Taishi's Mansion was built in a special courtyard outside the treasury. The most conspicuous thing in the courtyard is a giant seven-story high pavilion called Langhuan Pavilion.
Langhuan Pavilion is surrounded by water. The main body is yellow wood and the edges are decorated with black. The reason is to use black, which represents the virtue of water among the five elements, to pray that Langhuan Pavilion will not be damaged by fire.
There are four blue dragons with their heads raised in the center of the roof. They all hold copper needles in their mouths, and copper dragon tails are placed around the roof to protect against lightning.
Although Langhuan Pavilion is not as tall and majestic as Wangtiantai, looking at the Zhao Palace, these are precious buildings worthy of their name.
A certain King of Zhao once boasted: I am the only one with the vast collection of collections, Zhao Guoer!
For a time, this tall pavilion seemed to be the place where everyone in the Zhao palace aspired to, and it was also the pride of the officials of the Taishi Mansion.
Whenever newcomers enter the Zhao Palace, the seniors will point to the Langhuan Pavilion in this corner and show off to them.
However, having said that, there are very few people who actually step here and open the bamboo slips to take a look. Even the boastful King Zhao has never come in person a few times.
Thousands or even tens of thousands of bamboo slips lie quietly in the attic, waiting for people to come and read them. But even though the clerks of Taishi Mansion were coming in and out all day long, the books in many corners were slowly gathering dust.
Just because what they can look through is really limited.
However, if you look closely, you will find that the bamboo slips such as the Code of Laws and Ceremonies are polished smooth and shiny, always glowing with a warm and moist light.
The first to sixth floors of Langhuan Pavilion are respectively placed with six categories of books: Liu Yi Lue, Zhu Zi Lue, Poems and Fu Lue, Military Book Lue, Shu Shu Lue and Fang Ji Lue.
The seventh floor is the most important part of the book collection, which mainly contains the classics on the founding of the Seven Kingdoms, including the Founding Code of the State of Zhao. The founding codes of a state can be divided into six types: governing codes, religious codes, ritual codes, political codes, criminal codes, and official codes.
The collection of books on this seventh floor covers everything from the trivial details of food etiquette to the grandeur of the establishment of a country; tracing back to the beginning of China to the chaos of the country, everything is recorded in detail.
Even Zhao Gao, who was accustomed to going in and out of later libraries, could not help but sigh in his heart when he was led to look at each layer like this: Our ancestors are indeed great!
After leaving Langhuan Pavilion, Zhao Gao was led to a huge official room aside, called the Zaibi Department. As the name suggests: carry stationery to record the affairs of the king.
In fact, most of the civil servants here have no chance to meet King Zhao. They can only work as civil servants for more than ten years or more. After gaining certain experience, they become senior and then get the title of Taishi. Only with Ling's approval did he have the opportunity to follow Zuo Shi to King Zhao.
More people, their job is to organize and write records of the king's words and deeds and to read old and damaged books. The Zaibi Department is where civil servants usually work.
Under Zhang Xian's guidance, Zhao Gao started his first job today - copying a damaged slip. Zhao Gao cherished the copying work as an exercise and wrote meticulously.
Zhang Xian looked at him and said "Huh" curiously when he wrote the first word on the bamboo slip. Then he wrote another line and finally couldn't help but sigh: "No wonder the adults praise you."
Although Zhao Gao's handwriting still has many shortcomings compared with Ji Tan's old qualifications, it is more than enough compared with those of the young civil servants below.
The calligraphy of a beautiful teenage boy already has a vague sense of ancient and majestic style. This kind of skill is really surprising. Watching him copy the first volume neatly, there was not a single mistake.
When Zhang Xian received the completed paper, he once again praised it from the bottom of his heart: "It's really good."
Unlike others, Zhao Gao did not act coy when he heard this, but said bluntly: "I have nothing to do at home, so I usually practice more. If you practice like me, you can do it too."
When Zhang Xian heard this, he didn't know where the idea came from. He picked up his hand and touched the place where he usually holds the pen. As expected, he touched a thin layer of cocoon. Although he couldn't see it with his eyes, it was actually his hand. There are traces of effort.
Seeing that the person holding his hand didn't respond for a long time, Zhao Gao pulled his hand back unceremoniously, put it into his plain wide sleeves, and said quietly: "If you have nothing to do now, you might as well accompany me to copy."
The sudden loss of warmth in his palms made Zhang Xian regain his thoughts immediately. Mr. Zhang had nothing to do. The two of them were sitting together and had things to complete. They just checked Zhao Gao's completion status according to the arrangement of the meeting, and didn't want to be in the dark for a while.
At first, Zhang Xian only said that he was rude and felt guilty, but he didn't realize that Zhao Gao said that to tease him deliberately. When Zhang Xian came to his senses later, Zhao Gao had already concentrated on the next work, and he didn't realize that he was rude. So as not to disturb the other party any more.
