Chapter 600 [Second Update]
Liu Tan received the imperial edict first and then the letter from his father.
This edict was not addressed to him, or to be more precise, it was not entirely addressed to him, but to both him and Liu Ku.
The main character is still Liu Ku. When Liu Tan heard that Liu Che had issued an edict to Liu Ku, he had a bad feeling.
Liu Ku was so young now that he had no ability to do anything Liu Che asked him to do. In the end, it was Liu Tan who had to clean up the mess.
But the imperial edict had been issued, and Liu Che had not discussed it with him, and Liu Tan had not even heard of it before.
The moment he opened the imperial edict, Liu Tan's eyes went dark - Liu Che appointed Liu Ku as the King of Yan.
To be honest, among Liu Che's sons, Liu Ku was probably the first to be crowned king.
Even though the other sons were driven away at a very young age, they were actually not made kings until they were six or seven years old. Many of them were not allowed to go to their fiefdoms immediately after being made kings.
As for Liu Ku, it was actually to allow Liu Ku not to rush to become a vassal, but to continue to be raised by Liu Tan. As an elder brother, Liu Tan... temporarily took over the position of King of Yan and helped to manage the Yan area.
After reading it, Liu Tan stared at the map in a daze.
Lu Xuan sat beside him and gestured for a moment, then frowned and said, "This... now nearly half of the Han Dynasty's territory is in your hands. What exactly is your Majesty thinking?"
Liu Tan said sluggishly, "I want to know too."
According to later maps, this area is about one-third of the entire country.
However, the Han Dynasty today... has no interest in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Western Regions are not part of its territory, and Lingnan is a remote territory, which is not actually a territory with complete sovereignty. After adding and subtracting, doesn't it mean... half of the Han Dynasty's territory is in Liu Tan's hands?
In fact, Liu Che had once thought of giving the State of Yan to him. Of course, Liu Che's purpose was not to let him build the State of Yan well, but to guard the border.
At least since Wei Huo's death, Liu Che could not find another person to whom he could be assured of handing over such a long border line.
At that time, Liu Tan refused on the grounds that the fiefdom was too large and inappropriate, and even asked Liu Ju to speak for him. He also hinted to the prime minister to help dissuade the emperor from the idea.
After many twists and turns, Liu Che finally handed over the Yan State to him.
Facts have proved that no matter who persuades Liu Che, it is useless to do what he has decided, unless the conditions for its realization are really unrealistic.
But Liu Tan still planned to struggle and wrote a memorial directly to Liu Che - writing a letter would not work, because Liu Che, that big pig's hoof, could completely ignore the letter.
Although he could suppress the memorial, at least others would know that the King of the Northern Territory had submitted a memorial to reject it.
Liu Tan had reasons for his refusal. First, he had never heard of a vassal king temporarily ruling over another vassal king's fiefdom. Second, the vassal kings of the Han Dynasty had no real power. He himself was an exception. The State of Yan only needed to elect a reliable prime minister to take charge of everything and did not need vassal kings at all.
Isn’t this the case for other vassal states now?
After Liu Tan finished writing, he wrote another letter to Liu Ju, asking angrily why he was not stopped. He had to deal with so many things as soon as he came back, and now there was the Yan State. He was afraid that he would die young!
Then Liu Tan's memorial was sent back by Liu Che.
Liu Che said very calmly that what he did was not as unprecedented as others, and now they can be used as a model for future generations. What precedents were all set by our ancestors, so what if he wanted to do the same thing now?
Liu Tan: ...
Okay, this is wild boar.
As for the second question, letting the prime minister of Yan State have full authority to handle the affairs of all vassal states... This request is very reasonable, at least in Liu Tan's opinion. However, when it comes to Yezhu, it is like - you just want to collect money and don't want to take responsibility?
Liu Tan: ???
Collect money? Who would collect money? The tax is also for Liu Ku, and he has no intention of using Liu Ku's money! He used his own money to support Liu Ku.
Liu Tan was very angry and felt that his father was becoming more and more unreasonable.
When he took out Liu Ju's letter in great anger, he found that the letter was indeed written by Liu Ju, but it was probably also instructed by Liu Che.
The premise is that there were many problems on the border of Yan State before. Since the entry and exit of the border on the Northern Border State side has been very strict and strategic materials are not allowed to be transported, most people began to go through Yan State.
As a result, the border cities of Yan State are now a mixed bag. Not to mention public security, it is difficult for local people to live a quiet life. Murder and robbery happen from time to time. By now, those people who want to live a peaceful life have moved away, and the only people left in those cities are basically violent and criminal people.
Because of this chaos, the Huns also began to make arrangements there.
Liu Tan's northern border country was already very strictly guarded, but it could not withstand the fact that the Huns had already started laying lines here.
