Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 464: Conferring the title of Lady Guo, and being ambushed by bandits
The news that the emperor led the army to defeat the rebels and killed Ma Chao spread throughout Chang'an in a very short time.

Ma Chao's head and body were hung on the city gate tower.

All the people in Chang'an City saw it clearly.

When the people learned about this, they all cheered and every household was happier than during the Chinese New Year.

You have to know that Chang'an City had been under siege for more than half a month and was almost about to be breached. The shadow of death was like a mountain hanging over the hearts of all the people.

Now the mountain has finally been removed.

Many people ran to the city gate tower to watch and curse Ma Chao's corpse. Some wealthy businessmen even threatened to pay craftsmen to build a kneeling statue of Ma Chao with fine iron, so that he would kneel outside the city of Chang'an forever and be insulted by others.

This shows how much the people hated Ma Chao.

After all, colluding with foreign races to besiege the imperial capital is an unforgivable crime, which is in a sense more excessive than rebellion.

However, when some people are criticized, naturally some people are praised.

Among them, Yuan Xi, Gao Lan, Jia Xu, Zhao Yun and other great contributors to the defense of Chang'an all gained great reputation.

For example, Yuan Xi was the prime minister, but he personally went up to the city wall to kill the enemy; Gao Lan was hit by three arrows while protecting ordinary people; Jia Xu was seriously injured in the battle to defend the city.

Zhao Yun killed the traitor Ma Chao amidst thousands of soldiers.

These deeds were witnessed by everyone, and were passed on by word of mouth among soldiers and civilians, and were praised by the people.

Liu Xie didn't pay attention to these things.

He now has a lot of things to deal with, such as the treatment of prisoners of war, compensation for fallen soldiers, how to reward the civilians who participated in defending the city and died for defending the city, etc.

He needs to take care of every single thing.

Because Jia Xu was seriously injured, Guo Jia, Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang and others were all on the expedition, and only Fa Zheng, Yang Xiu, Chen Gong and others stayed by his side.

With fewer people to share the pressure, naturally he, as the emperor, had to work harder. He didn't have much chance to be lazy and was busy for several days in a row.

Weiyang Palace, Xuanshi.

Fa Zheng presented a memorial and said, "Your Majesty, this is the court's recommendation for rewarding the civilians who died or were injured in the battle of Chang'an. Please take a look."

Liu Xie was reviewing memorials. Upon hearing this, he rubbed his brows, reached out to take the memorial and started reading.

But after just a glance, he frowned and said with displeasure: "This is ridiculous! How can it be arranged like this?"

"The reason why Chang'an was able to survive the attack of the villain Ma Chao was not only because the soldiers fought hard, but also because the people contributed a lot."

"Those civilians who died or were injured in the battle to defend the city should enjoy the same treatment as the soldiers in the army, and they should not be deprived of military merit pensions!"

"Send it back and discuss it later!"

Liu Xie threw the memorial back casually. Now he felt more and more that it would be useless without reliable people to assist him.

Such memorials could also be presented to him.

In order to reduce the cost of pensions, they actually reduced it to the civilians who died in the battle. I really don’t know what those people in the court were thinking.

If this is really implemented, if a similar situation occurs again, who would be willing to defend the city with all their might?

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Fa Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and bowed in agreement.

His opinion was the same as Liu Xie's, but his words were not influential and there were some things he could not discuss unless Liu Xie asked him about it.

Just as Fa Zheng was about to leave, Liu Xie stopped him and asked, "How is Wen He? It's been five days, and he still hasn't woken up?"

It has been five days since the end of the Battle of Chang'an.

But Jia Xu hasn't woken up yet.

This made Liu Xie feel worried.

Fa Zheng said: "Your Majesty, I went to visit the Minister of the Central Secretariat yesterday, and he looked much better."

"I think he will wake up soon."

Liu Xie nodded then. Just when he was about to instruct the eunuch to send some supplements to Jia Xu's mansion, Zhao Yun suddenly came to report.

"Your Majesty, the Minister of the Central Secretariat requests an audience."

Zhao Yun walked into the Xuanshi Road.

Because Gao Lan was injured, the palace guards were temporarily led by Zhao Yun to protect the safety of the palace.

"Oh? Bring it in quickly!"

Liu Xie's eyes lit up, he put down the red pen in his hand and said.

Zhao Yun bowed and retreated.

Soon, Jia Xu walked into the Xuanshi Hall supported by two eunuchs. Perhaps because the injury had depleted his energy, Jia Xu looked a lot thinner.

