Chapter 324 The last night of the tenth year of Tianbao

At night, the number of pedestrians on the streets of Chang'an quickly decreased. Under the bright lights, people were silhouetted and laughter were laughing and cheering, and the family was reunited every year today.

Li Linfu has many descendants and many sons-in-law. This year, the reunion of Li's mansion is also particularly lively. Lanterns are hung inside and outside the mansion, as bright as daylight. Several halls are laughing and roaring, and children are running back and forth. In the New Year, they are always the happiest. They wear new clothes and pray for New Year's money together, kowtowing around a certain uncle and uncle, getting a small silver croaker. Everyone scattered and looked for the next target.

Li Linfu sat in the inner hall. He was wearing a moon-white long gown, not a hat, but only a flat hair tied with his hair. He looked rosy, but upon closer inspection, the rosy was painted with oil. Two maids supported him behind him. His weak body and dim eyes revealed that the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty had reached the state of twilight and exhausted the lights.

Li Linfu lay on a high-backed chair, gasping for difficulty, and hissing sounds in his breath. He watched silently through the bead curtain, listening to the children running and laughing outside. Perhaps only when he was about to leave this world, he suddenly realized that family and family affection were the most precious and difficult things for him to let go. Power and wealth were scattered like clouds and smoke, and there was no ripples in his memories. At this moment, his mind was recalling the birth and growth of every child, and going back to the past few things.

I have lived a short life, but I have to leave something for this family before leaving, "Peace!" This is what Li Linfu has been thinking about for months.

Li Xianzhong's defection was not the most fatal blow to Li Linfu. It was just the last straw that bent the camel's back. Li Longji's appointment as Yang Guozhong as the governor of Yi Prefecture was the blow that allowed Li Linfu to see the end of the world.

Not allowed to be a Taiwan province, Yang Guozhong was also the chief minister of Yizhou as the Minister of Personnel. This means that the day he returned was the end of his career as a prime minister.

Success is certainly gratifying, but failure may not be terrible. What is afraid of is failure. If failure is inevitable, then choosing the most appropriate time to take action and minimize the losses is the only experience Li Linfu has learned in politics for many years.

Li Linfu looked up slightly and looked at his son-in-law who was at the same table. His eldest son Li Xiu was the general and the supervisor, his second son Li Guo was the chief ward, his third son Li Yu was the Taichang Shaoqing, his son-in-law Zhang Boji was the governor of Yangzhou, his son-in-law Zheng Ping was the doctor of the Ministry of Revenue, and his most beloved eighth son Li Yin was the chief ward of Suizhou. These are the backbone of his family. As long as they are kept, his family will prosper forever.

Finally, Li Linfu's eyes stopped on Li Yin. Their family had just arrived in the morning and was the latest son to come back. But he had not yet greeted him, and even if he was at the table, he sent someone to find him.

At this time, Li Yin was just here to see him. When he touched his father's eyes, he immediately lowered his head in panic, his face flushed. How could his loss of composure be hidden from Li Linfu's eyes? Li Linfu was secretly surprised. He coughed gently and signaled that he would go to "change clothes". The two maids immediately helped him up. Li Xiu, the eldest son closest to him, also reached out to help him. Li Linfu pushed his hand away and pointed to Li Yin, asking him to support him.

"The old man is calling you!" Zhang Boji, who was sitting next to Li Yin, pushed him. Li Yin sighed in his heart and stepped forward to support Li Linfu and said, "Father, let me help you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Linfu grabbed his wrist firmly and did not allow him to leave on excuses. He kept entering the inner study. Li Linfu drank his maid and sat on his beloved old rattan chair.

"Tell me! What's the matter hidden from being a father?"

Li Yin slowly knelt in front of his father's knees, tears gushed out of his eyes. Soon, he couldn't cry and couldn't speak a word.

Li Linfu gently stroked his head and smiled and said, "Stop crying, what hardships do we have in our family still cannot bear? Tell me! Did you do something so ruthless?"

"Children, I had already received the correspondence between my father and Li Xianzhong, but I lost it again!" Li Yin finally couldn't help but burst into tears.

