I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 27 I, Guo Chang, also have my own ideas

There were no bombs or poison letters in this era.

Naturally, Liu Ju had nothing to worry about. He picked up a writing knife and gently chiseled a few times, then he broke the seal.

There was a rolled-up piece of white silk inside the bamboo tube.

From the dots of ink visible on the white silk, it is not difficult to tell that this is a secret letter.

Upon seeing this, Guo Zhen and Ji Ping immediately turned their backs and walked a few steps away to avoid suspicion.

Liu Ju then pulled the white silk out of the small bamboo tube, shook it open and checked the contents:
"The emperor debates the scriptures and discusses the connection between heaven and man."

"Destroying the dikes and flooding the fields is a blessing in disguise. It coincides with the event of the enshrinement of the treasure tripod, and the emperor is very pleased."

"Worry-free."

"Respectfully presented by Su Liu. Burn after reading."

As he read the contents on the white silk word by word, Liu Ju's brows gradually furrowed.

This "Su Liu"...

The person who could understand the content of this debate must be the one closest to Liu Che.

Liu Ju quickly guessed the other party's identity!
Su Liu? Su Wen!
Although the dirty joke "There was a girl named Xiaowen, who changed her name to Xiaoliu after spending a night with her boyfriend" obviously does not exist in this era, "Su Liu" is obviously a pseudonym for "Su Wen"!

This is the secret letter sent to him by Su Wen!
This guy was afraid that someone would know who wrote the letter, and he was also afraid that Liu Ju would not know who wrote the letter, so he used a pseudonym...

I didn't expect that after giving this guy motivation, he would actually do it for real?
But this is not important. What is important is the content of the secret letter.

Although there were no punctuation marks in the Han Dynasty, the secret letter was clearly divided and the content was not difficult to understand.

Dong Zhongshu...

Heaven and man induction...

A blessing in disguise…

It coincides with the event of the Baoding Fengshan ceremony...

Combining these elements together, Liu Ju only had to think about it for a moment, and the scene of the debate between Liu Che and Dong Zhongshu on that day quickly emerged in his mind.

Liu Che: "Dong, you once said that disasters were a message from heaven to me. Then you said that destroying the dikes and flooding the fields turned out to be a good thing. What is heaven telling me?"

Dong Zhongshu: "It shows that your majesty has governed properly, leading to peace and prosperity for the country and the people. The heavens are moved and have sent down auspicious signs."

Liu Che: "Then you said that I recently got a tripod of the Yellow Emperor, what does this mean?"

Dong Zhongshu: "It shows that your majesty has made great achievements, comparable to those of the Yellow Emperor."

Liu Che: "Well said. I am now preparing to hold a Fengshan ceremony. Do you think it is feasible?"

Dong Zhongshu: "To confer an honor is to repay the merits of Heaven, and to abdicate is to repay the merits of Earth. Your Majesty has accomplished great things in governing the people and establishing the country. Now Heaven has sent down an auspicious sign that has not been seen for thousands of years. You should confer an honor and abdicate."

Liu Che put his hands on his hips and said, "Wahahahahaha, great, great, take it as a reward!"

Dong Zhongshu stroked his beard and said, “Wahahahaha, thank you, Your Majesty!”

"Wow ha ha ha ha!"

"Wow ha ha ha ha……"

The picture may not be as exaggerated as Liu Ju imagined, but he thinks the general framework should be pretty close, and the granularity has reached the standard level.

As for Dong Zhongshu.

The great scholar is also a human being. As someone who has lived a humble life after dying once, he should have learned some ways of being an official, and it is understandable that he occasionally complies with the emperor's wishes.

"Shit, something bad is going to happen!"

Thinking of this, Liu Ju's heart tightened. He rolled up the secret letter and slammed it heavily on the table.

If this matter continues to develop like this, all his recent planning will go to waste. This is not the result he wants!
"What kind of grass is this?"

"What's going to go wrong?"

Guo Zhen and Ji Ping looked at each other in bewilderment after hearing the noise. After hesitating for a moment, they turned around and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, if there is any difficulty, I am willing to help you."

"It's all right. Fetch me an oil lamp."

Liu Ju finally realized his mistake and shook his head.

……

Xuanshi Hall. Liu Che sat alone at the head of the hall.

