Chinese dining table

Chapter 1243: Common People Can Be Ignored in Politics
Today, the focus of work in Chang'an City is only one, and that is the banquet that is about to begin in Hua'e Tower.

From dawn, thousands of palace maids began to decorate the Hua'e Tower.

After Li Zhi got up, he found that the farmland of Xingqing Palace, which was bare yesterday, had turned into a sea of ​​blooming plum flowers today.

Surprised, he called Ruichun over and asked, "Did you plant it last night?"

Ruichun nodded and said, "Last night at midnight, the palace maids in the Ye Ting Palace started planting, and they finished planting at noon."

Li Zhi said: "I want to ask you how you planted it?"

Ruichun said: "Dig a hole and plant the plum tree..."

Li Zhi looked at Ruichun pretending to be stupid as if she were a fool. Ruichun said quickly, "They are all silk flowers."

Li Zhi said: "King Zhou had a wine pool and a meat forest, Shi Chong competed with others in wealth and hung silk on trees, and now the Emperor of Tang uses silk as flowers?"

Ruichun blinked and said, "Your Majesty, this kind of thing is common in Chang'an."

Li Zhi leaned against the giant bear's belly and laughed, "What's so ordinary about this?"

"Winter in Chang'an is long, and there is little green to be seen except for bamboo and pine trees. However, the people of Chang'an have high requirements for scenery. Therefore, at many banquets in Chang'an, there will be scenery decorated with silk flowers. It is a livelihood and is very common in Chang'an."

Li Zhi pointed at the bright plum blossoms outside and said, "With such bright colors, they must be made of high-quality silk. How can they be cheap?"

Ruichun sighed and said, "Chang'an Palace City was originally supplied by Chang'an, but the money to supply Chang'an Palace City needs to be allocated by the Queen. Over the years, the Queen's attention has been on Luoyang, so the decline of Chang'an Palace City is inevitable. The palace servants, eunuchs, and various craftsmen in the palace city have to find ways to make money on their own.

The plum blossoms here represent palace ladies. The eunuchs cut them out in their spare time, folded them into the shape of flowers, and then glued them one by one on the branches, and finally they became this appearance.

If this thing is used once, it will naturally be expensive. However, with your majesty's use today, the palace maids and eunuchs can get more people to start using this plum tree to decorate their courtyards. In this way, they will have a lot of income to cover the cost of making the flower tree, and they can also earn some interest to support themselves. "

Li Zhi frowned and asked, "Can the palace maids support themselves?"

Ruichun said: "There are more than 6,300 palace servants, eunuchs, and craftsmen in the Chang'an Palace. If they can support themselves, it will save a lot of national treasury for the country, which is a good thing."

Li Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Order Yunchu to transfer all the annual funding for the palace city to Chang'an Palace, so there is no need to go to Luoyang again."

Ruichun bowed and said, "I obey your order."

Li Zhi asked, "There are flowers and trees over here, what's over there in Hua'e Tower?"

Ruichun bowed and said, "There are colorful lanterns, lots of them. When Your Majesty starts the banquet, the lanterns will be lit up. Then, Hua'e Tower will become a palace in heaven."

Li Zhi said: "These lanterns also come from the palace?"

Ruichun smiled and said, "That's right..."

"Same functions?"

"They have the same function. The craftsmen in Chang'an Palace are more exquisite in making lanterns like this. The craftsmen outside cannot compare with those in the palace."

"So, the things I use are also similar to those used by ordinary people?"

"Your Majesty, you are worrying too much. The things Your Majesty uses have their own rules and regulations. For example, the palace lantern to be lit in Hua'e Tower tonight requires 600 candles. After lighting, Hua'e Tower will be as bright as day and the lights will be as bright as the bright moon."

Li Zhi widened his one eye and asked, "How much does it cost?"

Ruichun said regretfully: "Your Majesty has always been frugal, but the poor craftsmen have been saving again and again. Under the premise of ensuring the royal dignity, such a lamp only costs one thousand strings of cash..."

