Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 203 Not cautious and meticulous

It's late at night, and the candles are brightly lit in the study.

What Li Linfu is reviewing is the list of compilers of "Tianbao Dadian".

It is now May, and the compilation of the ceremony has been initially carried out for more than a month. This list has already been reviewed by the officials under the Right Prime Minister's Mansion. As a result, these wastes were full of mistakes, until Li Linfu discovered that the Ministry of Personnel had recruited many political opponents who had been demoted from foreign countries back to the capital.

Of course, he had already eliminated the threats, leaving only some knowledgeable people with low official positions. Even if it was like this, he couldn't tolerate it, so he personally reviewed the list, stayed up all night, and worked tirelessly to filter out these people.

There were several types of political opponents he singled out. Most of them had transfer documents from the Ministry of Civil Service that had not yet been reviewed and were promptly rejected by him. A small number of them had already been transferred back to Chang'an, and most of them had not yet been transferred to official positions and only served as editors. , these people can never think of having new official positions.

In order to escape the pain of being relegated while the saint was repairing books, Li Linfu wanted them to take advantage and lose their official positions, and then wait for the election for the rest of their lives.

At the third watch, Li Linfu was so sleepy that his old eyes were dizzy. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the words on the paper, still feeling a little blurry.

But he persisted and looked at the next name.

"Wang Changling."

Wang Changling cannot be called a political enemy, but he is also one of the targets of his relegation and suppression.

If I remember correctly, it was the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, when Li Linfu had just ascended to power and exiled Zhang Jiuling. Wang Changling was only a minor official at the time, but he dared to speak for Zhang Jiuling, so he demoted him to Lingnan.

Unexpectedly, Wang Changling did not die in Lingnan.

~~

At the same time, several people were drinking in the courtyard of the Secretary's Office.

"Friends and relatives in Luoyang ask each other like a heart filled with ice in a jade pot."

"Haha, come, let's have a drink together and support Brother Wang!"

The wine cup was raised, facing the bright moon, Wang Changling raised his head and poured the wine directly into his mouth.

Everyone around him also imitated his example, showing off his madness. Even Wang Wei, the always indifferent and free-spirited poet, has a smile on his face, as if he has returned to his unfettered youth.

Except Xue Bai. He just picked up the wine glass very restrainedly and took a sip.

"Is there a singer?" Wang Changling suddenly asked.

He was fifty years old at the time, with a tall build and majestic appearance. His character and temperament were somewhat like those of the older Yan Zhenqing. But his behavior is different, more wanton and unbridled.

Wang Wei said: "Brother, if you want to listen to music, just call for someone to come."

Xue Bai is now Tai Le Cheng, but there are more singing girls in Taichang Temple than Tai Le Department. Wang Wei does not need to ask Xue Bai to come forward, he recruits a follower and whispers: "Le Sheng is teaching in Lefang today, go Urgent, ask him to bring his disciples."

If it were Xue Bai, he would definitely not make such a small mistake, lest it affect his career. Although he often caused some big troubles, these Tang poets did not care.

"Xue Lang, do you know why I am listening to the music first at this time?"

"Appreciate further details."

Wang Changling then told a little story.

He once went to a restaurant to drink with Gao Shi and Wang Zhihuan, and suddenly he encountered a singer playing some of the most famous songs of the time. The three of them were all the most famous figures in the poetry world, so they made a private bet to see who among the singers could sing the most poems.

"Guess, Xue Lang, who won in the end?"

"Brother Wang should have won?"

Wang Changling smiled and gestured with two fingers, and said with a smile: "They sang two of my songs, and only sang one of Gao Thirty-five. Brother Zhihuan was not convinced, saying that the singers were all unknown girls, so they could only Sing some vulgar songs. He pointed to the most beautiful and outstanding singer among them, and said that she was an elegant one. When she sang, if it weren't for his Wang Zhihuan's poems, she would no longer compete with us in this life. But if she was, Gao Thirty-five and I just worshiped him as our teacher."

Xue Bai asked: "Then which song is this singer singing?"

Wang Changling set up the table and started singing.

"Far above the Yellow River, among the white clouds, there is an isolated city called Wanren Mountain. Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze does not reach Yumen Pass."

