The prince and his beloved concubine rode in a carriage, and under the protection of many guards, they hurriedly escaped from the palace and headed straight to the south of the city. Neither Liu Xiujun nor Xie Gongjun had yet attacked the south city, so the journey was smooth.
Soon, the carriage arrived at the south city gate. The soldiers guarding the city had already panicked and fled in all directions. At this time, there was no one who could even open the city gate for the prince. Finally, the guards ran up the city wall, lowered the drawbridge, and
Open the city gate.
The carriage left the south city gate and fled southward.
Let's talk about the city. Xie Gongjun's goal is very clear, which is the imperial palace. However, the road from the west city gate to the imperial palace is full of defenders. Some defenders are fleeing in all directions, and some defenders still insist on fighting.
Xie Gongjun advanced while fighting, and his speed was naturally unable to compare with Liu Xiujun's.
Liu Xiu led the soldiers under his command and encountered almost no resistance after entering the city. Wu Han, Jia Fu, Ma Wu and others who took the lead even went straight to the gate of the palace.
The Handan Palace was built on the basis of the Zhao Palace. Although it is said to be a palace, it is actually like a small city with a huge space inside.
If Wang Lang did not run away but defended the palace, it would not be easy for the soldiers and horses from outside to attack.
But now, Wang Lang has escaped, and the palace guards are running away and scattered. There is no soldier stationed in the huge palace. As soon as Wu Han and others arrived in front of the main entrance of the palace, the palace door opened, and Liu Jie followed.
He walked out quickly.
He turned around and ordered the followers behind him not to follow him. He walked towards the Han soldiers outside alone, and at the same time said loudly: "This king is Liu Jie, King of Guangyang!"
Wu Han, Jia Fu, Ma Wu and others had never seen Liu Jie. They heard that he was the King of Guangyang. They looked him up and down. Then, everyone dismounted and came forward to greet him. They cupped their hands and said, "We pay homage to Guangyang."
king!"
Seeing that all the Han generals were very polite to him, Liu Jie's heart dropped to his throat and he breathed a long sigh of relief. He waved his hand and said, "Generals, no courtesy!"
After a pause, he said seriously: "The prince has escaped from Handan, but most of the prince's wives, concubines, and children are still in the palace. I have sent people to control them all!"
Wu Han and others frowned when they heard that Wang Lang had escaped. Wang Lang was a nuisance, and if he were allowed to escape, he would definitely become a hidden danger to his side in the future.
Liu Jie glanced at everyone, smiled slightly, and said: "I have already sent people to chase me. I believe they will come back with Wang Lang's head!"
Wu Han and others all bowed their hands to Liu Jie. Liu Jie waved his hands with a smile and said: "Generals, please come in!"
The Handan Imperial Palace is not only magnificent, but also very well built.
Entering the gate, you will see a wide and long corridor. After passing through this corridor, you will see the inner palace wall in front of you. Entering along the gate of the inner palace wall, you will truly enter the palace.
A huge square is spacious and empty. If an array were formed here, thousands of soldiers would be more than enough to stand.
Walking through this large square, in front of you is the main hall of the palace, where the emperor and his ministers held court meetings. People walked up the steps slowly, looking down as they walked.
The steps are all made of ivory white boulders, which is okay. The key is that there are various patterns carved on the steps. The textures of the steps on each level are different. There are auspicious clouds, sun, moon, stars, and mountains and rivers.
, there are auspicious animals and so on.
Seeing that everyone was amazed, Liu Jie explained with a smile: "This used to be the royal palace of Zhao State. Later, Qin State annexed Zhao State, and the Zhao State Palace was also damaged a lot by the Qin army. Most of these were built later.
"
Everyone nodded and responded. They walked to the top of the steps and looked forward to see the main hall. The floor of this main hall was made of black shiny marble. Walking on it was like walking on a mirror.
There are two long rows of thick black pillars erected on both sides, with reliefs of dragons and other auspicious animals on the pillars. Looking inside, there is a half-meter-high platform at the end of the hall, with tables and mats placed on the platform. No need to ask.
, that must be where the emperor sits.
Ma Wu walked to the stage carelessly, sat down directly on the emperor's seat, and laughed loudly: "So the emperor is sitting here!"
When Liu Jie saw this, he couldn't help but widen his eyes and swallowed subconsciously. That was the emperor's seat, could ordinary people sit on it? If anyone sat on it, it would mean that he had a disobedient heart.
However, Wu Han and others were not as many as he thought. Seeing Ma Wu sitting on it, people burst into laughter.
Ma Wu touched it east and west and felt it was fresh. He patted the soft couch on the seat and said, "No wonder everyone likes to sit on it. It's so comfortable to sit on!"
Wu Han took three steps into two steps, came to the stage, squeezed Ma Wu with his butt, and said: "For a change, for a change, let me try too!"
He pushed Ma Wu aside, sat down, felt it, laughed, waved to Jia Fu and said: "Jun Ran, come on, come on, you can try sitting here too!"
Jia Fu waved his hands cheerfully, indicating that he was not interested.
While the generals were having fun in the main hall, Liu Xiu also entered the palace. Seeing Liu Xiu coming, everyone hurriedly came down from the stage, all bowed their hands and saluted, and said in unison: "My lord!"
Liu Jie's face straightened up, and he quickly raised his hands and said, "Da Sima!"
From Liu Jie's point of view, Liu Xiu was definitely burning with anger as his soldiers were vying to sit on the emperor's throne. He would inevitably become furious, and some of them might even lose their lives.
But in fact, that was not the case at all. There was no trace of anger on Liu Xiu's face, and she still looked cheerful.
