Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 28

Chongrenfang.

In the evening, Wu Kangcheng, the envoy of the Jinwu Guard left to patrol the streets, passed by a big house, and took a look inside.

"Wu Liu?"

Hearing the call suddenly, Wu Kangcheng was taken aback, turned around, and saw a middle-aged man in a dark green official robe sitting astride a horse, looking at him at the intersection.

"Ah, Wang Shijun is here?"

Wu Kangcheng hurriedly crossed his hands to salute, and said with a smile: "I heard that Wang Shijun returned to Chang'an to serve as an official, so I thought it would be good if I could meet, so I came here to chat."

"It's very talkative. Think back to the time when Helong parted ways, seven or eight years ago, right? It's rare for you and me to meet again in Chang'an."

"The villain returned to Chang'an in the first year of Tianbao. At that time, he wanted to see the envoy, but he never thought about it. We only saw each other today."

"The ups and downs of officialdom are not worth mentioning, so let's not mention them."

"The villain brought wine, let me have a drink?"

"I can smell the aroma of wine from afar, Xinfeng Wine?"

"Shijun's nose is good."

Wu Kangcheng couldn't help laughing, hung the jug on his shoulder, and went to help the middle-aged man.

From far away, Jin Wuwei came running over and said, "Boss, someone is looking for you, someone from the Right Prime Minister's Mansion!"

When Wu Kangcheng heard the word "Youxiangfu", his expression changed, he turned around and saw a young man walking towards Fang Street, but he didn't know him.

Instead, the middle-aged man beside him let out a slightly surprised "Huh".

"It's you? Xue Bai?"

"I met Mr. Mojie."

Xue Bai crossed his hands and looked at Wang Wei's dark green official robe, feeling that this official robe did not match Wang Wei's temperament.

Still, Wang Wei looked more lofty and at ease when he was wearing the plain gown.

Wang Wei was keenly aware of Xue Bai's gaze on his official robe, and said, "Are you looking for Wu Liu?"

"Yes, Xunwu Patrol has something to do."

"Then let's have a few drinks together?" Wang Wei said, "I also have something to tell you."

"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey."

After entering the courtyard, Wang Wei pleaded guilty and went to change his clothes first.

Xue Bai left the Tian brothers and Jiao Nu to sit in the front yard, while he entered the hall alone, and had a drink with Wu Kangcheng.

"Did Xue Langjun come to see me?" Wu Kangcheng set up a small stove and put the wine on the fire to warm it.

"Yes." Xue Bai said: "The military inspector served in the Longyou Army?"

Wu Kangcheng smiled when he heard the words, nodded, and said: "He joined the army in the 20th year of Kaiyuan, returned to Chang'an in the first year of Tianbao, and served as a Longyou soldier for ten years."

"Fight with Tubo?"

"Well, fight every year." Wu Kangcheng said: "It was a few years after the Chiling Monument Alliance, that is, there was no big war, and small battles were always fought."

Xue Bai asked: "I want to ask the military inspector about two people. They are a pair of brothers named Jiang Mao and Jiang Hai."

Wu Kangcheng directly shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Xue Bai sized him up, with some understanding in his eyes, and talked about the several battles the Jiang brothers had participated in.

Wu Kangcheng still shook his head and said: "There are tens of thousands of people who have fought together in the army, how can I remember?"

Before asking further, Wang Wei had already changed into a plain robe and came out, holding a string of Buddhist beads in his hand, and sat down behind the stove.

When he was young, he was known as "miaonian, pure and white, and graceful", but in middle age, besides his elegant demeanor, he also added years of precipitation.

"Where are you going to get a job with your servants in fancy clothes and the right Xiaowei?"

Xue Bai replied: "I don't have official status yet, I'm just investigating some things for the right minister."

Wang Wei said indifferently: "Young people, academic examinations are the right path."

"That's what Mister taught."

"Let's talk about you first, are you looking for Wu Liu?"

"Yes." Xue Bai said, "I'm investigating two soldiers from Longyou, and I want to ask the military patrol envoy if he agrees?"

Wu Kangcheng laughed foolishly and said, "I don't know."

Xue Bai smiled, and followed the topic: "I asked a veteran from Longyou today, and he said that the military inspector might recognize him. I came to find him, but I didn't expect the military inspector to know Mr. Mojie. "

"It should be, the 25th year of Kaiyuan." Wang Wei took a sip from his wine glass, and said slowly with a look of reminiscence: "I went to Liangzhou as a supervisory censor, and served as a judge under the Jiedu curtain in Hexi."

