I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 66 I have the same disease as him

East of Changle Palace.

In a palace where the Han envoys were housed.

After being completely confused by Liu Ju's "one country, two policies" and "two decrees" which he had never heard of or seen before, Huo Guang finally figured out the pros and cons after a whole night of thinking.

So he immediately found Liu Ju privately and opened a small window:
"Your Highness, after thinking it over, I still feel that there are many inappropriate aspects in the measures Your Highness proposed to the Qin family yesterday."

"Cousin, we are family, so just speak frankly."

Liu Ju thought to himself that it was inappropriate, but he said it with a smile.

Because of his ulterior motives, he naturally could not discuss his plan with the members of the delegation.

Now that Huo Guang took the initiative to offer suggestions, he didn't mind hearing the ideas of his cousin who would be ranked first among the "Eleven Meritorious Officials of the Qilin Pavilion" decades later. This was a good opportunity to fill in the gaps.

Hearing the word "cousin", Huo Guang's mouth twitched uncontrollably, and he had to emphasize again:
"Once again, I beg Your Highness not to address me in this way. I cannot bear it any more."

"Good cousin."

"..."

Huo Guang felt that his late brother's plan and his own life would most likely be ruined by Liu Ju. However, he could not force Liu Ju to change his mind, so he could only temporarily skip the topic and said solemnly:

"First of all, I think Your Highness should not make decisions on his own. For such an important matter, you should first send someone to report to Your Majesty and wait for Your Majesty's approval before implementing it. Otherwise, it may be suspected of usurping power."

Huo Guang knew clearly that this so-called "one country, two policies" was definitely not what Liu Che had in mind.

Although Liu Che set many precedents after coming to power, he had never come up with such a wild idea.

Moreover, given Liu Che's character, if a small country submits, it means submission. The only way out is to submit honestly. He simply disdains to get involved in these messy things. I, the noble emperor of the Han Dynasty, cannot afford to lose face like this.

"Well, cousin, go on."

Liu Ju was delighted to receive Huo Guang's affirmation and nodded calmly.

"The second is the military merit title and the atonement order. It may not be appropriate for Your Highness to implement them in the name of His Majesty. If Your Majesty summons me to make comments, it will be a great sin."

Huo Guang thought that Liu Ju had taken his words to heart, so he spoke again in a very serious manner.

"It seems that my cousin also has some complaints about the Martial Merit Award and the Penal Order?"

Liu Ju chuckled.

Upon hearing this, Huo Guang's hairs all stood up instantly. He shook his head frantically and denied it repeatedly:
"I didn't, Your Highness, please don't say anything nonsense!!!"

"If not, why does my cousin think that this action will be summoned by my father to make a comment?"

"..."

Huo Guang was sweating profusely at this moment, his head was buzzing, so he gritted his teeth and

"Your Highness, please, for the sake of our family, forget what I just said and forget that I have been here before. I will take my leave!"

As he spoke, he turned around quickly, as if he was about to run away.

As a result, I just opened the door.

But he ran into Guo Zhen, the prince's horseman.

Guo Zhen was also stunned for a moment, wondering what the prince had done to Captain Huo. He was so scared that Captain Huo's face turned pale.

However, he came here to report something, and after just a thought, he immediately bowed and said to Liu:

"Your Highness, the Prime Minister of Nanyue, Lü Jia, has come to see you with gifts and is waiting outside the palace."

"Oh, you came pretty quickly."

Liu Ju smiled as if he had expected this, nodded and said,
"Accept all the gifts, and then tell him that I accidentally contracted the same disease as he did yesterday, so I can't meet him."

……

"..."

Lü Jia, who was already over seventy years old, stood blankly at the gate of the palace, looking at the tightly closed door, his face changing from gloomy to happy, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

Is it appropriate to accept the gift but treat him like this?

He also said something like "he had the same disease as he had yesterday". Isn't this reason for rejection a clear insult to him, and there is no mercy at all. Isn't it too straightforward?