I don't know where Wang Wei took out the flute and started playing it. The sound of the flute spread throughout the secretarial department.

Wang Changling was in high spirits. He sang twice in a row, poured two glasses of wine on the ground, and murmured in a low voice: "Brother Haoran, Brother Zhihuan, I'm back to Chang'an again."

When the music stopped, he cheered up again and pointed at Wang Wei and Xue Bai.

"How about you and I have another competition today?"

Wang Wei nodded and responded: "Okay."

Xue Bai was still not crazy enough and said humbly: "I am definitely not worthy to be compared with these two."

"No need to be modest, you are a rising star in the poetry world." Wang Changling said with a smile: "Now that I am the eldest among the three, I can be as dishonest as Brother Zhihuan."

It was said that he wanted to cheat. With Wang Changling's reputation in the Tang poetry circle today, as long as he competed, it would be equivalent to recognition of this young man Xue Bai.

After a while, Li Guinian came with his female disciples, and they all put out their instruments. The first song they sang was Wang Wei's poem, which was the same poem praising virtues that had been published in the Di newspaper.

"The phoenix falls toward the blue sky, and the dragon picture shines in the golden mirror. Weiyue surrenders his two ministers, and wears the sky to visit all the surnames."

The second song is a poem by Xue Bai praising his virtues...actually a poem by Wang Wei.

They drank wine and listened to music in the imperial government office. It was actually necessary to praise the saint like this.

Wang Changling felt very disappointed. As expected, he was still a cheat. He stepped forward and grabbed a pipa and said, "I'll sing you a new poem of mine."

His fingers touched the strings, and the tune sounded. He opened his mouth, his voice was old and sad, but what he sang was "Erotic Song".

"Last night the wind opened and exposed the peaches on the well, and the moon was high in Weiyang's front hall."

"Pingyang's singing and dancing are newly favored, and the spring cold outside the curtain is bestowed with brocade robes."

The singing seems to have traveled through thousands of years of time, taking people back to the Han Dynasty.

It was the warm season of spring, and in the front hall of Weiyang Palace, the moon was shining high, the silver light was spreading, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom thanks to the rain and dew. Wei Zifu, a singer from Princess Pingyang's family, was beautiful and good at dancing. She was favored by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and was given a special brocade robe.

She was so favored that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed Queen Chen Ajiao, which shows that he loved the new and disliked the old, and was debauched and extravagant.

A poem expresses the favor of the new man, but secretly expresses the resentment of the old man.

The smile on Li Guinian's face became awkward, and even the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes looked helpless.

"We're almost done drinking. Everyone is drunk. Let's take a rest early."

"Yes, it's not appropriate for us to drink and have fun while others are compiling books."

Everyone said this, and the atmosphere was almost destroyed. Xue Bai said: "I will lead Brother Wang to the residence."

"Thank you Xue Lang."

Xue Bai then led Wang Changling to Houya.

Walking through the long corridor, Wang Changling stopped, stroked the pillars on the corridor, and said: "Secretary Province, it's twenty and one year... In the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan, I passed the Jinshi Ranking. Like Qian, I started as a school official. Shulang."

He looked at Xue Bai and said: "But I was not as young as you at that time. I was almost 30 years old. The road to fame is not easy. When I was young, I wanted to go to the frontier to pay homage to the Jiedushi, but it didn't go well. Fortunately, the name of the poem spread throughout the world and was recognized by Duke Zhang. At the beginning of his career as an official, his official career was smooth."

"I am also able to survive to this day because of Zhang Gong's protection."

"heard."

The moonlight was not too dark, so Xue Bai blew out the lantern and chatted with Wang Changling in the courtyard. He had a piece of news to tell.

But it was Wang Changling who spoke first.

"You have taken the right steps by becoming the first scholar and becoming a school secretary. The next step is to become a Jiwei?"

"Really prepared."

The promotion path in the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty is basically like this. With the qualifications of the school secretary and the county lieutenant in Ji County and the county, they can be transferred back to the middle-level Qingwangyanguan in the next step.

For example, Yan Zhenqing became the school secretary twelve years ago. He stayed in mourning for three years. It seems that his official rank is very low, but he has sufficient qualifications and reputation, and his talents are obvious to all. In fact, he has taken a crucial step. He only needs to move to another official position one or two times to advance rapidly and enter the candidate queue of minister and prime minister.

