Chapter 457 I don’t allow it!
The whole world is shocked, it is no exaggeration!
On a document, there were seals of most of the marquises in the world. This had never happened since the establishment of the imperial court. Even when the previous general forced Emperor Xiaoding to send troops to the Southwestern Yi, there was no such scene.
At that time, there were only more than 30 marquises living in Chang'an who instigated the petition.
This time, even the four great marquises, Zhang family, Marquis of Xinzheng, Xiao family, Marquis of Lanling, Han family, Marquis of Huaiyin, and Lu family, Jimo, jointly wrote a letter to the emperor.
Not to mention that the Marquisate of Ying and the Dukedom of Qi also spoke out. Who has ever seen such a scene?
No one!
Liu Dan received this memorial in Changle Palace, and an extremely complicated mood slowly unfolded. The three dukes and nine ministers knelt in the palace, watching the emperor's nose and ears, quietly waiting for the emperor's response.
"The Son of Heaven, the Supreme Emperor on Earth:
May you be blessed with peace and prosperity, and may you have great fortune and happiness. We, your humble servants, bow our heads in respect.
More than a hundred years ago, the Qin Dynasty was tyrannical and unjust. Emperor Gao accepted the order and took up his three-foot sword to pacify the world.
Our ancestors, because of their modest merits and shallow virtues, were able to be granted land and states, build ancestral temples, and maintain wealth and prosperity for a hundred years. Despite the changes of time, they have never fallen.
Such grace even surpassed the vassal states of the Three Dynasties.
Can we, the ministers, not repay the Han royal family with our lives?
There is chaos in Kanto, with millions of refugees, like a raging river, sweeping down and unable to be contained. We, the ministers, are all worried.
The common people are like the water of a river, and the monarch is the boat on the river. When the river is calm, the boat moves forward. When the river is turbulent, is there any possibility other than capsizing?
The officials in Guandong are afraid of you and dare not report the true situation. We are worried about you. It is not acceptable for the monarch to be unable to see clearly.
We are all descendants of important officials who founded the country, or your relatives by marriage. If we do not say this, I am afraid no one else will dare to say it.
The Han Dynasty has fought many wars over the years, and the barbarians in all directions have surrendered. Your achievements are like the sun and the moon, and no one can destroy them.
The people are already having a hard time making a living, and victory cannot make them happy. Instead, bankruptcies are increasing.
We solemnly request you to revoke the harsh laws, release the arrested officials, and issue an imperial edict to eliminate the bandits.
Survey the land in Guandong, resettle the refugees in Guandong, stop the war and the construction of palaces.
Stop the conscription of corvée labor and the showdown of military service, cancel the laws on reporting and exposing, and regulate the ranks of clerks.
To vindicate the virtuous and upright, bless their descendants, and praise their ideas.
Let the merchants do business, let the craftsmen build, and let the farmers farm.
As long as you do this, won’t the world be in turmoil?
Xiaowen's reign will return like lightning!
We sincerely request you.
I bow again, three times!"
Liu Dan crumpled the memorial in his hand into a ball with a snap, his eyes full of hostility. He looked at the letter in his hand and then at the sentence at the beginning, "The Son of Heaven", which seemed like a provocation to Liu Dan.
The eyelids of everyone in the hall jumped. This letter was circulated privately. In the eyes of most people, the content of it was not fierce, and there was not even any accusation against the emperor.
But the emperor must have felt uncomfortable, especially since the memorial contained clear political demands, which basically required the emperor to completely correct his current strategy.
Liu Dan looked at the people in the hall with a fierce look and said in a cold voice: "My dear ministers, please read carefully and see what these dukes and kings say. Read carefully and see how rebellious this is!"
The eyelids of the ministers in the hall jumped again. The emperor actually used the word "rebellion" directly.
To be honest, the behavior of these marquises and kings cannot really be called rebellion. Maintaining the Han Dynasty and ensuring the eternal stability of the ancestral temple was the purpose of Emperor Gaozu when he enfeoffed the marquises and kings.
Some marquises in the palace did not participate in the memorial, but they sincerely did not think that there was anything wrong with the attitude of the memorial. If the marquises could not put forward opinions on state affairs, could they still be called marquises?
Wouldn't that mean the eunuchs and servants in the palace and the cunning clerks in the county would kneel before the emperor, hesitating and stammering, and shouting "The emperor is wise!"
The only problem with this petition is that it not only infringes upon the emperor's dignity, but also infringes upon the interests of many people.
Just stopping the war offended many people. How was Han Lin, Marquis of Anyang, driven out of Chang'an?
Just because he disagreed with the war was not enough to make the emperor hate him so much. After all, Liu Dan was not so stubborn a few years ago, and Han Lin was not the only one who opposed the war.
In fact, it was because Han Lin was excluded by the military nobles and his life would be in danger if he did not leave, so he left the court and went to the local area to be a marquis.
The princes have never been of one mind!
The factions inside are so mixed that it is impossible to distinguish them, but they can be roughly divided into the founding heroes faction, that is, the descendants of the founding heroes. The founding heroes faction is divided into several factions. There is also the relatives faction, that is, those with blood ties with the royal family, or even those who have been transformed from princes to hereditary marquises. There are also the upstarts of the Liu Che period. Finally, there is the classic regional division, the Henan faction, the Hebei faction, the Jiangdong faction, the Jiangnan faction, the central faction, the local faction, the Guandong faction, and the Guanxi faction. It is very messy.
