Thief Emperor

Chapter 1044 Assassination
Autumn of the ninth year of Zhangwu.

General Chen led the Divine Martial Guard and left Luoyang first. His Majesty the Emperor did not see him off, but instead had the Crown Prince escort him all the way out of the city.

A few days later, His Highness the Prince of Yue, escorted by the Imperial Guards, left Luoyang and, together with officials from the Ministry of Rites, headed straight for Jiannan Road to deal with the Tibetan affairs.

After the two groups of people left one after the other, it was October of the ninth year of Zhangwu.

In late October, at the entrance of Ganlu Palace, Prince Jin led the Third Prince into the palace. After entering, Prince Jin bowed to His Majesty the Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, I have made all the preparations and will leave Luoyang today."

Li Cang, on the other hand, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to his father.

His Majesty the Emperor raised his hand, gesturing for him to stand up. After he rose, the Emperor looked at him and asked, "It's been almost a month since you started following Marquis Changping. How is it?"

Li Cang took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, I...I can handle it."

"That's good."

Emperor Li said quietly, "Your Uncle Prince Jin should have already told you about this. You are about to come of age, so you should go back to your hometown of Qingyang to pay respects at the ancestral tombs."

"In addition, General Zhou is not feeling well."

Emperor Li said quietly, "Go with your uncle and go see for me. When you return, I will let you take over those matters properly."

Li Cang dared not object and could only bow respectfully, saying, "Your subject obeys, your subject obeys."

The emperor then looked at Li Zheng and said quietly, "This child is still young. Take good care of him along the way. After we arrive in Qingyang, take him to Jinling for a visit when you have time."

At this point, the emperor continued, "If there is a suitable family in Jinling, please find a marriage partner for me. If you can arrange it, I will accept it."

The two brothers had a deep bond. Upon hearing this, Li Zheng chuckled and said, "If I were to really make the decision, I'm afraid Consort Zhaorong wouldn't agree."

Li Yun said quietly, "There's no reason for her not to agree."

As he spoke, he looked at his third son and said, "Of course, it's up to him to choose one. If he doesn't like it, that's fine. We'll talk about it again when we get back to Luoyang."

After discussing the specific details, the two brothers, seeing that it was getting late, bowed and took their leave, preparing to leave with Li Cang. Before leaving, Li Cang knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the emperor, saying, "Father, I'm afraid I'll miss your birthday celebration this time. I prepared a gift a few months ago, and I'm presenting it to you in advance as we part today."

"May Father Emperor live a long and healthy life."

He took out a wooden box from his sleeve, held it in both hands, and handed it to Li Yun. Li Yun opened it and saw that it contained a jade thumb ring.

The thumb ring is an archery tool, and Emperor Li was also a skilled archer, often shooting at targets in recent years.

Although he had many thumb rings, this was a token of his son's affection, so Emperor Li gladly accepted it. He patted his son on the shoulder and said with a smile, "On this trip, please consult your Uncle Prince Jin if you encounter any problems."

"Among all the princes, you three are the first to grow up. Your younger brothers are still young. At this time, you should share more of the burden."

Li Cang came from a poor background, and his mother was not particularly favored. As for Li Cang himself, he had a normal father-son relationship with Li Yun, without any special affection.

The reason he was able to obtain such an important position and post with Li Yun was because there were only three princes born before the founding of the country, and only these three were capable of performing official duties.

The eldest son went into politics, the second son joined the military, so the third son naturally had to take care of some of the family's businesses.

Li Cang knelt on the ground, kowtowed to His Majesty the Emperor, then stood up and followed behind Prince Jin, addressing him as "Third Uncle" repeatedly, as they left Ganlu Palace one after the other.

His Majesty the Emperor walked to the entrance of the Ganlu Hall, watched the two leave, and after a long while, he walked back to the main seat in the Ganlu Hall with his hands behind his back and sat down without saying a word for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, he stood up and called out to the eunuch Gu Chang.

"I will not attend to state affairs today, I wish to..."

"Take a day off."

His Majesty the Emperor left with his hands behind his back.

"It's urgent, send it to the Secretariat."

…………

In the blink of an eye, several days had passed, and it was now October 29th. By this time, winter had already arrived, and the weather in Luoyang was gradually getting colder.

However, the gradually cooling weather did not dampen the liveliness of Luoyang, because this day was the annual Emperor's Birthday Festival.

