The imperial palace of Luoyang was divided into the south palace and the north palace, located in the north and south of Luoyang respectively. The distance between the two palaces was seven miles, and the two palaces were connected by a complex road. In the middle of the road, the emperor walked in the middle of the road, and the guards followed him to the left and right, with a guard every ten steps. The main hall of Nangong was Deyang Hall. The hall was three feet high and the steps were three feet high. The hall could accommodate ten thousand people. The hall is surrounded by a pool of water, jade steps and red beams. The altar is made of patterned stone, the walls are decorated with colorful paintings, and the golden pillars are carved with beautiful women. Deyang Hall is tall and majestic. It is said that in Yanshi City, forty-three miles away from Luoyang, Deyang Hall and Rosefinch Watchtower can be seen connected to the sky. Outside Luoyang City, there were many gardens and temples for the emperor to enjoy. There are West Garden, Xianyang Garden, Xianming Garden, Lingkun Garden, etc. Among them, the West Park was the largest and had the most amusement facilities. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, who indulged in debauchery, only knew how to play and rarely went to court. He once built ten naked tour halls in Xiyuan. The steps in front of the halls were covered with green moss, and the halls were surrounded by canal water. He would choose beautiful women over the age of fourteen and under the age of eighteen to hold a banquet at the Naked Tour Director's Night. During the day, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty took a small boat to wander in the canal water around the pavilion. He chose the palace maids with white skin and light body to paddle for him. It was midsummer. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty deliberately knocked over the small boat, and the palace maids fell into the water one after another. He laughed and watched the jade skin of the palace maids in the water. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty had many entertainment items in the West Garden. Once, he wanted to ride a donkey for fun, so he drove four white donkeys into a carriage. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty held the reins and drove the four-donkey carriage to gallop around, enjoying himself in the carriage.
Early the next morning, Dongfang Jian, accompanied by Lu Bu and Zhang Fei, brought the treasures to the Imperial Palace. To be more precise, they headed to the Southern Palace. Because the three of them had never been to Luoyang, they naturally did not know how to get to the Imperial Palace. They had no choice but to find someone to lead the way. After passing through five or six streets, they finally arrived in front of the majestic Nangong Zhuque Gate.
Dongfang Jian and the other two were stunned when they saw the building. It was not just a city gate, but two magnificent buildings facing each other from east to west. They were called watchtowers. The entire Nangong was built on a solid foundation. The Vermilion Bird Gate was the largest of the four gates in the Nangong. The watchtower was a wooden building built on a high stone platform. Dongfang Jian estimated that it was at least forty to fifty meters tall. No wonder he had read such a record in the history books. Forty-five miles away, Yanshi looked at the Vermilion Bird Gate watchtower. It seemed to connect with the sky and could be called a wonder of Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
One would not know if one did not look at it, but when they saw it, they were shocked. Compared to the current Forbidden City in Beijing, the Nangong Palace was even larger. Even the gate was so magnificent. One could imagine how luxurious the buildings in the palace were. On both sides of the palace gate stood a team of guards, armed with spears and other weapons, and they were heavily guarded. When they reached the door, Dongfang Jian hurried forward and said to the guard,""I'm Dongfang Jian from Youzhou. I've brought a treasure to present to Your Majesty. I want to enter the palace to meet the Saint. I hope that you can report to the steward in the palace.”
Seeing Dongfang Jian's imposing manner and hearing that he was the Dongfang Jian who had returned from overseas with a treasure, the guard hurriedly agreed and prepared to go in to report. Before he could go in, a young eunuch with a pale face and no beard came out and said to Dongfang Jian,"" You must be Dongfang Jian. I've been waiting for you here under the orders of Attendant Zhang. Let's go and wait inside. When the Emperor summons you for an audience, you can enter the palace to meet him.”
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Eunuch. Please lead the way.”Just as he was about to leave, he heard the young eunuch say,""Did the two of them also give you a piece?”
