Chapter 12: The Four Great Ministers

Liu Xiu listened to Liu Ying's words, but he didn't mean to praise her, he frowned, looked at Liu Ying, and said slowly:

"Sister, now that the situation is turbulent, as a princess of the empire, you must be cautious in your words and deeds, and you must not be misled by the words of your subordinates.

Liu Hongwen is a vassal king of a country, the official of the empire, he must not say the wrong thing at a critical juncture, and provoke him, especially at this time, the Yan country is eyeing the tiger, the wolf ambition of Xishu, and the strong enemies on the border of the empire, at this time, the defense of the country is a gate of the empire, and it must not be broken, I hope you can understand, sister. ”

After speaking, he suddenly chuckled, shook his head, and said:

"I forgot about it, my sister is going to Dongping tonight, I will go to see Ziyu for me, stay in Pingyan, and it will be An Xuehui who will stay by my side."

Liu Ying tilted her head slightly, smiling like a flower.

She walked to Liu Xiu's side, smoothed his brows for him, frowned slightly, and said softly:

"Don't work too hard, no matter how powerful King Wei is, he can't stand up to his father"

Seeing the sudden vigilance in Liu Xiu's eyes, she smiled slightly and said:

"I'm your sister, I know how hard you are in Luojing, and I even know that you are leaving the country."

Seeing Liu Xiu's frowns, Liu Ying suddenly smiled and said:

"I'm your sister, I won't harm you, I'm just afraid that you will be tired, don't worry, I will do a good job of the things you explain to me, and live up to the trust of the three princes."

Liu Xiu glanced at her deeply, her face was as pale as ever, and she said with a smile:

"Then thank you, sister, if I entrust you to Ziyu, don't forget it."

Liu Ying smiled and nodded, and before she could speak, she saw Liu Xiu stand up, lazily soothe her body, smile at her, and said:

"Although we are in Pingyan, but you and I have different identities, the royal family is here, Liu Hongwen will definitely be in the mansion tonight, you and I will take the wind, my sister is tired, take advantage of it to rest for a while, so as not to lose the royal face at the banquet."

Liu Ying nodded, answered, stood up, and walked out the door.

walked to the door and turned around, only to see Liu Xiu still sitting on the chair, his face sinking into the water, silent.

Just like the expression of my father when he was contemplating, it was exactly the same.

It's getting dark, it's overcast, and I don't know if it's going to rain.

Liu Ying thought wildly in her heart and slowly walked to her room.

Behind him, Liu Xiu raised his head suddenly, and a strange glint flashed in his eyes.

If even Liu Ying knew what he did on weekdays, then his father would have no reason not to know.

His brow furrowed again—

Defending the country, Pingyan City, the general's mansion.

Under the guidance of the attendants of King Wei, the sisters and brothers of the Liu family came to the living room of the mansion, and as soon as they entered the door, Liu Xiu felt that the atmosphere was a little cold, which was definitely different from the banquet he attended in Luojing.

When I walked into the hall, I saw that the surrounding area was empty, and there was a huge hall, only a large table was placed in the center, and the table was full of sumptuous dishes, and a few unopened bottles of wine were placed on it.

Although the envoy had already reported, it was not until he heard the footsteps of the two and saw the two sisters and brothers of the Liu family come in that everyone stood up to greet each other under the leadership of King Wei.

It seems that King Wei did not take the imperial family of the empire seriously at all.

After greeting each other for a while, they each sat down.

As soon as she sat down, Princess Liu Ying looked around and said with a smile:

"It's rare for His Royal Highness King Wei to be so thrifty, this is the blessing of the people of the country!"

Liu Hongwen was slightly stunned after hearing this, and suddenly smiled after a while:

"The princess misunderstood, now the enemy soldiers in Pingyan are pressing, the shape is urgent, the people are also panicking, and they need to evacuate and relocate, I have to defend the country from top to bottom, and I dare not leave my post without permission, so this king only brought a few courtiers and generals to Pingyan, to entertain the two highnesses, is to welcome the dinner is relatively simple, if you are slack, please Your Highness."

Before Liu Ying could react, Liu Xiu beside her bowed slightly and said with a smile:

"Lord Wei has good intentions, and everything is important to the people of the country, which is the blessing of the empire."

Liu Hongwen's eyes flashed, he nodded and smiled, and was just about to be modest, only to hear Liu Xiu continue to ask:

"Since you have traveled thousands of miles from Dongping to Pingyan, just to see my sister and brother, you are really scared in your heart, but Liu Xiujiu is in Luojing, and this is the first time to come to Weiguo, and I don't know you yet."

