Chapter 433 This Kyoto (Part 1)
Over there, the mighty lions and tigers have gathered their armies and are marching towards Kyoto.
The Kyoto city here has a lazy atmosphere with pleasant soil and water under the feet of the emperor.
In the cool early winter, flowers and trees everywhere wilt and wither, except in the Imperial Garden where flowers are in full bloom.
Amidst the brocade, a pavilion is nestled in the middle. On a large black and red blood vine lounge chair, Nan Lijun is wearing a snow-white skirt with two cuckoo birds embroidered in silver thread.
Her long hair was loose, and she lay on her back on Yan Shijiu's legs to enjoy the cool breeze, her eyes fixed on Yan Shijiu's handsome and elegant profile.
She hardly heard what he said, but the more she looked at him, the more her heart fluttered. She couldn't help but put her arms around his neck and leaned over to kiss him again.
Yan Shijiu complied obediently and laid her back on the couch again, complaining in a doting tone:
"Ari, are you listening to me?"
Nan Lijun panted slightly, slowly calming his breathing, and looked at Yan Shijiu with tenderness and affection, "I heard you, but seeing you again after losing you and finding you again, I always miss you."
"Silly boy, aren't we together every day now?" Yan Shijiu smiled and fell backwards, unnoticedly distanced himself from Nan Lijun.
But women are always sensitive. No matter how well Yan Shijiu hid it, Nan Lijun could still keenly feel his alienation and resistance.
When Huo Gannian sent a letter from Luojiang saying that Yan Shijiu was still alive and was rescued by Hu Weijun and Yun Chen, Nan Lijun was so happy that he almost went crazy.
She rolled over and climbed up from the messy dragon couch, ignoring the fact that she was only wearing a thin gauze that was so transparent that she was almost naked, and stepped over three or four handsome musicians who were also naked.
She kicked over the bottles, jars, and utensils on the bedside table, staggered to the messenger, Zhuang Ji, and squeezed out a sharp, piercing voice from her throat:
"You mean Yan Shijiu is not dead? Still alive?"
After receiving Zhuang Ji's affirmative answer, Nan Lijun cried with joy, and then her whole body felt numb. She looked at the musicians on the dragon bed with lustful faces, and the freshness and excitement of the past few months were gone.
She yelled at everyone to get out and ordered the palace servants to prepare the most luxurious royal carriage overnight, and to rush to the Huwei Army camp day and night to carefully serve Yan Shijiu and bring him back.
Faced with the Queen's sudden change of temperament, the musicians put on their clothes in panic and retreated one after another.
Nan Lijun was crying and laughing, standing there in a daze for a long time, and then hurriedly ordered the palace servants to start cleaning her bedroom, "Feng Yutian Palace", and to clean up and destroy all the pleasure-seeking toys related to other men.
Even so, she was still worried and personally checked inside and outside the hall more than ten times to make sure everything was in order and there were no flaws. Only then did she feel relieved and began to wait anxiously for Yan Shijiu.
She had no interest in state affairs, and could not sleep or eat well day and night, until finally the carriage returned, exhausted.
When the beloved man bent down and walked out of the carriage, smiled at her, and appeared in front of her as intact and as dashing as before, Nan Lijun trembled all over, unable to control her tears, and ran towards Yan Shijiu.
Unexpectedly, Yan Shijiu dodged to the side in full view of everyone, leaving her attack empty-handed.
Meeting her stunned look, Yan Shijiu smiled apologetically, took a step back, performed a standard worship ceremony, and said respectfully:
"Your Majesty, I have traveled all the way here and am covered in dust. I hope I will not soil your body."
These words were polite and appropriate, and Nan Lijun could not find any fault with them. He just thought that they had not seen each other for a long time, and he felt a little embarrassed and did not want to be intimate with her in front of so many palace people.
She immediately dismissed all the palace maids and went to hug Yan Shijiu again.
This time, he didn't refuse.
For the next half month, he stayed by her side considerately, and everything seemed to have returned to the way it was before.
The same sweet words, the same whispering in each other’s ears.
But Nanlijun gradually became suspicious.
She found that every hug and kiss was initiated by her.
Yan Shijiu always responded but never took the initiative.
And every time when they were kissing passionately and she wanted to take off his clothes, he would immediately make excuses, such as "I'm too tired today", "I didn't sleep well last night", "I'm in a bad mood", trying to find ways to politely reject her requests for sex.
