Chapter Eighteen: Monks and Heroes Are Friends (1/3)
On the seventh day of April, Long Chen, three years ago, a convoy of more than a hundred people was driving on the road gradually away from Dongdu. The distance between the beginning and the end of the convoy was more than two hundred meters. There were also six six-wheeled caravans pulled by eight horses.
There are as many as seven, and there are no less than a hundred carriages pulling goods. In addition, there are more than 30 simple cavalry (convoy guards) following the convoy. Counting the passengers in the caravan, the total number of people in this convoy is as high as
No less than a hundred people were walking in the open countryside in a mighty manner, and their destination was the county town of Milu County in Xidu.
This convoy of about a hundred people set out from Shichang a few months ago and traveled from the beginning of winter to the end of spring. It passed through dozens of counties and hundreds of towns, and also detoured many detours. As for the reasons, one is
The second reason for purchasing supplies is to take one last look at the familiar Eastern Capital, and the third thing... is to survive.
And the owner of this fleet is not an ordinary family. He is Suqiao Youjie, a former doctor in the Ministry of Civil Affairs who has just resigned from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and returned to his hometown. This time the family moved from Shichang to thousands of miles away to find deer. It was really helpless.
For example, the old man is nearly sixty years old this year. He grew up in Dongdu since he was a child. Because he studied early and was good at reading, he passed the national examination at the age of fifteen and was admitted to the most famous Tianmu Academy in Shichang City.
Relying on the help of his family's influence, his official career has been smooth, and he has become Suqiao Youjie, the official doctor of yesterday.
People in the officialdom are like saplings in the fields, and this is not an ordinary field, but the best field with the most fertile land in the world. Here you can get the most abundant nutrients, and soon the saplings can grow into towering trees.
, and when the grown sapling has the ability to flourish, it can use its remaining shade to protect those flowers that were once as short as itself.
The old man has been busy in the officialdom for almost forty years. The connections and knowledge accumulated here can provide unimaginable help to his descendants and clan members. However, after resigning, he took his whole family as if they were on the run.
Rushing to Xidu and abandoning all the management over the years is a kind of courage, and it is also a life and death decision...
Everything actually comes from the dispute between officials and etiquette...
Cangluo Kingdom is a monarchy and still uses the six-ministry system. Its six ministries include the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Industry. Each of the six ministries performs its own duties and is of the same level in the system.
The main function of the Ministry of Personnel is to manage the appointment and assessment of officials. Because of this, the power of the Ministry of Personnel seems to be greater than that of the other five departments.
The main function of the Ministry of Household Affairs is to manage the world's money, food, and chambers of commerce. It can be called the country's money bag and the basis for tens of millions of people to have enough to eat.
The main functions of the Ministry of Rites are to supervise schools and compose laws, that is, academy education and promulgation of laws. It can be said that the future of a country and what kind of people it will be composed of are all decided by the Ministry of Rites.
The main functions of the Ministry of War are to manage the national army, formulate strategies in wartime, dispatch generals and mobilize soldiers.
The main function of the Ministry of Punishments is to determine the guilt of citizens and impose reasonable punishments in accordance with the law.
The main function of the Ministry of Works is civil engineering, which includes building buildings, paving roads, building dams, repairing bridges and other construction-related matters.
I don’t know since when, the Ministry of Rites began to interfere in matters under the jurisdiction of the other five ministries, and gradually gained momentum to suppress them. During this period, overt and covert fights among officials naturally appeared, and Suqiao Youjie could not stay out of the matter, and finally ended up
Now this is the fate.
'In order to build the foundation of Cangluo for generations and restore the peak of prosperity of the ancestors, we should abandon the old scientific code and create the new seal of officialdom. Therefore, talents cannot match appearance, and character can participate in the three arts. Don't let ugly people enter the palace...
'
The old man sitting in the caravan could not forget the words of the doctor of the Ministry of Rites in the court hall half a year ago.
The meaning of this passage is that for the sake of the long-term foundation of Cangluo Kingdom, and in order to reproduce the appearance of Cangluo Kingdom in its heyday, we should start to cancel the existing old academic examination system and use the unique system of the new Cangluo era.
The entrance examination system, so when we select talents, we must give priority to whether their appearance conforms to contemporary aesthetics. As for their talents, they can be cultivated later. Similarly, their moral character and character are also directly based on their compulsory courses as Cangluo people.
Three arts (singing, dancing, and musical instruments) are sufficient. The most important point is to avoid ugly people from entering the court as officials, because such people will affect everyone's mood and damage the country's face.
