Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 593 The Gifted Overlord

When Shi Chaoyi arrived at the lobby of the government office, a banquet was being held.

Moreover, it seemed that the banquet was of a rather large scale, as all the senior military and political officials of Youzhou were present.

People like Ping Lie and Geng Renzhi, who were close confidants of Shi Siming, and other literati and military generals, were all present.

There were two seats next to Shi Siming's main seat, with Mrs. Xin and Shi Chaoqing sitting on the left and right respectively. The family looked very happy.

Seeing this, Shi Chaoyi suddenly felt that he was redundant.

Many people in the Youzhou officialdom were discussing privately that although Shi Siming, a Hu man, was crude, his marriage was very happy and enviable.

Not only did he get the beauty and find love, he also received the strong support of the Xin family in Youzhou, and thus secured his position.

This happy marriage gave Shi Siming wings, his career took off, and he had the confidence to establish his own regime.

But these people were mocking, saying that everything was fine with Shi Siming's family affairs, except that Shi Chaoyi was a son that should not have been born. If it weren't for this son, everything would have been perfect.

As a result, Shi Siming always disliked Shi Chaoyi, and Shi Chaoyi often thought that his father wanted to kill him. He was in a constant state of panic and gradually began to rebel.

"Shi Chaoyi, didn't you go hunting?
Who asked you to come here?

There's no place for you here, don't you see?
Get out of here! "

As soon as he saw Shi Chaoyi walk into the lobby of Youzhou government office, Shi Siming shouted at him.

At this time, a man dressed as a scholar stood up and said to Shi Chaoyi, "Oh, it's the prince. Please take a seat. I'm sorry for being rude. You can sit in my seat."

This person was Cen Shen who had just arrived in Youzhou City, and this banquet was also a welcoming party held for him by Shi Siming who "abandoned darkness and joined the light".

You know, Prince Yong Li Lin has not issued a proclamation yet, and the date of his enthronement is set for the Lantern Festival.

Therefore, Fang Chongyong was still the governor of Xuanwu Army appointed by the court, and Cen Shen was the staff member of Xuanwu Army.

Shi Siming had just quietly accepted the imperial court's offer of amnesty, and he should have warmly welcomed Cen Shen's arrival. Not to mention that Shi Siming had his own little thoughts.

Shi Chaoyi was not the crown prince, but Cen Shen called him the crown prince. Everyone present changed their expressions slightly.

Shi Siming waved his hand at Cen Shen and said, "Mr. Cen is wrong. The one next to me is the crown prince. Shi Chaoyi is just a bastard's son. How can he be worthy of the title of crown prince?"

Cen Shen was stunned. He never expected that such words that could split a family could be said in front of so many literati and military generals.

As long as Shi Chaoyi is still a human being, he would want to kill someone when faced with such a slap in the face!
However, what Cen Shen did not expect was that Shi Chaoyi humbly bowed to him and said, "Mr. Cen, you are wrong. The crown prince is Shi Chaoqing, not me."

"I'm sorry, I'm so ignorant. I'm guilty of the death penalty."

Cen Shen quickly sat down and never mentioned giving up his seat to Shi Chaoyi again.

Sooner or later, Shi Siming's family would face internal strife, so he decided to talk to Fang Chongyong about it after returning.

Seeing Shi Chaoyi suffer a setback, Shi Siming felt better.

He asked impatiently, "What's your business? Hurry up and tell me. There are so many people waiting for the feast! Are you going to let them wait for you?"

Shi Chaoyi suppressed his inner anger and said to Shi Siming calmly, "I want to be exiled to Pingzhou. Please grant my wish, father."

Pingzhou?

Shi Siming was not in charge of civil affairs. He only knew that there seemed to be no elite troops deployed in Pingzhou.

"How is Pingzhou?"

Shi Siming asked the military advisor Ping Lie who was closer to him.

"It's a good place with nice scenery. There's no war and it has a port for maritime trade. Ships from Silla, Goryeo and Japan often stop by to trade."

Ping Lie gave a concise introduction.

"Madam, how about you and Chaoqing go to Pingzhou to recuperate for a while?"

Shi Siming asked gently.

He wanted his family to go to the rear for shelter because there was a high possibility of a war in Hebei in the near future.

"Let Alang decide everything. I will listen to him."

Xin bowed respectfully to Shi Siming.

“Well, it’s decided then.

Shi Chaoqing was appointed as the governor of Pingzhou and would take up the post in a few days.

You can go now."

