I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 269: Sunflower Palace Gentlemen's Hall

Soon after.

Hejian King Liu Shou and several officials from vassal states rushed over with their men.

Hejian County Magistrate Wei Chen also came to join them with several local officials and a group of people.

There is no king in the world.

The Crown Prince of the Han Dynasty was doing business in their jurisdiction, so they had to serve him well both in public and in private, and do their best to assist the Crown Prince in getting things done beautifully, otherwise they would be suspected of dereliction of duty and would not be able to explain to the Emperor afterwards.

"Your Highness, please take a look."

Wei Chen also brought a map of Hejian State with him and pointed out to Liu Ju before he set out:

"There are two counties in the southeast of Hejian County, one called Jiaohe County and the other called Houjing County. Although the two counties are both in the southeast of the county, they are east-west of each other and cannot be visited at the same time. I wonder which county Your Highness will go to first this time. I will order a fast horse to scout the way and prepare."

Liu Ju did not answer, but turned back to look at Guo Xuanzi who was still resting with his eyes closed:

"Lord Guo, I wonder where the aura you saw is located?"

"The aura I saw was in this direction."

Guo Xuanzi half opened his eyes and raised his wrinkled finger to point towards the southeast.

"That should be Houjing County."

Wei Chen saluted and bowed,
"In that case, I will arrange for the government officials to ride fast horses to Houjing County to inform the county magistrate and arrange accommodation for Your Highness in advance, and search the entire county for the 'lucky star noble' that Your Highness is looking for."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Governor Wei."

Liu Ju returned the greeting with a smile.

"Your Highness, your words are too serious. This is just my duty, and I should do my best."

Wei Chen bowed again and walked quickly outside to take care of things.

Liu Ju raised his eyes again and looked at Liu Shou, the Prince of Hejian, and the officials behind him, and said with a smile:
"King of Hejian, I am passing through Hejian State this time. Thanks to your careful arrangements. Let's say goodbye here today. When you go to Chang'an for the next grand ceremony, you must come to my Bowang Garden for a visit."

"Your Highness, this...I'm afraid it's inappropriate!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Shu immediately said in fear and trepidation,

"Your Highness is still on official business in Hejian State. As the King of Hejian, I am not always by your side to serve Your Highness. Even if Your Majesty does not blame me and the world does not criticize me, I cannot be so rude. Otherwise, how can I face Your Highness again in the future?"

Liu Ju felt very awkward hearing Liu Shou, who was only one or two years younger than him, calling himself "grandson" in front of him and speaking in a more mature and sophisticated manner than many old-timers in officialdom.

In fact, when he proposed to resign at this time, he also had the intention of testing Liu Shou in his heart.

After all, now that "Lady Gouyi" has appeared in the territory of Hejian State, Liu Ju naturally has reason to suspect that he is involved.

However, based on the information currently available, it is far from enough to prove that Liu Shou was involved in this incident, even if he insists on going to Houjing County together.

After all, those who participated may choose not to be present to avoid suspicion, and those who did not participate may insist on accompanying just to have fun...

Thinking this in his heart, Liu Ju nodded:
"In that case, I'll have to trouble you again."

"Your Highness, I am really embarrassed by what you said. I will go and make some arrangements first, and then I will set off with Your Highness' carriage."

Liu Shou bowed and saluted, always being humble, polite, mature and steady.

As Liu Shou and the others withdrew, Liu Ju had already made a preliminary assessment in his mind based on their performance just now:

Needless to say, Guo Xuanzi had already revealed her identity as a "werewolf" to Liu Ju the moment she mentioned "lucky star and noble lady".

Hejian County Magistrate Wei Chen was suspected of having cooperated with Guo Xuanzi just now, so he is a bit suspicious.

Although Hejian King Liu Shou had never had any form of communication with Guo Xuanzi from beginning to end, he possessed a shrewdness and way of doing things that was inconsistent with his age, which needs further observation.

As for the remaining vassal officials and local officials, no one has entered Liu Ju's sight for the time being.

……

The distance between Hejian County and Houjing County is more than 150 miles.

If you are traveling alone on horseback, it is not a big problem to arrive in one day.

However, for a caravan like Liu Ju's that was large in scale and had a lot of accompanying items, walking a hundred miles a day was considered a forced march, and both people and horses would have to bear a considerable load.

In order not to miss the "good luck of the year", the entire parade team finally stepped up a bit and decided to continue on their journey that night.

of course.

As the crown prince, Liu Ju certainly didn't have to do it himself and could just lie in the carriage for the night.

This went on until the next morning.

The parade convoy finally had only thirty miles left to go before Houjing County.

When Liu Ju got off the carriage and stretched his body, Wei Chen, the governor of Hejian County who had been waiting for a long time, immediately came to greet him and reported with a happy face: "Your Highness, good news, good news!"

"The magistrate of Houjing County sent someone to report that after receiving the order from me yesterday, the officials of Houjing County immediately organized people to search the county overnight. Finally, a woman who is suspected to be the 'lucky star noble lady' was found a few hours ago. We are just waiting for Your Highness and Lord Guo to verify it!"

"Oh? I was wondering why I heard the call of a magpie in the car just now. It turned out that the governor came to tell me the good news!"

