The noisy, harmonious and happy Yuan Day has always been the favorite festival of the Tang people. Whether it is the emperor or the courtiers, the wealthy merchants, or the common people, during the few days of Yuan Day, everyone seems to be deliberately Maintain a cheerful atmosphere, or truly reveal your inner joy.
In short, when walking in the prosperous Chang'an City, what you can see is the joyful and festive atmosphere. With the expansion of Chang'an City, both Tang people and foreigners are still a little unprepared for the sudden expansion of Chang'an City.
Naturally, some scenic spots that make people linger during festivals are still as crowded and lively as before.
However, some entertainment activities that only appear on Yuan Day, this specific festival, have become more numerous than in previous years due to the expansion of Chang'an City. This makes me not want to miss every activity. The common people had no choice but to complain happily because of their "greed". Chang'an City was so big that if they decided to go to see the activities in the East Market, they would definitely miss the activities in the West Market.
Those who decide to go to the outer city for gatherings will definitely miss the entertainment projects in the inner city or some official ceremonies.
People are greedy and don't want to miss every exciting event in Chang'an City. However, due to the increasing density and activity, they have to start to have difficulties and make tangled and contradictory choices for more colorful festival activities.
But for children, they don’t need to care about the quality of entertainment activities during the festival. As long as they can get adults’ tolerance for their wanton behavior during the festival and can spend some New Year’s money independently once a year, that’s it. The thing they look forward to most.
New clothes can make a child excited for a night, but by the time they play without thinking the next day, the new clothes will have long been lost. The control over children's behavior will naturally become dirty in less than a day. He ran back anxiously.
But relatively speaking, girls are much more rational in this regard. Whether it is the free squandering of money in the first day or the consideration of new clothes, they are much more rational than boys. Be more emotional.
Li Lingyue had already sent his personal eunuch Feng Shaoshao to Zhongshu Ling's mansion in Zhongshu Province with his famous assassin to invite her friend Shangguan Wan'er to play in the palace.
The entire palace was decorated with lights and colorful decorations, and it was full of joy. Its lively atmosphere and luxurious decorations cost more money than in previous years.
Even so, the Tang Dynasty still had abundant funds and decorated various scenic spots throughout Chang'an City with bright lights. Whether it was temples, Taoist temples, the Municipal Square where foreigners lived, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, etc., they were all illuminated by the bright lights and Decorated with festive things.
The entire Chang'an City was like a city that never sleeps on the night of Yuan Day. The curfew had been canceled two days in advance. Chang'an City, which was full of people, seemed to have entered a tireless twelve-hour cycle, whether it was day or night. , there is never a shortage of people walking around in the streets and alleys and in the city.
What surprised everyone in Chang'an City was that the imperial court continued to give holidays to courtiers. Until the Lantern Festival, which is the Lantern Festival, it never asked or even mentioned the matter of going to court. .
The dusk of the Shangyuan Festival in the third year of Yifeng is the most solemn, noisy and lively time of the year. The sound of evening drums slowly sounds from the bell tower, and its sound seems to be carrying the joy of the festival, to Chang'an The news spread from all directions in this city that never sleeps.
The entire imperial city was brightly lit like daylight, and even every corner was filled with a peaceful and festive atmosphere.
The evening drums and morning bells rang for the last time, and an army in full armor suddenly marched in neat steps from the city gate, escorting several extremely well-protected carriages. Under the escort of bright swords, guns, swords and halberds, they marched slowly. Slowly entered the imperial city.
Then I saw these soldiers following orders one after another, and began to unload boxes of things from the carriage in an orderly manner. Everyone's movements were extremely cautious, and everyone's face was nervous and solemn, but also revealed at the same time. With a hint of excitement.
No one knew what these people were doing. Because the people of Chang'an had received notice from the court in advance, when the city's military guards, riding festive horses draped in red silk, began to clean the first two streets outside the imperial city, people Naturally, he cooperated with the Chengwu Guard and retreated outside.
"What's going on? What surprises are there today?" Outside the two streets behind Qingjing Street, the other streets were crowded with crowds of people, all eagerly waiting to see what the imperial court was going to do today. , it turned out to be so mysterious, and the city's military guards who had not appeared for many days, and the stern soldiers with helmets and armor entered the imperial city, which suddenly raised people's curiosity to the highest level.
No one among the people whispering in the crowd doubted whether a coup had taken place in the palace or whether something unexpected had happened, because people had received the message before that on the Lantern Festival, the entire imperial city and the surrounding areas Both streets will be put under martial law by the imperial court, but when the time comes, you will see scenes you have never seen before.
Li Zhi and Wu Mei were invited by Li Hong, Pei Wanying and others to the hanging garden in the Daming Palace. They stood in the warm spring pavilion and looked at the various scenic spots in Chang'an City under their feet. The scenic spots that were originally bright day and night are now bright. None of them were lit by lights.
The clan members, including the entire royal clan, had also slowly walked up the stairs and stood behind Li Zhi and Wu Mei, the Crown Princess and Bai Chun, Li Lingyue and Guan Wan'er, all with happy and curious expressions. I don’t know what kind of medicine Li Hong is selling in this gourd.
