The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 414: Chang'an is bustling
In Zhengzhou, Li Yiyan was wearing a turquoise robe. It had been three years since His Majesty and the Crown Prince last came to the Confucian Temple.

It’s a pity that the old gentleman passed away last year. Mr. Li Baiyao passed away in a county in Hebei, which was a place he specially chose.

Li Yiyan rode his horse to the front of the Confucian Temple, dismounted and looked at the newly renovated Confucian Temple.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, the Confucian Temple was repaired. It seemed that the emperor was interested in reviving culture. Perhaps the emperor's important ministers felt that the martial spirit prevailed during the Zhenguan period, which led to more literati in the world?
But after visiting Chang'an, Li Yiyan felt that martial spirit was still prevalent in the Tang Dynasty.

Even the current emperor hopes that his future children will be healthy and strong.

Li Yiyan walked into the Confucian Temple, where there was a new group of students.

Hearing that Yi Yan had returned, Wang Jingzhi, the head of the Confucian Temple, came to greet him.

Wang Jingzhi is the son of Wang Gui. Now he is middle-aged, but he has not served in the court. Although he is talented and learned, he does not hold a position in the court. He is a man who is passionate about mountains and rivers.

Just like Wang Gui, who taught Prince of Wei Li Tai at the Institute of Literature and was obsessed with Mount Zhongnan. After his death, he built a cenotaph in Mount Zhongnan.

Wang Jingzhi also did not want to be bound by the court, so he married Princess Nanping. After he got married, he resigned from his post without citing illness. When he resigned, the trend of resignation in the court was prevalent, and he retired along with a group of old ministers.

In his words, my father was unable to live in Mount Zhongnan during his lifetime, so he wanted to carry on his father's last wish and visit Mount Zhongnan more often during his lifetime, and temporarily serve as the head of the Confucian Temple here.

"Brother Wang." Seeing the person coming to greet him, Li Yiyan bowed first.

"The old gentleman's spirit tablet is in the Confucian Temple. He has a few volumes of books to give to you."

Li Yiyan still respected Li Baiyao, both as a person and as a writer. He followed his footsteps all the way into the Confucian Temple and saw a group of students arguing.

Wang Jingzhi explained: "Back then, in the first year of the Qianqing reign, His Majesty ordered the construction of the Confucian Temple. You see, the Confucian Temple now is larger than before, covering an area of ​​50 mu, with nearly 100 halls and houses."

At this point, Wang Jingzhi paused and continued, "If it was the previous emperor, um... the one who led the Eastern Expedition, it might have been very easy for him to order the construction of the Confucian Temple. However, this matter finally fell into the hands of the new emperor. The new emperor's requirement is that when the Confucian Temple recruits students in the future, more than half of them must be poor children, and the rest can be arranged by the Confucian Temple."

Li Yiyan didn't say a word along the way, but went straight to the mourning hall, where the spirit tablet of Mr. Li Baiyao was.

Watching him burn incense to the old man's spirit tablet, Wang Jingzhi said again: "Mr. Li Baiyao agreed to this matter, and he has been doing so now, but Kong Zhiyue disagreed."

"Kong Zhiyue?"

Wang Jingzhi stood in the back and watched him kneel before the spirit tablet, and said, "He is the son of Kong Yingda. He opposed the way the Confucian Temple selected students. Haha... Although the Confucian Temple will offer sacrifices to Confucius, this Confucian Temple does not belong to his Kong family."

Li Yiyan frowned again, looking thoughtful.

Seeing that the other party had stood up after kneeling, Wang Jingzhi pulled out a wooden box from the side. The wooden box was not heavy and contained only three or five volumes of books. He explained, "This is the Book of Qi left by Mr. Li Baiyao. When the court was compiling history, the old man participated in compiling the Book of Jin and the Clan Records. Let's not talk about those. After the old man retired, he spent the rest of his life in the Confucian Temple and finished writing the Book of Qi."

Li Yiyan picked up one of the books, opened it and looked at one of the volumes.

It was a warm spring season, thunder roared in the sky, and then a rain began to fall.

"I will hand these scrolls over to the court."

"Just give it to the Literature Museum. They will arrange for the collection of books." Wang Jingzhi looked at the students who were still fighting in the rain. They all looked about fourteen or fifteen years old.

Li Yiyan saw this and said, "Sir, aren't you going to stop them?"

Wang Jingzhi shook his head and said, "Isn't this the case with the conflicts between students from all over the country? The Confucian Temple is a place revered by students all over the world, and this kind of thing happens every day."

Three or five kids were fighting in the rain, punching and kicking each other, and they didn't seem to feel any pain.

Finally someone came forward and pulled them apart.

