Tibet

It was December. Hedong was recovered, Taiyuan was safe and sound, and the whole court was celebrating. Li Ye specially ordered a day off to celebrate the return of Hedong Road.

In order to commend Li Ye for recovering Huainan Road and Hedong Road, Empress Dowager Zhang issued an edict to formally confer Li Ye as the Regent of the Imperial Brother and continue to serve as the Regent.

Li Ye had been called the Regent by many officials before, but he was not the Regent, but the Regent General, which was his main job.

The Regent was one level higher than the Regent. Under special circumstances, ministers could also serve as Regents, such as Huo Guang, who was the de facto Regent.

The Empress Dowager was also a Regent, but the Regent was not a position, but a function and a power.

The Regent clarified Li Ye's powers in an institutional way.

If there were no three words of the Imperial Brother, the Regent would indeed be the highest authority in a country.

But with the three words of the Imperial Brother, what would the Regent be?

For example, in the movie "The Lord of the Rings", Denethor served as the regent as the prime minister of Gondor. Although he held the power of Gondor, he had to give up his throne after the return of the king of Aragorn.

Unless all the royal heirs were killed, Denethor could change the dynasty, but other important families in Gondor might not agree.

The emperor's eldest brother is the heir to the throne. He can be called the crown prince, the emperor, the emperor's uncle, the emperor's younger brother, the emperor's elder brother, the emperor's grandson, etc., depending on the relationship with the emperor.

According to the clan generation, Li Linfu and the emperor Li Longji are of the same generation, so Li Ye is one generation lower than the late emperor Li Heng, and is of the same generation as the young emperor Li Dong. He is the emperor Li Dong's elder brother.

To be honest, it was a smooth process to make Li Ye the regent, but it was a bit unexpected for Li Ye to be made the emperor's eldest brother. According to his plan, he should have been made the emperor's eldest brother after recovering Hebei.

However, the edict of Empress Dowager Zhang needs Li Ye's seal to take effect, and this edict of the Empress Dowager is in Li Ye's hands.

Li Ye told Empress Dowager Zhang in detail about his plan, and the two reached a consensus. He did not want Empress Dowager Zhang to advance or postpone and disrupt his plan. He planned to use the great achievement of unifying the world to support the title of the emperor's brother.

It's too early now.

At noon, Li Ye hurried to the warm room of Daming Palace. Empress Dowager Zhang lived here throughout the winter.

After waiting in front of the warm room for a while, the door opened, and a palace maid saluted and said: "The Empress Dowager is waiting in the inner room, please come in, Your Highness!"

Li Ye tidied up his inner armor a little. He had three flying knives hidden on his body. Many times he had to guard against it. There were too many and too mixed forces in the Tang Dynasty, and there were countless enemies who hated him and wanted to chop him into meat sauce. He was not worried at home or in the office, but he still had to be vigilant outside.

Li Ye walked into the warm room. The room was warm as spring. A gauze curtain was drawn. He could vaguely see Queen Mother Zhang lying on the bed, holding her head with her hands, looking at him with spring in her eyes. Li Ye sighed in his heart. She came again.

"Your Highness, please sit down!" Queen Mother Zhang waved to him with a smile.

Li Ye sat down opposite her and asked directly: "Why did the Queen Mother confer me the title of Emperor Tai Brother?"

"Why, you don't want to?"

Li Ye shook his head, "It's not that I don't want to, but it's a bit unexpected. We agreed before that this title should appear after the pacification of the Hebei vassal town. The Queen Mother advanced it by one year."

Queen Mother Zhang sighed, "I'm a little tired. I don't want to play this game anymore. It's meaningless to me. I get annoyed when I see that little fool every day. What virtue and ability does he have to dare to call him the Son of Heaven?"

"Queen Mother, this is what we agreed on. I don't want you to change your mind and plan at will and put me in a passive position."

said Then, Li Ye put the decree on the table and said lightly: "Re-draft it, remove the three words "Huang Taixiong" and change it to "Regent King". "

Empress Dowager Zhang stood up, walked out from behind the curtain, walked behind Li Ye, put her delicate fingers on Li Ye's shoulder, and whispered in his ear: "You conscienceless man, if I don't use this method, will you come to see me?"

