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

Chapter 329 A New Version of the Emperor

People always like what they can't get, or in other words, they always like what they don't have.

For example, the ministers during the Dragon and Phoenix years.

When the retired emperor was in power, these people wanted a gentler and softer emperor, who would at least listen to the opinions of his subjects and not always act arbitrarily and appear so overbearing.

At that time, the officials in the court felt that the best emperor in the world should be like the crown prince.

He was humble and polite, respected the opinions of his subjects, listened to their advice, and always listened gently to their dissatisfaction. He would then correct some of the dissatisfaction and ignore others.

During the Zhenghe period, because the emperor doted on the sixth and fourth princes, the ministers at that time were always worried about the future of the crown prince.

At that time, they were trying their best to let the prince ascend the throne and then enjoy the new dynasty and a new version of the emperor.

They did it.

No one knew what had gone wrong with the emperor emeritus, but he suddenly abdicated the throne, let the crown prince ascend the throne, and became the emperor emeritus himself.

Apart from hiding in Ganquan Palace every day to seek immortals and ask for advice, he likes to drive people out for tours, just like the Emperor Xiaoren back then.

Can.
After many ministers welcomed the emperor they had been looking forward to day and night, they were only happy for a few days at the beginning, and were in a state of confusion for the next few days.

Is this really what I want? Is this really the emperor I wanted when I was mentally retarded?
The new emperor was indeed very good and met some of their expectations.

For example, the emperor should not be so monopolistic and dictatorial, but the new emperor also brought new troubles.

Xu Chuangui was the successor to the Prime Minister's Office as an internal official. This position had always been considered the successor to the next Prime Minister. But at this time Xu Chuangui just wanted to hit his head against the "douyu" invented by Chen, so that he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of reporting for duty.

Now is the third year of the Dragon and Phoenix era, the third year of the Emperor's ascension to the throne.

The entire Prime Minister's Mansion, or the entire imperial court, was in a mess.

Did the emperor share the power in his hands? Yes, but wasn’t it too much?
What they want is not the "right to propose solutions", but the "right to decide on things"! You have divided the power and are willing to listen to our advice, but you can't just leave everything to us, right?
Because the prince obediently followed the advice of the three dukes and nineteen ministers, many government offices in the court are now extremely busy.

During the Zhenghe period, they had one day of rest for every three days of work, and most of the time they only had to obey the emperor's orders obediently - that is, they had to do whatever the emperor said, and if the emperor told them to go east, they had to go east.

This does involve sacrificing some rights and energy, but it doesn't have to be so troublesome.

What about now?
Nowadays, it is already very good for them to have half a day's rest after working for ten days. The emperor does not tell them what they want, but just asks them to put forward their opinions. After submitting them, the Central Government will order them to be reviewed and finally presented to the emperor.

If the emperor agrees, it's fine, but if he disagrees, the memorial will be returned to you, and you will have to guess again what the emperor wants you to do, and then make a plan.

This is a good thing for the emperor, because he does not have to think of solutions himself. He only needs to find ideas that are similar to his own from a group of solutions. But for the people below, it is really a disaster.

No one is a worm in the emperor's stomach, so when memorials are submitted, four or five out of every ten times they need to be revised.

But many things cannot be delayed.

So what to do?

Light the lamps, and when the memorial comes back, a group of people will start to rethink and brainstorm, and then submit the memorial again one or two days later.

In this case, time can be saved to the maximum extent possible, so that the matter can be completed smoothly as scheduled.

Weiyang Palace
Liu Ju stretched lazily, then asked the Central Government Officer beside him to put the memorials away in batches, and then walked towards the Pepper House in a flash.

Liu Jin was staying in the Pepper Room at this time, talking with his mother.

Seeing Liu Ju coming, he also bowed and saluted: "Your son pays homage to the emperor, may the emperor be forever happy--"

Liu Ju just waved his hands and smacked his lips: "Alright, I told you not to use these empty formalities. You and I are father and son, not monarch and subject. How can a son always perform formalities for his father?"

