The famous book tour starting from the Red House

Chapter 498
Not to mention how worried Song Jiang and Wu Yong were about the future, let's say that Mu Xu and his party rested in Xiongzhou for one night, and then set off southward the next day. Arrived at Chenqiaoyi in early October.

Seeing that Tokyo was in sight, Zhao Kai did not dare to be negligent, he ordered everyone to stay here for a day, and at the same time sent someone to report to the imperial court so that the Ministry of Rites could come forward to welcome Yeluchun and other Liao people.

On the third day, the imperial court's reply letter had been delivered, and everyone started on the road again, and arrived at the Xuanwu Gate in Tokyo City at that time.

It can be seen that Zhao Ji attached great importance to the arrival of Yeluchun and others, and actually sent a team headed by Zheng Juzhong and Wang Fu to meet them.

Mu Xu and these people couldn't urinate in the same pot, and Yu Kanan made no excuses with them, only greeted them casually, and then bid farewell to Zhao Kai.

Zhao Kai had nothing to do, so he only told him not to forget to go to the mansion for a banquet at another time. Mu Xu agreed, and when he was about to leave, Wang Fu suddenly said, "Mu Jiedu is still here!" Please stay!"

Mu Xu turned his head to look at this handsome guy, but he was actually a prostitute. He really didn't like this guy.

If Cai Jing is a capable and treacherous minister, then Wang Fu is the opposite. This person is nothing but flattery.

"I don't know what Wang Shaozai told me to teach me?"

When Wang Fu heard Mu Xu's address, he couldn't help being angry. Since Cai Jing became an official, he was promoted to eight ranks by Zhao Guan's family last year. prime minister.

Nowadays, no one knows that Wang Fu is very popular, but when all the officials in the court see him, who would dare to call him a gentleman, but Mu Xu doesn't give him face.

This fellow cursed in his heart, "Ignorant thieves join the army, I will show you sooner or later!" He put on a hypocritical smile and said, "I don't dare to be a teacher, so that Mu Jiedu can know that tomorrow the official will be held in Daqing. There will be a grand court in the hall, please attend on time."

Mu Xu nodded, "Thank you, Shao Zai, for letting me know, and I will leave."

After all, he ignored Wang Fu at all, jumped on his horse with a big thorn, and led his personal guards to beat the horse and go.

It's not that Mu Xu doesn't know why villains are difficult to deal with, but because he's in a bad mood today and doesn't want to deal with such people.

This morning he received an urgent report from Yunzhou. Yelu Yanxi, a bastard, didn't know what he was thinking. Song Troubled, actually led troops to Yunzhou, obviously regarded him as a soft persimmon, and wanted to squeeze it.

In addition, there is another bad news. Yelufoding stationed at Juyongguan refused to accept this order after learning that Yeluchun had surrendered to the Song Dynasty. , wanting to spare Sun Yi's army in front of him, and go to join Yelu Yanxi.

Fortunately, Zhe Yanwen, who was stationed at Dushikou, found out in advance that he was blocked at the pass, and then surrounded by Sun Yi who came later and led the troops.

Arriving at the Yuciguo Mansion in Tokyo City, and entering through the gate, Mu Xu waved away all the servants who came to visit. After leaving the housekeeper to entertain the soldiers, he hurried to the study room, fetched paper, ink, brush and inkstone, and thought about it for a while. After that, he wrote a reply letter to Xu Guanzhong.

In the letter, he issued several orders one after another.

First, transfer Lu Da to replace Zhu Wu as the guard of Feihukou.

Second, with Zhu Wu as the commander-in-chief, the generals will be selected by him, and [-] troops will be sent north to the Great Wall to face Yelu Yanxi.

Third, order Sun Yi to wipe out Yelufoding's headquarters on the spot, and then spread the head of Yelufoding to the states to deter the Liao people in the territory.

At the end of writing the letter, Mu Xu suddenly thought of Yue Fei, so he added another note to Zhu Wu's military order, ordering him to take Yue Fei's troops with him when he went north this time.

After checking carefully and finding nothing missing, Mu Xu clapped his hands, and then Shi Xiu, who was guarding the gate, walked in and stood quietly in front of him.

Mu Xu looked up and down a few times, and saw that Shi Xiu exuded the coldness of not getting close to strangers all over his body, he was very satisfied, and he was very grateful for his previous appointment. This guy is indeed a good hand at intelligence.

He had already made up his mind at this time, and when the major events were decided in the future, he would let Shi Xiu be in charge of setting up the Jinyiwei, which belonged to him, Mu Xu.

"Send someone to send this letter to Yunzhou quickly, and it must be handed over to Master Xu."

"Yes, I'm under orders!" Shi Xiu took it with both hands, bowed and stepped back without asking any questions, and went to supervise the matter in person.

On the fourth watch of the next day, Mu Xu got up early, washed up under the service of the maids Lu Zhu and Hong Ye, and then changed into a purple official robe.