"What!" Li Linfu's loving smile seemed to be frozen, and gradually loving became serious, "When did it happen?"

"Yes...yes...let the child think about it!" Li Yin was in a mess. The incident happened yesterday, but he couldn't say it. "It was two months ago when the child got the letter, but it was gone that night."

"No! No..."

Li Linfu shook his head slowly. It would never be said until today that what happened two months ago. He stared into his son's eyes, his dim gaze was still majestic. "Since the matter has happened, I will not blame you anymore, but you must tell the truth. It is related to the lives of the whole family, and you must not hide it at all."

"Just last night, the incident happened in Xianyang." Li Yin dared not hide it anymore and said in a low voice.

Li Linfu lay weakly in the rattan chair. He opened his mouth and breathed desperately, like a lost fish. Li Yin was panicked. He was about to turn around and call someone, but Li Linfu grabbed his hand and told him not to shout. After a while, he finally calmed down. The sudden situation disrupted his plan. He originally planned to hold on until April and place his family before taking the initiative to ask for a retreat. Now the evidence has been caught by others. No matter who it is, he can no longer hold on.

He waved his hand and said to Li Yin with difficulty: "Go! Let me think about it carefully for my father."

"Yes!" Li Yin got up and was about to leave, suddenly, the sound of running footsteps sounded outside the door. The eldest son Li Xiu almost rushed in. His face was extremely excited, and he pointed to the outside and stuttered: "Father! The emperor is here, here!"

Li Linfu stood up suddenly and then sat down dejectedly. He never expected that Li Longji would be so heartless that his prime minister would be worthy of the tenth year of Tianbao.

‘Well, maybe this is the best ending!’ Li Linfu sighed long and took out a letter from the drawer. This was the letter of return he had already prepared.

"My dear Li Linfu, my father, the emperor!" Li Linfu knelt tremblingly at Li Longji with the help of his son. At this time, he had washed away the oily face, his face was pale and bloodless, and his body was as thin as a piece of clothing, as if he was directly put on the skeleton.

"Prime Minister, please don't give me a gift!" Li Longji kept looking at the old man who was almost the same age as him. He was extremely shocked. He had not seen him for more than a month and had weakened to this extent. He was simply exhausted.

Li Longji looked away, glanced at the men, women, and young people kneeling on the ground, and smiled at Li Linfu: "It is the greatest blessing for us elderly people to be able to get a family of children and grandchildren in his later years. This shows that the prime minister is also a blessed person."

Li Linfu slowly stood up with the support of his son. He sighed and said, "Your Majesty is right. It is only now that the old minister slowly realized that he had spent too little time with his family in the past."

Speaking of this, he suddenly pushed his two sons away, and knelt down in front of Li Longji again with a thump, crying: "Your Majesty, the old minister may not have too much time. I would like to beg for bones from Your Majesty so that the old minister can enjoy the family happiness of having fun with his grandchildren for a few days."

Speaking of this, Li Linfu took it from his son and took it back, raised it over his head, and handed it to Li Longji.

Li Longji looked at Li Linfu silently. Although he handed over the rebellious matter to Yang Guozhong, Yang Guozhong's performance really disappointed him. In order to prevent the recurrence of the eight-year reversal of Tianbao's turnaround, he decided to take action and force Li Linfu to retreat. He came tonight to plan to reach a compromise with Li Linfu on New Year's Eve and not give him the opportunity to connect with officials during the New Year's holiday and find opportunities to turn the tables.

But Li Linfu's sudden statement was beyond his expectations. Things were so subtle. Li Linfu knew that the letter had been stolen, but he did not know that the letter had not yet reached Li Longji's hands. Li Longji wanted to force Li Linfu to retreat, but he did not know that Yang Guozhong had obtained evidence from An Lushan.

Perhaps this is the gap between Yang Guozhong and Li Linfu. Once Li Linfu heard that the letters were stolen, he immediately made a decision and offered to retire. However, after Yang Guozhong obtained the evidence, he delayed notifying Li Longji, which made Li Longji lose the opportunity and finally gave Li Linfu a free advantage. Otherwise, Li Linfu would not have escaped without hesitation!

