Placid Chang'an

Three days later, at the Qionglin Banquet, the emperor gave a banquet to three people. The banquet was held in the Chengxiang Hall next to the Taiye Pool, and entered the inner courtyard directly from the Zuoyintai Gate, which could avoid many palace institutions in the outer court.

When Su Cen arrived at the door, there were already two people waiting, one was dressed as an eunuch who came out from the palace to guide the way, the other was dressed in coarse cloth, when he saw him coming, he cupped his hands and said, "Brother Su."

This person is this year's Tanhua Lang Cui Hao, from Hongzhou. It is said that his blind old mother wove fishing nets and sent him all the way to today's achievement.

Su Cen returned with courtesy.

The eunuch waiting on the side said: "Everyone is here, let's go in."

Su Cen looked around, frowned and said, "Isn't there still one person missing?"

The eunuch couldn't help laughing, and said: "The son came with King Ning's chariot, and he is now in the palace."

Su Cen was startled, he forgot that this year's No. [-] was Zheng Yang, the eldest son of Duke Zheng's mansion, as Prince Ning's eldest nephew, naturally he didn't have to wait outside the palace gate like them.

When Su Cen followed the eunuch into the palace gate, he glanced casually out of the corner of his eye, and saw Cui Hao's disdainful expression.

There have been rumors in the market for a long time that Zheng Yang got the second place because of his relationship with Prince Ning. Hao squeezed out one place, otherwise the second place should have been Cui Hao's.

He doesn't know if Zheng Yang has real talents, but it is true that Cui Hao has a grudge.

Su Cen stepped forward and stuffed a few pieces of silver into the eunuch's hand, and asked, "Eunuch, is King Ning here?"

The eunuch lightly weighed it in his hand, put it in his sleeve, smiled at Su Cen, and said, "Of course it is, the current Holy Majesty has just turned nine years old, and all major affairs in the court are decided by the prince and queen mother. Today, this banquet will be bright." It is said that the emperor wants to meet everyone, but in fact it is these two who want to see you, and whether your career will go well in the future depends on whether these two see you well."

Su Cen directly took a silver ingot and sent it up, "Then, does King Ning have anything to hide? I had a lot of conflicts with King Ning during the imperial examination that day, and I hope my father-in-law can raise some points."

The eunuch laughed so hard that he couldn't see, waved his hand whisk, and said: "Then you are really asking the right person. Our family's internal guard is on duty. On weekdays, it is the food and living in the palace. The prince sometimes leaves Handling government affairs in the palace is all served by our family."

"As for what you like..." The eunuch glanced at Cui Hao, seeing that people in white clothes didn't look like they had money to honor him, he pulled Su Cen a few steps forward, and said in a low voice, "It's strange, our prince usually They just drank tea and played chess, they had plenty of money, and they were not close to women, so it was hard to say that they had any special preferences. If I have to say, the prince was on the battlefield in the early years, and he liked fierce horses. The prince has always been the one to choose a good horse first, so it is our turn to show respect. There is a bit of taboo, the prince does not drink cold wine, if you want to toast, you must remember, you must toast with warm wine, don't touch the bad luck of the big man .”

Su Cen smiled: "Thank you, father-in-law, for your suggestion." Turning around, he asked again: "Prince Ning is not close to women, but there are already a lot of wives and concubines in the mansion, and they don't like the rouge and vulgar fans outside?"

"That's not true," said the eunuch, "When the lord established his mansion, he appointed the daughter of Wen Tingyan, the former prime minister of the left, as his concubine. It's a pity that the beauty was unlucky, and the lord fought on the battlefield all the year round. Jade is dead. The prince and the concubine are deeply in love. After the concubine left, she did not continue to take concubines. When the first emperor was in power, he could still say a few words about him, but now no one cares about it. The backyard of the palace has been idle until now of."

Prince Ning's [-]s are in the age of tigers and wolves, so it's really unbelievable to say that there is no one in his backyard, Su Cen.

"Oh?" Su Cen ignored Cui Hao's cold gaze and leaned forward: "Why do I hear rumors that King Ning didn't reunite because he likes men?"