"What? One lamp costs one thousand strings of cash? Then, six hundred candles shouldn't be cheap, right?"

Ruichun said: "The candles are made from the brain oil of the giant whale in the North Sea. Only such candles will not produce smoke. After adding ambergris, they will automatically emit a rich fragrance. Even if the people at the banquet feast all night, they can still be refreshed and not feel tired."

Li Zhi forced himself to calm down. Under the influence of Emperor Taizong and Empress Wende, Li Zhi had never been an extravagant emperor. Now, hearing that the cost of a lamp at a banquet was no less than five hundred strings of cash, how could he bear it?

"Bring that idiot to me!"

Li Zhi gently stroked the giant bear's prickly fur, but his trembling hands still revealed the anger in his heart.

Yun Chu's hands kept beating rhythm in the air, directing the one hundred Wannian County officials, dressed in snow-white robes and black hats, to play the newly composed music.

After the song ended, Yun Chu said, "Sense of layers, sense of layers. This song is a gift from Chang'an to your majesty. I hope that my deep affection can keep your majesty in Chang'an.

At this time, we should imagine Chang'an as a beautiful and gentle woman who is expressing her feelings to Your Majesty over and over again. We must let Your Majesty feel the friendship of the people of Chang'an towards Your Majesty, and make him feel that Chang'an should be his permanent residence.

Also, I will lead the singing, and when it reaches the high-pitched part, you people in the first two rows should sing along with me. After two sentences, the people in the back must also follow to make the momentum become more powerful. You must sing loudly so that the various singing girls we have arranged in Xingqingfang can hear our voices, and finally these singing girls will lead the people of Xingqingfang to sing together.

In other words, only when the people of the entire city sing together can His Majesty be moved.

We must make good connections and not make them chaotic.

Okay, let’s do it again…”

With Yunchu conducting personally, officials from the two counties of Chang'an began to play the guzheng again after ten thousand years. What's more, in the scene of people wearing white clothes as white as snow, they played Yunchu's music in a plaintive and tearful manner.

In the era before Yun Chu, it was basically impossible to gather a hundred officials who could play the guzheng in two days. Those guys might be good at drinking and eating meat, and the best they could do was to hold a microphone and sing a few songs.

In the Tang Dynasty, the quality of officials was much higher than that of officials in later generations.

Playing the guzheng and guqin are almost the basic abilities of these people, and some of them can even play the flute and the dongxiao very well. There are even a few people in the Wannian County government who can play the gu and the big drum, and the head of the Ministry of Revenue in Chang'an County is famous for his pipa playing.

Most of the time, everyone knows that Yun Chu’s guqin playing level is just so-so, and as for the guzheng level - well, it’s just a little better than the countless cotton-fluffing people on the market.

However, no one said that. As long as the county master started playing the guzheng, everyone listened to it with fascination...

The performance was about to start in the evening. Yun Chu led a group of people to rehearse the music a few more times, asked a musician to conduct on his behalf, and then returned to the government residence to catch his breath and rest.

Just after drinking a cup of tea, Wu Chengsi's brother followed in and poured himself tea with Yun Chu's teapot. After drinking it all in one go, Wu Chengsi said, "My Lord, it is unlikely that His Majesty will stay in Chang'an."

Yun Chu nodded and said, "I know."

Wu Sansi asked, "If that's the case, why do you want us to focus all our work on Your Majesty?"

Yun Chu said: "We need to borrow your majesty's dragon power to open a few work nodes that we cannot open ourselves."

Wu Chengsi frowned and said, "Once His Majesty knows that we are using him, will it backfire?"

Yun Chu said: "Devote yourself to the country, why bother about other things."

Wu Sansi shook his head and said, "Lord, this is not right. We must consider the present and the future. If there is no future, what we are doing now will be meaningless."

Yun Chu looked at the Wu brothers and said, "Do we have to benefit ourselves when we do things?"

