readx; Li Qing'an, accompanied by more than 20 personal guards, slowly walked into the gate of the Taimiao, but Pei Zhen and other officials did not dare to enter without permission and waited outside the door. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Walking into the gate, there is a wide and empty square in front of him, eighteen Huabiao reliefs stand high on both sides of the square, and in front of him is a magnificent hall, but when Li Qingan walked up the eighty-one white jade steps and walked to the near part of the main hall, he found that this hall was old and dilapidated, and it could be seen that it had not been repaired for many years.

Directly above is a large plaque with a mottled lacquer surface, on which are written two golden characters in seal font, 'Taimiao', but it has been eroded by wind and rain for many years, eaten by moths, and the word 'Tai' is gone, and the coat of the word 'temple' has also fallen off, becoming 'Da You', Li Qing'an couldn't help but shake his head, but he also experienced the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty not long ago, and the finances of the Tang Dynasty were actually broken? Even the abode of the ancestors has no time to take care of it.

He sighed and walked into the main hall, but the statue in the middle of the hall made him a little stunned, only to see that there was a statue of a god about three zhang high, the statue of the god with long beard and white hair, holding the dust, wearing a Taoist robe, but it was the statue of Taishang Laojun, but the years have passed, and the color of the clay sculpture has fallen off, revealing the true color of a large piece of yellow mud.

At this time, a hoarse voice came from the side: "This is the statue of Emperor Xuanyuan, the great sage ancestor of the Li family, which was originally enshrined in the Taiwei Palace, but because the Taiwei Palace fell into disrepair and collapsed, it was moved here." ”

Li Qing'an turned around, only to see an old man standing behind him with slightly red eyes and a big rosacea nose, only to see that he was sloppy in his robe, carrying a wine jug in his hand, and full of alcohol, just like an old man named Huazi who asked for food at the root of the city gate, and he almost carried a dog beating stick in his hand.

But Li Qingan still saw that he had a purple gold fish bag hanging from his waist, which was only qualified to be worn by officials above the third grade, indicating that this old man was not an ordinary person.

Li Qingan looked him up and down and asked, "May I ask ..... you are?"

The old man raised the wine gourd and took a sip of wine, squinted a pair of small eyes and said: "The general doesn't know me, I know the general, when the general defeated Shi Siming in the mansion of Mrs. Qiu, I was also watching the battle, almost ten years have passed, I am already in the twilight of my life, I have been forgotten by the clan, only accompanied by drinking friends." ”

Li Qing'an had already guessed that he was also a clan, and he was in charge of the Luoyang Taimiao, but after thinking about it for a long time, he couldn't think of who this person was, so he had to apologize: "I'm sorry, I've been at the border for a long time, and the situation in the Central Plains is not as good, and I really can't remember the honorable name of the envoy." ”

"Hey! Don't say it's a general, it's other clans, who can remember me as an old man, I'm Li Yi, the Marquis of Fengdu County, do you still have a little impression of the general? ”

Li Qing'an remembered a little, Li Mi told him at the beginning that there was one person in the Tang clan who was the oldest, and he was the great-grandson of Li Yuanxiang, the twentieth son of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, the great-grandson of Jiang Wang, what was his name, he forgot, it seemed that he had a nickname, what was it called 'clan beggar ancestor', could it be this person?

"You.... Is it the descendant of King Jiang? ”

When the old man saw that Li Qingan actually knew him, he couldn't help but sigh: "It's rare!" The descendants of Taizong can't remember me, but the descendants of Prince Yin still remember me. ”

Li Qing'an moved, he looked at the old man again, and saw that he was only in his fifties, and he was actually the same generation as Tang Zhongzong, or Li Longji's father, which was a bit incredible, but after thinking about it, it was also reasonable, his grandfather Jiang Wang Li Yuanxiang was born when Li Yuan abdicated, and his father was born when Jiang Wang was old, so it was natural for the old man to call the young boy his uncle.