But most of the most powerful marquises were in the circle of Heluo, Huaisi and Jiaodong, that is, the five states of Jizhou, Yuzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Yanzhou divided by King Yu in legend.
Most of the founding heroes were granted titles here. These people gradually lost their absolute advantage in the court since the time of Emperor Wu of Han, but still maintained a certain influence through marriage and recommendations.
For example, Wei Qing, the Grand Marshal and General, and Marquis of Changping, was supported by Zhou Yafu, and Han Liang, the Marquis of Huaiyin, his father-in-law. Although he was the leader of the new nobles, the founding faction could also use him to influence the government.
Many people believed that this petition was led by the Founding Fathers Faction. Some upstarts believed that the Founding Fathers Faction did so because they were worried that the growing strength of the upstarts would completely challenge the Founding Fathers Faction's position.
Coincidentally, Emperor Liu Dan thought so too!
After more than ten years of war, although there was participation of the founding heroes, under Liu Dan's special care, most of the people who gained military merits were the new nobles, especially the old people he brought from the Northern Yan Kingdom and Liaodong Protectorate.
Liu Dan believed that the founding fathers were using this incident to challenge his authority!
This is really deadly!
Political misunderstandings are an eternal phenomenon in history. Endless events have changed the direction of countless politics.
Who could have imagined that a petition written to resolve the national crisis would actually become the fuse of a political confrontation? Even if Lord Wen and Lord Xuan were resurrected, they would be moved by the complexity of human nature.
"Have you finished reading, my dear ministers?"
Liu Dan's voice was very cold. "Speak freely. I can accept any criticism of me."
There was a distinct frost in his words, and even a faint smell of blood. He was an emperor with outstanding martial arts skills, and he participated in the strategic planning and logistical deployment of almost every foreign war. The marquises in the hall were hurt by his sharp eyes and lowered their heads one after another.
Seeing this, Liu Dan said with satisfaction: "It seems that I am not wrong. What is the situation with this letter? So many marquises, princes, and even county governors appointed by the court have printed their seals on it. I am very confused."
Those people in the hall with different thoughts began to add fuel to the fire. It was very noisy, and they talked one after another, which irritated Liu Dan.
Liu Dan listened and said sternly, "Then we should ask. Immediately call these county governors back to Chang'an and ask the wise and upright people about my mistakes. By the way, ask them why we didn't report the refugees."
The officials in the palace shuddered when they heard this, knowing that these county governors were finished. If the report was true, then they would be killed for not reporting it before. If the report was false, they would be killed even more.
"Prime Minister, draft an edict."
Liu Dan's voice resounded throughout the hall. "Xia had 600 states, Shang had 800 states, and Zhou had countless states. I have never heard of a country that could be stable without border troubles. I have never heard of a country that could be stable without the use of weapons. It is easy to stop a war, but it is not that simple to stop a war. Will wolves, tigers and leopards retreat on their own without using swords?
How ridiculous this is!
I built the Changsheng Palace to pray for the blessings of the world. Is it just for my own extravagance?
Without magnificent palaces and awe-inspiring towers, would the foreigners who came to pay tribute be in awe of the great dynasty?
The effect of a palace is better than a hundred thousand soldiers!
This is my inner voice and should not be slandered."
Liu Dan's words really left everyone dumbfounded. He was so shameless. Why did you build the palace? Don't you have any idea?
Are the beauties and treasures in the palace also meant to intimidate the barbarians?
Even the general Zuo, who was favored for building the Changsheng Palace, could not hold his temper, and Sang Hongyang had no expression on his face.
In the past few years, he has been tirelessly providing Liu Dan with money to spend, but not as much as before.
Because most of the tricks to make money had been used, the economy of the Han Dynasty was almost in ruins, and the only thing left was the extremely lethal trick of oral taxation, which he was a little hesitant to use.
Especially after Jie Gong's death, many of his disciples defected to other sects, which made Sang Hongyang restrained himself a lot.
He is an economic master. Once he puts his mind on the right track, he can make a big difference. It is his credit that Guanzhong has been able to remain in a state of stability.
"Your Majesty, the decree has been prepared. Please review it. If it is appropriate, I will seal it on the spot."
The prime minister's voice sounded, and Liu Dan quickly glanced at it and stamped it with his seal.
"Send it to Shandong! I want to see what these rebels are going to do."
—————
Harmonizing yin and yang and coordinating officials are considered the most important abilities of a prime minister. A strong prime minister can usually ensure the smooth progress of the dynasty because he can integrate the disputes within the ruling group.
After a hundred years of development, there were huge political divisions within the ruling group of the Han Dynasty, and the political lines were extremely different. There was no one with enough prestige and ability to come out and integrate everything.
The low political ability of Emperor Li of Han was exploited, and he chose direct confrontation during the instigation, which quickly turned into a confrontation between several groups, and a major event that affected the fate of the entire Han Dynasty unfolded. ——"The Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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