"Replying to Eunuch Gong, the two of them are my sworn brothers. This time, they have come with me to the capital. Firstly, they are escorting the treasures. Secondly, because the two of them have never seen the Emperor's face, my chest is very heavy and I need a few people to carry it. Coincidentally, the two of them also wanted to enter the palace to take a look, so I brought the two of them along. I hope Eunuch Gong can forgive me.”Dongfang Jian took out an ingot of gold from his pocket and stuffed it into the eunuch's hand when no one was paying attention. []
Although the eunuch didn't look at the gold, he knew it was gold when he held it in his hand. Moreover, the amount was not small. After all, they often did this kind of thing. After the eunuch received the gold, he hurriedly put it in his pocket, as if he was afraid that it would be snatched away by others. When he looked at Dongfang Jian again, he was beaming with joy, as if he had seen his own father. He said with a smile,"Look at what you're saying. What's there to worry about with those who came with you? You don't know that the emperor has been waiting for you since last night. Even the morning court session that hasn't been held for a long time has started because of you. Follow me in first and wait outside for the Emperor to summon you.”
After saying that, he led the three of them inside. Lu Bu and Zhang Fei carried the box and followed Dongfang Jian in. He followed the eunuch into the palace. On the way, Dongfang Jian saw that no one was paying attention to him, so he hurriedly took out another ingot of gold and stuffed it into the eunuch's hand. The eunuch weighed the gold in his hand again and could not help but smile. Seeing that Dongfang Jian had been sizing up the tall and magnificent palaces around him, he took the initiative to be the commentator and told Dongfang Jian the names of the palace gates they passed by on the way.
"Young Master Dongfang, please take a look. This is the first palace from the Vermilion Bird Gate, the Pingshuo Palace. This is the Eternal Autumn Palace, which is also the second palace. Next to it is the Zhongde Palace, and next to it is the Chongde Palace. There are even more side palaces on both sides. I don't have time to introduce them to you in detail today. This gate is the Zhanghua Gate. After entering this gate, you will be in the Que Fei Palace where the Emperor and his ministers discuss matters. You just have to wait by the side and wait for the Emperor to summon you.”
"Thank you, Eunuch. May I ask how I should address you?”
"Young Master, you don't have to be so polite. My surname is Li and my name is Qiang. Young Master, you can just call me Little Li.”
Dongfang Jian thought to himself,'Why do I feel that you look so much like the last eunuch of the Qing Dynasty, Li Lianying? They all call you Little Li.' The three of them followed Little Li to the side hall next to the Hall of Jue Fei and waited inside. The eunuch, Li Qiang, gave Dongfang Jian and the other two a general introduction of the situation in the palace.
Dongfang Jian then realized that what he had seen was only half of the Nangong Palace. There was another North Palace behind it, where the Emperor and his concubines rested. The two palaces were connected by a complex road. The North Palace was even larger than the Nangong Palace. The Deyang Palace in the North Palace was the largest and tallest building of the two palaces. The gate in front of the Deyang Palace was about the same height as the Vermilion Bird Gate in front of the Nangong Palace. It could also be seen from Yanshi, which was 45 miles away from Luoyang.……In the North Palace, there were eight palaces, namely Hande, Zhangtai, Tianlu, Xuanming, Wenzheng, Yingchun, Shouan and Yongning. Flying pavilions were set up between these palaces. In these palaces, people didn't need to walk on the ground, but walked in the sky like immortals.
