Soon came the annual Yuan Zheng Festival, which was called the New Year or Spring Festival in later generations, and Anxi, thousands of miles away, still has a strong New Year's flavor.

Li Siye didn't do anything in the winter, but went to the blacksmith shop in Qiuzi, made a strange iron pot, and then tried to find some spices, peppercorns, star anise, green onions, sour, and sesame seeds. In the pharmacy in Anxi City, I bought tangerine peel, cinnamon and other things. He went to the sheep market again and bought dozens of catties of mutton, hung it in the yard all night, and froze hard the next morning.

He immediately went back to the house and cut the mutton into slices with a kitchen knife, put it in the pickle jar in the yard and continued to freeze it, then fried the sesame seeds he bought in a pot, mashed them in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle, and then stirred them with oil to make sesame paste.

The rest of the time he went up the hill outside the city to cut some pine branches and came back to burn them into charcoal. He bought some peach branches and peach charms in the market, and the peach charms were written with the names of Shen Tu and Yu Lei, and hung them outside the door when he returned home.

On the 30th Chinese New Year's Eve, he called Tian Zhen and Fujimu together, brought a specially customized hot pot, put it in the base and boiled it, mixed with mutton fat to make a white soup.

Tian Zhen picked up the wine cup, pointed to the iron pot and sesame sauce in front of him and asked, "What is this?" ”

"Hot pot, see how I make it later, you can taste it."

He used his chopsticks to open the air outlet at the top of the pot, and the charcoal inside accelerated the burning, and the thick soup in the pot immediately stirred. Li Siye immediately poured the mutton slices into the soup pot, and poured in the Western Regions specialties such as woad and celery, and the aroma of vegetables and meat immediately exuded.

Tian Zhen and Fuji Mu smacked their lips and looked at Li Siye with salivation, waiting for his next instruction.

"Yes, let's eat."

Li Siye first pinched the chopstick, took out the meat slices from the hot pot, then dipped the sesame paste in the bowl, and tasted it. Shabu mutton tastes good, and although there is no chili, it still finds the feeling and taste of the past.

Tian Zhen and Fuji Mu followed his example, and also dipped mutton in sesame sauce, and immediately had a great appetite and ate wildly, but fortunately, Li Siye cut more than a dozen catties of mutton to satisfy these two pot-bellied martial artists.

Tian Zhen ate with a mouth full of oil, and said teasingly: "If you can spend this little bit of food on Laidu protection, why worry about the uncertain official position." ”

Li Siye just smiled, this Lai Du Hu has always been cautious, he will not put himself in danger because of a good meal.

However, the time is also fast, and by March and April, the affairs of the DPRK and China will have a tragic end, perhaps another beginning.

……

In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, at the beginning of April, Zhang Jiuling stood on the bank of Baqiao in a cloth suit, looking at the direction of Chang'an, with infinite worries in his heart.

Zhou Ziliang, the superintendent of the imperial history, impeached Niu Xianke, citing a book of prophecy that he found out of nowhere, saying that according to the prophecy in this book, Niu Xianke was not qualified to be the prime minister.

Tang Xuanzong hated this method of attacking political opponents by means of rumors, and immediately ordered him to be pushed to the ground left and right, and served him with a stick, beating Zhou Ziliang to death, and after he woke up, Xuanzong's remaining anger did not subside, and he was beaten again, and finally issued an edict to exile him to Lingnan.

Zhou Ziliang was dying, how could he go to Lingnan, and he died as soon as he left Chang'an.

How could Li Linfu let go of this opportunity to attack political opponents, and immediately complained in front of Xuanzong, saying that this Zhou Ziliang was recommended by Zhang Jiuling, and the implication was that Zhang Jiuling was the mastermind behind the impeachment.

This is the superficial reason why he, the former prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was demoted to the governor of Jingzhou, but the deep-seated reason has long been buried, and he has disagreed with the emperor again and again, forming a sharp contrast with Li Linfu, who is in tune with the song.

