Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 64 Half of the History of the Early Tang Dynasty

Huixunfang is located on the south bank of Luoshui River. Go west from Kangsufang and head north from Dingdingmen East Third Street. After reaching Luoshui Middle Bridge, turn west to reach Huixunfang.

This place is close to the prosperous area of ​​Luobei and not far from the center of the imperial city. It also has the quiet and livable environment of Luonan and the moisture of Luoshui. Regardless of the environment and location, it is the best place in Dongdu.

Such an outstanding place is naturally loved and yearned for by the people of the time. On the way from home to Huixunfang, Zhang Gu, the guide, explained to Zhang Dai the cultural origins of this residence: "During the Zhenguan period, the Luo River overflowed to the south and became a swamp. At that time, Emperor Taizong Wen's beloved son, Prince Wei, begged for the land, built a pond with a weir, and named it Weiwang Pond. He also built the land in the east of the pond as Weiwang Residence.

After the death of the King of Wei, the land was given to the people. During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong, Princess Changning acquired it and built a magnificent mansion. Just after the mansion was completed, the commoner Wei was defeated, and Princess Changning was also exiled for her crimes. After the Xiantian era, the current sage divided this mansion and granted it to meritorious officials. My family, therefore, obtained the land and built a separate residence..."

After listening to Zhang Gu's story, Zhang Dai sighed inwardly, "Wow, this little alleyway has already written half of the history of the early Tang Dynasty!" Especially since the people who lived in this alleyway were all the most powerful and influential people in the Tang Dynasty.

Needless to say, Emperor Taizong of Tang's son, Li Tai, the Prince of Wei, was a top contender for the throne.

Princess Changning, the daughter of Emperor Zhongzong, was also born to Empress Wei. She and her sister Princess Anle and others interfered with state affairs. Another point is that her son Yang Hui was the future son-in-law of Concubine Wu Huifei, and was also the key figure who directly triggered the case of the three commoners in the late Kaiyuan period!

"Then what noble residences and gardens are there in this neighborhood now? How come such a fine garden property has been left idle?"

After learning about the cultural history of Huixunfang, Zhang Dai was full of anticipation for this villa given to him by his grandfather, and he couldn't help but ask again.

Hearing this question, Zhang Gu's face turned a little awkward. After a moment's silence, he leaned closer to Zhang Dai and whispered, "Of course, there are other gardens in the neighborhood. After Liu Lang moves in, you can get to know them on a daily basis. But there is one family that we still need to be cautious with. They are our neighbors to the west of the house, and they belong to the Qiwangshan Pavilion of the Saint's beloved brother."

After hearing this, Zhang Dai's expression changed. After thinking for a moment, he understood the reason.

The current saint had a tragic childhood, and his family was placed under house arrest in the Forbidden Palace for many years. In this adversity, the family supported and cared for each other, and their feelings were naturally deep and sincere.

Especially in the subsequent coups, the saint brothers fully cooperated and followed each other until death, finally restoring the chaos and restoring stability to the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, after ascending the throne, the sage treated his brothers with great kindness, honoring their official titles, increasing their rewards, and even having large quilts and long pillows made for them to sleep together as a group of five, to show the close relationship between the brothers. This was in stark contrast to the open and covert struggles and even bloody conflicts among royal family members since the Tang Dynasty. It can be said that they were brothers who loved each other and respected each other, and were highly praised and respected by people of their time, and were regarded as a model of human relations.

Of course, these are all hypocritical appearances. The actual situation is that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang has always been extremely vigilant and in control of his brothers, and there has been almost no slackness.

Although he did not directly attack these brothers themselves, all court officials who had close contacts with these princes were subjected to reprimands or even punishment, and some were even sentenced to death. As a result, the princes stayed away from politics and their daily social activities were also strictly supervised and controlled.

The Zhang family's villa was actually a neighbor of the Qiwangshan Pavilion, so Zhang Dai understood why it had been vacant until now.

Because his grandfather Zhang Shuo fell for the first time during the Kaiyuan period, and it was because of this. In the early years of Kaiyuan, because of his private visit to Qi Wang Li Fan, he was exposed in front of the emperor by Yao Chong, who was appointed as prime minister at the time. Then Zhang Shuo was demoted and sent away. It took him many years to return to the court again.

With such a precedent, Zhang Shuo naturally had to avoid suspicion. Even if his mansion was idle, he did not dare to live next to King Qi.

Zhang Dai naturally had no such scruples. To put it bluntly, even if the King of Qi wanted to rebel, he couldn't have conspired with a teenager like him. Even if he wasn't shy about it, people would still have to look up to him.

While chatting along the way, the group arrived at Huixunfang.

Huixunfang is adjacent to Luoshui River in the north, and there is a long embankment built along the river, so there is no gate facing north.

At the same time, the Taoist temple on the east side was home to many doctors, fortune tellers, and Huixun Temple was home to many powerful people. The imperial court also had explicit regulations prohibiting the powerful from associating with this kind of people. Zhang Shuo was impeached on one of these charges.