In the court discussions, some officials even ridiculed those who lacked the sense of music as intellectually disabled people and were also unfit to serve as officials in the court. Later, some officials even believed that such people who were ugly or lacked the sense of music were not only unworthy of serving in the court.
Officials should not even enroll. The academies affiliated to Cangluo Kingdom should strictly examine whether the student's appearance meets the standards and whether the practice of the three arts is qualified when enrolling.
Officials who hold different opinions in the court will naturally stand up and fight back against such arguments. After all, this is the Cangluo Kingdom that advocates Confucianism. Those officials who have practiced "human nature is good" since childhood have said
He has expressed his own point of view that the world has always been governed by talent rather than appearance. Classical education is the fairest system for official career promotion. It has been used for nearly three thousand years. How can it be easily abolished! This obvious way of judging people by their appearance is
Biased arguments are really undesirable, and the consequences of judging people by their appearance are quoted from classics. It is precisely because of the loud opposition that this memorial from the Ministry of Rites was unable to gain the approval of His Majesty the Emperor.
It can only be put on hold temporarily.
It's just that... several generations of kings in the past hundred years have increasingly despised Confucianism and began to listen to the teachings of their ministers. This has caused great dissatisfaction in the Confucian world. However, Confucianism dominates the Cangluo Kingdom. As an emperor, he has to worry about helping himself.
The power of the Confucian scholarly community that governs the world, so the emperor of Cangluo State weighed the pros and cons before delaying the new proposal of the Ministry of Rites. Of course, this was only a delay and not a rejection.
This battle seems to be a victory for Confucianism, but every such victory will quietly weaken the power of Confucianism, because the enemies of Confucianism at this time are the emperor's cronies and close ministers, so every time a conflict of political opinions occurs, there will be
Soon after, several old officials of the Confucian school either defected to the favored minister Fang under coercion or inducement, or were directly demoted.
Suqiao Youjie belongs to the latter group. It was just for the sake of his last appearance, so he took the initiative to resign this time. It would look better than being dismissed.
If something like this had happened two hundred years ago, perhaps Suqiao Youjie wouldn't have had to do this, because the former 'Su clan', like the 'Wen clan', were both major clans in the Cangluo Kingdom.
It is worse than the Wen clan, but its influence in the Dongdu area is not small. Its clan members have a strong say in both the official and business circles, but... the power is not normal, and the moon rises and falls.
After all, it gradually declined over the past hundred years.
Of course, it’s not like the Su family hasn’t taken any rescue measures...
If nothing else, let’s talk about marriage. At the same time, the Jiao clan, which was in the same predicament, frequently intermarried with the Su clan. The Su clan valued the influence of the Jiao clan in the business community of Xidu, so every year
The number of intermarriages between the two clans was no less than a hundred, and Suqiao Youjie also married the love of his life, Jiao Mengxuan, during this period. Although in the end, no one from the two clans could save the family from decline, but under the same roof, they all
Rain can be considered a blessing (couple).
Return to the text.
Among the convoys mentioned above that left Shichang, the eastern capital, and rushed to the western capital to find deer, there were descendants of the Sujiao family. The head of the family was named Suqiao Youjie, an old man who was nearly sixty years old.
His wife Jiao Mengxuan is an old woman over fifty years old. They have three sons and one daughter. The eldest son Su Jiao Chengwang, the second son Su Jiao Chenglu, the third son Su Jiao Chengxing and the eldest daughter Jiao Su Cheng
wild goose.
The family was sitting in a six-wheeled caravan in the front row. The car was moving forward slowly. The length of the six-wheeled caravan was about one foot to seven feet, the width was less than eight feet, and the height was more than one foot to three feet. The body was divided into front and rear pavilions.
There are upper and lower floors. The front pavilion has four windows on the left and right for people to sit and watch the scenery. The back pavilion has no windows and only one vent to exhaust smoke from the heater in the car. A short ladder is also installed to lead directly to the upper floor for resting.
room.
At this time, the two elders were sitting in the front pavilion chatting. The second son and the third son were also chatting with each other in the front pavilion, but they had already dozed off. Only the eldest son was still watching the unfamiliar scenery outside the window with great interest, while the eldest son was still looking out the window with interest.
The woman was resting on the upper floor of the carriage due to spring sleepiness. Although the carriage was a little bumpy and the environment was unfamiliar, it did not affect her ability to sleep peacefully because her family members were still around her.
Suqiao Weijie: "Hey... What can I do if I am not with you... It's a waste that I still have this passion, but I don't want to just watch the river flow eastward and lament my own powerlessness. "
Sighing long and short, he muttered with a sad look on his face.