They were so busy that it was time for dinner. Also led by Zhang Xian, the two of them entered the dining hall together.
When Zhao Gao entered the dining hall, he realized that the civil servants under You Shi were also there. Normally, the working places of the civil servants under Zuo Shi and You Shi were separated, and they lived in one place on the left and one on the right, and they did not interfere with each other. , but I didn’t expect that the two sides would meet here every day.
And it was such a tense confrontation...
Zhang Xian belongs to the kind of gentleman who has an upright mind and body, and disdains to gossip about such things, so Zhao Gao is confused.
Unexpectedly, a young man who didn't recognize life came next to him. Seeing Zhao Gao's confusion, he approached him with crooked eyebrows and said, "Want to know?"
He looked at the young man calmly. The young man is not wearing a high crown and a wide robe with wide sleeves like ordinary civil servants. Instead, he is wearing a attire that is a fusion of Hu Feng, and he looks more capable and bright.
Ever since King Wuling of Zhao introduced Hu-style riding and archery to the whole country, a trend of imitating Hu has emerged throughout the country. In addition, there is a large grassland to the north of Zhao State. Zhao people who grew up drinking horse milk wine on the grassland are born to be bolder and more cheerful than people from other countries. If you imitate the costumes of those barbarians, not only will you not look nondescript, but it will make you look more heroic.
The young man in front of me is a typical example of this kind of person. Although his actions were a little frivolous, he did exude that heroic spirit. Although the unserious expression is funny, it has actually earned a lot of favor in Zhao Gao's heart.
The winking expression made Zhao Gao a little bit dumbfounded. He patted the bamboo mat beside him with his hand to signal him to sit down, and said slowly: "I would like to hear the details."
The young man waved his sleeves and sat down unceremoniously and began to talk about the origin.
It only took a moment for Zhao Gao to hear something from his words: The ancestors of the Zuo Shiji family and the Youshi Fan family in Taishi Prefecture were feuding ancestors. They had been feuding for several generations and never let it go. Comparative energy.
But what the young man didn't understand was that the struggle between the two parties had clearly affected the management of the Taishi Ling in the past dynasties, but it was rare for the Taishi Ling to actually interfere. Many times when the quarrel got serious, Taishi Ling would intervene and mediate. Regardless of whether the two sides would continue to compete secretly, they would just calm down and turn a blind eye.
While Zhao Gao was listening to the young man's words, he also did not forget to observe the changes in his expression. Seeing that his expression became more and more confused after he spoke, he understood in his heart, so he lowered his voice and said:
"Since ancient times, whether you are a king or a minister, your subordinates have always paid attention to the art of checks and balances. For Taishi Ling, fighting between the two parties is difficult to control, but by restraining each other in this way, no one will become powerful and threaten..."
The young man already understood what it was before he finished speaking. He had heard earlier that the new Zhao Gaoyin was highly regarded by Master Zuo because of his good calligraphy. He was promoted from a humble boy to a literary official. At that time, he was just curious and didn't think there was anything special about it. Now that he hears it, After seeing his analysis that was inconsistent with his age, I really admired him a bit.
The young man then remembered that he seemed to have not told the other party his name, so he folded his hands and said: "My name is Wang Chong, if you don't mind, we will be friends from now on."
"May I ask what the name is?" Zhao Gao smiled and folded his hands in return. After getting along for a while, Zhao Gao also fell in love with this bright young man.
"Those who love you are respected."
Wang Chong, what a... uh... simple and crude name. The corner of Zhao Gao's mouth twitched slightly, but his face was still impeccable. He bowed his head and said with all courtesy, "Brother Wang."
"Little brother."
Zhao Gao is actually a little disgusted with this title. What does a grown man call a little brother? But then I remembered that I was still a little baby, and I had the heart of a man who couldn't blame others, so I just let him go.
On the other hand, Zhang Xian, from the moment Wang Chong came over, looked like he was in trance, sitting upright on his knees, not knowing how much of the conversation the two of them had listened to.
After getting along like this for a day, Zhao Gao knew clearly that Zhang Xian was cold-hearted, but not cold-hearted. Thinking that he was a newcomer, he patiently explained to him all the rules in Taishi Mansion all day long, and he did not take credit or put on airs. A friend you can talk to.
At this moment, the evening meal was served by several palace servants. Steaming rice with a little bit of glutinous rice paste [1], plus plenty of millet cakes and plenty of wild vegetable soup, that's what they had for tonight. Although it was simple, it was enough to fill their stomachs.
Zhao Gao was a southerner in his previous life and was used to eating rice. He felt uncomfortable for a long time when he first came here. It was hunger that changed his eating habits. Right now, he was chewing corn cakes and drinking wild vegetable soup with equal enjoyment.
Although these things are simple, they are palace food after all. They already taste much better than what he eats at home. Moreover, they can eat a little bit of rice paste and have some meaty taste, which is a surprise for ordinary people like them. Very happy.
