The young official who spoke to Yuan Zai was named Du Ya, whose courtesy name was Cigong. He is now the Secretary of the Zhongshu Province.
Du Ya was a Jinshi in the Tianbao year, but he did not catch up with the good times like the Jinshi in the second year of Zhide.
At that time, positions in the imperial court were slowed down. Du Ya waited until Tianbao ten years before he could become an official. After joining the official position, he held the position of school secretary.
The school secretary of the Tang Dynasty was also a beautiful position. Although it was not as noble as the censor, it was still the best choice for young people to enter the official career.
The main job of the Collector is to collate classics and correct errors.
To put it bluntly, it is to correct mistakes in the royal collection and the collections of various ministries and yamen, which is equivalent to proofreading by later editorial departments.
Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the classics in the royal library and the libraries of various ministries have been published many times, and there are simply not that many texts for proofreading.
The responsibilities of the school secretary gradually changed from the Tsinghua anthology of literary work to a trainee position for the Tang Dynasty to train future important ministers.
The school secretary can freely check the royal decrees and the administrative minutes of various ministries and yamen, and find detailed information on the decisions of the year from these libraries.
At the same time, these scribes, who were born as Jinshi, also began to assist the chiefs of various ministries and yamen in handling government affairs. The emperor sometimes used the scribes to publicize his will.
Being able to become a school secretary and stay in the center to observe how the emperor and important ministers formulate policies at close range is a valuable experience for these young officials.
If they can leave a good impression in the minds of the emperor and important ministers, the school secretary can often be given a good job and be on the fast track to promotion.
Du Ya is the school secretary of Zhongshu Province and is currently studying politics in Zhongshu Province.
Although he is only in his twenties, he has already stood out in the Zhongshu Province and is said to be very popular among the prime ministers.
Twenty-year-old Du Ya and forty-year-old Yuan Zai have been friends for many years. When Du Ya saw off Yuan Zai, Yuan Zai also showed his true feelings and told his true feelings to this little brother.
Although Du Ya is young, he has also been involved in official circles for several years.
Zhongshu Province was the core department of the Tang Dynasty, and Du Ya also felt a sense of irritability and depression these days.
He said to Yuan Zai: "Brother Gongfu, please teach me!"
Yuan Zai whispered: "Before the Zhengdan meeting, the tribute gifts from the vassal kings were intercepted and killed. In the end, your majesty only killed one captain of the Shence Army. The general of the auxiliary country stayed in Yeting Palace for three days and returned to his official position.
After being reinstated, the situation in the DPRK has become turbulent."
"The King of Qi's intention to seize the direct heir has been revealed. He has the support of Queen Zhang in the palace, and the assistant of the general of the auxiliary country behind him. He has begun to cultivate party members in the court."
"The prince's performance in countering the rebellion was mediocre, but after all, he had served as the marshal of the world's military forces. The acting Duke Guo Ziyi and other military forces supported the prince, and he also had many party members in the three provinces and six ministries."
"If these two factions fight, I'm afraid the city gate will be on fire and the fish in the pond will be damaged."
After Yuan Zai finished speaking, Du Ya's face turned pale.
Although he had already felt the depressing atmosphere in the center, he had no idea that the heir apparent had reached such a situation.
Du Ya knew that the emperor's health had not been as good as before in recent years. Although he did not suffer from any serious illness, he did suffer from dizziness frequently.
This is also an old problem of the Li and Tang royal family. Wind disease causes headaches. Both Taizong and Gaozong died of wind disease. The emperor also had this old problem.
However, the emperor was younger than the emperor and had more illnesses than the emperor. He even had a headache once when the previous emperor was in charge and almost fainted on the ground.
Concerns about the emperor's health also accelerated the struggle for heir apparent power in the court.
Yuan Zai knew very well that if he stayed in Chang'an City, he, the key doctor of Du Zhi, would definitely become the target of wooing by both parties.
But leaning towards either party will offend the other party.
This time, Yuan Zai broke away from the relationship with the prince, secretly took refuge in the East Palace, and went to Yangzhou to serve as the envoy of rent and salt and iron, in order to prepare to leave the capital, a place of right and wrong.
Before leaving the capital, Yuan Zai also made complete preparations.
Although he defected to the prince, Yuan Zai was related to Li Fuguo. Before leaving, he visited Li Fuguo, paid the courtesy of a son-nephew to this powerful eunuch, and promised to send additional tributes to the palace in Jianghuai.
Anyway, when we get to Yangzhou, the sky is high and the emperor is far away. It will be better to walk the tightrope then than to stay in Chang'an, a place of right and wrong.
Du Ya frowned and said, "To be fair to brother Gongfu, I also have some connections in the center. It's okay to operate it outside. But the world is so big, where are we going?"
The reason why so many officials stay in the capital is because staying in Chang'an is at the feet of the emperor, and they may be favored by the emperor or important ministers at any time and rise to the top.
If you stay away from the political center of Chang'an, you will be like those local officials who are waiting for evaluation and promotion.
If you are unlucky and encounter a calamity year, you may even be reprimanded by your superior, and then you won't be able to get promoted for several years.
So when leaving Chang'an, you must find a good place to go.
Yuan Zai said: "Go to Hexi!"
"Hexi?"
Yuan Zai looked at Du Ya and said, "Aren't you related to Du Hongjian, the governor of Shuofang Army?"
Du Ya nodded. Du Hongjian was considered his uncle. Du Ya had also told Yuan Zai before.
