Chang'an ancient meaning

When Prince Li Chengqi stepped into the side hall, he felt a chill coming over his face, so he breathed a sigh of relief.He is already nine years old, and today the queen mother finally issued an edict to make him the crown prince.The canonization ceremony in the morning lasted until the afternoon. He was wearing a heavy crown. In the scorching hot summer of Luoyang, he was not only dizzy from the heat, but also sluggish with hunger, but he didn't dare to ask the eunuch beside him for a sip of water.He silently recited the etiquette responses he had memorized in advance over and over in his heart, for fear that there might be a slight mistake.

Since Xu Jingye's rebellion in Yangzhou two years ago, in order to avoid suspicion, Li Dan lived in a side hall. Every day in the Zichen Hall, the courtiers could no longer see the emperor's figure. In the ethereal fragrance, there was only the purple veil Gently flicking, the empress dowager's clear voice conveyed her will to the courtiers of the Tang Dynasty.Only on the new year's day every year, and today's scene of the crown prince, can the courtiers have the honor to see the imperial face of the "son of heaven" Li Dan.

The canonization ceremony finally passed smoothly, and the Empress Dowager held a family banquet in the Hebi Palace in Xiyuan, the capital of the gods, to celebrate the prince.Hebi Palace is a cool summer palace. To the east is Ningbi Pond with a radius of several miles. Three green hills are reflected in the clear water. The names of these three mountains are also taken from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, namely: Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou. Take the meaning of overseas fairy mountains.Every summer, the Empress Dowager would move from the Wude Palace to the Mingde Palace in Xiyuan to escape the summer heat. It seemed that the sadness of Prince Hongbao's death here had been washed away by the pattering rain.

Li Chengqi took the rose dew brought up by the court lady, and drank two cups like a cup of sweet rain.Li Chengqi heaved a sigh of relief when an eunuch brought up the uniform and Yishan crown worn for the banquet, first untied the jade belt, and carefully placed the fish bag around his waist on the plate.Then he sat down and said, "Help me remove the hairpin."

Suddenly he heard a crisp child's voice behind him saying: "Cousin! I'm here to play with you!" Li Chengqi turned his head, and saw that it was his six-year-old cousin Xue Chongjian, who was brought by his aunt Princess Taiping to celebrate today's family banquet. Come into the palace.Xue Chongjian has become more and more lovely in the past two years, with a pair of black and clear eyes on her white and tender round face, and two small hair combs on her hair, like a doll made of white jade.His stature has not yet grown, and he still has some baby fat. Today he only wears a short summer shirt, and there is a shallow pleat on the snow-white baby flesh under his neck.Princess Taiping always likes to tie bells on his feet, and when he hops and runs in, it makes a series of ding-dong sounds.

He ran to Li Chengqi's side, grabbed the jade beads hanging from his crown and smiled, "Your hat is so fun, there are so many beads!" The rhino horn hairpin on Li Chengqi's head has not been removed, and he is afraid that he will damage it After touching Yu Yan, she had no choice but to follow his tugging and nod her head once and for all.Xue Chongjian made a new discovery, and said happily, "Cousin! You look like grandma's parrot is pecking rice!" Li Chengqi could only smile, held his hand, gently pulled out a string of beads, and said with a smile: "Huanu is good, this is not fun."

At this time, the eunuch had already removed the hairpin on the crown, Li Chengqi took a breath, there was no longer any obstacle in front of his eyes, and suddenly he felt that the world was much brighter.Xue Chongjian begged: "Give me this cousin's hat. I've played with daddy's hat before, but I don't have so many beads. When you wear it, it will definitely ring when you shake your head, just like my bell." Li Chengqi laughed in his heart. , I thought to myself, they didn't allow me to shake my head, so they hung so many beads.He only said to him: "This is not mine. After wearing it today, it will be put away by my father."

