The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 88 The Night Banquet
In many cities in Qi State, whether it is Jianye, an industrial town with a population of more than 60, or a small county with only a few thousand people, you will find that everyone is running around and busy. Men have no emotions, and women have no emotions. Beauty is like thousands of screws in cities, being hammered continuously by heavy hammers without any pause.

However, when you walk into the mansions of high-ranking nobles in Chang'an and have close contact with them in a leisurely atmosphere, you will be surprised to find out.The atmosphere there is leisurely and distant, as if time has slowed down.Their mansions are as magnificent as royal palaces.The elegant halls, magnificent lobby and corridors decorated with countless works of art are all magnificent.

The lifestyle of these wealthy families seems to have not been changed at all by the changes of the times, and they still maintain the usual calmness of the nobles.The hired servants still behave obediently according to the master's rules, and still show unrestrained hospitality to visitors and friends, without any bad habits.

All this would surprise any outsider. There are still so many servants, from the housekeeper to the youngest groom.The stables and garages are still so busy, people come and go, and they are still so lively.

If it comes to hunting season, fishing season, banquet season, large gatherings, symposiums, etc., guests will flock in, bringing their attendants (or servants), vehicles and horses, and everyone will be arranged to be comfortable A place where everyone can be cared for.

At night, countless oil lamps will be lit in the dining room, reception hall, study room, and even the courtyard, turning the entire mansion into a sea of ​​lights. The garden exudes a gentle fragrance, and flowers, green plants, and decorative ribbons appear like gems. Under the brilliance, it is dizzying.

Women and ladies whispered in low voices, with occasional light laughter; men with gentle smiles discussed major events in the country and even around the world, each expressing unique insights and comments; people's The cordial conversations and the laughter of young people sometimes drowned out the sounds of the invited musicians.

The grand Princess Le'an Mansion located on Xingsheng Street in Zhuque District, Chang'an, after the death of the eldest princess last year, the once extremely tall lintel suddenly seemed to be much lower, and the entrance hall was much sparser than before.

But tonight, the mansion seemed extremely noisy. A dozen carriages were parked in the flat parking lot outside the mansion. Several huge antique lanterns were hung at the door, emitting a gentle light and matching the aisles, courtyards, and And the lights in the reception hall are connected together.

In the elegantly decorated hall, more than 20 guests from the military, government, business, science and education and other industries, after having a full meal, sat comfortably on soft chairs, sipped their meals with a cup of tea, and admired the stage Antiques and precious porcelain were placed on the shelves, or three or five people gathered in a circle, lighting pipes and talking loudly.

"The current system of the Ottoman Empire can be said to be a very strange mixture. In cities with prosperous coastal commerce, such as Istanbul, Smyrna (today's Izmir, Turkey), Athens, Salonika and other places, They have established many local government agencies that imitate those in Europe and our country, which are relatively enlightened and have moderate governance efficiency. However, in the more populous hinterland cities, including Europe and western Anatolia, It is a standard ancient institution. Local lords such as Sheikhs and Bayi control the countryside, while pashas and governors control the cities, and both parties govern together. Well, it is a bit like the governance model of ancient Chinese dynasties, where imperial power does not go to the countryside."

Luo Zonge, a doctor in the Ottoman Regional Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, paused for a moment, put the pipe in his hand to his mouth and took a puff, then continued: "In the west and north of the Ottoman Empire, as well as on the southern coast of the Mediterranean, a large number of vassals The feudal lords ruled the local areas. The central government only stationed officials and troops in core cities or strategic locations, but would not participate in too many local affairs. It basically did not care about anything except collecting tributes and taxes. This is different from The ruling patterns of kings and vassals in the European Middle Ages were almost the same. Oh, no, at least the Ottoman sultans were a little more advanced than those kings, that is, they sent troops to garrison their fiefs."

"As for the central and eastern Anatolian Plateau and the Arabian Peninsula, it is still an ignorant and backward tribal era. The rule of the Ottoman Empire is probably limited to large cities and religious holy cities such as Baghdad, Medina, and Mecca. . The nomadic people in the desert live in no fixed settlements. Many times they do not even pay taxes, and they often rebel against the central government. The Kurds in the mountainous areas, since they surrendered to the Ottomans, are similar to those nomadic tribes. They are ignorant and barbaric, and have no The concept of country and nation only sees their respective tribes.”

