The carriage stopped in front of the palace gate, Li Zhiyun got out of the carriage, and was just about to enter the palace gate, when he saw another carriage coming from behind. After the carriage stopped, the second brother walked down. When Li Zhiyun saw it, he hurriedly greeted him and said with a smile: "Second brother, are you here too?" The second brother also wore the crown of the prince, nodded and said, "Fifth brother, let's go in together." ”

The brothers entered the Taiji Palace, led by a eunuch in front, and walked towards the Hall of Light. As soon as they reached the gate of the palace, they saw a man come out of the palace. The man appeared to be in his thirties, of medium height, with a thin body, fair skin, and a long, narrow face. He, like Li Zhiyun, also wears a crown and wears a nine-python court dress, obviously, he is also a prince, but Li Zhiyun doesn't know him.

However, this person is familiar with the second brother. I saw him smile and stepped forward to salute and said, "His Royal Highness King Qin, I am fortunate to be there." His Royal Highness is brave and martial, and his military achievements are outstanding, and he is very admired by His Highness! The second brother hurriedly returned the salute and thanked him repeatedly.

After the man walked away, Li Zhiyun glanced at his back and said to the second brother, "Who is this person?" ”

"Oh, he's the Churo Khan of the Western Turks."

"Turkic Khan?" Li Zhiyun was stunned when he heard this, "Second brother, isn't Abba going to entertain the Turkic envoys today?" Why is the Khan also here? ”

The second brother smiled and said, "The envoy that Abba entertained today was sent by Shibi Khan, and this Chuluo is the Khan of the Western Turks, the two are not the same thing. Moreover, it has been many years since Luo Khan came to the Central Plains. ”

"He's not a khan, why has he been staying in the Central Plains?" Li Zhiyun asked puzzled.

"It's a long story," said the second brother, "the Khan of Chuluo is named Daman, and his mother is from the Central Plains, so he still has half Han blood." ”

It turned out that the Turks were originally a unified state, and in 580 AD, the Turks set up a small khan in the Western Regions to govern the area west of Jinshan (present-day Altai Mountains), which was an important source of future division of the Turks. The following year, the Eastern Turks Shabalio Khan ascended the throne, and the Western Turkic Datou Khan refused to recognize Shabalio Khan's nominal suzerainty, and the Eastern and Western Turks were formally divided and a civil war began.

After the death of Nili, Daman succeeded to the throne as Chuluo Khan, and Xiang remarried the younger brother of Nili Khan. Later, Po Shi and Xiang went to Sui Jing for Hajj, but due to the Turkic civil strife, they stayed in Jingshi Honglu Temple to live.

The Khan of Chuluo had no way to govern the country, and many of his subjects rebelled. In 605 A.D. (the first year of the Sui Dynasty), the Turkic Xue Yantuo tribe launched a rebellion and established the Xue Yantuo Khanate. Due to the civil strife in the Western Turks in the Sui Dynasty, Chu Luo Khan missed his mother again, so he sent an envoy to appease Chu Luo Khan. He was edicted and led hundreds of his subordinates to the Sui Dynasty to make a pilgrimage, and then stayed in Beijing. After Abba captured Chang'an, Chuluo Khan came to Chang'an, and Abba was demoted to welcome him, sat with him, and named him the king of Guiyi.

Li Zhiyun and the second brother walked into the Hall of Light, only to see that more than a dozen people had already arrived in the main hall. It was still early, Abba and the Turkic envoys had not yet arrived, and the people in the main hall gathered in twos and threes to chat. Among these people, in addition to the civil and military officials of the imperial court, there were also ethnic minority leaders and foreign envoys in Chang'an. Li Zhiyun saw the side enterprise at a glance, and the side enterprise also saw him, and took the initiative to come over to say hello and thank him for the condolences he sent a few days ago. Li Zhiyun introduced the second brother to him, and the three of them talked and laughed together for a while.

When the time came, all the guests attending the banquet had arrived. Abba also walked into the main hall and sat on the throne under the guidance of the umbrella cover, group fan and other honor guards. The court musician played a piece of "Shao Music", and then the Turkic envoys, led by the protocol officer of the Honglu Temple, walked into the main hall with their heads held high.

There were four Turkic envoys, led by Shibi Khan's younger brother Philip. They stood still in front of the throne, and with his right hand, he stroked his chest and said, "Respected Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, we have been sent by Shibi Khan to envoy to your country to express your respect for Shibi Khan. Abba smiled and nodded, "Thank you, envoy, please pay tribute to Shibi Khan on my behalf." I am holding a banquet today to entertain several distinguished envoys, and I invite them to sit down and drink and listen to music together. ”

"No," said Livier, shaking his head, "we can't sit down." ”

"Why?" Abba asked, surprised.

He turned around and pointed to the Khan who was sitting in the middle of the right side and said, "This man is a traitor to our Turks, we can't sit with him and drink, please let His Majesty the Emperor expel him!" "Apparently, when he walked in just now, he saw the Khan of the Trolvan, who was sitting there.

"This ......," Abba was embarrassed when he heard this, "Your Honor, Chuluo Khan is also my honored guest. Besides, he is the same as you, he is also the Ashina clan, you are the same Khan clan, you are born from the same root, you should be brothers! ”

"No," said Livier haughtily, "Ashina is our Turkic noble surname, and there is no such traitor and thief!" ”

It seems that he was full of hatred for the Khan of Chura. However, it is no wonder that after the division of the Eastern and Western Turks, there were constant wars between the two. When the Western Turks were strong, they repeatedly raised troops to attack the Eastern Turks, and the two sides had deep grievances, and they were originally mortal enemies.

