Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 364: The Emperor's Wrath
"Ridiculous! Ridiculous! He rebelled... I think Bai Tu rebelled! What kind of great sage he is? He is a traitor and a rebel! Where is Hua Xin? Summon Hua Xin... No, bring him to see me!" Liu Xie tore up Bai Tu's documents in a rage in the hastily repaired front hall of the Weiyang Palace.
Fortunately, what he was given was a copied version, so it didn't affect other people and they couldn't see what Liu Xie was angry about.
There were only seven or eight people in the front hall at this time, and they were not attending the grand court meeting.
In addition to Liu Ai, Dong Cheng, Zhong Ji, who were Liu Xie's confidants, there were Liu Bei, Ma Teng, Zhang Yan, Yang Feng, who were foreign ministers who assisted the Han Dynasty...
Liu Bei really wanted to count himself as part of the other group, but he could feel alienated.
As for Ma Teng, Zhang Yang, and Yang Feng...they represent the New Xiliang warlords and the Yellow Turban warlords, and they are now assisting the Han Dynasty, which makes the front hall of the Weiyang Palace very lively every day.
After all, He Jin had been dead for only more than ten years, and everyone obviously would not forget that the powerful general was tricked into the palace by the Ten Eunuchs and hacked to death.
Every time Ma Teng, Yang Feng, Zhang Yan and others came to the front hall to discuss matters, there were hundreds of clearly divided guards outside.
Fortunately, the Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty was several times larger than the Forbidden City of later generations. It was part of a complex of buildings, and the front hall was the front part, so Liu Xie turned a blind eye. However, in this way, every time Liu Xie met these so-called "confidants", they had to come to the front hall. Not many people dared to have a secret talk with him in the back...
After Liu Bei saw Bai Tu's conditions, he secretly sighed and shook his head.
Previously, Liu Bei strongly recommended Jian Yong to be on the diplomatic mission. Although Dong Cheng was a little jealous, after being persuaded by Zhong Ji and Liu Ai, Liu Xie accepted Liu Bei's recommendation.
After Jian Yong returned to Chang'an, he wanted to see Liu Bei first, but Liu Bei simply closed the door and refused to see him...
After being turned away, Jian Yong understood what Liu Bei meant, and sighed again in his heart, "As expected, my lord is a sincere gentleman." Then Jian Yong washed and dressed, and went into the palace to meet Liu Xie first.
Liu Bei didn't want Liu Xie to feel threatened, and he didn't want Jian Yong and others to be regarded as outsiders by Liu Xie because of his marks on their bodies.
So Liu Bei had just seen the "results" that Jian Yong brought back!
However, Liu Xie was obviously more concerned about the fact that Jian Yong went to visit Liu Bei first, and did not care much about Liu Bei's refusal to meet him.
After hearing Dong Cheng's story, when he first saw Jian Yong who had reported back, he suppressed his anger, and after reading the letter Jian Yong brought back... he directly and abruptly asked Jian Yong to leave, so Jian Yong himself was not in the hall at this time.
This was already the limit of Liu Xie's cunning. If he was two years younger, he would probably have killed someone.
Just like now, Liu Xie wanted to vent his anger on Hua Xin, but... just after he gave the order, the eunuch who delivered the order was stopped by Liu Ai calmly, and signaled him with his eyes to "do what you should do."
Liu Xie obviously noticed this scene, and thought that now was not the time to settle accounts with Hua Xin. Otherwise, not to mention the blame from the General's Mansion, even Hua Xin's own popularity would be enough to make him suffer. So he pretended not to see it and never mentioned the matter of looking for Hua Xin.
"Your Majesty, what does the general say about this letter? Is there any room for maneuver?" Liu Bei asked after saluting.
Liu Xie emotionally wanted to say to him directly: Go ask your good brother!
However, after taking a deep breath, Liu Xie suppressed his tone and said, "Xianhe conveyed the intention of the traitor, saying that if the court accepts the Eight Strategies, he will ask to be removed from the position of Marquis of Chu. If not... he will also ask to be promoted to King of Chu!"
In order to get out of the situation, he had to appoint a King of Wei as the King, which made Liu Xie very unhappy.
"Can we go and persuade Lord Bai to agree to two or three of the proposals first, and put the others on hold for later?" Liu Bei felt that Bai Tu did not seem to be deliberately provoking him, and the condition of "please remove the Marquis of Chu" seemed to have some sincerity, but this condition... really could not be agreed to immediately.
As for Liu Xie calling Bai Tu a "traitor", Liu Bei pretended not to hear it. At least after he went out, Liu Xie changed his words when facing the court officials.
"That traitor said there is no need to send any more people. If you agree, all he needs to do is to send envoys to inform everyone at the first court meeting on the first day of the first lunar month. He can handle it himself, whether it is removing the title of marquis or the throne of King Jin." The more Liu Xie thought about it, the angrier he became. He felt that this guy was even more hateful than Cao Cao.
Obviously, Bai Tu meant that if he did not see the envoy to the court on the first day of next year, Bai Tu would automatically regard it as a rejection by the court, and he would also announce on his own that the court would confer him the title of King of Chu...
"Your Majesty, just give an order and I'm willing to go and suppress the rebellion!" Ma Teng performed a half-kneeling military salute.
Ma Teng's attire at this time made him stand out from the others. Although he was in Chang'an, he was still wearing the popular fur coat in Xiliang, with a whole wolf skin and a scarf with a wolf head on it hanging around his neck.
He has a square face and regular facial features, but... his eyebrows look like two axes slanting sideways, making him look very honest and simple.
His words at this moment were so stupid that Liu Xie wanted to curse - after moving his mouth for a long time, Liu Xie didn't say a single word!
Will you issue this order? If I don't, it will seem that my previous anger was just a show of strength, but if I issue it... you have to be able to win!
What's more, there are still so many rebels in Guanzhong and Sili. How can we possibly fight against the White Bandits?
You should stop me now? Please let me bypass the white thief first, understand?
I think you are making things difficult for me, Liu Xie!
Liu Ai saw that Liu Xie was embarrassed by Ma Teng's request, so he explained on his behalf: "General Ma, calm down. Lord Bai's suggestion is not without consideration. Moreover, Yongliang has not been pacified yet , so how can we do without the general?"
Ma Teng saw that he was not going to fight, so he stood up and said nothing more - not going to fight? Then it's none of my business...
"How about we pretend to agree first? Let's earn back Nanyang and Nanjun first!" Zhang Yan came up with a brilliant idea.
"No, anyone in the world can break their promise, but Your Majesty must not. Legitimacy is the sharpest sword in Your Majesty's hand now, and you must not give it to others." Liu Bei said immediately.
"I know. After all, it was that guy who asked me to mobilize the troops to know the news. We can't do anything reckless!" Liu Xie also sighed helplessly.
It was already the middle of winter...
In fact, there have been a lot of good news for Liu Xie recently. Since leaving Xu Du, he has felt quite good about himself, like a hidden dragon emerging from the abyss.
After all, from the perspective of the forces supporting the Han Dynasty, whether it was Ma Teng and Han Sui in Xiliang Guanzhong, Yang Feng and Zhang Yan in Luoyang Hedong area, or Liu Bei in Qingzhou , they had basically been winning battles one after another.
But Bai Tu and Cao Cao also received a lot of good news, and the Yuan family and Jingzhou Prefecture were not strong at all, which made Liu Xie quite annoyed - can't you just quietly suffer losses on both sides?
