After dark, Xingzhou City, which should have been quiet in the past, became more and more lively today. On the streets and in the city, lights kept lighting up, and people came out of their homes one after another, laughing, singing and dancing towards the same direction - the palace.
Originally, in order to reflect the majesty of the royal family, people were not allowed to approach the palace at will. Not to mention ordinary people, even civil and military officials from the DPRK and China. It was a crime to go there without being summoned or reporting important matters. But today is obviously very different. Xu has inherited the Tang Dynasty emperor's style of being close to the people during grand festivals. Li Qianshun has also developed a habit over the years. He will climb the palace wall today to let the people in Beijing admire his holy face. .
Although he had to wait until nearly midnight before coming out, and had to have a banquet with the officials of the central government before coming out, this did not prevent the people from gathering early in the square outside the palace, which was wide enough to celebrate the year. The only big festivals.
The sound of laughter and singing kept coming from the street into the courtyard, which aroused a lot of interest in Sun Tu, who had prepared everything, so he soon took Lin Dong out on the pretext of going to see the emperor's holy face. However, there were too many people on the street today, and Sun Tu acted deliberately, so in just a moment, Lin Dong was thrown away, and he continued to move forward with the crowd, and more than an hour passed. Finally, this mighty team finally arrived in front of the palace.
However, Sun Tu was still quite far away from the palace at this time, and there were tens of thousands of Xia people in between. A quick glance showed that more than half of the people in this city with a population of more than 100,000 As a result, everyone has flocked here, and it can really be regarded as a celebration for the whole city.
And when so many people whose origins were unknown gathered together, the palace's guard work became extremely tense. Not only the imperial army was mobilized, but also the inspection department and other people from the Xingqing Mansion's security yamen. They were all mobilized to form a formation to block the flow of people who might break through the defense line. Looking from a distance, people can still see a bed-mounted crossbow set on the palace wall, with the arm-thick arrows on it still shining with a faint cold light in the surrounding lights.
However, the common people were not frightened by such strict defenses. They continued to sing and laugh as usual. From time to time, the good dancer would dance in front of everyone, which attracted thunderous applause and cheers from the people around them.
Sun Tu was mixed in among these crowds. Watching all this, he couldn't help but sigh at the enthusiasm of the party members. In such a mood, even the cold winter weather made people feel cold, but instead made people feel a surge of blood. He just wanted to Sing and dance to express your urge.
At the same time, this once again proved Xixia's domestic unity and confidence. After all, there are tens of thousands of people gathering in front of the palace now. If someone is incited to riot, it will probably be a riot. Why did the Song Dynasty court, which truly inherited the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty, never have such an arrangement? The emperor never thought about having fun with the people. In the final analysis, he was still worried that the situation would be out of control.
But Li Qianshun had this confidence. He firmly believed that his people truly supported him, so he dared to let the people in the capital appear so close outside the palace. With this alone, the leader of the Xia Kingdom's ZTE was already stronger than the previous officials of the Song Dynasty...
While Sun Tu was sighing, a strange cold light flashed in his eyes, but
This is also the root cause of Xixia's chaos! It is precisely because nothing has happened in such celebrations for many years, so when something unexpected happens, they will be at a loss and lead to even greater disasters.
And all he has to do is wait for the best time to arrive. Just let these guys be happy for a while longer!
The surrounding people of Xia Kingdom had no idea that the disaster was imminent. People were still singing and dancing there. As a slender man in Chinese clothes spoke, the surrounding voices became muffled:
"O King Khan, you are our sun, illuminating the direction of our people's progress. O King Khan, you are the eagle with spread wings, leading our people to fly high in the sky; O King Khan, you are the world The strongest, let my clan sweep across the eight wastes from now on... I only hope that King Khan will live forever, so that my clan will always stand in the center of the world!" The majestic and desolate song rose high, and the people around him held their breath and were intoxicated. It was Sun Tu Although I didn't understand the meaning of the song, I admired in my heart that this singer's singing voice was indeed very contagious. It was as much better than the so-called three great tenors in the world in later generations, Pavarotti and the like. .
This song not only fascinated the people in the square, but also the guards in front of the palace gate and on the palace wall were listening. At this moment, almost everyone had been attracted by the song, and they didn't know that someone was quietly listening. After walking forward for a while, we were not too far from the palace wall over there.
Although there was great excitement outside the palace, there was also a joyful scene of singing and dancing inside the palace, with the ministers raising their glasses.
Li Qianshun was in a very high mood today, and his already dark and red face was already shining brightly after drinking frequently. From time to time, he raised his glass and touched it with Mo Chihe and other important ministers, and laughed and said: "Today is my fifth day." On my seventeenth birthday, I remember how I was walking on thin ice when I first ascended the throne. Everything seemed to be right before my eyes. Looking at the Xia Kingdom today, I no longer have to worry about being invaded by the Liao and Song Dynasties day and night as before. Instead, I can live in the Liao and Song Dynasties. The Song Dynasty was able to get enough benefits from both sides. And all of this depends on the hard work of all the ministers and ministers for many years. Let me toast you with another drink!" After saying that, he raised his head again and poured out a large cup of wine. The kumiss was poured down.
