Chapter 31 first quarter

This year is the first year of Chang'an in the Great Zhou Dynasty, that is, 701 AD, when the aging Empress Wu Zetian came to power. Just in the twelfth lunar month of this year, a small incident happened in the bustling city of Yangzhou. In the restaurant where his father was a cook, twelve-year-old Shentu Jia found a place for himself that would not be annoying to kneel down.He opened the bun on his head, letting his long hair hang down from his forehead, covering his face, and knelt there with his head down, motionless. In the Tang Dynasty, this was a standard appearance of a benefactor, covering his face with long hair, presumably it was the will of a gentleman to love himself.

Shentujia's father was originally a well-known chef in Yangzhou City, but he was sick for many years, and his family was devastated, so that he was unable to bury him after his death. From Chen to noon, Shentu Jia had knelt in the shop hall for a long time.Most of the drinkers in the lobby were deeply moved, but no one gave a helping hand.Maybe they knew they were powerless to go into the well to save people, or maybe they wanted to wait for the owner of the restaurant to show something before being a good person. Faced with the indifference of these people, the young and energetic Shentu Jia felt very sad, and he couldn't feel the sadness coming from it, and broke down in grief.He was not sad because he and his mother were the only ones to depend on each other in the future, and the livelihood was difficult. He felt that he had grown up and could support his mother. He was sad because of his self-esteem.

He had no choice but to make such a bad plan, and the world is so ruthless, if someone can help Shentu Jia bury his father at this time, he is willing to sacrifice his life for that person. "Where did the bastard come from, the drunkenness of defeating people here?" Suddenly, a cold voice came from the private room on the high platform, which sounded like the accent of Chang'an, Xijing. Shentujia looked up, and saw a young man in his twenties walking out of the private room, wearing fragrant cowhide soft boots embroidered with silver silk clouds, a black fox fur on his shoulders, and light green soft feet on his head. On the Futou, there is a pearl the size of a little finger on the top door.Slightly behind him, stood two Haonu with their chests and belly folded, and an old man in family attire.

"Since I entered the door, I have bumped into such a mourning star like you, and now I am starting to cry again, so it's unlucky." The man had a thin and cold face, and a cinnabar mole the size of a plum grew on his left cheek. "Ah Fu, give him a few copper coins and tell him to play elsewhere." The man said impatiently. The old man named Ah Fu stepped forward quickly, took out a handful of copper coins from his sleeve, and wanted to put them in Shentujia's hand. Shentujia jumped up from the ground, and said loudly: "I'm begging to bury my father! Why do you humiliate me like this? You know, a soldier can be killed but not humiliated."

Shentu Jia, who was already burning with anger, clenched his fists tightly, his pupils were filled with blood, and in a hurry, he spoke indiscriminately and loudly reprimanded the handsome young man. Seeing this situation, the drinkers in the hall and the shopkeepers in the cabinet hurried up to persuade them, speaking in difficult Yangzhou dialect, most likely accusing the young man of being unreasonable. "Haha, boy, you also call yourself a scholar. Could it be that you are Qin Wuyang?" The young man's haughty eyes swept over the faces of the surrounding drinkers. When his eyes fell on Shentu Jia's blood-red pupils, his The refreshing Beijing film sank slightly, and Fang said: "What kind of atmosphere are you playing, you little brat?"

Shentu Jia was originally a quick-spoken child, but today he was humiliated by others, and he showed sharp teeth. He immediately said: "Although I am young today, I will not always be a child. If there is any kind person to help me bury my father today, In the future, I am willing to go through fire and water for him, to be a slave and a servant, and to be the same for the rest of my life." The face-saving people in Beijing often lose their temper at this time, and only listen to the young master saying: "The wine today is boring anyway, since you are talking so lively, then I will go and see it with you." Take a look and see who you really are."