Even the Northern Border Kingdom can catch spies, let alone the Yan Kingdom.
Liu Che had sent many people to clean up the area before, but the problem was that those cities did not belong to the same county. The county governors might have the same stance, but their ideas were inconsistent, which led to different policies being implemented.
Even if Emperor Wu of Han ordered them to do what they should do after death, these people would still have their own ways of carrying out the execution.
In this situation, it is difficult to achieve unification. Every city has loopholes. Even if the city is not strong enough, the vast wasteland between the cities cannot stop people.
The news of Liu Che's disappearance had leaked from there before. After finding out the truth, Liu Che became angry and directly sent envoys in embroidered robes to punish the criminals. However, he did not expect that several of the envoys in embroidered robes he sent also died there.
The Embroidered Uniform Messengers were all intelligence talents carefully cultivated by Emperor Liu Che. They had never suffered any losses in all these years since their establishment. These people represented the emperor. It was ok that they did not show up in public, but if they really showed up, even Liu Tan would be very polite to them. They might play around with each other on weekdays, but they were treated the best by Liu Tan.
Under such circumstances, the embroidered robe envoys sent were almost wiped out, and Liu Che's anger can be imagined.
As a result, the emperor was furious, but those people still did as they pleased, acting as if the emperor was far away. Seeing that the people he could send were incompetent, and the capable ones could not be sent, Liu Che turned his attention to Liu Tan.
In fact, it was not a sudden whim for Liu Che to let Liu Tan take charge of the government affairs of Yan State. He had this idea before Liu Tan left Chang'an, but he never told Liu Tan because he knew that even if he told him, his son would not agree. Moreover, it was not just a problem for his son, but he also needed to discuss it with the court officials.
Contrary to what Liu Tan thought, the ministers in the central government were not that resistant to this matter.
First of all, the problems in Yan State were indeed very serious and needed someone to deal with them. Who among the officials in Chang'an would be willing to run to that poor and remote place?
Even those with ambitions should consider this: the Embroidered Robe Envoy was defeated there, what if they were also gone in the past? They are definitely not as powerful as the Embroidered Robe Envoy.
It's good to have someone ready to take the blame now. The most important thing is that the Northern Border Country is developing rapidly. Last year, it was even able to pay some taxes to the central government. Although it's not a lot, at least there is money to be seen.
You should know that before the King of the North came there, those places were tax-free.
The situation of Yan State is similar to that of the Northern Border State. They still hope that the King of the Northern Border can take care of Yan State and ease the financial pressure of the central government.
According to the new Minister of Agriculture, many people no longer worship Qian Tong but the King of the North instead.
There are even gradually emerging portraits of Qian Tong and the King of the North combined into one.
Because of this, everyone doesn't have much resistance to this matter.
Anyway, the King of the Northern Territory is only temporary, and he won't be able to achieve anything in a short period of time. As for the long term... as the King of Yan grows up, there will be a lot he can do. It's good enough now.
After Liu Tan put down Liu Ju's letter, he sighed with a tired heart. He really had not expected that the State of Yan had become so chaotic.
Seeing him frown, Lu Xuan couldn't help but touch his face and said, "Don't worry too much. If it really doesn't work out, we can just..."
"No, no, no, let's stick to the original plan."
Liu Tan knew that Lu Xuan wanted to talk about launching a war in advance, but Liu Tan thought about it and realized that the army had not been fully trained, and many of them were even new recruits. Sending them to the battlefield like this would basically be a suicide mission.
In the past, everyone did this and it was their business, but Liu Tan would definitely not do this.
Moreover, he was not so opposed to letting him manage the border cities on the Yan State side, because although it was divided into Yan State and Northern Border State, in fact, these two lines were connected.
The chaos in Yan State could still affect the Northern Border State to some extent, especially Yanmen County. Liu Tan had been paying attention to Yanmen County before, but he had never had a good solution.
He has done so much that the prefect of Dai County once said that the King of the North was harming his neighbors, but he would feel aggrieved if he did nothing.
Now things are good, Liu Tan can take drastic measures.
The only thing that concerned him was the selection of the prime minister of Yan State.
However, it seems that the Prime Minister of Yan State has not yet been elected. After Liu Tan mentioned this matter at the small court meeting, he couldn't help but ponder for a while and said, "Do you think it is possible for you to take on the position concurrently?"
After all, if new officials are elected, the first thing Liu Tan has to do is to spend a certain amount of time getting used to these people. It is basically impossible for him to get started with government affairs quickly.
It would be much easier if Liu Tan's subordinates were directly allowed to take on the task. They could draw on the previous experience and they would be able to operate smoothly without Liu Tan having to make any further arrangements.
