At the end of March, the city of Chang'an is full of spring and flowers are blooming. It is a good time of the year.
Years ago, Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty issued an order to build a large-scale Qujiang Garden regardless of financial or human resources.
Dotted with pavilions and pavilions have been built around Qujiang, and a large number of exotic flowers and rare trees have been transplanted.
This year's Qujiang Banquet was officially changed from a private event to one hosted by the palace.
The emperor gave a banquet to the ministers, and all civil and military officials in the capital could bring their families to attend. Not only that, the new scholars of Chunbang High School could also attend the banquet at this time to express their gratitude to the saints.
On this day, Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan held a banquet at Ziyun Tower by the Qujiang Pool. They also invited hundreds of civil and military officials, Jinshi, and nobles from aristocratic families.
In the attic, there are inner classrooms, left and right classrooms and other music and dance performances on the stage.
Outside the building, folk music and dance groups also performed by the Qujiang Pond, and a large number of Chang'an people and merchants gathered.
Suddenly, there were banquets everywhere by the Qujiang Pond, with singing and dancing from time to time, and thousands of people gathered. The event was unprecedented.
In the first month of the imperial dynasty, Yang Guozhong was named the right prime minister by the saint. He was also appointed as Jing Zhaoyin, the imperial censor, and also served as the envoy to the capital and the customs. It can be said that he had power over the entire court.
At this time, Yang Guozhong was sitting at the main table in the building, accepting the flattery of the officials, with a look of enjoyment on his face.
Opposite him, An Lushan looked over while drinking wine, his face full of disdain.
After drinking the wine in the glass, An Lushan turned his head and looked at the seat again.
Princess Wanchun Yin Yu was talking to Li Longji, while Yang Yuhuan was holding Yin Yu's son Zhou Xiao, teasing him and laughing non-stop.
After thinking again and again, An Lushan left the table and walked up to Yang Guozhong, raised his glass and said with a smile: "Lushan congratulates Youxiang Yang."
Yang Guozhong saw that An Lushan did not bow or salute, and his attitude was quite arrogant. He was angry and said: "There is a banquet in Qujiang today. There are all talented and learned people. You are a Hu man, learn more articles and come back."
Let’s talk about congratulations.”
When An Lushan heard this, he became furious.
Staring at Yang Guozhong, seeing that he didn't care at all and chatting and laughing with others, An Lushan suppressed his anger, turned around and left with a livid face.
Back at the desk, An Lushan became angrier as he thought about it, and simply left Ziyun Tower.
A person walked by the pavilion door, but it was Ji Wen.
He quietly came to An Lushan's side and said in a low voice: "The right Prime Minister's holy family is prosperous. Doctor An, please don't get angry over trivial matters."
An Lushan: "The right prime minister, the right prime minister of the fart!"
Jiwen said quickly: "Be careful what you say! Be careful what you say!"
An Lushan walked a few more steps, came to a deserted place, and said: "Li Linfu is the right prime minister, good at strategizing, and cunning as a fox. An is convinced to lose. Yang Guozhong is the right prime minister, who does he mean?"
thing!"
Ji Wen looked around and saw no one around, so he advised: "The Yang family is very popular in Chang'an City because of the concubine's favor. Yang Guozhong has even won the favor of the saint. Don't target him, the doctor."
An Lushan: "Yang Guozhong relied on the imperial concubine to get the position of right prime minister. How could I not know what kind of idiot he is? You advised Lushan not to fight with him, but An Mou has a hard time talking about it. At the moment I suffer
I won His Majesty's appreciation and made him jealous, so he made things difficult for me everywhere!"
Jiwen sighed helplessly.
An Lushan said in a deep voice: "I can't stay in Chang'an any longer. I will go back to Fan Yang when I find a chance... You must do what I told you before..."
Before he finished speaking, the rapid sound of horse hooves was heard on the official road outside Quchi, and the shout of the official messenger was heard.
"Great victory! Great victory in Shazhou!"
An Lushan was stunned when he heard this, left Ji Wen behind, and returned to the banquet in Ziyun Tower.
Not long after, a messenger ran into the pavilion panting and knelt down in the main hall.
Hearing the messenger's shout, the singing and dancing in Ziyun Tower had long stopped, and the crowds had cleared out. Li Longji opened his eyes wide, looked at the messenger nervously, and asked in a deep voice: "What's going on in Shazhou?"
The messenger took a long breath, knelt down and said: "The prince-in-law Zhou Jun led the Doulu army of 3,700 people, the Moli army of 5,000 people and the guards, the rebel army and other departments, and fought with the 25,000 troops of the Tubo army.