Xue Chongjian stuck out his tongue and said, "Uncle is so stingy. Then let me play for a while, just for a while! Cousin..." He dragged his voice, clung to Li Chengqi's arm, and smiled salivatingly. Stained with a little dust, full of pleas full of expectations.

Li Chengqi groaned in his heart. Ever since Hua Nu could speak, he knew that these two words were his trump card. If he used them when necessary, he would be invincible without bloodshed.Li Chengqi hesitated for a moment, seeing that there was no outsider in the hall, he stretched out his hand to gently pinch his pink face, and said with a smile, "Okay, just one, don't break it."

With a cheer, Xue Chongjian picked up the crown and put it on his head. He didn't put the topknot up, so he buckled down the crown until it covered his eyes.He shook his head from side to side and right to left, and as expected, the pearls and jades collided with each other, and the ding dong cleared up.

Li Longji, Li Chengqi's third younger brother, did not know when he came in, and suddenly stepped forward, stretched his arms, took off the crown, turned around and put it on the plate.Xue Chongjian was stunned and said, "What are you doing!" Although Li Longji was only two months older than Xue Chongjian, he seemed to be much more mature than Xue Chongjian, and said indifferently, "I can't play with this for you." no!"

Li Longji turned his face and glanced at him and said: "This is my Li family's property, outsiders can't touch it." Xue Chongjian has been close to Li Chengqi since childhood, and he was very upset when Li Longji said that he was an outsider, and said: "My cousin belongs to me." You are the outsider!" He stretched out his hand and grabbed Dagonmian in the pan, Li Longji shoved him hard, Li Cheng and Xue Chongjian fell two steps, Li Chengqi Fang shouted: "Crow slave (1)!" Xue Chongjian rushed again He came up and grabbed Li Longji's collar, and immediately twisted into a ball.

The eunuchs who were watching the joke hurried forward and hugged the two of them away. Like Zha Lingzi's little rooster, the two of them were still dissatisfied with each other, kicking their legs and staring at each other, as if they were fighting to the death.The Zhongshu ordered Pei Yan to come in from the outside, apparently he did not expect to step into the battlefield, he couldn't help but wondered: "What's the matter?" The eunuch holding Xue Chongjian couldn't laugh or cry: "These two little ancestors are fighting again." Pei Yan left Going to Li Longji, he said: "You are the elder brother, you should let the younger brother be." Li Longji said angrily, "He takes the crown of the eldest brother!" Only then did Pei Yan realize the reason, and came over to stroke Xue Chongjian's head and said, "My little brother Sir, play with this." He took out a small fish carved in purple gold from the fish bag on his waist, and handed it to Xue Chongjian.

Xue Chongjian saw that the goldfish seemed very interesting, so he made a face at Li Longji and took the goldfish.Li Chengqi knew that the fish charm on the minister's waist was the entry and exit of the palace gate, so he looked at Pei Yan in surprise, and said to Xue Chongjian: "Huanu, you can't take this, return it to Prime Minister Pei quickly, and my cousin will give you something else to play with." .”

Pei Yan smiled faintly: "Let him take it, it's okay." He walked up to Li Chengqi and knelt down, looking up at this handsome young man who was nearly nine years old, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty tomorrow, no matter how you look at it, he looks a little too thin .His eyes warmed up slightly, and he said: "Your Highness, I came here to tell Your Highness that your teacher who will study in the pavilion has already been selected. He is Song Shoujie, the champion of the Gengwu Department in the third year of Zongzhang. I also hope that Your Highness will learn from him the way of self-cultivation and self-government." Seeing that he spoke solemnly, Li Chengqi was slightly shocked by the inexplicable expectation and hotness in his eyes, and hurriedly nodded: "I dare not live up to Prime Minister Pei's expectations."

Pei Yan's slightly aged eyes turned slowly to the crown of jewels and jade, and he sighed heavily: "We must guard Li Tang's thousands of miles of rivers and mountains!"

Xue Chongjian didn't have time to return the purple gold fish talisman to Pei Yan.

