Chapter 619
Li Ling's expression changed immediately. He placed his sword across the slave's neck and shouted, "How dare you!"
Dou Sibo had never seen such a scene before. Seeing the head with its eyes open and looking straight at him, his face turned pale and he could hardly speak.
Liu Tan's face was as gloomy as water, but he didn't think anything of it. He was grateful that Lu Xuan had chopped off someone's head in front of him. Now he could face such a scene without changing his expression or heart beating.
He listened to Li Ling interrogating the slave, who looked bewildered and said, "Alright, this man is sent to die. Drag him away and kill him."
Since the Wuhuan people didn't care about the life or death of this slave, Liu Tan naturally wouldn't care either.
Li Ling immediately ordered his men to drag the slave away. As for the box containing the human head... he looked at Liu Tan hesitantly.
Liu Tan said, "This man looks like a Han Chinese. The Wuhuan people wouldn't send the head of an unrelated person for no reason. Send someone to ask if anyone knows this man."
Li Ling responded, picked up the box and walked out.
Liu Tan glanced at Dou Sibo and said calmly, "Go back and drink a bowl of calming soup. Remember, you are the Prime Minister of Yan State. You must get used to this kind of thing. Don't do it again in the future."
Dou Sibo looked at the calm Liu Tan and almost cried: "What kind of life do you all live in the Northern Border Kingdom? Are you always being killed?"
Not long after, Li Ling returned and said, "Your Highness, someone has just recognized him. He is the governor of Liaodong County."
Liu Tan was not surprised to hear this. He had already felt that the head of the person sent by Wuhuan specifically to disgust him must not be an unknown person.
He sighed deeply and said, "I'm sure the body has been ruined. Let's carve a wooden god for him and bury him properly."
Li Ling looked at him cautiously, then responded and retreated.
Dou Sibo thought about the rumors about the King of the Northern Territory and asked with some concern, "Your Highness, what should we do next?"
Liu Tan gave him a strange look. "What do you mean? I should leave now. If I don't leave now, I'll miss the Zhengdan Festival."
Dou Sibo: ???
Going back to celebrate the New Year? Wait, this isn't like the King of the Northern Territory at all. Shouldn't he rush over and stab the leader of the Bo Xi clan?
According to legend, His Majesty the King of the North never swallows his anger.
Liu Tan certainly would not swallow his anger. The calmer he appeared now, the higher the interest he would have to pay in the future.
At first, he was happy to avenge his enemies and ended up only stabbing Wu Shilu, but now... he wants to exterminate the Bo Xi family!
Facing Dou Sibo's incredulous gaze, Liu Tan explained, "General Li Xi has already made all the arrangements. If I do anything now, it will likely disrupt General Li Xi's plans. If we fail to capture Liaodong County, we will end up losing more than we gain."
Dou Sibo thought about it and felt that this was the truth. He did not ask any more questions and went downstairs to prepare to sort out the important matters for Liu Tan, and try to finish all these things before letting him leave.
Only after they all left did Liu Tan let go of the brush he had just held tightly in his hand.
Miao Rui immediately and quietly helped him replace the brush with a new one. Liu Tan sighed and said, "Is the feng shui of Yan State bad? I've broken several brushes since I came here."
Miao Rui then said carefully, "Your Highness, calm down. Anger is harmful to your health."
Liu Tan took a deep breath, calmed himself, and said, "These people keep challenging my patience. Bo Xishi better stop doing anything else, or I really don't want to tolerate them anymore."
Bo Xi seemed to know the principle of knowing when to stop and did not send anything else.
Liu Tan breathed a sigh of relief but also felt a little regretful. If Bo Xi was doing something else, he could just lead his men to kill them and everyone would be right.
However, it seemed that when Bo Xi saw that the King of the Northern Territory not only did not take any action, but instead announced that he was going back to the Northern Territory, she spread rumors that the King of the Northern Territory was also afraid of the Wuhuan people and was scared to run back to the Northern Territory.
Such rumors are actually of no concern to Liu Tan. Sometimes military exploits are the best counterattack, and they won't take long anyway.
However, Li Ling and Wei Deng were so angry that they ran to Li Xi and asked him to send troops immediately.
These two were considered Li Xi's juniors, so he didn't give them any respect. He simply glared at them, "What nonsense are you making? It's freezing cold in winter, how can this be a good time to send troops?"
Li Ling said angrily, "Are we just going to let them slander Your Highness?"
Wei Deng also said: "If it was in the Northern Territory, we would have attacked them long ago. How could His Highness have suffered such an injustice?"
Li Xi simply couldn't do anything with these two bastards. The most important thing was that these two were no longer the unknown juniors they used to be. Each of them had military merits and their rank was not low at this age. Li Xi couldn't just drag them over and beat them up like he did before.
Children of military generals are all tough and resistant to beatings.
Li Xi had no choice but to say, "Then go ask His Highness and see if he agrees. If he agrees, then it's fine."
Before, they were all concerned about the people of Liaodong County, or to be more precise, it was Liu Tan who was concerned. In Li Xi's eyes, even if those people died, they were necessary sacrifices, but their prince seemed a little soft-hearted and wanted to avoid casualties as much as possible.
