Thief Emperor

Chapter 1033 Connecting the Western Regions

Years are like a shuttle.

In the third year of Xiande, Emperor Li was a young and strong man of twenty years old. Five years later, he changed the era name to Zhaoding. Eight years later, he changed the era name to Zhangwu. Now it is the ninth year of Zhangwu. On his birthday this year, he will be forty years old.

Twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye.

By now, some of the old officials from Jiangdong in the imperial court have begun to show signs of aging, such as the earliest group of his old subordinates.

A typical example is Fei Xuan, the Minister of Justice.

When Minister Fei followed Li Yun, he was already around fifty years old. Now he is over sixty, and he no longer has the energy to do many things.

Before long, a large number of the old officials of Jiangdong will be eliminated by time, and the next batch to take their place will be the group led by Xu Kun, who were the first and second batches of candidates recruited by Li Yun under the pretext of the Jinling Literary Gathering.

At that time, Li Yun was extremely short of people under his command, so the Jinling Literary Gathering was not held every three years, but almost every year. Now, the candidates admitted to the literary gathering back then have gradually become the backbone of the party, and the court and the public have given them a name.

He was called a Jinling Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations).

After hearing Emperor Li's words, Minister Du pointed to his temples and sighed, "These temples of mine are also getting a little gray."

Emperor Li descended the imperial steps and approached Du Qian. He looked at the graying temples of Du Qian and sighed, "Brother Shouyi is still quite young. This head of white hair is the result of many years of hard work."

As he spoke, Emperor Li glanced outside the palace and said, "It's still early today, so Brother Shouyi, you don't need to go to the Secretariat. Come with me to the Prince of Nanyang's residence."

Minister Du immediately nodded and replied, "Very well, I was just about to visit Lord Xue."

Master Xue was indeed granted the title of Prince of Nanyang because of his daughter and son-in-law. However, setting aside this nepotism, Master Xue actually made significant contributions and held a high position in the Jiangdong court and during the period after the founding of the new dynasty.

He was also the first Minister of the Court of Judicial Review after the establishment of the new dynasty.

With such a status and position, he was naturally respected by everyone in the court and among the common people. Even Du Qian treated Master Xue with the respect due to a junior and dared not act as if he were a superior.

The two old partners waited in the Ganlu Hall for a while. A moment later, the Empress arrived at the Ganlu Hall. Her face was full of worry as she looked up at Li Yun.

Emperor Li patted her hand and said quietly, "The imperial physician has already gone. Don't worry, don't worry."

Empress Xue sighed and said quietly, "Let my second brother return to Luoyang."

Emperor Li took her hand and said, "I have already sent the Nine Departments to inform Second Brother. He will definitely be back within half a month."

"Xue Gui and his grandchildren will also be notified one after another."

Emperor Li thought for a moment and continued, "Should we also have the princes and princesses in the palace visit the Xue family?"

Empress Xue was the emperor's principal wife, the legal mother of all the princes and princesses. According to this relationship, all of Li Yun's children were related to the imperial family.

Empress Xue shook her head slightly and said, "Just let Yuan'er and Cai'mei go and take a look. As for the other children..."

She said quietly, "Don't bother them anymore."

Li Yun nodded, turned to look at Du Qian, and said, "Let's go, let's go."

Du Qian bowed his head and agreed.

Soon, His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the Empress boarded their imperial carriages, while Prime Minister Du also rode in a sedan chair, and together they headed to the Prince of Nanyang's residence.

Upon arriving at the gate of the Prince's residence, the couple alighted from their carriage and saw that the Crown Prince's carriage was already parked in front of the Xue family's gate. Emperor Li glanced at the carriage and then looked back at his wife.

His eyes flickered for a moment, then he tugged at his wife's sleeve and said softly, "Yuan'er is still filial; he came early this morning."

The Empress was deeply moved and wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

"His maternal grandfather did not fail to dote on him from childhood, and even personally taught him the basics."

"None of us children were taught by our father."

Emperor Li nodded slightly, and led the Empress to look up. At this moment, everyone from the Xue family had arrived at the main gate to greet them, including His Highness the Crown Prince, who hurriedly came out to greet them and knelt before them.

Li Yun looked at these people, then turned to look at Du Qian, and shook his head, saying, "Get up, get up."

Having said that, he strode into the Prince of Nanyang's residence.

Prime Minister Du stepped forward and bowed to His Highness the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince quickly waved his hand and returned the greeting to Minister Du with a cupped-hand salute.

"Uncle, you're too kind."

Minister Du glanced at His Majesty the Emperor, who was walking at the front, then looked at the Crown Prince and asked, "Your Highness, how is Lord Xue's health?"

His Highness the Crown Prince's expression also darkened, and he silently lowered his head, saying, "It's terrible. The imperial physicians dare not use strong medicine anymore; they can only treat it gently."

