Zhuangzhu Ge was about to persuade him to go back first and talk about something tomorrow, but he heard Li Yong say: "It's just Ruliang, let this Japanese Jinglang ask." He turned back to Jiang Shuo and said: "You put the baggage away first. In my arms, I’ll talk to you later.”
Jiang Shuo heard this and took the small bundle into his arms. The bundle was not big, only eight inches square, and it did not feel heavy even in his arms.
Li Yong watched Jiang Shuo put it away, then turned to Jing Zhencheng and said, "Jing Lang, you ask, Yong will tell you everything he knows today."
Inoue Zhencheng bowed again and then said: "Zhencheng's grandfather is Inoue Jisumaro, one of the six highest court officials in Japan. My father was lucky enough to be selected as the eighth envoy to the Tang Dynasty in the second year of Qingyun. Oh, That is to say, in the second year of the Tang Dynasty, Shenlong came to the Tang Dynasty. My father was not a foreign student. After paying homage to the Tang Emperor, he only had to stay in the Tang Dynasty for one year to appreciate the customs of the Tang Dynasty and purchase supplies and books needed for the country. He should return to Japan in the second year. The country returned to the Emperor of our country, but my father did not return the next year. Not only did my father not return, but no one in the entire mission of more than 400 people came back. To get to Datang from Japan, you need to take a boat across the vast sea, and the winds are high and the waves are dangerous and dangerous. It is common for the boat to capsize. After a few years, there was no news about my father. The family only said that he was lost at sea. Unfortunately, my father was only seven years old when he was sent to Tang Dynasty..."
Cheng Ang said impatiently: "Jing Lang, it's so late, and we don't have time to listen to your family's sad history."
Cheng Ang's words were very rude, and Nan Jiyun hurriedly tried to persuade him: "Brother Cheng, don't be like this, Jing Lang is also a miserable man." Nan Jiyun also lost his father when he was young, and he felt that he and Jing Zhencheng were in the same boat, and he couldn't help but feel that he was suffering from the same fate. Share sympathy.
Jing Zhencheng bowed to Cheng Ang and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Cheng. It's not because Zhencheng is so verbose that I am sympathetic to you. I just want to ask Li Shijun something, and I have to explain the causes and consequences. You will know after listening to me."
Cheng Ang said: "Okay, let me listen to what you have to say. I won't let you go if you are trying to make things up." After saying this, he sat cross-legged on the ground. Everyone except Jing Zhen Chengdu, who knew Lao Cheng very well, smiled and ignored him. Listen to what Jing Zhencheng says.
Jing Zhencheng bowed to Cheng Ang again and continued: "Everyone in the country said that his father died at sea, but Zhencheng didn't believe it. Do you want to give a reason? Some of the envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty encountered shipwrecks before, but some of them always managed to return to Japan alive. , it has never happened before that no one was seen, and not even a piece of shipwreck or wood was seen. Maybe it was because my father was too obsessed with the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty and refused to go back, or maybe it was because his father had some adventure and was unable to go back. Therefore, Zhencheng has been determined to come to the Tang Dynasty to find his father since he was a child. However, Japan and the Tang Dynasty are separated by vast oceans. The only way to come to the Tang Dynasty is to send a fleet of envoys from the Tang Dynasty. The fleet can take anywhere from three to five years to more than ten years to make the trip. It wasn't until the fifth year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty, eleven years after my father's mission, that the emperor sent another mission..."
Everyone listened to him talking about the period from the Shenlong period to the early Kaiyuan years, which was all twenty or thirty years ago. Thinking that the story was very long, they all found a place to sit nearby. Nan Jiyun sat down next to Cheng Ang, and Cheng Ang He whispered to Nan Jiyun, "Nan Ba, who is this emperor? Is he the Jade Emperor?"
Nan Jiyun spat softly and said: "The Japanese Japanese in Dongyi don't know how high the sky is and how high the earth is. The chief who calls himself 'Emperor' cannot be taken seriously."
