Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty Chapter 1184 Postscript: The forty children of powerful people also have their own ways of living.
Chapter 1184 Postscript: The forty children of powerful people also have their own ways of living.
Chapter 1184 Postscript Forty·The children of powerful people also have their own ways of living.
Before finishing the bowl of cold drink, the winner of the polo match just now came to the high platform to receive the award.
There are five men and women, all of whom are unmarried.
Men tie their lower skirts around their waists, exposing the trousers underneath, and wear polo jerseys (red or blue vests to help distinguish teams when playing ball).
The women all wore spiral skirts with slits at the front and back to facilitate horseback riding. They also wore polo jerseys and collared shirts of various colors.
Their clubs are also very flashy, no matter how bright or eye-catching they are.
Xie Yan took a spoonful of cold drink and stuffed it into his mouth. The mixture of raisins and diced watermelon felt good, and then he looked at the five men and five women not far ahead.
One man is short and chubby, but the other four men are quite handsome.
The five girls all have great looks and have dressed up carefully before going out. After a polo match, their faces were covered in sweat. Even though they were careful when wiping the sweat, their makeup would inevitably be smeared.
One of them must be a couple, or maybe they have found each other today, and they are standing next to each other with flirtatious looks.
Except for their elders who are quite reserved, the rest of the ladies all have aunty smiles on their faces. The ladies are usually very leisurely and are keen to match up with young people. Doesn’t this make them a couple?
The eldest princess smiled and said: "Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, the children in the capital have not gathered together for a long time. I am holding this polo meeting today to let everyone move around. If you are successful, I will prepare a small gift as a reward."
It has been almost four years since the coup.
At that time, the powerful people in the capital were being killed in large numbers. If the family members of those who were imprisoned were included, more than 3,000 people were beheaded, exiled, and imprisoned in Luoyang alone.
The surviving dignitaries were trembling with fear, walking on thin ice, and even the will-o'-the-wisp boy had stopped.
The new dignitaries who came to Beijing were busy digesting the results and had not yet mastered the territory. They also restricted their family members from running around.
Even the eldest princess no longer appears in public.
Now that the overall situation has been decided, military power has been completely consolidated, and local reforms have begun, it is time for the political atmosphere in Luoyang to relax. This can be seen from the will-o'-the-wisp boy daring to trample on the crops again.
A few days ago, the eldest princess attended an academic conference and held a polo match today. In fact, they all had political tasks arranged by the Queen Mother Ye.
Send a good political signal!
The five winning men and five women came forward to thank them. Ten attendants held trays and allowed the boys and girls to choose their prizes.
The prizes are not expensive, but they are not cheap either.
Not expensive is from the perspective of the powerful, but not cheap is from the perspective of common people.
"What does Yang's sister want?" The couple, who were attracted to each other, actually showed off their affection on the spot.
The girl looked at a scarf, lowered her head shyly and said, "Anything is fine."
The boy immediately handed over to his other teammates: "Can I let you pick first?"
"Huang Sanlang, please feel free to do so." Everyone was happy to eat melons and watch the fun.
The boy picked up the scarf from the tray, brought it to the girl and said, "I took it upon myself to make the decision and chose one for my sister Yang. I don't know if it will suit my sister's wishes."
The girl blushed with embarrassment and took the scarf nervously.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The ladies here couldn't help but laugh out loud. This feeling of knocking on CP is so good.
The first polo match was an appetizer, and the players who played were not the children of the top dignitaries, but mostly the children of fourth- and fifth-rank imperial officials.
When they fall in love together, they have little political influence, and they are considered well-matched, so the elders in the family generally won't stop them.
The boys and girls received their prizes and left. The young couple walked side by side, but always kept a certain distance.
From time to time, the girl turned her head and peeked at the boy, with such deep affection in her eyes that it was almost as if her eyes were wired.
There are people everywhere on the court, men and women gathering in twos and threes.
Li Dunshi was being taken around by Zhang Jiulang, and met several officials' children. He also fell in love with a young woman, and after asking around, she found out that she was the daughter of a foreign minister from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Li Dunshi was quite moved. Wailang, a member of the Ministry of Revenue, was not a high-ranking official, so he might have a little chance.
Soon, Li Dunshi fell in love.
Although the minister of household affairs was a young official, this woman was outstanding in appearance and was attracted by several powerful children at the same time. They were all praised like licking dogs.
How can Li Dunshi be competitive?
Just choose to give up.
Further outside, there are servants from each family. They can't all run in, most of them stay outside and wait. People they know or don't know gather together to chat and brag.
Daiyu and Baochai did not enter the scene. They were staying with Xie Yan's four male servants.
The four male servants walked under the big tree and were watching other servants playing cards, listening to those servants bragging and getting information.
"Sister, where should we go to play?" Baochai looked left and right.
Daiyu asked: "Do you know anyone?"