Although he didn't know Li Linfu's intention, he was willing to quit the official position and let the situation go unstable. This was the best thing. From the eighth year of Tianbao to the tenth year of Tianbao, Li Longji had exhausted his patience and did not want to delay the matter until the eleventh year of Tianbao.

"Let me think about this matter!" Although Li Longji said this, he took Li Linfu's letter of withdrawal.

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An hour later, the ban issued an edict that shocked the whole country. The emperor accepted the resignation of the right prime minister Li Linfu, removed all the actual positions of the letter, the Minister of Personnel, the Anxi Grand Duke, and the title of Grand Tutor, the Duke of Jin, and the fief of one thousand households in Wugong County.

At the same time, the edict was issued, and the Minister of War Yang Guozhong was promoted to the Minister of the Right Prime Minister and the Minister of Personnel; the Minister of Revenue Wei Jiansu was promoted to the Minister of War, and the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the Minister of the Central Secretariat was promoted to the Minister of War.

Li Qing's mansion was also brightly lit tonight. Although he was not as crowded with wives and concubines as Li Linfu and had many children, the lively place was no less than that of the Prime Minister's Mansion. More than 100 servants and 300 guards in the mansion, no matter how high or low, everyone received a special reward of fifty taels from his wife. Naturally, everyone was very happy. Those who were in Chang'an could go home to reunite, but those who could not go home were still lively outside under the butler's leadership. The hall and the yard were filled with tables, and there were seas of meat and wine, crystal hooves with about inches of black hair, steamed lion heads as big as bowls, braised green fish a foot long, and especially the Lanling Concubine Wine, which gave the imperial concubine wine, which opened the eyes of every servant.

Li Qing and his wife and daughters sat in the warm chalet. A small table was placed on a huge bed filled with exquisite side dishes. Everyone sat around him. Li Qing leaned lazily on the soft mattress, looking tired. No wonder he took turns to spending his wives in their respective rooms all afternoon, which was even worse than running a marathon.

My daughter Li Tingyue snuggled tightly in her father's arms, and from time to time she looked down at the gifts her father gave her. All kinds of headdresses were inlaid with precious gems. There was a chest pendant that was escorted by Tochar leaves. It was as big as a pigeon egg, dazzling and priceless.

The curtain was sitting on the right head, holding his two-year-old son in his hand. The little boy woke up from the morning until now, and he had never been quiet for a moment. He was holding all kinds of dishes in his hand and kneading them hard. As soon as Xiaoyu grabbed it off, he opened his mouth and cried. Everyone had no choice but to let him go.

Lian'er seemed a little dissatisfied with the expensive things her husband gave her daughter, but she didn't want to disappoint her husband's pleasure. She had to shake her head and take the diamond from Li Tingyue's hand, handed it to Li Jingyan, who was sitting at the bottom, and said, "You are an expert, how much is this thing worth?"

Li Jingyan took it and looked carefully for a long time, sighing: "This diamond is called Lieyan. I have seen another one. Its luster and purity are far less than it. It is sold for 18,000 guan. How much do you think it is worth?"

"Li Lang, have you heard that, how could you give such expensive things to your child!"

Li Qing only smiled slightly, pretended not to hear it, and drank the wine in the glass in one go. No matter how much he was worth, as long as his daughter liked it, he would order people to pick it off even if the moon in the sky.

Seeing her husband pretending to be deaf and dumb, Liang'er took the diamond from Li Jingyan's hand and was about to put it away. At this time, her son saw that he was attracted by the brilliance of the diamond, so he threw away the vegetable in his hand, opened his hand and snatched it, and shouted: "Give it to me, I want it!"

The curtain flashed, and he grabbed the air, his mouth swayed, and suddenly burst into tears. Li Qing smiled and took the diamond casually, picked up a pigeon egg from the table, and pinched the skin off the back. The diamond shook in front of the child and said with a smile: "Dad has changed a trick for you! Let it change the color."

After a few strokes, the red diamond disappeared, and a porcelain white pigeon egg appeared on his palm, and he handed it to him, "That's it, do you want it?"

The little boy grabbed the pigeon egg, pinched it into pieces with force, and giggled. Only then did Li Qing feel relieved, secretly stuffed the diamond to his daughter, and whispered: "Take it, don't let someone cheat you again."

