Descendants of Pangu in the Great Desolation

Chapter 55 The Song of Wine
It has been three days since Situ Rui arrived in the Yuan Dynasty. Emperor Liu Yuan personally hosted a family banquet for Situ Rui and Yu Xin in the Guanjing Pavilion. After drinking for three rounds, Yu Xin felt unwell and left the banquet early. Liu Yuan and the two sang to each other over wine.

Liu Yuan saw that Situ Rui was only drinking wine with his head down all night, without any interest, and thought it was time, so he put down the wine glass in his hand and said to Situ Rui: "Why is the second prince so depressed? Did the lonely king neglect His Highness?"

Because Liu Yuan has been busy with state affairs and has no chance to get close to him, Situ Rui pretended to be preoccupied and waited for the fish to bite.As soon as Liu Yuan asked him this, he sighed and said: "Your Majesty, your country has nothing to neglect, it's just that I'm not in a good mood recently, so I'm worried about it." Liu Yuan left the dragon chair and came to sit beside Situ Rui. Xia asked: "What's on your mind with the lonely king... No, tell me. We are about the same age, so we should have a good chat. Anyway, just drinking is boring, why don't we just talk casually." Situ Rui put down The wine cup said: "Your Majesty is really flattering me when I say that. I am just a little prince. How can He De have the qualifications to talk to the Emperor." Liu Yuan said with a bit of displeasure: "Why do you look down on me, a small border country? Is it? Or does brother Situ look down on my brother Liu Yuan and disdain to talk to me?"

As soon as Situ Rui heard this, he knelt down and said to Liu Yuan: "Situ Rui didn't mean that, it's the emperor who is overthinking." Liu Yuan helped Situ Rui and said, "If I'm worrying too much, then talk to me. , although I am the emperor now, I have no friends around me who can know and accompany me. You are also a prince, so you should understand my situation." Situ Rui lowered his head and said: "Of course I understand the situation of the royal family. As for my friends, the people who come into contact with us all have various purposes, and they don’t communicate with us from the bottom of their hearts.” Liu Yuan sighed and said: “Oh...just take me as an example, don’t look at me being enthroned now As the emperor, do you think my father really wants me to take the throne? No. The princes fought openly and secretly, completely forgetting the brotherhood, and the father passed the throne to me before he died in despair. Now I look like It seems quite beautiful, but in fact, my brothers all want to eat my flesh and drink my blood, wishing that I would die in bed overnight so that they can become the emperor." Situ Rui asked: "Is that really the case? Your Majesty. Since you have followed me with such confidential matters, it means that you like me, Situ Rui, so I will tell you the truth. The reason why I am in a bad mood is not because of other things, but because of us The Yun Dynasty has never been canonized as a crown prince so far. Although being canonized as a crown prince does not necessarily mean he can inherit the throne, at least the success rate is higher. However, my father has been hesitating about the candidate for the crown prince. Only my brother Situ Ji and I are the only ones who hold the position of crown prince. What I said may make you feel that I really want to be the crown prince, but it is not the case. Although my brother Situ Ji is with me He is between brothers and sisters, but he is too benevolent to be the king of a country at all. Although the emperor wants to govern the country with a heart of benevolence, if the dynasty's internal and external troubles strike at the same time, he will blindly follow the way of benevolence. The dynasty must be destroyed in its hands. Therefore, the king of a country must not only know how to govern the country with benevolence, but also know how to strengthen the country with force. Only in this way can he be regarded as a good emperor and will not be cast aside by the people. Don’t you think so?”

Liu Yuan drank the wine in his glass and said: "It is indeed the case. If an emperor only knows how to retreat when he encounters an enemy, but does not know how to attack, then no matter how well he knows how to govern the country, his dynasty will collapse sooner or later no matter how big it is. At that time, not only will the common people not remember his meritorious deeds, but they will cast aside his incompetence." Situ Rui saw that Liu Yuan had already taken the bait and said, "Forget it, let's not talk about my affairs, anyway, Father now values ​​my brother, I think It's useless to have more, Your Majesty, let's have a drink." Situ Rui filled the wine glass in front of Liu Yuan, raised his own glass and drank it with Liu Yuan, and the two chatted and drank until late at night.