Shi Siming pointed at Shi Chaoyi and said.

After saying that, he turned around and gently advised Madam Xin: "The sea breeze is strong over in Pingzhou, Madam, you should pay attention to keeping warm."

Eh?
What did I ask just now?

Shi Chaoyi thought he had heard it wrong.

In fact, he was not the only one who thought so, everyone present had the same idea!

Didn't Shi Chaoyi want to go to Pingzhou? Why did Shi Siming let Shi Chaoqing and his mother, Madam Xin, go to Pingzhou?

"Father, this..."

Shi Chaoyi seemed to want to make some explanation, but unexpectedly Shi Siming threw the white porcelain wine glass in his hand directly at him, hitting Shi Chaoyi's hat!

"Get lost! I don't want to say it a second time! Don't stand here and delay the party!"

Shi Siming scolded with a cold face.

Everyone looked at Shi Chaoyi with sympathy, but no one stood up to speak well of him.

Shi Siming can be said to have taken the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children to the extreme!
The legitimate son and the wife are the apple of the eye and are even spoken to gently, but the illegitimate son is worse than a dog.

I guess Duke Zhou, who established the system of primogeniture, would have kneeled down to Shi Siming when he saw him like this.

It is really not easy for a Hu person to follow the Han people's etiquette and laws to this extent!
They only treated the illegitimate son as an outsider, but Shi Siming actually treated the illegitimate son as a dog. How can this be described?
All we can say is that there is nothing strange in this world.

All of Shi Siming's men present sighed in their hearts.

Cen Shen was reminded of a sentence Fang Zhongyong once said, "Choice is more important than effort." This sentence means: If you make the wrong choice, no matter how hard you try, it will be in vain.

However, at this moment, Cen Shen felt that Fang Chongyong had missed one sentence, which was "reincarnation is the most important thing."

If you are reborn into a bad family, no matter what choices you make or how hard you work, it will no longer matter.

Shi Chaoyi left angrily, but no one cared whether he was happy or not.

That's life, isn't it?

You have to live whether you are happy or unhappy.

More importantly, basically no one cares whether a fish belly is happy or not.

Shi Siming's banquet was a great success for both the hosts and the guests. Everyone present praised each other and boasted about how loyal they were to the Chang'an court.

Cen Shen heard more lies at a banquet than he had heard in the past ten years.

The banquet ended in a warm atmosphere. If Fang Zhongyong had not warned Shi Siming in advance that he must be on guard against his evil ambitions, Cen Shen would have thought that all the people in Youzhou were loyal ministers and capable generals of the country.

Following Shi Siming, Ping Lie and others to the study room behind the government office, after sitting down, Shi Siming took out a stack of papers from the bookcase and asked Cen Shen, "Mr. Cen, I heard that your poems are all over the world. Can you comment on my poems?"

His expression didn't seem fake, and his close associates including Ping Lie and Geng Renzhi were all shocked!
Brother, you are illiterate! How can you write poetry without knowing how to read?
Besides, you can’t write!
Obviously, Shi Siming had never taken out this pile of poems before.

But what can I say? Shi Siming was indeed illiterate, let alone writing, but he could speak!

Shi Siming thought, since I can speak, why don't I just say the poem and have someone write it down? Why do I need to be able to read and write?

It should be said that this idea does make some sense.

Although Shi Siming could not write Chinese characters (nor any other characters), he was proficient in six foreign languages ​​and was extremely skilled in listening and speaking.

That is a real foreign language, not the kind you learn in a woman's belly.

Shi Siming could not write or read, but he spoke fluently.

Not to mention reciting poems in Chinese characters, he can even recite poems in Turkic!
Cen Shen picked up the poem handed to him by the other party and took a look at it. The title was "Pomegranate Poem".

The text reads: In the red flowers in March and April, in the bottles in May and June. Use a knife to cut open the yellow placenta, six or seven thousand naked men and women.

It’s okay, the level is average.

Cen Shen thought secretly.

However, considering that Shi Siming was a novice who could neither write nor read, this poem can be regarded as "astonishingly beautiful".

"Not bad, not bad. Shi Jieshuai is very talented."

Cen Shen suppressed the urge to complain and gave Shi Siming a thumbs up.

"Look, I told you that if I didn't fight in wars or lead troops, I could be a poet. Hahahaha!"

Shi Siming laughed arrogantly, leaving Ping Lie and Geng Renzhi speechless.

My goodness, how could such words be said by a barbarian who can’t even recognize, let alone write, Chinese characters!

