Chapter 545 [Update 1] 545

Liu Tan looked puzzled. "What do you mean I have the final say? Father, what exactly do you want to do?"

Liu Che said, "You once said that there were coal mines in Qi or Changyi. Unfortunately, we haven't found any in these two places for so many years. Now that we are here, why not try to find them both?"

Liu Tan was about to burst open after hearing this: "No, I said there might be coal mines in these two places, I didn't say there are coal mines in both places!"

Liu Che was stunned for a moment: "Really? It doesn't matter, they are all the same."

Liu Tan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. How can it be almost the same? It’s quite different, okay?

He had no choice but to say, "It took a long time to find a coal mine in the Northern Territory. Father has been away for too long. He should go back and take charge of the overall situation first."

Liu Che didn't take it seriously: "I've been out longer than this before."

Liu Tanxin said that you were not missing at that time, and there were not so many people plotting rebellion. The most important thing was that the prince was still in Chang'an, and the prince is also here now.

Liu Che seemed to have heard Liu Tan's inner voice. After a long moment of contemplation, he looked up at Liu Tan and said, "Why don't you go back first?"

Liu Ju: ...

Since he grew up, he felt that his father was becoming more and more free.

Liu Che met Liu Ju's resentful gaze and said calmly, "The capital must have someone in charge of the overall situation."

Liu Tan said quietly, "The rebels I captured are still being held in the Heavenly Prison. I heard that Lord Du Zhou has been working very hard recently, and the Heavenly Prison is almost full. If Father doesn't return, the capital won't know what to do with these people."

Liu Che also looked at Liu Tan silently, and after a while he sighed and said, "Then you should at least tell everyone the location of the coal mine, right?"

Liu Tan quickly explained: "I really don't know about this. If I knew, I would definitely tell you."

However, Liu Che's eyes told Liu Tan that he didn't believe it.

Liu Tan had no choice but to say, "My... this is passive. It works best when you're not paying attention. If you look for it deliberately, you won't find it."

Liu Che still didn't believe it and asked, "Really?"

Liu Tan nodded seriously. "Really? If you don't believe me, you can ask Huo Guang. Huo Guang offered me many places to choose from, but in the end, I didn't find any with mines."

Liu Che laughed and said, "That's his mistake."

Liu Tan was bewildered:???

Liu Che said, "What's the point of asking you to choose after he has already chosen the place? In essence, he chose it. Of course, it will only be useful if you choose it yourself."

Liu Tan was shocked: Is this the only explanation?

However, seeing that Liu Che was determined to find a coal mine, Liu Tan thought about it. In fact, if a coal mine could really be found, the pressure on the Northern Border Country would be much less. As for whether it would steal business... What a joke. Even if a coal mine was found, there were only these two coal mines in the entire Han Dynasty. It would be difficult to supply the whole country, so why would they care about stealing business?

Liu Tan sighed and said, "Let me see the latest map."

Liu Che had already prepared the map, and seemed to be waiting for Liu to discuss land enclosure.

Liu Tan walked over and took a look and found that the map here of Liu Che was updated quite quickly. The original Qi State has now become Qi County, and the Changyi State has also become Changyi County. This map is even clearer than the one Liu Tan saw at the beginning.

As for the location of the coal mine...to be honest, Liu Tan only remembered that there was a place called Zaozhuang in this area that produced a lot of coal.

But there was no place called Zaozhuang at that time, so he could only rely on his memory to mark the area.

But as he searched, he found something wrong - he remembered that the Zaozhuang City in later generations was near Xuzhou and Suqian, or to be more precise, to their north.

As for why he remembers it so clearly, it all started from the time he was cheated when buying flowers. When he was in school, he suddenly wanted to grow flowers. After all, pets were not allowed in the dormitory, so he decided to grow flowers. He felt a sense of accomplishment when they bloomed.

As a result, few of the flowers he bought survived. When he searched online, he found that many people said that he should not buy flowers shipped from Suqian. Liu Tan looked at his purchase records and found that all of them were shipped from Suqian.

He was curious and wanted to know what Suqian was and where it was. He had to check the map to find out its exact location. The map clearly stated that Xuzhou was to the northwest of Suqian.

Xuzhou is also an impressive place. It is the only place in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai that offers free shipping and heating. It is simply a city chosen by God.

So Zaozhuang, located north of Xuzhou and Suqian, was also recorded by Liu Tan.

He looked at the map and recalled for a long time. Liu Che saw his frown and asked, "Is there nothing?"

Liu Tan was helpless. How could he tell if it existed just by looking at the map? He was simply puzzled. In his memory, Zaozhuang should have been located within the boundaries of Qi. Even if Qi was gone now, it should have been within the boundaries of Qi County. How could it have ended up on the border between Lu and Chu?

He pointed at that area and asked, "Father, I remember this was once the territory of Qi State... Qi County."

