Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 77 The Sword Is Not the Enemy of Thousands of People (1)

The Liao people invaded Hebei in February and shocked the capital. Relying on the elite soldiers and generals in the camps in Hebei and Hedong, they finally drove the Liao people out of Hebei and trapped them at Gaoyang Pass.

The world is peaceful, and the anxiety in the Bianjing market has also been swept away.The hustle and bustle of the capital's urban wells always uses its extraordinary skills like wind and sand erosion to transform the impact of all extraordinary events into distant clouds invisibly.It has only been a few months since the news of the great victory in Hebei, when Xiangzhou and other remote counties are still talking about it, the news of Bianjing has already changed many topics.The most concentrated among them is the matter of the East Palace's upcoming Yi Chu. Prince Zhao Ke stumbled in Hebei, and the courtiers tacitly rushed to contact each other. Even the common people in the market spread their noses and eyes. After that, it will be easy to store.

After a period of silence, the market became more and more lively, and the Qixi Festival came unexpectedly.In order to make up for the sluggish market some time ago, vendors in Bianjing, such as the Dongsong Gate of Panlou Street, Zhouxiliang Gate, Wazi North Gate, and South Zhuquemen Maxing Street, have specially displayed a variety of exquisite decorations. Clay figurines, among which the best ones come from Suzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, are decorated with gold, pearls and greenery, and placed on carved wooden pedestals, all of them are extremely cute.Children from wealthy families make new clothes, dress up in pink and jade, hold newly-issued lotus leaves, and run around inside and outside the house, asking their mothers and aunts for fried qiaoguo, flower melon and other seasonal foods. .

Of course, the most traditional thing on the Qixi Festival is that the female relatives in the house beg for cleverness to the moon, that is, they hold a needle and thread against the moonlight and thread a needle. This begging needle has two eyes and five holes with many tricks. He got the favor of the Weaver Girl Empress.Speaking of the Zhinu Empress, some people inevitably think of a pair of lovers separated by the Milky Way, and they often hurt their feelings when they see things.In order to express their feelings, the vendors in Bianjing specially tied the single lotus together, and took the name of double lotus.

Different from the "women" Taoists, scholars have a different interpretation of Qixi Festival, because the first of the Big Dipper in the sky is called "Kuixing", which means "Kuixing", so this Qixi Festival is called "Kuixing Festival". Autumn is approaching, so the "Book Showing Festival" is held again, and the candidates who enter Beijing are all over the major inns and temples in Bianliang, filled with an ambitious and nervous mood.At this time, it is undoubtedly the luxury of many people to meet with a beautiful woman to spend a beautiful time together.

For Zhao Xingde, such extravagant hopes are indeed a living reality. On the fifth day of July, he arrived in Bianjing part-time, and on the sixth day of July, he moved into Li's mansion because he was preparing for the exam. family spent.

Zhao Xingde came back from serving in the Hejian Army, he was constrained by etiquette, so he could only talk respectfully with the serious Mr. Yue Zhang.

In summer, the garden is cool and cool, with a small fan lightly, the sleeves fluttering, and the dark fragrance flowing.Li Ruoxue seemed to have dressed up specially, her lips were red and her teeth were white, her eyes were bright and gazing, she secretly observed the changes in Zhao Xingde's temperament, but she pretended to be nonchalant, pulling a few maids in the house together to beg for cleverness and needles, laughing and playing non-stop , her mother Wang looked on with a smile on her face.For these female family members, it is rare that Qixi Festival is a grand and dignified women's festival, and there are exquisite families, and there are altars in the backyard to worship the Weaver Girl Empress.

The unmarried couple secretly send glances.All the people around saw it in their eyes and smiled in their hearts.

After settling down in Li's house, Zhao Xingde visited his teacher the next day. Chao Bu's son, Chao Shaofu, happened to be transferred back to the capital when he went to Hebei, and served as the chief secretary of Zhongmou County in Jingji. He was transferred from the frontier to Jingji. .Zhao Xingde also met Chao Shaofu at the edge of Hebei, this time they met in Bianjing, and they were very embarrassed when they talked about Hebei affairs.Chao Shaofu's original residence was at Gaoyang Pass Road, so most of the old robes died for the country, which made him very sad.

"Is this book really your work?" Chao Buzhi took out the poorly printed "Hejian Heroes Biography" and asked.

"It's exactly what the students did. It was used to teach the Hejian soldiers to read, and it spread out without thinking about it." Zhao Xingde said.If the original book was bland and tasteless porridge, what is used now is the spicy soup with various seasonings added during the march, but it is obviously not to the appetite of many old people. Even Zhu Sen and Zhang Bing who supported him most Wait, they all shook their heads.

