Chapter 437 Provocation
It seemed like the most powerful and dignified elder in the family had just returned from an outing. He glanced at the people who greeted him at the door and found that a certain young person was not there. He asked unhappily, "Where is he?"
Huo Gannian asked the shocking and disrespectful question in front of all the officials, imperial guards, and the people of Kyoto:
"Where's the Emperor?"
The emperor is naturally in Fengyutian Palace, Yong'an Palace, and the Imperial Garden. He can be wherever he wants.
Everyone knows this truth.
Therefore, this “asking despite knowing the answer” is called “summoning”.
Huo Gannian requested Emperor Nanlijun to come and see him so that he could personally welcome him back to the palace in triumph.
Such arrogance shocked all the officials present and they whispered to each other.
Huo Gannian then swept a sharp look across the entire audience, instantly causing everyone to lower their heads and fall silent again.
All the officials secretly tasted different emotions and speculated in their hearts.
The onlookers were obviously not as thoughtful as the officials. They were only happy for Huo Gannian and Yun Chen, with envy on their faces:
Look at him! He's truly a great hero with such impressive military achievements. Even the emperor came to greet him personally! So impressive! A man should be like Huo Jialang!
Su Zhengyang saw all of this and knew that this matter was far beyond his ability to decide, so he could only immediately send someone to ask Nan Lijun for instructions.
A moment later, the female official Zhuang Ji came to report to Huo Gannian:
"Please wait a moment, Your Highness, the Minister of War, and all the generals. The Emperor has prepared a banquet in Yong'an Palace to celebrate your achievements. The Emperor has said that he will personally come to greet such important officials as Your Highness and the Minister of War. Please wait a moment."
This was obviously a courtesy, indicating that Nan Lijun had no intention of coming to personally welcome the meritorious general from the beginning, so he was only preparing to come now.
But this is also a step.
Most people would say gratefully at this time, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace. It is appropriate for me to pay my respects to Your Majesty," and then lead the horse into the palace naturally.
But Huo Gannian had no intention of coming down from this "stairs" at all. He actually put away the reins in his hand and waited patiently.
At the same time, on the other side, in Feng Yutian Palace.
Looking at the mess of broken porcelain on the floor and Nan Lijun who was constantly losing his temper, Yan Shijiu felt more and more annoyed.
What a foolish woman! How could the late Emperor and Empress, a perfect match like dragon and phoenix, give birth to such a mediocre fool?
I told her a few days ago that if you want Huo Gannian to fall badly, you must let him climb high enough first!
I'm not afraid of his arrogance, I'm just afraid that he's too low-key and restrained, so people can't find his faults!
Now that he's publicly defying the Emperor's authority, isn't that exactly what we want? He's giving us grounds for impeachment in front of the entire world!
Suppressing his inner irritation, Yan Shijiu tried to put on a pleasant expression:
"Ah Li, a king must be tolerant. Huo Gannian has returned with great success, and the whole world is watching! If he asks you to go and welcome him, then go. It's just a matter of walking a few steps."
Nan Lijun swung his dragon sleeves and said angrily:
"Why?! I'm the Emperor of Nan Kingdom, how can I let him summon me and dismiss me at will?! It's fine if he enters through the main palace gate that only I can enter, but he actually wants me to condescend to welcome him?! This is so arrogant! I'm so angry!"
Nan Lijun said this as she fiercely kicked a broken porcelain vase on the ground. She kicked the sharp part of the hole, which pierced her toe and made blood ooze out. She cried out in pain, frowned, and bent over.
Yan Shijiu could hardly control his annoyance. He pretended not to see this scene and said with a somewhat cold expression:
"Ari, as the Augmented Collection of Wise Sayings says, 'If Heaven wishes to destroy someone, it will first drive him mad.' For now, bear with me. Later, when we can settle all the old and new accounts, I will have Huo Gannian kowtow and confess his sins to you."
