In the second year of Emperor Jiantong's reign in the Tang Dynasty, on the tenth day of the third month, this day was the Cold Food Festival.
The custom of the Cold Food Festival is to prohibit fireworks and only eat cold food.
But after night fell, candles were still lit in Chang'an Palace, making the Jiying Palace seem like daylight.
The Jiying Hall is said to be a palace, but in fact it is the original three halls with a plaque changed to serve as the place where Li Xia summoned officials to report to the emperor after he ascended the throne.
Although Li Xia is not extravagant and wasteful, he is not frugal either. He has experienced everything he can and cannot enjoy in this world, so he has no interest in building palaces and collecting rare treasures. He travels lightly and simply, and only likes bright halls.
, clean, never skimp on people.
Even if the pretense reduces the power of the palace, how much money can be saved?
"Zhao and Song also traded with Tubo."
The speaker was Yan Yunyun. In order to deal with the various inquiries that Li Xia might ask, she had obviously done her homework in advance and spoke eloquently.
"From the beginning of the Song Dynasty to the early years of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, the Tibetan people of various tribes exchanged horses for tea, silk and other items from the Zhao and Song Dynasties. The horse farms in Sichuan and Shu were located in Hanyuan in Lizhou, Diaomenzhai in Yazhou, and Tonghua County in Weizhou.
Wenchuan County in Maozhou. The larger horse farm is in Longxi..."
"The trade of Zhao and Song has always been good." Li Xia said: "It's a pity that the territory is constantly being lost. Longxi is lost, and Sichuan and Shu are almost lost. I guess they haven't traded with Tubo for decades?"
"Yes, Xihe was lost more than a hundred years ago, and after Kuaduan entered Shu, the horse farms in Lizhou and other places were also deserted."
In the palace, Xi Jihu, who came from the south of the Yangtze River and was not familiar with Tibet, asked: "Besides horses, what other goods can Tibet trade?"
"There are many. The Tibetan people breed highland barley and also graze their livestock. Their livestock include sheep, horses, yaks, and oxen. Their special products include musk, mercury, cinnabar, bezoar, pearls, raw gold, coral, rhinoceros, velvet brown, and brown Sanya."
After Yan Yunyun said it, he raised his hand to straighten the hair around his ears, took out the documents from his sleeves, took a look at them, and said, "It can be said that I have everything."
Xi Jihu was a little surprised, nodded and said: "I thought Tubo was barren, but I didn't expect it to be rich in products."
"Tubo can not only trade with the Central Plains, but also trade with countries in the Western Regions and transfer goods to the Central Plains, such as Niboluo, Dabolu, Kashimila, and Tianzhu. According to merchants, there is a road between Tubo and Tianzhu
On the Salt Road, during the Tang Dynasty, Tibetans even marched to the north bank of the Ganges River, forcing India to pay tribute to it."
Li Xia became vigilant and said: "In other words, can Kublai Khan and Hulagu still send troops from Tianzhu into Tubo?"
"You don't have to go through Tianzhu," Hao Xiuyang said, "there is a road in the Western Regions that passes through Tubo, and it's called the Khotan Road."
"Khotan is under the rule of the Chagatai Khanate. His Majesty's intention is that if the Meng Yuan Dynasty wants to go to Tubo, they need to take a detour to Tianzhu."
"Is it possible that the Chagatai Khanate still has troops stationed to guard the road to Khotan?"
"Ahem, now is not the time to discuss how the Meng Yuan entered Tubo. Mr. Yan, please continue talking about trade."
"The real person said that we should use annual gifts to win over the big nobles of Tibet and make Tibet surrender. But I think we should trade with various small tribes to win their support, make them dependent, and turn to the Tang Dynasty."
Hao Xiuyang stroked his long beard and said with a smile: "Why not do both?"
Yan Yunyun had no objection.
No matter how you look at it, she has no reason to object. There is nothing wrong with bribing small tribes while winning over big nobles.
But after a while, she bowed to Li Xia and said: "Your Majesty, the country has just been established and the country is running out of money. If you compare with Meng Yuan who can bring more benefits to the Kun family, how can your Majesty be better than the Golden Family?"
After all, the biggest problem for this Minister of Revenue is the word "poor".
"I believe that in order to recruit the Tibetan people to join us, we should establish a military base in the Li, Ya, Wei, Mao and other prefectures of Sichuan and He, Qin, Wei, Jing, Yuan, Yi, Huan, Qing, Jie, Wen and other prefectures on Gansu Road.
to win over the Tibetan tribes.”
At the end of the duel, Li Xia agreed to Yan Yunyun's proposal, but Hao Xiuyang wanted to give King Bai Lan the annual gift of Chana Dorje, but he still had to think about it.
Many ministers didn't understand what Li Xia was hesitating about. He was reluctant to even give the annual gift?
"As long as you agree to Chanadoji's conditions, Your Majesty will be able to get Tubo to surrender."
"Is it that simple?"
"It's as simple as that." Hao Xiuyang said, "If Kuo Duan can do it, your Majesty can do it too."
Even Li Xia was a little confused as to what he was worried about. When he heard the word "kuoduan", he suddenly had an idea.
This is not an unexpected thing, but because the temptation of Tibet's surrender was too great, everyone was impatient and forgot to keep calm.
"Since Sakya Pandita is able to have an alliance with Kuoduan in Liangzhou, how about inviting Chana Dorje to also come to Liangzhou to have an alliance with me?"
"Can your Majesty agree to his conditions?"
Li Xia said: "As long as he comes, he can."
Hao Xiuyang didn't mind the trouble at all. He held up his wide sleeves and saluted and said: "The old Taoist is willing to return to Tubo for Your Majesty, and invites Chanadoji to pay tribute."