Cheng Ang chuckled and said, "The king of a small country actually calls himself the 'Emperor'. It's funny, it's funny." He didn't know the size of Japan, thinking that since it is an island country on the sea, it is naturally a small country.
Jing Zhencheng didn't hear the two of them talking and joking. Seeing everyone sitting down, he was honest and polite. He sat cross-legged on the ground and said: "In the fifth year of Kaiyuan, I was already eighteen or nineteen years old. I was old enough to say goodbye to my relatives." You are still young, but our country is very strict in selecting envoys to the Tang Dynasty. Zhencheng was not selected. Fortunately, this mission returned as scheduled the next year. I quickly went to visit the envoy Duozhibi County Governor and asked him about the previous mission. His whereabouts, I was shocked when I asked about it. The Sifangguan where the Tang Dynasty received envoys from the four barbarians only recorded the seventh mission of the Awata courtier Zhenren in the first year of Dazu, followed by the envoy of Dozhibi County in the fifth year of Kaiyuan. Mission, there is no record of my father’s mission in the second year of Shenlong..."
Cheng Ang said: "This is not surprising. Maybe your grandfather died on the way to the Tang Dynasty by boat and did not arrive at the Tang Dynasty. Then of course there is no record."
Jing Zhencheng shook his head and said: "The envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty did not only have one ship at a time, but at least two or more than four ships. In order to avoid being in danger together, each ship set out a few days apart. The ambassador and deputy envoys also took two ships to prevent them. Unexpected. My father's mission consisted of four ships, and they set off half a month apart. There is no chance that all four ships would sink at the same time."
Cheng Ang heard this with disapproval, shook his head and said: "There are many coincidences in the world. Maybe it is possible that four ships were killed one after another."
Jing Zhencheng now knew that Cheng Ang was confused and ignored him, and continued: "In this way, Zhencheng became even more convinced that there was something strange in it. He had to come to the Tang Dynasty to find out in person. From then on, I studied Chinese studies assiduously and never left him. It has been a small success in five years, but it was not until the emperor summoned the Tang envoys. It was not until the fourth year of Tianping Shengbao, oh, the 21st year of the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, that the Emperor sent out the Tang envoys again. At that time, I was thirty-four, and I was already He is a well-known sinology expert, so he was successfully recruited into the mission and appointed as a quasi-judge."
Cheng Ang said: "The 21st year of Kaiyuan... It's eight or nine years ago, right?"
Nan Jiyun said: "It has been exactly ten years. It has been twenty-nine years since Kaiyuan. Now it is the second year of Tianbao. It has been ten years since the twenty-first year of Kaiyuan."
Jing Zhencheng nodded and said: "Ten years have passed in a flash, and it seems as if the crossing of the sea is still before my eyes. In the spring of the 21st year of Kaiyuan, I set off from Namba on the same ship as Ambassador Tajihihiro, and arrived after more than four months of bumpy seas. Mingzhou, then went north to Luoyang via Tongji Canal, originally going to Chang'an to pay a visit to the Holy Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. However, a famine broke out in Chang'an in the autumn of that year. The Holy Emperor led hundreds of officials to eat in Luoyang, the eastern capital, so we did not go to Chang'an. I waited for the saint's call at the Sifang Pavilion in Luoyang, and did not complete the tribute in Luoyang until the spring of the 22nd year of Kaiyuan the following year. However, it was this delay in Luoyang that allowed me to discover clues about my father's mission."
At this moment, Cheng Ang's curiosity had been piqued by Jing Zhencheng, his eyes widened and he said, "What's the clue? Tell me! Tell me!"
Jing Zhencheng said: "In the Sifang Pavilion of Luoyang, there is a record of the visit of Japanese envoys in the second year of Shenlong. It turns out that Wu Zhou used Luoyang as his capital. Although the Queen died in the first year of Shenlong, the Tang Emperor who re-assumed the throne in the second year was also in In Luoyang, my father went to the Sifang Pavilion in Luoyang instead of the Sifang Pavilion in Chang'an, so the Dozhibi County Guard in Chang'an did not find any records of my father's visit."
