A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 62 The Golden Scales Are In The Pool

In front of the Jingyang River, Yingdong Station,

Joy Inn.

"Drink and drink!"

In the twilight, a group of merchants and tourists shouted excitedly around a down-and-out scholar, and the scholar raised his head and drank wildly.

Cup after cup.

Continued Cup.

Have another drink when you're done.

"How many cups did you drink?"

"I've already drank eight liters of wine before, and Mihara Takejiro bought another two buckets, two buckets of eight liters of wine, how much do you think is left?"

"Hey, there are at most three liters left, right? Didn't I drink two and a half buckets?" The man probably joined the store later. Hearing that the scholar could drink so much, he couldn't help being extremely surprised.

"This guy calls himself Ma Zhou. I heard that he is from Bozhou, Hebei. He used to be an assistant teaching assistant in Bozhou. Because he felt that he was too talented, he drank all day and didn't take teaching seriously. He was forgiven by the governor of Bozhou. After being reprimanded several times, he swaggered away and traveled all the way to the west. He heard that when he was wandering between Cao and Bian, he was insulted by Cui Xianshou, the county magistrate of Junyi, so he came down to Beijing angrily, and threatened to go to the Tianzitang in the future. Offended the Cui family of Qinghe, is that easy to provoke? As a result, there is nowhere to visit, all money is exhausted, there is no money for a hotel to eat, everywhere is owed on credit, and many shops are kicked out..."

Huaiyu sat on the sidelines and watched those people crowding around and booing, and also listened to various discussions, most of which were ridicule.

Ma Zhou, it was really that familiar name. He had doubted it just now, but now he undoubtedly confirmed it.

"Dry!"

Ma Zhou started to drink and stood directly on the table, drinking heartily.

"This guy, drink half and drain half, it's not a waste." Chen Xing shook his head while watching. Ma Zhou drank very boldly, drinking a big bowl, drinking a bowl in one go, but he poured at least one-third of a bowl of wine Missing.

Huaiyu really admires this guy's ability to drink, even if one bucket in the Tang Dynasty is actually equivalent to six liters in later generations, that's not a lot. Two buckets of wine, I drank eight liters just now, adding up to two buckets of eight liters, it is actually [-] liters too much.

Fortunately, the small wine in this store is also average. In fact, it is the self-brewed Fuzi wine after the summer harvest, that is, barley wine. It can be drunk after two days of fermentation. This float wine is also mixed with water.

After finishing the two buckets of Fuzi wine, Ma Zhou didn't seem to have had much fun yet.

He even stood on the case drunk and recited poems.

"On the first day of the Qing Dynasty, the spring water sends a lonely boat. The mountains are far away and there are no trees, and the tide seems to be flat. The flowers on the shore bloom and fall, and the river birds do not return. The long-term hope hurts thousands of miles, and the long song relieves four sorrows."

This poem is not suitable for the occasion, it is about a rising sun in the clear sky, a lone boat is carried on the green spring water, and the green mountains are far away, as if there are no trees.The river is flowing, as if it is not moving.The spring flowers on both sides of the strait bloom and fall again, the water birds in the river float up and down.

Obviously, this should have been done by Ma Zhou after his journey to the west, or even after he completely hit a wall in Chang'an. It may have been done in the early morning when he woke up from a hangover, looked at the sunrise, the river, and the lonely boat, and missed his hometown. Worrying about his downfall.

He thought that he was unruly and unruly, and he was not used by the state.When he lived in Biandi, he was humiliated by the county magistrate. He traveled westward to Chang'an and wanted to make a name for himself. In the end, he lacked talent and was not understood. There is infinite sentimentality, and only long songs can be used to relieve sorrow.

At this time, after I was drunk, I recited this poem, and expressed the infinite sadness in my heart.

Huaiyu and Runniang were each eating a mustache, and he had been carefully watching Ma Zhou, who was showing his true feelings after being drunk at this time.

At this time, he looked a bit like a clown, the shopkeeper, the clerk, as well as the merchants and tourists who invested in the shop, were all making fun of him. Who could really understand him, and no one even believed that he was talented.

Just think of him as a drunkard, a poor man who is crazy about alcohol, with big eyes and low hands, full of big talk, even few people really understand the poems he recites, let alone think he wrote them, they just shout for another bucket of wine, It seemed that he was not satisfied until he got drunk and got down on the ground.

He is Kong Yiji who everyone laughs at.

"Mr. Ma, we're done drinking, why don't we rest first?" Huaiyu stepped forward.

Ma Zhou looked at the young Wu Erlang with drunken eyes.

"I'm not drunk yet. This shopkeeper, who received a thousand knives, fooled me with the lastest float wine, which was filled with at least half of the water. It's a donkey's day." Ma Zhou cursed.

"Go out for a walk and talk?"

"it is good."

Ma Zhou was indeed a good drinker. After drinking more than a dozen liters of ale, he just wobbled his feet and didn't get down.

They walked out of the inn, and the group of people inside were a little disappointed to see that there was no excitement.

"My name is Wu Huaiyu, the second child in my family. I live in Longqiao Fort, Sanyuan. I went to Zhongnan Mountain with an old man when I was nine years old. I just came back from the mountain..." Huaiyu introduced herself briefly, and did not deliberately hide her relationship with her. Samurai relationship.

"Qing He Ma Zhou was lonely and poor since he was a child, and he has read some books."