Jiao Mengxuan: "Husband, as the saying goes, it's good to be in the temple. It's a blessing to be able to return to Qingsi Ranxue. You have been an official for half your life and have fulfilled your duties as a minister. I have seen all this. Now it's
The situation has changed through no fault of yours, so don’t blame yourself for it.”
Careful words of advice.
Suqiao Weijie said: "Madam, my sudden demotion has hurt you. It's a long way to the Western Capital. It's my fault that you have to endure this bumpy pain..."
He lowered his head with a look of mourning, tears hidden in his eyes.
Jiao Mengxuan: "You and I are husband and wife, so what are you saying about being involved or not? We are not afraid that the children will laugh at you. Besides, when you were an official in the court, I also had a good time. Now you have resigned to serve the people."
, I am also happy to be a commoner's wife. From now on, you don't have to deal with the troubles of drinking and drinking. We can just be an ordinary couple. When we have grandchildren in the future, we will entertain them together. This is no better than when we stayed in Dongdu.
Much stronger."
Jiao Mengxuan quietly stretched out her hands and took one of Suqiao Weijie's hands, and the two people's wrinkled hands overlapped like this.
Suqiao Weijie: "..."
Although he didn't speak, the expression on his face was obviously no longer so sad.
Jiao Mengxuan: "As long as our family can stay together in peace, this is the best, and I will be satisfied." He raised his eyes and looked at the three sons in front of him.
Tears filled Suqiao Weijie's eyes again. He couldn't remember how many times this happened in the past six months. At this time, the motorcade was heading towards an inn not far away, where it was expected that
We will carry out supplies and rest. This place is beyond the boundaries of the Eastern Capital, but it is still far away from the Western Capital. And this inn used for supplies seems unusual. The reason is that there is an abyss behind the inn.
The abyss also has a heroic name called "Tianyao Pass". Although the name contains the word "pass", it does not mean a fortress pass, but is named after its wonderful scenery.
At this time, our perspective came to mid-air. The time at this time was about five o'clock in the afternoon. In less than an hour, the sun would set. The dusk in late spring felt a little cool, and Tianyaoguan was far away from the city.
In the wilderness, looking down from the air, you can see dense jungles of rocks scattered irregularly on this desolate land. Wild beasts and poisonous snakes are the masters of this land. If you walk here alone, you can occasionally see them.
Of course, most of the white bones without flesh and blood are animal skeletons, but I don’t know where the sinister eyes in the dark place come from. However, it is such a difficult place to like, but it is
The connecting channel between Dongdu and Xidu stretches for more than 700 kilometers from east to west, and has a nice name "Yong'an Oasis". Of course, this name is more about people's hope for the environment here, rather than an evaluation.
Because this is a desolate area with an area of 370,000 square kilometers. No matter how the seasons change, the climate is always not so friendly. The high temperature during the day can fry eggs on the road, and the frost and dew at night can make people feel like they are sleeping in the cold winter snow.
, and it is common for wild sand to block the sun, and a sandstorm can bury many lives alive.
It is such a terrible place, but it has not been able to stop the Cangluo people. For thousands of years, two roads have been artificially stepped on here, so that the passage between the east and west capitals can save thousands of kilometers of unnecessary travel.
, but even now, basically only teams of more than a hundred people dare to pass here. The reason for doing so is not only to guard against wild beasts hurting people, but also to rely on each other in case of danger.
At this time, a tall and thin figure appeared at the end of the screen. This figure slowly walked over from far to near. This person should be a monk. He was about 180 centimeters tall. On his bald head, there was a mark of ordination.
, a ring scar burned with incense, with three horizontal rows and three vertical rows, a total of nine white dots. This monk is wearing an old gray monk's robe, covered with an equally old green cassock, and a string of six lines hanging around his neck.
He was carrying wooden Buddha beads, holding an ordinary five-foot-long wooden staff in his hand, and wearing a pair of straw sandals at his feet. When the monk came closer, we could see his face clearly. He had a unibrow and small round eyes, but his eyes were bright.
God, the monk's face is so kind, giving people the feeling of a practitioner who does not fight against the world, but there is a faint wolfish forbearance between his eyebrows. Although I don't know where this monk comes from, I think he is tired from walking.
, not caring about the presence of wild beasts here, he just found a big stone under the tree, walked straight over, lay on the stone and closed his eyes to rest. The tall trees beside him opened up a natural paradise for the monk.
It was cool and cool, and the occasional breeze blew through the leaves, causing the leaves to rustle, so the monk slept peacefully and naturally soothed his limbs.
Dusk arrived at Tianyao Pass, and the sky outside the pass suddenly turned dark. A large group of dark clouds in the sky slowly moved towards the inn where Su Jiaoweijie and his family stayed. A gust of cold wind blew in, mixed with the cold wind that had just passed by before it rained.
