"Journey to the West"

Author: Scarlet Polyp

Chapter 12 The sound of wind and rain in Chang'an

North of Chang'an City, Guanfu Street

"The great victory in the Western Regions is not counted." "The army passed by, and the wind was heard." "The great Han Tianwei is all subdued." As soon as Zhao Tong stepped out of the door of the Shangshutai Office, he heard the news spread by the officials of the various offices in front of the door. People gathered around, talking to each other, excitedly exchanging details that they had heard—and while there were inconsistencies and contradictions in the various sources, they did not hinder the lively discussion in the slightest.

Zhao Tong turned a deaf ear to these rumors, bypassed the crowd, and walked towards his carriage, but heard someone shouting behind him: "Brother Ziguxian, are you in a hurry to go home?" ”

Zhao Tong listened to the familiarity, looked back, and said with a smile: "Sure enough, it's Mr. Boyan, and the student is about to return home." ”

"You and I are not studying too much now, what are you still called, sir? As a minister in the same hall, call me Brother Boyan. Lu Xun walked over with a smile, grabbed Zhao Tong's arm and said, "It's better to meet by chance, you don't have to go." How about going to Dongjia City (one of the nine cities in Chang'an) to have a drink? ”

Zhao Tong thought that there was nothing to do at home, so he got into his carriage with Lu Xun.

Lu Xun and Zhao Tong have known each other for five years, when Zhao Tong had just entered Taixue, and Lu Xun was still one of the doctors of Taixue, responsible for teaching Zhusheng's "Zuo Chuan". Zhao Tong's family history, although the age of elementary school is not shallow, although Lu Xun is eight years older than him, but still young and vigorous, the two often quarrel for the different interpretations of ancient and modern scriptures, and they have become friends who have intersected with each other. It wasn't until Lu Xun left Taixue to serve as the chief historian in the Prime Minister's Mansion and later moved to Sizhi that he gradually lost contact.

After getting into the car, the two exchanged a few casual greetings, and Lu Xun went straight to the point and asked: "I heard that Ziyuan (Zhao Guang) is now serving in the Western Army?" ”

"Exactly, my brother joined the army last year, and this time he went out with the baggage team." Zhao Tong smiled bitterly, "But it is still a child's heart, more than half a year has passed, but Uncle Neng sent back a letter to report safety when he was in Dunhuang County, and his mother was worried about his brother day and night, but his father never talked about official affairs at home, which is really worrying." ”

Lu Xun leaned close to Zhao Tong's ear and said a little mysteriously: "Zigu don't worry, Brother Fool saw the performance badges sent by Sima and Pang in the mansion today, and Ziyuan ranked first in the first class. Maybe after pacifying the Western Regions, the Han will have one more general Xiao Zhao. ”

Zhao Tong was overjoyed and hurriedly asked: "In this way, the rumors of a great victory in the Western Regions are all true?" ”

"The victory is indeed a big victory, but it is difficult to say whether those rumors are true or not." Lu Xun lifted the curtain and looked at the scenery, and sighed, "There has been an undercurrent surging in the DPRK and China recently, what impact will the victory in the Western Regions have on the government and the opposition?" What would some well-intentioned people do with this? The foolish brother doesn't know. Zhao Tong listened, remembered the exaggerated rumors he heard during the day, and thought thoughtfully.

The palaces, aristocratic residences, government offices and temples in Chang'an City account for about half of the city's area. The palaces are concentrated in the middle and south of the city, with Weiyang Palace, Gui Palace, North Palace and Mingguang Palace, etc. (the Western Han Dynasty also has the Changle Palace named after Weiyang Palace, which was destroyed in the war at the end of the new era). The aristocratic mansions are distributed in the Beique area of Weiyang Palace, called "Beique Jiadi", and Zhao Tong and other noble families also live there. The residential areas of ordinary scholars are distributed in the north of the city, and are divided into more than 100 "Luli" by crisscrossing streets. The famous "Nine Cities of Chang'an" is in the northwest corner of the city, separated by Hengmen Street, and is divided into three cities in the east and six cities in the west. The East Market is a place where merchants gather, while the West Market is densely populated with various handicraft workshops. The two went to Dongjia City, and more wine and liao restaurants were opened, and it was also the place with the largest flow of people in Chang'an City.