Nan Lijun did not respond to these words, but just stood on tiptoe, gasping for air, and looked at Yan Shijiu with tears in his eyes:
"My feet hurt..."
Yan Shijiu walked forward slowly. Just when Nan Lijun thought he was going to pick her up and comfort her, Yan Shijiu pressed her shoulders hard, causing her body to sway. She was forced to stand firm, and her toes became more painful.
"What are you doing?" Nan Lijun's forehead was sweating from the pain. She wanted to complain, but she saw Yan Shijiu's expression was cold and serious, and he said, "I won't let you act like a spoiled child anymore."
"Ah Li, if you want to secure your throne, you must first eliminate Huo Gannian. I repeat, for now, we must first help him and push him to become as arrogant as possible. Then, you and I will arrange for a 'traitor' to come forward. When all officials are resentful and the people begin to discuss, we can use the 'traitor' to overthrow him, and then kill the traitor to appease the public anger. This is the perfect plan."
After saying that, regardless of the fact that Nan Lijun was struggling to stand on the ground and her dragon boots were beginning to bleed, Yan Shijiu pushed her hard:
"A little impatience can ruin a great plan. Go and welcome the Regent!"
So, half an hour later.
Under the kneeling and gaze of all the people in Kyoto, Nan Lijun, dressed in a dazzling dragon robe and surrounded by palace servants carrying a sedan chair, came to the palace gate with a forced smile, said a lot of official and polite words of praise, then got out of the sedan chair himself and slowly came to greet Huo Gannian.
The officials knelt down and saluted the emperor, their faces filled with astonishment, and they could not help but whisper:
"The situation in Nan Kingdom is about to change. It seems that from now on, I will have to seek my career under the guidance of the Regent."
"On my first day back in Beijing, I gave the Emperor such a powerful show of power. It's incredible..."
The discussions were so quiet and cautious that Huo Gannian could not hear them, but Yun Wang, who was standing at the head of the ministers, could hear them clearly.
He looked at Huo Gannian's straight back, who was full of supreme aura that made him look majestic without even getting angry. He was just getting off his horse and landed on the ground. Instead of saluting Nan Lijun immediately, he went to the side to help Yun Chen get off the horse.
Facing Nan Lijun's extremely ugly face, Huo Gannian took Yun Chen's hand as if no one was around, and walked into the main gate of the palace, which only the emperor and empress allowed to enter and exit, side by side with Yun Chen, neither hurried nor slow.
This scene made Yun Wang frown slightly:
This is totally inconsistent with Huo Gannian's cautious nature.
In the eyes of others, this move might be because Huo Gannian became too proud of his achievements.
But Yun Wang knew what kind of person Huo Gannian was in private. This arrogant style and behavior were completely unlike him.
Yun Wang suddenly had some bad guesses in his mind.
At the subsequent night banquet in the palace, although he remained calm, he couldn't help but keep looking at Huo Gannian.
Seeing Huo Gannian's disdainful expression when he was rewarded, and his arrogance and refusal to thank Nanlijun when he was praised, and his answering when he wanted to answer and his awkwardness when he didn't want to answer when faced with the emperor's smiling greeting, Yun Wang felt more and more that something was wrong, and wanted to find Yun Chen to ask, but when he turned around, he saw that Yun Chen's seat was empty and he didn't know where he had gone.
On the other hand, Yun Chen has never laughed from the bottom of his heart since Ye Yan’s sudden death.
As she passed through Triumphal Avenue and watched countless people cheering enthusiastically, she smiled and waved at the crowd, while she couldn't help thinking:
If Ye Yan were still here, it would be so great...
Let him also see this grand ceremony, see the peace and the people that he has protected with his blood and flesh, and feel relieved that it is all worth it.
It’s a pity that Ye Yan will never be able to see it.
A person who was once so important and had such a profound impact on everyone's life has now disappeared without a trace.
