The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 419 Going to the Western Regions
Hearing this, Zhang Jianzhi cried even louder. His fragile heart was hit hard again. He wiped his tears and said, "It's been eight years. I passed the imperial examination. Why..."

Li Zhi raised his foot and kicked him lightly, saying, "Don't ask why, just treat us to some wine and meat."

Zhang Jianzhi slapped the wall with one hand and continued to cry bitterly, "It took me eight years to pass the exam, but Di Renjie passed it in one try..."

Li Shen consoled him: "Neither Lu Zhaolin nor Pei Yan passed the imperial examination. This is enough to show how difficult the imperial examination is this year."

"Ah!" Zhang Jianzhi howled again, "The last one..."

If the number of officials recruited in the imperial examination this year was limited to 300, Zhang Jianzhi would not have passed the exam and might even have failed again.

It can be seen that there is still a shortage of officials in the court.

The emperor nowadays is in great need of talents. Even if all the talented people in the world were given to him, it would still not be enough.

On that day, Zhang Jianzhi got drunk and finally passed the imperial examination after eight years.

After sending Zhang Jianzhi back home, Li Zhi and Li Shen were about to leave when they met Di Renjie.

"Why don't you come when you're drinking?"

After hearing what His Royal Highness Prince Jin said, Di Renjie stepped forward and said, "I'm afraid Brother Jianzhi will feel bad."

Li Zhi said: "Why should he feel bad? He passed the imperial examination and his father got drunk out of joy."

Di Renjie bowed and said, "I am going to the Western Regions."

"Western Regions?" Li Shen's tone became a few notches higher. How could he go to such a far place?
Di Renjie nodded and explained, "This is the arrangement of the court. I will join the Anxi Army for two years, guarding the Western Regions, and..."

Before he could finish his words, the door behind him was suddenly kicked open, and Zhang Jianzhi strode out and said, "I want to go to the Western Regions, too!"

The corner of Di Renjie's mouth twitched.

Li Zhi pointed at him and scolded him with a smile: "I don't think you can walk more than three miles out of the Hexi Corridor. You will have to come back."

Zhang Jianzhi patted his shoulders and shouted, "I! Want to go! To the Western Regions!"

He seemed to have said this under the influence of alcohol, and Li Zhi, Li Shen, and Di Renjie did not take it seriously.

But what was unexpected was that the next day, Zhang Jianzhi went to Chongwenguan and threatened to join the army to the Western Regions.

The person in charge of Chongwenguan agreed immediately.

Under the incredulous gazes of Li Zhi and Li Shen, Zhang Jianzhi completely believed it the moment he walked out with the documents of the Anxi Army heading to the Western Regions.

This guy really wants to go to the Western Regions.

In order to convince everyone of the results of the imperial examination, the test papers of all candidates were made public, so that most people stopped and looked at other people's test papers.

This year's exam was also conducted in a blind format. Even the famous Pei Yan and Lu Zhaolin did not top the list of Jinshi, which shows the fairness of the blind exam.

Instead, it was an unknown man named Guo Daiju who passed the imperial examination. After inquiring around, people learned that Guo Daiju had been teaching in Guanzhong for two years, and this time he could directly enter the court as an official and work in the Honglu Temple.

The scale of this year's teaching program is unprecedentedly large, with tens of thousands of students participating in the program. Among them, one thousand are serving in the military, and the rest will be sent to various counties for two years of teaching.

Chongwenguan has been very busy recently. Not only does it have to rotate the previous volunteer teachers, but it also has to accommodate such a large number of people.

Su Tan, the head of Chongwenguan, is a man who does everything by himself. He personally looks over any teaching arrangements.

The youngest student took the imperial examination at the age of seventeen. After teaching for two years, he would be nineteen years old when he came to serve in the court.

This huge teaching resource was coordinated by Chongwenguan to form a map, which extends from the Tianshan Mountains in the west to Liaodong City in the east, from Lingnan in the south to the Turkic territory in the north.

The number of people teaching in the rural areas is just a few scattered around. The numbers in Guanzhong and Luoyang are very dense, while those expanding outward are much more sparse.

Therefore, most of the human resources for teaching are in Guanzhong, and the number of people scattered across the Central Plains is still not enough.

Su Tan stroked his beard while looking at the map and said, "I'm afraid we'll have to increase the number to 30,000 to 50,000 in the future."

"Chief."

Hearing this, Su Tan looked back and saw that it was Pei Yan who came. He asked, "What's the matter?"

Pei Yan said: "Students also want to go to the Western Regions."

Su Tan asked: "Why? Liaodong is not good?"

"No, it's the students who want to join the army."

