The Chang'an City of the Tang Dynasty was the most magnificent capital in my country's history. It was the largest city in the world at that time with a population of one million. It was located south of Longshouyuan and was built by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty in the second year of Kaihuang. It was first called Daxing City.

Chang'an is divided into three parts: palace city, imperial city and outer city, arranged in parallel. The emperor lives in the palace city, and the palace city symbolizes the North Star, which is the center of Chang'an. The imperial city is the location of government departments such as the government office, symbolizing the Ziweiyuan surrounding the North Star; while the outer city is the residence of living, divided into 108 yards, symbolizing the 108 stars that arch towards the north.

Among them, Chang'an County is in the west and leads fifty-five fangs; Wannian County is in the east and leads fifty-three fangs. Their central axis is Zhuque Street, which extends to the north to Chengtianmen Street. It also has a group of tall and majestic buildings such as Chengtianmen, Taiji Hall, Liangyi Hall, Ganlu Hall, Yanjia Hall and Xuanwu Gate pressing on the northern end of the central axis, showing the majesty of imperial power with its majestic momentum.

This day was December 20, the 15th year of Qingzhi. At this time, it was dusk, and thousands of golden rays were scattered on the towering city walls of Chang'an. Outside Mingde Gate was crowded with people who were about to enter the city, with the crowds of people and the bustling noises.

After passing Fengxiang, Zhang Huan and his group walked for another three days and finally arrived at the destination of the trip. The capital of Chang'an, the Tang Dynasty, were filled with emotions along the way, and at this time they were even more excited, as if they had already made the title of the Golden List. After passing this gate, they stepped into the Hall of the Emperor.

Zhang Huan did not tell everyone what happened on the road. Although he had vaguely guessed Cui Qinggong's purpose, he did not want to act rashly before seeing the head of the family. With the huge power of the Cui family, it was not something he could shake, a small scholar who took the exam.

Everyone entered Mingde Gate one by one, and a magnificent street immediately appeared in front of them, about eighty feet wide (equivalent to the width of two football fields). This is Chang'an's central axis - Zhuque Street. There are high walls on both sides, painted in turquoise red, hidden among two rows of tall evergreen tree canopies.

The streets were crowded with bustling Chang'an citizens, and sometimes several merchants with wide clothes and big sleeves chatted and laughed; sometimes the frivolous boys shouted left and right, riding horses, causing passers-by to avoid them; a team of camels from the Western Regions passed by them, swaying towards the east city, with heavy boxes on the camel backs loaded with heavy boxes, and more than a dozen brown-haired and blue-eyed Hu people sat high on their hunchbacks, looking at the world's greatest city, with their eyes full of respect and yearning.

Finally, it was time to break up. Xin Lang and the others would live in a branch in Longyou Academy in the capital, located in Yankangfang, close to the west city. The place Zhang Huan was going to was Gaosheng No. 6 Inn in Pingkangfang. The shopkeeper of the inn was Zhao Yan's cousin. A month before they left Taiyuan, Zhao Yan's father wrote a letter and arranged food and accommodation for them.

"Don't think too much about getting rid of the disease and making meritorious services for the time being. You should calm down and prepare for the exam. In a few days, I will settle down and will come to see you!"

Zhang Huan nodded, and he bowed to the scholars of Longyou Academy and smiled: "Only half a month left, time is very tight, you must also prepare well, I hope all of us can be the winner."

"Let's compete and see who will be the top scorer today?"

"Haha! Of course, our Jinyang Academy won the championship!"

Everyone bid farewell to each other. Zhang Huan and the other four asked about the road and turned to Pingkangfang. Pingkangfang is located between the East City and the Imperial City. It is also a place for scholars to live. Most of the tens of thousands of scholars who come to Beijing to take the exam every year live here, so Pingkangfang has a large inns, restaurants and brothels, and business is extremely prosperous. "Day and night, there are endless lights, and all the yards in the Beijing are comparable to those of you!"

When Zhang Huan and the other four found the inn, it was already dark. Lin Zhiyu and Lin Qiaoqiao had been here for many days. Zhang Huan and their safe return made them extremely happy. Lin Qiaoqiao took her husband back to her room to express her separation. Although Zheng Qingming and Song Lianyu were extremely tired, they were already attracted by the prosperity of the capital along the way and went shopping together.

The prosperity of Chang'an also attracted Zhang Huan. He walked to a small wine shop opposite the inn. The wine shop was brightly lit and filled with scholars from various counties. A young man walked through the shop with a wine pot and smiled. From time to time, the scholars made a few jokes, and after filling them with wine, they flew away like butterflies.

