Chapter 336 Court Meeting
The morning sun tore through the darkness, climbed up the mountain, and cast its brilliant light on Chang'an.

The city of Chang'an was silent, and the people in each neighborhood still did not dare to leave.

At this time, the Jinwu Guards were mobilized throughout the city, announcing that the civil strife had been quelled, everything in Chang'an was back to normal, and all the districts were open.

Following the imperial decree, all the neighborhoods opened their gates.

The streets have been cleared of corpses, the blood has been washed away, and everything that happened last night seems like a dream.

Only the arrow marks on the gate and the collapsed wall of Xingqing Palace reminded people that it was not a dream.

But no one cared much about it. After all, there had been more than one coup d'état in Chang'an. As long as it didn't affect everyone's lives, no one cared whether the world collapsed or not.

Chang'an City gradually became lively.

Li Ying rested in Prince Shou's mansion for half the night. At dawn, he asked Shen Zhongjian to inform the civil and military officials of the court that since Xingqing Palace was damaged, court meetings would be moved to Daming Palace in the future, and all military and political affairs of the Tang Dynasty would be handled in Daming Palace.

At dawn, Feng Changqing and An Xibeiting and his group of warriors arrived at Prince Shou's mansion.

As soon as Feng Changqing saw Li Heng, he knelt down and said, "I have something to ask for your permission, Your Highness."

Li Heng was a little confused. He helped Feng Changqing up and asked everyone to stand up. He said, "I have worked with you generals on the border for more than ten years. If you have any questions, please speak frankly."

Feng Changqing said, "That's exactly what I want to say. Rebellions are raging everywhere, and An Lushan has stationed his troops outside Tongguan. I have no merit in suppressing the rebels, so I dare not accept the title of Prince. Please take back the reward, Your Highness."

Upon hearing this, Li Heng glanced at Feng Changqing.

Last night when he and Li Longji were discussing titles and rewards, Feng Changqing did not refuse. But after just one night, Feng Changqing changed his mind.

Li Heng said: "General Feng is worthy of the title of Prince. Besides, how can you take back what you have said?"

Feng Changqing said: "If Your Highness insists on giving me rewards, it won't be too late to reward me after the rebellion is quelled and I have made contributions. Otherwise, other border troops will think that Your Highness is too partial to me, which is not conducive to unity."

Li Heng pondered in silence.

Feng Changqing bowed and said, "Your Highness, I ask you to put the overall interests of the world first!"

"Since that's the case, I can't force it." Li Heng sighed, "First confer the title of Duke, and after the rebellion is quelled, then confer the title of Prince."

Feng Changqing said: "Thank you, Your Highness, for your help!"

Li Heng looked at the other generals and asked, "What do you want?"

All the generals said in unison: "We are here for this reason as well."

Li Ying said, "I have been drinking and eating sand with you for more than ten years. We are both teachers and friends. I don't want to have any grudges against you after arriving in Chang'an."

Li Heng spoke frankly, and the generals were deeply moved. They said in unison: "We will follow Your Highness till death!"

Li Ying smiled with satisfaction and said, "Okay, everyone, get ready. It's time to go to court."

"Yes." The generals took the order and retreated.

Li Heng watched the generals leave and turned back into the house.

Yang Yuhuan was looking at the music score when she saw Li Heng come into the room and said, "My dear, you are willing to spend money on them."

Li Ying said: "How can I make them share the same mind and heart with me if I am mean and ungrateful?"

Yang Yuhuan said: "But being over-favored can easily lead to arrogance. Fortunately, Feng Changqing knows the big picture."

Li Heng smiled and said, "Feng Changqing is simple-minded. This may be Gao Xianzhi's idea. Gao Xianzhi is smart and has been with me for many years. He knows that I cannot accept all the favors from you. Only in this way can I keep it for a long time."

Yang Yuhuan rolled her eyes and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Li Ying saw Yang Yuhuan's appearance and understood what she was thinking, and said, "We are not superior and inferior, but husband and wife."

Yang Yuhuan smiled sweetly and said, "Yes."

