Tibet.

Chapter 1387: Leisurely Tour of the County
When Li Ye came to Linyou County, he was actually here to inspect Jiucheng Palace. Jiucheng Palace was the Renshou Palace of the Sui Dynasty, the royal summer resort of the Sui and Tang dynasties. It was known as the largest palace with a grand scale and magnificent scenery. Moreover, the altitude here is relatively high, and the cool mountain breeze blows from the north. The highest temperature in summer is only in the twenties, and only in the teens at night, which is very suitable for summering and is deeply favored by the emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties.

The summer in Chang'an is very hot. The imperial palace and the residences of high officials usually use ice to cool down. Although it is effective, it is not good for the body. Many people complain of leg pain, especially the elderly and women and children. The best way is to escape the summer heat.

In fact, Huaqing Palace can also be a place to escape the heat in summer. It receives cool air from the Wei River, and the temperature is not high in summer. But compared to the damp and cool water vapor, Li Ye prefers the cool breeze from the mountains and forests. The cool breeze blowing from the northern mountains and forests makes people feel refreshed.

Jiucheng Palace is located on Phoenix Mountain in the north of Linyou County, covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. It houses various court offices and a harem covering an area of ​​hundreds of acres. There is also a royal forbidden garden of several hundred acres, which is home to many docile small animals, mainly deer, which are prepared for the princes and princesses.

In addition, 30% of the houses in the county are official residences. Most of them are small houses of one or two acres, and there are hundreds of them. These are all prepared for officials. Linyou County itself is very cool, and court officials also bring their families to Linyou County to escape the summer heat, and handle government affairs in Jiucheng Palace in the summer.

It was already afternoon when Li Ye arrived in Linyou County. Naturally, the one accompanying Li Ye on the tour was his favorite concubine Yang Yuhuan.

Yang Yuhuan's beauty and thoughtfulness made Li Ye very fond of her. She was like a goddess who had eaten an immortal fruit. There was no trace of time on her. Her skin was white and delicate, her figure was plump, her appearance was peerless, and her big eyes were full of affection. The movement of her eyes often made Li Ye lose his mind. She looked like a woman of twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, brimming with mature charm.

Yang Yuhuan's intelligence and understanding of men's minds always enabled her to say thoughtful words at critical moments, making men feel comfortable.

Next to the car window, Yang Yuhuan leaned against her husband and said coquettishly, "Husband, let's go shopping in the county town! I haven't gone shopping with you before!"

"Nonsense, didn't we go buy a rattan chair together?"

"Haha! Haha! I almost forgot. No, I want to go shopping and drink in the pub!" Yang Yuhuan pouted and said coquettishly.

Li Ye hugged her waist, bent down and kissed her pouting red lips, and said with a smile: "Okay, let's go to the county town for a walk."

Li Ye and Yang Yuhuan changed into an ordinary carriage, quietly left the convoy and drove towards the county town. Several female personal guards followed on horseback. The convoy continued to move forward and rested at the inn to wait for them.

The carriage entered the county town. Linyou County was not big, but it was very clean, and the ground was paved with stone slabs. This was also due to the Jiucheng Palace. Because all the officials lived in Linyou County, the county town had to be better.

The county has a small population, with only two thousand households, most of which are concentrated in the south. There is a main road called Renshou Street, with various shops lined up on both sides of the street.

"Husband, what are the specialties of Linyou County?" Yang Yuhuan asked curiously.

Li Ye didn't know either. He looked at the street and found many mountain product stores, so he smiled and said, "I guess the specialty products are mountain products, furs, medicinal herbs, etc."

"Let's go take a look!"

Yang Yuhuan had no interest in ordinary cloth shops, silk shops, jewelry shops, etc., but she was somewhat interested in things from the mountains and wilds.

Li Ye nodded and gave an order, and the carriage slowly stopped in front of a shop. Yang Yuhuan put on a veil and was helped out of the carriage by Li Ye. Behind her followed her personal maid A Hui and a personal female guard.

The name of the shop is "Mountain Man". It is obviously a century-old shop. As soon as you enter the door, you can see various precious animal skins hanging on the wall. The shop mainly sells various mountain products, mushrooms, medicinal materials, game, leathers, some more distinctive handicrafts, and some strange stones picked up from mountain streams.

The shop owner was a middle-aged man in his forties. When he saw a couple coming in who were dressed in gorgeous clothes and had extraordinary manners, he knew at first glance that they were wealthy people.

The middle-aged man was a connoisseur of valuables. He was shocked when he saw the jewel necklace on Yang Yuhuan's chest. It was of incomparable green, ten times greener than the bamboo forest in spring. The other red and blue sapphires were all rare treasures.

The man was tall and handsome, with an aura that overwhelmed everyone.

This was definitely not an ordinary person, and the shop owner was even more respectful. Although the shop was full of things, Li Ye and Yang Yuhuan looked around but didn't see anything they liked.

Li Ye smiled faintly and said, "My wife wants to buy something unique and novel."

The shop owner thought for a moment, slapped his forehead and said, "There are three treasures in our shop. I wonder if you would like them?"

"What is it?"

