After several people discussed it, they started to make preparations.
Li Shimin specially changed into regular clothes, saying that he looked approachable in this way.
Soon after, Huo Yi arrived in a hurry. After seeing His Majesty, he hurriedly bowed his head and said:
"Your Majesty, I have prepared the dinner.
Xue Zong has also offered sacrifices in front of the prime minister's tomb, and the condolence ceremony is scheduled for the day of recess two days later. "
"Well, since He Zong and Du Qiong have already arranged this matter, I can just wait and go together.
Without further ado, let’s go to Honglu Temple to attend Xue Zong’s reception banquet. "
Not long after, Li Shimin and others came to the place where Honglu Temple entertained guests.
At this time, all the important officials of the court were present, and Xue Zong was chatting with He Zong and others.
As expected, Xue Zong's eyes still glanced at Jiang Wan from time to time, and he always mentioned Jiang Wan accidentally when talking to He Zong and others.
Li Shimin walked towards the banquet hall while paying attention to Xue Zong's every move.
I am even more certain about what I thought before.
"Foreign Minister Xue Zong has met your Majesty. Thank you very much for your hospitality!"
As soon as Li Shimin arrived at the door of the banquet hall, Xue Zong came up to greet Li Shimin.
"Ah! Xue Shangshu doesn't need to be so polite. Our country is a country of etiquette, so it should be like this."
At this time, the deacons and officials in Honglu Temple walked out of the banquet hall and bowed to His Majesty:
"Your Majesty, all the items for the reception banquet have been prepared. Do you want to join us?"
"Well, gentlemen, please take your seats!"
After saying that, Li Shimin put his hands on his back and walked into the hall first.
The rest of the people all bowed and stood waiting for His Majesty to take his seat.
The hall is brightly lit, and there is a dragon head case at the top of the center. Behind the case, two maids stand around.
From the leading table below, there are two rows of food tables on the left and right sides of the hall, with a maid standing behind each table.
There is a charcoal fire rack under the lampstand, and the brazier in the rack is burning with charcoal. The whole hall is heated by the charcoal fire like warm spring.
Everyone saw His Majesty sitting on the ground behind the dragon head case. Everyone took off their swords and shoes and filed into the hall according to their status, and took their seats according to their numbers.
Xue Zong was sitting slightly lower on the right side of the dragon's head table, behind a slightly larger food table.
After everyone was seated, the eunuchs from the palace successively brought trays containing the same food and placed them on everyone's dining tables in order.
On His Majesty's case, Huang Hao personally brought the food and arranged it.
After all the food and drinks were placed, a eunuch served everyone with boiled wine and cups.
When Li Shimin saw that everything in front of everyone was ready, he picked up the wine cup and said:
"Today's banquet is a banquet for the envoys from the allies, and you can all enjoy the banquet here.
There is no need to follow the same rules at the banquet as in the court, gentlemen, please do as you please!
With this glass of wine, on behalf of the Han Dynasty, I would like to pay my respects to Xue Shangshu, the envoy of the State of Wu! "
After saying this, Li Shimin looked at Xue Zong and clinked glasses with him from a distance.
Xue Zong stood up quickly, held the bottom of the cup with one hand, covered the wine cup, mouth and nose with the other, and drank the wine in one gulp.
After this cup, the reception feast officially begins.
From Li Shimin on down, officials from the DPRK and the Central Government gathered in small groups according to their official ranks and went to propose a toast to Xue Zong.
For a time, the hall was filled with people drinking and laughing, making it very lively.
There are also various performances such as dancing and singing to add to the fun.
Xue Zong seemed to have temporarily forgotten his mission, and just walked through the banquet, constantly drinking with Shu Han courtiers.
After a few laps, Xue Zong suddenly stopped in front of Jiang Wan's case and said slightly drunkenly:
"Gong Yan, when I was in Jingzhou, I often heard local officials talk about your Excellency.
Everyone who knows Jiang Gongyan has high praise for you.
Among them are many of your former Jingzhou friends.
It's just that my knowledge is shallow and I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so I naturally don't believe all those evaluations.
Now that I have met Gong Yan today, I want to know whether Gong Yan is exaggerating. How about Gong Yan show off his talents a little so that I can open my eyes! "
"Xue Shangshu, it's not that I don't want to show my shame, it's just that I can't bear to drink, and I am indeed a bit drunk now.
I'm afraid I won't be able to satisfy Xue Shangshu today! "
Xue Zong didn't believe Jiang Wan was drunk at all, and said angrily:
"What Jiang Gongyan said is wrong! As the saying goes, one speaks the truth after drinking.
From what I can see, Gongyan is just meditating here alone and hardly ever talks to anyone.
Such behavior is far different from that of a drunk person! "
After saying this, he toasted:
"Since I have seen through Gong Yan's words, I shall punish myself with a cup of wine.
Today is my reception banquet again. Gongyan punishes himself, so I should accompany him! "
After saying this, he drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, then looked at Jiang Wan and laughed.
Seeing this, Jiang Wan also drank the wine in the cup.
"Jingwen, I feel happy today, so I took advantage of Jingwen to enjoy the feast and drank a few more glasses by myself.