There was a smell of rain, and a group of servants shouted hurriedly. Everyone hurriedly covered the cart with a rainproof cloth, and the lasso on the horse's body to pull the cart was also removed, and then they were taken to the hay room to feed and shelter from the rain, and then to the inn.
With his eyesight, the waiter could tell that this was a great family, so he hurriedly moved the best fodder for the horses. The steward (similar to the housekeeper) of the Sujiao family also went to the cabinet and briefly talked to the shopkeeper.
He cleverly concealed the true origin of the family and handed over a banknote worth 300,000 silver to the shopkeeper as a deposit.
This is a large inn about six or seven feet high, with five floors and no less than three hundred guest rooms, large and small. It is made of gray stone and brown trees, and is reinforced with lime water mixed with clay.
It is colored with earthen paint. The overall appearance of the inn is brown. Only the sloping roof made of green tiles is blue-grey. There is a wooden pole about six or seven feet tall at the door of the inn, with a yellow bottom hanging vertically on it.
The store flag with black characters and four large characters in Cangluo script reads "Donglai Inn".
It was originally the off-season for welcoming guests, and the inn seemed very deserted. But at this time, Su Jiao Weijie and his family came here. Suddenly there were more than a hundred guests in the inn, and it became lively in an instant.
After determining who was the head of the family, he ordered the chef to prepare two plates of local snacks, and cut several seasonal fruits into fruit plates, which were then delivered to Su Jiao Weijie's guest room through the waiter.
Got hit.
The rooms of Su Jiao Weijie and his wife were arranged in the middle of the third floor, next door to the eldest daughter's room, and the rooms of the three brothers were arranged next to their parents and younger sister, so as to serve as a warning.
At this time, it was getting dark outside the inn. After all, this place is close to the exit. There are few people walking in the morning and evening. This is in obvious contrast with the bustle inside the inn. The surroundings are quiet, and occasionally there are people in the dense forest not far away.
There were one or two birds chirping, and then there was the sound of leaves blowing in the wind. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in the originally dark night sky, instantly illuminating the environment within ten miles, and then the sound of thunder also reached the front of the pass. Not long after,
, the heavy rain fell from the sky, and the raindrops hit the sandy soil fiercely. In response to the sentence, the rain hit the beach with thousands of holes. Even after a quarter of an hour, the rain did not seem to have weakened at all. Seeing the raindrops rising after falling to the ground,
Fortunately, the roof has been carefully designed by craftsmen. Even if the rainwater hits the blue tiles, it will make a crisp sound, but the guests living on the top floor will not hear even a trace of noise.
At this time, Su Jiao Weijie, his eldest son and his second son were invited by the shopkeeper to come to the first floor to watch the rain. As for why they came to the first floor to watch the rain, there was naturally a reason. There was a special scene in Tianyaoguan today.
This scenery is not common, but the origin of the name Tianyaoguan is closely related to it.
There is a canyon on the north side of Tianyao Pass called "Yangju Gorge". It is said that this canyon is more than 1,700 feet deep. There seems to be a stream passing through the bottom of the canyon. It seems that there are only bones of wild beasts and rocks. There used to be many
Explorers went to the bottom of the valley to explore, but no one climbed up alive...
Then there is a wonder in this canyon, that is, when the sun sets in the west, the golden light of the sun will appear in the deep canyon without any light. Even if you are several miles away from the canyon, you can still see the golden light coming from the canyon.
The refracted light, and this is not the most special thing. If it encounters rainy weather at this time, this golden light can turn into seven-color rainbow light, and this light will float above the canyon, as if a colorful floating bridge has been built between the canyons.
The colorful floating bridge that appears above the valley is no less than a hundred feet long, and its height is also thirty feet high. Standing in front of the valley and looking up, it looks like a heavenly gate hanging above your head.
But regardless of whether the golden light or the colorful pontoon can only exist for a quarter of an hour at most, the canyon will return to the original darkness again.
It is said that this colorful floating bridge can carry people safely into deep valleys, but no one seems to have tried it so far. After all, this is so unreasonable that even adventurers will not make such an attempt that lacks common sense.
Today happened to be the last rays of sunset and a rainy day, so the guests in the inn gathered outside the first floor, where there was a specially built circular rain-viewing hall, where everyone waited to watch this rare beauty in the world.
And at this moment, there was a small wooden house in the oasis of Yong'an, and there were two men in official clothes? It seemed that they were about twenty-five or six years old, with long red lips and white teeth, and slender
The eyebrows and long eyelashes are obviously carefully decorated makeup. The original skin color can no longer be seen, only the pale color painted with makeup. Because he is an adult, he has been crowned, but he is different from ordinary men.