The guests in the hall were talking, and Abba was hesitant. At this time, Chu Luo Khan stood up and arched his hand: "Your Majesty the Emperor, I suddenly feel unwell in Xia, so I will take my leave first." With that, he turned and walked towards the entrance of the main hall. Abba didn't stop him, so he had to say to the concierge, "Go, send it off for me." ”

After the departure of the Khan, the Turkic envoys walked up to their seats and sat down. So, the sound of silk and bamboo sounded, and the banquet officially began.

Li Zhiyun left Chang'an for half a year, and after coming back, he naturally wanted to get together with his brothers, and everyone had a lively time together. He just wanted to invite his brothers to the Chu Palace, but he didn't expect Liu Shuyi to send a servant to send an invitation, saying that he had booked a table of banquets in Tongqing Restaurant and invited him to the banquet.

Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu to go, and the three of them walked into the restaurant and found that a group of people were arguing in the lobby. Li Zhiyun took a look, weren't those two people like Bianqi and his companions. He asked the shopkeeper standing by what was going on? The shopkeeper said that these two sons were arrogant and unreasonable, and they didn't pay for wine after eating.

The side probably heard the shopkeeper's words, and said confidently: "I was invited by your emperor, and I still need money for food?" I don't have any money! ”

"Don't have the money to come and drink?" A fellow glared.

Li Zhiyun saw that they were going to quarrel again, so he said to the shopkeeper: "Let them go, I will pay for their wine." The shopkeeper listened, waved his hand, and told the men to get out of the way. Before leaving, he hugged his fist at Li Zhiyun and said, "King Chu, I remember your love." Li Zhiyun asked Zhang Zheng to pay for the wine, and then led the two attendants upstairs.

Li Zhiyun now has several official positions, and as long as he stays in Chang'an, he will attend the court meeting as usual.

The court will be divided into the Great Dynasty, the Chang Dynasty and the Japanese Dynasty. The Great Dynasty is held on the first and fifteenth days of each month, and is held once on the third day of the regular dynasty. Both the Great Dynasty and the Chang Dynasty were in the Wude Hall, and civil and military officials were able to attend court meetings several times a month according to their rank. In the Japanese Dynasty, the emperor received confidential ministers serving in the center in the inner hall, and there were generally few people who attended.

The pilgrimage is held in the morning, so it is called "morning pilgrimage". Officials who participated in the early dynasty had to get up at midnight, get dressed and enter the palace, and "wait for leakage" in the straight room. At about five o'clock in the morning, hundreds of civil and military officials entered the palace in two shifts, and stood on both sides of the main hall, waiting for the emperor to go to court.

The early dynasty is divided into four parts: 1. To meet the people who entered and left Beijing, the officials of Honglu Temple took the lead in going out of class, and reported the number of officials who entered Beijing to thank him and leave Beijing to ask for grace, and the emperor could choose to summon or not to summon, if not, those officials should perform five bows and three bows in the outer courtyard of the palace. 2. Receiving foreign envoys. 3. Handle the wars and important border affairs in various localities. Fourth, to deal with the important affairs of the general court, the officials will do the work, and the emperor will reply on the spot, or after the withdrawal from the court, the relevant officials will be summoned for discussion.

Jia Zhi, a scholar in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "The Early Dynasty Daming Palace Presents Two Provinces to Friends", which vividly describes the court ritual of the early dynasty: the silver candle is long and the purple Mo is long, and the forbidden city is bright in spring. Thousands of weak willows are weeping and trivial, and hundreds of warblers are around the chapter. The sound of the sword followed the jade step, and the clothes provoked the incense of the royal furnace. On the pond of Enbo, the king of the dynasty dyed Han.

In the morning, Danxia is slightly dewed, the east is white, the jade step in the Taiji Palace, the yellow tile and the eaves of the vermilion, and the stone pillar of the white marble of the double dragon is swayed. The majestic dragon and phoenix pattern carved stone archway shows the mighty and solemn emperor. When the first rays of morning light were reflected on the top of the splendid Wude Palace, the hundred officials went to court. Li Zhiyun and the eldest brother and the second brother stood at the forefront of the civil and military classes. After the officials of Honglu Temple reported the number of people who had entered and left Beijing, they asked Abba if he had received him. Abba waved his hand and said that he was gone, and let them bow down outside the temple.

Next, we will meet with foreign envoys. Under the guidance of the protocol officer, the Turkic envoy walked into the main hall, and after standing in front of the throne, he said: "Your Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, I waited for this envoy to your country, and Shibi Khan gave us a special mission. ”

"What mission?"

"I beg your country to execute Daman."

"What? Kill the Khan of Chuluo? Abba was surprised, "How can this be?" ”

"This is what Shibi Khan explained." He held his head high and said, "Your country has taken in Daman to make it an enemy of my Turks. The Turks are strong, you know. If you are an enemy of the Turks, you will never end well! So, please accede to our request and execute Dammam immediately! ”

When he had finished speaking, he did not salute, but turned and walked away with his own people.

After the Turkic envoy left, Abba looked at the ministers and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, what is your opinion?" The internal history ordered Xiao Yu to come out of the class and played: "Your Majesty, the Turks are like jackals, tigers and leopards, and they can't be provoked. Protecting a person but offending a country will inevitably be a disaster in the future. Your Majesty, please accede to the request of the Turkic envoys. ”

"You mean to put to death the Khan of Rokhan?"

"Yes."

Then, several more officials came out to answer and echo Xiao Yu's opinion.