Chapter 362: Kyoto Variations: The Picture of the Poor
On the sixth day of the second month, on the ugliness of Chengtian Gate, teams of golden armored imperial forests were on guard.
Emperor Zhaowu, dressed in casual clothes, slowly climbed up to the city tower accompanied by the old eunuch Zhuo Yan. When the imperial guards saw His Majesty, they knelt down together. Just as they were about to shout long live on the mountain, Zhuo Yan waved his hand and said, "Your Majesty said you should be spared, so as not to be shocked by the people below." The soldiers looked at the captain in the leader and stood up.
Emperor Zhaowu ignored them. His eyes were attracted by the dark heads in front of the palace. He asked softly without looking back: "Can these be all praises?"
Zhuo Yan covered his mouth and chuckled, "How can it be? There are more than 2,000 students in the country, and I'm afraid there are more than 20,000 people below."
Emperor Zhaowu also continued to see the fire clearly, nodded and said, "It seems that there are ordinary people behind him." He asked uncertainly, "Can they be those refugees?"
"No, those refugees have been expelled from the city and are now wandering outside Zhongdu City." Huangfu Shengwen, the imperial guard who rushed over to hear the news on the other side, said: "They seem to be the people of Zhongdu City."
Emperor Zhaowu frowned and asked, "What are they joining in the fun?"
Huangfu Shengwen shook his head and said, "I don't know, maybe I'm here to support me..."
Emperor Zhaowu shook his head and stopped discussing this complicated issue with the silly boy. The cold wind rose up, and Zhuo Yan gently tidied a dark black fox fur cloak for him and said softly: "Your Majesty, the wind is strong upstairs, let's go down."
Emperor Zhaowu shook his head, pointed at the disciples under the city and asked, "They have been here for three days?"
Huangfu Zhanwen nodded and said, "It's been exactly three days since the night of February 2nd." Emperor Zhaowu smiled faintly and said, "I'm quite tough." He tightened his clothes and whispered to Zhuo Yan: "I'll send an order to send them to elect ten representatives to come in. I'll see you first." Zhuo Yan quickly responded and sent the eunuch around him to send the order.
The selves had been hungry and frozen outside the palace gate for three days. The yamen runners of Kyoto Prefecture placed food and drink in front of them. They didn't even look at them, and let the rice soup and steamed buns be frozen into ice lumps. The people in Zhongdu City draped their cotton jackets and bedding on them, and they were also thrown on the ground. This time, the selves made up their minds and did not make the imperial examinations or taxes over the sky, and they would not give up if they did not drive Wen Yanbo, a traitor, off the stage.
Three days passed, and many of them were frozen and hungry, but more of them remained at the city gate. They stubbornly believed that without the courage and courage to sacrifice, it would be impossible to touch the Sacred Heart, so they were willing to sacrifice.
Fortunately, Qin Shouzhuo received Qin Lei's order and kept paying close attention to these scholars. When someone fainted, he quickly ordered someone to help him and carry him out to take care of him, but he did not cause much casualties.
After persisting for three days, the closed door finally opened slowly. A team of eunuchs came out and cleared their throats and announced: "Your Majesty has an order, and ten juren will meet and listen to the emperor."
The students reacted for a long time, turned their necks with difficulty and looked at each other. They all looked blank. They couldn't even smile, but they were frozen.
After a long time, the students leaned over and said weakly, "Thank you for your kindness." Shang Dezhong, Fang Zhongshu and other leaders of various provinces stood up swayingly, but fell to the ground with exhaustion.
When the eunuch passed the imperial eunuch saw it, he said helplessly: "Go inside and carry ten sedan chairs."
Taking advantage of the time when the sedan chair was not coming, Shang Dezhong and others weakly said to the people around them: "Tell you that I will not give in to the emperor when I meet the emperor..." This quickly spread among the crowd, and the disciples replied: "We will continue to kneel here and wait, unless you succeed, you will never get up."
After a while, ten green sedan chairs were lifted out. The eunuchs helped several eunuchs get onto the sedan chair and trembled into the palace.
After passing Taihe Gate and going to Qingyun Road, he moved to the place behind Xuanzheng Hall where the emperor went to the front to rest.
The little eunuch took ten people out of the sedan chair, and the leading eunuch smiled and said, "To ensure the safety of Your Majesty's dragon body, don't blame me for your routine body search." The eunuchs nodded weakly and said, "It should be like this." Several eunuchs stepped forward and touched them from head to toe very skillfully. Apart from some jade pendants, seals, brushes, and broken silver, they did not find any other objects.
The leading eunuch then said with peace of mind: "Everyone later." Then he went in and reported, and then came out and said, "Your Majesty has an order to announce the visit of all the scholars." The few people followed the eunuch tremblingly and bowed their heads in, not knowing whether they were scared or hungry.
As soon as they entered the room, it seemed like spring in the south. Everyone felt a warm feeling in the face. They couldn't help but greedily took a few deep breaths of heat, and their chests and abdomen were slightly gentle. The few people didn't dare to look up, so they kept looking at the exquisite jacquard carpet on the ground. Until they heard the eunuch whispering, "Don't you kneel down?" Then they hurriedly knocked and bowed three times, shouting long live to sleep in the evening...
