My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

"By the way, Chang Yonghe, do you know who the new prime minister of our Tang Dynasty is?" Li Ying suddenly asked.

"The new prime minister? Zhang Jiazhen?" Chang An asked.

Li Ying shook his head and said, "It's not him, it's another one named Yuan Qianyao. He just returned to Chang'an this month. Do you know him?"

Chang An shook his head, and Li Ying said, "As soon as Prime Minister Yuan returned to the capital, he made suggestions during the morning court yesterday."

"This is a good thing, so what?" Although Chang An had never heard much about Yuan Qianyao, he knew that this person was quite good - at least better than someone whose jealousy was greater than his talent.

"I was there at the time, but I was a little confused about what he said. I don't know why he did that." Li Ying was puzzled, and suddenly seemed to think of something, so he said:

"Chang Yonghe, can you help me think about it?"

Chang An smiled and said, "Okay, Your Highness, please tell us what Prime Minister Yuan said."

"Most of the powerful families are appointed to official posts in Beijing, which makes talented and righteous people neglected in the outer areas. My three sons are all here, please send two of them out." Li Ying said.

After hearing this, Chang An laughed and said, "Isn't this just to recruit talented people to the capital? Why is Your Highness confused?"

Li Ying then expressed his confusion: "I can understand recruiting talents from all over the world, but there are also talented people in the families of the powerful. Why do we have to send talents out and transfer talents in?"

Chang An couldn't help but sigh, then said: "But I wonder if Your Highness has ever thought about this, most of the families of powerful people have benefited from the kindness of their ancestors, how many of them are truly talented?"

"And our Great Tang has a vast territory and a large population, so there are certainly many talented people. If we use the exchange rate of one in a thousand, there can be one talented person in a thousand people. And in these important families, even if there is one talented person in ten, can there still be more talented people than in the world?"

After hearing this, Li Ying began to calculate: "There are not many important families in Chang'an City. At most, there are no more than a hundred people..."

"Even if there are 500 powerful sons in Chang'an City, ten for one means 50 talented people. And when the court selects talents, doesn't it choose the most talented ones?" Chang An continued.

"We're just using 500 mixed people to exchange for 500 talented and capable people. Is it still a loss to exchange less for more?"

After listening to this, Li Ying suddenly realized what was going on. He stood up excitedly and said, "So that's how it is. I figured it out!"

"Use 500 people, whether they are talented or not, to exchange for 500 people who are all talented. And because these 500 people are from the rich and powerful, the court will not treat them unfairly and will let them serve in local positions."

"Even if everyone becomes a county magistrate, there will be fifty talented people for every ten people replaced, and at least they can govern fifty counties. This will not only bring talented people to the court, but also bring development to some prefectures and counties."

Chang An was relieved to see that Li Ying understood so thoroughly. But then, he was frightened and stood up - because Li Ying bowed and saluted him.

Only the Emperor and the Prince's teacher could receive the Prince's greetings. Chang An was naturally neither of them, so he quickly helped him up and said, "Your Highness, there is no need to do this."

"Chang Yonghe, you should accept this gift." Li Ying said.

At this time, Gu Li suddenly coughed twice. Chang An immediately stopped what he was doing, bent down to rub Gu Li's back, and asked, "What's wrong? Coughing again?"

Gu Li shook his head, coughed twice, and said, "No... I choked on the porridge..."

Chang An and the two siblings around him were stunned for a moment, and then cast their eyes on the bowl - the bowl was very clean, Gu Li ate the porridge cleanly. Chang An also felt funny and touched her head very dotingly.

"If you can't finish it, don't force yourself to do it. Why are you forcing yourself like this?"

"Because... because..." Gu Li was about to say the next words, but then he remembered that the prince and the princess were still here, so he leaned close to his ear and said:

"Because it was done by Chang Lang..."

Chang An smiled, patted her head again, picked up the bowl and said, "I'll put the bowl in the kitchen and arrange today's lunch."

"Ah."

Then Chang An said to Li Ying and Li Ke'er, "Your Highness, Princess, why don't you stay for lunch today? I'll ask the kitchen to prepare hot pot."

"Okay!" Li Ying was very excited.

"Thank you, Marquis Dingkang." But Li Ke'er responded very politely.

......

After Fang Yi received his "bride price" at the city gate, he went directly to the direction of Guangdefang. He originally wanted to go back to his old house, but Gu's house was next to his old house, and it was also a road that Fang Yi had to pass through.

He stopped, thought for a while, then dismounted and walked in. Gu Ke also came out at this time, and when he saw Fang Yi, he hurried forward and asked:

"My dear nephew, where did you go yesterday?"

