Only the emperor's laughter echoed in the large empty inner hall, and the chief looked at the young man in front of him, with a grim light in his eyes, and stood in front of the emperor's side.

Li Ang stood expressionless, listening to the emperor's laughter, motionless, like a lifeless iron statue.

The Emperor restrained his laughter, he looked at the disrespectful young man in front of him, his face was a little nostalgic, "You are the second person who dares to talk to me like this, but the person in front of you is already dead, are you afraid?" ”

"The last general will know what death is, but he will not know what it means to be afraid." Li Ang replied quietly, there was no movement at the corners of his eyebrows, and he looked at the emperor with a restrained gaze.

A slight smile appeared at the corner of the emperor's mouth, "That person once said to me in the military tent, 'If I had shot that arrow, you would have already burped and caught a cold, and if I kill you now, you won't survive.'" When he said this, he had the toughest cowhide rope tied to his body, and beside me were several of the bravest generals of Great Qin, but when they heard this, their faces were still as frightened as dirt. ”

"That person is your boy's dead father-in-law, and my brother who has played with me since childhood." The emperor looked at Li Ang, and a cold light like a sword appeared in his cloudy eyes, "Compared with him, your kid's kung fu is only worthy of lifting his shoes." ”

The sound of the emperor's drink was like a crack in gold, but Leon was still like that, quiet as a dead man.

"There's a kind." Looking at Li Ang, who was not moved at all, the emperor praised, "If he were still alive, he would recognize you as a son-in-law, if I embarrass you." It is inevitable that he will laugh at him in the future. ”

"That girl named Siniangdi, remember to treat her well." The Emperor glanced at Leon. Shaking his head and sighing.

"The last general thanks Your Majesty for your grace." Li Ang, who had been motionless, finally clenched his fists and turned around in thanks, his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

"I owe it to her father, and I'll give her back this love." The emperor waved his hand, "Next time I say such cruel things to me, practice kung fu to the first in the world, otherwise." Only one person will die here. ”

"Whoa." Leon replied with a military salute and replied in a low voice, then turned and left the empty inner sanctum, his steps not fast or slow, as calm as when he came, and there was no abnormality in the slightest.

"It's rare to see such young people." Looking at Li Ang's figure walking out of the main hall, the emperor suddenly sighed.

"There aren't many young people like him." The chief looked at the emperor, frowned, and said in a deep voice.

"You're wrong." The Emperor looked to the side. The courtier, who had grown up together since childhood, shook his head slightly. "For the sake of the woman he likes, the person who dares to talk to me like this, except for Ah Tang, he is the second."

"The bell of love, even if the king of heaven is in front of him, he still dares to swing a knife." The Emperor laughed. "This kid is the same kind of person as me, and Ah Tang, if it was thirty years ago, when I was still the prince, I would definitely make friends with Ah Tang and him."

"Your Majesty is not afraid of him in the future..."Seeing that the emperor's words were not angry at all for Li Ang's rude behavior just now, but appreciated it very much, the chief couldn't help frowning, wanting to persuade the emperor.

"He and Ah Tang are the same kind of people, and I believe that I will not look at the wrong person." The Emperor interrupted the chief and said in a deep voice. "Pass the edict on behalf of me, let Xiahou Mao and Xiahou Cun come to see me. The title of hereditary duke of Zhenguo should indeed return to Chang'an. ”

"Whoa." Seeing the emperor's resolute face, the chief said in response, and withdrew from the inner hall, the incident of thirty years ago made an irreparable rift between the Xiahou family's own family and the split family, and the emperor now wants to take back the hereditary Zhenguo Gong, whether it is for the sake of the friends of the year, or to completely provoke the internal strife of the Xiahou family, and completely defeat the first family of the Great Qin Land.

The chief laughed self-deprecatingly, he and the emperor were no longer what they were back then, and they had some thoughts, even he couldn't say it clearly. Lost time is always irretrievable? The chief looked at the dazzling sun outside the hall, and his thoughts seemed to drift back to more than thirty years ago, and saw the time when the five young people were together.

"I really want to go back in time!" The chief muttered to himself, then he shook his head and walked outside the palace gate, and then he saw the young man who was fearless in front of the emperor.

"Chief." Li Ang looked at the old man walking towards him, stood up straight, and there was a slight anxiety in his calm eyes.