On the second night after talking with Liu Yuan, Situ Rui was thinking about his next plan in the room, when he heard the movement of figures outside the Qingfeng Hall, and vaguely heard a few sounds of arresting assassins, Situ Rui was awakened Yu Xin stayed in the room, grabbed her sword and rushed out.On the way, I met Tian Shaowei, the former deputy head of the imperial guard who was in charge of Situ Rui's safety, and learned from him that the emperor was sleeping in Dongyang Palace, the residence of Concubine Mei. Unexpectedly, at two o'clock, suddenly, several masked men with swords in hand broke into Dongyang Palace quietly. , To assassinate the emperor.Fortunately, before entering the palace, Concubine Mei learned some martial arts from her father, who was the former general of the imperial court, and blocked the deadly sword strikes on the chest for the emperor, but failed to block the crooked sword strikes. Fortunately, she only wounded the emperor's arm , life is unhindered.Seeing that the assassin failed, they split into two groups and fled Dongyang Palace. Concubine Mei hurriedly called the guards to hunt down the assassin when she saw the assassin escaped, and sent the imperial physician to treat the emperor.But only two assassins were caught and the rest ran away, and then the palace was mobilized and the guards could be used to hunt them down.When Situ Rui heard this, he hurried back to the Hall of Breeze, so that the assassin would have nowhere to escape and hide in the Hall of Breeze and hurt Yu Xin.Situ Rui went back to see that Yu Xin was fine, so he comforted Yu Xin and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Situ Rui and Yu Xin went to Dongyang Palace to visit the injured emperor. After arriving at Dongyang Palace, Yu Xin and Concubine Mei hit it off and did not disturb Situ Rui talking with the emperor. They went to the Imperial Garden to chat.Seeing the two of them going out, Situ Rui asked, "Your Majesty, do you know who sent someone to assassinate?" Liu Yuan moved his tightly bandaged arm and said, "It really made the second prince laugh. There was an assassin during our visit. Actually The lonely king knows who committed the murder but there is no evidence, so it is not easy to deal with it, lest the evidence is insufficient and the story will fall." Seeing Liu Yuan's sad face, Situ Rui asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, did your brother do it?" Poisonous hands?" Liu Yuan's face sank when he heard that, and said: "Well, since the prince already knows about the lonely king, he will not hide it. He interrogated the captured assassins last night and found out that those who want the lonely king's life will do so. It is the fourth brother of the lonely king, Liu Shu. Since he became the emperor, he has disliked the lonely king. Although he has a deep brotherly relationship with the lonely king, he is secretly playing tricks. He always wants to kill the lonely king, and he is not afraid of the prince's jokes. , This assassination is the third time that the Gu Wang has come to the throne. Although they all show that Liu Yi did it, but even if there is no evidence, the Gu Wang can't punish him and dismiss him from office."

Situ Rui thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, you can use the assassin you caught last night to question Liu Shu." Liu Yuan sighed and said, "If there were witnesses who could accuse Brother Four, the Gu Wang would have punished him long ago, so there's no need for him to be punished every day." Be wary and take precautions. Every time the assassin is caught for a quarter of an hour, the assassin dies without a problem and can't find the cause of the disease. This time, Xing Tian Shaowei interrogated the assassin on the spot, and only then did he know the person who instigated it. The assassins in the past few times also died unexpectedly, and the lonely king has no way to question him." Situ Rui knew that his opportunity had come and said softly: "If the emperor can trust me, you can entrust this matter to me, and I will definitely find Liu. Throw away the evidence of murdering the emperor, and kill him." Liu Yuan looked at Situ Rui for a long time and said, "Can the prince really relieve the lonely king from this serious trouble? As long as he finds the evidence that he murdered the lonely king, the lonely king will definitely reward him heavily." Situ Rui shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, I don't help the Emperor for any reward. I, Situ Rui, want to make friends with the Emperor and become close friends with the Emperor, so I want to help you." Liu Yuan said with joy when he heard that: "The lonely king has long wanted to make friends with the prince sincerely, as if he were a bosom friend, singing with wine and enjoying flowers under the moon. If the prince has sincere friendship, the lonely king is willing to form a friendship with the prince and be a good brother for life."

Situ Rui knew that the fish had taken the bait, and he could pull the net and reel up the line only when the time was right, so he said to Liu Yuan: "It is Situ Rui's blessing to be able to form an eight-worship friendship with the emperor, but this matter should not be rushed for a while. I, Situ Rui, will definitely take it." The evidence of Liu’s murder of the emperor is used as a testimony of our sworn brotherhood, brother Liu, take good care of your wounds and wait for my good news.” Liu Yuan patted Situ Rui on the shoulder and said: “This matter will trouble Brother Rui, why Brother is waiting for your good news."

After the two finished speaking, Situ Rui turned around and left, walking towards Qingfeng Hall.Seeing Situ Rui walking away, Liu Yuan smiled secretly: "I am looking forward to the news of your victory, Brother Rui. Haha..."

(End of this chapter)