Li Qing'an was as if he had seen a baby, and hurriedly dressed and bowed to him, "It turned out to be Zu Weng, Qing'an didn't know, he was offended." ”

Frightened, Li Yi hurriedly replied: "Where! Where! It was my abruptness that disturbed the general. ”

Although this Li Yi is the oldest person in the clan, he is a typical dilapidated Li clan, he originally had a little surplus wealth left by his father, but this Li Yi was drunk, sexual, and gambling, and when he was in his thirties, he squandered his family property, and the rice was low, so that he could not support his family, so he had to rely on himself to be the oldest clan, and begged from door to door in the Li Tang clan, and won one in the clan. The nickname of the clan beggar ancestor, to later everyone saw him was extremely disgusted, he couldn't get money, so he jumped at the gate of the clan mansion and scolded, scolding the younger generations for not being filial, and finally even Li Longji couldn't stand it, and gave him a large amount of land in the eighth year of Tianbao, located in Wugong County, which was full of 300 hectares, and he was not allowed to beg in the clan again.

In this way, a few years later, at this time he had more than 20 wives and concubines, full of children, the whole family relied on a lot of land rent every year, and said that the son was quite moist, but the good times did not last long, Li Yu was in financial difficulties after ascending the throne, so he began to attack the clan, this Li Yi, who had no power and no background, bore the brunt of it, and all three hundred hectares of land were confiscated, which was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for him, and the source of his family's livelihood was cut off, Li Yi ran to Li Yu and cried with snot and tears, saying that he was not annexing the land, but a holy reward, begged to return the land to him, but Li Yu's harvest of land was booming, where was he willing to return him, and finally named him Luoyang Shaoqing of Zongzheng Temple, and let him take charge of Luoyang Taimiao.

Li Yi's family has moved to Luoyang, he has more than 100 wives and concubines and children at home, as well as a large group of maids and servants, where can he afford to raise his little money, plus he is addicted to alcohol, the family is unable to make ends meet day by day, and the son is extremely embarrassed, in desperation, he began to deduct corruption, embezzled most of the nearly 1,000 repair fees allocated by the imperial court every year, and secretly took out some valuable utensils in the temple to sell, but that's it, it is still not enough for family expenses, and the wives and concubines and children at home quarrel with him every day, so that he is upset and dare not go home, so he hid in the Taimiao, but today he happened to meet Li Qing'an, who came to the Taimiao to worship.

Of course, Li Yi knows who Li Qing'an is, the first real power figure in the Tang Dynasty, and he may ascend the throne as the emperor in the future, how can he let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He hurriedly bowed down and said with a smile: "Then I'll lead the general to visit the Taimiao!" ”

"Then there's Lau Zuon!"

"Nope! No! Don't call me Weng Zu, I am the Marquis of Fengdu County, and the general will call me the Marquis of the county, and Li Sanlang also called me that at the beginning. ”

Li Qingan smiled slightly, "Then please ask the county marquis to lead the way!" ”

Li Yi took him around the nave through a small door and explained: "The gate to the nave is a little broken, and I was about to find someone to repair it these days, so I had to ask the general to go through the small door." ”

This is just his superficial reason, but the real reason is that there were originally two copper furnaces on both sides of the door, which were stolen and sold by him, and he was weak in his heart and did not dare to take Li Qingan from the main gate.

Of course, Li Qingan didn't know the real reason, he saw that this small gate was also dilapidated, and the gate didn't know what it was going to become, so he couldn't help frowning and said: "This temple is so dilapidated, why don't you repair it?" ”

Li Yi didn't dare to say that the imperial court didn't allocate money, the imperial court had an account, and he could know it at a check, so he had to say vaguely: "The temples in the court are constantly changing, and no one cares about Luoyang Taimiao, every year is that little bit of money, this year's prices have skyrocketed, and the wages are not enough, the last time I asked someone to move the statue of Emperor Xuanyuan in Taiwei Palace, it cost two thousand yuan, which is not enough at all, I had to sell a little Taimiao old goods to fill the number, otherwise those laborers are only willing to put the statue of Emperor Xuanyuan on the square, so how can it be done, hey!" I, the Shaoqing of Zongzheng Temple, deserve to be a wreck! ”

Li Yi is an extremely cunning person, moving the statue of Taishang Laojun is just a means for him to exonerate himself, in fact, there is no need at all, if he doesn't do some engineering, how can he get his hands and feet out of it? It actually cost less than 100 times to move the statue of Taishang Laojun, but he inflated it by 20 times, just to leave a way back for himself when he checked the Taimiao in the future, anyway, he kept his own accounts, who knows how much it spent?

