Love Affairs in Chang'an - Chapter 54

Chapter 54 Meandering Water Source
Qin Mubai closed the invitation and asked, “Second Brother, why did King Wei want to have a banquet for no reason? How did he know that I came back from vacation?”

‘”You’re a big fan now. It’s not easy to know that you’re back. Yesterday, your appearance at the number one wine in the world was enough to let King Wei know. I wonder how many of the officials and scholars drinking and entertaining there are Wei King’s disciples.” Qin Bin said, “As for the reason for the treat, Fool Brother seems to have heard that the King of Wei wants to invite all the scholars and scholars to have a drink.”

“Crooked water flowing over? What a joke! It’s already summer, what kind of water flowing over?” Qin Mubai couldn’t help but laugh.

Qushui Liuchang is an ancient custom that has been passed down since the Jin Dynasty. Legend has it that the famous calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi, his relatives and friends, Xie An, Sun Chuo, and 42 others, held the activity of drinking wine and composing poems in Lan Ting after they cultivated, citing it as a wonderful tale from time immemorial. This elegant and vulgar style of Confucianism has been passed down to this day. At that time, Wang Xizhi and the others sat on the ground on both sides of the Qingxi River in Lanting after the ceremony of Xiuxi sacrifice. They placed the wine source in the stream and slowly flowed down from the upstream. After passing through the winding stream, the wine source would spin or stop in front of whoever had to improvise to compose poems and drink wine.

In this game, there were eleven people who each wrote two poems, fifteen people who each wrote one poem, sixteen people who could not write poems, and each of them was fined three drinks. Wang Xizhi used cocoon paper and mouse beard brush to write the world-famous preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection.

Nowadays, Emperor Li Shimin loved Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy to the bone marrow, which aroused the calligraphy upsurge in the world of the Great Tang Dynasty. As a result, the elegant way of entertainment, Qushui Liuchang, also spread among the scholars of the Great Tang Dynasty. However, Qushui Liufang was usually held in the last festival of the spring in March, and now it was already summer solstice day.

“This foolish brother doesn’t know either.” Qin Bin shook his head and smiled. “I heard from the guests in the same line that in March of this year, King Wei was ordered to accompany His Majesty the Emperor in the palace to discuss the compilation of the Earth Enveloping Records. As a result, he missed the ups and downs of this year.” Thus, he took advantage of his current time to make up for it. King Wei has a very close relationship with many scholars and scholars, and Qushui Liuyuan has always been an important way for him to communicate with them. He probably doesn’t want to waste it anymore! ”

“So that’s the case” Qin Mubai shook his head and smiled. “I, a martial artist, have only met King Wei once. Why are you inviting me? Isn’t this just trying to drive a duck into a fight? Are you trying to embarrass me?”

“Third Brother, do you really understand, or are you pretending to be foolish?” Qin Bin laughed, “This is already clear. King Wei wants to pull you into a cage!”

Qin Mubai chuckled and said, “Then go! Anyway, chanting poetry is definitely not good for me. Let’s go and see the liveliness. If the King of Wei invites me, I won’t slap him in the face. But Second Brother, I want to ask-how is your relationship with the King of Wei right now?”

Qin Bin smiled indifferently, “It’s not like you don’t know what my father taught you.” Although Foolish Brother had met King Wei in Hongwen Library and the Martial Palace for three days, there were few words that could not be said to be friendship between him and King Wei. Prince Wei, it seems that he also doesn’t care about me, a low-ranking proofreader who isn’t even half a fight. The reason why you invited me this time was mainly because you wanted to invite you over through me, right? “Haha, foolish brother followed you to the end.”

“Haha, isn’t it just eating and drinking?-Second Brother, wait a moment. I’ll leave with you when I change my clothes.”

Shortly after, the two brothers tidied up their clothes and left their homes in a carriage, heading towards the Wei Palace.

King Wei, Li Tai, could be said to be the most beloved prince of the Emperor, even far surpassing the Crown Prince, Li Chengqian. Over the past few years, Emperor Li Shimin, who had always advocated frugality, had continuously personally allocated funds to Li Tai to repair the manor. The money and silks he usually provided were almost on par with the Eastern Palace. For this reason, many veteran ministers did not hesitate to advise the emperor, but Li Shimin, who had always been pretending to accept advice, was still preferring Li Tai. In addition, Li Tai himself was indeed quite capable, and his specialty in’wenzhi ‘was not comparable to that of an ordinary prince. In recent years, he led a group of scholars to compile and compile a large number of books, among which Kuo Di Zhi, which introduced the ten prefectures and counties of the Great Tang Dynasty, was the most famous.

With the Emperor’s favor and Li Tai’s own advancement, the power gathered around him grew larger and larger. Now, the emperor had the intention to cripple and Li Tai had the intention to compete for storage, which was already a secret known to the whole world.

On a hot day, Li Tai had set a precedent by setting up the “Crooked Water Flowing Cup”. Actually, everyone knew that Li Tai was busy competing for storage. Every minute and second was extremely precious. The reason why he had invited a large number of people to play was to seize this opportunity to win over the hearts of the people. In the Great Tang Dynasty, imperial power was a tree, while officials and scholars were its roots. With the support and support of the officials, he was undoubtedly the strongest arm of the prince. Although Li Tai was only twenty years old, he was obviously a well-thought-out political lesson, and he wouldn’t do anything meaningless in his spare time.

