Chapter 576 [Second Update] 576

Liu Tan hesitated for a moment while holding the memorial, then asked quietly, "Isn't it bad?"

Liu Che scoffed, "Just watch if you want to. Why all this nonsense?"

Liu Tan then began to read with confidence. After opening the memorial, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Lu Xuan's writing skills are improving."

This memorial must have been written by Lu Xuan himself. After all, apart from him, there was no one in the Wusun Kingdom with a higher level of education than him.

Although the Han Dynasty had said that it would send officials there before, because the capital of Wusun Kingdom had not been built, and the post station and other facilities had not been established, sending officials there would be tantamount to suicide. Therefore, Lu Xuan submitted a memorial to the court, asking the Han Dynasty to delay for a while and send officials there after he had built the house.

This also meant that all memorials to the Han Dynasty had to be written by Lu Xuan himself.

Liu Tan first glanced at the memorial and saw the key word at a glance - Huns.

Liu Tan's eyes turned cold: "Have the Xiongnu settled down?"

Liu Che said casually: "It's not really stable. The Xiongnu are already showing signs of splitting."

When he said this, he glanced at Liu Tan. He knew everything that Liu Tan and Lu Xuan had done, but he pretended not to know.

After all, using a child to divide people is not a fair thing to do. Liu Tan and Lu Xuan can do it, but Liu Che cannot know about it, let alone allow it.

Liu Tan was somewhat surprised and asked, "If that's the case, how dare they attack Wusun?"

Liu Che said, "Hmm? Not to the Han Dynasty. Oh, this memorial doesn't mention the cause. Look at this one."

After Liu Che finished speaking, Bu Fan immediately stepped forward and took out a memorial from somewhere else and handed it to Liu Tan.

Liu Tan took a look and realized that the battle had actually been going on for more than a month. As early as more than a month ago, the Huns knew about Liu Che's disappearance. Most importantly, they also knew that in addition to the rebels in the Han Dynasty, the King of the Northern Territory directly took the elite group away in order to quell the rebellion.

When the Huns saw an opportunity, they naturally mobilized their troops. At first, they had no intention of marching south. As long as they could plunder some food or something, it would be enough for them to take the risk.

Before leaving, Liu Tan asked Lu Xuan to help him keep an eye on the Huns, fearing that the Huns would mobilize their forces after learning of Liu Che's disappearance.

After receiving the news, Lu Xuan sent someone to inform Huo Guang to guard Yumen Pass and Yanmen Pass, and at the same time notified Li Buyan to guard Shoujiang City, and then he took his troops to rob the Huns.

Lu Xuan had now more or less grasped some of the rules of the Han Dynasty and knew that he had to inform the central government if he wanted to send troops, so he hurriedly wrote a memorial.

However, the correct procedure is that the generals write memorials, which are then approved by the central government, and then the princes can mobilize troops.

However, Lu Xuan only wrote a memorial to Liu Che and then took his troops away. This memorial seemed to have become a perfunctory prop, as if Lu Xuan had said: I am going to beat the Huns, and now I am telling you.

Fortunately, Liu Che placed many embroidered uniform envoys in the northern border country, and the news brought back by the embroidered uniform envoys indicated that the situation there was indeed quite critical.

Of course, even without this, no one would be too harsh on Lu Xuan—at most, they would just laugh at him and say, "He's a barbarian indeed."

Liu Tan asked in confusion, "Is the news from the Xiongnu so far behind? A month ago? We've been back for ages."

Liu Che chuckled, "Isn't it good to have such a tight information? I should give Huo Guang and the others a credit for this."

In fact, the credit actually goes to Liu Tan. After all, it was Liu Tan who built the Northern Border Kingdom like an iron road. Of course, this may be a bit of an exaggeration, or it can be said that he built the border line extremely solid, and it is basically impossible for news to escape from the Northern Border Kingdom.

The Huns obtained this news from the former Yan State, now Yan County.

There has been some lack of control over that place from the past to the present, and Liu Che was angry but helpless.

However, it was already very late when Yan County received the news. At that time, Liu Tan had already taken Liu Che back to Jiaozhi.

By the time the Huns received the news, they had all arrived in Chang'an.

The reason why Liu Che did not mention Liu Tan was that he knew that no matter how great Liu Tan's contributions were, it would be difficult to reward him.

His fiefdom was already very large before, and now... unless Yan County is really given to him, he will only be given some financial rewards.

Liu Tan is not short of money, so it would be meaningless to give him more money.

As for Yan County... this credit is not enough, we have to wait a little longer.

In fact, Liu Che really wanted to give Yan County to Liu Tan, but this would be more of a way to put pressure on Liu Tan than a reward - Liu Che was handing over the entire northern border of the Han Dynasty to Liu Tan to defend.

Liu Che thought about it and felt that even if Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were both alive, they might not be able to defend the city well, let alone Liu Tan.

