A rare snowstorm also hit Tianshui County, with fluffy and thick snow covering the fields, official roads, mountains and cities. There were still snowflakes falling from the gloomy sky in Chengji County, but the snow on the streets in the city had been cleared away.
In order to celebrate the 70th birthday of the family leader Li Xu Zong, the Li family went to great lengths to celebrate their 70th birthday. They not only wrapped the trunks of the big trees on both sides of the city's roads in silk and satin, hung red lanterns embroidered with the word "longevity" on their branches, and also cut ribbons Flowers were made of silk, leaves were cut from green silk, and they were carefully decorated on the branches; and the landscape pools in the city were also made of lotus, rhizome, water chestnut, and gravy with ribbons cut from silk.
Such careful decoration makes Chengji City full of joy, giving people the illusion of Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Yangchun and Midsummer.
Carriage after carriage, cattle and horses carrying the guests who came to celebrate the birthday passed slowly through the street and drove to Li Mansion in the south of the city in an orderly manner.
Li's Mansion is an ancient and huge house that has weathered the wind and frost. Looking from the outside, you can only see the layers of roof ridges submerged in snow; the two stone lions in front of the tall portal are majestic and majestic, and their bodies have been cleared of snow. The square was pockmarked by raindrops, and the square paved with bluestones was covered with car marks. Drops of water could actually penetrate the stone. You can fully imagine the age of this huge mansion.
At first glance, a sense of desolation and simplicity of history comes to your face.
Yang Ji was accompanied by dozens of guards to the square in front of the mansion. He wore a purple gold crown, a black cloak, and a black brocade robe. He stood proudly in the wind and snow, as strong and tall as a pine and cypress. Like jade.
Pieces of heavy snowflakes fell on the cloak, and after a while, it was covered with a thin layer of snowflakes.
The square was busy with cars and people coming and going, and it was extremely lively. However, they saw that Yang Ji was very impressive and the guards around him were even more murderous, so they stayed away from him while trying to figure out Yang Ji's identity.
Murong Xianyue looked at the handsome side face, and was lost for a moment, and an indescribable love welled up in her heart. She handed over the umbrella she was holding and said softly: "Master, umbrella .”
"..." Xian Yufang was speechless under the umbrella.
Yang Ji shook his head and said, "Just hold on!"
While he was talking, a large group of people in fine clothes who had been notified came quickly from the open middle door of the main entrance. The leader is an old man with white hair and beard; he wears a black gauze beam crown that is no longer common, and a long-sleeved red robe with the word "Shou" pattern. The big sleeves are turned up in many folds. If it were torn apart, it would probably be enough to make another set of clothes. There was also a red cloak on top of the clothes, and a pair of high-toothed wooden clogs that had long since been worn out.
This old man is today's birthday boy, Li Xu Zong. Although Li Xu Zong is seventy years old, he is energetic and has the majestic aura of a superior person. The high-toothed wooden clogs under his feet made it even more difficult to walk in this weather. However, Old Mrs. Li seemed to have been used to it. At this time, he held his neck high, straightened his waist, and walked towards Yangji as if walking on the flat ground.
"Junior Yang Wenhui will pay homage to the old lady." Yang Ji strode up to meet him and bowed humbly to Li Xuzong: "Junior will go to Zhangye and pass by your place. I heard that my senior celebrated his seventieth birthday, so he came here with his concubine to ask for help. Let’s have a cup of birthday wine; if I’m presumptuous, I still hope that my predecessors will forgive me.”
When Murong Xianyue, Xian Yufang, and Zong Luohu Zhu Can each held a gift box, they all felt a sense of absurdity in their hearts. Yang Ji's appearance was so deceptive and his performance was so good that he seemed to be a junior who came here specifically to celebrate his birthday at this moment, not at all like a demon who came to ransack his home.
Li Xuzong returned the gift and said with a smile on his face, "Your Majesty, you're welcome. It's a blessing for the entire Li family and the old man that you can come to this humble residence."
Yang Ji said to Li Xuzong: "It's just a small gift, but it shows your inner feelings. I hope senior won't dislike it."
