Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 516: A fishy fish
After arriving in Xianyang, Li Longji was supposed to rest for a day before setting off for Chang'an, but Xue Bai was concerned about the war situation in Hebei, so he wanted to escort him back to Chang'an that day.

Li Longji was naturally dissatisfied with this. He had been traveling non-stop all the way from Zitong. He was not an ox or a horse. How could he not take a break after finally arriving in Xianyang? So he asked Gao Lishi to find Li Cong and express his attitude.

After half an hour, Gao Lishi came back and reported: "Grand Emperor, the carriage is ready. Shall we set off for the capital now?"

"Did he turn a deaf ear to my words?" Li Longji was displeased, "I said I don't want to leave now."

Gao Lishi had no choice but to persuade him, "Xianyang is not far from Chang'an. If we hurry up, the emperor can stay in Chang'an tonight."

"It's not a question of far or near." Li Longji said angrily: "How dare they treat me as a puppet!"

As he spoke, he swung his sleeves vigorously, then looked outside the door. Seeing that those elite soldiers were sent by Xue Bai, he finally walked out of the door in a depressed mood.

When he saw Li Cong again, he couldn't help but despise his eldest son for being weak, and cursed in his heart that this good-for-nothing couldn't even make the decision on a small matter, and was still Xue Bai's puppet.

When Li Cong brought the horse over and helped him mount it, he took the opportunity to ask in a low and quick voice: "As the Son of Heaven, can't you even decide what to do?"

"Father, the etiquette schedule was set long ago, and all officials are ready. One move will affect the entire body."

"It seems that you can't even win over an official." Li Longji sighed, deeply disappointed that his son had no means.

He climbed onto his horse and smiled with satisfaction in front of all his ministers.

Li Cong was indignant, thinking that if Li Longji had not suppressed him in his early years, he would not have ended up like this. Fortunately, his face was covered with scars, and his emotions could not be seen. His filial piety was fully expressed in his words. He said loudly: "I will lead the horse for my father."

"No, you are the Son of Heaven. How can a Son of Heaven do such menial work?"

Li Cong replied respectfully: "I am first the son of my father, the emperor, and then the emperor."

This statement seemed very filial, and the officials around him praised the saint's virtue. Li Longji couldn't help but look back at Xue Bai behind him. Xue Bai looked calm, and he didn't know what he was thinking about, but Li Longji always felt that he was mocking this hypocritical scene.

The team finally left the Xianyang Palace, and the horses sped up. Li Cong finally didn't have to lead the horse anymore, but he didn't dare to ride directly in front of Li Longji. Instead, he led the way at the front, like a servant guard.

Every time Li Cong acted like this, Li Longji had to respond, otherwise his officials would gossip about him. He was also very tired, but he had to rack his brains to think of something to say to show his father's love and filial piety.

Then he laughed loudly twice and said with a smile: "I have been the emperor for nearly fifty years, and I have never felt honored. Now that I have become the father of the emperor, I finally feel honored."

Gao Lishi laughed along and added a few funny words to add more fun to the happy atmosphere. But he didn't notice that after Li Longji spoke, his eyes dimmed.

The officials accompanying behind heard this and some of them talked in a low voice.

"The country is in danger, but the emperor has not mentioned the war in Hebei or the suffering of the people. He only cares about his own dignity."

"You don't understand this. In this situation, what else can the emperor say?"

"Listen to what he says and watch what he does. The emperor's mind has been seen by everyone in the world. Is it me who doesn't understand, or do you all only care about power?"

The reason why Xue Bai is powerful and Li Longji is powerless is precisely because of this kind of people's support. After the Anshi Rebellion, people were fed up with the old and incompetent Li Longji and believed that among all the princes and grandchildren, Prince Yong was the most virtuous and had the greatest merits, and could assist the emperor in managing state affairs.

Of course, the influence of the Tang Dynasty is still there, and Xue Bai can have such a reputation because many people believe that he is the real grandson of the emperor.

~~
In the evening, the team entered Chang'an. When the ceremonial carriage was walking on the imperial road of Zhuque Street, the elders of the city cried bitterly.

Xue Bai was riding on his horse, listening attentively to the wailing sounds. He couldn't help but wonder why they were crying. Was it because they missed Li Longji too much, or did they think they could return to their previous stable life from now on?

In front, Gao Lishi pulled the reins, turned to Xue Bai, and said, "Prince Yong, the emperor wants to live in Xingqing Palace, but from the looks of it, he seems to want to go to Taiji Palace?"