"Thank you, old Taoist Master, don't be in a hurry to set off now. I'll wait until I prepare some gifts and get to know Chanadolje as a person."
The official sedan left the small Chang'an Palace and headed south of the city.
The attendants walking beside the sedan were holding lanterns.
The curtain of the sedan chair was opened, allowing the light from the fire to penetrate into the sedan chair. Yan Yunyun was sitting in it, flipping through letters, squinting in the dim light, and murmuring in a low voice.
"The Tang-Tibet ancient road opened up this kind of trade route, and the significance of Tubo's surrender became apparent."
Her face was almost pressed against the paper. She was searching for the locations of ancient places in the paper and ink, and a thought suddenly came to her mind.
"Xiningzhou?"
At this moment, the sound of poetry reciting suddenly came from the courtyard on the street.
"There are flowers flying everywhere in the spring city, and the east wind keeps the willows from falling in the cold weather."
This is in Chang'an, and it coincides with the Cold Food Festival, so this poem is suitable for the occasion.
But Yan Yunyun frowned after hearing this, with a look of sullenness in his eyes.
She turned around and looked, and sure enough she saw several figures on the pavilion inside the courtyard wall.
At this time, there were no candles lit anywhere else on the long street, only her lantern was lit. She couldn't see the faces of those people clearly, but she could feel that they were singing poems to this place.
"At dusk, candles were passed around the Han Palace, and light smoke dispersed into the house of the Five Marquises."
"Mr. Yan?" The servant stopped and asked, "Do you want to seal it?"
"No need, let's go."
"yes."
Not far away, there was another sound of poetry reciting ahead, and it was still the song "Cold Food", which made Yan Yunyun's eyes become more and more annoyed, which did not disappear until he turned into Taipingfang.
"At dusk, candles were passed around the Han Palace, and light smoke dispersed into the house of the Five Marquises."
The next day is Qingming Festival.
Cold food and Qingming go one after another. Cold food is a folk festival, and Qingming is a farming solar term. Cold food prohibits fire, and Qingming gives fire. This is called "spring changes fire", letting go of the old and embracing the new.
Before dawn, vendors have already set up stalls on the long street outside Taipingfang, especially the breakfast stalls which are the busiest.
The hot yokan and steamed buns were placed on the table and chewed on the street. They smelled inexplicably.
"For such a small errand, I'd better do it myself."
"Remember, in our line of work, there are no small jobs."
Jiang Fan hid one hand in his sleeve and held the steamed bun in the other. He turned around and saw a middle-aged man walking out of Taipingfang in front of him.
"Isn't it true that the Secretary doesn't know? That stupid guy over there is Han Wufei, the husband of Yan Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs. It is said that Yan Shangshu was adopted as the adopted daughter by the old Prime Minister Han, and he specially found a bride named Han.
My son-in-law is a poor doctor with no ability..."
Fanzi, the Public Opinion Secretary who spoke, was a newcomer. He felt that Jiang Sishi and Yan Shangshu had little in common, so he was afraid that he did not know these rumors, so he introduced them carefully.
"Go." Jiang Fan interrupted his subordinate and said, "Invite him to ask questions."
"yes."
After a while, Han Wufei was pressed down on the seat opposite Jiang Fan, looking very panicked.
The two have actually met a few times, but they are not very familiar with each other.
"Chief Jiang?"
"Don't panic, let me ask you a few questions." Jiang Fan said: "I heard rumors that Yan Shangshu is resigning, but Yan Shangshu himself has not mentioned it to His Majesty. What's going on?"
"She's stupid. She wants to get a few errands done."
"I'm asking why you want to resign?"
Han Wufei looked dumbfounded and said, "That's right. Since ancient times, no woman has been a high-ranking official."
"Who said that?"
"That's what she usually says."
Jiang Fan asked again: "Anyone else say it?"
Han Wufei raised his head, looked around, and said, "That's what they said."
"who?"
"Many people. For example, yesterday someone read "Han Shi" to her."
"What's the meaning?"
"That's a poem by Han Yi. During the Cold Food Festival, fires are prohibited throughout the world. Candles are only allowed to be lit unless specifically ordered by the emperor. Only noble and beloved ministers can receive this grace."
Of course these gingers know this, but with the continuous wars and heavy government affairs in the past few years, the civil and military officials of this regime have never banned anything during the Cold Food Festival.
Han Wufei added: "Light smoke dispersed into the house of the Five Marquises. The Five Marquises were the five brothers who were granted the title of Marquises by the king and queen when he became emperor of the Han Dynasty. They were used in poems to refer to... several foolish kings in the old Tang Dynasty favored their close ministers, so that they favored their close ministers.
The government is corrupt."
Jiang Fan asked again: "What do you mean?"
"This poem is scolding Zhuo Jing for being a close minister, even..."
Han Wufei was halfway through his words, but stopped what he said later.
What I want to talk about later is that those people also scolded the current emperor for using a woman as an official.
But it was okay to talk about this in private. At this moment, he realized that the person sitting in front of him was the commander of the Public Opinion Department, but he was afraid that speaking out would kill others.
"Who?" Jiang Fan asked, "Who is spreading such rumors?"
Han Wufei's face turned pale and he shook his head.
"Who?" Jiang Fan asked again.
"Sir Jiang, we really don't know. Please don't check it out. It's just a few rumors. Zhuo Jing also wants to forget it."
"Forget it, what do you mean?"
"It's just resignation. She thinks it's okay to resign."
Jiang Fan glanced at Han Wufei lightly, looking down on Yan Yunyun's husband. He felt that Yan Yunyun's ruthless temper back then and his shrinking back in the face of a few rumors were probably because his husband was too weak.