These people come from all over the world, with different accents. It is natural to say that they call "Long Live". Fortunately, Emperor Zhaowu had already gotten used to it and said lightly: "Get up." Then the scholars stood up respectfully.
Emperor Zhaowu was quite satisfied with the respect of these scholars. He did not fly away because of the depression caused by blocking the door for three days. He said in a gentle voice: "Look up your head."
The scholars quickly raised their heads, but their eyes were still low... but they just moved from the carpet to Emperor Zhaowu's belly.
Emperor Zhaowu smiled and said, "I haven't eaten breakfast yet, so I haven't eaten either. Let's talk while eating..." and said to Zhuo Yan: "Transfer food."
Zhuo Yan smiled and said, "Abide by the order." After saying that, a team of graceful palace maids stepped forward and brought up more than a dozen kinds of porridge, dozens of clear-mouthed side dishes, and hundreds of snacks and candied fruits, filling the long table in front of Emperor Zhaowu.
When Emperor Zhaowu saw that the scholars were still kneeling on the ground, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Everyone is sitting, this is a private meeting, don't be restrained." The best person is so hypocritical. If you restrain him, he will keep asking you not to restrain him. But if you take this as true, he will think that you have no rules and is really difficult to serve.
The scholars were determined to get up, half of their butts sat on the chair, but no one followed Emperor Zhaowu to have a meal. Emperor Zhaowu thought the children were reserved, so he smiled with the bowls and chopsticks, "Eat quickly, you can talk after you finish eating."
The scholars still had no intention of using chopsticks. Emperor Zhaowu asked strangely, "Why don't you eat?" The closest student said respectfully: "Your Majesty, many of them were hungry and cold outside in the same year. We really dare not betray them and enjoy the delicious food in this world." Despite the clamor of their stomachs, they still insisted.
Zhuo Yan said angrily, "Bold... Do you know that you are resisting the order?" But Emperor Zhaowu seemed to be in a confrontation today, waved his hand to stop Zhuo Yan and said, "Forget it, they won't pay attention to these things for the first time." The scholars could not have imagined that the high-ranking Emperor, His Majesty, was so approachable and kind, and couldn't help but burst into tears, and said to himself: "What a great Your Majesty, we must be clear to the emperor!" He couldn't help but kneel on the ground.
Emperor Zhaowu reached out to help him, laughed and said, "Forget it, don't kneel down." He said, "Forget it, let's talk to you." Zhuo Yan said anxiously, "Your Majesty, you need breakfast."
Emperor Zhaowu glared and said angrily: "My children don't eat, can I continue to eat?" He nakedly captured people's hearts, but it was extremely useful, touching the ten scholars four and a half. The man who was seven feet tall started to whimper and cry, just like a child who was wronged.
Emperor Zhaowu felt so comfortable. He sat down in the side hall with the others and smiled and said, "I have read the memorials on your joint name several times. Is it very literary? I also wrote very beautifully. Whose writing is from?"
Fang Zhongshu quickly bowed and said, "Reply to Your Majesty, the article is obtained by everyone's brainstorming, but the students only polish it a little and write it on their behalf."
Emperor Zhaowu praised, "Very good, what's your name?"
"Student Shanbei received his son Fang Zhongshu." He quickly replied respectfully.
Emperor Zhaowu smiled slightly and said, "Shun Shu, a good name, maybe even if you enter the Secretariat in the future."
Fang Zhongshu was excited and quickly thanked him: "Receive your Majesty's auspicious words."
Emperor Zhaowu waved his hand and chuckled, "But you are still very immature now. If you press the content of this document, just say that you are sitting quietly in front of the palace gate, don't you abandon yourself in danger, put the court in a dilemma, and put the king and father in unrighteousness?" Although the tone is not high, every word is heartbroken, which makes people shudder.
Several scholars turned pale, Shang De swallowed his mouth and said, "Your Majesty clearly, our scholars have indeed abandoned their own safety, honor and disgrace. However, we Bing Xin can learn from them, just to punish evil and to uphold justice, but we have no intention of humiliating the court and making things difficult for the king and father."
Emperor Zhaowu smiled faintly and said, "Imagine how the people in the world will discuss, and how to write in historical books a hundred years later? They would say, in February of the 18th year of Zhaowu, the scholars were dissatisfied with the imperial court to expel refugees and manipulate the imperial examinations. They gathered people in front of Chengtian Gate to petition, starved to death and froze to death..." The narrow eyes slowly swept across the people and said calmly: "You have left your name in history and died to the point of being the only one, but have you ever thought about what the people would say to the court? How will the historical books be written about me?"
Emperor Zhaowu said coldly: "They would say... the courts of the late Tang Dynasty and the emperors of Jie of Xia!"