Just as the group of people were about to walk out of the gate of the restaurant, two gentlemen suddenly stood up by the door, and said to the young master: "Little General, it's better to be exempted. Our fathers have to hurry. Lingnan The road is not close, don't make it difficult for us brothers." Although the words of the two tolerances were polite, from the tone of his voice, this general Xiao Li was a prisoner they escorted. In the past few decades of Empress Wu Zetian's reign, many descendants and relatives of the Li family of the Tang Dynasty were dispatched to Lingnan. Since Yangzhou is the only place to go from the two capitals to Lingnan, everyone knows what happened when they heard it. Back to business.

"Stand far away from me, you two, don't take yourself too seriously. I just want to go out for a walk today, are you afraid that I will run away?" General Xiao Li didn't seem to care at all. The two tolerances were in his eyes, he flicked the sleeves of his robe, and led everyone out of the restaurant. When General Xiao Li saw Shentu Jia's frail mother and the two dilapidated thatched houses, he seemed to be at a loss for words for a while, and said nothing, but followed the rules of the time, saluted the dead who stopped in the house, and then greeted the deceased. The old family waved their hands.

The old family pulled Shentu Jia aside and said, "Young Master, do the math, how much will it take to send your father and arrange the lives of your mother and child?" Shentu Jiawan didn't expect that General Li, who was so high-sighted, would be such a brave man, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart, and said: "You can grow old as much as you want, as long as you can bury my father." .I can support my mother." Ha ha.General Xiao Li sneered from the side. Shentu Jia turned around and knelt down in front of General Xiao Li, and said loudly: "Grandfather, if you can help the villain bury his father, the villain's life is yours. Please show me, what do you want the villain to do for you? A slave is a horse, and I will die."

"Forget it! All I do are big things, what can you do as a child?" However, Shentujia felt that since he had received such a great favor from General Li, it would be difficult to repay it with all his life, so he had to ask General Li to leave a word, an order, or an order no matter what, so that he could Go through fire and water for it. It's no wonder that Shentu Jia couldn't think about it.In the Tang Dynasty, righteous deeds and repaying kindness were the two most respected behaviors, especially repaying kindness. No matter what form of favor you received from others, you must repay it, otherwise you will be contemptuous of others.If this kind of information is answered vigorously, even killing people and setting fire for it, he will be praised by the world, and his story will be eulogized in generations.