Seeing this, the ministers naturally did not dare to neglect, and they raised their glasses and drank all the wine in the glass, and then they flattered the emperor's wisdom. After everyone had almost said the nice things to say, Mo Chihe took the lead and stood up and said respectfully: "The emperor celebrates his birthday today. I have prepared a small gift. I hope the emperor will not dislike it." As he said this Opening his mouth, the highlight of today's birthday banquet finally took place. It was time for the ministers to present birthday gifts to the emperor to show their loyalty.
However, his move caused some dissatisfaction from the prince. Because in the past it was him, the prince, who said this, but this year the situation changed. The emperor actually asked Mo Qihe to do this. Obviously this was also to teach him a lesson.
However, at this time, everyone didn't pay much attention to the prince's reaction. Everyone's attention was focused on the birthday gift that was about to be presented. The first thing that was brought up was naturally the birthday gift carefully prepared by Mozhihe, but it was a statue made entirely of gold. The result is a Buddha statue that is over five feet tall. The raw material of this Buddha statue alone is no less than four to five hundred kilograms of gold. It immediately made everyone present admire it. Many people thought about the birthday gifts they had prepared and were afraid that they would be beaten by Zhongshu Ling today. .
Then came the birthday gift presented by the prince, but it was a long painting: "Father, this is a picture of hundreds of Buddhas painted by Wu Daozi, a painter of the Tang Dynasty hundreds of years ago. My son specially bought it from the Central Plains and returned it. I hope my father will not dislike you."
After learning that this painting was actually painted by a great painter like Wu Daozi, and that it was a picture of hundreds of Buddhas that was highly respected in the country, everyone was filled with admiration. Even though the actual value cannot compare with the golden Buddha presented by Mo Xiahe, it is already an existence of extremely high value.
Later, more officials presented birthday gifts one by one, most of which were valuable treasures. The emperor was even more happy when he saw them, and Xi Fengchang was secretly frightened. If he had still presented the horse as a gift, today's birthday banquet would hardly have left any impression on the emperor. Fortunately, this time it was a blessing in disguise, as Sun Qianli obtained such a Buddhist treasure from Master Jie Sang, and he was finally no longer weaker than others.
So when it was Xi Feng's turn to present birthday gifts to the Xi Feng clan, he also stepped forward with steady steps, held up the sandalwood box in his hand and said: "What Xi Feng clan is offering is a Buddhist artifact." It is a treasure, and I also ask the emperor to allow me to demonstrate it on the spot to show the wonders of the Buddha treasure."
After hearing his words, the emperor immediately thought of everything that had happened before, and immediately became interested. He nodded and said, "Please, try it and I'll wait and see." The prince's face turned dark again. Three points, if it weren't for Xi Feng's trouble, why would I be in such a bad situation today...
Other officials also thought of the series of things that happened in the capital in the past few days, so they all looked curious when they looked at the small sandalwood box, wanting to know what this so-called Buddha treasure was. What a wonder that even the prince could covet him.
And as Xifengchang took out the music box and wound it up, causing it to emit bursts of Buddhist scriptures and Sanskrit sounds, and another Buddha statue slowly rose from the box, everyone present, including the emperor and the prince, stayed on the spot, stunned. After staring at it for a long time, someone finally exclaimed: "This is truly a Buddhist treasure that has never been seen before!"
"This should be because the Buddha felt the piety of the emperor and us, so he gave such a treasure..."
The emperor lost his composure at this time, and actually said directly: "Quickly, bring it up for me to take a closer look!" This was a reaction that the scroll of hundreds of Buddhas presented by the prince just now could not bring about in him. Naturally, Xi Fengchang did not dare to neglect, and quickly presented the music box and the sandalwood box together. After the emperor took it, he looked at it carefully for a long time, and then smiled and said: "Okay, the birthday gift Xi Feng presented today is the most suitable for me." My intention..." As he said that, he glanced at the prince intentionally, which made the latter's heart tighten.
With this birthday gift in front of me, the birthday gifts presented by the officials later seemed a bit cliché and ordinary, and there were no good things that could make people's eyes shine.
As a result, today's birthday banquet has quickly come to an end. Seeing that the time has come to the second and third quarters, Li Qian stood up drunk and said, "Let's go, you will follow me to the palace wall to join the people." Happy! Xi Fengchang, you stay with me!" This arrangement was obviously to reward Xi Fengchang for the birthday gift he had given before, and it also made him attract the envious eyes of many people again.
Less than half an hour later, the emperor finally arrived on the palace wall accompanied by his ministers, and the grandest celebration of the day was about to begin. But no one would have thought that chaos would break out!