Plan to cut off the nine states

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Lou Wen wrote three times to return the seal of the commander, but the court refused three times and sent eunuchs to visit and comfort the general, asking the general to eat reluctantly and serve the country.

The back-and-forth temptation ended here, and Lou Wen was grateful and shed tears - really "tears", shed many tears in front of the eunuchs - drank the medicine soup sent by the inner palace on the spot, got up and put on armor, and announced that he would die for His Majesty.

In case of any emergency, the "ill-ridden" general asked the court to send a military supervisor. This time, there was no humility, and the court immediately agreed. After a brief discussion with the ministers, the emperor appointed the prince as the military supervisor, claiming that "I have no regrets in entrusting my son to the general."

Lou Wen was supposed to resume his post as commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition on September 5th. His official title was Grand Commander of the Western Road, concurrently the Governor of Qin and Bing. The Grand Commander was in charge of the army, and the Governor could collect grain and goods. On the evening of September 4th, he officially handed over the important responsibility of guarding the palace to the King of Jibei who had just entered the capital. He immediately dressed up and left the city, staying in the military camp at night with several of his most trusted children, grandchildren, and generals. He planned to take the seal of the commander back from Cao Shenxi, Duke of Xiao, with an imperial decree the next morning.

At the same moment Lou Wen left the city, Lou Ying, who did not trust the emperor's conspiracy, personally took Lou Chu to the inner palace to "apologize", claiming that there were rumors outside, and the Lou family was willing to confront the assassin and clear their name.

Of course, the two could not enter the inner palace. Lou Ying wrote a sealed letter and stuffed it through the small hole on the palace gate, asking the eunuchs he was familiar with to let the emperor see it as early as possible, and then knelt outside the palace gate and waited. This was the usual practice for close ministers to plead guilty.

Although it was early autumn, the night wind was chilly. Lou Ying, who was fat, was still shivering with cold and complained: "You are too careless, really too careless... Why aren't you afraid at all?"

Lou Chu was indeed not afraid, and smiled, "Your Majesty has a keen eye and must have seen that I was slandered, so he did not make the assassin's confession public. Naturally, I have nothing to be afraid of."

"Hey, guessing your Majesty's thoughts is asking for trouble. You must think that with the protection of the general and the love of your father-in-law, the King of Jibei, your Majesty will spare your life. Let me tell you, don't even think about it, your Majesty will never..." Lou Ying shuddered again and didn't dare to continue, fearing that he would be implicated.

An hour later, the emperor's oral order came from the palace: "Since it is a rumor, why bother with it? Go back to sleep and wait in the garden tomorrow."

The two brothers kowtowed to thank him, but they could not accept the order. The general had issued a death order before leaving, and they had to confront the assassin tonight no matter what and make it clear.

The eunuch passed the message through the door for the third time: "Lou Ying, Lou Chu, His Majesty said, 'These two brothers are really stubborn, worthy of being the descendants of the Lou family, go to Zishi Garden immediately, and if they dare to disobey the order again, the guards will beat them out with sticks.'"

Lou Ying was overjoyed and pulled Lou Chu to kowtow and thank him.

The two brothers knelt to guard the palace gate. There were eunuchs watching from a distance. At this time, they were taken to the nearby Zishi Garden. On the way, Lou Ying whispered: "If His Majesty said 'go away', you may really be fine."

"Assassins can't fool His Majesty."

"Of course, no one in the world can fool His Majesty." Lou Ying was both afraid and respectful of the emperor, like a domestic dog that had been tamed since childhood.

Zishi Garden was more empty at night than during the day. The two were sent to the Guanma Hall. Except for the gable behind, there were no walls on three sides. The emperor would occasionally sit here to rest and watch others riding horses and dancing with spears.

At least one real spear was placed in a small armory nearby, guarded by eunuchs, and Lou Chu could only take a glance.

After half an hour, someone entered the garden. Lou Ying was about to shout "Long live the emperor" when he found out that it was not the emperor, but Zhang Shiyu, the prince of Jibei.