The previous books about the Three Kingdoms barely introduced the situation of Luoyang Palace, and after these buildings were burned by Dong Zhuo, no one knew about it. Today, after listening to the eunuch Li Qiang's words, Dongfang Jian knew that the palaces in Luoyang were far larger and more exquisite than the buildings in Chang 'an. Now that he had seen these, he knew what a hateful thing Dong Zhuo had done when he ordered the fire to burn Luoyang. How many things were burned, how many precious documents, and how many things were useful to later generations? According to the laws of the future, Dong Zhuo would not be pardoned even if he was shot a hundred times. Even now, he could not let him off. Now that he had come to the Three Kingdoms and caught up with this era, he had to do his best to protect these ancient buildings, precious cultural relics, and various books and historical materials. These were all treasures of mankind. Since that was the case, he had to do everything he could to stop Dong Zhuo from burning Luoyang. Otherwise, he would be letting down the good intentions of the heavens that allowed him to come to this era, and even more so, he would be letting down himself and his descendants.
Lu Bu and Zhang Fei had not left Dongfang Jian's side since they had entered. Seeing Dongfang Jian's pensive look, the two of them could not help but think," Big brother, I wonder what you're thinking of again? From his expression, he must be thinking of something good. At the thought of this, the two of them looked at each other and realized that there was a hint of a smile in their eyes. The two of them knew that they were thinking the same thing as the other.
Just as he was listening to Little Li's speech, a eunuch suddenly walked out of the hall. It was Zhang Rang. He stood in front of the hall and shouted,""The Emperor has decreed that Dongfang Jian of Youzhou be summoned to the palace to meet the Emperor.”
"I, Dongfang Jian, will obey your orders." Dongfang Jian quickly knelt down and said.”
He then stood up and gave Lu Bu and Zhang Fei some instructions before following Zhang Rang into the Hall of Revenge.
Although Dongfang Jian was also very curious and wanted to see what the Spirit Emperor looked like, he knew that he could not look directly at the Emperor without the Emperor's permission. Therefore, he kept his head down and followed behind Zhang Rang. He passed through the many ministers standing on both sides and came to the white jade stone steps. He knelt down and said,"I am Dongfang Jian from Youzhou. Greetings, long live our emperor!”Then, he bowed three times and kowtowed nine times.
The Spirit Monarch sat on the dragon bed on the steps and looked down at Dongfang Jian. He lowered his head and couldn't see him clearly, so he said,""Are you Dongfang Jian? Raise your head and let me take a look.
With the Emperor's permission, Dongfang Jian raised his head and looked at the Spirit Monarch before him. Dongfang Jian knew that the Spirit Emperor was born in 156 AD, seven years older than Dongfang Jian. He was only 27 years old this year. However, the one on the dragon bed in front of him was wearing a dragon robe and a crown with many beads on the front and back. His eyes were dull, and his eyes were swollen. His face was pale. It was obvious that he had been drinking too much. He gave people the impression that he was at least 35 years old.
The Spirit Monarch was also sizing up Dongfang Jian. Dongfang Jian was eight feet tall and exceptionally handsome. His face was like jade, and his teeth were white and his lips were red. He was indeed a handsome young man, making people feel happy at first sight.
"Dongfang Jian, Dongfang Ziheng, get up and answer me," the Spirit Monarch said.”
Dongfang Jian hurriedly thanked His Majesty and stood up.
"I heard from the people in the court that you are the descendant of Dongfang Shuo, a famous official of the Han Dynasty. I also had people check your family's genealogy. During the period of Wang Mang's chaos, the Dongfang family did have records of your ancestors fleeing far away from their hometown to avoid the war. From the genealogy, you didn't lie to me?”
"Replying to Wansui, this commoner's parents taught me since childhood that I can lie to anyone, but not to two kinds of people.”Dongfang Jian stood up and replied.
"Oh, two kinds of people. Tell me which two kinds of people.”The Spirit Monarch asked.
"My parents once said that there are only two kinds of people in the world who should not lie to you. One is your parents. Because your parents have given you birth and education, lying in front of your parents is considered mischievous since you were young. From an adult's perspective, it was unfilial. The kindness of parents was as great as the heavens. Deceiving parents was deceiving the heavens. Lying to parents would implicate parents if the matter was very serious and the parents did not know.”
" That's right," the Spirit Emperor said." I can't repay my parents 'kindness. How can I lie to them again?" From this we can see that your parents must be righteous people.”