Xue Bai replied, "When the rebels attacked the city, the eastern wall was the most severely damaged. Xingqing Palace has been through so much war and is no longer suitable for living. Please ask the emperor to move to Taiji Palace."

They all knew that Xingqing Palace was located outside the palace gardens and adjacent to the market. If Li Longji lived in Xingqing Palace, it would be convenient for him to interact with officials and nobles, while living in Taiji Palace would be a secluded residence and easier to control.

"It doesn't matter if it's a little dilapidated." Gao Lishi showed a kind smile and said in a slightly flattering tone, "The retired emperor has lived in Xingqing Palace since he moved to the palace. He is a nostalgic person and is used to it. Taiji Palace is damp, and he is old and weak. I'm afraid he can't stand it."

Recalling the Lantern Festival many years ago, when the two were walking on the corridor of Xingqing Palace, Gao Lishi protected Xue Bai, who was still a helpless teenager at that time, with his awe-inspiring and inviolable majesty. But now, his tall stature has become hunched, and the corners of his eyes are covered with wrinkles. He no longer has that powerful posture in front of Xue Bai.

Logically, Xue Bai should have repaid him, but Xue Bai seemed very unkind.

"For decades, people all over the world have been getting used to the emperor, the officials he selected, and the taxes he set. Now, let's let the emperor get used to it, okay?"

Gao Lishi was stunned, thinking that Xue Bai was somewhat ungrateful, but it was precisely this cold attitude that made him unable to persuade him any further. He had no choice but to follow Li Longji to Taiji Palace.

Li Longji never liked Taiji Palace. When he moved in, he tripped over the threshold of the palace and no palace maid came to help him.

Because of this incident, he lost his temper that night and smashed several porcelain bottles.

When Gao Lishi came over, he saw the mess on the ground. He didn't know why the usually wise emperor suddenly had a fit, so he hurried forward to comfort him.

"Why would your Majesty do this? If people mistakenly think you are dissatisfied, it will only further undermine your prestige."

"I have fallen to this state." Li Longji pointed at the knife and axe marks on the pillars of the bedroom hall, "Even my residence is such a dilapidated house that has not been repaired yet. They humiliate me, humiliate me!"

That was left behind when the imperial guards looted the palace when he fled Chang'an. In recent years, Chang'an didn't even have a palace supervisor, so it really hadn't taken care of repairs.

What was even more difficult for Li Longji to accept was that he could sense that the officials, eunuchs, guards, and even the palace maids were no longer trying to please him as their main target. This transfer of power made him feel a huge gap.

Unfortunately, venting and crying would only make him look as ridiculous as a child.

Fortunately, he and Gao Lishi were the only ones in the bedroom for the time being. It was ridiculous, but he had accumulated too much depression in his heart. When he returned to Chang'an, he was overwhelmed with emotions and finally couldn't hold it back.

"Back then, I was so heroic and vigorous, I eliminated Empress Wei and punished Taiping... But the heavens did not protect me, and now I have fallen to this state!"

Gao Lishi hurriedly said, "The Emperor doesn't have to do this."

"No need to do that?" Li Longji looked up in astonishment, not knowing whether he wanted to hurt Gao Lishi or himself. He patted the imperial couch under him and asked, "Then tell me, did the traitor have sex with Taizhen here?!"

Gao Lishi had never thought of such a question. He was stunned for a moment and shook his head quickly, saying, "Absolutely not."

"You still want to hide it from me. I saw them hugging each other with my own eyes on Chencang Mountain. I heard about their scandal in Shu County! His dog paws... dog paws..."

"The Emperor must not believe in rumors from the people!"

Li Longji became more and more excited as he spoke, as if only in this way could he express his sadness and sorrow without restraint.

At this time, another eunuch came and cautiously asked for an imperial decree outside the door, asking for a handwritten imperial letter from Li Longji to appease Helan Jinming. He had no choice but to hold back his tears, and with an extremely reluctant and humiliating mood, he wrote the imperial letter and asked Gao Lishi to hand it over.

When Gao Lishi turned around, he saw Li Longji sitting there in a daze. He was no longer crying, but instead had a self-deprecating smile on his face.

"Your Majesty, please rest?"

Li Longji pointed at his nose and muttered, "I am a puppet."

He was overwhelmed with sorrow and murmured a poem.

"The old man is carved from wood and drawn with silk, his chicken skin and crane hair look just like the real one."

"After a while, everything is quiet and nothing happens, just like life is just a dream."

That night, Li Longji did not sleep all night. He sat in his bedroom with his back hunched over, in a daze all night long.

