Seventy-two-year-old Li Longji, with the support of Gao Lishi, got off the carriage and couldn't help but burst into tears when he saw the majestic Chang'an City wall.
Li Longji spent most of his life in Chang'an City.
With Wu Zetian as his grandmother, Li Longji lived a cautious life in his youth. As the grandson of the emperor, he could not live with his father in the East Palace, but had to squeeze in with his brothers in the Five Princes' Residence.
The internal supervisors and palace orders sent by grandma Wu Zetian were monitoring every move of their brothers, and if they made any mistakes, they would be impeached by the officials.
Li Longji's biological mother, Dou, was falsely accused of practicing witchcraft against Wu Zetian when he was a child, and was killed on the order of his grandmother.
In the weak year, prime ministers Zhang Jianzhi and Di Renjie launched the Dragon Coup, forcing grandma Wu Zetian to abdicate.
The prime ministers supported their uncle Li Xian to come to power, thinking that they would be able to live a stable life.
Unexpectedly, Li Xian's queen Wei Empress and Princess Anle joined forces to seize power again. Empress Wei wanted to do what her mother-in-law Wu Zetian did and ascend the throne as empress again, so she forced Li Xian's prince Li Chongjun to death.
Empress Wei and Princess Anle poisoned Zhongzong Li Xian. Li Longji, in his weak years, decisively launched a coup, killed Empress Wei, and installed his father Li Dan on the throne.
After Li Dan came to power, he reused his aunt Princess Taiping. Princess Taiping also wanted to imitate her mother Wu Zetian and become the empress.
Li Longji launched another coup, killed his aunt Princess Taiping, and finally took real power.
When Li Longji was young, he spent day and night looking at the city defense map of Chang'an, calculating the number of officers loyal to him in the Forbidden Army, and considering the loopholes in the defense of Taiji Palace and Daming Palace.
It can be said that in the Tang Dynasty, no one understood coups better than Li Longji!
He worked hard in the early days and created the prosperous Kaiyuan era. He held the power of the court for more than 40 years. However, at the end of his life, the 72-year-old Li Longji was in danger and abdicated to become the emperor.
After losing the throne, Li Longji's hair turned completely white, his body became hunched over, and he no longer had the spirit and spirit of the former ruler of the world.
Li Longji looked at Chang'an City with mixed feelings in his heart, and could only hold Gao Lishi's hand and cry.
Forty-eight-year-old Li Heng looked at Chang'an City with excitement in his heart.
Like all the royal children, Li Heng basically lived in Chang'an City throughout his life.
The unfavored son was suddenly appointed as the crown prince because of the Three Common People's Rebellion. Li Heng lived in the shadow of his father all his life.
When Lingwu ascended the throne, Li Heng had been the crown prince for thirty years.
People all over the world say, "How can there be a thirty-year prince?" The last person to be a prince for such a long time was Liu Zhi, the deposed prince of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Possibly due to living in fear for a long time, Li Heng's health is also not very good. Now at the age of 48, half of his hair is white and his face is also a little pale.
But at this time, Li Heng's face was flushed with excitement, and the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty finally returned to Chang'an City!
The last time we left Chang'an City, Li Longji was the emperor and Li Heng was the prince. At that time, it was as if the sky was falling, and the father and son almost became the kings of the country.
But this time when we returned to Chang'an City, Li Longji was the emperor and Li Heng was the emperor. The Tang Dynasty had already recovered the two capitals and Henan Province, and peace in the world was just around the corner.
On the outskirts of Chang'an, all the officials put on their court uniforms and lined up to wait for this "meeting of the two saints."
The King of Qi and other princes who followed him stood in the first row, followed by Li Heng's prime ministers, and the ministers and officials and censors stood in the back.
As the envoy of the Longyou Dudu Mansion who stayed in the backyard, Shang Bo stood at the back.
He turned on the in-game camera and recorded such a historic moment.
In front of Mingde Gate, the emperor got off the carriage first with the support of Gao Lishi.
Immediately afterwards, the emperor also stepped out of the carriage with the support of Li Fuguo. Li Longji stood still in front of the carriage. Li Heng quickly walked to the carriage and knelt down in front of Li Longji.
At this time, Li Longji quickly helped Li Heng up and asked: "Is there any ceremony for the emperor to kneel down and worship?"
Li Heng raised his head and said, "It is the law of heaven and earth for a son to kneel down and worship his father!"
After saying this, Li Heng gave a full salute to his father, and Li Longji also turned sideways, half-accepting his son's full salute.
Shang Bo admired in his heart that the father and son were indeed born politicians. There was no rehearsal for this performance. The performance was so natural that some officials present even cried.
At this time, Tong Zhongshu's family was in peace, and Pei Mian, the Minister of Rites, came out and reminded the father and son who were performing "affectionate performances":
"The auspicious time has come, please invite the two saints to Chang'an!"
All the officials followed suit and exhorted in unison: "Please invite the two saints to come to Chang'an!"
The seventy-two-year-old emperor helped the forty-eight-year-old emperor, and the emperor held his hand and walked toward Mingde Gate together.
The two saints walked in front, and the princes and ministers walked behind. When they reached the Mingde Gate, a group of ragged people with shackles on their hands and feet knelt on both sides of the gate, which made Li Longji stop in his tracks.
At this time, Censor Zhongcheng Cui Qi, who was welcoming the Holy Master, stood up and said:
"Reporting to the Second Saint, these are the guilty ministers who surrendered to the puppet Yan. The Third Dharma Division asked them to bear their guilt and welcome the Holy Emperor."
