The city gates on both sides of the Suzaku Gate opened, and two teams of palace maids carrying palace lamps rushed out.

These palace maids, wearing silk and satin, with gold and silver, decorated with pearls and jade, dressed very beautifully, the most rare thing is that the costumes of these palace maids are roughly the same, but the color of the clothes is different, obviously for the purchase of this lantern festival, and I don't know how many palace maids were dispatched to participate in the lantern festival parade this time, just the purchase of these costumes is a huge amount of money.

The palace maids are dressed exquisitely, and the lanterns in their hands are not ordinary, all of them are framed with fine wood, carved patterns, or carved lacquer as a frame, inlaid with gauze and silk, and the court painter is either inscribed on it, or painted, very exquisite.

It's not just a lantern, it's a work of art.

There are many styles of lanterns, such as white hat square lanterns, yarn round lanterns, Luohan lanterns, horse lanterns, butterfly lanterns, two dragon lanterns, etc., these are traditional palace lanterns, which can be very exquisite in workmanship, or cause bursts of applause from the onlookers.

After the traditional lanterns, there are lanterns of various themes, such as the dragon and phoenix are auspicious, the longevity is prolonged, the auspicious Ruyi, the eight immortals cross the sea, the plum orchid bamboo chrysanthemum, etc., each of which is carefully made, each of which is ingenious, which makes people dazzled and addicted.

"Father-in-law Gao has worked hard, the old man respects you." When Yao Chong looked at the lanterns, he found an opportunity to toast with Gao Lishi.

"How dare you dare" Gao Lishi immediately raised the wine glass in his hand, and when he was about to touch, his wrist sank slightly, the mouth of the cup was lower than Yao Chong's cup, and he said modestly: "How can we let Yao Guogong toast, overstep, overstep." ”

Although Yao Chong said that he stepped down from the phase and was recently excluded by Zhang Shuo, Gao Lishi knew that his position in Li Longji's heart was still very heavy, and it was not a new thing for an old courtier like him to turn over overnight.

"Father-in-law Gao is polite" Yao Chong pointed to the palace lantern below and said: "In the past year, there have been many happy events, especially this year, there are so many states in Chaohe, Your Majesty's palace lantern festival, is it just like this?" ”

Li Longji not only loves to be lively, but also loves to play, every year's Shangyuan Festival, he is given a huge stage, this year's Shangyuan Festival, is to get some ordinary small palace lights, not attached to Li Longji's character.

Zhou Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry built a light wheel more than 15 zhang high on the Shangyuan Festival, and with Li Longji's character, he would definitely admit defeat in front of his courtiers.

Gao Lishi smiled, lowered his voice and said: "Yao Guogong still knows His Majesty best, look at it, the good show is ahead." ”

As he spoke, he only heard a sound of neat and loud footsteps, Yao Chong looked down and saw a group of forbidden soldiers, carrying a huge shelf.

The shelf was big and heavy, and dozens of forbidden soldiers struggled to lift it.

At this time, there was the sound of the forbidden army opening the road outside, and when he looked around, he saw two huge cloud cars coming from both sides in the direction of the Suzaku Gate, Yao Chong quickly understood Li Longji's intention: deliberately let people think that the palace lantern festival would not have a light wheel this year, some people were disappointed, some people were happy, and it was unveiled at the last moment, and Li Longji wanted to build a light wheel on the spot.

As the emperor, Li Longji can do whatever he wants.

"They, what are they for? Even the cloud car was dispatched. Lando said with a look of surprise.

Li Bai shook his head and said, "I don't know, it looks like it's going to build something, wait, won't you build the light wheel now." ”

Zheng Peng said: "There is no doubt that the light wheel is built, you see, what the forbidden army is carrying is the parts of the light wheel, the emperor designed it in advance, built the parts of the light wheel in batches, and then used the ladder to assemble them. ”

Under the watchful eyes of the people of Chang'an, court officials, and foreign missions, the craftsmen skillfully spliced the light wheels, some people adjusted the angle, some people calibrated the joints, and some people decorated them, and everything appeared efficient and orderly.

About an hour of hard work, from scratch, a lantern wheel of more than 20 zhang miraculously appeared in front of everyone.

Time is urgent, but the quality is not sloppy at all, the lantern wheel is wrapped in silk and satin, decorated with gold and precious jade, from the lamp holder to the top of the lantern wheel, hung with all kinds of lanterns, from a distance it looks like a "lantern tree" full of lanterns, extremely ornamental.

When the light wheel was completed, the bright light of the light wheel seemed to illuminate the entire Chang'an City, and under the light, there were unbelievable faces, and there was a sigh for a while:

"This light wheel is taller and more beautiful than the one in the second year of the first year, it must be more than twenty zhang."

"Who can count how many lanterns there are on the lantern wheel, oh my God, thousands of people have been busy for an hour to finish."

"The light wheel of the Zhou Mansion just now was already amazing, but I didn't expect it to be compared with the light wheel of the palace."

