My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 300 is really interesting~
Good! Guys~
Even though he was mentally prepared for this famous historical scene, when this scene appeared before his eyes, Liu Rong couldn't help but exclaim: Wow!
My country is small and narrow, and there is not enough room for maneuver.

——In Liu Rong’s memory, this story was just a rather insignificant anecdote from the Han Dynasty over 400 years ago.

The reason why this anecdote has been passed down is that the protagonist of the story: King Liu Fa of Changsha, had a capable descendant: Emperor Guangwu of Han, the great magician Liu Xiu.

In the past, Liu Rong always treated this story as a joke and never thought that this joke had any specific political meaning.

It was just that King Liu Fa of Changsha was of humble origin, and was unwilling to be restricted by the poor and small land of Changsha, so he used this kind of show-off and pitiful method to win the smile of Emperor Jing of Han and thus got what he wanted.

Until this moment;

It was not until he witnessed this famous historical scene with his own eyes and heard Liu Fa's words "The land of the primary school is narrow and there is not enough room for maneuvering" with his own ears that Liu Rong sincerely admired the strong genes of the Liu family.

Look around, what are everyone’s reactions?
Hejian King Liu De, who had just expressed his intention to compete for the throne of King of Zhao a moment ago, as well as Lu King Liu Yu and Changshan King Liu Pengzu, looked at Liu Fa with sympathy!
The three amused people, Liu Yu, King of Linjiang, Liu Fei, King of Jiangdu, and Liu Sheng, King of Zhongshan, nodded repeatedly half-jokingly and half-approvingly, as if they were amazed at Liu Fa's wisdom.

Even the King of Jiaodong Liu Duan, who never got involved in these things and seldom went out to see people, and the seven-year-old King of Jiaoxi Liu Zhi, looked at His Royal Highness the King of Changsha with full admiration in their eyes.

Sitting on the imperial couch, Empress Dowager Dou couldn't help laughing and shaking her head, obviously she was also amused;
As for Empress Dowager Li, although she didn't quite understand Liu Fa's true intention, she vaguely felt from the reactions of the crowd that Liu Fa seemed to have used a little skill to achieve a great result.

Liu Rong's next words verified Empress Dowager Li's guess.

"I know Changsha's intention..."

Deep down, Liu Rong actually feels quite sympathetic towards this younger brother who has always been low-key and even has little sense of existence.

In the original history, the sixth son of Emperor Jing was granted the title of Changsha and sat on the throne of King of Changsha for twenty-seven years.

——Twenty-seven years!
In this era - in this era when the two lakes, two Guangdongs, and even most areas in the south are still completely undeveloped and covered with tropical rainforests, it is already an amazing thing to live in a poor and barren place like Changsha for twenty years!
Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, in the more than fifty years and six generations of Han emperors, there has never been a single one who could reign for twenty-seven years!

In the original historical timeline, King Linjiang Liu Yu was granted the title for only a few years before he died due to acclimatization problems.
Liu Fa was able to survive in Changsha and even had descendants and ancestral temple until the emergence of Emperor Guangwu. To put it a little superstitiously, he had some luck on his side.

In history, there are only two things worth mentioning about Liu Fa's 27-year career as a prince. One is the sentence just now, "My country is small and narrow, and there is no room for maneuver."

Secondly, Emperor Jing was still alive for a long time after Liu Fa took up his post in Changsha, so Liu Fa's mother, Tang Ji, as a concubine in the harem, had to stay in the Weiyang Palace in Chang'an.

His mother lived in Chang'an for a long time. As a prince, Liu Fa went to the court once every three years, which meant that he could only see his beloved mother once every three years.

Missing his mother Tang Ji day and night but unable to see her, Liu Fa would select the best rice from the Changsha harvest every autumn and send it to Chang'an by special men and horses to honor his mother.

Then let the people who delivered the rice bring back soil from Chang'an when they returned, and use this soil to build a platform in Changsha.

Day after day, year after year.

Tang Ji may or may not have eaten the rice Liu Fa sent to Chang'an.

But Liu Fa built a platform layer by layer with the soil that the grain delivery team brought back from Changsha.

Whenever the sun set, Liu Fa would go up to the stage and look north to express his longing for his mother, Tang Ji.

This mud platform was named Dingwangtai by later generations after Liu Fa's posthumous title.

It is also recognized by historians as: Dingwang Wangmutai, or Wangmutai.

During his 27 years as a prince, Liu Faman left his mark in the history books with these two things.

——Performing dances to gain land, and building platforms to think of one’s mother.

There is no doubt that Liu Fa is a kind man.

Moreover, he is the best honest and decent person in the Han family today.

But even such an honest and kind person, when it comes to issues concerning his own interests, can also pick up the wisdom left by Emperor Taizu Gao Liu Bang from his bloodline...

