Tibet

Li Ye came to Linyou County to inspect Jiucheng Palace, which was the Renshou Palace of the Sui Dynasty. It was the summer resort for the royal family of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It was known as the largest palace, with a magnificent scale and magnificent scenery. Moreover, the altitude here is relatively high, and the cool mountain breeze blows from the north. The highest temperature in summer is only more than 20 degrees, and only more than 10 degrees at night. It is very suitable for summer and is deeply favored by the emperors of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The summer in Chang'an is very hot. The palace and the mansions of high officials generally use ice cubes to cool down. Although it is effective, it is not good for the body. Many people complain of leg pain, especially the elderly and women and children. The best way is to escape the heat.

In fact, Huaqing Palace can also escape the heat in summer. It gets the cool air of the Wei River, and the temperature in summer is not high. But compared with the dampness of water vapor, Li Ye prefers the cool breeze of the mountains and forests. The cool breeze blowing from the northern mountains and forests makes people feel refreshed.

Jiucheng Palace is located on Fenghuang Mountain in the north of Linyou County, covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. There are various government offices of the court, as well as a harem covering an area of ​​100 acres. There is also a royal forbidden garden of several hundred acres, which is home to many docile small animals, mainly deer, which are prepared for the princes and princesses.

In addition, 30% of the houses in the county are official houses, almost all of which are small houses of one or two acres, with hundreds of them, which are all prepared for officials. Linyou County itself is very cool, and court officials also bring their families to Linyou County to escape the summer heat, and handle government affairs in Jiucheng Palace in summer.

It was already afternoon when Li Ye arrived in Linyou County, and the person who accompanied Li Ye on the tour was naturally the favorite concubine Yang Yuhuan.

Yang Yuhuan's beauty and understanding made Li Ye miss her very much. She seemed like a goddess who had eaten a fairy fruit. There was no trace of time on her. Her skin was white and tender, her figure was plump, her appearance was peerless, and her big eyes were full of affection. When her eyes moved, Li Ye was often distracted. She looked like a woman in her twenties, full of mature charm.

Yang Yuhuan's intelligence and grasp of men's thoughts always made her say caring words at critical moments, making people feel comfortable.

By the car window, Yang Yuhuan leaned on her husband and said coquettishly: "Husband, let's go shopping in the county town! I haven't gone shopping with you yet!"

"Nonsense, didn't we go shopping for rattan chairs together?"

"Hee! Hee! I almost forgot, no, I want to go shopping and drink in the pub!" Yang Yuhuan pouted and said coquettishly.

Li Ye hugged her waist, lowered his head and kissed her pouting red lips, and smiled: "Okay, let's go to the county town."

Li Ye and Yang Yuhuan changed to an ordinary carriage, quietly left the caravan and drove to the county town. Several female bodyguards followed on horseback. The caravan continued to move forward and rested at the posthouse to wait for them.

The carriage entered the county town. Linyou County was not big, but it was very clean. The ground was paved with stone slabs. This was also due to the Jiucheng Palace. Because officials all lived in Linyou County, the county town must be better.

The small county has a small population, only two thousand households, most of which are concentrated in the south. There is a main road called Renshou Street, and there are all kinds of shops on both sides of the street.

"Husband, what are the specialties of Linyou County?" Yang Yuhuan asked curiously.

Li Ye didn't know. He looked at the street and found many mountain product stores, so he smiled and said, "I guess the specialty is mountain products, furs, medicinal materials, etc."

"Let's go and have a look!"

Yang Yuhuan had no interest in ordinary cloth stores, silk shops, jewelry stores, etc., but she was somewhat interested in mountain products.

Li Ye nodded and gave an order. The carriage slowly stopped in front of a store. Yang Yuhuan put on a veil and was helped off the carriage by Li Ye. Behind her followed her personal maid Ah Hui and a personal female guard.

The store is called "Mountain People". It is a century-old store. As soon as you enter the door, you can see various precious animal skins hanging on the wall. The store mainly sells various mountain products, mushrooms, medicinal materials, game, furs, some more distinctive handicrafts, and some strange stones picked up from mountain streams.

The owner is a middle-aged man in his forties. He saw a couple in gorgeous clothes and extraordinary demeanor coming in. At first glance, they are rich and powerful people.

The middle-aged man was a connoisseur of goods. He was shocked when he saw the gemstone necklace on Yang Yuhuan's chest. It was incomparably green, ten times greener than the bamboo forest in spring. The other red and blue gemstones were all rare treasures.

The man was tall and handsome, with an aura that overwhelmed everything.

This was definitely not an ordinary person. The owner was even more respectful. Although the store was full of things, Li Ye and Yang Yuhuan looked around and didn't like anything.

Li Ye smiled faintly, "My wife wants to buy something special and novel."

The shop owner thought for a moment, slapped his forehead and said, "There are three treasures in our shop. I wonder if you like them?"

"What are they?"

