Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 342: The Battle for the Queen's Position! Lu Bu's Cleverness
The entire hall fell silent because of Dong Zhong's words, but the silence did not last long as it was broken by a curse.

"What the hell are you talking about!"

Lu Bu stared at Dong Zhong and cursed him directly: "What do you mean by 'what if the dragon is ill'? Are you cursing His Majesty for something bad to happen?"

He won't give Dong Zhong any face.

He started swearing as soon as he came up.

However, he did not have any other thoughts. He simply felt that Dong Zhong's words were unlucky and that he was cursing Liu Xie to get into trouble.

At this time, Yang Biao said, "Don't misunderstand, Lord Wen. Lord Dong is not cursing Your Majesty. He is just stating the facts."

"We are all ministers of the emperor. We certainly hope that Your Majesty will prosper for a long time, and we also hope that the Han Dynasty will be stable."

"But if the emperor has no heir, the state will be unstable, and if the state is unstable, the country will be in turmoil. How can we, the ministers, not worry about it?"

Yang Biao knelt down before Liu Xie and said solemnly, "I beg Your Majesty to expand the harem to ensure the safety of the country!"

Led by Dong Zhong and Yang Biao, the other ministers seemed to have received some signal and knelt down and kowtowed to Liu Xie to ask for orders.

"Your Majesty, the emperor cannot live without a queen for a day!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, your harem has too few concubines. You must expand your harem so that you can give birth to a dragon heir as soon as possible!"

"This matter cannot be delayed!"

"If Your Majesty does not agree, you will be ashamed of the previous emperors of the Han Dynasty and the people of the world!"

"Your Majesty, please recruit more concubines and expand your harem!"

The entire hall was kneeling.

Even Fu Wan said with a sad face: "Your Majesty, when Huo Guang was regent, in order to make Emperor Xiao Zhao favor his granddaughter Empress Shangguan, he did not allow other concubines to enter the emperor's palace."

"It was because of this that Emperor Xiao Zhao was unable to give birth to an heir, and as a result, there was no one to inherit the throne after his death, which ultimately led to turmoil in the country."

"This shows that a full harem is of utmost importance!"

"Although I am the queen, I have not been able to give birth to a heir for Your Majesty for so many years. I feel deeply guilty."

"So for the sake of the Han Dynasty, I beg Your Majesty to expand your harem!"

Fu Wan's speech was very high-sounding, and even though his daughter was the queen, he still begged the emperor to expand the harem, which made people speechless.

At this moment, all the sleepiness and tiredness in Liu Xie's heart had disappeared. He looked at the ministers kneeling in front of him with an ugly expression.

"These old foxes..."

Liu Xie's brows furrowed tightly.

How could he not know what these ministers were thinking? They just wanted to use the fact that he had no children as an excuse to expand his harem.

But their ultimate goal was definitely not as simple as worrying that he would have no offspring and that the country would be in turmoil after his sudden death.

She is even aiming for the position of queen!

Because as long as he expanded his harem, these ministers could send their children into the palace and compete for the position of queen.

And he couldn't refuse.

Because the emperor having no heir was indeed a very serious matter, the ministers used this as an excuse to ask him to expand his harem, and he could not refute it at all.

"Are you trying to force the emperor to abdicate?!"

While Liu Xie was thinking about how to answer, Zhen Yi scolded the ministers: "Your Majesty is busy with state affairs day and night, so he has no time to take care of the harem."

"Now that Yanzhou and Yuzhou have been pacified and the war has ceased, Your Majesty will naturally visit the harem more often. It is only a matter of time before a dragon heir is born!"

"You accuse His Majesty of not having an heir. Do you think His Majesty is ill? You are so bold!"

Zhen Yi was different from Lu Bu. He saw through the ministers' plans, and his speaking skills were much higher than Lu Bu's.

Avoid the main point and change the subject.

Although the emperor had promised to make Zhen Mi his queen after unifying the country, he still did not want the children of major families to be stuffed into his harem.

That would create another competitor for Zhen Mi out of thin air.

Cui Yan glanced at Zhen Yi and said slowly, "Your Majesty is young and strong, so the dragon body will be fine, but the situation of the concubines in the harem is uncertain."

"We ask Your Majesty to expand the harem, but we hope that Your Majesty will give birth to a prince as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the country. But Minister Zhen is so opposed to Your Majesty expanding the harem, is it because he is worried that other women will compete with Concubine Zhen for your favor after entering the palace?"

He easily refuted Zhen Yi's words and even put the blame on him - or perhaps he spoke out Zhen Yi's thoughts.

Zhen Yi looked unhappy and was speechless.

Cui Yan occupied the moral high ground. If he opposed, it would be equivalent to preventing the emperor from giving birth to an heir, which was no different from Huo Guang's prohibition of concubines from entering the court of Emperor Xiaozhao.

Thinking of this, Zhen Yi kept winking at Lu Bu, hoping that this rough-mannered Wen Gong would stand up and say a few words.

The emperor secretly promised them the position of empress, and Lu Bu didn't know about this. He must have thought that Lu Lingqi was also qualified to compete for the position of empress, so it was time for him to stand up with him and oppose the emperor's expansion of the harem!

But Lu Bu stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.

He previously thought that Dong Zhong and Yang Biao were cursing the emperor, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that what these ministers said was not unreasonable.

It is indeed inappropriate for a ruler of a country to have no descendants.

