Late Tang

(It's 04:30, I have been coded since noon yesterday, I can't hold on anymore, I will send today's fifth update first, Muzi went to sleep. Brothers, today is the day when Muzi's big seal is pushed, which coincides with the National Day monthly ticket flip During the period, it can be said to be a double blessing, and now we are waiting for everyone’s monthly pass and subscription support! Brothers, it’s all up to you!)

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The eighth day of March in the second year of Qianfu.

In the early morning, at five o'clock in the morning, before dawn, with the sound of the first morning drum on the Chengtian Gate of Taiji Palace, the street drums on the streets opposite the gates of Chang'an City responded in unison, and the dust on the Sixth Street began to drum. winter.

The street drums in Chang'an City need to be beaten three thousand times, but if it is early in the day, the color can be distinguished and stopped, as long as the eyes can clearly see things in the distance, the street drums can be stopped.

"Boom boom boom!"

As the drums sounded, the gatekeepers of the Menxia Province began to lead the eight hundred gate servants who were on duty in turn, and when the street drums sounded, they delivered the city gate keys that were kept uniformly every night to each gate on time.

The nine outer city gates on the east, west, and south walls of Chang'an City were first opened. From west to south to east, there are Kaiyuan Gate, Jinguang Gate, Yanping Gate, Anhua Gate, Mingde Gate, Qixia Gate, and Yanxing Gate. The gate, the Chunming gate, and the Tonghua gate all opened one after another.

After the nine gates are opened, the gates of each workshop are opened next.

It was not until all the nine gates were opened that the palace gates of the palace finally opened slowly.

Next to the Yintai Gate on the right side of Daming Palace is the Hanlin Academy.The Hanlin bachelor on duty in the courtyard is enjoying the best morning sleep before dawn, while the gatekeeper of the palace gate is verifying the key to unlock the door.One of the gatekeepers took out a wooden fish carved from sandalwood, and the other gatekeeper carefully took out a sandalwood board with a concave ridge carved on it.

The wooden fish entered the ridge tightly, the gatekeeper nodded expressionlessly, and the guards who guarded the gate slowly pushed open the heavy palace gate.The palace gate creaked loudly, and the sound spread to the Hanlin Academy, causing the Hanlin scholar who was sleeping to groan in dissatisfaction, "There are so many voices!"

The sound of drums spread to the Daming Palace, and the maids in the palace who prepared clothes for the emperor brought the ironed and sorted clothes to the emperor's bedroom.The emperor's gorgeous dragon robe was filled with the smell of ambergris.The faces of several court ladies were a little gray and blue, with dark bags under their eyes.Last night, they started working as soon as the lights in the emperor's bedroom were extinguished, and their night's work was not over until the morning drum sounded.

Before the clear drum beat, some people were already busy.

The owners of the pastry shop in the workshop were the first to get up. They lit up the lamps and stoves in the dark, and prepared for the opening to welcome customers early.

The owner of the Shengpingfang Cake Shop just opened the door, but found that many people were already sitting there waiting under the eaves.

"Wu Dalang, do you have any good cakes? Come here, I want flax cakes." An old man in a long robe shouted.

Dalang of the Wu family recognized that this was a senior official Liu in the workshop. This senior official Liu didn't listen to anything outside the window, and only read sage books.Originally, Yi was from Huainan. He came to take the imperial examination 20 years ago. After failing, he simply bought a house in Shengpingfang and lived there for a long time.Wu Dalang's family has opened a bakery here for generations, and he saw Mr. Liu in the shop when he was sensible.Now 20 years have passed, and Mr. Liu still failed to win the first place.Fortunately, Mr. Liu's family is quite large in Huainan, so he doesn't worry about living expenses.

"Why are the senior officials so early today, are they waiting for the doors to open before leaving the city?" Wang Dalang asked with a smile.

Sitting on the long table set up in front of the store, Mr. Liu gave a rare smile: "Didn't you hear that the town [***] is going to go to the city today to be reviewed?"

Since Li Jing was assassinated during this period, Chang'an was under martial law. It can be said that there are more than 100 million people in Chang'an who don't know about Li Jing and Zhen [***].Now I heard announcements posted in various squares, saying that the triumphant army on behalf of the North will enter the city today to accept the emperor's review and present prisoners. In time, Marshal Li Zhenguo and his town [***] are well known to women and children in Chang'an.

At this time, other people who came to wait for the door to open also came to the bakery to buy cakes for breakfast. Some bought flax cakes, some bought mutton offal, some bought steamed cakes, and some bought millet porridge.Everyone sat at the table, waiting for Wu Dalang's beautiful Fanlian lady to come out early.

While waiting for breakfast, the official Ximen who opened the silk and satin shop in the square squeezed his chin and aimed at the young lady.Although she was dressed in a thorn hairpin, her graceful figure, pretty face, especially the two dimples when she smiled, made him fascinated more than ever.

Dalang sang while working.The song is Wang Wei's "Weicheng Song", "The morning rain in Weicheng clears the dust, the inn houses are green and green and the willows are fresh... My heart is full of excitement for a prosperous business, but I don't know that there is a pair of eyes peeping at his wife unscrupulously." .

When Miss Fanlian brought Lengtao up to Ximen officials, Ximen stretched out his finger and hooked it on the palm of the little lady without any trace, but the little lady stared coldly, and directly stomped on his instep, Make him grit his teeth.

I had no choice but to turn around and pretend to talk to Mr. Liu. "Brother Liu also cares about Li Jiyu, isn't he studying sages anymore?"