Under the air pavilions of the Daming Palace, at the entrance of the palace, which was also used for gatherings and greetings, stood all the officials of the Tang Dynasty in Chang'an, all dressed in festive casual clothes, also whispering and guessing about His Highness the Crown Prince. What do you want to do by leading all this today
Whether it was the royal family members in the castle in the sky or the courtiers in front of the main hall below, after the ceremony officer finished the lengthy announcement of offering sacrifices to the heaven, he slowly sat down on the chairs that had been prepared for them.
Li Zhi held Li Ye in his arms, and Wu Mei held Li Ye in her arms. The two little guys were also very well-behaved today. They were held in the arms of Grandfather and Grandma Huang, neither crying nor fussing, and seemed very quiet.
"Where is this Li Hongren?" Wu Mei frowned and looked sideways at Pei Wanying and Bai Chun. Now in her eyes, the East Palace seemed to have two mistresses. Sometimes Pei Wanying knew things that Bai Chun didn't know. , sometimes the opposite is true.
Even sometimes in the East Palace, Bai Chun can make the decision on matters that require the Crown Princess to make decisions, while Pei Wanying can make decisions as a matter of course on matters that require Bai Chun's decision in Prince Pu's Palace.
This made Wu Mei have to admire Li Hong's methods of managing the harem. Seeing how Bai Chun and Pei Wanying got along, there were more and more question marks in her mind as she explored.
"Mother, Your Highness should be busy in the imperial city at the moment. He will probably come up soon." Pei Wanying stood up obediently, looked at Wu Mei with a smile and replied softly.
"What are you doing? The Jinwu Guard has been mobilized, the Central Army has been mobilized, the Chengwu Guard has been mobilized, and the Shenji Battalion has been mobilized. If he hadn't told me earlier, I would have thought that Li Hong was going to rebel. "Li Zhi said carelessly.
After the first day of the lunar month, Li Zhi happened to be fifty years old, so when he spoke now, he became more and more unobtrusive. He didn't care at all that Prince Ji Li Shen and the other princes beside him looked a little twitchy, and he didn't pay attention to those other princes. Lanling, Xincheng, and Chengyang rolled their eyes at him and still said without hesitation.
Pei Wanying listened to the words that came out of Li Zhi's mouth. She was so frightened that she almost sat on the ground. If Bai Chun, who was next to her, hadn't caught her with quick eyes and hands, she would have probably been exposed in front of the entire royal family. Made a fool of myself.
"Your Highness, the auspicious time has come." Li Lingyue's personal eunuch, Feng Shaoshao, quietly walked up to Li Lingyue, who was chattering with Guan Wan'er, and whispered.
"Ah? So fast? Prepare to pass it on." Li Lingyue turned her head and said after being stunned for a moment.
Young Feng bowed in response, then bowed and backed away. Then he counted the numbers silently and rhythmically in his heart, and then stood at the entrance of the main hall of the Sky Garden.
Li Lingyue glanced at Shangguan Wan'er, and then she looked more and more like a "disaster for the country and the people". She walked up to Li Zhi and saluted, and said in a voice like an oriole: "My son, Li Lingyue, wishes my father the best of luck overseas. In the year of knowing your fate, I wish you good health and long life to the Tang Dynasty.”
Then Li Lingyue didn't wait for the stunned Li Zhi and Wu Mei to react. She turned around after a eunuch opened the glass window and shouted loudly outside: "The auspicious time has arrived."
"The auspicious time has arrived..." After young man Feng heard Li Lingyue's crisp voice at the door of the hall, he began to shout loudly into the night sky.
What followed was the sound of the auspicious time arriving one after another, rapidly spreading from the castle in the sky to the imperial city ahead.
Li Zhi and Wu Mei looked at each other in confusion. Even Pei Wanying, Bai Chun, Lan Ling and Prince Ji didn't know what Li Lingyue was up to.
But just when it was time to shout out the last throat-breaking voice, Wu Mei and Li Zhi almost had their noses twisted with anger, and everyone else in the castle in the air also looked surprised.
Because listening to the broken scream, as expected, it should have come from Li Dan. It sounded like a wolf howling, more like someone stepped on his tail, and he let out a scream.
But just when everyone was stunned and all the officials were astonished, the sound of a sharp arrow suddenly sounded high in the sky above the imperial city, but unlike in the night, only the sound could be heard, and the ordinary sharp arrow could not be seen.
The sound of sharp arrows shot up into the sky with a hint of brilliant fireworks, shooting straight into the night sky like a shooting star.
"What is this!" Wu Mei and Li Zhi stood up at the same time, looking at Chang'an City under their feet from the glass window of the castle in the air with some disbelief.
The originally dark scenic spots in Chang'an City were suddenly lit up one by one by bright lights from east to west after sharp arrows dragged brilliant fireworks and disappeared into the night sky.
As each scenic spot was lit up, everyone standing in the air castle, including the officials at the entrance of the main hall in front, naturally had a panoramic view of this magical scene.
The entire city of Chang'an instantly turned into an even more brilliantly lit city that never sleeps.
(End of chapter)