A Message Across a Thousand Li

"Have they left?"

"They're gone!"

"Liu An was a kind and benevolent man who treated the people well. If he had lived in a prosperous era, he would have been an excellent choice to be a ruler. Unfortunately, he was born in the wrong time!"

In Anle Palace, the Empress Dowager's black hair had turned gray, making her look like a pile of withered grass.

She raised her head and gazed in the direction of Shouchun City.

The Empress Dowager did not summon him, and the King of Huainan found it difficult to request his leave, so he had no choice but to leave Chang'an City in a huff.

This situation was within the Empress Dowager's calculations.

But she couldn't help but sigh slightly.

The King of Huainan has lingered here for so long without launching a coup; he has the will but not the courage.

The other party was neither a decisive and ruthless ruler like Emperor Jing, nor a shrewd and calculating strategist like King Liang; he seemed more like a monarch who did not belong to this era.

The King of Huainan was born in the wrong era, and did not meet the needs of that era.

Before they met, the Empress Dowager had a very good impression of the King of Huainan, believing him to be a renowned figure in the land.

However, after spending so much time together, the Empress Dowager also noticed the other party's fatal weakness.

If the King of King of Huainan were to take over the Great Han Dynasty, the other side would be like a doormat, forced to smile and appease no matter how much they were beaten, thus prolonging the Great Han Dynasty's remaining life.

This is similar to the ambergris that the Empress Dowager inhaled; it can alleviate pain but cannot cure illness.

If no outstanding successors emerge to turn the tide, the Great Han Dynasty after the King of Huainan will be even weaker.

This was not the emperor the Empress Dowager had in mind.

The other party was the only option the Empress Dowager had, but after careful consideration, she realized that the King of Huainan might be inferior to the new emperor in some respects.

"Enough, enough. It's good that he's gone back. At least we don't have to worry about him acting rebelliously out of eagerness," said the Empress Dowager.

"I doubt he has the guts to do such a rebellious thing!"

Princess Dou responded with a sound.

But she had been living in constant fear for the past ten days.

She could only sigh that the new emperor's escape had brought peace and quiet, leaving her and the Empress Dowager anxiously in the palace.

Despite the Empress Dowager and Princess Dou's stubbornness, if the King of Huainan really led his retainers in a rebellion, Cheng Bushi to withstand it. Their best fate would be to be taken away from Chang'an City by Cheng Bushi in the chaos.

With everything now in the past, Princess Dou finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Her words were harsh, but she couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy.

A country cannot be without a ruler for a day. The idea of a new emperor becoming the ruler is a joke. The King of Huainan is also unsuitable. The remaining princes do not even respect Princess Dou, let alone the Empress Dowager.

"How can our country and its people remain stable?" Emperor Dou asked in a low voice.

"Let's take it one step at a time. If we can't go on, we'll just give up," the Empress Dowager said silently. "Perhaps I won't live to see that day!"

"Mother, you're in good health!"

Princess Dou felt a pang of sympathy and could only try her best to say some kind words.

The mother and daughter were overjoyed that the King of Huainan had not rebelled.

The country is their greatest guarantee, but also their greatest constraint.

Having enjoyed the benefits brought by the Great Han Dynasty, no one wanted to fall to the bottom and return to being an ordinary person.

No one will hand it over unless the dynasty collapses and is overthrown.

This was an interest they would protect even at the cost of their lives. But even after exhausting all their ideas, the Empress Dowager and Princess Dou still found it difficult to sort out everything in the Great Han Dynasty. They had no idea how to keep the various princes in check, how to repel the menacing neighbors on the border, or how to guard against the most deeply hidden schools of thought and forces within the Great Han Dynasty.

"Report! Grand Master of Ceremonies Zhao Zhou has sent a message from afar!"

The mother and daughter were deeply engrossed in a tedious period of sitting in silence, and after a long time, they heard the old eunuch outside the main hall of Anle Palace exclaim with joy.

This was a sound rarely heard in Anle Palace. The Empress Dowager swayed her head slightly, feeling a little dizzy, while Princess Dou was startled before regaining her composure.

"Come in and read it!" said Lady Dou.

"Only!"

