The biggest problem of scholars is that they are too arrogant. They seem to become omniscient saints after reading a few books. They can even say such bastards as "all things are inferior, only those who study at high levels."

Even the state officials of the Han Dynasty were called Mu, because in their eyes, the people in the world were like cattle and sheep, while officials who had read books were sheepmen. In other words, people who had never read books were livestock in their eyes and needed their guidance to survive.

The Song Dynasty was the golden age of scholars. In this era, the identity of scholars was infinitely elevated, especially after the imperial examination, Donghuamen's name was regarded as the highest honor by countless people. Even if a general made the military achievements of destroying the country outside, he would not be as good as the Donghuamen's name when he came back. This also made scholars even more proud. Even the generals who were ministers in the palace were not taken seriously by them, and they were not even interested in industries such as workers, farmers, and businessmen.

In addition to discrimination against other industries, Confucianism also looks down on women, otherwise there would be no such saying, "Only women and villains are difficult to raise." In their eyes, women only admire men's vassals. Liu E can handle government affairs now not because she is capable, but because she is Zhao Heng's wife. All the power in her hands is based on Zhao Heng and Zhao Zhen and his son.

It is precisely because of the arrogance above that although Liu E is in power now, the ministers in the court still look down on her. For example, when it comes to Ding Wei's possible autonomy, Li Di has never considered Liu E's attitude, and I don't know if he deliberately ignored it or never thought about this issue?

"Do you think if Ding Wei is tyrant, the queen will be Ding Wei's opponent?" Li Di frowned and asked back. Even after Li Zhang's reminder, he still felt a little unbelievable. It was not that he did not believe that Liu E would attack Ding Wei, but that he did not believe that Liu E's ability.

"No one can say that this kind of thing will not be the last moment, but I believe the queen will definitely not tolerate someone dominating the court!" Li Zhang said with great certainty at this time.

In fact, it is normal for Liu E to drive Li Di away and keep Ding Wei, because Zhao Heng will not be able to do it soon. Zhao Zhen is too young, so Liu E must grasp the government affairs, which also requires someone in the court to cooperate with her. Li Di has always opposed Liu E's control over the politics. Although Ding Wei and Liu E have a gap, the two have worked together before, so in comparison, Liu E is more willing to keep Ding Wei.

However, Li Zhang knew that Ding Wei's unlucky days were not far away when Li Di left. If he could honestly cooperate with Liu E to control the government, Liu E would not touch him for the time being. However, Ding Wei was so proud that he was rampant. He began to take over power when Zhao Heng died, which was simply a traitor. As a result, Liu E quickly found an excuse to deal with him and was directly sent to Hainan Island to fish.

Li Zhang and Li Di walked and chatted. At this time, they also came outside the city gate. Those who came to see him off were gathered here. After Li Di's carriage arrived here, these people also stepped forward. Li Di also got off the carriage and said goodbye to his friends who saw him off. Li Zhang also jumped off the carriage at this time, but no one paid attention to him. He probably regarded him as Li Di's children and grandchildren.

Looking at Li Di who was surrounded by everyone, Li Zhang did not last time, but turned around and left after bowing a long time. However, he knew that he and Li Di would definitely meet again, because as far as he knew, after Zhao Zhen took power, Li Di was transferred back to the capital again and was always trusted by Zhao Zhen. After his death, he was extremely mournful and much better than Ding Weike.

Just as Li Zhang turned around and left, the dark sky finally floated with scattered snowflakes, falling on his face, which made Li Zhang stop and reached out to take a few white snowflakes. He couldn't help but sigh: "It's snowing, and the capital is finally about to change the sky!"

Time flies very quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it is the time for the Chinese New Year. The court also had a holiday. Li Zhang didn't have to go to the palace to watch potatoes every day. In fact, the potatoes are well preserved, and he rarely flips them. Usually, he just needs to go and see them every few days, and there is no need to go there every day.

It was the Chinese New Year. Li Zhang thought he could have a lively Spring Festival, but it was during the Spring Festival that he realized that the Song Dynasty actually did not pay attention to the Spring Festival. Just like a less important festival in later generations, the real important festival was actually the Shangyuan Festival, that is, the fifteenth and sixteenth day of the first lunar month. This was the most important festival in the Song Dynasty. At that time, the streets and alleys were full of lanterns, and even the big girls and wives who did not leave the door and would go out for fun.

Li Zhang is not unfamiliar with the Shangyuan Festival. After all, there are also this festival in later generations. In addition, he has long been famous for the lanterns in Kaifeng City. In later generations, Song Jiang and others would rather risk their heads beheading than go to the capital to appreciate the lanterns in the city. This shows the charm of the Shangyuan Festival lanterns.

Early on the morning of the 15th, Xiuxiu and Li'er and other girls stayed at home after breakfast, because they had to accumulate energy for the lanterns to visit at night. After all, Tokyo City has lifted the curfew in the past two days, so they also planned to play all night. Li Zhang and Douzi helped Lao Dao and others to set up lanterns in front of the door. On this day, every household has lanterns. It is said that the bigger the lanterns, the more pedestrians it attracts, and the more prosperous the family will be in the coming year.

