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Doukai 5200 Text Jiangdu Dream (12)

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    That night, Meng Ju and Xu Yan were both very drunk on the boat. The owner of the boat deliberately let them stay overnight, but some of the servants Xu Yan brought with him were mature and they were worried about leaving their young marquis on the boat.  After spending the night outside, they discussed with Meng Ju's soldiers for a while, and finally decided to take the two drunken family heads back. Meng Ju and Xu Yan were both transported back in carriages by the servants.

    The next morning, Meng Ju slept until noon before waking up.  After getting up, it took him half an hour to realize where he was.

    With a splitting headache, Meng Ju groaned lowly. He still vaguely remembered that last night, he seemed to have followed the Boyang Hou Shizi to the Qinhuai River to see the beautiful things and get acquainted with several second-generation officials in the Southern Dynasties.  They later even had fun drinking and having fun with the beauties.  As for how he had fun with the beauties later on, what were the names of those second-generation officials, and what he said to them last night, Xu Yan's mind was all in a mess and he couldn't remember anything.

    "It's so uncomfortable to be drunk! Next time, even if that guy Xu Yan talks about a flower, I can't hang out with him." Meng Ju secretly complained in his heart - Xu Yan is really unreliable.  I went to pick up girls, but ended up drinking half a ton of wine. Both of them were so drunk that they didn't accomplish anything in the end. My first trip to the Qinhuai River ended in an anticlimactic way, leaving me empty-handed.  Looking forward to it for several days.

    Although he woke up, Meng Ju had no intention of getting up - anyway, whether he was General Zhengbei or Minister of the Ministry of War, they were just empty positions, and the Ministry of War and the Privy Council would not call him to urge him to go to work.  , So Meng Ju fell into a deep sleep with peace of mind. This sleep lasted until four or five o'clock in the afternoon, when he was woken up.

    "Governor," awakened Meng Ju.  It was his own soldier: "Governor, there are people from the palace, saying they are here to see you."

    Meng Ju blinked his eyes and stayed blank for a few seconds before he realized the meaning of the other party's words - probably, this is the legendary "imperial edict has arrived", right?

    Meng Ju suddenly sat up from the bed and ordered his soldiers: "Enter the people who come from the palace well. Just say that I am washing and changing and will be out soon!"

    Meng Ju hurriedly washed up and changed into clean clothes for public appearances.  When they came to the hall, several guests from the palace were already a little impatient.  Meng Ju raised his hands to everyone and said, "Excuse me, everyone. I've been waiting for a long time. Meng is rude."

    Seeing Meng Ju coming out, several people in the hall stood up to greet him. Meng Ju glanced around and found that the visitors were a palace servant and two imperial military attach¨¦s, and the owner of his residence was the crown prince of Boyang Hou Mansion.  Xu Yanze sat next to them and chatted with them.  Seeing Meng Ju come out, Xu Yan stood up and said with a smile: "Master Marquis is here. Let me introduce to you: These are all nobles from the palace. This is Huang Fugui, Eunuch Huang, and these two Cao brothers.  Brother Liu and I are both members of the royal weapons team in the palace, and they came from the palace. I want to discuss something with you, Lord Marquis."

    After the two parties exchanged greetings, Xu Yan, the introducer, was really unauthentic. After introducing both parties, he made an excuse and said, "I went to see why the tea wasn't ready yet."  He quickly ran away, leaving Meng Ju and three strange palace visitors staring with big eyes and small eyes, not knowing what to do.

    Fortunately, Eunuch Huang Fugui was a straightforward person and did not go around in circles with Meng Ju.  Smilingly speaking, Jianghuai official said: "Zheng Beihou is famous, and our family has admired it for a long time. Today, we are deeply honored to come here and see the real person in person. If it were not for our family being entrusted with the emperor's orders today, we would have to follow him more."  There are many people who are close to the Marquis¡ªMaster Marquis, we have brought His Majesty¡¯s oral instructions here, please listen carefully.¡±

    Hearing that it was Li Gongwei's oral instructions, Meng Ju stood up and pretended to kneel down to listen. To be honest, Meng Ju didn't have much psychological resistance to kneeling to Li Gongwei. Although the other person was about the same age as him, he was an orthodox person after all.  The kings and fathers of China were also very talented and brilliant, comparable to wise kings like Yang Jian and Li Shimin. As a Han Chinese, kneeling to one's wise king was the same as kneeling to one's parents and ancestors. Meng Jubin  I don¡¯t think it¡¯s unacceptable.  But if even Li Gongwei's chamberlain and the eunuch who was delivering the message asked Meng Ju to kneel down, Meng Ju would really feel a little unbearable.

