Chen Jiulin thought he had misread it, so he subconsciously rubbed his eyes and looked again.
But upon closer inspection, isn't it still the reigning emperor, Liu Laowu?
Chen Jiulin's mind was completely blank at this moment...
Looking at Zhou Chunxuan beside him, he was trembling all over, his hands shaking wildly inside his sleeves, and even the official robes he was wearing were shaking.
Just as both of those sounds fell silent, Zhou Chunxuan's son, sword in hand, gave the order to attack:
"You criminals in the carriage, quickly hand over the evidence of your crimes, or the Grand Commandant will tear you to pieces!"
Zhou Chunxuan, that stupid son, had just finished shouting and bragging, and was about to continue his performance in front of Chen Jiulin.
Zhou Chunxuan was terrified and turned around to deliver a huge slap to the face.
"Smack!"
The slap landed hard on his son's face, knocking him to the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth...
"Shut up!"
Zhou Chunxuan wanted to scold his son, but he found that he was too scared to say a word.
I had thought that since the Grand Commandant was here, this was a rare opportunity to show off. I had brought my foolish son here to do errands for the Grand Commandant and to put on a good show so that I could secure a bright future for him afterwards.
But who could have imagined it?
The carriage was opened, and inside sat the current Prince Zhongwu and the Emperor.
Zhou Chunxuan was at a loss for how to face this situation, but everyone here was a seasoned veteran, so what else could they do in a moment like this?
Zhou Chunxuan's eyes rolled back immediately, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud, passing out instantly.
Just before landing, Zhou Chunxuan didn't forget to give her son a wink.
Although his stupid son wasn't very smart, he was quite good at reading people's expressions. As soon as he saw his father pretending to faint, he simply lay down on the ground and also fainted.
Chen Jiulin's mind went blank, and cold sweat poured down his forehead. He hadn't expected that before he could find a solution, the Zhou father and son would just faint and pretend to be dead.
They dodged quickly.
At this moment, looking at Liu Laowu, who was staring at him from inside the carriage with piercing eyes, he was the current emperor, his old brother and buddy who had fought alongside him on the battlefield!
Chen Jiulin gritted his teeth and, with a thick skin, had no choice but to kneel on the ground:
"Old buddy!"
"well!"
"Old brother, dear brother! I'm so sorry!!!"
Chen Jiulin knelt on the ground and desperately wiped away his tears, sobbing uncontrollably and appearing extremely grief-stricken.
Upon seeing that the Zhou father and son had feigned fainting to defuse the awkward situation, and Chen Jiulin had also adopted the same tactic of retreating to advance, Liu Fu immediately looked at his father.
He was afraid that his father would take pity on him and let Chen Jiulin go again.
If we do this, where will the laws of the Han dynasty be placed?
How can he gain the trust of the people and rule the entire court in the future?
The law must be followed, and a person cannot stand without integrity.
Liu Fu understood this principle well, and at this moment he looked at his unpredictable father, the emperor, waiting for his decision.
Looking at Liu Laowu again, his face alternated between black and white, but he maintained a cold expression throughout, his eyes filled with indifference.
Chen Jiulin's move was a feint of retreat, and how could he not know that?
If a subject commits a crime and is caught red-handed by the emperor, instead of addressing him as "Your Majesty," you would call him "Old Brother" or "Old Elder Brother."
Isn't this a reminder to myself to spare his life out of consideration for our past relationship?
In fact, Chen Jiulin shared the same thought.
Who knows what happened? The reigning emperor actually appeared in the carriage and caught him red-handed committing his crime.
Chen Jiulin, of course, could not directly address the emperor as "Long Live the Emperor," and instead knelt down to confess his crimes.
At this crucial moment, first call out "old brother" or "old elder brother" to emphasize that you are now brothers, not ruler and subject. Then take the opportunity to apologize and evoke Liu Laowu's kinship and memories.
Perhaps out of consideration for their past friendship, Liu Laowu will try to downplay the matter and let it go.
In fact, if none of this had happened, Liu Laowu might have remembered their past relationship and let the matter drop, scolding Chen Jiulin a few times in the car and telling him to apologize when he returned to Beijing.
Then, to save face for Chen Jiulin, he and Liu Fu left directly without making the matter public.
In this way, once they arrive in the capital, Liu Laowu will at most give Chen Jiulin a lenient treatment, such as stripping him of his official position, reducing his salary, and taking some other punishments.
But thanks to Liu Fu's patient guidance along the way, he repeatedly exposed the ugly faces of these officials to Liu Laowu, allowing the emperor to experience it firsthand.
Moreover, during the few days that Chen Jiulin was mobilizing troops to Yanshan Prefecture, Liu Fu also led Liu Laowu there to visit the families and graves of the pregnant women who had been murdered.
Having experienced these things firsthand, Liu Laowu could no longer forgive Chen Jiulin, no matter what.
"Old brother!"
"relatives by marriage!"
Liu Laowu was sitting inside the carriage, his eyes meeting those of Chen Jiulin, who was kneeling outside.
For a moment, Liu Laowu was also moved to tears:
“I remember we knew each other when we were little, and we became childhood friends. Back then, we were so hungry that we couldn’t even get enough to eat, so we ran to the melon patch to steal melons. You would never betray us, no matter what. Later, we started an uprising together, and even when you were captured, you didn’t say a word and never betrayed the battle plan we had devised.”
Liu Laowu couldn't help but sigh:
"Thanks to your perseverance, our original eight hundred rebels were not completely wiped out."
Liu Laowu gritted his teeth, tears streaming down his face:
"Old brother."
"You saved us on the battlefield several times, and we remember it all. If it weren't for your countless battles over the years, could we have sat on this throne as emperor? No way!"
When Liu Laowu got to this point, tears welled up in his eyes, and even Chen Jiulin wiped away tears when he recalled these past events.
But Liu Laowu's next words took a sharp turn:
“We can forgive you. As your old brother, your older brother, your childhood friend, even if you killed our son, we can forgive you. After all, you saved our lives, and more than once.”
"But as the emperor of a country, especially someone who has just become emperor from a peasant background, we really cannot forgive you! Those were more than a hundred pregnant women, some of whom were carrying baby boys and some baby girls. Those lives that had not yet been born died because of your selfish desires. That's two or three hundred lives!"
"Behind each of them is a living family. The more than one hundred pregnant women you have murdered may have caused hundreds or even thousands of families to be torn apart. So, old brother, think about it yourself."
"How is your behavior any different from that of the Liao, Jin, and Japanese people who stormed into the Central Plains, burning, killing, looting, massacring, and harming people?"
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