The Great Tang General

Li Xuan was not in such a hurry. After arriving in Danyang County, he first inspected the county seat Dantu.

He reiterated that the court's reform philosophy was as firm and unwavering as Mount Zhongshan in Nanjing.

Will not change because of some setbacks.

I hope that the provincial county officials will learn from Huaiyin, care for the people, pay attention to people's livelihood, and resolve conflicts. To the greatest extent possible, make the people of all industries in the county and prefecture the beneficiaries.

In the tide of reform, Jiangnan maintained its status as a land of fish and rice, and at the same time, completed the transformation of handicraft industry and introduced new skills from Chang'an and Luoyang.

Li Xuan summoned creative scholars and craftsmen to the Palace of Wisdom in Luoyang to display their expertise.

Currently in the Palace of Wisdom, the proportion of foreign scholars is higher than that of Tang Dynasty scholars, which is unscientific.

He hoped that scholars of the Tang Dynasty could take the lead, accumulate experience and then launch deeper reforms.

In this era, coastal areas are not advantageous regions.

But having the Yangtze River inland and the Grand Canal to the north are definitely the main factors for the country's economic development.

As Danyang County is a major region on the Yangtze River with a good geographical location, Li Xuan has high hopes for it.

I hope it will always aim to surpass Yangzhou.

After finishing his inspection of Dantu, Li Xuan took a boat to Jinling.

The shop is filled with the fragrance of willow blossoms in the spring breeze, and Wu Ji prepares wine for the guests to taste.

The young men of Jinling came to see me off, and whether I wanted to leave or not, I drank to my heart's content.

Please ask me about Dongliu Shui. I don’t know who is good or bad with it.

Jinling is also known as Jiangning. Poets of this era prefer the name Jinling, which has historical significance.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, King Wei of Chu, Xiong Shang, built the city of Jinling in Shitou City, and the name Jinling originated from this.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan established his capital here, and Jinling rose from then on.

Then came the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the Southern Dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, all of which established their capitals here.

But as time went by, Jinling's status declined rapidly.

Nowadays, Jinling belongs to Danyang County, but the county seat is Dantu, which has nothing to do with Jinling.

After the people of low status were eliminated and their families were brought under control, the entire Danyang County had a population of over 900,000, second only to Yangzhou, Jinling, and Wu County in Jiangnan Province.

Undoubtedly a wealthy place.

The entire Huainan Province is dwarfed by Jiangnan Province.

Li Bai was born in Shu. If you ask him, what is the place he loved most in his life?

It was not his birthplace, nor was it the Chang'an that he longed for, but Jinling.

Li Bai traveled to Jinling many times in his life, spanning nearly forty years.

Among the poems handed down to later generations, more than one hundred were written in Jinling alone, accounting for one-tenth of the total volume.

This place with mountains and water is full of natural beauty.

Compared with the scenery of the north, there are also the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, with singing birds and dancing swallows.

Li Bai once wrote a poem "Three thousand guests in pearl shoes in the hall, and a hundred hu of Jinling spring in the jar."

For Li Bai, who loves wine, Jinling Spring Wine has always made him miss it.

Although Li Bai has now returned to peace, it can be seen from his early poems that drinking good wine and looking at beautiful women would make even a banished immortal linger there.

In recent years, Li Bai has traveled frequently between Xuancheng and Jinling.

The spirit of "giving gold to release" the banished immortals and "spending all my money to get it back" no longer exists.

It was impossible to convert poetry into money in this era. In his sixties, Li Bai depended on others for a living and did not have the wealth he had in his youth.

Li Xuan mentioned Li Bai many times in his poems.

Almost all officials have read the poems written by Li Xuan.

Therefore, local county magistrates often provided financial support to Li Bai so that the great poet would not be unable to afford even a drink.

It’s just that Li Bai in this time and space was not exiled to Yelang, and his life did not have too many hardships.

In the season of lush grass and flying birds, Li Xuan landed at Shitou Town, east of Jinling City.

Upon learning of the Supreme's arrival, Jinling Prefect Wang Yuan led the Jinling officials to pay him a visit.

Like many places, the people of Jinling spontaneously ran to Stone City to pay homage to the legendary king.

