Chapter 23 third quarter

After Liu Xie withdrew from the court, he went straight back to the Sikong mansion, and he heard scolding from afar.He took a closer look and saw that Mrs. Bian was holding a cane and whipping Cao Pi. Cao Pi was naked from the upper body, clenching his teeth and kneeling on the ground, with many bloodstains on his back. It seems that Xun Yu didn't do anything cruel after all, and let the guards tie him back home. When Mrs. Bian saw the emperor coming, she quickly put down the cane, came over and knelt down on the ground with a "gudong", pleading guilty repeatedly.Liu Xie looked at Cao Pi, and felt that this boy was really a man, at least he dared to speak and act. In order to show off in front of women, he even dared to break through the court, which was much better than himself.

"He also regrets his brother's death, which is human nature. You still don't have to punish him." Liu Xie said.Cao Pi was embarrassed by Zhang Xiu, Jia Xu and Man Chong. He didn't like these three people, so he didn't have much resentment towards Cao Pi. Mrs. Bian said angrily: "No punishment is not enough to learn the lesson! Your Majesty, you don't know that in order to sneak out, he actually asked Zhang'er and Zhi'er to guard the back door for him to cover up for him. It's fine if you make a mistake. If you want to drag your brother down, what will happen when you grow up? If you don’t punish a small mistake, it will accumulate into a big disaster, and this concubine doesn’t want him to kill his brother in the future.”

"Brothers are united, isn't it a blessing for the country?" Liu Xie smiled bluntly, thinking of the brother he had never met before, and thinking of Fushou's desperate eyes, his heart felt sore. Two small heads soon appeared on the top of the wall. Cao Pi looked over there, pursed his mouth anxiously and shook his head desperately, and the two heads disappeared quickly.Cao Pi felt relieved and straightened his back even more. Mrs. Bian pretended not to see it, and she suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Your Majesty, Mrs. Tang is going to pray for King Hongnong's sacrifice today, and I'm waiting for you to preside over it."

"Oh?" "Fuhou has been prepared in advance, and they will wait for you there." Liu Xie's heart beat violently. The ancestral hall of King Hongnong was his first foothold in Xudu.Now that Tang Ji and Fu Shou let him go in the name of sacrifice, is Fu Shou really planning to take him back to Hanoi? What should they do after they leave?What about the Han Dynasty?It is conceivable that there will be another uproar in Xudu where the emperor suddenly disappeared. Whether he should go or not, Liu Xie himself was also conflicted.Indeed, he loathes these ruthless power struggles. As Fu Shou said, only the most shameless, despicable, and smartest people can survive in Xudu, which is definitely not suitable for his style.But if he left like this, the Han family would be lost forever, and he would be charged with the crime of "severing the Han system" from now on, and spend the rest of his life.

Leng Shouguang had already pulled up the carriage and asked Liu Xie to get in.Liu Xie was so confused that he climbed into the carriage mechanically, not even noticing when the carriage started to move, let alone the fact that there were more than a dozen attendants around him. No need to ask, it's either Xu Duwei's people or tiger and leopard cavalry, they will never let the emperor leave Xu Du easily. Under this tight guard, the carriage rumbled all the way out of the city and arrived at the ancestral hall of King Hongnong.Liu Xie got out of the car, hesitated for a moment, and walked towards the ancestral hall.The team officer headed by the guard wanted to follow, but was stopped by Leng Shouguang.

"Lieutenant Sun, please stop. The ceremony is strictly prohibited, and outsiders must not disturb it." Sun Li didn't insist anymore, he took a step back silently, and ordered his subordinates to surround the ancestral hall.He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, the woman who remembered his name was in the ancestral hall at this time, and he didn't want to face her aggressive gaze again. Strangely, Leng Shouguang, as an attendant of Huangmen, did not follow in. Instead, he stood beside Sun Li and watched the emperor walk into the ancestral hall alone. "Your Majesty said that he wanted to be quiet in front of his brother's spirit. You know, he is in a bad mood recently." Leng Shouguang explained.

Sun Li replied blankly: "You don't have to explain to me, I'm just ordered to guard, and I don't care about other things." Leng Shouguang chuckled, and said casually: "Lieutenant Sun killed Wang Fu, the number one expert in Xudu this time, which is an incredible feat." Sun Li frowned. It was Tang Ji who actually killed Wang Fu, but the news announced to the public was that Wang Fu died in pursuit of soldiers.Therefore, he could neither explain nor deny, so he nodded very slightly.Leng Shouguang felt the other party's indifference, and didn't say anything, just smiled sympathetically.This poor guy still doesn't know what it will mean if the news of killing Wang Fu spreads.

