Chapter 013: The Flourishing Kaiyuan Era

A eunuch arrived holding an imperial edict. Wang Bo was supposed to kneel to receive it.

But Wang Bo was not the real An Lushan, so of course he would not kneel before a eunuch. Instead, he stood casually before the eunuch, cupped his hands, and said, "An Lushan greets His Excellency Gao."

In the Tang Dynasty, there was only one person who could be called His Excellency Gao.

The foremost virtuous eunuch in a thousand years!

Gao Lishi!

His original surname was Feng. His grandfather Feng Zhidai and father Feng Junheng had both served as prefects of Pan Prefecture. Thus, Gao Lishi was definitely a child of an official, but this child of an official entered the palace at a young age.

Adopted by Gao Yanfu, he changed his name to Gao Lishi and gained the appreciation of Wu Zetian.

During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, his status reached its peak. Having helped Xuanzong suppress the rebellions of Empress Wei and Princess Taiping, he was deeply favored by Xuanzong, eventually being promoted to General of the Agile Cavalry, Grand Master of the Palace with the same prestige as the Three Excellencies, and enfeoffed as Duke of Qi.

Originally, An Lushan held great reverence for His Excellency Gao, always speaking with a flattering smile, fearing that His Excellency Gao might bear a grudge and speak ill of him before the emperor.

Because An Lushan knew that Yang Guozhong's slander was not to be feared—without Yang Yuhuan, that fellow could never have become the Tang chancellor.

But His Excellency Gao was different. He was the emperor's confidant. If he said just a few bad words about him, he would be finished.

So toward His Excellency Gao, An Lushan had always been ingratiating, afraid of any neglect.

But Wang Bo was different. Although he had taken An Lushan's identity, he was not the real An Lushan, so naturally he did not fear His Excellency Gao. His attitude toward Gao Lishi was very casual.

Gao Lishi saw Wang Bo's casual demeanor, gave him a few deep looks, and put on a smile. "General An has traveled far and worked hard. I come bearing the emperor's command. Please, General An, receive the edict."

Wang Bo smiled slightly and extended his hand. "An Lushan receives the edict."

Gao Lishi's eyes darkened, but he said nothing. He unrolled the imperial edict and read its contents aloud.

The gist was that An Lushan should rest for a day, and at night, muster his spirits to attend the Ultimate Pleasure Banquet that Emperor Xuanzong was hosting for Yang Yuhuan!

At this banquet, he was to perform a dance to celebrate Yang Yuhuan.

Wang Bo listened, nodded, and said he accepted the edict.

After putting down the edict, Gao Lishi smiled and said a few comforting words to Wang Bo, then turned and left.

As he left, his eyes were extremely dark.

Wang Bo held the imperial edict in his hand, watching Gao Lishi's retreating figure, knowing that his attitude today had definitely offended Gao Lishi. But what could he do?

Was Wang Bo really supposed to kneel before this imperial edict?

Impossible. It wouldn't happen.

Putting that matter aside, Wang Bo looked at the edict in his hand and frowned. To be honest, attending the Ultimate Pleasure Banquet was no big deal—it was just a banquet.

It would be a good chance to broaden his horizons and see just how extravagant this banquet that Emperor Xuanzong had gone to such lengths to hold for Yang Yuhuan really was.

Besides, Wang Bo had never attended an ancient banquet before.

Since Li Longji dared to name this banquet the Ultimate Pleasure Banquet, it must be the most top-tier banquet.

But the edict also stated that An Lushan was to dance to celebrate Yang Yuhuan's birthday.

That was what stumped Wang Bo.

Wang Bo really didn't know how to dance, let alone the Whirling Dance.

But how had An Lushan risen to prominence? Wasn't it because he danced the Whirling Dance well, earning the praise of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Yuhuan, thus beginning his path to becoming the military governor of three circuits?

However, Wang Bo was not An Lushan. Even though he had obtained the residual information from An Lushan, he couldn't immediately learn to dance the Whirling Dance.

Let alone perform the Whirling Dance in front of a crowd.

So Wang Bo thought it over and finally decided not to dance.

After all, given Emperor Xuanzong's power, he couldn't kill him anyway, so dancing or not didn't matter.

Having made up his mind, Wang Bo relaxed. Ignoring the advice of his trusted subordinates, he left the post station and strolled along the streets of Chang'an.

Wang Bo remembered that when he was in the world of Di Renjie, the Tang capital was still Luoyang.

He hadn't expected it to have changed back to Chang'an.

Wang Bo had carefully admired the scenery of Luoyang back then, so naturally he wouldn't miss Chang'an this time.

An Lushan wanted to rebel and attack Chang'an, so he had an extraordinary understanding of Chang'an. Chang'an was composed of the outer city, the imperial city, the palace city, the imperial park, and the wards and markets.

Overall, it had a symmetrical layout along a central axis, designed with reference to the layouts of Yecheng and Jiankang.

The entire city used the north-south Vermilion Bird Avenue as its central axis, with an equal number and area of wards and markets neatly arranged on the east and west sides. Streets and wards were neatly aligned together, with east-west and north-south avenues intersecting in a grid pattern.

The outer city was divided into grid-like zones, each grid being a ward.

The twelve main streets in the imperial city intersected each other, dividing the imperial city area into grid-like zones.

The twenty-five intersecting east-west and north-south avenues in Chang'an divided the entire city into two markets and one hundred and eight wards. The Vermilion Bird Avenue served as the boundary, dividing the city into eastern and western parts: the eastern part belonged to Wannian County, originally supposed to have fifty-five wards, but because the Qujiang scenic area in the southeast corner occupied two wards, it actually had fifty-three wards; the western part belonged to Chang'an County, with one market and fifty-five wards.

Ancient people were superstitious. The 108 wards exactly corresponded to 108 stars symbolizing 108 deities. The thirteen wards arranged north-south symbolized the intercalary month in a year; the four wards each east and west of the imperial city symbolized the four seasons; the nine wards south of the imperial city symbolized the so-called 'five cities and nine thoroughfares' recorded in the Rites of Zhou.

The above was An Lushan's research on Chang'an.

That fellow dreamed of capturing Chang'an, of replacing Li Longji as the master of the realm, of becoming a founding emperor.

He coveted Chang'an greatly.

But Wang Bo didn't care about these things. His first destination was the East Market.

The East Market and West Market were the economic activity centers of Tang Chang'an, also the national industrial and commercial trade centers, and important venues for economic exchanges between China and foreign countries. Here, merchants gathered, shops stood in rows, goods were dazzling, and trade was extremely prosperous.

When Wang Bo arrived at the East Market, he saw that besides Tang people, there were various ethnic minorities walking on the streets.

Among them, the Hu people were the majority.

Some taverns and tea houses were run by Hu people.

This was not surprising.

Because this was the High Tang. After Li Longji ascended the throne, he created the Flourishing Kaiyuan Era, pushing the Tang Dynasty's national power to its peak, forming a prosperous situation where 'every three years a report was submitted, and all nations flocked to Heluo.'

At this time, the Tang population exceeded eighty million, commerce was highly developed, domestic transportation was convenient in all directions, cities were bustling, foreign trade was very active, Persian and Arab merchants came in droves, and merchants of various skin colors and languages gathered in major cities like Chang'an, Luoyang, and Guangzhou.

This was the Flourishing Kaiyuan Era!