A live-streamed Chinese language lesson under the sky—the ancients were taken aback.

744 AD, Chang'an.

The candlelight in the Qinzheng government office building has been burning for several nights in a row.

Li Heng sat in a side hall of the East Palace, with a list spread out in front of him. The list contained every name that Tian Mu had mentioned: An Lushan, Shi Siming, Li Linfu, and Yang Guozhong.

His finger traced over each of the names, finally stopping at the bottom one: Li Heng, his own name.

The door was gently pushed open, and Li Fuguo entered.

The eunuch from the Eastern Palace, his face radiating barely suppressed excitement, bowed deeply to Li Heng and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, the Imperial Guards have reached an agreement; General Chen Xuanli has given his approval."

"What did Chen Xuanli say?" Li Heng's voice was calm.

He said the soldiers only listen to His Highness.

Li Heng remained silent for a long time. He remembered what the sky said: after An Lushan raised his army, his father fled to Sichuan, and he would take over the throne in Lingwu.

They said he would later quell the rebellion, recover Chang'an, and pick up the pieces of that mess little by little.

Tianmu also said that he would be hampered by eunuchs in the midst of war, that he would turn the Battle of Yecheng into a joke, and that the eunuchs' monopoly of power and the separatist rule of regional warlords would become chronic problems for the Tang Dynasty.

He himself eventually died at the hands of a eunuch.

He turned around and looked at Li Fuguo.

"Your Highness, I have a question for you." He did not refer to himself as "Your Highness," but as "I."

Li Fuguo bowed even lower. "Your Majesty, please speak."

"If one day you command the Imperial Guards, wield immense power, and even I have to defer to you, what would you do?"

Li Fuguo's knees buckled, and he knelt directly on the ground. "Your Majesty, I dare not! I am utterly loyal to Your Majesty and have no disloyal intentions!"

Li Heng remained silent for a long time, not looking at him again. He walked to the palace gate and looked at the people who were gradually gathering outside the palace.

He murmured softly, "Today is the day."

Xingqing Palace, the Qinzhengben Building.

Li Longji has not attended court for several days.

The intermittent cries of the people outside the palace gates drifted in as he lay half-reclined on the imperial couch, his eyes half-open and half-closed.

Then he heard footsteps, very light and steady, coming from afar.

When Li Heng stepped into the palace, it was just dawn, with Chen Xuanli following behind him.

Li Longji lay slumped on the imperial couch, looking at his son, and suddenly felt very unfamiliar with him. When did he become so bold?

"I am the Son of Heaven." He gritted his teeth and spat out these four words.

"Your Majesty," Li Heng said, not addressing his father as "Father," but as "Your Majesty," "The people outside the palace have been standing for three days. The Imperial Guards are no longer under Your Majesty's command. The evidence against Li Linfu has been transferred to the Court of Judicial Review. Yang Guozhong is being escorted back to the capital. If Your Majesty does not wish to deal with these matters, I can do it for you."

Li Longji stared intently at him, his lips trembling as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he simply closed his eyes.

"May Father Emperor enjoy his twilight years in peace." These words echoed in the hall for a long time.

Li Longji neither answered nor resisted.

He suddenly remembered the day many years ago when he personally executed Empress Wei and ordered Princess Taiping to commit suicide.

He walked in the same way back then, with soldiers behind him and a person sitting on the throne in front of him.

He was the one who seized power then; now he is the one whose power has been taken away.

He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, but in the end he did nothing and just closed his eyes.

"What are you going to do?" His voice was hoarse.

Li Heng knew that this meant he was agreeing.

In the autumn of 744, Li Longji issued an edict to abdicate, and Crown Prince Li Heng ascended the throne at Qinzheng Wubenlou, changing the era name to "Qianyuan".

On the first morning after the new emperor ascended the throne, the people of Chang'an waited outside the palace gates all night.

They saw the vermilion palace gate slowly open, and out stepped a figure in a dragon robe who was both unfamiliar and familiar.

Li Heng walked directly to the square, followed by several civil and military officials.

"I know you have been waiting for a long time. I have kept in mind every word Tianmu said."