"Yes." Wu Kangcheng replied with a smile, "The 25th year of Kaiyuan."

Wang Weidao: "At that time, Tubo disregarded the warning of the Tang Dynasty, and attacked the Xiaobolu Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty. The saint was furious and ordered Hexi and Longxi to send troops, so I went out to express comfort and investigate the military situation."

Xue Bai knew that the Jiang brothers hadn't been recruited to Longyou this year, but he still listened carefully.

"When I traveled to Liangzhou, I learned that Tubo was invading the territory. Cui Jieshuai, the envoy of the Hexi Festival, had led troops to support Longyou." Wang Wei looked at Wu Kangcheng at this point, and said, "At that time, Wu Liu was Cui Jieshuai. Your subordinates are waiting to ride."

Xue Bai's expression changed, and he blurted out to ask: "Whenever Xiao Guan rides, does he protect Yan Ran?"

Wang Wei smiled knowingly, with a different look in his eyes, and nodded.

""Envoy to the Fortress"?!"

"Yes."

Wu Kangcheng laughed loudly, drank the wine in his cup, and began to read poems aloud.

"If you want to ask about the side of a bicycle, it belongs to the country and passes through Juyan."

"Let's go to Hansai, and go back to Hutian."

"The lonely smoke in the desert is straight, and the sun is setting in the long river."

"Whenever Xiao Guan rides, he protects Yan Ran."

At this moment, he was no longer the street patrolman carefully spying on Wang Wei's mansion with a drink in his hand. His tone was bold and extraordinary.

The grandeur that was restrained by the Chang'an officialdom returned to Wu Kangcheng. He seemed to have just returned from the desert, and finally dared to speak loudly and let the wine spill on his beard and front.

"Hahaha, 'Xiao Guan is waiting to ride', everyone in the world reads Mr. Mojie's poems, but few people know that I, Wu Liu, is that waiting rider! 'All protection is in Yanran', that is, in the next year, Cui Jieshuai himself Liangzhou led people into the enemy's territory for more than [-] li, defeated the enemy bandits in the west of Qinghai, and beheaded more than [-] ranks!"

Wang Wei also drank the wine in his glass and laughed endlessly.

The magnificence brought to him by the past years has rarely broken the silence in his eyes.

But with a smile, his eyes gradually became lonely again.

"Do you know how many years the Great Tang and Tubo fought peacefully?"

Xue Bai shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Wang Weidao: "If you count from the sixth year of Emperor Gaozu Wude, it has been more than 120 years. If you count from the battle of Tuyuhun, it has been more than [-] years."

"so long."

Wang Weidao: "Hexi and Longyou have to be guarded by more than 28 elite soldiers all the year round, but the military system of the Tang Dynasty collapsed, and the military expenditure for recruiting troops was seven times that of the past. Although there were a few big victories, the problems in the northwest were still not completely resolved. Princess Jincheng was married to Tubo until she passed away in the 30th year of Kaiyuan. During her nearly [-] years in Tubo, there were only intermittent ten years of Taiping, and there were no major wars in these ten years. There were always small wars between the two countries."

Only then did Xue Bai know that wars had been going on throughout the prosperous Kaiyuan era.

He didn't understand these things, so he didn't say much, and waited for Wang Wei's text.

"Cui Jieshuai hated Xiyi. After he came to Hexi, he tried his best to promote the alliance between Datang and Tubo. Finally, in the 22nd year of Kaiyuan, the two countries became the country of uncle and nephew with Chiling as the boundary. Cui Jieshuai and Tubo generals Kilixu killed the white dog as an alliance, and each went to the garrison, so that the people on both sides could farm and graze on the border."

Wang Wei said, drank another glass of wine, and said: "Both of them are people who value faith and have fought for peace on the border for three years. Unexpectedly, a big war was inevitable. Tubo attacked Xiaobolu Kingdom in the west, and the sage Furious, he ordered Cui Jieshuai to cover up Tubo, but Kilixu was not fortified and was defeated in Qinghai Lake. Although Cui Jieshuai had a great victory over Tubo and made great achievements in battle, he was often worried about the situation in Helong and felt ashamed of being a beggar. Li Xu. This matter reached the ears of the sage, so Cui Jieshuai was dismissed and moved to Henan Yin."

"and then?"

"In the 26th year of Kaiyuan, Cui Jieshuai left Helong, and I also returned to Chang'an. Not long after, he died of illness. Some people said that he dreamed of a white dog and died of surprise."

