In the Na'an Palace, today's winter night suddenly no longer dimmed in the past. Instead, the lights were as bright as day. From the nine jade-waisted bridges outside the palace gate to the Golden Palace deep in the palace road, there were nine continuous lights of about a hundred feet. From far to near, thousands of copper lanterns, porcelain lanterns, palace lanterns and jade lanterns formed one after another, illuminating the originally cold and lonely palace as if it were dawn.
Large banquets in winter have always been rare. Even the veterans of the two dynasties who have followed the late emperors of Shang Qi find it difficult to recall that there was such a large banquet in winter. The reason is that Shang Qi is far north, compared with places like Yizhang and Nanli. , it is most vulnerable to the strong cold wind coming from the northern Yanze. Naturally, it is also very deserted in winter, and there is no such elegance as the so-called winter snow scenery.
The literati who are proficient in poetry in the south stepped on the high cliffs, tightened their fur clothes, and saw the vast and complicated snow that looked like pear blossoms and catkins. The first thing they did was to think of a few lines of catchy poetry; but If it were left in a bitter cold place like Shangqi or Dayuan, I'm afraid I would be freezing to tears first, and quickly retreat to a place where the cold wind cannot penetrate, and then ask the children to light charcoal and firewood to warm themselves up, and there will be no trace of it. Compose poetry with interest.
There once was a poet who was always outspoken and had a great talent but always acted like a fool. In the winter, while the rice wine was boiling in his stomach, he climbed a dangerous peak in the Qi territory just to recite a poem, but he was almost awakened by the cold wind. He blurted out the sentence "What a big dog thief to disturb my poetry", and immediately staggered away, causing many people around him to burst into laughter.
Together with the dangerous peak that was originally a little famous, it has been commonly known as Goutou Peak since that day, which means that the wind is like a dog thief, blowing people's heads, and the poets have gone early, but such vulgar and interesting stories have been circulated. After many years, it was actually more popular than the hundreds of poems the poet had written during his lifetime.
How can we have the fun of writing poems and drinking wine in such a cold winter?
Many middle-ranking officials who helped arrange the banquet couldn't bear the cold wind, so they retracted their hands deep into their sleeves and temporarily found an unoccupied side hall to escape the winter cold. During the time of casual chatting, they did not forget to look around. Look, after all, walls have ears. There are many taboos in such a large palace, and there are even more colleagues who don't deal with them.
"Did you see that our current emperor has changed his temperament this year? No one knows how much knowledge the old Yuhu Feihua Order No. 1 Scholar has in his heart. It actually makes our emperor forget to sleep and eat, and he wishes he could invite that young man every day. We'll hold a candle in the palace and have a long talk. If your guess is correct, I'm afraid that today's winter banquet will have a lot to do with the number one scholar."
A young middle-ranking officer sighed, "I had known this. If I had listened to my parents' advice when I was young, and if I had read the books of sages for two more years, I probably wouldn't have ended up like this. Shouldn't I regret that?" .”
"Do you really think that studying is easy? When we were young, our family was not considered poor. However, we were born without the ability to study. After reading many articles by saints and sages, we forgot them and couldn't remember anything. But these palace palaces The things that should have taken more thought are never forgotten." Another middle official with a peach blossom plaited on his chest smiled sinisterly and knocked the little middle official on the head, "You know such jealous words. I know that, if you let others listen, not to mention your head falling to the ground, even if you are sent to this palace, your distant relatives will probably be affected. There is no precedent for this in the previous dynasty. I am here. , the best way is to be more open-minded.”
In the palace, suddenly a young prince was walking leisurely, but he happened to be walking on the road. Hearing the conversation between the two, he slowly approached with gentle steps and stuck behind the pillars. He listened to everything the two men said, but his expression was quite interesting. For fun.
A gentleman does not approach eunuchs for fear of contamination. It is clear that many scholars agree with this statement, but the young master does not seem to care at the moment. He listens to it with great interest. He takes out a few dried ginkgo nuts mixed with honey from his arms and chews them slowly.
"It seems to our family that these scholars can only afford to live in peacetime. If there is a war, how can they be of any use? Except for the three or two articles of indignation in the book, they are completely useless. I have heard that three thousand The military armor can swallow up half of the state, but I have never heard of a scholar who wrote an essay to criticize the enemy and scolded the sage of another country to death. Bai Wuyi is a scholar, and this statement is definitely biased, but it is really somewhat reason."
Obviously, this middle-ranking official with a peach blossom embroidered on his chest rather looked down upon the prosperous literary world of Qi Dynasty, which did not value martial arts. He spoke in a cold voice and refused to save much face for the scholars.
"Having said that, now that the country is peaceful and the people are safe, there is no war everywhere. Isn't it a good time for a scholar to be born? Even if the world is unified in the end, we can't continue to be militaristic every day. Everyone is willing to hold a weapon. Who will pass on this earlier generation? The cultural context of this place extends to thousands of generations, so abandoning it is no less than destroying the country and destroying the surname, demolishing the ancestral temple."
The junior middle official was also unwilling to give in at all. He pursed his lips and kept mumbling. He pretended not to notice the increasingly unkind look on the face of the person in front of him and kept talking.
"You should say this with your heart in mind."
Both of them frowned fiercely and looked at the well-carved pillar behind them, their expressions changing constantly.
The well-dressed young man was quite embarrassed to come out. He smiled shyly and bowed to the two of them. No matter how you looked at it, he was the kind of wealthy young man who most attracted the attention of a girl who had not left the palace in the market. He was completely different from the one in the palace. people.
"How do you blend in with other people in the inner courtyard of the palace?" The middle official, who had peach blossoms embroidered on his chest, frowned and stared closely at the young master. Although he looked familiar, he really couldn't remember where he had seen him before, but he still said coldly.
