Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 195 Li Hua

In the southwest corner of the imperial city, in the Youwei Guard Office adjacent to the Secretary's Department, the soldiers were gathering for a cockfight, and the shouting was very lively.

"Peck it! Peck it!"

The two young men walked to the door, looked around for a while, and saw that no one was there, so they had to push it and go straight in.

They are all slender, tall, and handsome in appearance. The elder one of them is wearing a Taoist robe and has a more elegant temperament. He raises his hand and swings it slightly in front of his nose, as if he dislikes the smell of horse manure and sweat in the yard.

The other person was younger, wearing a green official robe, and his movements were steady. He waited patiently for the cockfight to end before speaking.

"May I ask, is General Xue Chang and Xue here?"

"Who are you?"

"Xue Bai, the school secretary, this is Li Bi, the secretary of the Imperial Academy, the secretary of the Eastern Palace, and the compiler."

"Wait until we call the general." A soldier stuffed the coins won from the cockfight into his arms and muttered in a low voice: "Sixth-grade officers should wear official robes."

After a while, Xue Chang was pushed awake by Youwei Wei Zhonglang. After rubbing his eyes, he remembered that he had received an order to move to the left and right guards' mansion in the East Palace and give up the government office to the Secretary Department.

"Hey, there were times when the Sixteenth Guards of Nanya were bullied by the Secretary."

"General, are you still moving?"

"Move, cockfighting is not cockfighting."

Xue Chang yawned and arrived at the lobby. When he saw Xue Bai, he was stunned for a moment and laughed: "Isn't this my cheap nephew?"

It turns out that he is also a descendant of Xue Rengui, and he has met Xue Bai once or twice.

"It was a misunderstanding. Now Xue Ling has found his real son."

"Hey, speaking of Xue Ling, he still owes me more than a hundred dollars." Xue Chang spat, "I heard that his daughter is getting married, so I should pay back the money."

Just as Xue Bai was about to speak, Xue Chang waved his hand and said, "You don't have to worry about my Xue family's affairs... Brothers, go to the right to lead the Wei Mansion!"

These Nanya soldiers took nothing with them except their military registers and their respective armors and weapons. They left in a hurry, leaving the messy Youwei Wei Mansion empty in the evening.

The next day, Li Mi and Xue Bai arranged for the servants to sweep the government office. They saw wine jars, meat bones, and all kinds of messy objects piled up in mountains, including some women's bellybands.

"If one army rebels, does Brother Changyuan think these imperial guards in the capital can fight?"

"The Praetorian Guard is not used to counter rebellion."

"Yes, but it is a fact that the Tang Dynasty is externally strong but internally weak."

Li Mi turned around and pointed at Xue Bai's green robe and said: "The clouds are in the blue sky and the water is in the bottle. The ninth-grade officer loves to worry too much."

Although he didn't intend to go there, Xue Bai avoided it to prevent him from poking it with his fingers. He cherished this official uniform very much.

This is the difference between the two. Li Bi is a sixth-rank official at a young age, but he does not take his official position seriously and despises his official career. He prefers Taoist robes or white clothes to show his indifferent ambition; Xue Bai does not In order to show off that he is a ninth-grade official, he thinks that wearing official clothes is convenient for everyone, and it is obvious to those petty officials and servants who want to find him.

After working hard for three or two days, they finally occupied both the right guard and the right guard, and then they realized that occupying the government office was actually very hard.

In this way, the secretary's office has been expanded to twice its original size. Although there are still some shortcomings, it can start the preliminary general affairs.

The first major event in the compilation of the canon was that Li Linfu personally came to announce the appointment of officials in charge of compilation.

On the first day of April, Jinwu Street in the Imperial City was filled with a solemn atmosphere. Officials, scholars, and craftsmen who had been summoned to the Secretariat Department were waiting in rows. Guards holding halberds were seen slowly coming to protect the high-ranking officials and ministers.

There were four people at the front, two of them were wearing purple robes, and two were wearing princely robes. From a distance, they felt a solemn and majestic aura. Wei Shu, also dressed in purple robe, stepped forward to greet him.

These five people are the supervisors of the grand ceremony, Li Zhen, the king of Siqi, Li Guan, the king of Xuxu, Li Linfu, the right prime minister, Chen Xilie, the left prime minister, and Wei Shu, the minister of rites.

Xue Bai then learned that Wei Shu was now also serving as the Minister of Rites, so he thought that he would be worthy of the supervisory position.

After that, a group of deputy supervisors, general presidents, presidents, vice presidents, editors, etc. were appointed.

