There are many places in the Liyuan, including the Xiuling Gorge in Lishan Mountain, the banks of the Qujiang Pool, the east side of the Daming Palace, and the Forbidden Garden... The Liyuan is where the saints and silk and bamboo dances are now.
In the sixth year of Tianbao's reign, the pear blossoms in Forbidden Garden bloomed very early.
The white petals are like small snowballs hanging all over the branches, like snowflakes and catkins, but much more fragrant.
Passing through a grove of pear trees, in front of you is the Spring Silkworm Hall. The hall is brightly lit and combined with the scenery in the Forbidden Garden, it looks like the residence of gods.
At dusk, Li Longji was rehearsing singing and dancing in person.
He had a dream not long ago, in which he dreamed that a dragon girl in the Lingbo Pool in Luoyang asked him to give her a song. He then composed "Ling Bo Song", which was being rehearsed recently, so he moved here to avoid being disturbed.
Beautiful music sounded in the Spring Silkworm Hall. Li Longji played the Jie drum, Yang Yuhuan played the pipa, Ma Xianqi played the jade flute, Li Guinian played the 筚篯, Zhang Yehu played the harp, and He Huaizhi made the final decision.
In the center of the hall, dancing was a graceful girl named Xie Aman.
She didn't wear any silk, her skirt was wrapped around her chest, showing off her beautiful shoulders, her arms were wrapped in colorful gauze, and her feet were wearing Lingbo socks, which is exactly what "the tips of jade show in spring red" and also "the graceful and colorful practice". Lightly relax the volume."
Yang Yuyao was sitting on the banquet, eating preserved fruit snacks, her eyes always following Xie Aman, and an idea came to her mind.
She liked this little dancer very much. He had a beautiful figure and a well-behaved and obedient personality. She was not a jealous person.
It is said that the chicken prodigy Jia Chang was granted a marriage by the emperor and married a dancer, which became a legend.
After singing and dancing, Li Longji put down his drum and said with a smile, "What do you think, sir?"
At this time, Li Linfu came in and saluted: "I wish the saint a happy spring."
When Li Longji saw him, he immediately joked: "Your Prime Minister thought that I was losing my ambition by playing with things, so Xue Baicai played dominoes with me and was taken away immediately?"
"I don't dare, I'm just investigating Li Shizhi..."
"You came to see me to talk about this?"
"I dare not disturb the saint's elegant mood." Li Linfu said with a smile: "I have not been able to accompany the saint for too long, so please see me."
"You blame me?" Li Longji said cheerfully: "Then who complained about the busy state affairs after the Lantern Festival and had to attend the imperial banquet all night?"
Li Linfu made no secret of his shock.
"I am guilty, I... am indeed old, unlike a saint who remains in his prime."
Li Longji laughed happily when he heard this, stopped beating, and said with relief: "I don't blame you. As the prime minister, you can handle state affairs for me. Others will do the following."
When Gao Lishi heard this, he went to issue an order to allow Li Linfu to leave the palace at night.
"Sage, I can do it." Li Linfu said with a smile: "I have taken care of the state affairs, and I want to serve the saint and learn dominoes."
Li Longji was in a good mood, but could see through his thoughts without revealing his thoughts. He raised his finger and pointed at his nose, smiling in response.
At this time, Xue Bai has arrived.
"Here comes the card player!" Li Longji raised his arms, flicked his long sleeves, turned around and walked up to the card table, "Here."
The sound of silk and bamboo started again.
The musicians continued to play music, adding to the atmosphere of the card game.
Under the candlestick lit like stars, the dominoes were placed on the table.
Xue Bai was not polite, nor did Li Linfu talk nonsense, so he sat down at the card table.
Sisters Yang Yuyao and Yang Yuhuan smiled at each other. One put down her wine glass and the other put down her pipa. Gong E helped gather the hem of her skirt and came forward;
Li Linfu was a little embarrassed. He looked up and saw Gao Lishi standing behind the saint and Zhang Yunrong behind the concubine. He had no choice but to stand behind Xue Bai.
The dignified prime minister of the country could kill and seize Xue Baisheng outside the palace, but at this time he could only bend down and stand like a servant.
