The news of Du He's triumphal return has already reached Du Mansion.
The master of the family has made such a great achievement. From the hostess to the maids and servants, everyone is happy and excited, and they are all decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations to welcome the master of the family.
Chang Le and Li Xueyan were all dressed up and planned to rush to the east gate of Chang'an to meet their beloved husband.
Du He¡¯s expedition lasted for more than a year.
As a couple with deep feelings, this year is undoubtedly a long time.
Chang Le and Li Xueyan, who were alone in the empty boudoir, got up early this morning to dress up, and spent many hours before they were satisfied.
Seeing that it was getting late, the group was ready to leave.
Chang Le held Xiao Bao'er with one hand and Xiao Bai with the other. He looked around, but didn't see Wu Meiniang, so he hurriedly said: "Meiniang hasn't come yet, has any of you seen her this morning?" She remembered this morning. I have never seen Wu Meiniang.
Li Xueyan also said: "I didn't see her either, I'll go and hurry her up." She was in a hurry and walked away.
She is fast, but there is a little guy who is faster.
Sayuri is three years old this year and is at her most lively age. What's more, she has an active nature. With Chang Le holding her hand, she is bored in every possible way and has long wanted to find something to do. As soon as he heard about this opportunity, he hurriedly broke away from Chang Le's hand and ran away.
Changle was very anxious and shouted: "Slow down, don't fall"
Sayuri giggled and replied: "I know, mother loves to worry blindly." She said she knew, but her speed did not slow down. The three steps that jumped one by one turned into one and disappeared into the yard.
It is no exaggeration for Sayuri to say that she is loved by thousands of people. She is the only daughter in the family, and she also pleases Li Shimin, who treats her as his heart. Her temperament is like that of a wild child, going straight and forward without any consideration. . Except for Chang Le, who was a little afraid, no one else was afraid.
When she arrived at Wu Meiniang's courtyard, she shouted: "Sanniang, Sanniang". Seeing that no one answered, she opened the door and rushed in.
"Click!"
Wu Meiniang, who was in the room, was startled. She shook her hand and the tea cup in her hand fell to the ground, and she came to her senses. Seeing Sayuri standing blankly outside the house, I couldn't help but panic. She forced a smile and said, "What's the matter, little girl?"
Sayuri is an eccentric person. She first saw Wu Meiniang looking weird and didn't dare to come forward. Now she saw that she was back to normal. She walked up with a smile and said affectionately: "Sanniang, daddy is coming soon. Mom wants you to come with me." Woolen cloth."
Only then did Wu Meiniang remember the business and stood up from her seat in a hurry.
?? Wu Meiniang has a stable nature. She experienced a miserable childhood and developed a young and mature character. She has the style of not changing her face even when Mount Tai collapses in front of her. Even if you encounter a life-threatening event, you can still deal with it calmly. But now she was worried about gains and losses, and she even had the idea of ????escape and did not dare to meet Du He.
Although you will suffer endless lovesickness if you hide, there is always a glimmer of hope. But if you meet and everything goes wrong, there will be no hope.
Once a woman falls into the whirlpool of emotions, even if she is Wu Meiniang, the iron-blooded queen in history, she will be as worried about gains and losses as a child, and she will be at a loss. Even if she has an extraordinary talent, she will not be able to use it at all.
Seeing Sayuri waiting aside, she felt very confused and couldn't find any excuse to shirk the situation. She took a hasty rest and rejoined Chang Le and Li Xueyan.
"My ministers Li Daozong and Du He have met Your Majesty"
Already arriving in front of Li Shimin's carriage, Du He, Li Daozong and the soldiers behind them dismounted and bowed with clasped fists: They were all wearing white-capped armor. There was a long-standing rule in the army that when soldiers wearing white-capped armor met the emperor, they only needed to A simple bow, no big salute required.
At this time, the relationship between the monarch and his ministers is like the boss and employees of a company. They only bend down and bow to the etiquette. They are not slaves and masters. There is no need to kneel down at all, and even the common people do not need to kneel down. In fact, throughout the entire Han Dynasty, the so-called bowing is not the kind of etiquette that is practiced by oneself. The real ceremony of kneeling is actually a humiliating system implemented by the Qing Dynasty in order to enslave the Han people, kneeling three times and knocking down nine times. After the Manchus took over the country, they were afraid that the Han people would not respect them, so they carried out etiquette reforms, stipulating that in addition to calling themselves slaves, ministers had to kneel three times and kowtow nine times. They say that Manchus and Han people are equal, but in fact they still treat Han people as slaves.
Li Shimin laughed loudly, walked out of the camp in the snow, helped the two of them up personally, and said: "The two dear ministers are wearing armor, so there is no need to be polite." He looked around, and saw two armies of more than 200,000 soldiers and horses, as neatly organized as ants. They lined up and said loudly: "We, the warriors of the Tang Dynasty, conquered the South and the North, and you were invincible. With the swords in your hands, you opened up the territory for the Tang Dynasty. On behalf of the thousands of people of the Tang Dynasty, I thank you for your contribution to the Tang Dynasty." Contribution warriors, go home¡±
Regardless of whether Li Shimin's words were a deliberate move to win people's hearts, the troops who had experienced life and death felt strange when they heard these words of recognition for them, and they shouted in unison: "The Tang Dynasty will be victorious"
The shouts and shouts were like thunder in the sky, reaching to the sky.
