It was the end of the fifth year of Zhengxing, and it snowed heavily in Luoyang.

There are two braziers placed in the east pavilion of Ziwei Palace. They are not very warm, but just enough to prevent people from catching cold.

"Your Highness, it's time to wake up." The young chamberlain Liu An called out several times, then stretched out his hand to push the quilt, "If you don't wake up, you gentlemen should be scolded again."

Li Zuo, who was huddled in the warm quilt, opened his eyes and muttered: "But I'm so sleepy."

If we count the missed years, he would be seven years old after the Chinese New Year. It is the age when he loves to sleep, but he has to get up before dawn every day to learn various etiquette, articles, martial arts, and the way of governing the country.

Not only compared to other children, but also compared to most adult men, he was very hardworking.

Liu An felt distressed when he saw it, but it was his duty, so he had to say: "Your Highness, you'd better get up. I also want your Highness to sleep for a while, but if you are late, I will be punished."

"Okay, get up."

Li Zuozhen sat up and did not need Liu An to serve him. He dressed, washed, and tidied himself up. Breakfast had been served, and after eating, he went to Chongwen Pavilion to study.

Pushing open the door of the dormitory, a gust of cold wind blew, and Liu An shivered, but Li Zuo was not too afraid of the cold, which he had practiced since childhood.

When walking on the road, if anyone passed by, Li Zuo would behave very calmly, like a little adult.

Only when no one was paying attention would he whisper to Liu An.

"The snow is so thick, it would be fun to have a snowball fight."

"I'm afraid Your Highness doesn't have time to play."

"I know, so I say 'if I can' to you."

After all, he is still a child at heart.

After passing through the Daye Gate, I saw a tall figure standing there. It was Yan Zhenqing, wearing a cloak and standing in the snow.

When Li Zuo saw him, his eyes immediately lit up with joy and he ran for two steps happily. Thinking that he still had to observe etiquette in front of his grandfather, he slowed down his pace and went over to see him politely.

Although Yan Zhenqing was very strict with him, he also loved him very much. Li Zuo was a very sensitive child and could feel that his grandfather had a special and deep affection for him, so he reciprocated the same deep respect and love.

When outsiders are around, they speak strictly, but in private, they speak just like ordinary grandparents.

After Riping retreated from the others, Li Zuo couldn't help but ask: "Why is Aweng standing in the snow? There is snow on his head."

He stood on tiptoes and reached out to brush the snow off Yan Zhenqing's head, but unfortunately it was not high enough to reach it.

Yan Zhenqing then squatted down a little.

Working at a desk for many years has severely strained his waist. This movement was very strenuous and his waist hurt severely, but a smile broke out on his face.

"The common people cannot live a warm winter. It would be unseemly for officials to go to court and be unable to withstand the cold." Yan Zhenqing patiently answered the question and said, "Today I have a day off from school. You go to the morning court to listen to politics and announce your return to Chang'an."

"You're going back to Chang'an now?" Li Zuo said, "But my father hasn't returned from his tour yet."

"Go back to Chang'an and wait."

Although Li Zuo is young, he doesn't seem to know everything.

He looked up at his grandfather, hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "Aweng, is it because the people in Luoyang said bad things about my father?"

"Really?" Yan Zhenqing reacted very calmly and said, "Did you hear anything bad?"

"Say that my father is not a descendant of the Li family."

After hearing this, Yan Zhenqing was in a trance for a moment. He had been trying his best to prevent Li Zuo from hearing these rumors, but he didn't expect to face them so soon.

But when he opened his mouth to answer, his voice was still very calm, as if he was denying a ridiculous trivial matter.

"That's nonsense from others. In heaven, you will hear countless doubts and accusations in your life. Don't doubt it. You have to always believe in yourself."

In fact, Yan Zhenqing had thought about it countless times in her mind, what she would do if this happened.

Li Zuo seemed to understand but struggled to understand for a while, and couldn't help but ask: "But some people say that my father's surname is not Li, but Xue."

Yan Zhenqing said: "Do you remember the story I told you about Liu Bingji?"

"Remember." Li Zuo responded crisply: "Han Xuan Emperor Liu Xun, formerly known as Bing Ji, was the great-grandson of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He was plagued by witchcraft when he was young and grew up among the people."

Seeing that his memory was so good, Yan Zhenqing nodded happily and said: "Yes, today's emperor's experience is similar to that of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty. He encountered the case of three commoners when he was young and grew up among the people."

"I understand, we can learn from history and know the ups and downs."

"Okay, okay, okay, do you know where this comes from?"

"It's Emperor Taizong's imperial words!"

Yan Zhenqing looked around and saw that Li Zuo's eyes were bright, as if he was proud of being the descendant of Emperor Taizong. He knew that his teachings over the years had not been in vain. He felt relieved and turned his head to wipe his eyes.