Su Tan sat down again, looked at the young man and said, "It's because I'm not convinced by Di Renjie."

Pei Yan shook his head and said, "This time the imperial examination is anonymous. I heard that he grew up in Jingzhao Prefecture and is naturally familiar with the court's strategies. I am convinced, but I also want to be in the same place with Di Renjie."

Su Tan did not agree immediately, but thought about it and was still hesitating.

"I know very well that once the imperial document is issued, it cannot be changed, so I came to ask you this."

"Yes." Su Tan nodded slowly and advised: "Your talent may not be suitable for the Western Regions, but since you want to go, don't blame me for not reminding you that the road to the Western Regions is not easy to travel."

"Students obey orders."

Su Tan nodded, ordered someone to bring the document, wrote his name on it, and then said, "No more changes can be made."

"Here."

In early June, when the teaching support matters were issued, more than 10,000 students from Chang'an City left and went to various places to teach. The bustle of Chang'an did not diminish with the departure of the students, and people still live a busy and happy life here.

Inside the palace, Li Lizhi held her grandfather's wrist and said, "My granddaughter is getting married."

Li Yuan stroked his beard and asked, "Did your father, the emperor, and your mother agree?"

Li Lizhi said, "I agreed."

"Okay." Li Yuan patted his granddaughter's hand and nodded, "Whose child is this?"

"Duho."

"Well, I've heard of this kid. He's very rich."

Li Lizhi chuckled and said, "Grandpa must live a hundred years for my granddaughter to see."

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes and smiled, saying, "Well, I will personally send you off to marry, when is it?"

"After winter."

Grandpa is now so old that he has to walk with a cane and walks very slowly. Thinking of the time when grandpa sang loudly in the East Palace, Li Lizhi quietly wiped away her tears.

On the Tibetan Plateau west of Chang'an City, Sambuza watched the clear river water flow through a pasture all the way towards Songzhou.

He stepped on the grass and looked back. The snow on the snow-capped mountains was still there, but now it was summer, and there was much less snow.

Sambuza looked at the children playing in the distance, sat down with a smile on his face, and just watched them intently.

A horseman passed by on a fast horse. It was a Tang Dynasty soldier riding a fast horse. He shouted as he rode his horse: "Urgent news from India. General Wang was kidnapped by the Indians while on a diplomatic mission to India."

There are many Tang people in the present-day Tibetan territory.

A Tibetan child asked: "Why do the Indians want to rob the Tang people?"

Sambuza explained: "I don't know. It could be that the Indians threw stones at the Tang people, or it could be that the Indian dogs were rushing to bite the Tang people. It's inevitable when Wang Xuance is leading troops outside."

In short, when Wang Xuance encountered such an incident during his diplomatic mission to India, it symbolized that a war was about to break out between India and the Tang people.

Therefore, Sambhota, a minister of Tubo, was invited to the Potala Palace again to discuss the matter of helping the Tang generals. Under Sambhota's leadership, Tubo sent another 3,000 warriors to Tianzhu to help.

There is a city at the border between India and Nepal. Wang Xuance, Li Yibiao, an official from the Ministry of Rites, Jiang Shiren, the deputy envoy, and twenty others were imprisoned in the dungeon.

"You damned Indians!" Jiang Shiren cursed.

Wang Xuance said with a headache: "It was my carelessness that I left the troops in Nibola."

"You're a dog-raised Indian." Jiang Shiren shouted again, "Let Grandpa out!"

Li Yibiao asked, "Can you get Deputy Envoy Jiang to stop shouting?"

Wang Xuance said, "We have been stranded here, so let him shout."

Li Yibiao wondered, "If he shouts like that, can the Indians understand what he is saying?"

Wang Xuance shook his head. He thought that the Indians would definitely not understand. Besides, the Nepalese envoy who arranged the translation was dead.

Afterwards, Jiang Shiren also felt tired, so he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to rest.

At night, Liu Yibiao took out the small knife hidden in his hair and began to secretly saw the wooden door of the cell. Suddenly, he heard the voices of Indians talking outside. He stopped and quickly picked up the knife.

Of course, it was impossible for everyone to be locked up here obediently, and they had already made preparations to escape.

Jiang Shiren even suspected that General Wang was captured on purpose and was preparing to break out with these twenty men.

It's not that difficult...

The voices were getting closer and closer, and then I heard a woman's voice.

When someone holding a torch came before him, Wang Xuance could see clearly that the other person was a veiled Indian woman who looked to be about twenty years old.

The Indian guard said a few words and then stood aside. It seemed that this woman had a very noble status.

Wang Xuance and others all looked at her without saying a word.

