A few days later, Pingkangfang in Chang'an City was decorated with lanterns, theater troupes were performing, and merchants were handing out profits, but it was a lively day that had not been seen in a long time.
On the south tour of the square, there are Yuan Ning'an and Junping Street (formerly Li Linfu's house). Today there is an important banquet and it is surrounded by heavy soldiers, making it a forbidden place for idlers.
Early in the morning, nobles and officials from all over the city took their families and came to Pingkangfang for a tour to the south, preparing to attend the banquet.
At three quarters of the hour, as the sun was getting higher, the members of the clan who lived in the official residence of the imperial city slowly walked into the square under the guidance of the ceremonial guard.
In addition, the literati from Chang'an City, the musicians from Pingkangfang, and the female crown from the outer sect of Yuanning Nunnery also attended the banquet as accompanying guests.
Time slowly came to Si hour (ten o'clock in the morning), Chang'an Prefecture Yin Wei Yang, who was in charge of the banquet, took a look at the table where Tang Jun was sitting.
All the military officers, including Guo Ziyi, and the civil servants, including Kong You, had already taken their seats, but Zhou Jun was missing.
A guest from a noble family secretly came to ask, "When will the Prime Minister come?"
Wei Yang wiped the sweat from his forehead and whispered back: "Wait a little longer."
Guo Ziyi sat in the banquet, next to Kong You.
After taking a look at the banquet venue filled with singing and dancing, and at the richly dressed dignitaries not far away, Guo Ziyi frowned, and then said to Kong You: "I have been in the military for a long time, and I am not used to this kind of situation.
."
While tasting the wine, Kong You said: "The battle in Chang'an lasted for a long time, with tens of thousands of casualties. The general worked hard and worked hard, so he must find an opportunity to relax a little."
When the battle of Chang'an was mentioned, Guo Ziyi's expression darkened: "If I had been willing to lose face and ask Bo Hong for advice earlier, the war would not have been so tragic. Maybe my son Guo Yao would not have..."
Kong You put down his wine glass: "If the general asks Kong for advice from the beginning, even if you tell the truth frankly, he will be questioned by the military generals, which will easily cause unhappiness."
Guo Ziyi was still worried: "When I left Liangcheng, Bo Hong told me that the Prime Minister had no foresight and asserted that the Chang'an war might be defeated. I was stubborn and refused to listen, causing countless losses to the Tang army."
Kong You: "The general once went to Anxi to serve, and then went to Yanqi to visit Yinglong Temple, and saw a dragon statue in the cave. Do you still have doubts now?"
Guo Ziyi was stunned for a moment, then lowered his voice and said: "The people of Anxi all say that the Prime Minister is the envoy of Yinglong. He predicted the disaster in the world a few years ago. There is even a Yinglong Heavenly Book that says this. Is this true?"
Kong You: "General Guo has seen the Book of Heaven and talked with the relocated people. If Ying Longyi's statement is true or false, the general might as well think about it and talk to You again."
After Guo Ziyi heard this, he sat in the banquet and pondered silently.
A quarter of an hour later, the sound of dancing music came from outside the square gate, and the sound of people drowned out the banquet.
Someone shouted outside: "The Prime Minister is here!"
After hearing this, everyone at the banquet, whether they were nobles from the clan, civil and military officials, or even musicians and waiters, all rushed to the entrance of the banquet.
Ever since the Yan army invaded Chang'an, burning, killing, and looting, it had long been unpopular. The people in Chang'an had long been looking forward to the arrival of the Tang army.
Now, the Tang army defeated the Yan army and regained Chang'an, which is a great joy for the people of Chang'an.
Therefore, when the Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty came to Pingkangfang, everyone wanted to rush up and see the Prime Minister's true appearance.
At the entrance of the banquet, two women were dressed in women's crowns. Although they were a little older, they were both rare beauties with jade hairpins and green smoke wrapped in light gauze.