I knew An Lushan would rebel; I knew Chang'an would fall; I knew many people would die.

But that's eleven years from now, and I assure you, I will not let it happen.

The people in the square did not cheer. Old Zhang, who came from Yonglefang, leaned on his cane, tears streaming down his face. His lips moved a few times, and suddenly he knelt down. He didn't kneel to the emperor, but to heaven. The people behind him also knelt down, one after another, like waves of wheat in a field, or like wild grass that could be seen everywhere.

Li Heng didn't know how future history books would portray him, but he knew that the heavens had already laid bare his most unbearable side.

The people of Chang'an saw that those who petitioned in front of the palace gates were no longer just asking Li Longji for an explanation; they were also watching him to see what the crown prince would do.

Late at night, under the candlelight of the Qinzheng Benlou (a government office building), Li Heng sat alone on the throne.

After reviewing the last memorial, he put down his vermilion pen and suddenly spoke to the empty hall.

"I, the emperor, am afraid of my father, the rebels, and the generals growing too powerful. I have turned the best battle into the worst protracted war, driven the most loyal generals into frightened birds, and pushed the people's hearts, which I should have won over, to the rebels."

He picked up his vermilion brush and added a line to the imperial edict: "In all important military and political affairs, eunuchs shall not be appointed to supervise the army."

After finishing writing, I put down my pen, stared at the line of words, and remained silent for a long time.

He also recalled those bullet comments, those lighthearted, sarcastic, and exasperated bullet comments.

From this day forward, every decision he makes will be compared to the prophecies of the heavens.

If he reforms, it's a case of learning from shame and striving for improvement; if he doesn't reform, it's a case of remaining unrepentant to the end, and he'll live his entire life under the scrutiny of everyone in the world.

He took a deep breath, picked up his vermilion pen again, and added a sentence at the end of the edict: "If I have made a mistake, all officials may remonstrate with me face to face, and no one may conceal it."

This was a rule he set for himself, and also a farewell to the self he saw in the sky.

The first batch of edicts was issued three days later.

Li Linfu was dismissed from his post as prime minister and exiled to Lingnan. As for Yang Guifei, whom Tianmu mentioned, she was in the palace as a female Taoist priest named "Taizhen." Li Heng simply sent her back.

More importantly, taxes were reduced, granaries were opened and food was distributed, and soup kitchens were set up outside the palace gates. People from all neighborhoods no longer needed to gather and petition, but instead lined up to receive soup.

As they ate their porridge, they looked at the notice posted on the palace gate, which bore the new emperor's jade seal and read: "I, the Emperor, will lead the nation through a new beginning and overcome these difficult times together."

Meanwhile, the new emperor's desk was piled high with memorials recommending talented individuals, one of which caught Li Heng's attention.

That wasn't recommended by someone else; it was a self-recommendation, and it was signed by Du Fu.

Li Heng opened the letter of self-recommendation and saw the first sentence: "Your subject, Du Fu, requests to be appointed as Left Remonstrance Official."

The Left Remonstrance Official was a minor official of the eighth rank, with only one duty: to offer advice and remonstrance.

To put it bluntly, it's about finding fault with the emperor. This position isn't high-ranking, but you have to face the emperor every day and say unpleasant things. Not only will you offend people, but you might also anger the emperor if you're not careful.

Li Heng put down his memorial and had Du Fu summoned to the Qin Zhengwu Benlou (a building for diligently governing state affairs).

"Minister Du, I have seen your letter of self-recommendation. You want to be the Left Advisor? This position is of low rank, you'll offend people, and if you do it well, no one will praise you; if you do it poorly, you could lose your head at any time. Why do you want to take this position?"

Du Fu calmly began, “Your Majesty, the poems in which the Emperor submits to the Emperor are considered poetic history, but the lines I wrote in my poems, such as ‘There are frozen corpses on the road,’ are not only for posterity to see, but more importantly, for Your Majesty to see.”

"If I were to become the Left Advisor, I could directly tell Your Majesty which fields have been seized by powerful families, which people cannot pay their taxes, and which border generals are harboring bandits to enhance their own power. Therefore, I have volunteered to serve as the Left Advisor."