In a region with a completely different atmosphere from Huaiyin and well-informed, Li Xuan's reputation was at its peak.

Get rid of the lowly and promote the good, and change the local customs.

In fact, Li Xuan has always been influential in the Wu and Yue areas.

At that time, he went out to sea to suppress the pirate Wu Lingguang and eradicate the powerful people in Linhai and other counties, and he had already become famous.

Before the abolition of the lowly and the promotion of virtue, most of the people in this area knew that there was a hero in the north named Li Xuan.

He conquered the east and the west, fought in the north and the south, and was invincible in every battle. This had a direct impact on the trade of merchants.

He is the most famous poet and a unique lyricist.

Li Xuan's poems had a greater impact on the south than the north.

Singing the music of Wu is worth a thousand pieces of gold.

The identity of emperor bestowed the supreme halo on Li Xuan.

In the hearts of many people in Jiangnan, Li Xuan is the legitimate emperor.

Because Li Xuan seized power so quickly, everything seemed to go smoothly. Not only did it not cause any loss to the people of the world, it also changed the order and made people's lives better and better.

"Your servant, Wang Yuanxin, the commander of Jiangning, pays respect to the Supreme..."

In Shitou Town, Wang Yuanxin brought officials to welcome Li Xuan.

At this time, the Governor of Jiangnan, Chang Cui, the Prefect of Danyang and others were all accompanying Li Xuan, after all, this was the area under their jurisdiction.

"Excuse me, gentlemen!"

Li Xuan exempted officials in Jinling from formalities.

Nowadays, the official place name of Jinling area is Jiangning, and Wang Yuanxin can only be Jiangningling.

Wang Yuanxin passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi in the second year of Qianyuan. After being demoted to a good official, he first served as the magistrate of a county in the eastern part of Jiangnan. Due to his outstanding political achievements, he was promoted to the magistrate of Jiangning last year.

The great poet Wang Changling once served as the magistrate of Jiangning for seven years and was very much loved by the people.

He was born at the wrong time, but fortunately he met Li Xuan, which changed his bad luck.

"Thank you, Supreme!"

The officials of Jinling thanked Li Xuan again.

"You are the host, please show me this Stone Town."

Li Xuan gave Wang Yuanxin an instruction.

"According to the decree..."

After Wang Yuanxin received the order, he took Li Xuan and others to patrol Shitou Town.

Shitou Town got its name because of the abundance of stone materials, stone carvings, stone men and stone animals, which is easy to understand.

Everything inside is worthy of its name.

Shitou Town is located to the north of Zhongshan Mountain, close to the Yangtze River, and its stones are sourced from Zhongshan Mountain.

Wang Yuanxin told Li Xuan that Shitou Town is the most important market town outside Jinling City. The craftsmen there have superb carving skills and are favored by people along the Yangtze River.

Jinling can use the Yangtze River water transportation to sell the carvings of Shitou Town across the country to increase Jinling's finances and benefit the people's livelihood.

Li Xuan highly praised Jinling's achievement of "turning stone into gold".

Take advantage of the right time, place and people to develop distinctive industries and commerce.

After leaving Shitou Town, Li Xuan expressed his condolences to the civilians who came to greet him.

And invite some village elders to ask about their living conditions.

The result made him feel a little relieved.

The situation in Huaiyin was only a minority. The lives of most people improved after they were freed from low status and became good people, which made Li Xuan more determined to reform.

On that day, there was no time to go to Jinling City. Li Xuan rested in Shitou Town.

Li Xuan asked Wang Yuanxin about Li Bai's whereabouts and confirmed that Li Bai was in Jinling City.

The emperor couldn't get on the ship, and claimed that the minister was a fairy in the wine.

With Li Bai's personality, it was impossible for him to come to greet Emperor Li Xuan.

Wang Yuanxin couldn't please Li Bai either.

The next morning, Li Xuan climbed up Zhongshan Mountain, from which he could overlook the city of Jinling and the picturesque scenery.

"Jinling is a place where tigers and dragons are stationed. Do you think it has the aura of an emperor?"

Li Xuan stood on the main peak of Zhongshan Mountain and said to Chang Cui beside him.