Now that Jingwen has ordered me to punish myself, I dare not drink anymore.
The cup I had just now was considered to be the last cup of the day for the sake of respect.
I hope Jingwen won't persuade me to drink again, otherwise I won't be able to suppress my drunkenness and start a fight. Wouldn't it embarrass Jingwen? "
When Xue Zong heard this, he smiled slightly, and then asked his maid to fill their wine cups.
"His Majesty just said that today we can do whatever we want. Gongyan's words like this, are you trying to spoil your Majesty's pleasure?"
Jiang Wan saw that Xue Zong wanted to get him drunk, so he started to worry about it.
Xue Zong's move should be to try to get Pan Jun out of him.
Thinking of this, Jiang Wan knew that the time had come, so he suddenly slapped the case and stood up and said:
"Today's wine is really refreshing! A few days ago, there was a happy event in my family.
But because there were so many things going on in the court, I didn't even drink to celebrate.
It coincides with Xue Jingwen's reception banquet, and with the previous happy event, it is a double happiness for me.
It just so happened that the wine was in full swing at this time, and His Majesty ordered us to do whatever we wanted. I wanted to share the joy of my family here and enjoy it with you all! "
As he spoke, Jiang Wan began to stagger into his arms, as if he was looking for something.
At this time, Xue Zong was confused and wondered why Jiang Gongyan got so drunk so suddenly.
Just as he was about to ask, Fei Yi came to Jiang Wan. First, he said to Xue Zong, "It's funny." Then he supported Jiang Wan who was crumbling and said:
"Gong Yan, this banquet is a public matter, how can you talk about your private matters at home on such an occasion?
I see that you are already very drunk, so why don't you ask the palace guards to take me back to the mansion. No matter what happens, we can discuss it later when you sober up tomorrow. "
Jiang Wan ignored Fei Yi and just took out the things hidden in his arms.
When everyone looked closely, they saw Jiang Wan's eyes slightly closed, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, holding several letters in his hand, looking intoxicated.
"Xian Shao! Come here, I have a favor to ask you!"
When Huo Yi heard this, he glanced at His Majesty first and saw that His Majesty nodded to him. Huo Yi understood and walked directly towards Jiang Wan.
"Xian Shao! Where are you? Xian Shao?"
"Gongyan, I'm here. In such an occasion, Gongyan's behavior may be inappropriate."
Jiang Wan heard this and wanted to step forward to catch Huo Yi, but found something in his hand that affected his actions.
Then he handed the items in his hand to Xue Zong beside him and shouted:
"When your father was still alive, we were friends of my generation.
Now that Huo Shaoxian has become a celebrity around His Majesty, he doesn't take us seriously anymore?
In public, they actually blamed me for being unbecoming! "
With that said, Jiang Wan pounced on Huo Yi, wanting to "teach" Huo Yi a lesson.
At this time, many of the courtiers who had been greeted by His Majesty before stood up and came to Jiang Wan.
Everyone deliberately pushed Xue Zong out of the gathering place, and then they all gathered around Jiang Wan and Huo Yi, ignoring Xue Zong.
At this time, Xue Zong was puzzled and subconsciously glanced at what Jiang Wan had accidentally stuffed into him.
It didn't matter when I saw it, I almost screamed in surprise.
It turned out that what Jiang Wan stuffed into Xue Zong were letters between himself and Pan Jun.
There were two letters in total, both of which were replies from Pan Jun.
Xue Zong saw that there was already a commotion in the hall and that His Majesty was missing, so he hurried out of the hall.
Using "Urine Escape", I found a secluded place and quickly browsed two letters under the moonlight and the firelight from the hall window.
After reading the content of the letter, Xue Zong breathed a long sigh of relief and thought to himself:
"It seems that the words of Wuling Grand Guard Jing are not credible! This person must be jealous of Pan Jun's achievements and use this matter to slander the court."
Afterwards, Xue Zong restored the letter and returned to the banquet hall easily.
As soon as he entered the hall, he found that the hall was already calm as usual, and Jiang Gongyan was also sitting on the table, fully dressed.
When he looked up, His Majesty was smiling at him.
Seeing this, Xue Zong slapped his head and laughed at himself:
"Alas! It's my villain's heart! If this matter had been made clear earlier, there would be no need to make Jiang Gongyan embarrassed like this!"
While he was laughing at himself, Li Shimin said:
"Xue Shangshu, we are allies and we should trust each other. Are there any other matters during this visit?"
Xue Zong hurriedly stepped forward and said:
"Replying to your majesty, it is because the foreign minister did not think carefully and underestimated the magnanimity of your majesty and the princes of Shu.
Now that Pan Jun's case has been made clear, the foreign minister has nothing else to do.
After only two days to express condolences to Prime Minister Zhuge, the foreign ministers set off to return. From then on, Wu and Shu continued to form a close alliance to fight against Cao Wei as before! "
"Very good! In this case, let's put down what's on our minds and enjoy ourselves here."
As he spoke, Li Shimin nodded downwards.
One of the courtiers, seeing His Majesty's signal, hurriedly got up and came to Xue Zong.
"Your Excellency, there is something else you need to do during your trip. I will inform Xue Shangshu today. I hope Xue Shangshu is prepared!"