Gao Lishi stayed with him all night, and finally fell asleep sitting on a wooden bench at dawn. While he was in a daze, he was awakened by Li Longji.

"I am guilty of my crime," Gao Lishi said hurriedly, "Your Majesty, what are you doing..."

He suddenly noticed that Li Longji's expression had calmed down a lot, not as self-destructive as he had been last night.

"I figured it out."

"The Great Emperor?"

"I was wrong before. I believed Wu's words and killed three sons. I also trusted Hu Er and caused chaos." Li Longji said, "I will hold a banquet and invite them all. I want to admit my past mistakes in front of my children and grandchildren."

"But Prince Yong..."

"This child has suffered the most, but I have not yet officially recognized him." Li Longji murmured, "We must recognize him."

~~
"Royal banquet?"

Xue Bai was a little surprised to hear this request in his busy schedule, but since it was Li Longji who made the request, it was not so strange.

The court was now short of money and grain due to suppressing the rebellion. In his opinion, it was not appropriate to have too many banquets. After hearing this, he refused directly and said, "The emperor has come back from Shu County after a long journey. He should rest for a while and celebrate the victory after suppressing Shi Siming."

Unexpectedly, Li Longji was very persistent in this matter and repeatedly asked Gao Lishi to convey his wish to hold a family banquet.

Gradually, many members of the Li and Tang royal family believed that there should be a family banquet for the emperor to recognize the prince. Even in the end, some officials, including Yan Zhenqing and Yuan Zai, advised Xue Bai not to ruin his reputation because of such a small matter.

Xue Bai just realized that in the eyes of these officials, he was truly the emperor's grandson Li Qian.

He also wanted to see what Li Longji was up to, so he ordered a family banquet to be arranged, but the scale should not be too high to show that the current emperor was frugal.

……

Li Cong squinted at the two side dishes on the table and was stunned for a moment.

There were both meat and vegetarian dishes, a small plate of radish, a small plate of salted fish, and several pieces of Hu cakes, which were enough to fill you up.

As the emperor, he sat side by side with Li Longji at the top seat, just slightly to the side, giving the honorable position to the emperor emeritus.

"The war in Hebei is undecided, and the soldiers cannot fill their stomachs. I will eat with them." Li Cong reacted quickly, picked up a Hu pancake, rolled it up, and showed it to the clan members.

Since it was a family dinner, all the guests were Li Longji's direct descendants, including princes, dukes, princesses, and princesses. Although not all of them were present, there were still dozens of people. Everyone first congratulated the emperor on his return to the capital, and then raised their glasses to celebrate the revival of the Tang Dynasty.

After the third glass of wine, Li Longji stood up tremblingly holding the glass, with a sad face, and said: "Today, I want to admit my mistakes to you."

Everyone stood up as well.

Li Longji looked over and his eyes fell on Xue Bai, with a look of love and guilt, and said, "Li Qian, come here."

He waved his hand, like an old man who loved his grandson calling his grandson, and even looked a little pitiful.

This made Xue Bai feel uncomfortable. He would rather Li Longji stared at him with a venomous look like he did a few days ago. "The Emperor."

"This is a family dinner, we should call him 'Aung'." Li Longji slapped his thigh in annoyance, his hand holding the wine glass still trembling a little, looking at Xue Bai with expectant eyes, and said in a flattering tone: "Call him 'Aung'."

Xue Bai would do anything for power, so calling him a name would not matter. But now that he has gained power, he finds Li Longji's behavior ridiculous.

What's more, after he promised Feng Changqing that he would not use the name of the emperor's grandson to usurp the country, his mentality seemed to have changed.

So he stood there with his hands clasped, without answering.

"Good boy, are you still blaming me?"

Li Longji staggered forward and stood two steps in front of Xue Bai. He hunched his waist, looked up at Xue Bai's face, and said sadly, "I was wrong. I shouldn't have listened to Wu's greedy words and issued an order to depose and kill Li Ying and his three brothers... But you want me to depose Wu's empress temple before you can stop blaming me?"

"Father! How can this be done?"

Princess Xianyi immediately stood in the hall and said, "My mother was born into a noble family. She was a descendant of a noble family and rose to a high position in the imperial harem. She gave birth to my father's children. Didn't my father posthumously confer the title of Empress on her because he loved her so much? If my father abolished her ancestral temple today, wouldn't he be afraid of being accused of being heartless and disloyal?!"

She was also anxious, and Yang Hui didn't have time to hold her back, causing her to say such stupid things.

Without the filter of power, she looked even more stupid.

Xue Bai also felt a little regretful. He put aside the pile of important things to do and ran to watch the father and daughter perform.

