Chapter 241 The dispute between Liu and Lu begins, Luo Yi tries to smooth things over

Liu Bang led his army back to Guanzhong to become king. He was very happy. After this alliance, he became one of the top three princes in the world and was no longer the head of the village.

Lu Ze and Luo Yi walked together and said with some concern: "Zi Yu, the king has arrived in Zhaocheng, which is not very far from Fengpei, but he is unwilling to go back.

Now he is so close to Meiji, taking them as concubines and accompanying them day and night. His feelings for her must be far better than those for E'ou. This makes me very worried."

E'ou is Lu Zhi, the sister of Lu Ze. Luo Yi naturally knew that he was worried about Lu Zhi's status, and he also felt that Liu Bang was wrong in this matter.

If he was in Guanzhong, it would be fine, but the mountains are high and the roads are long and it would be difficult to go home. But now he is not particularly far away, but he still doesn't go back. This is really too bad, and it can even be understood as a signal.

Luo Cai didn't like Liu Bang to begin with, and now seeing this, he naturally hated it even more. He said to Han Xin and Luo Yi in secret many times: "The King of Han is a man who can accomplish great things, but he is too ruthless. Brother and Han Lang should be careful and never get involved in these things, otherwise I will have to ask my eldest brother to take action again."

Due to Luo Yi's lazy personality, he was unwilling to take the initiative to participate in these matters, but he could not bear to see Lu and Liu Bang drifting further and further apart.

The Lu family has enormous power in Liu Bang's group. If they become enemies, it will cause unpredictable consequences.

Luo, who came from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period when regicide was commonplace, knew very well that false power struggles were conspiracies and tricks, while real power struggles were about leading troops to physically eliminate political opponents.

If Lu Ze had been more ruthless and killed Liu Bang directly, then everything would have been over. The key is that Lu Ze had the ability to do it.

After a moment's hesitation, he said, "The husband has achieved a distinguished position, while the wife is in distress. This is not what a sage king should do.

The King of Su will bless every legitimate son born to his wife. You can advise the King to bring the Queen to Guanzhong. The Crown Prince and the Princess will also be able to get closer to the generals."

Lu Zhi is not the queen, and Liu Ying and Liu Le are not the crown prince and princess. Luo Yi is just trying to comfort him, so you don't need to be too anxious.

Lu Ze's anxious heart calmed down a little, and he decided to try it according to what Luo Yi said. He had to know Liu Bang's attitude before he could decide on future plans.

If even the queen and the crown prince are unwilling to be enthroned, it would be a humiliation to the entire Lu family.

So, taking advantage of the time when the army was camping and resting, Lu Ze invited Liu Bang and other generals and ministers to taste fine wine.

In this era, the hierarchy between the emperor and his subjects was not so clear, not to mention that Lu Ze and Liu Bang were considered to be his own people.

After three rounds of drinking, Lu Ze said with emotion: "Your Majesty, we followed you in the uprising from Pei County, and now you have become a prince. This is no less than the achievements of my ancestors in the past."

Liu Bang laughed out loud when he heard this. His previous marriage with the Lu family was considered marrying up, and even though the Lu family was in decline, they were still a legitimate branch of the Lu family with a family tree.

But now, Liu Bang was a vassal who had been enthroned by the orthodox ruler of the world. He was the founding ruler, a person like their ancestor Taigong Wang.

Lu Ze then said, "Your Majesty, I was reading a few days ago and happened to read the story of King You of Zhou, who was a tyrant ruler of the Zhou Dynasty.

Prince Yi's ancestor, Duke Xuan of Luo, had ministers who were sage kings and assisted him, but he did not use such ministers, and he did not listen to Duke Xuan's advice to respect the status of the queen and the crown prince.

He favored Bao Si so much that he abandoned Queen Jiang and made Bao Si the queen, which eventually led to tragic consequences.

If Duke Xuan had not led the army to defend the king, could the Zhou Dynasty still have the Mandate of Heaven for a thousand years?

I have heard that all the wise kings in ancient times had the assistance and advice of virtuous queens. Is there anyone in this world who can succeed while having a disharmonious family?

A thousand years ago, when King Su was formulating the clan law in Haojing City, he said that husband and wife are like the sun and the moon, shining together on the earth. King Su strongly praised the dignity of the wife in the family.

King Su said that if a husband obtains a distinguished position but his wife remains in a difficult situation, this is a sign of lack of virtue.

If a husband favors his concubine over his wife even though the wife has done nothing wrong, he will be punished by God.

Having said this, everyone at the banquet already knew what Lu Ze was going to say. Although he did not mention anyone by name, his meaning was very clear. He wanted to stand up for his sister. Liu Bang's face had turned cold.

In fact, there were many people in Pei County who were dissatisfied with Liu Bang's favoritism towards beautiful concubines. It would have been fine if he had doted on her for a while and then abandoned her.

After the collapse of rituals and music, no one would ask the monarch to exercise restraint in this regard, but living together for a long time and having children together took on political implications.

Favoring a concubine and killing one's wife is a serious political event. They are all close ministers of Liu Bang, and this kind of thing will inevitably involve them in fatal disasters. Except for some ambitious people, no one would like this kind of disaster that has no benefits.