Huaiyu smiled, just now Ma Zhou said that he is familiar with the books of sages, especially Zuozhuan of the Book of Songs, which is not easy.If he was really a child of the poor and lost his parents at an early age, it would have been difficult for Ma Zhou to survive and grow up in the turbulent end of the Sui Dynasty, let alone be able to study.

Reading, at least only the powerful landlords can read, let alone have the opportunity to master Zuozhuan of the Book of Songs.He also asked the shopkeeper some questions just now. After learning that Ma Zhou had claimed to be Fufeng Ma's family, his hometown Qinghe Chiping had been a supplementary teaching assistant in Bozhou a few years ago.

Although this is a low-level job, it is also a teacher of the state school. If you have no talent, how can you be a teacher.Combined with the situation of the Wu family, Huaiyu has reason to believe that even if Ma Zhou lost his parents when he was young, the Ma family is at least a powerful family in Qinghe, with family care, and even studying in the Ma family, in order to have this knowledge, and even become a Bozhou teaching assistant.

In history, Ma Zhou traveled westward for several years, and finally joined Chang He's family as a guest for several years. He was recognized by Li Shiminhui because he wrote memorials for Chang He. Shangshu, Prince You Shuzi, named Gaotang County Duke as a civil servant.

It is also a legend.

After confirming that the other party was Ma Zhou, Wu Huaiyu was very polite to him. Now that he is in despair, every little favor at this time will surely be repaid in the future. This is also a good relationship.

"Chang'an is expensive, living in a big place is not easy."

As a teaching assistant in Bozhou, he was reprimanded by the governor for not being able to reuse him. Ma Zhou left angrily.But when he was traveling in Biancao, even a county magistrate could humiliate him. When he came to Chang'an, he bumped into walls everywhere, full of ambitions, and was almost worn out.

"Beasts have claws and oxen have horns. Beasts can fight and oxen can touch. However, you can only hold rare materials, and plow the empty valley with your hoe. Today, the son is anxious for the virtuous, and he publishes a list to recruit talents and enlighten the light. Hu can't write a book to recommend himself, and he will command the world. Like Yu Tang?"

Ma Zhou turned his head to look at Huaiyu, his eyes were piercing, "I've never heard of this poem, did Erlang write it?"

"It's just a few doggerels. I believe that Mr. Ma is full of talent. Even if he hits a wall for a while, he shouldn't be willing to sink. Let me give you another sentence. The big roc will rise with the same wind in one day, and it will skyrocket nine thousand miles. What you have to do now is to prepare and wait. When the wind blows, when the wind blows, you can travel thousands of miles.

But if you're not prepared, even if the wind blows, you can't fly, can you? "

"One day the roc rises with the same wind, and it soars nine thousand miles," Ma Zhou murmured and repeated these two sentences, the more he read, the more excited he became.

These two lines are not doggerels, but Li Bai's famous lines in the future.

For Ma Zhou, who was hit and lost his confidence, these two sentences rekindled hope in his eyes.

Ma Zhou suddenly squatted on the ground and began to cry. They all said that men don't cry easily, but they cry when they break down.

Ma Zhou was crying, and Huaiyu stood beside him and let him vent. After a long time, Ma Zhou got up with red eyes after venting to a river of Jingshui. He said to Huaiyu, "Thank you Erlang for this poem. I, Ma Zhou I swear here that I will not look like a human being, and I will never drink again."

He decided to cheer up first, accept Wu Huaiyu's invitation to become his guest, and make preparations first to wait for the wind to come.

In the past few years, he gave up his post as a teaching assistant in Bozhou and traveled westward to Chang'an. It was useless to offer books, he failed the imperial examinations, and he was ignored when he visited him. He was poor and down and out.

Those provincial magistrates, princes and nobles in Chang'an City, and the prime ministers, no one would care about a poor scholar without a prominent family background, especially this scholar has a reputation for arrogance and debauchery, and even offended Qinghe Cui Shi.

Ma Zhou eventually degenerated into a liar and alcoholic who owed rent, food, and drink everywhere and was kicked out.

Now Huaiyu wakes up.

Everyone was mocking him, but Wu Erlang, who had just met, was able to help, and even firmly believed that he was talented and would have a skyrocketing day.

That line of poetry made him feel sympathetic to each other and hate seeing each other later.

When he knew that Wu Huaiyu was still the nephew of Lord Ying Guogong, the samurai Xun, he was even more determined to follow Wu Erlang and be his guest. He tried various methods in Chang'an but failed. Now he may be Wu Erlang's guest, and then use the Wu family , Only then have the opportunity to show what you have learned.

Even if he took the imperial examination, it would be difficult for him to pass the imperial examination, because the current imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty are not all based on talent and learning. Before the exam, candidates will visit princes and senior officials, present their poems, strategies, etc., and even use family relationships to publicize their fame early. During the actual exam, there was neither name nor copying. The examiners often made a list of admissions in advance, and those children of famous families and noble families had extra points. This kind of imperial examination was very unfair to the children of ordinary people.

The sons of famous noble families can become officials from their families, they can also be recommended to become officials, and they can also be enlisted to become officials through imperial examinations. However, their road is much narrower, that is, thousands of troops and horses cross a single-plank bridge.

The two chatted for a long time by the Jing River, and they didn't return to the inn until the moon came up. Huaiyu specially opened another room, and slept on the same bed with Ma Zhou. The more we chat, the more we admire each other, and we will become confidants, and we will never meet each other.

Huaiyu is also secretly happy, to be able to get to know him when he was down and down, this love will be remembered for a lifetime.

(End of this chapter)