Liu Ju was not surprised at all, but still showed an extremely pleasantly surprised expression, and asked with a smile,

"Does the governor know the name of this woman and who she is from?"

"Although her exact identity is still unknown, according to the report from the Houjing County Magistrate, this woman is very consistent in every aspect with the 'lucky star noble lady' that Your Highness is looking for."

Wei Chen smiled and bowed.

All aspects?

Liu Ju immediately became more suspicious of Wei Chen.

I don’t know what exactly the “all aspects” he was talking about were, but in Liu Che’s edict, only two characteristics of the “lucky star noble lady” were mentioned, one was a woman, and the other was a clenched fist.

As for the jade hook in his hand, there were also the more stringent additional conditions proposed by Liu Ju.

Only Liu Ju himself and Guo Xuanzi who was present at the time knew about it.

However, Liu Ju did not question Wei Chen on the spot, but just smiled calmly and said:
"That's great! If this woman is really the 'lucky lady' I'm looking for, after returning to Chang'an, I will personally report her merits to my father, the Emperor, and to the governor Wei and the magistrate of Houjing County."

"Your Highness, you are too kind. This is what I should do. How dare I take credit for it?"

The smile on Wei Chen's face suddenly became wider, and he spoke modestly again and again.

When I was talking.

"Crack! Crack!"

A series of horse hoof sounds came from afar, and the nearby Qimen warriors looked over to hear the sounds, but no one stepped forward to stop them.

Because the person who came was none other than Liu Ju's cousin Wei Kang.

"Master Wei, I have some things to deal with..."

Liu Ju just took a look and smiled apologetically at Wei Chen.

Wei Chen naturally understood what Liu Ju meant, and immediately bowed to Liu Ju:
"Your Highness's business is more important, so I will take my leave now."

After Wei Chen left, Wei Kang also happened to be nearby. He dismounted from his horse a few feet away and then trotted to Liu Ju's side, saying in a low voice:

"Your Highness, can we go to the car to discuss this in detail?"

"A big harvest?"

"It can't be said that it is a big gain. It's just that after receiving the instructions from His Highness the day before yesterday, I got some information yesterday. After careful analysis, I suddenly had some concerns..."

"Get in the car first."

Liu Ju made a gesture for silence and pulled Wei Kang back to the carriage.

Guo Zhen personally drove the carriage for Liu Ju all the way. Since he was an absolute close friend, he was naturally not afraid of the news leaking out.

After getting on the carriage, Wei Kang took out two scrolls of bamboo slips from his arms and handed them to Liu Ju for inspection, while continuing to speak in a low voice and with a serious expression:

"Your Highness ordered me to check the backgrounds of the Hejian County Governor and the Hejian King. It turned out to be a foresighted decision."

"Hejian County Governor Wei Chen is easy to deal with. There is nothing wrong with his identity and background. But Your Highness needs to pay more attention to Hejian King Liu Shou."

"Liu Shu's great-grandfather was Liu De, the first King of Hejian."

"Your Highness should have heard of Liu De. He is the second son of Emperor Xiaojing and the younger brother of the deposed Crown Prince Liu Rong."

"When Emperor Xiaojing deposed Liu Rong and enthroned the present emperor, Liu De was still the King of Hejian. Later, when the present emperor ascended the throne, Liu De traveled all over Lu, Yan, Zhao and Wei, searching for Confucian classics. He also recruited Confucian scholars from all over the world, built the Rihua Palace and the Junzi Pavilion, and set up more than 20 guesthouses to treat them well."

"For a time, Liu De's reputation as a wise and talented person spread far and wide. The amount of Confucian classics surpassed that of the Weiyang Palace. Confucian scholars from Guandong rushed to offer books. Hejian State also became a prosperous place of ritual and music and a center of Confucian culture, which even Chang'an could not compare to."

"Later, the current emperor 'respected Confucianism alone and suppressed all other schools of thought.'"

"Liu De personally went to the capital to present his collection of Confucian classical music. When His Majesty asked him about Confucianism, Liu De gave him endless answers."

"However, although Your Majesty praised him greatly on the surface, and personally gave him wine and gold and silk as rewards, he privately warned him, 'King Tang was seventy li, and King Wen was a hundred li, so the king should work hard.'"

"Liu De understood what your majesty meant. This was to accuse him of wanting to emulate King Tang of the Shang Dynasty and King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty, Ji Chang, and covet the Han Dynasty's sacred artifacts as a vassal king!"

"After that, Liu De returned to Hejian State, but he became disheartened and indulged in drinking and music. He died just four months later."

"After Liu De's death, the Confucian scholars in the country were very excited and cried out for Liu De. Some vowed to seek justice for him and restore the reputation of Confucianism, but it was only a commotion for a while before it came to nothing."

"However, since then, the Confucian scholars recruited by Liu De during his reign have always been the guests of honor in Hejian State. Now the King of Hejian has been passed down for three generations. In Liu Shou's generation, except for a few great Confucian scholars who have died of old age, the Confucian scholars are still the iron-clad ones, and the King of Hejian is changing. The education, rituals, music, and sacrificial events in the country are all presided over by these Confucian scholars, and the same is true for criminal law and case judgment. Even the county magistrates and the prime minister appointed by the court still need to consult the Confucian scholars in the country on all matters, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the people and it will be difficult to move forward..."

(End of this chapter)