Wang Changling originally planned to be promoted in this way, and sighed: "I have served as the school secretary for four years. I am erudite and have passed the exam. I was moved to the rank of Sishui County Lieutenant, an official position under the ninth rank."

He spoke with sincerity and added: "With merit, you can be promoted to an official position without taking the civil service examination. But remember, don't be greedy for rank. You would rather be demoted than be promoted to Jiwei. I would rather be a Sishuiwei than Jiangningcheng." .”

They had just met each other, so it was not easy for Wang Changling to do this kind of reminder. No wonder he made friends all over the world.

"Thank you, Brother Wang, for the tip." Xue Bai thanked him solemnly.

Although he knew all these principles, he only had a profound experience with Wang Changling.

The Tang Dynasty is based in Guanzhong, and all wealth, resources, and official positions are tilted towards Guanzhong... Except for the flow of military power to border towns in recent years, everything else is given priority to Guanzhong. If you want to climb up the fastest, you have to go to Guanzhong. Ji County.

Seeing that the young man listened to the advice, Wang Changling nodded happily and sighed: "I can only remind you about officialdom matters up to this point. I can't teach you anything further. I can only remind you not to follow me." ’s footsteps.”

That was in the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan. He had been an official for ten years and was about to take a crucial step to supervise the censor. It happened that Zhang Jiuling lost power in the court and Li Linfu became prime minister.

Ren was the number one poet in the Tang Dynasty at the time, but when the tide came, all his efforts in the past ten years were in vain. Because of this incident, he was demoted to Lingnan.

"Lingnan is too miserable." Even Wang Changling sighed when he mentioned Lingnan, saying: "I was going to die in Lingnan, but God favored me. In February of the 27th year of Kaiyuan, the saint granted a general amnesty to the world. Not long after I arrived in Lingnan, He then returned to Chang'an, and was later transferred to the position of Prime Minister of Jiangning County."

Quantity transfer means that a convicted official is moved to a nearby place after being pardoned. He has almost no hope of promotion in his life and is lucky not to be demoted.

At this time, Xue Bai just told the news he had learned.

"I have an elder in the staff department who told me a while ago that Brother Wang, you are afraid that you will be demoted again..."

~~

"Wang Changling?"

Li Linfu murmured, thinking that just over a month ago, he saw someone exposing Wang Changling for making many mistakes in Jiangning.

He stood up, called over a drowsy waitress, and ordered: "Ask the staff to immediately find the writings from Jiang Ning last month."

"Here."

The staff of the prime minister's office also worked hard and found the documents that the right prime minister wanted overnight.

Li Linfu took it and turned it over, and sure enough, several county officials in Jiangning participated in Wang Changling's "not being careful in his actions, and contradicting his words and deeds."

The so-called "not meticulous" means not paying attention to small details. The official documents list many of them, such as Wang Changling, who is fond of wine and greedy for drinking, and often suffers from hangovers; he is passive in government affairs and refuses to interfere with county selection; Entertain yourself...

Attached below the official document is a personal letter, which contains a poem by Wang Changling titled "Spring Palace Song". Li Linfu remembered that he had dealt with this matter, so he asked someone to look for the official documents sent to the Ministry of Personnel and keep the records.

"Right Prime Minister, we found it."

"Bring it here."

He took it and saw that the official document said "demoted to Long Biao Lieutenant", and surprisingly it also had the seal of the Right Prime Minister.

"What a group of people who have nothing to do with their bodies! How dare you transfer someone who has already been demoted to the capital? Let Chen Xilie come and see his true self!"

"Alang, there is still a curfew at this time..."

"Let Chen Xilie come! Doesn't he usually get enough sleep?!"

~~

"Ah, this..."

It was already the fourth watch when Chen Xilie hurried to the Prime Minister's Mansion.

He was sleeping soundly when he was called over. At this time, he was still in a daze. He stared at the words on the official document with his eyes wide open and his face was full of confusion.

"Wang Changling? Did the lower official transfer him to Chang'an? I don't know about this. The sage ordered to compile a grand ceremony and summoned scholars from all over the world to come to the capital. The list was very long, probably one or two thousand people. I thought... the right prime minister asked someone to review it. pass."