"Changsha is located in a remote area, and the land is full of humid miasma;"

"The king's vassalage in Changsha was a difficult one, which is beyond the reach of outsiders."

"——But, for the sake of the ancestral temple and the country, one of us Liu clan members must be the king of Changsha, to pacify Lingnan and to shock the Baiyue people."

"Especially the Nanyue Zhao Tuo - without Changsha to guard the Five Ridges and Jiangdu and the three kings of Huainan to come to our aid, I will never feel at ease."

Such words implicitly expressed himself and the Han Dynasty's political need of "not letting Liu Fa leave Changsha". Liu Rong deliberately paused and raised his eyes to check the reaction of his sixth brother Liu Fa.

Just as Liu Rong expected: Liu Fa did not show any obvious emotional fluctuations regarding his statement, as if all this was within Liu Fa's expectations.

After a little thought, Liu Rong felt relieved.

——Liu Fa is not only an honest and kind man, but also undoubtedly a smart man.

Since he was a smart man, Liu Fa must have known that in the Han family today, no one was more suitable to be the relative of the King of Changsha than Liu Fa, who came from a humble background.

Liu Fa must have figured out long ago that he had to become the King of Changsha.

Furthermore, when Liu Fa performed the dance just now, he did not say "the country is weak and the land is barren", but "the country is small and the land is narrow";
In short, Liu Fa did not dislike Changsha for being poor, he just disliked it for being small.

This is easy to handle.

Liu Fa knew the right measure and did not dream of moving his fief to another place, but instead requested to increase his fiefdom.
Liu Rong was happy to go with the flow, making up for his poor brother while creating this famous historical scene.

"Since Changsha is small and has a narrow territory, the king cannot dance as he pleases. As the eldest brother of the kings, I cannot sit idly by and watch."

Liu Rong smiled and said this. He also turned his head slightly, took the hand of the old lady Dou beside him, and gently squeezed it, which was considered as asking for the old lady's opinion.

After the old queen nodded with a smile and sighed to herself, Liu Rong turned around;
He stood up from the imperial couch, walked forward, and helped his sixth brother Liu Fa, who was still kneeling and bowing his head, up from the ground.

Then, he touched Liu Fa's chest with the back of his hand with a smile, and said: "Wuling, Lingling, and Guiyang counties should have been the land of Changsha."

"When the previous emperor conferred titles on all the princes, the Wu-Chu rebellion had just been quelled, and voices calling for the reduction of the power of the princes were rampant both inside and outside the court;"

"Even if the late emperor had this intention, it would be inconvenient for him to grant Changsha these three counties."

"——But now, it doesn't matter."

"Just because it was not allowed in the past doesn't mean it is not allowed today."

"The late emperor had this intention long ago, but was unable to carry it out; now Changsha has made a request, and the Empress Dowager has first agreed;"

"I will make this decision - Wuling, Lingling and Guiyang counties will be granted the title of Changsha."

As he spoke, Liu Rong naturally took Liu Fa's hand and patted it gently on the back of Liu Fa's hand. "Wuling, Lingling, and Guiyang are three counties. They are not big or rich. But no matter how you look at it, they are still three counties."

"With these three counties, the land area of ​​Changsha will almost double."

"——With such a vast land, the king will surely be badmouthed by everyone in and outside the court."

"King, encourage yourself..."

···
"Ever since the last emperor implemented the policy of reducing the power of the feudal lords, and then suppressed the rebellion of the seven states of Wu and Chu, reducing the power of the feudal lords has been a major policy of the Han Dynasty that has not changed for a hundred years."

"With this great policy in place, I did not take away the king's territory, but instead gave Changsha three counties. Even if it was me, I'm afraid I would not be able to escape the criticism of the ministers and the slander of the people."

"I have good intentions, King, you will understand it yourself..."

Liu Rong said the two consecutive sentences "Wang encouraged himself" and "Wang realized it himself" easily, but Liu Fa felt ashamed when he heard them.

He lowered his head in shame, and after adjusting himself for a long time, he finally raised his head with difficulty and bowed to Liu Rong.

"Whether as brothers or loyal subjects of Your Majesty, I should not have used this method to embarrass Your Majesty and go against the general trend - after the previous emperor made the policy of 'cutting down the vassal states' for our Han family, you instead granted land to your brother."

"Changsha is remote, the land is barren, and the Baiyue are separated from Changsha by the Five Ridges;"

"If we don't take this bad plan, with the land we have now, it is difficult to support the army in the country and to guard against the Baiyue in the south..."

Liu Fa's sincere apology also caused Liu Rong to nod approvingly.

However, he did not say anything more to Liu Fa. Instead, he gave him a look that said, "Don't worry, I have promised, and I will not go back on my word." Then he turned around and sat back on the imperial couch at the top.