    Fortunately, this Eunuch Huang was pretty good, and immediately took action to support Meng Ju: "Master Zhengbei, this is your Majesty's oral edict. In our country, to listen to your Majesty's edict, you only need to listen solemnly, and there is no need to kneel down.  of."

    "Oh!" Meng Ju's face turned slightly red - no one else wanted to kneel down, but he insisted on kneeling down. If this matter spreads out, tomorrow the reputation of Jiangdu's scholar-bureaucrats will probably turn into Meng, a surrendered general of the Northern Kingdom, at the emperor's house.  In front of the slave, he behaved like a "servile and servile person", and he would probably become a laughing stock again.

    He laughed at himself and said: "I am a native of the Northern Kingdom, and I am not familiar with the etiquette of the country, so why should I invite my father-in-law and two brothers to visit me?"?Don't be ridiculous.  "

    The two military attaches bowed their hands in salute without saying a word. Eunuch Huang said politely: "Don't worry about the Marquis of Zhengbei. This is the Marquis' sincere loyalty to His Majesty. Who can laugh at it? That's it, Your Majesty.  Issue an oral edict: I would like to invite the Marquis to the palace for a drink and a chat."

    This Eunuch Huang spoke too elegantly. Meng Ju was stunned for a moment before he realized: "Oh, Your Majesty wants to summon me to the palace for a banquet tonight, right?"

    Eunuch Huang said with a smile: "That's right."

    Meng Ju was slightly surprised when he heard that Li Gongwei was going to meet him.  It had been a long time since I entered Jiangdu, but I had only met with the emperor once, and it was just a quick meeting while hunting, not a formal meeting.  Fortunately, during that meeting, Meng Ju felt that both he and Li Gongwei had a good impression of each other.  Originally, Xu Yan thought that after that summons, Li Gongwei would summon him again soon. Unexpectedly, he had a conflict with Yu Huailie, the commander of Jingxiang Town. The matter has not ended yet, and he was beaten.  After a while, the emperor was probably too embarrassed to show up to see him. After that, he never had the chance to meet Li Gongwei.

    Now that the emperor is finally willing to summon him, then, according to the long-standing habits of the Chinese people, the Southern Tang court will probably give him an explanation for that conflict - after struggling for so long, the Southern Tang court should also come to a conclusion.  .

    Meng Ju was pleasantly surprised, but his face remained calm. He solemnly said: "Your Majesty summoned me, I am honored to be summoned. Then, let me go back to change clothes and take a bath"

    That Eunuch Huang interrupted Meng Ju: "Master Zhengbei. This is not necessary. Your Majesty means that this is a private banquet, and the Marquis only needs to go there in casual clothes, no need to wear official robes."

    Emperor Renxing was so polite that Meng Ju felt a little uneasy - the emperor had made it clear that he wanted to talk to him in a private capacity.  Generally speaking, people must ask for something when they are polite. The emperor was so polite to him, I'm afraid what he asked for was even more extraordinary - Meng Juzhen was a little worried, Li Gongwei wouldn't be so shameless, right?  He hadn't even received a single copper from the Tang Dynasty, and he had just been beaten up by Yu Huailie and his face was covered with wounds.  Does he have the nerve to rush to the front line to kill the Xianbei people?

    Meng Ju had an ominous premonition - tonight's banquet would not be a good one, and it would not be an easy one.

    The emperor is waiting in the palace, so we don¡¯t want to delay. The group will set off now.  Meng Ju wanted to ride over there on horseback, but Eunuch Huang politely told him that there was a carriage coming from the palace, and Meng Ju could ride there in the carriage, so Meng Ju declined.

    But what made Meng Ju feel a little surprised.  The two military attaches from the royal weapons squad also got on the carriage and sat next to Meng Ju. This made Meng Ju feel a little surprised - even though the other party was a palace guard, he was a marquis after all.  Without his consent, these two attendants just got on the car and sat with him without any hesitation?  That would be too presumptuous, right?

    Meng Ju felt slightly unhappy, but he didn't know if the rules of the Southern Dynasties were like this, and it was hard to say anything.  But the two military attaches were quite sensible.  The guard officer whose surname was Cao or Liu grinned at Meng Ju: "Mr. Meng, thanks to you, we brothers have saved a lot of travel."

    Meng Ju smiled lightly and said: "It doesn't matter. Anyway, there are empty seats in the car, so you two can just sit down."