The eunuch was stunned for a moment, looked around, and said in a low voice: "You can't talk nonsense, it's about royal dignity, and you will be beheaded."

Su Cen knew there was something going on when he heard it, so he stuffed all the money he was carrying into his hands, and bowed respectfully to him, "Don't worry, father-in-law, I will never spread the word."

The eunuch frowned and shook a big bag of money, and finally sighed, "You just met our family, and others really can't answer you."

Su Cen smiled: "What did the father-in-law say?"

The eunuch dragged the man along for a few steps, and said: "It's true. None of these big shots have their own hobbies, it's just that they don't know about them. Our family entered the palace early and served Emperor Taizong in the early years. At that time, the late emperor and The prince is still a prince. Before the death of the emperor, Emperor Taizong gave him a lecture, no matter how he played behind his back, but if the wedding is successful, it cannot be brought to the public. The iron bucket of Prince Ning's mansion, the prince has inherited the imperial edict of Emperor Taizong for so many years, although outside There are some rumors, but no one can produce real evidence, so it will be nothing."

"The guard who followed King Ning..."

"You mean Qi Lin?"

Su Cen thought about it and nodded.

"Him?" The eunuch looked contemptuously, "That's a wolf cub that the prince picked up from outside."

"Wolf cub?" Su Cen frowned.

"He's not a Han," said the eunuch, "he's a Turkic, the prince picked him up from the border."

Su Cen recalled those amber eyes, at first he only thought that this person had light eyes, but now that he thinks about it, it really is not what Han people should have.

"That man is a knife in the prince's hand, and his hands are not clean," the eunuch continued, "Have you heard of Tuduo Sanwei? That wolf cub is one of those people."

Su Cen was startled. Tuduo Sanwei, known as the strongest army in the Zhou Dynasty, was composed entirely of Turkic people, but they worked for the Han people.When Ashina led the remnants of the Turks to hide in the hinterland of the desert to fish in the sea, no one of the Han people dared to enter the desert, they could only look at the sand and sigh.150 people from Tuduo Sanwei marched into the desert with luggage, and only 20 people came back ten days later, bringing back Ashina's dried head.

Fight to fame.

It is such an army, but everyone avoids it like a tiger. They are so cold-blooded towards their own people, and they will not show mercy to the Han people if they turn against them in the future.In the eyes of outsiders, they are a group of walking dead monsters. They are sharp knives, which can cut iron like mud if used well, but can easily be eaten by them if used poorly.

Obviously, Prince Ning is a good wielder of swords.

While speaking, the eunuch had already led the two of them through the courtyard to the gate of Chengxiang Hall, Su Cen stopped to bid farewell to the eunuch, Cui Hao walked past the two coldly and took a step ahead without looking sideways.

Stepping into the main hall, the emperor is not yet there, but there are already many people at the table.

Su Cen's first glance fixed on Prince Ning, who was chatting happily with Zheng Yang on the right side of the imperial seat.

After all, it was Zheng Yang who was talking and laughing, but Li Shi was the one who was talking and laughing.Today is a regular banquet, Li Shi didn't wear the frighteningly dignified court clothes that day, and was dressed in a dark purple gown with black gauze, but it is undeniable that this man can always wear a compelling aura in black, which is reflected in the hall The complicated and fresh light gauze mantle curtains all lost their color.

Seeing him coming in, Zheng Yang consciously leaned back a seat, and greeted warmly: "Brother Su, sit here."

It's a coincidence that the location is right next to Li Shi's lower head.

Coincidentally, the left head coughed lightly, Su Cen glanced back, and immediately recognized that this person was the number one scholar of Yonglong 22, the chief figure of the queen mother's party, and the prime minister on the right, Liu Zhen.

Before he came back to his senses, Cui Hao had already saluted him enthusiastically, the reverence in his eyes was beyond words.

It is not unreasonable for Cui Hao to be so. This Liu Xiang sits in such a position at a young age. With the Empress Dowager Chu as the backer, the ruler who supports the righteousness and inherits the great rule, the emperor will definitely entrust him with important duties in the future. It is inevitable that he will be regarded as a model by scholars all over the world. .