Clothes that used to fit me well now seem a little too big.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you——"

After seeing Liu Xie, Jia Xu looked very excited. He knelt down and saluted with difficulty, and his movements were meticulous.

Seeing this, Liu Xie stood up and stepped forward to support him, saying, "Wenhe, you are still injured, why are you so polite?"

"Come here, give the Secretary-General a seat."

However, Jia Xu's face was full of tears, and he cried and said: "I am grateful to your majesty for your grace. I can't express it in words. I really..."

As he was speaking he could no longer speak.

Only tears kept falling.

After waking up from his coma, he learned that the rebels had been defeated and Ma Chao had been killed. He also learned that the emperor had personally sucked out the blood for him.

The first two pieces of news were within his expectations, but when he heard the latter piece of news, he was so shocked that he was speechless.

He was loyal to the emperor, half out of gratitude for the emperor's trust and attention to him; half for his own future and the prosperity of his descendants and family.

Although he thought that he had done well enough so far and the emperor trusted and valued him enough, he never expected that the emperor would do something like sucking out the blood from his wound!
This is beyond the ability to describe with just one word: grace.

Even though he was a shrewd man, he couldn't help but feel deeply moved by this and almost couldn't control himself.

So even though he had just recovered from a serious illness and even though his body was not yet fully recovered, he still struggled to enter the palace to meet the emperor to express his excitement.

"I never thought that one day I would see you and Wen cry."

Liu Xie laughed and teased Jia Xu, "When Feng Xiao comes back, I will tell him about this."

Jia Xu raised his hand to wipe away his tears. Hearing this, he was not embarrassed at all. Instead, he said proudly, "If Fengxiao knew about this, he would be envious of me."

To be able to receive such grace and honor from the emperor.

Throughout history, there has only been one person like him, Jia Wenhe!
So what if he cried for this?

Others don’t have the right to cry even if they want to!

"Good you fat man!"

Liu Xie burst out laughing for a moment and wanted to pat Jia Xu on the shoulder, but then he remembered that he still had an injury on his shoulder blade, so he withdrew his hand.

"Hurry up and sit down, don't stand there like an idiot."

"I just happen to have something to discuss with you."

Jia Xu arrived at the right time, as Liu Xie still had some questions to ask him about Fu Wan and Empress Fu.

"Yesterday, Fu Wan suddenly asked me to retire and return home. Besides that, I also heard some rumors about the queen... What's going on?"

Liu Xie was not aware of these things, nor did he learn about them in depth.

After all, I'm too busy with the tasks at hand and can't concentrate on it, so I might as well ask Jia Xu for clarification now.

"Your Majesty, don't you know?"

Jia Xu was stunned for a moment, then he looked at Fa Zheng and asked in confusion: "Didn't Xiaozhi tell His Majesty about this?"

Fa Zheng's face flashed with embarrassment, and he lowered his head and said, "This is not something I can discuss, so I did not report it to Your Majesty."

Jia Xu's eyes twitched and he couldn't help but sigh.

Fa Zheng didn't learn anything else from him, but he did learn a lot about caution, a little too cautious.

"What's going on?"

Liu Xie frowned and became more curious.

Jia Xu did not continue to keep the secret, and said: "Your Majesty, the night before you led the troops to rescue Chang'an, Ma Chao used a trick to test the strength of the troops in the city."

"This villain said that he would withdraw his troops if we handed over the queen and three thousand carts of treasures."

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

"At that time, Fu Guozhang strongly advocated to agree to Ma Chao's request and let the queen leave the city as a hostage, but was opposed by Lu Guiren."

"I was injured and unconscious at the time. After I woke up and learned about this, I rushed to stop it, thus preventing the Queen from leaving the city as a hostage. I also took the opportunity to plan a plan to ambush and kill Ma Chao..."

Jia Xu recounted what happened that day.

This matter involved the Queen and Fu Wan, and was somewhat sensitive, so no one took the initiative to mention it to Liu Xie.

Of course, there were also people like Yuan Xi who thought that the emperor already knew about this matter, so they did not say much.

After listening to Jia Xu's explanation, Liu Xie narrowed his eyes slightly.

Today, he is no longer the simple and naive college student time traveler he was five years ago. Through Jia Xu's words, he immediately understood Fu Wan's plan.

By letting Empress Fu voluntarily leave the city as a hostage, he could gain the reputation of saving Chang'an and thus gain benefits for the Fu family.

It is indeed a good method.

"No wonder this old fellow asked me to retire and return home. It turns out he was worried that I would cause trouble for him later... Haha."

Liu Xie sneered and spoke bluntly.

Just call Fu Wan "old guy".