Wu Chengsi said firmly: "In front of others, my brother will definitely say that there is no need to benefit oneself. In front of the Lord, I will only say that when the Wu family does things, they can benefit others while benefiting themselves, but they must never benefit others at the expense of the interests of the Wu family."

Yun Chu nodded. The Wu brothers spoke from their true feelings. It was not reasonable for him to beat them up just because they told him their true feelings.

Yun Chu suppressed the urge to beat up the two brothers and whispered, "You want money?"

Wu Chengsi said seriously: "It's enough."

Yun Chu asked again: "You want power?"

Wu Chengsi said: "Just protect yourself."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "You guys are really not greedy."

Wu Sansi said: "The dynasty and mine must be clearly distinguished. The reason I work for the dynasty is because I need its protection. If the dynasty is ruthless and disloyal to me, I will be ruthless and disloyal to the people of the world."

Yun Chu said: "You mean that if Guo Chao gets close to you, you will restrain your desires. If Guo Chao has ill intentions towards you, you will harm the interests of the people to feed Guo Chao, so that Guo Chao will always be kind to you?"

Wu Chengsi stood up and bowed, saying, "My Lord, please forgive me for not entering the pit."

After Wu Chengsi finished speaking, he stood up together with Wu Sansi, clasped his fists and bowed, then left Yun Chu's official residence.

When they left, Ruichun was just coming in. Ruichun's face didn't look good. The Wu brothers pretended not to see it, lowered their heads and hurried away.

"Your Majesty is dissatisfied with the extravagance of the banquet at Huaye Tower."

Ruichun took a sip of tea and immediately said to Yun Chu.

Yun Chu asked, "Have you told His Majesty about the incident at Chang'an Palace?"

Ruichun said: "I have said it, but His Majesty is still dissatisfied."

Yun Chu shook his head and said, "It's not that His Majesty is dissatisfied with the affairs of Chang'an Palace, but His Majesty feels that we are purposefully guiding the way he does things."

Ruichun stood up and said, "Let's go, His Majesty wants you, an idiot, to go see him."

Yun Chu sighed, put on a fur coat, and followed Ruichun to Xingqing Palace.

"In "Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Luoyang·Fayun Temple" by Yang Xuanzhi of the Northern Wei Dynasty: "Shi Chong of the Jin Dynasty was a commoner, but he was able to carve pheasant heads and fox armpits, paint eggs and carve firewood. How much more so is the Heavenly King of the Great Wei, who is not extravagant?
Yunchu, why? "

As soon as he met Li Zhi, he was scolded by him.

Yun Chu said: "The key point is not about carving wood and painting eggs, but whether Shi Chong paid the labor for helping him carve wood and paint eggs. If he didn't pay, Shi Chong should be beheaded. If he did, I would be very relieved."

Li Zhi said: "You have been deliberately tempting me to indulge in extravagance and debauchery over the years. What's the reason?"

Yun Chu stared at Li Zhi for a long time before asking, "Your Majesty, are you arrogant and extravagant?"

Li Zhi pointed to the silk-flowered plum tree outside and asked, "What is this?"

Yun Chu said: "This is considered a consumption, but it is not for your Majesty's personal enjoyment."

Li Zhi frowned and said, "I just went to Hua'e Tower, Yunchu, it's too luxurious."

Yun Chu asked in surprise: "Have you used the national treasury?"

Li Zhi angrily said: "That is also my money."

Yun Chu said: "Your Majesty's money was given to craftsmen, servants, and whalers..."

Li Zhi thought for a moment and said, "It makes sense. Even Confucius had nothing bad to say about Guan Zhong's technique of carving wood and painting eggs to enrich the people. However, when it comes to me, I still feel it's a pity."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "Your Majesty won't feel bad if you hide this money in the treasury."

Li Zhi said: "I won't feel bad if it is used for state affairs."

Yun Chu said: "Why can't it be given to the people?"

Li Zhi was stunned for a moment before he said, "I haven't thought about this..."

(End of this chapter)