Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 503: Thousands of lanterns make the sky river

Although Emperor Guangwu made Luoyang his capital, Chang'an was the capital of the West, and at that time there was also an imperial mandate to repair palaces.

But after all, it was only Xijing, and most of the time it was only used as a stop for the emperor's western tour. Therefore, only Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace were repaired, while Jianzhang Palace, Mingguang Palace, etc. were all dilapidated.

As for later, the people of Chang'an watched the emperor being kidnapped by Dong Zhuo and invited away by Cao Cao, leaving only an increasingly dilapidated palace in the end.

This emperor's uncle is quite interesting. He also decided that after the Three Qin Dynasty, he entered Chang'an and spared no effort in the renovation and reconstruction of old houses and the East and West Markets. However, he only skipped these royal palaces, leaving them still in a dilapidated appearance.

As for the emperor's uncle himself, he found a general's mansion and repaired it slightly and lived in it.

People in Chang'an can also understand the notice posted now. The old palace should be referring to Weiyang Palace.

In front of the old palace, it should be in front of the Xi'an Gate and Anmen Gate to the south of Weiyang Palace.

So many people go to these two doors every day to see what is going on.

Fortunately, the emperor's uncle had no intention of hiding it from others. As the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month approached, a tall wooden frame was actually erected in the south of Weiyang Palace.

"This Chaling Restaurant is quite grand. Who is this wealthy businessman? Are you afraid of following in the footsteps of Pusaka Xuying?"

Li Shu was smiling beautifully at the side, her beautiful eyes were looking forward to it.

"Tell your great father that I will be here within five days of Yuan Zheng. If you want to talk about Shu, you can come by yourself."

However, considering that the emperor's uncle has kept his word over the past year, most people in Chang'an are willing to give the old Liu family a face, so it is not too late to wait until the 30th of the twelfth lunar month to see what the magic is.

As far as he knew, the Chaling Restaurant's death was probably closely related to Xuande Gong, because the blueprint for the five-story building was made by Zhuge Military Advisor.

It was already dusk and the light had faded, but the streets below were filled with paper lanterns, making this small world shine like daylight.

The straight street is wide, and the north side facing Weiyang Palace is full of busy sergeants, either preparing roads, building wooden frames, or transporting supplies.

To be honest, Zhang Ji didn't really want to join in the fun, but You Chu insisted that there was a good place to pull him out.

After entering the courtyard, Ma Zhong hurriedly made his intention clear. Unexpectedly, Li Shu took out a bill from her arms, shook it and said:
"My father arrived in Chang'an ten days ago and made a reservation for us on the second floor of Chaling Restaurant that night."

Soon the courtyard door opened in response, but behind the door was not Li Shu's beautiful face, but a stern, slightly older face.

Zhang Ji raised his head and looked at the dim sky, guessing: "Maybe we'll know when it gets dark."

Chaling Restaurant is quite famous in Luoyang, so many hotels from other places also borrow its name. The same is true now in Chang'an City. As far as Ma Zhong knows, this restaurant is located in the south of Weiyang Palace, which is an excellent viewing location.

"This paper is truly a foreign object. If the Han Dynasty revitalizes and regains control of the Western Regions, this object will surely be sold to foreign countries."

Ma Zhong was stunned for a moment, and then he hurriedly bowed:

"Mr. Li is fine, I..."

At this time, the street directly in front of Weiyang Palace has been completely renovated. The new road paved with cement prevents snow and mud from walking on it, and it is much more comfortable to walk on.

You Chu watched the soldiers stacking pine and cypress branches on the wooden shelf, sniffed and said:
"This is the iron tree, what about the silver flower?"

What puzzles the people of Chang'an is that although this shelf is tall, there is nothing magical about it at all.

On the south side of Zhi Street, people are selling greeting cards to door gods or selling delicious food such as jiaoer bean curd. Occasionally, the two parties who have made a deal will exchange a few auspicious words, which is very lively.

In the past two months, there have been more and more salesmen on the streets of Chang'an. They have also come here after hearing the news, so there is a strange scenery to the south of Weiyang Palace.

I remember Li Shu had said before that her eldest brother was quite talented in studying sugar. Li Gong once wanted to use his family wealth to help his eldest son open a sugar mill. Now it seems that it may be possible?

Mr. Li tapped his crutch on the ground, glanced at Ma Zhong and said:

"Sister Shu, there will be a lot of people rubbing shoulders in front of Weiyang Palace today, why don't you go early?"

Immediately, on a half-person-high stage that had been set up under the palace wall, a man covered in armor and as powerful as a god, struggled to smash the drumsticks onto the big drum in front of him.

The salesmen had a very keen sense of smell, and they gathered here in just one day, thus making the long-declined Miyagi Naochi Street prosperous again.

Or use a sledgehammer to tamp the road, then spread a layer of gray mud to smooth it, and then order the sergeant to guard and strictly prohibit stepping on it.

