Bend Over [ 折腰 ] - Chapter 166

[Chapter 164]

In June, Wei Shao ascended the throne at Luoyang as emperor, with the name Of yan and the era name Taihe.

Although the whole world is one, the Central Plains have been plagued by war for many years, the people’s livelihood is withering, and at the beginning of the founding of the Great Yan Dynasty, everything is in ruins to be rebuilt.

The emperor inherited the leniency he had accepted when he ruled the north, abolished the harsh government of the previous dynasty, and reduced taxes and servitude, so that the people could recuperate. He also encouraged Nongsang to build water conservancy, paying special attention to the management of the Yellow River, and in view of the dangerous hidden danger that the middle and lower reaches of the riverbed had been silted up for a long time so that the riverbed was higher than the dwellings on both sides of the river like a suspended river, he recruited people who could rule the river, and the empress once again went to Zhongshan With a small service.

The old man Baishi, the benefactor of Gongsun Yang, is now hidden in this mountain, and last year Qiao Ping visited here to cure the disease, and the old man of Bai Shi was benevolent and benevolent, and received him, and now Qiao Ping is also in the mountain, and the old man builds a hut next to him, half secluded and half cured.

The empress dowager took them into the mountains, and in addition to visiting Qiao Ping, she also asked the old man for advice on how to control the water.

The reason why the emperor thought of asking the old man of Baishi for advice was because when he and the old man first met in Huainan, it was the time when the was in danger, and the old man made a plan in time to help repair the embankment and eliminate the danger.

Although this incident has passed for many years, it has left a deep impression on the emperor, and it is still not forgotten that he came to visit now.

Bai Shi is a descendant of the Mo family, half a life traveled in all directions, in addition to proficiency in medical taoism, the matter of craftsmanship is also involved in a very deep, know that water conservancy is more related to the people’s livelihood, especially the Yellow River, because of the twists and turns of the middle and lower reaches of the river, coupled with soil erosion, has always hidden hidden dangers, since ancient times it has changed its mouth several times, the legacy is endless, it is to take advantage of the opportunity of travel in the early years, there are many investigations of the Hehuai waterway, but in the past the imperial court did not have the heart to govern water, after the world was in chaos, the princes divided, and even more let the river silt up, Although the old man has the heart of the world, it is difficult to be lonely, and now that the new king is on the throne, so he attaches great importance to the hidden dangers of the Yellow River, the old man sighs and is also quite relieved, although he can no longer personally go out to the mountains and rivers because of his old age, but spares no effort to pass on his half-life experience to the new emperor, and also recommends a local river official named Xu Mian who he met when he traveled to Caoyang, saying that although this person is not just a small official, but his heart is concerned about the people’s livelihood, he also has a set of water control, and the emperor can promote and reuse it.

The emperor was overjoyed, and talked with the old man for a long night, until the dawn of the day, and immediately summoned Xu Mian to Luoyang after returning to the dynasty.

In the former dynasty, there were two ways to recruit officials and recommend them. These two methods initially played a positive role in recruiting talents and talents, but in the later period, they have long been in the form, the court officials employ nepotism, selling officials and knighthoods is even more commonplace, and it is difficult for people who are really talented and do practical things to have a head start in their lives.

Xu Mian was born in a cold door, but he was just a small official in charge of river workers in Cao Yang, and he did it for half a lifetime. Although he was talented and also had the heart of a people, he had presented the strategy of controlling water to the imperial court several times before, asking for the repair of canals to govern the river, but the imperial court had always ignored it, Xu Mian was discouraged, did not want to change the dynasty now, the new king was soon on the throne, and he did not know how he learned of himself, and even issued an edict to recruit himself into the dynasty as an official.

The Son of Heaven’s conquest of commoners, known as the “conquest of kings,” was a great honor for those who were called.

Xu Mian rushed to Luoyang with a surprised and nervous mood, and was summoned by tianzi to the Nangong Palace, and the emperor had a conversation, and the next day the emperor issued an edict to promote him to be the grand si nong, in charge of hehuai water affairs, and immediately took office.

Xu Mian’s half-life ambition was finally able to be carried out, kneeling on the mountain to call long live, grateful to Zero, and then when he arrived at the place, he showed his talents, devoted himself to water management, spent many years dredging and expanding the river, building a solid embankment, and finally eliminating the hidden danger of flooding in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, at the same time, the dike weir diverted water, and also irrigated dozens of counties in eastern Henan and southwestern Lu, as many as millions of acres of fields, since then, the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment. Xu Mian was not only revered as the Duke of Xu by the locals, but also received many awards from the imperial court.

In the imperial court, at this time, Wen had The Chancellor Gongsun Yang, Yushi Dafu Wei Quan, Shaofu Qingzhu Zeng and other xianliang auxiliary government, Wu had the Grand Sima Li Dianzhen Youzhou, the Wei general Wei Liang Shou Xiliang, the Fuqiang Lieutenant Qiao Ci Shou and Zhou, and the Green Eyed General Bi Yan, because of the great merits of the Dragon in quelling the chaos in the south, was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Jiujiang, and the town guarded southern Xinjiang.

Emperor Bu did not take concubines, and set up the Qiao clan as the queen, and tied their hair to keep each other.

Everyone knows that Empress Qiao is not only beautiful and charming, but also the emperor’s helper. When the emperor went south to march, Yuyang was attacked by the Xiongnu, and when he was in danger, it was Qiao Hou who was not afraid of life and death, personally climbed the city wall to inspire the soldiers and civilians to fight bravely, and finally saved Yuyang, and the deeds of blood are still rumored to be beautiful talk by the world.

