In the Tang Dynasty, Double Ninth Festival was a very important festival.
Du Gongzhan of the Sui Dynasty said: "It is unknown when the banquet on September 9 originated."
Nowadays, people in the north also attach great importance to this festival. Wearing dogwood, eating bait, and drinking chrysanthemum wine are said to make people live longer.
"Longevity..." Between the terraces and pavilions, Li Xiji and Li Keyong looked up at the sky almost at the same time. God's will is unpredictable and God's will is hard to violate. Who can know the length of life?
Pei Guan entered the banquet hall under the guidance of his servant.
"See King Jin." Pei Guan glanced at Li Keyong and bowed.
Li Keyong didn't have much white hair on his head, but it was still black and bright. The look in his eyes had lost a lot of energy. His cheeks also shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his face was no longer rosy, and the overall appearance was a
A sickly state.
Looking at his slightly frowning brows from time to time, it was obvious that he had a hidden disease and a dull pain, but he held it back, not wanting to expose any of his weaknesses in front of outsiders.
There were not many people present, the writers were Li Xiji and Feng Dao, the warriors were Li Sizhao, Li Luoluo, and Li Cunxu. There was also the younger brother Li Kerou by the side, who was the representative of the clan.
"Envoy, please sit down and have your meal first," Li Keyong said with a forced smile.
The servants and maids immediately rushed in, each with wine and food in their hands, and placed them one by one on the table.
Pei Guan took a casual look and saw that they were all Hu servants with tall noses and deep eyes. They should be the Shatuo people of Li Keyong's family or the Sogdians of the nine surnames of Zhaowu. In fact, it is the same thing. Today's Shatuo tribe is just one of them.
In terms of bloodline, there may be more Sogdians.
"The (Sogdian) man is twenty years old, and he is in a far away country... The advantage lies in everything." This sentence suddenly appeared in Pei Guan's mind.
In the late Sui Dynasty, Long Run, a Sogdian, served as the chief historian of the Sabao Prefecture in Jinyang, and helped Li Yuan raise the army. He was named the "Chaosan Doctor" - the Sabao Prefecture was an institution specializing in the management of Huozoroastrian affairs at that time.
Most of its staff are from Hu people who believe in Zoroastrianism.
"The west point of the Yi Banner was first awarded to Chaosan Dafu, and he was also appointed as the chief historian of Sabao Prefecture. In the 20th year of Zhenguan (646), in the Spring and Autumn Period, Liao Kuo was more than eighty years old... On September 10th, the fourth year of Yonghui (653), he passed away.
"The number of Anrenfang is three out of ninety in the Spring and Autumn Period." - In fact, this is a royal family with the surname of Long, Yanqi.
At that time, there were tens of thousands of Sogdians with the three surnames of Yu, Yi, and Jing in Taiyuan, and the event was unprecedented.
It's a pity that Long Run lived to be ninety-three years old, and Li Keyong is only fifty this year, which is too far behind.
"I have been a soldier for most of my life, and I am used to eating the crude food in the army. Is the envoy still used to it?" Li Keyong stopped and asked, with only a slight touch of wine on his lips.
"Taiyuan sheep have been famous for a long time." Pei Guan praised.
There is no doubt that mutton was a necessity in the Tang and Xia dynasties. You don’t have to eat other meats, but mutton must be included.
Most of the sheep sold in the market are jié sheep (rams that have been castrated since childhood). According to the sage, these are all sheep. But boiled sheep are more delicious because they are goats. Pei Guan has eaten boiled goats several times.
Sheep tastes really good, better than Jie sheep. It's a pity that nowadays, with the popularity of Maobu, people don't like to raise goats.
Taiyuan has always been famous for its sheep. During the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court paid tens of millions of dollars to buy sheep for the Hu people with nine surnames who were herding near Taiyuan. The scale was quite large.
"Is this a beautiful duck?" Pei Guan directly picked up a roasted fat duck that was charred on the outside and tender on the inside, and said with a smile: "I ate it today, and it is really extraordinary. The King of Jin has a solar eclipse, a sheep, a beautiful duck,
Drinking this dogwood wine will definitely prolong your life."
There are many beautiful ducks in Fuguang (Guangzhou). Taiyuan Shaoyin Fan traveled thousands of miles to buy hundreds of ducks and put them in the back pond, and brought several carts of duckweed into the pond to make bedding for the ducks. Since then, the beautiful ducks in Fuguang have become famous in Hedong and have endured for a long time.
"The envoy knows the east of the river very well." After hearing this, Li Keyong was still a little happy knowing that the other party was talking nicely. At the signal from his eyes, the maid came forward and poured wine for Pei Guan.
Pei Guan raised the wine bottle and said, "I wish the king good health."
Li Keyong smiled, picked up the wine bottle, wet his mouth, and put it down again.
Li Xiji, Li Sizhao and others drank it all in one gulp.
"What is my sworn brother doing now?" Li Keyong asked.
"The saint is accustomed to administering government in the Jintai Palace and running the world. In his free time, he may go hunting in the Western Mountains or go to the southern suburbs to train his sergeants." Pei Guan said: "In July, I hunted a bear with my sergeants and killed them. When I was eating, I was killed.
Throwing chopsticks and crying, he said, 'My brother is far away in Jinyang, so we can't eat together', so he ordered the young master to make a bearskin coat and send it to Jinyang thousands of miles away."
"The clothes are very good, I love them very much." Li Keyong sighed, his eyes a little confused.
Pei Guan quietly observed his expression.
He knew very well that Li Keyong would not believe the processed words he said. But his emotions were still touched, which showed that his defenses were broken and he was no longer the stoic King Li Jin many years ago.
Li Xiji, Feng Dao, Li Sizhao and others did not say anything.