"Why are you here?" Lou Ying was surprised.

The two had been on standby in the garden for many years and were familiar with each other. Zhang Shiyu asked the attendants to stay outside and walked into the hall. He yawned and said, "I came here by order. Your Majesty must have something urgent."

"I mean, how could you enter the imperial city at night?" Lou Ying was very concerned about the signs of anyone being unexpectedly favored.

Zhang Shiyu bowed to Lou Chu and smiled, "General Ying forgot that my father just took over the guard and asked me to stay with him in the imperial city, not far from your residence."

Lou Ying laughed, "So that's it." Remembering that he was still "waiting for punishment", he immediately changed his serious expression, "Your Majesty wants you to come here, probably..."

No need to guess, the garden gate opened wide, and a team of knights galloped in and stopped in front of the hall.

The three hurried out to greet them. According to the rules in the garden, ministers do not have to kneel, and the three bowed to greet the emperor.

The emperor rode on his horse and said coldly: "What crime should Fatty Ying be punished for disturbing my sweet dreams at night?"

"He should be sentenced to death." Lou Ying felt more at ease when he heard the emperor calling his nickname, "But the rumor is really unbearable. I heard it and was anxious in my heart. I dare not neglect it. I came to Your Majesty immediately to plead guilty."

"Since it is a nonsense rumor, what crime should I plead guilty?"

"My whole family is sincere and will not tolerate any flaws."

"Hey." The emperor sneered and turned to Lou Chu, "The rumor is related to you, why don't you speak up?"

"I think Your Majesty knows the situation, so I won't say anything."

"Haha." The emperor laughed and stopped when he said he would laugh, "Yes, the assassin did confess that he had visited Lou Chu and discussed the assassination plan with him."

Lou Ying was shocked and pulled his brother to kneel down. The emperor waved his hand to stop him, "But I don't believe it. Do you know why?"

Zhang Shiyu stood aside vigilantly, neither nodding nor shaking his head, keeping a distance from the matter.

"Your Majesty knows that the Lou family is loyal and will never have any evil thoughts." Lou Ying replied.

The emperor looked at the foundation of the building and said, "The Lou family can only protect you from half of the guilt, and you did the other half yourself. I ask you, why are you so reluctant to speak out even though you want to remonstrate?"

"Weichen...Weichen..."

"Do you think Princess Huanyan can deceive me? Although she has outstanding talents, some words are obviously not what she can think of. What about the grain-carrying ships carrying personal belongings, local officials using the power of the imperial court to abuse people's power... If not I can't tell you in such detail if I see it with my own eyes, so I asked the eldest princess to find out that this was originally your advice, but it was given to Princess Huanyan, right?"

"Weak ministers are frightened, but weary ministers are aware of their sins."

"You seem to like to give your articles to others. First, you have 'use the people to make use of the time', and then you have 'admonitions to persuade the urgent'. Because you are imprisoned, you think your articles are useless?" The emperor has already inquired about the foundation of the building. Be clear.

"Weak ministers think they are smart and carry out temporary schemes, but they will be punished severely."

"Give you the benefit of the doubt. In any case, you have the desire to remonstrate, and even traveled there in person to see what you see. Based on this, I believe you are not an associate of the assassins. How can you assassinate and remonstrate at the same time? reason?"

"Your Majesty's cave is hidden by a candle, and you can clearly see the details. The humble minister suddenly feels at ease. I only hope that I can serve your Majesty for a long time, never leaving the left and right, so as to use my meager strength."

The emperor lowered his lips and disapproved of such flattery, "But I don't like your way of making mistakes. If you have anything to say in the future, tell me in person."

"Every humble minister should tell you everything he knows, and he should tell you everything he knows."

"Well, as for your 'admonishment', I already understand it. You don't need to say it anymore. I know it well, and I will naturally slow down when it is time to slow down."

"The humble minister looks up at the mountains and wonders how high they are. He speculates and makes unreasonable remarks. Your Majesty chooses one or two good ones and thinks about them. The humble minister's wish is enough."

