The capital of Changan is in the Imperial Palace.
In the courtroom, Emperor Liu Bang sat in the middle of the hall to look at the retinue. He had suffered greatly to become emperor and after taking office he founded the Han Dynasty, whose capital was Chang'an. At the beginning of his rule, Liu Bang was a generous person and close to his people, and with time he became far from them and collected feelings of greed, desire, betrayal, power and strength gathered, but he did not forget his capital and some neighboring areas with strategic locations for the capital. Today in the Consultation Hall, he met to talk about Han's archenemy, the neighboring Chu Kingdom ruled by Xiang Yu, Emperor Huai.
"Do you want me to hand over some of the areas I dug with my own hands to the enemy?" Liu Bang shouted to one of the retinue.
"Your Majesty, I have misjudged you, please punish me." One of the retinues who gave a suggestion that enraged the emperor knelt down.
"Dad, anger does not suit your health, please calm down." Liu Yongin, one of the emperor's sons, stepped forward.
The Emperor looked at him frowning and Liu Yongin involuntarily trembled and stammered, "I have… a suggestion."
"What is your suggestion, Prince Yongin?" The Right Minister who was a relative and friend of the imperial family cooperated with Yongin.
Prince Yongin had no actual proposal, but since childhood his father, the emperor, had shaken his confidence. And when he said he had a suggestion, it slipped out of his tongue against his will. In this case in the middle of the hall he pointed to the quietly sitting general with furrowed eyebrows and smiled stupidly, "General Lu returned from the north yesterday."
Everyone looked at Han, and Liu Bang became impatient and proceeded to ask, "what does this mean?"
"Your Majesty and gentlemen, General Lu can cut his vacation and go straight back to protect the North." He was silent and then continued, "With the soldiers I can deter the enemies from the south."
"Prince Liu, the north is now safe, and any suggestion is bad. If we follow your plan, we will undoubtedly fall to the bottom." Han stood up and said, he definitely didn't sit back and watch Yongin throw him as a pawn.
Yongin looked at Han and spoke, "General Lu, protecting the Han Kingdom is the priority."
"Yongin, your proposal is rejected." The Emperor's voice roared in the hall as he tapped a finger on the armrest of the chair.
"My Father.."
The emperor raised his hands to his son with the intent that he did not want to talk about his proposal. As usual, everyone left the courtroom without good solutions. On his way outside the Imperial Palace.
"Han~~" Prince Yongin shouted to Han who wanted to get out of the gate.
Han turned and walked toward the prince, "I can't believe you wanted to get me out of here so quickly."
"Don't be sensitive about this. I suggested this for the sake of the kingdom. Umm, I also suggested I go south." Yongin explained to Han. If it was someone other than Han, he wouldn't have explained it to him, but Han was a childhood friend.
He looked around and said, "Don't put yourself in my position."
"Ah, well well the proposal was rejected. No need to be angry." He was silent for a while, then continued with a smile, "You arrived in the capital yesterday, why didn't you come to my palace?"
"I was tired." Han answered coldly.
"Then now you're not tired, let's party, I'll take you to a great place to party." Yongin said happily.
"Surely the place is the Cherry Blossom Palace." Han guessed easily, he knew that the his friend was intrigued at that place.
Yongin shouted in astonishment, "Oh, how did you know this so easily?"
"Uh." He shook his head in surrender and grabbed his hand and pulled him, "You know it was easy to guess because the answer is written in your face."
"Oh really!!?" Yongin walked close to him and continued, "Do you know I'll look for a coach."
"What for?"
"I will definitely let him teach me how to hide my expression."
Lu Han laughed and confidently nodded, "You can hide everything from everyone but not me."
"Hmph, I know that, I know." Prince Yongin said, blowing his cheek, capitulating.
They kept joking among themselves as they went to the wagons, with servants and guards following them.
Suddenly they stopped and looked at the old man who was waiting near the gate. He was none other than the old lord of the Shen family, Shen Chang, one of the noble families rivaling the imperial family in terms of wealth.
Shen Chang walked towards them, cut off his hands and bowed, "Your Highness, General Lu."
Not only were these formalities confined to Shen Chang, Han and Yongin respectfully saluted the old man.
"You haven't gone yet, are you waiting for someone?" Yongin spoke first.
"With your permission, Your Highness, may I speak with General Lu?" Shen Chang said awkwardly as he rubbed his hands.
"Ah.." Yongin looked at Han who nodded and continued, "Okay that, General if you don't forget we will go celebrate tomorrow, so keep that in mind."
He said this and bowed in respect, Prince Yongin left. Lu han and Shen Chang went out and headed towards a famous restaurant for nobles and took a room secluded from commoners of the nobility.
To make it easy for Shen Chang, he ordered food at his own expense. Han knew that the old man sitting in front of him didn't do all this in vain, rather everyone knew how the Shen family liked and collected wealth and were also stingy.
"Eat, no need to be shy." Old Shen said.
Han did not speak and proceeded to eat, because it would be a waste if no one touched him. At the sight of Shin who also started to eat. Finally he spoke, "General Lu, I honestly don't know how to start with it.. Hmm.. about my little son Che..."
"Did something happen to him?" Han elegantly raised the coffee cup, expressing his disinterest.
Old Shen hurriedly said, "No no no, just how about you take him with you on your next mission."
"Next mission?" Han was taken aback by this, and had not heard of a mission of his own, he had just returned to the capital not long ago.
Old Shen said while rubbing his hands, "Ha, it seems you haven't heard of it. I heard the Right Minister, the Emperor has decided to send you on a mission with His Highness to the exact south near the Huang Mountains."
After he was silent for a second, he hurriedly continued, "My son decided to be a high-ranking official, but I refused."
"Why?!" Han asked, not interested in his son's matter, but now he hears about a mission and also wants this old man to throw his spoiled son at him, and this angers him.
"I want the best for my son, so my son must feel the suffering of the soldiers before he is responsible. Please do not refuse my simple request. I am an old person and I do not have much life left and I do not want my son to spoil."
Han put down the cup of coffee, while continuing to tap on the table while thinking with the old man's insistence and pleading over and over to him, ashamed to refuse. He said, "Missions like this are dangerous. And your son-"
"He is good at self-defense." Han clips.
"I see, first let me know more about the mission," Han said with resignation. The Right Minister might be wrong.
Shin shook his head with a smile as he thought, 'First mission completed successfully. General Lu, how will you feel when you know that you have dragged the emperor into the abyss.'