Previously, Lu Fang said that the prince spoke without restraint and completely disregarded the etiquette of an envoy.

At that time, he still felt that Lu Fang was exaggerating. After all, the Han Dynasty has always regarded itself as a country of etiquette, not to mention the crown prince of a country...

But now it seems that it is absolutely true.

Lu Jia couldn't help but recall the records in the history books of the Nanyue Kingdom.

It was the time when Zhao Tuo, the founder of the Nanyue Kingdom, was in power, and it was also the time when the Han Dynasty was first established.

Under the high pressure and persuasion of the Han envoys, Zhao Tuo finally accepted the seal of the King of Nanyue bestowed by the Han emperor and became a vassal state of the Han Dynasty from then on.

After that, the two countries frequently sent envoys to each other, and the Kingdom of Nanyue paid tribute on time every year.

When the envoys who went to the Han Dynasty came back, they described the emperor of the Han Dynasty at that time as a vulgar and scoundrel who was "unlike a monarch". They also recorded this incident in the history books of the Nanyue Kingdom for reference by later envoys.

If I remember correctly, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty should be called Liu Bang, right?

So, could this be a fine tradition of the Han royal family?
But that’s not right either.

This was not the case with the later Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing. Both of them were polite and well-mannered emperors, and the envoys from Nanyue all praised them when they returned.

How come in this generation, we have regressed to our ancestors?
Lu Jia was puzzled, but could only follow the persuasion of his servants, take one last look at the closed palace gate, and get on the carriage to return to his prime minister's residence.

In this situation.

Naturally, he could not calm down, and in the following days he secretly deployed troops and strengthened the defenses of the Prime Minister's Mansion.

At the same time, he constantly ordered people to investigate the implementation of the military merit title and the atonement order, and watched every move of the Changle Palace and the Han delegation, not daring to be careless at all.

Speaking of the title of martial arts and the order of atonement.

The implementation of the Atonement Decree was quite smooth. Except for a few heinous criminals, most criminals who had some property at home were able to escape punishment through this decree.

This naturally included some political enemies of the Lu family.

Naturally, some people under the Lu family advised Lu Jia to strike first. If they wanted to make these people die in prison without knowing the reason, it would not be a difficult task.

But at this moment, Lu Jia had no idea about Liu Ju's strategy of giving sweet treats first and then slapping him in the face, so he finally decided to wait and see.

As for the title of Wugong, it was not so smooth.

Except for a very small number of political enemies who urgently needed to cling to the Han Dynasty to protect themselves, there were very few people who spent a large amount of money to buy high-level titles.

The rest were some people who regarded martial arts titles as financial products. They were intimidated by the power of the Lu family in the Kingdom of Nanyue and only dared to buy some low-level titles to avoid touching the interests of the Lu family and causing trouble.

But let's talk about the current benefits of this move.

It's quite impressive.

So far, the amount of money collected has exceeded 14.2 million coins, which has exceeded the total amount of taxes that the Nanyue King's court can collect in a year...

"Although this decree is foolish and short-sighted, it is also very useful. Under normal circumstances, even if we hold these big households in our hands, we will never be able to squeeze out so much..."

This huge sum of money frightened Lu Jia. He just didn't know whether the Han envoys would take the money away in the end, or take it from Nanyue and use it in Nanyue?
If you really intend to take them all away, that would be too mean, it would be like robbery...

This continued until nine days later.

Lu Jia finally got a chance to meet Liu Ju.

However, it was not a one-on-one meeting, but an invitation to attend a state banquet hosted by Queen Mother Qin and the King of Nanyue to entertain the Han envoys and high-ranking civil and military officials of Nanyue.

——Lü Jia didn't know that this state banquet in history was actually a replica of the Hongmen Banquet.

But even if he didn't know, he would never go to the banquet without making any preparations...

(End of this chapter)