Jia Xu froze for a moment at those words, then turned to Fa Zheng and asked in puzzlement, "Xiaozhi, did you not tell His Majesty about this?"
A trace of embarrassment crossed Fa Zheng's face. Lowering his head, he said, "This was not a matter I could comment on, so I did not report it to His Majesty."
The corner of Jia Xu's eye twitched, and he could not help sighing.
Fa Zheng might not have learned anything else from following him, but he had certainly learned a good deal of his caution-a little too much, in fact.
"What exactly happened?"
Liu Xie frowned, growing ever more curious.
Jia Xu stopped keeping him in suspense. "Your Majesty, on the night before you led your troops to relieve Chang'an, Ma Chao used a ruse to probe the strength of the forces inside the city."
"The scoundrel said that if we handed over the Empress and three thousand cartloads of wealth and silk, he would withdraw his troops."
"Imperial Father-in-Law Fu strongly advocated agreeing to Ma Chao's demand and sending the Empress out of the city as a hostage, but Noble Lady Lü opposed him."
"I was unconscious from my injuries at the time. After waking and learning what had happened, I rushed over to stop it. Only then did we prevent the Empress from leaving the city as a hostage, and I seized the opportunity to devise an ambush to kill Ma Chao..."
Jia Xu recounted the events of that day in detail.
The matter involved the Empress and Fu Wan and was somewhat sensitive, so no one had taken the initiative to mention it to Liu Xie.
Of course, some, like Yuan Xi, had assumed the Son of Heaven already knew and therefore said nothing more.
After hearing Jia Xu's