The place where the winding water flowed was in the huge and magnificent back garden of the Wei Palace.

Just as Qin Mubai and his brothers arrived at the manor, a doorman came to greet them. After the invitations were over, the door pulled its neck and shouted, “Hundred Cavalry Messenger Qin Mubai and Hong Wen Guan’s proofreader Qin Bin are here!”

It’s kind of like a waiter at a tavern welcoming a guest to sing a promise.

At this time, there were a lot of traffic in front of the main gate of the palace. There were as many people as crucian carp entering and leaving the palace. Most of them were young people dressed as officials. Men Zi’s voice attracted the attention of many people, and some of them even whispered.

“Look, those should be the two young masters of the Qin Shubao Clan!”

“The taller one is Qin Sanlang. Is the emperor’s current Hundred Cavalry Emissary a hot general?”

“I didn’t expect that he would also come together with King Wei! King Wei is so fast, it seems that his strength has increased greatly again!”

…

The door led the two of them to the back garden. Along the way, they saw a large number of young officials gathered in groups under the flower pavilion, chatting happily with each other, or chanting the wind and the moon while pushing cups and exchanging glasses. Apart from being luxurious, the decoration of the Wei Palace exuded a scholarly aura. Stele arches can be seen everywhere, more excerpts of the ancients wonderful poems. The scenery in the back garden was also quite ancient, and it had the meaning of the “Orchid Pavilion” from back then.

Along the way, Qin Mubai saw no less than three to five hundred scholars. To his surprise, most of these people were very young, and it was rare to see a middle-aged man over 35 years old.

“Second brother, this King Wei’s friends are interesting. Most of them are young people.” Qin Mubai said.

“King Wei has always been like this.” Qin Bin whispered, “Most of the people gathered around him are the nephews of meritorious veterans, or the rising stars of the new officials in the Imperial Examination. You should be able to imagine why.”

Qin Mubai knitted his brows and pondered carefully. He gradually understood what was going on in his heart.

Right now, the Great Tang had a reserve monarch. No matter how much Li Chengqian disappointed the Emperor, he was still the real Crown Prince. According to the usual practice, Li Shimin would definitely arrange many important officials to work part-time in the Eastern Palace to assist the Crown Prince, Li Chengqian. The officials were also bound by the traditional concept that the Crown Prince was the foundation of the country, and most of them were biased towards the Crown Prince. For example, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, the two most influential ministers, had always had a clear attitude towards the Crown Prince.

Due to the etiquette and customs, King Li Tai of Wei could not win over the current officials, so he could only set his goal on their descendants. The Tang Empire valued Men Yin’s background. Perhaps after ten to twenty years, these “Crown Prince Party” members would be able to completely replace those old officials. As for those young officials and scholars, needless to say, how could they not give up on serving when they were recruited and promoted by the famous King of Wei when they had just entered the official career? At that time, it would be his King Wei’s world.

“King Wei’s deep considerations are far-reaching!” Qin Mubai smiled and whispered.

“King Wei, you are always wise and foolish.” Qin Bin cut him off and said succinctly, “Third Brother, you must not underestimate him.”

“Little brother knows.”

The two brothers strolled around for a while after finishing their homework, and they had never met many acquaintances who had never been in contact with an official. After about half an hour, a sound rang out, “King Wei has arrived!”

Three or five hundred youths swarmed towards the back garden. Many of them looked a little anxious, afraid that they wouldn’t be able to get a good terrain if they ran slower.

This flower stream was obviously manually smashed, and was specially built for entertainment songs and flowing water. A winding stream runs through the back garden. There were quite a few strange pine stones placed by the stream. Everyone sat on the ground with mats. There were a few inks placed in front of them, and there was no shortage of snacks like zither and zither.

It was truly a grand gathering of scholars.

The chubby Li Tai had already arrived, and there were too many people present. He was unable to greet each and every one of them. After saying a few introductory words, he let everyone sit down. Elegant music played, the atmosphere became relaxed, casual, and elegant, and the music started immediately.

Li Tai himself wasn’t in a hurry to sit down. Instead, he walked back and forth between the two sides of the Flower Stream, occasionally chatting and laughing with a few young people. Most of the officials he spoke to were flattered. As for the others, most of them cast envious gazes at them.

The Qin Mubai brothers sat in an inconspicuous corner and looked at each other with a smile. They remained silent.

This Li Tai was truly someone who had the heart to be an official.

Li Tai walked to Brother Qin Mubai’s side as if he had accidentally done so. At first glance, Li Tai sighed in astonishment, “Aiya! Isn’t this the Qin brothers? How can you sit in the last seat? The servants are stupid, stupid!”

“Forgive me, forgive me! Brother Qin, please follow Little Wang to the top seat!” Li Tai walked over quickly and cupped his hands towards the two of them, his body full of flesh and blood. “Forgive me, forgive me! Please follow Little Wang to the top seat!”

“Prince Wei, you’re too polite. I’m not good at poetry. I’m just here to watch. There’s no need for that, is there?” Qin Mubai cupped his hands and replied.

“Brother Mubai, what are you talking about?” Li Tai smiled and narrowed his eyes. He grabbed Qin Mubai’s wrist with one hand and dragged him forward. “No, no, no. How can a peerless romantic like you hide at the end of the stream? Quickly change seats with Little Wang!”

A low and shocked boo rang out from the crowd, and hundreds of pairs of eyes were fixed on Qin Mubai’s body at the same time.

“So he’s Qin Mubai!”