After the Spirit Monarch finished speaking, he saw an old man in his fifties walk out from the left side of the court. He was tall and handsome."The emperor's words are reasonable. This official also thinks that people who are unfilial to their parents are not worthy of being an official. This is because if they are unfilial to their own parents, how can they be unfilial to the people of the world?”
The Spirit Monarch looked at the person who had stepped forward and said,"Bo Xiong, that makes sense. Everyone in the Great Han Dynasty knows that you are a filial son."”
Only then did Dongfang Jian know that the person who came out was Cai Yi, who was known as the Eastern Han Confucian scholar, scholar, writer, and calligrapher. Although Dongfang Jian had never seen Cai Yi, he knew his handwriting. There was only one person called Bo Meng in the Three Kingdoms. Cai Yi was knowledgeable when he was young. He studied under Hu Guang, the tutor. He was familiar with the classics and the history of the Han Dynasty. He liked Ci Zhang, Shu Shu, astronomy, music and so on. Later, he was called to serve as a doctor, collated books in the East View, and promoted to the position of counselor. He was convicted and exiled for writing a letter to discuss the lack of government. After being pardoned, he was framed by eunuchs and exiled in Jianghu for more than ten years. Dong Zhuo monopolized power, so he valued his talent and was appointed as a servant censor, official to Zhonglang General. After Dong Zhuo was killed, Cai Yi was arrested by Wang Yun and died in prison. Dongfang Jianxin said," According to the historical records, Cai Yi should have been dismissed from office in this era. Why is he still here? Did I really change the history?" Just as he was thinking, he heard the Spirit Monarch say,""I wonder who Ziheng's second type of person is?”
Dongfang Jian said,""The second person you can't lie to is the emperor, because the emperor is the ruler of the world. If you lie to the emperor, you will be deceiving the emperor. If you lie to the emperor, you will make the emperor unable to hear the voices of the people outside and make the emperor unable to make the correct judgment. It will affect the military. What's more, the emperor may not care about political affairs and become a fatuous emperor. The commoners think that the reason why the fatuous emperors in history are fatuous is that the officials below dare not tell the truth to them and deceive the emperor. It should be these officials who made the emperor a fatuous ruler, not the emperor.”
Dongfang Jian's words silenced the entire court. Everyone was silent, not even daring to breathe loudly. Dongfang Jian's words had implicated the Emperor, the ministers, and especially the eunuchs. Dongfang Jian did not look at Zhang Rang. If he did, he would have noticed the coldness in Zhang Rang's eyes, and would have wanted to kill him.
All the officials present thought that Dongfang Jian was using this matter to speak up again, hoping that the Emperor could be a wise ruler. Moreover, his words were tactful and reasonable, leaving the Emperor a way out. It made everyone think that the Emperor ignored the court affairs because someone had deceived the Emperor. Several ministers looked at Dongfang Jian with approval in their eyes.
At this moment, the Spirit Monarch said," Good, very good. Ziheng's words are worth our consideration. In the future, if you have anything to say, just say it directly. Don't hide it. If someone says that I am a fatuous ruler, then you will be the culprit."”
After that, the Spirit Monarch really attended several morning court sessions. Most of the ministers were overjoyed and thought that the Emperor had returned to his original state. However, Dongfang Jian was already in Youzhou at that time, so he couldn't interfere with this matter. Besides, he didn't plan to interfere. However, this matter had raised his prestige in the scholarly community by quite a bit.
"We will not disappoint the Emperor's expectations and will be officials who dare to speak out."”
Dongfang Jian looked at them and thought to himself,"Don't tell me you guys rehearsed beforehand? Why are you all so well-organized?"
All the officials present had different thoughts about Dongfang Jian. Some praised him, some were jealous, and some hated him. It was impossible for Dongfang Jian to know what everyone was thinking.
The emperor's following words made all the officials come back to their senses and let them know why they came today.
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