"As expected of a domino maker, Xue Bai is a very skilled domino player and has many tricks." Li Longji's movements were smooth and fluid. "There are so many variations, and he is the only one who can do them."
"The Saint is a true genius. I have never seen anyone who can learn so quickly and play so well."
It was an ordinary compliment, but Xue Bai said it very sincerely.
Moreover, his words did not affect the playing of cards at all. When it was his turn, the cards were already played, and no one was left waiting for a moment.
Yang Yuhuan is a little slower, and sometimes she will hold her chin and think for a while, but her posture is very beautiful, making people comfortable to watch, and they are willing to wait for her for a few breaths; Yang Yuyao is also good at poker, and she can tell some interesting things while playing.
Everyone was very happy, but Li Linfu hid his thoughts and stood very uncomfortable.
"There is a poem circulating in Chang'an City recently. It is very well written. When I came here, I even heard some children singing it. Hundreds of thousands of homes are like a chess game..."
At the end, Li Linfu sang the poem.
This old man seemed to be in a tough mood, but unexpectedly he sang very beautifully.
Li Longji was about to ask for Hu cards. He glanced at Yang Yuyao and knew that she was about to lose her temper. Her eyes showed thinking. At the same time, he hummed a few words casually and harmonized Li Linfu himself.
After singing, Li Linfu smiled and said: "I am a little curious. It is clearly a seven-character quatrain. Why is the poem named like this?"
He lost no time in naming the poem.
Xue Bai responded: "I don't know how to write Yingzhi poems, so I named it like this because I feel proud of it. I think Wang Mojie is like this."
"Haha." Li Longji took the lead and played his cards wrong, laughed loudly, pointed at Xue Bai and cursed: "Ignorant and incompetent, even if I come up with a random poem title, I dare to call it a work that should be made."
"I'm already studying to write poems following Du Zi's aesthetics." Xue Bai looked regretful and handed over the chips.
"I almost did it." Yang Yuyao was unhappy, gave Xue Bai an angry look, and reluctantly handed over the chips.
Li Linfu glanced over and saw that the saint had a funny face, as if he found Xue Bai very interesting. He realized that this son had a strong connection with the saints, so he had to say: "Speaking of Du Fu, his recent "Song of the Eight Immortals in Drinking" is also sung in Chang'an."
The musicians in the hall were highly skilled, and they changed the tunes they were playing and cooperated tacitly.
Li Longji seemed to like this poem quite a lot, and he sang in a low voice "The left prime minister is spending tens of thousands of dollars every day" without any hint of grudge.
In the eyes of others, it is easy to mistakenly think that this saint is not aware of the fact that Li Shizhi was investigated for the crime of constructing the East Palace.
Xue Bai thought about it and realized that Li Longji knew in his heart that Li Shizhi had not rebelled, but was using Li Linfu's help to demote this clan, which was too prestigious and close to the East Palace, out of Chang'an.
In Li Longji's eyes, he did not think this was persecution, and perhaps he felt that the Tang Dynasty was peaceful and beautiful. Any grievances suffered by others are due to the stability of the emperor's prestige.
"Sage, Dali Temple arrested Yuan Jie, Du Fu and others because they colluded with Li Shizhi. The evidence is conclusive." Li Linfu seized the opportunity and explained, "Some officials were impatient and mistakenly implicated Xue Bai."
The reason he entered the palace was to solidify the case and prevent Xue Bai from using his greedy words to keep the leading position.
As for the word "mistake", he has already taken a step back, saying that he and Xue Bai are not in conflict with each other.
Unexpectedly, Xue Bai responded tit for tat and said: "How can the Right Prime Minister and Dali Temple be wrong? I must be Li Shizhi's ally."
"You are so stupid that you dare to act weird in front of a saint."
"The Right Prime Minister ordered people to arrest me, and I confessed my guilt. The Right Prime Minister also said that I was yin and yang, and the right Prime Minister said that all the principles in the world are not allowed." Xue Bai's tone was not good, but he played the cards very quickly.
Li Linfu paid attention to his tone and said, "Some officials have made some mistakes, do you have to be lenient and unforgiving?"
"That means we were wrongly accused. It turns out that someone was indeed wrongly accused in the Wei Jian case."
That's what Xue Baiwei said.
