Eight years ago, Zhou Jun attended the Tang Dynasty meeting here as a courtier. Today, only the pillars remain on one side of the gatehouse, and there are still traces of fire on a large part of the wall.
Standing in front of the royal dais at the innermost side of the imperial palace, Zhou Jun looked at the emperor's throne in disarray.
When the Yan army fled, they did not even miss the gold ornaments on the throne's back box.
The sergeant's singing voice came from outside the door, and the surrendered ministers and many prominent figures in Chang'an City came to wait outside the main hall.
Zhou Jun waved his hand, Wang Hong saw this, sang "Oi", walked to the hall and ordered to let him go.
Not long after, a group of officials, nobles, and clan elders in different clothes walked into the palace door and bowed in salute.
Among these people, there is a group of people who stand out the most.
They were wearing crown robes, embellished with pieces of gold, and jade belts. They must be the royal family that Kong You mentioned.
Among these clans, the person at the forefront was an old man who was over seventy years old.
The old man had a bright head and pale face, and his eyes were like torches. Zhou Jun was vaguely impressed.
The old man walked to the palace and said loudly: "I, Li Shao, am the descendant of the current sage from the branch of King Chu."
Zhou Jun finally remembered that when he attended the Shangyuan Festival night banquet at Xingqing Palace, this old man was sitting in the upper seat. He was highly respected in the clan, and even Li Longji respected him.
Zhou Jun vaguely remembered that when Li Shao was in Tianbao's early days, he held the post of Minister of Guanglu Temple in the court, and later became an official and went back to take care of his old age. He didn't know why he appeared here at this time.
After Li Shao finished speaking, another group of clan members introduced themselves. It sounded like they were all kinds of people, including all kinds of people.
After the introduction of the clan, it was the turn of the surrendered ministers and dignitaries.
After Zhou Jun listened, he found that most of them were descendants of aristocratic families. Judging from the family tree, the Du, Liu, Pei, Xue, Wei, and Yang families were all present. In addition, there were many Hebei aristocratic families, such as Lu.
Surname, Wang, Cui, etc.
After everyone was introduced, Li Shao said: "Zhou's consort conquered Fan Yang, regained Chang'an, and brought peace to the world. He was the number one contributor to the resurgence of the Tang Dynasty!"
Zhou Jun listened quietly and said nothing.
Guo Ziyi frowned when she heard the word "consort".
Li Shao: "The saint had a keen eye in those days, and he did not mind that his consort was from a humble background. He must have been Princess Wanchun. Now it seems that he is really lucky for the court and the great Tang Dynasty!"
Hearing this, even Wang Hong, the leader of the personal guard, could tell there was something wrong in the words, and his face showed dissatisfaction.
Zhou Jun's face was still as calm as water.
Seeing that Zhou Jun was silent, Li Shao straightened his back and continued: "Chang'an has been restored. The most important things at the moment are to welcome His Majesty back to the capital and to rebuild the court in Chang'an. The prince-consort should plan for this as soon as possible.
Slouch!"
Guo Ziyi cleared his throat and said: "The rebel army is stationed in Tongguan, which is only a few days away from Chang'an. It won't be long before there will be another war here. Aren't you worried about His Majesty's safety?"
Hearing this, the ministers, dignitaries and clan members in the palace looked at each other.
At this time, an official wearing a blue Confucian robe came forward, bowed to Zhou Jun and said: "The Prime Minister is wise and courageous, and has countless strategies. Chang'an should be impregnable, and nothing will happen to him with all his plans."
Zhou Jun glanced at the official and found that the person speaking was none other than Wei Yang, the Yin of the Chang'an Prefecture of the puppet Yan State.
Wei Yang added: "The Prime Minister is the best among people in terms of literary talent and leadership. We have admired him for a long time, and now that we can see him, he is indeed worthy of his reputation."
The condescending words of Li Shao Shicai, the direct descendant of Prince Fang Zong, made the officers and soldiers of the Tang army feel dissatisfied.
But after Wei Yang's flattery, the faces of the sergeants in the palace became slightly better.
Zhou Jun and Kong You looked at each other helplessly.
Li Shaoyi acted like an old man and spoke rudely, while Wei Yang tried his best to flatter him, just to please him. Before the two came, they had clearly discussed it, one person acted good and the other acted bad, and they had a red-faced and white-faced division of labor.
