Cui Geng carefully read the letter and read it all before he understood the ins and outs of the whole matter.

On that day, Dong Yan not only successfully conquered the other party with Mulan spring wine in Chang'an's Zhang Cambodia House, but also introduced the owner of this wine to his old teacher in detail - Cui Geng. is the so-called wine tasting and knowing people, especially Dong Yan praised Cui Geng with praise in front of Zhang Cambodia. Subtly, Zhang Cambodia also became more and more curious about Qingyuan Cui Erlang, who had never met.

What kind of young man is he, after being usurped by someone, he can still calm down and study the ancient books and brewing scriptures, and make such a rare wine in the world?

What kind of young man is he, who is neither a scholar nor a famous teacher, but can play greedy officials and scheming in a deceitful shopping mall? Let an unknown Mulan spring wine become popular in Quanzhou Mansion in a short period of time?

What kind of young man is he, born in the countryside of Fujian and Guangdong, but his vision is so far-reaching, he can think of the famous thing of imperial wine? Now that the family is in the middle of the road and there is a fine wine in hand, shouldn't we think about how to earn money so as to revive the family? He chose to go a little further.

Curious!

It's really curious!

After listening to Dong Yan's narration, Zhang Cambodia shook his head and laughed, curious: "I didn't expect that the old man had left for less than a year, and there was such an interesting young man in Xiaoqingyuan County. ”

Wine is the best wine in the world!

People are interesting young men.

And Dong Yan, the person who recommended the wine, is his most proud student, and if this wine can get the name of imperial wine, the court will naturally have a credit for Dong Yan, which is related to his future.

Reasonable, Zhang Cambodia feels that this favor must be helped!

On the second day, he asked Dong Yan to hold a jar of wine and personally took him to Xuanyangfang to visit Di Renjie, who had just been promoted to prime minister.

Di Renjie is a well-known person who loves wine and understands wine, and he travels to various places in the north and south as an official, and there is no wine in the world in the Central Plains and Western Regions, and there is no wine that he has not drunk.

In addition, although Zhang Cambodia is a high-ranking superintendent of the imperial history in the court, he is highly valued by Di Renjie. Therefore, it is natural to recommend wine to Di Renjie.

Sure enough, as soon as Di Renjie tasted this Mulan spring wine, he found that this wine was a rare wine in the world. I heard Dong Yan say that Cui Geng, the owner of the winery, was willing to present the secret recipe for wine-making to the imperial wine division in the palace for the Son of Heaven to drink the upgraded version of Mulan Spring Wine. Di Renjie raised his eyebrows when he heard this, there is actually a better Mulan spring wine? Also exclusively for the Son of Heaven to drink? That is naturally agreed, and can no longer be agreed.

Immediately, at the court meeting two days later, Di Renjie not only recommended Mulan Spring Wine to Emperor Li Dan and Empress Dowager Wu in front of the ministers on the left and right, but also presented an upgraded version of the secret recipe for winemaking. Although Li Dan on the dragon chair is now named the emperor, in fact, everything is decided by his mother Empress Wu, and although Di Renjie is a famous minister and good looker, he is really the minister most valued by Empress Wu. Therefore, Di Renjie was not hindered by the offering of wine in the court, and he was very smoothly allowed the Empress Wu, the Son of Heaven Li Dan, and all the ministers in the court to taste the Mulan spring wine.

Not to mention, although there are many factions in the DPRK and China now, and the undercurrent is surging, Di Renjie's wine offering this time is surprisingly smooth.

The reason is very simple, the local wine is offered to Chang'an, which is of course a good thing, and there are already sycophants touted in the court, if it is not for the enlightened government and the peace of the world, where will the people be willing to give wine to the court? If it weren't for the sage of the Son of Heaven and the Queen Mother's coming to the court, she would win the hearts of the people, where would the people be willing to offer wine? If it weren't for the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, where would a grass folk be able to make such a rare wine in the world?

A few of the happiest courtiers have already shouted in order to pat the queen of martial arts: "This is the prosperous era under the rule of the enlightened emperor of the Empress Dowager, so that there can be this auspicious!" ”

Good guy, directly exaggerate the birth of Mulan Spring Wine to the point that it is auspicious!

This made the old ministers of Li Tang, who secretly opposed the dictatorship of Empress Wu's dynasty, almost vomit blood three liters collectively.

