"What a magnificent Chang'an City. Judging from its scale, I'm afraid it's several times bigger than Constantinople!" Irina opened the window of the carriage and curiously looked at the tall and towering city wall in front of her with a pair of eyes full of excitement on her face.

She looked shocked and excited. Although she had seen many large Han cities along the way, there had never been a city that could compare with the Chang'an city in front of her.

Looking at the excited Irina beside him, Li Ke, who was sitting in the carriage, smiled and said: "Someone once ruled. Chang'an is twice the size of Luoyang, one and a half times the size of Dengzhou City, and Keelung, the capital of Daqi, is

Compared with Chang'an, its scale is one-third smaller. As for Constantinople, it would take seven of them combined to barely compare with the size of Chang'an."

After hearing Li Ke's introduction, Irina became even more excited. Her eyes no longer only focused on the city wall like a dragon, but began to observe the pedestrians and vehicles on the road, as well as the shops on both sides of the road. The result surprised her.

She found that not only were Han people on the roads and shops, but Persians, cannibals, and people from the Western Regions were also very common. She even saw a few Christian monks in priest uniforms, standing on the roadside and constantly preaching to passers-by.

By the Lord’s mercy.

Li Ke and Irina hurried slowly, and finally arrived in Chang'an before Si Zi's wedding. Moreover, they had just got off the train an hour ago, and Li Min, Li Yun, and Li Zhen who came to greet them were sitting in front.

On the carriage. The day after tomorrow is the day when Si Zi officially gets married.

"Your Majesty has ordered that on the wedding day of Princess Jinyang, all industries across the country will have a day off to celebrate the wedding of His Highness. In addition, on the day of the wedding, all vehicles are prohibited from entering Zhuque Street!" Li Ke and his carriage passed through Xinfang outside the city gate.

As soon as he entered the city gate, he heard a small official standing under the city gate, loudly announcing Li Shimin's new imperial edict to passers-by.

Of course, there is nothing to say about a holiday on the day of the wedding. The reason why all vehicles are prohibited from entering Zhuque Street on the day of Sizi’s wedding is mainly because the population of Chang’an has grown too fast in recent years and the traffic jam is too serious. In the event of a wedding,

If the team is stuck on the road that day, it will be bad if the auspicious time is delayed.

When Irina heard the imperial edict announced by the clerk outside, she immediately thought of something and said: "Sanlang, Princess Jinyang is your sister, what do you think I will prepare as a wedding gift for her?"

When Li Ke heard this, he smiled and said, "No need, you are my wife. All I need to do is prepare a gift to send to Si Zi. You don't have to prepare a separate gift."

However, Irina objected: "How can that be done? I finally came here, met your sister for the first time, and caught up with her wedding. So I have to give you a gift no matter what!"

Regarding Irina's persistence, Li Ke could only smile helplessly and said: "Since you insist so much, then give it away. As for Si Zi's preferences..."

When Li Ke said this, he was suddenly stunned, and the smile on his face froze, because he suddenly realized that he didn't know what Si Zi liked? When Si Zi was a child, he liked eating, playing, and

A little girl with a rag doll, but now Si Zi is already a big girl, and he has not been in Chang'an these years. So he doesn't know what Si Zi likes when he grows up?

Seeing Li Ke's embarrassed look, Irina smiled and didn't ask any more questions. She knew that her third son had more than a dozen sisters, and he was busy with his career. Therefore, he naturally cared about his sisters.

Just less.

At this time, Li Ke shook his head helplessly and said: "It's really shameful that as an elder brother, I don't know what my sister likes. It seems that I can only ask Liu Lang, he must know what Si Zi likes!"

Hearing Li Ke mention Li Min, Irina couldn't help but recall what happened when they met the three Li Min brothers at the station. In her impression, Li Min was a very handsome young man, a few years younger than her husband.

Sui, on the other hand, was smiling from beginning to end, and seemed to be a very easy-going person, but he often showed a hint of the majesty of an emperor at odd moments.

As for the other Li Zhen and Li Yun, Irina was also very impressed, especially Li Yun's stability and Li Zhen's might, both of which allowed her to figure out some aspects of each other's personality after only meeting them once.

, and she could tell that whether it was Li Yun, Li Zhen, or even her husband Li Ke, Li Min was implicitly the leader.

Irina was not surprised by this situation, because she had heard Li Ke mention her brother many times when she was in Rome, and from his words, Irina also knew

Li Ke admired Li Min very much. In addition, the reason why Li Ke, Li Zhen and Li Yun achieved their current achievements was also influenced and helped by Li Min.

"Why, does His Highness Prince Qi know the preferences of the princesses better than you?" Irina asked curiously. When she thought about it, Li Min was also an emperor, and he also managed a territory even larger than that of the Tang Dynasty.