"And him." Princess Xianyi raised her hand and pointed at Xue Bai, "Who knows if he is the real Li Qian..."

"Your Majesty!"

Before she could finish her words, Li Longji suddenly shouted angrily, "He is your own nephew. You made him fall into poverty and suffer hardships. Do you feel no guilt? Do you want me to depose you too?!"

Princess Xianyi was so frightened that she immediately knelt down and burst into tears.

Seeing this, Li Cong wanted to say something, but he had no experience and could only continue to watch the confrontation between Li Longji and Xue Bai.

"I have long guessed that you are my grandson."

After a long while, Li Longji spoke again, looking deeply at Xue Bai, as if he wanted to reach out and hold his face, but he didn't dare. He just said: "On the Lantern Festival in the sixth year of Tianbao, I first saw you and found you amiable. Since then, I have been protecting you. But I was too weak to admit that I was wrong, so I managed to make you the number one scholar..."

Xue Bai could only recall the Lantern Festival night when Li Longji celebrated with all the people and boasted that he was a god.

Li Longji said with great satisfaction: "I have known for a long time that if it were not for my grandson, how could he have such talent? How could he compose The West Chamber for me and it be so to my liking?"

"Presumably, the Emperor knows my identity, which is why he thinks Yang Shenjin has ill intentions in wanting to adopt me as his son?" Xue Bai asked, with a hint of sarcasm in his words.

Li Longji did not nod, but sighed and said, "It seems that you still don't believe me."

He instructed Gao Lishi, "There is an old maid who serves Princess Boping. Her name should be Ge Niang. Send someone to find her and see if she is still in the palace."

When these words were spoken, even Gao Lishi was a little surprised, and turned to look at Princess Boping Li Yiniang.

Li Yiniang is the daughter of Li Ying and has now been named a princess. She and Li Qian are twins, a boy and a girl. She has always been the one who believes that Xue Bai is Li Qian. However, since she was taken out of the palace, although she often sees Li Cong, she rarely sees Xue Bai. At the banquet today, her eyes were always fixed on Xue Bai and almost never moved away.

When she heard that the emperor wanted to look for Ge Niang, she hurriedly asked the servant to call Ge Niang over.

In her opinion, there was no need to prove that Xue Bai was Li Qian. What the emperor wanted to prove was that he had always loved his grandson.

Soon, Ge Niang arrived and when asked about Li Qian, she started telling the story immediately.

"I once saw Prince Yong visit Princess Boping in the palace, and the siblings recognized each other. Prince Yong said at the time that he would be the best person in the world to treat the princess. Later, when the enemy troops attacked Chang'an, Prince Yong really assisted His Majesty in defending Chang'an and took the princess away..."

In the eyes of this old palace maid, Prince Yong wanted to find out his background and the emperor wanted to recognize Prince Yong. This was a happy thing for everyone, so she would naturally do her best to make it happen.

"Let me ask you, did I know about this matter after Li Qian went to the Ye Ting that year?" Li Longji asked.

"The Emperor must have known about this. General Gao had come to see me at that time."

Li Longji smiled gently and asked, "Do you know how I recognized this child?"

Ge Niang kowtowed and said, "I don't know."

"You are their wet nurse, how could you not know? Think again."

Ge Niang raised her head, looked at Xue Bai, and said, "It's because Prince Yong looks very similar to the retired emperor when he was young!"

"That's true, but it's more than that." Li Longji shook the wine glass in his hand, drank it all, and said, "I can tell from his alcohol tolerance."

"I remember now." Ge Niang said, "When Prince Yong was three years old, the retired emperor used chopsticks to dip in wine and feed him. With just a little bit of wine, Prince Yong was drunk for the whole day..."

Li Heng lowered his head, busy rolling Hu pancakes to eat. Listening to these conversations, he couldn't help but frowned.

He didn't understand what the emperor was doing. To prevent the country left by his ancestors from falling into the hands of rebels, the most important thing to do was to announce that Xue Bai was pretending to be the emperor's grandson, remove his title, deprive him of his military power, and depose him.

But Li Longji was trying to recognize the traitor at this time. What was the meaning of this? Was he betraying the Tang Dynasty? !

Even Li Cong was surprised and puzzled by Li Longji's actions.

Li Cong admitted that Xue Bai was Li Qian because he needed Xue Bai to maintain his throne. But after getting Li Longji's recognition, he gradually no longer needed Xue Bai's help. Now he was preparing to unite with the royal family and cross the river to demolish the bridge. Unexpectedly, Li Longji turned the tables on him.

Why?

