readx; The New Year of the twelfth year of Tianbao is coming, in the sound of firecrackers, Broken Leaf City is full of festive celebrations, in the past year, Anxi has achieved a brilliant victory in the Battle of Tubo, and has obtained a large amount of food from the Great Food, these victories have made the New Year of Broken Leaf extraordinarily easy and rich, and the restaurants in Broken Leaf City are overcrowded. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

There is also a Taibai Restaurant in the east of the city, originally called He Hunt Restaurant, just changed its name in September this year, although Li Bai is known in the Central Plains, but in his hometown of broken leaves, few people know, until a large number of Hedong immigrants moved to Broken Leaves, many scholars have come to inquire about Li Bai's former residence, Broken Leaves people only know that their hometown also produced a Tang Dynasty celebrity, so He Hunt Restaurant immediately changed its name to Taibai Restaurant, and hung a horizontal plaque on the gate, Li Qing'an personally inscribed a painting: 'Taibai is surrounded by wind, the most authentic here. ’

Like other restaurants, the Taibai Restaurant is overcrowded from early in the morning, every floor is full of guests, the noise is endless, the few seats by the window on the second floor are all packed, there are thirty or forty people seated, all of them are white-skinned and blue-eyed Hu people, and there are two Turkic interpreters sitting in the middle, in Xiaye, there are also many Sogdian Hu people, many of them have high noses and blue eyes, but compared with these dozens of people, these people have high noses and deep eyes, and their language and clothing are very different from those of the Sogdians.

The guys in the hotel read countless people, and he immediately guessed that these Hu people were from Byzantium in the extreme west, and Byzantium was actually called the Byzantine Kingdom in the Tang Dynasty, because Li Qing'an called Byzantium, and the officials of Anxi also followed Li Qing'an's name, and over time, Anxi was no longer called the Byzantine Kingdom, but changed its name to Byzantium, and the Byzantines called themselves the Roman Empire.

These Hu people from Byzantium are the envoys sent by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V, Li Qing'an sent Pei Yu to Byzantium the year before last, because he was only an envoy sent by the local Jiedu envoy, just like the current state visiting delegation, the level is relatively low, so it is not taken seriously, although Constantine V received him out of curiosity, but he did not take it to heart, until June this year, Constantine V heard about the Battle of Talas from the mouth of the Great Cannibal, and he knew that the Abbasid dynasty was defeated by the local army of the Tang Dynasty, And the leader of this local army is Li Qing'an, the envoy of Anxi Jiedu, who has contacted him.

Only then did Constantine V pay attention to it, and he slowly learned some information about this Li Qing'an from the Turkic people, and learned that he controlled the land far more than himself, which made him awe-inspired, and he immediately sent his brother Joseph as an envoy to Anthy.

Sitting at the first table was the envoy Joseph, who was about thirty years old, tall and thin, with an elegant temperament, a long beard on his lips turned up to the sides, and was unusually well-trimmed, he was the chief minister in charge of trade in the Byzantine Empire, and the meaning of Constantine V's sending him to Anthy was very obvious, to start with trade and strengthen the ties between the two sides.

Sitting with Joseph was a young woman of extraordinary beauty, with blue eyes full of temptation like deep pools, with long golden hair like a waterfall, and skin as white as mutton fat, and tall with a pair of breasts towering high, and although she was a beautiful woman of all appearance, she wore a sharp sword at her waist, and a longbow on her back, and she always habitually held the handle of the bow with one hand, and her fingers were slender and powerful, so that there was a hint of murder hidden in her beautiful appearance.

Her name is Eleon, she is the precious daughter of Constantine V, she is also one of the three famous archers of Byzantium, with a beautiful appearance, but also murderous, ruthless, in the city of Talas, she once met Li Qing'an.

She had been betrothed to Prince Marc through a political marriage a year earlier, but before the wedding, her amorous fiancé had a crush on a young Avar dancer and snubbed her by openly inviting her to dance at the engagement ball.

Enraged, Ellen was so humiliated that she shot her fiancé and Maiden to death on the bed with an arrow from a tree outside the window while her fiancé and Maiko's lover were tryst.

This incident caused a diplomatic crisis between Marc and Byzantium, and Elleni left Byzantium for a trip to the East under the arrangement of her father.