Li Linfu was furious and angry at Chen Xilie's perfunctory attitude. It was precisely because of this that he placed Chen Xilie in the position of left prime minister for so many years.

"You Prime Minister, please calm down." Chen Xilie added: "I have never seen this official document. Most of the affairs of the civil service department are in charge of Minister Daxi."

As if he had punched the whole thing empty, Li Linfu had nowhere to vent his anger, so he sent someone to summon Da Xixun.

At five o'clock in the morning, Da Xixun's expression changed when he saw the official document, and he secretly cried out.

It doesn't matter if other things can't be done well. With the narrow capacity of the right phase, it's over for such a mistake.

He had indeed received this official document before. What he thought at that time was that although Wang Changling was only a minor official, he had a great reputation. He would definitely be scolded if he demoted Wang Changling, and then Li Bai, Wang Wei, Gao Shi and others would have to deal with it. Okay, so he asked Du Youlin to take care of this matter.

"Back to Prime Minister, it's Du Youlin!"

Da Xixun wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "Wang Changling defected to the Yang Party, so Du Youlin deliberately delayed..."

"You still dare to quibble?" Li Linfu threw away the poem written by Wang Changling. "If he is willing to join the Yang Party, he won't be stuck in the eighth or ninth grade of government for the rest of his life... He is a self-interested piece of trash!"

Da Xixun responded hurriedly: "Yes, yes, but it is true that Du Youlin has been deceiving his subordinates about this matter. He said that he had issued an official document and demoted Wang Changling to Longbiao County. But the left prime minister never told me that he would be recalled. Goodbye Chang."

"Are you blaming me?" Chen Xilie immediately scolded me angrily, "How have you ever asked me about official matters? How dare you blame me if you don't do your job right now?"

"I don't dare, I'm talking about the secretary's affairs..."

"enough."

Li Linfu scolded and was too lazy to pay attention to these two incompetent subordinates. He calmly and majesticly walked back to the screen and gave two words of instructions.

"Demeaned."

"Here."

~~

The next day, Chen Xilie went to the Secretary's Department to take charge of matters. The first thing he did was to order someone to bring over the list of editors.

He sat down in the public room, sighed, and cursed secretly in his heart.

"Asking for cockfighting, making a fuss out of a molehill, do you really think you are superior to me?"

After a while, the list came. Chen Xilie found Wang Changling's name, crossed it out, and ordered someone to find the document of his death and send it to the Ministry of Personnel.

At this time, someone outside the public house said: "Prime Minister Zuo, Xue Zhuangyuan is here."

"Hey, it's true. I said that Xue Lang is here. There is no need to pass the news. Why don't you welcome him quickly?"

"Here."

The middle door of the public room was pushed open, and Xue Bai led Wang Changling in.

"I've met the left prime minister."

Wang Changling also bowed and said: "Mr. Chen, I haven't seen you for many years...I have met the left prime minister."

"Young uncle, don't be too polite." Chen Xilie stepped forward quickly, held Wang Changling's hands, looked up and down, and sighed: "I haven't seen you in nearly twenty years, how come you are older than me now?!"

"The wind and frost on the road to relegation are really tough." Wang Changling said with a smile.

The two of them were wearing a purple robe and a green robe. Their status was very different and they looked quite disharmonious.

Chen Xilie sighed endlessly, turned to Xue Bai and sighed: "When the young uncle was studying here, I was a bachelor of Jixian Academy, and we had occasional contacts. He was in his prime at that time."

"It turns out that Prime Minister Zuo and Wang Zuanxiu are old acquaintances." Xue Bai said, "That's good."

"See you again after a long absence."

When Chen Xilie heard Xue Bai's words "That's good", he had a premonition that something bad was going to happen. He turned his back and coughed, "Cough cough cough... I feel a cold..."

"Is the Prime Minister Zuo sick?"

"It's not in the way, it's not in the way." Chen Xilie switched easily and waved his hand: "I have a few minor ailments. I'll be fine tomorrow."

