In today's East Palace, both the third wife and the third young master have actually existed in name only. At the beginning, Li Zhi and Wu Mei had made arrangements, and some famous civil servants and generals were consulted by Li Zhi and Wu Mei.
But whether they were veterans or generals, they still showed extremely strong interest when faced with the Third Prince and Third Young Master, who was ranked above the Three Dukes. It was only when they learned about His Highness the Crown Prince's character and the current situation of His Highness the Crown Prince. Later, especially when Dai Zhide's past events were uncovered, these civil servants and generals blurted out: "Is this a minister conferring a crown prince, or a prince conferring a minister?"
What's more, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's literary, Taoist and military strategies are widely circulated in the public. Those articles are comparable to the achievements of the late emperor. Although they ended up making Li Zhi's wedding dress, these cannot be ignored. If they are appointed or dismissed to San Tai San In the position of young master, what can I give to His Highness the Crown Prince
No one dares to pat their chests and say that they can teach the prince any knowledge, because the prince understands everything they know, and the prince understands what they don't understand, so they can only sigh with hope.
So until now, except for the three princes and three young men, the officials in the East Palace are still in the normal system. Whether they are the prince's guests, Zhan Shifu, etc., they are all appointed and dismissed according to the official system of the Tang Dynasty.
But now, when Li Hong turned his attention to Chongwen Hall, preparing to turn Chongwen Hall into the immediate boss of Li Lingyue and Shangguan Wan'er, and wanted to find someone to supervise him, he discovered that the position of the Third Master of the East Palace was , dust has accumulated a thick layer, these six positions have been vacant since Shangguan Yi, Xu Jingzong and others.
Li Hong, who returned to the East Palace from the Central Army barracks, brought Saleh a tail. This time, Datang had already calculated the victory and defeat data of the two sides, and there were less than 70 casualties.
As for Dashi, those who can be found and gathered together now, regardless of whether they still have fighting ability, as long as they still have breath, are only about seventy people.
Everyone else, whether in Li Hong's opinion or Saleh's opinion, is probably in danger.
The powerful fighting power of the Tang Dynasty left Saleh speechless. This time Li Hong took the initiative to form an alliance and showed his goodwill, so that he had to agree to this alliance before he understood Li Hong's ultimate purpose, and Let the two countries cease war and repair.
After this defeat, Saleh was naturally speechless. The plump lamb leg meat became tasteless in his mouth, and he poured glass after glass of wine into his stomach.
Li Hong slowly enjoyed the delicious food and wine, drinking quietly with Saleh.
Yeyue, who was waiting for the two of them, had her heart in her throat, fearing that the two of them would fight again regardless of their status because of a disagreement over drinking.
Fortunately, none of this happened. Only the two of them understood the conversation they had while drinking. But at the end, Yeyue vaguely heard that Brother Wang was inviting Li Hong to a big meal in his lifetime. .
To Yeyue's surprise, Li Hong agreed decisively, and looked at Saleh and said, "I will carry your nephew with me when the time comes."
With one sentence, Saleh was so angry that he spit out all the wine he had just poured into his mouth, and repeatedly scolded someone for being shameless.
In the next few days, the whole of Chang'an seemed to be caught in a busy rhythm. Taking advantage of the festive atmosphere of the first day, royal family members came and went in the Daming Palace to congratulate Li Zhi and Wu Mei.
In the East Palace, prompted by Yan Lingbin's anxiety and nervousness, they kept rehearsing "The Legend of White Snake" without stopping for a moment.
Even ordinary people hope that they can finish the things at hand seven days after the first day and in the few days before the Shangyuan Festival, so as to be ready for the upcoming event, which will be even worse than the first day. Let’s have a more exciting Lantern Festival.
None of the envoys from various countries had any intention of leaving. Even Saleh, the food prince who had just been defeated in the central army camp, wanted to see how beautiful the magical fireworks that were being circulated among the people were.
Therefore, the entire city of Chang'an seems to be busy, but the purpose of people's busyness is to get more enjoyment and freedom on the day of the Lantern Festival.
No one knows whether this year's Lantern Festival will set off as many fireworks as last year. Even now, the court has ignored the voices of the people, but everyone unanimously believes that there will be fireworks this year. Those incredibly beautiful fireworks.
In the streets and alleys of Chang'an City, under the arrangement of Jingzhao Mansion, there are twice as many festive lanterns as in previous years, but the position of each red lantern is much lower than in previous years, and it has reached the point where adults can easily reach it. to the height.
It is said that on the day of the Shangyuan Festival, several red envelopes will be hung under each lower lantern. Each red envelope contains a riddle. As long as you guess it, you can win on the third day of the Shangyuan Festival. On the second day, I took the riddles and went to various shops to exchange gifts.
During the Tang Dynasty, riddles were only played occasionally, but they were not so popular that they were associated with festivals.
