Chapter 3: Risking Death and Surviving 5. Liyang
Although Cheng Yu is old, his medical skills are more advanced than I thought. I guess he has not only been fishing by the river in the past sixteen years, but also secluded himself from the world. His research on medical skills has also reached the level of perfection, even better than before.
Liu Xiu obviously failed to recognize that the old man who was treating him was the "immortal" who had shown the way in Xiabo, Hebei. It had been so long that the memory of their encounter had long been blurred. Moreover, compared with his "immortal-like" demeanor back then, Cheng Yu now looked more like an old man.
Time has left deep marks on each of us, and every mark is so clear and cruel, with no mercy at all because of different personal identities.
Liu Xiu's condition was getting better day by day. After Cheng Yu's acupuncture and medication, his condition was relatively stable. He could speak normally, but he still had difficulty in moving. The paralysis of his hands and feet caused by the stroke had once paralyzed his left half of the body. Now, under Cheng Yu's careful treatment, he is slowly regaining consciousness.
I have forgotten how many tears I shed secretly. Cheng Yu was still the same as before, using strong and urgent medicine. Although Liu Xiu had hope of recovery, the pain he suffered was a hundred times more painful than death. The pain tortured him so much that he couldn't sleep at night. When I got up at night to turn him over, I could always see him sweating profusely from the pain, but he gritted his teeth and didn't say a word.
When I asked him in tears, if it hurts, why didn't he scream? He said he was afraid to wake me up. Since then, I never saw him awake every night. He always closed his eyes and fell asleep peacefully, snoring softly, as if he was in a deep sleep. However, as familiar as I am, how could I not notice the subtle expression of him trembling slightly in pain but trying his best to restrain it.
I understood his good intentions, so I pretended not to know when I turned him over and massaged his legs and feet. Tears welled up in my eyes but I had to force myself not to let them fall. Only he and I could understand the sadness of this feeling.
It was a clear day, and I pushed him in a wheelchair to the courtyard to enjoy the flowers. He was in great spirits, pointing to an unknown orchid among the thorns and weeds and explaining it to me. But my mind was not on it, and he talked for a long time, but I really listened to only a few words.
Finally, my stunned expression was met with a low sigh from him: "If something is really going to happen, it won't be solved by just sighing here."
I was startled and came to my senses. Liu Xiu was sitting in a wheelchair, his haggard face was hard to hide, with a benevolent smile, but his eyes were very wise and bright. This reminded me of the Emperor Jianwu who was in power, not a stroke patient who was suffering from illness.
I knelt in front of him, resting my head on his legs, and whispered, "If I said I wasn't worried at all, I would be lying to you and to myself."
He stroked my hair with his hand and laughed in a low voice: "The Crown Prince stayed in the capital, and I missed him very much. The princes all have the ambition to be filial and honest people, and they should also be role models for the world. How about this, order them to accompany me on the southern tour..."
I suddenly raised my head and stared at him blankly.
Liu Xiu looked at me, nodded with a smile, his eyes clear.
He really lived up to his title of emperor. Although he was ill, his political acumen did not decrease at all. The emperor was seriously ill, leaving the empress and the prince alone in the capital to dominate the government. One day, they would cause big trouble.
Although Wu Han is in charge of the capital, it is not a long-term solution. If something unexpected really happens in Luoyang, I am afraid that we will have no choice but to watch helplessly in the face of this earth-shaking upheaval. By then, perhaps Liu Xiu, who has recovered his health, will be able to turn the tide and restore order, but when the unexpected happens, my son Liu Yang will probably be doomed.
"It's not impossible for the prince to accompany the emperor, but..." But if the crown prince accompanies the emperor, with our current energy, who can suppress Liu Qiang and the others? Even if the connections and power of the Guo family's relatives cannot be said to be overwhelming, there is no guarantee that they will not infiltrate the emperor.
Liu Xiu smiled faintly, turned his palm, and a golden copper ornament appeared in his palm, shaped like a tiger, with an inscription engraved with gold thread on the tiger's body. He put the half tiger talisman in my hand and whispered three words: "Liyang Camp."
My heart was shaken. When the counties and kingdoms were merged in the sixth year of Jianwu, the imperial court reformed the local military system, reduced and improved the county soldiers' mobilization system. After the unification of the country, the county standing army was abolished, and some of the original local camps were reorganized into long-term garrison troops. In order to protect the safety of Luoyang and Chang'an, military camps were set up in Liyang and Yongxian in the east and west. Liyang Camp belonged to Weijun, Jizhou, and was formed by elite soldiers from Youzhou, Jizhou, and Bingzhou. It was stationed in Liyang to guard against the movements north of the Yellow River. Yong Camp was a unit originally under the command of Fufeng Duwei, stationed in Yongxian, responsible for the Sanfu area, and served as a military barrier to the west of Chang'an .