"That makes me feel relieved. However, as the prime minister, Zuo Xiang has no time to take care of such complicated matters as selecting manuscripts. Wang Zuan is famous all over the world, so he is the best candidate. Today, I came to invite Zuo Xiang to take over. Wang Zhunxiu is the editor-in-chief of "Tianbao Wencui"."

"Hey, what about you, Xue Lang?"

"I am the deputy editor and the Prime Minister is the supervisor. Isn't it wonderful?"

"It's beautiful, it's beautiful." A smile appeared on Chen Xilie's face and he said: "In that case, I will send the plan to the Ministry of Personnel and wait for the approval of the Central Secretary. You can wait for good news, young uncle."

After saying that, he raised his hand slightly and asked Xue Bai and Wang Changling to leave.

Xue Bai said: "I happen to be going to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Please take note of it, Prime Minister Zuo. How about I take you there along the way?"

"When I finish my official duties, I will personally go to the Ministry of Personnel to make notes."

"I wonder if the left minister has any official duties. Can you ask me to help?"

"No need." Chen Xilie showed a hint of displeasure and waved his hand: "You do your job well. In fact, you still have the official duties of the Political Affairs Hall."

After saying that, he stood up immediately and planned to personally deliver Wang Changling's confession to Da Xixun in the Ministry of Personnel.

Just after leaving the secretarial department, there was a burst of cheers from the front.

"The Prime Minister Zuo has agreed to let Master Wang review our poems!"

"..."

It's that group of poor scholars who refuse to study and invest in banking papers with peace of mind. They look forward to becoming famous one day and take shortcuts. It's ridiculous and sad.

With a gentle smile on his face, Chen Xilie thought that this time he would not be coerced by the reputation of the scholars. "Tianbao Wenhui" was in his hands. Without Wang Changling, these scholars should follow his lead.

~~

After going to the Ministry of Personnel and meeting Da Xixun, Chen Xilie returned to the Political Affairs Hall.

An official handed over an official document and said: "Prime Minister Zuo, these all need your approval."

"understood."

Chen Xilie picked up the seal and sealed it. Suddenly his eyes focused and he looked carefully at the note on the case... the note that Wang Changling was the editor-in-chief of "Tianbao Wencui".

"Who did it?"

Chen Xilie was startled and immediately realized that it was Du Youlin.

He immediately put down the seal, picked up the note and was about to tear it up.

The next moment, he stopped moving.

Since Du Youlin dared to write this note, it was to remind him that Yang Dang was sure of this matter, and he would not be unable to see it.

Chen Xilie then put the note in his arms, just waiting to see what the result would be.

"Since Party Yang wants to compete with Suo Douji, why should I be anxious?"

~~

Secretary of the Ministry, Journalist Institute.

Xue Bai placed a large stack of thick poems in front of Wang Changling and said with a smile: "In that case, I'll leave it to Brother Wang."

"I'm afraid I will be demoted soon. Is Xue Lang sure he can keep me?"

"Simple."

Wang Changling shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying: "The saint hates me."

"No, the saint is magnanimous and appreciates Brother Wang's poems very much." Xue Bai said: "Forgiving you once shows that the saint is not disgusted with you, but is offended by you."

"This is my nature." Wang Changling said, "I can't change it."

He had lowered his head to look at the manuscripts, and in one glance, he crumpled a poem into a ball of paper and threw it out the door. After that, he picked up the pen, wrote "nothing to say, pretentious" on the next manuscript, and put it aside.

"No need to change." Xue Bai said: "I asked you to host the Wen Cui Bao because of this 'not careful and careful' temperament."

Wang Changling raised his head and stroked his long gray beard, feeling a little confused.

Xue Bai said: "What you have to do is very simple, scold. Now that you have scolded the king, how can you not scold the prime minister and uncle? Brother Wang is not careful about his actions, so he can scold all the powerful people in Chang'an. In this way, he will not speak and behave Go against each other'."

"Hahahaha." Wang Changling laughed.

Xue Bai stepped forward, wrote the four characters "Tianbao Wencui", pushed it in front of him, and said: "Look, this is a swearing newspaper."

　A friend recommended a book "The Years I Was Deceived to Northern Myanmar". If you are interested in this subject, you can read it~~The second chapter will probably be in the morning, so don't wait~~

　　

(End of this chapter)