"To your majesty, Sun Wu was separatist, the Eastern Jin fled south, and Song, Qi, Liang and Chen were in a corner. Luoyang and Chang'an are the capitals of the emperor." Chang Cui bowed to Li Xuan and replied.

This is not just a standard answer, but also his real thoughts.

"It is located to the south and north of Yangzhou, and its location is important. Development in the south of the Yangtze River is of utmost importance. Looking at the terrain of this place, we should try our best to develop it."

Li Xuan smiled and did not elaborate on the imperial atmosphere of Jinling.

"I will remember the words of the Supreme Being!"

Chang Cui accepted the order.

It is obvious that the Supreme values ​​Jinling more than Dantu.

For a super large county like Danyang County, it would be no problem to fully develop cities with a rich heritage like Jinling and increase its commerce several times.

Coming down from Zhongshan, Li Xuan, led by Wang Yuanxin, headed towards Jinling City.

More people lined the streets to welcome the emperor.

Li Xuan gave a hearty speech to the people of Jinling at the east gate of Jinling.

Northern literati have always looked down on Southern literati.

Because the gentry of the Tang Dynasty, whether they were the Guanlong gentry, the Shandong gentry, the Daibei gentry, etc., were all northern gentry.

By the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the Jiangzuo gentry had completely declined, and the southern literati group had become powerful and wealthy families, but had lost political power.

Some clues can be found from the surnames of successive prime ministers.

Li Xuan strictly prohibited this phenomenon of north-south confrontation.

Most of the people in the south migrated from the north. Li Xuan hoped that from now on, everyone in the world would be one family and live a peaceful life.

He worked together with the people of the world to create a prosperous era.

There were many literati gathered in Jinling, and they resonated with Li Xuan's words.

It was unprecedented in history for an emperor to appear in public and give a heartfelt speech to millions of people.

In the crowd, an old man watched Li Xuan's speech to the people quietly with a complicated expression.

He is Li Bai!
Li Bai has never grown old, but his heart has not grown old.

Although the years have left marks on his face, his eyes are still bright and sharp, revealing unruly and indifferent thoughts. All the hardships cannot erase the persistence in his bones.

Looking at Li Xuan, who was facing the people and describing things vividly, Li Bai's mind went back to twenty years ago.

By the Qujiang Lake where catkins are floating in the sky.

He worked in the Hanlin Academy, while Li Xuan was just a commoner.

The flying flowers are obscured by the sun and the moon, and I don’t know that there is clear frost in the sky and the earth.

The poem amazed Li Bai, but what was even more amazing was Li Xuan's life trajectory.

The bright moon rises from the Tianshan Mountains, among the vast sea of ​​clouds.

The wind blows for tens of thousands of miles, passing through Yumen Pass...

Like many other poets, Li Bai had the ambition to join the army at the frontier and offer advice and achievements.

But things backfired.

During his most passionate years, when he "laughed up to the sky and went out, how could I be a weed", he was caught up in "the clouds look like clothes, the flowers look like faces, and the spring breeze blows on the threshold, and the dew on the flowers is gorgeous".

The first three years of Tianbao dealt a heavy blow to Li Bai, which made him discouraged for a long time.

Although Li Bai was known as a "light knight", he killed one person every ten steps and never stopped a single step in a thousand miles.

But achieving fame and fortune immediately is no joke.

From some of Li Bai's poems during the Tianbao period, we can see that Li Xuan galloping on the battlefield is Li Bai himself in his dreams.

An Lushan rebelled, the Maweiyi coup d'état took place, Li Xuan was appointed General of Tiance, was crowned Crown Prince, accepted the abdication, and ascended the throne as Emperor...

It was a series of complicated operations that Li Bai couldn’t think deeply about.

Sometimes, Li Bai would ask himself this question when he "raises his cup to invite the bright moon, and my shadow and I become three people."

Is his ambition to "clear up the world and bring stability to Haixian" a fantasy?

Finally, he helped to stabilize the country and left the country after achieving his goal.

Like Fan Li, retire after achieving success.

Imagine being like Xie An, lying in seclusion in the Eastern Mountains, and deciding the fate of the world.