When they arrived at the entrance of the city, the two got out of the carriage and walked into a restaurant called Wu Chunyuan. As soon as he sat down, Zhao Tong mentioned the news of his younger brother, and was about to say thank you, but was stopped by Lu Xun and said, "It's a trivial matter, why worry about it!" The younger brother is willing to drink with the foolish brother, which shows that he has not seen the foolish brother yet. Say a word of thanks, and it looks cheesy. I don't know if I want Brother Fool to inquire about Ziyuan's news in the mansion tomorrow, so that Ling Tang can be relieved? ”

"No, no, this matter is not in line with the rules of the court after all, Brother Boyan is an official, and the younger brother does not want the elder brother to make an exception for this. In order to avoid vulgarity, the younger brother had to temporarily refrain from saying words of gratitude, so as to repay him on a different day. ”

At this time, the cousin came into the room and reported a dozen rais. They discussed ordering a few things and a platter to eat, and asked for other dishes later, and asked him to bring the platter and wine quickly. After the cousin left, after the two chatted casually about some anecdotes about Chang'an, Zhao Tong asked: "My brother is an official and has a short history and shallow knowledge, but I don't know what Brother Bo Yan said before about the undercurrent in the court?" ”

Lu Xun smiled: "Now that the Great Han Kingdom is, it can be said in a word: under the prosperous world, dark diseases are lurking. ”

"Please talk a little bit about it,"

The runner first sent a platter and a pot of wine on a tray, and then delivered two hot dishes one after another. Because he is very important to Prime Minister Li Wei, he handles a lot of important state affairs in the Prime Minister's Mansion, and he secretly expects Zhao in his heart, so he said everything he doesn't talk to outsiders on weekdays. Finally he took his short beard and said:

"In short, the current national fortune of the Han Dynasty, although like a young man who is fierce and fierce, but there is already a dark disease in the skin, if the disease is not treated, sit back and wait for the terminal illness, even if Bian Que is reborn, there is no hope of rejuvenation. In the past 20 years, the Marquis of Jinyang has called for food and clothing, fought in the south and the north, and diligently sought governance and the world was peaceful. Now he is young, and he is also the lord of the Holy Ming, but if he doesn't notice it for a while, wouldn't it be a catastrophe for the Han Dynasty? ”

Zhao Tong was taken aback and said in a low voice: "According to my brother, who is this ghost?" The Sun family? Jing Nan? King of Guangyang? ”

Lu Xun shook his head, knocked on the table with chopsticks and said: "The Sun family is now in Jiaozhou, and they are forced to live with the Yue people, and they are no different from the savages, so there is no need to worry; The four counties of Jingnan (the four counties of Wuling, Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang in the south of Jingzhou) attacked each other all day long, and they were nothing more than fish ears in a net for the imperial court; Liu Xuande, the king of Guangyang, was originally a clan, but now he has no generals, and he is in the northern Xinjiang, I am afraid that he can only be his Taiping prince with peace of mind. After speaking, he dipped the middle finger of his right hand in wine, wrote the words "in Chang'an City" on the table, and then looked at Zhao Tong and whispered: "Although his actions are secretive, he already has some eyebrows. ”

"Are these people planning to do 。。。。。。 in Chang'an City?" Zhao Tong didn't dare to continue, so he also dipped his fingers in the wine and wrote the word "anti" on the table.

