I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 510 Jianzhang Palace!
"But it doesn't matter."

Seeing that his efforts to win over the people had a good effect, Liu Ju smiled and nodded.

"Your Highness, do you know about the fire in the Bailiang Terrace in the palace two years ago?"

Li Xiushan asked instead of answering.

"The flood at Bailiang Terrace is still there, isn't it?"

Liu Ju had never heard of this incident, but it was recorded in history books.

Bailiang Terrace is the tallest building in the entire Weiyang Palace...or to be more precise, in the entire Chang'an City, and even in the entire Han Dynasty.

Normally, when you are in Liu Ju's Bowang Garden, you can directly cross the wall of Weiyang Palace and see this magnificent platform.

Standing on the Bailiang Terrace, you can overlook the grass, the flying orioles, the running rabbits and the chasing dogs in Shanglin Garden, and half of Chang'an City is also in your sight. It is definitely one of the important landmarks in Chang'an City.

At the same time, this was also an important building where Liu Che sought immortals and consulted ghosts. There was a tall copper pillar immortal on the platform, holding a jade plate in his hand to collect dew for Liu Che to use to prolong his life and maintain his health.

However, according to historical records, this platform only existed for eleven years before it was reduced to ashes in a sudden fire.

As far as I can remember, Bailiangtai was burned down in the first year of Taichu in history, which means it happened exactly two years ago.

However, Liu Ju recalled it carefully.

After returning to Chang'an this time, the platform was still standing intact in the Weiyang Palace, so he never thought of this historical material...

"It is understandable that Your Highness did not know. When the flood occurred at Bailiangtai, Your Highness was in the Western Regions expelling the Xiongnu and expanding the territory for the Han Dynasty. Such a small matter should not have alarmed Your Highness."

Li Xiushan continued to laugh and said,

"Two years ago, the Bailiang Terrace suddenly caught fire, and only the copper pillars and the terrace were left. At that time, many people in the court and the public brought up the theory of the connection between heaven and man, and spread the word that it was because of your majesty's inhumane governance that the heavens were angry and sent down a disaster. Your majesty was furious and executed two doctors of the Five Classics of the Imperial Academy and many Confucian scholars to quell the rumors."

"Then His Majesty ordered the reconstruction of Bailiang Terrace. The current Bailiang Terrace was actually built only half a year ago."

"However, what I want to talk to Your Highness about is not this matter, but the matter of Jianzhang Palace."

"After the fire at Bailiang Terrace, although His Majesty was furious about the theory of heaven and man being connected that was circulating among the court and the public, he still felt a little uneasy, so he privately asked us for a way to feel at ease."

"How dare I and the local scholars of Qi speak nonsense and disturb His Majesty's hearing?"

"Take the experience of Huangdi as an example. The altar built by Huangdi during his sacrifice was also burned down by a fire. Later, Huangdi rebuilt the altar and nothing went wrong again. I advise Your Majesty not to worry."

"But those Nanyue wizards have ulterior motives. In order to win the favor of Your Majesty, they claim that Nanyue has a method of warding off evil."

"It is said that if there is a fire in South Vietnam, they just need to rebuild a bigger house than the original one to overcome the disaster, and there will be no more fires from then on."

"Your Majesty believed this so-called magic to be true, and immediately ordered the Minister of the Imperial Household to recommend a master architect to design and build a palace that is more magnificent than the Weiyang Palace to overcome the fire."

"Because the palace was located in Shanglin Garden, where your majesty's Jianzhang Camp was stationed, this palace was named Jianzhang Palace."

"I heard a few days ago that after two years of joint discussion and design by officials from the Ministry of Finance, several master craftsmen, and the Nanyue wizards, they have come up with a plan for a palace with thousands of doors and windows. The scale of Jianzhang Palace will probably exceed the combined size of Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace. His Majesty was quite satisfied after reviewing it, and it is initially scheduled to lay the foundation stone and start construction after the Fengshan Ceremony."

At this point, the smile on Li Xiushan's face gradually disappeared, replaced by grief and indignation that could not be expressed in words. He excitedly bowed to Liu Ju and said:

"Your Highness, please understand that His Majesty wants to build a palace, so I dare not interfere."

"However, if that Nanyue wizard uses the so-called method of warding off evil to deceive Your Majesty, and for his own selfish interests, instigates Your Majesty to empty the vast treasury to build a palace, and even takes the opportunity to enrich himself, it will be tantamount to disrupting the government and bringing disaster to the country and the people!"

"Although I am not a saint, I cannot ignore matters that threaten the Han dynasty."

"Therefore, I dare to ask Your Highness to pay attention to this matter. As the saying goes, those who are not of our race must have different hearts. We must not let these Nanyue barbarians take advantage of the opportunity and harm the Han people!"

"..."

