The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 510 I miss Mr. Zheng
In the eyes of the people in Chang'an, it was normal for county officials to come to Jingzhao Prefecture and then leave in disgrace, and everyone was used to it.

The prefect of Jingzhao at that time was Xu Jingzong, a very strict prefect, and now Yan Qinli seems to be even more severe.

The Jingzhao Prefecture was only strict with the county magistrates, but was very gentle with the county residents and the residents of Chang'an City. Sometimes the Jingzhao Prefecture would even help the villagers to scold the county magistrates.

The residents of the neighborhood and counties are the foundation of Jingzhao Prefecture. This was the tone set by His Majesty back then. Therefore, over the years, no matter how Jingzhao Prefecture treated these county officials, even if they were treated like cattle, the residents of the counties still supported Jingzhao Prefecture.

As for what the county magistrates think, the people of Jingzhao Prefecture don't care at all. Jingzhao Prefecture has been managing Guanzhong for many years and has a deep foundation. Jingzhao Prefecture has long become the backbone of Guanzhong villagers to protect themselves.

But now, Liu Rengui has gone to the Western Regions. If Liu Rengui were in Guanzhong, I am afraid that the villagers in Guanzhong would probably attack the county magistrate if they encountered injustice.

After Yan Qinli finished his work, he stood up tiredly and sorted out the files in front of him.

Before the court meeting officially began, all departments in the court began to get busy.

Just as the matter was over, another eunuch came in quickly. Facing the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture, the young eunuch smiled and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty knows that you are all busy and have lost a lot of rest time for the sake of the country. I will give Jingzhao Prefecture a pot of tea eggs."

After saying this, he put down a pot of hot tea eggs and the eunuchs left.

Yan Qinli straightened his clothes, took a tea egg and said, "Share it all."

"Here."

Today is the day for Yan Qinli to pay homage to his grandfather, and it is not a good idea for him to stay in Jingzhao Prefecture for too long. There are not many descendants of his grandfather Yan Zhitui left in the world, and now only his own lineage is thriving.

Yan Qinli left Jingzhao Prefecture quickly in his official uniform, eating the tea eggs given by His Majesty along the way.

The next day, Lu Zhaolin submitted documents to the Ministry of Personnel and officially took over the official position. Now he is the Minister of Rites in the court, and he also has to continue to serve as the editor of Chongwenguan.

Zhang Xuansu, the Minister of Personnel, said, "From now on, you will follow the arrangements of the Ministry of Rites."

When Lu Zhaolin thought of Xu Jingzong, a man who was vindictive and a notorious cruel official, he felt very embarrassed and said, "Your humble servant..."

"The Ministry of Rites needs someone who is good at writing documents."

Before Lu Zhaolin finished speaking, Zhang Xuansu spoke up and asked, "Do you have any concerns?"

Lu Zhaolin wanted to say that he was working as an assistant minister in the Ministry of Rites, but he was afraid that he would not be able to do a good job. However, when the words came to his lips, he bowed and said, "I will go to the Ministry of Rites now."

Zhang Xuansu nodded, withdrew his gaze and continued to busy himself with his own things.

Lu Zhaolin walked out of the Ministry of Personnel with the documents. He looked up and saw the busy people in the imperial city. He found the direction of the Ministry of Rites and walked quickly towards it.

Since coming to Chang'an to join the officialdom, Lu Zhaolin has worked in Chongwenguan most of the time over the years. At that time, he was surrounded by books in Chongwenguan and thought everything was fine. But now that he has walked out of Chongwenguan and has to interact with all kinds of people in the court, he inexplicably feels tremendous pressure.

When he arrived at the door of the Ministry of Rites' official residence, Lu Zhaolin stood there and hesitated for a long time, wondering whether he should go in now.

"Lu...Lu Zhaolin?"

When the voice came, Lu Zhaolin looked back and saw the person coming, and hurriedly bowed and said, "It turned out to be Guo Siqing."

The visitor was none other than Guo Zhengyi, the Minister of the Honglu Temple. The Honglu Temple was originally under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, and he would often come here to visit.

Guo Zhengyi looked at Lu Zhaolin's new official uniform and asked, "Are you here to take up your post today?"

Lu Zhaolin nodded.

"I am here to take up my post today as well." Guo Zhengyi straightened his official uniform and said, "I am the Minister of the Honglu Temple, and I have also been promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Rites. You and I will work together in the future."

Lu Zhaolin bowed and saluted.

Guo Zhengyi was a few years older than Lu Zhaolin, so he continued, "The current Junior Minister of the Honglu Temple is Li Jingxuan, and you and I are both Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Rites. We can help each other in the future. I will help Minister Xu deal with the affairs of the various countries, and you are a good writer, so I'll have to trouble you with the correspondence in the future."

Hearing the other party settle the matter in just a few words, Lu Zhaolin felt inexplicably at ease and his opinion of the Ministry of Rites changed.

