I am not a deposed emperor of Han Dynasty

Chapter 297 Father Zhong's Surprise, The Emperor's Nightmare (Subscribe)
According to the current regulations of Dahan, there will be a total of nine court meetings in a month.

There are three major court meetings and six small court meetings.

The Great Court Meeting is held on the first, tenth and twentieth day of each month.

And between every two big court meetings, there will be two small court meetings.

That is to say, if there is no distinction between the big court and the small court, the emperor will meet with the courtiers every two days.

Huo Guang, in particular, was almost never absent.

And the two or three days between the two court meetings were used to implement the various decrees made at the court meetings.

October [-] was the first day after the confrontation between the Huo Party and the Imperial Party at the Great Court Conference.

On this day, Liu He got up very early, much earlier than usual.

Or in other words, during this long night, Liu He hardly fell asleep.

During those few hours at night, Liu He was half asleep and half awake, and had many nightmares that made him shudder——

Liu He dreamed that Liu Bingji, covered in blood, was begging for Prince Li's corpse at the gate of the greenhouse hall, and beside him was Guo Kai, who had lost one hand and was blinded in one eye.

He also dreamed that Emperor Xiaozhao, whose skin had rotted to the point of muscle, slowly crawled out of Zi Palace, waving to himself, as if he wanted to say something.

He also dreamed that the emaciated body of the Empress Dowager Shangguan, who was as thin as a strand of reed, was hung on the beam of Changxin Hall by a white silk, while Yu Wuyou killed himself in the hall, bleeding all over the place.

There is also my own queen and two Jieyu, as well as all the imperial party and Huo party, all kneeling in the front hall of Weiyang Palace in a daze - all of them are bleeding from all seven orifices, and their faces are pale, and the front hall is not like that. It is a solemn palace, but it looks like a huge tomb.

Perhaps, this Weiyang Palace was originally a tomb.

It's just that what is buried in this tomb is not a person, but family affection, conscience, honesty and trust.

After a night of nightmares, when Liu He woke up in the greenhouse hall as warm as mid-spring, his whole body was already drenched, and it felt like a lifetime away, and he felt lucky—fortunately, those scenes were just nightmares.

After Liu He woke up, his own officials and servants came to help him wash and dress.

A few years ago, Liu He couldn't accept other people serving his private affairs, but now, he can face it calmly and deal with it calmly.

I don't know if this is a kind of alienation.

Afterwards, Fan Ke served breakfast, which was a bowl of glutinous rice balls stuffed with sesame seeds.

Don't underestimate this bowl of glutinous rice balls.

Whether it's flour or sesame seeds, or the sugar added in it.

It's not something that ordinary people can eat if they want to eat at this time.

Take this sugar as an example, it is called West Pole Stone Honey.

It is brewed using the secret technique Zhang Qian brought back from the Western Regions. The raw material is sugar cane, which is much sweeter than maltose, and it is still a rare thing.

This bowl of glutinous rice balls embodies the privilege of the emperor.

Yesterday, Liu He explained to Fan Ke that all the food he ate was supervised by him and delivered by him himself.

But in order to be safe, before Liu He ate it, the little internal official still solemnly used a small bowl to fill out two glutinous rice balls, and wanted to test the poison for the emperor.

Fan Ke put two glutinous rice balls into his mouth in a row. He chewed and tasted carefully with his eyes closed. After swallowing, he said solemnly: "Your Majesty can eat."

Liu He couldn't help but feel a little funny. If one of the glutinous rice balls was poisoned, as long as Fan Ke didn't eat all the glutinous rice balls, he might not be able to find out, let alone save Liu He.

This scorpion, I am afraid that this move is not for the purpose of testing the poison, but rather for the purpose of stealing food for himself.

Beware of poisoning by others, poison testing is just a final layer of insurance, but it still relies on keeping an eye on the source and production process of food.

Otherwise, if you use chronic poison, you won't be able to test it even if you try it seriously.

However, Liu He did not expose Fan Ke's little trick, but took the remaining half bowl of glutinous rice balls without changing his face, and ate them one by one.

Sure enough, sweet glutinous rice balls are the law.

Glutinous rice balls with oil, salt and spicy are as hateful as rebellious officials and thieves.

After eating the last glutinous rice balls, Liu He, who already felt obviously full, finally put all those nightmares of last night behind his mind.

There is food in the stomach, and there is no panic in the heart.

It seems that an edict has to be issued to establish a rule that the people of the Han Dynasty only eat this sweet glutinous rice balls.