He himself had no good feelings towards Yang Biao, Fu Wan and others. They were old and had made great contributions, so it was difficult to deal with them.

Yang Biao is fine, as he is usually quite honest. But Fu Wan is the only one who keeps jumping around, which is really annoying.

"May I ask how Your Majesty intends to deal with Fu Wan?"

Jia Xu asked bluntly.

If it were in the past, he would not ask so directly, but now his mindset has changed and he no longer cares so much.

The emperor trusts and respects him so much. If he still hides things from the emperor, he would be ungrateful.

"If he wants to retire and return home, I will let him return home."

Liu Xie's expression did not change at all, and he said calmly: "After all, he is a meritorious official who ascended to the Lingyun Pavilion, and he has done nothing wrong on the surface, so it is not easy for me to punish him."

Although Fu Wan's actions this time were disgusting, disregarding the safety of Chang'an in exchange for the interests of the Fu family, his cleverness lay in occupying the righteous cause.

Even if he is to be blamed, it can only be blamed on him for not being able to see through Ma Chao's plan, but there is no way to say that he had any bad intentions.

However, Fu Wan himself was still smart. He knew that what he had done this time was too much, so he took the initiative to resign and stay away from the court.

Otherwise, what awaits him is liquidation.

Looking at the emperor's expression, Jia Xu's eyes showed a thoughtful look, and it was unknown what he was thinking about.

Fa Zheng, who was standing by, was listening to the conversation between the two.

I just felt sweaty.

Is this really something he can listen to?
Why didn't he leave earlier?

Seeing that Fa Zheng was in a very uneasy state, Liu Xie knew what he was thinking, so he waved his hand and asked him to leave first.

Fa Zheng, as if he had been pardoned, left quickly.

After watching Fa Zheng leave the Xuanshi Hall, Jia Xu said, "Your Majesty, Lady Guo played a great role in preventing Fu Wan's plan from coming to naught this time."

He explained everything that Queen Guo had done.

Neither exaggeration nor shrinkage.

After hearing this, Liu Xie's eyes flashed with surprise. He didn't expect Queen Guo to be so courageous.

The most important thing is that he had stayed in Queen Guo's bedroom in the past few days, but he had never heard Queen Guo mention it, nor did she take the initiative to ask for credit from him.

On the other hand, Lu Lingqi praised Queen Guo a lot. He just thought that Queen Guo was accompanying Lu Lingqi to guard the palace gate, so she admired her so much.

It turns out that the root cause was this matter.

It has to be said that Queen Guo's wisdom and character are extraordinary, and it is even more commendable that she can remain calm after achieving such great achievements.

"It seems that being a beauty is a bit unfair to her. I will draft an edict later to promote her to a noble lady."

Liu Xie thought to himself that Queen Guo had made such great contributions that she must be rewarded, and it was also appropriate to raise her rank as a concubine by one level.

However, when mentioning Queen Guo, he couldn't help but think of Zhen Mi, who was still pregnant in Yecheng. Calculating the days, she should be about to give birth.

After being treated by Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing, Zhen Mi's lung disease has almost healed. She is no longer in danger of life and it will not affect her childbirth.

But no one can say for sure about this kind of thing, so Liu Xie was still quite worried. If pregnant women could ride rough, he would definitely bring Zhen Mi to Chang'an.

"Forget it, let's wait until she gives birth to the baby."

Liu Xie suppressed his thoughts and said to Jia Xu, "Wenhe, you should go back and rest first, and come back to the palace when your injury is better."

"I am very busy with government affairs now. Feng Xiao, Kong Ming and others are away. I really can't do without your help. You have to come quickly to help me share some of the pressure."

Jia Xu was touched and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern."

The king and his minister chatted for a while.

Jia Xu took the initiative to take his leave and left.

Taking his injuries into consideration, Liu Xie sent eunuchs to carry him all the way out of the palace and to the carriage outside the palace.

The carriage slowly drove towards the Jia Mansion.

It was already evening. Jia Xu sat in the carriage, looking out the window at the setting sun in the distance, without taking his eyes off it for a long time.

After a moment, he said calmly, "Fu Wan will be retiring soon, so please arrange some people to see him off, so that he can be more efficient and effective."

"Just make it... abducted by horse bandits."

There are some things that the emperor is not in a position to speak of.

So he needs to take the initiative.

What Fu Wan did this time has touched the bottom line of the emperor. Retire and return home? It's not that easy. There is no such good thing in the world.

"Yes, Lord Jia."

A low reply came from outside the carriage, and then there was silence except for the sound of a gentle breeze.

The carriage continued to move forward, gradually disappearing into darkness.

(End of this chapter)