No wonder the Ministry of Rites has made many contributions in recent years and there are many talented people in the court. This Guo Zhengyi looks only a few years older than himself, but he has the aura of being able to command and stand on his own.

Lu Zhaolin bowed and said, "I'll have to trouble Brother Guo to take care of me in the future."

"It's okay. We should help each other." Guo Zheng straightened his clothes and said, "Come with me."

The two men walked into the Ministry of Rites. The Minister of Rites Xu Jingzong was not there. After listening to everyone's discussion, Lu Zhaolin realized that Xu Jingzong and Shangguan Yi had gone to accompany His Majesty fishing.

Lu Zhaolin also discovered that many people were promoted this year. In addition to himself, there were Zhao Renben, Li Yiyan, Shangguan Tingzhi, Cen Changqian and others. There were many new faces among those who had been promoted to the position of assistant minister.

The cold wind from the northwest is still blowing across Guanzhong. The late spring cold has caused Guanzhong to experience several days of rain and snow. Now it is cloudy again with continuous cold winds.

Fortunately, the fishing spot was in the leeward side, and a high dry plateau blocked the cold wind blowing from the northwest.

There are dead branches on both sides of the river bank. Warm spring has not yet arrived, and everything here has a sense of desolation.

This kind of scenery makes people feel a little desolate unconsciously.

In fact, the Tang Dynasty is now thriving and people are saying that it is about to usher in a golden age. Don't talk about it in a bleak way.

However, in Li Chengqian's opinion, can such a Tang Dynasty really be considered a prosperous era? It remains to be seen, but generally speaking, the Tang Dynasty should be better.

Recently, many of the advice given by court officials seem to be flattery. For example, some people mentioned the matter of Fengshan. Even if the emperor did not go to Mount Tai for Fengshan, there were so many famous mountains in the world, and it was not impossible to find another one. Some people also wanted the emperor to change the year name.

It’s not like there were no emperors who changed the reign title before. Generally speaking, court officials liked to use their previous experiences to teach themselves how to be a good emperor from the perspective of a person with experience.

Some people also say that the emperor and his court officials should also rest, and that the emperor should slow down his pace of development, and then use the Huang-Lao philosophy interpreted from a strange angle to teach the emperor how to do things.

Listening to others teach you how to do things is a very painful process.

The emperor was a "victim" in a sense and had to accept such behavior from his courtiers in order to maintain his image as a wise man.

After being the emperor for eleven years, he has long been accustomed to it. Watching is one thing, but what to do after watching is another matter.

Li Chengqian held the fishing rod and looked at the river in silence.

Shangguan Yi and Xu Jingzong also carried fishing rods and sat beside His Majesty. Seeing that His Majesty seemed to be worried, the two did not dare to speak, and frowned, wondering if they had done anything to displease His Majesty when they came.

"The city tax issue must be kept under close scrutiny. No favoritism or leniency is allowed. This is the bottom line of the court."

His Majesty suddenly spoke. Xu Jingzong was stunned at first, and then hurriedly said, "Yes."

Li Chengqian also instructed: "The Censorate can also inquire more about this matter, conduct private visits and investigations from time to time, and make sure that they know everything they should know."

"Yes." Li Daoyan came hurriedly, handed over a scroll of memorials and said, "Your Majesty, this is from Su, the Minister."

Li Chengqian took the document and looked at the memorial sent by his father-in-law.

It is great that during the leisure time of fishing, you can calm down and deal with state affairs.

Now Chongwenguan is accumulating its own teaching staff, and the number of teachers who stay in various places to build bookstores has also reached a certain scale. Most of these people do not seek official careers or how much power they can get in the court, but are dedicated to teaching.

Su Tan thinks that their treatment can be improved, and more people can be encouraged to stay in the local area to teach and form a group.

Teaching staff is a very special existence. For example, in the Han Dynasty, many literati wanted to enter the officialdom or serve as officials in the court. They paid particular attention to family background, who their teachers were, or the reputation of teachers in different places.

This trend was particularly prevalent during the Eastern Han Dynasty. It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a place as a disciple of a famous official, and it became a convenient channel for aristocratic families and powerful clans, and this trend continued for many years.

As a result, there was a custom that officials entering the court must be asked about their origins. Generally speaking, this can be attributed to a custom.

In fact, Li Chengqian could also feel that this situation also existed in the current Tang Dynasty. The teaching staff in Guanzhong was very strong. Although it was fairer under the system centered on the imperial examination, the gap in teaching staff also made the students in Guanzhong the vested interests at the first time.

This is a very helpless situation, and Chongwenguan can only disperse its staff again and again to find some balance.

Therefore, whether it is Jingzhao Prefecture or Chongwenguan, it is very important in the spiritual and will construction of students, and most of this construction comes from Duke Zheng.

