Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 114

After offering Li Shimin a "flattering meal", Gao Ming returned to the East Palace with a smile on his face.

"Hey, if it weren't for seeing you in a bad mood, I wouldn't be bothered to flatter you. I have been a human being for two lifetimes, and there are not many people who can be flattered by me. Just have fun!"

People say that giving roses to others has a lingering fragrance, but in Gaoming, he became a "flattering ass", and he returned to the East Palace in less than a cup of tea.

As soon as Gao Ming entered the door, he saw a familiar figure, and he was stunned for a moment.

"Why is he here?"

The one who was sitting in the yard at this time was none other than Kong Yingda, a doctor of the Shi Guozijian. Seeing that Gao Ming had returned, he immediately stood up and cupped his hands towards Gao Ming.

"I have seen His Royal Highness!"

Seeing this scene, Gao Ming quickly walked over and saluted him back.

"Confucius, you are welcome. How long have you been here?"

"Hehe, the old man will be here in the next hour."

Hearing Kong Yingda's words, Gao Ming immediately showed surprise.

"It turns out that Confucius has been here for so long. You haven't eaten yet, have you? Wan'er, hurry up and prepare dinner."

"Yes!"

Su Wan'er agreed and went down, while Kong Yingda smiled and waved to Gao Ming.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, you don't need to be too polite. The old man came here after dinner, and the reason why the old man came today is just to ask His Highness the Crown Prince about something."

Hearing Kong Yingda's words, Gao Ming was stunned again.

"Ask me what you mean? What's the matter?"

Seeing Gao Ming's surprised look, Kong Yingda smiled even more.

"That's right, the old man intends to use 'How ugly' as the topic of the Childhood Section, what does His Highness the Crown Prince think?"

After listening to Kong Yingda's words, Gao Ming immediately understood why he came looking for him.

The phrase "what is so ugly" comes from an article in "The Analects of Confucius·Zihan". The original words are as follows——

"If you want to live in Jiuyi, you may say: 'How ugly is it?"

The meaning of this sentence is that Confucius wanted to live in a remote place. Some people said: "It is very simple there, what should I do?" Confucius said: "There are virtuous people living there, what is simple?"

This sentence can be regarded as the crowning touch of the full text, showing the gentleman's noble sentiments and the taste of peace and happiness. Liu Yuxi's "Humble Room Ming" can be said to be the understanding and extension of Confucius' words.

But now this "Humble Room Inscription" has become a clever one, so Kong Yingda thought of taking "what's ugly" as the topic of the boy's exam, so he needed to ask Gao Ming, which was regarded as respect for the prince of the Tang Dynasty.

Kong Yingda didn't know, even if he didn't tell Gao Ming about it, Gao Ming wouldn't blame him, after all, this is not an ordinary exam, this is a children's department!
The selection of officials in the Tang Dynasty followed the imperial examination system of the Sui Dynasty, and Tongzike was an entrance examination for cultural people. Only after passing the examination could one be considered to have achieved fame and be qualified to be called a "scholar"!
In other words, if Kong Yingda really used this "how ugly" as the exam question for children, then all those who pass this exam and become scholars this year will remember "The Inscription of the Humble Room" and Gao Ming at the same time. .

This can be called a good opportunity to increase his reputation, so Gao Ming agreed without hesitation.

"Since you, Confucius, have come to me, how could I not agree? I agree to this matter, not to mention using it this year, even if using it every year in the future, I have no objection!"

Hearing that Gao Ming agreed, Kong Yingda also laughed.

"Hahahaha, since His Royal Highness has agreed, the old man will leave."

After finishing speaking, Kong Yingda left. When he left, he stroked his beard with a smile on his face. It seemed that he was in a good mood.

And Gao Ming was also in a good mood, as if he had written a composition casually, but was taken by the boss of the Ministry of Education and put it in the textbook.

Gao Ming, who was in a good mood, ate two extra bowls of rice in the evening, and even shouted loudly to "hit ten" when he was sleeping at night, but the result was very sad. Before he could fight Su Wan'er, he was already beaten The little fairy Shi Jian was "KO".

Gao Ming suddenly felt that he was quite a failure. He had been in Datang for so long, and there were more than 60 women in the East Palace waiting for him to be pampered, but now he only managed two people, Crown Princess Su Wan'er and Shi Shu.

"No, I want to exercise, I want to become fierce!"

Therefore, Gao Ming, who made up his mind, did not take a walking chariot the next morning, but ran to the court.

Although Gao Ming usually doesn't go to court, but today is a big event, so he thinks it's better to go.

This so-called "major event" naturally refers to Li You's matter. When Li Shimin announced the news that Li You was in trouble in Qizhou, there was an uproar in the court.

But before everyone could open their mouths, Li Shimin received another imperial edict. The general idea of ​​the edict was that Li You was bewitched by villains, so he made trouble in Qizhou. Although he had already returned to Beijing to plead guilty, the selfless Li Shimin still Decided to demote him to a commoner.

At the same time, in order to reward the meritorious ministers who escorted Li You all the way back to Chang'an, Li Shimin specially decreed that Li Goudan was appointed as the inner scholar, Zhang Sizheng was also named the prince's middle servant, and the rest were rewarded with some money. as a reward.