"You were too bold just now." The chief reprimanded this young man who he also liked, "Aren't you usually very calm, why do you want to do this today, do you know that you have taken a turn in the ghost gate!" ”

"The last general doesn't want to deceive Your Majesty, the last general just wants to tell Your Majesty what the last general thinks in his heart." Li Ang looked at the chief with an angry look on his face, thought for a moment, and then replied, his answer made the chief stunned.

I don't want to deceive the emperor, I see! The chief thought of the lonely appearance of the emperor when he talked to him, and suddenly understood that the emperor was actually nostalgic for the time when he could be honest with each other before, and the emperor would forgive this young man for offending, just because he told the truth and did not deceive him, for the current emperor, the person who tells the truth is...

Looking at the chief who suddenly fell silent, Li Ang didn't know what was wrong, just stood quietly aside.

This young man knows how to be a servant better than he does! The chief looked at Li Ang, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Forget what I just said, just remember to be yourself." ”

"Chief, how does Your Majesty plan to deal with this matter?" Leon glanced at the somewhat odd chief and asked.

"The Xiahou family may no longer be the first family of Great Qin from now on." The chief glanced at Li Ang and replied quietly, "After getting married, leave for the Western Regions as soon as possible, and the matter of Chang'an is not something you can get involved in now." ”

"But Siniang her?" Looking at the chief with a serious face, Li Ang thought of Feng Siniang, he didn't care about the affairs of the Xiahou family, but Feng Siniang was his wife, how could he leave her.

"What Your Majesty promised you, you will definitely do, and this matter will not involve her." The chief interrupted Li Ang, and his voice was deep, "What happened thirty years ago was not as simple as it seemed, and Dongchang has been investigating for thirty years, but he can't find anything. ”

"The man who wanted His Majesty's life thirty years ago hid deeper than we thought." The chief looked at Leon. "Your Majesty may know something. But he never revealed it. ”

"Now, the secret that has been hidden for thirty years is about to come to the surface, and I can feel it." The chief glanced back at the magnificent palace, "Imperial forces

The reaction of the officials who shuffled the cards and failed in the court struggle was too calm.

"The chief means that someone wants a coup d'état." Listening to the chief executive's solemn tone. Li Ang thought of many possibilities, in the past few months, a large number of civil officials in the court have been deposed, and the local officials have to be rectified, and this chaotic period is indeed easy to be taken advantage of by people with intentions.

"Yes, what I'm afraid of is a coup d'état." The chief walked outside the palace gate, "After the founding of Great Qin, Sinology spread westward, but in the same way, books from Rome and Greece and other countries were also introduced into Great Qin, do you know how the imperial system of Rome is different from my Great Qin?" ”

"The throne of the Roman emperor was not as secure as it was in my dynasty. It had always been the Praetorian Guard that had deposed the emperor, that is, after their defeat thirty years earlier. When the previous old emperor was alive, he strengthened the centralization of power, and only then passed the throne to his son, the current Roman emperor. Leon replied.

"My dynasty family has a huge power, and in the imperial constitution set by Taizu, the family was given the authority to depose the emperor. However, it is only necessary for the imperial ancestral hall to come forward, in the later years of Emperor Wu, if he wanted to take great power in one body, it was the imperial ancestral hall that came forward, convened the major families who founded the country, and deposed Emperor Wu. The chief's brow furrowed.

"Many families have been pursuing greater power, which is also the real reason why Your Majesty has appointed Confucian faction officials for thirty years, Your Majesty hopes to suppress the family in this way, but I didn't expect these Confucian officials to be so unbearable, but only thirty years. has **fallen. The chief sighed, "The result of this great court meeting." It can be said that it is a rebound of the entire Maison. ”

"In the years that followed, until a new balance of power was formed, Chang'an was a place of true and wrong." The chief looked at Li Ang meaningfully, and said softly, "If you want to balance the family, you can only use the family to the family, do you understand?" ”

"The last will understand." Li Ang replied in a deep voice, he knew that the chief in front of him had pointed him a way, a way to avoid the political storm in Chang'an, and to go to the border to establish meritorious deeds, which was what he should do.