"Not necessarily." At this moment, the cousin brought a plate of white-cut mutton and two bowls of three fresh soups made with sea cucumbers, shredded whitebait and dried shrimp, which made Lu Xun's words have to stop. As a native of Wujun, Yangzhou, Lu Xun is very familiar with the rules of Wuyue Restaurant, which is to like to give soup to guests - in addition to the soup that the guests themselves want, the cousin will also send soup several times as a tribute. And these soups are mostly made of dry ingredients transported from thousands of miles from the south of the Yangtze River, and they are all delicious and have unique flavors, but this soup came at an inopportune time, which disturbed his secret conversation with Zhao Tong. He said to the runners, "You don't have to make soup today, and don't come to serve more. When we need any soup, we will call you. ”

He secretly glanced at the two people's clothes and waist scarves (group ribbons, the group is the ribbon on the official seal, the ribbon is a long strip of ornaments woven with colored silk, covering the sac containing the official seal or tied to the front of the abdomen and waist, so it is called the seal ribbon. He respectfully asked, "Two adults, there is a live carp that was just caught from Weishui this morning, can you have one?" ”

"Really? There's no hurry. We're going to eat slowly. Come later,"

The cousin smiled and agreed to the word "yes" again, and then bent down and walked away with the tray.

Lu Xun picked up the spoon to make a gesture of letting the guests go, tasted it, and said: "Well, it tastes very good, the authentic flavor of Wudi, I'm afraid there won't be such a good soup in restaurants elsewhere in Chang'an." ”

Zhao Tong drank a spoonful and said, "Let's go back to this topic." Brother, please go on. ”

Lu Xun was just about to speak, but he heard the sudden noise on the street downstairs, and for a while the sound of scolding, fighting, and breaking things was endless, so he stopped talking and went to the window with Zhao to watch. I saw that there were two groups of people scuffling together on the street, and there were more than 200 people on both sides in total, and they were all dressed like Taixue students. The two sides were fighting, and on the other hand, they scolded each other with words such as "****", "traitor", "puppet", "villain", etc., and swept the floor and broke countless things on the street. Fortunately, both sides fought bare-handed for a long time, but they didn't see much blood, but they attracted onlookers from the three outer floors of the middle and third floors of Dongjia City. After a while, a group of heavily armored Yulin troops arrived, holding spears to separate the two sides, and the sentient beings also knew the depths, so they no longer moved, but separated the two sides and scolded arrogantly.

Zhao Tong rarely comes to the Nine Cities to have fun, and he was stunned when he saw this scene, and turned his head to see Lu Xunxi's expression on his face, and said strangely: "All beings are so nonsense, my brother doesn't seem to be surprised?" ”

"This is the third time this month, and the foolish brother has long been surprised. However, the scale of this time is indeed larger than the previous two times" Lu Xun couldn't help but smile when he saw Zhao Guang's even more dumbfounded expression, "Brother Xian concentrates on business, and he doesn't know as much about the situation in Chang'an Market and Taixue as he does now." These two groups of people are indeed Taixue students, and the people who are fighting are also for the Western Regions. It is said that among Taixue, there are now two factions that are clearly distinguished, and there are endless arguments within Taixue, and after drinking two cups here, they will move their fists and feet. Today's events may also be related to the rumors of the great victory in the Western Regions in Beijing. ”

"What kind of two factions are there?"

Lu Xun took a piece of mutton and dipped it in the sauce, took a bite into his mouth, and said leisurely: "One faction believes that we should immediately increase troops in the Western Regions, sweep away the countries with the power of thunder, and then move the people to enrich the tuntian; The other faction believes that the current situation in the Western Regions has been maintained and has cost a lot, and the war should be stopped and only a small number of troops should be left to guard the key points, just like at the beginning of this dynasty, so that the Western Regions can be subjugated. In fact, these two factions are not the contradiction between the students of Taixue, and the court, isn't it the same? ”

Zhao Tong was in a cold sweat when he heard this, and he didn't know how to deal with it, Lu Xun smiled slightly when he saw this situation, so he stopped and only persuaded Zhao Tong to drink and eat. Until the end of this dinner, Lu Xun did not talk to Zhao Tong about the court, but only talked about some other gossip with him.

