Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 86: The Late Emperor
Upon hearing this, Huo Qubing silently put down his teahouse. He had heard that there was a big move in the palace before, and it seemed that Xu Ye came for this.

"Even the current head of the Xu family came to visit in person, what could it be?"

His appetite was whetted; it looked like things were going to be very tricky.

"Just tell me what you think," Huo Qubing said calmly.

Xu Chu glanced at his cousin's eyes, then straightened his mind and said, "You should also know that the palace is investigating witchcraft. This is nothing, but there are always some treacherous people who try to deceive the emperor."

"You mean, this matter is related to the prince?"

Huo Qubing said subconsciously. He had already made this guess. Most of the court officials had seen Liu Quti and Jiang Chong's little tricks, but only Liu Che, the person involved, was unaware of it.

The emperor could only get information through his ministers and eunuchs, and now these two people had a firm grip on his lifeline.

"Yes, Jiang Chong has blocked the flow of intelligence into and out of Ganquan Palace. The Crown Prince has been forced into a desperate situation and even had thoughts of rebellion."

Xu Chu nodded. As expected, smart people are easy to talk to. No need to waste words, they understand everything at once.

Huo Qubing thought for a moment, "You want me to go to Ganquan Palace to meet His Majesty?"

"Hey, you know the situation of my elder brother, do you have any other choice?" Xu Chu shook his head helplessly. At this time, the whole palace was blocked by heavy troops, and only the general could get through.

In fact, this problem can be solved as long as we see the emperor. But the problem is that Liu Che has always been suspicious and has issued a death order to block the place. If we break in by force, we may get ourselves into trouble.

After all, the imperial edict stated that no one was allowed to enter the palace. If one could get past the imperial guards, it was self-evident what that meant.

"Although I am the general of the dynasty, I cannot disobey the order."

Huo Qubing was a little hesitant. He could indeed cross the blockade of the imperial guards, but doing so might arouse the emperor's suspicion, as the identity of a relative by marriage was already sensitive.

All the previous efforts will be in vain.

Xu Chu looked at him and said solemnly: "Qubing, you should know my current character. If the prince is in trouble, can you and I be safe? The Huo family may not be held accountable, but what about the Wei family?"

"Once the charges are proven, the whole family will be executed. Do you have the heart to cut off the incense of General Wei?"

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, the hesitation in Huo Qubing's eyes disappeared immediately: "Well, I'll take a gamble."

That’s right, he has a weakness, which is the Wei family left by his uncle Wei Qing. If he fails to protect it, he will probably die with regret.

At present, we can only gamble that Your Majesty is not so suspicious. The Han Dynasty still needs a great general who is capable of fighting. The previous defeat of Li Guangli, Li Guang and others has proved the reality of the lack of successors.

The Xiongnu recaptured large tracts of land in the northern desert, raised livestock, and recovered most of their strength. They once again had more than 150,000 soldiers and posed a deterrent to the border counties and prefectures, and small-scale harassment became extremely frequent.

Therefore, Liu Che attached more importance to talented generals like Huo Qubing and Xu Nan and would not kill them easily, at least before finding replacements.

Xu Ye stood up and bowed: "I would like to thank the general for speaking up for the prince."

"No, no, it's just my job."

Huo Qubing also stood up to support him, but he could not bear to be bowed to by a prime minister.

.........

Ganquan Hall.

Liu Che, with an old face, like a dying dragon, was lying on the couch with a somewhat empty expression, as if he was worried about something all the time.

He raised his hand weakly, looked at the age spots on it, his eyes becoming more and more desperate, and then he climbed up angrily.

"Birth, aging, sickness and death... birth, aging, sickness and death... are they really unavoidable? I am unwilling to accept this."

Liu Che closed his eyes. The anger in his chest had nowhere to go, so it finally vented out. When the emperor was angry, millions of people died, but he was helpless in the face of something as illusory as life. In his life, he eliminated foreign relatives, took control of the government, supported Wei Huo, went on expeditions to the Xiongnu, conquered the Baiyue in the south, crushed Baekje, opened up the Western Regions, founded the Imperial Academy, promoted Confucianism and Legalism, and appointed provincial governors, pushing the prestige of the Han Dynasty to its peak. Looking at history, he can be called an emperor of the ages.

But what can we do in the face of time? We can only turn into a pile of dry bones with endless glory.

"Your Majesty, it's time to take the elixir." The eunuch walked in tremblingly, holding a furnace of newly made elixir in his hand.

He walked carefully to the bed, held up the pill, and lowered his head in great fear.

His Majesty has been extremely violent these days, and countless palace maids and eunuchs have been beaten to death. Delivering elixirs has become a dangerous job, and one could lose one's life if one is not careful.

Liu Che held on to the bedding and dragged his weak body towards the outside little by little, but due to his illness and old age, he was still unable to touch the edge of the plate.

It was like an old man who was about to starve to death and was begging for alms.

Bang!

"Damn beast, you are here to laugh at me too!"

Liu Che became furious and knocked over the jade plate, causing the pills to scatter all over the floor.

The eunuch was so frightened at the sight that he nearly peed himself. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed frantically: "I deserve to die, I deserve to die, Your Majesty, spare my life, Your Majesty, spare my life!"

crunch.

Countless footsteps were heard, and the guards outside heard the noise and rushed into the hall, holding weapons and looking at the eunuch with fierce looks on their faces.

Liu Che, with his hair disheveled, shouted loudly, "Drag him out and beat him to death immediately!"

"Yes!"

The guards dragged out the eunuch who was still begging for mercy.

Soon, several eunuchs and palace maids came in and picked up the pills on the ground.

Because of the lesson learned just now, they wanted to send it directly to the emperor's mouth.

"Put it down, I'm not that kind of useless person who is about to die!" Liu Che roared in a hoarse voice. He hated it most when others treated him as an old man.

Death is the thing he least wants to face, but it is also the thing he has no choice but to face.

"Yes, we'll take our leave." Several people put them beside the bed tremblingly, and then left the bedroom as if fleeing.

There was only one person left in the huge room.

Liu Che looked at the pills that were still warm with numb eyes.

Can this thing really prolong one's life? Emperor Qin Shi Huang ate a lot of it, but he died suddenly in the sand dunes, leading to the destruction of his country.

Maybe I'm just looking for psychological comfort.

"Hahahaha...Emperor, commoner, what's the difference? The final destination is the same, the cold coffin. It's just the difference between sandalwood and broken wood."

Liu Che laughed a few times at himself. This once high-spirited and iron-blooded emperor no longer had any heroic spirit. He was more like a walking corpse who had lost his soul.

He laughed for a long time before he picked up the pill from the jade plate again and swallowed it.

He didn't want to die, he really didn't want to die. Even though he knew it was impossible, he still wanted to give it one last try.

Although it was of no use in the end.

(End of this chapter)