Unexpectedly, he found a crack in the palace wall. After walking around twice, he climbed up the broken palace wall. Although it was windy, looking at the hustle and bustle on the street below made Zhang Ji feel a little calmer.

As long as it doesn't snow, people will come here specially to get two hot steamed buns from the emperor and squat on the roadside to watch the emperor's soldiers busy in front of the Weiyang Palace.

You Chu opened his mouth and didn't know how to answer.

Ma Zhong nodded carefully, and then saw the person in front of him nodding with a straight face, turning sideways and saying:
"Since you have stood out through the imperial examination and gained the respect of Xuande Gong, you should remember your name and do not make any mistakes."

"I heard from my dear mother that your uncle has changed your name to Ma Zhong?"

Or a group of lightly-armed sergeants went up and down, using logs supplemented by wooden spokes to build a wooden frame.

If they could still see the dilapidated corner of Weiyang Palace to the north, some Chang'an people would have to dream back to the rule of Ming Zhang and the rise of Yong Yuan.

Seeing Li Shu smiling at him behind Mr. Li, Ma Zhong breathed a sigh of relief and said he would keep it in mind.

How can such immortal figures who can help Xuande Gong build his business can be compared to stupid pigs like Xu Ying who wrote bribery words on the test paper?

Shaking his head, You Chu looked at the grand scene below and softly praised:

Ma Zhong was startled for a moment, and then his face looked overjoyed. The meaning behind these words was so obvious that he responded solemnly.

Ma Zhong knocked on the door of Li Shu, who came to Chang'an to study with him, and planned to ask the girl to go to Weiyang Palace early to get a seat.

Although they don't understand what it is used for, the Chinese New Year is approaching, their families have new houses, and there is food stored in them. Under such circumstances, the people of Chang'an don't mind watching the excitement at all.

Before he finished speaking, Mr. Li looked Ma Zhong up and down and said:

Standing here and looking at the five-story high-rise building opposite Weiyang Palace, Zhang Ji was a little curious:

The initial sound was like thunder, and then the intervals between each sound became shorter and shorter. Soon the sound of the drums was like a violent storm, causing the entire straight street to become completely silent. Everyone craned their necks and stared closely at the place.

Along with the increasingly urgent drum beat, Nuo masters wearing various ghost masks began to take the stage. When all parties stood still, the drum beat suddenly stopped.

The mighty general threw his drumstick down and shouted:
"Qi Zibei, please drive away the epidemic——"

The tall and strong man with a ghost face who led the Nuo masters kicked off the exorcism with a more powerful voice:

"...A's eating is evil, the Moon's stomach eats tigers, the male's food is evil, Teng Jian's food is unlucky, and all the food is responsible for it, Boqi eats in dreams!"

The people of Chang'an are a little unfamiliar with Nuo exorcism opera, but they are not that unfamiliar. After all, Chang'an was the capital of the Han Dynasty. It is said that at that time, the royal family also asked Nuo masters to perform Nuo in front of the palace to show God's favor.

But since Emperor Guangwu, Kyoto was changed to Luoyang, and the place of exorcism became Luoyang, no longer connected to Chang'an.

Later, Dong Zhuo captured the emperor here, but at that time the war was in chaos, the emperor had no intention of praying for blessings, and the people had no blessings to enjoy, so now it is a completely different scene that is completely unimaginable.

Before the exorcism was over, some of the people began to cry softly, looking at each other with tears in their eyes.

Zhang Ji was dumbfounded. He felt that he could not admit his mistake. The drummer must be Jin Machao, whose Yongzhou accent was quite obvious.

Even though the leader of the Nuo division was wearing a mask, he could tell at a glance that he must be General Zhang Yide!
"If there was no such chaos, my third brother would still be a good Nuo master even if he didn't join the army."

On the top floor of Chaling Restaurant, Liu Bei held Adou in his arms and commented like this.

Previously, Liu Bei was worried about Mrs. Gan's frailty and the uncertainty of the war, so Liu Bei did not let his family members follow him.

But later Mrs. Gan wrote a letter saying that after being treated with Zhang Zhongjing's decoction, her health had improved a lot, and Chang'an had become stable. Finally, in October, she sent someone to take her family over.

"The Yizhou soldiers have returned. The fathers and elders of Chengdu will all remember the kindness of the three generals. If he becomes a Nuo master, the people of Yizhou will definitely support him."

Liu Bei turned his head and met the look of the person who said this. He did not avoid it, nodded generously and said:

"Mrs. Wu said this, my third brother will definitely be happy if he knows."

It was not an accident that Wu's daughter came north with Mrs. Gan and Mrs. Sun to look for him.

Either Guanzhong was decided to change Liu Bei's mentality, or Adou said many things about Lady Wu's kindness to him.

The idea of ​​blindly avoiding Yizhou no longer exists. The idea that emerges in Liu Bei's heart now is:
I wonder if Mrs. Wu can make the decision herself about her marriage?
But thinking of what she said reminded Liu Bei of Xia Houyuan, and even more so of Zhang He who was still stranded in Chang'an. He hesitated for a moment and didn't know how to deal with it.