Speaking of which, these two maids are still court ladies given by Zhao Ji. Mu Xu was worried that they were spies from the Imperial City Department of the Song Dynasty, so he hadn't had much contact with them.

At this time, he took a closer look and found that they were all beautiful and pleasant, and they were all rare beauties. He had a moment of whim, so he got bored with the two of them.

The two women were still a little scrupulous at first, but after chatting and laughing for a while, seeing that the lord was not as unapproachable as usual, they gradually became more courageous.

Luzhu tied the jade belt around Mu Xu's waist, and said, "My lord, after you marry the Diji, will you live in the princess mansion, or in our own mansion?"

Mu Xu was stunned for a moment, and then remembered that the princess had an imperial mansion, just like when he was in the Red Mansion, his mother, Princess Changning, had a special mansion for Princess Changning. As a result, the princess mansion was unoccupied.

But other sons-in-law don't have this kind of treatment, they usually have to live in the princess mansion, under such circumstances, it is self-evident who is the master.

This is still good, like the Ming Dynasty and other dynasties with strict regulations, sometimes the son-in-law wanted to have a couple life with the princess's wife, so he needed to ask the mother-in-law for instructions.

Once the princess you marry is not favored, and the foster mother you meet is greedy, if there is no money to send, it will be miserable. Sometimes the husband and wife may not see each other for a year, and the life is not as good as the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. .

Although Mu Xu hated the weakness and incompetence of the Song Dynasty in his heart, he admired the rules. At least as a royal family, the Zhao family was quite close to the people and didn't have so many bad habits.The princess is neither as domineering as the Han and Tang Dynasties, nor as aggrieved as the Ming Dynasty.

Regarding the question of Luzhu, Mu Xu thought for a while and replied, "I can't stay in Beijing for a few days. For the first few days, I should follow the rules and live in the Princess Mansion, so as not to make people gossip."

Hearing this, Luzhu hesitated for a moment, and then mustered up the courage to say, "My lord, can you take your slaves and Hongye with you when you go this time?"

Mu Xu's eyes flashed, and he said unintentionally, "Why do you two have such an idea? Isn't it good to stay in this fancy world in Tokyo? You must know that Yunzhou is located in the northern border, and compared with Kaifeng, it is more than ten years behind. Thousands of miles."

Luzhu shook her head and said, "Since slaves and servants have been given to the lord, then I will go wherever the lord goes, how dare you dislike them?
Furthermore, the servant's family has long lost relatives, so instead of staying alone in this mansion, it is better to go with the lord and continue to serve the lord! "

Mu Xu didn't comment on this, but instead asked Hongye, who hadn't spoken, "Hongye, do you have the same idea?"

Hongye replied honestly, "Your servant can do whatever you want, if the lord wants to take your servant to Yunzhou, can I ask you something?"

"Let's talk about it!"

"This servant also has a younger brother who is currently being fostered by a relative. I hope that the adults can bring him along and give him a meal at the house."

Mu Xu thought for a while, and agreed, "That's fine, when you leave Beijing this time, the two of you can go with me, and Hongye's younger brother can also take it with you."

Seeing that Mu Xu let go, the two girls immediately cheered.

……

At [-] o'clock in the morning, Mu Xu took two soldiers and rode to the front of Xuande Gate. Seeing that there were already many officials coming, he handed the horse over to the soldiers and walked straight to the open space in front of the gate.

Due to the lack of horses in the Song Dynasty, the scholar-officials were not like the literati in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Today, a man riding a horse came suddenly, which immediately attracted everyone's attention. After seeing the person's attire, many people couldn't help laughing out loud.

Why do you ask, it turns out that this man actually pinned the wat board to his waist, and he didn't even wear an official hat, just tucked it under his arm.

Just when a few officials wanted to sarcastically, by the light of the lanterns on the Xuande Gate, they saw clearly that the person who came was wearing a purple court dress, and immediately held back their words, only daring to secretly ask, who is this person? .

Mu Xu casually glanced at the scene a few times, and saw that Cai You and the others he knew hadn't arrived yet, so he simply ignored all eyes, walked to the side of the palace gate, leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and meditated.

Of course Mu Xu knew why these people were laughing, and he didn't have the time to care about such trivial matters. They laughed at Mu Xu vulgarly, but they didn't know that Mu Xu also laughed at these guys, wearing long-winged hats one by one, just like silly birds generally.

Mu Xu really didn't like the official hats of the Song Dynasty. Strictly speaking, this long-winged hat should be called Zhanjiao Futou.

According to the literal meaning, everyone can imagine that in fact, this long-winged hat has two long wings hanging on the back of the hat. As long as a person moves, the long wings on both sides will keep flapping, which is very eye-catching.

Speaking of the inventor of the long-winged hat, everyone should know that he is the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin.

