Capital Datang

"What a majestic city of Chang'an. Judging by its size, it may be several times larger than Constantinople!" Irina opened the carriage, looking curiously at the tall and majestic city wall in front of her, her face full of tears. Shocked and excited, although she has seen many big cities of the Han people along the way, there has never been a city that can compare with Chang'an City in front of her. ※ r

Looking at the excited Irina beside him, Li Ke, who was sitting in the carriage, smiled and said: "Someone once ruled. Chang'an is twice as big as Luoyang, and one and a half times as big as Dengzhou City. Keelung, the capital of Daqi and Compared with Chang'an, the scale is also one-third smaller, and as for Constantinople, I am afraid that seven of them will be added together to barely compare with the scale of Chang'an city."

Hearing Li Ke's introduction, Irina became even more excited, and her eyes no longer only focused on the dragon-like city wall, but began to observe the pedestrians and vehicles on the road, as well as the shops on both sides of the road, and the result surprised her She found that there were not only Han people in the roads and shops, but also Persians, big cannibals, and people from the Western Regions. She even saw a few Christian monks wearing priestly clothes, standing on the side of the road and constantly preaching to passers-by. By the mercy of the Lord.

Li Ke and Irina hurried to Chang'an before their son's big wedding.And an hour ago, they had just got off the train, and Li Yin, Li Yun, and Li Zhen who came to greet them were sitting in the carriage in front of them.The day after tomorrow is the day when Sizi officially gets married.

"Your Majesty has an order. On the day of Princess Jinyang's wedding, all industries in the country will be on holiday for one day, and the whole world will celebrate His Highness's wedding. In addition, on the wedding day, all vehicles are prohibited from entering Suzaku Street!" Li Ke and his carriage passed through Xinfang outside the city gate, As soon as he entered the city gate, he heard a small official standing under the city gate, loudly announcing Li Shimin's new imperial edict to the passers-by. [

Naturally, there is nothing to say about the holiday on the wedding day.The reason why all vehicles were prohibited from entering Suzaku Avenue on the day of Sizi's wedding was mainly because the population of Chang'an had grown too fast in recent years, and the traffic jam was too serious. Time can be bad.

When Irina heard the edict announced by the official outside, she immediately thought of something and said, "Sanying, Princess Jinyang is your younger sister, what wedding gift do you think I'm going to prepare for her?"

When Li Ke heard it, he smiled and said: "No need, you are my wife. At that time, I only need to prepare a congratulatory gift for my son-in-law. You don't have to prepare a separate gift."

But Irina objected: "How can that be done? I finally came here. I met your sister for the first time and caught up with her wedding. So I have to give you a gift no matter what!"

Regarding Irina's persistence, Li Ke could only smile helplessly: "Since you are so persistent, then give it away. As for Sizi's preferences..."

When Li Ke said this, he was suddenly taken aback, and the smile on his face froze, because he suddenly found out.I don't even know what Sizi likes?In the past, when Sizi was a child, she was a little girl who liked to eat, play, and dolls, but now Sizi is already a big girl, and besides, he has not been in Chang'an these years.So I don't even know what the grown-up Sizi likes?

Seeing Li Ke's embarrassed look, Irina smiled and didn't ask any more questions. She knew that her Sanlian had more than a dozen younger sisters, and he was busy with his career.Therefore, the concern for the younger sisters is naturally less.

At this time, Li Kenai shook his head and said, "I'm really ashamed, as an elder brother, I don't know what my sister likes. It seems that I can only ask Liu Lang, he must know what Si Zi likes!"

Hearing Li Ke mention Li Yin, Irina couldn't help recalling what happened when they met the three brothers Li Yin when they were at the station just now.In her impression, Li Yin was a very handsome young man, a few years younger than her husband, but he was always smiling from beginning to end. He seemed to be a very easy-going person, but he often showed his A trace of majesty as an emperor.

As for the other Li Zhen and Li Yun, Irina was also very impressed, especially Li Yun's stability or Li Zhen's mightiness, both of which allowed her to figure out the character of each other after only meeting once. , and she could see that whether it was Li Yun, Li Zhen, or even her husband Li Ke, Li Yun was implicitly the leader.

Irina was not surprised by this situation, because she had heard Li Ke mention her younger brother many times when she was in Rome, and from his words, Irina also knew that Li Ke respects Li Yin very much. In addition, Li Ke, Li Zhen and Li Yun are able to achieve their current achievements because of Li Yin's influence and help.