Not only did Li Zhang's family want to set up lanterns, but the Huyan family next to them are also set up lanterns. Huyan's family is more and more fast. After setting up the lanterns, Huyan Shouxin also brought a group of brothers to help. Now the Huyan family also knows that their idea of ​​raising ducks at home was made by Li Zhang, and the ducks raised were also acquired by Li Zhang, so they are very polite to the Li Zhang's family. The two families often go around and get closer.

"Brother Shouxin, your lanterns are really unique!" Li Zhang smiled as he looked at the lanterns of Huyan's family beside him while working.

The lanterns of Huyan's family were made into the shape of a group of cavalry. There were paper horses underneath, and paper men were riding on top. They were holding swords and arrows on their backs as if they were charging. Originally, these cavalry lamps should be very powerful and also matched the identity of the generals of the Huyan family. However, the skills of tying lamps were not up to standard, which made the paper horses and paper people tied out to look quite strange. It even reminded Li Zhang of the paper people who were tying at the funeral of later generations. Such a group of people standing at the door of Huyan's house, and those who don't know would think who their family was going to send a funeral to?

"Well~, there is no way. Although my family made some money this year, they couldn't spend it randomly, so these lights were made by their family. They look bad now, and when the lights are lit at night, it will be much more beautiful." Hu Yan Shouxin also knew that his lights were not very good, so he smiled awkwardly.

"Does the holiday mean that the family is lively, but my family has too few people. At most, I just need to make some decorative small lamps. The main lamp still needs to be made." Li Zhang also smiled at this time. His lamp was a rockery lamp, and he spent a lot of money to hire a lantern craftsman to do it. After all, it is so happy that the holiday is so happy that the money that should be spent. Now the family has made a lot of money, and he is also planning to buy some servants after the New Year.

With the help of Huyan's family, the rockery lights were quickly installed. Li Yonghe also brought a lot of dried fruit snacks from the kitchen. Huyan Shouxin and the others were not polite, so they grabbed a few handfuls before saying goodbye.

In the afternoon, Li Zhang was also preparing to take a break and accumulate some energy for the evening lantern appreciation. However, before he could go to bed, someone suddenly came from the palace. This time it was not sent by Liu E, but by Zhao Zhen, who said he wanted to invite him into the palace to appreciate the lanterns in the palace.

After receiving Zhao Zhen's summons, Li Zhang couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that today's plan was going to be ruined. Zhao Zhen invited himself to the palace to watch the lanterns, obviously trying to find someone to accompany him. After all, Zhao Zhen could not leave the palace during such a festival that was celebrated all over the world, and Zhao Heng was seriously ill. Liu E had to deal with government affairs and took care of Zhao Heng. In this way, Zhao Zhen would naturally feel lonely.

Although Zhao Zhen's summoning disrupted Li Zhang's plan, he finally decided to enter the palace. After all, there were not many more people at home, and not many less people at home. However, Zhao Zhen was a little pitiful. Apart from Miao Yuan, he probably had no one to accompany him. Of course, there were concubines such as Yang Guifei in the palace, but they were all adults after all, and there was still a generation gap with children like Zhao Zhen.

So Li Zhang explained to his family and then followed the eunuch into the palace. Although Li Er was a little reluctant to leave him, Xiuxiu and the others accompanied him, and finally agreed to let Li Zhang go.

During the Chinese New Year, the palace was decorated with lights and the palace maids and eunuchs were smiling. After all, they also needed to relax during this festival that celebrated together. Although Zhao Heng's illness brought some heavy atmosphere to the palace, Zhao Heng's condition did not worsen again, so the atmosphere in the palace gradually relaxed a little.

When Li Zhang came to Jingfu Hall, he saw Miao Yuan also here just by surprise. The brother and sister were bored playing cards. When they saw Li Zhang coming in, they were excited and said, "Cousin, you are here. It's too boring for us to celebrate the festival!"

"It's even more boring to play cards. Let's go and lanterns!" Li Zhang went forward and collected the cards in his hands, then pulled them out. During the holidays, he had to find something to play by himself, otherwise he would definitely be bored just staying in the room.

The materials for making lanterns in the palace were all ready-made. Under the leadership of Li Zhang, Zhao Zhen and Miaoyuan quickly became interested. The three of them made three lanterns together. It was already dark, so they lit the lanterns and walked on the path in the palace with the lanterns. The palace was full of lanterns. Although they were not as lively as outside the palace, they were also very beautiful.

After the three of them wandered around the palace, Li Zhang suddenly thought of Liu E, so he asked Zhao Zhen: "Where is the eldest lady, she should have a rest on the Lantern Festival, right?"

"I don't know, when my father was in good health, he would take us to the imperial city to see outside every year, but this year my father was seriously ill and the eldest lady had no time to care about us." Zhao Zhen said in great disappointment at this time. It was precisely because of this reason that he sent someone to invite Li Zhang.
Chapter completed!