"In addition, five book editors are set up to supervise the progress of the compilation. They are officials of the ninth grade, including Xue Bai, the school secretary, Yang Xiji, the school secretary, and Yang Hu, the official name of Jixian Palace..."

Xue Bai stood at the back of the crowd, listening sleepily, when he suddenly heard his name and learned that he had finally held an official position concurrently, and he must be able to receive an extra salary.

Next, there are editors, transcribers, circle writers, etc. More specific appointments will have to wait until scholars from all walks of life gather in Chang'an.

After that, the five editors began to speak for a long time.

Li Mi did not know when he stepped back from the queue in front, came to Xue Bai's side, and whispered: "You made a big noise again."

"Wrong, I didn't cause the trouble." Xue Bai said: "It is the proper meaning of a wise king and a prosperous age to hold a grand ceremony. It didn't happen before because the price of paper was too high, and even the right prime minister had to find a way to 'cut down on expenditures.'"

"Taking advantage of the situation, your methods have become even higher."

"It's still wrong." Xue Bai said: "This time is not a fight for power, this time it is just a normal business."

Anyway, he was just idle listening to the high-sounding words of the high-ranking officials. Li Mi was also interested in chatting with Xue Bai and whispered: "How about telling me how this struggle for power is different from normal common affairs?"

"For example, the difference between grabbing the cake and eating it and making the cake to eat. Previously, I took the poor candidates to the Ministry of Etiquette. The imperial examination cake is only so big. If we share more, they will share less. It is grabbing the cake and eating it. Naturally If you are unhappy, things are different now. With more fame and official positions, everyone can eat more, which is to make cakes and eat them."

Xue Bai said, glancing at Li Linfu who was still chatting away. Seeing that no one noticed the whispers, he continued: "Now that you are an official, you can't just grab cakes, making cakes is the real thing." .”

After hearing this, Li Mi first smiled, then shook his head and said: "As you said, whether it is making Hu cakes or making soup noodles, there is only so much rice that can be used in the world. Can you not steal the cakes from the world? Rice for the common people?”

"Then we have to talk about increasing production. Unfortunately, you and I are not in charge now."

Li Mi sighed slightly and said: "I'm not saying that this cake should not be made. The other expenses may be reduced, but the writing of the book should not be saved. I am just worried that if the right minister takes the lead in this matter, taxes will be increased again."

"I would advise the saint to reduce the expenses in the palace."

"Are you willing to lose your holy family?"

"Yes." Xue Bai said: "After chatting with Brother Changyuan, I felt deeply. As an official, it is easy to grab cakes and make cakes, but the most difficult thing is to grow rice."

"Yes."

Li Mi was about to speak when he suddenly realized that Chen Xilie had been staring at them for a while.

~~

"When it comes to the banquets of the Secretary's Department, the imperial court issues food books to each government office, and each yamen then lends money through the Yamen and uses the interest money to purchase banquets. Previously, Prime Minister Zuo combined the food books of several yamen and loaned them together. , take care of it, everyone will eat well."

"What now?"

"Didn't you hear what your right minister said just now? Now that the ceremony is being held, the saint has allocated additional money. From now on, Guanglu Temple will be responsible for the food, wine and tea in the morning and evening. If you can compile it day and night, you will be given the tuition fee. fee."

"The saint is generous and generous. He is truly a generous king that is rare throughout the ages."

On this day, Xue Bai and Li Mi had dinner with Xiao Yingshi and Li Hua. When talking about these trivial matters, Xue Bai couldn't help but have some questions and said: "What about the secretary's original food book?"

Everyone had just been transferred here, so they all looked at Xiao Yingshi.

"How do I know? Prime Minister Zuo has never said anything about this."

"The saint is truly a kind and generous king who is rare throughout the ages." Xue Baisui also praised him.

The three people dining with him were all sixth-grade officials, but he was the only ninth-grade official among them, but he was not at all restrained.

Unexpectedly, Li Hua would use his elder's momentum to suppress him. After the meal, he stroked his beard and asked, "I've just arrived at the Secretary's Department. How about Xue Lang showing me around?"

Xiao Yingshi had been in the secretarial department for a long time and was Li Hua's close friend. He refused to let Xiao Yingshi lead the way and instead went to Xue Bai, who had just been appointed as an official. It was obvious that he was no longer interested in drinking.

For a moment, Li Jilan's peach-like face appeared in Xue Bai's mind. He was a little embarrassed, but he was not afraid to explain it to Li Hua.

