The New Year is coming quietly. New Year's Eve is a day for every family to worship their ancestors. Usually they start worshiping their ancestors at Yin o'clock in the night. Before dawn, all the civil and military officials in Chang'an have to rush to the court to attend the New Year's ceremony. Then the emperor holds a banquet to entertain all the officials.
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In Danfengmen Square, officials gathered together in twos and threes to chat.
Guo Song came in from the Danfeng Gate, and Xue Xun, who had been waiting for him, hurriedly greeted him, "Xiannephew, why did you come here?
Although Guo Song is already Xue Xun's prospective son-in-law, before getting married, he is usually called nephew. Only when he returns home after marriage, he will be addressed as son-in-law.
Guo Song said apologetically: "Something happened at the military camp temporarily, so it was delayed."
Xue Xun was startled, "Did my nephew come from the military camp?"
"I have been in the military camp during this period, and I had the New Year's Eve dinner last night with the soldiers. I think there won't be too many opportunities like this in the future, so I try to spend as much time with the soldiers as possible to win everyone's recognition."
Xue Xun nodded, "You are doing the right thing. Only when you treat the soldiers as friends and family will the soldiers truly regard you as handsome."
"Thank you, Uncle Shi, for your teaching!"
Xue Xun added: "If you have time in the next two days, come to my house for a meal. Invite proprietor Zhang and his family to come and get together."
"no problem!"
Guo Song said happily: "I will make an appointment with my senior brother later to confirm the time, and then send a letter to Uncle Shi."
"Why don't you invite your senior brother and Tianshi Li as well?"
Guo Song was a little confused: "I'm afraid senior brother doesn't have time. The Chinese New Year is his busiest time. He has to go out every day to perform religious services, and they are all scheduled until the end of the month. He said they are from powerful families and it is not easy to let disciples take their place.
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"Then we can invite him next time. Just host Zhang and his family over."
Guo Song nodded, "I remember!"
"Old Xue!"
Someone was waving to Xue Xun, and Xue Xun chuckled and said, "They are some old friends, let's go there together!"
Xue Xun brought Guo Song to several officials. The leading official smiled and said: "Weng and son-in-law are ministers in the same palace. It is a good story."
"It made a few people laugh!"
Xue Xun introduced several ministers to Guo Song, "This is Yang Ji, a doctor in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, my classmate and friend in Luoyang."
Yang Ji was born in the direct line of the Yang family in Hongnong. He has a pair of slender eyes, and there is always a sly smile in his eyes. I don't know if this smile comes from the eyes themselves, or from the heart.
His wife and Xue Xun's wife Han are best friends, but they are also the objects of comparison with each other.
Xue Xun introduced the other two people to Guo Song, "This is Taichang Shaoqing Wei Lun, and this is Dali Temple Shaoqing Gao Shen. They are both my colleagues in the East Palace."
Wei Lun and Gao Shen didn't talk much. They smiled kindly and greeted Guo Song. "I've heard the name of Governor Guo for a long time."
Guo Song suddenly had a realization. Taichang Shaoqing Weilun, Dali Temple Shaoqing Gao Shen, secretary and young eunuch Xue Xun were all from the East Palace. They were obviously his own people that Li Shi wanted to train. This Yang Ji had always been dissatisfied.
Why do you think so highly of Xue Xun, but now he is trying his best to hang out with them? He is obviously a smart man and a man who is good at maneuvering.
"Brother Yang, do you have any news for us?" Xue Xun asked with a smile.
"I was just about to say that!"
Yang Ji looked both ways, lowered his voice and said, "Chang Gun is about to step down as prime minister. This is definite news."
"Okay, why did you give up?" Waylon asked in confusion.
"The new monarch doesn't like this person. News from the palace says that the new monarch's comment about him is that he is narrow-minded and has no ability to be a prime minister. It may be related to the incident with Nephew Guo."
Several people looked at Guo Song, and Guo Song said calmly: "It is normal for an emperor and a courtier to change their roles. I will not take the blame for this."
"Then who will succeed Chang Xiangguo?" Waylon asked.
"Yesterday afternoon, the emperor issued four decrees in succession, announcing that Yang Yan, Sima of Daozhou, Cui Youfu of Henan Prefecture, Li Bi, governor of Hangzhou, and Qiao Lin, governor of Huaizhou, had entered the court. It is estimated that the person who succeeded Chang Gun as prime minister was among the four of them.
produce."
Gao Shen chuckled and said, "It would be interesting if the person who succeeded Chang Gun was Cui Youfu. The two sworn enemies have met again."
"Does the new emperor want to restore the polyphase system?" Guo Song asked.
Xue Xun pondered for a while and said: "When the late emperor restored the system of left and right prime ministers, the prince did not agree with it. He once said to me that the polyphase system is conducive to pooling wisdom and dispersing the sole power of the prime minister. I think the new emperor is more inclined to polyphase.
