I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 305: Is the prince going to poop bigger? !

time flies.

After half a month of preparation, Liu Che personally hosted a dinner in the Xuanshi Hall to welcome Liu Ju and the officials who were traveling to the Korean Peninsula.

On the second day, Han Shuo set off with 50,000 Han troops and a large delegation headed by She He.

Gongsun He and Zhao Po Nu also went north together, entered the desert and inspected the south of the desert to support the eastern expedition.

Liu Ju and others set out a few days later, at a leisurely pace.

After all, except Han Shuo and She He, Liu Ju and the rest of these people were mainly post-processing personnel who went to set up the "United Protectorate" and "go to sea to seek immortality". If they went too early, they could only wait for the results in Liaodong County.

The day when Liu Ju officially set out was sunny and cloudless.

A group of officials and guards formed a team of more than 2,000 people. After gathering at the east gate of Chang'an, they marched towards the northeast in a mighty manner.

This time Liu Ju did not bring his concubine.

Yishuo is pregnant now and needs to rest. How can she travel by boat?

Liu Ju had no family before and was the crown prince of the Han Dynasty, so naturally there were no big rules for him to follow when he went out.

In fact, if other generals led their troops to war, they would take the initiative to leave their families in Chang'an to reassure the emperor. To put it bluntly, they would leave their families as hostages.

Being defeated or dying in battle is a minor matter and will not harm your family. But if you surrender to the enemy or flee out of fear of punishment, your family will be the first to suffer...

This time, Liu Che climbed up the Bailiang Terrace again and stood on the terrace looking at the east gate of Chang'an.

In fact, you can't see anything. After all, Bailiangtai is only about a hundred meters high and located on the northwest side of Weiyang Palace. It can only overlook the entire Weiyang Palace and a part of the Linyuan area. It is impossible to see the situation at the east gate of Chang'an.

"My foolish son."

"You just come up with those wonderful ideas, and I have a lot of things to consider... This time I paid such a price to support you, you must not let me down."

"..."

Su Wen stood aside, feeling a little worried.

Others don’t know that as Liu Che’s closest attendant, he knows best what price Liu Che paid.

The "seizure of title by paying jiujin" some time ago was certainly not just a matter of "jiujin", nor was it entirely due to the assassination of Liu Ju in Hejian State.

More importantly, Liu Che was still short of money.

Because of this matter, he issued an imperial edict ordering many princes to respond to the call and donate money to join the army. He also set up Qi's prime minister Bu Shi, who had actively donated his property and asked to lead his son and Qi's experts in water warfare to serve on the Korean Peninsula, as a progressive model. He made him the Marquis of Guannei and rewarded him with golden fields, hoping that many princes would follow his example.

Still, only a few people expressed support.

Some people even raised objections, arguing that there was no need for the Han Dynasty to send troops to the Korean Peninsula to "uphold justice" for those small vassal states, and there was no need to set up a "United Protectorate". This move would not bring any substantial benefits to the Han Dynasty, but would only cost the people money and time. The Han Dynasty should pursue "isolationism" to preserve itself.

Liu Che was very angry about this, but he could not take action against these dukes just because of their political differences, so he took advantage of the situation to organize such a "酎金夺爵" event, and by the way solved the problem of some dukes being too powerful to be removed, thus further weakening their power.

Even so, not much money or grain was raised to implement the plan.

In the end, Liu Che had to spend most of the "Fengshan Book" that he had saved in the Shaofu for the past two years to prepare for the Fengshan Ceremony he had been longing for, to make up for the deficit. Only in this way did he finally get the matter done.

In fact, if Liu Ju did not go there in person this time.

Liu Che planned to recruit 50,000 death row prisoners from all over the country to deal with Wiman Joseon. This would definitely reduce the losses a lot, and it should be enough for a small country like Wiman Joseon.

But Liu Ju insisted on going there in person, and it was indeed necessary for him to go there in person.

Liu Che exchanged these 50,000 death row prisoners for 50,000 elite Han troops. Even if he had to use a butcher knife to kill a chicken, he must ensure that this matter was foolproof. Then he had to use the "Fengshan Book"...

From this we can see how much Emperor Liu Che valued his "stupid son" Liu Ju.

So it is also conceivable.

Liu Che even used the "Fengshan Book". If after paying such a price to open up the land route to the Korean Peninsula, Liu Ju was ultimately unable to help Liu Che get his wish, how bad would Liu Che feel?
"Your Highness, you must do your best and don't do anything weird again this time."

Su Wen prayed secretly in his heart,
"As long as this matter is handled beautifully, no one in the world will be able to threaten you. Even if the other princes are as good as Yao and Shun, the person who will inherit the throne of Your Majesty in the future will only be you..."

……

After the officials exchanged greetings with Liu Ju, the motorcade drove out of the east gate of Chang'an in a mighty procession.

However, Liu Ju kept Prime Minister Zhao Zhou alone and invited him to ride in the same carriage with him.

Oh, by the way, now Zhao Zhou is no longer the prime minister, one of the Three Dukes.

Instead, he was "waiting for an official post at the Golden Horse Gate", which was simply a reserve official without the power of a prime minister. However, since he was "making meritorious contributions while serving his sentence", and Liu Che had not yet appointed a new prime minister, many people still consciously treated him as the prime minister with courtesy.

"Master Zhao, I haven't seen your son Zhao Guo for some time. I wonder how he is doing?"