Yuan Zai said: "Your clan uncle has the merit of making decisions and is now the governor of Shuofang. Sooner or later he will enter the political hall to pay homage to the prime minister."
"Now that Your Majesty has asked Du Jiedu to send envoys to Hexi to help Longyou defend against the Tubo attack, it is also a good opportunity to establish military merit."
"If you go to Hexi at this time, wouldn't it be wonderful to have your clan uncle take care of you and have the opportunity to make great achievements in Hexi!"
Du Ya became excited, Yuan Zai showed him a clear path.
He quickly bowed and thanked him. At this time, there was a cough from Yuan Zai's car. Yuan Zai cupped his hands and said, "After a long journey, we must say goodbye. Everyone, take your leave!"
Then Yuan Zai got on the carriage and left Chang'an City from Baqiao.
The officials were thoughtful as they bid farewell on Ba Bridge. Du Ya thought of Yuan Zai's words and finally made up his mind to transfer out of Chang'an.
Some people leave Chang'an, and naturally some people enter Chang'an.
In Yangzhou City, Wuqi's mansion was bustling with activity. All the servants knew that the master Gao Sheng was returning to Chang'an!
Wu Qi was transferred back to Chang'an from Yangzhou to serve as Du Zhilang. This was the third highest position in the Ministry of Household Affairs and the most powerful strategic minister of the empire.
The officials who came to express their congratulations almost broke through the lintel of Wuqi's door, and the yard was filled with gifts.
Wu Qi accepted the gifts and asked the butler to register them. For those who gave expensive gifts, Wu Qi would personally visit and return the gifts.
When the work was over, Wu Qi's belongings were loaded onto three water transport ships.
He was about to return to the city of Chang'an that he had longed for, but Wu Qi was a little reluctant to leave Yangzhou.
Wu Qi came to Yangzhou City before Chang'an was recovered. Here he founded the Salt Institute, cracked down on private salt trade, and rebuilt the government salt drying workshop.
He also sold salt in Yangzhou and guided merchants to transport official salt and sell it.
This set of salt courtyard systems spread across various salt farms allowed Wuqi to continuously extract salt taxes from the Jianghuai River and continuously send money, food and supplies to the imperial court in Guanzhong.
After returning to Chang'an to serve as a governor, Wu Qi realized that it would be difficult for him to get in touch with these grassroots practices.
My nephew Wu Wuyuan was sent to Longyou by Wu Qi. Wu Qi took the old housekeeper and put on casual clothes and started walking around Yangzhou City.
While walking, Wu Qi saw a tall Buddhist pagoda. He had walked out of the prosperous Xiguan of Yangzhou and arrived in front of the Daming Temple on the outskirts of the city.
Wu Qi is a Confucian scholar and is not interested in Buddhism and Taoism. However, the Daming Temple is also a well-known ancient temple. Wu Qi has never been to Yangzhou before.
Thinking that he might never have the chance to return to Yangzhou in the future, Wu Qi walked into this Buddhist temple.
After entering the temple gate, I saw a Zhike monk accompanying a young man to introduce the history of Daming Temple.
"Daming Temple was built in the Daming Period of Emperor Wu of the Southern Dynasties. It was a royal Buddhist temple built by the royal edict of the Southern Dynasties, so it was named Daming Temple."
The young man in scholar's clothes looked at the tall Buddha statue and asked: "I read in the history books that Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty worked hard to govern and banned monks from becoming monks. Why did he order the construction of Daming Temple?"
Zhike Monk just memorized these explanations by rote and did not expect that the other party would ask this question.
Wu Qi stepped forward and said: "In the early years of the Southern Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty worked hard to govern, resisted the Northern Wei Dynasty, wiped out the vassal towns, and administered the Qingming officials. However, in his later years, he became increasingly extravagant and began to favor Buddhism. The Daming Temple was built by Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty in his later years."
The young scholar raised his hands and said, "Thank you very much, my husband, for clearing up my doubts."
Wu Qi walked over and asked, "Isn't Lang Jun's accent from Yangzhou?"
The young scholar said: "Li Daoyuan, a young man from Longyou, happened to be traveling to Yangzhou and wanted to see this ancient Ming Dynasty temple."
"People from Longyou? That's far away from Yangzhou. I heard that the practice of worshiping Buddha in Longyou is very popular, and some people even donate themselves to the Buddhist temple. Is the Daming Temple more beautiful than the Buddhist temple in Longyou?"
Li Daoyuan said with a smile: "Since His Royal Highness the King of Yue entered Longyou, he has rectified the Buddhist temples, prohibited monks from preaching at will, limited the property of Buddhist temples, and expelled monks who did not pay ultimatum. Now the incense of Longyou Buddhist Temple is far less than that of Daming Temple."
Fifth Qi did not expect such a change in Longyou. He praised: "Li Jun, let's go to the temple together and have a look. I heard that there is also a spiritual pagoda built by Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty in the Buddhist temple.
One of the thirty Buddha bones brought from the Western Regions in the Sui Dynasty, it is also the most famous place in Daming Temple."
At this time, Li Daoyuan also became interested. When Zhi Ke Monk saw that the fifth Qi Yu was extraordinary, he quickly guided the two of them to the Qiling Pagoda.
While walking, Wu Qi said: "It is the most difficult thing for a king to restrain his desires. This is true for both Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. When they first came to the throne, they worked hard to govern, and then they lost their way in the prosperous age. Finally, they lost their way in the prosperous age.
It left a bad name in history." This chapter has been completed!