How could these military revolutionaries understand the affairs of their arena. ※※※ As soon as Liu Xie entered the ancestral hall, he suddenly felt a chill.Before he had time to look around, the door behind him was closed with a "squeak", and his eyes were instantly dark. Suddenly a gust of wind hit his face, Liu Xie subconsciously raised his hand to block, just in time to block a sharp fist.The fist retreated half an inch, fingers stretched, and attacked his right side again. After all, Liu Xie grew up in the mountains of Hanoi, and he has a good understanding of fighting techniques.He couldn't see things in the dark, so he relied on the slight sound of footsteps and the sound of the wind to fight back and forth with his opponent, punching and kicking, and even drew a tie for a while.After dozens of rounds, the opponent's boxing style changed, more than twice as fast as before, which made Liu Xie overwhelmed.

In the darkness, only a few bang bangs were heard, and Liu Xie was hit in the lower abdomen, left shoulder, knee bend and temple successively, making his eyes stare, and he fell to the ground suddenly, his spine hit the cold stone slab heavily. "Stand up!" cried the opponent, a woman's voice.Liu Xie heard something familiar. He endured the pain and got up from the ground, trying to identify the source of the sound.He was suddenly kicked in the jaw by a flying kick, and fell on his back in humiliation again. "Sister, it's okay." Another voice sounded, and Liu Xie recognized that it was Fushou, so the one who hit someone, could it be Tang Ji?She is really good at it.

The candle was relit, and Liu Xie looked up with difficulty, and saw Fushou and Tang Ji standing side by side, and behind them stood two tablets, one belonged to Hongnong King Liu Bian, and the other belonged to the current emperor Liu Xie. The latter has neither a temple name nor a posthumous title, and only the word "Tianzi" is written on the name. Fu Shou was expressionless, but Tang Ji's beautiful face was full of disappointment and anger. "coward!" Tang Ji stared at Liu Xie angrily, and wanted to kick again.But Fu Shou stopped her, and said tiredly and indifferently: "Why bother with a son from Hanoi, he is no longer our majesty."