"Although the Ottoman Empire has a huge territory and a large population, in my opinion, this country is a fragmented empire with complex ethnic composition, many languages, and many different religious beliefs. It is not easy to think about it. The Ottomans are After hundreds of years of tinkering and maintenance, it still maintains the appearance of a complete and great country."

"In addition to the chaotic government and management system of the Ottoman Empire, there were also frequent coups, which also greatly damaged the country's vitality." said General Guangwei (Major General) Jiang Zhenduo, director of the Strategic Research Department of the Imperial General Staff: "This period , as the most important military force of the empire, the Praetorian Guard gradually grew in power, but its combat effectiveness was very weak, and it was completely reduced to a mob. A large number of social idlers and scoundrels infiltrated into the Praetorian Guard, and received generous salaries. But there is almost no military training. This group of people, who do not want to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic, often launch mutinies. Whenever they don’t like it, they will make rebellious actions such as deposing Sudan and establishing a new king. It is difficult to imagine that in such a country In a centralized empire, it is really strange that the imperial guards would kill their own sultan, causing the central authority to lose all authority!"

"The behavior of the Ottomans can actually be seen from the foundation and development path of their country." Ao Bohui, a senior professor at Chang'an University, said with a smile: "In the Ottoman Empire, coups were really commonplace and seemed a bit childish. This is obviously related to their national character and cultural traditions, just like the Mongol Yuan and Qing Dynasties, a proper legacy of the grasslands. If you don’t see it, after the coup was over, the Ottomans basically admitted defeat, and others did not stalk them. If you fight, those who succeed will only kill the culprits, and will not pursue the losers’ accomplices.”

"You guys say that almost every 30 to 50 years in the Ottoman Empire, and no more than [-] years at the longest, there will inevitably be a violent political change in the center of the empire, killing people, and all the ongoing reforms will come to an abrupt end. But the trouble is endless. But the amazing thing is that such an old empire is still standing on the European side, threatening the Christian world at any time, which is also strange! "

"In order to cope with the fiscal crisis, the Ottoman Empire carried out countless rounds of tax reforms. But what are these so-called reforms? They are to change the three, five, or ten years of the previous tax package system to a life-long system. To be honest , this tax system itself is very backward. The original three-year period can slightly prevent local forces from becoming stronger. But in order to cope with the crisis, well, it was directly changed to a lifelong system. This allowed some local forces to expand rapidly and become local tyrants. Gradually, it gained the strength to challenge the central government. Over time, local powerful people began to withhold taxes arbitrarily, forcing the Ottoman Empire to send troops to suppress the powerful people. And using troops meant consuming more fiscal revenue, and had to move more areas The tax package period became a lifelong one, thus falling into a vicious cycle." Mei Bojun, director of the Industrial Collection Division of the Imperial Taxation Administration, shook his head when he mentioned the Ottomans' poor finances.

"..."

Li Yanliang sat in the corner of the hall with a little restraint, holding a tea cup that had already gone cold, and quietly listened to the conversations of the big shots next door.

In the afternoon, as soon as he stepped out of the Army Headquarters compound, he saw a carriage marked with the emblem of Princess Le'an's Mansion approaching him. Then, a young man who claimed to be his cousin got out of the carriage. He stopped him and said that he was invited to his house as a guest on his grandfather's orders.

Before Li Yanliang came to Chang'an, his mother had told him to meet his parents and elders in his spare time.Therefore, when faced with the invitation, he did not refuse. He followed his cousin in a carriage and traveled through half of Chang'an City to the mansion of Princess Le'an.

Entering the hall, he first met his grandfather, several uncles and aunts, and a group of cousins.In terms of age, Li Yanliang was the oldest. Immediately under the instruction of his grandfather Song Changqing, the more than ten cousins ​​present all called him cousin.

Although the whole scene looked happy, close and harmonious, Li Yanliang saw a trace of alienation and disdain in their expressions and eyes.Thinking about it, my mother has been away from home for more than [-] years and has almost no contact with her. Not to mention having a sense of strangeness with her brothers and sisters, she is even more estranged from her father.And I am a generation separated from them, only a cousin, just like a passerby.In this situation, how do you get people to get closer to you?