He turned his gaze to Liu Hongwen and said:

"The Lord of the Guard"

Liu Hongwen didn't wait for him to finish, he nodded, stood up, pointed to the four ministers present, and said with a smile:

"These four are the ministers who are the pillars of the country, and if the country is separated from them, it will be like a fish losing its water, and it will not live long."

The four of them even said that they didn't dare, they didn't dare.

Liu Hongwen laughed out loud after hearing this, pointed to the person on the far left, and said with a smile:

"This is Song Xunwen, the defense envoy of the country, and he can be regarded as the 'imperial relative' of the country, and his wife is the sister of this king."

Song Xunwen hurriedly stood up, saluted Liu Xiu, and said:

"The last general, Song Xunwen, has seen His Highness!"

Liu Xiu also stood up, a pair of deep eyes as water swept his face a few times, nodded and said:

"It turned out to be General Song, who has admired his name for a long time, and today I know that General Song is really as my father said, a hero."

Song Xunwen looked at the three princes of the empire in front of him, who were not very old, but had an imposing momentum that was not commensurate with his age, and showed a slight look of surprise, and said:

"Your Majesty?"

Liu Xiu smiled and nodded, and said:

"My father often talked to me, saying that General Song, you are a legendary figure in defending the country, I don't know how many times you have resolved the invasion of the Yan Tartars, saved the people of the world from fire and water, and the defense of the country can have today's prosperity, and the empire can have today's situation, which is inseparable from the general's contributions."

Song Xunwen's thoughts changed sharply after hearing this, and he quickly understood the intention of Liu Xiu's words, he was about to speak, only to hear Liu Hongwen next to him laugh and speak, and said:

"His Royal Highness is right, the defense of the country can have today's peaceful situation, inseparable from General Song, this king has always relied on General Song, is to play the court many times, to explain to the emperor, talk about his merits, I didn't expect the emperor to remember it in his heart, did not forget jì, this is the blessing of General Song, but also the blessing of defending the country."

Liu Xiu's eyes flashed, but the corners of his mouth hung into a smile, and he said:

"It turns out that my father knows the merits of General Song, and he knows it from King Wei, no wonder, no wonder."

The two looked at each other and laughed, but their eyes were cold, and there was not the slightest smile in them.

Song Xunwen was a little frightened on the side, so he had to hang his head and stand silent.

After Liu Xiu finished laughing, he nodded to Song Xunwen and said:

"I still need a lot of hard work from General Song these days."

Song Xunwen nodded yes.

Liu Xiu smiled slightly, pointed to a rather young general next to Song Xunwen, and said:

"Who is this?"

Liu Hongwen nodded at the young general, who answered, and replied loudly:

"The last general, Sun Zhengwu, has seen His Highness!"

After finishing speaking, he was about to salute, Liu Xiu stretched out his hand to drag him, stopped him, and said with a smile:

"It turned out to be General Sun, who has heard of the name for a long time, and when I saw it today, it was really a hero and a young man!"

Sun Zhengwu looked stunned and said:

"Your Highness tormented the villain, and the villain returned"

Liu Xiu waved his hand and said:

"I'm not polite, the new battalion of the Patriotic New Battalion is the commander of Sun Zhengwu, General Sun, it only took two years to train a new army 'Sun Mansion Soldiers', although it was only a small battle, but my father was full of expectations for this 'Sun Mansion Soldiers'. I hope you can make a difference and take on the responsibility of saving the country! ”

Although Sun Zhengwu has been in Pingyan for a long time, not often in Dongping, he can't see through political disputes, but he is not stupid, knowing the weight of Liu Xiu's words, he subconsciously took a step back and replied:

"Thank you, Your Highness, your subordinates will do their best for the people and restore the peace of the people."

Liu Hongwen on the side glanced at him and asked casually:

"General Sun was promoted step by step by this king because he was dedicated to the country and was exemplary."

Sun Zhengwu's body was shocked, he bowed his head and said nothing, Liu Xiu smiled, and did not reply to him, turned his head to look at an old man on the right side of Sun Zhengwu, looked up and down, and did not wait for Liu Hongwen to speak, he spoke directly, and said:

"This lord is Lord Chen Fuxin, the Minister of Defense, right?"

Chen Fuxin bowed and said:

"Yes, the old minister has seen His Highness."