Before the Han Dynasty, the hats worn by ministers when they went to court were black yarn hats. This kind of hat is very light and will not affect daily life at all.But it was because it was so convenient that the ministers would often look left and right when they were in court. This behavior made Zhao Kuangyin very unhappy, so he tried to change this situation.

It is said that Zhao Kuangyin always wanted to take the lead for the ministers, so he often sat on the dragon chair with a serious face and listened to the ministers' reports, hoping that the ministers could feel the sacred solemnity of the court.

But this method didn't seem to work. Many times, before the quiet atmosphere in the court hall had lasted for a long time, the ministers began to whisper casually again, completely disregarding the rules of the court hall.

Over time, Zhao Kuangyin finally couldn't bear it anymore, and ordered his subordinates to add a long frame made of iron and bamboo strips to the back of each official's gauze hat, which was more than one foot longer than the widest part of the hat brim.

Now, even if the ministers stand next to each other, they can't see the people around them, and because the size is too long, the ministers can't whisper to each other, they can only play loudly to the emperor.

It sounds ridiculous, but it worked.

Mu Xu did not deny this point, but he believed that since Zhao Kuangyin, the emperors of the Song Dynasty did not understand the truth of going too far.

Whether it is emphasizing culture and restraining military affairs, or not being able to prevent land annexation and other policies, they are too lenient.Take this long-winged hat as an example, it can be completely like the official hat of the Ming Dynasty, and a foot on both sides is enough.

But Zhao Kuangyin was lucky, he designed the hat wings to be longer than Pu Dao, the hat wings of ordinary officials are more than one foot long, and the third rank and above are one and a half feet long.

Please note that what is mentioned here is only one side of the hat wing. If you add the two together, the length can be imagined.

This has caused great inconvenience to the officials. They need to walk to the spacious place when walking, otherwise they will definitely hang their hats.

This is really not Mu Xu's nonsense, there is an allusion handed down.

According to legend, once, Kou Zhun wanted to go out to observe the people's sentiments. In order to better understand the lives of the common people, he wore ordinary clothes and looked like an ordinary scholar.

Unexpectedly, during the conversation between Kou Zhun and an old man, the old man had always been very respectful to Kou Zhun, and even knelt down to greet him.

Kou Zhun was very surprised, so he asked the old man why he was so polite. The old man replied like this, and he said, "When I passed the narrow alley just now, my lord kept walking sideways, lest something might damage your hat. It can be seen that you are used to wearing it." The one with the long-winged cap is undoubtedly a good minister in court."

This story may just be fabricated by later generations, but the problem reflected is true, that is, the official hat is ugly and inconvenient, if there is no other way, Mu Xu would not wear it!
Just as Mu Xu was wandering into the sky, a voice came from his ear, "Why did Brother Mu come so early, why don't you take a rest?"

Mu Xu opened his eyes and looked, but it was Cai You who came to him at some time, he replied with a smile, "Younger brother is just a step ahead, but why didn't you see Privy Tong?"

Cai You had a weird look on his face, he looked around, and muttered softly, "I'm afraid I don't know, it's a pity for Tong Shumi to say this, last night he was called into the palace overnight by the officials, and he gave him a good reprimand. In the future, I'm afraid I can only be raised at home."

Mu Xu secretly smiled inwardly, and Fang wanted to express his concern for Tong Guan, when he saw Gao Qiu and Wang Fu arriving one after another, especially Wang Fu, who immediately attracted most of the officials present to surround him.

Seeing this scene, Cai You frowned slightly, feeling as if he had been robbed of the limelight after being away from court for many days, then he rolled his eyes and said to Mu Xu,

"I heard that there are some old grievances between my brother and Gao Taiwei. How about it, do you need to come forward and mediate between the two of you?"

Mu Xu seems to be careless, but in fact, he has already seen Cai You's changes in full view. How could he use such a simple plan to sow discord?

Besides, as far as the grievance between him and Gao Qiu is concerned, how can others easily resolve it, Cai You clearly wants to kill someone with a knife.

"You don't need to bother Brother Cai, the younger brother will go north to Yunzhou after he marries Di Ji, and there is no need to turn wars with Taiwei Gao into friendship."

Speaking of this, he chuckled lightly, and said, "Brother Cai has such a leisurely heart, why not pay more attention to Wang Fu, this person has been getting more and more popular since Taishi Cai became an official, I am afraid he will be the enemy of brother!"

Cai You's face darkened, but he said insincerely, "Brother, you have a lot of heart. I and Wang Shaozai are ministers in the same palace. We should join hands and work together to serve the government. Why do opponents say anything?"

"Since brother said so, let's take it as my younger brother's slip of the tongue. Originally, my younger brother wanted to help my brother, but I didn't want to..."

Before Mu Xu finished speaking, he was interrupted by Cai You, "My dear brother, what do you mean by this? Could it be that you have Wang Shaozai's handle?"

(End of this chapter)