Originally, Li Yanliang just planned to leave immediately after a simple dinner, so as not to make everyone feel awkward and uncomfortable because of his presence.

However, he never expected that his uncle Song Wenyan would invite many guests tonight, and specifically asked him and the children of his family to accompany him.Obviously, this is to help these juniors build connections.

At the banquet, many dignitaries and dignitaries were drinking and drinking. After hearing Song Wenyan's brief introduction to Li Yanliang, they just nodded reservedly, praised him for his bright future, and said that the Song family was about to produce a famous military general, and so on.

In the eyes of these big shots, a small army captain (lieutenant) Renyong is just an insignificant role. If it were not for the relationship with Princess Le'an's mansion, they would not even raise their eyelids.Moreover, this was the child of the eldest daughter of the Song family who had left the princess's house for more than 20 years and a low-level military officer with no background.Maybe even the Song family themselves didn't pay much attention to such a nephew who "suddenly" appeared.

"Hey, do you still recognize me?" Just when Li Yanliang felt extremely bored and was wondering about the reason to leave here, a very abrupt voice came to his ears.

"You are..." Li Yanliang looked up and saw a young man looking at him with a smile.Vaguely, I seemed to have seen this person somewhere, but I couldn't remember it for a while.

"We met in Daxing." Seeing the confusion in Li Yanliang's eyes, the young man reminded: "In a teahouse, we were listening to books together. ... Oh, by the way, you also bullied me. Girl."

"Oh..." Li Yanliang immediately remembered the "dandy" whom he despised, and then he smiled bitterly and said, "I remember now. ...Hey, I didn't bully your sister!"

"Haha..." The young man smiled and sat next to Li Yanliang, "After you exposed the loopholes in the storyteller's story, my sister was still dissatisfied. When I got home, I looked through various history books. Information, and even..., in short, I just want to find specific historical records to prove that Emperor Taizu did indeed fire the most crucial shot in the battle to defend Jianye. You say, such a seven or eight-year-old Little girl, you are in a palace with tens of millions of books, searching for the truth of history, how hard it is for you!"

"Uh..." Li Yanliang was startled for a moment, then shook his head in embarrassment, "This time, it was my fault. Stories are legends, storytellers and funny stories. They are originally folk entertainment and interesting things. I really shouldn't be so serious about research. "

"Haha..." When the young man heard this, he laughed and pointed at Li Yanliang, "I didn't expect that Captain Li was so frank and readily admitted that he was wrong. ... What my sister did was just childish. , Lieutenant Li does not need to feel guilty."

"Dare to ask Your Excellency..."

"My name is Qi Zexuan."

"..." When Li Yanliang heard his surname and the fact that he could appear here, he immediately knew that this young man should be a descendant of the royal family.

"Actually, I don't really like coming to Princess Le'an's residence." Qi Zexuan said, "Any child here is my elder in terms of kinship, so he is a bit shorter."

"Oh?" Li Yanliang smiled and asked, "Then why did you come to Song Mansion?"

"A few days ago, I heard that a young captain made an impassioned speech in front of His Majesty, criticized the current ills, and urged His Majesty to eradicate social injustice. He seemed to have elevated himself to the level of Prime Minister of the Cabinet." Qi Zexuan looked at Li Yanliang and said leisurely. : "So, on the occasion of the banquet in Song's hometown, I came to take a look at this bold captain."

"Huh?..." After hearing this, Li Yanliang immediately sat up straight and looked at Qi Zexuan in disbelief, "You..., how did you know?"

"Your Majesty praises you for your loyalty to the country. You have the chivalrous spirit of a young man, and you are very observant and aware of the people's affairs and civil affairs. With time and polishing, you can become a pillar of the country." Qi Zexuan continued with a smile.

"Yan Liang is so ashamed, how dare your Majesty praise me so falsely!"

"His Majesty also said that if you can maintain your original intention and dare to take on responsibilities, you will do great things." Qi Zexuan leaned forward and asked probingly: "So, what is your original intention?"
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(End of this chapter)