96. He Jin's Military Festival

He Jin: "Then you haven't sent some people to investigate it? What if Your Majesty's Illness is terminal? Don't you want your son to become the crown prince and then Emperor of the Han Dynasty? What if those damned eunuchs managed to persuade Your Majesty to put Liu Xie as the Crown Prince?!"

Empress He began to grow solemn when she heard that Liu Xian could be out as the crown prince, She knew that Emperor Ling favored Liu Xian than Liu Bian because He felt that Liu Bian was unfit to be emperor because he was frivolous and unable to command respect.

Liu Xie was born from Beauty Lady Wang (AT: that's a title in the Chinese harem during the Eastern Han Dynasty) whom Empress He considered her arch nemesis because she managed to give birth to Liu Bian who was the only son of Emperor Ling and suddenly Liu Xi was born making the succession that will certainly fall into Liu Bian to change.

Beauty Lady Wang was then poisoned by Empress He in her jealousy and the motherless Liu Xi was raised by his grandmother Empress Dowager Dong, which is why Emperor Ling also paid more attention to Liu Xie due to Beauty Lady Wang's death.

Empress He: "Then what should we do Brother? I want My son to be the one on the throne! Not the son of that bitch Lady Wang!"

He Jin: "We have to support Liu Bian, I bring him with me to participate in the Military Festival showing his face to the people and the officials. Let him gain some support from others and slowly we will change Your Majesty's perception of Liu Bian, if that doesn't work then we can only fight with Zhang Rang to not let them succeed in putting Liu Xie as the Crown Prince."

Empress He: "I will support whatever you do Brother, but how about Lie Fan the Governor Of Xu? His influence is also on par with you and Zhang Rang in the Court, who's side will he be on?"

He Jin: "I don't know, I hope that at least he stayed neutral but I don't think that will happen as he knew that whoever was on the throne put either me or Zhang Rang He will feel threatened because we can manipulate the Emperor."

Empress He and He Jin were putting up a plan to ensure Liu Bian's portion as the Crown Prince was secured, He Jin wanted to exterminate the 10 Eunuchs but Empress He didn't allow that due to past help from the Eunuch she could have her position now.

He Jin was irritated by this because he knew that the eunuch would be a big thorn even if Liu Bian became the emperor so he decided to kill the eunuch without telling his sister, even if his sister was angry at least her son would become the Emperor.

Zhang Rang and the eunuchs received the news about He Jin's visit to his sister, they knew that the Grand General was definitely planning something to take advantage of the situation that was happening right now.

All of them have a headache as to who spreads the news about Emperor Ling's sickness, they intentionally block news about Emperor Ling's sickness to ensure that Liu Xie will be positioned as the Crown Prince and they can become the regent which will raise their power more in the Han Dynasty.

Now that the news has been spread outside, they also anticipate the movement of other forces and try to stop the news from spreading anymore but it's too late.

The news of Emperor Ling's sickness keeps spreading and even the people of Luoyang know now that their Emperor is sick. Some were rejoicing as maybe he would die and they receive a better Emperor, while the others weren't cheerful when they heard this as they were afraid that a war would happen thanks to the succession line that isn't clear yet.

Serenity Inn and Dragon's Fang Tavern as the number one place to visit became exclusive places for this information to keep spreading, Lie Fan told Jia Xu to purposefully amplify the speed of the news being spread. If this news is being spread even outside of Luoyang, maybe people like Dong Zhuo will begin preparation for something that he can take benefit of.

For about 2 weeks the news kept being discussed by all classes of people in Luoyang, to divert the attention of the people He Jin finished the preparation for the Military Festival in a short amount of time as Liu Bian stage to raise his prestige.

Lie Fan as the Governor Of Xu Province, General Of The Left, and a Hero who Suppress the Rebellion was invited to attend the Military Festival, he brought Jia Xu and Sun Qian with him to attend but he was surprised when he saw that he was seated beside He Jin and a 9-year-old boy.

Lie Fan: "Lie Fan General Of The Left greet Gran General He Jin!"

He Jin: "Haha General Lie has come, Before taking your seat let me introduce you to Marquis Of Shi Imperial Prince Liu Bian!"

Lie Fan: "General Lie Fan greets Your Highness Princ Liu Bian! I beg your forgiveness for not greeting your Highness!"

Liu Bian was still a small child but thanks to education and some lectures from He Jin beforehand, he at least can act receiving Lie Fan and forgiving him which of course helped by He Jin at the side.

