A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1167 The Power of Heaven
Spring is born, summer is long, autumn is harvested, and winter is stored.

In the blink of an eye, it is the beginning of winter. Winter begins when all things hide and hibernate.

Early winter is pleasant, the weather is not too cold, and people enjoy the autumn harvest and reward themselves for their past hard work.

This important day,
Emperor Li Shimin got up early and led the crown prince and civil and military officials to the southern suburbs to offer sacrifices to heaven, and then to the Taimiao to worship their ancestors.

The fourteenth year of Zhenguan was a good year.

All provinces in the country have had good harvests, and there have been no major floods or droughts. The imperial court's military expedition to the Western Regions also achieved a great victory. These are all worthy of reporting to the heavens and offering sacrifices to the ancestors.

A dou of rice in Chang'an cost ten coins. Although it was not as much as the two or three coins a dou of rice ten years ago, the price of grain was relatively stable and generally speaking, it was still relatively low. All kinds of commodities and materials in Chang'an were sufficient and the prices were stable. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and they ate and drank as they pleased.

The common people were also very proud of the imperial court's conquest of the Western Regions. Some families, after hearing about the good conditions for immigrating to the Western Regions, persuaded their second sons to go to the Western Regions to work hard. They offered equal distribution of land and even the opportunity to join the Anxi Army, which was a rare opportunity.

This is an opportunity to earn a fortune and start a business.

It has been a while since Gaochang Crown Prince Qu Zhisheng and his clan came to Chang'an. Several branches of the royal family were granted titles and houses and given idle positions in the capital, while the rest were settled in various counties around the capital.
The Qu family was doing well.
Although not so free,
But even though the kingdom was destroyed, the royal family was still able to survive, and most of the wealth was brought to Chang'an.

He could buy land and still employ slaves and servants, and lead a leisurely life.

Yesterday, at Qu's mansion in Huaiyuanfang, west of Chang'an City, General Zuo Wuwei and Duke of Jincheng Qu Zhisheng received an order to attend the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the ancestors in the Southern Suburbs Temple of Heaven early this morning.

His younger brother, General Youwuwei and Duke of Tianshan County, Qu Zhizhan, also received the same decree.

After receiving the order, the two brothers could only shake their heads and smile bitterly.

What they disliked most about arriving in Chang'an was that they were often summoned to attend palace banquets and various ceremonial activities. They were the guests of honor, and every time they went, they were either asked to dance or toast, or even recite poems and sing.

The Tang Dynasty was simply using them to show off its military prowess in conquering Gaochang and conquering the Western Regions.
The same treatment was given to Yugushe and his son, and Helu and his son.

At every palace banquet, there was an old man from Lingnan to serve drinks. He was Feng Ang, the former King of Lingnan, and now Duke of Geng and General of the Left Guard.

The treatment of the Qu brothers was at least much better than that of Ashina Helu and his sons.
Helu rebelled again after returning. After being sent to Chang'an, the imperial court held a grand ceremony to present the captives to the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Helu and his son were almost beheaded.

Thereafter, at every palace banquet, Helu and his son were always asked to dance, drink and perform, and were even often ridiculed in public.

In the early morning, the two brothers got up in the middle of the night to take a bath and change clothes, not daring to delay at all.

Zhizhan asked his brother, "I heard a rumor recently that before my father passed away, he built an underground labyrinth in the desert and hid a large amount of gold and silver treasures in it. Is this true?"

Qu Zhisheng had also heard this rumor a long time ago.
The rumors became more and more outrageous. At first, it was said that the amount was gold and silver worth hundreds of thousands of strings of coins. Later, some people said that the amount was gold and silver worth millions or even tens of millions of strings of coins.

Recently, there have been strange faces appearing around their mansion.

There were even several times when someone broke into the house at night.

Qu Zhisheng knew that they were all coming for the Gaochang Labyrinth treasure. He was not sure whether those people were secretly sent by the court or came here because they heard about the treasure.
He looked around, then lowered his voice and said to his brother, "Father passed away so suddenly that he didn't have time to leave any last words.

I don't know if there is a treasure in the maze.
but,"

He looked around again, making sure that no one was around, and then he leaned over to his brother's ear and whispered, "After my father left, I looked at the inner treasury and the account books, but I didn't see anything wrong. But I've been into the inner treasury before, and I roughly know the amount of money, silk, gold and silver in the inner treasury.

