Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 327 Son and Father

Why ask me again?

Just one sentence made Liu Qi's brain stop completely.

What do you mean?
What do you mean, Your Majesty, you directed and acted in this yourself? Did the Emperor know about this? Was this all planned by the Emperor from the beginning to the end?

How much does the emperor know? How much does the prince know?
Wasn't the sudden departure of Chen and Weihuo Group a compromise in a political sense, but a deliberate decision made because Chen and Weihuo Group knew that nothing would happen with this matter?

The purpose is to make these fish waiting to be "fished" come to the surface?
Liu Xun suddenly raised his head and looked at Liu Che, who was sitting in the distance. Because the early morning was not bright enough, he lit a candle and sat in the center of the candlelight. He looked at his father who had been in control of the government for decades.

Only at this moment did Liu Wei feel the "cold" surging from the depths of his heart.

"Father."

Liu Che's voice was almost weak. He asked in an almost pleading tone, wanting Liu Che to give him a negative answer. He could not accept the fact that Liu Che knew everything but just wanted to plot against him.

However, Liu Xuan's voice and his emotions did not receive Liu Che's "mercy" and did not arouse Liu Che's "fatherly" feelings.

Liu Che just looked at the scene indifferently, with a cold tone in his voice.

"Are you going to ask me if I knew all this a long time ago and if I deliberately lured you into the trap?"

There was a hint of anger and a barely detectable sense of "grievance" in Liu Che's voice. Yes.

Liu Xun felt wronged, and Liu Che also felt very wronged!

He walked to the center of the hall and stood in front of Liu Xun.

"Keep your head up."

Liu Che looked at Liu Xuan and said, "Do you feel that I have no father-son relationship with you at all, only the prince? Do you feel that I am acting recklessly and wantonly playing with the brotherhood between you and the prince?"

There was a sneer on his face: "Do you think I am like a foolish old man right now?"

Liu Che's words were so calm that Liu Xun, who knew very well what kind of person this man was, calmed down instantly, and the subtle desire to please his master in his heart completely disappeared.

He immediately knelt on the ground in fear and said, "I dare not!"

Liu Che closed his eyes. He could see Liu Yan's emotions and true inner feelings from the changing expressions of Liu Yan. Suddenly, he felt endless disappointment in his heart.

This is true that the son does not know the father, and the father does not know the son!
He closed his eyes and said, "Jiang Chong, go and collect all the evidence for me. When the Crown Prince and Li Guangli arrive at dawn, immediately take control of the entire Chang'an City and kill all of Li Guangli's men. Leave no one alive!"

"In addition, pass on my decree that the Fourth Prince Liu Xuan has no sense of the general situation, deceived the emperor, disrespected the emperor and his father, and intended to rebel. His crimes are extremely serious. He is demoted to a commoner, and the clan office is ordered to remove his name from the Jade Book and exile him to Lingnan!"

"General Li Guangli has no gratitude for the emperor's kindness, is disrespectful to the Marquis of Guanjun, has repeatedly disregarded etiquette, and even conspired with the Fourth Prince to rebel. All three clans will be exterminated!"

"All the old and old disciples, kill them!"

"Jiang Chong, I want to see a clean court tomorrow, do you understand?"

Liu Che's favor for Marquis Guanjun was obvious. Among the charges against Li Guangli, the most prominent one was "disrespecting Marquis Guanjun many times and disregarding etiquette and laws", and this was also Liu Che's attitude.

He didn't want Li Guangli to be a fool, and more importantly, he wanted everyone in the court to know one thing.

That is, the rumor that Champion Marquis is his incarnation is true!

Liu Xun had collapsed to the ground with a confused look on his face. He had not expected that his crime was so serious.

Liu Che was not very kind to his sons, but he was definitely not harsh to them either.

The other children who made mistakes were only stripped of their fiefdoms, but why was he demoted to a commoner and exiled to Lingnan when it was his turn?
You know, there is a huge difference between confinement and exile.

Exile may seem like you still have freedom in Lingnan, but that is the freedom of ordinary people! Confinement may seem like you have no freedom, but in fact you live in a huge mansion, and the emperor will even provide you with food, clothing and shelter!
As long as he is not demoted to a commoner, even if his life is a little harder, it will definitely be according to the share of a prince!

What is the prince’s share?
Let’s put it this way, the amount of money the prince spends on this item of clothing alone in a month might be equal to the total expenses of ordinary people for three years!
Liu Che closed his eyes. He was completely disappointed with Liu Xun.

