After reviewing a few pieces of music, Emperor Richard put down his pen and was about to open his mouth to call Director "Zheng Yuan", who had been with him for decades, when he suddenly closed his mouth and shook his head with a slightly wistful expression.

Director Zheng Yuan died of overwork after the 50th anniversary celebration of his accession to the throne last year, and was crowned hereditary earl by imperial decree as a sign of imperial grace.

Today, the head of the royal secretariat is Viscount Xu Maolin, a capable second-generation immigrant who is in the prime of his forties.

Director Zheng Yuan's eldest son, Earl Zheng Huaien, was exceptionally promoted to deputy director, and he is just 37 years old this year, and he is also a leader among the younger generation, especially loyal and diligent.

"Wechen see Your Majesty, please give your Majesty's orders."

"Go and prepare the chariot and horse honor guard, I will inspect the Holy Emperor Valley and the Imperial Mausoleum construction site tomorrow, stay overnight in the Holy Emperor Temple, and return in two days."

"Wechen obeys." Xu Maolin, the head of the secretariat, respectfully accepted the order and retreated.

Early the next morning

When the sky was just dawning, a group of black cars with royal logos drove out of Danfeng Gate one after another, and under the strict protection of the military police, they drove quickly in the direction of Shenghuang Mountain.

This is the inconvenience of traveling in the imperial capital of Chang'an, at this time at about 6 o'clock in the morning, the nodding slightly, the vehicles on the street are scarce, and it is not yet the morning rush hour.

If it's an hour late, the morning rush hour will be bustling through the streets of the metropolis.

Even if the military and police do their best to maintain it, it will only cause more serious congestion and invite a lot of complaints.

Sitting in the black car moving smoothly, Emperor Richard looked out of the car window, the tall buildings on both sides of the street quickly receded, and the whole metropolis was slowly waking up from the night.

Emperor Richard gazed at the bustling metropolis where he had begun, the dilapidated and slightly desolate town of decades ago, vaguely in front of him.

Half a century has passed in a flash, and now there is no trace of the past. Only by returning to the Maple Leaf Palace can you find some memories of decades ago.

Society is developing, empires are progressing, and the current prosperity was unexpected.

As the royal motorcade sped past at 60 yards and left the outskirts of Chang'an, it was close to 7 a.m., and the streets were filled with more and more pedestrians and vehicles, and the day of urban hustle and bustle began.

Half an hour later

After the royal convoy galloped along the mountain side road, around a tall mountain range, the towering statue of the Holy Emperor came into view, which was majestic and made people feel worship.

The statue of the Holy Emperor in the distance is based on the entire steep and tall mountain, and the magnificence of the statue is unprecedentedly magnificent in the early morning sun, which contrasts with the building of the Holy Emperor Temple at the foot of the mountain, which is covered with golden glazed tiles.

This part is an open area, where many people from afar come from afar to make a pious pilgrimage to the statue of the Holy Emperor, praying for blessings and blessings.

At the foot of the mountain, the Holy Emperor Temple is therefore extremely fragrant, and after a few years, the temple building has greatly expanded a part, stretching out hundreds of halls.

The royal motorcade did not stop, but continued to drive deeper into the valley, and soon came to a Huaxia fortress-style building more than 50 meters high.

This fortress-style building between the two mountains is partly a dam and partly a fortress, and it is also the first pass to enter the Holy Emperor's Mausoleum, called Yuquan Pass.

Yuquan Pass is located between two mountains, closed with eaves and arches, and the soldiers of the Royal Praetorian Guard guarding here are clearly dressed and armored. Below is a dry river channel, and on one side of the river is a winding road that leads to Yuquan Pass.

The royal convoy drove into the gate, and the officers and soldiers of the Royal Janissaries on duty raised their hands in salute in unison, greeting the arrival of the royal convoy and His Majesty with the highest courtesy.

Yuquan Pass is a small town with a total population of more than 7,000 people, called Guannei Town, and the town is mainly composed of the families of the Royal Janissaries who are stationed here, all Chinese residents.

At this time, on both sides of the road in Kannai Town, there were already crowds of people who had gathered solemnly to greet them, and after seeing the arrival of the royal convoy, they all knelt down to greet them.

As the long-term residence of the Tang Emperor Long Yubin Tianhou, the residents of Guannei Town are all die-hard fanatics of the royal family, who refuse all contact with the outside world in order to protect the tranquility of this royal forbidden land.

Here it is

The speed of the royal motorcade had slowed down, and Emperor Richard lowered the window on one side and waved to the townsfolk who were waiting for him, causing the crowd to chant in unison;

"God bless the Tang Dynasty, long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

"Congratulations to the saint for good health, and the blessing of the Tang Dynasty."

"We grass people welcome the holy driver, long live my emperor, long live, long live."

The road in the town was not long, and the royal motorvoy drove past in a while, leaving only many of the town's residents still kneeling in the dark, looking uncontrollable with excitement.

Having the opportunity to meet Tianyan is really a blessing from eight lifetimes of cultivation.

Sit in the car

Emperor Richard sighed secretly, nowadays, the people of the Tang Empire are extremely superstitious, most of them believe in monks and Taoism, and a small number of believe in Protestantism and Catholicism, but this part accounts for no more than 20% of the total population.

He was powerless to change the status quo and didn't want to interfere too much.

In the Tang Empire, the pursuit of freedom of belief, in the cities and villages where Chinese people live in various parts of the empire, tens of thousands of temples have emerged, and almost every village and town has a land temple, and the people who eat fasting and chant Buddha are even more innumerable.

