After mid-September, the weather turned cooler, and the sweet-scented osmanthus in the Forbidden Garden bloomed, filling the air with fragrance.
The sound of the piano is lingering, accompanied by Xue Qiongqiong's melodious singing.
"I wonder what year it is today in the palace in the sky?"
The woman dancing on the stage has a cold temperament, just like Chang'e in the moon palace. She is Mei Fei Jiang Caiping.
Jiang Caiping's dancing posture is different from Yang Yuhuan's, less charming and pretty, more elegant and sad, as if she is about to fly away on the wind at any time.
As the tune changed, Li Longji, wearing a white silk robe, came off the stage to dance with her, his clothes fluttering like an immortal.
After one song, the charm of the song lingers for a long time.
Gao Lishi, holding a large cloak, trotted forward and put it on Li Longji.
"Sage Mo has caught a cold."
"General Gao, how do you think of my newly choreographed dance?"
Li Longji was in a good mood. As he spoke, he took Jiang Caiping's hand, put his cloak on her body, patted her shoulder gently, and said softly: "Mei Jing dances well."
Because Jiang Caiping loved plum blossoms, he jokingly called her "Plum Blossoms".
"The saint made it up well."
"It's a pity that it's too short and the dance is not enjoyable. I want to expand it into thirty-six sections and call it 'Autumn Moon Palace Song'."
When it comes to music, Li Longji is very insightful.
Xue Bai could only sing a new song, but he could study its myriad variations.
Just as he was talking happily, he suddenly noticed that Yang Yuhuan had arrived under the osmanthus tree at some time, and he couldn't help but scold Gao Lishi.
"It's too real, General Gao didn't say it earlier."
In fact, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty occasionally deliberately behaved in a condescending manner to coax beauties, which was a small pleasure.
Because Yang Yuhuan had a fierce temper, few people in the palace dared to lose her temper like her.
Li Longji smiled and said: "When did Taizhen arrive? Have you seen my newly choreographed dance?"
"I don't deserve to look at you. After all, Concubine Mei is more like Chang'e than I am."
"Each has its own merits, so there is no need to compare." Li Longji smiled more heartily and said, "When I make up a dance that is more suitable for Taizhen..."
Since this dance is more suitable for Jiang Caiping's cool temperament, she has to dance it. This is an elegant thing, unlike the secular affairs in the court that everyone does the same. He is extremely accomplished in music, so he has some persistence.
Yang Yuhuan was still unhappy, so he said goodbye and turned around to leave.
"Hey, don't be upset, Taizhen." Li Longji said kindly: "How about I ask your sisters to play cards today?"
"Sage, don't bother coaxing me. I have no talent, I am arrogant and jealous, and my brother-in-law is also domineering. If you get tired of making the saint, just let me go back home."
"Why are you still angry?"
Li Longji asked with a smile and said to Gao Lishi: "Xue Bai is still locked up? No wonder I haven't seen the monkey story for a while."
As the saying goes, "What is good at the top will be bad at the bottom." Although Xue Bai took the lead in writing the story, he only wrote a little bit every day, which was not very interesting. Many people followed suit and wrote stories desperately for the saints to read.
Recently, Li Longji has no shortage of stories to read. For example, "Guang Yi Ji" contains several weird stories every day, "The Legend of the Mysterious Monsters of the Western Regions" is a story imitating monkeys, and "The Continuation of the Green Messenger" is a complete story. Love stories written according to his taste... Behind the scenes, all forces are recruiting talents in order to please him.
There are only so many holy relatives. If you give more to one side, there will naturally be less to that side.
"Back to the saint, he is still in Jingzhao Prison." Gao Lishi said: "The case is clear and it is not appropriate to openly show favoritism."
"It's even difficult for the emperor to deal with it?" Li Longji sighed, "Don't be upset, Tai Zhen. It's just a few more days and it won't hurt that kid at all."
He could see that Xue Bai was being good again and deliberately exaggerating his personal grudge. It felt fresh once or twice, but now he is tired of it. Moreover, Yang Yuhuan recognized a handsome young man as his adoptive brother, which made him feel a little unhappy.
