The bad emperor of Tang Dynasty

On the second day after the competition, Guo Nuan got up early. At the gate of the temple yard, a king's private driver drove a gorgeous carriage to pick Guo Nuan to meet the king.

"Uh, it's too early. My brother usually likes to drink afternoon tea, not morning tea," Guo Nuan smacked his mouth, and he shook his head helplessly. Under the smiling eyes of Aina and the old businessman De La, he Stepped into a gorgeous carriage.

It is said that he just took a shower in the morning, and the temperature in the desert oasis is quite high. He has lived in Niya for almost a month, and he also does as the Romans do. He bathes several times a day in the pool next to the temple. When taking a bath in the middle of the night, everyone covered their bodies with a piece of cloth. After landing, they used to draw a game similar to the five-square grid on the ground. Sometimes everyone gathered together in twos and threes to write and draw on the wall with charcoal. Guo Nuan saw it. After looking at the contents on the wall, I can't help but sigh that these Niya people in the Western Regions are extremely accurate in counting their steps.

In the center of the small town is a tall hillside. On the hillside is the large stone pillar palace of King Niya. Guo Nuan, led by his attendants, quickly arrived at the marble steps of the palace.

The sun is shining, and when you walk into the porch outside the palace, the jade handrails are surrounded by flowers and plants. Several maids are diligently cleaning the various stone statues on the railings. Their careful work makes the stone statues clean and spotless.

Stepping into the house, Guo Nuan smelled a delicious aroma of cooking beef and mutton from a distance, mixed with the fragrance of herbs, driving away the smell of meat, Guo Nuan immediately salivated, and he swallowed subconsciously. one time.

"Thank you, (Niya language)" Guo Nuan nodded politely to the king's driver who drove him all the way. After staying for a while, he also learned a lot of simple Niya daily expressions.

While speaking, Guo Nuan took out a silver coin with a statue of King Niya III on the front and comfrey, the national flower of Niya, on the back.

"You're welcome (in Niya language)" the king's driver politely accepted the generous reward from the guests. In this Western Region culture, giving coins in the face of friendly service is affirmation and respect for the value of his labor, so Guo Nuan directly paid Giving money to servants is not an insult in Niya etiquette. Because the Silk Road allowed people from the Western Regions to communicate frequently with West Asian cultures, the culture of the Western Regions has a strong Middle Eastern Daxia and Persian culture, which is somewhat different from the Eastern Central Plains culture. .

Guo Nuan walked into a large hall with many large stone pillars supporting the roof beams of the dome. The hall is ventilated on all sides and made of fences. Inside, there are surrounding stoves, exquisite Middle Eastern carpets, and hot water pools, all of which are used to keep out the cold at night. As for the east corner of the main hall, there is a mahogany double-layer bookshelf, which is densely packed with many linear books. Guo Nuan also saw a shelf with parchment books, and even bamboo slips from the Central Plains of China, which are probably very old. Bamboo book.

On one side of the hall, King Niaz of Niya is half lying on a beautifully carved pear wood lounge chair, fanning leisurely with a palmetto fan, and there is a charcoal stove on the stone table beside him. The meat was boiling hot in the kettle, so the aroma came from here.

"Hello, Guo Nuan, a Tang native from the magical country, (in Chinese)" Amid Guo Nuan's surprised expression, King Niya slowly opened his eyes and greeted in blunt but fluent Chinese with a smile.

"Your Majesty the King, I didn't expect you to be able to speak Chinese. This really surprised me, hehe," Guo Nuan sat on another recliner next to the King at the king's signal, with the outside of the palace behind his head. The railing flower pond exudes bursts of refreshing floral fragrance.

Guo Nuan took a sip of weak tea, but he didn't expect it to be Biluochun from the Central Plains. He missed the familiar taste of his hometown.

"It's strange, why I can speak Chinese," King Niya chatted with Guo Nuan in the most peaceful and friendly terms, for example, he didn't use the noble self-proclaimed king, but used the word "I" in his spoken language.

"En, yes," Guo Nuan took the boiled meat slices brought by a servant next to him on the charcoal stove. Although it is unusual to drink tea in his hometown when inviting guests to chat, the custom here is rather strange, and they also receive guests while chatting. eat meat.

"See the row of bookshelves in the corner. The people of Niya live in comfort and prosperity. The whole small country has not had any turmoil in the past ten years. As a king of Niya, government affairs are also very leisurely. I read books in the palace in my spare time," Ni King Ya pointed to the bookshelf in the corner, and Guo Nuan nodded in understanding. He tasted a slice of mutton.

