Chastity Layman

Before Wanzhu of Jinshuimen in Chang'an City entered the city, Chang'an's regular officials had already left early to go to court.

Today, the first day of May, is the Shuowang Dynasty. In addition to the usual more than 300 regular officials, today, all nine ranks of civil and military affairs in the Fanjing Division have participated, and the scene is grand.

Usually, officials with ranks above five, as well as enshrined officials, Yuanwailang, supervisory censors, and Dr. Taichang attend the court. On the first day of the new year, officials with rank above nine in the capital's yamen have to go to court.

For officials who don't usually attend, today they are extra solemn, for fear of being late or improperly dressed in front of the palace.

The emperor has just increased the salaries and benefits for the officials, and no one wants to lose their errands.

Although it is said that at this kind of grand meeting, officials below the third rank basically cannot even enter the Golden Palace, and they are all lined up outside the hall, and those officials of eighth and ninth ranks even have to line up outside the square, but who dares to be careless Woolen cloth.

The officials all got up in the middle of the night, got up early to bathe and change clothes, and then ate some breakfast casually, and did not dare to eat too much. After all, if they went to court in the middle of the night, they would have to stand for a long time in case they ate too much. Or if you want to relieve yourself, it will be troublesome.

It happened before that an official farted loudly in the palace during the court meeting, but was impeached by the censor for impoliteness and demoted.

So I would rather go hungry than not eat, especially not drink water.

It was still dark.

The summer breeze blows.

The low-level officials rode on horses, led one or two servants with lanterns and began to drive towards the court, while the high-level officials rode in carriages.

The prime ministers were even more huddled, and each of them was surrounded by hundreds of guards when they went to court. These were specially sent by the emperor to protect the prime minister's safety and maintain the prime minister's dignified appearance.

Lanterns and horse lanterns poured out of Chang'an neighborhoods one by one, and converged on Chang'an Sixth Street, like a galaxy of stars, converging towards Taiji Palace.

It was still very early at this time, and Qin Lang reckoned that it would be more than three o'clock and less than four o'clock, because there were more people attending the court than usual, and there were only a few thousand officials, and the officials all brought their servants and servants with them. The guards are full of traffic, and it is dark and easy to congest, so everyone tries to set off as early as possible.

The gate of Taiji Palace is locked at dusk and opened at five o'clock.

As soon as the fifth watch arrives and the palace gates are unlocked, the officials at Yushitai will start roll call. If they don't arrive, it will be very troublesome.

Fortunately, in the past two years, Chang'an has been gradually liberalized, and the walls of the workshop are gradually being demolished. The gate of the workshop is basically implemented as a new rule that it is not locked at night. everything.

Qin Lang lives in Pingkangfang, which is relatively close to the imperial palace, and his Weiguo Gongfu has a large house with more than 200 mu of land. The door opened directly on the wall of the square makes it much more convenient and quick to get in and out, but to get to Taiji Palace, he has to pass through The imperial city, so it has to go through many inspections, and it still has to be blocked.

Sitting in the carriage, Qin Lang yawned.

He was a little hungry, and Qin Lang didn't dare to eat too much. It was still very troublesome to be in a hurry when he was out of the house.

"Well, there are a lot of breakfasts outside, and some sell flax pancakes, how about I buy a few?" Zhang Chao rode a horse and followed Qin Lang's carriage, and said to Qin Lang through the curtain.

Qin Lang also smelled the scent of flax in the car, and couldn't help but lift the curtain.

Along the street, there is a row of stalls, some selling flax pancakes, some selling cooking cakes, and some directly setting up a stall, selling tea, and some selling pancakes.

There is also a guy who actually set up a stall to sell lamb in a water basin...

These early peddlers were obviously here to do business with the officials of the Great Court Assembly and their entourages. Since Chang'an City deregulated, no longer imposed a curfew, and demolished the walls to set up a street market, Chang'an City has indeed added a lot of fireworks.

In the early dynasties, there were high square walls on both sides of the street, and walking on the street was actually the same as walking in the corridor.

