I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 494: Showing Zhang Tang and Zhufu Yan a Seat

"Gentleman, what are you thinking about?"

Bringing a cup of hot milk tea to Liu Ju, Dilibaier leaned gently against his side and asked in a low voice.

People often say "a short separation is better than a new marriage", but now Liu Ju and Dilibai'er are in the honeymoon stage.

This milk tea is naturally also Liu Ju’s “invention”.

It is nothing more than a mixture of goat milk, which is abundant in the Western Regions, and Han tea.

There was no sucrose in this era. Although honey could be used as a substitute and sweet glucose syrup could be easily found, Liu Ju did not like to add sugar to milk tea in later generations.

"I'm thinking about your Great Yuezhi language. I'm afraid it will take me a long time to learn it."

Liu Ju turned around and smiled coquettishly, one of his hands already wandering around Dilibai'er's body in a very dishonest manner.

Although Liu Ju's learning of a foreign language does not mean the same as learning a foreign language in the literal sense, he does now have some understanding of the Great Yuezhi language.

For example, the four words "Dilibai'er" mean "beauty" in the Dayuezhi language.

Dilibai'er lives up to her name.

"The gentleman is making fun of me again!"

Dilibaier uttered a "嘤" sound, dodged Liu Ju's clutches with a frown, and then said,
"I heard that the emperor's envoy from Tianhan arrived here today. After meeting the envoy, you returned to your bedroom alone and have not come out for a long time. I was worried that you had encountered some difficulties, so I came here to accompany you, but you came to bully me again."

Since Emperor Wu of Han implemented the Taichu calendar and changed the reign title to Tianhan.

Nowadays, people abroad also call the Han Dynasty "Tianhan" and the emperor of the Han Dynasty "Tianhan Emperor".

"Don't make a fuss. My father is planning to hold a Fengshan ceremony and has invited envoys from various countries to attend the ceremony. He also summoned me to attend the ceremony."

Liu Ju smiled and said.

"Feng Chan?"

Dilibaier didn’t seem to understand the meaning of “fengshan”, after all, the Great Yuezhi didn’t do any fengshan.

If it were the Huns, it might be easier to understand, because the Fenglangjuxu that Huo Qubing had performed was a Fengshan ceremony, but it was essentially different from Liu Che's Fengshan.

"To enfeoff means to report one's achievements to heaven, and to chan means to report one's achievements to earth. Therefore, enfeoffment and chan are the highest ceremonies for achieving success and fame in Tianhan."

Liu Ju briefly explained it to her. Although he was still smiling, he felt inexplicably disappointed in his heart.

After several years, Emperor Wu of Han finally summoned him back to Chang'an.

And this time is different from before.

In the past, Liu Che ordered him to return to Chang'an to report with a cautious and defensive mentality. Although this may not be entirely malicious, it was definitely not well-intentioned.

But this time, Liu Ju could feel that Liu Che was sincerely inviting him to participate in the Fengshan ceremony.

Maybe even with the expectation of entrusting the big man into his hands.

After all, although Liu Che no longer believes in the words of those alchemists and wizards, his long-cherished wish to ride a dragon to heaven and achieve immortality is growing stronger as he grows older.

What if the legend of Huangdi is true?
Moreover, given the current situation of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che is indeed qualified to report his achievements to heaven and earth. From the tone of the edict, it can be seen that Liu Che has great hopes for this Fengshan ceremony and he firmly believes that the dragon will lower its beard to welcome him to ascend to heaven.

However, Liu Ju knew it better than anyone else.

The dragon will not appear. Not only Liu Che will not succeed. After Liu Che, there were several emperors from different dynasties who performed Fengshan rituals. Some emperors' achievements were enough to shock heaven and earth, while others' Fengshan rituals were like a self-deceiving joke.

But in the end, they were not welcomed by the dragon as they wished.

However, Fengshan is not completely meaningless.

Just as Liu Ju said, in his heart, Fengshan was the highest ceremony representing success and fame.

If a minister had made meritorious service, he could be rewarded, and in later generations there were red-lettered iron certificates and medals as evidence. So it was natural for the emperor to show his merit to heaven and earth, so it was nothing wrong.

