As the days passed, the sky slowly darkened, but there were more and more lines on the streets, and everyone waited eagerly for the night to fall.

In the past, as soon as it was dark, I hurried to my home, so as not to be caught by Wu Hou after closing the city gate, but today is different, there is no city ban on the Shangyuan Festival, and there is no curfew.

The last afterglow of the sunset, as if reluctant to bear the prosperity of the world, has not fallen, and the people of Chang'an, who can't wait, have hung up the lanterns they have carefully prepared.

One, two, three... The lanterns were lit more and more, and every household hung up the lanterns in front of the door, which looked like countless stars in the sky, and the yamen and Wuhou shops also took action and began to light the lanterns hanging on the roadside, alley corners and high places in advance, and the palace and the city towers also hung up the lanterns in cooperation.

In the blink of an eye, Chang'an has become a world of lanterns, and as far as the eye can see, all kinds of lanterns are reflected in the eyes, and countless lanterns illuminate Chang'an as bright as day.

There are many lanterns, more people, the streets of Chang'an are full of people, densely crowded, the lanterns of this year's Shangyuan Festival set up two main venues, one vertical and one horizontal, the vertical is from the Mingde Gate to the Vermilion Bird Gate of the Vermilion Bird Street, the horizontal is from the Chunming Gate to the Jinguang Gate this road, these two lanterns are the most, and the popularity is also the highest.

Chang'an Shangyuan Festival, the government stipulates that all buildings must be hung with lanterns, every street, every alley must be decorated with lanterns, the imperial court in the two main venues set up a specific area, as long as the lanterns are done well, you can get these places to hang, for people to enjoy, but also for the court appointed judges to inspect, in addition to can harvest a lot of praise and rewards, the winner can join the folk lantern parade.

If you are chosen by the emperor, you will immediately receive a large reward.

After years of development, the people of Datang have become stricter in the classification of lanterns, and lanterns of different styles and sizes will be divided into different categories, such as traditional lanterns, new lanterns, shadow lanterns, lanterns, lanterns, etc.

A grand lantern festival is naturally indispensable for the participation of the imperial court.

The lantern festival is divided into the folk lantern festival and the official lantern festival, the country is rich and strong, the treasury is full, and the official lantern festival is more grand and luxurious, which can be described as "day and night, reading the moon does not stop".

Shangyuan Festival is a rare face-showing event, those wealthy families will not easily let go of this opportunity, hollow out their hearts to please the emperor, and some also hold a small lantern festival for the people and tourists of Chang'an to watch, in order to show their strength.

Walking on the streets of Chang'an, you can see all kinds of lanterns everywhere, yarn lanterns, blue lanterns, dragon and phoenix lanterns, angular lanterns, tree and ground lamps, ceremonial lanterns, mushroom lamps, etc., and the shapes are also diversified, including circles, squares, cylindrical, polygonal and so on.

These are traditional, some high-end lamps, will be made into a variety of shapes, such as egret flowers, Huanglong spit water, gold, silver swallow, floating light cave, star pavilion, more advanced light car, light wheel, light tower, only can not think, no can not do.

I don't know how many people were dazzled, and I don't know how many people were impressed by the light market in Chang'an.

"You guys, this lotus lamp is really chic."

"The best thing to look at is the octagonal yarn lamp, and there is also the poem written by Zheng Peng and Zheng Dacai for a generation of Oiran Lin Xun'er, and Miss Ben alone has to add points to it."

"Come and see, come and see, this lantern is so interesting, put a teapot on it, absolutely amazing, and it can also make tea."

"East, look, east, it's so high, this light wheel is at least fifteen zhang high, go and see."

Many people are attracted by the lantern wheel and flock to admire it, however, some experienced people say with some disdain: "I have not seen the world, the lanterns of those dignitaries have not been released, and the lanterns made by the imperial court have not appeared. ”

The lanterns on the street are exquisite, countless, the talented and beautiful people on the street abound, that is, there are too many people, people are next to people, feet touch feet, many people quarrel in order to find a good lantern viewing location, some good scenic spots, some people even crowd people with their feet hanging in the air.

At this time, the busiest are undoubtedly the slaves who protect their masters' lanterns, and they do their best to protect their masters with human walls.

Of course, some people can find a good viewing lantern without fighting, such as Emperor Li Longji, King Li Longye, Yao Chong, Song Jing, Zhang Rui and his entourage, on the high tower of the Suzaku Gate, to celebrate the Shangyuan Festival with brothers and important ministers, and can also have fun with the people.

