Tang Dynasty Crossing Guide: Chang'an and People's Life Manual

Chapter 32 Attention comrades who intend to enter the political world (5)
Chang’an Guozijian was originally a place where people flowed frequently and news spread quickly. After Abe made a few appearances in public, “There was a student from the Imperial College of Japan…” became a topic of chat among the upper class in Chang’an after dinner. It's not too different from "I heard that Lin Yiguo paid tribute to an elephant...".

After Abe became famous, he was invited to attend banquets and gatherings of celebrities from time to time, and recite poems and compose Fu, and thus got acquainted with famous poets such as Li Bai and Wang Wei.Now that you have squeezed into that circle, a group of literati boast each other, and your popularity is getting higher and higher. In this way, when your Taixue study period expires and you take the imperial examination, most of the students including you will lose their names, but Abe will be rejected by the chief examiner. He was very favored (at that time, the examination papers were not vague, and those who judged the grades knew who they were scoring), and they were highly favored by a Jinshi.

A barbarian from a small and remote country in the east of the sea actually admitted to the imperial examinations. The news caused a sensation in the government and the public. Many poets wrote poems and praised Abe as "the superior was born to the country" and "the wild sentiment favors courtesy"①.You heard that during the interview at Hanyuan Hall, even the emperor of the Tang Dynasty found this foreigner with a crisp Jinling Luo accent very interesting, and personally gave him a Chinese name of "Chao Heng" and appointed him a very good family background - "Scholar of the Taigong Zuochunfang Economic and Economic Bureau".

The serious work of this position is to proofread and organize books in the library of the East Palace, and the grade is the lower rank of the ninth rank.Don't look down on this Ninth Grade Sesame Officer. This leisurely, tasteful and cultured position is the starting point for becoming an official.

And those who are forced to fail the exam, such as you, have spent enough time in Taixue, and the school counselors unceremoniously waved a broom to send you out.Fortunately, you and Abe—now called Chao Xiaoshu—have a deep friendship and can stay with him temporarily.If you really can't find a way to make a living, just wait for the next Japanese mission to send Tang envoys over and go back to China with them.With your graduation resume as a student of the Great Tang Dynasty, it is more than enough to be a university professor or public intellectual when you return to China and shake your prestige as a sea turtle.

After you returned to China, you had no news from Zhongtu, and there was no news from Chao Heng for many years.It wasn’t until decades later that another batch of Tang envoys and monks studying abroad returned to the country, and you heard that Mr. Chao had served as Zuo Buque, Yi Wangyou, Wei Weishaoqing, secretary supervisor and Wei Weiqing in the lower province of the Tang Dynasty, and his official career was prosperous. , Soaring to the top.He once wanted to go back to China to visit his relatives, and obtained the approval of the Emperor Tang. However, after boarding the ship, he encountered a typhoon and was blown all the way to Annan (a territory belonging to the Tang Dynasty, now part of Vietnam), where he was almost hacked to death by the local natives.His good friend Li Bai and others thought he was dead, so they were very sad and wrote poems to mourn him.

①From Bao Ji's "Sending Japan's Congratulatory Envoy Chao Juqing Back to the East".

When these mourning poems spread all over the world, Chao Heng crawled back to Chang'an from Annan, the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and showed his dark and thin face, saying that he did not deliberately deceive everyone's feelings.However, this adventure also has its benefits. A few years after the Anshi Rebellion broke out, the Tang court was in a hurry to arrest people as errands. Because Chao Heng had been to the Indochina Peninsula, he was appointed as "Zuo Sanqi's regular attendant and Annan's protector", nominally becoming Vietnam today. The top person in charge of the region jumped into the ranks of senior officials of the third rank.Of course, he should have never been to the field to take office.

Until his death, Chao Heng never returned to his hometown.On the contrary, your classmate named Jibei Mabei went back to Japan and created a brilliant career. In comparison, you are just going to die in peace.But at least you can brag to others after drinking in your hometown: "When I was studying in Datang..."

As for the Japanese’s historical evaluation of these foreign students, let’s end with their Chinese poems.

Rituals and music spread to enlighten our people, who were the most re-entrant to the Tang Dynasty. ①
①From "Ode to History" by Hirose Tanchuang.