When they arrived at Longcheng, Tianshui County yesterday, Yang Ji heard that Li Xuzong was celebrating his birthday today, so he prepared gifts and made a special trip. As for the bad guys, others will be responsible.
Zong Luohu and Zhu Can stepped forward and handed the gift box to the two descendants of the Li family who came forward.
"Your Majesty, you're welcome, Your Majesty, you're welcome." Li Xuzong was naturally not a person who cared about the importance of gifts. He laughed and said, "I am already seventy years old. I originally wanted to invite a few close friends to have a few drinks. Forget it. But the children didn’t agree, so I disturbed many relatives and friends.”
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and said, "Your Majesty, please!"
"Senior, please!" Yang Ji took off the Seven-Star Longyuan Sword and handed it to Zhu Can. Then he, Murong Xianyue and Xian Yufang followed the Li family into the mansion.
When the Li family saw Yang Ji's action of untying the sword, they secretly praised him. Not to mention the past grudges between the two parties, the mere action of the dignified prince untying the sword in front of the door gave the Li family enough face and respect. Likewise, Yang Ji also won the respect of the Li family and the onlookers.
The guests in the hall had already received the news and stood waiting. When they saw Yang Ji arriving, they all saluted Yang Ji.
Although Yang Ji was even more notorious in the aristocratic circles, the guests from Tianshui, Hanyang, Hechi, Dangchang, Lintao, Panhan, Jincheng, Huining, Wuwei, and Lingwu were all because Yang Ji took charge of Liangzhou and suppressed the Qing Dynasty. Fighting against internal and external enemies and working hard to develop the Silk Road, we lived a good life of peace and prosperity. So instead of feeling the evil of Yang Ji, not only did they not hate Yang Ji, but they were very grateful and respected Yang Ji.
Yang Ji was handsome and tall, like a jade tree standing in the wind; the grace and grace that came from his bones made people dare not take him lightly. Just looking at the love of beauty, it is easy to win the favor of others. What's more, he is polite and personable, and smiles back to everyone who greets him, so everyone has a good impression of him.
From Yang Ji's perspective, basically all the chief officials from the counties around Tianshui County were here, except for his subordinates: Fang Gongyi, the prefect of Jincheng, Zhang Shou, the prefect and general manager of Wuhan, Guo Xuan, the prefect of Huining, and Zhou Faming, the prefect of Lintao; Wen Yanhong, the governor of Tianshui, Yu Zhining, the chief minister of Tianshui, Liu Changgong, the governor of Longxi, Yang Xuanzhang, the governor of Hanyang, Dou Gui, the governor of Dangchang School, and many familiar faces appeared in the crowd.
Judging from these guests, it is clear that the Li family attaches great importance to this birthday banquet and has made full preparations in advance. It is not at all what Li Xuzong said lightly.
Li Xuzong waited for both parties to finish their salutes, and said with a loud smile: "The friends, distinguished guests, and juniors in the hall have heard about the reputation of the king for a long time. Everyone wants to see the king. You and your wife will sit down with everyone and get acquainted with each other. But the king is a young man. If he sits here with old men and women like us, he may not be able to enjoy the wine. Later, the old man will ask the young man to accompany Erlang to drink in the back. You can drink to your heart's content, haha..."
The Li family also took great pains to deal with Yang Ji who came uninvited. In terms of status, Yang Ji should drink with important guests in the main hall; however, there are too many old people here, and the age gap makes it impossible for the two parties to talk together. Moreover, the old people like to rely on their elders and sell them, and I'm afraid Yang Ji won't be able to stand them. Therefore, the Li family planned to arrange for Yang Ji to eat and drink in the inner hall.
The inner halls of famous families are generally only open to people close to them. If they are not close people, they will not be able to enter, no matter how high their status is.
If it is arranged like this, it can be said to be comprehensive.
However, there were still "processes" to go through in the main hall later, so the Li family set up seats in the main hall so that Yang Ji could watch the ceremony.
As Li Xuzong said this, his son Li Yi walked to Yang Ji and led the three of them to sit down. Yang Ji's seat is located in the middle front on the right, and there are more than ten seats in front of him, all of which are elderly people in their seventies or eighties.