Fang Yi's face immediately showed apology, and he said, "I'm sorry to have made you worry. I went to Li'er's place yesterday and stayed there for one night."

"Where did you go to Li'er? Nothing happened, right?" Gu Ke asked worriedly.

"No, they treated me very politely."

Gu Ke breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Since you are here, why not come in and sit down."

Fang Yi did not refuse and followed Gu Ke in. As soon as he sat down, Fang Yi asked, "Uncle, I want to ask something, is that ok?"

Gu Ke glanced at him and nodded.

Then Fang Yi took a deep breath and asked, "I just want to know what happened on the day Li'er got married."

"Our Guangdefang and Anrenfang are quite far apart. It was quite lively when the bride and groom were welcomed and sent off that day. If you want to know, why do you need to ask me?" Gu Ke smiled.

"Because you are Li'er's father, asking you is more direct."

"But you stayed at Li'er's house yesterday, why didn't you ask her?" Gu Ke looked at Fang Yi, thought for a while, and then said, "Forget it, then I'll tell you."

"I have to say, I've seen so many weddings, but this is the first time I've seen such a lively scene. A groom, followed by four groomsmen; a sedan chair with eight bearers, and the wedding procession was incredibly long. Suddenly, the street in front of the door was filled with people in red."

"I don't know if my good son-in-law couldn't wait any longer, but he recited five poems in a row, urging her to get ready. When the bride was sent off, I accompanied her, all the way to his home in Anrenfang. Even at the street corner outside the door, a reception table was set up."

"When the bride was about to be disturbed, he was the only one who held off all the guests and served them all the wine one cup after another."

Fang Yi was moved when he heard this - Chang Yonghe was a scholar, and from such a description, it was obvious that he used the highest standard of his rank to marry Gu Li. However, the grand scale and pomp did not mean that the girl sitting in the sedan chair was married with a smile.

This was far from enough for what Fang Yi wanted to know. So he asked again, "Did Li'er smile on the day she got married?"

Gu Ke was stumped by his question. He said, "When Li'er was getting dressed up for her wedding, I couldn't enter the house. And she was covered with a veil when she went out, so how would I know? You might as well go and ask Li'er yourself."

Fang Yi had no choice but to give up after hearing this, with a look of obvious disappointment on his face. Gu Keben understood what was going on, and then said, "Okay, nephew, don't be so sad."

"I know you like Li'er, but Li'er didn't marry the wrong person. Xianxu treats her very well. You don't have to be like this." Gu Ke thought of something at this time and said:

"One more thing, you should be able to change your mind about my son-in-law."

Fang Yi frowned. He really wanted to think that Chang An had done something to offend Gu Li, but he didn't want to think so, so he asked, "What is it?"

"Last month, he was conferred the title of marquis, but the first imperial decree required him to divorce Li'er and marry the eldest princess instead," said Gu Ke.

Fang Yi was stunned when he heard this, and then Gu Ke continued, "But for Li'er, he risked his life to bring the imperial edict to the palace and disobeyed the order in front of the current emperor. But fortunately, he finally made the emperor revoke the order and retained his title and reward."

Fang Yi was very surprised. The emperor had granted the princess a marriage, and he had never seen anyone resist the order, and it was a great reward. But Chang Yonghe dared to resist the marriage. And resisting the order was a capital crime. Wasn't he afraid?

"Isn't he afraid of death?" Fang Yi asked.

"He should be afraid, but he just left like that. Or is there anything that would make him more uncomfortable than death?" Gu Ke said this with an obvious sense of pride in his words. For a moment, the main hall was silent.

After sitting for a while, Fang Yi spoke up and asked, "It seems that Uncle is very satisfied?"

"Satisfied, of course I am satisfied." Gu Ke nodded. "There were rumors before that my son-in-law was a man who hated business. At first I was afraid that Li'er would be wronged if she married him. But now I see that I was judging others by my own standards."

"I understand. Thank you, uncle." Fang Yi stood up at this time.

And Gu Ke asked: "Wouldn't you like to sit for a while?"

"No need. I'll go home and settle down first. I haven't been back here for a long time, so I need to clean up." Fang Yi stood up and smiled slightly.

"Uncle, goodbye."

Fang Yi walked out directly. Gu Ke had said something else, but he didn't listen to it. He just walked quietly to the door of Gu's house, looking at the betrothal gifts he had brought before, and couldn't help but smile.

Laughing, he mounted his horse and continued to lead the convoy towards his old house.