The evening drum sounded again.
Xue Bai was in the Youxiang Mansion and no longer cared about the curfew.
It’s hard to say whether it’s more free or less free.
Li Linfu was busy handling government affairs in his mansion every day, but today he took the time to see him.
"Your stupid method can actually find people?"
Xue Bai responded: "Documents will always leave traces. As long as you have patience, you will definitely find the traces."
"Ji Wen can't find it."
"Jifacao is too impetuous." Xue Bai agreed bluntly, and added: "Now that it has been found out that Wu Kangcheng and the Jiang brothers knew each other, he denied it without even thinking. In addition, he deliberately chatted and made me Postponing the curfew may just be to slow down my progress, or it may be that I am using my status as Jinwu Guard’s patrol envoy to notify the Longyou veterans during the curfew. We can arrange for someone to conduct a secret investigation in Jinwu Guard.”
Li Linfu coughed twice and asked someone to arrange it.
Later, he seemed to have a change of heart and took the initiative to offer benefits.
"You have done a good job in this matter. The truth is that I intend to recommend you as an official, but I wonder if you have ever recalled your life and whether you have a family background?"
Xue Bai was busy pretending to be flattered and responded: "I really can't think of it."
He knew that with Li Linfu's suspicion, such an answer could easily make him think that he was deliberately concealing something.
The already thin trust between the two was further shattered.
"It's okay, think about it slowly." Li Linfu said: "You can supervise and handle the matter regarding the Longyou veterans."
"Here."
Xue Bai turned around and left the hall, sitting down in the veranda in the front yard.
He was waiting for Jin Wuwei to make arrangements before going over to supervise them.
Not long after, someone poked his head in, but it was Yang Zhao.
"I heard from the chief steward that you are going to Jinwu Guard. I wonder why I haven't seen you in the past two days. What's the gain?"
"I found some clues."
"Who asked you this?" Yang Zhao said: "I heard that you went to Wang Wei's house. He is from the Wang family in Taiyuan, so he didn't give you anything good?"
Xue Bai shook his head.
Yang Zhao said: "Don't blame me for not reminding you that if you do things for your right minister, you have to reach out and get the benefits. In this way, you can make progress if you have the capital. Like me, I often give gifts to three ladies, and they beautify me in front of the saint." I mean, when the saint needs to employ people, he will think of me. Otherwise, if you work hard and just wait for the right minister to appoint you, won't you?"
He paused for a moment and then added.
"My brother's words today are worth a thousand pieces of gold."
Xue Bai was speechless for a moment, but the atmosphere in the officialdom is like this, the saint is so extravagant, and the right prime minister has risen to the top with his ability to manage wealth, and his actions are effective, so it is inevitable that he will be more direct when he comes to Yang Zhao.
He had no choice but to thank Yang Zhao for the gift of gold and asked, "Why is my uncle here?"
"I'm the lackey of the right prime minister." Yang Zhao smiled proudly and lowered his voice and said, "It's a big happy event. The imperial concubine has returned to the palace."
"oh?"
Yang Zhao sat down next to Xue Bai and spoke in a proud tone.
"Let me tell you, I heard that after the imperial concubine came out of the palace, the saint didn't even eat the royal meal, and he got angry and whipped everyone around. When General Gao saw this, he presented the poem you wrote for the imperial concubine. The saint said that the poem was not good, but instead The royal meal was given to General Gao, and General Gao requested an order to summon the imperial concubine back to the palace."
Xue Bai asked: "How can uncle Guo know so carefully?"
Yang Zhao still had a proud smile on his face and whispered: "Mrs. Guo Guo can find out clearly."
Xue Bai nodded.
Yang Zhao added: "The imperial concubine said that she took note of the poem you sent."
In today's world, if something happened to the Du family again, Yang Guifei's words might be able to save dozens of lives.
Xue Bai then said: "I should thank my uncle for giving me the opportunity."
"You and my brother, why are you so polite?"
Anyway, Yang Zhao has already returned Xue Bai's words worth a thousand pieces of gold, so he's not polite.
"This matter is over. Mrs. Guo Guo can finally let go of her worries. After you have finished your errands for your right minister, I will take you over to pay a visit and give you some guidance on your future."
"Uncle Guo supports me too much."
Yang Zhao said: "This is a good opportunity. If you seize it, don't imitate the Wang Wei you met today."
"oh?"
"Don't you know?" Yang Zhao glanced at Xue Bai and felt that he still had to remind him, so he waved to Xue Bai and asked him, "Do you know Princess Yuzhen?"