Wang Jingzhi said with emotion: "The court has been implementing the teaching support policy for more than ten years. The children of the noble families and the children of the prominent families do not get along well with the poor students. Do you know Li Yifu?"

"heard."

"Even if someone like Li Yifu passed the imperial examination and held a position in the court, he was still looked down upon by the noble families as he was in the past, and some even refused to associate with him. This was the case in the past, and it is still the case now, but there will be more and more people like Li Yifu."

The spring rain fell in the Confucian Temple. Wang Jingzhi told a story that happened last year. Last year, the court repaired the Confucian Temple. The Confucian Temple and the court had an agreement to recruit one hundred poor children and sixty rich children.

Afterwards, the two sides had a dispute over pens, ink and rooms, and then a fight broke out. Hundreds of students were fighting, which alarmed the government. Later, the Confucian Temple had to separate the two sides.

In his narration, Wang Jingzhi said that everyone reads the same books and listens to the same teacher, but now that the policy of remote teaching is popular, poor students do not have to come to the Confucian temple to study, they can also learn knowledge through remote teaching.

Therefore, students nowadays are divided into two categories, one is poor students, and the other is children of gentry. However, there are more and more poor students now, which is dozens of times the number of children of gentry. In the future, there may be hundreds of times more. This growth is extremely terrifying.

Wang Jingzhi was the head of the Confucian Temple. He often interacted with students from all over the country, so he knew the most and had the deepest understanding of some things.

After listening to his story, Li Yiyan took the books left by the old gentleman, got on his horse again, and left the Confucian Temple.

Wang Jingzhi stood in front of the Confucian Temple to bid farewell.

The spring rain continued, and the horses were walking on the muddy official road. Li Yiyan had many doubts in his heart when he left the Confucian Temple. The conflicts between students seemed to have intensified overnight.

Whether you make a fuss or not, everyone is the same in front of the imperial examination.

When Li Yiyan arrived in front of Chang'an City, Wang Jiusi and others also waited in front of Chang'an in the rain. After submitting the documents given by various counties, they lined up to enter Chang'an City.

The rain hit his face. Wang Jiusi saw Li Yiyan riding a horse towards him. He felt envious, but it was only for a moment. After passing the imperial examination, he might also ride a horse back home.

Chang'an is a very fair place. Whether it is Jingzhao Prefecture or various schools, fairness is the norm. This is the first feeling of the students. After they submit their documents, they can participate in the imperial examination. There is still more than a month before the imperial examination, and everyone has extra time to get familiar with the city of Chang'an.

"I heard that this year's imperial examination will be the most difficult one."

Hearing the words of the people around him, Wang Jiusi asked: "Why?"

"I heard that this year the number of people taking the imperial examination is the highest, and talented people from all over the country have come. As far as I know, there are Pei Yan, Lu Zhaolin, and Zhang Jianzhi. They are all talented people with great reputations."

"Look, that's Zhang Jianzhi." Someone whispered, "I heard that he has failed the imperial examination three times. He will definitely pass the imperial examination this year. He might even be a Jinshi."

Wang Jiusi looked up and saw a high-spirited young man standing in front of the city.

The imperial examination was cruel, and if you failed, you would fail.

Many people came from far away and set out to Chang'an City after the New Year. The voices of the many students in line were still full of their hometown accents. Finally, it was his turn. Wang Jiusi handed over the document written by the county magistrate, which had his native place and origin, as well as the local county magistrate's seal.

After the official in front of him let him go, he also walked into the huge city of Chang'an. Today, Chang'an is the most prosperous city in the world, with a population of nearly one million.

Standing together with a group of people who were about to take the imperial examination, Wang Jiusi suddenly felt his own insignificance and had more awe in his heart.

Some of them are geniuses among humans, and some may be born prime ministers.

Wang Jiusi, who was wearing an old cloth, had a light in his eyes again. He looked at the huge group of students and felt that being able to participate in the imperial examination with these geniuses was an exciting thing.

"Do you know why His Majesty sent many prisoners to plant trees in the Western Regions? Why are the trees in the Western Regions growing so well?"

"Why?" someone asked immediately.

"There was a rumor in the palace back then. When Your Majesty was still the Crown Prince, he often said that the fish in Taiye Lake were not fat enough. Whenever the Crown Prince said this, there would be fewer eunuchs in the palace."

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but gasp and sat up straight.

Those prisoners planted so many trees in the Western Regions. Where did the fertilizer for the trees come from? There might be corpses everywhere under those trees.

Li Zhi looked at Zhang Jianzhi as if he was a fool.

Yes, he is such an idiot.

The few of them returned to Chang'an and saw the scenery of various places in the Central Plains. As for why the trees in the Western Regions grew so lush, Zhang Jianzhi almost said it was because of the people.