Anyway, the position of empress would eventually belong to his daughter, so what would happen if the emperor took a concubine? Even if other concubines gave birth to children for the emperor first, their sons would not become the crown prince.

If that's the case, why would he object?

Thinking of this, Lu Bu said to Liu Xie: "Your Majesty's harem is a little small, and I think it should be expanded."

"Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven. You must have at least 1,800 concubines in your harem. Otherwise, it would be unbecoming of the Son of Heaven."

Zhen Yi was stunned when these words came out. All the officials in the palace, including Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, etc., also looked at Lu Bu.

Lu Bu asked in confusion: "Why are you all looking at me? Is there anything wrong with what I said?"

Everyone was silent.

Fu Wan was the first to recover from his shock. He suppressed his ecstasy and said to Lu Bu with great admiration: "Lord Wen is very righteous. I admire you very much!"

Then he said to Liu Xie: "Your Majesty, even Lord Wen thinks so, which shows that this is what people want!"

"I beg Your Majesty to recruit more concubines to fill the harem!"

All the ministers said in unison: "We implore Your Majesty to recruit concubines to fill the harem—"

There was a loud cry of pleading in the hall.

Liu Xie couldn't help but feel a headache when he saw this.

Although having three thousand beauties in the harem is the dream of most men, when he actually becomes emperor, he realizes that this is not a good thing.

If you want to be a tyrant or a mediocre ruler, then it doesn't matter. The more women in the harem the better. It's just for fun.

But if one wants to be a capable monarch, having too many concubines would be a headache, because most of them represent aristocratic families and a force.

The harem is a microcosm of court politics.

He had finally managed to balance the harem through Empress Fu. Once the number of concubines was expanded, this balance would inevitably be broken.

But the reasons found by the ministers were so good that he had no reason or position to refuse.

"I will have someone take care of this matter."

Liu Xie rubbed his brows tiredly, brushed his sleeves and stood up, saying: "Let's leave the court. I'm tired."

……

The court meeting ended and the ministers dispersed.

Everyone had an expression of joy on their face, and many ministers greeted Lu Bu enthusiastically when they passed by him.

This made Lu Bu very puzzled, and he couldn't help but ask Zhang Liao: "What's wrong with them today?"

In the past, all officials would avoid him as if he were the god of plague, but today, they all took the initiative to greet him.

They all seem to have changed their temperament.

Although Zhang Liao and Lu Bu would quarrel on weekdays, they were still close friends, so he explained in a low voice:

"The reason they asked Your Majesty to expand the harem today is that they hope to use this opportunity to send their own daughters into the palace to compete for the position of queen."

"The two most favored concubines in the palace today are your daughter Fengxian and Concubine Zhen from the Zhen family, so they all thought that you, Fengxian, would oppose Your Majesty's expansion of the harem."

"But no one expected that you would support His Majesty in expanding the harem in the court today. This is why their attitude towards you has changed."

"But I'm also wondering why you support this?"

Zhang Liao's mind was much more delicate than Lu Bu's. He saw through the officials' thoughts, so he did not understand Lu Bu's behavior.

Even though the emperor has promised to make Lu Lingqi the queen, nothing has been finalized yet. Wouldn't it increase the number of competitors for the queen's position if the emperor expanded his harem?

"What's this?"

Lu Bu waved his hand and said nonchalantly: "Since ancient times, the emperor has had three palaces and six courtyards, and three thousand beauties in the harem. Your Majesty really has too few concubines."

"My daughter failed to bear a prince for Your Majesty, so can't other concubines be allowed to do the same? The emperor can't be childless forever."

"Besides, His Majesty has personally promised to make my daughter the queen. How can His Majesty lie to me? It won't matter if there are more concubines in the harem."

Hearing Lu Bu's words, a trace of deep worry flashed in Zhang Liao's eyes. After looking around, he lowered his voice a little.

"What if... Your Majesty finally makes another woman the queen?"

"After all, no one can tell for sure."

It's not that he didn't trust the emperor's promise, but he understood that there were some things that even the emperor was helpless about.

"Just stand up."

To Zhang Liao's surprise, Lu Bu's reaction was very calm. He looked toward the distant sky and said, "I know how Your Majesty treats me. Even if you make another woman your queen, I have no complaints."

"I, Lu Bu, am a rough man who knows how to fight and kill, but I know how to repay kindness."

"Moreover, you are just being unreasonable in your suspicion of His Majesty. Since His Majesty has promised me, how could he go back on his word?"

"If that's the case, why should I think so much?"

Zhang Liao stared at Lu Bu for a long time, and finally said with a complicated expression: "I didn't expect... you are the one who truly appears foolish despite your great wisdom."

The reason why he said this was actually to persuade Lu Bu to let him let go of his obsession with the position of queen and crown prince.

Because he knew that countless people were eyeing these two positions, and those aristocratic families would fight bloody battles for these two positions.

This is not something that can be achieved simply by fighting and killing.

Lu Bu will definitely not be able to defeat those people.

But what he didn't expect was that Lu Bu was actually more open-minded than him, which made him seem too narrow-minded.

"Let's go and have a drink!"

Lu Bu didn't want to continue talking about these roundabout things with Zhang Liao, so the two of them walked out of the palace with their arms around each other's shoulders.

But he didn't say one thing: if anyone else dared to compete with his daughter for the throne...

snort!
(End of this chapter)