Liu Fa is right.

Or it should be said: It was precisely for this reason that Liu Rong gave in so easily and with a stroke of his pen, he incorporated the three counties into Changsha.

——As a politician, even though Liu Rong is still a little green, he is not so ignorant of the most basic political rules.

That is: do not change unless necessary.

If there was not some reason that made it necessary, even imperative and urgent, to add territory to Changsha, the consideration of "making a famous historical scene" alone would not be enough to support Liu Rong in adding territory to his poor brother.

In fact, the problems faced by Changsha State in the south were basically the same as those encountered by border guards such as Yan and Zhao in the north.

——They are both located within the national border, bordering strategic enemies outside the country across the border;

They all shoulder the heavy burden of border defense, but the border defense expenses are borne solely by the border king.

That’s right;

Changsha, like Yan, Dai and Zhao in the north, is also a border guarding kingdom.

However, Changsha was garrisoned in the south, and its target was the Hundred Yue people, mainly Zhao Tuo of Nanyue.

Although the strategic situation was not as bad as that of Yan, Dai and Zhao in the north, and the border defense pressure was not as great as in the north, but correspondingly, Changsha State was not as good as the three kings guarding the border in the north in terms of land, territory - whether it was arable land area or population.

And it is far inferior!

As a king guarding the border, and also facing a strategic enemy that might use force at any time, Changsha State had to bear little border defense expenses, but considering Changsha's harsh climate and geographical environment, it is no exaggeration to say that Liu Fa was really forced to do so.

If it weren't for today's incident of "the country is small and the land is narrow, not enough to maneuver", Changsha State, which could not afford to support its own border defense force of no more than 20,000, would have no choice but to disarm.

Changsha is weak to begin with, and facing the Baiyue in Lingnan, let alone strategic deterrence - even for necessary strategic defense tasks, it still needs the help of the Huainan system behind it, and even Lu, Chu, and Jiang.

If the army is further disarmed, the strategic significance of Changsha State on the southern border of the Han Dynasty will probably disappear completely.

——Nanyue was governed by Zhao Tuo for more than 50 years, with more than 200,000 households and more than 1.4 million people.

Even if he only recruited one man from every five households, Zhao Tuo could easily raise an army of 40,000 to 50,000 men, posing a direct threat to the Changsha State north of the Wuling Mountains.

If Changsha State cannot even maintain order with its existing border defense forces of more than 10,000 or less than 20,000, then the nature of having 10,000 people left or having no one left is basically the same.

It's all meaningless.

In this light, it is not difficult to understand why Liu Rong granted the three counties with a stroke of his pen, and even said, "The late emperor had wanted to do this a long time ago, but the time was not right at that time." These words are obviously contrary to the core policy of the Han Dynasty at this stage towards the clan princes.

What territory and population were conferred upon him by Liu Rong?
It’s clearly border defense expenses!
However, compared to giving money directly, Liu Rong still prefers the approach of "it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish", allowing Liu Fa to allocate the necessary border defense expenses from the taxes of the three counties.

This is also the reason for the existence of the border kings of the Han Dynasty, and even all the clan princes.

If Chang'an takes care of everything and pays for everything, then what is the point of you, a prince?
Rather than giving money to you, the prince, and worrying about your vassal states, I would rather give the money to the county magistrates and worry about the counties directly under Chang'an!

Whether it was the brothers present or the two queens on the imperial couch—at least the old queen dowager Dou, they all clearly understood the reason;

Therefore, no one thought there was anything wrong with Liu Rong's unauthorized appointment of the title of Changsha.

Although Liu Fa felt ashamed, he finally had the nerve to accept the offer and thanked the offer repeatedly.

But with Liu Fa's behavior, the brothers, who were originally a little reserved, suddenly couldn't hold back...

"Linjiang is not poor, but it is still small..."

"Although I don't dance... ahem, I still can't move at all..."

After his second brother Liu De expressed his desire to be the King of Zhao, King Linjiang Liu Yu obviously no longer had any hope.
However, he was not content with the status quo and wanted to seek a fiefdom better than Linjiang State.

"Jiaodong and Jiaoxi were originally one, but now they are divided into two countries, which is very inconvenient..."

The eighth brother, Liu Duan, never stops making shocking remarks. It seems that he has set his sights on his younger brother Liu Zhi's Jiaoxi Kingdom. He wants to combine the forces of his own Jiaodong Kingdom with the Jiaoxi Kingdom and become the "King of Jiao" of the Han Dynasty.

Even Liu Zhi, who was only seven years old, had his own pursuits.

"Brother Chen..."

"Well, I am far away at the shore of the East China Sea, so far away from you, my brother..."

"If I could be closer to my brother, I could also enjoy his grace and kindness..."

(End of this chapter)