But at the same time, he still had some expectations.

He wanted to know if there was anyone among his sons who understood him, such as the crown prince.

Will the prince understand his painstaking efforts and difficulties? Will the prince understand his grievances and difficulties?
He was deeply looking forward to the arrival of the prince.

Outside Ganquan Palace
Li Guangli and his followers were held down as soon as they arrived outside Ganquan Palace and were shocked. These people were not the prince's men, but the Yulin Guard, the imperial guards surrounding the emperor!

Could it be that the Weihuo Group has already taken control of Your Majesty?
Li Guangli and the others were about to shout a few times in grief when they saw the Central Government Officer beside Liu Che coming over with a very humble look: "Your Highness, His Majesty is furious at this moment. You are finally here. Please go in quickly."

Liu Ju nodded slightly, without looking at the shocked expressions of the people around him, but just shook his head at Li Guangli behind him.

"Did the Emperor tell us how to deal with them?"

The Central Government's commander spoke in a normal voice, saying calmly, "Your Majesty means that Li Guangli's three clans and all his followers should be killed, but as for the families of his followers, there is no need to implicate them so much."

"Your Majesty is getting old, and he can't stand seeing so much bloodshed."

"Then he opened his eyes."

Liu Ju was not surprised by this treatment. He just nodded and said, "Okay, let's do it this way."

He exhaled, then strode forward.

Enter the hall!

The Central Government Officer followed behind, looking at Sang Hongyang, Huo Guang, Jin Midi and others who were still stunned, and said, "Everyone, please follow His Majesty in."

After saying this, he quickly followed Liu Ju's steps.

Inside Ganquan Palace
The first time he saw Liu Che, Liu Ju discovered the "sense of grievance" emanating from his father's eyes and body. This feeling of grievance really made him feel helpless.

After just a little thought, he understood why his father felt wronged.

He said nothing and just bowed respectfully.

"Your Majesty, I am here to see you. All matters in Chang'an have been dealt with. So I am here with Li Guangli, who has failed your Majesty's grace. Li Guangli has been controlled by the Imperial Guards." "Your Majesty, please don't be sad for him."

Liu Che felt so satisfied listening to his son's confidant's words that he sighed, and all the grievances in his heart seemed to burst out.

"Prince, am I really as reckless and lawless as they say?"

"Do you think I am really as vicious as this rebellious son said, 'Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs'? Do you think I am more vicious than a tiger?"

His expression was normal, as if he had no extra attitude towards this sentence.

In fact, both Liu Ju and Chen Wushi could hear the word "care" in this sentence. Liu Che simply cared about this sentence to death!

In Liu Che's heart, he was a very peaceful and kind emperor, even more benevolent than his father and grandfather. How could these rebellious sons say this about him!
This is simply treason! How dare they wrongly accuse him, the emperor!
He, the emperor, is still alive, yet these rebellious sons dare to frame him like this. When he dies, won’t he be framed to death by these people? ? ? ?
Facing Liu Che, who exuded the aura of death, Liu Ju did not hesitate at all: "Who said this? How can you slander your majesty and Chen like this? This crime deserves death!"

Liu Che's expression changed: "You think it's not, then do you have a reason?"

"I have known about the current situation for a long time. Jiang Chong is also my man. Don't you hate me?"

He glanced at Liu Xuan and said, "The prince didn't know the details of this matter, so when Jiang Chong and your people sent people to put the witchcraft in his palace, and when Liu Fuling discovered the witchcraft, the prince showed his truest self."

"Prince, can you tell me why you didn't panic after the incident, but just had the culprit killed, and then brought Li Guangli here?"

"In your eyes, Jiang Chong should be one of theirs, so he and Liu Xuan, the rebellious son, should be here to file a complaint."

"Even if you know that Jiang Chong is the Embroidered Uniform Envoy, you should still be afraid, or even more afraid, because as long as Jiang Chong says so, I will definitely believe it."

"When I see you, I will not listen to your explanation. You will be a real traitor!"

Liu Che suddenly shouted: "Tell me! Why aren't you afraid?!"

"Did Chen Wushi and the others tell you something?!"