They were unlucky, and when they arrived at Broken Leaf, they learned that Li Qing'an had gone to the farther east to suppress bandits, but the officials of Broken Leaf had already informed Li Qing'an, and it was said that Li Qing'an was on his way back, but that's it, they would have to wait at least another month.

"Uncle, you know what? Today is the most important festival of the Tang Dynasty people, which is their New Year. ”

Ellen smiled like a flower, comforting the worried uncle, but Joseph sighed and said, "But for me, today is another difficult day, I wonder when they will return?" ”

"Uncle, it's better to be like this, didn't they say that they would be back for at least another month? Then let's go out for a walk, to learn about the customs here, or to see what they produce, don't you often say that the silk fabrics of the Tang Dynasty are much better than ours? Let's see how they do it? ”

"Hmmm! Let me think about it! ”

Joseph is a serious and meticulous person, his task is to send an envoy to Anxi, he will definitely wait for Li Qing'an in the broken leaves, and will never run a step, but when it comes to silk fabrics, he is a little tempted, as early as more than two hundred years ago, the Byzantine Empire learned to raise silkworms from the Persians, but the silk fabrics woven are very rough, far from being compared with the silk fabrics of the Tang Dynasty, the Byzantine Empress once got a silk product lighter than the clouds, which became her most cherished treasure, which was also produced by the Tang Dynasty.

Although Joseph was already very tempted, it took a certain amount of courage to change his habits and surname, and Ellen knew her uncle's surname very well, and she was about to continue to encourage him, when a woman came up from downstairs, about ten years old, with a delicate appearance, and looked very capable between her eyebrows, she walked up to Eleni and gave her a salute, and handed her an invitation, and said in a proficient Turkic language: "Your Royal Highness Princess Elleni, this is an invitation from my wife to Her Royal Highness, and I invite the girl to go to the banquet in the evening." ”

"Ma'am?"

Ellen asked, somewhat curiously, "Who is your lady?" Why did you invite me to the feast? ”

"My wife is the wife of the general of the festival envoy, the princess of Anxi County, today is the New Year, the lady feasted the family of the officials of Anxi, and I heard that Her Royal Highness the princess was also breaking leaves, so I invited the princess to go to the banquet together."

"I see, but I don't understand the language with your wife, what can I do?"

The young woman smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, I am sent by my wife to accompany Her Royal Highness the Princess, and I can act as your interpreter." ”

Seeing that she was delicate and capable, Ellen couldn't help but have a good impression of her, so she smiled and asked, "What is the girl's name?" ”

"My name is Li Lian, and I am a female official of the Anxi County Palace, and I am responsible for the external liaison of my wife."

Li Lian is the little lotus of the year, Li Qing'an once recognized the righteous sister, she has been living in Qiuzi to study, with the passage of time, she slowly grew up, but also to the age of marriage, after Mingyue came to Anxi, she also brought her to the broken leaves, Xiaolian is smart and clever, and can read and break the text, write a good hand, and proficient in Turkic language, won Mingyue's love, just at this time the county palace was established, Li Qing'an did not need eunuchs, Anxi abolished slaves, he set up the official system of female officials in the palace with ingenuity, These are two completely different concepts from the female officials of the palace, the female officials of the palace are the concubines of the emperor, and the female officials of the palace of Anxi County are actually the female officials of the inner government.

At present, there are eighteen female officials in the county king's mansion, who are responsible for the county princess Dugu Mingyue, and the supervisor of the eighteen people is Li Lian, because Elleni's status is very high, Mingyue specially sent her to invite Ellen to the banquet.

Ellen was encouraging her uncle to go out to play, but suddenly got this invitation, her attention was distracted, this kind of banquet is really common for Elleni, who has participated in royal balls since she was a child, and participated in various banquets, but it was the first time to participate in the banquet of the Tang Dynasty, so she readily agreed: "Okay! I'm going to definitely come and participate. ”

Seeing that she agreed, Xiaolian smiled and saluted: "If it is convenient for Her Royal Highness the Princess, please follow me to the palace, my wife also wants to meet you, and by the way, I will tell you some basic etiquette of the Tang Dynasty banquet." ”

Ellenni heard that Li Qing'an's wife was the first beauty in Anxi, she had wanted to see it, and since Li Lian invited her, she was immediately moved, so she looked at her uncle.