After hearing these words, Liu Ju completely understood Li Xiushan's thoughts.

He was using this guy, and this guy had already decided to join him, but at the same time, he was also using him to deal with the South Vietnamese wizard faction, so as to safeguard the interests of this guy and the Qi local scholar faction and return to the previous situation of being the only one in power.

Speaking of which, now that the Qi local scholar faction has fallen out of favor with Emperor Wu of Han, it seems that they have no other choice but to accept Liu Ju's olive branch.

After all, the crown prince is also a king.

Moreover, if anything happened to Liu Che, he would have a great chance of becoming the crown prince.

But this is not important.

Politics is the art of compromise and the exchange of interests.

In the court, what people should worry about most is not that someone is taking advantage of them, but that no one wants to take advantage of them, because that means they are no longer of any use, and naturally it is impossible to accomplish anything.

As for the Jianzhang Palace mentioned by Li Xiushan.

Liu Ju became more and more famous. After all, in later generations, this palace known as "Thousands of Doors and Households" was even more famous than the Weiyang Palace.

The records about Jianzhang Palace in the Records of the Grand Historian are equally fascinating.

Shuangfengque, the east gate of Jianzhang Palace, got its name because of the two gilded bronze phoenixes over ten feet tall installed on it!
Shenming Terrace, the most spectacular building in Jianzhang Palace!
The platform is 50 zhang high, and on it stands a bronze immortal, whose palm is 7 meters wide. You can imagine how huge the immortal is. In his hand, the immortal holds a copper plate with a diameter of 27 zhang, and inside the plate is a giant jade cup, which collects dew from the air!
Yuanque! Yutang! Tianliang Palace! Sanshen Mountain! Kunming Lake...

And so on and so forth. All the palace buildings recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian are wonders that are rarely seen even in later generations. One cannot help but admire the large-scale infrastructure capabilities that Liu Che's dynasty already possessed.

In sharp contrast to this.

It was the tragic situation of successive disasters in the Han Dynasty, empty city granaries, many people fleeing, the country was wasted, and people even started to eat each other.

Soon after the Jianzhang Palace was completed, uprisings broke out one after another in various places. The unrest quickly spread to the Guandong region. Emperor Liu Che appointed cruel officials to suppress it brutally and even introduced the more stringent "Shen Ming Law" before he finally maintained the political situation.

And this time, because of the appearance of Liu Ju, the situation did change.

But natural disasters were not something Liu Ju could control. Liu Che's reign remained plagued by disasters, with an average of one major disaster every year and a half.

Even if Liu Ju had previously pushed Zhao Guo out and implemented the Daitian Law, it would still be difficult to offset the impact of the natural disaster.

In addition, Liu Ju had been carrying out military operations in the Western Regions in recent years, and the cost of Liu Che's Fengshan Ceremony was extremely huge. Even with the transfusion of silver from the overseas mountain, the finances of the Han Dynasty were still somewhat stretched.

If the Jianzhang Palace were forcibly built at this time, one can imagine the pressure it would bring to the Han Dynasty's finances.

In this case, there was no need to think about disaster relief, and the budget for other areas would definitely have to give way to the construction of the palace, so the people could only continue to suffer...

Liu Ju naturally did not support this approach. Liu Che had no shortage of places to live, as he had several palaces in the Weiyang Palace for his sleeping and work, and the palaces in the harem were also very sufficient. Building another Jianzhang Palace would only satisfy his selfish desires and make it more convenient for him to seek immortals and ghosts.

Instead of wasting this money, manpower and capacity for large-scale infrastructure.

It would be better to implement a policy of work-for-relief and take the opportunity to vigorously develop the infrastructure of the Han Dynasty.

In this way, the people affected by the disaster will have something to do and food to eat, and the social situation will naturally be stable, thus avoiding the endless turmoil in the Kanto region in history.

At the same time, with infrastructure support.

The traffic, transportation, production, people's livelihood, commerce and other aspects of the Han Dynasty will also be improved. The equalization and stabilization method proposed by Sang Hongyang will be more effective, which will just take advantage of the favorable conditions of the Silk Road opened up by Liu Ju. The economy of the Han Dynasty will also break through the bottleneck and enter the next period of rapid development, starting a virtuous circle.

Wait until then.

The national treasury actually had surplus money, and the Han Dynasty truly had the economic hegemony to reap the entire Western Regions. It was not impossible for Liu Che to rebuild the Jianzhang Palace. At least he would not be like he was doing now, robbing Peter to pay Paul, ignoring the current situation and people's livelihood, and ultimately causing social unrest.

And what Li Xiushan said.

It also made Liu Ju understand the reason why Liu Che built the Jianzhang Palace...

