Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1294 Ascending the Emperor's Hall

Zu Ting waited for a long time at the gate of the imperial city with great anticipation, from day to night, but no imperial servant came to summon him. His mood also changed from eagerness to anxiety and disappointment.

He wanted to ask the generals here to go to the imperial city to help him inquire, but the generals now realized that he was bluffing. There was no such thing as something that the Supreme Lord would ask. It was already considered cultured of them not to drive him away, so how could they still obey his orders?

When night fell, all the idle people no longer needed to linger around the imperial city. Even though Zu Ting was unwilling, he had to leave the imperial city with a lost mood and return home.

The slight consolation was that the people who had blocked the door and cursed him when he left home in the morning were no longer there. But it was obvious that they were not scared away as Zu Ting had expected. It could only be that they left because they were tired of cursing, and would probably return tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Zu Ting became more and more irritated. After returning home, he ordered his family to serve him wine and food, and he sat at the table drinking sadly, his mind still racking its brains. Could it be that there were still some lingering influences of the saint's will that he had not yet realized?

He had been extremely mentally exhausted in the past few days. Although he slept for a day and a night, it was not enough to make up for the exhaustion. Today his emotions had experienced great ups and downs again. Now the wine had entered his heart, and the alcohol, fatigue and fatigue surged up to his head, and he soon fell into a deep sleep again.

Zu Ting fell asleep with a lot on his mind, but it was hard for the officials who received the emperor's order and summoned Zu Ting to attend the court meeting the next day.

All officials in Beijing were required to record their official records in detail, including their official titles, career history, native place, family background, and address in Beijing, including when they entered Beijing and when they planned to leave Beijing. If officials from other places did not have a fixed address in Beijing, they could live in the halls provided by the court. These materials were stored in the Ministry of Personnel and the Guanglu Temple, and could be consulted when needed.

As the imperial order was issued, a Tongshi Sheren from the Secretariat was responsible for informing Zu Ting of the matter. This Tongshi Sheren checked the Guanglu Temple office and found that Zu Ting was now living in the Chongrenfang Pavilion on the east side of the Palace, and he secretly felt fortunate.

Chongrenfang is only one street away from the Imperial City. You can go there directly after leaving the city. It doesn't take too much time, and you can rest and sleep after returning. After all, no one wants to wander through the streets and alleys in the city in the middle of the night, and have to explain patiently when encountering patrolling guards.

However, it was too early for the Tongshi Sheren to be happy. When he arrived at the Chongrenfang Pavilion and informed them of his purpose, he was dumbfounded. Zu Ting did not live there at all!

The person in charge of the library had no idea where the man had gone. He only said that a few days ago, servants from a powerful family in the capital came in and took away Zu Ting's family and luggage, but he did not give any explanation.

It was only by asking the people who came to Beijing with Zu Ting that they learned that a nobleman in Beijing admired Zu Ting's writing style, so he invited him to write the biography and epitaph for his ancestors. Because his writing was magnificent, he was very pleased with the host. Since this residence was quite inconvenient, he borrowed his idle house in Beijing to live in. As for whose house he was staying and what the address was, they were not very clear, but only provided a few names of powerful families.

After hearing this, the interpreter's forehead began to sweat, and he did not bother to complain, so he began to inquire about the nobles' residences in various districts according to the clues he got. Fortunately, most of these nobles' residences were located in several districts close to the imperial city, so there was no need to search the entire city.

After running around for a few more hours, the interpreter finally found out that Zu Ting was staying at the villa of Cai Zheng, Marquis of Changxiang County, in the capital.

Cai Zheng's father, Cai You, had died of illness a few years ago, and the court had posthumously awarded him an honor. Cai Zheng had originally planned to invite great writers from the South, such as Wang Bao and Yu Xin, to write his father's biography and epitaph, but the two did not dare to agree because they were afraid of Cai You's close relationship with the former Grand Chancellor Yuwen Tai. Cai Zheng also did not want his father's epitaph to be too ordinary, so he kept delaying the burial.

It was not until Zu Ting, a famous Hebei literary scholar, came to Beijing and was introduced by other meritorious scholars that Cai Zheng invited Zu Ting to write a biography and epitaph for his father. Cai Zheng was grateful to Zu Ting for his father's epitaph, so he gave him a generous reward, including a house to live in.

When the messenger finally found Zu Ting's house, it was almost dawn. His clothes had already dried in the wind and then were soaked with sweat. However, as the time for the morning court was approaching, he had no time to complain. He entered the house and asked where Zu Ting was.

When Zu Ting's family saw soldiers and officials breaking into their house, they thought it was retribution for their family and were too scared to go forward. Only his son Zu Junxin went forward trembling with fear and asked, "May I ask why you are visiting my father?"

"I have been ordered by the Supreme Lord to summon your father Zu Ting to attend the morning court. Wake him up immediately and appoint him as an official. It may be too late!"

The interpreter answered unhappily, standing in the courtyard panting heavily.

"This, this... is there such a thing? Heaven's grace is so great, Heaven's grace..."

Zu Ting's son was also very surprised after hearing this. After bowing to the servant repeatedly to express his gratitude, he hurried back to the back hall, only to see his father sleeping at the desk, drunk. Zu Junxin was also complaining bitterly, and hurriedly called his family members to come forward and drag his sleeping father into the back house, remove his clothes and then rinse him with freshly drawn well water.

