Chapter 132 The Charcoal Seller (Part 1)
Yin hour three quarters.
The morning star in the east has not yet risen, and the lights in the Fang family farm are already bright.
Fang Jun wore a sapphire blue brocade robe with dark auspicious cloud patterns. He sat in the main hall, casually ate a few pastries, sipped a few sips of hot tea, and closed his eyes to rest.
It was already midnight when we returned to the farm last night, and the city gate of Chang'an had already been closed. It was impossible to repeat the drama of letting Cheng Chubi open the city gate, so he had to stay in Zhuangzi.
I spent the first Spring Festival in the bathtub after my rebirth in the Tang Dynasty...
After only two hours of sleep, he had to get up and go to the city to attend the court meeting. The bloodshot eyes were not yet gone.
Fang Quan walked in and said, "Erlang, we are all ready and ready to go at any time."
Fang Jun nodded, rubbed his sore and sore eyes, stood up with a sigh, and said, "It's better to set off sooner rather than later."
Fang Quan responded: "No!" and exited the door, notifying everyone to prepare for departure.
"It's such a hard life..."
Fang Jun sighed, moved his stiff neck, stretched his sore limbs, and reluctantly walked out of the warm main hall.
As soon as he stepped out of the room, a bone-chilling wind blew over him, making him shiver.
Fang Jun ran two steps quickly, jumped up to the carriage that had already stopped at the door, and shouted: "Hurry up and set off!"
Several servants quickly mounted their horses, and the carpenter Liu Laoshi got on a carriage behind him, which contained a fully assembled curved shaft plow. He had to see this thing in person, otherwise it would be tragic if something went wrong... …
Two carriages and several horses left Zhuangzi and went down the mountain along the flat mountain road.
Passing by the refugee area outside Xinfeng City, Fang Jun opened the curtains and took a look. The messy shanties were swaying in the cold wind. There was no sound of people. The cold silence seemed like a corner abandoned by the world.
Fang Jun sighed softly, feeling mixed in his heart.
According to his idea, he wanted to make a big fuss and ruin his reputation in order to get His Majesty Li Er to withdraw his engagement.
In fact, recruiting these disaster victims is contrary to Fang Jun's plan.
But how could he treat these refugees in front of him with indifference and indifference like a cold-blooded person?
Maybe officials of the Tang Dynasty could do it, but Fang Jun couldn't.
Since you have deviated from your plan, you might as well go bigger and use your unparalleled achievements to bargain with His Majesty Li Er.
The carriage went eastward along the official road outside Xinfeng City. Fang Jun felt sleepy as he swayed around, and fell asleep in a daze. He was still thinking that this broken carriage was too stupid, and he didn't know what he was doing. When will the four-wheeled carriage be developed and officially rolled off the production line...
In a daze, a burst of noisy voices woke Fang Jun up.
"Arrived?"
Fang Junmi stared, opened the corner of the curtain, and looked out.
The tall and magnificent city wall is like a giant dragon dormant on the earth, and the majestic city tower stands on the city wall with majestic momentum.
The Chunming Gate was already wide open, and a large number of carriages, horses, and servants had gathered in front of the city gate. They all seemed to be officials waiting to enter the city to attend the imperial meeting.
During the Zhenguan period, the annual imperial meeting was of great scale. In addition to the imperial censors from all over the country who were sent by the imperial court to return to the court to report on their duties, various foreign countries and vassal states would come to celebrate and pay tribute. They will also go to Chang'an to attend the imperial meeting, so the number of people is extremely large, and the emperor will receive them one after another, and it will not be until the fifth day of the lunar month that they are all interviewed.
Such a large number of people naturally puts great pressure on Chang'an's passenger flow reception. As we all know, the layout of Chang'an is that cities and towns are separated, and the hotels in the city are extremely limited and cannot accommodate so many officials.
As a result, the counties around Chang'an became the first choice for foreign officials to stay in Beijing to attend the imperial meeting.
Officials who were waiting to make a pilgrimage to the capital, barbarians who were paying tribute, and traders who got up early to enter the city all gathered outside Chunming Gate to wait to enter the city. It was bustling and chaotic for a while.