Chao Buzhi was silent for a moment, Zhao Xingde felt anxious, he still attached great importance to Chao Buzhi's opinion, so he asked, "Does teacher think there is something wrong?"

Chao Bu was stunned for a moment, came back to his senses, waved his hands and said, "It's nothing, I just remembered something from the past. You can bend down and do things down-to-earth, it's very good."

After Zhao Xingde left, Chao Buzhi sat in the study for a while, took out a book, the printed font was large and not very exquisite, when he opened it, it was full of words that lacked pen and drawing, but they could be read. Barely identifiable, only [-] regular characters are used repeatedly to write, and the tax laws and the like during the farming season are all dialects in the Guanzhong and Longyou areas, which are easy to understand.

Repeatedly comparing the similarities and differences between what Zhao Xingde did and this booklet, Chao Buzhi was just about to put the book away, when his family members came to report, and his old friend Xiao Bing came to visit.

Chao Buzhi sighed, and ordered someone to take him to the study to meet him.

Xiao Bing had a clear face, dressed in a Confucian robe, with a jade belt around his waist, and raised his hands and feet with elegance and elegance, but Chao Buzhi knew his roots. His ancestors were descendants of the Liao Kingdom. It has been several generations since his family fled to the Xia Kingdom, and they are no different from the Han people in daily life. They usually regard themselves as Chinese, and they can't even speak Khitan.He won the attention of Xia Guocheng's prime minister's office, and entrusted him with the post of a national envoy. He walked around Bianjing all year round in the door of Gongqing, lobbying the court's important officials to form a good relationship with Xia Guo on the surface, but what he did secretly is unknown.

"Brother Wujiu, I haven't seen you for many years, but you still have the same style." Xiao Bing smiled and cupped his hands, and sat down casually, as if he just came here two days ago.

Chao Buzhi stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Emissary Xiao always goes to the Three Treasures Palace for nothing. I don't know what to do?" He waved his hand to stop the servant from leaving, and let him entertain in the study.

This action made Xiao Bing slightly embarrassed, he sighed: "Brother Wu Jiu is too careful, today is different from the past." He felt a little guilty in his heart, and kept silent.

Chao Buzhi's face turned cold and he snorted.He and Xiao Bing were originally good friends in Xia Guo's scholar's residence. After Xia returned to Song Dynasty, Xiao Bing was appointed as a state envoy to Bianjing, and had banquets with him over and over again. Xiao Bing's move unexpectedly concealed evil intentions.At that time, the imperial court had doubts about Chao Buzhi, who had lived in the Xia Kingdom for many years, and saw that he and Xiao had a close relationship.In front of the important officials of the Song Dynasty, Xiao Bing mentioned, intentionally or unintentionally, how much favor Chao Buzhi received from the emperor in the Xia Kingdom, and how he criticized the Song Dynasty government. After using Chao Buzhi, his "nature" is to take what is straight and never forget what is to be found in the song. After going back and forth, he was relegated to the Taishi Bureau, and his lifelong ambitions could not be fulfilled.Chao Buzhi is not a fool, after he came to his senses, he cut off contact with Xiao Bing.For more than ten years, although the two were in Bianjing together, except for business affairs, they met occasionally, and the greetings did not exceed ten sentences.

The atmosphere in the study suddenly cooled down, Chao Buzhi was sullen, and took a cup of tea to drink, ignorant of it, Xiao Bin was smiling, looking around, suddenly saw the old book on the table, Surprised and said: "Brother Wujiu still treasures the manuscript bestowed by the former emperor." Without waiting for Chao Buzhi's consent, he rubbed his hands and said with a smile: "This is the first edition appointed by the founding emperor, because when the founding of the country There are not many surviving ones, and most of them have been taken back by the royal family. Brother Wujiu is also a bachelor of ancient prose, poetry, material 'nature', numerology, and astronomy. Only the late emperors would bestow this thing." He flipped open the notebook, and praised, "The appearance is so perfect, and there are still the jade seals of three generations of late emperors, which is really a rare treasure."

Chao Buzhi said indifferently: "Chen Gong appointed this book, its purpose is to open up the wisdom of the people, the former emperor of your country wrongly loved me and bestowed this book, the purpose is to encourage everyone in the scholar's residence to not forget the mission of educating the people when they are studying. A bounden duty. Brother Xiao is so obsessed with appearance and seals, he must give up the basics and chase after the last." Taking the book from Xiao Bing's hand, he stretched out his hand to dust off the dust, as if Xiao Bing's touch, So the old book was dirty.

He conveniently put the book on the table with the back cover facing up. I don't know which owner of this book mentioned a poem "The sword is not the enemy of ten thousand people". , Desolation, euphemism, and agitation.