Cheng Ang asked: "Then what kind of real person are you talking about who was sent to Tang Dynasty for the seventh time..."
Jing Zhencheng said: "The real person of the Awata court minister."
Cheng Ang said: "Yes, yes, it's this real person. When did he arrive in the Tang Dynasty?"
Jing Zhencheng said: "The first year of Dazu."
Nan Jiyun said: "That's wrong. The first year of Dazu is the reign of Queen Zetian. This 'real person' should also have arrived at Luoyang Sifang Pavilion. How could the 'county guard' find out that the 'real person' has arrived?" I visited you, but there is no record of your grandfather?”
Jing Zhencheng said: "I also thought of this section, and asked the general secretary of Luoyang Sifangguan about it, and then I found out that in Honglu Temple, the tribute records of foreign missions from the two capitals were transcribed from each other, that is to say, whether in Chang'an It is still Luoyang, as long as the envoys received by the emperor have detailed records."
Nan Jiyun said: "That doesn't make sense..."
Jing Zhencheng said: "I thought about it for a long time, and finally figured it out. What Honglu Temple transcribed was only the record of the emperor's reception of tributes in the two capitals, not the check-in records of the envoys at the Sifang Pavilion in the two capitals under Honglu Temple."
Cheng Ang said: "The more I listen, the more confused I become. Nanba, do you understand?"
Nan Jiyun said: "It seems that there is only one possibility, and that is that Master Jinglang's delegation arrived in Luoyang but did not pay homage to the Tang Emperor."
Jing Zhencheng said: "It is true as Nanba said. Zhencheng has confirmed with Sifangguan and Honglu Temple. Sure enough, Sifangguan has a check-in record, but Honglu Temple has no tribute record. It seems that my father arrived in Luoyang but did not pay homage. "
Cheng Ang said: "This is really weird. The mission has traveled thousands of miles and traveled across mountains and rivers just to pay homage to the emperor?"
Jing Zhencheng said: "At that time, Zhencheng was still puzzled, but this is the fact. There are records of the reception and accommodation in the Sifang Pavilion, but there is no record of tribute. After that, it was as if they disappeared out of thin air. There is no record of their whereabouts. Because of the great During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Tang envoys were often sent to stay in China without returning to Japan. However, it is unheard of for more than 400 members of my father's envoy to disappear. It remains to be investigated carefully. But I am not an overseas student or a learned monk. After being able to stay in the Tang Dynasty for one year, I had to return with the ambassador. Seeing that the day of return was approaching, I had no choice but to fake my death and pretend to be seriously ill. After a few days, I faked my death by holding my breath. Yi Fengyu, he is in the fifth rank, but he is not young..."
Cheng Ang stared and said: "You still have such skill? Then you are pretending to be dead and you are not afraid of being buried alive?"
Jing Zhencheng said: "There is a kung fu in our country called 'Zhi Neng Jian', which includes the method of sleeping while the turtle is resting. I have deceived everyone with this method. As for being buried alive, I don't have to worry about it. I did some tricks on the coffin." , slipped away from under the coffin before he was buried. Since then, Zhencheng has kept his name anonymous and secretly searched for his father's whereabouts using the method of "will and ability"."
Cheng Ang said: "This 'Zhi Neng Yi' Kung Fu is quite interesting. Why do you always do such shady things?"
Jing Zhencheng bowed and said, "Cheng Lang made fun of me. 'Shineng Ben' was created by Prince Shotoku, the former emperor of our country. It was originally used to secretly collect intelligence for the royal family, so it was all about stealth and short-term assassination." "
Everyone couldn't help but laugh when they heard him say "assassination with short blows" and looked at the long knife in his arms. Jing Zhencheng didn't notice it and continued talking: "I secretly visited Cong Ming with the technique of 'will can do it'. The detailed records in Tang Dynasty documents are really admirable. However, the more Zhicheng checked, the more confused he became. The whereabouts of his father's mission on the way to Luoyang could be traced, but There is no record of any return trip.”
