320, Li Longji Is Better at Horse Shooting than Me (Please Order the Whole Set)

He might not know about other Taoist temples in Chang'an, but Zongsheng Temple is the royal Taoist temple worshipped by the Li Tang royal family. If he doesn't know a thing or two, then he, the emperor, is too shielded from the eyes and ears. Google search reading

Eight Qi and twenty-four seasons, one hundred and twenty days.

Hou Shaowei spent such a long time refining the external elixir, it is unlikely to hide it from others.

"Your Majesty is very observant, and I really can't hide my little thoughts from Your Majesty..."

"The elixir refined by Master, I... wanted to find a suitable opportunity to present it to Your Majesty, but I was afraid that the officials of the court would say that I used the elixir to seduce Your Majesty, so I hesitated..."

Bai Gui changed the subject without showing any expression and said.

In the feudal dynasty, how could officials be without selfishness? As long as the selfishness was within the limit that the monarch could tolerate, and the relationship with the monarch was close enough, this little selfishness was nothing. But if there was too much chat, small thoughts would also cause big problems.

It's best to deal with it coldly!

Similarly, having selfishness proves that you are a person, which will make people feel more at ease.

The King of Qin asked Wang Jian to attack the State of Chu, and Wang Jian used the excuse of asking for a mansion, rewards, etc., for this reason.

"Don't worry about this matter, I won't announce it to the public. As for the external pill, I can take it secretly."

"Tell it to others... I have just tried my best to govern the government and make the government clear for a while. If the outside court knows about it, it will cause great harm to the country. I will definitely not easily reveal it to outsiders."

Li Longji chuckled and replied.

It is not uncommon for the outside immortals to deceive the emperor, and it is also common for the emperor to seek immortality but fail. But he is not a fool. With the intelligence of Bai Gui and Princess Jinxian, if this external pill has great consequences, it will never be taken easily. He also knows some secrets of the immortals. Just looking at Bai Gui's temperament, it seems that he is a member of the immortal family and a banished immortal in the world, so he knows that practicing Taoism will definitely be successful. After taking this external pill, it is expected that there will not be any major consequences.

"Just use the excuse of refining your new gunpowder to collect cinnabar."

"Even if the ministers know about it, they will not hinder it..."

He added.

"Your Majesty..."

"To refine the new gunpowder, a lot of cinnabar is indeed needed."

Bai Gui replied helplessly.

He didn't expect that Li Longji and he had the same idea.

He instigated Li Longji to send people to collect cinnabar on the pretext of refining yellow gunpowder. Li Longji guessed that both yellow gunpowder and external elixir needed cinnabar, but the cinnabar used in yellow gunpowder should not be much, so he wanted to use yellow gunpowder as a cover to hide it from the ministers and collect more cinnabar.

The emperor is not omnipotent.

Every government order must be explained to the ministers.

Of course, if you want to be a tyrant, collecting cinnabar is a small matter, just like Song Huizong's collection of flowers and stones, the people are resentful and rebellious.

But if you want to be a wise monarch, such behavior is not acceptable.

"I know about this."

"But the outsiders don't know..."

Li Longji waved his hand.

"Let's find a time. It's not good to let all the officials know about this new gunpowder. The ministers of the Political Affairs Hall can come and take a look. With their prestige, it won't be a big deal to mine the mineral deposits in Kyushu for a while."

"With this new gunpowder, defeating foreign countries is just around the corner. Even if there is a little dissatisfaction among the people, it can be suppressed."

He analyzed calmly.

Mining will undoubtedly waste people's strength. The people will be resentful, that's for sure, but as long as they win the foreign war, all this dissatisfaction will disappear.

"Your Majesty is wise."

Bai Gui bowed his hands.

The imperial power in the Tang Dynasty was not as great as that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Under the system of three provinces and six ministries, the emperor issued an order. The Zhongshu Province first drafted the order. Bai Gui's previous position was in charge of this. After the Zhongshu Province drafted the order, the Menxia Province reviewed it. After the Menxia Province reviewed it, if there were not too many loopholes, it would be handed over to the Shangshu Province for execution.

The Shangshu Province governs the six ministries.

The imperial edicts issued by the emperor without review are called Zhongzhi, and officials can choose not to execute them.

So if you want to be a tyrant, you have to spend a lot of effort to plan, replace the chief officials of the three ministries, squeeze them out of the court, and then appoint lackeys who only listen to you. This is in line with the procedure, and you can be wanton and tyrannical.