"Hmph, since he's not the emperor, then I can beat him to my heart's content!" Tang Ji rushed over relentlessly, grabbed Liu Xie's skirt and dragged him up from the ground: "Do you know what happened last night?" Liu Xie gasped, first nodded, then shook his head, and then nodded again . Tang Ji was even more annoyed, her lips were trembling with anger: "Last night, I watched my savior die. I couldn't do anything, I couldn't say anything, and I had to make false promises to those who were chasing him, even to save him. I can't do it with the dead body, and then I have to watch His Majesty's own flesh and blood die helplessly. Cao Cao's people are all around. I wanted to hold my hand before I died, but I didn't dare to reach out - can you experience the feeling of despair and pain that makes me go crazy!" Liu Xie's eyes widened, which was not mentioned in Man Chong's report. "Concubine Dong is pregnant with His Majesty's flesh and blood. I refuse to save her because of disloyalty. The king obeys me with great kindness, but I repay the kindness and revenge. what?" "For, for the Han Dynasty." Liu Xie began to have difficulty breathing when Tang Ji strangled his neck. "Bah! You deserve to say these two words!" Tang Ji let go of Liu Xie, and slapped him on the chest, causing him to take a few steps back and lean heavily against the pillar.Tang Ji's eyes were already filled with tears. "Apart from hypocritically speaking some great truths and showing off your cheap kindness, what else have you done? What are my sacrifices and those sacrifices that I made behind you? ?!" Facing Tang Ji's questioning, Liu Xie couldn't answer a word. "That's enough, let's get down to business." Fu Shou said.Tang Ji wiped her tears with the back of her hand, turned around and took off the two spiritual tablets from the table, put them in front of Liu Xie, and said coldly: "Sister and Zhang Yu are right, you are nothing like Your Majesty. The real one Your Majesty is ruthless, but has a lofty heart, that is great benevolence, you and him are only superficially similar after all." Fu Shou pointed to the memorial tablet and said: "There is a tunnel in the ancestral hall here. After you leave, I will set fire to burn this place and die with Your Majesty. Before you leave, please kowtow to the two late emperors. When we meet under the Nine Springs, we will meet again." Good to have an explanation." "What if I want to stay?" Liu Xie asked. His answer seemed to be expected by Fushou. She took off the iron hairpin from her head and put it on the ground: "Then you have to prove to us that you can abandon those stupid and cowardly ideas and do anything for the Han family." thing." "how to prove?" "Kill me, and then tell Xun Yu that I am the one supporting Dong Cheng in the palace." Liu Xie's face turned pale rapidly, and Fu Shou's expression told him that this was not a joke.Leaning his back against the pillar, he felt that his body was in more pain than the beating just now. The palms of his hands and the back of his neck began to sweat, and immediately became cold.He seemed to be back in the woods again, aiming at the doe with his bow and arrow.The doe looked at him with deep eyes, waiting for the moment when he let go of the bowstring.He was afraid that his own heart would burst from beating too violently before crushing the doe's heart. At this time, the door of the ancestral hall was quietly pushed open, and a person walked in.Tang Ji frowned. The outside was already surrounded by tiger and leopard cavalry, so no one should have disturbed her.She grabbed the iron hairpin between her fingers and asked vigilantly, "Who dares to break into King Hongnong's ancestral hall?" "Ah, ah, the thing about gambling is that you can't get it back. The big bet we made together has not yet been opened, so why do you want to withdraw without authorization?" Yang Xiu came over with a smile, playing with the dice with his right hand.The three dice rolled nimbly between his slender fingers, and none of them fell. Liu Xie looked at Yang Xiu with a look of disgust.He already knew that in Dong Cheng's case, the son of Yang Biao's family played a decisive role—or in other words, he betrayed Dong Cheng in exchange for Cao's trust. "Don't worry too much, don't worry too much, Mr. Xun Ling sent me to take a look." Yang Xiu said. Fu Shou and Tang Ji looked at each other, Dong Cheng's death still couldn't completely dispel Cao's suspicion, even the worshiping brothers had to send someone to monitor, fortunately, this person was Yang Xiu. "Dezu, this man is not capable of becoming an emperor, we are wasting time." Fu Shou pointed to Liu Xie and said.Yang Xiu didn't answer, but slowly turned his gaze from Fushou and Tang Ji to Liu Xie, with a half smile on his face.If Man Chong is a cold poisonous snake, then Yang Xiu is like a cunning fox, his eyes are erratic, and others will never be able to grasp the focus of his sight and see through his mind. Yang Xiu threw the dice beside the tablets of the two emperors, walked over and grabbed Liu Xie's sleeve affectionately: "Your Majesty, can I talk to you in private?" Before Liu Xie could answer, he was dragged to the ancestral hall by him the other side of theYang Xiu glanced at Fu and Tang in the distance, patted him on the shoulder, and sighed in relief: "Women, it's always like this, they do things too radically, they are easy to get emotional, and sometimes they don't even care about it themselves." You know what you're doing. What did Confucius say? Only villains and girls are hard to raise." Liu Xie was a little uncomfortable with this familiar tone, he moved a little bit awkwardly.Yang Xiu grinned and said: "Those women always have unrealistic expectations, fantasize about you as a real emperor, and expect you to be as decisive as His Majesty. But I will not be so stupid. In my eyes, You're just a comedian pretending to be an emperor." Facing Yang Xiu's undisguised comments, Liu Xie dropped his shoulders in frustration: "You are right, maybe I really don't have the qualifications to become the master of ZTE. I am too weak." Yang Xiu raised his brows lightly: "Weakness? Wrong! If you carry out your belief that you can't bear to kill to the end, that is also a kind of firmness." He raised his slender finger and waved it gently in front of Liu Xie twice, in a teaching tone Said: "Let me tell you, the real weakness is not knowing what one wants to do, being at both ends of the head, and being muddled." Liu Xie looked at him blankly, not quite understanding what he meant.Yang Xiudao: "For example, Lu Bu and Lu Fengxian, do you think he is weak?" "I heard too much about the bravery of a parachutist in Hanoi." "But what meaningful things he has done for so many years, can you tell?" "Uh……" Yang Xiu knew that he would hesitate, so he tapped his finger lightly in the void: "Whether it is to assist Dong Zhuo to usurp the Han or to support Wang Yun to