"It's a very complete black bear skin. My father bought it from a hunter's family in Kongtong Mountain thirty years ago. It's very complete and was tanned by the White Beast Hall in the capital."

Li Ye was not interested in animal skins. His palace had dozens of precious animal skins obtained from Khitan and Bohai. The animal skins here could not be compared with those from the extremely cold land. "What else?"

"There is also a three-hundred-year-old Huangjing and a roll of Phoenix bamboo mat."

He looked down upon the three hundred year old Polygonatum sibiricum, as he had several thousand year old Polygonatum sibiricums. However, this was the first time he had heard of the Phoenix Bamboo Mat.

“What are the characteristics of the Phoenix Bamboo Mat?”

"It is the clump of dragon-scale bamboo in the forbidden garden on the mountain. But we cannot say dragon scale, so we renamed it Phoenix bamboo. It is said that during the reign of Emperor Taizong, several bamboo shoots were transplanted and grew into a bamboo forest. Mats made of this kind of bamboo are very cool in summer, but this bamboo forest was cut down during the reign of Emperor Kaiyuan. You can't find another roll of Phoenix bamboo mat in the entire market. If there is one, it is fake."

Li Ye burst out laughing. Dragon scale bamboo is the same as tortoise shell bamboo. It can be found in Taiji Palace and Daming Palace, and there are quite a lot of them. It is estimated that the dragon scale bamboo in Renshou Palace was transplanted from Taiji Palace.

Things that were common in the royal family were treasures among the common people. After a round of shopping, Yang Yuhuan finally bought a set of tea sets carved from tree roots. They were very simple and unique. Her personal female guard helped pay for them with a hundred coins.

The shopkeeper watched the two men leave. He then saw the jade belt and jade pendant around the man’s waist. They were both rare mutton-fat jade!

The shop owner was secretly shocked, "Oh my god, who on earth are these two people! They must be a couple from heaven who have come down to earth!"

The two went to the Ligong Restaurant next door to have lunch and sat in an elegant room. Of course, they could not sit in the lobby. Firstly, it was unsafe. Secondly, Yang Yuhuan had to take off her veil. Without her face covered, she would be too stunning sitting in the lobby and would attract attention. Even if they did not dare to do anything wrong, it would be uncomfortable to have a group of drinkers staring at Yang Yuhuan.

There was no such trouble in the elegant room. The two of them ordered a pot of fine fruit wine, three pounds of Hu cakes, some wild vegetables, a plate of roasted goat meat, and a pot of stewed bear paws.

Li Ye also asked the female guards and palace maids to eat in the outer room.

Yang Yuhuan was quite particular about her meals. She would eat very light meals in the morning, but would eat meat at noon, and a combination of meat and vegetables at night.

The bear paws were just bought at the restaurant yesterday. The two of them ate half of one in one meal. It was extremely delicious. They were all smiling from ear to ear and kept saying how satisfying it was.

The fruit wine is also good, with a mellow and sweet taste and not too strong.

After lunch, the group went downstairs and got on the carriage, which slowly left Linyou County.

Yang Yuhuan had a very good impression of Linyou County. Although it was far less prosperous than Chang'an, the local people were simple and honest, the county town was tidy, and the road surface was paved with stone, which was very clean.

Yang Yuhuan smiled happily and said, "When summer comes, I'll bring my elder sister and the others to go shopping together. They will definitely like it."

Li Ye nodded. As long as safety could be guaranteed, he never objected to his wife and children going out shopping.

A special passage was also built from Linyou County to the main trunk of Tangzhidao. To be more precise, it should be called Suizhidao. It was built by Yang Jian of the Sui Dynasty. It is wide and flat, paved with stone slabs, and ordinary people are not allowed to walk on it. It runs straight from Mei County to Jiucheng Palace.

Li Ye was going to Yong County for inspection, so he did not take the Jiucheng Avenue, but he would take this road when he returned.

Three miles away from Jiucheng Palace, various buildings were built on both sides, including military camps, government offices, temples, and of course a large post station, warehouses, and carriage and horse stables.

Because the retired emperor Li Longji had come several times during the Tianbao period and the previous emperor Li Heng had come twice, the Jiucheng Palace was well maintained. When Li Ye's motorcade arrived at the palace gate, the palace minister Yang Tianliang came out to welcome the emperor. Several eunuchs also came. The leading eunuch was named Liang Zhen, who was the chief steward of the palace.

Their responsibilities are different. The Palace Chancellor is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the government offices, while the Palace Steward is in charge of the inner palace. Liang Zhen brings a dozen old eunuchs and dozens of old palace maids to maintain the harem, and they actually also live here in their old age.

Li Ye looked around the office and found that its layout was very similar to that of Xingqing Palace, but he liked the harem better. The palace was built against the mountain, while the harem was on the top of the mountain. There were mostly pavilions in the harem, and to the south one could overlook the Guanzhong land, and to the north there were dense forests.

The harem is very compact, divided into the academy area, concubines area, children's area and maids' dormitory area. There is also an extremely beautiful forbidden garden at the back, as well as a clear pool of water, forming a small stream flowing down the mountain.

That night, Li Ye and Yang Yuhuan stayed in the palace, and they spent the whole night in love.

(End of this chapter)