Zhou Jun didn't bother to pay attention to these twists and turns, and asked: "You are here today just to rebuild the Chang'an court?"
Li Shaogang wanted to speak, but Wei Yang quickly took over the conversation and said to Zhou Jun: "Prime Minister, there is no need to rush the affairs of the Chang'an court, so you should take care of them... Your arrival in Chang'an has given us, the old officials of the Tang Dynasty, a backbone.
This is a big deal. In order to welcome you, the prominent family members in Chang'an City have specially hosted a banquet in Pingkangfang..."
Kong You didn't wait for Wei Yang to finish what he said, and sneered: "Old minister of the Tang Dynasty? This is really interesting. The bandit army occupied Chang'an, burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil. You lost your integrity and surrendered to the enemy. How can you settle the score?"
When Wei Yang heard this, he quickly said: "We endured humiliation and eked out our lives. Our purpose was not to survive, but to protect the people of the Tang Dynasty from harm. Before the leader of the thief An Lushan died, the thief army killed the Tang people, and the people of the capital were devastated.
Ten rooms and nine empty houses. After An Lushan died, we and the thieves turned around, so that the thieves stopped killing the people, and thus protected the bloodline of the Tang Dynasty."
Zhou Jun listened and cursed in his heart. This rhetoric was exactly the same as that of the traitors during the Anti-Japanese War.
Wei Yang: "Many old ministers in the palace have been looking forward to the Prime Minister's arrival for a long time. Now that their dreams have come true, everyone is happy."
Li Shao also stroked his beard and said: "What the young man of the Wei family said is right. Thanks to these old officials of the Tang Dynasty, who have been working with the bandit army in recent years, the capital has been stabilized, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and tragedies such as massacres no longer occur.
."
Zhou Jun smiled slightly: "In this case, the court should thank you for your contribution."
Wei Yang and a group of nobles and nobles quickly said: "I don't dare to take it seriously. The Prime Minister's words are serious."
Zhou Jun: "The Tang army has just captured the city of Chang'an, and now they have to spend a lot of energy on dealing with the aftermath. As for the rebuilding of the court in Chang'an, it will naturally be put on the agenda next."
Wei Yang heard this and asked tentatively: "Then we...?"
Zhou Jun: "After the imperial court is rebuilt, it will naturally be of use to you."
When Wei Yang and other dignitaries heard this, their faces were filled with joy.
Zhou Jun's words, in their view, reveal two meanings. Firstly, they will not be held accountable for losing integrity and surrendering to the enemy. Secondly, if the Chang'an court is rebuilt in the future, all the people in the palace today can enter.
Become an official in court.
Zhou Jun then said to everyone in the palace with a pleasant look: "Now that the bandit army has been defeated, you come and surrender to me. If Luoyang hears about this and feels revenge, he may have your family members stabbed. You must take care of me."
comprehensive."
When all the clan members and clan members heard Zhou Jun's words, they immediately reacted and quickly said yes.
Zhou Jun smiled and said: "Chang'an City is heavily guarded, so there is no need to worry about safety. Why not move your family into the city so that you can be taken care of."
When everyone heard that it made sense, they nodded one after another.
Wei Yang asked at this time: "What about the banquet at Pingkangfang mentioned earlier, Prime Minister?"
Zhou Jun nodded and said: "Of course that's good. I will definitely go to the banquet. Remember to bring your family with you and get to know each other."
Wei Yang heard this and nodded with a smile: "With these words from the Prime Minister, we will feel at ease."
After the visitors in the palace walked away, the smile on Zhou Jun's face slowly faded and he said softly: "Kong You."
Kong You came out of the queue, came to Zhou Jun, and bowed to salute.
Zhou Jun: "Bring the scribes and officials to check the branches and household registrations of Chang'an over the years."
Kong You took the order and left.
Zhou Jun said again: "Wang Hong."
Wang Hong came out.
Zhou Jun: "Bring your personal guards with you, in the name of security, to find out the current layout and entry and exit of Pingkangfang, to ensure that nothing goes wrong on the day of the banquet."
Seeing Wang Hong leaving, Zhou Jun said to Guo Ziyi on the side: "On the day of the banquet, General Guo will go to the banquet with me."
When Guo Ziyi heard this, he cupped his hands and said "Hey."