He smiled and casually lay down on the plush blanket on the ground, yawning: "I am indeed much more comfortable today."

"As expected, we should still listen to the advice of the elderly."

"When I was the crown prince, I was wondering why my father had to deal with government affairs for so long every day. Some of these things were obviously just for the court officials to pass the time, and many things did not require the emperor to do them personally."

Liu Ju curled his lips and said, "I'm afraid I really can't stand up to my father, who wants to take care of everything and find solutions for everything himself."

Chen Ming raised his eyes and glanced at Liu Ju, with a helpless look on his face: "You, aren't you afraid that these words will be heard by the emperor? Recently, when the emperor was playing chess with my father, he talked about your nagging in the palace."

Liu Ju chuckled and said, "Father, your body is really good. I really envy you."

He reached out his hand and hammered his waist.

"Ah, I feel like I won't live to be as old as my father."

Liu Jin's face was a little solemn. He tightened his face and said, "Father, please don't talk like that! It's really rude!"

Liu Ju rolled his eyes.

Before becoming emperor, his character was relatively introverted, otherwise he would not have raised a rigid "little gentleman" like Liu Jin. But after becoming emperor, he gradually began to relax his temperament.

His true character is more like a reduction of "Liu Bang". If he really had to find someone, Liu Ju felt that he was more similar to a certain ancestor of the Chen family who was not stingy.
"Prince——"

Liu Ju stretched out his tone and chuckled, "It's time for you to formally handle state affairs. You should know that when I was your age, I had to go to court on my own."

He looked serious and was not worried at all that the power in his hands would be "snatched away" by the son in front of him, because this was a good example set by the retired Emperor Liu Che.

When Emperor Retired Emperor Liu Che still had the energy to take charge of all government affairs and power, he handed over his power to the crown prince, and then gave up the throne while he was still in good health.

This is a good habit that can prevent the transfer of power from causing chaos in the government and the world.

Liu Jin held his forehead with his hand. He was indeed still young and didn't know many things, but he knew one thing - his father definitely didn't let him get involved in government affairs just for the sake of power transfer or to avoid chaos in the world.

He is simply "lazy" and wants to put the blame on himself.

Chen Ming sat aside, looking at this scene of "kind father and filial son" with a relaxed expression, with a little peace in her eyes. This is her husband, this is her son.

She was satisfied.

After playing around for a while, Liu Jin said softly, "Father, Marquis Bowang has returned from his third mission to the Western Regions. Several small countries in the Western Regions seem to be dissatisfied with this trade route communication, so they have some ideas."

"Marquis Bowang's opinion is to give a little punishment to these small countries that dared to try to disobey the Han Dynasty."

When hearing serious matters, Liu Ju also looked serious.

"Do you think what Marquis Bowang said makes sense? How should the Han Dynasty deal with the countries in the Western Regions?"

Liu Jin's expression was high, and at this moment he seemed a bit "arrogant": "I think that Marquis Bowang is right, and we need to give these small countries a little punishment."

"The geographical location of the countries in the Western Regions has always been very clever. This is the necessary route for us to communicate with the west. Whether it is the various spices and fruits produced in the Western Regions, or even the merchants who came to our Han Dynasty from Europe along the Silk Road, what they sell is what we need."

A hint of coldness flashed across his face. "Whether it's the people of the Western Regions or the Europeans, they all like our silk and tea. Through these two things, we can let a large amount of silver flow into the royal treasury."

Liu Jin said softly, "I once heard my grandfather say that silver and gold must be in the hands of the country, and not in the national treasury, but in the emperor's private treasury! Only in this way can the court and the emperor have enough say in the economy."

“This voice must not be lost.”

He narrowed his eyes and said, "Secondly, coinage is the power of coinage. The European countries are separated from us by a huge group of Western countries. If we can gradually erode these small Western countries and replace them with our people, or people who support us, then we will not be so passive when we launch an attack on Europe."

Liu Ju looked at Liu Jin with great interest: "Do you think that we will have a war with Europe sooner or later?"