He still felt sorry for his son. His son had lost a lot of weight after his previous trip to the sea, and he had managed to regain some weight in Chang'an these days. If such a heavy burden was placed on him again, he was afraid that he would never gain weight again.

Therefore, Liu Che never told anyone about this idea. However, there were indeed some big problems in Yan County, so he still had to find a solution.

Liu Tan didn't know what Liu Che was thinking. He just smiled and said, "That's great. I'll ask Huo Guang to come back this New Year. He hasn't been back to Chang'an for many years. It's time for him to come back and visit."

As for whether there will be any problems if the prime minister of a country leaves, it shouldn't be a big deal. During the Chinese New Year, the court has stopped writing and basically all government affairs are suspended during this period. Unless the Huns invade again, nothing major will happen.

Thinking of this, he felt a little regretful. Huo Guang still had a chance to come back and take a look, but Li Buyan had been in Shoujiang City for so long that he couldn't even go back to Shuofang City, let alone Chang'an.

When Liu Tan thought of this, he felt that he should recruit a group of talents from the Northern Border Kingdom. At least it would be good to have some local generals so that Li Buyan and others can rotate back to Chang'an to visit their relatives.

As he thought about this, he compared the two memorials and frowned, "Is Lu Xuan... injured?"

"Hmm?" Liu Che looked at his son in surprise. "What do you mean?"

This matter was not mentioned in the memorial. Why did Liu Tan suddenly ask this question?

Liu Tan said, "The handwriting is wrong, Axuan... Ever since the Wusun King learned the Han script, he's been very careful with his handwriting. Even though this memorial was hastily written and the handwriting looks a bit flowing, the overall style is still there. But this one... seems a little lacking in strength, which is rare in him."

Liu Tan paused thoughtfully and said, "A Xuan hasn't written to me in almost half a month. The last time he wrote to me, he said he was busy with government affairs. I think we'll probably communicate less frequently in the future. It seems... he was already injured at that time."

Liu Che looked at Liu Tan up and down in surprise. He never thought that his son could be so perceptive that he could find out that the King of Wusun was injured just by looking at the handwriting.

However, what surprised him even more was that Liu Tan looked extremely calm.

Thinking back to when he and Lu Xuan were not together, they just missed each other and he felt a little disappointed. Now that Lu Xuan was seriously injured, he didn't even react?

Has the relationship faded?

If this is true, Liu Che would be somewhat happy.

After all, there are so many beautiful young ladies and young men in the Central Plains, why does his son have to hang out with a person from the Western Regions?

As for the disappearance of feelings, Liu Che didn't think it was a big deal. Young people's feelings come and go quickly.

Just as Liu Che was pondering whether he could help his son choose a queen, he saw Liu Tan put down the documents in his hand and said to Liu Che with a serious face: "Father, the Xiongnu are now eyeing the Han Dynasty covetously. They will definitely not be willing to return in defeat this time. I should return as soon as possible to take charge of the situation."

Liu Che: ...

No wonder there was no reaction just now, it turns out he was waiting here!

Liu Tan has experienced so many things that he has long since stopped panicking when encountering problems. He may be angry, but he will never lose his composure.

The moment he figured out that Lu Xuan was injured, he had already decided to return to the Northern Territory.

No, going back to the Northern Border Kingdom is just an excuse. He will probably go directly to the Wusun Kingdom.

Seeing his determined expression, Liu Che was troubled and said, "The embroidered envoy has sent news that he is on his way to the capital."

Liu Tan looked worried: "He's still injured, how can he travel?"

Liu Che said expressionlessly: "I don't think the injury is serious."

Liu Tanxin said that tetanus is a terminal illness these days. No, tetanus can be fatal at any time, even if it's just a small wound...

Liu Tan thought of this and immediately said, "I'll go get him!"

Liu Che immediately said, "Nonsense!"

How can one prince be allowed to take over another prince?

What's more, Liu Tan is a prince. Even though they are both princes, his status is more noble than Lu Xuan.

Liu Tan said: "Father, he is a meritorious official!"

Liu Che was very determined: "Even meritorious officials cannot do this!"

Liu Tan looked at his expression and said nothing more, "He can't still stay at the post station when he comes to Beijing, right?"

When Liu Che heard this, his brows relaxed slightly, knowing that his son had taken a step back and was giving Lu Xuan a mansion. Lu Xuan had bought a house in Chang'an before, but the location was not very good.

Liu Che said directly: "I will arrange it."

Liu Tan added, "It's too late for that right now. It's better for you to stay with me first."

Liu Che agreed very readily: "Yes."

He agreed so quickly that Liu Tan became suspicious - he wasn't going to mess around this time?

You know, he and Lu Xuan are basically a secret known to everyone, but if Lu Xuan directly moves into his mansion, that would be no different from announcing it to the world, right?

Who knew that Liu Che had a simple idea: just let Ku Xuan stay temporarily, no problem. As for his son... isn't it enough to leave him in the palace? Whether Liu Tan can go out is just a matter of his words.