Joseph nodded and smiled, "Go ahead!" Bring a few more luxurious gifts, you have to remember your identity, don't let the Tang Dynasty people underestimate our Roman Empire. ”

．．．．．．．．． A few months ago, Li Qing'an went to Qiuzi because of Li Longji's secret decree, and he has not been in Broken Leaves, and when the New Year is approaching, it is customary for Li Qing'an to hold a New Year's banquet to entertain the generals of the Anxi Army, but he is far away in Hexi and has no time to rush back, so he sent a pigeon letter to entrust his wife to banquet the wives and daughters of the generals.

As early as five days ago, Mingyue began to get busy, preparing banquets and lists, preparing wine and food, arranging seats, and asking her about a thousand things, fortunately, she had the assistance of female officials, although there were many things, but it was also done in an orderly manner, today is the first day of the first lunar month, Mingyue got up early in the morning, and there are still a few invitations that have not been sent out today, Shi Sanniang, the wife of Lychee Yuanli, only came from the river today, and she sent someone to send it early in the morning.

There is also a copy for the princess of the Byzantine country, she only learned the news last night, although the princess of Byzantium does not belong to the category of banquets, but Mingyue decided to invite her to the banquet, so she sent Xiaolian to send her an invitation.

The banquet was held in the Broken Leaf Political Affairs Hall, this is the most magnificent building of the Broken Leaves, only the hall can accommodate 3,000 people to dine at the same time, but there are not so many guests present today, only more than 800 people, in addition to the wives and daughters of officers above the captain level, there are more than 500 soldiers' wives and daughters as representatives, but this does not mean that there are so many family members of the Anxi Army, the others are distributed in Qiuzi, Shule, Bahuan City, Gaochang and Jinman in Beiting, etc., and those who come today are only the military families who live in Broken Leaves.

The wine and food used in the banquet were not prepared by Li Qing'an's mansion, but were jointly undertaken by the five restaurants, and several famous singing and dancing bands were invited from Ning Yuanguo and Shiguo to help the fun, including the dressing room for women, the special room for cleaning, etc., all kinds of details were considered very carefully.

Since the afternoon, the ladies have rushed to the political hall square from all over the broken leaves, the atmosphere of Anxi is open, the people are strong, more or less also affected the wives and daughters of these officers, they are not like Chang'an women in the carriage, but on horseback, donkey to come, dozens of bolted horse piles on the square are tied to the horse, and the women are not like Chang'an ladies and noblewomen with long skirts mopping the floor, crisp breasts are half exposed, but most of them are dressed in tight-fitting Hu clothes, the color is mainly red and white, simple and bright, most of the women are young, All of them are heroic, enthusiastic and hearty, not only Han people, but also many Hu women.

It was still early to leave the feast, but the women were already seated early, talking to each other about various topics of interest, and the whole hall was buzzing.

Dugu Mingyue has not come out yet, she is chatting with the Byzantine princess Eleoni who was specially invited by Wuyi in the back hall, Xiaolian sits in the middle to translate for them, and there is a golden wine jug and a pair of wine glasses on the table, the wine jug and wine glass are inlaid with various precious gems, shining brightly, this is Elleni's gift to Mingyue.

She had changed her dress at this time, wearing a white long dress, a fiery red fox skin around her slender jade neck, wearing long boots, she was extremely tall, and she should be about 1.75 meters by the standard of later generations, and her golden hair was draped over her shoulders like a waterfall, which made her slender and beautiful.

They talked quite speculatively, chatting about some customs of their respective countries, and gradually the topic turned to marriage and love, which were of interest to both Eastern and Western women.