Li Ye was angry, "You——"

Empress Dowager Zhang smiled charmingly, sat in Li Ye's arms, hugged his neck and said delicately: "I cooperate with you so much, don't you give me a little reward?"

Li Ye was annoyed, but he had no choice but to pick her up and walk to the inner room.

Back to the official room, Li Ye put a Shenlong Order on the table. This was given to him by the queen mother. He didn't know what the meaning of this thing was?

At this time, Du You said at the door: "Your Highness, Minister Dugu wants to see you!"

Li Ye nodded, "Please ask him to come in!"

After a while, Dugu Lie hurried in and bowed, "Your Highness!"

"Minister, please don't be polite, please sit down!"

Dugu Lie sat down and suddenly saw the Shenlong Order on the table. He was startled, "Shenlong Order!"

Li Ye smiled and said: "This is given to me by the Queen Mother. I wonder what it means? Does the Minister understand?"

Dugu Lie nodded, "This is the first year of Shenlong, Crown Prince Li Xian, Prime Minister Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei and others secretly made a token, which could mobilize 3,000 troops from the Eastern Palace. It was these 3,000 troops that surrounded the bedroom of Empress Wu Zetian, arrested Wu Sansi and others, and overthrew the rule of Empress Wu Zetian.

This Shenlong Order became a symbol of the Tang Dynasty's origin. Zhongzong passed it to Ruizong, Ruizong passed it to Xuanzong, and Xuanzong passed it to Suzong. It represented the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty. When the new emperor ascended the throne, it was placed on the imperial desk like the jade seal and the eight treasures as a ceremonial vessel.

"Is it just a ceremonial vessel?"

"At that time, there was also a Shenlong envoy, who was a person with extremely high martial arts skills and was dedicated to protecting those who held the Shen Nong Order. The last Shen Nong envoy was Lie Feng, and I think the current Shenlong envoy is Pei Min."

"But Pei Min is no longer a personal guard, and has been changed to a general of the Shenwu Army."

Dugu Lie nodded, "So its protective function has disappeared. It is just a simple ritual instrument. The Queen Mother will give it to you."

"I see!"

Li Ye picked up the Shenlong Order and put it in the cabinet. Since it was just a ritual vessel, it had no meaning to him.

Dugu Lie also turned to business. He took out a report and presented it to Li Ye: "This is a draft of the polo competition formulated by the Ministry of War in accordance with the request of His Highness. Please take a look at it!"

The polo competition in the Tang Dynasty was completely stopped after the An Lushan rebellion. The late emperor Li Heng once wanted to resume it, but he failed.

Li Ye naturally also wanted to resume the polo competition. On the one hand, this was a reflection of the prosperous age of the Tang Dynasty. On the other hand, countless polo fans in Chang'an were looking forward to the restart of the annual competition.

The polo competition is a matter of the Ministry of War, and the driving department of the Ministry of War is responsible for it. There is also a Polo Department as the executive agency, and Li Ye naturally handed it over to Dugu Lie.

Li Ye picked up the plan, looked at it, and said with a smile: "The governor's offices in the border army, the guards in the guard army, as well as martial arts halls, military schools, and civilian teams add up to at least thirty or forty teams, right? Too much?"

Dugulie smiled and said: "So there are two types of competitions: qualifying and finals. We recommend that all registered teams hold qualifying matches in Chang'an, Luoyang, and Taiyuan, and then calculate the points. The top 24 will participate in the finals in Chang'an. The entire The competition lasts about half a year, from March to September next year, and has become a grand event that attracts national attention. "

Li Ye nodded, "In addition to the martial arts competition, weightlifting, foot shooting and mounted archery, you can sign up even if you are illiterate. After you are selected, you will receive literary training. I believe that the polo and martial arts competitions will be very lively!"