"Amazing, too powerful, less than an hour to build a light wheel more than 20 zhang high, if you don't count the hanging lights and decoration, half an hour can be completed, here is not only efficient, the skills of Datang craftsmen are too exquisite, just think, if it happens in the siege of the city and the land, it is terrible."

"Datang really deserves to be the most dazzling pearl in the Orient."

The people and tourists on the street talked a lot, and the envoys who sat on the city wall to drink and enjoy the lanterns could no longer sit still, and while congratulating the officials of the Tang Dynasty, they left the table and held the city wall to watch.

Just when everyone praised each other, the palace lantern festival fully explained what is called "the good show is behind" meaning, after the lantern wheel was erected, a large number of musicians, maiko and musicians came out of the palace, the number of more than 3,000 people, as the music sounded, the maiko and the palace maid holding the lantern began to sing and dance, at this time, the lantern wheel also slowly rotated.

The lantern wheel is more than 20 zhang high, decorated with tens of thousands of lanterns, there are 3,000 musicians and musicians, and there are more than 3,000 palace maids and maiko dressed up in makeup.

"Look, there's someone standing on the lightwheel." The sharp-eyed Landuo suddenly exclaimed.

Zheng Peng looked in the direction pointed by Lan Duo, and saw someone climbing up the slowly rotating light wheel, which should be a fixed small platform on the light wheel, and faintly saw that the man still had a rope tied to his body, which should be used for safety.

When he ascended, those men clung to the lantern wheel, until they were about to rise to the top, only to see him slowly stand up, and then trot up on the lampwheel more than 20 feet high.

Running at such a high place requires great courage and superb balance, and Zheng Peng saw that the middle-aged man who was running, with a steady pace and a relaxed expression, should have been strictly trained.

Not only to see the lanterns, but also to watch the juggling, the people below cheered loudly, even the foreign missions standing on the castle tower, they also raised their heads and looked at the people running on the lantern wheel with a look of surprise.

Just when people thought that this was the end, they saw the man tear off a pair of thick gloves from his body and put them on his hands, and then took out a dark box from the hidden place of the lamp wheel, and when he opened it, he faintly saw that the box was glowing with a fiery red light.

I saw the man take out something that looked like a spoon from his waist and put it into the bucket, and soon the spoon was thrown into the sky.

In an instant, an extremely brilliant spark appeared in the sky, as if it ignited the sky over Chang'an.

Oh my God, this is an iron flower, on top of a lamp wheel that is more than 20 feet high.

Iron flower, is spread in the Yu Jin region folk traditional fireworks, the long history can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, is to heat the iron into molten iron, and then sprinkle it in the air or hit out, will form a very beautiful, very gorgeous spark, sometimes for the ornamental effect, but also melt the iron will also add some silver or copper.

This is an ancient and dangerous activity, because the temperature of the molten iron is very high, and if you are not careful, you will be burned and burned.

The best time to strike iron is in winter, when the temperature is low, and when the molten iron is splashed (hit) out, it will cool down quickly and will not hurt people when it falls.

"Coaxing", the onlookers who were excited by the light wheel and singing and dancing just now, the enthusiasm in their hearts was all hit in an instant, many people couldn't help but cheer loudly, and some emotional boys and girls couldn't help but dance along.

The sparks on the lantern wheel are brilliant, the lantern wheel is carrying songs and dances below, the sound of singing and dancing, the sound of musical instruments, the sound of singing, and the sound of cheers converge into a sea of joy, from the princes and ministers, down to the common people, whether they are noble or ordinary, at this moment, on their faces, there is a slight knowledge from the heart.

Laughter with joy, laughter with pride, laughter with yearning for a better life in the future.

The man hit the iron flower very quickly, and I saw that he kept splashing, creating one spark after another on the light wheel, just like those expensive fireworks in later generations.

No, it's more gorgeous and colorful than fireworks.

"Pretty, so pretty." Guo Ziqi couldn't help but mutter.

Li Bai nodded and said, "Playing iron flowers on the lantern wheel, this idea is really amazing." ”

"Beautiful, so beautiful" Lan Duo hugged her chest and said with a reverent face: "To see such a wonderful lantern festival, this trip is in vain, and I have no regrets in this life."

Zheng Bing and Xiaoyin, their eyes were wide open, and most of their mouths were open and not closed, obviously not coming back to their senses.

Rao is the second person, Zheng Peng, who has seen many big scenes, was also deeply shocked by this scene, in fact, in Zheng Peng's memory, even later generations have never seen such a grand and joyful festival.

Datang, this is the Datang in a dream, this is the Datang that makes countless people haunt their dreams.

Due to the limitations of height and location, the molten iron brought by the man was quickly spilled, and I saw him quickly pack up his things, and when the opportunity came, he stood at a fixed point and went down with the light wheel.

The man who played the iron flower came down, but the joy continued, just got off here, and someone on the other side of the light wheel began to trot on it to find balance, this time it was two people, only to see one sprinkled in the air, and the other slapped hard with a wooden plank, forming a bigger and more beautiful spark, this is the real iron flower, and the happy crowd under the light wheel broke out into greater cheers again...