Late Tang

The capital of Chang'an, the imperial city of Tai Chi Palace.

Taiji Palace, Daming Palace and Xingqing Palace are collectively referred to as the Three Great Inner Palaces, and the single Great Inner Palace generally refers to the Taiji Palace.The Taiji Palace is the residence of the emperor and the place where the court will be held. It is more than [-] meters wide from east to west and [-] steps long from north to south. From south to north, the palace is divided into three areas: front court, back bedroom and garden.The main hall of the previous dynasty was the Taiji Hall, surrounded by a huge palace surrounded by corridors and verandas, and government offices were built on the east and west sides.The main hall of the back bedroom is Liangyi Hall, surrounded by Wanchun Hall, Qianqiu Hall, Ganlu Hall, Shenlong Hall, Anren Hall and other halls.The garden is located at the end of the palace, with pavilions, ponds and so on.

At this time, under the verandah of the Taiji Palace, the eunuch Zhang Tai brought his adopted son Zhang Chengye all the way over, and asked a little eunuch who was guarding outside: "Your Majesty is inside?" The little eunuch immediately laughed when he saw that it was Zhang Tai. He replied: "Return to the Servant, Your Majesty is practicing swords inside, just now he sent a message, saying that the Servant is here to come and see him directly, there is no need to report." After finishing speaking, he glanced at Zhang Chengye again, "Little Eunuch Zhang has also returned, and it has been widely spread in the palace. This time, Eunuch Zhang brought back so many good things to His Majesty, and there will definitely be a big reward in a while! I’m here to congratulate Eunuch Zhang in advance. There will be a rise."

Zhang Chengye smiled slightly, calmly took out a silver collar from his sleeve and quietly handed it to the eunuch guarding the gate.The eunuch smiled brighter and happily invited Zhang Tai and his son to enter.

Once inside, Zhang Chengye saw a young man in a bright yellow dragon robe dancing with a sword after passing through several corridors.There were dozens of people around, Zhang Chengye just took a look, and he could see that the young man's sword dance was really good.The actor on the side was the personal favorite of the young emperor Li Xuan. This time when Zhang Chengye returned to Beijing, he was also one of the gifts that Zhang Chengye sent, and the gift was not light.Seeing Zhang Chengye and his son coming, Shi Yezhu exchanged a look, then smiled and clapped his hands to praise the emperor's sword dance.

Li Yan put away his sword, and said to Shi Yezhu: "If I take the examination for batting Jinshi, I should be number one. Even if I take the exam for sword dancing, I will definitely be in the top three."

Li Xuan was originally the fifth son of Tang Yizong. Yizong had no queen, so he had no legitimate son. But after Yizong's death, the eunuchs made the young fifth son Li Xuan the crown prince and then the emperor in order to continue to control the government.

He was born in the deep palace and grew up in the hands of eunuchs. What life scenes in the palace can bring him is to have fun without restraint.In fact, he is indeed an emperor who loves to play.He likes cockfighting, betting on geese, riding and archery, swordsmanship, arithmetic, music, Go, and gambling.He is not only obsessed with playing polo, but also has superb skills.

Shi Yezhu is Li Xuan's favorite actor, actor, that is, an actor who sings and performs, his status is low, but Li Xuan likes it very much.Hearing what Li Xuan said, he couldn't help but chuckled, and carefully persuaded: "If you meet a virtuous king like Yao and Shun to be the chief examiner of the Ministry of Rites, I'm afraid your majesty will be blamed and lose the election!" Such words are already very hard , he did not blindly flatter Li Xuan like ordinary servants.But after Li Xuan listened, he didn't listen at all, and just smiled.

That's all Shi Yezhu could say, so he turned around and said, "Your Majesty, Zhongchang Attendant Zhang Tai and adopted son Shamen Town Supervisor Zhang Chengye are here to see you!"

When Li Xuan heard that Zhang Tai and his son had arrived, he was very happy and said, "Oh, they are here, let them come here quickly." Zhang Chengye was just a small eunuch when he was in the palace and had no contact with the emperor, but he is Zhang Tai's adopted son , and came back this time, unexpectedly brought him a contribution of one million guan from Dengzhou Li Jing. What made the emperor even more satisfied was that among the tribute items sent, there were not only many good horses, but also fighting cocks, Fighting geese, falcons, costin and other fun things.

The expenses in the palace are huge, although Li Xuan doesn't care about these money and things, but he often hears his father Tian Lingzi talk about the current shortage of money, and it is already the fifth time that Ji Xiang wants to resign.Li Xuan and Tian Lingzi were very happy that a small Dengzhou town general actually sent a million donations.

"Slave Zhang Tai and Zhang Chengye see Your Majesty, long live my emperor!"