Liu Jin nodded: "Father, as long as the Han Dynasty has not stopped, the emperor of the Han Dynasty will never give up the land he is determined to obtain. My grandfather's generation brought together the countries in the Western Regions and built a "strong Han", but my grandfather also spent 40% to 50% of the money and grain accumulated by my great-grandfather."

“War is a terrible thing.”

"So in my opinion, at least in my father's generation, or even in my generation, it is unlikely to launch a large-scale attack on the countries in the Western Regions and Europe. This will consume too much national strength of the Han Dynasty."

"but"

The corners of his mouth curved slightly: "Any country will have internal strife. Whoever becomes the emperor, there will always be people who will not submit, just like the Han Dynasty had many vassal kings."

"During my grandfather's time, they could only obey obediently, but did they do less tricks behind the scenes?"

"If there were fewer, why would Grandfather always be able to find evidence against them and then destroy their fiefdoms?"

Liu Jin spoke eloquently and Liu Ju listened attentively, as if what Liu Jin said was not a ruthless scheme to disrupt the government of another country and replace the person in power with a close Han man.

By the time the father and son had figured out a feasible plan, Chen Ming, who was already tired of listening, waved his hand and asked someone to set up the banquet.

The family here was having a meal together happily, and in Ganquan Palace, Chen Wushi and Liu Che were playing chess happily.

Huo Guang followed behind Liu Che, and Chen Duobing followed behind Chen Wushi.

"Ha ha--"

Liu Che placed the chess piece somewhere, and in an instant, the big dragon on Chen Wushi's chessboard was instantly cut off.

"Snapped--"

Liu Che threw the chess piece on the chessboard and said with a smile: "Ercheng, I won this game properly, right? Shouldn't we abide by the bet?"

Chen Wushi frowned and looked at the chessboard. After a moment, he sighed softly, "I admit defeat. Since I have already said before the game starts that if Your Majesty can win this game, then let Duobing and Huo Guang enter the court, then let them enter."

"After all, it is not something I can stop."

Liu Che chuckled. Although he was already an old man with silver hair, he was still as unrestrained as he was in the past.

"Can I harm them?"

"By the way, how is that old man Wei Qing doing? Is he in good health now?"

Chen Wushi sighed: "I went to see Da Sima before, and his health is not very good. I heard from the imperial physician that he will only live for one or two years."

"I also looked for a folk doctor, the famous Bian Que, who should be the tenth generation descendant of the Bian Que from the Warring States Period. I also invited him to come and see Da Sima, and the results were the same."

Liu Che snorted coldly: "I have issued orders many times, but he was unwilling to come to the Imperial Hospital. But he came eagerly after receiving a letter from you."

There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice: "Is the name of Guandu Chen family still useful?"

Chen Wushi looked at him as if he was an unreasonable old man: "You also know that because of Zhuoshenlou and the relationship between our ancestors and the fifth generation "Bian Que", the Chen family has always had a good relationship with them."

"In fact, Bian Que is not unwilling to serve Your Majesty, but because Bian Que feels that the imperial physicians in Your Majesty's palace are not inferior to him. In this case, it is better to spread this blessing to the people, so that the people can have another way to survive."

Liu Che still curled his lips: "Where is that kid Huo Qubing?"

"That brat Huo Buyi hasn't come to my place these past few days. Could it be that Huo Qubing has detained him at home?"

He sighed: "The champion marquis who was so unrestrained when he was young, has become so old-fashioned and cautious after marrying your daughter Chen!"

When Liu Che got angry, he pointed at Chen Wushi's nose and yelled, "Give me back my title of Champion!"

Chen Wushi was even more speechless: "Your Majesty, the Champion Marquis is almost old enough to have a granddaughter, how could he still be the same as before?"

He shook his head: "Haven't you become more cautious about your words since you didn't start a family when you went to the barbarians?"

Liu Che just glanced at him and said nothing.

The third year of the Dragon and Phoenix is ​​an ordinary yet unusual day.

With the last snow of winter, the spring of the fourth year of Longfeng came.

(End of this chapter)