I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 384 Chapter of the Agreement
"This……"

Zhao Po Nu and others were hesitant to speak after hearing this.

What Liu Che is promoting now is the "great unification" of Gongyang Chunqiu, which was interpreted twice by Dong Zhongshu. Naturally, both military generals and court officials can give a general idea of ​​it.

However, this was Liu Che's national policy after all, and now it was suddenly questioned by Liu Ju.

In all likelihood, there would be no prize for answering the question correctly, but answering it incorrectly might bring them into some troublesome problems. Their experience in officialdom told them that it was best not to say anything about the matter and just wait for Liu Ju's explanation.

Liu Ju naturally knew what they were thinking, so he just smiled and continued:

"To sum it up in four words, it's 'the first month of spring'."

"The king receives the mandate and establishes the first month to govern the world, so that all things will follow it as the beginning, which is the constant principle of heaven and earth and the common friendship of ancient and modern times. The whole country is divided into counties and prefectures, and the laws and regulations are unified. The six directions are in harmony and the nine provinces are connected. This is the great unification."

"You must have heard this kind of empty talk more than once. Some people may even know it by heart, and there are different personal interpretations."

"..."

Hearing this, Zhao Po Nu and others looked at each other, and dared not respond.

In public, Liu Ju was probably the only one in the world who described the emperor's interpretation of "great unification" and national policy as "empty and false", right?
Anyway, they absolutely dare not do so. If such words were to reach the ears of the emperor, they would be doomed.

Liu Ju continued to talk to himself:
"In fact, I raised this question not to test you, nor to discuss the meaning of great unification. I just want to take this opportunity to further explain to you the in-depth strategy that my father has formulated to achieve great unification."

"The emperor's deep strategy?"

Zhao Po Nu and others immediately became excited.

As the saying goes, the emperor's mind is hard to predict, especially in this dynasty. Those who know how to follow the emperor's mind can be favored and valued by the emperor and become important officials with great power.

Making achievements is one thing.

Whether one can establish a career after making achievements depends on whether the achievements have touched the heart of the emperor. Otherwise, it will be useless. Even if the emperor has not denied the achievements in person, what kind of reward one will get in the end still depends on his thoughts.

Although Liu Ju has been deposed now, he was once the crown prince carefully cultivated by the emperor. It is very likely that he had discussed some of his inner thoughts and so-called deep strategies with the emperor. There is certainly no harm in listening to them.

As to whether Liu Ju was talking nonsense.

Everyone here is not a fool and will make their own judgment. It is not the case that what he says must be the truth.

"In fact, the deep strategies that my father formulated to achieve great unification, especially the strategies for the Western Regions, can be summed up in just five words: all poor brothers."

Liu Ju did not keep anyone in suspense and spoke very directly.

"?"

Zhao Po Nu and others were stunned again when they heard this and looked at each other.

They had never heard of the word "barren" and could not understand its meaning. They did not understand it for a moment.

"Or you can also say it in four words: we are all brothers."

Liu Ju continued,

"General Wang was once sent as an envoy of the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions. When our Han Dynasty envoys went to the Western Regions, they often brought valuable gifts along the way in order to seek friendship with these countries, demonstrate the wealth of the Han Dynasty, publicize the prestige of the Han Dynasty, and spread the civilization of the Han Dynasty."

"Although the effect is not good at present, the small countries in the Western Regions are still afraid of the Xiongnu and are becoming more and more rude to the Han envoys, which led to today's expedition." "But General Wang should not deny that my father still has a soft heart towards these small countries. This expedition is to conquer the small countries in the Western Regions and influence them with kindness and power, rather than slaughter them."

"This is the embodiment of my father's deep strategy."

"Because my father wants great unification, and rule without people will be meaningless. Do you agree?"

"..."

Zhao Po Nu and others nodded when they heard this. It was hard for them not to agree with this statement.

Before setting out on the expedition, they knew that this battle was the first one for the Han Dynasty to establish its prestige in the Western Regions. To establish prestige, one naturally needs an audience to watch, otherwise the word "establishing prestige" would not work.

In this case, what Liu Ju said might really be Liu Che’s inner thoughts?

Then Zhao Po Nu and others can't help but consider a question:
Liu Che deposed Liu Ju and sent him to the Western Regions... just as he had previously stripped Zhao Po Nu, Gongsun He, Han Shuo and others of their titles and ordered them to make meritorious contributions while serving their sentences.

So could it be that Liu Ju was also making meritorious contributions during this trip, or even carrying out a secret mission for Liu Che?

Although Liu Ju never said this from beginning to end, every word he said now made them think so.

What's more, Liu Ju now called "my father" all the time, and always spoke in a tone that he was here on official business at the orders of his father. Along the way, he did not show any resentment or unwillingness, but was more calm and confident.

This made them more and more suspicious that Liu Ju's dethronement and going to the expedition this time was not even a meritorious service for his crime, but a double act jointly performed by the father and son, just to stop the court officials from commenting on Jiang Chong's death, so that Liu Ju could come out to avoid the limelight and advance his own great cause at the same time?

At least before Liu Che orders the appointment of a new crown prince, this possibility cannot be ruled out...

Until now.

Zhao Po Nu finally realized the problem in his eyes:
Although he was appointed General Xionghe and the commander-in-chief of the three armies in this battle, he now seems to be losing the power to lead the war... No, he has already lost the power to lead the war!

Because Liu Ju has been implicitly revealing a central idea, his trip represents the will of the emperor!
As a subject of the emperor, how dare he go against the emperor's will?

He wouldn't dare to gamble even if he wanted to.

Because once he loses the bet, he will be doomed, not to mention making amends for his crime.

He didn't even dare to submit a memorial to the emperor for inquiry. God knew what the emperor was thinking, and if he was not careful he would end up making things worse... Unless there were some major problems with Liu Ju's actions, he would submit a memorial to test the waters.

Zhao Po Nu had already had such an idea, and naturally others had similar ideas. At this moment, they had to re-examine the significance and identity of Liu Ju's joining the army in this expedition.

And this was exactly Liu Ju's purpose.

Although it seemed that he was just expounding on "great unification" just now, he took advantage of the autocratic and riddle-like nature that Liu Che had shown in the court in the previous decades, and at the same time took Liu Che and everyone present into account, causing their mentality to undergo expected subtle changes.

They were intimidated by Liu Che's tyranny and dared not ask directly, so he was invincible.

From then on, he achieved in this army the goal of “not being controlled by the sky above, not being controlled by the earth below, and not being controlled by people in the middle” in the most peaceful way, and he was able to make the whole world shocked with just one man’s army!

But at the same time.

Liu Ju's words were not just for this purpose. He had seen everyone's expressions at the moment and had an idea in his mind, but he said:

"Therefore, in order to implement my father's profound strategy, I must make two or three agreements with you before we go on the expedition."

(End of this chapter)