new Tongpan Yang Yuan will get off the car (take office), and tell them to put off whatever they have to do, and this government will "set up a court" to welcome him! "

(End of this chapter)