"The rebellious son wants to drown his father!" Zu Ting was shocked by the cold water and woke up immediately. He glared at his son and yelled at him. But when Zu Junxin told him that the Supreme had summoned him, Zu Ting smiled again. He felt his whole body was burning. He was afraid that the smell of alcohol on his body would violate etiquette, so he shouted again: "Quickly draw water from the deep well!"

Although it was early autumn after summer, the weather was getting cooler at dawn. The water that had just been drawn from the deep well was bone-chilling, and when it splashed on his body, Zu Ting immediately let out a series of screams.

The attendant waiting in the front hall frowned upon hearing this and said, "You really don't know what you are doing! The emperor's order is urgent, yet you still want to kill an animal to celebrate!"

Not long after, Zu Ting, with pale face and blue lips, came out from the inner hall, shivering and wrapped in thick robes. Before he could ask any detailed questions, he was dragged out of the house by the impatient servant, mounted on a horse and went to the imperial city.

Zu Ting's muscles were all contracted by the well water, and he was shaky on the horse's back. His son had to support him to ensure that he did not fall off the horse.

It was almost dawn and the sky was still dark, but officials with open weapons and processions could be seen on the streets. They were all rushing to attend the morning court.

When Zu Ting saw these ceremonial guards, his heart became excited again. Although he did not have such a grand ceremonial guard at the moment, he was also going to the court to pay homage to the emperor. Thinking of his bright future, Zu Ting's contracted muscles stretched out again. He no longer needed his son's support and was able to sit steadily on the horse.

Today was not a grand court day, but just an ordinary morning court. Those who could attend the court meeting were regular officials in Beijing. The so-called regular officials were civil officials of the fifth rank and above, as well as officials of the Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel, the Supervisory Censor, the Deputy Director, and the Doctor of the Ministry of Rites.

Zu Ting did not even have a formal official position at the moment, so naturally he was not among the regular officials. He did not know where his rank was when he attended the morning court. Therefore, before the court meeting began, he had to go to the Menxia Province to receive a temporary official appointment to determine his rank for the court meeting.

The Tongshi Sheren hurriedly led Zu Ting to the Menxia Province, where the imperial edict of appointment had already been prepared, and Zu Ting was appointed as the Yuwenlang of the Ministry of Sacrifices under the Ministry of Rites. Before he had time to think about the deep meaning of the court's appointment of him, the Tongshi Sheren dragged him straight to the Ministry of Rites.

At this time, the time for the morning court session was approaching, and the officials from various departments who were to attend the court session had gathered in the office and were tidying up their appearance. After Zu Ting was led to the Ministry of Rites, he looked up and saw the imposing Shangshu Cui Zhan. He immediately showed joy on his face and strode towards Cui Zhan to chat and make some small talk. Cui Zhan saw that he was still wearing modern clothes, so he didn't bother to say hello and quickly ordered: "Quickly bring Zu Lang into the house to change into robes!"

By the time Zu Ting changed into his robe and walked out, Cui Zhan had already led the officials from the Ministry of Rites out of the office. Zu Ting hurriedly followed them, and his colleagues in the team quickly explained to him his rank and the etiquette of attending the court later.

The imperial court held the first and last grand ceremonies in the Qianyuan Hall of the Inner Palace. Some grand ceremonies required the use of the Chengtian Gate, which was the border between the Inner Palace and the Imperial City. Normally, the emperor would leave the Inner Palace and go to the Outer Court Hall, which was located to the north of the Secretariat, and across the street from it were the Menxia Province and the Zhengshi Hall.

Although Zu Ting was a meritorious official who came to the court, his rank was not high enough to require him to come to the court to receive commendations and titles. Before, he had only received rewards at the Bashang military camp outside the city of Chang'an. Therefore, this was his first time to attend a court meeting of the Tang Dynasty, and he was extremely excited.

Zu Ting then suppressed his excitement and followed his court group step by step, slowly walking into the outer court hall. The court ceremony was simple, with the ministers just filing into the hall, without any complicated chanting and singing.

There was no specific procedure for the regular court meetings. Basically, they would report to the emperor if there was something to report, and leave if there was nothing to report. Of course, this would not be said directly, and in such a large empire, there would never be a situation where there was nothing to report. Officials from various departments would report to the emperor in order of rank, but they would basically only report the names of the items. The specific procedures and contents were difficult to explain one by one at the court meeting.

After listening to the reports of his ministers, if the emperor was interested in certain matters, he would naturally keep the responsible officials after the court meeting to ask more detailed questions.

Although Zu Ting was able to attend the court meeting today, he was not arranged to make any reports, so he could only listen to the reports from other departments in the queue.

He originally thought that an official from another department would read out the manuscript he had submitted previously to the public, but throughout the entire court meeting, he did not hear anything directly related to him. This made him wonder. Did the Supreme Lord specially let him participate in today's court meeting just to make him stand in the court as punishment?

When the court session was over, all the officials left the court one by one. Zu Ting still hadn't waited for the Supreme Emperor to summon him. He was wondering what to do next. A young man came up to him, clasped his fists and said, "After the court session, do you have some free time? I would like to ask you a few questions about the article "On the Fall of Qi" that I wrote before."

Hearing that someone finally mentioned his painstaking work, Zu Ting was immediately delighted. However, when he saw the person's face clearly, he was shocked again, because this person was Gao Xiaowan, the legitimate son of Gao Cheng.