The years I was in the human world

Prince Guangping was not a vassal king of the Chu clan, but a king of a different surname who was granted a fiefdom by Chu's ancestors when they first planned to conquer the world. He was ordered by Emperor Gaozu to guard the capital. Now that he saw that the world was changing again, he wanted to replace Emperor Gaozu.

Prince Guangping's surname was Li, and his real name was Li He. He was related by marriage to the second princess's mother, Li Xiuyi. Because the emperor wanted to consolidate power in recent years, he suppressed these founding heroes and the power of their fiefdoms was repeatedly reduced. He actually had resentment towards the emperor.

Now Chu Qin abandoned his country and fled south, but left Chu Zhaoli in the palace. He was not clear about the grudge between the father and son. He only remembered that Chu Zhaoli was the crown prince when he was summoned to the capital eight years ago, and now he has become the emperor smoothly. He just thought that he was really a child that Chu Qin valued very much.

Therefore, after entering the capital, he humiliated Chu Zhaoli.

On the night when Luoyang City was captured, the Golden Palace was filled with blood and excitement. Li He was drinking with his ministers in Chengming Palace to celebrate the victory. He also cared about his reputation, so at the banquet there were generals who had followed him south, as well as old ministers who had stayed in the Golden Palace and luckily survived.

The palace maids who had not had the chance to escape were dancing tremblingly in the hall in their gauze dresses. The dancers had graceful figures, but were not much prettier than the concubines in Li He's palace. Looking at his rude subordinates all over the palace and his old ministers with faces full of humiliation, he suddenly felt bored.

Most of the people he brought with him were illiterate ruffians. The few capable ministers he brought with him were busy taking care of things for him after he conquered the capital and would not come to join in the banquet.

As for those old ministers, they were all loyal and vindicated, and they valued their reputation above all else. If it weren't for the chance of life that Chu Zhaoli had knelt down to plead for them, they would have probably crashed into the pillars of the Golden Throne Hall long ago. At this time, they looked down on Li He even more.

Looking at the chaos in the hall, Li He did not feel the joy of having achieved what he wanted. Instead, he felt more and more aggrieved, as if he had only conquered the capital but did not gain power. The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. He suddenly thought of something and asked someone to bring Chu Zhaoli over.

Chu Zhaoli surrendered voluntarily in the morning, so Li He did not make things difficult for him. He just put him under house arrest in the palace. However, he did not remember to bring him food. The king of a country was brought to the palace hungry.

The noisy crowd quieted down and looked at Li He in confusion, not understanding why he brought the king of a fallen country here.

Facing the confusion of the crowd, Li He smiled slightly. Although he had not yet ascended the throne, he had already begun to refer to himself as "I". "We have been exhausted from the long journey south. I see that the generals have also worked hard. It would be too tiring to pour wine for myself. How about finding a wine waiter to serve wine to you all?"

The wine waiter was naturally Chu Zhaoli. He was brought to the hall, and Li He kicked him in the knee, forcing him to kneel on the ground. When he knelt in humiliation, he was still wearing the blood-stained dragon robe from the morning.

"What are you standing there for? Go and pour wine for the adults." Li He said lightly, and a palace servant handed a wine jug to Chu Zhaoli with pity on his face.

The old ministers' hearts skipped a beat and they couldn't bear to watch, but the generals brought by Li He became excited. Before, they were all despised people of the lowest class, but now they could ask the emperor, who had become a prisoner, to pour wine for them. How could they not be excited?

Chu Zhaoli's hands, which were hidden under his bright yellow sleeves, suddenly tightened. He was used to making compromises, and he was not ignorant of humiliation, but... He turned his head to look at the elderly old tutor who was looking at him with a worried and sad face.

Exhaling, he forced himself to hold it in, suppressing the turbulent emotions in his chest. He took the wine jug handed to him by the palace servant, and was about to stand up to serve the wine, but before he could move, Li He raised his foot and stepped on his sleeve that fell to the ground.

"You are such an ignorant slave. You don't even respond to the master's order, huh?" Li He pretended to be angry, but he was watching Chu Zhaoli's reaction with interest. Whether he was submissive or humiliated, it was enough to make Li He happy.

Chu Zhaoli wanted to play dumb to the end, but Li He was determined to see him being humiliated. Seeing that he remained silent, he ordered the guards with swords to quietly walk behind the old tutor and silently threaten the king of a fallen country.

"Your servant... obeys your command." Chu Zhaoli closed her eyes, but finally accepted the humiliation from the traitor. Her body, kneeling on the ground, could not help but tremble slightly.

"Wait a minute, since you are a slave, how can you wear this dress?" Unexpectedly, Li He still felt it was not enough. He looked at Chu Zhaoli with a humiliated look on his face, and his evil desire became even stronger. "Why don't you change him into slave clothes quickly?"

Chu Zhaoli was stripped of his bright yellow outer garment in public, and the palace maids roughly put on a green garment worn by ordinary people. His hair bun was also undone. His clothes were not messy, but he was stripped of his clothes and his hair bun was undone in public, which was a disgrace to the monarch.

He had a banquet with all the ministers and forced Emperor Huai to drink. The only record left in the history books about Chu Zhaoli on the day the city was broken was this few words, and no one could see the humiliation in it.

