Chapter 61 Inviting people
Inside the hall, the sound of drums and music was still resounding, but someone had already poked his head out from behind the screen because of the screams.

All the dancers first scattered in panic, and then fell heavily to their knees.

Blood slowly seeped out along the blunt sword, and then gathered into a round blood bead, which fell down and soaked into the blanket.

A glimmer of unbridled pleasure first flashed across Zhu Hanbin's eyes, and then a glimmer of fear appeared.

The resolute and serious expression on his face suddenly turned into a look of fear, and he took a step back.

The sound of drums and music stopped at once, and a buzzing sound suddenly arose in the hall.

Xiao Yan covered his right chest in disbelief, was stunned for a moment, then looked at Zhu Wen, the head of the palace, pleadingly, his lips opened and closed, but before he uttered a word, he fell backwards.

The thin figure landed heavily on the carpet with a dull sound. Bright red blood gushed out from his chest, which was particularly dazzling in this long hall.

"presumptuous!"

At the upper left, the Ghost King, who was sitting next to the throne, slapped the table and stood up.

"Zhu Jichen, what good thing have you done!?"

Opposite him, the Hades opened his small eyes and looked Zhu Hanbin up and down, then threw the blunt sword that he had turned into an iron ball to the eunuch beside him.

He sneered, but he didn't expect that the latter would kill the deposed emperor of the previous dynasty in public.

Inside the hall, the expression on Zhu Hanbin's face changed several times, and then he threw away the blood-stained sword and prostrated himself.

"Your Majesty, when I saw the sword flashing, I thought that the son of the Li family wanted to assassinate you in public, so I had to rush to protect you..." He crossed his hands and knelt down, saying confidently: "Two months ago, when the son of the Li family was detained in Caozhou, the rebels of Li Tang and people from Qi and Jin wanted to kidnap him."

"According to your humble servant, the remnants of the Li Tang still have evil intentions. Keeping this Li son will only make Li Keyong and Li Maozhen more ambitious. As a minister of Liang, I have long wanted to kill this son for the sake of the Liang country! However, I did not expect that this son had such evil intentions that he took the opportunity to assassinate in such an occasion. If I kill him, it may affect your Majesty's holy name. I will bear all the blame for this!"

His voice was earnest, and as soon as he finished speaking, he kowtowed deeply.

Li Zhen was actually a little dazed, but at this moment he half-covered his eyes and raised the corners of his mouth.

Zhang Quanyi, who was beside him, stroked his short beard and looked at the figure lying on the ground without saying a word.

At the head of the palace, the Ghost King could no longer make the decision, so he looked towards the throne.

Zhu Wen leaned forward and stared at Zhu Hanbin who was bowing his head, as if trying to determine whether what he said was true or false.

Finally, he waved lightly.

"Call the imperial physician."

In front of everyone, a eunuch bowed and carried Xiao Yan up, and walked out of the hall.

Everyone was still a little stunned, but they didn't dare to speak anymore. Some people stared at Zhu Hanbin who was motionless, and began to speculate on his fate.

Some people looked at the dancers kneeling in front of the table. They knelt with their heads bowed, their curved buttocks sticking up, which was very tempting to make people want to touch them.

But no one dared.

The Hades Emperor looked as if he had nothing to do with the matter, while the Ghost King stood up, crossed his arms and saluted, saying, "Father, although Zhu Jichen..."

"Zhu Hanbin's loyalty is commendable, and it really makes me happy." Zhu Wen said on the throne: "I have always been kind to Li Yu, the surviving son of the Li family, because I remembered that he once ate Tang's salary. I didn't expect that he has always secretly resented me. It is because I have been too kind to Li."

His tone was calm and his expression showed no emotion. No one among the ministers dared to respond.

Only the Ghost King who was standing immediately responded respectfully.

"Your Majesty is wise and brave, and has saved the Li Tang Dynasty from danger several times. The Li Tang Dynasty was not worthy of its position, and there were many incompetent rulers, which led to chaos and misery in the world. Your Majesty has received the mandate of heaven, so why should you treat the Li family well? In my opinion, you should exterminate the entire Li family!"

On the right side, Li Zhen also stepped out and said, "Your Majesty has received the mandate of heaven. You should kill all the Li family members to restore the imperial lineage."

Zhu Hanbin pressed his forehead against the blanket on the ground, but he felt a little uneasy.

