Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 578: Returning to the Roots (Special thanks to book friend yyangtq for 2 monthly tickets!)

Chai Zongxun sighed:
"Manager Tang, get up quickly!
Alas! All good things must come to an end. I will miss you when Manager Tang is not by my side.

Chief Steward Tang has taught his children well, and all three of them are capable people. As long as they obey the law, they will surely become prominent in our Great Zhou Dynasty."

Chai Zongxun always rewarded meritorious attendants with silver, treasures, houses, and allowed them to adopt sons to inherit his family line.

Chai Zongxun would never do something like Emperor He of Han who used the eunuchs around him to eliminate the Dou family, his foreign relatives, and conferred titles of duke and marquis on eunuchs who had made great contributions.

Chai Zongxun considered Tang Qi's successor for several days. In view of the fact that Tang Qi was the one he trusted the most and had the greatest power among the eunuchs, he finally decided to promote He Yao, the chief eunuch in front of the palace, to be the chief eunuch of the palace and commander of the Wude Division, and to promote Xue Ke, the chief eunuch, to be the eunuch in charge of the Tianji Department.

In the past few days, Tang Qi told almost all the emperor's personal eunuchs everything he knew about Chai Zongxun's life, for fear that after he left, everyone would lose the emperor's favor when serving Chai Zongxun.

On November 20th of the 61st year of Kaixi, Chai Zongxun held a farewell banquet for Tang Qi in Huangyi Hall, with hundreds of ministers attending.

Tang Qi was the most favored and powerful eunuch around the emperor. He never overstepped the boundaries, and the relationship between the emperor and his subject was good from beginning to end. He was even more favored than Emperor Minghuang of Tang and Gao Lishi.

For the first time, Tang Qi changed from always standing beside Emperor Chai Zongxun to sitting as the guest of honor at the banquet.

After several rounds of drinking, all the ministers present praised Tang Qi, saying that he was "fair and just, and did not do anything to disturb the people." He was truly a sage emperor, with all his close ministers being virtuous.

Chai Zongxun was quite reluctant to let go, as Tang Qi's closeness to him was irreplaceable by anyone.

When they were half drunk, Chai Zongxun suddenly had an idea and said to his ministers:

"General Manager Tang has served me diligently throughout my life, and I have never been satisfied with anything!
"When General Manager Tang retires and returns to his hometown, it's like I've lost a loyal supporter! I wrote a poem to give to him."

All the ministers were familiar with Chai Zongxun's lyrics, and had never heard him compose poetry, so they all listened attentively.

Chai Zongxun put down his wine glass and chanted:

"Gift to the Chief Soup
The lotus has no rain cover, and the chrysanthemum still has proud frost branches.

You must remember that the best time of the year is the most orange and green time. "

Upon hearing this, Tang Qi hurriedly left his seat, bowed deeply to Chai Zongxun, and fell to the ground crying bitterly.

When the banquet ended late at night, Chai Zongxun announced the imperial decree, granting Tang Qi ten thousand taels of gold and hundreds of rare treasures. The next day, he was escorted back to his hometown, Heyang Prefecture, by the Wude Division.

Heyang Prefecture was not far from Bianjing, only about 500 miles away. After three days of traveling, Tang Qi, escorted by thousands of Wudesi guards, dozens of old servants from the prefecture, and hundreds of carriages filled with gold, silver, and jewelry given by the emperor, returned to his hometown, Mingjian Village, Heyang Prefecture, at 3 p.m. on November 24, the 61st year of Kaixi.

Hundreds of officials including the governor and the prefect of Heyang Prefecture, along with tens of thousands of villagers, had already arrived five miles in front of the village to welcome the emperor.

Seeing Tang Qi getting off the carriage, everyone bowed and said:
"We, the elders of our hometown, respectfully welcome General Manager Tang back to our hometown!"

Tang Qi quickly returned the greeting and said with a smile:
"Please get up quickly!
"We can't afford to have so many fellow villagers come to greet us!"

Sun Shi, the governor of Heyang, said:
"General Manager Tang is the most respected person in the country and the glory of Heyang Prefecture. How dare the elders of our hometown not line the streets to welcome him?!"

Many of Tang Qi's nephews, nieces, and grandchildren hurried out to pay their respects. Tang Qi ordered his steward to give them red envelopes as a gift.

