The rooster crows at dawn, making Chang'an fall asleep well.
Li Siye was lying on the couch, resting his head on his arms and looking at the skylight coming through the top window. It was already the end of the twelfth lunar month, and it would be Yuanzheng in a few days. His eyes moved and his thoughts flew to Shule Town, thinking about the twelve
How will my mother and my son Yuan Zheng live?
Someone outside the door gently knocked on the door and said, "Envoy Li Zhen, it's me."
"Cheng Duhu?" He lifted the quilt and sat up from the couch. He got down to the ground wearing only a singlet, put his feet into his Liuhe boots, and said, "Come in, the door is open."
Cheng Qianli pushed open the door and walked in. He lifted up his skirt and sat in front of his couch and said, "The weather is fine today. Why don't you sleep in the room? Come with me and go out for a drink."
"No, I won't go, my wife won't let me go."
"Come on, don't pretend to be stupid. I just let you drink, but I didn't let you touch the meat." Cheng Duhu paused pretending to be mysterious: "I asked you to go out for a drink because I have something important to tell you."
Li Siye hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, just wait for me, I'll pack up and go out right away."
His relationship with Cheng Qianli was not close, far less than his relationship with Gao Xianzhi. Although Cheng Duhu's daughter Cheng Wansu had been best friends with his Meier for a period of time, they did not get closer.
distance.
This time they came to Chang'an together. Cheng Qianli suddenly discovered that the young man named Li was more wild than him and could cling to Yang Taizhen, so he became more and more impressed by him.
Li Siye made many achievements when he was in Qixi, but Cheng Qianli looked at him with new eyes. His attitude immediately changed once he had the connections. It seems that the world's recognition of personal abilities is far less important than clinging to the powerful. The values and atmosphere of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty have deteriorated.
to this point.
The two of them walked out of the backyard together and came to a relatively high-end brothel in Zhongqu. They opened the partition and entered the room, and the aroma wafted out. There was a large four-legged table in the center, surrounded by four screens, and a woman was kneeling.
Sitting in front of the desk, applying makeup in front of the mirror.
"You two guests, please wait a moment."
Cheng Qianli and Li Siye sat opposite each other in front of the long case. There were already crystal persimmons and wine bottles and cups on the case. There was no one around to serve them, so they poured their own drinks.
Li Siye picked up the wine bottle and poured a glass into Cheng Qianli's wine cup, and asked: "You said you have something important to talk to me about. Tell me, what is it?"
Cheng Qianli picked up the wine cup and drank it all in one gulp, frowning and smacking his lips as if the wine was bitter: "The world is just like this wine, it's getting more and more chilling."
"Don't be pretentious and sigh, just tell the truth directly."
Cheng raised his head and glanced at him: "The official letter of meritorious service and reward given to us by the Ministry of War has come down. It is currently in the hands of Fumeng Lingcha. I received this official letter in the backyard, so I took a peek at it and was very sad.
cold."
Li Siye wondered: "Since husband Meng Zhongcheng has received the official letter of meritorious service, why didn't he inform us?"
"He didn't have the nerve to show it, so he could only hold it in his hand. He couldn't even mention it. Gao Xianzhi has been promoted to deputy envoy of Anxi Jiedu, and you and I have not participated in the war this year. It's okay not to be promoted regardless of merit. But
You got the upper-middle grade in the exam this year, and you planned an expedition against the Shi Mohe tribe and killed the enemy generals, but why did you only get a rank-9 guard?"
"What's wrong with the Guards?" Li Siye put down his cup and said with a smile, "The Nineth-Rank Guards are already considered to be of the third rank."
"That's not what you are thinking," Cheng Qianli stared into his eyes and said, "Think about it, how fast you were promoted in the past few years, do you feel that it is getting slower and slower now? Your exams are not as good as Gao Xianzhi's.
Is that so? Aren’t you more meritorious than Gao Xianzhi? Well, even if he is ahead in terms of seniority, you should still serve as a guardian, or even worse, you should be a marching commander."
The official letter of merit award issued by the Ministry of War was indeed unfair, but it only disappointed him, and it did not make him feel that the sky was falling. Even if he was stuck at the pass, the worst he could do was go to Taoist Gongsun again, and then Taoist Gongsun would
He was introduced to Yang Taizhen once. His ascending passage was not blocked, so it was easy to handle. However, Cheng Qianli seemed to be fighting against the injustice, and his thoughts were probably not so pure, so he somewhat wanted to charge forward.