I want to be like Jiang Ziya and Zhang Liang, be appreciated by the king, and achieve my own lofty ambitions.

Or, he wants to reach the top in one step.

When the wine enters his heroic stomach, seven parts of it turn into moonlight, and the remaining three parts turn into sword energy. When he speaks out his words, half of the prosperous Tang Dynasty is represented.

This is Li Bai!
Li Bai would become more enlightened when he was old and sick.

Li Xuan employed Gao Shi, Du Fu, Wang Changling and others, all of whom were good friends of Li Bai and held high positions and generous salaries.

But they were promoted step by step by Li Xuan over the past twenty years.

Li Bai is romantic and elegant, and would rather break than bend. Many times, he is not suitable for officialdom.

Especially after Li Longji "granted gold and released" Li Bai, no one dared to use Li Bai for a long time.

While Li Bai was thinking, Li Xuan had finished his speech.

The people applauded and cheered, and the applause was like thunder and lasted for a long time.

Afterwards, Li Xuan ordered the people to disperse...

As the crowd gradually dispersed, Li Bai, dressed simply with his belt tied casually, came into Li Xuan's sight.

In fact, Li Xuan had already seen Li Bai, whose temperament stood out from the crowd, but he was able to control his emotions and finish his words word by word.

Although he was happy to meet Li Bai, Li Xuan kept his main purpose in mind.

"Taibai, long time no see!"

Li Xuan walked up to Li Bai step by step and said with emotion.

He thought that since they parted in Qujiang in the second year of Tianbao, they would never see each other again.

"Greetings to the Supreme..."

Li Bai came back to his senses and bowed to Li Xuan.

Although he was arrogant and proud of the powerful, his thoughts were based on "being a minister" and "being the highest official in the country", and he still respected the emperor very much.

By the seventh year of Qianyuan, everyone in the world recognized Li Xuan as the emperor.

Li Bai also agreed.

"Please stand up, Taibai! I came to Jinling for two reasons: first, to inspect the livelihoods of the people; second, to visit an old friend. I haven't seen you for twenty years, and I have been missing you, Taibai!"

Li Xuan quickly helped Li Bai up and spoke emotionally.

The beauty of the mountains and rivers, thousands of words, are condensed into four lines of poetry, unprecedented in the world.

Li Bai's majestic, elegant and romantic style, like his poems, is admired by the world.

I was born to be useful!
This is a rare genius in a thousand years. His poems can make the prosperous times even more prosperous.

Thousands of years later, it is still popular and enduring.

He is a human being, and humans are bound to have shortcomings, which are always criticized.

But he pursued Taoist inaction and never claimed to be a saint.

He is a banished immortal, his poems are like dreams, countless people are young because of his poems, happy because of his poems, strong and optimistic because of his poems...

"At this old and sick age, Bai can see the Supreme Being of the World. He has no regrets in this life!"

After all, there was an invisible wall between Li Xuan and Li Bai, which prevented Li Bai from joking as he did before.

Even someone as casual as Li Bai cannot climb over this mountain.

Li Bai saw Li Xuan's wisdom. He had been to many places and had seen many changes in the past few years.

This is Li Xuan's credit. When the country was in danger, he stepped forward and saved the country from collapse.

"I have regrets too! I envy Taibai's long journeys with Gao Shi and Du Fu, and their winter hunting trips in Qingqiu. I am fascinated by it, but I cannot go there. Taibai's failure to accept the invitation to the Palace of Wisdom is also one of my regrets."

Nothing in the world can be perfect. Li Xuan had many feelings when he saw the aging Li Bai again.

"I am not the right person to be a teacher."

Li Bai did not dislike the position of Chief Priest of the Palace of Wisdom, but he knew that he was not qualified for the job.

He keeps company with wine, comes and goes as he pleases, and is afraid of misleading the young people.

The ideal of governing the world has gradually faded away, and Li Bai just wants to make his final performance in this peaceful and prosperous era.

"Let's go back to the city, show me around, and have another drink."

Li Xuan no longer worried about Li Bai not being the chief priest of the Wisdom Palace. He reached out and pulled Li Bai, asking him to introduce the most familiar Jinling city to him...

(End of this chapter)