He bowed his hand to Liu Jie in return and said, "This time, thanks to the internal support of King Guangyang and King Zhao in the city, our army captured Handan without any bloodshed. Here, Xiu would like to thank King Guangyang!" As he spoke,
, he bowed deeply.
Liu Jiejie hurriedly bowed in return and said: "Da Sima is too harsh. King Zhao and I were bewitched by the king to help the tyrants do evil. We are here in the city to act as internal agents, which is just to make up for our mistakes. Can Da Sima not blame me and me?"
I can’t thank you enough.”
Liu Xiu waved his hand and said: "This time, both King Guangyang and King Zhao have made extraordinary contributions. In the future, the governance of Hebei will also need a lot of help from King Guangyang and King Zhao!"
He said this to give Liu Jie a reassurance, to show that he would not kill the donkey, and to put an end to any suspicion in his heart, so as not to have other thoughts.
When Liu Jie heard this, he was really overjoyed and said to Liu Xiu: "Da Sima, don't worry. If Da Sima needs to use my Liu Jie's place in the future, just ask, I, Liu Jie, will shoulder the responsibility!"
While they were talking, Liu Lin also walked in from outside.
Seeing Liu Xiu, Liu Lin had mixed feelings in his heart. When Liu Xiu came to Handan, he made a special trip to visit Liu Xiu and proposed to Liu Xiu that the river should break the embankment and flood the east side of the river.
However, because Liu Xiu did not agree with his suggestion, he instead supported Wang Lang and pushed Wang Lang to the throne. He also suggested that Wang Lang pursue Liu Xiu.
Speaking of which, the things he did back then were indeed unreasonable. When facing Liu Xiu again, Liu Lin naturally felt guilty in his heart.
He rushed forward, knelt down, kowtowed forward, and said with tears and choked with sobs: "Sinner Liu Lin, pay your respects to Da Sima!"
Liu Xiu reached out and dragged his arm, helped Liu Lin up, and said, "What is King Zhao doing?! Please get up quickly!"
Liu Lin's heart felt sour, his eyes were red, tears fell down, and he said: "Liu Lin has no eyesight and cannot recognize people well. He is ashamed of the army and people of Handan, the people of Hebei, and even more ashamed of the Great Sima!" xdw8
Liu Xiu patted Liu Lin's arm and said, "King Zhao is too serious. King Zhao was just bewitched by Wang Lang. Where did he get all these charges?"
In fact, in Liu Xiu's life, his enemies, in a sense, helped him a lot and achieved his great cause.
Liu Xuan killed his eldest brother, which was indeed a heavy blow to Liu Xiu at that time.
But in the long run, Liu Xiu's murder lifted off the mountain that had been weighing on Liu Xiu, allowing Liu Xiu to truly embark on an independent road to struggle for hegemony.
The same goes for Liu Lin. He supported Wang Lang to proclaim himself emperor in Hebei. Judging from the time, it really put Liu Xiu into a desperate situation and caused Liu Xiu the biggest crisis he had ever encountered in his life.
But in the same way, Wang Lang's proclaiming himself emperor also gave Liu Xiu the opportunity to cultivate his own power openly. After all, he had a reason that no one could find fault with, and he suppressed the rebellion!
Liu Xiu was an out-and-out peasant, at the bottom of society, and he was far from the emperor.
If his life had followed a normal trajectory, he would never have been able to sit on the throne.
It is precisely because of the appearance of various enemies that it greatly contributed to his yellow hegemony. It is no exaggeration to say that it was these enemies of his who directly helped him flatten this path. The road to becoming an emperor was originally full of thorns.
Liu Xiu's throne was largely pushed to the throne by these enemies.
After listening to Liu Xiu's words, Liu Lin was moved and burst into tears. Instead of blaming Liu Lin, Liu Xiu tried to persuade him and comforted him very considerately.
The reason why Liu Xiu did not kill Liu Lin and Liu Jie was not only that he valued integrity, but also had a more important point. Liu Lin and Liu Jie could not be killed.
Both of them have great influence in Hebei. The fact that they can lift up an emperor in Hebei shows how powerful they are in Hebei.
If the two of them help, it can help Liu Xiu control the Hebei area faster and more effectively.
Secondly, Liu Lin and Liu Jie were both members of the Liu family. If Liu Xiu killed them, it would be like offending all the Liu family members in the world.
You must know that it has only been more than ten years since Wang Mang usurped the throne. The Liu clan in the world is still a very complex and powerful system. Offending this system will not bring any benefit to Liu Xiu's hegemony. It will cause great resistance.
In order to vent his hatred, he hastily killed Liu Lin and Liu Jie, but it brought huge trouble and hidden dangers to his future. In Liu Xiu's opinion, this was very uneconomical and the gain outweighed the loss.
Anyone who can achieve imperial hegemony is a very pragmatic person who pursues temporary pleasures, grudges and grudges, lives passionately, freely and happily. These are knights, not overlords.
After Liu Xiu comforted Liu Lin and Liu Jie, they took Liu Xiu to check the palace's warehouse. They entered the palace's warehouse and lit the lampstand, which was filled with white flowers.
In the warehouse, there were tall counters erected one after another. There were many small grids on each counter, and silver nuggets were piled in almost every small grid.
Seeing so much money, everyone who entered the warehouse was speechless.
At that time, silver could not be spent directly as money, but silver was a precious metal that could be exchanged for money or used to cast dragon coins. One dragon coin could be used as three thousand coins, which was very expensive.
Continue walking inside, and there are gold nuggets piled on the counter inside.
Picking up a piece casually, it was heavy, weighing at least a hundred taels. Looking at the gold and silver in this treasure house, Liu Xiu couldn't help but sigh: "The prince has only usurped the throne for three months!"
Liu Jie smiled and said to Liu Xiu: "Da Sima, this is not all Wang Lang's money!"
