Chapter 63 Thousand Miles of Surveillance
Zhao Yan and Zhao Cheng exchanged glances, feeling that Zhao Cheng was in such a state that if he went in, he would be beaten up by him with all his might. Thinking of this, Zhao Yan said calmly, "Just tell me what you have to say."
Then the people inside fell silent. Xuan Ji, who was waiting behind Zhao Yan, was furious. "Your Majesty told you to speak, didn't you hear? Your Majesty, I'll go in and teach him a lesson!"
Zhao Cheng sneered when he heard this, then burst into laughter. After laughing, he turned his head and smiled at Zhao Yan: "Looking like I'm in this state now, am I still afraid of you guys hitting me?"
"Ayan, don't you want to know where I hid our father's remains? Come here, and I'll tell you."
Zhao Cheng's words really hit Zhao Yan's sore spot. He had come to see Zhao Cheng, genuinely wanting to discuss matters with him, ideally to find out where his father's remains were. Zhao Cheng also spoke to him this way because he understood his character.
Xuan Ji was so angry that he wanted to roll up his sleeves and beat him up, but Zhao Yan raised his hand to signal him not to move: "I'm fine, he's chained up, he can't hurt me."
Xuanji retreated angrily. Zhao Yan lifted the beaded curtain and walked in, deliberately walking around the wall so that even if Zhao Cheng wanted to hit him, the chain around his neck couldn't reach him. He was really smart!
Ancient people valued gathering Qi. Space was limited in the inner halls of the Cold Palace, so even if one walked close to the wall, they were only two people away from Zhao Cheng. Zhao Yan took two steps and moved to the worn desk facing Zhao Cheng. He lowered his eyes and looked at Zhao Cheng, who leaned dejectedly against the couch. "You, go ahead. We're alone here now."
Zhao Cheng raised his eyes, looking at Zhao Yan, who stood before him in a formal robe. The young man was quite tall, with striking features. He should have been the most distinguished young prince in the entire Great Yan, but he radiated a sense of stupidity. Even in the dragon robe, he lacked the demeanor of an emperor.
Zhao Cheng propped himself up on the bed, the chain around his neck jingling as he moved. He looked like a rotting skeleton in a horror movie that had been reborn, a gloomy aura emanating from him. Zhao Yan shuddered, his palms sweating from nervousness. "Just keep talking, why are you standing up?"
"I'm like a lost dog now, what are you afraid of?" Zhao Cheng said calmly, carrying the heavy chain and walking towards Zhao Yan step by step until the chain around his neck floated up. "Ah Yan, come closer."
Zhao Yan's scalp was numb with fear, but when he saw that Zhao Cheng couldn't reach him, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Do you think I'm a fool? It's because you have no worries now that you would do something to hurt me. I'm so scared of the pain."
Zhao Yan stood up, leaning his back against the desk, folding his arms and frowning as he looked at Zhao Cheng: "Alright, if you still have a conscience, tell me where my father's remains are. I will discuss with Brother Lan and find a way to save you."
Zhao Cheng held his forehead with his hand and laughed heartily, "What kind of magic potion did Yong Shaolan give you?"
Zhao Cheng said, walking back on his own. "If you had stayed by my brother's side, you could still live the carefree life you once did. What? Now you can't even decide the life or death of a piece of trash?"
Zhao Cheng changed the subject, pointed at Zhao Yan's nose, and said word by word: "It was you, Zhao Yan, who ruined my Zhao family's kingdom! Hahahaha, if the emperor saw this scene, he would definitely be very satisfied, right? Hahahaha."
Zhao Yan squinted at Zhao Cheng in anger. "Didn't you want to send me to Northern Frontier? Alright, stop stirring up trouble. It's a waste of time for me to come see you. I'm leaving now. If you want to figure it out, have the guards in the inner court tell me where my father's remains are. Otherwise, I won't come to see you again in this lifetime!"
Zhao Yan finished speaking, then stole a glance at Zhao Cheng, only to find him laughing like a fool, not taking his words to heart at all. Zhao Yan didn't want to waste any more time, so before leaving the inner hall, he glanced back at Zhao Cheng, who was still laughing wildly.
Zhao Cheng leaned on the bed and knelt on the ground in a panic. His eyes kept shrinking as he looked at him, like a ghost demanding his life. "Ayan, I never wanted to send you to Northern Frontier. It was just a temporary solution..."
Zhao Yan frowned, turned away and left the inner court.
baffling.
…
Before noon, Zhao Yan finished his sleep, ate a little, and then went to Taiji Hall to handle government affairs. Although Brother Lan said he didn't have to work today, he couldn't find anything interesting to do besides work. After arriving at Taiji Hall, Xiao Zhouzi added charcoal. Zhao Yan took off his cloak and sat at his desk, realizing that he hadn't handled yesterday's government affairs.
"Brother Lan, you're not working today, are you?" Zhao Yan sorted the memorials and picked out the ones he needed to handle. "Have you returned to the palace?"
Xiao Zhouzi paused and said, "I don't know about this either. Your Majesty, do you want me to send someone to the palace to ask?"
"No need," Zhao Yan said, knowing Brother Lan was busy and didn't need to report everything to him. He was busy with his work when he accidentally pushed a memorial that Yong Shaolan had reviewed under the table. He crouched down to pick it up and found that it was written not only in Chinese but also in words he couldn't understand. It was signed by the Deputy Commander of the Liaodong Army's Northern Division.
Zhao Yan carefully looked at the Chinese text on it and found that it was a record of the envoys and Liaodong local officials' mission to Goguryeo. It detailed the time period and all the events that had happened. There were also translations for the incomprehensible words. It was about the Goguryeo emperor sending greetings to him and saying that he would send a hostage to the capital.