In this era, due to factors such as living standards and medical conditions, it is difficult for ordinary people to live to the age of seventy. Anyone over the age of seventy is regarded as "auspicious" and receives regular condolences from the government.
When facing these auspicious old people, even Yang Guang, as the emperor, could not show off; besides, this was not an officialdom, so Yang Ji sat behind them, and naturally he did not feel any dissatisfaction; he followed the ancient etiquette He knelt down meticulously, while Murong Xianyue and Xian Yufang took the seats behind him.
The banquet had not started yet, and there were only some snacks, preserved fruits, fine wine, and tea on the table.
The person who was subordinate to Yang Ji was Fang Gongyi, the prefect of Jincheng. Fang Gongyi was already over sixty years old. He had already met Yang Ji at the door. After Yang Ji sat down, he sat on his seat.
This old man has a deep personality and is thoughtful, but now his beard and hair are white, his body is thin, and his energy is not as good as before. He resigned as early as last year. However, Yang Guang saw that he was good at political affairs and honest, so he did not agree to his resignation. Please resign.
This year it was put on the table again, but Yang Guang still refused.
Yang Ji was about to communicate with him when the white-haired old man who came forward suddenly interrupted the two of them: "Your Majesty will take up a post in Liangzhou?"
"Exactly!" Yang Ji didn't recognize any of the old men in the hall. Li Xuzong and Li Yi were extremely busy today, so naturally they didn't have time to introduce them one by one. Yang Ji saw the old man asking him politely and said politely: "Please forgive me for being clumsy and rude. I don't know how to address my senior?"
The old man was very fond of Yang Ji when he saw that he was so polite and regarded himself as a junior. He smiled and said, "My name is Li Heng. His ancestral home is Liaodong. He now lives in Liangchuan County, Huining. The king may not know about him, but his younger brother and the king Quite a connection.”
When Yang Ji heard him first say "his ancestral home is Liaodong" and then "quite related", he guessed the origin of the old man: "Is the elder's younger brother General Li Che?"
Li Che, whose courtesy name was Guangda, was born in the Li family of Liaodong Province. He was resolute by nature and had extraordinary martial arts skills. He was a minister from the Northern Zhou Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, he successively served as Shangkaifu, Yunzhou governor, and Zuowuwei general, and was highly regarded by Yang Jian. In the third year of Yang Shuang's reign, Li Che fought with the army, and together with Yang Shuang, Li Chong, Yang Lun, and Yang Zhiji, they led 5,000 elite cavalry to unexpectedly attack the Turkic army. golden armor, fleeing from the grass.
During Yang Shuang's second northern expedition to the Turks, Li Che once again served as the marching commander and accompanied Yang Shuang to capture the Turkic Khan's court. Unfortunately, he later got involved in the Yi Chu dispute and firmly stood on Yang Yong's side. Yang Jian talked to him many times but could not change his will, so he was alienated.
Yang Jian once hosted a banquet for him, talked about his life events, and once again convinced him that Li Che died shortly after returning home from Daxing Palace. Since the content of what was discussed was not known to outsiders, many people It was said that Li Che was forced by Yang Jian to commit suicide by taking poison. As for what the truth is, even Yang Ji doesn't know. However, Li Che's son Li Anyuan is now the general manager of Xizhou County, guarding the west gate of the Sui Dynasty together with the prefect Li Datong.
"My brother is Li Guangda!" Li Heng nodded and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, at such a young age, has achieved so much in just a few years since he became an official, which is really admirable."
"Senior, thank you!" Yang Ji leaned forward and said: "The junior's success today is certainly related to his own ability, but it is also inseparable from the help of people with vision such as Governor Fang, General Li Anyuan and others. More importantly, he has great help. Opportunity.”
This answer is not only appropriate, but also in line with the old man's wishes. When people were young, they often believed that "the sky is first, the earth is second, and I am third." They clamored "I have no control over my destiny" all day long, thinking that they can He kills and kills to live a wonderful life, and even regards the wisdom of the old man as cowardice. However, reality will always make them understand that they are worthless and they dare not hit or kill anyone.