He knew what Li Linfu relied on - Li Longji's suspicion of the East Palace.
Controlling the imperial examination and excluding dissidents, Li Longji would let Li Linfu weaken the East Palace whenever he wanted. Therefore, even if Sanqian Juzi made a big fuss, he could still be suppressed on the charge of "constructing the East Palace".
But Xue Bai just wanted Li Longji to see with his own eyes how much selfishness there was.
Li Linfu was stunned and glanced over, only to see Saint Yun Danfeng playing a card lightly, but he clearly heard these words.
He suddenly regretted going to the imperial court to argue with Xue Bai.
Even if he wins the debate, the saint will feel that he did not handle the state affairs properly, and he will still lose in the end.
really.
Xue Bai pressed him step by step and said: "It turns out that the right prime minister has known for a long time that Du Fu and Li Shizhi colluded. He also knows that all the people in the Kebuyi family are Wei Jian's associates. I wonder if there are any wrongdoers among them?"
"It's fair to say what you say, but it's fair to select scholars in today's society. This result is due to the fact that in the prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty, no one had hidden talents, and there were no talents left in the wild."
"The right prime minister was singing the poems of the late sages just now."
"That's enough." Li Longji finally shouted to stop Xue Bai, "At such a young age, you are guilty of arbitrarily discussing state affairs?"
"Sage, forgive me. I didn't want to discuss state affairs unreasonably. I'm just worried that these talents will compete with me in the spring of next year."
"I don't want to hear this."
Xue Bai immediately kept silent and played cards seriously. Anyway, Li Linfu said that there are no talented people in the wild, so he said he was afraid that the talented people would steal the ranking, and he was more sincere than anyone else.
Li Linfu was even more shocked, knowing that although it was Xue Bai who was taught by the sage, he was actually dissatisfied with him.
He originally thought that Xue Bai wanted to protect himself, so he could make peace with Xue Bai in front of the saint and calm the situation.
But at this moment, he suddenly discovered that the person who was not going to give up was actually Xue Bai. This boy actually wanted to fight back against the Youxiang Mansion. These words tonight were all slander, shaking the saint's trust in him...
~~
Dali Temple Prison.
Yang Zhao came at night and personally rummaged through a pile of clothes under the light of a torch.
"Are they all here?"
"Yes, when the five people left the prison cell, the villain watched them change their clothes and didn't see them hiding anything."
Yang Zhao frowned. Since no blood was found in the prison, Xue Bai and Du Qi must have been placed elsewhere before arriving at Li Shizhi's residence.
It's probably Fengweilou.
Anyway, Xue Bai will not hand over the blood sample to the saint tonight.
"Uncle." Yang Guanghui stepped forward and asked, "Yuanjie is still in front of the Daming Palace. Do you want to capture it?"
"If Luo Xishi doesn't stand up, why should we stand up?"
Yang Zhao pondered deeply and said: "No matter what, in fact, the blood letter is useless... You have to think about the saint, is it a letter? It is a debt letter from the people of Jianghuai who came to ask for three years of rent. The saint will see it. are you happy?"
"My uncle is wise, even the right prime minister didn't think of this!"
Yang Zhao smiled proudly, feeling that he had made a lot of progress, and said: "Xue Bai didn't dare to take out the bloody ones. The matter ends here, and the bodies of those people were burned at night, and they were all clean."
~~
Li Jingzhong took out a letter of judgment from his sleeve and handed it to Li Heng.
"Your Highness, Fang Gong sent it quietly."
Li Heng unfolded it and looked at it, raised his eyebrows and said: "Good word... Chang'an County Lieutenant Yan Zhenqing?"
"Yes, Mr. Fang said that Yan Zhenqing has found out the leak case. The case is clear and the evidence is not difficult to obtain. He also said that Dong Palace can use this as an excuse to fight for a re-examination for the candidates."
"What do you think?"
"Suo Douji is waiting to find evidence against His Highness." Li Jingzhong shook his head and said sharply: "If he comes forward at this time, he will really let Suo Douji slander His Highness for conspiring with Li Shizhi and instigating Juzi to cause trouble."
"yes."
Li Heng didn't hesitate at all and directly put the verdict on the candle and burned it.