References & in-depth understanding recommendations for this article:
Tang Qun. Education Research in Tang Dynasty. Xi'an: Xi'an Publishing House, 2009
Zhang Baiying. Research on Abe Nakamaro. Guangzhou: Journal of Guangzhou Normal University (Social Science Edition), 1999, 20 (1)

Those who want to go to Huaqing Pool to spy on Li Shimin and Wu Zetian taking a bath come here...

Fubing Three Guards System
Tang wear business has opened again, this time it is a group of body art lovers.But not only there is no discount, but the overall price has also been raised, because their crossing goals are too demanding, and they have to go to Lishan Huaqing Palace to watch the emperors and concubines take a bath, and secretly draw body sketches. (Ben Lu really doesn’t understand, what’s the point of drawing those big meaty balls?)
Speaking of the hot spring baths in Lishan, it is really the only temple for Tang wearers to appreciate body art.This ancient hot spring has been enclosed and built as a bathing city for the royal family since the era of Yingzheng in the Qin Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi, the chief gossip entertainment reporter and known for his shallow and nasty writing style, made it even more popular in his literary works. There are a lot of product placement ads, and the scale is borderline, and the content is extremely fragrant.

In the cold spring, Huaqing Pool is bathed, and the hot spring water is smooth and gelatinous.The waiter raised her delicately and was powerless, and it was the time of Xin Cheng Enze. ×××××××…… (Sorry, according to the laws and regulations of Datang, your input results will not be displayed.)
Cough, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of the Ministry of Rites of the Tang Dynasty is mighty.In short, as soon as the Tang Dynasty was established, from the first emperor Li Yuan, he liked to run to the Lishan Hot Spring Palace.Especially in winter, with a little snow, soaking in the open-air hot spring pool, putting a towel on your forehead, and drinking sake floating in the wooden tray on the water, it is not to mention how pleasant it is. (The person in charge of the company came forward to drag away this overworked deer with a sense of time and space confusion: Sorry everyone, this deer has gone to Japan instead, please ignore the above few lines.)
It will take some time to wake up the deer. Let's start with an advertisement, which is copied from the commentary of the tour guide of Huaqing Palace.

Lishan is a famous scenic spot, and "Lishan Evening Photo" is one of the eight scenic spots in Chang'an.Lishan Mountain has always been a place where literati and poets eulogized and visited the emperors of all dynasties since ancient times.Because Lishan is an extinct volcano, there are many hot springs. As early as 3000 years ago in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it became a place for emperors to visit.

According to legend, King You of the Western Zhou Dynasty built the "Li Palace" here; Qin Shihuang used the hot springs here to build "Lishan Tang"; Thousands of pines and cypresses were planted."In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of Tang made great efforts to build a palace soup pool, named "Tangquan Palace"; Huaqing Palace".The scale of Huaqing Palace reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty.

Going back to the time travel scene, you see, it is very clear above, Li Shimin, Tang Gaozong (with Wu Zetian) and Tang Xuanzong (with Yang Guifei) all bathed in Lishan Hot Spring, theoretically we will travel to the Lishan Palace, along the way Walking along the timeline, you can spy on these generations of emperors.

However, the salesman Lu said hello to you in advance, just peeping on Tang Xuanzong and Li Longji's bathing couple, which is much more difficult than the first two and requires extra money.The company has always clearly marked the price, and the extra charges are listed separately before the crossing, for customers to choose independently, transparent consumption, please do not complain to the Space-Time Management Bureau that the company defrauded customers!

You ask why it is so difficult to spy on Li Longji? (Because his weight is the sum of his great-grandfather and grandma?) The reason is simple, His Majesty Minghuang took a bath indoors, while Taizong and Empress Wu took a bath in the open air.

Think about it, if you are in the open air, as long as you are within a few kilometers of the bathing pool, our company will equip you with a high-powered telescope, and the job will be done. The risk is much smaller than entering Li Longji's bathhouse (not big) guarded by guards. More, of course, the fee will be much lower.