I feel that a large amount of money was indeed shipped out, and although there is nothing wrong with the account books, it may have been tampered with.

The missing money and silk disappeared before the Tang army entered the city, or even before my father passed away, so it is very likely that my father did secretly transport a batch of money and buried it in an underground maze somewhere, just in case."

However, the treasure was taken underground by Qu Wentai, and no one knew anything about it.

Those who built the underground maze and those who transported the money were probably killed afterwards.

Qu Zhisheng was sure that there was such a maze treasure, but he didn't know where it was.

Zhi Zhanyuan also felt that the treasure story was very likely to be true, but he didn't expect that his elder brother didn't know where it was.

"Is there really millions or even tens of millions of coins and silver in the maze treasure?"

Qu Zhisheng shook his head. "Although Gaochang is rich and the royal family has accumulated wealth for hundreds of years, it is impossible for them to hide so much treasure. I estimate that it is probably worth between a few hundred thousand and a million."

"The original rumor said that there were five or six camels of gold and more than ten stones of silver. These should be there. Together with the rest of the silver, silk, etc., the value should be one million strings of cash."

A maze of treasures worth millions,

If Qu was still the king of Gaochang, this treasure would not be so shocking. Occupying an important location on the Silk Road, Gaochang served as a distribution center for goods from the Western Regions. Qu just sat there collecting taxes, and no one knew how much he collected in a year.

The Qu family also ran the Silk Road trade and made huge profits every year, otherwise they would not have been able to accumulate so much wealth.

But it ’s different now,

They moved their entire clan to the Central Plains,

Many of their fields, houses, land, mines, and workshops in Gaochang were confiscated.
Although he also brought a lot of gold, silver, money and silk to the Central Plains,
But here I have no property, no foundation, and although I have some land, it is too little and I am still living off my wealth.
Whether they wanted to purchase more land, or set up workshops and caravans, they did not dare to make any big moves for the time being. After all, they had just surrendered and did not dare to be too high-profile in Chang'an.

If they could get the treasure from this maze, it would be a guarantee for the Qu family.

"Do you think those unfamiliar faces recently are from the imperial court?" "Not all of them, but there are definitely some," Qu Zhisheng was also helpless. In fact, as early as when he first arrived in Chang'an, someone from the imperial court asked him indirectly about the Gaochang treasure. He really didn't know, so he told the truth.

Of course, he did not tell the Tang officials about the information he had about Gaochang's internal treasury.

But now these rumors in the streets and these people outside their mansion all show that the court is sure that this treasure exists, and even believes that they know the secret of this treasure.

"What should we do now?" Zhizhan asked anxiously.

I'm afraid even the Khan would not let go of a treasure worth millions of taels.

A common man is not guilty, but he is guilty of carrying a jade.

Qu Zhisheng sighed and looked down at the purple robe and jade belt on his body. "Tell the servants in the mansion to strengthen the care, and tell the clan members to be careful and try not to go out, so as not to be kidnapped."

Zhizhan was helpless, "This is too frustrating."

"We are surrendered people from a conquered country. It's lucky that the Heavenly Khan didn't kill us. What else can we ask for? It's getting late. Let's go out. Don't miss the time and get impeached by the censor."

The two brothers, one is the Duke of Jincheng County and the other is the Duke of Tianshan County. They both hold the rank of third-rank general in the Wei Palace. Now they are in Chang'an, and they are officials in the capital of the Tang Dynasty.

The emperor led all the officials to the southern suburbs to offer sacrifices to heaven, and then to the ancestral temple. Yu Gushe and his son, Ashina Helu and his son, and Qu Zhisheng and his brothers were indeed dragged out again.
Once again, it was displayed as the martial arts of the Holy Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

After the sacrificial ceremony, there was a court banquet.

Yugushe and his son, and Helu and his son, were asked to have a father-son wrestling match in the palace, while the Qu Zhisheng brothers were asked to play music to liven up the atmosphere.

The two pairs of father and son, Yugushe and Helu, were asked to take off their official robes and wear only a pair of calf-length pants to compete in wrestling in the palace.

The hall was filled with well-dressed people, including civil and military officials, as well as many envoys from the capital.