One of the girls, Xia Pei, had cloud-haired hair, icy muscles and jade bones. Compared with the other girl, her appearance was more immortal. She said, "Nie Xuanluan, I have heard you say many times before that you have an affair with Prime Minister Zhou."
We had a romantic marriage, and now we are about to meet, do you feel nostalgic for the past?"
The female Taoist priest known as Nie Xuanluan looked at the entrance of the street and didn't care at all about the other woman's teasing.
Seeing this, another female Taoist priest covered her mouth and said with a smile: "I want to see what kind of person the man who has allowed you to pray for so many years is."
Not long after, dozens of riders drove up from the end of the street. Zhou Jun was dressed in a Luo shirt and tied with a turban. Although his clothes were ordinary, for some reason, he stood out the most among the crowd.
When Nie Xuanluan saw Zhou Jun, he trembled first, and then sighed: "Li Jilan, that's Zhou Hengcai... His appearance is vaguely the same as before, but his whole temperament has changed, making people feel strange."
The moment she saw Zhou Jun, the female Taoist priest named Li Jilan was stunned for a long time.
After a while, Li Jilan lowered his voice and asked: "Is that really Zhou Lang who wrote 'Zhijiao promises life and death'?"
Nie Xuanluan nodded slightly.
Li Jilan: "It's not just poems and stories. I heard that Zhou Lang fought in Anxi, Shuofang and Dunhuang. He won every battle and never lost. Such a versatile man in both civil and military affairs is actually like this...
young."
Nie Xuanluan looked at it for a while, looked gloomy, shook his head, turned around and walked towards the banquet.
Seeing this, Li Jilan quickly caught up with her and asked, "Isn't it just to talk to Zhou Erlang that you dragged me along this time and came all the way from Jiangnan to Chang'an? Why are you leaving now?"
Nie Xuanluan put the whisk in his arms and said softly: "When I didn't meet Zhou Erlang, I heard that he was going south to Chang'an. I thought it might be good to meet him. Only when I actually saw him did I realize that he was too far away from me.
, so far away that I can no longer speak..."
After hearing this, Li Jilan paused for a moment, and then did not persuade anyone else, but just accompanied Nie Xuanluan back to the banquet.
Zhou Jun dismounted at the southern gate of Pingkangfang.
The nobles and aristocratic families who were originally waiting at the entrance of the banquet, regardless of the Tang army's obstruction, crowded forward. Everyone wanted to speak to the prime minister first.
"Prime Minister, I am Cui Sicheng from the Cui family in Hedong. I have admired you for a long time..."
"Prime Minister, I am Yang Yu from the Yang family in Jingzhao. The eldest son of the family is in the Jinwu Guard..."
"Prime Minister, this is the youngest daughter of the family. Her name is Xijiao. I have always heard that the Prime Minister has great literary talents. I am here today..."
…
Amidst the noise, Zhou Jun looked around at the familiar scenes in Pingkangfang. There was no expression on his face. He just sighed softly and then entered the banquet venue surrounded by everyone.
.
Among the welcoming crowd, Kong You saw Wang Hong, who was leading the troops outside and acting as a guard. He thought for a moment, then walked to Guo Ziyi and whispered: "General Guo, stay here."
Hearing this, Guo Ziyi stopped.
Kong You waited until there were fewer guests around him, and said to Guo Ziyi: "You just told you about Ying Long. Does the general have a conclusion in his mind?"
Guo Ziyi was a little confused and didn't understand why Kong You wanted to ask about this matter at this time.
Kong You added: "I heard that a few days ago, someone from the Wei family in Chang'an came to marry General Guo's family, Liu Lang?"
Kong You put two unrelated things together and talked about them together, which made Guo Ziyi even more confused.
Kong You said softly: "The prime minister thinks highly of General Guo, but the general is always wavering, which seems to be indecisive."
When Guo Ziyi heard this, he was shocked and suddenly understood something.
Kong You smiled softly and said: "Something big happened today. You can only say this much. General Guo might as well make a decision early."
Guo Ziyi looked at Kong You's leaving figure, bent her spine, and bowed.