He paused, his voice growing deeper, "I came to Chang'an to say one thing to Your Majesty. I am willing to be the one to say it. I don't need posterity to remember me; I only want those who have cried in the heavens to no longer have to cry this time."

Li Heng didn't speak. He first picked up his vermilion pen and wrote four characters on Du Fu's self-recommendation letter: "Understood, approved."

"Minister Du, Tianmu says you are a poet saint, and I think Tianmu is right."

Outside Chang'an, Gao Shi and Li Bai stood by the Ba Bridge, one looking west and the other northeast.

Gao Shi said he was good at fighting and was preparing to go to the border town to join Wang Zhongsi. The court needed someone to keep an eye on the border town, and he was willing to be that person.

He didn't ask Li Bai where he was going, for he said, "Don't worry about having no friends on the road ahead; who in the world doesn't know you?"

Gao Shi stood at the bridgehead, watching the white-clad figure ride away on horseback, the horse's hooves kicking up a cloud of dust as it gradually disappeared on the official road to the northeast, the direction of which was Fanyang.

The moon is bright tonight, and the road is clearly visible, so let's go.

Former officials of the Eastern Palace entered the central government, but the most eye-catching were a group of new faces. Du Fu was appointed as the Left Remonstrator of the Secretariat, in charge of remonstrating and advising.

Yan Zhenqing was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, in charge of the assessment of officials. His elder brother, Yan Gaoqing, was appointed as the Prefect of Changshan, guarding the strategic point in Hebei.

Liu Yan was appointed as the Director of the Ministry of Revenue, in charge of national fiscal and tax reforms.

They heard their names and destinies from the sky. Some should have been displaced in the war, some should have died for their country in the suppression of the rebellion, and some should have spent their whole lives to earn the opportunity for reform, but it was brought forward to today.

Without hesitation, they emerged from the depths of Liangyuan, Luoyang, and the Prince's Mansion, entered the Qinzheng Benlou (Building for Diligent Governance), and received the imperial edict from the new emperor.

Next was the handling of An Lushan. Li Heng did not directly dismiss An Lushan from his post, knowing that this man held considerable military power and would rebel prematurely if pushed too far.

He first appointed An Lushan as Grand Commandant, a promotion in name only, and at the same time transferred the elite cavalry of Fanyang to Shuofang and Hexi in batches.

Among An Lushan's former subordinates, those generals who had been named by the Heavenly Curtain were transferred away from their core positions and dispersed to various towns.

Wang Zhongsi was appointed as the military governor of Shuofang, commanding the elite cavalry from Fanyang who had been transferred there.

When the imperial edict was delivered to him, the taciturn general was polishing his longsword in his study.

The screen mentioned An Lushan, Shi Siming, Guo Ziyi, and Li Guangbi, but not his name.

He thought he would be forgotten by the new emperor, or worse, purged as a former official of Li Longji.

However, the imperial edict clearly states: The Shuofang military governor is in charge of the elite cavalry of Fanyang and may act as he sees fit.

The new emperor is showing him through his actions: I trust you.

Wang Zhongsi placed the imperial edict on the table and bowed in the direction of Chang'an.

The resistance to reform was much less than expected. The tragic scenes of the An Lushan Rebellion, especially the annihilation of the aristocratic families in the war, caused the powerful clans of Chang'an to unanimously restrain their ambitions.

They may not genuinely support the new policies, but once the future is laid bare, everyone can see the path ahead. If they continue to obstruct, the outcome will be Huang Chao's sword, and no one wants to go down that path.

As a result, Liu Yan's fiscal and tax reforms were implemented more smoothly than expected, and Yan Zhenqing's performance evaluation of officials did not encounter much resistance.

The first memorial Du Fu drafted in the Secretariat impeached the generals of the Imperial Guards for receiving salaries without working. Three days after the memorial was submitted, the general in charge of the troops took the initiative to visit him and expressed his willingness to cooperate in making changes.

Standing on the steps of the provincial government office, Du Fu watched the general's departing figure and suddenly felt that "the country is broken, but the mountains and rivers remain," and that the present city of Chang'an was getting further and further away.