Gentle nourishment is the most conservative treatment method.

To put it another way, it's basically like waiting to die.

Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Du looked up at the Nanyang Prince's Mansion and sighed inwardly. The Empress's family had been at the height of its power in recent years, enjoying immense imperial favor, at least largely due to Lord Xue.

Even if Lord Xue were to pass away, with the Empress still alive, the Xue family would remain the same family, but the Xue family's prestige would likely not continue to rise.

This was the highest point for the Hou clan.

Thinking of this, he looked at the Crown Prince and said quietly, "I would like to trouble Your Highness to lead the way, as I also wish to see Lord Xue."

His Highness the Crown Prince nodded quickly.

“I will take my uncle there.”

………………

Master Xue's condition was very serious, but it was unlikely that his life would be in danger within a day or two. After visiting him, Li Yun sat by Master Xue's bedside and talked to him for a long time until evening before leaving.

Empress Xue stayed at the Prince of Nanyang's residence.

After returning to the capital, four or five more documents were piled up on the table in Ganlu Hall. Just as Emperor Li sat back in the main seat, the eunuch Gu Chang approached and whispered, "Your Majesty, the Duke of Yingguo has been waiting for an audience in the side hall for more than half an hour."

Emperor Li was taken aback, then immediately said, "Please invite him over."

Gu Chang responded with a "yes," and soon, Duke Liu Bo of Yingguo entered the Ganlu Hall and bowed to the emperor.

Emperor Li looked at him, then at the sky outside, and said helplessly, "Why didn't you come during the day, but came here at night?"

"It's something urgent that was just delivered to me."

Li Yun frowned slightly.

He knew Liu Bo's personality very well. Unless it was something important, the intelligence from the Nine Departments was usually sent to the palace according to a fixed procedure, and he, as the chief of the Nine Departments, would not personally deliver it to the palace.

They would certainly not enter the palace at this time.

Li Yun gestured for him to sit down and speak. After Liu Bo sat down, Emperor Li sighed and said, "It seems this matter is quite serious. Let's talk about it."

Liu Bo nodded in agreement. He tidied his words and said with his head down, "The first thing is that the Six Barbarian Tribes have been active in the Lingzhou area in the northwest. Today we received news that these Six Barbarian Tribes, together with the remnants of Wei Quanzhong's forces that were not completely wiped out back then, have begun a large-scale attack on the Lingzhou area."

"They probably knew that the imperial court was waging war against Youyan, and... and that they were tied up in Youyan by the Khitans. That's why they dared to take this opportunity to rise from the ashes and try to retake the northwest and the old Shuofang territory."

The Shuofang Army originally occupied a large area in the northwest of the Xin Dynasty.

Emperor Li frowned deeply as he looked at Liu Bo.

Liu Bo lowered his head slightly: "Your Majesty and I, along with the Nine Ministries, speculate that they want to take back the Hetao region from Your Majesty to raise horses and livestock and restore its vitality."

Li Yun rubbed his temples.

During the Guanzhong campaign, he did indeed wipe out most of the Shuofang army, but only a portion of the Shuofang army in Guanzhong was defeated. Later, some of the Shuofang army near Lingzhou surrendered and submitted to the imperial court after hearing the news from Guanzhong.

Most of them, having heard that Emperor Li had executed all the Shuofang troops, were also worried that they would still be killed after surrendering. Therefore, after abandoning Lingzhou, they scattered and fled, mingling with several foreign tribes in the northwest.

After the Battle of Guanzhong, Emperor Li exhausted almost all his strength and had no strength left to reclaim Youyan. With no other option, he could only maintain the status quo and send troops to garrison Lingzhou.

Now, a problem has finally arisen.

Li Yun rubbed his temples and continued, "And the second thing?"

"Tibetans."

Liu Bo said in a low voice, "The Tibetans are also making frequent unusual moves. I guess these forces must have some kind of connection and communication with each other."

"According to the information gathered by the Nine Departments, the Tibetans have sent envoys who are on their way to Luoyang. They want to ask Second Brother for a princess from our dynasty."

"She married into Tibet."

The Tibetans were a powerful tribe that had a love-hate relationship with the Wu Zhou Dynasty for two hundred years.

However, in recent decades, with the decline of the Wu Zhou dynasty, the Tibetans have also weakened somewhat, especially with the rise of Buddhism, and the Tibetans no longer possess the fighting power they once had.

But after all, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse.

Having occupied such a large area, they certainly possess considerable fighting power.

"Marriage?"

Emperor Li narrowed his eyes, sneered, and said nothing more. He simply looked at Liu Bo and said slowly, "After accumulating so much money and grain over the years, I was just worried about not having an excuse to go west. Now I have an excuse."

He looked out of the hall, his gaze intense.

"This time, I will open up the Western Regions!"

(End of this chapter)