This decree immediately confused all the officials, and the discussion in the court suddenly became louder.

The reason why everyone was so shocked was mainly because the amount of information in the two news from Li Shimin was too large, so many ministers were dumbfounded at the time.

"King Qi rebelled, and then ran back to admit his mistake. Is he out of his mind? And Zhang Sizheng and Li Goudan seem to be the prince? Why did they go to escort King Qi? Received a reward?"

They couldn't figure it out, so they didn't open their mouths. However, there were many understanding people in the court, such as Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, and Li Ji. They all guessed some clues from Li Shimin's edict.

"Why did King Qi come back to plead guilty by himself? It is likely that the prince sent someone to arrest him. In order to save his life, His Majesty said that he came back to plead guilty by himself."

But the amount of information is not small, not to mention anything else, just to arrest a rebellious vassal king back to Chang'an without saying a word, this is not something ordinary people can do, it seems that His Royal Highness is really not easy!

Thinking of this, these ministers immediately turned their attention to Gao Ming.

Mr. Gao Ming also noticed their gazes, but he didn't care. After all, he came today to listen to the award from Li Shimin, and now he is satisfied after hearing it.

Gao Ming glanced outside the main hall, and suddenly muttered in his heart.

"If Zhang Sizheng and Li Goudan knew that they had been promoted, they might be very happy, but speaking of it, they held a celebration banquet yesterday, so they should still be sleeping now, right?"

Facts proved that Gao Ming was wrong. Although Zhang Sizheng and the others held a celebration banquet in the barracks yesterday, it was only last night. The barracks returned to their previous state early the next morning, and everyone began to train hard.

Of course, except for Li Goudan and Li You.

Li Goudan didn't train because he didn't belong to Zhang Sizheng's barracks. The reason why he was here was to perform a brilliant mission. Now that the mission is over, he just needs to wait for the reward from the court, and he will flash people.

The reason why Li You didn't train was because he had just arrived, not only was he not familiar with the barracks, but he couldn't keep up with his physical strength.

Zhang Sizheng also knew that this matter should not be rushed, besides, Gao Ming had given him a year, so he just urged Li You a few words, and didn't say any more.

It was already noon when the imperial decree arrived at the barracks. As soon as Zhang Sizheng and others heard the imperial decree, they quickly put down their dishes and ran out to receive the decree.

After receiving the imperial decree, Zhang Sizheng and Li Goudan also understood why Gao Ming said that Li You was no longer King Qi, but to their surprise, they were really promoted!

"His Royal Highness really didn't lie to us!"

Having won the official position of Prince Zhongsheren, Zhang Sizheng can be said to be satisfied and couldn't be more satisfied. You must know that he was just a Zhenwei captain from the sixth rank, but he was promoted to Prince Zhongsheren by five levels in a row!
From a dead man to a fifth-rank official within half a year, Zhang Sizheng felt that he really did not follow the wrong person.

The most important thing is that the official position of Prince Zhongsheren is in charge of guarding the East Palace, which is a position with real power, that is to say, he is now the chief guard of the East Palace!

"To gain the trust of His Highness the Crown Prince, I will have to work harder in the future to repay His Highness the Crown Prince's kindness in nurturing me!"

Just when Zhang Sizheng was full of emotion, Li Goudan's appointment was also announced. When he heard that Li Goudan was appointed as an official, Zhang Sizheng was stunned.

"Neishusheren? Li Goudan can be an innershusheren just because of him?"

Neishusheren are close relatives of the monarch and the prince, who are dedicated to conveying messages to the emperor or the prince. Many times, the emperor's decree or the prince's decree needs to be conveyed by the neishusheren. It can be said that this is also a very powerful person. official position.

More importantly, Prince Zhongsheren is an official position under the fifth rank, while Nei Shusheren is an official position above the fifth rank. The difference between the two is one level. That is to say, Li Goudan has already climbed on top of him now. , which made Zhang Sizheng quite upset.

After the eunuch passing the decree left, Li Goudan walked to Zhang Sizheng's side, and then smiled at him.

"Hehehe, Mr. Zhang, can you tell me what kind of official this Neishusheren is?"

Hearing Li Goudan's words, Zhang Sizheng snorted coldly.

"Hmph, you just got shit luck, from now on, you should stay by His Royal Highness's side and be a dog's leg!"

After finishing speaking, Zhang Sizheng turned around and left, but before he could take a few steps, he heard Li Goudan's wild laughter from behind him.

"Seeing your jealous face, I know that my official position is higher than yours, Ah Zheng, come here and salute me, hahahaha..."

Hearing Li Goudan's wild laughter, Zhang Sizheng staggered immediately, and walked back faster.

After Zhang Sizheng walked away, Li Goudan returned to the barracks with a wobble. Seeing Li You eating there with a bowl, he immediately reached out and patted Li You on the head.

"Hey, I said Great King, I didn't expect that you have become a commoner now, but I am an official. Come on, call me sir!"

"..."

At this time, Li You suddenly had a feeling of being bullied by dogs, and what was even more frightening was that he knew that this kind of life would last for another year!
Thinking of this, the sadness in Li You's heart flowed upstream again.

(End of this chapter)