"Thirty old Mingjing, fifty young Jinshi." Mr. Liu shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly, "I have been in the Jinshi exam for more than 20 years, but I have not yet passed the exam. I will not take the exam. I have heard a lot these days." Regarding the matter between Shaozhen[***] and Li Jing, I feel that although Li Jing is young, he is an extraordinary person. I have already made up my mind, and I will go to have a look today. If Li Zhenguo and his town[***] are really as rumored What is said in the book is extraordinary, so I recommend myself to find a job in the [***] town.”

At this time in the late Tang Dynasty, although the imperial examination was taken once a year, it was not only talent that was required to pass the examination, but more importantly, family background and fame.And even if you can win, it is difficult to become an official.At this time, most of the civil servants basically chose to enter the shogunate of the feudal town first, and then made achievements to be transferred to the imperial court.

Not long after the street drums sounded in the early morning, the whole city of Chang'an had already woken up. The sound of people, cars, horses, chickens crowing and dogs biting, the silence was gone. Even the sound of wind chimes hanging in Buddhist temples in Chang'an city had already been drowned out. .

Usually at this time, the permanent officials who are going to participate in the morning court have already woken up, cleaned up, and rode horses, mules, donkeys, and ox carts on the way to the court.According to the imperial court system, before five o'clock, one must rush outside the gate of the palace.

But today, there are many officials on the streets. Not only the officials in purple clothes riding horses and carriages, but also many officials wearing dark green, light green, and even blue official robes, all flocked to the palace. door to rush.

"Why are they all rushing to the palace gate?" Someone wondered.

A scholar riding a donkey on the side of the road smiled and said: "You don't know? Three days ago, the emperor issued an order to declare that today the triumphant army on behalf of the North will enter the city for review. , must participate in the review."

In the palace, the four chief eunuchs, Ximen Sigong, Yang Fugong, Zhang Tai, and Tian Lingzi, had already been waiting outside the palace, but the emperor hadn't gotten up for a long time.

Zhang Tai stepped forward and asked in a low voice the little eunuchs around the emperor.

"Your Majesty played chess yesterday and didn't sleep until the third watch."

Ximen Sigong and the others all turned black. On such an important day today, the emperor actually played chess with others until midnight last night. It was really more and more nonsense.

Several censor admonishers from the censor platform had already arrived, and seeing that the emperor was still asleep, they couldn't help turning darker.Tian Lingzi finally went to wake up Li Xuan himself. When he came out, the admonisher Zuo Shiyi Wang Zou Buqian said, "Please break the jade steps to thank the admonisher." On the steps of the palace, he smashed his head to remonstrate, and his complexion immediately darkened.As soon as he opened his mouth, the newly promoted admonisher immediately said: "Your Majesty ruled the Great Tang Dynasty at a young age, and the four seas are the masters of the world. It should have governed the Great Tang. But now, the entire city of Chang'an Millions of people are waiting for the emperor to appear. Outside the city of Chang'an, tens of thousands of triumphant generals are preparing to enter the city to accept the emperor's review. But now the emperor can't get up in the morning because he played chess until the third watch last night. To spread the word, let the people of the world think of His Majesty, and let the tens of thousands of triumphant soldiers who are looking forward to His Majesty's review think in their hearts?"

After finishing speaking, he really kowtowed in the palace, his head banged on the steps, the sound was heard clearly even by people outside the palace, blood flowed directly all over his head and face.Li Xuan was about to get angry, but when he saw the result, he didn't know what to do.

Zuo Suyi is just a mere low-level official, but this guy just took office, and he made himself look like a grand master.Meeting such a ruthless person, Li Xuan was young after all, and immediately felt a little ashamed.Immediately he had no choice but to say to him: "I know about this matter, please step down."

Ximen Sigong, Tian Lingzi and others were also very surprised, so they had to let him retreat first.

According to the rules of the admonishers, after Wang Zou exited the main hall, he immediately went to the Jinwu guard duty room outside the hall to wait for punishment.However, after waiting for a while, there was no order of punishment, but Li Xuan ordered him to be appointed as the imperial censor from the lower hall of the seventh rank, in charge of the court inspection, and also knew the treasury cashier, the internal affairs of the palace, and the picket of the capital. matters.Wang Zou was stunned for a moment, not only did he not convict, but he even raised the reward.After waiting for three years for the first Jinshi, he finally became a small admonisher from the eighth rank, and then the bold admonisher who was promoted to three ranks on the first day of taking office, was stunned.It seems that the young emperor is not as rumored outside, at least he can correct his mistakes.

While in a daze, a little eunuch walked in.

"Wang Yushi, Your Majesty asked Yushi to tidy up and prepare to leave the palace with his escort."

After tidying up in a hurry, when he came outside the hall, Li Xuan had already put on the extremely solemn mianfu, the twelve-pronged tiara on his head, the big fur, and the black clothes.The upper garment is painted with six patterns of Yue, moon, stars, mountains, dragons, and Chinese insects, and the lower garment is painted with six patterns of embroidered algae, fire, rice, Zongyi, Fu, and Fu, a total of twelve chapters.

"Qizou Your Majesty, all the ministers in the Political Affairs Hall have returned, and the horses for the military parade have been prepared, and they have already arrived outside the Mingde Gate in Nancheng. Your Majesty, please issue an order to announce the start of the review!" An official from the fifth room of the Political Affairs Hall came report.

Li Xuan's expression showed excitement, and he said loudly: "I will pass on my order, and the review will start immediately, so that the triumphant soldiers and horses will enter the city and accept the review!"

"Observe the decree!" The official led the decree, bowed his head and retreated, leaving the palace. (To be continued.)