    "Haha, thank you Mr. Hou~"

    The two military attach¨¦s looked at Meng Ju with a smile. The flattering smile made Meng Ju uncomfortable. He moved his eyes away, opened the curtain on the car window and looked at the scenery of Jiangdu outside the window, but there was something in his heart.  A strange feeling - today's scene gave Meng Ju a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, as if he had experienced it somewhere before. Meng Ju thought hard in his mind: Where on earth had he experienced this same scene?  ?  Why does it look so familiar?

    Suddenly, a chill ran across Meng Ju's back. He remembered that when he was the inspector of Dongling Guards in the Northern Wei Dynasty, he went to the Luojing General Office to see Bai Wusha, but he also experienced the same scene - the same scene.  The carriage, the same soldier pretending to hitchhike, and even the ambiguous smiles of the two military attach¨¦s in front of him were so similar, but the carriage finally carried him into the darkness of Dongling Guard.  In jail.

    For a moment, cold sweat suddenly broke out on Meng Ju's back, but then he felt relieved - although it was a similar scene, the things could never be the same.  Now, my identity is completely different from that of back then. Back then, I was just a small inspector, unable to resist and could only be eaten by mermaids; but now, I have tens of thousands of soldiers in a town, separatist power, and am so important that I can even control the world.  The general trend - Meng Ju has this confidence. Now, it is Southern Tang who seeks from himself, not himself.  Meng Ju didn't believe it. From Li Gongwei down, who among the emperors and ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty would dare to deal with him?

      Meng Ju squinted at the two military attaches in front of him: Is it possible that the people in front of him who claimed to be palace visitors were the Xiangyang town commander Yu Huailie who lost the fight and sent someone pretending to be a palace guard to lure him out to take revenge?

    Then, Meng Ju shook his head again: Clothes and documents can be faked, but people cannot be faked.  The few people in front of me have been personally confirmed by Boyang Hou Shizi Xu Yan, and they are indeed the chamberlains and bodyguards of the palace.  Xu Yan came from a family of generals from the Forbidden Army Department, and had always been at odds with the generals from the Jingxiang Department. It was impossible for him to collude with Yu Huailie to murder him, right?

    ¡°Moreover, Yu Huailie should do things in a measured way.  He has a grudge against himself, even if he brings someone to knock on the door of Boyang Hou Mansion, it doesn't matter - this is the straightforward behavior of military men.  But pretending to be an envoy from the palace to lure him out for revenge not only violates the national law but also offends the dignity of the royal family. This kind of thing is too taboo for the owner. Yu Huailie should not do such a stupid thing, right?

    But apart from Yu Huailie, he really has no enemies in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and he is not involved in the internal political disputes of the Tang Dynasty. Who will deal with him?

    "Haha, are you too nervous? How could you have such ridiculous thoughts?"

    Meng Ju smiled casually, threw those messy thoughts out of his mind, turned his head and looked at the street scene outside the car window intently.

    The sound of cars rumbled, and the Imperial City and Royal Street soon appeared in front of them.

    Luoyang City is the old capital of Liu Han.  The Xianbei people basically accepted Liu Han's imperial city and palace plans unchanged, while Jiangdu City was basically built after Li Tang founded the country, because Li Changsheng wanted to highlight Li Tang as the Zhengshuo of China, and because at that time  Most of the officials and technicians who built this city were Jiangbei survivors who had crossed south, and had strong feelings for Luo Jing. Therefore, when building the imperial city of Jiangdu, they almost copied the old capital of Liu Han from Luo Jing.  The planning, and even the location and distribution of the various government offices in the imperial court, copied the old appearance of Luo Jing - the layout of the palace and various government offices was almost exactly the same as that of the Northern Wei Dynasty.  Even without the introduction of Eunuch Huang, Meng Ju could point out and guess where the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, and the Yamen of the Ministry of Households were, so that Eunuch Huang was very surprised: "Mr. Meng has passed through the imperial city before.  In the past, those ministers who came to the imperial city for the first time didn¡¯t even know how to get there, but the Marquis seems to be very familiar!"

    Meng Ju smiled bitterly: "I haven't been here before, I just guessed."

    Seeing the familiar palace and royal streets in front of you.  Meng Ju had a strong sense of historical repetition, as if he had returned to this moment when he was led by Bai Wusha through Luojing Royal Street a few years ago.  He had a feeling of vicissitudes of life that "things have changed and people have changed."

    In front of the palace gate, Meng Ju got off the carriage and followed several palace visitors on foot. This was also the rule. Honors and privileges such as "riding a horse and sitting in a sedan to enter the palace for an audience" were often only given to those senior and important ministers with high virtues.  .  Although Meng Ju had great military power, in terms of prestige, qualifications and trust, he was far less powerful than the Southern Tang court.  He is afraid that he will be ranked below 100, and this kind of privilege will never be his turn no matter how hard it is.