Fang Jun frowned. There were so many people who didn't know how long they would wait in line. Maybe they would be in trouble if they missed the time of the meeting.
There were many people who were as worried as him. Among the crowd, an official wearing a crimson official robe stood on a carriage and shouted: "There are too many people entering the city. I would like to ask the brothers guarding the city gate to check if it is possible." Can we officials enter the city first? Seeing that Mao hour is approaching, we really can’t afford to suffer if we miss the time of the meeting!”
Then some people joined in to support and became more and more noisy.
The soldier guarding the city gate wiped the sweat from his forehead. On this cold day, he was sweating all over. He also knew that officials should be allowed to enter the city first, but there were too many people waiting to enter the city. If he blocked the merchants and common people from the door, if someone made trouble and made noise, he would not be able to eat and walk around, but it delayed the officials' participation. He also couldn't afford the big court meeting.
what to do?
It's very simple, the conflict has shifted...
Several soldiers gathered together and murmured for a long time, and then a soldier with bright eyebrows went straight to the tower and asked the captain on duty for instructions.
Little people also have their wisdom. No matter what, the responsibility has been passed on. If the sky falls, there will be tall people to hold it up. No matter what, the blame will never fall on these ant-like soldiers.
The captain was also helpless. Who called him a Shangguan?
After frowning for a long time, he looked up and saw that the sky was getting brighter. It was the lesser of the two powers to harm each other, but the greater responsibility was to delay the official's participation in the court meeting.
"Drive the vendors and people to one side and let the officials enter the city first, but you must pay attention to your attitude. At the same time, explain to the people and vendors in detail that you must not cause any noise or disputes, otherwise I will only ask you to wait!"
The captain looked serious.
The soldiers cursed in their hearts, didn't the blame get thrown back again? Can you still be a little tolerant?
Sure enough, those who can become officials are not given for free, and it is not easy to trick him...
But after all, the rank of official was overwhelming, so he didn't dare to say anything. He responded with a frown, turned around and walked down the tower.
At this time, the officials of the Tang Dynasty were in charge of the Qingming Dynasty, the country was peaceful and the people were peaceful, and the corresponding quality of the people was also very high. Both the common people and traders were very understanding of the anxious mentality of officials from various places to enter the city, so when the city guards stopped them to one side of the city gate and let the officials go first, they explained the reason in detail, and everyone silently approved of it.
Of course, there are also those who are dissatisfied.
Several men in crimson arrow uniforms were stopped by the soldiers guarding the city. They immediately became angry and pushed each other with the soldiers with arrogance. They shouted loudly: "This is a steward of His Highness the King of Wei. He went out of the city to purchase goods." Supplies, how dare you stop me? You still need your head!”
At first, these soldiers were quite tough, but when they heard the name of King Wei, they immediately became three points shorter. There was no other way. Who knew that His Highness the King of Wei was deeply loved by His Majesty, and there were even rumors that this person could replace His Highness the Crown Prince and be crowned Crown Prince. , who dares to provoke?
But even the steward of the Wei Palace is just a senior servant, not an official at all. Lord Duwei's order is that only officials are allowed to enter the city, who dares to disobey?
Several soldiers looked at each other dryly, all with sad faces. They neither stopped nor let go. They were very embarrassed.
Seeing this, several stewards of the Wei Palace became more and more arrogant, clamoring and insisting on entering the city.
Seeing that the city gate that had just been opened was blocked again, the soldiers had no choice but to let them enter the city without daring to offend.
Fortunately, the people nearby heard that he was from the palace of Prince Wei, and they all kept a respectful distance from him. Even if they were dissatisfied, they did not dare to say anything.
Several Wei Palace stewards walked towards the city gate with high arrogance and protruding chests and bellies, followed by a string of mammoth carriages loaded with various supplies.
"Oh, stop, stop, stop! What about you, you old guy, your eyes are very slippery, you want to fish in troubled waters and follow into the city? Do you think I am blind?" Please vote~~~~
(End of chapter)