The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 556: The Fifteenth Year of Qianqing

Spring, the fifteenth year of Qianqing.

A group of students are heading to Tongguan with a team of soldiers. They are preparing to teach in various places in the Central Plains.

The one who led this group of young people was Yang Jiong, the compiler of Hongwenguan. After the imperial examination, he was appointed to Laizhou to build the Hongwenguan in Laizhou. Luo Binwang also went with him.

Yang Jiong sat on horseback and asked, "According to the rules, you can take part in the imperial examination now."

Luo Binwang said: "I will have to wait another year. This year, the court has set the minimum age for the imperial examination at 19. I can still go to teach for another two years."

"Before I came here, I heard from Master Gao that the emperor hopes that the officials recruited through the imperial examination will become better and better. The imperial examination is just a threshold. What kind of people can be educated through teaching is the most important. Nowadays, even the teachers who teach in the countryside have to be carefully selected."

It is already the 15th year of Qianqing's reign, but the number of people entering officialdom through the imperial examinations is increasing year by year. Last year, the emperor recruited a thousand students who had passed the imperial examinations to serve in the court or in various other places.

The emperor increased the restrictions on the imperial examinations while increasing the number of officials he recruited.

Some people say that the most successful cultural achievements of the Qianqing reign were the imperial examinations and teaching, or that it was a good opportunity for the Li Tang dynasty.

The twenty years of accumulation during the Zhenguan period have left behind too much valuable wealth for today.

When they arrived at Tongguan, they saw a group of craftsmen gathering by the river.

The teaching team also rested here. Yang Jiong has always been a warm-hearted person. He talked with several craftsmen with great interest. Among them was a young man who seemed to be repairing the river with his father.

After listening to their story, Luo Binwang found out that they were all craftsmen arranged by the Institute of Literature and the Ministry of Works.

The young man said, "I took the oath at Chunming Gate. If it weren't for my father's bad back, I would be on duty at Zhechong Mansion."

"Then why don't you go to Zhechongfu to repair the river?"

The young man's palms were rough and dark in color. He swallowed the biscuit in his mouth before replying, "Haha, my family has been bricklayers for three generations. I want to go to Zhechoufu for the sake of the country and to guard the border. But who says that repairing the Yellow River is not protecting the country?"

The young man's tone became a little higher, and he said loudly: "More than 20 years ago, the Yellow River flooded large areas of farmland in Luoyang several times. At that time, the court sent thousands of people to repair the Yellow River embankment. My grandfather was one of them. His feet were almost soaked in the mud and sand of the Yellow River. The grandfathers dredged the river and cleared the deposited mud and sand. They saved hundreds of thousands of acres of good farmland in Luoyang."

"Nineteen years ago, when I was just born, my father followed the people of Jingzhao Prefecture to repair the Guanzhong River. My father and tens of thousands of Guanzhong laborers built six silt dams, irrigated more than 3,000 hectares of farmland, and dug a 100,000-foot canal, allowing tens of thousands of households to get water from the canal. Some people say that the silt dam is comparable to the Longshou Canal built by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty."

The young man continued, "Five years ago, my father and I dug the Kunming Lake, which provided water sources for Peishui and several villages and counties southwest of Chang'an. Now they are still drinking the water of the Kunming Lake."

Yang Jiong asked: "Are you also going to repair the river in Luoyang now?"

"Now that my father can no longer work, I am here to continue the family tradition. We want to dredge the entire Yellow River, connect the Yellow River channel, allow large ships to pass unimpeded, and allow people on both sides of the Yellow River to farm with peace of mind. We also want to connect the Yellow River to the sea, flush all the silt into the sea, and make the water of the Yellow River clearer."

Yang Jiong sighed: "It's easier said than done."

"Of course it is not easy. It took two generations of my family to dredge the Yellow River. Now it is my generation, and my children and my children's children will dredge the Yellow River from generation to generation. Now this time it is not just us craftsmen who are involved. The court has issued a military order to mobilize 100,000 troops from various places and deploy 300 teams along both sides of the Yellow River to dredge the river."

Yang Jiong still asked the young man.

Luo Binwang, who was listening to this, was already in tears. There will always be people who will sacrifice themselves generation after generation to help people harvest more food, to prevent their homes from being destroyed, and to provide more people with a safe place to live.

The group rested in Tongguan for a day, and left Tongguan the next day and headed towards Luoyang. It took them five days to see the huge Luoyang city.

Luoyang is now a prosperous city, and it also has the largest number of scholars. When Guo Luotuo walks into Luoyang city, he can still see his peers arguing about the current government policies.

There were also people reciting the court's decrees loudly. Compared to Chang'an, people in Luoyang were more concerned about the affairs of the court and had a stronger tendency to study, as if there were the most scholars here.

Or perhaps when people were evaluating the remote teaching program, representatives of the gentry from all over the Central Plains and the students who had received remote teaching at the time, both the old and new sides, had a debate on whether the remote teaching program should continue.

It was also at that time that Luoyang attracted medieval nobles from all over the Central Plains.

As a result, many schools of thought are still gathered in Luoyang today.

Luo Binwang learned to read and write with a teacher since he was a child. After moving to Chang'an City, what he read the most was the deeds of Duke Zheng in the past.

In addition to the classics that have been passed down, the students of Chongwenguan also learned the ideas of Zheng Gong. Although Zheng Gong has passed away, his concept of civil governance during the Li Tang dynasty was unshakable. Every student in Chongwenguan wanted to become a person like Zheng Gong.

May of the fifteenth year of Qianqing.

A general from the Western Regions named Bai Fang was standing outside the Zuo Lingjun Mansion. When he saw Pei Xingjian, he stepped forward and said, "The troops from the Western Regions are going on an expedition."

Pei Xingjian, who was still wearing his court robes after the morning court session, asked, "Western expedition? An expedition against the Arabs?"

Bai Fang nodded heavily.

Pei Xingjian smiled again and asked, "How many soldiers do you have?"

"We don't need the court to give us troops. The King of Sai will lead a thousand troops to the west. I will be stationed in the Congling Protectorate and ready to help at any time."

Pei Xingjian thought again about what was discussed in the morning court. The Persian prince had someone deliver a letter saying that since the fourth caliph of the Arabs was assassinated, the last bloodline of Muhammad left in the world was gone, and the Arabs had forever left the "guidance" of the prophet. For this reason, when Ali was assassinated, unimaginable riots broke out among the Arabs.

In the past two years, a man named Ibn Abi proclaimed himself caliph in Damascus. The Arabs entrenched in various places had already been in chaos. After Ibn Abi proclaimed himself caliph, this posture of proclaiming himself king became uncontrollable.

In the words of the Central Plains, their nobles began to declare themselves kings and set up their own territories. The Arab Empire, which was ruled by the bloodline of a prophet, began to fall apart, and once it started, it could not be stopped.

Even Pei Xingjian could sense that the Arabs were on their way to ruin. He said, "Bai Fang, even if the Tang Dynasty did not go on an expedition, the Arabs would have destroyed themselves."

Bai Fang understood and said, "Of course I know. You have never taken the Arabs seriously. The unification of the Central Plains dynasties is recorded in history books. It is also a unique idea of ​​the dynasties. But in the Arabs, no one thinks that unification is a must. They are very ignorant."

Pei Xingjian shook his head and said, "After all these years, you are still so self-righteous."

Bai Fang spread his hands and said, "Isn't that so?"

(End of this chapter)