"I don't know much about it."
"You still want to make progress like this." Yang Zhao complained softly and said: "Princess Yuzhen is the sister of the saint. She has won the saint's favor and is extremely noble."
Xue Bai knew that this saint today would kill his son whenever he asked, but he was kind to his brothers and sisters.
After all, this saint's biological mother was secretly executed after meeting Wu Zetian, and even her body could not be found. He had been dependent on his brothers and sisters since he was a child.
"Princess Yuzhen did not choose a consort, but became a nun. The people who came and went were all talented and famous people. It was because of Princess Yuzhen's recommendation that Li Bai was able to be enshrined in the Imperial Academy."
Having said this, Yang Zhao shook his head and smiled and said: "I have also heard about it. It is said that Wang Wei failed the exam that year. King Deqi introduced him to Princess Yuzhen, dressed in white and holding a pipa. A song "Yulun Pao" was played for the princess at the banquet. The princess saw that he was "white and handsome in his youthful years" and asked King Qi who he was. King Qi smiled and replied, "He is a close friend." The princess ordered her to be a maid. He took Wang Wei to the inner room and changed into colorful clothes, climbed up to the guest seat, and treated him as a distinguished guest. During the dinner, the princess couldn't help but look sideways at Wang Wei when she saw how charming he was."
After Xue Bai heard this, he was no stranger to this situation, but he remembered what he saw that day in Mrs. Guo Guo's house.
No wonder Wang Wei would say, "You are very similar to me when I was young." They are really similar.
Yang Zhao said: "It seems that Princess Yuzhen had agreed to recommend Zhang Jiugao as the number one scholar that year. After meeting Wang Wei that day, she changed her mind and said, 'I will be the first to get rid of my head this year. I can honestly say that I will be the most glorious person in the country.' The palace maids preached, and Wang Wei rose to the throne in one fell swoop."
Xue Bai couldn't help but ask: "Can the princess decide the results of the imperial examination with just one word?"
"certainly."
Among the whole rumors, the part that shocked Xue Bai the most was that Yang Zhao responded with two words as a matter of course.
As for whether other rumors are true or false, I don’t know whether they are true or false.
"Wang Wei was twenty years old that year, and Princess Yuzhen was just over thirty. One was a handsome boy with many talents, and the other was a beautiful Taoist nun with noble status. I won't tell you what happened, you can think about it yourself."
Yang Zhao spoke with interest, and the smile on his face became brighter.
It can be seen that he usually chats with Mrs. Guo Guo and others, mostly about the affairs between these celebrities and nobles.
It is even rare to appear knowledgeable and talented.
"It's a pity that Wang Wei doesn't know how to praise. Hehe, 'Don't forget the kindness of the past because of today's favor', it's probably like this poem. He went against Princess Yuzhen's wishes and married his childhood sweetheart's cousin Cui. No. Not long after, he found an excuse and was demoted to Jeju. You see, later his wife died and he refused to renew their relationship. He said it was because he was infatuated, but why didn't he even dare to write a mourning poem? "
After saying that, Yang Zhao turned to look at Xue Bai, with a hint of caution in his eyes, and said: "If I had known this, why bother in the first place. People, you can't ruin your own future."
"Yes, the official career is like reaching the sky, so you can't always think that the road is not good."
From what Xue Bai saw today, Yang Zhao and Wang Wei were indeed worlds apart.
But in the Tang Dynasty, with Wang Wei's family background and talents, he still thought that clinging to the right prime minister was "not the right way" and that befriending the princess was "a shortcut that doesn't work."
Ordinary people can't even find a way.
Xue Bai is not Yang Zhao, but he is not Wang Wei either.
No matter how dirty or bumpy the road is, he has to walk on it.
At this moment, a servant from the Prime Minister's Mansion came over outside the door and said, "Xue Xiaolang, the Jinwu Guards have made arrangements."
"Thanks for the reminder, let's go."
~~
As night falls, Chang'an City is under curfew.
Xue Bai climbed up to the fire-watching tower in the East Market and looked up, only to see the lights of every house in Chang'an City as neatly as a chessboard.
"Ding-dong-dun-deng."
A bearded Jinwu Guard general in his forties or fifties strode up to the fire watch tower, looked at Xue Bai with his sword in his hand, and said: "Guo Qianli, the left middle lord of the Jinwu Guards, is here. You are from the Right Prime Minister's Mansion." ?”
When he opened his mouth, the smell of alcohol hit his face. Guo Qianli came here after drinking a lot of wine and was already a little tipsy.