And who are the prime ministers at the court at this time?

Yao Chong, Song Jing!

These wise ministers are relatively upright.

So if you want to mine cinnabar, you have to convince these prime ministers first. After persuading the prime ministers, the prime ministers have students and old officials, which is equivalent to the cabinet they have formed, and can implement the government orders.

"By the way, now that we are at the training ground, we can't come here in vain."

"Bai Qing, put on your tight clothes and play polo with me."

Li Longji said with a little itch.

This is also his usual act of showing favor, playing polo with his close ministers.

Polo is also called Jiju, which was very popular during the Han and Tang Dynasties. Cao Zhi's "Famous Capitals" has a sentence describing the situation of playing polo: "The cavalrymen hit the polo ground, and they are clever and agile." This sentence describes the situation of playing polo.

In the Tang Dynasty court, playing polo was extremely popular.

Tang Xuanzong Li Longji was not only the ancestor of the opera industry, he liked playing polo since he was a child.

There was a folk song at that time: "Sanlang was not well dressed when he was young, and he was obsessed with polo and forgot to return to the palace."

During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, when Li Longji's uncle was in power, he married Princess Jincheng to Tubo. The Tubo envoy proposed to play a polo match with the Tang Dynasty, so Li Xian asked the Shen Ce Army to participate in the battle, but the Shen Ce Army was quickly defeated, so the polo master Li Longji participated in the battle and defeated the Tubo Kingdom.

Bai Gui could not recommend it, so he gladly accepted the invitation.

After a while.

The group arrived at the Daming Palace, the East Inner Courtyard.

Pavilion Hall.

The Pavilion Hall is the polo court in the palace.

This time, Li Longji improvised and wanted to play polo, so some of the polo masters in the past did not have time to enter the palace, so the eunuchs and concubines who accompanied Li Longji acted as polo players.

Bai Gui changed into a set of tight clothes, looking like a young man.

He has achieved success in Taoism, so even though he is now in his twenties, he is still as handsome as before.

"Who of you wants to go to Bai Qing?"

Li Longji asked several concubines.

Because of their physical disabilities, the eunuchs, except for a small number of people who can play polo well, the rest can't even get on a horse. After all, those who can learn to ride a horse must be rich, and how can the children of rich families let them enter the palace.

The concubines in the palace are better than the eunuchs in playing polo.

Hearing this, several concubines are eager to move.

In the Tang Dynasty palace, there are no restrictions on concubines as severe as in other dynasties.

"Although Bai Qing is a first-rate horse archer, he is not that good at playing polo."

Li Longji glanced at the concubines, nodded slightly, and pointed at a few concubines, "You! You! You! You are all good at playing polo, and you form a team with Bai Qing."

"Yes, Sanlang!"

The leading concubine was Wu Huifei.

Wu Huifei was the niece of Wu Zetian. She entered the palace at a young age and was trained differently from ordinary ladies from famous families. Although she could not draw a strong bow or ride a strong horse, she was definitely much better than ordinary concubines in playing polo.

Similarly, if you want to be favored by Li Longji, in addition to being beautiful, being able to play polo is also a plus.

At the stadium, the horse team was divided into two teams.

The horses in the horse team were all Hexi horses, of excellent breed, and their tails were tied tightly to prevent the tails from entangled with each other and affecting the game.

Bai Gui held the reins in his left hand, wore a turban on his head, and held a crescent-shaped ball stick in his right hand.

After so many years in the Tang Dynasty, he must have played polo. To say that he is not proficient is only relative to Li Longji, a master. With his talent, it doesn't take much effort to learn to play polo. He just doesn't play polo often.

"Marquis Linyi, Sanlang said that you are good at riding and shooting..."

"Since you are good at riding, you must be good at playing polo. I will help you later. You must take the initiative to attack. Otherwise, with Sanlang's level of playing polo, once you fall behind, there will be no chance of turning the tables."

Wu Huifei suddenly spoke.

"The saint has practiced playing football for many years. It is normal for me to fail..."

Bai Gui replied.

After all, Li Longji is a man who can play horse shaking. Although he is good at horse riding, it is still difficult to do this. It is not shameful to lose to Li Longji.

After speaking, he looked back at Wu Huifei, with a solemn face, like a female general preparing for a battle.

In the past, the chest-length skirts worn by concubines were quite eye-catching, but now the polo outfit worn by Concubine Wu Huifei is tightly wrapped. The contrast is so great that it gives people a different feeling.