Regardless of whether Huo Shan's sudden death in history was related to the Nanyue wizards, this incident alone showed that they were no longer suitable to stay with Liu Che, and Liu Ju could not allow Liu Che to act on his own!
"I have already made up my mind about this matter. These Nanyue wizards dared to deceive my father and destroy the Han Dynasty. Their crime is unforgivable."

Liu Ju nodded slightly, then frowned in front of Li Xiushan.
"Although I want to get rid of them as soon as possible, it was my father's decision to build the Jianzhang Palace. Unless there is sufficient evidence to prove that these Nanyue wizards deceived the emperor for personal gain, even I cannot make any comments. What should I do?"

Li Xiushan instantly perked up upon hearing this:

"If Your Highness really has this in mind, I am willing to lend a helping hand!"

"Oh? How can you help me?"

Liu Ju asked even though he knew the answer.

"Although I am not as favored by Your Majesty as the wizards of South Vietnam, I also spend every day with them. Some things cannot escape my eyes and ears. If I investigate carefully, I will surely find something in due time."

Li Xiushan lowered his voice and said flatteringly,
"Besides, the wizards of South Vietnam are not a monolithic group. If I use money to bribe a few of them, I might get some unexpected gains."

In fact, the Qi local scholar faction and the Nanyue wizard faction had been fighting but not breaking up before this.

This kind of party struggle is similar to the struggle between the Elephant and the Donkey parties in the United States in later generations.

In the absence of external influence, although the Democratic and Republican parties will constantly attack and fight for the ruling power, they can always reach a tacit cooperation relationship on some key issues and work together to stifle the rise of new forces. At the same time, they try not to weaken the credibility of the U.S. government in the hearts of the people and not to recognize the biological father named "Israel" who lives on the east coast of the Mediterranean.

Because they have the same interests in certain aspects, they all want to deceive the same people, and they all want the deceived people to not know that they are being deceived and cannot expose their deceptive methods.

The same is true for the Qi local scholar faction and the Nanyue wizard faction.

All they did were superstitious things, all to deceive Liu Che, to make him fear ghosts or gods, to ask for things from ghosts or gods, and to never give up the pursuit of immortality.

If they also fight on these issues, they will expose each other.

The final result can only be that Liu Che will not trust anyone, and then neither the Qi local scholar faction nor the Nanyue wizard faction will have a good ending.

However, the external force Liu Ju suddenly appeared.

The situation changed immediately, and this state of fighting but not breaking became breakable.

Because Liu Ju clearly expressed his hostility towards the Nanyue wizard faction in front of Li Xiushan, this was no longer an internal fight between the Qi local scholar faction and the Nanyue wizard faction, and its nature was completely different from previous party struggles.

At least for the local gentry in Qi, they had a powerful supporter and agent.

This gave the Qi local scholar faction, which had been gradually declining, a chance to turn things around, the possibility of defeating the Nanyue wizard faction and getting away with it, and even a bright way out, making it the only dominant faction from then on.

At this time, the Qi local scholar faction naturally no longer had any need to continue fighting with the Nanyue wizard faction. Why would they still be hesitant like before and continue to pretend to be friendly with the Nanyue wizards?

Liu Ju was well aware of this truth, so he went to find Li Xiushan.

Seeing Li Xiushan's statement, he immediately drew a big cake for him:

"If you can really find evidence, I will be able to make sure that South Vietnamese wizard is dead without a burial place."

"I will do my best!"

Li Xiushan was of course very pleased and immediately bowed to express his appreciation.

"Oh, by the way, since you are one of us, I will not hide it from you. The four bows and four incense rituals I just mentioned actually took place when my father climbed Mount Tai."

Liu Ju continued.

"This……"

Li Xiushan was stunned and immediately held a meeting.

"How can you worship ghosts during the Fengshan Ceremony? Your Majesty must have been bewitched by those Nanyue wizards. No wonder there were no auspicious signs during the Fengshan Ceremony today. This is a serious matter. I will investigate it carefully!"

……

Silent all night.

The next day, Liu Che descended from Mount Daiyin and performed the Hou Tu Ceremony at Suran Mountain in the northeast. There were no accidents during the process.

This continued until the third day.

Early in the morning, before Liu Ju got up, Guo Zhen knocked on the door hurriedly.

After getting Liu Ju's permission, Guo Zhen quickly entered the room and reported to Liu Ju as soon as he saw him:

"Your Highness, Minister Su has just sent a private message saying that the palace servant he assigned to taste Huo Xian's meals suddenly died this morning for no apparent reason."

"Food tasting?"

Liu Ju showed doubt on his face. He remembered that he only gave Su Wen silver needles and did not ask him to find someone to taste the food for Huo Xian.

Guo Zhen replied:

"Minister Su said that using silver needles could easily lead to misunderstandings if others saw it, and he was afraid that he would not be able to explain it to His Majesty, so he simply asked a palace maid to taste the food for Huo Xian."

(End of this chapter)