The scholars were all young men with blood and heart, so how could they afford Emperor Zhaowu's rubbing and rubbing? Immediately, sweating was like a slurry, and I knelt on the ground like dumplings, not daring to raise my head.
Emperor Zhaowu was very satisfied with the effect he had caused. He had not enjoyed this kind of respect from the inside out for a long time... Under the leadership of two old bastards, those civil and military officials were arrogant at first and respectful at the time, and they were disgusting.
'It's better to be innocent.' Emperor Zhaowu thought to himself: 'Just five...' Thinking of this, he finally decided to deal with the problem, changed into a gentle smile and said: "Get up, it's still the same sentence. I miss you young and it's a first offense again, so I won't pursue it this time."
The disciples then stood up and said carefully: "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Emperor Zhaowu nodded and ate a tea ceremony: "I have verified what you have reported, and it is not a false accusation."
Hearing that he said this, the elect could not help but get excited and said in a trembling voice: "Please be fair to Your Majesty."
Emperor Zhaowu sighed, stood up with his hands behind his back and said, "Justice, what is justice?" He pointed to Shangde and said, "Tell me, look."
Shang Dezhong cleared his throat and replied in a clear voice: "When you say to Your Majesty, the students think that justice means fairness means fairness, and that evil should be punished, and that good should be praised, and that evil should be punished and that everyone should be given the right to be fair."
Emperor Zhaowu's high-soled archery boots were rustling on the carpet, making a rustling sound. After listening to Shang Dezhong's words, he whispered: "You are right, but that is only personal justice, not the justice of the world."
"The justice of the world?" The scholars couldn't help but say in surprise.
Nodded, Emperor Zhaowu smiled and said, "Yes, something may be good for this person, but not for that person. For example, the matter of refugees, keeping them in the capital is a good thing for them, but not for the court. Therefore, justice in the world is the justice of most people, not the justice of some people."
As he said that, he stood firm and said in a solemn voice: "The justice I and the court insisted on is the justice of the world."
The scholars were dizzy when he said it, thinking, maybe something was wrong... and then he heard Emperor Zhaowu laugh and said, "So, many things are not as simple as you imagined. I have to think about the overall situation, and I hope you can understand me." He made up his mind to subdue these scholars, and naturally he lowered his posture.
After all the words were said, how could the scholars dare to quarrel? Then they said respectfully: "Please give me advice."
Emperor Zhaowu smiled happily and said, "Don't worry, I can't be wronged." As he said, he stretched out his two fingers and said, "First of all, I will properly resettle those victims and never let them survive..." As he said, he bent down his finger and looked at the haggard and gaze at the haggard and all the men and said, "Second, give you a completely fair competition, how about it?"
The scholars said to himself: 'Isn't this what we ask for?' Hearing this, he kowtowed sincerely and excitedly, "Thank you for your kindness, no matter whether you can pass the exam, we will be loyal to the emperor for life and devote our lives to our death."
Emperor Zhaowu said unanimously about the loyalty expressed by the scholars: "But whether to reduce taxes, how to rectify the administration of officials, and even Prime Minister Wen's affairs, it will take the court to discuss and consider it before deciding... No matter what the result is, I hope you can persuade the same year outside to stop messing with yourself, go back and rest for a long time to wait for the competition next month..."
After enduring hunger and cold for three days, the scholars could not stand it anymore, but they were already in a difficult situation and had to bite the bullet and hold on. At this time, they could not only achieve the fundamental goal, but also step down with a decent explanation to the refugees. The scholars did not seek extravagance to punish corrupt officials and reduce taxes...
They exchanged their eyes and kowtowed together, "Jian is in the heart of the emperor, and the universe is arbitrary."
Emperor Zhaowu laughed and said, "We are indeed loyal and kind people. Let's do this. If you can pass the exam, I will recognize you ten students of the emperor." He also felt that this was too casual and said sternly: "It's not easy to be a disciple of the emperor. I will be more harsh to you... If you fail the exam, you will not be allowed to be an official!"
Over the past few days, the scholars have suffered a lot and tasted the warmth and coldness. How could they have received such courtesy? Such kindness? They couldn't help but burst into tears, and they burst into tears. They raised their butts and bowed their heads: "If you fail the Jinshi exam, you have no face to call Your Majesty the Master."
Emperor Zhaowu helped them up one by one and said, "I will pass the exam..." His golden words made him a promise of the future of ten people.
This old guy is very good at calculating - these ten people are the leaders of scholars from nine provinces and one government. If they get their hearts, they will get the hearts of most scholars in the country. And what he has paid is just a hypocritical courtesy and the four light and big words "Son of the Emperor" are really worthless.
So Qin Lei said that when the dust settles, even when the tiger and the lion share their prey, a jackal like him can only watch from the side...even if this prey was captured by him with his own hands.
Mastering the strongest violent ones will win, this is the meta-rule, the rule that is above all rules.
"Your Majesty, it's time to go to court." Zhuo Yan lowered his eyebrows and said with his eyes down.
Emperor Zhaowu nodded and said to the ten students who had just received: "Follow me to go to court."
Chapter completed!