Do you not believe that Li Shimin and Wu Zetian would have the audacity to take a shower outdoors naked?I'm sorry, but the archaeological excavation results of Lishan Hot Spring show that those two people are really that bold and thick-skinned. (Are you confident in your body and appearance?)

When His Majesty Li Shimin expanded the "Hot Spring Palace", he built the "Yutang" for himself. It is an irregular rectangular bathing pool, about half the height of a person, and covers an area of ​​more than 100 square meters. It is said to be discovered in China. The largest imperial soup pool.The changing room next to the pool has a roof, walls, and underground heating pipes, but when His Majesty Li Shimin took off his clothes and jumped into the bath with a "plop" (wow, what a big splash), the sky above the pool was not covered , the old man can look at the sky, clouds, trees, and birds by raising his eyes during the day, and at night, he can look at the stars and the moon. If it rains or snows...uh...where is the imperial physician?Hurry up and take away this desperate guy who is not afraid of catching a cold.

Judging from the current data, it was not until the period of Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji that a pool for indoor hot springs was built.Well, before him, when Empress Wu came to Mount Li, no matter whether she was taking a mandarin duck bath with that so-and-so, so-and-so, or so-and-so, or enjoying it by herself, most of the time she was still soaking in the open-air pool.

Alas, after so much rambling, I haven't gotten to the point yet.If you want to wear a don to spy on these sires taking a shower, what do you do?

This first depends on your gender after crossing.If you dress up as a charming young lady from aristocratic family, the lewd and corrupt emperors will always recruit beauties to enter the harem from time to time, and then you will either let your family take the initiative to send you into the palace, or make a publicity in advance to publicize that you have a talented person in your family. An unparalleled beauty is worthy to accompany the king, and it is not difficult to enter the palace.After entering the palace, even if she can't be favored, just be an ordinary court lady, wait patiently for the opportunity, she probably can sneak close to the emperor a few times no matter what.

If the parents you passed through were very loving and refused to send you into the palace, and your desire to peep is so strong that you have no conscience, you may consider falsely accusing your family of treason.The female relatives of the family of the main criminal who conspired were usually "confessed into the court", that is, they were arrested and worked as female slaves in the palace. In any case, they were also included in the palace and had a chance to get close to the emperor.

If you transmigrated to become a girl, but the coordinates of the landing point were wrong, and you were born in the home of a commoner, or even a slave of a pariah, there is no remedy.Study hard to practice singing and dancing talents, build a reputation, and then be selected into the teaching workshop, become a song and dance actor such as "Taichang Voice Man" and "Inner Man", and then have the opportunity to enter the palace to perform for the emperor.Especially during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, Li Longji specially built a "Pear Garden" in Huaqing Palace, where he personally trained singing and dancing artists (for the convenience of going to take a bath after training a sweat?), then you can take advantage of other people's absence Attention, sneak out of the Liyuan to the "Lotus Soup" next door to witness Li Sanlang's cheating on the spot...

The Datang Firewall is quite sensitive, so I won't talk about the mutual peeping between men and women.Next, let’s talk about how to appreciate the emperors’ body art purely and honestly if you want to wear a male body.

The easiest way is to transmigrate into eunuchs, dress up as the emperor himself, and dress up as the emperor's infants to bathe with the father (well, the last situation is rare, and the feasibility is not very good).This method of crossing only tests the accuracy of the landing coordinates, and does not involve the technical content after crossing. There is nothing to say, just choose the time machine driver carefully.

The higher probability is to wear the children of high-ranking officials and noble families. Of course, noble families are also divided into ranks and ranks.In the Tang Dynasty, officials below the fifth rank were considered low-level officials, and the children of these families had very few opportunities to watch the emperor's private life up close.

So how should the sons of officials of the fifth rank (including) get close to the emperor?
In a nutshell, go be a royal bodyguard of sorts.

Well, stop for a while, there is no such thing as a "shadow guard" in the Tang Dynasty.Children above the fifth rank must be selected as bodyguards in an open and fair manner. Of course (for ordinary children) they are absolutely unfairly selected. A person secretly doing something with the master.

Specifically, if you become the son of an official through time travel, when you are 21 years old, and your father is a prince, and you happen to be a fifth-rank official, you can go to the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of War to register and request To be a Yiwei.