Until they reach a certain age and gradually become in awe of heaven and earth, they even feel that there is a mysterious force controlling everything in the world. These old people who listened silently all had rich experiences. At this time, when they heard Yang Ji mention the word "opportunity", and in addition to the fact that Yang Ji had been helped by gods and "unhooked" in these years, they quite agreed in their hearts. .
Of course, Yang Ji's humble attitude caters to the wishes of the elderly.
Although Fang Gongyi had been an official under the rule of Liangzhou for many years, he had not had much contact with Yang Ji and did not understand his private style. He was originally worried that Yang Ji would be impatient and have a reputation of disrespecting the elderly. Now that he saw Yang Ji's response, Right, a big stone in my heart finally fell to the ground.
Another burly old man stroked his beard and smiled, and said to Yang Ji: "Everyone knows about the heroic deeds of the king in the northwest. Every time I hear about it, I wish I could be dozens of years younger and follow the king to make contributions and become famous. Outside the territory..."
People in the northwest knew almost everything about Yang Ji's deeds. When the old man met Yang Ji himself, he listed Yang Ji's proud deeds with great interest. Then he said with a general comment: "Many people say that the king is a reckless warrior, and the only thing he relies on is our powerful country in the Sui Dynasty. However, I don't agree. I see that the king's various actions and every war are all based on the use of force. wisdom."
"Take the battle when Bujia Khan marched south as an example! At that time, the enemy army had hundreds of thousands of troops, and the troops from up and down Liangzhou were divided into various counties, leaving very few usable troops. If it were another famous general. Come to fight, I am afraid that they will stick to the door and wait for reinforcements, waiting for the imperial court to come for reinforcements. If they do, they will be controlled step by step. However, the king had just started his official career at that time, and he actually counterattacked the enemy's rescue at a disadvantage, disrupting the situation. All the arrangements of Bujia Khan brought the war to the enemy's territory, and finally achieved brilliant results. If the king was a warrior, how could he achieve this step?"
Having said this, the old man shook his head: "But many people still think that the king is a martial artist. It is really annoying to think like this."
These old people no longer manage family affairs very much. They like to talk about history and politics when they have nothing to do, analyze the gains and losses of military and political affairs to future generations, and take the opportunity to teach them. When they get together, they always like to debate. And what they gain from their debates will be fed back to their descendants, inspiring them. With the teachings and inspiration of these elders, their descendants have a long-term perspective, and their knowledge far exceeds that of people from poor backgrounds.
This old man was not only very familiar with Yang Ji's deeds, but also angrily defended Yang Ji. It can be seen that he was obviously on Yang Ji's side, and had been debating with the opposing side using Yang Ji's various deeds for a long time.
The battle the old man mentioned had a great relationship with the long-dead Yang Shuang. During Yang Shuang's second Northern Expedition, he destroyed the Turkic tents, which frightened all the Turkic tribes to move away. In order to attract the Turks to die, he Then he listened to Yin Shishi's suggestion, dug up the tombs of all the Turkic Khans and heroes, and set fire to them. Then he waited there for the Turks to come and kill one person, or a pair to kill a pair. Three months passed like this, until the Turks did not dare to come, and then the teacher returned to court with satisfaction.
The Turks could not defeat Yang Shuang, and Yang Shuang was scared to death of him when he was alive, but they put this account on the head of Yang Ji who went to Liangzhou to take up a post. When Bujia Khan raised the banner of "Shame on the Holy Snow Mountain", all the tribes whose ancestral graves were dug came with the same hatred.
However, as a result, Yang Ji brought him again.
Hearing this, Yang Ji said matter-of-factly: "To be honest, I was actually very scared at the time. It's just that there are not many troops in Liangzhou, and even if we hold on, we won't be able to hold on for long. And I heard that Bujia Khan is trying to arrest me. Under the guise of a human sacrifice, I had no choice but to use myself as bait to lure away the enemy. In the end, I managed to get through. Thinking about it now, it’s incredible.”
Yang Ji has actually said similar words many times, but no one believes the truth. Everyone always thinks that he is being modest.
This time was no exception. The elders all said:
"The king is humble!"
"Your Majesty is too modest!"
"..."
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