Li Chengqian was very happy to make the students recite what Zheng Gong said and regard him as their lifelong teacher. No one was more suitable than Zheng Gong because he was not as distant as Confucius or Mencius.

Duke Zheng was closer to them, and students could even go to his spirit tablet to pay their respects.

By elevating Duke Zheng to an unprecedented height, everything else was discarded, and all the schools of thought became classics.

In other words, only what is needed now is the most appropriate.

Seeing that His Majesty was silent again, Xu Jingzong, who was sitting on a Hu stool, changed his posture slightly, leaned back to make himself more comfortable, and yawned.

Shangguan Yi caught a fish, took it off the hook and put it into the fish basket beside him. His movements were smooth and skillful.

The ministers who often accompany His Majesty to go fishing are all like this.

After reading Su Tan's memorial, Li Chengqian said, "Let Chongwenguan slow down for now. Don't be too anxious. It's more important to compile the book well."

Li Daoyan bowed and said, "Yes."

Li Chengqian picked up his fishing rod, but saw that there was no fish. He shook his head and said with a smile, "It is getting harder and harder to catch fish in Guanzhong."

Xu Jingzong hurriedly said, "So do I."

"Shangguan Yi has three or two fish."

Shangguan Yi bowed and said, "I am upstream from your majesty and Minister Xu, so naturally I will get the fish first."

Li Chengqian was walking back with his fishing rod in hand, saying, "Fishing is becoming more and more popular in Guanzhong. If Liu Rengui were here, he would probably blame me. People are fishing just to see the emperor, which has reduced the number of fish in Guanzhong and affected people's livelihood. He would probably say that I shouldn't show my hobby."

As he spoke, Li Chengqian boarded the carriage and returned to the palace under the escort of soldiers.

Shangguan Yi was still standing there, frowning as he thought about His Majesty's words.

Xu Jingzong looked at the live fish in his basket and asked, "Do you have any wine at home?"

Shangguan Yi asked, "Old Xu, what do you think is the deep meaning of His Majesty's words?"

"If you keep thinking about Liu Rengui, he might be called back."

"No." Shangguan Yi shook his head and said, "Liu Rengui is not Duke Zheng. He would not say such things to Your Majesty."

"Then why?"

"It has nothing to do with Liu Rengui." Shangguan Yi sighed again, his expression filled with deep sadness, and said slowly: "Your Majesty is thinking about Duke Zheng."

For some reason, Xu Jingzong suddenly felt a lump in his throat and tears started to flow down his face. He tried to wipe them with his sleeves, but the tears kept coming out.

Shangguan Yi led him back to Chang'an City and asked again: "What's wrong with you?"

Xu Jingzong said: "I am old now, and I cry when the wind blows."

The weather was still very cold. In the Imperial Observatory, Xiao Sizi was walking on a rope, reading a book in one hand and stepping on the rope with both feet, walking as if walking on flat ground. He handed a token to a palace maid beside him and said, "Will the court be opened tomorrow?"

The maid said, "Your Highness, the court will be opened tomorrow."

"Tell my brother to wear more clothes tomorrow, as it will snow."

"Here."

After the Lantern Festival, it was already February, and heavy snow began to fall in Guanzhong. The cold wind blew the heavy snow down.

The emperor issued an edict that, except for the necessary ministers attending the morning court, no one else and officials below the fifth rank were required to go to the Taiji Hall.

Therefore, today's morning court was held in the Taiji Hall, and no officials were left in the open space outside the Taiji Hall.

It was freezing cold outside, and inside the Taiji Hall one could hear the ministers sniffling due to the cold.

The people gathered in twos and threes, waiting for His Majesty to come for the morning court.

Xu Jingzong listened to Yan Qinli's story. Fortunately, Jingzhao Prefecture collected all the city taxes that should be collected. He whispered, "When I was in charge of Jingzhao Prefecture, the counties were eager for quick success and instant benefits for their own achievements. I didn't expect that it would be the same now. These county officials dared to use city taxes to make agreements with merchants. They must be severely punished. This trend must not be encouraged."

Lu Zhaolin was standing at the back with Guo Zhengyi and happened to hear what Minister Xu said.

Another person hurried over, brushed off the snow on his body in front of the hall, walked into the hall quickly and said, "There will probably be another war in Congling this year."

Shangguan Yi held the tablet in his hand and asked, "Why do you think so?"

"The news sent a few days ago said that Dayuan and Bolor fought a war, and the soldiers from Suiye City set out for Talas City."

As they spoke, several of them looked at the Minister of War Yu Zhining, who was standing in the court as if in a trance.

Xu Jingzong calmly walked towards Chu Suiliang and asked, "Is there any grain being transferred to Congling this year?"

Chu Suiliang also pretended to be in a trance, closed his eyes and whispered, "Yes, and there are a lot of them."

(End of this chapter)