Liangyi Hall, where the emperor held court.
In addition to summoning people to ask questions or holding small court meetings, Li Yuan often entertained his ministers here. The famous Banquet of Beasts was held here.
Of course, Li Yuan and Pei Ji usually drank in the Manlu Palace, which was the emperor's palace and was within the restricted scope of the palace. Ordinary ministers could not enter.
Li Po now lives in the Liangyi Palace. He can summon foreign ministers here at any time, and it is not as deep and solemn as the Taiji Palace. Therefore, Li Po chose it and it became his temporary residence.
As for the harem... Li Po hasn't been in it yet. There are many women inside, and all the men want to go in and have a look, but he stops when he thinks that it was Li Yuan's territory.
In fact, according to current customs and habits, since he led troops into Xijing, everything Li Yuan, a loser, owned before belongs to his new master, including his wives and concubines.
Regardless of whether it is in the Central Plains or outside the Great Wall, this seems to be a conventional rule, but it is more primitive on the grasslands.
But after all, Li Po didn't have such good teeth, and he was too busy with military and political affairs to make trouble for himself. Li Bi happened to be energetic and would rather live in the inner courtyard of the palace and play around with the six palaces.
Because of the emperor's majesty, the responsibility of organizing the harem naturally fell into the hands of Li Bi.
These days, the husband and wife live in two separate places across the inner palace wall, and have been living in peace and harmony.
Li Po didn't ask anything about what was going on there. In other words, the less concerned he showed, the happier Li Bi would be. The couple had been together for many years, and this sense of propriety was something they had come to easily.
But tonight's whereabouts were a bit strange, which naturally broke the tacit understanding between the couple.
When Li Po returned to Liangyi Hall and prepared to have a good sleep, the scene he saw was his wife leaning on the couch, pretending to be holding a book, and reading quietly by candlelight.
The palace people had long since disappeared, and the room was quiet. Li Po looked around, sighing secretly, what would he do if he became an emperor? The people around him can't sell you out, and if there is any slightest trouble, this woman will take it away.
News has arrived...
Huh, don't push me too hard, otherwise I will live in the harem and make your teeth sore every day without even looking at you.
He felt cruel in his heart, but he still came to the couch and said, "What book are you reading? Let me take a look."
Li Bi then raised her eyes and glanced at him, then snorted and turned away, saying that she was very annoyed, don't talk to me, I'm too lazy to talk to you.
Li Po rolled his eyelids, you tigress, it's a little late to imitate other cats.
Carefully, he stepped forward and put his arm around the other person's shoulders, ready to react at any time when the other person was angry. Then he dared to use a little force, "I'm talking to you, but you don't know. I got good news today, and I'm very happy..."
Sure enough, as soon as the book was put down, he grabbed his arm and wanted to overthrow him on the couch.
Unfortunately, he was already prepared. He shook his arm and pulled it back. He backed away and said, "Don't make trouble. This is the Liangyi Palace, where the emperor meets..."
Over there, Li Bi had already pounced on her, and she was not idle, "It turns out something happy has happened, let me tell you."
The couple finally stopped being polite and clattered together. Occasionally someone screamed in pain, and the other sounds were the clashing sounds of fists and feet.
There is probably only one couple like this in the world who can turn a simple matter between husband and wife into such a fierce confrontation.
In the end, it was Li Po who suffered a big loss. The mother-in-law, who had raised smooth fur and was filled with jealousy, completely gained the upper hand, causing her husband to feel sore all over and begging for mercy again and again.
Naturally, Li Po never expected that someone else would beg him to get retribution so quickly.
…………………………………………
"The same goes for husbands. As a married woman, and not long after Li Yuan and his son died, you came to visit me. It spreads out that your reputation is not good? This is too hasty...
But yes, after all, we haven’t seen each other for so many years, which is understandable... I come from a womanly family, so it’s not easy to take too much care in these matters. If you take care of it too much, it will make people talk just like in Jinyang.
It’s better for you, husband, to use your own mouse tail juice.”
After enough trouble, Li Bi found a new set of clothes and put them on, chattering words that she didn't even believe. Then she ignored the loser and went back triumphantly to continue being the Lord of the Sixth Palace.
.
That night Li Po dreamed of a very big tiger and chased him all night. When he woke up, everything felt wrong. He endured the pain and got up and stretched for a while before he could get over it.
Having already cursed loudly, the woman's attacks became more and more severe.
Fortunately, it was not like before. Li Bi was so angry that she just greeted Li Po's face regardless. This time, she saved him face and did not receive a few blows on his face. If you look closely, you can see that it is a little red and swollen.
After some family education, Li Po became completely honest.
In fact, this is not a big deal at all. Not to mention that Li Po didn't do anything outside. Even if he did, most of his methods these days were just to bring as many women from outside into his home as possible.
There were very few people who made trouble. After all, the family scandal should not be publicized. A strong woman like Li Bi would only protest at most and not treat it as something serious. A fight with her husband was already shocking.