The main hall door was opened, and an old eunuch surnamed Zhou rushed in with small, quick steps.

This was an imperial eunuch specifically responsible for transmitting messages over long distances, but he received so few that even Princess Dou couldn't remember his name.

She couldn't very well call out the name aloud, but simply gestured for the other person to come over and read the message.

"It must involve His Majesty's affairs," Princess Dou said in a low voice.

"It seems like a good thing that Zhao Zhou, with his limited cultivation, could use the Thousand-Mile Communication Technique," the Empress Dowager nodded. "Perhaps it's because Yangxin and the Marquis of Pingyang have children!"

"Let alone the birth of twins in Yangxin and Pingyanghou, even if they had three or five at once, it wouldn't be worth Zhao Zhou expending so much effort and using magic to report it," said Princess Dou, shaking her head.

"Even on his journey to pay homage to his ancestors, Liu Che has encountered few other good things," the Empress Dowager said. "Could it be...?"

When the Empress Dowager's heart skipped a beat, Princess Dou quickly scolded the old eunuch to reassure her.

If the message is a sad one, this guy's grinning all the way through is a capital offense.

Unless the other party is driven mad by greed or loss, there must be something truly good that would justify such a lighthearted response.

"What are you doing standing there grinning like an idiot? Read it now!" Princess Dou shouted.

Princess Dou and the Empress Dowager chatted in hushed tones, and the old eunuch refrained from speaking.

He waited until Princess Dou and the Empress Dowager finished their conversation, and was scolded again, before he happily read aloud the contents of the message sent from afar.

It's very difficult to transmit information thousands of miles away using Technique Method. If your cultivation level is high enough, it's manageable, but if it's low enough, you're risking your life to send the message.

Very few people possess this kind of Technique Method, and it's only used for extremely urgent messages that people would relay them continuously.

It could be an urgent message from the frontier, a dispute involving huge interests, or something truly wonderful that makes it hard to contain one's excitement.

"The High Ancestor protected Chixiao and brought him back to life."

The old eunuch Zhou unfurled a scroll of bamboo slips. He took a bamboo stick and made a cut. As the blood seeped into the bamboo slips, the words on them reappeared.

The contents on the bamboo slips were very simple, with no punctuation or names, only eight characters.

This was perhaps the limit of Zhao Zhou's communication; the other party had described the matter as concisely and clearly as possible.

"Blessed by the High Ancestor, Chixiao has been reborn?"

Princess Dou recited it once after her.

At first she didn't feel anything, but a huge sense of joy welled up in her heart a few seconds later.

Even the hand she held when she grasped the Empress Dowager's trembled violently.

But just a few seconds later, Princess Dou noticed that the Empress Dowager's hands were trembling even more violently.

"Can Chixiao really be used?" The Empress Dowager found it hard to believe.

In the century following Emperor Gaozu, five emperors succeeded to the throne.

Some served in office for a short period, while others served for a long time.

Every emperor wanted to restore the glory of Emperor Gaozu, but none of them were able to do so.

The Empress Dowager never placed her hopes on the young new emperor; she even found it unbelievable.

For centuries, successive emperors had failed to make the Crimson Sky Sword stand up, but in less than two years since the new emperor ascended the throne, the enemy had already obtained the assistance of the founding emperor's sword.

"Emperor Gaozu chose Che'er!"

After the new emperor ascended the throne, the Empress Dowager addressed him either as "Your Majesty" or simply as "Liu Che," but never as "Che'er."

At this moment, she was completely certain of the new emperor, and the way she addressed him unconsciously changed.

Compared to that blind old woman, Emperor Gaozu was undoubtedly the true wise ruler.

Whoever can wield the Crimson Sky Sword will undoubtedly inherit the legacy of the Gaozu Emperor.

This was the most authoritative person in the Great Han Dynasty, and emperors of all dynasties had to step aside, let alone the Empress Dowager, who was her grandson's daughter-in-law.

At this moment, even the Empress Dowager had to acknowledge that the new emperor was the most legitimate master of the Great Han Dynasty.

Once the Crimson Sky Sword is verified, the Empress Dowager will undoubtedly be willing to lower her proud head and become a supporting figure in the Great Han Dynasty.