All the eunuchs and close ministers around him disappeared, and even the guards at the gate were all dismissed.

There were only two men kneeling in the center of the hall.

The two men had heavy shackles on their hands and feet. Even so, they were tied up like dumplings with hemp ropes as thick as wrists. They looked like two human pigs with only their heads exposed.

They were not others but Ji Ren and Guo Chang who had just been escorted back to Beijing.

Liu Che wanted to interrogate them individually.

The people below naturally did not dare to be careless. They had to make sure that Ji Ren and Guo Chang could not move even a finger, otherwise if the emperor was disturbed, no one would be able to take responsibility.

As for the clerks who record confessions, they are totally unnecessary!
The life and death of the criminal depends on Liu Che's decision. What's more, the confession in the imperial prison was originally meant for him to see. Now that it has been brought before the emperor, what else is there for the confession?
"Your Majesty, I am not here to speak up for myself today. I am here to speak up for the people on the north bank who have suffered so much from the flood!"

As soon as he knelt down, Jiren started to cry out loudly, banging his forehead on the ground.

"I would rather sacrifice my life than sue the prince!"

"The Crown Prince has acted on his own will, destroying the dike and flooding the fields, leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the north bank homeless. Such a foolish and heartless Crown Prince must not inherit the throne, otherwise the Han Dynasty will be in danger, Your Majesty!"

Faced with this scene, Liu Che frowned slightly, not knowing whether he was dissatisfied with Ji Ren's roar in the imperial palace or with Liu Ju's destruction of the dikes and flooding of the fields.

However, just as he moved his lips and was about to say something.

"Shut up, you know nothing!"

Guo Chang suddenly used his body, which was tied up like a dumpling and had difficulty moving, to push Ji Ren hard, knocking him to the ground.

When he turned around and saw Liu Che looking at him with murderous intent, Guo Chang restrained himself and quickly knelt down to confess his crime:
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. This Ji Ren is so stupid that I have tolerated him all along. I just cannot bear to see him slander the Crown Prince in front of Your Majesty. I offended Your Majesty in a moment of desperation."

"I slandered the prince, but the prince still needs me to slander him?"

How could a strong person like Ji Ren be afraid of this? He immediately stiffened his neck and asked loudly,

"Didn't you see with your own eyes what the prince did, or did the thousands of people in Puyang not see it that day?"

"Is what you see the truth of the matter?"

"Isn't it?"

"no!"

The two of them started arguing on the spot, with each voice getting louder than the other.

Guo Chang was not a good-tempered person to begin with, and the last "no" made him spit directly onto Ji Ren's face.

Liu Che sat at the head of the hall and watched the two of them perform quietly.

What he likes most is to see people arguing in front of him. As long as he is not involved, he will get out of the argument what he wants to know, and he will get what he wants to do through the argument.

If the officials in the court were in harmony, then he would really have to consider whether there was a big problem.

Besides, there is such a thing as the Roaring Palace.

It can be big or small. As long as he opens his mouth, everyone's tail is in his hand. Right or wrong is no longer important. It all depends on his mood...

"Then why don't you tell us the truth in front of His Majesty?"

"Oh, if the prince hadn't forced me to swear an oath, I would have spoken out long ago. How could you, an ignorant person, have the right to comment on the prince?"

Guo Chang sneered and bowed to Liu Che.
"Now that I have met His Majesty, I will naturally tell you everything. Why do I need you to provoke me?"

Hear this.

Liu Che finally showed some reaction, and looked at Guo Chang with interest: "I want to hear what oath the prince forced you to swear first."

"This……"

Guo Chang was stunned for a moment, and finally realized that he had said too much in his excitement, but now that things had come to this, he could only tell the truth.

"In reply to your Majesty, the Crown Prince forced me to swear that I would not tell anyone the truth about him destroying the dike and flooding the fields, otherwise I would die tragically in the chaos of the army and my body would not be intact."

"Then you still want to tell me, aren't you afraid that your oath will come true?"

Liu Che thought this was funny and asked again.

"I am loyal to Your Majesty, how dare I hide anything from you?"

Guo Chang straightened his chest, with a barely perceptible cunning in his eyes, "Besides, I am the commander of the army, and I should die on the battlefield. If I don't have such determination in my heart, how can I kill the enemy for my country? Therefore, I am not afraid."

(End of this chapter)