Both armies are directly commanded by the central government and are considered to be the elite troops deployed by the emperor.
If I didn't know much about the military strength of Yongying, I was familiar with the Liyang Camp, which was stationed in Liyang and was specially formed to target the forces in Hebei. Because when the local armed forces were downsized, the Tuqi troops stationed in Hebei by the Yin family had nowhere to go. Considering that as a foreign relative, it would be too conspicuous to keep such an elite force, so after I accepted the Yingshi organization, I proposed this cavalry that the Yin family had spent countless efforts to train, in the name of local scattered soldiers, and slowly integrated it into the Liyang Camp set up by the court.
Up to now, this infiltration has been going on for nearly ten years, but some generals and capable men in the Liyang Camp still hide another identity.
I held the half tiger talisman tightly in my hand, and the heavy stone in my heart finally fell down. In fact, if Liu Xiu hadn't proposed this, I would have decided to burn my boats and use the old soldiers in Liyang Camp to overcome the current difficulties.
"Send a capable person to deliver the tiger talisman to Liyang, and mobilize a thousand cavalry to Zhangling as soon as possible." Liu Xiu lowered his voice and whispered in his ear, "This matter must be done carefully, and no news can be leaked beforehand."
I understood the pros and cons, so I nodded and stood up: "Don't worry about the troop deployment, I'll make sure it's foolproof."
He laughed and said, "It's really a waste of your talent to be able to use this skill on you."
I was moved. Hearing this tone, it seemed as if he knew something. But his words were ambiguous, as if he meant it intentionally and unintentionally. For a moment, I couldn't figure out what he was thinking.
When Liu Xiu's condition improved, he issued an edict to summon the princes to accompany him, and ordered them to continue traveling south. When they entered Ye County, Nanyang, he was able to walk. His recovery was so fast that even doctors like Cheng Yu were dumbfounded and sighed.
When the imperial carriage stopped in Ye County, the Crown Prince Liu Qiang, Right Yigong Liu Fu, Chugong Xu Ying, Donghaigong Liu Yang, Jinangong Liu Kang, and Dongpinggong Liu Cang arrived at Nanyang County together. Because the edict was written about the southern hunting tour, when it was sent to Kyoto, it must have aroused the curiosity of many people, and at the same time suppressed countless ambitions.
The father that the six princes met in Ye County was very healthy, at least on the surface. He knelt on the table like a normal person, talking freely. Except for his slightly pale face and a lot of weight loss, it was hard to tell that he had suffered a stroke. For this unique meeting, Liu Xiu and I were so busy that we didn't sleep all night. That night, under Cheng Yu's order, I used all my skills to massage Liu Xiu repeatedly to activate blood circulation.
In late April , as the weather was getting hotter, our group finally arrived at Zhangling in Nanyang County, Liu Xiu's hometown. Prior to this, more than a thousand cavalrymen from the Liyang Camp had been waiting in Zhangling for many days.
From the outside, Liu Xiu recovered like a normal person, and the princes were also very obedient and did not cause any extraordinary trouble. But it was precisely at this time that a healthy emperor needed to use force to suppress his sons. The logic of this matter itself is very intriguing.
Don't always think that you are a saint and others are fools. Even if we ourselves feel guilty about something, it is impossible for outsiders to not see some clues.
Then, another bold plan came out of Liu Xiu's mouth - he wanted to make this southern hunting tour a real one.
This proposal made all of us who knew the inside story shudder with fear. Cheng Yu tried his best to stop it, and Dai Ang even threatened to die to persuade him, but they could not shake his determination.
"He's going to die! Going to die! Do you understand? He's going to die..." Cheng Yu went back to the house angrily to pack his bags. I followed him silently. He was still not satisfied. He cursed while sorting his things, "Is it easy for me to save him? If I had known this would happen, why did I save him in the first place?"
"Sir, calm down." I lowered my head in restraint, "Your Majesty has no other choice."
"As a last resort, ruining your own body is also a last resort?"
I sighed calmly, "Yeah, he's the master after all."
I slowly smiled, and Cheng Yu stared at me in disbelief. I knew he was angry, but he was also concerned about Liu Xiu's health, and it was purely out of kindness.
"Please stay, sir. His Majesty has not recovered yet and cannot do without you..."
Cheng Yu turned his back and ignored me, but he stopped what he was doing. After a while, he said in a muffled voice, "I don't know whether it is a blessing or a curse to treat me like this."
I smiled faintly: "Blessings or disasters, we are husband and wife, we will go through thick and thin together and stay together until death."