However, Ashinafu, the former Duolu Khan who was granted the title of Prince of Heshun and General of the Right Guard after his surrender to the court, took off his clothes and performed wrestling in public wearing only a pair of calf-nose pants.

There are generally two types of trousers in Han people's clothing, one is called hakama and the other is called ku. Hakama is also called ku, which means leggings, that is, trousers without a crotch.

As for the shorts, there are generally two types, one is knee-length shorts, and the other is very short, like triangle shorts. Because they look like a cow's nose, they are also called calf nose shorts.

However, this kind of shorts is different from the later briefs. It is first wrapped around the sides and then passed under the crotch, which is the trouser pocket cloth.

For a long time, the rich and upper class people did not wear this kind of clothes. They wore hakama. And many aristocratic children were called dandy because the hakama they wore were made of expensive silk fabrics.

Only the lower class wore calf-nose trousers, and some even wore them outside for convenience or to save on pants.

The love story between Sima Xiangru, a poor scholar in the Han Dynasty, and Zhuo Wenjun, a rich girl, is well known to everyone. Sima Xiangru bought an official position when he was 20 years old, but later resigned due to frustration and returned to his hometown Linqiong, where he became friends with the county magistrate.

Zhuo Wangsun, the richest man in the area, knew that Sima Xiangru was a distinguished guest of the county magistrate, so he invited him to a banquet with the intention of making friends with him.

Zhuo Wangsun had a divorced daughter, Zhuo Wenjun. She had heard that Sima Xiangru was very talented, so she peeped at him from behind a screen. Sima Xiangru saw him but pretended not to know. Then he took the opportunity to play a song "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix", which immediately captured Zhuo Wenjun's heart.

After the banquet, Sima Xiangru expressed his love to Zhuo Wenjun through her maid.

So Zhuo Wenjun eloped with Sima Xiangru at night, and Sima Xiangru took her to Chengdu.

Zhuo Wangsun was furious and said that his daughter's elopement violated ethical ethics. He would not harm her, but he would not give them a penny either.

Sima Xiangru was penniless, and after living there for a while, Zhuo Wenjun persuaded him to return to Linqiong and borrow money from the Zhuo family.

Xiangru went to Linqiong, sold his carriage and horses, and opened a small wine shop. Zhuo Wenjun went out to sell wine while Sima Xiangru wore calf-nose trousers and washed dishes and cups with the waiters.

The two of them were right under the noses of the Zhuo family, and they looked so pitiful that all the relatives and friends of the Zhuo family came to persuade Zhuo Wangsun, saying that Wenjun was his daughter after all, and Sima Xiangru was a relatively talented person, and was also the county magistrate's guest. You can't bear to see them in such a miserable state. If you embarrass him, aren't you also embarrassing the county magistrate?

Finally, Zhuo Wangsun had no choice but to give Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun a hundred slaves, a million dollars, and Wenjun's dowry to him.

Later, Emperor Wu of Han read his fu and was greatly impressed, so he summoned him to serve as an official. Empress Chen was banished to the cold palace, and she specially presented him with 100 kilograms of gold and asked him to write Changmen Fu to impress Emperor Wu and regain his favor.

Sima Xiangru is the big winner in life.
In fact, he was not so poor that he could not afford to buy trousers and had to wash dishes on the street in calf-nose trousers, but his actions brought shame to his father-in-law and the entire family, so they finally compromised and agreed to let him be with Wenjun, and also gave him a large sum of money.

These were all strategies of the clever Sima Xiangru.

When he put on the calf-nose trousers, the most embarrassing family was the Zhuo family, the richest family in Linqiong.

Now, the former Dulu Khan, Shaboluo Yehu, Zhenzhu Yehu and other four great leaders of the Western Turkic Khanate,

Now after returning to the Tang Dynasty, they are still given titles of king, duke and general.
But the emperor still let them wrestle in pairs in the palace wearing only calf-nose pants.

This is also to let them know, to let all the Hu, Yi, Man and Liao people in the palace know that even if they are given titles of king and duke, these former rebels are still nothing.

The civil and military officials in the hall, especially the barbarian officials who surrendered and the foreign envoys, were all shocked to see the Khan and Yehu wrestling in only calf-nose pants and the Gaochang prince playing musical instruments.

At this moment,

They felt the mighty power of heaven!

(End of this chapter)