Of course, Li Longji was too magnanimous and had no intention of pursuing the matter, so he was too lazy to take care of it. He gave Xue Bai a small lesson to restrain himself in the future. He knew that the officials in the court had their own sense of proportion and would not embarrass a person who was concerned by the saint.
Yang Yuhuan was annoyed and said, "It's because I'm ignorant."
Taking advantage of the opportunity to be jealous of Jiang Caiping, she dared to shame Li Longji, and left with a group of maids without saying a word.
Li Longji got angry, pointed at her beautiful back, and said: "General Gao also saw it. He is so pampered and arrogant. If I always spoil her, I will be even more lawless."
"Sage, please calm down." Gao Lishi hurriedly smiled and said, "I think the noble concubine was a little uneasy when she saw that Mei Fei danced well."
After saying this, Li Longji's anger dissipated quickly, and he laughed self-deprecatingly: "I, the great emperor, still have to coax her."
There are countless officials in the world, and most of their names are not known to the saints. But if some people can climb into the concubine's skirt, the saint will always think of them; if they can become relatives with the concubine again, then they will be of great use when the saint wants to coax the concubine...
~~
Xue Bai has been staying in Jingzhao Prison for several days.
He had people taking care of him, so he didn't suffer much.
The most painful thing is that Da Xi Yingying suffered this unreasonable disaster for no reason and was very inconvenient in prison. There are stains on the originally fair and clean skin, which always makes others feel strangely shocked.
She felt that her stay in jail would not be in vain, and she had to take the opportunity to gain Xue Bai's trust and talk to him every time.
"Mr. Lang, I think the jailers are more uneasy than us. I think Xiao Jiong can't bear it anymore, but I don't know why he refuses to let us go?"
Xue Bai was squatting on a horse, opened his eyes and closed them again, saying: "It doesn't hurt to tell you."
Da Xi Yingying was overjoyed, thinking that she had finally passed the test and became his confidant, so she couldn't help but squat over and get closer to listen.
Xue Bai only said one word.
Da Xi Yingying was stunned at first, a little confused, and then she suddenly understood and whispered: "I see, the Nu family should have thought of this level earlier."
Seeing that Xue Bai had no intention of saying anything, she had no choice but to turn to Du Wulang and asked, "Did Wulang know about this when he started beating Yuan Zong at the beginning? He really kept it secret."
However, Du Wulang felt that she exposed too much, so he hurriedly handed over the robe and asked an unexpected question: "Put it on, um, the weather is getting colder, just in case you get cold."
"Thank you." Da Xi Yingying took the robe and said naturally: "Wu Lang, please help me."
Du Wulang was panicking when a jailer came over from the corridor and opened the cell door. He quickly stepped forward and asked in a more natural tone, "Liu Dian, are you going to let us go?"
"Jingzhao Prison cannot accommodate Wu Lang, so your case has been transferred to the Criminal Department."
"Really? I haven't been to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment yet."
"Hey, Wu Lang is funny. The Ministry of Punishments will review the case. You don't have to go to jail."
"Haha, let's borrow Liu Dian's auspicious words."
…
On the way to the Criminal Department, Du Wulang was chatting with the jailer who came to escort them.
"Chief official, I see you have two more talismans around your waist than the wardens in Jingzhao Mansion Prison?"
"This is used for entering and exiting the Imperial City and Shangshu Province."
"The prison in Dali Temple only has the Imperial City Talisman, but there is no Shangshu Province Talisman."
"Only our Penitentiary Prison is called the 'Sendai Prison'."
"I see, no wonder I've never been there." Du Wulang said, "I've been to four prisons in Chang'an City, but I didn't know there were twenty-six?"
Now that the topic was brought up, several jailers introduced it.
"Among the prisons in one prefecture, two counties, and three divisions, the most special one is actually the Chang'an County Prison. The ground is dug several feet deep, and the exit is covered with a big stone. It is called the 'Tiger Prison'. In addition, the prisoners in Jinwu Prison are There are people ranging from imperial officials to gangsters, many of whom are extremely vicious; in the East and West Tufang, many prisoners are imprisoned and forced to work; the Zhongdu Prison is mysterious, and although I have heard about it, I have never seen it; by the way, there is another one The small prison is called the "Lonely Willow Prison". It has no name, but it is the most worth seeing."
