Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1022
On the 21th, the emperor had a good night in the eastern capital, on the 22st he stopped for a day, and on the [-]nd he held the Jiahui Festival.

Guochaohui is divided into three types: Dachaohui, Shuowangchaohui and Changchaohui.

In the beginning, there were only two days, the first day of the Yuan Dynasty and the winter solstice, and the specifications were very large: "On the first day of the Yuan Dynasty, the grand display will be held in the Taiji Hall. Fighting. The two queens and hundreds of officials, court envoys, relatives of the emperor, relatives, and court uniforms accompany the seats."

The etiquette of the Winter Solstice Dynasty is similar to that of the Yuan Day, the only difference is that the emperor wears the Tongtian Crown on this day.

The furnishings of the Grand Court Meeting are also high-level, such as the "Gongxuanzhile" that is only used on the highest-level occasions, that is, many bells are hung in the hall; Huang Huizhan" and so on.

The so-called Jiahui Festival is today's birthday on March 22.

Xuanzong was the first to hold the birthday party. He named the fifth day of August as Qianqiu Festival, and later renamed it Tianchang Festival.Later emperors followed suit. Suzong set his own birthday (the third day of September) as Tiancheng Diping Festival, and Daizong set October [-]th as Tianxing Festival...

In fact, because this kind of festival is too annoying, the willingness of the officials to participate is not high, so starting from Emperor Daizong, such festivals are no longer mandatory to hold grand court meetings, and monks and Taoists are usually invited to chant scriptures and pray for blessings.It is actually relatively rare to hold a grand court meeting at the Jiahui Festival today.

When Shao Shude received the news, he was inspecting the Luoshui River in Yanshi County. This is the confluence of Yishui and Luoshui, and the Caoqu Canal is also here, so it is very important. Under the command of the craftsmen, the apprentices are busy, installing gate.

"The sage wants to hold a court meeting, so let's do it." Shao Shude waved his hand, and said nonchalantly: "The bell is out, the ceremonial guards are incomplete, and the face of the court is lost, which is simply unreasonable."

Shao Shude doesn't have a good view of the emperor now, thinking that he is too much of a troublemaker.Thinking of all the unimaginable behaviors in his history, for example, after training a hundred thousand new troops, the first thing he did was to trouble Li Keyong and want to take back Hedong.Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu bullied the sage. After Li Keyong defeated them, he actually refused to allow them to completely wipe out Li Maozhen's Fengxiang Army. After Ke Yong retreated, the relieved Li Maozhen almost broke up the court.

He didn't have a clear mind, he didn't know who was his own and which was the enemy, he didn't know the priorities, he was impatient and irritable, and he didn't take responsibility, which killed several prime ministers who were responsible for him.

cheat!

"Your Highness, during the Great Court Meeting, all civil and military officials have to participate. During the Chang Dynasty, the military officials in Beijing have to attend the court meeting four times a month for the fifth rank and above, and seven times a month for the third rank and above." Li Yixian said: "Jiahui According to the system, you have to participate in the festival."

"Hmm..." Shao Shude pondered for a while, and said, "Then let's participate."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Zhao Keyu, the capital supervisor who was following him, and said, "Not all the officials in Chang'an have followed. If there are some vacancies, let our people fill them in. Even if someone came from Chang'an later, they didn't." He's in the position. You can take up the post of capital water supervisor."

This is actually a magpie's nest and a dove's occupation. First, some of his own people are formally appointed to important positions, and the original officials are replaced in a logical manner.When the time is right, switch directly and seamlessly, which is convenient and quick.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness." Zhao Keyu was also interesting. He became the capital water supervisor of Datang, but thanked Shao Shude.

"Do it well. I am very satisfied with the idea you proposed this time." Shao Shude said.

Zhao Keyu had just returned from Tang and Deng, and excitedly proposed a plan to cross Fangchengkou: repair the ship lock.

To put it bluntly, it is not complicated. The Tangbai River should be dug, and the digging will stop when it reaches the water. This section is about a hundred miles, using the ancient Baihe River, which is the limit of two excavations in the early Northern Song Dynasty. Location.Then build a ship lock here, and slowly raise the ship by storing water. It takes about 20 meters, and then directly sails into the Shitang River in the Wanye Corridor, connecting the water system on the Western Henan Plain.

The core point is to raise the boat by storing water instead of digging the river.

In fact, this idea has been around for a long time.Ship locks, also called Doumen, were built during the construction of the Lingqu in the Xiantong period, and 18 Doumen were built to raise the water level so that ships could cross mountains and ridges and navigate up and down.