The flames quickly swallowed up Duan Li's eight-point regular script and the case that Yan Zhenqing had spent so much effort to find out.
"Don't take action from the East Palace is the greatest protection for them." Li Heng murmured and said this again.
Li Jingzhong whispered: "I heard that Suo Douji captured Yuan Jie and several others who took the lead in making trouble. The case should be closed. The traces of our contacts with Li Shizhi have been destroyed. This time, Suo Douji still cannot get it. Donggong has no clue."
"I know." Li Heng nodded, as if it didn't matter to him.
Li Jingzhong personally used the broom to sweep away the ashes on the ground and buried them in the soil of the backyard.
…
At dawn, black smoke rose from the outskirts of Chang'an City, and piles of corpses were burned to ashes and buried in the soil of the wilderness.
Whether they come to take an exam or to redress their grievances, who can stand up for them?
~~
Outside Danfeng Gate, Yuan Jie, who had been standing all night, looked up at the sky and finally heard the sound of morning drums at dawn.
The solemn city gate slowly opened, and the Sixth Army of Beiya began to change defenses.
After waiting for a while, Li Linfu was seen leaving the palace and leaving in a carriage.
Afterwards, a group of people surrounded a woman in costumes as she left the palace, and Xue Bai's figure was among them, walking over here.
"The saint never summoned me." Yuan Jie stepped forward and said, "Did you order a reexamination?"
"Well, I'm very happy with the sage cards. I don't care about this." Xue Bai said: "I'm just here to scare others so that they don't dare to catch you."
Yuan Jie was stunned for a moment, suddenly feeling that he had heard wrongly.
Are you very happy with cards and don’t care about national affairs? What a ridiculous statement.
He finally understood that the princes of the Manchu Dynasty no longer wanted to admonish the saint, but looked to the East Palace. But if this happens, the saint will become more suspicious of the East Palace and the state will become more chaotic. Isn't it a blessing if things continue like this?
"So, we can't change anything?" Yuan Jie was disappointed and lost interest, and murmured, "Is the Chunwei case over?"
"If it ends here, what are Brother Cishan's plans?"
"What else can I do? Go back to my hometown to study and recuperate."
Xue Bai asked again: "What if this matter is not over?"
"Do you have any idea?"
"It's not that I have any solution, but brother Cishan's plan won't continue?" Xue Bai said, "I said, count me in."
Yuan Jie was stunned and immediately reacted.
There was no problem with his plan at first. The spring palace was unfair, and the candidates appealed for a re-examination. This was an upright matter, and the loser was Li Linfu's one hand covering the sky. But now the situation is different.
Xue Bai lifted the sky that Li Linfu had covered a little.
"Ge Nu said that I am an accomplice of Wei Jian and Li Shi," Yuan Jie said, "in order to prevent us from causing trouble."
"But Genu also admitted in front of the saint that he had wronged us." Xue Bai said, "If we are sensible, we should stop."
Huangfuran's expression changed, he realized what he was doing, and said, "But in fact, if we don't give up, it will appear that we have a clear conscience."
"That's right." Du Fu said: "Although we are chasing after you, we only ask about Chunwei without being disloyal. What crime do we have?"
They already understood that the root cause of the saint's connivance with Li Linfu's control of the imperial examination was his suspicion of the East Palace. In particular, Li Shizhi was too famous among literati and Li Shizhi was close to the East Palace... Then, they could avoid this.
There is another point that Xue Bai did not mention. Li Linfu is just a white glove of Li Longji. It would not be a pity to throw it away if it gets dirty. However, Li Linfu is really worry-free in doing things, so he has not thought about changing it for more than ten years.
But if Li Linfu caused big trouble due to his selfishness and caused the world's scholars to be excited, he could remind Li Longji that this glove should be changed.
This is their chance to fight back.
Even if Li Linfu cannot be defeated, it is enough to be able to re-examine.
Once they are re-examined, these cronies will become famous all over the world and make great achievements in the future.
"Walk."
Yuan Jie said: "Let's contact Juzi and let them know that we are released from prison."
"That's right." Huangfu Ran said: "This way, it will be even more exciting!"
Although Du Wulang didn't understand yet, he waved his hands vigorously, more excited than anyone else.
"Okay, count me in!"