As soon as the carriage started moving, Liu Ju opened up to Zhao Zhou and asked with a smile.

In fact, Liu Ju supported Zhao Zhou to continue serving as prime minister.

It has been three years since Zhao Zhou served as prime minister. Although no significant achievements were recorded in history books, Liu Ju had heard about some of the things he had done in the past three years since he traveled through time.

When Zhao Zhou first took office as prime minister, he strongly advised Emperor Liu Che to send people to control the river and block the breach of Huzikou to ensure the safety of the people in Liang and Chu. Unfortunately, his advice was not accepted by Emperor Liu Che.

Later, the cruel official Wang Wenshu fabricated crimes and killed innocent people indiscriminately in the Henei area for the sake of merit, often disregarding the laws of the country. Zhao Zhou made the above impeachment again, but was still ignored by Emperor Liu Che.

Before this, when Gongsun Qing presented the book "Zha" to Liu Che, he had asked someone to find him.

After reading the book "Zha", Zhao Zhou thought that it was completely fabricated and refused to help donate the book. As a result, Gongsun Qing found someone else to get the matter done.

From these things, we can see that Zhao Zhou still has a heart for practical things.

Just for this point, he is much stronger than Liu Ju's other prince tutor Shi Qing.

Historically, after Zhao Zhou committed suicide in prison, Shi Qing, who was like a non-stick pan, took over the position of prime minister. During his nine years in office, not only did he not make any remarks to correct the ills of the time, he even turned a blind eye and shirked responsibility when a disaster hit the Kanto region, causing more than two million refugees, empty city granaries, and many people fleeing to the brink of cannibalism.

Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on Shi Qing. After all, Prime Minister Zhao Zhou, who dared to speak out a few words of advice, had a tragic end before him. So what if he doesn't make a non-stick pan?

But no matter what, Zhao Zhou was a relatively dedicated prime minister. It was a bit unfair that he died because of "taking away the title with money" in history...

"Thanks to your majesty and your highness's kindness, I was able to be appointed Minister of Agriculture and realize my ambitions to serve the Han Dynasty. When I mentioned your highness a few days ago, I was still grateful for your kindness and didn't know how to repay you."

Zhao Zhou quickly clasped his fists to express his gratitude to Liu Ju.

"I also heard that Taifu Zhao was originally going to be imprisoned for knowing that the tribute from the marquises was insufficient but not reporting it. Fortunately, Zhao Guo entered the palace as a minister and asked to see my father, willing to take the blame for his father with his own life. My father, thinking of Zhao Guo's filial piety, gave Taifu Zhao this opportunity to make up for his crime?"

Liu Ju asked again.

Zhao Zhou smiled bitterly and said awkwardly:
"That's right. Although my son seems to be disobedient on weekdays and I often reprimand him, he has to rely on him to save me in times of crisis. I am really ashamed of myself."

"It is because Taifu Zhao taught his son well that Zhao Guo is so filial."

Liu Ju smiled and said,

"But it's also Zhao Guo's own efforts. I was right about him."

"Imagine if he fails to properly implement the 'Daitian Law' in the capital and the three auxiliary areas, so that my father, the emperor, appreciates his contribution and promotes him to the position of Minister of Agriculture, and also gives him the title of Minister of the Imperial Court, who can freely enter and leave the palace."

"This time, Master Zhao is in trouble. I'm afraid he won't be able to enter the palace to face my father and ask him to take the blame in his place."

"If Zhao Guo cannot ask my father in person to take the blame for his father, my father will not be able to truly feel his filial piety, and I am afraid he will not give Master Zhao this opportunity to redeem himself for his filial piety and merits."

"And Taifu Zhao is a respectable man."

"If he is thrown into prison for this matter, Master Zhao will definitely not be able to endure the insults from the cruel officials of the court. From what I know about Master Zhao, I'm afraid he will commit suicide to keep his name clean."

"Thinking about it this way, Master Zhao really had a close call this time. It was really extremely dangerous."

"..."

Zhao Zhou fell silent immediately. He knew that what Liu said was true. Once he was thrown into the imperial prison and tortured by cruel officials, how could he, as the Marquis of Gaoling of the Han Dynasty, as well as the Prime Minister and the Prince's Tutor, accept such an insult? He must commit suicide to save his dignity. Even if he could not leave his innocence, at least he would leave his body intact.

And if we count from the beginning, if it weren't for Liu Ju's discovery and recommendation, Zhao Guo would probably still be that "useless" rebellious son. How could he have any achievements, let alone be appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and become a Shizhong who could enter and leave the palace freely?

Without this premise, everything is invalid and this time he can only die!

Thinking of this, Zhao Zhou immediately bowed and saluted Liu Ju:
"Your Highness is absolutely right! Thanks to Your Highness for recognizing my talent and supporting my son, otherwise I would have lost my life. Your Highness is my lifesaver. Please accept my respect!"

"Dangdang!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the carriage shook violently as if it had derailed.

"Uu——!"

Huo Guang's panicked voice came from outside the carriage curtain.

He lost control and was distracted again...

But this really can't be blamed on him, he was driving the carriage in front and listening to the chatter, and suddenly the more he listened, the more he felt something was wrong!

His past experience instantly made him keenly aware of a serious problem:
This time, Liu Ju actually started to stir up trouble before he even left the capital. Compared with the previous two times, he was so much earlier. Could it be that he was planning to make a bigger mess? !
(End of this chapter)