The wind is cold and rainy, and the palace is heavy. In front of the gate of Changle Palace, the green trees are full of fallen leaves, and the broken flowers are withered.

The princes of the world, pilgrimage to Chang'an, came to meet the master of Changle Palace for the last time. The news that Empress Dowager Dou was seriously ill finally spread outside the palace. This old man who once took care of the country, his life is like a leaf in the wind, and he is about to come to an end.

The princes and kings, who were full of resentment and unwillingness, and hoped to argue again in front of their ancestors, saw the Empress Dowager Dou who was reclining on the brocade couch with a calm face, and they were still a little uneasy in their hearts.

During the audience, she only said one word, which blocked everyone's extravagant expectations.

"Everyone has his duty, but he can keep his wealth."

Then he waved his hand, and the curtain fell, hidden in the ninefold. The loyal steward's guards sent everyone out. The "Grace Order" is now a foregone conclusion.

Three days later, Liu Guang and other seven or eight princes and sons of Qi who heard the news, together with all the princes and princes, went to His Majesty the Emperor of Weiyang Palace to express their most sincere gratitude and support for the "Tui En Order".

After that, King Liang wrote a letter expressing his willingness to donate an iron mine in the fief for the unified dispatch of the imperial court. The kings of Dujiang, Zou Yi, Shu and other princes who had always been afraid of the imperial court also expressed the same meaning. It is even rumored that no less than fifteen or sixteen princes have complied with the emperor's orders and secretly met with Shangshu Ling Yuanzhao, but as for what was specifically discussed, of course no one knows.

All these bad signs caused the princes to begin to contradict and divide among themselves, and gradually formed different camps.

And the "sacrificial temple" incident that occurred a few days later made some of the princes who refused to submit to the will of the Son of Heaven get a real blow, and the emperor, who has always been warm and affectionate, finally showed his fangs!

According to the system of the Han Dynasty, the princes and kings go to Chang'an every autumn to meet each year, and there is a very important content, that is, to go to the temple to worship their ancestors.

This activity, known as "drinking alcohol", was a major sacrifice that the emperor had to preside over in person every year. "酎" is a liquor that is brewed in the first month of the year and drunk in August. During the drinking, all the princes and kings who participated in the sacrifice had to contribute the gold of the sacrifice, which was called "gold."

This kind of gold for the ancestors has a specified weight and quality, and it was very strict when it was formulated by Shusun Tong, and the princes also obeyed it according to the system, but the later it was, the more it coped with things, and it was just a form anyway.

The amount of gold offered was calculated according to the population of the people in each feudal territory. Four taels of gold per thousand mouths, the greater the population, the greater the amount of gold sent to Chang'an.

This is a heavy burden for the princes and kings, and there is always some reluctance. They thought that the money would eventually go to the treasury, and it was impossible to tell who gave it, so they cut corners and shoddy them, and those who were ordered to do things had already done a very slippery job, and they were tacit with the people in the treasury. Anyway, I've gotten used to it over the years, and everyone is used to it. Will the dead still come to Xingshi to ask if the crime is not true?

Of course, the dead will not come to ask for their crimes, whether it is the eloquent Emperor Gaozu or the benevolent and virtuous Emperor Hanwen, even if the descendants of later generations are not filial, they will not be able to jump out of the coffin.

The living, however, seized the handle. When this year's big festival was held as scheduled in the autumn rain, the officials under the princes and kings offered the temple gold according to the usual practice. I didn't expect it to overturn this time!

This time, the officials of the Shaofu who were in charge of this matter were a little surprisingly serious. They meticulously recorded the fineness and weight of the gold offered by the princes, and then sealed the results and reported them to the emperor.

When the princes heard the wind and sensed that something was wrong, everything was irreparable. The emperor who has been planning for a long time has been waiting for a long time, and in the Han Dynasty, which rules the world with "filial piety", he is so disrespectful to his ancestors, which is a high-sounding reason, and the princes have no place to reason with this punishment!

With real evidence, no one has anything to say in front of them. The emperor was furious and issued an edict to take away the titles of princes and marquis of sixteen princes including the king of Chengyang on the charge of "offering gold sacrifices, which is not as good as the law".

This is the first time that the son of today has made a move against the princes, and it is a combination of heavy punches, silently, causing people to die! The princes and kings who have always been tolerant are in chaos, and the people are panicking!

In such a situation, on an afternoon when the wind and rain were suspended, Changle Hou Yuanzhao received repeated invitations from Liu An, the king of Huainan, and came to the house as a guest.

The one who personally brought two palace attendants to greet him was a middle-aged scribe dressed in cloth. He is the think tank of Huainan Palace. The fact that the King of Huainan sent him instead of his own son to the Changle Marquis Mansion is enough to see that Liu An attached great importance and prudence to this meeting.

Yuan Zhao followed alone, and a group of four people passed through half of Chang'an City and came to the Huainan Wangfu Mansion, which is located in the middle of Wangfu Street. After getting the news in advance, Liu An had already greeted him at the middle gate.

