As Zhengdan approaches, the whole of Chang'an is full of festive atmosphere.
For this Zhengdan court meeting, the imperial court specially allocated red silk and satin from the inner palace to decorate Zhuque Street, and the people also put up lanterns to wait for today's New Year.
Compared with last year, the people of Chang'an feel much more at ease this year.
The Tang Dynasty had regained the two capitals, and I heard that the rebels in Hedong were also going to surrender, and the world was about to be pacified.
Once the world is at peace, the people of Chang'an will be able to live a good life.
So despite the snowstorm this year, the East and West Markets in Chang'an are still bustling with activity, and everyone wants to have a lively New Year.
Xingqing Palace is near the east gate of Chang'an. An old man wearing a yellow robe stood on the calyx tower and waved to the people below.
"Saint, saint, it's windy outside." A eunuch who was about the same age as the old man helped the old man to return to the building.
The old man looked at the warm smiling face below, but he couldn't bear to look away. He just said: "I'm fine, I'm fine, I just want to see the people of Chang'an."
This old man was Li Longji who had returned to Chang'an, and it was his personal eunuch Gao Lishi who persuaded him to return to his house.
Since returning to Chang'an, Emperor Li Longji has lived in Xingqing Palace, and Emperor Li Heng has lived in Daming Palace and Taiji Palace.
Xingqing Palace was originally built near private houses. When the emperor returned to Chang'an, he had an extra hobby, which was to stand on the calyx tower and watch the people of Chang'an.
When encountering people in need, Li Longji would also ask the eunuchs to take some money to help the people.
Li Longji had been the emperor for more than 40 years, and almost all the people in Chang'an grew up hearing the name of this emperor.
Every time Li Longji appeared on the Calyx Tower, the people would watch and cheer.
Sometimes Li Longji would wander around nearby with Gao Lishi in casual clothes. When the people found out, they would surround him from a distance and show their respect to this supreme being.
To the common people, Li Longji was the representative of the prosperous Chang'an city back then.
When Li Longji was in power, Chang'an City was at its most prosperous. At that time, gorgeous lantern decorations would be arranged every year during the New Year's Day and Lantern Festival.
Although the imperial court decorated Zhuque Street this year, it really did not have the extra financial resources to decorate the palace.
Compared to the prosperous days of Kaiyuan Tianbao, the new emperor's reign was still a bit deserted.
Therefore, the people around the emperor miss the glorious and prosperous days of Kaiyuan Tianbao.
When Li Longji was discovered by the people and surrounded by cheers, the emperor also felt the wonderful time when he was in power and was called a saint by the whole world.
Instead of the old man living in Xingqing Palace now.
Li Longji and the people provided emotional value to each other, making Xingqing Palace more and more lively.
The wind outside was really strong. After all, Li Longji was getting older. After a while, he waved his hand and returned to the calyx building.
Sitting on the couch, Li Longji looked at the calyx building with only half of the candles lit, and asked Gao Lishi next to him:
"General, why are you only lighting half of the candles?"
The Hua Calyx Building is also called the Hua Calyx Xianghui Building. It took skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry and Engineering five years to build it.
There are more than a thousand candlesticks on the entire Calyx Tower. After the candlesticks are lit, they are covered with glass covers. After all the candlesticks are lit, the night will be like day.
Gao Lishi bowed and said: "There will be a Zhengdan dynasty meeting in the palace. The candle makers in Chang'an are rushing to make candles for the palace. The candles allocated to Xingqing Palace by the Ministry of Internal Affairs are not enough, so the veteran ordered people to evacuate the building.
Half the candle."
Hearing this, Li Longji's expression changed.
He originally wanted to get angry, but he just opened his mouth and closed it.
He was already the emperor, no longer the supreme emperor whose anger caused the king to bleed thousands of miles away.
Those rootless eunuchs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs are the best at looking after people's food. Now that their master has changed, it is reasonable to give less candles to Xingqing Palace.
Gao Lishi saw Li Longji clenching his fists and then unclenching them. He was afraid that he was holding his breath, so he quickly patted Li Longji on the back and said;
"Sage! I am incompetent. If you have any anger, vent it on me. Don't hold it in!"
Li Longji shook his head and said, "Don't light so many candles during the day. Put out those candles as well. I'm going downstairs."
Li Longji walked down the calyx tower with the support of Gao Lishi, and the people watching beside Xingqing Palace gradually dispersed.
However, in the restaurant opposite Xingqing Palace, two serious-looking people recorded everything and sent it to Daming Palace.
In the Shangshu Province, Li Fuguo listened to the report of the two spies monitoring the Xingqing Palace, and asked in detail about the time and frequency of the emperor's appearance in the past few days, and then let the two men continue to keep an eye on the Xingqing Palace.
Yu Chaoen walked in holding a pile of books. Li Fuguo called him over and said:
"Go and report to His Majesty that the Emperor recently met with the people of Chang'an again at Huaxe Tower."
Yu Chaoen's heart skipped a beat, Li Fuguo, an old and cunning man, allowed himself to do such a disgraceful thing again.
After the emperor moved into Xingqing Palace, the emperor was naturally worried.
Li Fuguo took the initiative to have people monitor Xingqing Palace day and night.
However, Li Fuguo was the head eunuch of Shangshu Province, and Yu Chaoen could only take the order and report the movements of Xingqing Palace to the emperor in Qinzheng Hall.
The emperor frowned again when he heard that the emperor had climbed up to the calyx tower again and had fun with the people.