Eleni's surname is hearty and straightforward, she did not shy away from laughing: "I saw General Li Qing'an in Talas City the year before last, he was young and handsome, reasonable, and not as lustful as other men, very likable, but unfortunately I didn't have time to get along with him more, I have been thinking about him for the past two years, and this time, I also want to come to see him." ”

Mingyue saw her praise her husband so much, although she said it a little biased, for example, Ellenni said that Li Qing'an was not lustful, and she was Li Qing'an's wife, Mingyue knew that Li Qing'an was actually just as lustful, and his surname was very strong, but he could restrain himself and not show it, but that's it, she was still a little proud in her heart, Mingyue smiled and said: "The general will come back soon, and you will be able to see him then." ”

After a pause, she asked again: "I take the liberty to ask Her Royal Highness the princess, I wonder if the princess is married?" ”

Ellen smiled indifferently: "I was going to get married, but two days before the wedding, my fiancé unfortunately died." ”

Xiaolian just finished translating, Wuyi sitting next to Mingyue couldn't help but sigh in a low voice, full of sympathy for her, she was the same fate back then, Mingyue patted Wuyi's hand lightly, and said very sympathetically: "On the eve of marriage, her husband unfortunately passed away, this is one of the greatest sorrows of a woman, Her Royal Highness the princess, please mourn." ”

Unexpectedly, Ellen shook her head and said, "What is the sorrow of this, when I shoot him with an arrow, I am not sad at all, I only have disgust and hatred in my heart. ”

At this time, even the translator Xiaolian was stunned, she stammered and translated, Mingyue and Wuyi glanced at each other, and their eyes were shocked, she actually shot her husband to death with an arrow, what is this?

Eleoni understood their surprise, so she explained lightly: "It's nothing, although he and I are in a political marriage, there is no love at all, but I am a princess of the Roman Empire, and he, as my fiancé, actually treated a young lady at the engagement ball, and snubbed me, this is an insult to the Roman Empire, and he deserves to shoot him, besides, I must not tolerate my husband fooling around with other women, he should be devoted to me." ”

Princess Elleni's previous words Mingyue can understand, to maintain the glory of the mother country, she should indeed fight back against this humiliation, but because of this, it is a bit too much to shoot her husband who is about to get married, and this princess can't tolerate her husband having other women, Mingyue feels even more incomprehensible, if she also has this kind of thought, Li Qingan doesn't know how many times she has died.

Wuyi's heart is full of loss, in fact, she also has this kind of thought, it is best for Li Qingan to marry her alone, the two of them fly together, but she can't do it, if that's the case, Mingyue will not allow Li Qingan to marry her as a second wife, but this Byzantine princess defended single-mindedness and killed her husband, which is inevitably too strong, Mingyue has a little dissatisfaction with Elleni in her heart, and she has never had the idea of monopolizing Li Qing'an like Wuyi, in her indoctrination since childhood, men will never be satisfied with a woman, Her grandfather has thirteen concubines, and her father also has seven concubines, in the ears and eyes since childhood, she never expected her future husband to marry her alone, what she cares about is the name, this is the biggest difference between her and Wuyi, Wuyi can be wronged for love to become Li Qingan's second wife, but Mingyue will not wronged herself, she also loves Li Qingan, but she would rather never marry for life, than become Li Qingan's concubine.

But in terms of the concept of love, she does not force others to be the same as her, she is not dissatisfied with Ellen because of the different outlook on love, but because she thinks that Elleni killed her husband, not to defend love, if so, she should have killed the woman, and killing her husband can only show the tyranny and domineering of the Byzantine Empire.

Although Mingyue already had a trace of dissatisfaction with Ellen in her heart, she didn't show it on her face, she smiled and didn't say anything, but Ellen asked her curiously: "I heard that the Tang Dynasty was polygamous, but I don't know how many wives General Li has?" ”

The Tang Dynasty is also monogamous, Li Qing'an naturally only has one wife, but the dance clothes are next to her, Mingyue is not good at answering her like this, so she smiled and said: "General Li is the king of Anxi County, and I am his concubine." ”

She pointed to the dance clothes and said with a smile: "This is the general's side concubine, in addition to us, he also has two partial concubines, according to you, it should be four wives, and it may increase in the future." ”

"My God!"

Ellen let out a low exclamation, she shook her head and said, "If it were me, I would never tolerate it, and if my future husband marries another woman besides me, I will also shoot him with an arrow." ”

Mingyue smiled slightly: "Then I wish Her Royal Highness the princess to find a husband she is satisfied with as soon as possible." ”

After saying that, she stood up and said, "The banquet is about to begin, let's go!" ”

(To be continued)