"Be careful not to make it too obvious." Chen Gong gave Gao Shun solemn instructions. He kept feeling that the Son of Heaven's arrival was too sudden and too strange. There had to be something more behind it.
"Understood!"
Gao Shun nodded, then turned and left.
Only then did Chen Gong head into the city.
After welcoming Emperor Xian of Han and Dong Cheng into the city, Lü Bu quickly prepared a lavish banquet and summoned all the officers under his command, high and low, to pay their respects to the Son of Heaven together.
"Your Majesty, although I have abstained from drinking for several months, today, to celebrate your arrival in Shou County, I must drink to my heart's content!"
"Your servant offers this jar in a toast to Your Majesty!"
Lü Bu cupped his hands toward Emperor Xian of Han, then raised the wine jar in his arms, tipped back his head, and gulped like an ox drinking water. Before long, he had drained the entire jar!
"Bravo!"
"What a capacity for drink, General!"
"Excellent! Excellent!"
"I'll toast Your Majesty with a jar too!"
Nearly everyone present was a military officer. They knew little of etiquette and felt no restraint, offering toast after toast to Emperor Xian of Han. The atmosphere was extraordinarily lively.
But Emperor Xian of Han was utterly distracted. Instead, he felt a weight blocking his heart, because in his eyes, these men were not showing respect to him at all, but to that Pretender Emperor!
My Marquis of Wen... clearly, I came first!
What right does he have!
Emperor Xian of Han was filled with bitter resentment. He drank cup after cup, feeling that today's wine tasted especially bitter, yet its bitterness could not compare to even a ten-thousandth of what lay