It is simply the opposite of Tiangang.

Finally, Ping Lie broke the deadlock and looked at Cen Shen and asked, "I wonder why Mr. Cen came to Youzhou?"

He was afraid that if he didn't mention it again, Shi Siming would really spend an afternoon studying poetry with Cen Shen.

Cen Shen put away the smile on his face, saluted Shi Siming and said, "General Fang Jie wants to attack the bandit army Li Guiren entrenched in Xiangzhou, but has no one to support him. I wonder if General Shi Jie can cooperate with the Xuanwu Army to attack Li Guiren from the north."

"Since we all work for the imperial court, this is no problem. I'll leave it to Shi!"

Shi Siming spoke in a boastful manner. If you didn't know what kind of person he was, you would think he was a righteous and passionate man who treated the affairs of the court as his own family affairs!
"That's great. I wonder if General Shi can have someone write a letter to my general. Otherwise, it will be hard for me to report to him when I go back."

Cen Shen requested with a smile on his face.

This was actually a rule in the Tang Dynasty officialdom. If a runner completed a task and the other party regretted it after returning, what should he do if his superior wanted to punish him? Therefore, getting a "receipt" was a basic rule.

After all, words are not enough, you should at least have it in black and white, right?

Shi Siming looked at Ping Lie and saw that he nodded calmly, so he laughed and said, "We all work for the court, this is natural. General Ping, you write the letter."

Ping Lie heard Shi Siming's instructions and bowed respectfully. Then he spread a large piece of paper on the table and wrote the letter quickly. He finished the letter soon.

He did not keep it to himself, but handed it to Cen Guan to have a look.

It was clearly written on it:
Li Baochen and his supporter Li Wan were traitors to the court and should be punished by all. I (Shi Siming) also hated them deeply. Li Guiren was a subordinate of Li Baochen, so he was naturally a thorn in my side.

If you (the Xuanwu Army) want to attack Xiangzhou, please send someone to Youzhou to contact me, and I will send troops from the north to contain Li Guiren.

You can also attract Li Guiren's troops to the south bank of the Yellow River, so that I can march straight in and seize Xiangzhou. By then, Li Guiren will surely be defeated and can only wait for death.

In short, once we have agreed on the specific matters in the future, we can take joint action.

In the end, it was just a long, meaningless speech expressing loyalty to the court and cursing Li Baochen.

On the surface, this letter seems to be saying that Shi Siming and the Youzhou vassal state are loyal to the court and are ready to obey orders at any time.

But in fact, there are a lot of seemingly ambiguous word games and descriptions in it.

Yes, I promised you that I could send someone to contact you, but if we can't reach an agreement, we can also just sit back and do nothing. How can you say that I deceived you?

People who don't pay much attention to details can easily be deceived by Shi Siming and his gang.

Shi Siming was not stupid, but also very cunning. Moreover, he had talented people under him. This kind of word game was probably not the first time they had played it, and they had developed a tacit understanding.

"Oh, General Shi Jie, I don't know how to thank you.

With this letter, my commander will be very happy, and I will be able to report to him when I return. Thank you!"

Cen Shen put the letter away and thanked him repeatedly. It seemed that his words came from the heart and were very natural.

He was really happy, after all, he could use this to fool Li Guiren.

Shi Siming also bowed humbly, said a lot of nice things, and escorted Cen Shen out of the government office.

After he returned to the study, he asked Ping Lie, "Why do you think Cen Shen came here? Is he really here to attack Li Guiren?"

"To test our attitude. After all, we accepted the imperial court's offer of amnesty, but we did not issue any proclamation to the outside world. Fang Qing does not know our true background.

I heard that Prince Yong wants to ascend the throne in Bianzhou. Maybe they are testing us to see if we are the kind of people who can be won over."

Ping Lie said thoughtfully.

What he just wrote was all lies. Anyway, as long as the two armies haven't fought, the other side can't expose their lies.

Shi Siming's deception was not very sophisticated. He just bet that his opponent was naive and liked to harbor fantasies.

As long as he didn't hit the other party's doorstep, he could maintain his deception with sweet words.

The scumbag men and women in Fang Chongyong's previous life all followed this pattern.

"It doesn't matter, whatever they think."

Shi Siming chuckled, a hint of coldness flashing across his face.

No matter who it is, if they want to say nice things to him, it’s fine to just listen. If they want to say nice things in return, it’s fine to say them back. Anyway, saying nice things doesn’t cost you anything.