"Why?"
"Haha, all criminals who need to be beheaded are first taken to Duliu Shu Prison to await beheading."
After hearing this, Du Wulang sighed that ordinary people really didn't know that Chang'an City Prison had so many specialties. At the same time, he felt chilled in his heart and felt awe again.
After entering the vast Shangshu Province located in the middle of the imperial city, turning west, the second government office is the Ministry of Punishment.
Compared with the noisy Jingzhao Mansion in Guangdefang, the atmosphere of the Punishment Department is solemn, and officials are gentle when coming and going. Although everyone only came here to sit in jail, they also had the feeling of stepping into the center of the Tang Dynasty, because this place was indeed the center.
They were taken to the squad room. Du Wulang looked left and right and asked, "Are we going to put them here?"
"Otherwise? The case has not been tried yet and is awaiting trial here! The main criminal, Xue Bai, is coming with us."
Xue Bai was not surprised. He stood up immediately, but first went to change into a plain robe.
~~
Pingkangfang, Youxiang Mansion.
Li Linfu's eyesight was already a little blurry, and his energy was gradually dwindling as he had been working at his desk for a long time. He almost fell asleep while sitting there while reviewing official documents.
"Grandpa?"
Li Xiu was talking in the meeting hall. After not hearing Li Linfu's response for a long time, he couldn't help but ask.
"What?" Li Linfu came back to his senses and asked, "Where were you talking about just now?"
"Speaking of Yanxi vines." Li Xiu said: "The boy asked the craftsman who will be in charge. The Yanxi River has been cut down too much for decades. The Shengzhou government had to strictly prohibit private logging, so the tribute paper became more expensive. Another thing is that Yuan Dynasty I am determined to make money, so I sent people to Jiangnan three months ago."
"Let's just go. Hundreds of miles of Yanxi, how many vines can his few people cut down?" Li Linfu said: "The change of the southeast tribute paper to the supervision of production has been reported together with many measures to reduce expenditures. If you give it to the saint, the saint will be satisfied."
"Yes." Li Xiu said: "Southeast tribute paper is now ridiculously expensive. A piece of paper costs more than a hundred dollars. It should be noted that a Hu cake is only two dollars. With this cost-saving method, I should be able to save money for the court. Thousands of dollars a year in expenses.”
"Local officials have always made excuses and pushed the envelope. The officials sent to Jiangnan must be selected well and restrain them."
"My child understands."
While talking, Li Linfu looked at the next official document and saw that it was a dispatch document from the Ministry of Officials, all of which were for positions under the eighth rank. The list was long and he hadn't had time to read it carefully.
suddenly.
"Right Prime Minister! Good news from the northwest!"
Li Linfu was immediately surprised and said: "Wang Zhongsi won?!"
A travel-worn messenger came into the hall and knelt down, saying: "Don't worry, Prime Minister, it's not Wang Zhongsi. It's the Border Supervisory Army who sent an envoy to report that Lianyun Fort was captured!"
"Okay, okay, this is good news."
Lianyun Fort is the key pass of Xiaobolu Kingdom. Xiaobolu Kingdom was originally a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, but it dared to defect to Tubo. The saint was determined to destroy his country. Now that Gao Xianzhi is on an expedition to Xiaobolu, the border command has sincerely supervised the army. It is indeed a great joy to win the first battle.
"Hurry up and get ready, I'm going to the palace to see you."
"Here."
"Let Xiao Jiong come to see you! Immediately!"
"Here."
Li Linfu hurriedly read some of the official documents he was dealing with, stamped them, and immediately went to change his clothes.
Before leaving the house, Xiao Jiong hurried over and had a few more words with him.
In this way, Li Linfu just cleared the way for King Wu to go to the Daming Palace to meet...
~~
Daming Palace.
Li Longji rarely summoned An Lushan today to listen to him talk about the Khitan affairs.