After saying that, he stood up and found court clothes for Li Heng, helped Li Heng change his clothes, and said, "Today's court meeting may not be peaceful, my dear, please be careful."

Li Heng said: "Those civil servants can only curse a few times at most, there will be no danger."

Yang Yuhuan said: "Yes, my dear, you will handle it properly."

Li Ying asked, "Did you take the things I asked you to keep?" Yang Yuhuan said, "I took them, but Yang Guozhong didn't use them."

"I Can Use."

As Li Heng spoke, he hugged Yang Yuhuan and kissed her.

……

Daming Palace, Hanyuan Hall.

All the civil and military officials in the capital have arrived and are discussing the matter in the court.

The imperial guards inside and outside the palace have all been replaced by Anxi and Beiting soldiers.

Li Ying, wearing court robes, entered from the south, passed through two palace walls, and came to the entrance of Hanyuan Hall.

When the ministers saw Li Heng, they immediately quieted down.

Li Heng walked through the crowd of ministers and came to the front row without saying a word.

Not long after, Gao Lishi supported Li Longji and walked into Hanyuan Hall, followed by Cen Shen.

Li Longji sat on the dragon throne and all the ministers saluted.

Looking at the ministers who were paying homage, Li Longji felt mixed emotions and was speechless for a moment.

Li Heng didn't say anything either, he just looked up at Li Longji.

Li Longji's heart trembled. He knew that this was Li Heng giving him respect, so he had to give Li Heng respect as well.

Only when they are all decent can the Tang Dynasty be decent.

Li Longji asked all the ministers to excuse themselves from the formalities and turned to Gao Lishi and said, "Lishi, read the imperial edict."

"Yes." Gao Lishi accepted the order and read out the imperial edict immediately.

The content of the imperial edict was exactly what Li Longji and Li Heng had agreed on last night, but after being embellished by Cen Shen, the wording became more beautiful.

After Gao Lishi finished reading the imperial edict, Li Longji stood up tremblingly and said, "From now on, all military and political affairs will be handled by Crown Prince Li Heng. I am tired and need to return to the palace to rest."

After saying that, he asked Gao Lishi to help him leave.

Several officials loyal to Li Longji, led by Wei Fangjin, wanted to call Li Longji to stop him, but seeing the imperial guards outside, they did not dare to say anything more and only said, "Your Majesty, I respectfully send you off!"

Hearing Wei Fangjin's voice, Li Longji couldn't help but look back, but didn't say anything. He just smiled back and walked out of Hanyuan Hall with Gao Lishi.

At the same time, the eyes of the palace guards fell on Wei Fangjin.

The atmosphere was a little depressing for a while.

At this time, Wang Wei's younger brother Wang Jin stepped forward, saluted Li Heng, and said, "Your humble servant pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Led by Wang Jin, Wei Jiansu, Wei Zhaoxun, Zhang Jun, Zhang Yi, Pei Mian, Du Jianhong and others came over to pay their respects, and all the officials in the court shouted, "Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Heng said solemnly: "I am not talented and virtuous enough to shoulder such an important responsibility. However, the deposed crown prince has committed treason and An Lushan's rebels are just outside Tongguan. In this time of crisis, as a descendant of the Tang Dynasty's Li family, I have the responsibility to shoulder the heavy responsibility. I hope all of you loyal and good people will do your best and work with me."

The ministers said, "We will obey the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Very good, you are all virtuous people." Li Ying smiled slightly, then changed the subject and said, "But there are always people with ulterior motives and ill intentions."

When the ministers heard this, they were all shocked.

At this moment, they were all afraid that Li Heng would launch a purge, so they all lowered their heads and dared not speak.

"Carry it in." Li Ying shouted loudly to the outside of the door.

The ministers were startled by Li Heng's voice. Just as they were wondering, they saw Zhang Guangsheng leading four soldiers carrying in two large boxes.

Li Ying said: "This box was found in Yang Guozhong's home. I heard that Yang Guozhong used his position to collect some of the officials' indecent things. I thought it was just a figment of the imagination, but I didn't expect that this would really be found."

The officials lowered their heads even lower, some of them felt guilty and had cold sweat on their backs.

(End of this chapter)