"I'm telling you that, don't tell anyone." The chief took one last look at Li Ang, "It's good to do it yourself!" ”

Out of the imperial city, Li Ang looked at Chang'an City shrouded in the sunset, and couldn't help but feel an inexplicable chill in his heart, politics, bloody politics, far more terrible than war, Li Ang laughed self-deprecatingly, what the chief told him was actually just treating him as another chess piece, when the dark cavalry camp and him returned to Chang'an again, I am afraid it will be the real bloody storm.

When night fell, in the palace, Xiahou Mao and Xiahou Cun looked at the emperor with an indifferent face, and they couldn't suppress the shock in their hearts, the emperor actually agreed to help them get back the title of hereditary Duke of Zhenguo, wash away the grievances of thirty years ago, and the only condition was that they could not harass the girl named Feng Siniang from now on.

"I've made a promise about this." The emperor looked at Xiahou Mao and Xiahou Cun who were standing quietly, and said coldly, "Now it depends on your own ability and sincerity." ”

"Your Majesty's meaning, the old man understands." Xiahou Mao looked at the emperor and said quietly, "That girl named Feng Siniang, Lao Yu and her family will never harass her, but those people in the north can't guarantee it." ”

"Don't play tricks in front of me, I know better than anyone what happened back then, otherwise, Ah Tang would not have the life to leave Haixi alive, let alone that girl." The emperor forced his eyes on the old man, "Zhenguo Gong is the title of Emperor Taizu himself, and the successor must be the best person in the Xiahou family, not a waste, I will just support you, whether you can get it back or not depends on your own." ”

"Alright, the words have been spoken, you can go, I am tired." No longer looking at the old man, the emperor turned and walked towards the inner sanctum. Several chamberlains walked up to Xiahou Mao and Xiahou Cun, "Two adults, please." ”

Walking on the palace road in the dark night, Xiahou Mao looked at his nephew who was supporting him, and suddenly sighed, "If only Ah Tang were alive, my family would not be like this." ”

"Uncle, with the support of His Majesty, we may not be able to get the title back, not to mention, as long as we ask them for help, presumably with the friendship between our two families, they will definitely help us get the title back!" Xiahou Cun said cautiously.

"My fear is that we're going to have to go to them and get them involved." Xiahou Mao sighed, his heart was like a mirror, what he was most afraid of was that the emperor said that he supported them, but in fact, he was sitting on the mountain watching the tiger fight, and when they fought with those people in the north, he would take the title back to them, in that case, even if they regain the title that belonged to them, the Xiahou line of the Zhenguo State would also be greatly injured, and if they didn't do it well, they would have to pay for the Xiahou lineage of the auxiliary country.

"Your Majesty's mind is unpredictable, so we can only do our best and obey the destiny of heaven." Xiahou Mao glanced at his nephew who was a little stunned beside him, and sighed, "Let's go, the future of the Xiahou family depends on you." ”

In an inn in the east of Chang'an City, Han Baobao and Zhang Duan welcomed their wine to the wind, "I didn't expect that kid to be so bold and dare to say that to His Majesty, but it was the same as the general back then." Zhang Duan sighed with a wine glass, and in the evening, he and Han Baobao went to the military hall, and the chief told the two of them about Li Ang's visit to the emperor during the day.

"He's always been bold." Han Baobao thought of the days he had with Li Ang before, and smiled and said to himself.

"With His Majesty coming forward, it seems that Miss's affairs will not go wrong." Zhang Duan drank the wine in the cup and looked at Han Baobao, "The happy event the day after tomorrow, are we still going?" ”

"As long as Miss is doing well, it doesn't matter if we go or not." Han Baobao raised his glass, he and Zhang Duan no longer planned to attend the marriage of Li Ang and Feng Siniang, so as not to see anything from the Xiahou family in Jijing.

"Indeed, as long as Miss is doing well, it is more important than anything else, that kid is so seeded, I think he will take good care of Miss." Zhang Duan poured a full glass of wine for himself, and Han Han grabbed the leopard and smiled, "How about we go back tomorrow?" ”

"It's okay, let's come to Beijing to report on our work anyway, now that we have met with the chief and know what we should do, it's time to go back." Han Baobao laughed noncommittally, drank the wine in the glass with Zhang Duan, and then the two walked back to the room.

The night breeze was still blowing gently, and in the quiet courtyard, only wine jugs and wine glasses were scattered on the stone table.