The young master was a little stunned. He thought for a moment before replying, "That day in the old fish lake, I met several pairs of Fei Hua Ling. I just heard that the two of them mentioned the number one scholar. I thought it was someone in the palace who was looking at me." I mustn't think that when a scholar like me, who only knows how to write and write, gains power and spreads a lot of rumors, he pays attention to it and thinks about eavesdropping on a few words. I feel really guilty."
After hearing this, the two of them felt relieved. Laoyuhu Feihua did not only select the No. 1 scholar in the selection of scholars. If he was a good scholar, he could also seek an official position of neither high nor low status, although it was far less. Like the number one scholar, he rose to prominence during his official career, but in the end he was different from the ordinary scholar from a humble family. He really jumped over the dragon's gate.
Although this winter banquet was mostly prepared for the scholar who had spent six hundred dollars and had as much ink as he could pour from all corners of the country, it still had to bring along some ordinary scholars who had joined the officialdom.
It has always been said that one enters the official position when the spring breeze rises, which means that the spring breeze is triumphant and the horse's hoof is sick. Moreover, everything is busy in winter, and I am afraid that I will not be able to cope with it when I first take office. What's more, the emperor in the palace who loves to travel with everyone's arms is always the best. We should also take advantage of this time when winter has come and spring has not yet begun to get close to these young talents for a while, so as to relieve our literary addiction.
Hearing this, the promising middle official relaxed slightly, and looked at the young master with sideways eyes. The latter had a gentle smile on his face, indicating that he was not a man of such a wealthy family, so he put on a straight face. Face, "Even if the Holy Master values you and other poor scholars who have studied hard for many years, they must know the rules in the palace and eavesdrop on the words of the two of us. At least, do not leak it to avoid unreasonable trouble."
The young master smiled playfully, saluted slightly, and kept saying, "Of course I know, of course I know. Before entering the palace, a powerful man with great power had already talked about it with me. Although the etiquette and rules are a bit complicated, I can still remember them. In my heart, I dare not forget it.”
"But I have some doubts as to why middle-class nobles are so hostile to literati in particular. If I hadn't listened to your explanation of this matter, I'm afraid I would still have some unanswered questions. I hope you can explain it in detail."
The middle official snorted coldly, "Who doesn't know that in the past and present, most of the people who brought trouble to the government and the country and the people were literati? What's more, there are many mediocre people who dare to say that they are knowledgeable about ancient and modern knowledge because of their innate aura and memorization of the so-called sages' articles. , but with such ability as an official, he is often mediocre, let alone achieving any achievements, which is the most annoying. "
When the young official on the side heard this, he quickly tugged on the man's sleeves and warned in a low voice, "We are not allowed to discuss state affairs indiscriminately, and we are not allowed to arbitrarily praise or criticize officials in the DPRK. This is already a violation of the command, sir. Please don't do it." Say goodbye."
The young master was stunned for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully.
"In the opinion of the noble Lord, how should we select scholars? Only those who can be counted can make the best use of their duties. If they are good at their duties, the whole palace will be prosperous and the people in the territory will be prosperous and stable? The matter of recruiting scholars has always troubled people's minds. It seems that no one has ever been able to break this situation. If you have any ideas, please feel free to speak out."
"Teach students according to their aptitude, and select those who are good at it." The Zhongguan said in a low voice, but he did not mean to elaborate, but he was taboo and did not want to speak anymore.
After hearing this, the young master pondered for a long time and did not answer. Instead, he bowed his hands and saluted, and repeatedly said the word "teacher". He immediately did not ask further questions. Instead, he looked towards the place surrounded by nine lights and said nothing for a long time.
The three people present looked at the banquet hall together, especially the two lieutenants, who looked at each other with shock in their eyes.
Dozens of bare-chested warriors carried several sandalwood troughs that were dozens of feet long from the depths of the palace, and displayed them in the arena. Then dozens of tight tents were erected to block out the cold north wind. They are all clear springs, drawn from the depths of the palace, and fall in the middle of dozens of tents. Hot air rises from the tank, just like a warm spring has been erected in the entire inner courtyard of the palace.
Non-high-ranking officials are not allowed to take a step into the Imperial Garden. Nowadays, the poor scholars who are appointed to Laoyuhu Duifeihua Order have never taken office, and most of them are of low official rank, which is not enough to take a step into the Imperial Garden. If it were left in the past, today's Qi Qi The emperor only held a banquet after recruiting scholars, which was not as grand as today.
The strongman moved very quickly, and it took him no more than a stick of incense. He had already made arrangements to attract a group of humble scholars and high-ranking officials. However, the only thing missing was the number one scholar who had made six hundred flying flowers, so he was looking for it everywhere. , and finally found the young master who was chatting with the two lieutenants.
"Why did the No. 1 scholar go to such a place to hide alone? It really cost me a lot of time to search for him. Please step into the banquet so as not to lose your etiquette in front of the emperor."
The lieutenant who came to look for someone was quite old and had three brocade feathers on his chest. As soon as he showed up, the two lieutenants were so shocked that they did not dare to show their dignity. They bowed respectfully and did not dare to stand up.
Mr. Xun looked at the visitor and then at the two people who were as silent as cicadas, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
"The people in the inner courtyard of the palace are indeed tainted with dragon energy, have good ideas, and have very good eyesight. If the senior officials are willing to listen to what I say next, they can bring these two people with them. They will be entrusted with important tasks."
In the inner courtyard of the palace, the high-ranking official next to the emperor bowed his head and bowed humbly, respectfully inviting the young people to the banquet.
He did not dare to show any neglect in his words and deeds.
But the young master took out two dried ginkgo nuts from his arms and threw them into his mouth. Then he walked away from the banquet with a leisurely and leisurely gait.