The only thing that makes him embarrassed now is.

Liu Ju couldn't go back. The older Liu Che got, the more dangerous it became, and the less likely he was to go back. But as the saying goes, don't hit a smiling person.

Liu Che had previously reinstated him as the crown prince, and in recent years he had let him build up his own power in the Western Regions as the crown prince, and had never issued an edict urging him to return to report.

Judging from this performance, Liu Che has given him great trust.

This time, Liu Che was about to hold the Fengshan Ceremony, which was undoubtedly the most important ceremony in his life, and its significance was far beyond his birthday or festivals. Now that he had issued an edict to invite his son back to participate, he had no reason to continue to refuse.

Even Liu Ju could imagine it.

When Emperor Liu Che held the Fengshan Ceremony, all the civil and military officials in the court accompanied him, and envoys from all countries in the country came to congratulate him, but he, the most favored prince, was the only one who was not present.

Liu Che would probably not only be embarrassed, but would also be extremely disappointed and angry in his heart.

Even if he looked at the matter from Liu Che's perspective, he felt that he had raised an ungrateful person.

to be frank.

Thinking of Liu Che's attitude towards him in recent years, he couldn't help feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

But when he thought of the "Witchcraft Disaster" again, Liu Ju's heart unconsciously hardened again. He was still unwilling to hand his fate over to Liu Che's hands.

Moreover, in the past few years, Sang Hongyang, Huo Guang, Han Zeng, Lu Bode, Li Ling and others have also returned to Beijing to report on their work.

The news they brought back to Liu Ju, especially the secret letter sent to him by Huo Guang, also forced him to be on guard.

Huo Guang was previously the Commandant of the Imperial Chariot and had a close relationship with Liu Che's attendants, so he naturally knew more about Liu Che's current situation.

He told Liu Ju personally in a secret letter.

Liu Che's memory has become much worse in recent years, and sometimes he would suffer from inexplicable hysteria at night.

Once he got up in the middle of the night and shouted to the eunuch on duty to come into the bedroom, and insisted that the eunuch watch over the seats for Zhang Tang and Lord Father Yan in front of the dragon couch.

This scared the eunuch to death.

Because Zhang Tang and Zhufu Yan had long passed away.

These two people, one was appointed as the Imperial Censor and the other as the Senior Official.

Zhang Tang was a famous cruel official, but also an honest official.

When his property was confiscated after his death, it was less than 500 gold, and tracing back to its source, all of it was property given by Emperor Liu Che as a reward.

When he was alive, he assisted Emperor Wu of Han in reforming the currency system, implementing the state-run salt and iron industry, counting and reporting taxes on silk, and cracking down on wealthy merchants. He could be regarded as Emperor Wu of Han's right-hand man.

Zhufu Yan was a famous politician.

During his lifetime, he proposed four propositions that had a profound impact on the Han Dynasty:

He implemented the Enfeoffment Order, moved all the heroes and wealthy families in the country to Maoling, established military farms in Shuofang and set up a county, and made Wei Zifu the empress.

There is no need to say much about the role these propositions played. It is not an exaggeration to call them the right arm of Emperor Liu Che.

Unfortunately, neither of them had a good ending.

Zhang Tang was framed, and Emperor Liu Che either believed the slander or just wanted to be a judge without getting himself dirty, so he ordered a thorough investigation. In the end, Zhang Tang was unable to defend himself and had to commit suicide to prove himself, and dragged the person who framed him and the then Prime Minister Zhuang Qingzhai to be his scapegoats.

Lord Father Yan was also framed.

Although this man was not as honest as Zhang Tang, and was not necessarily a good person, everything he did during his lifetime was to maintain the autocracy of Emperor Liu Che. He had to bear the blame, while Liu Che had to reap the fruits.

When Lord Father Yan was framed, Emperor Liu Che finally cruelly executed him in order to calm the people's hearts and avoid dishonoring himself.

This is not difficult to see from the past events of these two people.

Liu Che actually owed them something. They were Liu Che's white gloves, but they were also treated by Liu Che as disposable gloves to be thrown away after use...

Whether their deaths were unjust and how unjustly they died were, probably no one in the world knew better than Liu Che.

(End of this chapter)