"The two lovers are here, free from courtesy!" Li Xuan was in a good mood today.

"Zhang Tai, this is your adopted son Zhang Chengye. Well, it's very good. He has been loyal to me. I like the tribute I sent this time. Your father and son are loyal, and I can't do without a reward." Li Xuan pondered. After a while, he said with a smile: "Then give Zhang Tai the right prison guard general, and Zhang Chengye the right prison gate general."

General of the Left Prison Gate Guard, this is the third rank, and this is not a false title, the left and right guard gate guards are in charge of the imperial palace's entry and exit.Today, the eunuch Tian Lingzi, who is most favored by the emperor, also served as the general of the Zuojian gate guard when he held the two extremely important military positions of Privy Council Envoy and Shence Army Lieutenant.But now Zhang Tai has to be named the General of the Right Supervising Army at once, which can be described as a great reward.

Zhang Chengye was awarded the post of General of Youjianmen, and he was also a senior post of the third rank.Although it is not as good as Shence Army and Privy Council who control the soldiers and horses of the imperial guards in the capital, they are still very important in the palace.Zhang Tai was so excited that his whole body trembled, choked up and wept.Not as powerful as Nan Lingzi, Zhang Tai is also an old man in the palace, and it is not easy to be a regular servant. Moreover, this person, like Zhang Chengye, is very loyal to the Li and Tang royal family.

"Old slave, thank Your Majesty Long En!"

Zhang Chengye also knelt down and kowtowed to thank him, but in the end he refused to get up, saying: "This offering is from Li Jing, the general of Shamen Township, Dengzhou. The slave is just escorting him to the capital, and he dare not claim credit. If Your Majesty wants to reward, The slave thinks that Li Jing can be rewarded for his sincerity."

Li Xuan smiled and said: "You get back on your feet first, of course I will reward Li Jing, but I will not forget your loyalty. This is a reward you deserve, so don't refuse it." So, Zhang Chengye kowtowed again to thank you Then I got up.

The maids and eunuchs next to him were full of envy for Zhang Tai and his son receiving such a generous reward.At the same time, he couldn't help being a little curious about that Li Jing. Hearing what the emperors said, this man was just a small town general, but he was able to receive the emperor's imperial commendation and a big reward. Which big family did this man belong to? children.When they thought about it, they could send millions of tributes to the emperor, and only the children of the rich family could spend so much money to please the emperor.

Shi Yezhu reminded: "Your Majesty, it's time to go to the imperial study."

Li Xuan nodded, and said to Zhang Tai and his son: "All the gentlemen of the Zhengshitang came and said that they have something important to report. It seems to be related to Ziqing Town. You two, father and son, go with me. I will have some more in a while." I have something to ask you."

In the imperial study room, Li Xuan came to listen to the government on a rare occasion.

"What do you want to do, gentlemen? If there is no major issue, you can handle it. You don't have to ask me about everything. If you can't handle it, you can discuss it with Tian Privy Council envoy." Outside the monthly Wangshuo Grand Court Meeting, basically no longer go to the court.The Nei Dynasty has long been avoided, and all affairs, big and small, are handed over to Tian Lingzi.

Prime Minister Wang Duo said: "Your Majesty, Song Wei, commander of Ziqing Festival, reported that Wang Jingwu, the general of Qingzhou, rebelled. Song Wei asked the imperial court to send troops to quell the rebellion!"

Li Xuan took the memorial from Tian Lingzi, flipped through it a few times casually, and was about to put the memorial aside, when he suddenly saw the word Li Jing on it.Feeling a little surprised at the moment, I read it again seriously, and the casualness on my face brought a smile.This smile made several prime ministers in the imperial study room and the eunuch Tian Lingzi look a little strange. Qingzhou rebelled, and Wang Jingwu took Qingzhou, although Song Wei took Qingzhou back.But Wang Jingwu now occupies the two prefectures of Ziqi and Qi, and is recruiting troops to fight against the Pinglu army. He does not know when the war will end.Ziqing Town is a rare and prosperous place, not to mention that Ziqing is located in an important position, connecting the north and the south, controlling the north-south center.Moreover, the Xuzhou Rebellion just ended a few years ago, and there are still many remnants of the rebels here. Now there is a continuous famine. erosion.Ziqing Town is an important square town that blocks the three towns in Hebei. If there is chaos here, Hebei will inevitably be dishonest again.