Lie Fan and his advisors know now why he was seated here, not beside Emperor Ling and Empress He with who should have been Liu Xie sitting on another patio. He Jin wanted to make Lie Fan seen supporting Liu Bian the eldest to become the Crown Prince which Lie Fan didn't have a problem with because many officials chose Liu Bian because he is older and He Jin at the side was helping him.

Many officials saw this including Baohuzhe members, They were confused at first as Lie Fan never notified them that he supported Liu Bian but they kept their doubts or confusion for now as they could ask him later.

The Military Festival began, Han Imperial Army marched through in front of the palace. Infantries, Archers, and Cavalries were shown with excellent formation, impressing the people who were watching it.

Many people enjoyed it but not all, Lie Fan is one of them as the formation of his soldiers is more excellent than what was shown thanks to the knowledge he has from the future. After the soldier's parade was over, Imperial Generals next came forward to have a dueling contest in which the champion would be crowned as The Strongest General in Han Army.

Many young generals and veterans signed up to enter the contest, Lie Fan saw some of the attributes that these generals had, and the highest was only on par with Liu Pi when he first joined Lie Fan. This also shows the quality of Han generals was poor and some of the strong generals were under the command of people like Ding Yuan, Gongsun Zan, and Dong Zhuo people who guarded the border against the Mongols tribe.

Huang Zhong and Lie Fan's bodyguard wanted to sign up at first but Lie Fan sent them orders to not do that as he wanted to hide them, Huang Zhong can be said to be his biggest trump card for the war in the future so he doesn't want anyone to know him yet. While his bodyguard's capability was unknown to Noble of Luoyang, he wanted to keep it that way until Anti Dong Zhu alliance began.

Lie Fan watches duel after duel, he wants to watch it in peace but He Jin at the side of course will not let this happen. He makes Liu Bian and Lie Fan have a conversation, talking about which general will win and making Lie Fan talk about some of his exploits to Liu Bian making Liu Bian admire Lie Fan.

Lie Fan who was still talking with Liu Bian was suddenly patted on the shoulder by He Jin.

He Jin: "General Lie Fan, I have long heard about your prowess in battle! Why don't you become the hidden challenger and challenge the last standing general after the contest?!"

He Jin's loud voice attracted everyone there even Emperor Ling who was on the other Patio heard it, Emperor Ling immediately agreed with his brother-in-law's suggestion and hoped that Lie Fan would agree.

Seeing that he was put in a trap by He Jin doesn't have much choice but to agree, Emperor Ling is satisfied by his agreement promising him a reward if he wins the duel. Jia Xu and Sun Qian who was behind Lie Fan actually thought that this was a good chance for Lie Fan to showcase his prowess, raise his prestige, and even get some reward from Emperor Ling.

The last duel finally ended and a Veteran General by the name of Zou Jing won the duel, He Jin who saw this stood up and Liu Bian who was beside him stood up as well. Liu Bian whispered some words to He Jin and He Jin began to speak which can be seen that He Jin was the one who made this happen.

He Jin: "General Zou Jing, congratulations on winning the duel! Your Majesty The Emperor and Your Highness Prince Liu Bian congratulated you on your win! But Your Majesty has a surprise challenge for you, I don't know if you accept this challenge?"

Zou Jing: "This Humble General will accept whatever Chalkenger Your Majesty gives to me!"

He Jin: "Great! Then to decide who was the strongest General in The Han Army, Your Majesty invited the General Of The Left and the Governor Of Xu Province Lie Fan to duel the winner!"

Lie stood up after He Jin finished reading and saluted Zou Jing as a sign of respect and acknowledgment to him.

He Jin's statement immediately surprised everyone both nobles and common people they didn't react at first but when they saw Lie Fan standing up, The people immediately cheered when they heard that Lie Fan would participate in the duel. the nobles exclaimed to one another as they knew that Lie Fan hadn't participated before and this meant that they finally could see if the rumors were true about Lie Fan's prowess in the war.

__________________

Name: Lie Fan

Title: Yellow Heaven Subjugator

Age: 18 Years Old (185 AD)

Level: 13

Next Level: 12.000

Renown: 175

Cultivation: Art Of War (level 8)

SP: 376.700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 508

VIT: 219

AGI: 228

INT: 247

CHR: 90

WIS: 209

WILL: 165

ATR Points: 0