Lift.
For example, the famous tigress in Fang Xuanling's family in Chang'an City only used a stick or something like a stick to slap her husband's fleshy area a few times and told him not to mess with me.
So later on, many people missed how things were before, and that’s normal. Who doesn’t like to take advantage?
And because this was an era when Hu Feng spread to the south, and the atmosphere was particularly open, women were actually far less constrained than they were later, especially when Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism was dominant.
Of course, Li Po wouldn't think so much. He had gotten used to it over the years. Not only did he know Li Bi's character clearly, but he was also inseparable from Li Bi. Therefore, the two always had a tacit understanding and the family was very harmonious.
Occasionally, if you get emotional, like last night, you can compete with each other and you will know who is more reasonable.
Li Po still has endless things to do in front of him, so he can't make trouble for himself.
Qu Tutong surrendered, which was even more exciting than the night visit to the princess's mansion. Detailed battle reports arrived in Chang'an one after another. After two or three days, the process became clear as if it was happening before our eyes.
In fact, it was also expected that if the troops led by Li Shimin and Qu Tutong joined forces, they would still have the strength to fight. After all, two to three hundred thousand troops, whether they were advancing westward or returning eastward, would have the power to change the situation.
However, Li Shimin's troops were defeated one after another halfway, and almost the entire army was wiped out. Qu Tutong's more than 100,000 troops stationed on the Qinzhou front line were immediately embarrassed.
In fact, this still cannot be attributed to the ferocity of their enemies, how fast their actions were, and how accurate their strategies and tactics were. A large part of the reason was actually due to the fact that the Tang Army had already been shaken internally.
Li Shimin's westward retreat was too slow because the generals had disagreements and gathered too many people and supplies along the way. The Tang army was defeated in one battle, with low morale and lack of military discipline as important reasons.
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On the other side, Qu Tutong's Ministry had received a message from Li Shimin, but what did he do? He was stationed in Qinzhou and did not lead his army to meet Li Shimin.
Fufeng was not far away from Qinzhou. He almost watched Li Shimin's troops be defeated by Fufeng, which was equivalent to standing by and watching death without saving anything.
Why?
The answer is simply too simple. What does it mean when King Li Shimin of Qin's army was defeated and fled to the west? Chang'an has been lost? Losing Xijing is almost equivalent to losing most of Kansai.
Li Shimin's men had already made it very clear in their analysis that it was very dangerous to join Qu Tutong. Qu Tutong had seen the decline of the Li family and if he was unwilling to let go of his military power, then an internal strife in the Tang army would be inevitable.
It would be much safer to go to Shuzhong. Even if Li Xiaogong had some relapses, they could first occupy Hanzhong and wait and see.
Sure enough, Li Shimin and his army continued to advance westward and encountered the worst result. Not only were they overtaken by enemy troops halfway, but there was no movement at all from Qu Tutong.
This has actually revealed the final result.
Yuchi Gong led his troops into Qinzhou and faced off with Qu Tutong for several days, but failed to persuade him to surrender. Zhang Lun, Xue Wanche and others arrived one after another with only a few tens of thousands of troops.
However, the morale of the Hundred Battles Division was high. They had just defeated Li Shimin's army of more than 100,000 people who fled westward, and captured countless prisoners. Not to mention that Qu Tutong's troops in front of them only had more than 100,000 people. Even with hundreds of thousands of people, they had nearly two people.
The Jin army of Wanqi also has the determination and confidence to defeat them in a single battle.
Zhang Lun also brought a letter written by Li Po urging him to surrender.
From a strategic point of view, Qu Tutong's surrender is also inevitable. Once the key passes such as Fufeng are lost, the connection between Qinzhou and Shuzhong will be cut off, which means that the Qinzhou army will not only lose a stable rear like Guanxi, but
Moreover, they also lost the supply of grain and grass in Shuzhong.
For the Tang army in Qinzhou, this was similar to the defenders of Tongguan, almost in a dead end.
Qu Tutong was also unlucky. Whether it was due to himself or other reasons such as the times, he was considered a relatively unlucky guy, and every failure was painful.
The first time he was blocked in Tongguan and had to surrender, the second time he was blocked in Qinzhou, almost repeating the original story, and each time it was not a crime of war, you say he was a coward or not.
So Qu Tutong surrendered as a matter of course. Just like before when he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, he killed some people who were unwilling to surrender, and then led his army to offer Qinzhou. Qinzhou changed hands again. If Xue Rengao had known better, he would have laughed like a pig.
The decline of Qututong means that Guanxi is gradually becoming complete.
No matter Liang Shidu, Li Daozong, or even the direction of Guzang, they no longer pose too many threats, because they are all barren lands that people in the Central Plains often say have limited development potential and cannot raise many soldiers.
Li Po and his ministers discussed who should be dealt with next. Needless to say, it was Li Xiaogong from Shu.
This chapter has been completed!