At the beginning of the banquet, the atmosphere was very harmonious. Princess Taiping brought the dance music from her family into the palace to celebrate her brother and sister-in-law. The only biological children beside the Empress Wu Zhao were Princess Taiping and Li Dan. Both Si and Wu Sansi also brought their families into the palace.Princess Taiping just gave birth to a daughter last year, and she was still held in her arms by the nanny. The two sons sat beside the son-in-law Xue Shao, and the four sons and two daughters of Emperor Li Dan were also allowed to attend.In addition, Wu Yanxiu, the son of Wu Chengsi, and Wu Chongxun, the son of Wu Sansi, there were more children than adults during the banquet, and they were not very old.

Wu Sansi originally teased Wu Yanxiu, his nephew, and asked him what his aspirations were when he grew up. Wu Yanxiu was obviously taught by his parents, and he said: "I will be a general in the future, expand the territory, and let the empress dowager's reputation spread far and wide. The queen mother was overjoyed, and immediately rewarded him with a small golden knife embellished with jewels, Li Dan just smiled along with his mother, without any embarrassment.Xue Chongjian looked at it, and immediately said loudly: "What's so great about the general, I will be a son-in-law when I grow up!"

The Queen Mother laughed and asked: "Why do you want to be a consort?" Xue Chongjian said proudly: "My father is a consort. I heard that I, Aunt, is also a concubine. My father is more beautiful and dignified than the adults who come to my house, so I want To be a son-in-law." Wu Zhao smiled at Princess Taiping, "The Xue family is an old family from Shandong, and has been married to the Tang Dynasty for generations, maybe his wish will really come true."

Empress Liu just gave birth to a little princess, named Li Hua, and hurriedly said with a smile, "Huanu, can you be Ah Hua's son-in-law?" It's all in the Queen Mother's hands. If she can marry her daughter to Princess Taiping's son, even if her husband and wife end up like the second and third brothers in the future, the daughter will always have a shelter.

Xue Chongjian looked at the little sister who was sleeping soundly in the arms of the nanny, shook her head and said, "No, I will be my cousin's son-in-law."

The Queen Mother was drinking half a sip of wine and sprayed it into the cup, Wu Sansi and Wu Chengsi laughed and pushed away the food table, the soup spilled all over the floor, even Li Dan couldn't help laughing, Shangguan Waner covered her face with a fan, and saw her shoulders trembling .Li Chengqi opened his eyes wide, staring at his cousin who spoke surprisingly, speechless.

Princess Taiping dropped her chopsticks on the table, hugged her son and said with a smile: "My silly flower slave, your cousin is a prince, not a princess, how could he recruit a son-in-law?" Xue Chongjian said: "Why can't the prince recruit a son-in-law? I As my cousin's son-in-law, I can play with him every day, and if I take his hat, the crow slave can't say anything about me."

Everyone in the hall was laughing, when an eunuch came in and said, "Zhongshu ordered Pei Yan to see you." The Empress Dowager wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, gasping for breath and unable to speak, she just nodded.

In such a joyous atmosphere, no one expected that Pei Yan would come to die.

Pei Yan first reported to the queen mother and the emperor his arrangement for the prince to study in the pavilion. According to the rule, the prince should have a teacher, a fu, and a friend to study. A handsome son selected by relatives.One is to let the prince have good friends to supervise and learn from, and the other is to cultivate the prince's future thighs.

After Pei Yan finished reading a long list, Li Dan suddenly felt moved, and said to the Queen Mother: "Since Hua Nu likes to play with Feng Nu, let him go too." No, this is the little devil king of our family. Sending him to study, I am afraid that the roof of the East Palace will be torn off. Besides, Hua Nu is still young, how can he keep up with Feng Nu. Let him wait until Ya Nu and the others come out of the cabinet. Let's go." Xue Chongjian hurriedly tugged at Princess Taiping's sash and said, "No, no, I want to go with my cousin!" Li Dan smiled and said, "Feng Nu went to school, also from the first sentence of the Four Books, It's okay."