Li Heng was very clear about his father's methods. When he was the prince, he was suppressed by his father. No matter what, Li Heng did not want to experience that feeling again.
Why did the emperor do this?
Li Heng, who had long been accustomed to guessing his father's every move, once again fell into the past behavior pattern.
He always felt that his father had some deep meaning or was plotting something.
Li Heng put down the ink pen in his hand and said: "Continue to strengthen the surveillance of Xingqing Palace. Court officials entering and leaving Xingqing Palace must be strictly monitored. Everyone who enters and exits must be registered for me!"
Yu Chaoen quickly took the order and retreated.
After handling the affairs of Xingqing Palace, the emperor's original good mood disappeared.
Why can't my father quietly retire in Xingqing Palace?
Li Heng didn't understand. He had obviously made a lot of concessions for the sake of the relationship between father and son, and even gave Xingqing Palace to his father to live in. Isn't he still satisfied?
Li Heng felt a little irritable.
Opening the memorial again, this is a letter from Li Guangbi stationed in Anyang.
Li Heng opened it, looked at it, and threw the memorial aside heavily.
Li Guangbi wrote a letter that An Qingxu, the puppet emperor of Yan, was hiding in Xiangzhou. With the help of the people of Xiangzhou, he escaped from the encirclement and suppression by the army many times.
The Tang army in Anyang has encountered many setbacks recently, and now that the New Year is approaching, I request the emperor to temporarily let the Tang army in Xiangzhou rest and wait for the next spring to slowly encroach on Xiangzhou and besiege Anqingxu.
Originally, there was no problem with this strategy on weekdays, but Li Heng happened to be depressed and his mood was not so good.
Li Heng continued to look at the memorial. This was the memorial given by Mei Jiu, the imperial censor in the palace. This Mei Jiu impeached Li Guangbi, who happened to be stationed in Anyang, and Guo Ziyi, who was fighting in Qingzhou.
The censor's words were fierce. He believed that An Qingxu's hundreds of thousands of troops in Chang'an and Luoyang were easily defeated by Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi. Now that An Qingxu's troops are less than ten thousand, the court has been unable to pacify them.
Now that Hedong has surrendered, only Xiangzhou, Qingzhou and other states are still unable to be pacified, and the bandit leader An Qingxu is still on the run in Xiangzhou.
Therefore, Mei Jiu believed that this was because Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi were trying to protect themselves from the invaders and deliberately tried not to pacify Dingzhou and Qingzhou.
Looking at this memorial, the emperor fell into thinking.
He clasped the imperial case with his knuckles and took out Li Guangbi's memorial again. The more he looked at it, the more unpleasant it became.
Guo Ziyi captured troops in Henan, and Li Guangbi guarded Anyang City in the north to cut off the rebels' retreat. Now Hedong has surrendered to Datang, but An Qingxu in Xiangzhou has been unable to defeat it.
Is it really Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi who support the bandits to respect themselves?
As soon as this idea came up, the emperor couldn't help but become suspicious. Even Guo Ziyi's letter a few days ago asking the emperor to give the soldiers charcoal fire to survive the winter was thought by Li Heng to be a way to win over the morale of the soldiers.
At this time, Li Fuguo, who was holding new charcoal in his hand, pushed the door in. He opened the stove and replaced it with new charcoal. Li Heng suddenly asked: "Li Fuguo, how many soldiers and horses can I give you to pacify Xiangzhou?"
Li Fuguo smiled and said: "The leader of the thieves, An Qingxu, is already frightened. All the elites who started in Anlu Mountain have been buried in the two capitals and Suiyang. I will give you 50,000 horses, which can be settled in a month!"
Hearing what Li Fuguo said, Li Heng was not happy at all, but his mood became even worse.
Li Fuguo said that it could be decided in one month, but now Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi are attacking Xiangzhou, and a month has passed without any results.
Li Heng handed Mei Jiu's impeachment memorial to Li Fuguo, then looked at the map behind the throne and said: "Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi's 200,000 troops wasted food and grass in Xiangzhou, and they have been unable to put down the little thief An Qingxu. I have made Guo Ziyi the acting Duke.
Now, isn’t he still satisfied?”
Li Fuguo's expression did not change. Although Mei Jiu's memorial was not his instruction, it hit Li Fuguo's mind.
The biggest difficulty for the King of Qi to seize the throne was that generals such as Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi supported the prince.
And Li Fuguo, who knew the emperor's thoughts well, knew that the reason why Li Heng had the idea of changing the crown prince was because the prince had too much influence on the military power.
Guo Ziyi has more than 200,000 elite men under his command, and they are stationed in Henan Road, which is not far from Chang'an.
If the military really supported the crown prince's ascension to the throne, it would be easy to invade Chang'an from Henan, so the emperor rewarded the King of Qi, hoping to use the King of Qi to suppress the East Palace.
The military is the prince's talisman, and it is also the original sin that the prince bears.
Li Fuguo's heart beat rapidly. Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, heroes of the counter-rebellion, had been in control of the military for too long and had already made the emperor feel threatened.
But now is not the time. Li Fuguo, an old poisonous snake, naturally understands that he must be fully prepared to deal with these outstanding heroes.
He advised: "Why don't your Majesty issue an edict, ordering Li Guangbi to clear the country in Xiangzhou, and order him to wipe out An Qingxu before spring?"
Li Heng nodded and said: "It should indeed be the case. This war has been going on for too long. The imperial court has long been overwhelmed. It summoned the Hanlin scholars to come in and sent Li Guangbi a stern edict, ordering him to pacify it before March next year.