However, the city government is very deep and has a great plan to naturally not refuse this kind of sycophancy, and took this opportunity to let the palace hold a banquet, not only let the Manchu civil and military ministers participate in the banquet, but also sent people to invite many old courtiers who had already retired in Chang'an, and even some imperial relatives who were idle in Chang'an to come to the meeting. More and more the wine offering event is rendered as a heavenly general auspicious. As for what Empress Wu has in mind, a few people still have a mirror in their hearts, including Di Renjie. Just a fine wine, a small offering of wine, but there was such an uproar in Chang'an, which Di Renjie did not expect, and Zhang Cambodia, Dong Yan and others were dumbfounded. Several people secretly regretted it afterwards, and they were actually calculated by the Empress Wu in turn.

At the imperial banquet, Empress Wu praised Mulan Spring Wine, not only delivered the secret recipe of Mulan Spring Wine to the Imperial Wine Division, but also personally set this wine as the ninth imperial wine of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, he lost no time in ordering his old son, Li Dan, as the emperor, to reward these meritorious ministers who offered wine.

Di Renjie was originally a doctor of the fourth grade and a servant of the household department. A few days ago, in order to allow Di Renjie to enter the prime minister's team, Empress Wu specially gave him the title of "Tongping Zhangshi", so that he could enrich his qualifications and become a prime minister. Because the Tang Dynasty implemented a group phase system, non-three-grade officials were not qualified to enter the phase. And the title of Tongping Zhangshi has another name, that is, Tongsanpin. It means that although there are less than three products, they enjoy the same three products.

The person who invented this verbose and awkward verbal title was none other than the late His Majesty Li Er, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, although Di Renjie is now a member of the prime minister's team, in fact, his rank has not reached the third grade, but his political treatment is the same as the third grade.

Now it's okay, Empress Wu said to her old son Emperor Li Dan and all the ministers who went to the banquet that Di Renjie recommended the imperial wine this time, and he should be rewarded! directly promoted her, a beloved courtier, to the third grade, that is, the third-grade silver Qingguanglu doctor, and was appointed as the head of the household department. took this opportunity to completely block the mouths of those Li Tang Laochen who opposed her.

Di Renjie didn't expect that he would be promoted to the third grade because of this, and in the political hall in the future, he will no longer have to look at the faces of those old prime ministers, and he will no longer have to be squeezed by them every day, "Although there are no three products, they are the same as three products".

Of course, he did not forget Zhang Cambodia and Dong Yan, and said on the spot that he did not dare to be greedy for merit this time, and took the opportunity to push Zhang Cambodia and Dong Yan out.

For Zhang Cambodia, the Empress Wu is naturally very impressed, what about the seventy-year-old county Cheng who is a late bloomer? Or the mourning family last year during the selection of talents, he was appointed as the supervisor of the imperial history in the palace examination, well, this old man should also be a member of the mourning family.

For his own descendants, Empress Wu was never stingy, and with a wave of his hand, he directly promoted Zhang Cambodia from a small supervisor to the imperial history several levels, transferred out of the imperial history platform, and went directly to Luozhou to serve as Sima.

Where is Los Angeles? It is the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang.

According to the historical trajectory, in almost a few months, the Empress Wu will officially take Tang as Zhou, change the Yuan Tianzhu, and ascend the throne as emperor. The first thing she had to do after becoming emperor was to move the capital. Where to move? It is the eastern capital of Luoyang.

As for what Sima's position does. He is the adjutant of the Luozhou Thorn History, and he has his own duties with the long history. And Luozhou Sima is in charge of Luozhou's soldiers and horses. However, Luozhou belongs to the Eastern Capital, and the post of Luozhou Assassin is not fictitious, but is falsely awarded by the prince or prince. Therefore, Luozhou Boundary is the real main task of Changshi and Sima.

Luozhou Sima, the main east capital of all soldiers and horses military, the rank of the court from the five ranks.

Think about it, the soldiers and horses in charge of the eastern capital Luoyang, and this eastern capital will become a real imperial capital in the near future, replacing Chang'an.

In the eyes of Empress Wu's henchmen, Empress Wu's reward for Zhang Cambodia was too heavy, and the henchmen who knew her plot knew that the position of Luozhou Sima was not an ordinary confidant and could not be granted. These people can't help but secretly envy, damn, this old boy who has half a foot in the coffin, it seems that he is about to soar!

