Everyone who hurried into the palace wore a grave expression. Most had no idea what had happened to make Liu Bang mobilize on such a scale.
He had actually summoned almost every Thorough Marquis in Chang'an City into the palace.
Fan Kuai strode over to Zhang Liang and asked in a low voice, "Marquis Liu, what do you think has happened?
"Even the King of Yan's rebellion didn't cause such a stir. Could the King of Huainan, the most powerful of them, have rebelled?"
Ever since Liu Bang had abandoned the idea of replacing the Crown Prince, Fan Kuai's standing had shot up by virtue of being Liu Bang's brother-in-law.
Zhang Liang said softly, "It certainly isn't Ying Bu rebelling. I just saw Great General Han Xin and the Marquis of Anyang, Luo Cai, arrive as well. A mere Ying Bu doesn't carry that much weight."
Fan Kuai was startled. Even Han Xin had been summoned.
Since Xiang Yu's defeat and death and the founding of the Han Dynasty, Han Xin had never commanded troops again. He had stayed home, annotating ancient military treatises while preparing to write his own The Art of War of Huaiyin.
Everyone understood this situation without saying it aloud, and no one commented.
Han Xin should long since have reached the point where no higher title or greater reward could be granted, but he had voluntarily relinquished his kingship. Between husband and wife, they had received Thorough Marquis titles with a total of forty thousand households.
If he earned further merit, his allotted households certainly could not be increased. Beyond thirty thousand households-back when Marquis Wenxin Lü Buwei had been granted 100,000 Households of Luoyang, he had already more or less ceased to be merely a subject.
Either Luo Cai would have to receive an