Soon the annual Yuanzheng Festival, later known as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, arrived. Anxi, thousands of miles away, still has a strong flavor of the New Year.
Li Siye was busy with nothing all winter. Instead, he went to the blacksmith shop in Qiuci and built a strange iron pot. Then he tried every means to search for some spices, peppercorns, star anise, green onions, pickles, and sesame seeds. Again in the city of Anxi
He went to the drugstore and bought tangerine peel, cinnamon and other things. He also went to the sheep market and bought dozens of kilograms of mutton, which he hung in the yard all night. It was frozen to the bone by the next morning.
He immediately went back to the house and cut the mutton into slices with a kitchen knife, put it in the pickle jar in the yard and continued to freeze it. Then he fried the sesame seeds he bought in the pot, pounded them in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle, and then mixed it with oil.
into sesame paste.
In the remaining time, he went up the mountain outside the city to chop some pine branches and burned them into charcoal. He also bought some peach branches and peach charms in the market. The peach charms had the name of Shen Tu and Yu Lei written on them, and he hung them up when he returned home.
Outside the door.
On New Year's Eve, the 30th, he called Tian Zhen and Fujimu together, brought out the specially customized hot pot, put in the base ingredients and simmered it, and mixed it with mutton fat to make a white soup.
Tian Zhen picked up the wine cup, pointed at the iron pot and sesame paste in front of her and asked, "What is this?"
"Hot pot, let's see how I cook it later. You guys can try it."
He used chopsticks to open the air vent at the top of the pot, and the charcoal inside accelerated burning, and the thick soup in the pot immediately began to boil. Li Siye immediately poured the mutton slices into the soup pot, and then poured in the specialties of the Western Regions such as cabbage and celery.
The aroma of meat comes out immediately.
Tian Zhen and Fujimu smacked their lips and looked at Li Siye with saliva, waiting for his next order.
"Okay, let's eat."
Li Siye first took out the meat slices from the hot pot with chopsticks, then dipped the sesame sauce in the bowl and tasted it. The hot-boiled mutton tasted good. Although there was no chili pepper, the feeling and taste of the past could still be found.
Tian Zhen and Teng Mu followed his example and dipped mutton in sesame sauce. Their appetites were immediately whetted and they ate like crazy. Fortunately, Li Siye cut more than ten kilograms of mutton to satisfy these two big-bellied warriors.
Tian Zhen's mouth was full of oil after eating, and he said jokingly: "If you can spend your time on making food for Lai Duhu, there is no need to worry about the uncertainty of your official position."
Li Siye just smiled. This Laidu Protector was always cautious, and he would not put himself in danger just because of a delicious meal.
But time is running fast. By March or April, things in the DPRK will come to a tragic end, or maybe there will be another beginning.
…
In early April of the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, Zhang Jiuling stood on the bank of Baqiao wearing civilian clothes, looking in the direction of Chang'an, with infinite worries in his heart.
The supervisory censor Zhou Ziliang went to court to impeach Niu Xianke and quoted a prophecy he had found from nowhere, saying that based on the prophecy in the book, Niu Xianke was not qualified to be prime minister.
Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty hated this method of using rumors to attack political opponents the most. He immediately ordered him to be pushed to the ground and served with sticks. He beat Zhou Ziliang to death. When he woke up, Xuanzong was still angry.
He also asked people to beat him up, and finally issued an order to exile him to Lingnan.
Zhou Ziliang was dying. How could he have walked to Lingnan? He died just after leaving Chang'an.
How could Li Linfu miss this opportunity to attack his political opponents? He immediately complained in front of Xuanzong, saying that Zhou Ziliang was recommended by Zhang Jiuling. The implication was that the mastermind behind the impeachment was Zhang Jiuling.
This was the superficial reason why he, the former prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was demoted to the position of governor of Jing, but the deeper reason had already been laid. He repeatedly opposed the emperor, forming a sharp contrast with Li Linfu, who was in harmony with him.
