After leaving Changle Palace, Huo Guang drank with some people and, once drunk, inadvertently divulged the emperor's entire plan. The news seemed to grow legs and soon spread far and wide.
People's ways of thinking truly differed far too much.
Liu Xun had brought his consummate political skill to bear, considering almost every aspect before shaping the Western Regions into his ideal. Yet once word spread through unofficial channels, hardly anyone besides the Luo Clan cared.
This left Liu Xun utterly taken aback.
The Western Regions were nothing more than a savage, benighted land where criminals were exiled. Many people even called them lands beyond the realm, sincerely believing they were not part of All Xia's territory.
That was the impression everyone under heaven had of the Western Regions, and it could not be changed in a short time. Even the Han people there thought the same way. Many officers and soldiers who had distinguished themselves in the surprise attack on the Xiongnu Royal Court wanted transfers back to the Central Plains.
The imperial princes were even busier lobbying on all sides. Everyone knew the empress's sons could not possibly be sent out to take up fiefs, leaving only those princes born to secondary consorts. The trouble was that this was the Western Regions, where the sun supposedly did not set until the hour of the Pig.
Better a single county in the Central Plains than a kingship in the Western Regions!
These princes were not lobbying to excuse themselves from going. Given their imperial father's temperament, he would certainly be furious if he saw them making one excuse after another. Their goal was to recommend their brothers instead.
"My imperial elder brother is naturally gifted and decisive, with a long record of ability. He should certainly be entrusted with