Now Lu Ze tried to make Liu Bang sober up by using what King Su had said.

In order to implement the patriarchal system of direct lineage inheritance, Ji Zhao indeed greatly improved the status of his wife in the family, and legally made his wife his husband's deputy.

In the past thousand years, and even now, it is an indisputable fact that a son is noble because of his mother. Although there are not many legitimate sons who inherit the throne after the royal family moved east, as long as the legitimate son is there, he has a higher inheritance line than a bastard's son.

Liu Bang looked at everyone in the room. Not to mention Lu Ze's subordinates, even his own direct descendants seemed to agree vaguely. This made him feel a little puzzled. He came from a humble background, and his years of nobility were too short.

Liu Bang asked Luo Yi beside him in a puzzled voice: "Zi Yu, Ji's wife and children have no friendship with most people, why would the ministers protect them? Although Lu Ze's prestige is good, can it be higher than Ji's?

Ji can only trust you, please help Ji solve his doubts. "

Luo Yi also lowered his voice, and said in a voice that only Liu Bang could hear: "Your Majesty, the ministers protect your wife and children not because of Lu Ze's high prestige, but because of courtesy."

present?

Liu Bang was even more confused. His direct subordinates were all from common people in Pei County and had no idea about etiquette.

Luo Yi explained: “The birth of etiquette was a set of complicated rituals, but after thousands of years of subtle influence, etiquette has become a habit that affects everyone.

As the saying goes, if you kill someone, you must pay with your life; if you owe a debt, you must pay it back. These are all natural things.

Etiquette is the means by which something becomes natural and right.

Everyone thinks it is wrong to favor a concubine and kill one's wife. If there is a legitimate son, he should be made the heir apparent. This is the etiquette established by King Su.

It is reason that binds everyone. You are now bound by etiquette, but it also protects everyone. Your wife and children are now protected by etiquette. Subjects should be loyal to the monarch, which is also etiquette.

The result of being without etiquette is the chaos of the past few hundred years, like a wild beast in the mountains.

Your Majesty, you must think carefully about this, as there will be another great battle after you return to Guanzhong."

Luo Yi said all this to Liu Bang because he keenly sensed that Liu Bang was a little bit arrogant and began to fear Lu Ze.

Whether it was because Lu Ze was dissatisfied with Liu Bang or Liu Bang was afraid of Lu Ze, it would tear Liu Bang's group apart, and most teams were destroyed by internal strife.

Luo Yi wanted to tell Liu Bang that the Lu family played an important role in your power, and you should appease their hearts.

Liu Bang understood. He was an extremely perceptive politician. He immediately thought that as a monarch, he was the one who benefited the most from courtesy. As for whether he should maintain this system on the surface or openly trample on it, he should do so.

It's just that Liu Bang was essentially a knight-errant and sometimes very emotional. Lu Zhi was a beautiful woman, but her personality was too strong, so the relationship between him and Lu Zhi was indeed not deep.

He has not seen his two children for many years. Now the one with him is his gentle concubine who is good at flattering others and he likes her very much.

So he paused and said in a loud voice: "You are right. I have now obtained a distinguished position. I want to emulate the ancient sage kings and am willing to follow the teachings of the Su King so that my wife can also become noble.

After arriving in the Han Kingdom, Xiao He immediately issued an order to enthrone his wife as queen, Ying'er as crown prince, and Le'er as eldest princess.

But the princes along the way are on the verge of war, which is really unsafe. Can I let my wife and children fall into danger?

That's not what a real man should do.

Pei County is located in the current territory of Chu State. Xiang Yu was the common ruler of the world, and his power frightened the whole world. No one dared to attack him, so it must have been very safe.

Besides, it is not a good idea to send people to the territory of Chu now, so I will leave my wife and children in Pei County for now. I believe you can understand me. "

Liu Bang took a step back to advance and gave Lu the status they wanted most, but he was prepared to strengthen his own authority so that one day he would be able to override the laws and rites.

Although the analogy is not very good, the First Emperor of the past was not bound by etiquette and laws, and Liu Bang also wanted that kind of power.

Although Lu Ze felt something was wrong, Liu Bang's attitude was very good and his reasons were very reasonable, so he could only follow the other ministers in praising Liu Bang for having the style of an ancient sage king.

A minor disagreement within Liu Bang's political group dissipated into thin air.

…

Just when Luo Yi was dealing with the internal turmoil in Liu Bang's group, Luo Xin had already returned from Qi. He went to Qi mainly to see how much power the Lu family had. The final result can only be described as terrible.

There were many wealthy families in Qi, especially Linzi, which was still one of the most prosperous places in the world. However, most of the Lu clan members were relocated to Xianyang and then died unexpected deaths.

Otherwise, it would not be the turn of Lu Cheng, a distant branch of the Lu clan, to become the King of Qi.

However, the lower-class nobles who truly held power in Qi were not targeted by Qin, so there were many powerful and wealthy families in Qi.

These people supported Lu Cheng and were ready to play the same game as before with Qi State, but Lu Cheng was unwilling to be a puppet King of Qi, so the atmosphere in Qi was very tense.

Luo Xin passed by Pei County again and met Lu Zhi. He could tell at a glance that Lu Zhi had changed a lot.

(End of this chapter)