Liu He put down the bowl, and wiped his mouth with the towel embroidered with dragon patterns in front of the desk.

"Did anything unusual happen in the palace last night?"

"Nothing happened." Fan Ke replied.

"Is there any change in that city?"

"I have never heard of it." Fan Ke continued to reply.

Fan Ke is just a low-ranking internal official, so naturally he doesn't know the uproar that what happened in the Chaotang the day before may cause.

However, if even Fan Ke didn't notice any changes, then at least it can prove that even if there is any trouble, it will not be a trouble that will kill him immediately.

It seemed that, as he had guessed, Huo Guang did not dare to use force to resolve this "dispute".

The hard power of the two sides is in a delicate balance.

After finishing his breakfast, Liu He walked directly to Menxia Temple under the escort of Dai Zong and several Changyi Langs.

Although he had already confronted Huo Dang face to face in the front hall, Liu He did not plan to meet his confidant in the greenhouse hall today.

It's not for fear of angering Huo Guang, it's just to add a little confusion to Huo Guang, and to let the courtiers firmly remember the status of Menxia Temple in their hearts.

Subtlety is the most important thing.

It is not too far from the greenhouse hall to the Menxia Temple, and it is only a distance of more than a hundred feet.

But during this short journey, Liu He kept asking about what happened in the city after the imperial court was scattered yesterday.

Pedestrians made Dai Zong very responsible, and yesterday afternoon he sent many Changyi orphans to secretly monitor the Northern Army barracks, the Sanfu Yamen, and the residences of important courtiers—and he even took command in Qi Li's Changyi mansion.

Although all the orphans in Changyi were forced to withdraw after the curfew, they still obtained a lot of useful information.

After noon yesterday, Ren Gong and other core figures of the Huo Party went to the General's Mansion, and they came out one after another after an hour. The last one was Prime Minister Ren Gong, and everyone returned to their respective government offices. There was nothing special about it.

Zhi Jinwu sent more soldiers to patrol the city than usual, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy. The entire Chang'an city was still in order yesterday.

After Huo Guang returned to the mansion, he never went out again, and all the greetings and departures of the general were as usual.

Among the eight lieutenants of the Northern Army, the only middle base lieutenant who stayed in Chang'an, the gate of the camp was closed, and the drills were as usual, and there were no abnormal transfers.

……

Dai Zong selected some of the most important things and reported them to Liu He.

While listening, Liu He carefully analyzed the current situation in his heart.

Huo Guang didn't move, which seemed like an absolutely good thing.

But now it's a little too quiet.

This means that the other party must have prepared a big "surprise" for himself in a corner that Liu He could not see.

Knowing a son is like a father, and Huo Guang is Liu He's "father" to a certain extent.

In the past few years, when Liu He had nothing to do, he repeatedly pondered Huo Guang's character.

Huo Guang is capable and cunning, arrogant but cautious.

Like a successful elder, he always likes to dictate to the younger generation.

It is a kind of self-confidence that develops on its own and eventually becomes conceited - self-confidence is a strength, conceit is a weakness.

Therefore, in front of Liu He, the emperor, Huo Guang was very conceited.

To put it bluntly, Huo Guang looked down on Liu He.

Now, Liu He's nephew and nephew made a mistake, no matter whether Huo Guang has the strength to subdue this junior, Huo Guang will express his attitude.

It's just that Liu He doesn't know where Huo Guang buried this "surprise".

……

After a stick of incense, Liu He and Dai Zong came to the vicinity of Menxia Temple.

As usual, the Menxia Temple was as busy as ever, with officials coming in and out--arriving in a hurry with the reports from the government office under its jurisdiction, and leaving in a hurry with the official documents issued by the temple.

Doesn't seem like much has changed.

Seeing the emperor approaching, the officials who entered and left the Menxia Temple were not very formal, they only saluted Liu He, and then left.

This is the rule set by Liu He: the officials of Menxia Temple do not need to perform the full salute when they see the emperor.

Otherwise, at the end of the day, it would take a lot of time just to kowtow and salute, so there is no need to do other things.

It was still early, and the rest of the courtiers should have been waiting for Liu He in the main hall of the temple, but Liu He didn't seem to be in a hurry to go in, but stopped outside the temple at Menxia.

"Dai Zong, I want you to hold a concurrent position in the Yushi doctor's mansion."

Although the Yushi doctor's mansion has restored some powers and responsibilities, what can Dai Zong do in the past?

However, Dai Zong still said without hesitation: "Your Majesty can issue an edict, and I have nothing to say."

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(End of this chapter)