"Hurry up, please." Liu Xiu hurriedly held him up and said with a smile,

"The national treasury of the country is sufficient, the military is prosperous, the political situation is stable, and the people live and work in peace and contentment, which is inseparable from the merits of Lord Chen.

Chen Fuxin actually showed a look of relief on his face and replied respectfully:

"Your Royal Highness has won the award, this is all within the old minister's responsibility, and it is the glory of the old minister to be loyal to the empire."

When Liu Hongwen heard this, a meaningful smile appeared on his face, and he said to Chen Fuxin:

"Lord Chen is loyal and patriotic, and I also admire him!"

Seeing this, Liu Xiu smiled, took a step forward, walked in front of Chen Fuxin, held his hand and said:

"Okay, good, good, the Prime Minister is really a minister who can support the country in the mouth of my father, I know that you and all of you here are good ministers of my Han Empire, and the Liu family will depend on you to maintain it in the future."

Liu Xiu said the words "Liu family Jiangshan" very seriously, and after Chen Fuxin heard it, he nodded heavily and responded loudly, "Yes!" ”

Liu Xiu smiled again and patted Chen Fuxin's hand and nodded.

On the side, Liu Hongwen's face became ugly.

Liu Xiu even felt the irrepressible anger in King Wei's heart, and felt a gaze cut his body tightly like a knife, never pulling down inch by inch from head to toe, and instantly felt that he had almost been killed by that gaze.

He took a deep breath, took a step back, and walked to the last person, who was about to salute, but heard Liu Xiu say with a smile:

"You're the Imperial Observer Fang Zhenyao, right?"

Fang Zhenyao's body was shocked, and he said:

"The subordinate is the Imperial Observation Envoy Fang Zhenyao!"

After speaking, he bowed his head and saluted, with a reverent face.

Seeing this, Liu Xiu smiled and said:

"Before I came here, I visited your mansion at the behest of my father, and Lord Lingtang was in good health, and I want you to serve the country with peace of mind, but her old man hopes that you can go home to see after pacifying the disaster in Yan Kingdom, hey, you are away all the year round, you can't accompany your mother, and you are extremely filial, you really wronged her old man."

Fang Zhenyao choked up a little in his heart, and was speechless for a while.

Liu Xiu smiled and said:

"Why, a little unbelievable, isn't it? Two years ago, in the Battle of Ichuan, the empire defeated Shu, when the celebration banquet was held, you had just been promoted because of military merits and were able to participate in the imperial dinner, but because you had just been promoted, you had no foundation in Luojing, and there was no backer, so no one was willing to pay attention to you at the banquet, you spent a night alone, in fact, I noticed you at that time, so I made a proposal to my father, and asked him to appoint you as an imperial observer, responsible for observing the military affairs of the counselor and defending the country, and when you returned to China, you would be a direct general of your father, and at that time, You don't have to look at other people's faces anymore. ”

Fang Zhenyao couldn't help but burst into tears after hearing this, that night was lonely, and he was transferred out, it was a shame in his life, he didn't expect that at that time he was concerned by the three princes of the empire, and he was able to become the emperor's direct subordinate, thinking back to himself over the years, although he and King Wei repeatedly repelled the attacks of the Yan Kingdom, but as an "outsider", the upgrade was very rapid, in just two years, he had become the core figure of the country, it turned out that this was all the imperial family secretly helping, thinking of this, he blushed and said: "Your Highness, you, how are you, The last general, the minister, will be loyal to His Majesty, His Royal Highness, and the Han Kingdom, and swear allegiance to the death......"

King Wei listened to his flustered tone, and finally expressed his loyalty to Liu Xiu, his face was pale, his palms were clenched into fists, and even because of his strength, his fingers were almost embedded in the flesh.

He glanced at Fang Zhenyao coldly and said nothing.

Hearing Fang Zhenyao's words, Liu Xiu's face was relieved, and he said continuously:

"Okay, okay, General Fang's words, I have a lot of confidence in my heart, and I hope that the general can remember today's words in the future and do his best for the Han Kingdom."

Fang Zhenyao immediately said: "Yes, please rest assured, Your Highness, the minister will do his best to smear the empire's liver and brain!" ”

After Liu Hongwen heard what he said, he laughed, walked in front of Fang Zhenyao, patted him on the shoulder, and said:

"Good, good, good!"

After shouting hello three times in a row, he looked at Fang Zhenyao and stopped talking.

The atmosphere suddenly became solemn.