King of Song

Chapter 73 Ouyang Xiu

After the old man left Jiangnan Residence, he traveled all the way north and came to a house near the Bian River.

Inside, the carved beams and painted buildings, the eaves and the walls are extremely elegant, and the stove in the room is flourishing, warm as spring.Two young men in brocade robes were warming themselves by the fire and drinking wine, while several young and beautiful women waited beside them.

After the old man entered the door, he bowed and said, "The little one has seen the prince and the marquis!"

One of them is Zhao Zhongshan, Marquis of Fushui, and the other is even more distinguished, he is Emperor Zhao Xu's younger brother, Qi Wang Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao is the second son of Song Yingzong and Empress Gao, and he is one of the most distinguished in the Song Dynasty.The emperor's brother, the most honorable prince, and the most important thing is the empress dowager Gao Taotao who loves him very much. Even though he has reached the age of sixteen, he is still allowed to live in the palace and accompany him by his knees. Such kindness is unique.

Tianhuang's noble background, coupled with his mother's doting, made Zhao Hao feel superior, it can be said that his eyes are higher than the top.

Because of his special status, he has also become the object of courtship among the clan's children, and Zhao Zhongshan, the second son of Yuhang County King, is one of them.

Emperor Yingzong was adopted from Prince Pu's mansion, and he was originally the brother of Prince Yuhang.Zhao Hao and Zhao Zhongshan are actually serious cousins, they have frequent contacts on weekdays and their relationship is closer.Nothing happened today, so I was invited to Zhao Zhongshan's other courtyard for wine tasting and entertainment.

"How about the horse buying?" Zhao Hao hurriedly asked when he saw the old man. He had an infatuation with famous horses and horses. Ever since he met Lin Zhao's Bailong that day, he had never forgotten it. He happened to be out of the palace today and sent an accompanying The servant went to make an appointment.I have been thinking about this matter in my heart, so that people who drink are not so interested.

The old man He bowed and said, "My lord, I'm so incompetent, Lin Zhao won't..."

"Well, I think he is also a horse lover, so it is expected that he will not give up his love..." Zhao Hao sighed, it was a pity that he couldn't get the white horse he loved so much.Then he sighed: "I don't know how to buy it with a lot of money? Xiao Wang is willing to pay double the amount!"

Seeing this, Lao He immediately said: "My lord, it's useless. That Lin Zhao is so conceited, he is too conceited. I gave the name of the lord, but he ignored him and said something disrespectful..." Then he added more fuel and jealousy, and put Lin Zhao in front of him. How domineering Zhao choreographed, how arrogant and complacent, defiant, is completely the image of a bully with too much clothes.

Zhao Hao is the proud son of heaven, with a noble status, how could he have suffered such humiliation.Growing up in the court, his relatives didn't care about these things, and he couldn't prevent his cronies from deceiving him, so he immediately became angry.Zhao Hao was very annoyed that a small chief bookkeeper disrespected the prince...

Lao He took the opportunity to add fuel and jealousy: "Yes, this Lin Zhao is really deceiving people too much, uttering wild words, he dares to insult the little prince..."

Zhao Zhongshan knew that Lin Zhao was the kind of person who would rather bend than bend.So he jumped up on purpose to get old He to be arrogant.It is called deterrence, but it is actually provocation. Lin Zhao is bound to be dissatisfied, and it is not surprising that conflicts arose.

Everything was as expected, Zhao Zhongshan immediately suggested: "Second brother, this man is so arrogant, he is too deceitful, we will teach him a lesson in person later, and vent our anger for second brother!"

"How to teach?"

"This is simple, this way..." Zhao Zhongshan immediately muttered...

The next day, the two wanted to find Lin Zhao's bad luck, but they didn't want to, but news came that Lin Zhao was sick and bedridden.In addition, there was news yesterday that the officials had interviewed Lin Zhao alone, so we have to be cautious...

Zhao Zhongshan was not in a hurry, Zhao Hao already hated Lin Zhao deeply, and he kept fanning the flames from the sidelines, King Qi's anger value continued to rise.If it erupts one day, the effect will be extraordinary. If Cao Jian, Wang Yu and others can be brought along on that day... Hehe, that would be the best.

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But it is said that Lin Zhao left Bianjing City and headed east quickly, and headed straight for Dengzhou at full speed.

But after all, the distance is far away, and after several days of rapid travel, it is inevitable that people will be exhausted.I wanted to stop in Qizhou and go to Baotu Spring to take a bath and rest.But in order to save time, he took a shortcut all the way and missed the first spring in the world.