Surrounded by many people, Tang Qi returned to Mingjian Village, where he was born.

As soon as I entered the village, I saw a magnificent house standing in the southeast of the village, which vaguely seemed to be the location of my thatched house.

This house was built by people sent back to his hometown by Tang Qi when he planned to retire to Emperor Chai Zongxun and return home at the beginning of this year.

Tang Qi walked into the courtyard, and the scenes of his childhood with his mother, brother and sister came to his mind one by one. He couldn't help but touch the beams, pillars and walls with tears in his eyes. Since he left home to become a eunuch in Beijing at the age of 9, Tang Qi has been away from home for nearly years. Only when his mother passed away in the mansion in Bianjing in the th year of Kaixi, he received permission from Chai Zongxun to carry his mother's coffin back to his hometown to be buried in the ancestral tomb.

On that day, Tang Qi held a banquet in his new house to entertain all the officials and elders from his hometown, and they had a very pleasant conversation.

During the banquet, Tang Qi donated 100,000 taels of silver to improve the living conditions of all the "women's homes" in Heyang Prefecture.

Sun Shi was overjoyed. The performance of the orphanage was part of the court's performance evaluation system for evaluating officials, so he immediately thanked Tang Qi repeatedly.

Tang Qidao:
"The Holy Emperor is on the throne today, and our Great Zhou is peaceful.

Your Majesty is the one who cherishes talents the most. Are there any talented people among the people in Heyang Prefecture now?"

The officials and common people looked at each other in bewilderment. When it came to talent, everyone was scrambling to take the imperial examinations. Those who were truly talented all passed the four categories of "civil, military, commercial, and industrial" and became officials in the court.

It is very difficult to find undiscovered talents among the people.

Sun Shi, the governor of Heyang, thought quickly and said with a smile:
“To General Manager Tang, ever since Your Majesty opened the four-category civil, military, commercial and industrial examinations and recruited talents, all the talented scholars in Heyang Prefecture are eligible to serve Your Majesty.

If there is a hidden talent among the people of Heyang Prefecture, in my opinion, it is the young painter Guo Xi who has made a name for himself. "

Tang Qi was quite interested and asked for details.

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Sun Shi immediately introduced Guo Xilai.

Guo Xi was born in the 41st year of Kaixi (1000), with the courtesy name Chunfu, and was a native of Heyang Prefecture.

He was born into a commoner family, converted to Taoism in his early years, traveled extensively, and became famous for his paintings.

Guo Xi was good at landscape painting, following the example of Li Cheng. He used the cloud-like brushstrokes to depict rocks and mountains, creating a rich, beautiful and moving artistic conception. He was also good at shadow sculpture, using mud to create relief-style landscapes on the wall, which was very interesting.

Tang Qi was overjoyed when he heard this. Although he had retired and returned to his hometown, he still wanted to be loyal to Emperor Chai Zongxun.

Now I heard that there was such a talented young man in my hometown, and the Emperor Chai Zongxun admired all kinds of talents, so I could recommend him to the emperor to keep him in mind.

Tang Qi immediately ordered Sun Shi to bring Guo Xi to see him as soon as possible...

On the seventh day of the second month of the sixty-second year of Kaixi, Marquis Joseph, an envoy of the Eastern Roman Empire, led a delegation to arrive in Bianjing.

Joseph's last diplomatic mission to the Great Zhou Empire was in the 50th year of Kaixi, and now he is already 50 years old. Since his last diplomatic mission to the Great Zhou, Joseph has admired the civilization and prosperity of China. After returning to his country, he took a merchant from the Great Zhou as his teacher, studied Chinese hard, and can now speak fluent Chinese.

Chai Zongxun summoned him to the Huangji Hall at 3 p.m.

In a moment, Joseph entered the hall, led by the Minister of Rites Guo Ying and escorted by the imperial guards.

After greeting, Chai Zongxun said angrily:

"I heard that when our Great Zhou envoy, Minister Guo, went to Constantinople to meet Constantine VIII, he was almost beheaded in court. Is this true?!

In the past, if I had not mediated and ordered Bulgaria to withdraw its troops, how long could the Eastern Roman Empire have held out when it was attacked on three fronts?

How dare Constantine VIII act so presumptuously in front of me today?

What an ungrateful person! "

(End of this chapter)