The smiling King of Huainan is undoubtedly a standard beautiful man. Although he is four or five years old after the age of confusion, because of proper maintenance, at first glance, he is thirty-seven or eighteen years old.

After the two sides finished saluting, King Huainan laughed and grabbed Yuan Zhao's arm, and his demeanor was very affectionate.

Behind him were five or six people, who were naturally his closest cronies. Liu An introduced Yuan Zhao as he walked. Liu Jian, the son of the world, naturally knew each other for a long time and had dealt with each other several times. This Wang Shizi was a personal witness to the other party's "cruelty" several times, and many of the friends he made in Chang'an City were folded into Yuan Zhao's hands. Coupled with the information collected in the past five years, I know him more deeply than anyone else.

At the moment, the two of them were smiling and saluting Yuan Zhao, but they both understood that the previous festival was not so easy to unravel.

The mastermind was Wu Shu, but his demeanor was very peaceful. A long time ago, he noticed Yuan Zhao, who had just been named the Marquis of Changle, through the internal information of the Huainan Palace. At that time, he had a hunch that this young man who could get into the blue eyes of the Empress Dowager Dou had an absolutely limitless future.

It's only been a few years, and he's grown to where he is now. Although I already had a premonition of his growth, I didn't expect him to leap so fast. There is always some element of sympathy between excellent strategists, so his greeting with Yuan Zhao is a very sincere attitude.

And the tall and mighty King Huainan's personal guard is Wei Tuo, nicknamed "One Zhang's Demon Suppression". Yuan Zhao didn't know him, and he hadn't met face to face before. But there was a deep complication in the way Veda looked at him.

A long time ago, on the high cliff of Changle Plateau, the No. 1 master of Jianghuai, who was protecting by the side of King Huainan, had witnessed an amazing sword. The wind and thunder brought by that sword split the earth and subdued one of the largest gangs. Even with him outside of a hundred zhang, his qi was affected, and his cultivation was damaged.

Since then, he has imagined countless times that if that sword slashes at him, if he tries his best, he will have a chance to escape. However, the result of speculation is that there will be no life.

Only supreme martial artists who have reached a certain level of cultivation can truly know how big the gap is compared to those who have cultivated martial arts beyond the understanding of the world.

Between the mountains and seas, thousands of clouds and mist, a glimpse of the sky, it is difficult to look at it!

Therefore, under the seemingly silent expression, Wei Tuo, who is known as the invincible Iron Fist, bowed to Yuan Zhao when he bowed his hand to Yuan Zhao, and what swept through his heart was a deep fear.

King Huainan came to the hall with Yuan Zhao's arm, and sat down as guests. Yuan Zhao's demeanor was calm, the reason why he had delayed in Chang'an City for so long and did not return to Changle Yuan was because there were many princes and kings who had changed their mentality to inquire about the Western Regions in detail.

The situation is stronger than people, if you don't want to be caught by the emperor and take the opportunity to attack, you must obey his will and do what he said, maybe there can be some turnaround. This is the meaning that some agile princes have figured out.

More than a dozen princes have already surrendered. Following the emperor's hints, they met with Yuan Zhao separately and reached certain agreements that could not be announced for the time being. All the rumors are true.

And today, Liu An, the king of Huainan, the most powerful prince, finally came to the door. He wanted to really understand what the benefits of opening the Western Regions were.

They are all smart people, and they don't have to beat around the bush when they speak. After a few pleasantries, the conversation got to the point. Listening to Liu An ask about the Western Regions, Yuan Zhao did not hide anything, although he knew the deep thoughts of the King of Huainan, he still explained to him in detail the political, military, economic, cultural and other benefits of opening up the road to the Western Regions.

King Huainan listened very carefully, and if there was any doubt, he would ask to understand. When Yuan Zhao finished speaking, please drink tea, he sighed softly.

"This is truly a feat that no one has ever done before! If this channel connecting China and foreign countries is really opened, it will be a great merit for the future. The king admired it very much. Just listening to what Yuanhou said, this king is a little puzzled, the countries of the Western Regions and even those places further west are prosperous and prosperous, and they are described in such detail in your mouth, where did you know that you are so young? ”

Liu An stared at Yuan Zhao's eyes tightly, wanting to discover some secrets from them. He is meticulous in the subset of history, medicine and astrology, and he is confident that what people think in front of him is difficult to escape his eyes.

However, he found that Yuan Zhao was very calm, and his heart did not even fluctuate when he suddenly asked him.

"Lord Wang, you don't have to ask about these things at all. Because the world is inherently ethereal, what you know is not necessarily the truth, and what you don't expect is often the truth. Actually, I have known the prince for a long time, and we all know what you want most. Today, since he was kindly invited to come to the palace, Yuan Zhao didn't want to make those mysteries. I have a heartfelt word to give, whether I listen to it or not, it is only between the king's thoughts. ”

Hearing him speak so frankly, Liu An sat up straight, and he had a hunch that what he heard next might be very important for Huainan's future.

At the corner of the hall with carved beams and paintings, behind the landscape screen, the woman who had been eavesdropping here for a long time stood up and quietly looked out from a corner.