Ye Yan was the Huo Gang's personal guard. He held no military position and never died on the battlefield, so he would not be mentioned in history books or biographies of heroes.
Even if the guards of the Huo Gang wanted to cry for Ye Yan, they did not dare to hold a funeral ceremony because the whole capital was holding a grand triumphal ceremony and celebrating.
Even the position of Ye Yan's chief personal guard, a position that seemed irreplaceable, was immediately taken over by someone.
Ye Yan, like a wisp of breeze, disappeared without a trace in an instant.
Everyone seemed to have just left an insignificant person and continued with their own lives.
Only Yun Chen couldn't get out of this haze.
She felt upset and wanted to find someone to talk to. She looked up and around, but found that her personal guard brothers had already died or left, and there was no one to talk to.
She had no intention of attending this luxurious banquet. After sitting for a while and accepting the emperor's reward, she went to the guardhouse alone.
Today is a grand ceremony, and all the guards are on patrol in shifts. There is no one in the guard station, so Yun Chen came to nothing and could only ask the palace servants along the way to find Buyan.
After wandering around like a headless fly in the huge outer garden of the imperial palace for two quarters of an hour, she finally saw Buyan's thin figure in the distance.
He was on duty on the rooftop of a palace garden with dozens of guards.
Because it was a celebration and there was a mighty army stationed outside Kyoto, the guards looked very relaxed.
It happened that the Internal Affairs Bureau came to express their condolences with some wine and cakes. The guards received the food with great smiles on their faces, and gathered in groups of three or four to eat and laugh.
By the time the palace servants from the Internal Affairs Bureau remembered that Buyan had not received his meal yet, the food box was already empty, without even a scrap of pastry left.
The palace maid bowed apologetically, waved her hand nonchalantly, and continued to stand at her duty post.
The other guards looked at each other with contempt, and began to speak sarcastically again:
"Hey, those who have been guards of the Huo Gang are different. They don't eat or drink, and their hearts are pure and they have few desires."
"Apathy? Are you kidding? How can you be apathetic?"
"Hahaha--"
"Keep your voice down! Don't let anyone hear you and complain!"
"Who should I tell? My former master? He's already the regent. Killing a guard is as easy as crushing an ant, let alone a traitor. Tell Prime Minister Wu? Humph, I still say that Yun Chen can't be on friendly terms with such a person!"
Bu Yan turned a deaf ear to everything and stood alone away from everyone, with a cold and silent expression.
Yun Chen had never seen Bu Yan like this before. He stood still, mouth half open, staring at the scene for a long time.
As a guard who betrayed his old master, it would definitely take some time to integrate into the new team. Yun Chen had thought about it a long time ago. As an outsider joining the guards, Bu Yan would definitely be somewhat neglected.
But the scene before us has gone far beyond the scope of "neglect" and is blatant exclusion and insult!
Looking at Buyan's lonely and desolate back, Yun Chen felt a pang of pain in his heart. He gritted his teeth and quietly stepped back.
She went straight back to the night banquet, ignored Yun Wang's attempt to talk to her, and sank back into her seat.
Rong Yi and Luo Dongdong beside her were startled when they saw her coming back.
They rarely saw such a serious, even gloomy expression on Yun Chen's face.
Rong Yi asked quietly, "Boss, why are you angry?"
Luo Dongdong also came over: "Which bastard dared to mess with you? I'll avenge you!"
Yun Chen said nothing, raised his head and drank the whole pot of wine, lowering his voice:
"You two, come with me, quietly!"
Soon, half an hour later, three masked figures in black gathered stealthily in the shadowy corner of the palace.
Yun Chen took off his mask and told Rong Yi and Luo Dongdong about his plan.
Rong Yi was a little excited due to the alcohol, his eyes were shining and he was eager to try.
Luo Dongdong's eyes widened and he screamed:
"Stealing the dragon robe? Boss, are you crazy?"
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