Zhang Jiuling looked at the sparkling water of the Weihe River. His heart was just like the Weihe River, tired and bitter. Emperor Xuanzong, who was once good at accepting advice, had undergone a transformation. He was already keen to enjoy the prosperity brought about by the Kaiyuan rule.
What he didn't know was that the glory of the Kaiyuan era was ending, and the core of the Tang Dynasty had gradually gone downhill.
Shortly after Zhang Jiuling left the court, Li Linfu and Concubine Wu Hui's party couldn't wait to launch an attack on the prince Li Ying. The content of the complaint was also very old-fashioned. It was nothing more than that the prince Li Ying had formed a party with Li Yao, the king of E, and Li Ju, the king of Guang, and had resentments.
A fatal piece of content was posted - the prince and the prince's brother Xue Xi secretly colluded in an attempt to launch a rebellion!
Li Longji doesn't know whether to believe such accusations, but for an emperor like him who started his career through coups, he would rather believe it than not. Even if your brothers didn't commit rebellion, what on earth are you plotting together all day long?
Li Longji directly summoned the prime minister to the palace for discussion without investigation. Zhang Jiuling, who could protect the prince, had been demoted. Li Linfu wanted to overthrow the East Palace and support King Shou to ascend the throne, so the prince must die.
When Li Longji asked Li Linfu for his opinion, he only said one sentence: "Your Majesty's family affairs are not for us ministers to interfere with."
This is a very clever answer. He can't say that I support His Majesty's dethronement of the crown prince. He can only say that I can't interfere. In fact, he has already made up his mind for the emperor.
Li Longji, who had no ministers to interfere, killed his sons without mercy. He first issued an edict deposing them as common people, exiled Xue Xiu to Lingnan, and then issued a second edict to kill the common people Li Ying, Li Yao and Li Ju.
…
Li Ying, who had become a commoner, and his brothers were imprisoned in the east post station of the city. He stood in front of the sealed door and window, with only a crack coming in. What was he thinking at this time? He might have thought of Li Siye's words, which he once warned.
He wanted to isolate himself in order to lead himself away. Among the crimes the emperor condemned him was forming a clique between brothers.
I regret that I didn't listen to Si Ye's words and ended up sending myself into a death trap.
The emperor sent an internal eunuch and announced an edict outside the inn: "Common people Li Ying, Li Yao and Li Ju formed a secret party with the intention of treason. The crime will not be pardoned and they will be sentenced to death immediately."
The prince finally despaired. While he and his brothers lamented their father's ruthlessness, they also cursed the vicious Concubine Wu Hui, and would not let her go even if she turned into a ghost. The three brothers hung Bai Ling on the beam of the house, feeling unwilling to do so for the time being.
His resentment finally reached the end of his life.
After the news of the murder of the emperor's three sons spread in Chang'an, the government and the public were shocked. A prince who had been a prince for more than 20 years and had never made any big mistakes was suddenly killed.
The news spread along Chang'an, and the governors and military governors from various places began to send people back and forth to deliver the message. This was a drastic change that shocked the Tang Dynasty. Zhang Jiuling was demoted, which heralded the end of an era, and the prince's
His killing marked the reshaping of the future possibilities of the Tang Dynasty.
Lai Yao of the Anxi Protectorate also received news from Chang'an. This news was first delivered to Xiao Ting, the military officer who recorded affairs. Xiao Ting was not only surprised, but also pleasantly surprised. He did not expect that the Prince of the East Palace was not only deposed, but also
The physical body was completely destroyed, which was beyond his expectation.
When he told the news to the Governor of Lai Yao, the Governor of Lai Yao also sat cross-legged in silence. It took him a long time to react, and he sighed helplessly: "It's really unpredictable. The saint has been deceived."
Li Siye has not received any news from Chang'an yet, but he has no foresight and knows that Prince Li Ying's life span is coming to an end soon.
The news must have reached Lai Yao's ears. He no longer needs to consider the forces in the court, let alone the prince, for his appointment. There must be an appointment.