Dongdu Pavilion Case Record

The banquet starts at noon on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.

From Si time on this day, the carriages at the gate of the palace came and went without stopping. Waves of Beijing officials, descendants of aristocratic families, wives, and foreign envoys all headed in the direction of Linde Hall.Linde Hall is adjacent to Taiye Pond in the east and the West Palace Wall in the west. It can seat as many as 3000 people at a time. Outside the hall is a wide open space. Every time the emperor entertains the ministers, there will be a hundred operas, and even polo and Cuju. Contest.

Tang Jingxiao insisted on entering the palace with Tang Wuyi, and used the carriage of the General's Mansion. Tang Jingxiao and Liu Shi sat in the front one, and Tang Wuyi and Wen Tao sat in the back one. After checking Tang Jingxiao's token, he entered through the west palace gate. up the palace.In the Great Zhou Dynasty, banquets were still held. Every year, the emperor would entertain hundreds of officials several times, and the grand banquet in Linde Hall was the most grand.For some big New Year's Eve, such as Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, New Year's Eve, etc., female relatives can also attend, which is very lively.According to legend, the founding emperor of the former dynasty found the fingerprints of the unicorn here and cited it as auspicious, so he built this hall to feast thousands of people.Tang Wuyi used to be a frequent visitor to Linde Hall's big banquets. He went to these occasions with his adoptive father and eldest brother since he was a child, but he didn't come here very much after taking over the Dongdu Pavilion.

At the back of Linde Hall, Tang Wuyi wanted to take Wen Tao to the low-grade area outside the hall, but he was stopped by someone.

"Tang Yue! Are you finally willing to come to the Linde Palace banquet this time?" The person who came was King Qi. He had just played a Cuju game with him a few days ago. Wang saw Tang Wuyi's and Wen Tao's skills and admired them deeply. Today, he was struggling to find disciples from aristocratic families with superb skills to play, and his eyes lit up when he saw them.

Tang Wuyi grinned and said politely: "The Holy Majesty invites all the officials to a banquet, so naturally they will come."

King Qi naturally knew that he was not very keen on these banquets, so he smiled and did not tell him, but he was unwilling to let them out of his sight easily in case he could not find anyone when he was playing, so he said warmly: "Since you are here, let's go!" Go sit with me in the front hall, General Tang is also there."

Tang Wuyi declined and said: "The seats for the banquet are all arranged, and I dare not overstep."

King Qi laughed: "Your boy, you used to sit in the front hall when you were young, but now it's divided. The seats are all arranged by the third brother. I just tell him to add a few cases. It's a big deal." !" After saying that, let the two of them wait in place, and hurriedly went into the palace to look for King Yan Li Xu.

After King Qi walked away, Wen Tao asked in a low voice behind Tang Wuyi: "Did King Qi go to see the current prime minister?"

Tang Wuyi turned slightly and nodded, "Don't worry, I'm here."

The two waited for a while, and then a man with a face like a crown jade and a gentle manner walked out from the front hall of Linde Hall, dressed in a maroon brocade robe, decent but not extravagant.King Qi followed closely behind.

"Pavilion Master Tang, long time no see." King Yan said kindly.

Tang Wuyi quickly saluted and said, "I have seen the prince."

Wen Tao saw the King of Yan for the first time, and he only dared to raise his eyes slightly from behind. He saw that the prince was 25-[-] years old, well-maintained, with a pair of phoenix eyes, the corners of the eyes were gracefully upturned, and the corners of the mouth also maintained the same upturned arc as the corners of the eyes. , He smiled and said: "Pavilion Master Tang is busy with official duties, and handles cases in Wulin all the year round. It is rare to come to Kyoto to catch up with the Dragon Boat Festival. Why didn't you inform me in advance, otherwise Pavilion Master Tang would have reserved a seat in the front hall."

"Don't dare." Tang Wuyi said humbly, "I'm humble, I don't dare to overstep, just sit outside the hall."