Qin Lang couldn't see that many officials' attendants would also run to the side and quickly buy some food. They are not officials, and they can have people prepare food at home. I got up in the middle of the night to prepare a car and a horse, and had to be accompanied by an escort. Fortunately, it was still summer, otherwise I would have to suffer from cold and hunger.

The hot and fragrant breakfast is really tempting.

Qin Lang originally thought about not eating it, but his stomach growled when he smelled the aroma.

"Is it four o'clock?"

"Not yet!" Zhang Chao responded.

"Then just stop for a while, choose a stall and have breakfast together before leaving."

Qin Lang called to stop the carriage, and more than a hundred people immediately stopped. The officials and attendants next to him thought something was wrong, but the guards told them that Duke Wei wanted to have breakfast.

Some officials wanted to come over and take the opportunity to say a few words, but the emperor pulled Qin Lang's Qianniu guards with knives and shields to surround them, without giving them a chance at all.

Qin Lang found a stall casually and was not picky.

Early in the morning, the sesame pancakes are really delicious. The pancakes are spread on the pan, dripped with sesame oil, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The aroma will make you hungrier.

The vendor was a skinny man, and there was a woman behind him. They should be a couple. There were two children beside the stall. The older one was only four or five years old, and the younger one was only about two years old. Sitting on the side, not noisy.

Qin Lang smiled at them, but the two children looked at the purple robe on him with some fear.

The stall owner seems to have never received such a high-ranking official. He usually leaves the stall early in order to earn more money. Court officials rarely come to eat at the stall, but court officials’ guards will come to buy some. , it can reach the first half of the day, if you are lucky, you may even get two bounties.

Looking at the purple robe on Qin Lang's body, especially the young face, which was so similar to the statue in the Temple of Heavenly Kings, the stall owner knew that he had met Duke Wei.

The common people spoke highly of the young Wei Guogong, thinking that he had done a lot of good things for the people, not to mention disaster relief and acne treatment, the bustle of Chang'an now made many people's lives better.

The owner of the stall also benefited from this. Although it is hard work to set up this pancake stall now, he can support his family and children, and his life is much better than before.

"Wei Gong, the cake is ready."

The stall owner excitedly held the two cakes in front of Qin Lang, Qin Lang looked at them, they were flax pancakes, the stall owner made them into Gulouzi.

Gulouzi can be said to be an upgraded version of the flax cake. It directly uses a catty of fresh lamb to make meat fillings, then bakes it into a large pie, sprinkles sesame seeds on the outside, and fry it with sesame oil. The fried outside is crispy, and the lamb inside tender.

This kind of building is called Gulouzi, and the price is naturally not cheap.

You must know that people in Guanzhong like to eat mutton, but mutton has never been cheap. In the past two years, with the destruction of Turks in the north, Tuyuhun and Dangxiang in Xiping, the northern border has been stabilized. After entering the Central Plains and selling to Chang'an in Guanzhong, the price of mutton in Chang'an is much cheaper than in the early years.

But no matter how cheap it is, it’s still mutton. In Wude, mutton was sold for more than a hundred cents a catty. Even pork, which nobles despised, was once sold for hundreds of cents a catty.

The price of pork and mutton has fallen sharply in the past two years, but now the price of fresh mutton is also 60 to 70 yuan a catty, and the price of pork is 50 to 60 yuan per catty.

Ordinary people still can't afford meat.

Two loaves and two catties of mutton would cost one hundred and thirty-four yuan for the mutton alone.

Qin Lang reached out his hand to find out the money bag, and took out a silver Kaiyuan. This silver coin was made of less than one tael of silver, a silver-copper alloy, with a denomination of 2,000 renminbi. Folks are very popular and very strong.

The stall owner was stunned when he saw the silver coin, and quickly waved his hand.

"It's not easy to get up early and stay in the dark. You still bring your wife, children and children with you. You eat the wind and drink the dew, and wear the stars and the moon. You are doing a good job in this ancient building. It smells fragrant and looks attractive. This silver dollar will reward you."