At this time, Liu Che was like a tiger and a lion!
His eyes were filled with endless light, as if he could see through Liu Ju's heart completely!
Liu Ju was not in a hurry, and he was not even afraid. He just respectfully answered the second question first: "Father, whether Prime Minister Chen and the others have delivered the message, Father should be the one who knows best. After all, there are many Yulin Guards and Embroidered Uniform Envoys in Ganquan Palace, and they are all loyal to Father."

"The second thing is why I am not afraid."

He was very frank. Looking at Liu Xuan, he showed a puzzled look: "In fact, I want to ask you, fourth brother, why are you afraid of the emperor? Why do you think the emperor will kill me directly when he finds out about the witchcraft?"

"Would you think I was plotting a rebellion?"

Liu Ju shook his head: "Fourth brother doesn't know father very well, but even if he doesn't know, he should still believe in father's character."

At this time, Liu Ju spoke frankly and eloquently, expressing what Liu Che was like in his mind.

"Father would never kill people at will. Father kills people because that person has violated the national law or the imperial law."

"My fourth brother and the people of the world think that the emperor is so reckless and unpredictable because he is just reducing the fiefdoms of the kings. But they don't know that the emperor has already shown them some mercy."

"Why didn't those kings who had their fiefdoms reduced for ridiculous reasons even cry out that they were wronged?"

"Is it because of the power of the Emperor?"

"Not really."

Liu Ju sighed and told what he knew.

"The Prince of Yan minted coins privately in his fiefdom, which is a serious crime of treason. If this were to be made public, the Prince of Yan would be demoted to a commoner and imprisoned until death. However, Father was mindful of the brotherhood between him and the Prince of Yan, so he only issued a secret warning and reduced his fiefdom."

"When the King of Wu was drunk, he spoke a lot about the late emperor, and his words were disrespectful, but when he sobered up, he immediately wrote a letter. The emperor also took into account the will and friendship left by the late emperor, and only reduced the fiefdom."

"There are also the King of Jing, the King of Chu, the King of Xiang and others."

"Anyone whose fiefdom was reduced by the emperor's decree on the basis of "absurd charges" is guilty of high treason."

"For a person like this, my father still cares about our old friendship and is even willing to bear the infamy."

"What about us? We are father's sons! How could the emperor not have us in his heart?"

"My third brother was killed because he attempted treason and wanted to kill the crown prince, which is a serious crime for the country, so my father killed him according to the law. My fifth brother was killed because he used my third brother and refused to admit it in front of my father."

"When my father kills people, it is all in accordance with the law."

Liu Ju looked at Liu Che frankly and spoke in a calm voice.

At this time, Liu Xuan had gone mad. With his hair loose, he roared at Liu Ju: "What about us? What did I do wrong? What did Li Guangli do wrong? And what did Madam Gou Ge, who you killed, and your sixth brother, who you captured, do wrong?"

"Why should we be provoked like this?"

Before Liu Che could say anything, Liu Ju sneered.

"The emperor has made it very clear what Li Guangli did wrong. Even the Grand Marshal and the Prime Minister Chen dare not keep retainers. How can Li Guangli do that? How much has the Marquis of Guanjun contributed to the Han Dynasty? What has Li Guangli done?"

"Father gave him grace out of consideration for Madam Li's old friendship. Not only did he not refuse, but after accepting it, he even became complacent and completely forgot that this was Father's grace! He has failed Father's trust!"

"The young champion is a hero. There are rumors outside that he is the shadow of the emperor. I don't believe Li Guangli doesn't know this."

"Even if he didn't know, the Marquis Guanjun, whom the emperor loved so much, was insulted by Li Guangli. Did he insult the Marquis Guanjun? No! He insulted the emperor!"

"Fourth brother, you have also studied Chinese law, so let me ask you, what is the crime of insulting the emperor and father?"

Liu Wei sat on the ground dejectedly.

Liu Ju continued, "As for Madam Gou Ge, her crimes are even more heinous!"

"She bribed the imperial physician to report her pregnancy three months earlier, and even took banned drugs many times, causing my sixth brother to be born after fourteen months of pregnancy. He was weak and sickly when he was born. Later, she bribed the palace maids to spread the rumor that Emperor Yao was also born after fourteen months of pregnancy. She even dared to ask for the title of "Mother of Yao". She is the mother of Yao, what is the father emperor?"

"Is it wrong to kill her for such a serious crime?"

Liu Ju looked at Liu Xuan with compassion: "As for you, you have failed the emperor and committed the great sin of being unfaithful to his father!"

(End of this chapter)