That Liu Xiang glanced at Su Cen, and finally fell on Cui Hao: "Come and sit."

Cui Hao hurriedly moved over and sat down on Liu Zhen's head.

Su Cen frowned. The positions on the table seemed random, but in fact they were clearly divided. The three ministers from the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Officials, and the Household Department on the left, plus this Prime Minister Liu, were all members of the Queen Mother's party, and the one on the right was Prince Yi Ning Leading the other half of the country.Cui Hao sat on the left, and already recognized himself as a member of the queen mother's party. Zheng Yang naturally sat on his little uncle's side, and he was the only new champion who won the championship with the opposition party's rhetoric in the court. point.

Su Cen was stunned for a moment, ignoring everyone's eyes and sat down on the seat that Zheng Yang gave him just now.

Li Shi glanced at him, held his cup and smiled, with indescribable meaning.

Su Cen only felt that the feeling of blowing hair all over his body had returned.

The emperor took his seat, and everyone saluted, only Li Shi sat on the table and remained motionless, but the little emperor timidly called him uncle first.

Prince Ning took the Son of Heaven to make the princes' name really well-deserved.

The emperor was seated, and after a commendation according to the scriptures, everyone opened their chopsticks, and gradually there were voices below, because it was the Qionglin Banquet, and the topic of discussion was also on the three newly admitted officials. The Minister of the Ministry of Officials said: "This The first three are all young talents, and we have never seen the demeanor of these people, so we might as well make a pair on the spot, let the three of them match up, and we have the right to be arty for a while."

Several members of the queen mother's party echoed one after another, seemingly happy and harmonious, but undercurrents are turbulent.It was widely rumored that Zheng Yang was an idiot who walked through the back door, and these people came here thinking of rectifying Cui Hao's name on the spot.

Su Cen glanced at Zheng Yang, and saw that he was eating without paying attention, and he looked over and raised his eyebrows at him and smiled.

"Liu Xiang was the number one scholar in Yonglong's reign, so this pair might as well be Liu Xiang." Someone echoed.

Liu Yu politely gave way, thought for a moment, and said: "The bridge spans the Tiger Creek, three religions and three origins, three people laughing three times."

Su Cen secretly sighed, the name of Liu Zhen as the number one scholar is indeed not a vain name, one sentence sums up the three religions of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, and the three refer to the representatives of the three religions, Huiyuan, Tao Yuanming, and Lu Xiujing. In a simple sentence, In fact, it is very sophisticated.

There was a moment of silence in the court, and Liu Jue glanced at Cui Hao who was on the side: "Since you are the candidate, you will come first, and the big shots should always be reserved for the finale."

Cui Hao cupped his hands at the crowd, and said earnestly: "The younger generation shows his ugliness: Lu Li Nanyang, three requests and three resignations, three legs and three legs."

This is about the anecdote of Zhuge, Marquis of Wu. The battle was rigorous and the rhyme was sonorous. Liu Zhen smiled with satisfaction, and turned his eyes to Zheng Yang with interest.

Everyone was waiting for him to make a fool of himself, but the person involved seemed to be unaware, put down his chopsticks for a while, and said to him, "Benefit Qizhou, nine times turn nine times into one, and nine states return to one."

Everyone at the table looked at each other in blank dismay, and those who were waiting to see the joke were slapped in the face.

The expression on Cui Hao's face was particularly exciting.

He and Zheng Yang's pairs stand tall and low together, and Zheng Yang's pair not only implies the Taoist idea of ​​nine transformations and nine nines returning to one, but also implies that the Great Zhou will rule the world.The standing display he was facing was small, not as grand as Zheng Yang's.

From this point of view, this Zheng Yang is indeed talented, at least not all through the back door as everyone said.

Su Cen glanced at Li Shi furtively, and saw that he had a calm demeanor, obviously he knew it already.

Liu Zhen cleared his throat, his face was obviously displeased when someone brushed his face, and he turned to Su Cen: "Come on, let's hear what's right about our new champion?"

Su Cen lowered his eyebrows and said, "The lotus opens the monk's house, one flower one world, one leaf one bodhi."