"Starlight pays off to those who walk by, and time pays off to those who care."

The stall owner refused to accept it.

Qin Lang stuffed the silver dollar into the boy's hand, thought for a while, then took out another silver dollar and stuffed it into the little girl's hand, "This baby has spiritual eyes, you should send him to study."

"I'll come to you for breakfast tomorrow. I'll order two hundred flax pancakes stuffed with mutton. Can you make them?" Qin Lang asked.

The stall owner didn't expect to be able to accept such a large business, so he hesitated.

His wife, the woman on the side, couldn't hold back, and said, "Yes, we can drive them out."

"Very well, then it's settled. After the fourth watch tomorrow, I will come to pick up two hundred cakes when I pass by your stall. The taste can't be changed."

Although the flax pancakes stuffed with mutton are not as bold as Gu Louzi’s, which puts a catty of mutton in a pancake, but the pancakes with a little bit of mutton cost five cents each.

If Qin Lang ordered two hundred, that would be one thousand dollars.

This is a big order, and if you add up, the stall owner can make a lot of money. The woman agreed excitedly, but the stall owner was afraid that he would be too busy.

Qin Lang had already taken out another silver coin, "This is tomorrow's pancake money, please collect it first, at four o'clock tomorrow morning, we'll get the pancakes."

He put down the silver Kaiyuan, gave one of the two ancient buildings to Zhang Chao, and then returned to the carriage with a smile and waved his hands. I also bought it empty, gave food to the guards, and continued on the road.

The stall owner stood there in a daze.

The woman was so excited that she wanted to jump, and in a blink of an eye, she quickly put the two silver coins in the hands of her children into her purse and hid them close to her body.

"Unexpectedly, we have been setting up a stall for so long, and we met Wei Guogong. We really met a noble man, and we were rewarded with two silver coins."

The man's face turned red, but he just kept silent. After a while, he rolled up his sleeves and continued kneading the cakes, "Jinlian, chop some mutton stuffing."

The woman named Jinlian responded happily.

After eating an ancient building, Qin Lang was no longer hungry, and the carriage arrived in front of the palace gate.

To the south of Taiji Palace, outside the Anfu Gate, in front of the waiting courtyard, was crowded with horses and carriages.

The fifth watch has not arrived, and the gate of the palace has not yet opened.

Fortunately, in front of the palace, there is a waiting courtyard that Qin Lang presided over to build. Officials can go inside to rest first, especially when it is raining, snowing or winter, so they don't have to suffer outside.

The officials' entourage and guards were all left outside, and the officials used the fish amulet to enter the Waiting Courtyard. Qin Lang, as the prime minister, had his private room, a small suite, a bed and a toilet inside.

Every chancellor has a suite, and even the chancellors have a meeting room where they can have a small meeting before the court meeting.

"Come, one flax cake each."

When Qin Lang walked into the conference room, the prime ministers had already arrived. He smiled and brought up a food box, and distributed pancakes to each prime minister.

"What are you talking about?" Qin Lang asked.

Ma Zhou, who had just returned to prime minister, told Qin Lang, "Last night, I just received the news from Longyou that Hou Junji sent troops from Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, and Yugu to attack Yehu without authorization. The war has begun!" Ma Zhou was on duty yesterday political affairs hall.

Qin Lang was unmoved when he heard this, "Ashina started the matter with all his strength, and this battle will be fought sooner or later."

"But Hou Junji sent troops without the imperial court's order." Ma Zhou said.

"Hou Junji is the envoy of the West Sea Xuanfu conferred by the sage. He is on the front line of the frontier. It is right to seize the power in the trial. It is not wrong to attack people first!" Unexpectedly, Qin Lang, who has always had a bad relationship with Hou Junji, took the initiative to defend Speaking of Hou Junji, it was beyond the expectation of the prime ministers, who thought that Qin Lang would take the opportunity to attack Hou Junji.

Qin Lang smiled, "Let's put state affairs first, how is the battle going?"