To celebrate the emperor's birthday and to pray for his long life and eternal youth.

On this day, the government offices are closed, and officials will go out into the streets to enjoy themselves with the people.

Even His Majesty the Emperor would leave the imperial city, come among the crowds, stand on the newly built Jing'an Gate, and revel with the people.

Over the years, Li Yun has worked diligently, and the policies he has implemented may have been detrimental to gentry, officials, and landlords, but they have been extremely beneficial to ordinary people, whether they are businessmen or farmers.

In addition, he single-handedly established a new dynasty, and his prestige has grown stronger year by year.

Although the court only prepared 500,000 strings of cash for the Emperor's birthday celebration that year, it was still much more lively than the celebration the year before, as it was the Emperor's 40th birthday.

The city of Luoyang was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, and the sounds of singing and dancing could be heard everywhere.

As evening approached, the entire government office of Jingzhao Prefecture began setting off fireworks throughout Luoyang. As darkness fell, the fireworks were lit simultaneously in all locations.

Brilliant fireworks bloomed in the sky.

At this moment, His Majesty the Emperor, accompanied by several prime ministers, the Empress, and two imperial concubines, arrived at the Jing'an Gate tower.

His Majesty the Emperor, dressed in imperial robes, first glanced at the crowd gathered below, then turned to look at Consort Lu and asked, "Is Lang'er feeling better?"

Last month, Consort Lu returned to Luoyang with the twelfth prince.

Perhaps due to the long journey and the physical exhaustion from childbirth, Consort Lu fell ill not long after returning home and remains bedridden to this day.

Consort Lu held Li Yun's hand and shook her head slightly, saying, "He's still in bed, but the imperial physician said it's nothing serious. He just needs to rest for a while and he'll recover slowly."

Emperor Li nodded silently, exchanged a few more words with the Empress, and then looked at Prime Minister Du not far away, smiling as he said, "Brother Shouyi, how was the fireworks today?"

"This is something new that the workshop just came up with this year."

His Majesty the Emperor looked at the exploding fireworks in the sky and said with a smile, "They are bigger, more beautiful, and last longer than the fireworks of the past two years."

As Prime Minister Du looked up at the fireworks in the sky, a sense of poetry welled up within him. Hearing the emperor's words, he turned to look at Li Yun and said with a smile, "It's much more beautiful than the previous two years."

He thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, may I buy some of these new fireworks from the workshop? My daughter will be celebrating her birthday soon, and I'd like to set off a couple of them for her."

At that time, fireworks were not yet customized, there were no fireworks reserved for the emperor, and there was no such thing as usurpation. After hearing Du Qian's words, Emperor Li smiled and said, "What kind of relationship do we have? I'll send a note to the workshop later and have them send twenty strings of fireworks to Brother Shouyi's family."

Du Qian quickly waved his hand and said, "We don't need that much, we don't need that much."

Before he could speak, the emperor pulled him by the sleeve and led him down from the city wall. His Majesty looked at the bustling city of Luoyang and immediately said with a smile, "It's lively today, but it's not very interesting to watch from the city wall. How about we change our clothes and take a night tour of Luoyang?"

Prime Minister Du wanted to object, but he couldn't go against the emperor. Before long, the two changed into ordinary clothes and, under the covert protection of the Imperial Guards, were about to leave Jing'an Gate.

Lord Yang Xi, who was in charge of protecting the emperor, was extremely nervous. He followed behind the emperor the whole way, trying to persuade him from all sides, but he couldn't convince His Majesty the emperor no matter what he did.

Before long, the emperor pulled Prime Minister Du along and they disappeared into the crowd.

Yang Xi had no choice but to take a deep breath and carefully follow behind the two.

However, there was no curfew in the city tonight, and everyone was near Jing'an Gate, wanting to see what His Majesty the Emperor looked like. There were just too many people near Jing'an Gate, and after following for only a few dozen steps, Yang Xi could no longer see Emperor Li's back.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, tried to leave the crowd, and walked forward for an unknown amount of time when he suddenly heard a loud shout.

"There are assassins!"

Those three short words made Yang Xi's hair stand on end. He struggled to push through the crowd, but when he couldn't push any further, his eyes turned red, he drew the sword from his waist, and roared angrily.

"Get the hell out of my way!"

(End of this chapter)