In the first month of the year after the emperor ascended the throne, the imperial court promulgated a new policy, announcing the addition of the imperial examination system on the basis of the original official selection mechanism. As long as the people of the world are talented and willing to serve the imperial court, they can participate in the selection of the imperial examination, and the imperial court will select the best and appoint them to official positions. If this law is effective, it will be completely abolished in the future, and the system of selecting talents for examination will be implemented.

From the first day of the promulgation of the government decree, the unfamiliar name of “Keju” quickly became a hot topic of discussion in the streets and alleys. Countless white-clad men from cold backgrounds were very excited after hearing the news, and they could not sleep all night. For this meant that henceforth they would no longer have to wait in a painstaking way to get a slim chance for a local official to be recommended, and thus to receive an official position. How many people with real talent, throughout their lives, may not be able to wait for the conquest and recommendation in their dreams. Now that there is this pioneering talent selection method, it is not necessary to realize the dream, but at least, it is a big step closer to the realization of the dream.

Soon after the decree was promulgated, the imperial court held the first test of Enko that year. The total number of self-nominated people in various places is said to exceed 10,000. After a first-level selection, and finally the Qianqiu Hall tried to make a plan, Dayan came out of the founding of the country, and it was also the first batch of Zhongju scholars in history.

After being appointed to official positions, most of them performed well during their term of office, and some of the outstanding ones later became important ministers of the imperial court.

A few years later, the examination system completely replaced the inspection system that had been used for thousands of years and became the only way for the imperial dynasty to select talents.

It is said that the first person to propose the imperial examination system and persuade the emperor and ministers to accept it was Qiao Hou.

Therefore, for a long time after that, Qiao Hou became a legend like a goddess in the minds of the world’s scholars, and many people competed to write poems for Qiao Hou, many of which were widely circulated, and it became the dream of many scholars to be able to get the title of the gold list, and finally get Qiao Hou’s wine at the palace banquet.

The beauty of Empress Qiao, inside and outside Luoyang, everyone knows, but it is passed on, and soon after, I don’t know where the gossip came from, and finally the most talked about in Luoyang is not how virtuous Empress Qiao is, but the emperor is afraid of the inside.

It is said that before Jinshang ascended the throne, he was still in Youzhou for the Marquis of Yan, he already had the name of fear of the inside, because Qiao Hou forbade it, he did not dare to na mei, and now the harem is empty only the queen, and there is no prince under the knees, but now he still does not accept the harem, there is a good chance, I am afraid that not only is he afraid of the inside, but he is not shallow.

If this rumor is true, then the founding emperor of Great Yan is not only the first person in the world, but also the first person in the world who is afraid of the inside.

The people relished this kind of gossip about the empress, but they did not dare or deliberately harbor malice, but only out of surprise, coupled with a little bit of good intentions that everyone has, not to mention the two husbands and wives who are still high up in the empress behind closed doors, which is not interested? It could not be stopped, and then gradually flowed back into the palace, even to the point that even the courtiers knew about it.

Those old generals who had followed the emperor and fought the world in those years were actually divided into two factions for the little matter between the emperor and the queen. For example, Gongsun Yang, felt that the reason why the emperor did not accept the harem was because he liked the empress, and such as Wei Quan, his heart was secretly poking and poking, the emperor was really afraid of the inside, it was just that before, now even the people know it, it is inevitable to lose the dignity of the son of heaven, but although these people have different ideas, they are well versed in the secrets, and no one will be stupid enough to run to the emperor to say this matter to find obscurity.

There were a few former courtiers, who did not know that the tiger’s ass could not be touched, plus out of the slightest desire to send their daughters to the harem, they even deliberately and correctly signed the Daoyang Yang Sprinkling Song Shu, shu li next to the quotation, talking about the present and the ancient, with the reason that “the son of heaven married twelve daughters, like December, three days of people and nine concubines” and the reason that the emperor had only one princess on the knees of the emperor so far, asked the emperor to set up a concubine and fill the harem.

The next day, the fold was returned, and only the imperial pen Zhu approved a sentence: Er waited for the curse, can not give birth to a son?

The minister was horrified, and hurriedly went to the indictment again and begged for his guilt.

Since then, no one in the Manchu Dynasty has dared to mention the harem.

According to another gossip, the emperor later even took his handling of this matter to Qiao Hou to offer praise and merit, and Qiao Hou learned about it, but just laughed it off.

The empress had a deep affection for Xindu, so it was a place of special significance for the empress, and the emperor ordered the people to repair the Tantai of the Xin palace and rename it “Jiaxin Palace”, as the location of a palace outside Luoyang, and then went out of Luoyang several times to tour Kyushu, and the empress passed by Xindu to stay.

The Great Yan Dynasty, from the first day of its establishment, entered the Qingming Era of political communication and people, and the history of later generations did not hesitate to describe the founding emperor of the Great Yan Empire with such praise as “Ming Junxian Queen”.

And for the people in the world, the founding emperor was young and heroic, and according to the people who had the privilege of being able to visit Qiao Hou, they talked around, and the beauty of the country was beautiful, and at first glance, it was like seeing the heavens. Such a pair of immortal couples is already deeply legendary, coupled with the widely spread saying of “Emperor Fear Inside”, the Emperor of the Heavenly Family under the crown of Huanghuang, behind closed doors, what kind of light it is for the couple to get along behind closed doors, because the height of the palace wall is unknown, it is inevitable that it will be more mysterious.

In order to satisfy the voyeuristic desires of the people, the people who have good deeds have made up their own imaginations out of thin air, but no matter how they speculate, how can they know the truth?

All the following records are from the Notes on the Living of the Empress, and the author has not added or deleted any of them, but has selected transcripts truthfully in chronological order for the benefit of the reader.

This first thing began with Taihe’s first enko of the year.

[End of This Chapter]