Baochai was immediately discouraged.
The two of them stood next to the carriage for a long time. Several male and female servants from an unknown house ran outside to buy some snacks and came back.
When passing the carriage, a maid saw that they were alone and asked casually: "Which family are you from? Come over and sit together."
Daiyu was wary and was thinking about how to answer.
Baochai has already spoken, and his tone is very proud: "My husband is Xie Liulang, a bachelor from Furong. He is very knowledgeable!"
The male and female servants were all excited: "But the young bachelor Xie?"
Baochai held her head high and said, "He is my husband!"
Daiyu couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth, feeling quite proud.
A maid gave Baochai a paper bag of fried pine nuts, and pulled her to run under the shade of the tree in front: "Go over there and talk, it's very hot here. My name is Du Juan, and I'm the maid of Shen Honglu's family.
, what’s your little sister’s name?”
"My name is Baochai, and I was named by my husband," Baochai said, turning around and shouting, "Daiyu, come here quickly. The carriage is guarded by a driver."
Daiyu followed hesitantly, she also wanted to join the small group of servants.
I heard that they were the maids of Bachelor Xie, and more and more servants from various families gathered around, all wanting to inquire about the scandal about the eldest princess.
Baochai looks silly, but her mouth is very strict at critical moments. She pretends to be stupid and doesn't know what to ask.
Daiyu even kept silent, feeling completely depressed.
Seeing that nothing could be found, everyone quickly lost interest in them and returned to their original positions to brag.
Daiyu and Baochai just stood there and listened. No matter what others were talking about, they both felt very fresh, as if they had been opened to a new world.
Return to the field.
The second football match has already begun. It is also a mixed game for men and women, with each team having ten players.
Qingluan was placed next to Xie Yan and explained the rules to him in a low voice.
After finishing explaining the rules, Qingluan asked curiously: "Hebei polo is also very popular, has Bachelor Xie really never played it?"
Xie Yan laughed and said, "I've never even ridden a horse, how can I play polo like this?"
"That's right." Qingluan realized that his question was stupid.
So she picked up the telescope again and began to explain the identities of the players on the field: "The number one on the red side is Uncle Xiang Ping, Li Silang and Li Duoxun from General Huaiyuan's family. The number one on the blue side is Uncle Wu Wei, general Anyuan."
Wang Zhijie, Wang Qilang. Now the red team No. 5 is holding the ball..."
Xie Yan thinks it's quite interesting, and it also comes with explanations.
After the game was over, prizes were distributed, and then rest began.
On and off the stage, everyone eats and drinks together.
Many servants came in with large and small bags, and sat around on blankets in the arbor or under the shade of trees, chatting and eating.
Xie Yan also brought food and food and put them in the carriage so that his servants could take them as they pleased.
Of course, he had his own livelihood, eating and drinking among a group of noble ladies.
The ladies were sitting cross-legged and in inelegant postures, but they all acted retro and knelt down on the futons they had brought.
There are also informal ones, sitting in a mermaid posture. How do you say this sitting posture? Young and beautiful people are very attractive, while old and depraved people are quite eye-catching.
The ladies teamed up to tease Xie Yan. The more embarrassed Xie Yan became, the more the ladies liked to tease him.
What noble lady wouldn’t love a seventeen-year-old little girl?
In the end, the eldest princess couldn't stand it anymore and said to Xie Yan: "Xie Liulang must be quite reserved and uncomfortable when he is with women like us. He might as well go next door to relax."
"Farewell!" Xie Yan seemed to be pardoned, got up and ran away, running to sit at the children's table.
"Ha ha ha ha."
A group of ladies laughed and liked to see his embarrassment.
Xie Yan's embarrassment was half faked, because he didn't know how to behave. If he was easy-going, he would appear to be very frivolous, and he would simply hide his embarrassment to make those ladies happy.
If you move to the next door, they are all the juniors of the ladies, or the younger brothers and sisters of the ladies.
He met the descendants of Han Shizhong again.
Unlike the previous Han Wanli, the one in front of me could be a noble. He was probably in his early twenties, with oily hair and pink noodles, and looked quite flamboyant. He also had his wife and younger sister by his side.
His name was Han Wanfang. For the sake of the eldest princess, his attitude towards Xie Yan was quite polite.
But he was just being polite, deep down he still looked down on Xie Yan.
Not many of the founding nobles still have titles today, and the Han family is one of them.
The Yue family was killed around the same time as the Zhang family (Zhang Guangdao), and they were all taken care of by Emperor Dingtai.
If Emperor Dingtai wants to rectify the army and consolidate military power, he must take action against these founding noble families. And it is very difficult to do so, because those in Luoyang are easy to catch, but it will definitely affect the local army afterwards.
Even if the main sect of the Yue family in Luoyang is killed, there will still be several descendants of Yue Fei.