rejuvenate the Han, he doesn't know; whether it is to take Cao Gong Yanzhou to take the Central Plains, or to occupy Liu Bei Xuzhou to go. He didn't know whether he would settle under the Yuan brothers and become a famous general, or subdue Zhang Miao and Zhang Yang and become the overlord of a generation. He still didn't know. Lu Bu had fought many battles in the past few years since he came to the Central Plains, but he didn't. A clear goal, what he catches is what. He is sometimes a loyal minister, sometimes a traitor, sometimes a famous general, and sometimes a warlord-this kind of person who lacks opinions has the courage of a man and the people of Xiliang, without the slightest belief and plan ...is the real weakness!" This point of view has never been heard by Liu Xie. He was about to ask, but Yang Xiu's tone suddenly became severe: "Why do you think the Han Dynasty has declined? Is it because loyal ministers are incompetent, capable ministers are disloyal, or Emperor Huan is fatuous?" , Emperor Ling is weak? Wrong, these are just symptoms. The Han Dynasty has been a hundred years since Emperor He, and what they have done is basically a big Lu Bu. There are a lot of young emperors, several foreign relatives, and eunuchs emerging in endlessly With the clan party, the government swings back and forth between these poles. No matter how strong the house is, it cannot withstand such a toss." Yang Xiu was very much like a teacher in a school of classics, with his hands behind his back, he was persuasive and persuasive to the only student. "So you understand now? What we need is not a benevolent or ruthless emperor, but an unswerving leader whose will must be as strong as metal. I guess those stupid women will talk to you, saying What is it to be ruthless, to abandon morality and integrity? Let me tell you, these are all nonsense. If you suddenly become like the late emperor, I will worry instead—you change today, and you may change tomorrow. Change is full of Variable, which is never what we want." Liu Xie was taken aback by this series of sonorous and fierce words, and he couldn't help asking: "Then what do you want?" "Wrong again! It's not what I want, but what you want." Yang Xiu stretched out his hand, pressed it on his chest, and slowly flexed his five fingers, making a movement of digging out his heart: "Take your hidden desires from Find out here, and carry it through to the end. This is your responsibility. It doesn’t matter what the late emperor is. Everyone has their own style, and you can’t learn it by force. Just remember one thing, you make a choice today, From then on, we have to go down a road, to the dark, to the end. There is no chance for you to change your course and start over." Liu Xie stared at Yang Xiu, feeling ups and downs in his heart.This person looked a few years older than himself, but he had such clear thoughts and beliefs. His words sounded deviant, but they were deceptive, like a sharp straight knife piercing the flesh and piercing the heart and lungs. And what do you want? Is it self-cultivation, family governance, country and world peace?Or lead the yellow dog out of Caicheng to cultivate the way of the yellow and the old to raise the sky?Is born?Or join the WTO?Is it Xingfu Han Dynasty?Or be a hermit? Liu Xie discovered that Yang Xiu had already seen him through.Before coming to Xudu, he was just a "Lu Bu" who had no clear goals in life at all, and only wanted to live a stable life.The death of the real Liu Xie gave him a heavy responsibility, and at the same time gave him a clear goal. Liu Xie took a deep breath and said, "I can stay, but I don't want you to just treat me like a puppet and do things without telling me." Yang Xiu laughed loudly, shaking his wrist easily, as if it was a ridiculous thing: "Those stupid women always hide it, for fear of being shaken out of the whole family, they are too petty; my father is old, Your brain is no longer very useful. I have been persuading them that it would be unfair for you not to be honest if you are to take on such a serious responsibility. As for the bet, it is natural that the two parties must be equal before they can gamble." "I just want to know, why do you fight against the Cao family?" Until now, Liu Xie had the opportunity to express his doubts.Before, Fu Shou always avoided talking about this issue, and only said that when the time was right, he would naturally know.No matter how he thinks about it, it is hard to imagine how the power of the Han Dynasty can break the shackles of the Cao family with the power of the Han Dynasty, no soldiers, no assets, and relying on these concubines, widows, abolished ministers and false emperors. Soar into the sky. Yang Xiu seemed to have expected this question, and said slowly, "Have you heard of Yi Tianluo?" "No……" "This is a kind of tree vine that grows in Wuling, Wuling. It is entangled in the big tree, grows with the tree, climbs on the branch, eats its juice, twists its sweet pith, and when the big tree dies, the vine can grow among the wreckage. The sky is connected to the ground. The Han Dynasty is this Yitianluo, which is too weak, and can only be attached to a powerful prince, secretly parasitizing and nurturing, in order to plan a big plan." "But vines are vines after all, how can they shake towering trees?" "The wisteria and the big tree grow together at the same time. By the time the tree grows into the sky, the wisteria has already been connected with its roots, and the main veins are integrated. At that time, even if the big tree wants to separate the wisteria, it will be too late." Liu Xie wondered: "This is easy to say, how can it be done?" Yang Xiu waved his fingers again: "It's wrong again. We are already doing this. The power of the Han Dynasty in the Cao's camp is more than you can imagine. Although these are just seeds now, sooner or later they will become the vines of the Han Dynasty The branches and vines are tightly entangled on the big tree of the Cao family - I will take care of these things outside the palace. Your duty is to play the role of the emperor well and attract Cao's attention. Allow room for these seeds to move and grow." At this moment, Liu Xie asked the last question: "I am for my brother's blood, Fu and Tang are for my husband, Master Yang is for the loyalty of the Han Dynasty, what about you? Why did you choose such a dangerous road?" Lu; what did you pull out of your heart?" Yang Xiu glanced at the Han Emperor's spirit tablet in the distance, and raised his chin slightly: "It's very simple, I, Yang Xiu, am a smart person. In today's world, there are only three people smarter than me. One hasn't returned to Xudu, and the other has already returned to Xudu." Leaving Xudu, there is another one, that is your brother—the real Liu Xie. If I can accomplish what he failed to accomplish, it is equivalent to defeating someone who is smarter than myself. What a pleasure it is. "