"I'm curious and interested in many foreign cultures, such as the Buddhist culture of Tianzhu, the gold and silver craft culture of the Guishuang Dynasty, and the architectural technology of Rome, of course," King Niya said eloquently. This is a very talkative person. Old man, he glanced at Guo Nuan and continued: "Of course, I also like to study Chinese culture. The mystery of the East is broad and profound. Unfortunately, as the lord of a country, I can't walk away, and I can't bear to leave the people of Niya. An ordinary businessman travels to Datang, "

"Because of his strong interest in Chinese culture, His Majesty must have taught himself Chinese," Guo Nuan suddenly realized.

"Well, in fact, I am more suitable to be a traveler, Guo Nuan, you are a foreigner traveling far away in the Western Regions, traveling to the beautiful scenery and customs along the way, isn't that the kind of person I hope to be, haha," King Niya praised With a chubby beer belly, he laughed. Guo Nuan also felt very comfortable chatting with this cute little old man. He knew that this king with a happy expression actually revealed a trace of loneliness between the lines. Could it be that after leading the people of Niya to live a prosperous and happy life, he feels sad that he has lost the ideal pursuit he longed for? Guo Nuan is not sure, maybe he doesn't like being a king.

"Well, in fact, it was not my original intention to be the king of Niya. Originally, I was just an ordinary prince in the royal family of Niya who was not favored by his father," Niya sighed faintly, and Guo Nuan realized that he had a long The story needs to be told to one person. Perhaps it is the subtle identity of Guo Nuan, a foreigner, that allows him to find a breakthrough to tell the object. If he is from Niya, he may not be able to understand the loneliness of the king from the perspective of an insider.

It is said that the story began more than ten years ago. When the ninth King Niyaz of Niya was still a prince, his father, the seventh Niya King, married a woman from another royal family in an oasis country more than 1000 miles away. As the queen, there are eleven other concubines. The Niya kingdom at that time was much stronger than the current Niya. With a population of more than 500 and an army of more than 30, this is considered to be the most powerful oasis country among the hundreds of oasis countries in the Western Regions.

King VII is an ambitious but self-willed tyrant, war mad, although after taking over the scepter of his father VI, the territory has grown several times under the expansion of the territory of King VII, but Years of wars and fierce political struggles among ministers in the palace, the Niya kingdom under the rule of VII was governed by harsh barracks at that time, and the whole city was filled with soldiers and hard labor. Living hard under the rule of the seventh iron and blood.

When Niaz was young, he often heard outspoken and honest old ministers persuade his father not to wage wars and invade other countries, but to focus his energy and thoughts on building a happy life for the citizens of his own country. If they couldn’t listen, all the courtiers who insisted on admonishing them were tied to the gallows. Although the kind-hearted Niaz wanted to persuade his father to forgive these loyal courtiers who loved Niya’s motherland, he could do nothing because Niaz The people of Yaz spoke lightly. He was just an ordinary prince among more than 50 princes. He was neither born to a direct queen, nor did he have the support of powerful noble elders.

Later, in a confrontation against Tuyuhun, an oasis power in the Western Regions, the VII's ambitious plan to lead the 1000 troops from all over the country to capture Tuyuhun in one month was ruthlessly destroyed by reality. Many royal personal guards desperately protected King VII and fled back to the Niya Kingdom. At the same time, Tuyuhun took the opportunity to swallow nearly a thousand square miles of fertile land in his own Niya Kingdom.

On the way, the VII, who had never been defeated in war and was proud and arrogant, vomited blood again and again. After he persisted to the Niya Palace, he was already dying. Before he died, the VII on the throne handed over the throne to the queen's son The eldest prince, this person is the later Niya Kingdom, Nichols VIII, the eldest brother of the current king Niaz.

However, the tempers of Nicholas VIII and VII are completely carved out of the same mold. He is also a prince who is arrogant, irritable and arrogant.

After the VII passed away in a hurry, the newly promoted King VIII was unwilling to be reconciled to the humiliation brought by Tuyuhun, but he forgot that it was his father who first provoked the war and invaded Tuyuhun. on the same wrong path as his father.

In the country of Niya, in order to prepare for the three-year revenge war against Tuyuhun, the VIII implemented a more harsh and ruthless national policy of full military enslavement than his father. All city residents between the ages of 13 and 65 must join the army , children, husbands, and elderly men were almost all forced into the army for cruel training, and women over the age of ten were all recruited to build military stronghold fortifications.

"Next, during the more than 300 years since the founding of Niya, our Niya people were dragged into the most serious and tragic situation by my emperor, almost destroying the country..."

Niaz was lying on the deck chair, and he told a long story. After the memory came to his senses, Guo Nuan, with a heavy heart, found that the eyes of the old king of Niya were full of tears.