He had already thought of the wording. First, he said that he and Ji Lanzi were friends, and secondly, although he had asked Ji Lanzi to do many things, he had also allowed Li Gong to be promoted from the head of the Ministry of Industry to Secretary Lang and Editor of Compilation within one year. .

In this way, the confidence will be enough.

However, Li Hua took him from the Secretariat Department to the Right Army Guard Yamen, holding his hands behind his back all the way, but never said a word. Xue Bai was originally magnanimous, but instead became embarrassed.

"This place is also incorporated into the Secretariat Province, so it occupies a large area." Li Hua finally choked out a sentence.

Xue Bai said: "Yes."

Li Hua nodded and was speechless for a while.

It should be noted that when he writes articles, his writing is like a spring, and his writing is full of flowers. In this dreary atmosphere, a clerk came over and said: "Principal Secretary, You Xiangqing has called your name and asked you to be sent to You Xiang's Mansion for any official inquiries."

"it is good."

Xue Bai didn't feel relieved.

~~

The right phase instrument driver sets off.

There are still many people in Chang'an's officialdom who don't know Xue Bai's energy. Seeing that this ninth-grade official has won the favor of the right prime minister, they are all envious.

"Why is Xue Xiaoshu favored by the Prime Minister?"

"He is the prospective son-in-law of the Prime Minister's Mansion." Some officials pretended to understand. "Did you know that there is a son-in-law in the Prime Minister's Mansion? It was through this that Xue Bai won the number one scholar, was awarded the school certificate, and rose to great heights."

But in fact, Li Linfu did not give Xue Bai a good look and ignored him along the way. It was not until he entered the Right Prime Minister's Mansion that he taught him a lesson.

"Do you really think I won't touch you? If I don't tell you the truth beforehand, why don't you think I am your prime minister?"

Compared to Chen Xilie's soft threats, Li Linfu's tone was calm, but he was really capable of taking action.

Once he regards Yang Zhen, Xue Bai and others as a serious threat, there is the possibility of another Wei Jian case.

Xue Bai said: "As the school secretary, when something happens, I report it to the secretary man and the secretary prime minister, and then the secretary young eunuch asks the right minister. This should be the norm."

Li Linfu looked stern and said, "It's useless to argue. You asked Li Guan to catch Chen Xilie off guard, and you still dare to follow the usual rules?"

"But I do follow the rules."

"If there are any big events in the future, please report them to me." Li Linfu would not lower his status to argue with him, but said calmly: "As long as you still want to stay in the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty."

"Thank you Prime Minister for the special treatment."

Li Linfu fell silent and stared at Xue Bai with his sharp eyes like a fighting cock.

Xue Bai then thought about it again and determined that he should not have much conflict of interest with the Right Prime Minister's Office now. Although the Yang Party was a threat, after all, he relied on the Holy Family and did not go too far... Only then did he realize why Li Linfu was like this Look at yourself.

The image of Li Tengkong came to mind again.

For a long time, Li Linfu probably felt that he was not sure that he could use his momentum to make Xue Bai willing to obey, so he waved his hand impatiently.

……

After leaving the Prime Minister's Mansion, Xue Bai looked up at the sky, thinking that it would still be too late to go to the general's prison.

He works with the attitude of seizing the day, not because he hopes to be promoted early, but because he knows that he may be promoted soon, so he hopes to do more things in the limited time in the secretarial department.

I wasted some time today, and the two plum blossoms in Yuzhen Temple floated in my heart, stirring up some emotions. I should calm down and do things in a down-to-earth manner.

"The Number One Scholar!"

Suddenly a eunuch came on horseback and stopped in front of Xue Bai.

"I'm tired of finding him. He came all the way from the Secretary's Department. Let's go. The saint has summoned him."

Xue Bai was proud of his official status and no longer had so much intention to coax Li Longji.

After all, he is different from Jia Chang, Wang Zhun, or even Li Linfu and Yang Wei. What he is currently portraying is the image of a capable minister and official. That was all before, but now if you wear this official robe and enter the palace frequently, you will easily be regarded as a jester.

Of course, since Li Longji was summoned, he had to go there reluctantly.

~~

"Is it too real to notice? That Shuzi won an official position, so he doesn't take me seriously anymore."

"Why did the saint say this? He just wrote books, opened libraries, and published newspapers to express the saint's virtues through words."

"But look, which memorial has his name on it?"

"This is how my sworn brother should abide by the rules. Should the name of a school clerk deserve to be read by a saint?"

"When you first enter the officialdom, you should learn to share the credit and please the officials."

Li Longji lightly scolded, but his eyes were focused on an abacus placed on the Bogu shelf, with a poem "Clouds in the blue sky and water in the bottle" engraved on it.

