Niao Ni
Chapter 206: Shangjing City
The carriage fell into an odd silence.
After a long while, Lin Jing said with a smile, "That's right. Although the Imperial Court seized a large swath of land from North Qi last year, North Qi is still the largest country in the world in terms of territory and population. It's just that constant internal strife and divided public sentiment have made them no match for us."
Fan Xian frowned slightly, thinking that if North Qi could truly revitalize itself, the country where he had spent his childhood might really be in trouble. Just as he was thinking this, he heard Gao Da say in a deep voice, "In that case, there is still a large territory waiting for us to conquer."
Gao Da rarely spoke, and these days, after he was no longer responsible for escorting Xiao En, every time he spoke, his short words had a ridiculous sense of humor, which was quite funny. Fan Xian couldn't help but smile, thinking that the Qing Kingdom's officials, nurtured by twenty years of victory, had indeed developed a terrifying level of confidence.
On the other side, Wang Qinian said with a wry smile, "Master Gao, please don't take away my job as the straight man."
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The imperial envoy delegation along the way stayed in the various post stations of North Qi, and rarely stopped in larger towns. Although the Qing delegation was a little unhappy about this, they were happy to see the other side's officials were receiving them carefully, and attending to them diligently, so they didn't say anything. Everyone knew that this agreement had caused North Qi to lose a lot of face, so they were naturally embarrassed to let the people of the whole country see the Southern Qing delegation swaggering through the cities.
But along the way, they would always encounter some ordinary people. One day, Fan Xian voiced a question that had been on his mind for a long time: "Why don't these North Qi people seem to hate us very much? Instead, their gaze towards us carries a hint of contempt and disdain, and even some sympathy?"
"In the eyes of the North Qi people, we are, after all, still Southern barbarians, uncivilized people," Lin Jing replied with a smile. "As for the war between the two countries, the North Qi royal family has naturally kept it a closely guarded secret. Although the northern commoners also know that our Qing Kingdom is now incredibly strong, they still look down on us in their bones."
Fan Xian shook his head and sighed, "Covering your eyes with a black cloth and pretending you're not afraid of the dark."
"North Qi, after all, is a continuation of the Northern Wei dynasty. They always think that they are the true orthodoxy of the world, so they naturally look down on other countries."
This was the truth. Although Northern Wei had been destroyed twenty years ago, that behemoth had dominated this continent at the time, casting a shadow over all the surrounding small countries, and was truly the most powerful state machine in the world. That imposing manner of all the barbarians paying tribute still lingered in the hearts of the northern people. So they always believed that North Qi still retained its former glory, that they were still the citizens of the strongest country in the world, and when looking at the citizens of other countries, they would habitually raise their chins slightly, lower their eyes slightly, self-consciously, self-pityingly, and self-respectingly.
People are willing to live in the past. Of course, the officials of North Qi naturally knew that the world had long changed. This could be seen from their etiquette towards the Qing Kingdom's delegation.
"There is also a very important point," Lin Jing continued to analyze calmly. "North Qi inherited most of the territory and officials of Northern Wei, so the scholars of the world basically regard North Qi as the orthodoxy. The path of literature is in North Qi, and this is not wrong. Every year during the spring examination, North Qi's imperial examinations are much livelier than our spring examinations. Not only will the talents of the various prefectures of North Qi gather in Shangjing, but even the scholars of Dongyi City will travel thousands of miles to Shangjing."
Wang Qinian interjected, "That's right. Even the scholars of our Qing Kingdom, in previous years, many would run to Shangjing to take the imperial examinations."
"Absurd," Fan Xian said with a laugh and a scold. "Could it be that people from Qing Kingdom can still become officials in North Qi?"
Lin Jing said with a bitter smile, "That is naturally impossible. It's just that the people of the world seem to recognize this point, so as long as a talented person can enter the top three in North Qi's spring examination, regardless of which country in the world they are in, they are considered to have the qualifications to become an official. Even our Qing Kingdom is no exception. You once served as a lecturer in the Imperial Academy, so you naturally know that Scholar Shu Wu, right?"
Fan Xian nodded.
Lin Jing sighed, "This Scholar Shu took his examinations in North Qi that year, and his tutor was Zhuang Mohan, so he will call himself a student of Zhuang Mohan throughout his life... Think about it, my lord, this Scholar Shu clearly passed the provincial examination in North Qi, but he can return to Qing Kingdom to become an official. You can see how flourishing the literary style of North Qi is."
