The sun gradually rose, and after two rounds of singing and dancing, the high-ranking officials and lords who were qualified to attend the banquet arrived at Chengqing Hall. Palace maids carried plates of exquisite snacks and dishes, and officials from various families chatted with each other, laughing as they watched the two groups of officials argue. Occasionally, they would quote scriptures that were too obscure and obscure, and there were also old scholars explaining and explaining, causing the crowd to be enlightened and praise.
Central Middle Earth, ten thousand miles of territory, standing at the top of the world for close to a thousand years, the prosperity of civil and military affairs spread far beyond the Great Wall to the foreign tribes, until finally, in the land where the trade routes were smooth, there was no one who did not have elegant words, every year there would be monarchs of small places who would send envoys to request to become subjects and confer titles, it was truly a court of tens of thousands of countries.
Of course, this honor of being the king of all countries was not something that could be boasted about. The three changes of dynasties in the Central Plains were all caused by the Emperor losing the hearts of the people, and not by the invasion of foreign tribes. Daqi, which had been suppressed by Su Of Gojoseon and Xu Lie for sixty years, could still push the barbarians of the Northern Barbarians away with a bunch of stray dogs. With such tyrannical strength, how could the foreign tribes beyond the Great Wall not be afraid?
It was precisely because of these lessons that the successive monarchs of the Great Yue Kingdom had almost reached the point of being harsh on themselves. They specifically kept a group of Imperial Censors who did nothing else but pick out mistakes.
And as the people of the Central Plains dynasty, after hundreds of years, they had developed a tendency to revere martial arts. Those who could only write essays were not considered talented, only those who could use a pen and a sword were considered talented.
Although the Courtiers were divided into civil and military, but when it came to equestrian and archery of the Six Arts of Gentlemen, military officers were not necessarily better than the pillars of the country cultivated by the aristocratic families such as Xiao Chuyang.
It was precisely because of this that the usually steady Song Ji suddenly held a banquet for the officials because of three poems, which caused the officials to be puzzled.
The so-called 'talented' referred to the talents of the country.
Poetry and songs were, after all, small things. They could be used to pass time and cultivate one's state of mind, but they were not of great use. A person's talent should be used to stabilize the country. What kind of talent was writing a few poems? How could it be worthy to invite the civil and military officials to listen?
Of course, not all of the guests present were concerned about this. Most of the lower ranked officials still came to have a meal with the intention of bragging to their colleagues.
In the corner of Chengqing Hall, behind a huge pillar carved with auspicious beasts, several rows of tables were arranged. A group of officials sat there, stretching their necks to watch the movements of the court. These were all things to brag about when they returned home. At that time, they could say, "When I had a meal with Prime Minister Xiao, Prime Minister Xiao said …" and so on. Just thinking about it made them feel imposing.
Among these people, Gong Sun Ming was the most attentive one. Together with his son Gong Sun Lu, he sat upright and still, listening to the conversations of the court officials in front of them, nodding and shaking his head from time to time. Although half of his face was blocked by a pillar, it did not stop Gong Sun Ming and his son from participating in the conversation.
Gongsun Lu was a big shot in Daye Workshop, but in Chengqing Hall, he was nothing. He was nervous and whispered, "Father, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War is over there. Should we go over and have a toast?"
Gongsun Ming's face darkened, "Behave yourself. Who dares to touch the cup before the emperor sits down? Remember, when the officials in front raise their cups, we raise our cups, when the officials laugh, we laugh, if you dare to move at any other time, I'll break your three legs …"
Gongsun Lu nodded and pondered, "I heard there was a case outside the city last night …"
"Shut up, what case is more important than having a meal with the emperor? Get up, Eunuch Jia is coming out … "
…
"The emperor has arrived!"
A deep voice resounded throughout Chengqing Hall. Eunuch Jia, dressed in a red robe, slowly walked out of the side hall with a horsetail whisk in his hand.
All the male and female guests stopped talking and stood up to greet him.