But, other things are not possible.

For example, if other forces, no matter who they are, want to place generals in the Youzhou army, send officials to Youzhou to take over the government offices, or send soldiers to roam the border of Youzhou with ill intentions, such things will be met with a strong counterattack from Shi Siming!
"But is Li Guiren a bigger threat than Li Baochen? Why doesn't Fang Qing deal with Li Baochen first?"

Ping Lie suddenly asked a very strange question.

Shi Siming and Geng Renzhi were both stunned and didn't understand what was going on.

……

Late at night, in a wing of an ordinary courtyard in Kaifeng city, a couple who had just made love in Wushan were hugging each other naked, feeling each other's heartbeat and body temperature.

Li Yi never understood why when describing matters between men and women, it was always emphasized that the woman was possessed by the man.

Now that she has experienced it and understood that indescribable and unforgettable feeling, she can finally understand it.

Maybe this is the new experience of becoming a woman.

"you are so Beautiful."

Fang Zhongyong bit Li Yi's ear and changed his words temporarily. He almost said "You are so flirty".

Fang Chongyong also had to admit that he and Li Yi had a tacit understanding in terms of sex.

Li Yi has been so overwhelmed by love that her mind is filled with scenes of herself snuggling in the other person's arms in the future.

Of course, if Li Yi still had her former rationality, she would definitely be able to guess: Fang Zhongyong has been coming here almost every night to make love with her recently, but in fact he just wants her to get pregnant with a child.

He would never be so horny that he couldn't sleep without a beauty like her in his bed.

No matter how outstanding a woman's beauty is, it is just that in the end. On the contrary, her status, character and offspring have a great influence.

This is especially true for a political animal like Fang Chongyong.

The fate of women in the feudal era faced more challenges. This was also the case even in the Tang Dynasty when society was more open.

There are some invisible shackles on my body.

For example, Xu Pan, the concubine of Li Deyu, a famous official in the middle Tang Dynasty, was treated as a wife by her husband. After Xu Pan died, Li Deyu personally wrote an epitaph for her, which was sincere and heartfelt, and buried her in the Li family cemetery.

Li Deyu also arranged official positions and career prospects for her two sons, giving them the same care as his legitimate sons.

All in all, it can be said that he treated Xu Pan as a wife rather than a wife.

However, even though Li Deyu was so affectionate and so loving to Xu Pan.

But Xu Pan was still a concubine from beginning to end. Even after her death, Li Deyu could not change this title in his epitaph!

No status can be given even after death, that’s the rule.

The rules of Tang Dynasty society were so strict.

As Fang Chongyong's concubine in the future, no matter how hard Li Yi tries, there is almost no possibility for her to turn things around.

What Fang Zhongyong is considering now is to let Li Yi get pregnant first, so that it will be easier for her to get married in the future. Because her status is not as high as Da Zhenhui, it is difficult for Wang Yunxiu to accept it, so he can only do it first and then ask for permission.

Fang Zhongyong's mind is now full of planning for the future, including the structure of his harem. In his view, the love affairs between men and women are just embellishments.

It would be better if you have it, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t.

For those in power, politics is everything, and all actions are centered around politics.

Politics is the ideal aspiration in one's heart.

Fang Chongyong is not a scumbag, but for a politician, talking about love is a luxury.

As a political animal, he is not worthy of love.

Thinking of this, Fang Chongyong felt a little sorry for Li Yi again.

"Once this battle is over, I will take you into my house. I will take care of the rest, you don't have to worry about anything."

Fang Zhongyong kissed Li Yi's lips and said.

He can't give you love, but he can give you promises and a stable life.

"I believe whatever Alang says."

Li Yi murmured with her eyes closed. At this moment, she had lost the ability to judge right from wrong.

"Well, there's still a lot of time to come."

Fang Zhongyong patted Li Yi on the back and said. Then there was a silence, until Fang Zhongyong thought that the other party had fallen asleep, Li Yi suddenly whispered:
"Ah Lang, my period didn't come this month. Do you think it could be..."

Pregnant?

Fang Zhongyong was shocked. Li Yi was a virgin before. If she was pregnant, it could only be his.

"Really?"

he asked in a low voice.

"Not sure, let's see the doctor in a few days."

Li Yi sighed and said.

"I want to give Ah Lang a son. No, I want to give him three sons, one every year!"

Li Yi said this in a firm tone, as if he remembered something bad and was irritated.

(End of this chapter)