, the two wore a square feather crown hat on their heads. The forehead of the crown hat was inlaid with a green cat's eye stone. The back side of the hat was higher than the front side and was used to place the bun. A silver swift hairpin was placed horizontally.
The hat is fixed through a bun. The two are wearing a pink one-piece skirt with a stand-up collar and cut-sleeves. The skirt is different from the women's. The left and right sides have been deliberately cut out from the lower hip area. The skirt will be visible when walking.
The trousers and skirt are covered with white gauze clothes on the outside. This white gauze clothes goes up to the shoulders, down to the insteps, and reaches the wrists on the left and right sides. The golden Cangluo text is embroidered on the chest, from top to bottom, from left to
On the right hand side is written "Pure clothes serve as envoys, and filth does not exist." This is the official uniform of the Deputy Envoy of the Department of Clean Clothes. Then, under his feet, he is wearing a pair of red hollow shoes with a triangular front end. Both of them are equipped with "assistant swords" on their waists.
, at this time, the two of them were taking shelter from the rain in the wooden house and waiting for someone.
[Source world weapon spectrum]
1. Zuodao (excellent quality): A finely crafted weapon with a slightly forward-curved handle, three and a half inches in length, gray in color. The blade is two feet and three inches long and weighs two kilograms and four taels. Apart from the fact that it is relatively expensive to make,
There is nothing special about it, it is a weapon worn by the Deputy Envoy of Jingyi Division or Jingling Division.
At about six o'clock in the afternoon, the passengers in the Donglai Inn had already begun to eat in the dining hall on the second floor. At this time, everyone in the inn was talking about what they had seen, heard and felt during the journey. Cups were being exchanged between tables, and the lights in the building were brightly lit.
, lively like a market. The rain outside the inn gradually weakened, but did not stop. The rare peaceful night at this moment was disturbed by the sound of horse hooves coming from a distance. A large group of people wearing rainproof hats and
A man in white wearing a leather raincoat was riding towards him on a fast-paced horse. Water splashed under the horse's hooves. Several people in the horse team carried long night lanterns to illuminate the road ahead for the horses. The group of people hurried on, even if they passed the border.
He didn't even stop for a moment at the Donglai Inn in front of him and ran straight over. However, when one of the cavalry passed by the inn, he raised his head and glanced secretly at the second floor of the inn, then turned back and continued on his way.
.
After dinner, Jiao Mengxuan was chatting with her third son and eldest daughter in the room on the third floor, while Suqiao Weijie and his eldest son were concentrating on talking about something in the corner of the first floor of the inn. At this time, the first floor of the inn had only
There were only five or six people left, and it seemed a little deserted. Even the waiter was secretly hiding aside and lazing around. The rain outside the window passed through the tiles on the roof, turned into raindrops, and finally fell to the ground. The ticking sound seemed to have a rhythm.
People are not tired of it. At this time, they heard a knock on the door, but the sound was not loud. At first, everyone thought it was the sound caused by the wind blowing on the door, but after three or five knocks, the younger brother was also woken up from his doze.
, I saw him rubbing his eyes and walking towards the store door impatiently.
Second brother: "Come on, come on, why are there still guests on this rainy day? I'm so annoyed."
The first half of the sentence is very impatient, and the second half is mumbling and cursing in my heart.
A creaking sound came, and the two wooden doors opened to the left and right, and a monk was seen standing at the door. There was only one inn in front of the gate, and there was no good shelter from the rain around. It happened to rain so heavily just now.
But except for a few raindrops on the top of his head, there were no traces of rain on the monk's clothes. As soon as the second brother saw the monk's clothes, he knew that he was a walking monk, and the kind with no money. He also thought about the good dream he just had.
Being disturbed by this monk, I felt very unhappy for a moment, so I blocked the monk in front of the door with no intention of letting him in.
Second brother: "You monk, you came at the right time. It's raining so heavily. Why are you still wandering around? It's already dark. Why don't you go find a temple to rest? Wander around here and be careful.
The wild beast ate you as a midnight snack!!”
He said with his chin raised.
Monk: "Donor, please don't worry about the poor monk. As long as you have the light of Buddha in your heart, you will not be afraid of the dark night. Besides, the poor monk's return date has already been determined, so he should not be afraid of misfortune."
Said with a smile.
Second brother: "I don't understand what nonsense you monk is talking about! But let me tell you, I don't give alms here, let alone live in vain. Look at your poor appearance, I don't even bother to care.
You, please leave immediately, otherwise I won’t be polite!”