In Dunhuang, Shazhou. After three days of bloody fighting, the Tang army annihilated 10,000 Tubo troops and captured 9,000 enemies. The Tubo enemy chief Mang Suzhen was also killed in random arrows. Ziting Town was restored, and there was no trace of the enemy in the north of Longle Mountain!"
"good!"
Li Longji yelled and stood up suddenly. Due to his excessive excitement, he accidentally knocked over the desk in front of him.
With his face full of joy and his body shaking constantly, Li Longji rubbed his hands and laughed: "I know it, I know it!"
The Princess of Wanchun, Yin Yu, who was sitting at the table, said urgently to the messenger: "Did the battle report say anything else? The prince-in-law is fine?"
Messenger: "The prince-in-law is safe and sound, and the Tang army has lost less than a thousand men."
Hearing this, Li Longji could no longer suppress the joy in his heart, and said with a dancing smile: "I was not wrong about the person at the beginning! Zhou Jun is really my lucky general, and even the blessed general of the Tang Dynasty! Haha!"
All the civil and military officials and nobles in the palace congratulated the Prime Minister one after another.
Only two of them looked calm.
During the wonderful Qujiang Banquet, Yang Guozhong was robbed of the limelight, and he felt unhappy. Seeing that His Majesty kept talking about Zhou Jun's good deeds, he became even more alert.
Yang Guozhong secretly thought that Zhou Jun was highly appreciated by the saints. If he returned to Chang'an, he would be reused, and his prestige in the court would definitely be hit. If possible, it would be best to let Zhou Jun stay outside like this for the rest of his life.
, never return to Chang'an, only in this way can you maintain your position.
While Yang Guozhong was thinking this, another person was also thinking a lot.
A great victory in Shazhou, the prince-in-law is very powerful.
Such cheers kept echoing in his ears, and his eyes were filled with the joy of the people of the Tang Dynasty. Although An Lushan had a smile on his face, his heart was full of heaviness.
By drinking to hide the calculation in his eyes, An Lushan whispered in a voice that only he could hear: "Zhou Jun..."
On the other side, Bachuan Villa.
In a remote study room in another courtyard, Kong You was sitting on one side of the desk, and on the other side sat a bearded Buddhist monk.
Kong You looked at the monk and whispered: "Is, I have no comment on your speculations."
Yisi stared into Kong You's eyes and said: "I don't expect to get the answer from you whether Zhou Lang is related to Yinglong. It doesn't matter who gave Yinglong's book to me in the first place."
Kong You: "Then what do you want to know?"
Yis took out a book from his arms, and it turned out to be the latest issue of the Yinglong Heavenly Book.
Opening the pages of the book, Yis read: "In the eighth month of the twelfth year of Tianbao, on the Guannai Road, heavy rain fell on the city, and the crops were destroyed. In the ninth month, a severe drought followed, and a great famine followed."
"In the thirteenth year of Tianbao, floods and droughts continued in Guannai Road, and also affected Gyeonggi Road, Hedong Road, Henan Road, Shannan Road, and Huainan Road. Houses in dozens of states were completely ruined, prices were skyrocketing, people were homeless, and people were hungry.
Millions, nothing to eat."
"The people were very hungry, so they began to collect bark and leaves, pound them into powder, or boil the soil for food. When everything was gone, they ate each other."
"The son of Yi killed his younger brother to satisfy his hunger; the woman took the dead son, cooked it and cried..."
Looking at the shocking words at the back, Yis almost felt like retching, but he couldn't read anymore. He put the Yinglong Heavenly Book on the desk and asked Kong You: "Are the tragic scenes in the book true?"
Kong You: "Is there any false statement in the Book of Heaven?"
Yis stood up and grabbed the table with both hands: "Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has never been such a disaster. This is a catastrophe that is rare in a century!"
Kong You looked at Yisi coldly and remained silent.
Yis: "Such a serious disaster should be reported to the court as soon as possible so that the government can make preparations to minimize losses!"
Kong You looked at Yisi, calm and relaxed, and only said one sentence: "Will they believe it?"
Just this sentence made Iss stand there, at a loss.
Yes...will the government believe it?
Seeing Yi Yi stunned, Kong You said again: "Not only will they not believe it, they will also sentence you to beheading for the crime of misleading the public with evil words."
Iss slowly sat down and put his hands in his hair, a look of despair on his face.
Kong You patted the Yinglong Heavenly Book with his palm: "What you can do now is to do your best to attract as many Yinglong believers as possible before the disaster occurs and spread the Yinglong doctrine to them."
Yis closed his eyes and nodded slightly.
Kong You: "Those who believe will live, those who doubt will die. Yinglong has his own arrangements for all fates."