The custom of guessing lantern riddles during the Lantern Festival actually came into being during the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, in order to show off their talents, literati wrote riddles on lanterns to attract passers-by to guess. In this way, guessing began. The word riddle.
The reason why Li Hong only started to include it in the Shangyuan Festival today is somewhat related to the opposition of Li Zhi and Wu Mei.
When Pei Yan rebelled, he secretly colluded with Xu Jingye. King Luo Bin, as a member of Xu Jingye's command assigned by Li Hong, wrote a nursery rhyme like "One piece of fire, two pieces of fire, the child in scarlet clothes will sit in the palace", and This was very similar to the lantern riddle that Li Hong wanted to launch later, so it was immediately rejected by Li Zhi and Wu Mei. It was only tried on a small scale in the palace last year.
By this year, both Li Hong's status and Li Zhi and Wu Mei's contribution to the stability of the Tang Dynasty had changed. Therefore, Li Zhi and Wu Mei allowed Li Hong to toss around them and let the officials and the people Fun.
It is obviously impossible to come up with all the lantern riddles, so the countless lantern riddles are only prepared in a few workshops on three sides of the imperial city. After all, there are many literati and dignitaries gathered here, so the probability of solving them is naturally low. Just bigger.
What's more, on the Lantern Festival, in addition to the large number of people gathering at various important places in Chang'an City, such as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Ci'en Temple, Qujiang Pond and other places, the fireworks in the Imperial City have attracted most people to watch since last year. .
Lantern riddles are now appearing in several squares in the surrounding area, in order to attract more people to come outside the imperial city and celebrate the Lantern Festival a little closer to the royal family.
The large ice sculptures were transported from Taiyi City to the streets around the Imperial City in large carriages covered with thick black cloth. Before the Lantern Festival arrived, no one knew what was wrapped in the black cloth. What.
Every strange and strange shape, like a huge ornamental stone, made passers-by, common people and literati stop and stare. It was just because there was a seal on it, so no one dared to go over and take a look inside the black cloth. What is wrapped.
In the cold weather of the twelfth lunar month, there was no need to worry about the huge ice sculptures melting in just one day, so everyone who approached the ice sculptures covered with black cloth felt a chill.
There are many ice sculptures placed in the Imperial City, the Daming Palace, and even the East Palace. However, the ice sculptures in the Daming Palace and the East Palace have revealed their true appearance in Lushan from the moment they were brought in.
At night, each ice lantern flashes and refracts light of different colors from all angles under the light. Whether it is Li Zhi or Wu Mei, Li Lingyue is preparing to release her "Fang Jian Tian Xia" immediately after Yuan Ri. , all smiling.
And the little fat Li Dan, after secretly sneaking into the Daming Palace in advance, when Li Zhi and Wu Mei took Li Lingyue to admire the ice lanterns, he actually threatened the Jinwu Guards and asked the Jinwu Guards to take away the two buildings in the corner of Zichen Hall, Li Zhi's dormitory. The ice sculpture was moved to his palace.
After being slapped on the back of his head by Wu Mei, who didn't know when he was coming, the little fat Li Dan smiled and said aggrievedly: "I also made this ice sculpture myself, but it is not as big as the one made by the emperor." , it’s not that refined, so I want to take it back and study it.”
"Then you sit here and study hard tonight!" Li Zhi said with a cold face, wearing thick furs and holding his hands behind his back.
"Then... let's forget it. I'll just go back and think about it myself." Li Dan continued to laugh, but his eyes were reluctant to leave, still staring at the ice sculpture that was taller than the two of him combined.
"It doesn't matter, I can bring you two more furs. They're not cold. Look, the ice sculptures aren't even cold, and they haven't melted at all." Li Lingyue said without forgetting to add insult to injury.
"You are the only one with a lot of clever ideas. Where is your imperial brother? What are you busy with in the East Palace?" Li Zhi scolded Li Lingyue, then pushed Li Dan's thick shoulder and motioned for him to follow Li Lingyue and accompany him and the queen to continue in the palace. View lanterns and ice sculptures.
"I don't know. The Jinwu Guards and the Central Army have all run into Chang'an City now. It seems that the emperor's brother has gone to Jingzhao Mansion. When I passed by the East Palace when I came, I didn't see the emperor's brother." Li Dan and Li Lingyue walked side by side. Following Li Zhi and Wu Mei, he scratched his head and said.
"It looks like there will be fireworks again tomorrow night. I really want to get there as soon as possible tomorrow night! By the way, since the emperor's brother is not in the East Palace, why don't you move his ice sculptures from the East Palace?" Li Lingyue felt something was wrong, Li Dan didn't It is illogical to take the one from the East Palace and have the audacity to take the one from the Daming Palace.
"Several of the ice sculptures in Brother Huang's East Palace have been taken away by Brother Seventh Emperor. If I move a few more, the Queen's Wife will probably quit." Li Dan replied dejectedly.
(End of chapter)