Li Yibiao hid a knife behind his back, ready to take action at any time.

"Are you Tang people?"

Hearing this, Wang Xuance's eyes widened, he looked at the woman and asked, "Can you speak Guanzhong dialect?"

The woman replied: "Xuan Zang taught me."

Jiang Shiren slapped his thigh and said with a look of enlightenment: "I knew Xuanzang had a woman outside."

The woman's expression froze when she heard that.

Wang Xuance asked hurriedly, "What is your purpose in coming here?"

"Don't worry, they can't understand us." The woman looked calm and did not answer Jiang Shiren's words. "Tonight, I will set a fire outside. There will be chaos here, and you can take the opportunity to escape."

As she spoke, a key slipped from her fingers and fell on the edge of the cell wall.

Wang Xuance asked, "Why do you want to save us?"

"I'll come find you when you get out."

After saying that, she turned around and spoke a few words to the guard in Indian, then left.

Seeing that the person had left, Jiang Shiren grabbed the cell door, stretched out his arm, and took back the cell with the key between his fingers.

Li Yibiao whispered, "Do you think Xuanzang really has a child in Tianzhu?"

Several Tang soldiers in the rear smiled bitterly. How could they still be curious about these things at this time?

General Wang, Minister Li, and Deputy Envoy Jiang, could be so relaxed and at ease even in a dungeon?
Half an hour passed, and suddenly the shouts of Indians were heard outside, and a lot of thick smoke drifted into the dungeon.

Li Yibiao picked up the key and opened the big lock of the cell, but the chain slipped to the ground and made a noise.

"I was too anxious," he explained, opening the cell door.

No one cared about all that. With someone to help them, they rushed out of the cell.

Seeing an Indian guard pointing at this side and shouting, Wang Xuance rushed forward and kicked the man to the ground, snatched the man's knife, and chopped down another person head-on.

Jiang Shiren said: "General Wang, you are very skilled."

Everyone rushed towards the outside of the cell and saw that the dungeon was in chaos.

Li Yibiao chopped down a man, picked up the rice on the table and poured it into his mouth, but spat it out again, cursing, "You are a dog, it's so disgusting."

The twenty-man Tang army was killing, looting, and eating the guards' food in the dungeon.

The Tang army's behavior stunned the other Indian prisoners in the dungeon.

"General Wang, you can leave the city now. They are all fighting the fire."

"Wait." Wang Xuance looked at the situation outside the dungeon and whispered, "This city is not big. We should be able to take it."

"What?" Li Yibiao said, "General Wang, we are going to escape now!"

Wang Xuance said again: "Escape? If you escape now, you will still be chased and beaten by the Indians. Do you want to endure this humiliation?"

Li Yibiao and Jiang Shiren shook their heads at the same time.

Wang Xuance led everyone out of the dungeon. Wearing the clothes of Indian guards, they walked in the city. A fire had turned the city into chaos, and no one seemed to notice that there was an extra team here.

Seeing someone rushing to the dungeon to provide support, Wang Xuance couldn't take care of what was happening behind him.

Everywhere there were Indians shouting and running with buckets of water to put out the fire.

When Li Yibiao saw a torch on the ground, he picked it up and threw it into a room at random.

When this room started burning, Jiang Shiren also started some fire and randomly found a room to throw the fire into.

It is summer in India, which is also the dry season.

When the Indians had just put out a fire, they looked back and saw that several other places in the city were on fire.

After Wang Xuance came out of the dungeon, he led his men for a walk in the chaotic city, setting fires as they walked.

When they put out the fire in one place, a fire broke out in another place, so the Indians went to put out the fire again.

In the dark night, Wang Xuance climbed up the city wall slowly with an Indian scimitar. He stabbed a guard in the abdomen, covered his mouth until he stopped struggling, and then dragged the body away.

One after another, the Tang army rushed out from the darkness and headed towards the tallest building in the city.

Amid the chaos in the city, only that building had lights on, appearing peaceful.

As they walked along, Li Yibiao and Jiang Shiren held torches and set fire to all the houses that could be lit. In a moment, fires broke out all over the city and the whole city was filled with choking smoke.

Jiang Shiren saw that the city gate was open and some people were fleeing the city. He whispered, "General Wang, I will go and bring reinforcements."

Wang Xuance looked up at the night sky, not knowing what time it was. There was no light in the sky, so he ordered, "Attack before dawn."

"Here."

Along the way, Li Yibiao was busy lighting fires with his hands, but his eyes were not idle either. He roughly calculated that there were about a thousand soldiers in the city. It turned out that this small border town of the Indians was not heavily guarded.

(End of this chapter)