This was originally one of the things An Lushan should do when he entered the court, but after Fan Yangjin killed someone on the Mid-Autumn Festival night, the saint seemed to have neglected him for a while, so much so that even this official matter was delayed.
During this period, many voices attacking An Lushan fell on the saint's ears.
"See for yourself."
An Lushan held up a memorial with some difficulty and read it, his expression changed greatly.
The memorial pointed out an old incident, saying that An Lushan had done nothing to contribute to the border, but had committed a serious crime.
More than ten years ago, Li Yi, the king of Xin'an, conquered the Xi people and won a great victory. King Xi led his troops to surrender, moved to the mainland, and sent his eldest son Li Yanchong to the court as a hostage. Six years after King Xi's death, An Lushan petitioned the court to let Li Yanchong succeed him. Li Longji then married Princess Yifang to Li Yanchong and paid homage to Governor Raole and King Huaixin. As a result, An Lushan invaded and plundered the Xiren tribe several times in order to fake side merits, burning, killing and looting, which led Li Yanchong to kill Princess Yifang in the fifth year of Tianbao and raise his troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty.
After talking about this incident, the sentences in this memorial became more and more intense, pointing out that Li Yi and Wang Zhongsi used foreign troops to determine ten years of peace with one battle. For example, Wang Zhongsi also went north to Yanmen and fought in Sangqian. He won three battles and three victories, and the entire Xi and Khitan armies were wiped out. Why is it that since An Lushan took control of the Northeast, good news has continued, but the rebellion has intensified, even to the point of stationing 200,000 to 300,000 troops at the border to guard against foreign invaders?
"Lushan harbors evil intentions and raises bandits to respect itself?!"
When his eyes fell on this row of words, An Lushan's fat hand shook and the memorial fell to the ground. He was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground.
"Your Majesty! I know that I am guilty, but I have never thought about supporting the bandits to respect themselves. Your Majesty, please let me go from my post as the Jiedu Envoy of the Second Town. I am willing to take up a dutiful post in Chang'an and serve Your Majesty!"
He didn't say a word of defense, and the first thing he showed was his attitude.
Everything is still under the control of the saint, and the saint can remove him from his duties at any time, as long as the saint wants.
Li Longji said: "These are the only excuses you have?"
An Lushan raised his head and responded with great sincerity and magnanimity: "My wish is to return to Chang'an."
"Don't say it's useless, I want your explanation."
"But I don't know how to explain it."
"explain!"
An Lushan scratched his head in embarrassment and said: "I am a Hu man. I don't know etiquette. I really often kidnap foreigners. I am different from the Han border generals. When I led an army of hundreds of thousands to sweep across the Turks, I... was useless. , can’t call.”
What he said was right to the point.
Li Yi and Wang Zhongsi were powerful and led a large army to sweep across Mobei, but their military expenditures were also large and the threat was even greater. The reason why Li Longji used An Lushan was that An Lushan was different from these Han generals in that he could take the initiative and consume foreign captives without posing a threat to the central government.
According to the instructions of these officials, let King Xin'an Li Yi command 300,000 troops and sit in the northeast to try? Let's see if Li Longji can sleep peacefully for a night.
"On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, your soldiers dared to kill Jin Wuwei in Chang'an City." Li Longji said, "How do you explain it?"
"It's my fault. I should deal with those stubborn soldiers according to the military law and then ask the saint for forgiveness."
"Nothing else to say?"
More than twenty days have passed, and the East Palace has been desperately attacking Anlushan. In addition to the memorials like the one just now, there are also various conspiracy theories, believing that Li Linfu and Anlushan killed those Uighurs to frame the East Palace.
Li Linfu has been criticizing Donggong and Wang Zhongsi, insisting that those Uighurs had friendship with Wang Zhongsi, indicating that Donggong secretly contacted foreign vassals and then killed people and silenced them, with ulterior motives.
Recently, all parties have even released some other news to clear themselves of suspicion.
Li Longji usually didn't care, but now that he remembered it, he decided to see how An Lushan responded.
"What should I say?" An Lushan murmured: "Some people say that Pei Mian was also killed by the minister. Is the saint asking about this?"
"explain."