"Why, could it be that His Highness King Qi knows the preferences of the princesses better than you?" Irina asked curiously. In her mind, Li Yin is also the emperor, and he manages even more territory than Tang Dynasty. It is vast, and the daily government affairs are all busy, so how can there be time to care about these small things?

When Li Ke introduced Li Yin to Irina before, it was more about Li Yin’s process of building a country overseas. He hadn’t come to talk about how Li Yin governed the country, so Irina didn’t know the operation of Daqi’s country. It's also normal.Therefore, Li Ke took this opportunity to talk about the political structure of Daqi's separation of imperial power and ministerial power, and told Irina that in Daqi's country, the prime minister was the busiest, not the emperor.

"How is this possible? Isn't he afraid of the prime minister's rebellion?" Irina exclaimed after hearing this. She really couldn't imagine that if most of the government affairs were handed over to the prime minister, then the prime minister would almost have the highest power in the entire empire , under this kind of power, it should be easy to rebel.

But Li Ke shook his head and said with a smile: "You don't know Irina. Although Prime Minister Daqi holds great power, the power in his hands is only administrative power. The most important military power has always been controlled by the emperor. Prime Minister You must not intervene, and Da Qi's army is very standardized, and almost everyone has been educated in loyalty from top to bottom. Even if a certain general betrays the emperor, his mid-level and lower-level officers and even soldiers will not follow him to rebel. "

At this point, Li Ke paused, took a long breath and continued: "The most important point is that the Prime Minister is not completely free, he is also subject to the supervision of the Inspectorate, and there are also the Police Academy and The courts, they form a judiciary independent of the administrative agency, and are directly responsible to the emperor, so that if the prime minister makes any changes, he will be arrested immediately, and there is no chance of rebellion at all!"

After hearing this, Irina shook her head in admiration. She really couldn't imagine that there would be such a political system in this world, and based on her intuition, Irina also felt that there were many differences in this political system. Advantages, the first is to free the emperor from the busy government affairs, and only concentrate on military development.The second is that the prime minister holds the power of the country, but he is not hereditary like the emperor. Not only must he be supervised by the emperor, but also by the officials and people below. This can prevent a considerable part of corruption and at the same time choose Capable people are in power, so that the country can achieve better development.

Of course, all of the above are just Irina's own imagination, and she is not sure about the specifics. After all, when she and Li Ke passed Daqi last time, they just passed by in a hurry and did not stop to observe carefully. On the surface, Daqi's political system is still good.

Li Ke and his carriage advanced along Suzaku Avenue, and soon came to the square in front of the imperial city.Although Irina came to Datang this time as Li Ke's wife, so she didn't need to be greeted by the monarch, but Li Ke's carriage still entered through the Suzaku Gate at the main entrance of the palace, and Li Zhi also entered as a private person. Come and meet. [

Li Shimin also seemed very happy about Li Ke's arrival, and specially called Li Ke, Irina, and Li Ke's wife Yang into the palace together.First of all, Irina has a special status, and now she is pregnant with Li Ke's child. Sooner or later, she will be Li Ke's queen, so now let her enter the palace to meet her in-laws. In addition, the eldest grandson empress and Concubine Yang also have to do something about Yang's family. Thought work, lest she have any thoughts in her mind.

In fact, Li Shimin's worries are a bit unnecessary. Yang Shi came back with Li Yin this time, and on the way back, Li Yin and Wen Xin had already explained the truth to Yang Shi, and Yang Shi also understood Irina's love for Li Yin. Ke is very important, so she has accepted each other in her heart long ago, so when Yang and Irina met in the palace, she also behaved very decently, and even cared about Irina's body and the condition of the fetus.

It is also worth mentioning that Irina finally fulfilled her original wish. Under the witness of Li, Li Zhi and others, she personally offered a cup of tea to Li Shimin, Empress Changsun, and Concubine Yang. There was no wedding with Li Ke, but this kind of ceremony has already marked that Irina has officially become Li Ke's wife. It's a pity that Li Shimin's time is running out now, and it is really impossible to hold a wedding for Li Ke and the two of them.

And after Irina served the tea, Li also found an opportunity to tell Li Ke the real condition of Li Shimin's health. If so, I still feel very sad.

Seeing Li Ke's grief-stricken look, Li could only comfort him reluctantly: "Third brother, the father himself has already seen it, and before you came, the father also fulfilled many of his wishes. Now Just wait until Sizi gets married."

"My son's big wedding must be held in a splendid manner, and the father cannot leave with regrets!" Li Ke sighed with tears in the corners of his eyes. Still unable to escape the threat of death.