What drew Liu Bei's attention back was the pain on his jaw. When he lowered his head, he saw Adou pulling at his beard:

"Dad said that there will be no official business today on New Year's Eve."

Liu Bei had no choice but to smile and promise to obey. Only then did Adou smile.

However, he still couldn't help but think of his second brother who had been in Jingzhou for a long time.

I hope that next year's New Year's Eve, the three brothers can gather together in one place, as the Erfeng Emperor's poem said, to celebrate the new year and see each other off all night long.

The grand exorcism ceremony brought Chang'an a feeling of recalling the strong men of the past, and the following iron trees and silver flowers brought endless amazement to the people of Chang'an.

The strong man stood naked on the stage, hitting the molten metal into the sky, and the brilliant sparks burst out on the pine and cypress branches, making this "tree stage" dazzling.

Thousands of flowers bloomed on the trees, stars fell like rain, and paper lanterns filled the roads.

The sound of woo ya ya strings and bamboos sounded. This was the musical instrument Liu Bei tried his best to find and collect. Kong Ming and Pang Tong spent a day looking for the players, tried their best to arrange the music and played it at this time.

It can't be said that it sounds good, but Liu Bei listened to the praises of the people downstairs and knew that this was enough for them.

The strong men beating molten iron to create iron trees and silver flowers have changed three times, but the people are still watching mesmerized.

Finally, a general came out and announced loudly that the molten iron prepared had been used up, and the people reluctantly gave up.

It's still not over yet. I don't know when the stage where the Nuo opera was performed has been covered with small lamps, but none of them are lit. There are nearly a thousand densely packed lamps.

Liu Bei carefully held Adou and approached Langan to watch. He knew the whole process well, so he was not surprised to see Kong Ming appear on the stage in formal attire.

Thinking about it seriously, this seemed to be the first time he saw Kong Ming wearing a wide robe with long sleeves, red and black, decorated with jade belts, flower boots and a ribbon crown, and with a serious face, he was very similar to Prime Minister Zhuge in the light curtain.

And what his military advisor said on the stage, with the help of the sergeant shouting loudly, could be heard clearly by the whole street. There was no red tape in the words and they were quite straightforward.

Even an illiterate old farmer can understand the meaning clearly:
The military advisor said that from the time when Dong Zhuo destroyed the fertile land in Guanzhong, to the time when households in the Three Qin Dynasty had enough food, the troubled times in Guanzhong were over.

Nowadays, there are bright lanterns on the stage that can fly into the sky. If there are parents present who have died in troubled times, they can go up on the stage and light up lanterns to pray for the souls of their parents.

After saying that, the military advisor stood aside solemnly with his hands tied.

The people on the street looked at each other, and soon someone appeared on the stage with a sad face, took the fire stick from the sergeant's hand, blew it, and carefully lit the nearest lamp.

Seeing the lamp swaying and flying up, the young man burst into tears and knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly to the little lamp flying into the sky.

Soon, more people came on stage, and the fire seal was passed among the silent people one after another. Soon someone borrowed the fire seal from a street vendor and went on stage to light a lamp.

Thousands of lanterns flew together, like silent souls floating in the sky over Chang'an, carrying the Tianhe River above and the people below. Even Liu Bei had the illusion for a moment, as if this simple little lamp could really carry souls, separating the yin and yang. Communication is average.

Liu Bei was not the only one who felt this way. He could also hear it with his own eyes. Some of the people below were shouting at the river of lights, and some were shouting out names with tears in their eyes.

They may tell about trivial matters at home, express their thoughts about their loved ones, or wish each other peace.

As far as the eye could see, everyone present felt sad.

"Dad, I miss my aunt."

Liu Bei lowered his head and saw Adou looking at him eagerly, with water in his eyes.

He sighed softly, hugged Adou tight for two minutes, raised his head and stared at the river of thousands of lights, and seemed to be able to see a young figure with a good face through it.

Kong Ming stood on the stage with his hands in hand, looking at the scene of the surviving people mourning their dead, and looking at the soldiers around him with unbearable expressions or straight eyes, probably thinking of their deceased relatives.

Finally, he looked up at the sky with an expressionless face and clenched his fists slightly in his sleeves.

In the south of Chang'an City, Zhang He looked at the stars in the northern sky and didn't know what they were, but he suddenly missed his family in Yecheng.

……

Unlike the snowy scene in Chang'an in the Han Dynasty, Li Shimin couldn't remember how many times he lamented the hot weather in July.

But compared to the hot weather, what was more anxious was his heart.

Fortunately, ten days after seeing the light curtain, a messenger finally came to report:

"On behalf of the Duke, we are escorting the thief chieftain to Jinguang Gate in the west of Chang'an!"

Li Shimin jumped up and threw away the answer he had already thought of:

"Order the prisoners to go around to the south of the city and enter the city through Mingde Gate!"

(End of this chapter)