"Third brother, it's rare for Tang Yue to enter the palace. Last time, the queen mother still talked about the children of these aristocratic families, saying that the most naughty one at that time was the second boy of the Tang family. The queen mother is getting old, and it is rare to attend a palace banquet. Third brother, you Let Tang Yue sit in, and make the queen mother happy." King Qi said.The late emperor had a deep relationship with the present empress dowager. Today's son Li Shu, the third prince Li Xu, the fifth prince Li Huan, and the previous prince Li Huan were all sons of the same mother, so these brothers were particularly harmonious.

Li Xu smiled and said: "Of course, General Tang is also inside, you brothers should sit together, I will arrange it right away."

Tang Wuyi hurriedly saluted to thank him.Just as Li Xu was about to go inside, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Wen Tao standing behind, and asked, "Who is this?"

Tang Wuyi was taken aback, Wen Tao was only wearing the most common Dongdu Pavilion uniform, standing behind Tang Wuyi, no matter how you looked at it, he was just an ordinary follower.Before Tang Wuyi could answer, King Qi had already introduced him: "This is the Taoist Wen of Kunlun. He studied under Qing Xuzi. He is good at judging cases, playing Cuju well, and he is also handsome hahaha." Noticing Wen Tao's children's clothes, he asked in surprise, "Master Dao, have you entered the Dongdu Pavilion? Are you not going back to Kunlun?"

Wen Tao felt guilty for a while, Tang Wuyi quickly smoothed things over: "The Kunlun side has already informed, Wen Daochang is a member of our Dongdu Pavilion, and he wants to be registered."

Li Xu's gaze paused on Wen Tao's face, and he paused and said, "Pavilion Master Tang knows how to pick people." He didn't say anything more, and went to the palace to arrange. Arranged in Tang Jingxiao's starting position, even Wen Tao also gave him a seat.

At noon, the Dragon Boat Festival officially began, the music was loud, and the emperor and empress were seated.Wen Tao saw Longyan for the first time, and saw Li Shu standing in his early years, surrounded by dragon aura, the empress and Tang Jingxiao's wife came from the Hedong Liu family together, so he has the air of a big family, and his mother respects the world.The Empress Dowager also rarely attended, and was served by several palace servants and sat beside the Empress Dowager.For a time, the monarch and his ministers were in harmony and celebrated the festive season together.

As a custom of the Dragon Boat Festival, the emperor and his ministers exchanged gifts, and the ministers' gift list was presented before the Dragon Boat Festival, but at the Dragon Boat Festival, it was the emperor's gift in return.At the order of the emperor, the palace servants brought several boxes of summer fans and presented them to the ministers.This time, the summer fan is made of silk from Suzhou and Hangzhou, which is very elegant. The emperor also gave him a pen and ink, and mentioned the words "ying", "phoenix", "butterfly" and "dragon" on the summer fan.All the officials knelt down to thank Longen.

While drinking and drinking, Wen Tao boredly fiddled with the Baisuo zongzi in the palace banquet. This zongzi was ordinary, but it was wrapped in a new style, and it was decorated with five-color silk thread to attract attention.Seeing that he was not interested, Tang Wuyi asked in a low voice, "Isn't it delicious?"

Wen Tao shook his head: "It's far worse than Yu's rice dumplings, it's cold and hard."

Tang Wuyi chuckled lightly and said, "Just take it easy, I'll take you to the West Market after leaving the palace."

As soon as Wen Tao heard the word "West Market", Wen Tao's eyes immediately lit up, but suddenly he felt a gaze coming from the front of his eyes. Wen Tao used the corner of his eyes to see that the front was where the empress and empress were sitting. Shu was exchanging glasses with his servants far away, the empress was chatting with some wives, and the empress dowager at the side was a little tired, it was hard to tell who was looking at him just now.Amidst doubts, an eunuch walked up to Tang Wuyi and said: "Pavilion Master Tang, the Empress Dowager is going back to the palace, she said she wanted to meet some children from aristocratic families before leaving, so I ordered Pavilion Master Tang, Pavilion Master please."

This person is Yang Ji, the Chief Internal Officer of the Daming Palace, with a gentle voice regardless of age.

Tang Wuyi got up and wanted to leave, Yang Ji pointed to Wen Tao again and said, "The queen mother said, this young man is handsome, and I want to see him too."

Wen Tao's heart trembled, but Tang Wuyi turned his head and said with his lips, "It's nothing."