Seeing that he was so doting on his daughter, several women all smiled bitterly and sighed: "Li Lang, you can't do this!"

Li Qing picked up the wine glass and smiled, "What's the point? Just a stone, come! Come and toast me one by one."

The moon gradually grew higher. Under the bright moonlight, the whole Chang'an was immersed in the New Year's Eve when family reunion was reunited. The streets were empty, and even the homeless beggars were looking for a place to lee and hid in the face of drinking a few sips of wine.

At this moment, a carriage drove into the gate of Xuanyifang under the protection of more than a dozen palace guards. The speed slowed down, as if everyone wanted to see its existence. Indeed, many windows gently pushed open a crack and then closed it again. The carriage stopped in front of Li Qing's mansion. An old man looked like an eunuch from the carriage. Behind him was a little eunuch, with a lantern, and a clear word "high" reflected in the orange-red light. The old man was naturally Gao Lishi. He was ordered by Li Longji to read the imperial edict to Li Qing. Gao Lishi slowly walked up the steps and stood for a while before he ordered his subordinates to go up and call the door. In this way, the people in Yang Guozhong's mansion opposite could see clearly. There had been people who were specifically monitoring Li Qing's mansion and ran to report to Yang Guozhong, and Gao Lishi visited Li Qing on New Year's Eve.

Gao Lishi stood in front of the steps with his hands behind his back, looking at Yang Guozhong's mansion slightly sneered. Just when he came out of Xingqing Palace, Li Longji had issued an edict, appointing Yang Guozhong as the right prime minister and the secretary of the Central Committee. The person who announced the edict was Yu Chaoen, and he must have left the palace. On the way to come, Yang Guozhong was successful, and he would definitely promote his confidants and attack dissidents. In order not to prevent Li Qing from suffering unnecessary losses, Gao Lishi decided to show his position to Yang Guozhong and make him have some concerns about his actions.

‘Squeak!’ The door opened, and Li Qing, who was flushed, walked out of the mansion quickly and bowed to Gao Lishi, “I haven’t seen him for many years, how can the general be good?”

Gao Lishi smiled and waved his hand, "You are the real general, I should call me Gong Gong Gao! I can hear it as well."

"It's better to obey your orders than respect." Li Qing waved his hand and made a gesture of invitation, "Please come in with Mr. Gao!"

Gao Lishi walked into the gate with his hands behind his back, but he did not walk in, but turned around and walked to an open space near the courtyard wall, which was already full of boxes of all sizes, with more than 200.

He looked at the boxes and smiled, "Envoy Li will make a fortune when he returns home!"

Li Qingyi laughed and said, "Everyone is unable to refuse, so I have to accept this money. I plan to recruit lost refugees to move westward to Dayuan."

"You are so generous when moving westward to Dayuan!"

Gao Lishi sighed from the bottom of his heart. Seeing that there was no one around, he whispered: "You are a bit risky when moving west. You must be low-key, otherwise you will be easily impeached!"

Li Qing nodded slightly and whispered: "What is the emperor's attitude towards this matter?"

"You are very lucky that the Emperor supports you in this matter."

Gao Lishi suddenly pulled out a volume of jute edict from his sleeve and said loudly: "Li Qing received the edict!"

Li Qing hurriedly knelt on the ground, "My minister Li Qing received the order!"

"Li Qing, the governor of Anxi, made contributions to restraining the countries in the Western Regions, and made our country more and more prestige. I highly commend it and specially appointed the deputy governor of Anxi, and the governor of Anxi, Li Qing, the governor of Anxi, was the chief governor of Anxi, and all military and political affairs of Anxi, were subject to their restraint. I hope you are diligent and self-disciplined at all times, be cautious in being an official, and live up to my expectations. I admire this!"

"I obey the order!" Li Qing bowed and respectfully accepted the imperial edict. The Anxi Grand Protector has always been Li Linfu's remote command, but now he has given it to him. Li Qing pondered for a moment, and he suddenly asked, "Mr. Gao, is Li's country abolished the prime minister?"
Chapter completed!