Therefore, the two blocks were not connected, and Huixun Block only had gates on the south and west sides for people to enter and exit. In addition, there were two Wuhou shops in the block, one of which housed hundreds of street warriors, and the other was the Jinwu Guard stable, where the street cavalry patrolling the city at night were dispatched.

As soon as Zhang Dai arrived here, he felt that the rules of this top-level community were indeed stricter than those of ordinary residential areas. He secretly cursed these bastards who were stealing the people's money and realized that they had been accustomed to running such private clubs isolated from the public since ancient times.

Now that I have unfortunately become one of them, I must continue to criticize and condemn this kind of atmosphere.

A young man in his twenties had been waiting at the south gate. Seeing the group approach, he hurried over to greet them. He bowed and said, "Sixth Brother, Father, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

"This is my son, a young man from my household. He used to hold a sinecure in the Luoyang County government office. Because Liu Lang wanted to buy a second home in the neighborhood, he asked him to resign and come to serve Liu Lang. You can call him Zhang Yi or Huang Er."

Zhang Gu played a trick and sent his son over without consulting Zhang Dai. However, he didn't have any bad intentions. After glancing at Ding Cang and his son behind Zhang Dai, he said, "Although Liu Lang has loyal servants around him, he has a lot of internal and external affairs to deal with when he has to run his own household. It's not a bad thing to have more people to share the burden."

Zhang Dai had a good impression of Zhang Gu and even thought that this old steward was his lucky star. He didn't mind him sending people to his place. But when he heard that his son had resigned from his job as a clerk in the county government and came here, he was a little surprised and quickly waved his hand, saying, "How dare you..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhang Gu's son Zhang Yi knelt before the horse and bowed, saying, "You may not recognize me, but I have long heard of your reputation for filial piety, righteousness, and love of learning from my father. I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to serve you. I beg you to take me in for ten days. If you are not satisfied, I will not complain if you send me away!"

Seeing the sincerity of the father and son, and Zhang Dai also thinking that it would be good to have a good relationship with Zhang Gu, the head steward of an old house, he dismounted, helped Zhang Yi to his feet, patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Since that's the case, then stay. You will contribute a lot to the family finances. We, master and servant, must also work hard and build on the foundation laid by our predecessors!"

After a brief greeting, the group entered the block. This block was not as lively as other blocks. Even at this noon, there were not many pedestrians on the streets. Occasionally, those who walked back and forth were mostly slaves from various families. They looked a little unfamiliar when they saw Zhang Dai and his group. Those slaves stood on the street and looked at them, as if they were ready to report the personnel changes in the block to their masters.

The Zhang Family Villa is located in the west of the block, covering approximately ten acres. It is considered a relatively grand mansion even among other blocks, as Luoyang's residential areas are generally quite small. Even within Huixun Block, such a residence would rank above average.

Zhang Shuo was granted this mansion after the Xiantian coup. He was the first to propose to take the initiative to eliminate Princess Taiping, but was dismissed from his post as the governor of the Eastern Capital because he refused to obey Princess Taiping. After the Xiantian coup, he returned to the court and served as the Minister of the Central Secretariat. Although he did not directly participate in the incident, his contribution was also not small, which can be seen from the villa he was granted.

Several servants had already cleaned the room inside and out, and were now standing in front of the door waiting for the new owner to arrive. When Zhang Dai arrived at the door, they all bowed to welcome him.

Zhang Dai dismounted and stood on the street to look at the gate of the mansion. Although it was not as grand as the Zhang family mansion in Kangsufang, it was also very decent, which made him very satisfied.

He was just about to step into the house when another group of people came in from the west street. The group was escorted by dozens of people in front and behind, and the ceremonial procession looked very majestic.

Zhang Dai subconsciously paused to observe and noticed that the group had come to a halt in front of a house a dozen feet away. The house was adjacent to the Zhang family's villa and was likely the Qiwangshan Pavilion.

A horse-drawn carriage accompanying the procession happened to stop in front of the house. Two maids in skirts holding feather fans to protect themselves from dust got off the carriage first, and then another person got off.

Zhang Dai stood on tiptoe to take a look curiously, and suddenly caught a glimpse of the color of a jade crown and a bridal robe through the gap of the feather fan. He was suddenly surprised and took a few steps forward quickly, but saw the guards looking at him warily, so he stopped and dared not move forward.

When the group entered the house, he slowly withdrew his gaze. After walking back, he asked, "Is this the Qiwangshan Pavilion? Who just entered the house?"

The servants nodded first, and then shook their heads. They were assigned to take care of the daily maintenance of the villa, but they did not dare to ask about the neighbors' affairs.

Although Zhang Dai was a little curious, he thought that since he would live here often in the future, he would have the opportunity to figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it and went into the house to take a look at his new home.

(End of this chapter)