Wang Wei sighed, and said: "After his death, he was loathed by the saints and ridiculed by the world, but in his life, his military exploits shined brightly in Qinghai, and his faith was more important than Mount Tai. He fought wars not for personal achievements, but for real I want to seek peace for the soldiers on the frontier and the people on the frontier."

Xue Bai was silent.

Unexpectedly, after a big victory in Qinghai Lake, the coach had such a dismal ending.

He could understand what Wang Wei wanted to say - the soldiers of Helong were not easy, they were fighting a war that had lasted for hundreds of years and had no results in sight.

Faintly, there is also the meaning of complaining that the sage is so overjoyed.

Wang Wei seemed to be drunk, holding his wine glass high, and began to read poems.

"Chang'an young knight-errant, go to the garrison tower at night to watch Taibai."

"The bright moon in Longtou is approaching the pass, and people on Longshang play flute at night."

"The veteran general in Kansai was so sad that the two in the horse listened to tears."

"He has experienced more than a hundred battles, big and small, and his subordinates have benefited tens of thousands of lords."

"Su Wucai belongs to the country of Dian, and Jiemin has fallen to the west of Haixi."

Xue Bai looked at it, and when Wang Wei turned his head, he was crying.

Wu Kangcheng also burst into tears.

They said nothing, only complained in verse.

Once a high-spirited young man in Chang'an, he became a veteran in Kansai. He listened to the flute every night, missed his hometown, and made numerous military exploits.Then what?What did the soldiers who suffered from the misery of the frontier fortress get?

Su Wu spent 19 years in Beihai holding festivals to herd sheep, and all the charms on the talisman festival were exhausted. After returning, he only became a small official like a Dianyu country.

What about Li Linfu?

A lucky minister, after Cui Xiyi's death, led Longyou and Hexi towns, held dozens of positions, received the infinite favor of the saint, and had great power!

How can He De He Neng?

He De He Neng? !
Great rewards are small, small rewards are big, and sycophants are in high positions. This is not enough, and today they are going to persecute the frontier soldiers? !

"Jiemin is gone...Haixitou."

Wang Wei murmured the poem, raised his hand, patted Xue Bai's shoulder, and sighed: "Let's not talk about the frontier, let's not talk about it... okay?"

There was compassion in his eyes again.

The blood of the young knight-errant in Chang'an in the past has long been extinguished by this world.

Even so, he seemed to come forward and beg Xue Bai to stop investigating those veterans.

Xue Bai said: "Okay, let's not talk about the frontier today."

Wang Wei sighed, and said: "I heard the first poem in the government office today. It is the tune of Jiaofang. "Huanxisha" is well written, but you wrote it in Mrs. Guo's mansion?"

"Yes."

Wang Wei took a deep look at Xue Bai and sighed, "Don't go this way."

Xue Bai was taken aback.

He felt the extremely sincere warning and regret in Wang Wei's eyes.

"Which way?"

"In the eighth year of Kaiyuan, I went to Chang'an to take the exam, but I failed." Wang Wei took a sip from his wine glass and said slowly: "I was unwilling, so I made friends with King Ning, King Qi, and... and Princess Yuzhen. Year, the number one scholar and the first."

Xue Bai raised his glass to drink, but put it down again.

He still didn't know which way Wang Wei persuaded him not to take, he only vaguely felt that Wang Wei was full of anger and wanted to confide in it, but he still restrained it.

"But you see, so what about being the number one scholar? This official career has been bumpy, and he is no more than a green-robed official." Wang Wei murmured: "You are very similar to me when I was young, really. Take a shortcut, it won’t work.”

After only a few glasses of wine, he seemed a little drunk.

He hesitated to speak, raised his head, drank a glass of wine, opened his mouth again, and it was another poem.

"In the past, the beautiful face turned into twilight teeth, and the white hair turned into drooping hair in a moment."

"There are so many sad things in life, where do you not sell them to Buddhism?"

……

Xue Bai listened to three poems today, from "Duhu to Yanran", to "Jiemin Falls to the West of the Sea", and then to "How many sad things in life", Wang Wei did not go too deep, but he has shown His helplessness and powerlessness in the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty.

~~
After leaving Wang Wei's house, Jiaonu and the Tian brothers followed Xue Bai and asked, "How is it?"

"Go to the Right Prime Minister's Mansion." Xue Bai looked up at the sky, and said, "The curfew is imminent, so act quickly."

Jiaonu asked, "Any clues?"

Xue Bai hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Ah."

Although he only responded, he looked a little stern.

(End of this chapter)