When all the ministers were sighing at the young emperor, Li Xuan suddenly slapped the imperial case heavily, and laughed loudly: "What a Li Jing, not only is he loyal, but he just donated 100 million guan to me, and now he has led the way again." The soldiers fought such a big victory, rushed to help Qingzhou for three hundred miles, cracked the rebellious conspiracy, fought against the rebels, recaptured Qingzhou, defeated the rebels in Zishui, won several battles, beheaded [-] people, and captured thousands of people. "

Li Xuan stood up excitedly and walked around in the imperial study. He was only 13 years old at the time, and his favorite games were playing polo, fencing and so on.At this age, his impression of war is more for fun.Li Jing had just sent him a large sum of money, and he was about to reward Li Jing heavily, but when he saw that Li Jing had won such a big victory all of a sudden, he couldn't help being excited.

After hearing this, everyone knew why the emperor was happy.They have all read the memorial, but the main purpose of the memorial is that Song Wei came to ask for reinforcements.Regarding Li Jing's military exploits, although it is written in it, it is actually just a few strokes, and it is not particularly prominent.But Li Xuan didn't look at other things now, he just saw this Li Jing who gave him money, horses, and fun.

When Yu Cong heard that Li Jing praised Li Jing so much, he was slightly taken aback for a moment, but then he felt a little happy.This Li Jing is his elder brother Yu Yu's disciple, so to speak, he is also a member of his Yu family, and this Li Jing was taken in by Yu Yu's family when they were most unlucky, so he is a trustworthy person.What's more, although Yu Yu left Ziqing Town, Li Jing was still very polite. Not only did Yu Yu keep presenting gifts, even this time Li Jing offered to the emperor, and he did not forget their share of Yu's family.One hundred thousand coins plus many rare items, this is quite a heavy gift.

Seeing that the emperor praised Li Jing at this time, he was also ready to help Li Jing, so he said: "Behead eight thousand, and take countless prisoners. I heard that Li Jing only brought five thousand soldiers and horses, and he has won so many military exploits. It's really true." He is a strong general, congratulations to Your Majesty for getting another strong general."

Tian Lingzi also received a big gift from Li Jing this time, which was worth more than 50 guan. He didn't care about a small town general.But he was able to send him so many gifts, so he asked someone to inquire about it.It turned out that Li Jing himself was just a farmer, and he was only in his twenties now, and he was promoted to the town general after worshiping under Cui Yunqing and Yu Yu in Qingzhou.He was a little surprised when he heard the news, the Yu family was handsome with four quarters, and Yu Cong was the chancellor of the court and the uncle of the current emperor.Although no one in the Cui family is a prime minister, the Cui family is a famous family in the world, and their influence is also great.The two families actually accepted Li Jing as a student, which shows that Li Jing is not simple.

Now that the emperor praised Li Jing, Yu Cong also praised him, so Tian Lingzi also made up his mind to be a favor, the gift was only part of the reason, and more was to take this opportunity to make more contacts with the Yu family and the Cui family .

"Lai Zuzong's great blessing, the Holy God Tianwei. Li Jingfang has such a great victory, this old slave would like to congratulate the emperor and the Tang Dynasty!"

The other prime ministers in the study had all received a large amount of filial piety from Li Jing, and at this time it was naturally a favor, and they all praised Li Jing one after another.Zhang Tai and Zhang Chengye did not lose the opportunity to follow behind with a few words of praise. For a while, no one cared about the Qingzhou rebellion, and no one paid attention to Song Wei's request for help, and the petition for others in the memorial. They all praised it. Li Jing is here.

Yu Cong said: "Your Majesty, Li Jing has made such a great contribution, I think that I should immediately order a reward to boost the morale of our Tang army, and let Li Jing feel His Majesty's grace."

Wang Duo also said: "Li Jing beheaded the general and captured the flag this time. He has won so many people, and he needs to be encouraged to do better for the country to calm the chaos and make new contributions to the emperor."

The young emperor smiled and nodded: "As loyal as Li Jing, I will naturally be rewarded. What position does Li Jing have?"

"Li Jing used to be the envoy of Daxiezhai Town to contain the troops. After this time, the commander of Ziqing Festival, Song Wei, integrated Li Jing's elite into an army called Zhendong Army. In the memorial, he expressed his gratitude to His Majesty Li Jing asks you to envoy the Zhendong Army and serve as the Defense Envoy of Dengzhou," said Yu Cong.

Li Xuan twirled his hands behind his back, thought for a while, and said, "Li Jing is loyal to the country and has been sincere to me. Now that he has made such a great contribution, I will be rewarded heavily. I will serve as the military envoy and defense envoy of the Zhendong Army." Yes, in addition, Li Jing will be given the title of General Jinwu, and the champion will be added to the ranks of the generals." After a pause, he said, "In addition, Li Jing will be awarded the title of Marquis of the Eastern Founding of the East, and the reward will be three thousand. One thousand households."

(To be continued)