It’s so vast, and I’m so busy just doing government affairs every day, how can I have time to care about these little things?

When Li Ke introduced Li Min to Irina in the past, he was more interested in introducing Li Min's overseas founding process. He had not yet had time to say how Li Min governed the country, so Irina did not know how the country was operating in Daqi.

It was normal. Therefore, Li Ke took this opportunity to explain Da Qi's political structure where imperial power and prime minister power were separated, and told Irina that in Da Qi, the busiest person was the prime minister, not the emperor.

"How is this possible? Isn't he afraid that the Prime Minister will rebel?" Irina exclaimed after hearing this. She really couldn't imagine that if most of the government affairs were handed over to the Prime Minister, then the Prime Minister would almost have the highest authority in the entire empire.

Power, with this kind of power, it should be easy to rebel.

But Li Ke shook his head and said with a smile: "Irina, you don't know something. Although the Prime Minister of Da Qi holds great power, the power in his hands is only administrative power. The most important military power has always been controlled by the emperor. The Prime Minister

You must not interfere, and Da Qi's army is built in a very standardized manner. Almost everyone from top to bottom is taught to be loyal to the emperor. Even if a general betrays the emperor, his middle and lower-level officers and even soldiers will not follow him in rebellion.

"

At this point, Li Ke paused for a moment, took a long breath and then continued: "In addition, the most important point is that the Prime Minister is not completely free. He is also subject to the supervision of the Inspectorate, and there are also the Police Academy and the

The courts, they form a judicial body that is independent of the administrative agencies and are directly responsible to the emperor. In this way, as long as the prime minister makes any changes, he will be arrested immediately, and there is no chance of rebellion at all!"

After hearing this, Irina shook her head in admiration. She really couldn't imagine that there would be such a political system in the world, and based on her intuition, Irina also felt that there were many such political systems.

The first advantage is that it frees the emperor from busy government affairs and only focuses on military development.

The second is that the prime minister holds the power of the country, but he is not hereditary like the emperor. He must not only be supervised by the emperor, but also by the officials and people below. This can eliminate a considerable amount of corruption and at the same time

Choosing capable people to take charge will enable the country to develop better.

Of course, the above are just Irina's own imagination, and she is not sure about the specifics. After all, the last time she and Li Ke passed by Daqi, they just passed by in a hurry and did not stop to observe carefully.

On the surface, Daqi's political system is pretty good.

Li Ke and his carriage advanced along Zhuque Street and soon arrived at the square in front of the Imperial City. Although this time Irina came to the Tang Dynasty as Li Ke's wife, so there was no need to greet her with the courtesy of a monarch, but

Li Ke and his carriage entered through the Zhuque Gate at the main entrance of the palace, and Li Zhi also came to greet them in a private capacity.

Li Shimin also seemed very happy about the arrival of Li Ke and the others, and specially summoned Li Ke, Irina, and Li Ke's wife Yang into the palace. Irina had a special status, and now she was pregnant with Li Ke.

Sooner or later, Li Ke's child will be Li Ke's queen, so now she is allowed to enter the palace to meet her parents-in-law. In addition, Queen Changsun and Concubine Yang also need to do some ideological work on Yang's family to prevent her from having any thoughts in her mind.

In fact, Li Shimin's worries were somewhat unnecessary. Yang came back with Li Min this time, and on the way back, Li Min and Wen Xin had already explained the truth to Yang, and Yang also understood that Irina's feelings for Li

Ke was important, so she had already accepted the other person in her heart, so when Yang met Irina in the palace, she behaved very appropriately, and even cared about Irina's health and the condition of the fetus.

It is also worth mentioning that Irina finally fulfilled her original wish. Witnessed by Li Min, Li Zhi and others, she personally served Li Shimin, Empress Changsun, and Concubine Yang with a cup of tea. Although

She and Li Ke did not hold a wedding, but this ceremony marked that Irina officially became Li Ke's wife. Unfortunately, Li Shimin did not have much time now and could not hold a wedding for Li Ke and the others.

Moreover, after Irina served tea, Li Min also found an opportunity to tell Li Ke the true condition of Li Shimin's body. Although Li Ke had already guessed a little bit on the road, after hearing the truth about his father's body with his own ears,

If not, I will still feel extremely sad.

Seeing Li Ke's grief, Li Min could only comfort him helplessly: "Third brother, my father has already looked away, and before you came, my father also fulfilled many of his wishes.

Now we’re just waiting for Sizi’s wedding.”

"Sizi's wedding must be a glorious one, and we cannot let our father leave with regrets!" Li Ke sighed with tears in his eyes. As the saying goes, life and death are determined by fate, even if they are the most noble emperors in the world, they can't leave with regrets!
Chapter completed!