The memorial was placed among the pile of reviewed memorials, but strangely, it bore no reply. Zhao Yan remembered that Brother Lan had previously responded to letters of greeting from the emperors of other smaller vassal states, always with polite replies. Thinking of this, Zhao Yan took up his pen and politely wrote a few words. After the memorial had dried, he closed it and put it away.
However, Zhao Yan didn't notice that while he was working seriously, Xiao Zhouzi stole the memorial to which he had replied and quietly put it in his sleeve.
Two and a half hours later, Zhao Yan left Taiji Hall and returned to Zichen Hall to rest. Xiao Zhouzi came out of the inner hall after serving, carrying the memorial he had brought back from Taiji Hall, asked someone to prepare a sedan chair, and hurried to Prince Yong's Mansion.
Meanwhile, inside the palace, Chief Minister Sun Jianqing and several other ministers gathered in the palace tearoom. The atmosphere was awkward. Throughout history, there had been no precedent for ministers holding court meetings in the palace. Yong Shaolan's actions clearly revealed his ulterior motives. However, the ministers, all beneficiaries of the old Prince Yong's kindness and with their lives and fortunes in his hands, had no choice but to bow down and acquiesce in this presumptuous act.
When Xiao Zhouzi arrived at the palace, he didn't even need the palace servants to lead the way. He found his way to the tea room. However, upon entering, he was frightened by the sight of several important court officials. He could only speak incoherently and handed over the memorial in his hand. The others saw the eunuchs around the emperor secretly communicating with Prince Yong, and their faces turned even more gloomy. At this time, someone finally couldn't sit still. The person who stood up was the Minister of Rites, surnamed Sun. He was transferred from Shuntian Prefecture in Jinling. He didn't want to be associated with the old swindlers in Yujing. He only agreed to move his family to Yujing to follow the Seventh Prince because of Prince Yong's meritorious service in protecting the Seventh Prince.
"I have some important matters at home, so I will take my leave first."
With someone leading the way, the few veteran officials who disagreed with Yong Shaolan suddenly regained their intellectual spirit and stood up to take their leave. After Yong Shaolan finished revising the memorial and placed it on the desk, only Sun Jianqing, his son, Xiao Zhouzi, and Wenquan remained in the tea room.
Sun Jianqing trembled and stood up, holding onto the armrest of his chair. "Well, since ancient times, sending troops requires a legitimate reason. Since Your Highness mentioned that Goguryeo is currently in civil strife, then my Great Yan only needs the pretext of helping them quell the civil unrest to raise an army. If Your Highness is determined, then I, this old minister, will return and draft a memorial."
Just now, they were discussing the military campaign against Goguryeo. Normally, with the new monarch having just ascended the throne and the country still unstable, it would be inappropriate to start a war, especially an external expansion. However, it was said that Goguryeo was experiencing internal strife, and several other barbarians had also taken action—this was a golden opportunity to destroy Goguryeo and other barbarian forces.
But Emperor Zhao Yan still didn't know about this. Yong Shaolan drooped his eyelashes, his gaze sweeping over the few crooked characters Zhao Yan had written on the memorial. The reason he hadn't replied to the King of Goguryeo was because he had made up his mind to go to war.
"Go down."
Seeing Prince Yong's tacit agreement, Sun Jianqing rose to bid farewell. Only Xiao Zhouzi and Wenquan remained in the tearoom, and Yong Shaolan then asked Xiao Zhouzi about Zhao Yan's visit to the inner court. Xiao Zhouzi, shrinking his neck, explained the matter in detail before hurriedly returning to the Purple Palace. The palace fell silent, and Wenquan poured Yong Shaolan a cup of tea. "Your Highness, aren't you going to tell His Majesty about the expedition?"
When we went on the expedition to the east, in addition to Goguryeo, there were also many barbarians to the east and north of Liaodong. This expedition would take at least two years.
"It's not the right time yet." Yong Shaolan stood up and pinched his brows. "The king will be staying in the palace these days. Don't go into the palace yet. Stay in the mansion."
After Zhao Yan woke up, he found that Xiao Zhouzi was not there. He asked the people in the palace. Some said he had left the palace, while others said he had gone to the inner court. This made Zhao Yan feel a crisis of trust in him. After the hour of You, Xiao Zhouzi came back in a panic. Perhaps he didn't know he was in the inner hall, so he whispered to the eunuch in the outer hall: "Is your Majesty awake?"
The young eunuch naturally knew that the emperor had woken up, but he didn't dare to say it directly, so he could only use his eyes to signal Xiao Zhouzi. Xiao Zhouzi was smart. When he learned that Zhao Yan had woken up, he cried out, "Your Majesty, I just went to the inner court..."
In the inner hall, Zhao Yan's brows were furrowed so tightly that they could pinch a fly to death. "When I woke up just now, I asked them, and they said you left the palace. So? Have you learned to lie to me now?"
Little Zhouzi was so frightened that he crawled on the ground, wanting to hit his head. Unexpectedly, there was a report outside the door at this time. Without waiting for his reply, Yong Shaolan, who was wearing a Confucian robe, walked in and said, "I asked him to do it." After that, Yong Shaolan glanced at Little Zhouzi coldly and said, "Go away." The eunuchs in the Purple Palace retreated completely.
Zhao Yan didn't say a word during this time, and all the eunuchs he used daily left. Zhao Yan immediately understood, looking at Yong Shaolan who was walking towards him, and asked in confusion: "Brother Lan, did you let Xiao Zhouzi monitor me?"
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