Walking on the land of the Tang Dynasty, people will see that whenever a righteous man who repays his kindness is punished by the court, it seems that there will be a grand festival, and people will cheer and cry for it.In this day and age, people encourage such acts of putting kindness above law and reason. What Shentujia wanted to be at this time was just such a person, a righteous man. But General Li got a little impatient with Shentu Jia's stubbornness.He wandered around and looked at the few people around him. His family and the two tolerances seemed to be eagerly looking forward to a scene where "the benefactor has an order". General Xiao Li shook his head, but saw a big iron vertebra in the corner behind the door.This stupid guy had been thrown there since when, and it was covered with dust and cobwebs. "Okay!" General Li said. Everyone let out a long breath, ready to listen quietly. General Xiao Li pointed to the big iron shaft that had been covered in dust for a long time and said to Shentujia: "You must do it, then do two things for me first. One is to learn giri; the other is to practice this thing well. I will use you in the future." General Xiao Li’s study of righteousness is a course specially set up for promising young people in the Tang Dynasty. It talks about various chivalrous acts of kindness and hatred in Chinese history. "The ideological basis. "Yes." Shentu Jia crossed his arms and saluted like an adult.He knew that his goal in life was determined from then on, and he felt that he was much luckier than those mediocre people who wandered around in the market. When General Li straddled his horse and left, Shentujia suddenly remembered something, and shouted loudly from behind: "Grandfather, if you want to find me in the future, no matter Beijing or Yangzhou, as long as you find the signature dish of roasted foie gras with honey, then I will give you my name." It's me..." Nine years passed in a blink of an eye, and it was the fourth year of Zhongzong Jinglong, which was 710 AD.Shentujia came to Chang'an, Xijing, to find his benefactor. The early summer of this year was extremely hot and sweltering. Since the early spring, there has been little rain, and a severe drought has formed.What makes people in the capital even more uneasy is that the political atmosphere in the early summer of this year was also extremely depressing and suffocating. Big things are about to happen in Beijing again.This is a euphemism used by Chang'an people for the coup d'état that often occurs in Tang Dynasty.Residents in the capital have been discussing in private, and the timid ones even moved out of the capital with their families, planning to escape for a while. On the second day of June of this year, Emperor Zhongzong died in the Shenlong Temple in the palace city, not in the Daming Palace where he usually lived.It was rumored that the day before the emperor died, he played polo with academicians in the court of the Daming Palace. His physical strength and spirit were very good. Obviously, the emperor did not die of a serious illness.According to the eunuchs in the palace, the emperor curled up into a ball after his death, and his appearance was very ugly. This seems to mean that the emperor was poisoned to death. Another well-informed source in Beijing said that after the emperor's death, Empress Wei kept the funeral in secret, and she was in charge of government affairs by herself.On the third day of June, Empress Wei called all the prime ministers into the palace to cut off internal and external news. Then, according to her will, Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province issued an order to recruit 50,000 soldiers from the nearby states to station in Beijing. The division was commanded by Empress Wei's relatives-in-law Captain Wei Jie and Wei Guan, Wei Weiqing Wei Rui, Zuo Qianniu Zhonglang General Wei Kai, Chang'an Ling Wei Bo and others, stationed around the capital.At the same time, Wei Yuan, a member of Zhongshushe, was ordered to supervise the left and right Jinwu guards to inspect the Sixth Street of Chang'an and take pictures of the small groups.He also ordered Xue Sijian, the general of Zuojianmen and his servant Xue Sijian, and others to lead five hundred flying cavalry to rush to Junzhou in the starry night to monitor the former prince Qiao Wang Li Chongfu. On the fourth day of the lunar new year, the emperor's Zi Palace was moved to the Taiji Hall, and all officials were summoned to organize the funeral for the late emperor.It is said that according to Zhongzong's legacy, Li Chongmao, the youngest son of King Wen, who was only 16 years old, was made the prince.This political pattern reminds people of the pattern in which Empress Dowager Wu Zetian knew political affairs after the death of Emperor Gaozong. The people of Chang'an, who have a particularly keen sense of politics, found that there was a crisis in this situation, that is, the high-ranking and popular Prime Minister Li Dan was also the prince when Wu Zetian was alive. The famous Qiao Wang Li Chongfu was even more threatening to the Webster regime. Of course, there is a third force that should not be ignored, and that is Wu Zetian's youngest daughter, Princess Taiping.With the prestige of her mother's empress, this princess has honed herself in the power centers of Tang and Zhou for decades, and she is also a very powerful figure.It is said that after the sudden death of Emperor Zhongzong, she and Shangguan Zhaorong drafted the legacy of false entrustment.The leader of the front and rear clans, the half-sister of the late Zhongzong and the current Prime Minister Li Dan can be said to have played a decisive role in the struggle between the royal family Li and the later family Wei, the question is to see which side she prefers party. Regarding all these rumors, Shentu Jia had heard all about them.He was not very surprised by this. The coup d'état seemed to be a laxative in the Tang Dynasty. It could relieve the overly tense political atmosphere, adjust the unbalanced political power, and make the Tang Empire stable and prosperous. Shentujia is very proud of his opinion, which is the result of his nine years of hard study of yili, which has given him a very deep understanding of things, especially politics. However, the most important and most worrying thing for Shentu Jia is: where is his benefactor, General Li?If General Xiao Li had already returned to the capital, which side would he be on?What can I do for him? On the seventh day of June, the prince succeeded to the throne before the spirit of the former emperor, and the year name was changed to "the first year of Tang Long".People in Chang'an feel very ominous about this year name, because, in Chang'an's official dialect, the homonym of "Tang Long" is "Tang Lang", which is the sound made when something is broken.Analyzing it in the Chang'an proverb, this "Tanglang" means "smashing" and ruining things.Just imagine, giving yourself such a ridiculous year name in a turbulent year, can the common people not worry about it! These things didn't matter to Shentu Jia.He found a job as a cook at Empress Wei's family brother's house, while continuing his work of finding benefactors.