Cui Qi's arrangement was approved by Li Heng. Looking at these guilty ministers, Li Heng's heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment.
If it weren't for the persuasion of the prime ministers, Li Heng would have wanted to build a large prison.
However, considering that the world was still unsettled and that many guilty officials were dragged over by the puppet Yan and forced to serve as officials, the emperor only pursued those principal culprits who took the initiative and rebelled.
The pseudo-Yan prime ministers Da Xixun and Chen Xilie were among them. Li Longji saw these faces, some of which were important ministers he had used in the past, and it felt like he had been slapped in the face.
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. www. Android and Apple are available.]
Li Longji has been the emperor for more than 40 years, how can he not know what his son means?
Da Xixun, Chen Xilie was an important minister during the emperor's period. What does it mean that these important ministers surrendered to the puppet Yan? It means that your emperor appointed many treacherous ministers back then!
Xuanzong's two powerful ministers, Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, both continued to suppress the forces in the East Palace. Li Heng's thirty-year career as prince was spent in the shadow of these two powerful ministers.
These guilty ministers kneeling in front of Mingde's gate will be written down in the history books even if the emperor neglected his employment and appointed traitors.
Before entering the city gate, Li Longji felt the oppression of his son, the emperor.
Li Heng was very satisfied with Cui Qi. When he entered the city, Li Heng suddenly saw a familiar face.
Although he had already seen this person on the list of traitors, Li Heng still stopped when he saw the real person in ragged clothes.
Li Longji also looked at his son and saw only a thin middle-aged man of the same age as Li Heng, standing among a group of guilty officials.
Li Longji immediately became energetic and asked the middle-aged man: "Where is your brother Zhang Bo?"
The criminal knelt on the ground and said:
"Reporting to the Emperor, the guilty minister Zhang Bo died before Chang'an was recovered."
Li Heng showed an unhappy expression and asked Cui Qi: "Zhang Bo died from rebellion. What crime did Zhang Jun commit?"
This ragged criminal was Zhang Jun, the son of Prime Minister Zhang Shuo in the Kaiyuan Year.
When Li Heng was appointed as the crown prince, Zhang Shuo was a great benefactor to Li Heng because of his contribution to making decisions.
After Zhang Shui resigned as prime minister, Zhang Shuo's two sons, Zhang Jun and Zhang Bo, also had close friendships with Li Heng and advised Li Heng to avoid the persecution of the crown prince by Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong.
Although Zhang Bo and Zhang Jun were the sons of the prime minister, and Zhang Bo was Li Longji's son-in-law, the high positions in the court at that time were monopolized by the two powerful prime ministers Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, and the two brothers were never reused.
After Anlushan contributed to Chang'an, Zhang Bo, who was frustrated, simply surrendered to Anlushan and became the prime minister of the puppet Yan.
Zhang Bo was the son of the former prime minister and the son-in-law of the emperor. He knew the details of the powerful people in Chang'an City very well.
After he was appointed prime minister, he massacred Li Tang's clan in Chang'an, confiscated the properties of noble ministers, and even destroyed Li Tang's ancestral temple.
Before the city of Chang'an was captured, Zhang Bo was frightened and died.
His elder brother Zhang Jun was captured alive by the Tang army and was recognized as a rebellious criminal by the Sanfa Division.
Cui Qi, the censor Zhongcheng, immediately said: "The guilty minister Zhang Jun once issued a fake Zhongshu order to serve as a puppet of Yan, and the three laws were convicted of the second class."
Li Heng had an old friendship with the Zhang brothers, and their father Zhang Shuo also made great contributions to him.
Li Heng said to Cui Qi: "The evidence of Zhang Bo's rebellion is solid. Zhang Jun is afraid that he will be forced to rebel, and his crime can be forgiven."
Cui Qi originally wanted to agree. After all, the emperor had already said that he wanted to pardon. What could he, a censor Zhongcheng, say.
But at this moment, Li Longji said:
"I have heard that the Zhang brothers are thieves in Shu. These two thieves destroyed the temple of our Li Tang clan and wanted the place where my father and son should die and be buried. This is an unpardonable death penalty!"
When Li Longji said this, Li Heng's situation became awkward again.
He glanced at Cui Qi. If Cui Qi hadn't performed some ceremony to welcome the guilty minister, how could there have been so many complications?
Cruel officials like Cui Qi are the best at guessing their superiors' intentions, and he suddenly broke out in cold sweat.
Li Jin, the Minister in charge of the Ministry of Punishment, quickly stood up and said:
"The auspicious time for the grand ceremony has arrived. Don't miss the auspicious time for discussing the crime!"
Li Heng nodded and did not continue to publicly discuss the matter of pardoning Zhang Jun.
The gate of Mingde Gate opened, and the people of Chang'an were already standing on both sides of Zhuque Street to welcome him.
The emperor supported the emperor and walked into Chang'an City from the main gate.
The people's thoughts are honest. It is a great thing for the emperor to return to Luan Chang'an, and the welcome is sincere.
After seeing the gray-haired Li Longji, the people recalled the prosperity of Kaiyuan Tianbao.
Every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month during the Lantern Festival, Li Longji would climb the calyx tower. He had been in office for forty-two years and had been integrated into the lives of the people of Chang'an.
The people did not see Emperor Li Heng wearing the prince's crown, but gave the most sincere welcome to their emperor Li Longji.
As the welcome from the people of Chang'an became more and more warm, Li Heng's mood became worse and worse.
When the two saints boarded the carriage, the people were still kneeling to the emperor.