Sure enough, Zhu Wen above spoke again, and this time his voice was even more indifferent.

"Since this is the case, I will sentence Li Yu to death, so that those remnants of the Li Tang dynasty who are still alive in the world will give up their intentions as soon as possible."

This statement must have been shocking, but for the officials in Daliang, it was already commonplace.

The descendants of Li Tang were not really that precious. However, the previous descendants of Li were at most executed in secret, but now they were changed to an open imperial decree.

"Your Majesty the Holy Ming..."

Only after hearing the surprised voices of the crowd did Zhu Hanbin muster up the courage to look up.

Zhu Wen's voice was heard again: "Let Zhu Jichen handle this matter, and Si Tu Li Zhen will supervise it on my behalf."

Countless eyes were instantly cast towards Zhu Hanbin, causing the latter to be stunned for a moment.

But Li Zhen had already stepped out and politely replied, "Your Majesty, I obey your order."

Zhu Hanbin was a little flustered, but he finally stood up and said calmly, "Your Majesty, I obey your order."

Zhu Wen looked at him and said something comforting.

"Ji Chen has done a great job in protecting the emperor. After this incident, he can be appointed as the commander of the Left Dragon and Tiger Army."

This seemed to give everyone in the hall an illusion that it was really the surviving son of Li Tang who was holding a grudge and wanted to take the opportunity to assassinate Zhu Wen.

But no one cared. Killing an abandoned emperor of Li Tang was just like crushing an ant.

However, Zhu Wen's interest was ultimately dampened, so he no longer stayed in the hall and left.

The dance party continued, but the mood of the crowd was even higher. Someone congratulated Zhu Hanbin on his promotion, but the latter just smiled dryly in response.

His eyes moved several times, each time falling on the bloodstains on the carpet.

Until a palace maid came hurriedly and quickly replaced him.

------

At night, outside the imperial city.

The carriage moved slowly, and Li Zhen lowered the curtains to block out Zhu Hanbin's respectful expression outside.

There was a servant in the carriage, who was spreading a blanket to prevent the cold wind from blowing in.

Li Zhen stroked his beautiful beard gracefully and said, "Check who Zhu Luoyan has been in contact with in the past few days."

The servant knelt at the door of the car and nodded in response.

The carriage drove very steadily, crossing the Luo River and approaching Guandefang, which was adjacent to Jishanfang.

But immediately, the car slowed down.

The servant then stood up.

"I will go and ask the janitor to open the door."

But before he could go down, he heard shouting from outside.

"This is the carriage of Li Gong, the Inspector General of the Imperial Court. It has a badge personally bestowed by His Majesty. How can it be said to be against the law?!"

Li Zhen opened his eyes, with some displeasure between his brows.

"Go and see what happened."

The servant responded, went down quickly, and shouted, "Where is your team leader?"

The commotion stopped immediately, and soon the carriage started moving again.

Li Zhen snorted softly, enjoying the pleasure brought by power.

The next moment, the thick curtain was lifted, and a big hand grabbed the servant's hair and reached in.

The cold wind wrapped in snow particles swept in, causing Li Zhen's eyes to jump instantly.

The Jinwu Guard officer who entered grinned, threw the servant into a corner, and said in a rough voice: "It is inconvenient for us to walk at night, but we happened to meet Li Situ."

"Si Tu has the imperial badge, so he should be able to let us pass through without any hindrance, right?"

There was a trace of blood on the exposed collar of the young officer. Although it was subtle, Li Zhen could still catch a glimpse of it under the candlelight in the carriage.

He felt a chill on his back, but he remained calm and said in a deep voice, "You have a Hedong accent. Are you from Jin?"

The lieutenant stepped forward, patted Li Zhen on the cheek and laughed.

"Situ Dang should know that some things should be kept to oneself."

The action of the other party slapping his face made Li Zhen's whole body stiffen, and then an indescribable humiliation arose from the bottom of his heart.

With a gloomy face, he shouted, "Are you really not afraid of dying in Luoyang?"

The lieutenant just smiled and played with a dagger in his hand.

"Someone wants to see Situ, so he asked us to come and invite him. I hope Situ can do me the honor."

The dagger flashed a cold light, blocking what Li Zhen wanted to say next.

　Chapter 3 will probably not be released today, so don't wait...

　　Say Happy New Year to all my fellow book friends in advance, see you tomorrow~

　　
　
(End of this chapter)