It was only once or twice, but after so many times, the accumulated shame, anger, and doubts erupted. She tearfully asked him if he had changed his mind, but Yan Shijiu only sighed in disappointment:
"Ah Li, it's not that I don't want to, but I really don't have the heart to do it. Huo Gannian and Yun Chen are about to return with their powerful army. Add to that Yun Wang in the court, and this three-way confrontation will be extremely detrimental to your throne. I worry about this for you day and night, and I'm afraid that if I tell others, they will suspect meddling in politics. How can I have the heart to do anything like that?"
Upon hearing this, Nan Lijun lost all his anger and immediately squatted down to hug Yan Shijiu's legs, "So this is the reason? I thought you didn't love me anymore!"
She rested her chin on Yan Shijiu's legs, raised her eyes and looked at him apologetically, her tone softening completely:
"I know. They've returned with hundreds of thousands of troops and tremendous achievements. The eyes of the entire world are on them. I can only praise them, not criticize them. But if I allow these two to join forces, wouldn't that hinder and threaten my throne at any moment? I've thought about it and decided that since they've won great military success and are deeply loved by the people, it's better to let them enjoy the glory for a while and then consider a solution after the hype has died down."
Yan Shijiu nodded and thought:
Not bad! After being humiliated in the royal court, Nanli Jun seems to be a bit like a king, and he is very thoughtful. But unfortunately, it is not what I want now.
Yan Shijiu shook his head with a worried look on his face. "I'm afraid that after their 'glory' wears off, they'll become even more entrenched in the capital, making it even harder to shake them in the future!"
Nan Lijun thought for a moment and felt that this made sense. "Then do you have any ideas? Tell me. I'm only telling you. It's not like we're going to court. Why are you talking about 'interfering in government affairs'?"
Yan Shijiu pretended to be very embarrassed and declined for a while before he told her his plan:
"These past few days, I've been reviewing ancient history. Throughout every dynasty, there's never been a shortage of powerful ministers whose achievements surpassed their rulers. However, few of these ministers met a happy end. Aside from those who were overly ambitious and plotted treason, most were framed by treacherous officials, slandered and framed in front of the emperor, resulting in a miserable end. But do the emperors really not know this?
I personally think that everyone knows this. It's just that meritorious officials cannot be easily scolded, demoted, or killed. Those "slanderous accusations" just gave the emperors a reason to take action. They pretended to be confused and deceived by the treacherous officials. After the meritorious officials were dealt with, they would stand up and kill the treacherous officials to calm the anger of all parties.
In this way, he not only eliminated the threat to the throne, but also preserved his reputation as a wise ruler. This was a brilliant move. Now that Huo Gannian and Yun Chen have returned with great success, it would be wise to use this strategy. The first step is to encourage and support their arrogance and power. The higher they climb, the harder they will fall.
Nan Lijun pondered for a moment, then understood what Yan Shijiu meant. A gleam flashed in his eyes, and he said excitedly:
"Great, great! Then I'll find a 'traitor' and have him deal with Huo Gannian and Yun Chen. Afterwards, I'll kill the 'traitor' and have the best of both worlds!"
"That's right," Yan Shijiu said, "but the military officers support Huo Gannian and Yun Chen, while the civil officials mostly follow Yun Wang's lead. We need someone who is not among the civil and military officials, but has influence by your side and who can be removed without any trouble later. This way the play will be more realistic."
Yan Shijiu pondered for a moment, considering the right person in his mind.
Zhiluo has long been of little use, with too many cunning thoughts, and can easily cause trouble if not carefully considered. Moreover, her usefulness will soon find its own wonderful place;
Among the other female officials, Zhuang Ji is the most intelligent and capable, but she is backed by Duke Zhuang, and her family's influence is too great to be eliminated later. So who should we choose...
Yan Nineteen frowned slightly, thinking seriously, but Nan Lijun did not think with him. Instead, he was distracted and just looked at him, smiling:
"How about you become a minister too? I'll give you any official position you want. You look really pretty when you're serious."
After saying that, Nan Lijun came up again and asked for a kiss.
Yan Shijiu's thoughts were interrupted, and he felt inexplicably annoyed. He tried hard not to get angry, but suddenly stood up and moved out of the way, causing Nan Lijun to fall awkwardly on the blood vine recliner.
Facing Nan Lijun's astonished expression, Yan Shijiu stood tall and glanced at Nan Lijun's cuffs from under his eyes. The exposed arm was covered with crisscrossing scars.
He didn't say anything and quickly looked away, but the flash of disgust in his eyes was still caught by Nan Lijun, making her face turn pale instantly.
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