Zhang Jiuling looked at the sparkling Wei River, his heart was also the same as this Wei River, tired and bitter, Emperor Xuanzong, who was once good at admonishment, had undergone a transformation, and he was already keen to enjoy the prosperity brought by the rule of Kaiyuan.

What he didn't know was that the glory of the Kaiyuan Dynasty was coming to an end, and the core of the Tang Dynasty had gradually gone downhill.

Soon after Zhang Jiuling left the court, Li Linfu and Concubine Wu Huifei and his party couldn't wait to launch an attack on the crown prince Li Ying, and the content of the complaint was also very old-fashioned, nothing more than that the crown prince Li Ying formed a party with Li Yao, the king of Hubei and Li Ju, the king of light, with resentment, and added a fatal content - the prince and the princess's brother Xue Rust secretly colluded in an attempt to launch a rebellion!

Li Longji doesn't know whether to believe such an accusation, but for an emperor like him, who started his business with a coup d'état, he would rather believe it than believe it, even if your brothers didn't rebel, what are you plotting all day long!

Li Longji did not investigate, and directly summoned the prime minister to the palace to discuss, Zhang Jiuling, who was able to shelter the prince, had been demoted, and Li Linfu was bent on subverting the East Palace and supporting King Shou to ascend the throne, so the prince would definitely die.

When Li Longji asked Li Linfu's opinion, he only said one sentence: "This family matter of Your Majesty is not something that we courtiers can intervene into. ”

This is a very clever answer, he can't say that I support His Majesty's abolition of the crown prince, only that I can't ask, in fact, he has made up his mind for the emperor.

Li Longji, who did not have the intervention of the ministers, killed his sons without mercy, first issued an edict to abolish them as concubines, exiled Xue Rust to Lingnan, and issued a second edict to give the concubines Li Ying, Li Yao and Li Ju to death.

……

Li Ying, who had become a concubine, and his brothers were locked up in the east post station of the city, and he stood in front of the sealed doors and windows, with only a trace of a gap shining through. What was he thinking at this time, probably remembering Li Siye's words, he had advised himself to isolate himself, and among the crimes that the emperor convicted him, there were brothers forming a party.

Regret should not have listened to the words of the heirs, and as a result, they sent themselves into the trap of death.

The emperor sent an internal supervisor and announced the edict outside the post station: "The concubines Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju have formed a party with each other privately, intending to rebel, and the crime is not forgiven, and they will be given death immediately." ”

The crown prince finally despairs, and while he and his brothers lament their father's ruthlessness, they curse the vicious Concubine Wu Hui, even if they turn into a ghost. The three brothers hung the white silk on the roof beam, and finally came to the end of their lives with unwilling resentment.

After the news of the murder of the emperor's three sons spread in Chang'an, the government and the opposition were shocked. A prince who has been for more than 20 years, who has never made a big mistake, was suddenly killed.

The news spread along Chang'an, and all the capitals protected the mansions, and the envoys of various festivals stayed in the backyards and began to send people back and forth to transmit information. This was a drastic change that shook the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Jiuling was demoted, heralding the end of an era, and the killing of the crown prince marked the possibility of the future of the Tang Dynasty being reshaped.

Lai Yao of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate also received news from Chang'an, which was first delivered to Xiao Ting, the military officer of the record. Xiao Ting was not only surprised, but also surprised, he didn't expect that the prince of the East Palace was not only abolished, but also eliminated very simply, which was really unexpected by him.

When he told the news to Laiyao Duhu, Laiduhu also sat dumbly and cross-legged in silence, and it took a long time to react, and sighed helplessly: "It's really unpredictable, the saint was blinded." ”

Li Siye has not yet received news from Chang'an, but he has not known the prophet and knows that the life of the crown prince Li Ying is coming to an end.

The news must have reached Lai Yao's ears, and he no longer needs to consider the power of the DPRK and China for his appointment, let alone the crown prince. Presumably there will be an appointment.