Taiping Inn

The three women, Lan Xuanshuang, Shangguan Guan and Yuying, met very happily, and seemed to have a good conversation. Zhang Baizhou was very bored, so he left Princess Xuanzhen's villa and went to the imperial capital alone.

Although Zhang Baizhou is still a young man, his cultivation is good and he can even take two moves under Xu Qi. In addition, he has also walked alone, not the kind of delicate young man who has no experience in going out alone, so Lan Xuanshuang didn't restrain him, but just gave a few words to him not to provoke Qingluanwei's people, so he let him go.

Zhang Baizhou left the villa, went down the mountain, returned to Guanlu, and walked towards the heroic city crawling on the Jiangbei Plain.

When Zhang Baizhou came to the Imperial Capital, he was still shocked by the heroic city. Looking at the Imperial Capital and standing under the walls of the Imperial Capital are two completely different feelings. The former can better highlight the majesty of the Imperial Capital, while the latter can make people feel their own insignificance.

Zhang Baizhou was in this mood at this time.

Looking over, the towering city walls covered half of Tianmu, which could allow the six horses to run in parallel without appearing crowded, squeeze the blue sky into a narrow line. Then, looking left and right, the long city wall could not see the edges, and there was no way to see where the corners were.

Such a city is towering and magnificent, replacing the former Xijing, Longmen Mansion, Chaoyang Mansion and Jinling Mansion, becoming the largest city in the world, the most prosperous place in the world, standing silently between heaven and earth.

This is the Imperial Capital.

Although Zhang Baizhou was born in the Imperial Capital and grew up in the Imperial Capital, he rarely left the Imperial Capital. He was in the mountains and did not know the true face of this mountain. When he left the imperial capital, he could only yearn for the outside world, look at the forward, and ignore the imperial capital behind him.

It was not until this moment that he could take a good look at the city.

This is the place that Li Xuan has been thinking about for the past six years, and it is also the place he has been thinking about for him.

Zhang Baizhou had an impulse and shouted, "Imperial Court, I'm back!"

But he didn't do this because he knew that he was not Li Xuandu and was not qualified to announce anything to the Imperial Capital and the people in the Imperial Capital City, so he lowered his eyebrows and mixed in the crowd, and walked towards the city gate silently.

As the world's largest city, the imperial capital has nine city gates, each city gate has a dedicated city guardian, responsible for checking the personal belongings and road guides of those entering the city.

The Great Wei implemented the system of baojia, with one hundred households as one li, ten households with more dying grain as the eldest, and the remaining 100 households as the ten households as the ten households. There are ten people in Jia. There is one person in the military service every year, and one person in the head of the armor. The laws of the Great Wei Dynasty stipulate that farmers do not go out for a mile, and they come in and out in the morning and evening, and know each other's work and rest. Anyone who is a hundred miles away from his residence must issue a road guide by the local government. If there is no road guide or does not match it, the crime must be punished according to the law. Lu Yin is actually a proof of leaving home.

In fact, Lu Yin and various places are an integrated system, but they are all exceptions to gentry. What is a gentry? They are people with fame and fortune, scholars, juren, jinshi, and officials. Zhang Baizhou was prepared for a long time. His identity was a scholar. Not only did he not need to be instructed, he did not have to pay money when passing the money, but he could also study with his sword. This was all permitted by the court, so when he came to the gatekeeper, he showed it. After proof of identity, the soldiers did not make things difficult for him and let him go very happily.

After all, it is the imperial capital, with the powerful walking around the ground. A small scholar is nothing, so there is no need to pay too much attention. Moreover, the court did not control swords and swords, but only controlled bows and crossbows and armor. Those who privately hid bows and crossbows and armor were equivalent to rebellion.

Over the years, Zhang Baizhou has become accustomed to the quiet life on the mountain. When he walked through the long gate hole into the city, he was a little uncomfortable.

There are all places in the Imperial Capital. Even if the outside world is hungry, it is not like this in the Imperial Capital. If you only look at the Imperial Capital, you may not be able to see the destruction of the country.

Zhang Baizhou looked around and didn't know where to go for a moment.

The old friend is gone, and this so-called hometown is so strange.

Zhang Baizhou sighed and walked aimlessly in the city.

Because the Emperor Capital City is a "convex" shape, there are some considerations to where to enter the city. Some city gates lead directly to the inner city, which is where gentry and wealthy businessmen live, while others lead directly to the outer city, which is mostly ordinary Where the people live. The city gate that Zhang Baizhou chose leads to the outer city, and it is the poorest area. Most of them are poor people who carry out various low-key careers. Not to mention high-ranking officials and nobles, there are not many poor scholars.

Zhang Baizhou was walking on the street full of sewage and filthy things. There were many beggars on both sides of the street, dressed in tattered clothes and skinny as if they were as thin as winter came. Maybe they would be frozen to death on the street that day. Although the tall walls of the Imperial Capital blocked most of the refugees, there were still "fish that slipped through the net". These people thought that the Imperial Capital was a place to eat, but the Imperial Capital was like a river and lake. It looked beautiful but actually ate. If a person does not spit out his bones, the place where he is best may not be good.

Zhang Baizhou sighed softly.