It seems that Xue Bai is really Li Qian?
"General Gao, you have long known that he is Li Qian, my grandson, right?" Li Longji asked Gao Lishi over there.

Gao Lishi replied, "Yes, I already knew about this."

"Many people had guessed this a few years ago, but I wanted to keep it a secret. First, I didn't want to admit my mistake, and second, I was afraid of damaging the reputation of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, I didn't hesitate to denounce him as a traitor." Li Longji said, "Now that I think about it, I was totally wrong."

This is also why some people in the world thought that Xue Bai was a traitor after he announced to the world that Li Heng sent troops to suppress the rebellion, and that they were acting out of selfish motives. Now that Li Longji has admitted it, the matter is over.

In the hall, many members of the royal family, including Li Yiniang and Li Yuetu, could not help but wipe away their tears upon hearing this. A small number of people were happy to have found a descendant of the Li family who could defend the Tang Dynasty, and more people were happy that the saint finally knew his mistakes and could correct them.

After being stubborn for so long, the state affairs have collapsed. Now the saint has finally figured it out.

Li Longji looked around, waved to Li Yuetu, and said, "Hezheng, come closer."

Li Yiniang originally thought that the emperor would call her over, but she was a little disappointed when she saw this.

Back then in the Palace, she clearly received the promise of being the "closest person", but now she does not feel that kind of intimacy with her twin brothers.

Li Yuetu stepped forward obediently and said, "The Supreme Emperor."

"I once wanted to marry you to 'Xue Bai'. Do you know why?"

"Didn't the Emperor recognize his grandson at that time?"

"I had some guesses at the time, and it was just to test the waters that I resorted to this desperate measure." Li Longji sighed, "Now that I think about it, I am really old and confused."

Li Yuetu lowered her head and said in a discontented and coquettish manner: "Grandfather is only concerned with finding his relatives and not his granddaughter."

"It's my fault, it's my fault." Li Longji stretched out his hands, patted Xue Bai and Li Yuetu on the shoulders, and said earnestly: "You two are siblings, you can't be husband and wife, you must live in harmony in the future."

"Yes." Xue Bai responded.

"My granddaughter knows." Li Yuetu also responded.

Li Longji was very happy and said, "I have made a big mistake, but now I have children and grandchildren and enjoy the happiness of family life. What else can I be dissatisfied with? Haha, let's have a banquet."

Xue Bai then returned to his desk and sat down.

Li Yuetu glanced at him and whispered, "Brother, congratulations."

"Ah."

Xue Bai responded dully. For some reason, he did not feel happy, although this was exactly part of his original plan.

The next moment, he felt someone standing in front of him. He looked up and saw that Li Longji did not return to the imperial desk at the top, but was standing in front of his desk.

"Come."

Without waiting for Xue Bai to stand up, Li Longji leaned over and picked up the chopsticks on the table.

The chopsticks were handed out steadily and picked up the eye of the salted fish on the plate.

Seeing this, Xue Bai frowned slightly, and the fish eye had already been handed to his mouth.

"I remember that you loved eating fish eyes when you were a child. At that time, you begged me to feed you." Li Longji said with nostalgia and a loving tone: "I am old now, and I can finally feed you fish eyes again."

Salted Fish's eyes were big and lifeless, and placed near his mouth, which looked a bit disgusting.

Xue Bai didn't open his mouth.

Li Longji did not take away the chopsticks and continued to stand there with his hands hunched, which made all the clan members feel very sorry for him.

"Prince Yong, the emperor is feeding you, why don't you open your mouth quickly?" Gao Lishi urged.

Li Chu was sitting opposite him. Seeing this, he suddenly understood something and could vaguely guess why the emperor behaved so abnormally.

Now, regardless of whether they said it in public or issued an imperial decree to announce that Xue Bai was an imposter, with Xue Bai's power, the news would not be able to leave Chang'an, and would instead bring about a fatal disaster. At that time, Li Longji was in Shujun and Li Heng was in Lingwu, and this path was not feasible, let alone now?

It is better to take a step back and the situation will become clearer.

To take a step back and gain the understanding of the ministers, they are still the emperor emeritus, the saint, the loyal prince, the Yu prince, the grandfather, the adoptive father, the uncle, and the elder brother.

Li Chu looked at Xue Bai again, with a hint of mockery in his eyes——

"Today your grandfather feeds you fish eyes. If you don't eat it, you're unfilial. What about tomorrow? You'll have too many handles to be criticized by thousands of people. Since this 'fish eye mixed with pearl' is what you want, you have to eat it even if you don't want to."

(End of this chapter)