Li Qinzai, who was accustomed to being a salty fish and refused to get involved in court affairs even to death, took the initiative to stand up for road construction this time. Perhaps the ceremony of taking off his boots when the people of Bingzhou said goodbye accounted for a big reason.
It is a beautiful memory and also a motivation.
In order to make this group of simple and hard-working people live a better life, Li Qinzai was willing to do something for them, even if he broke his own principles, even if he had grudges with the powerful.
Enjoying the beauty of the world and pursuing peace of mind will eventually come at a price.
Li Qinzai is willing to pay this price. Everyone in the world is suffering. If you can do your best, you can make the kind-hearted people in the world less miserable. In addition to eating, drinking and eating, it gives your life a different meaning.
The day after Di Renjie returned to Chang'an, Li Qinzai accompanied him into the Tai Chi Palace, where the monarch and his ministers discussed road construction matters after the autumn harvest.
This included mobilizing grain relief from the south, dispatching officers from the Ningshuo Governor's Office to station in Bingzhou, writing various detailed rules for work-for-relief, and building cement kilns. Di Renjie was in charge and King Teng supervised it. The imperial court sent a censor to verify the money and grain, and Baiqisi secretly visited.
Internal lifting is illegal, etc.
Implementing a national policy is not just a matter of high-level officials patting their heads and leaving it alone. In fact, it is very complicated and meticulous. A big thing is ultimately made up of countless trivial things.
The monarch and his ministers deliberated for a long time before Li Qinzai and Di Renjie left.
…………
Li Sujie stood in front of the gate of Yeting Palace, looking at the eunuchs standing at the door. His eyes were cold, staring at the old and heavy palace gate.
The palace door is closed, and the two worlds inside and outside are completely different.
Just standing outside the palace gate, Li Sujie could feel the oppressive and gloomy atmosphere in Ye Ting. There seemed to be countless innocent souls wandering silently in the air. Even the sun in the sky shone in Ye Ting, giving off a cold feeling.
, like the night wind blowing over the mass graves.
After standing quietly outside the palace gate for an unknown amount of time, Li Sujie gritted her teeth and walked forward.
The eunuch on duty at the door naturally recognized the fourth prince, and he bowed and smiled very attentively. Before Li Sujie could speak, the eunuch took the initiative to open the palace door of Ye Ting.
Li Sujie remained expressionless.
Having lived in the palace since he was a child, he knows better than anyone how dark and vicious these eunuchs with their attentive smiles are in their hearts. Once the nobles in the palace lose power, these slaves are often the first to stab them in the back.
At that time, Li Sujie's mother, Concubine Xiao Shu, was hanged on the order of Empress Wu, and the eunuchs around her were the ones who carried out the execution.
When Concubine Xiao Shu died, Li Sujie was not present. This may be the only trace of goodwill that Empress Wu left for him.
As for Li Sujie, it was not until he was accepted as a disciple by Li Qinzai that he walked out of the Tai Chi Palace. It was then that he truly felt the warmth of the sun.
Accompanied by eunuchs, Li Sujie walked into Yeting.
Yeting is built on the west side of Taiji Palace. It is actually the legendary "Leng Palace".
In movies and TV shows, the emperor roars angrily, points at a certain concubine and says, "She will be thrown into the cold palace." In fact, there has never been such a title as the cold palace in the past dynasties.
Ye Ting is a veritable cold palace. Anyone who commits a crime, falls out of favor, or is unlucky in the Tai Chi Palace, whether a concubine or a palace maid, will be sent to Ye Ting.
These concubines who have fallen out of favor and committed crimes will become slaves once they enter Ye Ting. No matter how noble your previous status is or how favored the emperor is, as long as you enter Ye Ting, you will basically never see the light of day.
They do heavy work every day, starching and washing clothes, washing toilet barrels, weaving and spinning. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are labor reform prisoners, even worse than labor reform prisoners.
There are long-standing grievances in the palace. Once they lose power, the nobles who enter Ye Ting often lose their lives inexplicably. Countless unknown corpses are carried out of Ye Ting every year. When these people die, they will die, and no one will care.
This is the cruelty of the palace. As glorious as it once was, it will be miserable if you make one wrong move.
Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the only woman who has been able to make a comeback after being thrown into Yeting is Empress Wu.
This is a special case and cannot be copied.
Li Sujie didn't like Yeting. The suffocating and depressing atmosphere made him very uncomfortable. The first step he took in Yeting, the hairs on his back stood up. It was hard to imagine how the people living there could survive the day after day.
A day of suffering.
Li Sujie came to Yeting to see his two sisters, who are half-sisters from the same father and mother.
After the death of Concubine Xiao Shu, the matter was not over yet. Li Sujie escaped temporarily because he was a prince. However, Concubine Xiao Shu also had two daughters, Princess Yiyang and Princess Xuancheng, who were sent to Yeting by Empress Wu. They worked every day and did not have enough to eat.
Living a life worse than a slave.
Li Sujie came to Yeting to visit her two sisters this time.
He once tried to save his two sisters, but the struggle in the palace was so cruel that a teenage child could not interfere with it. Empress Wu frightened Li Sujie out of his wits with just one look, and he did not dare to mention it again for fear of arousing the anger.
Empress Wu was so murderous that she simply killed both of his sisters.
After all, the two princesses are different from other nobles who have fallen out of favor. The place they live in Yeting is pretty good.
Li Sujie followed the eunuch to a dilapidated palace that had been in disrepair for many years. I don't know what year it was built. It seemed that it had never been repaired. There were countless holes in the paper covering the window lattice, and cold wind came in through the holes.
.
A palace like this is considered a very nice place in Yeting.
Li Sujie stood expressionless outside the palace, looking at the dilapidated palace doors and the mottled pillars with peeling paint, she couldn't help but take a deep breath, and her eyes could not help but turn red.
Li Sujie did not enter Yeting alone. He also brought several followers with him. The followers carried burdens filled with all kinds of food and clothes, as well as thick mattresses and tanned sheepskins.
Holding back his nausea, Li Sujie took out a piece of silver cake of unknown weight from his arms, tried his best to squeeze out a smile and gave it to the eunuch who was leading the way, and asked the eunuch to treat the two princesses kindly.
The eunuch carried the silver cake and left happily.
Li Sujie pushed open the palace door and was stunned by what he saw.
The two princesses are both in the palace. They no longer have the grace and grace of the past. Both of them are sallow and thin, their eyes are dull, their eye sockets are sunken deeply, their hair is as dry as weeds, and their lips have no color at all, as if they have no thought or consciousness.
The Walking Dead.
Li Sujie stepped forward quickly and said urgently: "Sisters, what's wrong with you? Are you sick?"
Princess Yiyang is the oldest. She is the eldest daughter of Li Zhi. She is almost twenty years old now. As for her appearance... At this time, she no longer has the so-called appearance.
In a trance, she saw Li Sujie approaching. Princess Yiyang's face was full of weakness and exhaustion, like a lamp that was about to burn out.
"Sujie, how many times have I told you not to enter Yeting in the future? Don't forget that there is a knife hanging on your head. Don't you understand how to avoid suspicion?" Princess Yiyang said in a stern tone.