After the emperor and the princess had finished their gossip, Pei Yan said solemnly: "Empress Dowager, now the crown prince has been established, the foundation of the country has been established, and the emperor's year has become a virtue, he has not yet been in charge of the government, and has not been in court for a long time. I also hope that the Empress Dowager will return to power as soon as possible, so that the hearts of the people in the world can be settled!"

The smiles on people's faces didn't fade gradually, but they froze on the stone statues. The blood color faded from the face of Emperor Li Dan, who was the first to understand, and his lips almost turned blue.He stood up tremblingly and said: "Your minister is young and weak, it is difficult to take on a big responsibility, and you still have to rely on your mother to work hard."

The Empress Dowager said indifferently: "Why is the people's hearts so uncertain?"

Tears welled up in Pei Yan's eyes, and he knelt down on the ground and wept: "The thief Xu rebelled the year before last, and he used the excuse of being unable to take charge of the government. I also hope that the Empress Dowager will not forget the entrustment of the Emperor Gao at the end of his life. All the subjects in the world will appreciate the Empress Dowager." Charity!"

The Empress Dowager's phoenix eyes suddenly turned slightly cold, she pulled out a golden phoenix pendant bead from the spirit snake bun, threw it at Pei Yan, and shouted: "Xu thief said so, you also said the same, Could it be that he has the same thoughts as him! How much I owe the world, how much I owe the late emperor! I have served the late emperor for more than [-] years, and you, the princes, are rich and noble, and the people of the world are happy and peaceful. If you fail me, I will fail the world, or you will fail me!"

The Empress Dowager got angry, Li Dan, Empress Liu Shi, Princess Taiping, Xue Shao, Wu Chengsi, and Wu Sansi dared not sit any longer, and stood up with their heads bowed.Li Chengqi was pulled by his mother to stand up slowly, and seeing the sharp golden hairpin draw a bloodstain under Pei Yan's eyes, which looked like a drop of blood and tears dripping on his face, he suddenly understood the old man's words of advice just now.

Wu Chengsi pretended to be angry and said: "Pei Yan contradicted the queen mother and made alarmist talk, where is Jin Wu? Why don't you drag him down!" Jin Wu, who was looking at each other in the palace, hurried forward and dragged Pei Yan up. Pei Yan showed a desperate look. When the prime minister was dragged out like a beggar, he suddenly wailed loudly: "Queen Mother, return the power to the emperor! This is what the people want from heaven!"

Pei Yan, who was on the verge of madness, was dragged down to His Royal Highness, Wu Chengsi turned his head and said to the Queen Mother: "Auntie, I said earlier that this thief must have a rebellious heart. Not long ago, there was a nursery rhyme circulating in Beijing, one piece of cloud, two pieces of fire. On the left side of the hall, don't you mean him!" Shangguan Wan'er glanced lightly at the two brothers of the Wu family, while the son-in-law Xue Shao stared at the direction where Pei Yan was dragged out for a long time.

A generation of famous Prime Minister Pei Yan was eventually questioned and executed for treason. Wu Chengsi was promoted from the Minister of Rites to the Minister of Taichang Temple, succeeding Pei Yan and became the prime minister.Immediately afterwards, Wu Youzhi, Wu Youji, Wu Youning, Wu Yizong and others from the Wu clan came to Beijing one after another, and were all awarded high officials by the Queen Mother.

The author has something to say: Note [-]: Li Longji’s childhood name was Ya, and according to the practice at that time, he should have been called Ya Nu.Duan Chengshi's "Youyang Zazu?"Loyalty": "Xuanzong, in the ban, it was called Aman, also known as Ya." I think the nicknames of the royal family in the Tang Dynasty are very silly and cute.

Note [-]: Pei Yan actually died in the first year of Guangzhai. In order to compact the plot, I let him live for two more years.