Li Siye threw the words back: "Cheng Duhu, in fact, you are the most unjust. When Gao Xianzhi was the deputy town envoy, you were the Qiuci town envoy. He was the deputy guard, and you were also the deputy guard. But the other party
You are already the Military Envoy of the Four Towns and the Deputy Envoy of Jiedu, and now you are still the Deputy Protector."
"To be fair, we are not targeting Gao Xianzhi, we are just discussing the matter. The current group of ministers in the court are deeply afraid that the border generals will occupy their positions, and almost all the newly appointed Jiedu envoys are barbarians. Gao Xianzhi
His rapid promotion to Deputy Envoy of Jiedu is inseparable from the fact that he is a barbarian."
"Alas," Li Siye asked suspiciously, "Isn't the Ministry of War concurrently held by the Left Prime Minister Li Shizhi? The Left Prime Minister himself became the prime minister from a general position, so how could he block the path of his descendants?"
Cheng Qianli coughed slightly to cover up and said: "Left Prime Minister Li Shizhi certainly won't, but the whole court has been completely controlled by the Right Prime Minister. Even the military department in charge of the Left Prime Minister has been sidelined. I really can't believe that we Han officials can actually
Not as good as the barbarians." After saying this, he became more and more depressed, picked up the filled cup and swallowed a sip of wine.
The prostitute who had been putting on makeup just now has come to the screen. She was covered with a thin scarf. She was sitting next to the two of them. Her red skirt was piled up into a ball of flowers. She picked up the wine cup on the table and filled it for the two of them.
Then he laughed and said: "You two officials have nothing to complain about. They are much more unlucky than you. There are not many officials who have lost their lives as officials. Not to mention anything else, there was an official who arrested a bad handsome man in Wannian County recently."
, because the following criminal killed Shangguan and has been put on death row."
"Who?" He dropped the wine cup and turned around.
Li Siye couldn't believe it and asked again: "Who? Which county, Chang'an or Wannian?"
"This is our Wannian County."
"Zhang Xiaojing?"
"That's right, it's Zhang Xiaojing."
Cheng Qianli noticed his strange expression and asked casually: "Why, do you know him?"
"Well, this little tribute is from an old friend of mine."
Cheng Qianli didn't care about Li Siye's so-called old friend, and said to the woman pouring wine beside him: "You go down first, I will call you later."
The woman curled her lips, turned around, stood up, and walked out of the screen, dragging her skirt.
Cheng Qianli raised his head and drank down the wine in the cup: "I have never seen such a narrow-minded and jealous person. He only needs to be in position to guard against the court officials. The guard against the generals also starts from the bottom, in the bud.
This state will kill you and me in our career.
"It's not as serious as you said. It's just based on the Hu people's custom of not appointing prime ministers. I think the Hu people won't covet his position and promoted him. But it's not fair to us Han generals." He said in a low voice.
: "There is no solution to this situation for us now, unless something unexpected happens. Well, we are almost done drinking. We should leave."
Cheng Qianli obviously didn't get what he wanted to know from Li Siye. He knew that he could solve this situation and even use his power to get out of his current predicament. But for now, this ambassador Li Zhen
Are you ready to just let this matter go?
The two came out of the brothel. Li Siye bowed his hands to Cheng Qianli and walked out of Pingkangfang, turning toward Xuanyangfang.
Standing at the door of Chang'an County House, he walked inside. A guard guarding the door quickly stopped him: "Who is it? Do you know where this place is?"
"I know, Wannian County." He lowered his head and touched his sleeves, pinched out a bunch of money and handed it to the other party's hand, saying in a low voice: "You're welcome to buy some wine in your spare time."
The officer put it away without leaving a trace and said with a smile: "What are you doing here in the county?"
Li Siye asked in a low voice: "Where is Zhang Xiaojing, the former bad commander of Wannian County, being imprisoned now? I want to see him."
The officer's face changed slightly, and he suddenly felt that the money was a bit hot, but it was within the range he could afford.
"They're locked up in a cage over there at the county jail, but there are a lot of people there, so they're keeping a close eye on this..."
"It's okay," Li Siye patted the guard's shoulder and walked towards the door.
The officer was right. There were three or four passes from the county gate to the county prison, and almost all of them had to be passed through with Tongbao. Although it would not make him weak, it was enough to make him feel distressed.
"It's in the third underground cage facing east. Go quickly. It can't take too long, otherwise the higher-ups will blame you and we won't have any good fruits to eat."