In the eyes of many peers who had just arrived in Chang'an, there were not many people like Zhang Jianzhi who knew the secrets, and soon some people cast admiring glances at him.

Zhang Jianzhi raised his head with great enjoyment, basking in the gazes of many admirers.

Li Zhi sneered, looked down on Zhang Jianzhi's behavior, and planned to beat him up afterwards.

In this tavern, many young students who came from far away gathered, and just outside the tavern, many people were standing under the eaves.

Li Shen said: "Brother Jianzhi, this is your fourth imperial examination, eight years in the past... You have worked tirelessly in the past eight years, you must pass the imperial examination this time."

Zhang Jianzhi smiled and said, "Of course."

Di Renjie was sitting on the side with a book in his hand. He was seventeen years old this year and could take the imperial examination. No one present knew that Prince Jin and Prince Ji were sitting here, and everyone was still laughing and talking.

Zhang Jianzhi is a man who has forgotten the pain once his wound has healed. He will definitely be beaten by His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin later for slandering His Majesty like this. If he is not beaten now, he will just commit the crime in public... not good.

Besides, His Royal Highness Prince Ji said that he had been taking the imperial examination for eight years, and Zhang Jianzhi had not studied hard during these eight years. If he failed again, it would be really...

His father Zhang Xuanbi would probably be so angry that he would commit suicide.

Di Renjie felt that he had relaxed in his studies recently and now he could only use all his time to study hard and participate in this year's imperial examination. He must not be afraid of the great pressure. Before the imperial examination has even started, Chang'an City has already been unprecedentedly grand.

All the houses, whether habitable or not, were filled with people, and many people lived in villages in various counties. Fortunately, Master Du He had built many houses outside the city of Chang'an, and under the auspices of Chongwenguan, these students for the imperial examinations had a place to stay.

Di Renjie heard from his teacher Yan Qinli that the house built by Du He was a dormitory. Under the operation of the court's teaching support policy, this kind of dormitory was definitely not a losing business. It could create huge value for the court and was a very profitable business.

Di Renjie looked at the students in front of him and felt that they were still too immature. Having grown up in Jingzhao Prefecture, Di Renjie knew very well that the court now had a different view on the word "value".

Di Renjie had been distracted while reading again, and finally he gathered his thoughts. He looked up and saw someone looking for something in the crowded tavern.

Di Renjie called out, "Brother Yan!"

The other party walked over quickly, and when he got close, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "There are too many people in Chang'an City now, it's too crowded."

The Brother Yan in front of you is Yan Zhaofu, the son of teacher Yan Qinli.

Di Renjie smiled and said, "Teacher must be very busy these days."

Yan Zhaofu replied: "Yes, Jingzhao Prefecture has collected a lot of city taxes on rented houses."

"Are you taking the imperial examination this year?"

Yan Zhaofu nodded and said, "Well, my brother is not old enough yet, so I will take the imperial examination first."

The imperial examination brought a huge influx of visitors to Chang'an City, and the price of food in the city went up accordingly.

In addition to those who came to take the imperial examinations, there were also merchants coming to Chang'an. The crowds were surging, and people were shoulder to shoulder in the streets and alleys. The city of Chang'an was like a giant beast that could handle a lot of people.

Especially in front of the gates of Hongwenguan, Wenxueguan and Chongwenguan, there were long queues. Armored soldiers from the left and right guards had to be deployed on several important streets in the city to maintain public order.

At this moment in the Taiji Hall of the Imperial Palace, the morning court was still going on.

The Minister of Civil Affairs Chu Suiliang was impeaching the Minister of Rites Xu Jingzong for occupying farmland when the Jingzhao Prefecture was built in Guanzhong.

Hearing this, Xu Jingzong stood up from the court and said, "You are talking nonsense! We in Jingzhao Prefecture never occupy farmland."

"Xu Jingzong! We are in the main hall, in front of His Majesty, please do not speak rudely."

"Old dog Chu, you slandered me first, why do you blame me for being rude?"

Chu Suiliang's forehead was faintly bulging with blue veins, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Old thief, who do you say is the old dog..."

This morning court session was extremely painful, as it was for most people. Xu Jingzong and Chu Suiliang were respectively the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture and the Minister of Civil Affairs who was in charge of land and taxes.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs had long been dissatisfied with Jingzhao Prefecture's behavior of taking on so much, and the two sides seemed to be natural enemies.

After hearing these words, Changsun Wuji began to think more highly of Chu Suiliang.

This is the trend nowadays. Just like His Majesty now admires Liu Rengui who is not afraid of the nobles, the more fearless a person is, the more likely he is to be appreciated by the emperor.

(End of this chapter)