When Zhao Tong returned home, it was already the time to hold the lamp. He didn't care about changing his clothes, so he hurriedly ran into the inner hall and told his parents what Lu Xun said about Zhao Guang and what he saw in the restaurant, but he hid the affairs of the court and didn't say anything.

When Cai Yan heard Zhao Guang's news, his long-hanging heart finally let go, and after instructing Zhao Tong to go down and freshen up, he said to Zhao Yun: "Husband, Guang'er has made great contributions, and the battle of the Western Regions is going well, can you return to Beijing to report on your work immediately?" ”

Zhao Yun is in his forties this year, the years and the perennial conquest do not seem to have left any traces on him, he is still handsome, he is still tall, and the few long hairs he has grown after middle age show the might of several generals. He listened to his son's words, but he thought far more than Cai Yan: Why did Lu Boyan choose this time to ask his son to drink? Why did you let your son see the fight? Why do you want to tell yourself that you know through your son's mouth? Is this what the prime minister meant? Could it be that the prime minister also intends to rectify the wind? I didn't hear my wife's words. Cai Yan saw that her husband wanted to be engrossed, so she walked behind Zhao Yun, gently massaged him with her hand on his shoulder, and asked softly in his ear: "What do you think, so engrossed." ”

"Alas, these are all troublesome things in the DPRK and China, so don't talk about it. Do you ask about Guang'er? I'm afraid he won't be able to return to Chang'an for a while. Young people, it's good to have more experience. Zhao Yun looked at his wife's still beautiful and charming face, and said lovingly, "Wen Ji, Guang'er is the queen of the gate, and she is destined to fight on the battlefield. But don't worry, with Zhongda and Ling Ming taking care of it, it's okay to think about it. Moreover, he is my son of Zhao Zilong after all! With a silver spear from my Zhao family, a little bit of thieves in the Western Regions, what can I do with him? ”

Cai Yan was infected by her husband's strong self-confidence, hugged her husband's neck, and sneered: "Yes, it's your General Zhao's son, can you be invulnerable?" ”

The next day, Weiyang Palace, the front hall.

During the court meeting, the news of the great victory in the Western Regions was officially announced, and after the ministers congratulated the Son of Heaven in unison, Liu Shuo, the Son of Heaven, asked: "Sima Qing, the protector of the Western Regions, and Pang Qing, the general of the Western Regions, asked me for reinforcements, what do the ministers think?" ”

As soon as the words fell, Da Hong Lu Hua Xin came out of the class and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that now that the Western Regions are established, it is reasonable to gather the army as soon as possible, return to the Han Dynasty in the east, and use the heart of the Western Regions to show the benevolent wind of China and the virtue of the emperor Yao Shun." Pang, Sima's words are so absurd! ”

Liu Shuo nodded and said, "Hua Qing's words, what are the opinions of the Qing family?" ”

Lieutenant Zhong Xuan of Sili came out of the squad and said: "The Western Regions have not yet been pacified, if the army is withdrawn rashly, I am afraid that it will revolt, and the minister thinks that it is not enough." However, tens of thousands of troops have been fighting so far, and the grain and salary have not been calculated, and the ministers roughly calculated that if they want to increase the troops, there may be no food supply in Gyeonggi before the autumn harvest. ”

"Your Majesty, the ministers impeached the general Pang De of the Northern Expedition and the leading general Gao Shun for slaughtering the people of Qiuzi, plundering the army, and committing illegal things, they should be immediately sent back to Chang'an to be punished, and the law of the country should be corrected!" In the imperial history, Cheng Xinbi came out of the ranks and said loudly. As soon as these words came out, they instantly caused an uproar in the palace, and the ministers talked about it one after another, and it became a pot of porridge. The corners of Liu Shuo's eyes twitched slightly, ignoring Xin Bi, but looking at Li Wei. saw that Li Wei didn't care, smiled, and pulled his cuffs with his hands for a long time.

At this moment, a loud voice shouted: "Your Majesty, Hua Xin and Xin Bi can be killed!" ”