Fan Xian shook his head with a smile, "No wonder His Majesty has been vigorously promoting literature in recent years. He probably can't stand this kind of humiliation."
"That's right. In terms of martial arts, no one in the world can compare to our country," Lin Jing said. "It's just that in terms of literature, there have never been any truly talented people."
"Literature is a trivial matter," Fan Xian said.
Lin Jing thought of something and laughed heartily, "Of course, with your sudden emergence, Master Fan, you caused the great scholar Zhuang Mohan of North Qi to vomit blood. From then on, I think no one will dare to say anything to our Qing Kingdom."
Wang Qinian repeatedly agreed, and Gao Da also nodded. Fan Xian's rise in Kyoto, although not necessarily comfortable for all parties, is something that all Qing Kingdom people are willing to see on the external level: another talented person to suppress North Qi's arrogance outside the battlefield.
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Fan Xian hoped that this boring journey, without the company of beautiful women, could end sooner rather than later. But the long official road seemed to never end. The yellow dust kicked up by the four wheels of the carriage rose on the wide road, like a yellow dragon, but it was firmly bound in the middle of the road by the two rows of trees on the side of the road, unable to leap out, looking like it was constantly struggling pitifully, constantly stirring.
The leaves of the trees on both sides of the official road, which were used to block the dust, were either large or small, but as a whole, they were much wider than the leaves of the trees in the Qing Kingdom. The trunks were thick, and there was one every few zhang. Fan Xian stuck his head out of the carriage window, squinted his eyes, and watched the trees flashing past his eyes in the wind. For some reason, he remembered the world he hadn't thought about for a long time. He still remembered when he was taking the train many years ago, sitting on the train to Beijing, passing through Hebei, there were trees like this on both sides of the tracks, and they were slamming backwards in such a boring way.
There was no dust near the carriage window, because Fan Xian, as the chief envoy, was sitting in the first carriage, and those who ate the dust were naturally those poor subordinates and the North Qi reception officials.
Without any warning, a black shadow appeared at the end of the road, abruptly piled on top of the gradually tapering rows of trees, looking a little frightening.
Fan Xian thought it was a dark cloud and couldn't help but smile. Although he wasn't going to tell everyone to take in their clothes like he did on the roof in Danzhou, he was going to remind the coachman to put on his raincoat.
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The carriage gradually moved forward, and everyone finally saw the dark shadow clearly. At this time, the clouds in the sky suddenly dispersed, as if to welcome the guests from afar, casting down the warm spring sunlight, illuminating the shadow.
It turned out to be... a very large city.
This city was even taller and more majestic than Qing Kingdom's Kyoto. It was built with large pieces of bluestone, and the three-zhang-high city walls were slightly inclined, but they still gave everyone who came from afar an indescribable sense of oppression, as if the city wall could crush you at any time. There were still heavy-eaved pavilions on the city, perhaps used as corner towers, and soldiers were walking back and forth patrolling on the high city walls.
A sense of solemnity and majesty emanated from this huge city wall.
The area in front of the city gate had already been cleared, and no idlers were lingering here. The relevant Si Chu officials of North Qi were waiting for the arrival of the Southern Qing delegation in that square.
On the official road, the speed of the carriage gradually slowed down, and Fan Xian squinted his eyes and pulled his head back from the window. He did not expect that this capital city would appear in front of him in such a startling way, leaving him with no psychological preparation at all.
North Qi's Shangjing had arrived.
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The music started, and both sides greeted each other. The North Qi officials wore bright and very gorgeous clothing, while the Qing Kingdom delegation was exhausted from their journey and inevitably looked a little tired. The comparison between the two was very obvious.
Fan Xian calmly watched all these tedious procedures, and only nodded slightly when he was introduced. In the eyes of the North Qi people, this handsome young official was an arrogant villain, but Fan Xian didn't care at all about what impressions he left on the other party.
His attention was all on the architecture of North Qi's Shangjing. This huge city had stood on this land for countless years, experiencing countless wind and rain. The outer edges of the huge bluestones had weathered a little, but they still stubbornly maintained their hardness.
Fan Xian was a little emotional. His emotions were different from those of all travelers. He just felt that after coming to this world for seventeen or eighteen years, he could finally touch the history of this world, although it was only some remnants of history. Qing Kingdom's Kyoto was also extremely grand, but everything seemed to have a fresh taste. Fan Xian knew that the taste was left by his mother, so being able to see such ancient architecture today felt somewhat inexplicably vicissitudinous.