Song Ji strode out of the side hall and sat down behind the table. Before Eunuch Jia could say anything, he raised his hand and said, "I'm here.
"Well, there is no need to salute today. Sit down."
"Thank you, Emperor!"
Hundreds of guests sat down again. The huge palace was silent. Xiao Chuyang and others looked up, waiting for Song Ji's words.
It was not a court meeting, so Song Ji looked more easygoing. He looked down and said,
"Today's banquet is about to end. Although there has been a drought in Shu for two years, Shu has abundant resources under the rule of the King of Shu, and Su Of Gojoseon has transported food from Qinzhou to solve the urgent need. It snowed a few days ago, so it should be fine now …"
Many Courtiers nodded slowly. This reason was more like it.
The Crown Prince of Shu, who was sitting among the nobles, bowed slightly. There was an empty seat next to the six Crown Princes. It was needless to say who it was for.
There were many dignitaries in Chang 'an City. There were always a few who were absent. It was impossible for Song Ji to pay attention to them one by one.
He continued, "Secondly, I looked through the poems sent from the city last night. There were three poems, which seemed to be written by one person. They are all excellent works that are hard to come by in a hundred years. I was so moved by them that I couldn't sleep all night. I wanted to summon them to the palace, but they didn't leave their names on the manuscripts. Therefore, I called all of you here to help me see who wrote them. "
"…"
All the guests were stunned. After thinking carefully, they were sure that they did not hear it wrong.
That's it?
They saw three good poems, but they didn't even know who wrote them. They called them "talents" and even called all the civil and military officials to help find them?
Was it necessary to make such a big fuss? Are the dogs and dogs of the Division of Investigations just for show?
There were some whispers in the hall. Obviously, some people felt that they had overestimated the person who wrote the poems.
Xiao Chuyang had been with the Emperor for many years, so he had some understanding of Song Ji's character. He could guess Song Ji's general intention with one sentence.
Dai Yue had always valued the poor. It was a good thing to recruit talents for the court. Xiao Chuyang, Lu Chengan and the others would not disagree. They all nodded slightly.
But the Imperial Censors did not have the insight of the Prime Minister. As the leader of the Imperial Censors, Qi Xinghan, the "Old Man Qi" mentioned by the former Emperor, could not nod along. He immediately stood up and cupped his hands.
"Your Majesty, poems can cultivate the state of mind in leisure, but they are not of great use. No matter how good they are, they are not worthy of the word" talents "…"
Qi Xinghan was very qualified to say this. Years ago, his "Ode to Chang 'an" was the best poem in the capital. Just based on his attainments in poetry, how many of the hundreds of guests present dared to be noisy in front of him?
But Qi Xinghan had never dared to call himself a talent in his entire life. After becoming an official, he was strict with himself and never boasted about it. Because other than writing, his only other talent was nitpicking. It could not be considered an ability at all. He was just brave.
The group of old scholars from the Imperial College all stroked their beards and nodded. They looked up to see how Song Ji would respond.
After listening to Qi Xinghan's long speech, Song Ji raised his hand and gestured.
"Everyone can see that Duke Qi's attainments in poetry speak for themselves. Naturally, you can distinguish the merits and shortcomings of a poem better than I can. Why don't you take a look at these three poems first and decide if they are worthy of the word" talents "?"
Eunuch Jia held a tray with a poem on it and slowly walked down the stairs.
The civil and military officials were also attracted by the Emperor's words. They all raised their heads in anticipation.
After all, Song Ji was not a mediocre emperor. He talked and laughed with such confidence. It did not seem like he was not confident.
If Qi Xinghan just said that poetry was not worth mentioning and after reading it, he would be speechless and be called "talents", wouldn't the person who wrote the poem be praised to the heavens!?
While the officials were thinking, Song Yufu, who was sitting among the female guests, shrunk her neck and lowered her head to look at her skirt. She was so anxious that she was about to cry …