The Suzaku Gate Tower is exactly the center point of the two main venues, one vertical and one horizontal, which is also the best place to watch the lanterns, you can look down on the entire Chang'an City from a condescending position, and you can also clearly enjoy the lantern festival.

"Your Majesty, my brother has not been in Chang'an for a long time, and I can't serve the emperor, I would like to wish the emperor a healthy dragon with this cup, and I wish the Tang Dynasty a prosperous country." Li Longye raised his glass and toasted Li Longji.

Li Longji stood up, patted Li Longye lightly on the shoulder, and said, "The imperial brother guards the place for me, and I am tired, let our brothers drink this wine together." ”

When Wu Zetian was in power, Li Tang was under her control, everyone was in danger, and they couldn't live in fear.

Then, born in the emperor's family, many things should be paid attention to, Li Longji sent his brothers with good feelings to other places to do assassination, although the kings were a shepherd, but did not control the military and political power, thus reducing the possibility of rebellion. At the same time, in order to reduce the opportunity for contact between the Beijing officials and the kings and kings, Tang Xuanzong also stipulated that "two people below the king enter the court every quarter, and the cycle repeats." so that the kings could not stay in the capital at the same time.

Li Longye is Li Longji's favorite younger brother, and he is also happy to see him back.

After drinking, Li Longji sat down, motioned for Li Longye to sit down, pointed to the Chang'an City below that was full of tourists and brilliant lights, and said: "The prosperity of the Tang Dynasty today is inseparable from the efforts of the emperor's brother and the Zhongqing family, and I want to give you a glass." ”

Everyone hurriedly said that they didn't dare, and some of them drank the wine in the cup with some trepidation.

The emperor personally toasted, who would dare not drink?

"Datang can have today's foundation, it is all Your Majesty's wisdom, and the old minister is willing to do his best for His Majesty, and he will die." Yao Chong finished drinking, put down the glass, and thanked him for the first time.

"Your Majesty is wise, and the ministers are willing to do their best for Your Majesty, and they will die." All the ministers, including Li Longye, fell to their knees.

Seeing that the atmosphere was serious, Li Longji smiled: "Tonight is the Shangyuan Festival, look at Chang'an's lively and lively, I can't live up to such a beautiful day, I have two requirements for you, one is to exempt the number of courtesies, and the other is not to do business affairs, only talk about Fengyue." ”

Naturally, the ministers responded one after another.

On the table, the food is fragrant and the wine is mellow, outside the city tower, the scenery is picturesque, after three rounds of wine and five flavors, everyone also let go of their burdens, and they began to talk more.

Li Longye suddenly asked: "Yao Kaifu, I don't know what lanterns were put in your mansion after the festival?" ”

"Back to King Qi's words, the old minister asked the old slave in the family to tie a few yarn lamps and hang them in the burrowed house, His Majesty sympathized with the old minister, and sent someone to send eight beautiful palace lamps, if King Qi is interested, you can come and see it at any time." Yao Chong said with a straight face.

"Yao Kaizong's sleeves are breezy, and this king admires it."

Yao Chong in the early years of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, made great contributions to the development of the Tang Dynasty, his "Yao Chong Ten Strategies" made the Tang Dynasty become a first-class empire again, but Yao Chong was very self-disciplined when he was in office, when the prime minister only rented a small house, after resigning from the phase, he went to the temple to live and meditate and recuperate.

Otherwise, Li Longji would not have left him to participate in political affairs, nor would he have consulted with him on major state affairs.

Song Jing deliberately diverted this topic: "Everyone, you have also seen that this year's lanterns, whether in terms of quantity or quality, are still better than the old years, I don't know who can do the best this time and get His Majesty's reward?" ”

Zhang Shuo, who has rarely spoken, said with a smile: "Chang'an County has been awarded by His Majesty for two consecutive years, and this year will probably be no exception." ”

Chang'an City outside the city to Zhuque Street east and west, east to Wannian County, west to Chang'an County, there is rivalry competition, the two county orders not only in the economy, public security secretly competed, Shangyuan Festival, the emperor attached importance to the joy of the event, but also to do their best.

What others say can be ignored, Li Longji's opinion is the most important, every year Li Longji will reward a person who does a good job of lanterns, which county is from, which county wins.

If it is not the people of Chang'an who win the award, which county is registered in will also be counted as the winner.