Chapter 2 The king and his ministers
After the carriage and the group stopped, Li Ye did not get off the car. He was looking at the palace in front of him. If he guessed correctly, the palace in front of him was the Daming Palace, the Imperial Palace of the Tang Dynasty, and it can also be said to be the most magnificent palace in ancient times. Even the Forbidden City in the Ming and Qing Dynasties could not match the scale and magnificence of the Daming Palace.
However, Li Ye knew that this magnificent palace complex would soon be destroyed by Huang Chao, and perhaps it would be destroyed by Li Maozhen in a few years, and then by Zhu Wen. The last time had the most profound impact. Since then, the Daming Palace has never been repaired again. With the demise of the Tang Dynasty a few years later, the magnificent Daming Palace in history disappeared into the long river of history.
"What's going on? Why are you so ignorant and you have a few sluts with you?"
Just as Li Ye was quietly watching all this in front of him, there was another scolding sound from outside, but he was not familiar with the sound, so he curiously opened the curtain. He saw a father-in-law dressed in brocade clothes scolding his father-in-law who was running for his life. His father-in-law who had shown his power in front of the palace maids now dared not refute in front of this father-in-law. Li Ye even found that the other party was afraid that the father-in-law was more than the one who was afraid of him.
So Li Ye was very curious about this father-in-law. Could it be one of the powerful officials in the Tang Dynasty? Tian Lingzi, Yang Fugong, or someone else?
Although Li Ye was not very satisfied with his father-in-law, he was his own person after all, and the two palace maids were kneeling on the ground and shivering.
"What is this?" Li Ye asked the coachman next to him.
"Your Highness, this is your current Majesty's 'Father', Eunuch Tian."
In fact, when the coachman replied, "Your Majesty is the father of the present day", Li Ye knew the identity of this eunuch. Tian Lingzi, the most powerful official in the Tang Dynasty, and the close confidant of Emperor Xizong of Tang, held the military power of the imperial guards, controlled the government affairs, and even the prime minister could force him to death. No wonder his subordinates were so afraid of the other party. In terms of status, although the other party was a eunuch, his power was much stronger than his nameless Shouwang.
"Eunuch Tian, please give Xiao Wang a face. I asked these two palace maids to bring with me." Since it was related to him, Li Ye pleaded for his subordinates.
"Your Highness Shou, why don't you know at all the right time? When is this? These servants failed to serve You, so we will teach this disobedient slave a lesson on behalf of Youther King Shou."
Li Ye felt that he had lowered his attitude, but he didn't expect that the other party would still not appreciate it and did not take his prince seriously at all. This made Li Ye feel that he was incompetent, but he was just a prince who was in name only and had no choice but to do anything to Tian Lingzi.
Just when the scene was awkward, a dissatisfied voice came from a distance, "Father, why haven't you left yet? That traitor is about to call."
"Your Majesty, you have to wait for His Highness Ze. He is on the way." Hearing the dissatisfaction of the people who spoke, Tian Lingzi immediately changed his face. He stopped caring about the kneeling people and quickly trotted over.
"If I hadn't seen him play polo well, I wouldn't have wanted to take him."
Using the curtain opened by the other party, Li Ye saw the other party's appearance, more than five feet tall, with a pretty appearance, and wearing a dragon robe. He did have an imperial style when he looked like this. However, as soon as he spoke, he directly reduced points. A king even mentioned polo such a word at this time, which shows how ridiculous this emperor was.
There is no doubt that this person is Li Yan, the brother of Emperor Xizong of Tang Dynasty, Li Ye. Li Yan was not big at this time, just 20, but he had been in the throne for 8 years and was younger than Li Ye when he succeeded to the throne.
When Li Ye looked at the other party, the other party also saw him. The other party smiled, "So it's King of Shou. Why are you standing outside? Are these dog slaves offended you? Just chop them up, anyway, there are so many such slaves."
Hearing the emperor's words, the few people kneeling on the ground couldn't help but tremble, especially the father-in-law, with a stream of water flowing out from under him, and then a smell rose.
After Li Ye saluted slightly, "Brother, I am a few slaves who don't understand the rules and offended Eunuch Tian. My brother is begging Eunuch Tian for forgiveness. The journey is exhausted, and I also need a few people to serve me. If I change a few slaves temporarily, I will not be used to it."
Emperor Xizong glanced at Li Ye, then glanced at Tian Lingzi, and then said lightly, "Father, let's forget about this little thing."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Tian Lingzi nodded unwillingly.
Li Ye also knew that he might have offended Tian Lingzi, a powerful official, but he didn't care about it at this time and immediately ordered several people underground, "Don't you thank Your Majesty and Duke Tian for public favor?"
"Thank you your Majesty for your holy grace! Thank you for Eunuch Tian!"