There are similar projects abroad.

In 1662, Colbert, successor of Cardinal Mazarin, built the Languedoc Canal for King Louis XIV of France.The purpose of the river was to connect the waterways of inland France to the Mediterranean Sea and facilitate foreign trade.The difficulty of the project is that the canal needs to cross the peak, which is not easy.

Beginning in November of that year, the Canal Committee began to demonstrate continuously, and then dug a small-scale canal on the top of another mountain for experiments. It took a long time and lasted 11 years. Tens of thousands of workers worked hard every year, and finally built a canal. Hundreds of locks connect Toulouse directly to the Mediterranean Sea.

The most difficult part of the project is the section from Toulouse to the Garonne. The canal rises 206 feet to the top of the mountain, then sails 3 miles on the top of the mountain, and then descends 620 feet to reach the Mediterranean Sea. , I didn’t bother to repair the ship lock at all, and directly excavated the entrance of Fangcheng to let the canal pass through.

The ship lock of the Yueling Canal is only a part of the difficulty, and another major difficulty is how to store water.That is, after the boat enters the gate, the gate is closed, and you need to release water from above to continuously raise the water level, so that the boat can smoothly enter the river section on the top of the mountain.It goes without saying that this requires a lot of water.

The French approach is to build an artificial lake on the top of the mountain, divert water from other places to store water in the lake, and reduce the number of navigations at the same time, that is, let the ships gather together to pass the lock, lift up, and then release the water after passing to minimize water loss. .

The method proposed by Zhao Keyu is also in this way. It is not difficult to build a ship lock. The difficulty is how to store water. This requires field investigation to see if this condition is met.

Anyway, this is a long-term project, and it takes more time to demonstrate in front. Don't be like Zhao Eryi who slapped his head. When he dug to the entrance of Fangcheng, he found that the terrain in front of him was getting higher and he couldn't get through.In order to cross the top of the mountain, the French built 26 locks to raise the water level step by step, and then lower it step by step, which cost a lot.

Fangchengkou may not need to build so many locks, but the cost must not be small.Shao Shude decided to give it a try, but not now, let's make an argument first.

After Zhao Keyu left contentedly, Li Yanling came again.

"Your Highness, the matter of the court meeting..." Li Yanling said angrily, "Prime Minister Zhu Pu heard that I was in charge of the Si Nong Temple, so he asked me to prepare the materials and food needed for the court meeting. And reward all officials."

Si Nong Temple has warehouses and many gardens under its jurisdiction. There are servants who farm the land, and they have a considerable output. Therefore, they are responsible for the supply of court meetings and sacrifices: The things stored in the department and prison are used for their work."

It was not wrong for Zhu Pu to seek out Li Yanling, the de facto Secretary of Agriculture.It's just—why are they so confident?
"Your Highness, this dog—this emperor is too ignorant." The more Li Yanling talked, the more angry he became, and said, "Running around in a hurry, there is nothing you want, and someone else would be afraid of losing his life. Fortunately, he actually took the initiative to toss Woke up. Only now do I understand how correct His Highness was in not wanting to get involved in the affairs of Chang'an, alas!"

Shao Shude also had a headache when he heard it.Are you being too polite?

It's nothing more than giving banquets. All the sages of the country like to give banquets. Everyone sits together, eats and drinks, shouts long live, and then receives some rewards to go home.

This system originated in the Taizong period.At that time, the country was young, the income was not rich, and the salaries of the officials were also small, so Taizong often held banquets and invited all the civil and military officials to the banquet.At the banquet, a lot of property was rewarded, and bonuses were distributed in disguise, and everyone was happy.

Where did you get the money today?Send a reward, to put it lightly!
"Has Ling Shanglin found a successor?" Shao Shude asked.

"I found it. Cai Zhoucheng's second son, Cheng Yi, used to be the warehouse governor in Shanzhou. I asked him to come over and serve as Shanglin Ling." Li Yanling replied.

Sinong Temple is a bit like a collection of grain storage, SASAC, general office, guest house and so on in later generations.There are several large warehouses to manage. At the same time, there are fields, pastures and orchards in the forbidden gardens of the eastern and western capitals, and there are also gardens in Miyagi Ouchi. During court meetings and sacrifices, they provide self-produced grain, meat, fruits and vegetables, Part of the food and salary of officials is also distributed by them.

The Shanglin Administration is its subordinate organization, which mainly manages the agricultural output of the Forbidden Gardens of the Two Capitals for the needs of sacrifices and court meetings. The Shangshi Bureau also provides materials for the daily food presented to the emperor.In addition, store ice in the cellar in winter and take it slowly after mid-spring.