Most of the people present were human beings, who didn't understand the ways of the world? Even two younger people, Li Luoluo and Li Cunxu, could distinguish many things.
But there are some things that you just need to understand in your heart. People need steps, even if they lie to themselves.
"In the past, there was a sworn alliance at Huayue Temple, and Wang Chongrong was also there. He was the first to leave, and now..." Li Keyong sighed again, holding the wine glass tightly with his hand, trembling slightly.
"King!"
"Grandpa!"
Everyone stood up one after another.
Li Keyong let go of his hand and the wine spilled everywhere.
He looked up at the sky and saw a pair of wild geese flying by.
Once upon a time, he could draw his strong bow and shoot down the wild geese in the sky easily. At that time, his body was full of vitality, and his limbs were full of powerful strength. He wore heavy armor, man and horse equipment, and broke into the enemy's formation.
, slashing and killing indiscriminately, and those who stand in his way are invincible.
All gone!
Li Keyong lowered his head, and even though he tried his best to suppress it, he still shed two turbid tears.
Last night he dreamed of Shi Jingsi.
In the Shangyuanyi Incident, Shi Jingsi, who was the governor of Shatuo Anqing Tribe, died heroically in battle after being defeated.
Shi Jingsi's face was covered with blood, and he was speechless when asked if his "ambitions were unfulfilled."
Ambition? What is your ambition in this life? Li Keyong is a little confused and doesn’t seem to have a clear ambition.
He just wanted to dominate one side, ask the court not to interfere with his affairs, make other military governors surrender to him, sing praises to him, and then kill the thief Zhu Wen.
Now Zhu Wen is dead, the Tang Dynasty has disappeared, and all the military governors have been blown away by the wind like rain, disappearing one by one in the years.
What other ambitions are there? What ambitions are there still to be realized?
Li Keyong was confused.
In the confusion, there was an indescribable sadness and sorrow, as if he had missed something important.
This life is going to go by like this? Nothing will be accomplished?
Thinking of this section, he could no longer hold back his tears. At this time, he was not sad for Tang Ting or the soldiers and generals who died in Shangyuanyi, he was sad for himself.
The place was eerily silent for a moment. Everyone stopped what they were doing and waited silently.
After a long time, Li Keyong finally raised his head and asked in a hoarse voice: "When the Xia soldiers came out to suppress Hebei, Chengde was unable to support itself alone, and its fall was inevitable. After the city of Zhending was defeated, where would my sworn brother attack again?"
"
"The sage has said that the Khitan is ambitious and Abaoji is treacherous. This is the way to die." Pei Guan said: "After the attack on Chengde, we must assemble a large army to bring peace to the Khitan. If Abaoji is captured, he will be sent to Jinyang.
, leave it to your sworn brother to handle."
Of course Pei Guan would not be stupid enough to say that the next target is Hedong.
The attack on the Khitan was originally part of the plan. Abaoji's betrayal and so on refer to the Jin army and the Khitan teaming up to attack Rouzhou, Ruyuan, and Xianyou Palace. Abaoji retreated midway and defeated the Jin army.
To be honest, Li Keyong may not care much about this matter. Pei Guan said this, which is just an excuse.
"What happens after the Khitan is defeated?" Li Keyong asked.
As expected, he didn't care about Abaoji. For this reason, it didn't matter whether he lived or died.
"Drive out the Khitan, capture the people in the Bohai Sea, ride on the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, and wipe out the heroes in the south." Pei Guan replied.
"Then what?" Li Keyong seemed to be fascinated by what he heard and continued to ask.
"We also need to regain the old land of Anxi." Pei Guan said: "The sage said that he has many ambitions and wants to complete them as much as possible. He is not afraid of anything now, he is only afraid of being delayed and running out of time."
Li Ke subconsciously touched his waist. He didn't come back to his senses until he found nothing. He was wearing casual clothes today and did not wear a bow tip.
The bow has not been used for a long time.
I haven't touched the knife for a long time.
Recently, I couldn't even think of these things until I heard Pei Guan's words, "There's no time."
It turns out that these ambitions are so attractive to me? If I could go back in time, would I also have these ambitions?
It's a pity there is no time.
Li Keyong stayed there, and his once gloomy face miraculously became rosy.
"Yazi..." he called softly.
"Grandpa." Li Cunxu stood up and looked at his father, full of worry.
"Go to Youzhou." Li Keyong said.
Li Cunxu was dumbfounded.
His father asked him to go to Youzhou, obviously not to lead troops there, so this matter...
"Go to Youzhou and see your uncle." Li Keyong said.
Li Cunxu felt extremely uncomfortable and didn't want to reply, so he turned his face away.
"Be obedient." Li Keyong emphasized his voice.
"Why are you going to Youzhou? Do you want me to surrender?" Li Cunxu said angrily.
"Go and see your uncle. He will make arrangements." Li Ke waved his hand feebly and said.
"I'm not going!" Li Cunxu said these words directly and left the table.
Li Keyong turned his head, and Li Xiji understood and stood up to leave. He immediately went to see Princess Liu and Lady Cao of Jin, and only they could persuade him.
"Let's go." Li Keyong said with waning interest. The servant came forward and gently helped him away.
Pei Guan sighed and was not in the mood to eat or drink.
Human beings are not grass and trees, how can they be ruthless? Wouldn’t it be sad to see a hero grow old and old, and the sky never misses the year?
This trip to Jinyang has been a complete success.
Although King Jin and the saint were thousands of miles apart, they had a surprisingly tacit understanding at this moment. They didn't say anything, but they both understood each other's meaning.
Even if the King of Jin did not say he would surrender, the sage would not force him to surrender. With the temper of the King of Jin, he would not take the initiative to surrender.
But no matter what, Hedong is no longer in trouble.
