Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 271
"There is a white rainbow in the sky, sister, come out quickly, it will be gone if it is too late!"

"White rainbow?" Li Xiayu walked to the window suspiciously, looked in the direction of her sister's finger, and saw the white rainbow cut through the sky like a sharp sword, piercing the sun, and the rays of the sun flowed out like blood, covering half of the sky. All red.

"Baihong Guanri?" Li Xiayu couldn't help trembling, and hurriedly pulled his sister away from the window, and then slammed the window shut: "Don't look!"

"Why aren't you allowed to see it!" Li Suwen, the younger sister who was only 12 years old, looked curiously at her terrified older sister: "This is the first time I've seen such a white rainbow!"

"Remember, the sun and the Son of Heaven! The Qi of Baihong and Baijing are the master swordsmen! This is a big ominous omen!"

"Sister, are you saying that the sun is Aye? Is this a bad sign for Aye?"

"That's right!" Li Xiayu got up and looked out through the crack of the window to confirm that no one was watching her sister. She hugged her into her arms, and then whispered in her ear: "Awen, that woman is now a queen. Lord, her eyes and ears are everywhere in the palace. Our every move and every word is under the surveillance of others. If we are not careful, we will end up like our mother. There are such ominous omens in the sky today, As long as others say that you and I look happy, then I can't escape the crime of resentment, do you understand?"

Hearing what my sister said, my sister's eyes suddenly widened, her face was pale, she was trembling and unable to speak.It turned out that the pair of sisters were not ordinary people, but the two daughters of today's emperor: Li Xiayu, Princess Yiyang, and Li Suwen, Princess Gao'an. Their mother was Concubine Xiao Shu. The next two daughters and one son are deeply loved by Li Zhi.

In 649 AD when Li Zhi ascended the throne, he conferred the title of Concubine Xiao Shu as Concubine Shu. Since the Queen had never had children, Concubine Xiao Shu became the biggest threat to the Queen. The Wu clan grows hair and persuades Li Zhi to welcome him into the palace as a helping hand.But he didn't want the Wu family to be deeply favored by Li Zhi, and the Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu fell out of favor one after another. The two had to join forces to fight against the Wu family, but they still failed in the end.

In October of the sixth year of Yonghui (655 A.D.), Emperor Gaozong of Tang issued an edict saying: "The empress Wang and concubine Xiao Shu conspired to commit poisonous poison, and they were abolished as ordinary people. Their mother and brothers will be removed from their names and exiled to Lingnan." Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu were to be hanged.All members of the Wang and Xiao clans were exiled in Lingnan, and the Wang family's surname was changed to "Python" and Xiao's family name to "Xiao".Although the sisters Li Xiayu and Li Suwen were golden branches and jade leaves, they were also imprisoned in the Yeting of Daxing Palace because of their mothers, just like other guilty court ladies.

"Sister!" Li Suwen took a deep breath: "Aye, he loves us the most. We are imprisoned here and treated like slaves. Doesn't Aye know?"

The younger sister's question is like a steel needle, piercing directly into the deepest part of Li Xiayu's heart. She is much older than her younger sister. When Concubine Xiao Shu failed in the palace fight, she already knew a lot of things in the world. The punishment and death, or what happened to me and my sister at this time, must have been approved by my father, at least acquiesced.But she couldn't tell such a cruel truth to her young sister. After all, in this kind of ghost place, one person's despair is enough.

"Yes, Aye must not know!"

"Then if Aye knew that my sister and I were imprisoned here, he would definitely issue an imperial decree to rescue me and my sister, right? Take us to the Daming Palace!" Li Suwen said hopefully: "And that bad woman, She must have deceived Aye to harm mother and us!"

"Stop talking!" Li Xiayu instinctively stretched out his hand to cover his sister's mouth, raised his head and looked out of the window before whispering: "Be careful that the wall has ears!"

"En!" Li Suwen nodded obediently: "Sister, we have been locked up here for several years, right? Aye hasn't seen us for so long, don't you doubt it?"

"There are so many states and counties in the Tang Dynasty, and the memorials delivered every day can fill several tables. Aye is too busy dealing with state affairs every day and has no time to eat and sleep. It's not surprising that we can't remember our sisters for a while!" Li Xiayu comforted his sister with a strong smile: "As long as we sincerely pray to the gods and Buddhas, before the Shangyuan Festival this year, no, before the snow falls, Aye will definitely think of us and send someone to pick us up to Daming Palace!"

"Well! Sister is right!" Li Suwen broke free from Li Xiayu's arms and knelt down on her knees: "Sister, let's pray to the gods and Buddhas now! It's too cold here, it would be nice if we could leave here one day sooner!"

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Daming Palace, Guande Hall.

Under the bright yellow umbrella, Li Zhi and Empress Wu were sitting upright. From the square in front of the palace, melodious drum music could be heard from time to time.Unlike Daxing Palace, Daming Palace is located on Longshouyuan outside Chang'an City in Tang Dynasty, with a very high terrain.However, Li Zhi was in poor health and suffered from rheumatism. The original Daxing Palace was relatively low and humid, so Li Zhi built the Daming Palace on the Longshouyuan outside the city as his bedroom.Since the Sui Dynasty, Longshou, located in the north of Chang'an City, had originally had the Guande Hall, where the royal family held shooting ceremonies. After the Daming Palace was completed, Li Zhi did not change this precedent, and the shooting ceremonies were still held in the original place.

Due to the important position of bow and arrow in ancient military affairs, almost all ancient peoples tended to ritualize and sanctify the activity of archery, and the Huaxia nation was no exception.The emperor's participation in the archery ceremony has dual meanings at the same time: through his own demonstration, he can educate the people all over the country not to forget martial arts; the archery ceremony itself is also a social activity among nobles. In addition to superb bow skills, ritual archers must follow cumbersome procedures and drum music to show their humility, introspection, and solemnity. He was fouled out for his mistake.

"Your Majesty!" Empress Wu looked at the youths in the square below who walked into the archway with the sound of drums, showing a sly smile: "Do you think Hong'er can win today?"

"Hehe!" Li Zhi laughed: "Meiniang is talking in layman's terms, this shooting ceremony is not to be judged!"

"What do you look at if you don't look at the outcome?"

"Look at virtue!" Li Zhi replied.

"Virtue? This is obviously a comparison of archery, how can you see virtue?"

"Meiniang, you are a girl, so it's not surprising that you haven't read the meaning of archery!" Li Zhi smiled and said, "When I was Hong'er's age, the late emperor taught me archery in person, and the opening of the school explained the meaning of archery. Shooting is the way of benevolence. Shooting seeks to correct oneself, and then strikes after oneself is corrected.
(End of this chapter)