The one who claims to be the main clan now is the Yue clan of Xiangzhou, but other branches do not recognize it at all. There are also one branch in Qihe, one in Linhuang, and one in Shandong. The founders of the clan are all the sons or grandsons of Yue Fei. They are all
He settled down while working as a local civil and military official.
Xie Yan looked at Han Wanfang and shook his head secretly. The young lord in front of him was quite ancestral. He probably had a lot of concubines in his family.
It’s no coincidence that there are flowers on the temples!
Ding Shaoyan, the will-o'-the-wisp boy whose beloved horse was taken away by his friend, was also there. Compared to Han Wanfang's cold attitude, he seemed too enthusiastic towards Xie Yan.
This guy nuzzled up to Xie Yan in a familiar manner, looked back at the ladies, and asked Xie Yan in a low voice with a wink, "When can I have Xie Liulang's wedding wine?"
Han Wanfang was drinking and choked when he heard this and coughed repeatedly.
Our young Master Han is indeed uneducated, but he still has some brains and will never raise such a question.
The other children of the powerful also looked at Ding Shaoyan in surprise.
Ding Shaoyan was confused by the whole thing. He scratched his head and asked, "Why are you looking at me? This is not a secret. It has been spread throughout Luoyang City for a long time."
No one answered, and they all looked at him with caring eyes.
There are also several descendants of the princes present, who are cousins, cousins, nephews, and nieces of the young emperor in terms of seniority. They behave extremely low-key, mainly because King Yong's coup frightened them, and they have lived in seclusion to avoid attracting attention.
This is especially true for those princes who resolutely refuse to participate in large-scale events and do not allow their wives to participate. What they fear most is being praised as a "virtuous king".
Anyway, they were having a pretty miserable time. When their children came out to get together, they were all sullen and didn't talk much.
This large group of people, regardless of women, there were only two men among them, which left Xie Yan with a pretty good impression.
One is Zhang Xianqing and Zhang Jiulang.
The other one is named Yuan Tingzhi, whose ancestors are not prominent.
Initially, they were just small bandits recruited by Zhang Shuye in Shandong. They surrendered to Ju Ming in Kaifeng City and were thrown back to Shandong to join the miscellaneous army. After the money was wiped out, they stayed in Harbin.
Yuan Tingzhi even has a bit of Jurchen blood in her body. One of his ancestors married a half-blood born from Bohai and Jurchen people.
The Yuan family started to prosper very late. Emperor Dingtai transferred 2,000 troops from Andong to serve as palace guards. His grandfather was one of the grassroots officers at the time. He made contributions in many counterinsurgency wars, and gradually became a general of the Forbidden Army.
Emperor Dingtai sent him to Shaanxi as the commander-in-chief.
Queen Mother Ye took the young emperor west to Chang'an, where she went to find Yuan Tingzhi's grandfather for help.
Now, Yuan Tingzhi's grandfather has entered the cabinet as a military general, but he is no longer in charge of things as he is older.
"What's Brother Yuan doing now?" Xie Yan asked casually.
Yuan Tingzhi said: "Studying at Luoyang Military Academy, I will graduate in one year."
Xie Yan said: "Last year I met a strong man on the train. He claimed to be a descendant of General Yang Zaixing. He seemed to be going to Luoyang Military Academy."
Yuan Tingzhi's expression was a bit strange: "You are talking about Yang Boyan, right? He is now a popular figure in the military academy. He is proficient in riding, bow and arrow, firecrackers, swords and guns. He also learned strategy well. He is a born general with great strength.
.”
"What's wrong with him?" Xie Yan felt that Yuan Tingzhi looked wrong.
Yuan Tingzhi said: "Just last month, he beat up a teacher at the military school and was almost expelled from the military school because of this."
Before Xie Yan could say anything, Ding Shaoyan spoke up: "Dare you hit the teacher at the military academy? This is the number one person. I must go and make friends someday! Why did he hit the teacher?"
Yuan Tingzhi did not answer directly, but said: "It is a taboo for the venerable."
Xie Yan understood that it was the teacher who was at fault first.
After lunch, we continued walking and chatting.
When I was almost done eating, I continued playing polo.
In the last game of the afternoon, Princess Da Chang and Wu Lingfeng formed a team in person. There was no need to say whether they would win or lose. The opponents didn’t even give in. Wu Lingfeng showed off her power among a group of ladies.
Princess Fuyan did not join in the fun and took the opportunity to talk to Xie Yan: "Doesn't Bachelor Xie have an official career?"
Xie Yan said nonchalantly: "You can be an official or a scholar, but I don't have any ambitions."
Princess Fuyan reminded: "My ninth sister used to be very willful. After a few years of hard life, she is much softer now. It is rare for her to look at anyone. Don't let this friendship go down."
Xie Yan responded with a shy smile. He didn't know how to answer. They hadn't officially started dating yet.