"A very complete black bear skin. My father bought it from a hunter's family in Kongtong Mountain thirty years ago. It is very complete and was tanned by Baishoutang in the capital."

Li Ye was not interested in animal skins. There were dozens of precious animal skins obtained from Khitan and Bohai in his palace. The animal skins here could not be compared with those in extremely cold places.

"What else?"

"There is also a three-hundred-year-old Huangjing and a roll of Phoenix bamboo mat."

He didn't like the three-hundred-year-old Huangjing either. He had several thousand-year-old Huangjing, but it was the first time he heard of Phoenix bamboo mats.

"What are the characteristics of Phoenix bamboo mats?"

"It's the dragon-scale bamboo in the forbidden garden on the mountain. But we can't say dragon scale, so it was renamed Phoenix bamboo. It is said that during the reign of Emperor Taizong, several bamboo shoots were transplanted and grew into a bamboo forest. Mats made of this bamboo are popular in summer. It's very cool, but this bamboo forest was cut down during the Kaiyuan period. The young master can't find the second volume of Phoenix bamboo mats in the whole market. If there is one, it's a fake. "

Li Ye laughed dumbly. Dragon-scaled bamboo is turtle-shell bamboo. It can be found in Taiji Palace and Daming Palace. There are quite a lot of them. It is estimated that the dragon-scaled bamboo in Renshou Palace was transplanted from Taiji Palace.

Things that are common in the royal family are treasures among the people. After shopping around, Yang Yuhuan finally bought a tea set carved from tree roots. It was very simple and unique. The female bodyguard helped pay a hundred coins.

The shopkeeper watched the two people leave, and he saw the jade belt and jade pei around the man's waist. They were rare suet-fat jade in the world!

The shopkeeper secretly gasped, "My dear, who are these two people! I'm afraid they are a couple from heaven descending to earth!"

The two went to the Ligong Restaurant next door for lunch and sat in a private room. Of course they couldn't sit in the lobby. First, it was unsafe. Second, Yang Yuhuan had to take off his hat and face covering and sat in the lobby. The inside is so stunning that it attracts attention. Even if you don't dare to mess around, having a group of drinkers staring at Yang Yuhuan makes people uncomfortable.

There was no such trouble in the elegant room. The two of them ordered a pot of good fruit wine, three kilograms of biscuits, a few mountain side dishes, a plate of roasted goat meat, and a pot of stewed bear paws.

Li Ye asked the female guard and the maid to eat outside.

Yang Yuhuan is very particular about eating. She eats very light in the morning, but eats meat at noon, and a combination of meat and vegetables in the evening.

The bear paws were just bought from the restaurant yesterday. The two of them ate half of them in one meal. They were extremely delicious and made them smile with joy and enjoy themselves.

The fruit wine is also good, with a sweet taste and low alcohol content.

After lunch, the group went downstairs and got on the carriage, which slowly left Linyou County.

Yang Yuhuan had a good impression of Linyou County. Although it was far less prosperous than Chang'an, the local customs were simple, the county was clean, and the roads were stone slabs, which were very clean.

Yang Yuhuan smiled happily and said: "In the summer, I will take my eldest sister and the others shopping together. They will definitely like it."

Li Ye nodded. As long as safety can be guaranteed, he has never objected to his wife and children going shopping.

A special passage has also been built from Linyou County to the main trunk of Tang Zhi Road. To be precise, it should be called Sui Zhi Road. It was built by Yang Jian in the Sui Dynasty. It is wide and flat, paved with stone slabs. Ordinary people are not allowed to walk. It is a straight line from Xi County to 90% of the road. palace,

Li Ye was going to Yong County for inspection, so he did not take this 90% Avenue, but he would take this road when he returned.

There are still three miles away from Jiucheng Palace, and various buildings have been built on both sides, including military camps, government offices, temples, and of course a large posthouse, as well as warehouses and carriage houses.

Because the Supreme Emperor Li Longji came several times during the Tianbao period, and the former emperor Li Heng came twice, all Jiucheng Palace was well maintained. Li Ye's motorcade came to the palace gate, and the palace chief Yang Tianliang came out to welcome the emperor's arrival. In addition, there were also Several eunuchs, the leader of which was Liang Zhen, was the general manager of the palace.

Their scope of responsibilities are different. The palace minister is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the official office, while the general manager of the palace is responsible for the inner palace. Liang Zhen maintains the harem with more than a dozen old eunuchs and dozens of old maids. They actually retire here.

Li Ye looked around the official office. It was very similar to the layout of Xingqing Palace, but he liked the harem better. The palace was built on the mountain, and the harem was on the top of the mountain. There were many pavilions in the harem. To the south, you could overlook the land of Guanzhong, and to the north was Dense mountain forests.

The harem is very compact and is divided into academy area, palace concubine area, children's area and palace maid's dormitory area. There is also an extremely beautiful forbidden garden at the back, and there is also a clear pool of water, forming a small stream down the mountain.

That night, Li Ye and Yang Yuhuan stayed in the palace, and they fell in love all night long.