Of course, the system will not completely ignore the right minister as before, but we can wait and see how to change it."
At this time, the bell rang, and everyone gathered under Longwei Road. Today the New Year's Day will be held in Danfengmen Square, and then everyone will enter Hanyuan Hall to participate in the New Year's banquet.
The New Year's Day is not a discussion, but the emperor's congratulations on the New Year to all civil and military officials and the people of the world. Since this is the first New Year's Day after the new emperor ascends the throne, he will announce some important things, such as the New Year's era name and amnesty.
Waiting for the world, usually it doesn’t take too long, and it usually ends in about a quarter of an hour.
At this time, the sound of drums sounded, and Emperor Li Shi, who was wearing a sky-high crown, a red and yellow robe of nine dragons, and a jade belt around his waist, was surrounded by a large group of guards and maids, and filed in from the side. Two maids crossed with long feather fans, and behind them
The guards held high the yellow umbrella cover.
Li Shi sat down on the dragon couch on the steps, and all the ministers knelt down and paid homage, "Long live your Majesty, long live, long live your Majesty!"
"My dear friends, you are free of charge and free of charge!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The ministers stood up and Li Shi nodded, "Read it out!"
Zhao Qiong, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, unfolded the imperial edict and read loudly: "With the arrival of the New Year, may blessings be revived and the country prosper. I issue this edict to inform the world..."
Zhao Qiong wrote thousands of words eloquently, mostly praising the great achievements of the late emperor. Zhao Qiong read for a full quarter of an hour before announcing at the end, "From today onwards, the country's name will be changed to Jianzhong. This year is the first year of Jianzhong. For
On the occasion of his accession to the throne, I hereby declare a general amnesty for the whole country. I hope that all the civil and military ministers will continue to work hard for the Tang Dynasty and jointly create the great cause of Zhongxing. On the first day of the first month of the first year of the founding of China, I express my gratitude!"
Everyone shouted long live again, and Li Shi smiled slightly and said: "Everyone worked hard last year. I will put some wine on the table to entertain you. Please come to the Hanyuan Hall and take a seat. Come back having a good time."
"New Year's Banquet, get ready to sit down!"
The guards shouted, and amidst the sound of drums, Li Shi was surrounded by palace maids and guards and left. The eunuchs withdrew the dragon couch, and the civil and military officials and the royal family members divided into two teams and walked up the dragon's head road to the top of the hall.
, enter the Hanyuan Hall.
Thousands of low tables have been set up in the main hall, and soft mats are spread on the floor. Officials above the fifth rank have their own seats and must find their own name tags. Officials below the fifth rank can sit wherever they like, but they cannot sit at the wrong rank.
Guo Song quickly found his seat. It read "Yinqing Guanglu Doctor Guo Song" on it. Guo Song sat down. Most of the officials around him were unknown to him.
This is also the reason why many young officials are still willing to stay in the court even though local officials have good conditions and rich salary. Staying in the court means that they can gradually establish their various personal connections and even squeeze into a certain circle. This will have a great influence on the future.
It is of great benefit to develop your official career, but you will lose this opportunity if you become a local official.
But after a certain period of time in the officialdom, officials will try their best to serve as local officials, not to make money, but to gain seniority. The rule for thousands of years has been 'If you don't enter a prefecture or county, you can't enter a province or Taiwan'. There is no such thing.
If you have been a local official and do not understand the sufferings of the people, you will not have the capital to govern the country.
Historically, even if Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, wanted to promote Yang Guozhong to the position of prime minister, he had to let him go to Shu County for half a year to serve as a long history officer.
Therefore, Guo Song had never had the experience of being an official in the court. Except for a few court officials he knew, he had a dark eye on other court officials.
At this New Year's banquet, Guo Song had to pour and drink by himself, which made him feel very depressed.
In fact, he is not the only one who is depressed, almost all officials are depressed after drinking. They cannot change seats at will, make loud noises, or lose their temper while drinking. If you are lucky, you can sit with familiar people and you can whisper to each other or chat in a low voice.
If you are unlucky when it comes to drinking, there are no familiar people around, so you can only drink alone like Guo Song.
Fortunately, we could leave the meeting early. After pretending to drink for half an hour, many officials excused themselves from being drunk and went to a restaurant to drink together.
Drinking! It’s all about the atmosphere. Everyone gets together to exchange glasses, drink, chat, and laugh loudly. This is what makes people happy. What kind of wine you drink or what food you eat doesn’t really matter.
Of course, the wines served at imperial banquets are all good wines, such as Meishou wine or Jiannan Shaochun, Meishou wine or Gaochang wine, which made many ministers who are greedy for alcohol relieve their alcohol addiction. Therefore, New Year’s banquets often appear in two extremes.
Those who slipped away, or were just too greedy to drink, refused to leave, and ended up drunk.
When Guo Song saw someone leaving the table, he couldn't sit down anymore, so he followed them and fled.