Under the guidance of Li Shimin and hundreds of civil and military officials, the victorious army marched to Chang'an in an orderly manner.
The people in Chang'an who have a strong sense of honor have already formed a long queue. The broadest Zhuque Street is almost paved with fresh flowers, showing extremely high enthusiasm, so that every soldier can proudly hold up his chest and enjoy themselves. The honor created.
Du He saw Chang Le, Li Xueyan and his party at the city gate.
For the people who were welcomed, Li Shimin had already arranged for the people from the Ministry of Rites to make arrangements for a vast restricted area outside the city gate, specifically for the families of those soldiers who went on an expedition. Changle had a high status and naturally received the most special care. He was in the front row with Li Xueyan, Wu Meiniang and the two little guys. There was no need to look for him, he could see them at a glance.
Du He waved to them, and the three women responded with smiles.
But Sayuri pulled Little Baoer out of the crowd and ran towards Du He, completely ignoring Du He and his group.
Du He couldn¡¯t laugh or cry, he was so young. The girl was still so lawless, but the feeling of blood dissolving in water still made him couldn't help but jump off the horse, stretched out his hand to hold the two little guys in his hands, and said with a smile: "It's so heavy. I've grown up a lot. In a few years, daddy won¡¯t be able to hold him anymore." As he said that, he kissed each of the two little guys on their faces.
Sayuri's big eyes turned sharply, and she said with a smile: "Daddy, I want you to pull me. Daddy is so majestic. Daddy, I want to get on the horse with you, okay?" As she said that, she turned her praying eyes, He looked at his father pitifully. She has a childish nature and feels that her father is so great and so loved and admired by others, and she wants to take advantage of him.
"Little Bao'er is much more stable, but he is a child after all. He didn't say anything, but his eyes were full of excitement, and they all meant the same thing.
"Good" separated for more than a year, Du He felt pity for his much older flesh and blood, but also felt a little guilty, feeling that he was not a good and qualified father, so he agreed to this request without thinking. Holding the two little ones in his arms, he boarded the Snow Wuying and led them to accept the joy of victory.
The two little guys were in Du He's arms, raising their heads high, as if they were afraid that others would not know that they were Du He's children.
"If the reception is the highlight, then the presentation of prisoners is the highlight."
The prisoner presentation ceremony is a major event to promote the country's prestige. Throughout the founding of the Tang Dynasty, prisoner presentation ceremonies have been held for several years, but today there is only one grand prisoner presentation ceremony, and that was in the fourth year of Zhenguan, when Li Fei Podong Turks were responsible for capturing Li Khan, and the rest were not grand.
But the grandness of this ceremony can be traced back to that time. It was all because Du He was young and his deeds of destroying two kingdoms and kidnapping two kings were too shocking, and also because Li Daozong did something that the Yuan Dynasty had not done. In addition, today is different from the past. In the fourth year of Zhenguan, prisoners were presented to the people. But now, because of the emergence of Du He, the overall vision of the Tang Dynasty has changed greatly. It is no longer limited to one place, but has gone global and become the leader of all countries in the world. This time the sacrifice of prisoners is even greater. The purpose is to promote the power of the Tang Army to the world.
The so-called prisoner sacrifice does not mean sending all the prisoners together, but selecting those with status among the hundreds of thousands of prisoners, forming a team of 1,000 people and slowly escorting them to Beijing.
Those at the front are naturally the people with the highest status such as Quan Gaisuwen of Goguryeo, King Songtsen Gampo of Tubo, King Meng Nan of Nanzhao, and King Yang Kun of Baiman.
Under the escort of the Tang army officers and soldiers, everyone knelt down in front of Li Shimin and accepted the trial and humiliation of the victor.
?For these people, this kind of thing is an extreme shame. Even if it means death, I am not willing to accept something. But as losers, they have no choice at all.
In order to prevent them from causing trouble, Du He and the others had already taken special measures in advance.
Death is not terrible for people like them, but they cannot live without dying, but no one is afraid of it.
Quan Gaisuwen and Yang Kun bowed their heads in the torture. Songtsen Gampo and Meng were tough guys, unwilling to kneel in front of Li Shimin and accept this humiliation.
Du He also has his own methods, and everyone has weaknesses. Songtsen Gampo and Mengnan are no exception.
The two of them have one thing in common, they love nurses. If they did not bow their heads, Du He would threaten the lives of the 60,000 Tibetan soldiers and 30,000 Nanzhao soldiers they had captured.
Songtsen Gampo and Mengnan were loved by the soldiers, and they were definitely not the kind of villains who abandoned following their own soldiers just because of their own losses.
Faced with such a threat, the two of them had to compromise and knelt down in front of Li Shimin.
Li Shimin laughed loudly, and all the civil and military officials also celebrated.
Du He watched beside Li Shimin, feeling a little unbearable in his heart. Songtsen Gampo and Mengnan were considered heroes of the generation, and he did not want to be humiliated like this. But he can't change the facts, not to mention that they brought this on themselves.
The moment they chose to be enemies with the Tang Dynasty, their fate was already doomed and no one could change it.
After the triumphant return and the presentation of the prisoners, naturally there will be the much-anticipated reward based on merit.
There is no doubt that Du He and Li Daozong, the commanders of the left and right armies respectively, will never be able to escape.
But compared with Li Daozong's defeat of Goguryeo, Du He's southern expedition was even worse. His achievements in destroying two kingdoms and kidnapping two kings were undoubtedly higher than Li Daozong's. ! .