Only take a rest in Qingzhou, another necessary place. Qingzhou is the seat of Jingdong East Road, and it is one of the best towns in Qilu.Rest here for half a day, replenish some supplies, and then you can go straight to Dengzhou in one go.

After entering Qingzhou City, although the few people had the emperor's order, they were on relatively secret errands, so they kept a low profile and just found an ordinary inn to live in.

But Lin Zhao forgot one thing, the white dragon is incomparable, destined to attract a lot of attention, and it happened to be noticed by an old man.The old man couldn't help but be amazed, he must have admitted the wrong person, right?However, it is almost the same as the description in Ai Tu's letter, especially the white horse, which is probably unique in the Song Dynasty.

How could he be here?Shouldn't you accept the reward in Bianjing?However, he has been an official for many years and has rich experience, so he suddenly understood.

The old man couldn't help but smiled slightly, the disciple admired him very much, he was young and promising, he really wanted to meet him!After thinking for a long time, he ordered his cronies to assassinate him...

"Dare to ask, but Mr. Lin Zhao is in person?"

Just as Lin Zhao was washing up in the inn room and was about to rest for a while, a middle-aged man who looked like a servant came to visit.

"I'm under Lin Zhao, I don't know what to do?" Lin Zhao looked at the other party suspiciously. It can be said that he has no relatives in Qingzhou. Who would know himself?

The man bowed and presented an invitation card, and said: "My master occasionally sees the young master passing by, and invites the young master to have a glass of water and wine at the house, and hang around for a while!"

Uh... buy me a drink?It seems that there are no friends in Qingzhou, who could they be?Could it be someone with bad intentions?Lin Zhao's expression became more suspicious and dignified, suspicious of the other party's identity and purpose!

After receiving the famous thorn and carefully looking at the name of the owner who signed it, Lin Zhao suddenly became enlightened, and even a little excited!
The signature of the invitation was impressively written——Ouyang Xiu!
Needless to say, what kind of person is Ouyang Xiu, the Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties, and the Four Great Masters of Essays through the ages.In the Song Dynasty, he was one of the best scholars, a literary master respected by everyone.

Among other things, Song Renzong's Jinshi examination in the second year of Jiayou's reign alone discovered many talents for the court.The titles of that gold list were all amazing, including Su Shi, Su Zhe, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zeng Gong, Zeng Bu, Lu Huiqing, Zhang Dun, Wang Shao, etc. Which one of them? It's not that the big name is like a thunder.

There are three of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. Needless to say, Zhang Zai and Er Cheng’s status in the history of philosophy, Lu Huiqing and Zhang Dun were once among the prime ministers. One of the few bright spots in history.This year's Jinshi examination is called Jiayou's second-year dragon and tiger list, which can be said to be the first list of the millennium imperial examination.The chief examiner was Ouyang Xiu, a Hanlin scholar at the time. Such a good result is not the result of his advocacy of plain writing style.

It can be seen from this that Ouyang Xiu's status and influence in the literary circle of the Great Song Dynasty!

It's no wonder Lin Zhao wasn't excited when he received the invitation from Ouyang Xiu!
You know, there are countless people who gathered in front of Ouyang's mansion to ask for a meeting but couldn't.It is an exaggeration to say that it is definitely an honor for the scholars of the Song Dynasty to meet Ouyang Xiu. If they are pointed out and praised, it means that they have a bright future.

As for Mr. Ouyang's initiative to invite, it can be said that there are very few people. How could Lin Zhao not be excited when he got such an opportunity today?

Coincidentally, after Ouyang Xiu served successively as Deputy Privy Envoy, Political Advisor, Minister of Criminal Affairs, and Secretary of the Ministry of War, he was released after many requests. He had just arrived in Qingzhou as Zhizhou.Such a good thing happened to happen to Lin Zhaoge, so I have to say I was lucky.

After thinking about it, Lin Zhao understood that this matter should have a lot to do with Zeng Gong, who was traveling with him as an envoy, otherwise how could he have the opportunity to enter Ouyang Gong's eye?
It seems that it is a good thing not to get to know big people, but to get to know their little apprentices.Speaking of which, the relationship with Huang Tingjian is also good, will he introduce himself to Su Shi in the future?

All in all, the opportunity to visit Ouyang Xiu is naturally not to be missed, not to mention the main invitation, how can one miss the once-in-a-lifetime honor?
(End of this chapter)