Many temples and Taoist temples are full of incense, which is breathtaking.

The imperial government never interfered with the beliefs of the inhabitants, and the religions of the West were completely crushed in the competition, showing a trend of decay day by day.

This is because of the strong atmosphere of faith formed by the whole society, and immersion in such an environment will inevitably be exaggerated by mainstream beliefs, which is also a strong herd mentality in society.

Leave Kannai Town

After the royal motortrip continued for more than ten minutes, a large valley suddenly opened up in front of you, showing a very beautiful scenery and fairyland-like palace-like buildings.

When the Holy Emperor's Mausoleum arrived, standing in the green pine forest was the Hall of Martyrs, where many of the founding fathers of the Tang Empire erected monuments and statues (Note; Not buried here), and after his death, he will accompany His Majesty the Holy Emperor forever.

The Mausoleum of the Holy Emperor is an extremely large-scale royal mausoleum building, which has been built by tens of thousands of workers for more than 30 years and is still under construction.

The whole building is composed of Valhalla, altar, Shinto, hanging temple, main hall complex, shrine hall, side hall, Houshan Imperial Mausoleum, 7,200 life-size stone carvings of the Royal Janissary Guard, 3,600 cavalry figurines and other series of mausoleum buildings.

Looking up at the past, the layers of buildings are on the mountain, the beautiful is like a fairyland, the main building of the mausoleum has been completed, and the remaining more than 10,000 craftsmen are still carefully carving the stone figurines and perfecting the building layout and structure.

Emperor Richard stepped into the Hanging Temple on one side, which was built on a steep cliff wall, and many of the halls were hollowed out directly from the mountain wall, showing a narrow and upward shape.

Overlooking the majestic imperial mausoleum building from here, in the valley, the long stone steps climb up, the tall hall flies the eaves and arches, and the imperial mausoleum in the back mountain is hidden in a black pine forest.

It is completely invisible from the outside, and the inner mountain is hollowed out vividly, and it goes hundreds of meters deep into the ground, building a beautiful imperial mausoleum building.

In the building of the imperial tomb in the mountain, there are 12 giant gates wrapped with heavy steel plates of reinforced concrete along the way, each door has a thickness of 1.2 meters, weighs hundreds of tons, and there is a giant gate behind the door, which is the so-called "tap stone".

After closing the gate, the steel gate, which weighs several tons, will tightly seal the giant gate under the action of its own gravity.

That's not all, the steel gate will be moved to reveal the hole in the back, and thousands of tons of washed dry sand will pour down, completely sealing the entire burial road.

Emperor Richard stood on the high hanging temple, overlooking the magnificent imperial mausoleum built with countless wealth, and his face showed an inexplicable strange expression.

Whether to repair the imperial mausoleum or not is not up to him, this is the face of the royal family of the Tang Empire, and the mausoleum system of the kings of the feudal empire uses the money of the royal internal affairs office.

In recent years

The construction site of the Imperial Tomb is no longer replenished with prisoners, and the existing prisoners will be transferred to another construction site to build the Imperial Tomb for His Royal Highness the current Crown Prince.

At this time, Emperor Richard was thinking about whether to abdicate, let the crown prince succeed to the throne in advance, and be a high-ranking emperor himself.

Now, of course, he just had that intention.

Over the years, the supreme imperial power firmly held by Emperor Richard has been transitioning to the cabinet and parliament to a large extent, the rule of law in the empire has become more sound, and the cabinet, parliament, and court have formed a relatively complete system of checks and balances of power.

After 10 years of popularization, from the prime minister to the provincial and municipal democratic elections, the independent prosecutor election has gradually matured and gradually taken root in the hearts of the people.

All this is preparing for the imperial power to retreat into the background.

Emperor Richard knew well;

His descendants, despite their extraordinary abilities, have no insight into the world, no open life, and it is too dangerous to pin the future of a huge empire on someone.

The German Empire and the Tsarist Empire were such dangerous examples, with Wilhelm II and Nicholas II, equally young and ambitious monarchs, pushing vast empires to the brink of total annihilation.

In 189-4, Tsar Nicholas II ascended the throne, a young tsar who believed in the absolute power of the monarch, opposed any form of democratic reform, and publicly rejected the local self-government, returning Tsarist Russia to the old path of monarchical dictatorship.

The high imperial power is like a poison, which is intoxicating and reluctant to let go, and countless people are crazy about it.

Emperor Richard didn't dare to bet, and Datang couldn't afford to gamble.

It is better to let the imperial power retreat into the background, become a rubber stamp on the surface of the Tang Empire, and hand over important political and economic affairs and military affairs to the cabinet ministers to properly handle.

Emperor Richard's eyes were deep, standing on the Hanging Temple, overlooking the magnificent royal mausoleum building, listening to the heavy bells ringing throughout the valley.

It can instantly make people think high, and the prosperous and mundane things in the world are like clouds of smoke.

Life is a life, grass and trees are autumn.

(Note, I believe many readers and friends can see the time 189-7 years, with a partition symbol added in the middle, this is because the story line is close to modern times, and the time will be further blurred in the future, please understand it.) The emperor's consideration of abdication is to foreshadow the next story line, and after abdication, he can freely travel to Europe or the Middle East, and experience the First World War in the first person, bringing a more distinct sense of substitution, which is hereby explained. (End of chapter)