Then he could only wait. If Liu Tan got angry and didn't want to wait, they had a powerful weapon like black gunpowder in their hands, so what was there to be afraid of?
Li Ling and Wei Deng immediately became quiet. If they could get a positive answer from Liu Tan, why would they bother Li Xi?
Isn’t it because Liu Tan warned them?
With no other choice, the two could only reluctantly prepare to follow Liu Tan back to the Northern Border.
Liu Tan knew that Li Ling and Wei Deng would definitely not accept it, but it was useless. He did not attack as soon as he knew that Liaodong County had fallen, so he would not be impulsive now. After all, he had endured for so long and could not fail at the last moment, so he had to leave.
The only thing Liu Tan is worried about now is probably Liu Ku, so he basically repeatedly tells Fu Yu and Cen You to keep an eye on Prince Yan.
Fu Yu and Cen You had tears in their eyes. Although they were somewhat reluctant and wanted to follow their prince, they still agreed.
However, no matter how worried Liu Tan was, Liu Ku had to go back to preside over the affairs of the Northern Border Kingdom. Although Liu Ku had experienced many separations, he still burst into tears this time, hugging Liu Tan's neck tightly and calling out vaguely: "Royal brother~"
Liu Tan touched his head. It was true that Liu Ku was born in a royal family and had no worries about food and clothing, but it was also true that he was precocious. Liu Ku could already remember things at this age, and the first thing he learned was distinction.
Apart from this incident, Liu Tan originally thought that the New Year would be relatively peaceful. In addition, Lu Xuan had already arrived in the Northern Border Kingdom, which made him eager to return home.
Liu Tan chose a sunny day to leave, but even though the sun looked very hot, it didn't feel warm when it shone on his body.
The further they went towards the Northern Border, the warmer the temperature became, which made Liu Tan feel a little strange. He really never thought that there would be a day when he would find the winter climate in the Northern Border so pleasant.
On the day Liu Tan returned to Shuofang City, practically the entire city came out to greet him. Lu Xuan even led his men on a long journey to pick him up halfway and brought him back.
When he saw Liu Tan, Lu Xuan looked at him carefully for a long time before he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Not bad, you haven't lost weight."
Liu Tan was at a loss for words: "I'm not going to some poor place."
Lu Xuan said, "Yan State isn't wealthy either."
From the letters they exchanged, Lu Xuan could tell that Yan State was actually not that great, or even worse than the previous Northern Border State.
At first, the Northern Border Kingdom was only suffering from the harm caused by the Xiongnu, so it was not able to survive. But now the Yan Kingdom is not only threatened by the Xiongnu, but also has to face the threat of the Wuhuan. Liu Dan and his prime minister are exploiting it severely. All these things added up, the people of Yan Kingdom are living a much harder life than the people of the Northern Border Kingdom.
Liu Tan had no choice but to say, "Even if they're poor over there, it won't affect me."
Lu Xuan held his hand and smiled, "Indeed, have you decided to go on the expedition in the spring?"
Liu Tan nodded: "I will go back after the New Year's Day, you..."
Lu Xuan immediately said, "The palace is already built, and I'm currently constructing the royal city. I also need someone to manage the affairs."
Liu Tan held his waist without saying a word. He knew very well that even if the battle was over and Liaodong County was taken back, there would be more things to do next. He needed to get Yan State back on the right track. Not to say that all the people could live and work in peace and contentment, but at least almost. He didn't want to see 80% of the people being poor, and then only a few being rich, with no middle ground.
Such a social structure is unstable and prone to problems.
But Yan State is different from Northern Border State. Due to various reasons, Lu Xuan can travel freely to Northern Border State, but cannot go to Yan State so freely.
Liu Che basically turned a blind eye to Lu Xuan's travels to the Northern Border Kingdom, and so did other court officials.
But it would be wrong for him to go to Yan State. The princes could not move around freely. If he could go to Yan State freely, would he also be able to travel freely to Chang'an in the future?
Lu Xuan played with the ends of his hair. He knew what he was thinking without even hearing him speak, so he whispered, "Don't worry. At worst, I can pretend to be your guard and go with you."
Lu Xuan had just said it casually, but when he thought about it, he felt a little excited. As for whether pretending to be a bodyguard would be a disgrace to his identity, he didn't worry about it. If possible, he would rather be a bodyguard and stay by Liu Tan's side.
Liu Tan chuckled after hearing this and said, "That won't work. How could I dare to let the King of Wusun be my bodyguard? If this gets out, I'm afraid they'll suspect me of rebellion."
Lu Xuan whispered, "Then don't let anyone know. Didn't you give me a mask? I'll just wear it."
Liu Tan thought about Lu Xuan following him with a mask like the Sanxingdui bronze man, and suddenly felt a little uneasy: "Are you okay?"
Lu Xuan didn't force it, but he was still trying to figure out if he could go with Liu Tan.
What he didn't expect was that he actually got an opportunity, and this opportunity was given to him by the Huns.
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