"My father is seriously ill and has issued an imperial edict ordering me to come to the capital to attend to him?"
Liu Wei quickly read through the urgent report sent by Yao Guangxiao, and his expression immediately became serious.
Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, didn't die of illness for two years?
How come you're so sick now?
Liu Hong has been sick before, and I've never seen him ask Liu Wei to take care of him.
And now, even this requires the prince to come to the capital to attend to the ailing emperor; the implications of this are quite intriguing!
Currently, the court is controlled by the He family, relatives of the empress, while the inner palace is dominated by Empress Dowager Dong and the Ten Attendants.
Not long ago, Liu Wei was assassinated by assassins sent by Empress He.
Empress Dowager Dong was no better off; she also sent assassins to impersonate Empress He's men to kill Liu Wei.
Furthermore, Diao Chan, Liu Wei's bedmate, was actually a spy she had left behind!
The murder of Liu Wei's adoptive parents in Zhuojun and the entire village of Niujiazhuang also points to Empress Dowager Dong as the root cause.
Empress Dowager Dong and Empress He, these two women, openly and secretly targeted Liu Wei at every turn.
Originally, they were sent to the frontier to serve as vassals, where they had free rein to roam.
These two women were also beyond Liu Wei's reach, while Liu Wei could develop and expand his power by fighting against foreign tribes on the border.
It should be noted that since leaving Yanmen Pass, Liu Wei had been advancing triumphantly, defeating the Southern Xiongnu, Tuoba Xianbei, and Yuchi Xianbei in succession, and also causing the destruction of the Jie people.
In just five months, it occupied the Hetao Plain, swallowed up Juyan Lake, controlled the three prefectures of Hexi, eyed the Western Regions, and intimidated the northern deserts. It had nearly 50,000 troops and a population of 600,000 under its rule.
He has been appointed as the King of Yunzhong and the Grand Protector of the Northern Desert, making him a prince who firmly holds military power!
Given the right conditions and a legitimate cause, seizing the throne and ruling the Central Plains will be just around the corner.
However, an imperial edict has now arrived in Luoyang, demanding that he return to the capital.
After a moment's thought, Liu Wei realized that it was highly likely that Empress He's faction was using Liu Hong's serious illness as a pretext to trick him into coming to the capital.
Since we have been unable to kill Liu Wei in the border regions, let's bring him to Luoyang.
When Liu Wei returns to Luoyang, he certainly cannot bring troops with him; at most, he will be escorted by a few hundred guards.
In this way, Luoyang becomes a den of dragons and tigers.
What awaits him is a series of deadly measures.
Both overt and covert, it's overwhelming.
"I'd have to be out of my mind to go back to Luoyang!"
"Even a fool would know it was He Hui's scheme."
"Trying to trick me into returning to the capital so you can control me is utterly delusional."
Liu Wei sneered and was about to send the messenger back to Hetao to tell Yao Guangxiao to ignore it.
"Go back to Hetao and tell the military advisor that I have led the army to fight in the northern desert and have not yet returned."
Although imperial edicts are difficult to disobey, as long as the person in charge does not accept them, it is as if they do not know about the matter.
If the imperial messenger insisted on seeing Liu Wei, he would claim that Liu Wei had already gone to Longcheng in the northern desert.
Send those messengers to Dragon City to find him!
In the dead of winter, temperatures in Longcheng had already dropped to minus twenty or thirty degrees Celsius, freezing cold, and the Xianbei people still occupied the area.
Even if the messenger could travel thousands of miles to reach Longcheng, spring would probably have already arrived.
Besides, Liu Wei is not in Longcheng.
"Your Highness, the strategist has another letter, asking you to read it before making a decision."
When the messenger saw that Liu Wei wanted him to go back, he quickly presented him with a letter sealed with wax.
Um?
"Next time, please finish what you're saying in one go!" Liu Wei glared at him and said unhappily.
The murderous glint in his eyes and the imposing aura of a superior were inadvertently revealed, causing the envoy to immediately kneel down and apologize in fear.
Fortunately, Liu Wei did not intend to punish him, but only warned him.
Liu Wei opened Yao Guangxiao's letter, and as he read it, his eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed.
It turned out that when the imperial edict arrived, the Imperial Guards who had been sent to Yingchuan to find Chen Ji's son, Chen Qun, and who had taken away the books from Cai Yong's residence, had returned.
Chen Qun was quietly taken to Wuyuan City, where he would soon be reunited with Chen Ji and his son.
Cai Yong's mansion had many books. The Imperial Guards took some back, but hid most of them in a secret place.
Not long after, He Jin's advisor He Yong, seeing that Cai Yong had not returned for a long time, went to Cai Yan with ulterior motives and forced her to agree to become his concubine.
However, he discovered that Cai Yan was not at home either, and the Cai family's hundreds of sets of books and classics had long since disappeared.
He Yong was furious and spoke ill of the Cai family in front of He Jin.
In short, Cai Yong and his daughter can never go back!
These two groups of Imperial Guards also brought back important intelligence from the capital and confirmed that Liu Hong's serious illness was indeed true.
They also learned that Liu Xie, the Prince of Chenliu, who was in Chenliu County, had returned to Luoyang.
Even the imperial clansmen who governed various regions—Liu Biao of Jingzhou, Liu Yu of Youzhou, Liu Dai of Xuzhou, Liu Yao of Yangzhou, and Liu Yan of Yizhou—received imperial edicts and had no choice but to send their eldest sons back to the capital to visit them.
Originally, the critical illness of the emperor of the Han Empire was a major national event.
Before a successor is identified, it is customary to keep the secret, block information, and prevent unrest.
However, the He family made this matter known to the whole world.
Moreover, the news that the princes and members of the imperial family were to be brought back to the capital was also widely spread, making it known to everyone in the capital region.
In the Han Dynasty, which revered benevolence and filial piety, the reputation of vassal kings and members of the imperial family would be greatly affected if they disobeyed imperial edicts.
It's likely that the He family did this because they believed that the Prince of Hongnong was the crown prince and that his succession to the throne was a foregone conclusion.
They also planned to use Liu Hong's serious illness as an excuse to reduce the power of the princes.
Both Liu Xie and Liu Wei were threats to Liu Bian's succession, and these members of the imperial clan also took away the power of the local governors.
It seems that the Ho family is playing a long game!
The plan was to eliminate dissidents and remove all uncertainties during the succession of imperial power, ensuring that Liu Bian could firmly hold onto the throne.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
