In the inner hall of the Xuanzheng Hall of the Middle Dynasty in the Daming Palace, Li Heng stood uprightly in front of a polished large bronze mirror, wearing a black crown that was only worn on major occasions such as the Great Dynasty Meeting, with twelve crowns, representing the royal majesty.

This is the first time he has worn such a grand costume since he ascended the throne, and today is also the first auspicious day of the zodiac since entering Chang'an. He wants to wear this crown to go to Taimiao to worship his ancestors, and tell the spirit of Gaozu Taizong in the sky, after the descendants lost Chang'an for nine months, they finally took it back, and the Tang Sheji, which you created with great difficulty, is still there, and I, Li Heng, will never let it fall into the hands of outsiders as long as I still have a breath.

Li Fuguo slipped in from the side door of the inner hall, bowed down and stood behind Li Heng and whispered: "Li Siye entered Chang'an from Chunming Gate today, and temporarily stayed in his Xiliang Palace. ”

Li Heng just sighed: "He's really late, let the other two wait." ”

"He is an old qualification, and he is a meritorious minister who has made first-class contributions, so it is appropriate to let others wait."

Li Heng didn't care about Li Fuguo's heart-wrenching words, he just looked down at himself in the bronze mirror, and a few little eunuchs who arranged his robes and belts ran around from side to side, looking quite hard.

Li Fuguo didn't wait for the emperor to ask again, and continued to report the situation: "He only brought one entourage into the city with a swagger, it seems that he has no fear." ”

Li Heng's face showed a little displeasure, and he said coldly: "Why should he be afraid? I didn't hurt him? ”

Li Fuguo felt the emperor's strange gaze, and hurriedly bent his body lower.

"He divided his command into three armies, which were stationed in Bashang, Xiliu and Xiangji Temple, all of which were no more than a day's journey from Chang'an."

Li Heng's action of arranging the crown belt froze for a moment, and then he turned around and said: "I know what you said, Guanzhong is a flat land without barriers, what difference does it make if he places his troops?" Don't intervene at tomorrow's court meeting, how to arrange it will wait for me to test his attitude. I woke up last night and thought about it, the number of troops stationed in Guanzhong that was not under Li Siye's command was not even one-third of his lineage, if he was a careerist like An Lushan and Hou Jing...... It's creepy to think about. ”

Li Fuguo knelt on the ground with a thud, tears squeezed out of his eyes and said, "This ...... This is all the fault of the slaves and the courtiers, if it were not for our incompetence, how could your majesty not have an army of his own by his side, let you be frightened by this, it is really damned! ”

"Well, what are you doing, I don't blame you." Li Heng hurriedly bent down, helped him up, and said with emotion: "I know your loyalty to me, but you have always been impatient and impatient, and everything in the world is not achieved quickly, not to mention that the appointment of generals involves not only power, but also the safety of the world, so you must be more and more cautious." ”

At this time, the eunuch Cheng Yuanzhen walked into the palace gate, stood behind the two of them, bowed and crossed his hands, and said: "Your Majesty, the auspicious time is coming, please go to the Taimiao Temple to worship your ancestors." ”

Li Heng's expression suddenly became solemn, and he turned back to face the palace gate, and slowly walked outside with his robe belt in both hands.

……

Li Siye rode the jade lion on the night jade street on the Chunmingmen side, although the fang walls and other buildings on both sides did not suffer any major damage, he can clearly feel that today's Chang'an is completely different from the past, not only because there are many dead corpses in the field of vision, but also not because every household has people crying and pushing the corpses to bury people outside the city. The city's splendor and her spirit were lost on the first day of its destruction.

This kind of thing is like the first time in the virgin, and there are only zero and countless times after the city is broken. The loss also deprives the people who depend on the city of security.

Everywhere he saw men and women begging in the streets, including a crazy woman waving her tattered sleeves and dancing up and down the street, and passers-by looked sideways to avoid them.

Li Siye rode a horse past her, and the crazy woman suddenly stopped in front of his horse, and the corners of her mouth twitched and smiled: "Uncle, I'll give you a dance, can you reward the slave with a piece of Hu cake to eat?" ”

Kubani waved his horsewhip and was about to whip her, but Li Siye stretched out his hand to stop him, he saw the familiar face under the woman's unkempt and dirty long hair, and blurted out in shock: "? ”

The madwoman still shook her head, seemingly unresponsive to the name. A kind-hearted old man hurriedly pulled her away from the horse and said, "It seems that she is really crazy, how dare you stop the horse of the court official?" ”

Li Siye pointed to the and asked the old man: "Where is her family?" ”

"Alas," the old man sighed long, "all of them were killed by the rebels, and his husband secretly hid the treasures of the Zuozangku, and was chased to his house by the rebels, and burned the yard with a fire, and beheaded his husband and two children." She escaped because she went back to her parents' house to borrow rice and grain. ”

The country is broken by mountains and rivers, and the city is deep in spring. Everything that Chang'an is familiar with is shocking and shattered, and those beautiful people and things are now flying away like smoke.

At a time when the world is in crisis, he is still weighing ambition and power. As a soul of later generations, the first thing to do is to change the trajectory of history forever, so that this disaster will not become an eternal scar of the nation, and in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to remove the stumbling blocks that stand in front of us one by one. The pursuit of higher power is only used as a tool to better achieve goals, and it is not possible to put the cart before the horse and blindly pursue the desire for power and forget the original intention.

He turned back from his horse and instructed Kubani: "Now that the catastrophe has just passed, you should go and see which Taoist temple in Chang'an City is better, and arrange for her to go in and cultivate."

Kubani was embarrassed and said, "Look at her like that, which Taoist temple is willing to take her in as a disciple?"

"Then give more money, if Yan Xiaosi is here, he will definitely not ask me any difficulties."

Kubani immediately snorted like a student who had made a mistake, and stayed behind to deal with the thorny problem at hand.

He first stuffed the old man with a string of money, and asked him to be optimistic that this crazy woman would not freeze to death, and he immediately went to the palace to get the money, and went to inquire about the Taoist temples in Chang'an City one by one.

Li Siye rode along the road on horseback, looking at the dilapidated places were shocking, remembering that when he first came to Chang'an, it was such a prosperous scene, what is the situation now?

……

On the third day after he entered Chang'an, he went to Daming Palace in the early morning to participate in the court and accept the emperor's so-called reward. Today is the time for him and Emperor Li Heng to weigh their determination, testing each other to see who is stronger.

Today's participants in the court are the emperor's prime minister's team and the ministers of various ministries, and Li Heng's internal minister Li Fuguo stands on the top of the majesty's steps with a whisk in his hand. The position in which he stood was slightly different from where Colliers had stood in the past, and Colliers stood by the pillar on the right side of the Majesty's Steps, barely oblivious to his presence among the courtiers. But Li Fuguo was now standing directly in front of the emperor's side, like a barrier between the emperor and the courtiers.

He was wearing a purple official robe, like a powerful minister, and said in a loud voice:

"Doctor Xuanyu Shi, the same Zhongshu Men Pingzhangshi, the envoy of the three towns to camp the festival, and Li Siye, the king of Xiliang, came to see you!"

"Doctor Xuanyu Shi, the Pingzhang matter under the Zhongshu Gate, Shuo Fang Jiedu made Guo Ziyi to meet him."

"Xuanyu Shi Zhongcheng, the secretary of the military department, Wang Sili, came to see you."