"Cheng Yi took some winter vegetables from the garden of Shendu Garden to breed geese, ducks, chickens, and pigs, and provided them as appropriate. The first time a sage holds a grand meeting, let him go." Shao Shude said.

Having said that, it is certain that I am unhappy.

Shao Shude is not very sure, is the conflict between the puppet emperor and powerful officials in history accumulated little by little from these trivial matters?
At the beginning, the powerful officials were all patient, right?In the end, the little emperor pushed his nose on his face, and the conflict intensified. Can't bear it anymore?

"Of order." Li Yanling replied, and then said another thing: "Guangcheng Tang came to report, and he wanted to build a warm house and plant melons and fruits in the middle of winter."

The warm house is actually the greenhouse planting of later generations.Wang Jianyou said in a poem: "The inner garden is allotted with warm water, and the melons have already entered in mid-February."

Its essence is to use hot spring water to increase the temperature of the warm house, and to grow vegetables and fruits that are out of season. Therefore, the palace has fresh fruits and vegetables to eat in the middle of February in the lunar calendar.

The emperor's enjoyment is really extravagant!Shao Shude sighed secretly, and said, "Sure."

Li Yanling responded and was about to leave when Shao Shude called to stop him.

"The various pastures are also under the management of Sinong Temple. Let me ask, how many stallions are there?" Shao Shude asked.

"Six horses at 230." Li Yanling said in a familiar manner.

Yinchuan Ranch has been breeding new breeds of horses.Basically, every time a batch is produced, if the results are found to be unsatisfactory, they will be eliminated immediately, and only a few stallions will be kept for further breeding.

"Dunhuang came to report that a Hu businessman was carrying a bloody horse eastward, but it was snatched by the Uighurs in Gaochang again. You and others can make a total calculation to see if there is another route." Shao Shude said: "Among the existing horse herds, there are good horses. The pedigree is too thin, and it is difficult to cultivate, so hurry up and deal with it."

"As ordered." Li Yanling replied.

After Lao Li left, Shao Shude didn't intend to delay, and began to return to Luoyang.

According to the system, the governors of feudal towns are not allowed to leave the jurisdiction without authorization.Therefore, he can be in Lingzhou, he can be in Hezhong Prefecture, he can be in Bianzhou, there is no problem, but he cannot be in Luoyang.

But Shao Shude didn't bother to care about it anymore, I just went to Luoyang, what can I do?
When they arrived at Jirun Station, Taichangqing Guo Fu and Taifuqing Chen Yishen came hand in hand.

"A court meeting again?" Shao Shude asked helplessly.

"Exactly." Guo Fu replied: "The sage sent Mrs. Zhao Guo to dote on her beauty and pass on the decree, so that all the bells should be compiled and hung in the Hanyuan Hall. Taizhu, Fengli Lang, Xie Lu Lang, Le Zheng, etc. are all ready. Hundreds of Zhaowen and Wu Wulang..."

"The sage also sent Yang Kezheng, the wife of the state of Jin, to pass the decree, ordering to prepare five chariots and horses, and to lead the drivers to pre-train." Chen Yishen also came up to complain: "Ms. It is not easy to arrange things, so I advise the sage to keep everything simple. The sage refused, and said that this is the first court meeting after Xing Dongdu, and he wants to announce the change of Yuan and amnesty to the world, so he wants to hold it more grandly."

"Wu Ren belongs to Che Yu, and Taipu Temple has it?" Shao Shude asked.

"It took a year to prepare it." Chen Yishen complained, "It took a lot of effort. Your Highness, this is prepared for your enthronement."

"The sage wants to hold a grand court meeting. These chariots should be used by the sage first." Shao Shude waved his hand and said impatiently.

Li Yixian's expression changed, and he keenly sensed Shao Shude's mood swings.

"That's all." Shao Shude took a deep breath and said, "I'm also going to prepare for tomorrow's court meeting. Xiao Yun and Er Pei are incompetent, and this situation can't be controlled. The court meeting, hehe, is fine. Some things always have to come first. Once, if you don’t learn a lesson, you won’t know where the boundary is.”

It's already late March, and he may set off at any time.Whether it's going south to fight Yang Xingmi or going north to conquer Hebei, they are all victories that must be won before becoming emperor, and he doesn't want to be distracted.

The emperor took over, but if he was always tossing in the rear, it would be a troublesome matter.Shao Shude regretted letting King Ji die back then, would he be more obedient?

(End of this chapter)