Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 290: Learn everything?

Mian Sui couldn't carry so much by himself, so he had to ask Lao Fan to help put it on the carriage and ask someone to send it back to Cui's house first. Four pieces of meat, if they were stuck in the carriage in such a hot day, they would definitely stink!

"Thank you for your trouble, Madam Jiang. The four of you follow me in. Old Madam, please stay."

"Oh! Don't worry, sir. We'll just take a look here and won't go in."

Jiang's mother echoed Mrs. Xia's words like a sped-up nodding doll, demonstrating with her actions that she would never take a rash step.

The exciting apprenticeship session was about to begin. Jiang Shangxian and the other two girls felt vaguely excited and a little hot all over. On the contrary, Jiang Wangri, who had already attended the school once, seemed much calmer.

"Come, kneel down here." Zhang Yingxue led the four people to stop one meter in front of the Confucius shrine. She raised her hand and picked up the incense sticks and fire starter placed beside her and began to light the incense.

what?

It was so sudden, he knelt down at the beginning without saying a word.

Jiang Shangxian and the other three, who had little experience, obediently followed her instructions, took the lit incense sticks, and then knelt directly on the ground without a mat.

Xiao Jiang was fine. She had always been cunning and strictly adhered to the first principle that the body and hair were given by parents and must not be damaged easily. She was prepared when she went down and deliberately slowed down to prevent her knees from hitting the hard ground.

Unfortunately, the three people around him were a little too honest. The sound of their knees colliding with bricks made Jiang Shangxian feel pain for them.

This is too honest. They are not studying to get the top spot in the imperial examination. It is enough as long as the intention is there.

Jiang's mother slapped her thigh and regretted secretly, thinking that she should have put a few cushions there earlier!

Zhang Yingxue's gaze swept over her head, and a smile flashed in her eyes.

Thinking back to when Cui Shaoqing personally delivered the apprenticeship gift yesterday, he had said with such certainty that his future wife would be kind and timid, and that he had asked her to be patient and careful. But after seeing her today...

I'm afraid Cui's husband has made a mistake!

Why does this Miss Jiang look so smart?

"Bow down to Confucius!"

Unlike the modern practice of bowing to the statue of Confucius, scholars in the Tang Dynasty were required to kneel on both knees and kowtow to their teacher Confucius. Jiang Shangxian and Xia Zhenying stole a glance at Jiang Wangri, who had experience, while the confused Yingzi stared at Jiang Shangxian.

Zhang Yingxue did not say anything, just quietly watching them worship the statue of Confucius in uneven manner and then light the incense.

"Bow down and worship me as your master."

The four people who had just stood up took two steps back and knelt down to kowtow. Out of respect for the law, Jiang Shangxian was much more sincere this time than before. Originally, she still had some modern ideas, but after being educated by Old Lady Xia, she found out that Li Shimin had restored the official position of the Third Master and included it in the Zhenguan Order. Even when His Majesty met his mentor, he had to observe etiquette.

"Well, get up and sit in your seats." Zhang Yingxue didn't expect that Jiang Shangxian was more respectful to her than Confucius. She was quite surprised, but her face was still as calm as a chrysanthemum as she asked them to get up.

Seeing this, Old Lady Xia and Jiang's mother, who couldn't step in but kept trying to stick their heads in, breathed a sigh of relief, looked at each other slyly and retracted their necks - okay, that's it, we don't expect him to become a talent, but being able to read is enough.

Due to the size of the room, Jiang Shangxian and Yingzi sat at one table, Jiang Wangri and Xia Zhenying sat at another, and Zhang Yingxue looked at the books, chessboard, konghou, zheng, bixiao, shakuhachi, pipa, sheng, etc. piled on either side.

Zhang Yingxue's expression gradually became solemn. If you look closely, you can easily find that there is a sense of doubt in this solemnity. She kept recalling in her mind how she gave Cui Bianxu this illusion yesterday?

Why does he think he can play all these instruments?!

Why didn't he just ask someone to bring over a square or a drum?

This is absolutely insane! How unreasonable!

Jiang Shangxian and the other three discovered that the newly appointed master seemed to be in a bad mood, and gradually became a little... violent?

Fortunately, at the last moment, Zhang Yingxue closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After three seconds of emptying her mind, she turned around and looked at Jiang Shangxian: "Miss Jiang, do you want to learn all these instruments?"

Xiao Jiang, the first one in the class to be called by the teacher, felt an itch on the back of her head. Perhaps she was about to grow a brain. Her womanly intuition made her shake her head honestly: "Sir, students can't learn so much."

With only experience playing the recorder in elementary school music class, she could only learn something that looked like a piccolo, and there was no guarantee that she could learn it well.

Zhang Yingxue was very satisfied with this answer and secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Well, first lesson today..."

At the same time, Cui Bianxu was standing in a corner of the court, dozing off like a pine or cypress while listening to the officials arguing.

Of course, he was not the only one distracted, but the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Works were all slacking off.

The Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice had nothing to do with this matter, so naturally they would not speak up. As for the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rites, most of the matters in the court had nothing to do with them. The Ministry of Works had always been the least valued department, so no one would pay attention to them even if they spoke up, so they had been doing nothing all year round.

What caused heated discussion in the court today was the matter of Tubo's Qizong Nongzan sending troops to attack Tuyuhun.

Qizong Nongzan is the name of Songtsen Gampo. The History of Tang Dynasty records that the Tang Dynasty called him Qizong Nongzan. This name seems a bit strange from today's perspective, especially the word "Qi".

Since the eighth day of the fourth month of the ninth year of Zhenguan, Li Daozon defeated the Tuyuhun army in Kushan (southeast of Qinghai Lake), Sagu Wuren killed the famous Tuyuhun king, Hou Junji and Li Daozon defeated Tuyuhun in Wuhai... The story in between is a bit long.

In short, the Tang army started killing indiscriminately, and finally Hou Junji and Li Daozon, the two killing gods, marched another two thousand miles all the way to Xingxu River and then to Baihai, killing Tuyuhun so hard that he felt dizzy and kept calling for his father. Finally, after the Tuyuhun king Fuyun hanged himself to death, Tuyuhun became a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty.

It was not a new thing for Tubo to attack Tuyuhun. Since the unification of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Tubo would attack Tuyuhun a few times to loosen up their muscles. Everyone was used to it.

But this time it was different. Tubo launched a large-scale attack on Tuyuhun. The banner of Tubo's large-scale attack on Tuyuhun was that Tuyuhun wanted to alienate the relationship between Tubo and the big country and prevent the big country from marrying its princess.

Qi Zong Nong Zan was young and hot-headed, and he held a grudge against Tuyuhun and vowed to seek revenge.

Now comes the question:

1. He's going to attack us just because we refuse to marry him? Does that mean he's against our invincible Tang Dynasty?

2. Tubo attacks Tuyuhun. Will the Tang Dynasty help?