    The place where Emperor Li Gongwei entertained Meng Ju was in the Chunyuan Pavilion of the side hall.  On the way into the palace, Eunuch Huang told Meng Ju in a "very friendly manner" that this "Chunyuan Pavilion" was where Emperor Renxing entertained his close ministers for secret talks, and was not a minister whom Emperor Renxing trusted and respected.  Even if you want to enter the Chunyuan Pavilion, you can't do it. You can only follow the crowd and kowtow in the Government Palace and listen to the eunuch reading "If you have something to report, you will leave the court without anything." Of course, Meng Ju is also a sensible person.  He also understood the implication of Eunuch Huang's words. Since Lord Meng has been lucky enough to become a minister "trusted and respected" by His Majesty, wouldn't he be overjoyed to hear such good news?  Should I show off nicely?

    Seeing that there was no one around, Meng Ju secretly stuffed a twenty-tael silver note into Eunuch Huang's sleeve, and said politely: "I'm returning to the country for the first time, and I'm not familiar with the etiquette in the palace. Please pay attention to it later."  Guidance - uh, your majesty summoned a minister today, I don¡¯t know what it is about, can you tell me a little bit about it, so that I can feel a little bit more confident?"

    Touching the banknote, Eunuch Huang beamed with joy: "Easy to talk to, Lord Meng is really a good friend. If you want to ask why His Majesty is looking for Lord Marquis, it is naturally a major matter for the court. This is not something that lowly people like ours can do."  I know. But don¡¯t worry, Mr. Marquis. Your Majesty seems to be in a good mood today. He also smiled when he told our family to invite Mr. Marquis. We have guessed that this is probably a good thing, right?"

    Knowing that Li Gongwei was in a good mood, Meng Ju was relieved. He was waiting in front of the palace. After announcing his entrance, he was quickly summoned.

    In addition to the main hall, "Chunyuan Pavilion" also has several side halls. It was in one of the side halls that Li Gongwei summoned Meng Ju.  Meng Ju went in and saw that tables and banquets had been set up in the palace. Except for LiApart from Weiwei, there is no one else in the palace.

    When Meng Ju entered, Li Gongwei, who was dressed in a light yellow robe, was pacing back and forth in the hall, his brows slightly frowned, his expression a bit gloomy, as if there was something very difficult that he couldn't make a decision on.

    Looking at Li Gongwei¡¯s appearance, Meng Ju thought that the twenty taels of silver he wanted to bribe Eunuch Huang was just feeding the dog - looking at the emperor¡¯s gloomy look, how could he be in a ¡°good mood¡±?

    In front of the palace gate, Meng Ju knelt down and saluted: "Meng Ju, the minister of the Ministry of War, comes to see your majesty."

    Li Gongwei walked over quickly. He put on a smile and helped Meng Ju up with his own hands: "I love you, so you don't need to be polite. Today I am having a private conversation with you, so you don't need to use those common etiquette."

    Meng Ju took advantage of the situation and stood up, lowered his hands and stood solemnly: "Your Majesty summoned the ministers today, what are your orders?"

    "My dear, don't be nervous. Since the general came to Beijing from Jiangbei, I have been busy with state affairs and have not had a good chat with the Qing family. It happened that I had some free time tonight, but I remembered that General Meng was here, so I summoned the general.  Let's get together. Come, please don't be restrained, relax, sit down in front of the table, and let us, the king and his ministers, have a good chat - Oh, the general hasn't eaten yet? I have prepared a banquet here. Please eat first, general.  .¡±

    Meng Ju thanked the emperor for the offer and sat down An Ran in front of the case.  Li Gongwei also sat back in front of his seat, looking at Meng Ju with interest and piercing eyes - I don't know if it was an illusion in his heart, but Meng Ju always felt that the emperor looked at him in a strange way, like his own face.  It's like it's stained with rice.

    Although Li Gongwei repeatedly emphasized that Meng Ju should not be formal, this was a gift banquet after all. No matter how relaxed Meng Ju was, he would never act as randomly as he did last night.  According to the court etiquette he had just learned from Eunuch Huang, Meng Ju raised his first glass of wine in a proper manner, congratulating Li Gongwei and congratulating His Majesty for his long life.

    According to the usual palace banquet etiquette, at this time, Li Gongwei should also raise a toast to thank Meng Ju, a military general, for his long-lasting victory in battle, and for his victory on the battlefield in the future and his contribution to the country.  But this time, Li Gongwei raised his glass and smiled meaningfully at Meng Ju: "Mr. Meng, let's toast to our fateful meeting first." (To be continued, please search for Piao Tian Literature, novels.  Better updates faster!
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