"I have never done this, so I sent ten boxes of wisteria incense to the Prime Minister, and asked the Prime Minister to make the decision."
Li Longji laughed angrily and asked again: "Then what do you think is going on?"
An Lushan shook his head, leaned down, and said seriously: "I have never thought about this matter. I finally came to Chang'an. I just want to make the saint happy and repay the saint's kindness."
He knew very well that Dong Gong, Wang Zhi, Xue Bai and others were working together to deal with him, but he never mentioned it, nor did he try to clear up his grievances.
These days, he has done nothing except going to the Right Prime Minister's Mansion to express his position.
Because he knows that the more he does, the more he will make mistakes. No matter what he does, he will cause trouble for the saint. A loyal minister like him only has the saint in his heart. He doesn't care about being wronged, but only cares about the saint's mood.
"Step back." Li Longji said.
An Lushan was stunned and said, "But I haven't reported on my duties yet..."
"Tomorrow I will hold a banquet at Xingqing Palace, and we will drink and play at the same time." Li Longji lightly kicked An Lushan, "Don't get up yet."
"Hu'er thanks the saint for his grace!"
An Lushan was overjoyed. He held up his fat body, but he didn't get up the first time and rolled on the ground.
"Hahaha."
Li Longji was so amused that he burst into laughter, and the atmosphere in the palace suddenly became cheerful.
~~
In fact, Li Longji has not bothered at all about the intrigues of these ministers these days. There are 40,000 beauties in his palace, and there is no time for eating, drinking and having fun.
Now that the matter was almost over, he took a look and saw another group of people looking ugly.
Among them, An Lushan, the ugliest one, did not show his ugliness and only focused on making him happy.
Even a biological son cannot reach this level, it is too far away...
Thinking of this, the smile on Li Longji's face faded and became covered with the dignity of an emperor.
"Sage, the right minister has arrived to tell you the good news about Lianyun Castle."
"Call." Li Longji said, "Call Xue Bai too."
"According to the order."
After a while, Li Linfu came to see him. After saluting, he immediately said: "I congratulate the saint on the great victory of Lianyun Castle and the great prestige of the Tang Dynasty!"
Li Longji reacted indifferently to this, with a stern expression, "A small country dares to betray me. I want the chief of Xiaobolu to kneel at my feet and cry bitterly and repent. Then the right minister will congratulate me."
Li Linfu shuddered and responded: "I obey the order."
His answer was very sincere, meaning that one day, he would obey the order and congratulate him.
Li Longji was used to winning battles and was not very interested in this. He drank a glass of wine casually and said in a chatty tone: "Why has the Right Prime Minister made Taizhen unhappy so many times?"
"Your Majesty has a clear lesson." Li Linfu rarely dared to reply, and saluted: "I handle state affairs for your Majesty, and I should put public interest first. It is not appropriate to take into account the wishes of the imperial concubine in everything. If the imperial concubine is deceived by an adulterer, I have nothing to do with it." The principle of indulgence.”
Although he couldn't recognize some rare words, he could grasp the saint's mind very keenly and knew that the saint might not be very satisfied with the concubine's recognition of her adopted brother, because Xue Bai was much more handsome than An Lushan.
"Jingzhao Mansion captured Xue Bai. I do know about this. The case is clear and the evidence is conclusive. There is no problem with Xiao Jiong's verdict." Li Linfu said: "On the contrary, Xue Bai has repeatedly played tricks and did not put me at all. In my eyes, it doesn’t matter if I am humiliated, the face of the Tang Dynasty Prime Minister cannot be damaged, and the law and national prestige cannot be damaged.”
"knew."
Li Longji smiled, gave Li Linfu a glass of wine, appeased him, and said with a smile: "This matter is indeed Xue Bai's fault. The right minister should teach him a lesson. Yes, it is closed now, that's pretty much it."
Li Linfu held the wine glass in both hands, but his face became solemn, and said: "Your Majesty, the laws of the country must not be abolished because of people. Please hand this case over to the third division to decide impartially and based on the facts. The sky can teach me that I have no selfish intentions. !”
This chapter is divided into more than 5500 words, so I am a little short on the second chapter, so I will write it for a while and post it later~~