The current prince's surname is Li Mingzuo. This is the name given by Emperor Xuanzong. It is written in the royal jade certificate. No one can deny it, and Yan Zhenqing will not let anyone deny it.

~~

In the early morning, the prince announced that he would return to Chang'an.

The officials were not surprised, but had expected it.

After all, the current situation is undercurrent, and the things that can be announced in this hall are all things that have already taken a basic direction.

After the morning court, Yan Zhenqing returned to the political hall, where Yan Quanming was already waiting anxiously.

"Uncle, Li Chengji broke his promise. They still caused rebellion and are building momentum in Zhengzhou to attack His Majesty..."

"Let's talk later."

Yan Zhenqing raised his hand, stopped Yan Quanming first, turned to his subordinates and asked, "Is Liu An here?"

"Go back to Alang, he's already inside."

Yan Zhenqing then entered first, met Liu An, and said straight to the point: "Where did your Highness hear the rumor?"

Liu An was very frightened. He raised his sleeves to wipe the sweat from his face and said, "I don't know this either."

"How could you not know that you follow His Highness every day?"

"It should be that when His Highness was walking in the palace, he overheard someone chatting. Although the servant followed His Highness, he was probably distracted and did not notice it."

With that said, Liu An gave himself a hard slap in the face first, making it difficult for Yan Zhenqing to deal with him.

Yan Zhenqing stared at him deeply, waved her hand, and asked him to go back and take care of Li Zuo. After he left, there was a look of thoughtfulness in his eyes.

After a while, he called Yan Quanming over.

"Keep talking."

"Yes, the Li family did not directly raise an army, but instead instructed the slaves who had been released before to gather in crowds to cause trouble..."

The Li family mentioned here refers to Li Kui's family power, with Li Chengyu of the Longyou Li family as the clan leader, and Li Chengyu is Li Kui's father.

The branch of the Li family in Longyou is called Guzangfang. They are the descendants of Guzanghou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and their ancestral home is in Chengji County, Longyou. In Li Chengyu's generation, he was given the title of Duke of Chengji County, and he was promoted to Secretary Supervisor.

The Li family occupies a large number of acres and slaves in Zhengzhou. Since the imperial reform, more than 20,000 hectares of fertile land and 30,000 slave households have been seized from other families. The number was exaggerated. At that time, Yan Zhenqing could not believe it. It should be noted that Yu Wenrong had seized the land.

There are a total of 800,000 households in the world.

However, the Li family was not willing to free all the slaves. They secretly colluded with the local officials in Zhengzhou to make it very difficult for these 30,000 households to return to their hometowns to farm.

The slaves who returned began to starve and freeze.

As a result, with further instigation, they were led to rise up, and with the help of the Li family, they captured the arsenal and granary in Zhengzhou, and their momentum suddenly increased.

They are all farmers, so they are definitely not capable of fighting, but what the Li family wants is for the court to retreat, as long as they make enough noise.

When Li Kui died, it was not only the Li family in Longxi who were frightened, but all the high-ranking families in the world. When they saw someone making a fuss, they would naturally indulge in it, causing the chaos to get bigger and bigger.

Yan Zhenqing had expected this, so he sent officials to appease him. Unfortunately, because Xue Bai killed Li Kui, the situation was still beyond his control.

"When Li Qijun arrived, the news of His Majesty's murder of Li Kui had reached Zhengzhou. Li Qiyun failed to appease him. Now the Zhengzhou government office has been captured by 'rioters'. Li Jiaming did not participate on the surface, but he must have given a lot of support.

.There were several scholars among the 'rioters' who wrote a petition to attack His Majesty..."

"A message?" Yan Zhenqing asked, "What did you say?"

Yan Quanming hesitated for a moment and then said: "They compared His Majesty to the Wu family who usurped the Tang Dynasty."

Although he had expected this, Yan Zhenqing still frowned. In the past few days, the wrinkles between his eyebrows had become much deeper.

What he hates most is that they always attack the emperor's life experience.

They are obviously a group of people who put personal interests first. If they oppose the reform, they oppose the reform, but they insist on talking about irrelevant old things.

Originally, it was just about whether the reform could succeed. If it failed, it would mean that the problem of land annexation could not be solved. But in this way, it became the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty and would shake the foundation of the country.

"Is Li Qijun back?" Yan Zhenqing asked.

"We have entered Luoyang City."

"Why didn't you come to see me?"

Yan Quanming said: "He first went to meet many officials from well-known families."

"Go and summon him."

"Here."

After waiting for a long time, Li Qijun arrived. When he rushed into the political hall, there were still a lot of snowflakes on his body, bringing with it a gust of cold wind.

"The lower official has met the right prime minister."
To be continued...