Chapter 65

Below him sat a crowd of Han court officials.

Naturally, this included Dong Zhuo's trusted aides, such as Minister of the Secretariat Li Ru and Captain Li Feng, Fan Chou.

The reason Li Ru and Fan Chou had not gone outside the city to welcome Dong Zhuo today was that they were waiting for this very moment when he entered the imperial palace hall.

Sure enough.

The moment Dong Zhuo set half a foot into the imperial palace.

The expressions on the faces of the many Han court officials changed abruptly!

According to ritual and law.

Except for the Imperial Guard.

Everyone was required to leave their weapons outside before entering the imperial palace hall.

Dong Zhuo held the position of Chancellor, and had previously been specially permitted by Liu Xie to carry weapons into the imperial palace.

But this did not mean that the group of Xiliang civil and military officials behind him could also carry weapons!

At this moment, except for Dong Zhuo.

Hua Xiong, Zhang Ji, Lu Bu, and the others all had swords hanging at their waists.

They had completely disregarded the ritual and law of the Han dynasty!

Yet, even though everyone knew Dong Zhuo was deliberately showing off his power, there was no way to stop him.

Those who dared to stand up and oppose Dong Zhuo.

Except for those locked in the Luoyang prison.

The rest had all been forced to resign and return home.

Furthermore.

The current Dong Zhuo was even harder to deal with than he had been a short while ago!

Even a force as massive as the Guandong Coalition had been defeated.

Looking across the world, who else would dare to be Dong Zhuo's enemy?

A suffocating sense of oppression lingered in the chests of the Han court officials.

They watched helplessly as Dong Zhuo entered the hall.

"Your Majesty, this old subject has returned."

Dong Zhuo said.

His aged and dull voice made it impossible for Liu Xie and the Han court officials to tell whether he was happy or sad.

Fortunately, Liu Xie was a clever person.

Having been a puppet emperor for half a year, he already knew clearly how to act in such a scene.

Subsequently, Liu Xie responded in his slightly youthful voice:

"Chancellor, you have worked hard."

"Being able to defeat the Guandong rebels this time is entirely due to the Chancellor's excellent leadership."

However, before Liu Xie could finish speaking.

Dong Zhuo suddenly interrupted:

"Your Majesty is mistaken."

Once these words were spoken.

The faces of the Han court officials were filled with anger!

Interrupting the Emperor without permission was a grave crime.

Dong Zhuo, that scoundrel, not only interrupted the Emperor, but even bluntly retorted that the Emperor was wrong!

But besides anger, did the Han court officials have any other options? Absolutely none!

If they could have controlled Dong Zhuo, why would they have let the high command of Dong Zhuo's army bring swords to court?

Seemingly not expecting to be interrupted by Dong Zhuo, Liu Xie was slightly stunned.

Before he could recover, he heard Dong Zhuo's aged and dull voice again:

"The reason we were able to win this battle is thanks to the tens of thousands of soldiers in our army who truly put in the effort!"

"Furthermore, it is thanks to the civil and military officials of our army!"

"The one with the least credit is this old man, who already has one foot in the grave."

As if to respond to Dong Zhuo.

The moment Dong Zhuo's voice fell.

Outside the imperial palace, bursts of cheering suddenly erupted!

Even faintly.

One could hear cries of "Long live" and "May the Chancellor be blessed with boundless fortune"!

And those making the sounds were the tens of thousands of soldiers under Dong Zhuo's command!

The thunderous commotion.

Falling into the ears of the Han court officials, sounded like a death-knell melody.

And Liu Xie, sitting on the dragon throne.

Was already deathly pale, at a complete loss.

…….