After a while, Xue Bai arrived. He folded his hands and saluted solemnly, and said: "I wish you holy peace, forever and ever."

"Okay, don't hold yourself back." Li Longjilang said with a smile: "I invite you to come and watch my newly arranged opera today. You will be stunned."

As he spoke, he ordered the Liyuan Opera Troupe to prepare for the performance.

Taking advantage of this time, the monarch and his ministers also briefly discussed some of the recent general affairs.

"You came up with those three ideas for Yang Zheng, right? Sometimes I wonder how you have such a brain, you always have so many new ideas."

"Your Majesty, yes." Xue Bai said: "I don't have a good brain, but I have courage and dare to say whatever I think of."

"is it?"

"It is not difficult to think that there should be a masterpiece in such prosperous times as Kaiyuan and Tianbao. However, the court wants to save paper, so no one dares to mention it. When it is mentioned, some people say that the expense is high and it will increase the burden on the people. The minister is stubborn and does not care. Regardless, he said that even if the house in Xuanyangfang is sold, things must continue..."

"Nonsense."

Li Longji didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and immediately scolded him and said: "You dare to sell the house I gave you. Where is the majesty of the emperor? General Gao, you will give your next oral instruction to the right minister. Five thousand guan will be spent on repairing the book by me." The internal funds were withdrawn.”

"Saint's Grace."

This saint was indeed generous. He arranged this matter. He felt satisfied and patted his knees, guessing that he would have to add a few more achievements to people's comments about him in future generations.

When Xue Bai saw such a handiwork, he was disappointed and said: "I'm afraid that the Taifu's treasury will also be burdened, so I would like to donate the house to show His Majesty's frugality."

"That's enough, this is none of your business." Li Longji immediately became unhappy, "Don't ruin your mood for watching the show."

"This is a minister who has exceeded the rules."

"When you first enter the officialdom, don't imitate those people who sell their direct invitations. Instead, imitate your right minister and be a capable minister."

Li Longji then smiled and said: "You can't take charge of the compilation of the book all at once. I plan to leave the publication of the Di's newspaper to you, maybe you're qualified?"

"Thank you for your majesty's trust, I will do my best." Xue Bai asked: "But I don't know what this first report is, what does the saint say to the people of the world?"

Li Longji leaned on the imperial couch and thought for a while, feeling more and more complacent, but he had nothing to tell his subjects.

"In this way, in a few days, I will summon some ministers with outstanding literary talents to come to court early and compose poems to praise the prosperous times. This will be the content of this first imperial report. I will enjoy it with the people of Chang'an. I will only see if it can be as you want. Words spread all over Chang'an and even Guanzhong in one day and night?"

"Although the copper plate movable type has not yet been cast, I am still willing to try it if I use an engraving plate."

"The ambition is commendable."

Xue Bai did not want to wait until the movable type copper plate was cast before starting to publish the Di newspaper. If the content of the Di newspaper was not much, the engraving plate would be fully capable.

His remonstrance was actually based on Chen Xilie and Li Linfu's ignorance of this new technology, so they tied the movable type copper plate and the Di newspaper together, saying that "only the Secretariat Province has so many books and literate craftsmen can make this piece." "Feelings of the matter", thus putting the matter of Di Bao in the hands of Yang Dang.

He knew that movable type printing was not practical, so it was useless when printing collections and annotations. However, the secretary needed to have a set of copper plate movable type. Firstly, it was the achievement of a saint; secondly, it showed the secretary’s status and reputation; thirdly, if he had a large number of books This set of movable type can be used for printing, which can interact with the culture of the world. Let some literati try to use very simple characters so that more common people can understand these contents...

Xue Bai was thinking about this, while Li Longji took a sip of wine and looked towards the stage, just waiting for the curtain to open. He was very confident in the play he had staged.

At this moment, a woman came out from behind the stage, held up her skirt and hurried over, saluting, "Sage, the play is all arranged."

"Okay, give A Tu a seat."

Li Longji was in a good mood and said to Xue Bai: "You see clearly, County Master Hezheng is the spy I sent to find out how you rehearse the show."

"The saint is joking." Xue Bai responded.

After that, Li Yuetu sat down opposite him.

Xue Bai suddenly thought that this was the third "Li flower" today. Maybe Li Longji's purpose in meeting him today was similar to Li Hua and Li Linfu.

What Chen Xilie said actually made sense. He should have finalized the marriage earlier and decided to break it off.

　Chapter 2 will be posted in the morning, don’t wait~~

　　

　

(End of this chapter)