"Thank you your Majesty for your holy grace! Thank you for Eunuch Tian!"
Seeing that Li Ye's attitude was so low, Tian Lingzi did not continue to pursue the matter, but he also looked at Li Ye and was busy with his affairs.
Just as Li Ye asked his subordinates to prepare, the group also rushed to the gate of the palace. It was King Ze and his party. Seeing that everyone was here, Tian Lingzi ordered to set off. So, the emperor of the Tang Empire, under the cover of 500 Shence soldiers, led several royal princes and concubines, including Xizong and King Shou, and other royal princes and concubines, to escape from the Jinguang Gate in the early morning.
Looking at the far away Chang'an City, Li Ye seemed to hear the sound of killing. I am afraid that the subjects who were still in Chang'an City at this time would not know that their Majesty had abandoned them and fled and became a coward. For this, Li Ye, who was only 14 years old at this time, could not change anything. He was just a prince without power, and as a direct subordinate to the court, the Shence Army was also in the hands of the eunuchs. What could he do? At this time, he could not do anything at all, and could only follow his cheap brother to be a coward.
......
In the early morning, Wang Hui and Pei Che came to the Daming Palace early. Behind them, many people were chatting with each other, with a little nervous expression. This is naturally normal, because Huang Chao's army had already conquered Tongguan, and they were also worried about whether the Anshi Rebellion would take place and whether Chang'an City could be defended. Yesterday, it was reported that Tongguan was lost, and Tongguan was less than 300 miles away from Chang'an City (in the Tang Dynasty, the left and right foot of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, took one step each of his left and right feet as the size standard, which was called "step". It stipulated that 300 steps were one mile, and one mile was equal to 454.2 meters), and at the speed of the rioters, it only took a few days.
The main purpose of attending court today is to see what the emperor planned. If he fought, he would stay. If he didn’t fight, he would run away.
"Prince Wang, what's going on today? Why has Your Majesty not ordered to enter the palace to court yet?" Pei Che, wearing an official hat and a third-grade treasure (cui four-tone) crown garment, asked Wang Hui with some confusion.
Unlike Pei Che who wore a third-grade crown robe, Wang Hui wore a fourth-grade crown robe (chi, a sound), but in front of Wang Hui, Pei Che was very respectful. In the Tang Dynasty, especially in the middle and late stages, it was not that the higher the grade, the higher the position. Wang Hui was the fourth-grade Shangshu Zuocheng, and Pei Che was the third-grade subordinate minister, but Wang Hui also had an identity, that is, the "Tongpingzhangshi", which is the actual prime minister. Naturally, Pei Che had to respect Wang Hui, although Wang Hui's "Tongpingzhangshi" was only appointed yesterday.
"I don't know, as a minister, I'll wait slowly." Wang Hui frowned slightly, but thinking that he was the prime minister now, he suppressed his anxiety and kept himself in a manner.
"Prince Wang, the situation is critical now. The rebels may reach Chang'an City at any time. Your Majesty must make a decision. If Your Majesty has not been in court for a long time, I can't wait like this anymore." Pei Che said anxiously.
Wang Hui looked at the closed palace gate and couldn't help but shake his head. Thinking of what His Majesty did today, as a minister, although he made several suggestions, he did not achieve much effect.
Just as he was about to agree, an urgent report came from outside the palace gate!
"The Huang Chao rebels have already captured Huazhou, and the Boye army's rebellious troops have entered the city!"
"What? The rebels have already captured Huazhou? Huazhou is less than 200 miles away, and it takes only two or three days to rush. Wang Xiang, you can't wait anymore. We must meet Your Majesty and advise Your Majesty to dispatch troops and quell the rebellion."
"Where is the army left now? The Shence Army was defeated, and the Boye Army's rebellion even entered the city. If we are still here, we can only become prisoners, so let's run away as soon as possible!"
"I'm not fooling around, eating my king's salary, and bearing my worries. How can we do this with our salary?" Wang Hui scolded.
"Tell me quickly, where is your Majesty now?"
Pei Che came to a eunuch on duty, held the other party's hand, and asked afterwards.
"That's right, take us to see Your Majesty, this matter cannot be delayed!"
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." Faced with the step-by-step questioning of these ministers in front of you, the eunuch could not help but reveal the truth in the end, "Your Majesty left Chang'an City in Eunuch Tian and Hu Weixia of Shen Ce Army this morning."
"What? You slave, dare to spread rumors? What crime should you blame?"
Wang Hui glared, grabbed the other person's collar and asked loudly.
"Master Prime Minister, what I said is true. His Majesty left the palace in an hour and a half. Eunuch Tian and Eunuch Yang were all gone!"
"What? Your Majesty, where are you building the Tang Dynasty?"
"The Tang Dynasty is over!"
Chapter completed!