"Xue Bai, I have been ordered by the Right Prime Minister to investigate some matters."
"Oh, what a young man."
Guo Qianli looked startled, put his big head in front of Xue Bai, and said: "I have received orders and have sent people to follow Wukang."
Xue Bai did not expect that among the Jinwu Guards, the person who switched to Li Linfu would be such a reckless man. It was a bit strange, but he couldn't ask, "I think you seem to be a good person, why do you do things for the right minister?"
"General Guo has worked hard, has he done anything strange?"
"No, he is leading people to patrol the streets in Anyifang."
Xue Bai looked south for a while. He could see nothing else in the night, only the faint light of fire behind the square building.
Guo Qianli said: "Don't worry, my people are watching him quietly."
Xue Bai nodded and asked, "General Guo, can you tell me about Wukang Cheng?"
"The veteran who came back from Longyou, the year I was transferred from Longyou to Chang'an, he hadn't gone there yet." Guo Qianli burped and said, "Our Zuojinwu Guards General Xue once made great achievements in Longyou, and many Longyou soldiers He placed all the veterans on the right."
"General Xue? He has the same surname as me. Which General Xue is he?"
"General Xue Hui of Zuo Jinwu Guard, his grandfather is our famous general Xue Rengui of the Tang Dynasty, and his father is Commander Xue Ne and Xue Jie, the Duke of Pingyang who defeated Tubo."
At this point, Guo Qianli started to smell drunk, and he patted his chest and said, "I have made meritorious service under Commander Xue Dajie, and Li Taibai even wrote poems praising me!"
Xue Bai's original intention was to investigate the Jiang brothers, but he did not expect that every person he met in Chang'an City would have such an extraordinary experience.
"oh?"
"In the second year of Kaiyuan, I followed Marshal Xue Dajie in the battle against Tibet! In this battle, more than 17,000 people were beheaded, and 1.2 million cattle and sheep were seized. The Tibetan army suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and corpses littered the fields! Just wait, I'll give it to you You read the poem Li Taibai wrote to me... and so on."
Xue Bai looked around and saw Guo Qianli taking out a crumpled piece of paper from his arms. He must have often read poems to others.
Guo Qianli coughed a few times and read loudly.
"The young general showed his martial prowess and entered the silver platform to protect Ziwei."
"At dawn, he goes to the sky with his sword, but at dusk he returns drunk with his whip."
"The beloved son plays the jade flute in the wind, and the beauty dances in her robes to the moon."
"In the past, heroes met like in a dream and wanted to be intoxicated by the light of spring."
His voice is ugly, but even a random poem written by Li Bai can appear elegant and heroic.
When Xue Bai looked at Guo Qianli again, he could tell some stories from the vicissitudes of his face.
It was quiet for a long night, and Wu Kangcheng had not made any move, so they simply talked about the old events of the Longyou battlefield on the fire watch tower.
He didn't deliberately pursue anyone, Xue Bai just listened to whatever Guo Qianli said.
"In that battle, General Wang was the vanguard, chasing the Tibetan army to the trench, and entered the Chang Castle. He was trapped in a tight siege. The generals were jealous of General Wang's military exploits and refused to come to the rescue. In the end, General Wang was outnumbered and died fighting. "
"Which General Wang?"
"The prince's right guard led the Feng'an military envoy, General Wang Haibin." Guo Qianli said: "After General Wang died in the battle, his son was adopted as a false son by the saint and named a loyal heir, that is, the sworn brother of the prince. Today's Wang Zhongsi is the envoy of the four towns of Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang and Hedong."
Xue Bai then became more and more aware.
From Huangfu Weiming to Wang Zhongsi, Longyou Army and the East Palace have always been inextricably linked.
Jiedushi can be changed, but this network of relationships will always exist.
What puzzled him was that, judging from Guo Qianli's tone, he must be someone in this network.
"You said that the prince is raising dead soldiers and is related to Longyou. I believe it." Guo Qianli added: "But there are many veterans of Longyou in the Jinwu Guard. In recent years, I have secretly inquired under the order of the right prime minister, but from No clues were found, and Wu Kangcheng never did anything unusual."
At this time, someone rushed to the Fire Watch Tower and reported: "General, Wu Kangcheng's night patrol is over and he has gone home."
"Is there anything strange about him?"
"No."
Guo Qianli then asked: "Is it possible that Xue Langjun made a mistake?"
Xue Bai looked at Guo Qianli, who had thick eyebrows and big eyes in front of him, but he felt that Li Linfu had made a mistake. The man in front of him clearly looked like a prince.