Even the two cool officials, Lai Junchen and Suo Yuanli, were hiding in the corners and secretly envious, jealous and hateful, especially Suo Yuanli, who had already figured out how to make peace with Zhang Cambodia. Because a few days ago, Zhang Cambodia participated in his book, and he also went to Shengpingfang and went to Zhang Cambodia's house to make a big fuss.

As for Dong Yan, his rank is too low, and he is not qualified to participate in this imperial banquet. However, Di Renjie and Zhang Cambodia still took advantage of the joy of Empress Wu to help him win a seven-grade Xuande Lang and confer the title of Longxi County Commander.

A small wine offering turmoil actually gave the three of them such a big officialdom opportunity.

But this is not over, the group of old ministers of Li Tang who opposed the military queen finally couldn't help it, and collectively jumped out and sang the opposite.

One by one, they are full of righteous indignation, your sister, don't you just offer a little wine? To reward so many people, and it's your own person after the martial arts, we don't accept it!

Immediately, one by one, they began to "have a book to play", "the minister has something to say", "the minister has a word like a fish in his throat, and he doesn't vomit or be unhappy", and he said that the martial arts should not be so sloppy and so on.

When Empress Wu saw that someone jumped out to block her at this time, she was naturally unhappy. With a small look on the spot, her pawns jumped out one after another to "argue with reason" with Li Tang's old ministers, among which Junchen and Suo Yuanli jumped the most fiercely.

In the end, in order to vent their anger for Empress Wu and disgust those Li Tang ministers, these two people deliberately took out Cui Geng, the inventor of Mulan Spring Wine, and said to Empress Wu: "This man-made wine is meritorious, why is there no reward?" Such loyal and patriotic people should also be crowned officials! ”

One of them, Li Tang, an old minister named Wei Yuanzhong, was so angry that he scolded: "How can a businessman Jia Hede be a businessman? I Datang has no precedent for this! ”

Suo Yuanli's blue eyes flickered, and he argued: "I heard that the Qingyuan Cui clan is from the side branch of the Qinghe Cui clan, and the ancestors moved from the north to the south to escape the war. And as far as the minister knows, the ancestor of the Cui family of Qingyuan was not a businessman from the beginning, but had served as the head of the Dali Temple in the former Sui Dynasty, and was famous for being good at breaking prisons. However, later the situation in the former Sui Dynasty was turbulent, so Zhishi migrated to the south, and finally there was a side branch of the Qingyuan Cui clan! ”

As soon as these words came out, the entire court exploded with a bang.

It is not because of the origin of Qingyuan Cui's family, but because of Suo Yuanli's audacity and nonsense.

What kind of family is Qinghe Cui? That's one of the five surnames and seven wangs who are rooted in Miao Hong, and they are all wealthy families in Datang! How can a mere wine-making Qingyuan Cui family have anything to do with the five surnames and seven families?

Especially Zhang Cambodia and Di Renjie, they frowned even more. What is the origin of Qingyuan Cui, they will not know? Where is it really like Suo Yuanli said?

However, they looked at Empress Wu's expression full of interest, so they couldn't help but say nothing.

Who knew that the old minister Wei Yuanzhong had been so angry that he lost his cool and scolded: "So what? He has no merit and fame, how can he be a businessman? ”

Suo Yuanli grinned and said slyly: "But his ancestor was in the former Sui Dynasty and had the position of the five-grade Dali Temple, according to the etiquette system of our Tang Dynasty: all the children of five-grade officials and those who have meritorious service to the imperial court, although they have no meritorious reputation, they can all be distinguished by the shadow of the door." You should know this, right? Let me ask you, do the children of the Qingyuan Cui clan have meritorious service to the court by offering wine and secret recipes, and do they show their loyalty to the Son of Heaven? ”

Suo Yuanli is not lying, but all ancestors who have served as a five-rank or higher Zhishi (retired) official, if their descendants cannot rely on the imperial examination to enter the official career, they can enter the official career with the shadow of the door. That is to say, relying on the well-being left by the ancestors, entering the officialdom. Of course, if this descendant can still make contributions to the court, then it is no problem to enter the office.

Obviously, Wei Yuanzhong was put on the table by Suo Yuanli. For a while, he was speechless.