At that time, he was holding a wine pot and walking barefoot towards the old minister who was sitting. The old tutor couldn't bear it, and finally stood up and walked to Chu Zhaoli's side when the wine cup tilted, hugged the waist of the king of the fallen country and cried out: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

Chu Zhaoli was swayed by the old master's embrace, his expression was bleak, and he seemed indifferent. He just lowered his head and poured a glass of wine, saying: "Sir, please--"

Li He was particularly upset to see the emperor and his subjects crying together. He put down his wine glass heavily and said coldly, "The Grand Tutor seems to still cling to the old dynasty and refuses to recognize me as the new emperor. If that's the case, come on, drag him out and chop him off!"

"Grand Tutor, Grand Tutor!" Chu Zhaoli's face changed when he heard that. Seeing the old Grand Tutor being dragged out by Prince Guangping's personal guards, he hurriedly looked at Li He who was sitting in a high position, "You promised not to kill him, how can you go back on your word?"

"I only said not to kill them, but I didn't say that the disrespectful crimes of these old ministers can be forgiven." Li He sat at the top and looked at Chu Zhaoli's unexpectedly anxious look nonchalantly. He felt very happy in his heart. He pointed at a eunuch beside him and said in a teasing tone,

"In the past, the Marquis of Huaiyin endured the humiliation of being kicked in the crotch by a floating woman who bought meat for him. If you can also crawl under his crotch today, I will not kill that old man."

"Your Majesty, do not be threatened by these traitors because of us!" Before Chu Zhaoli could react, the old ministers who had witnessed everything could not help but speak first. One of them said, "A man of high integrity should be loyal and willing to die. To establish a good reputation is the foundation of health and safety."

"How can I abandon my reputation for the sake of survival?" After the man said this, he stood up and hit his head against a pillar and died.

The others were moved by this and also stood up and made an impassioned speech: "If people want to live, they must die! If we sacrifice our lives for the country, we will not regret it even if we die. Your Majesty does not need to compromise for our sake!"

After saying this, he actually stood up and hit the pillar and died. However, in an instant, most of the old ministers died. Chu Zhaoli stood in the hall, looking at the censors who used to be hostile to him and were willing to die to preserve his dignity. He couldn't help but laughed with his hands covering his face.

The thing he had longed for for half his life was actually delivered to him in such a way at this moment - this group of censors, who were incompetent in the eyes of others, were willing to commit suicide for his dignity and to protect him from threats. What regrets did he have in this life for his king?

The old minister would rather die than accept Li He's favor. He was humiliated in public like this, and his face was already quite ugly. Seeing Chu Zhaoli still laughing so loudly, he couldn't help but ask, "What are you laughing at?"

"I laugh at your wishful thinking." The old minister died to show his determination, so Chu Zhaoli no longer had to compromise. He looked at Li He and said sarcastically, "Do you know why they don't recognize you? The desire of the court officials and the people is exchanged for the virtue of a saint."

"And you—" Chu Zhaoli raised his head and nodded at Li He, then curled his lips and sneered, "You are a traitor who rebelled against your superiors. You don't even have the virtues of a commoner, let alone a saint."

……

Lu Zhouxue walked out of Luoyang without leaving any trace in the snow and met Xie Yi in Yuzhou. This man was dressed in white and looked like a fairy, and the wooden clogs on his feet gave him a Taoist style - Lu Zhouxue recognized him, Xie Huaiyu.

After explaining his purpose in a few words, he learned from the latter that Chu Zhaoli had severed all ties with Xie Ling in order to distance himself from the Xie family since he took over the throne of the king of a fallen country. Therefore, it was impossible for him to have any letters to send to Xie Yi.

Lu Zhouxue didn't believe it at first, so Xie Huaiyu opened the letter in front of him. As expected, the important letter that Chu Zhaoli had instructed to be delivered to Xie Yi personally contained only three sheets of white paper. Only the last page had a few lines of text, and it was addressed to Lu Zhouxue.

The general meaning of those lines was that Chu Zhaoli was destined to die. Previously, he had been rescued by Lu Zhouxue from the poison of the Yunnan snake, which had caused him to fall from an immortal to the mortal world. The emperor could not bear to see him interfere with cause and effect at will, as he would be in trouble in the future. Therefore, he tricked Lu Zhouxue into leaving the capital.

After listening to the truth from Xie Yi's mouth, Lu Zhouxue thought about Chu Zhaoli's farewell words when they sat on the steps on the day of their separation. He could hardly hold the letter in his hand. It turned out that Chu Zhaoli knew everything, and knew that he had turned from an immortal into a mortal after he severed his own spiritual veins.

He knew that there would be a price to pay for saving him, so he used this method to lure himself away.

Chu Zhaoli is really smart. Lu Zhouxue thought as he hurried back. He knew that he had become a mortal. The round trip from Luoyang to Yuzhou would take at least half a month. By the time he learned the truth from Xie Huaiyu, it would be too late to go back.

Fortunately, that little bastard had missed his ability to leave no footprints in the snow. If he used it to its full potential, he could travel a thousand miles a day. Lu Zhouxue thought with hope that he would be able to return to Luoyang in the evening. He thought that everything was still in time, but he only saw a Luoyang city littered with corpses.

Lu Zhouxue was in a state of panic. He had been away from Luoyang for less than a day when the rebels attacked? When the rebels entered the city, the common people were brutally slaughtered. What about Chu Zhaoli? He was the emperor. Would those treacherous officials treat him well?