Liu Che came over to take a look, but before he could say anything, Liu Ju, who was standing nearby and joining in the fun, said, "This map has been recently revised. There were some issues with the previous map of the three kingdoms of Qi, Lu, and Chu."

Liu Tan's mouth twitched as he asked, "This... According to the original map, Qi directly included Lu's territory. Isn't this a problem?"

Liu Ju was helpless: "The map was indeed not made carefully before. Isn't it remade? Why?"

Liu Tan shook his head, stretched out his hand and drew a circle at the border between Lu and Chu, and said, "Let's look here."

If he was not mistaken, Zaozhuang should be in this area. As for the specific location of the coal mine, he certainly didn't know.

Liu Che was surprised: "Didn't you say it was near Qi or Changyi?"

Liu Tan said confidently, "Wasn't I misled by the previous map? The old map showed it was right around that place."

Liu Che and Liu Ju: ...

The emperor and the prince looked at each other and fell into deep thought.

They had always thought that Liu Fuling and Liu Bo were useless. They both told them how to find coal mines, which were located in the territory of Qi or Changyi. However, neither of them found the coal mines.

Now it seems... that they blamed the wrong person. This coal mine is on the border between Lu and Chu. Liu Fuling and Liu Bo would never be able to find it even if they worked themselves to death!

Liu Che calmed himself down and said, "This matter...should not be spread outside."

Liu Bo didn't care. Since this rebellious son dared to rebel, he would basically die. But Liu Fuling was now the king of Zhongshan Kingdom, so at least he should give him some face.

Of course, the most important thing is that Liu Che has just discovered that Liu Fuling has shown some signs of being sensible. If he knew about this, he would probably bear a grudge against Liu Tan again, and might even cause trouble.

Liu Che had never been afraid of anything in his life, but he found it interesting to deal with those things. However, he found the struggles between his sons extremely boring. They started fighting for power before they even grew strong enough, which was really boring.

Liu Ju nodded seriously, but Liu Tan felt a little regretful. He had wanted to use this incident to provoke Liu Fuling.

But after thinking about it, Liu Fuling is no longer the King of Qi, and it is impossible for him to be the King of Qi again based on what he did whether the coal mine was found or not, so he should have nothing to regret.

Thinking of this, Liu Tan couldn't help but wonder whether he should tell Liu Fuling about the Zhongshan State-owned Coal Mine again?

He had no other thoughts but to see Liu Fuling anxious and angry. He must be really wanting to atone for his sins.

However, Liu Tan took a look at the location of Zhongshan State. Well, in the area of ​​Hebei in later generations, Hebei... it seems that there are indeed cities that are coal producing areas, and the quality of the coal is quite good.

Even if Zhongshan Kingdom only occupied a very small area of ​​Hebei, but... forget it, if Liu Fuling happened to get lucky, he would be angry enough.

Liu Che asked Bu Fan to take the map and give orders to send people to search nearby. As for the search method, it was naturally the same method that Liu Tan had used before to find purple-red rocks in the Northern Border Kingdom.

However, even if people were sent over, it didn't mean they needed to stay. Liu Che looked a little regretful.

Liu Tan thought he regretted not being able to find the immortal, but unexpectedly, Liu Che actually sighed: "The weather is about to get hot, and there is no way to escape the heat here."

Liu Tan: ...

Although Chang'an is a little hotter than here, it's still hotter than you!

Liu Tan had no choice but to comfort him, saying, "It's okay. Summer is already halfway over. Chang'an is definitely cooler than Jiaozhi. If you want, you can come back next year."

After hearing this, Liu Che looked at Liu Tan deeply and said, "So I don't need to go to the Northern Border Kingdom when I come here, right?"

Liu Tan was caught off guard by the malicious look on his face. He had never expected Liu Che to be so arrogant about this matter. He immediately said, "I thought Your Majesty would prefer to see the sea. If Your Majesty is willing to go to the Northern Border, I will naturally be very happy."

Liu Che nodded seriously and said, "I do want to see the sea, but I also want to see you. How about... I change your title to King of Qi?"

When Liu Tan heard this, he almost choked on his saliva and couldn't help but observe his father carefully.

Liu Che was very serious when he said this, and Liu Tan couldn't tell whether he was serious or joking, but no matter which one it was, he would refuse.

Liu Tan said decisively, "The Northern Border Kingdom has just started to make progress. Even if I want to leave, I have to wait until they are back on track."

Liu Che asked, "What do you think is the right path? Do all the county towns become like Shuofang City? Or do all the prefectures and counties become like Shuofang County?"

Liu Tan shook his head. "That's too unrealistic. Five fingers aren't even the same length. I never thought all the counties in the Northern Border Kingdom could be the same."

Liu Che was quite interested: "Then tell me, what does it mean to be on the right track in your mind?"

Liu Tan tilted his head and thought for a moment before finally saying, "Destroy the Xiongnu?"

The smile on Liu Che's face disappeared instantly. He looked at his son expressionlessly and said, "Are you trying to make fun of me?"