Zhang Huan found a corner to sit down. Hu Ji, who had a sharp-eyed look, saw him at a glance. She quickly put wine glasses, bowls and chopsticks for him, and filled his wine glass with wine, and threw a charming look and said, "Why don't your young master have any companions? It's so deserted, but how many glasses are you going to drink with you?"

Zhang Huan picked up the wine glass and drank it all, then smiled at Hu Ji and said, "I'll ask him for some small matters."

Hu Ji gently filled him with wine, and then smiled and called the waiter who was running away from the hall.

The waiter hurried over and said respectfully to Zhang Huan: "How about the guest officer who would come to the signature dishes of a few small shops and a pot of wine?"

Zhang Huan nodded and said, "You can just do the food and drinks! However, I really want to know the battle situation in Longyou. Do you know the situation?"

Speaking of the battle situation in Longyou, the waiter looked proud on his face. He raised his thumb and said, "The war report came yesterday. Marshal Cui wiped out the invading enemy north of Jincheng County. It is said that it was because the other party lost food and grass and the morale of the army was in chaos."

When he picked up the food and grass, Hu Ji next to him showed an expression of admiration. She sighed quietly, "Everyone said that General Cui was fighting into the heavy food and grass land of the Uighurs alone, burning 200,000 stones of military rations. He is really a hero of my Tang Dynasty!"

"It's true!" A scholar sitting next to him said, "It was the scout's captain Cui Xiong who discovered the Uighurs' food storage place in Ma'anling. He touched the camp at night and burned all the food in one fell swoop. This morning, the merit list was posted in front of the gate of the Ministry of War. The first contribution was Captain Cui."

As expected, since Cui Qinggong planned to kill someone halfway through the silence, he must be trying to take advantage of his military achievements. Zhang Huan smiled faintly. Is this the Cui family?

He drank the wine in one sip, threw a handful of copper coins and walked out of the wine shop. The cold wind blew outside the wine shop, but it could not cool the blood in Zhang Huan's chest. He asked the inn shopkeeper the way, and rode his horse to the head of the family's residence.

Zhang Ruohao's official residence is located in Chongrenfang. His home is in Taiyuan. This official residence is his single dormitory. In fact, it is a luxurious mansion with pavilions, towers, gardens and ponds. Even more than a hundred servants and concubines are there.

Zhang Huan signed up and was soon taken to a guest room by an old man who looked like a housekeeper. He was a family member who liked to nag. He worked in the Zhang family for nearly fifty years and came to Chang'an with the head of the family very early.

"You young men have all forgotten their original intentions. When you went to Chang'an for scientific research, they didn't come to pay their respects to the head of the family. The most hateful thing is the eldest son who has been in brothels all day long, and he even wrote to him that he was busy with his homework. Humph! He forgot the head of the family."

The old man was obviously very dissatisfied with Zhang Xuan. He pushed open a door tremblingly and turned to Zhang Huan and said, "It's okay if you are the only kid. As soon as you arrived, you came to pay homage to the head of the family. You can sit here for a while, and I'll report to the head of the family."

Zhang Huan walked into the room and looked around. The room was not big and the layout was very simple. Two lotus leaf bronze lamps were lit suddenly.

There is only a bamboo couch in the room, with soft mattress on it, and a small table is placed on it. The study room is full of four treasures, and the walls are surrounded by bookshelf, with all the books and scrolls on it. It seems that this is a study room.

"Why did Shibalang arrive in Chang'an today?" Zhang Ruohao's voice suddenly came from behind. Zhang Huan turned around quickly and saw Zhang Ruohao standing at the door. He was wearing a white wide-body Zen suit, with a leisurely expression and a gentle smile in his eyes.

Zhang Huan quickly bowed to him, "Shibalang meets the head of the family!"

"Come on! Sit down and talk."

Zhang Ruohao asked Zhang Huan to sit down. At this time, a maid came over to serve tea. Zhang Ruohao picked up the teacup and blew it, and smiled slightly, "This year, there are twenty-two children from the Zhang family participating in the imperial examination. You are the last to come to Beijing, but you are the first to see me. Is it so unpopular?"

Zhang Huan apologized and explained: "I heard that nearly 100,000 scholars participated in the imperial examination this year, more than previous sessions. Perhaps everyone was very nervous and could not get out of here for a while. If I hadn't told me about important things, I would have come to see the head of the family again after the imperial examination."

"Maybe others are like this, but my treason is definitely not like this. Forget it! Let's not mention him." Zhang Ruohao sighed, and he glanced at Zhang Huan again, saying, "What are the important things you have to come and tell me overnight?"

Zhang Huan pondered for a moment and said, "It only took me one day to go from Kaiyang County to Fengxiang, but Fengxiang reinforcements walked on the road for three days until the city was broken. The head of the family thought this was reasonable?"

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