Especially in front of Li Qing'an, if he wants to clear things up, when Chang'an Zongzheng Temple investigates him in the future, he can say in convincing words: "I reported to Li Qing'an at the beginning, you can ask him." ”

In this way, Li Qingan actually just asked casually, but what he thought of at this time was another thing, and he didn't pay attention to Li Yi's little bit of caution.

The two came to the nave, the nave is dedicated to the Li clan spiritual seat, divided into the main hall and two side halls, the highest and largest spirit card in the middle is Gaozu Li Yuan, a little smaller below, is Taizong Li Shimin, below is Gaozong Li Zhi, Zhongzong Li Xian, Ruizong Li Dan, Jingzong Li Yu and so on, at this time Li Longji is dead, the temple number Xuanzong, but Luoyang has not received the news, so there is no his spirit card.

The main hall is the emperor's spiritual seat, and the right side hall is the spiritual seat of the prince and other high-ranking clans, and there is a left side hall for the Li clan with the middle and low titles such as the prince and the prince, the hierarchy is strict, there is no mistake, and every year there will be officials from the Zongzheng Temple to come to review.

Li Qing'an stood in front of the main hall with his hands in his hands, silently looking at the spiritual position of the ancestor of Li Tang, he was not in a hurry to worship, in fact, he could not worship, except for the ancestor Li Yuan, the spiritual position of his ancestors was not here.

Li Yi, who was standing on the side, suddenly jumped up in his heart, he suddenly found a huge opportunity, this opportunity is enough to change the fate of the second half of his life, although he is still a little jealous, but when he thinks of the embarrassment of his family, thinking of his concubine crying to him at the latest that his parents have no money to see a doctor, thinking of his lack of food and clothing for the rest of his life, he has a kind of courage in his heart, anyway, Li Shimin is not his ancestor, what is he afraid of?

He suddenly ran to the side hall, picked up a spirit card full of dust, moved Taizong Li Shimin's spirit card aside in front of Li Qing'an, wiped this spirit card clean, and respectfully placed it under Gaozu Li Yuan: 'The spirit of the hidden prince built'

Li Qing'an's pupils contracted in an instant, and he slowly glanced at this Li Yi, he didn't expect this Li Yi to be so bold, but this was exactly what he needed, he needed this person with the highest rank in the Li Tang clan, this was a priceless treasure given to him by God.

Li Yi lit three sticks of incense and handed it to Li Qing'an, Li Qing'an nodded lightly, took the incense, there was a rare smile in his eyes, Li Yi's heart was relieved, he gambled all his life, he knew that the biggest bet in his life today was right.

Li Qing'an respectfully bowed to the incense and the spirit card that was built, inserted the incense in front of the spirit card, and took three sticks of incense to the spirit card of Gaozu Li Yuan, he looked at the cigarette that rose in his heart, and he sighed infinitely, he nodded slightly to Li Yi, turned around and left.

Li Yi looked at Li Qing'an's distant back, his heart was in a mess, he didn't know what to do later? How long does he need to swing this spirit card?

A month later, Fengdu County Hou Li Yi was promoted to Zongzheng Siqing, Prince Shaobao, the title of heir to the King of Jiang, and the Anxi Jiedu Embassy gave him another reward of 20,000 yuan, this news stunned countless people, and no one knew why this down-and-out 'clan beggar ancestor' was suddenly promoted and rewarded.

(To be continued)