What is Yiwei?Together with Xunwei and Qinwei, they are called Sanwei.Simply put, they are royal guards of different levels.

The grade of a Yiwei is the upper rank of the eighth grade; if your father is a fourth-rank official like the Secretary and Shaojian, or your grandfather is one of the six ministers (third-rank officials), you can apply for a honor guard Dangdang, If you have a higher rank, you will go up from the seventh rank; if you are more aggressive, you can simply dress up as the son of a third-rank official or the grandson of a second-rank official, then you can be a personal guard, and you will be on the seventh rank.

What are you talking about?Only seven or eight ranks, the official position is too low?Lushan Waterfall Khan, you thought it was easy to get an official position in the Tang Dynasty.

Those imperial examination candidates who don’t have the shadow of the old man, who have studied hard for ten years, and once they are proud of the spring breeze, they have won the Jinshi, but they have a lot of fun all over the city. ?Nine grades!In the capital, you can only be a librarian to study Marxism-Leninism, and in other counties, you can only be the lowest-level county captain in the establishment!I have worked hard at the grassroots level for more than ten years, and if I am lucky, I will be promoted to a county magistrate. They are the parents of tens of thousands of 10,000+ people and become toubobs. What grade do you think they are?Qipin!On the same level as a second-generation official who just came out of society!Tsk tsk, people are more popular than people.

When I came back, I said Sanwei, you, you took the old man’s household registration book and asked to be a royal guard. The relevant department reviewed it and found that your birth was not faked, but you still have to see if you are suitable for guarding the gates of the emperor’s princes. .

Look at the appearance first, the basic requirements are horizontal and vertical, good appearance, bucket waist and meat bun face are better.

Then listen to you say a few words. The voice should be clear and powerful, and the accent should be close to the official dialect "Jinling Luo Xiayin" at that time. The local accent should not be too strong, otherwise it will cause trouble when communicating with your object of protection.

Then I will let you write a few strokes. The calligraphy should be correct and beautiful. The handwriting is crooked and twisted like a deer's hoof. Kick it home and practice calligraphy!

Finally, we need to examine whether your brain is good, how is your ability to analyze and judge affairs, whether you can deal with emergencies in a timely manner, and do a good job in maintaining stability. Don't dangle in front of the emperor with embroidered pillows and donkey dung.

All four are qualified, and there is still an establishment in Sanweili. Congratulations, go get your employee card and work clothes, and start clocking in tomorrow.

The work of the three guards is generally not very tiring.A total of nearly 5000 people were scattered among several guards.When the emperor goes to court, you serve as guards of honor and stand by the walls of the palace gates to fill the scene; when the emperor and prince go out, you hold flags and carry weapons.When you are not going to court or traveling, you should stand guard in your designated guard positions and not allow idlers to wander around, that's all.

In this way, you see, when Li Shimin and Wu Zetian go to Lishan to soak in the hot springs, they must bring you three guards (not necessarily everyone).Then when it is your turn to stand guard on the hillside above Yutangchi, and you find someone in the open-air Xingchentang, our company will send you a high-power telescope, hehe...

But to be honest, it’s okay if you are chosen as a personal guard. If you are Xunwei or Yiwei, even if you are directly guarding the emperor to take a bath in name, it is estimated that the distance will be very far, and there will be some flowers and trees in the middle. Officers such as brigade commanders and lieutenants patrolled and supervised back and forth, and the effect of peeping was probably not satisfactory.

It doesn't matter, as long as you work hard, there will be results.As early as the Zhenguan period, His Majesty Li Shimin selected a group of agile and handsome guys from Sanwei and other channels, and compiled them into "Flying Riders", specially following him to hunt and bathe... Cough, bathing belongs to me Good imagination.In the reign of Empress Gaozong, the "flying cavalry" was further expanded and became a private army exclusively for the emperor.If you perform well in the three guards and are selected into the flying cavalry team, you will be closer to the emperor.

So is "flying knight" the closest bodyguard to the emperor?No—yes—there is another kind of "guard with a knife in front of the imperial court", which was called "Qianniu Guard" in the Tang Dynasty, which could dangle in front of the emperor with a real sword and gun.

(End of this chapter)