At this time, an old minister also stood up tremblingly and sneered: "Master Suo, you said that the Qingyuan Cui clan is from the side branch of the Qinghe Cui clan, can there be a research?" You said that his ancestors were officials in the former Sui and were in the Wupin Dali Temple, can there be a certificate? For now, it's all your words! ”

When Suo Yuanli saw it, it turned out to be Su Liangsi, an old guy. Indeed, he couldn't come up with real evidence, in fact, he just wanted to flatter Empress Wu and disgust these Li Tang ministers.

Now that Su Liangsi asked him so rhetorically, it was his turn to be speechless.

In desperation, he had to retreat abruptly and look at Empress Wu.

Seeing this, Empress Wu secretly scolded useless waste, but she saw that the matter of rewarding Di Renjie, Zhang Cambodia and others had been changed to a different topic, so she didn't bother to continue to let the group of old ministers return to that matter and entangle with herself. Then she waved her hand and said, "Okay, what is the origin of this Qingyuan Cui family, don't go to the court." However, it is inevitable that merit will be rewarded. Inform the officials of Quanzhou Prefecture that if you have merit, you will be rewarded, and don't be cold about the blood and loyalty of this person who offers wine! As for how to reward, it is up to them to decide! The mourning family is also tired for a day today, and this kind of trivial matter can't be decided by the mourning family, right? ”

After saying that, he stood up a little unhappily and left abruptly, leaving behind the courtiers of the full dynasty with their own thoughts.

A few days later, Suo Yuanli and Lai Junchen, two speculators, pondered the words of Empress Wu, and finally decided to completely disgust those Li Tang ministers to the end, just for the Empress Dowager Bo!

Immediately, the two directly explained to Guo Gonggong, who was about to go to Qingyuan County, and asked him to bring a message to the officials of the Quanzhou Mansion: "If Qingyuan County is promoted to Shangxian County, isn't there a vacancy for the county lieutenant?" Do you think about the Cui family disciple in Qingyuan County who has made meritorious contributions to drinking? ”

In the end, there was a replacement candidate for the county lieutenant of Qingyuan County, not only Song Wen, but also Cui Geng out of thin air.

……

……

After Cui Geng understood the whole story, he was happy on his face, but he was also bitter in his heart. Looking at this posture, if my Cui family's ancestors accumulate virtue, if I really become the county lieutenant of Qingyuan, then wouldn't I automatically be included in the gang of the two cool officials of Lai Junchen and Suo Yuanli? Damn, these two don't seem to be nice people, and they're notorious!

However, for the position of Qingyuan County Lieutenant, if you want to say that Cui Geng is not moved, it is fake!

He is not only tempted, but very, very tempted!

If you can really enter the official career and enter the officialdom, it is better to let him revitalize Cui's winery, even if it is the first winery in the world, it will be proud, and the lintel will be glorious!

Especially in the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty, being an official is really more promising than being a businessman!

Think about it, one day I, Cui Erlang, can also be in Chang'an, above the temple, to acupuncture the current affairs and ask for the people's lives, that is really ......

Thinking about it, the bitterness in Cui Geng's heart was gone, and a trace of ambition that could not be concealed made him involuntarily raise the corners of his mouth.

However, when he thought of the flower hall, whether it was Hu Zeyi or Chen Ziang, including Song Lian and Shen Tuo, it was estimated that they were more inclined to Song Wen, and his heart sank again.

Also, although Lai Junchen and Suo Yuanli are famous cool officials, where can the current power tentacles of the two of them affect the officialdom of Quanzhou Mansion? With just one sentence from the two of them, how could the officials of Quanzhou officialdom give them this face?

Especially Song Lian, an official who was born as a scholar, is very disdainful of the cool officials who started their careers and Suo Erren.

Tuk tuk!

A knock on the door startled him from his fantasy, and even Song Wen, who was sitting upright, jumped up like a corpse, and shouted a little out of shape: "Could it be that the adults have already discussed the candidates?" ”

At this time, a Song Lian's entourage walked in, bowed down and said, "Lord Changshi, please move to the flower hall!" ”

Really!

It's time to announce the results!

Song Wen and Cui Geng subconsciously glanced at each other, and they could see each other's eyes flashing with scorching fire, as if they were both thinking about burning each other to death!

This novel comes from reading books