"In the future, I should go to the private sector to listen and read more, but if you gain anything, let me know."

"The humble minister obeys the decree. Your Majesty has the heart to think about the people. The people of the world will definitely be grateful to Heaven for their grace and do their best. Heaven's success and dynasty will come from this."

The emperor shook his head, "Forget it, you still want to remonstrate too much. If you say such things, you are far behind the ministers of the court, not even your third brother."

Lou Jian chuckled.

"Is that okay? I'll explain it myself. Are you, the Lou family, satisfied?"

Lou Jian hurriedly said: "Satisfied, satisfied, the Lou family has always been satisfied, but they can't stand being wronged by villains."

The emperor hesitated for a while, "Since we are here, we will stay a little longer, bring the horses, and I and the three ministers will ride to the garden at night. As long as we don't leave the imperial city, the old master will have nothing to say, right?"

Lou Gang was overjoyed, dancing and talking nonsense. After getting on the horse, it was not stable. It fell to the ground after running a short distance. The horse was not willing to carry such a heavy thing, so it ran far away and refused to come back.

The emperor laughed and galloped with Lou Ji and Zhang Shiyu, while Lou Ji dragged his fat body to chase them everywhere.

It was not until late in the night that the emperor was fully satisfied. Before leaving, he said to Zhang Shiyu: "The King of Jibei wants to recruit Lou Chu as his son-in-law, so I invite you to come and listen together, lest your family listens to the rumors and is unwilling to marry."

Zhang Shiyu said with a smile: "My younger sisters are rushing to marry Mr. Lou, and my father is having a headache because of this."

The emperor left with a smile, and Lou Chu and Zhang Shiyu helped the stiff Lou Hao back to his residence.

Although he was almost exhausted, Lou Gang was very happy and kept saying, "See, this is trust."

Zhang Shiyu had always had a good impression of Lou Chu, and now he accepted him sincerely and regarded him as his future brother-in-law, even though this brother-in-law was older than him.

When they arrived at the residence, Zhang Shiyu said goodbye. The Lou brothers went back to their rooms to rest. Lou grabbed Lou and said, "I didn't expect you to hide so many things from my father and me."

"Third brother Haihan, I really thought it was all a trivial matter. I didn't expect that His Majesty knew about it earlier and didn't intend to hide it."

"Haha, this is called being eclectic. Your method of pleasing people like this is the best, and it suits His Majesty's wishes. Now I can assure you: the confinement order can ban others, but not our Lou family. The official position is just a false name. , gaining His Majesty’s favor is the real power, coupled with the power of the Lou family, your future will be bright.”

Lou Chu was surprised to hear the words "name" and "real" from his third brother, but also felt it was normal. "The study of name and reality" was originally a knowledge in life.

Returning to his bedroom, Lou Chu was extremely tired. He poured a cup of herbal tea in the dark and was about to drink it when he heard someone in the corner say: "Seventeenth Young Master is back."

There were three people living in this house. Lou Chu thought that the two staff members had left the city with his father, but he didn't expect that there was still one person left behind. "Mr. Qiao didn't leave?"

"Well, the general ordered me to stay and meet again out of the city tomorrow."

"oh."

"How is it? Since the Seventeenth Young Master is back, your Majesty must be fine."

"Everything is fine. His Majesty took us to ride horses in the park...Mr. Qiao didn't seem worried at all."

"Haha, actually...it's okay not to say it."

"There's no one around, it's not bright yet, and the lights aren't lit yet. Mr. Qiao just says it's okay."

"The general went out to the city overnight to take precautions against any eventuality. But in this case, how dare your majesty act rashly against the descendants of the Lou family?"

Lou Chu was silent for a while, "I'm just trying to show off my power."

The two of them laughed out loud at the same time. This was the reason for the calmness of the building. The general went out of the city to observe the incident. It was precisely because of this that the emperor did not want "incidents".

The laughter quickly disappeared, and neither of them spoke, because they knew in their hearts that the emperor did not really trust the Lou family. He must have a deep plan if he could tolerate it.