The world is peaceful, simple to say, but difficult to do.

Zhang Baizhou speeded up his pace, like a swimming fish passing through the crowded streets, turning a blind eye to the people or things on both sides, and soon left the place.

He didn't want to stay here, he didn't want to see this because he knew he was powerless to change something.

Soon, he left here and got closer and closer to the inner city.

In the inner city, the officials' residences are all there, including the Prime Minister's Mansion.

The Prime Minister's Mansion does not have a fixed location, usually refers to the Prime Minister's Mansion, so there are many Prime Minister's Mansion, but Zhang Suqing understands that there is only one Prime Minister's Mansion he is going to.

Relying on past memories, Zhang Baizhou came to a long street, which was very close to the Qianbu Gallery where the major government offices were located. If riding a horse, it would only take a quarter of an hour. It was also very close to the major guild halls, especially the Jingzhou Guild Hall, which was only about two streets away. The candidates from Jingzhou lived here when they came to Beijing to take the imperial examination.

There is a mansion with a large area here, and the front door is facing the back door of the Tang Palace. And behind this mansion, across a street, is the Princess Mansion of the Grand Princess Xuanzhen. Not far from the Princess Mansion is the residence of the Deputy Assistant Mei Shenglin. After the residence of the Deputy Assistant, about half a mile away from the Qizhou Guild Hall, is the residence of the new Cabinet Chief Assistant Zhao Lianggeng. In addition, there is the mansion where Xu Shisong and Xu Shouzhai, uncle and nephew, lived, which is only about three miles away from here.

However, this mansion has been idle and abandoned for a long time, and in early winter, the grass and trees withered, and it was visibly dilapidated, without any popularity.

It is hard to imagine that there is an abandoned mansion in such a prosperous area.

Zhang Baizhou stood in front of the gate of this mansion, his eyes swept across the mottled gate and the cold stone lions on both sides, looking at the place where the plaque was originally hung, and he was silent.

He had lived here for many years, and this was once the prime minister's mansion.

Things have changed.

Uncle Zhang Suqing and Emperor Muzong can be said to be a model of monarch and minister, so Emperor Muzong specially gave this prime minister's mansion. Every time there was a big or small court meeting, many officials who lived far away had to get up in the middle of the night to prepare, and this mansion was very close to the imperial city, which could save at least an hour. In addition, it was close to the government office, so you could go home at noon, which was very convenient.

Before the second year of Tianbao, this place was extremely lively. Whether it was officials from various departments in Beijing or frontier officials who came to Beijing, they had to come to this mansion. There was an endless stream of people coming to visit every day, which was completely different from the dilapidated scene today.

After the second year of Tianbao, this house was abandoned. On the day of the Imperial Capital Incident, Zhang Suqing and Zhang Baigui were imprisoned, and Zhang Baiyue died of swallowing gold. Then the Qingluan Guard Governor's Office sent soldiers to surround the entire Xiangfu, but they did not attack it or let the people inside out. It was not until more than ten days later that the people inside starved to death. Then they sent people to collect the bodies. It is said that the scene inside was horrible. So much so that the two cabinet chiefs, Sun Songchan and Zhao Lianggeng, were unwilling to live in this mansion. After all, it was not auspicious. There were also those who did not care about these, but their official rank was slightly insufficient, so this mansion was abandoned.

Zhang Baizhou clenched his fist unconsciously.

It was not because of this mansion, but because of the wronged souls in this mansion.

Now, Zhang Baizhou had to admit that if Li Xuandu did not support him, he could only stand in front of the gate and watch, and could do nothing. It was because Li Xuandu stood behind him that he saw the hope of revenge and was able to come to the imperial capital in a dignified manner and revisit the old place.

Zhang Baizhou sighed deeply.

The four ministers of state are actually the four cabinet members of the cabinet. The head of the cabinet is called the chief assistant, the second is called the second assistant, and the rest are called the group assistants. The number of cabinet members is six at most and four at least. There is no fixed number. It is because of the death of the four ministers that Sun Songchan and Mei Shenglin were able to come forward and serve as the chief assistant and the second assistant.

When Sun Songchan retired and returned to his hometown, Zhao Lianggeng entered the capital and served as the chief assistant. The situation in the court was already very different from when the four ministers were there.

Although Zhang Baizhou became a man of the world and did not embark on a career, he still heard a little about the situation in the court. It is said that the times create heroes, but in the end it is heroes who create the times. Sometimes, the general trend is true, but the process varies from person to person.

Zhang Baizhou wanted to climb over the wall to enter, but after thinking about it, he decided to give up. After all, Aunt Lan had told him not to cause trouble. He had come here by himself, which was already a bit conspicuous. If he climbed over the wall to enter, it would be a bit unreasonable.

So Zhang Baizhou retracted his sight and left.

After leaving this long street, Zhang Baizhou wanted to go to Jingzhou Guild Hall to take a look. After all, Jingzhou was his ancestral home, and he might even see a few scholars from Jiangling Prefecture. However, because of some deviations in his memory, he came to Qizhou Guild Hall by mistake, and then saw a woman in men's clothing walking out of the gate of Qizhou Guild Hall.