After Liu Tan finished speaking, everyone except Huo Guang looked horrified: Is this not necessary?
Even Huo Guang's expression changed slightly, but he was always able to control his emotions, so he didn't show it so obviously.
It is said that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility, but now everyone feels that even if they are not overloaded, they are almost unable to take care of so many things.
Huo Guang took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty will not issue such an order. Otherwise, how can Yan State and Northern Border State be separated in the future?"
Liu Tan was just trying to scare them. After hearing this, he said, "I just hope that a prime minister of similar caliber can come. The others shouldn't be too bad either. Otherwise, I won't be able to handle it."
However, in reality, the prime minister of Yan State chose an unknown person - Dou Sibo.
When Liu Tan saw this surname, his expression subconsciously became serious. Although no one with the surname Dou in the world might be related to Empress Xiaowen, it was always better to be careful.
So Liu Tan immediately asked someone to retrieve his file, and it turned out that he did have some relationship with Empress Xiaowen - he was a descendant of Empress Xiaowen's younger brother, Dou Shaojun, Marquis of Zhangwu.
Dou Shaojun, Marquis of Zhangwu, was Dou Sibo's great-grandfather, and Dou Sibo's grandfather was Dou Shaojun's illegitimate son.
Dou Shaojun also had a rough life. He was once abducted and sold into slavery. He was only found after his sister became queen.
After Dou Shaojun was found, the ministers became alert - the disaster with the Lu family had just passed, and the sight of the queen's brothers was a psychological trauma.
So Jiang Hou Zhou Bo and Guan Fu wrote a letter saying that the two brothers came from humble backgrounds and did not understand etiquette and knowledge, so they could not be granted official positions.
Therefore, the Dou family is always a little inferior to other empresses' families. However, most of the empresses' families that were once powerful have now disappeared. Although the Dou family is still not well-known, it should have some ability to be chosen by Liu Che to be the prime minister of Yan State.
Liu Tan carefully read this person's resume and found that this person was actually a little bit like Huo Guang in that he was quite steady.
However, Huo Guang was cautious and planned before taking action. If a matter was not urgent and he was 70% sure, he would take action.
If it is extremely urgent, he will take the risk even if there is a 50% chance of success.
But Dou Sibo was not like that. He had served as a county magistrate before. Simply put, unless the court gave an order, he would basically not implement any new policies or anything like that. He was very law-abiding.
God knows that this is the kind of person Liu Tan can't stand the most. It's more uncomfortable than having different personalities. It's simply a difference in values.
Seeing Liu Tan's facial features almost wrinkled together, Lu Xuan smiled and said, "You don't like this person so much? Then tell His Majesty to change him."
Liu Tan shook his head and said, "This person has already gone to Chang'an to report on his work and will be back soon. If I write a petition now to request a replacement, I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to do his job."
Lu Xuan was helpless: "If you don't like him so much, why think so much?"
Liu Tan said, "I haven't met him yet, and I don't really dislike him. I'm just worried that things won't go smoothly in the future."
Lu Xuan knew what Dou Sibo was worried about without even asking. He glanced at Dou Sibo's resume, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't think you need to worry about him being too rigid. Judging from the records, this guy simply doesn't have his own ideas, but as long as someone gives him an order, he can execute it well."
Liu Tan was slightly stunned and turned to look at Lu Xuan: "So you mean he will be very obedient?"
Lu Xuan nodded: "Your Majesty will not choose someone who will oppose you. The situation in Yan State is so complicated. If the Prime Minister of Yan State does not obey, even you will not be able to handle Yan State."
Liu Tan thought about it and agreed. Liu Che would not cheat him like this.
In addition to the prime minister of Yan State, Liu Che directly handed over the appointment of other officials to Liu Tan.
Liu Tan didn't bother and directly brought back the group of people who had previously served under the King of Yan.
In other words, in the current Yan State, except for the change of the title of King of Yan and the change of the Prime Minister of Yan, the rest has basically not changed.
Most of those who were recalled were very grateful to Liu Tan.
The crime committed by the previous King of Yan was treason. Even if this group of people had evidence to prove that they were not involved and that everything was done by the King of Yan himself, as officials of the Yan State, they had a persuasive effect on the King of Yan. How could they have no idea that the King of Yan had done such a big thing quietly?
So they were all severely punished. Some people were grateful to God for being able to save their lives, and never thought that one day they would be able to return to their posts.
These people originally wanted to come to Shuofang County to thank Liu Tan, but were rejected by Liu Tan. He also sent a letter to Dou Sibo, asking him not to come to Shuofang County, but to go directly to the capital of Yan State.
Speaking of which, the capital of Yan State was a return visit for Liu Tan, although this place was visited thousands of years later.
The current capital of Yan State is called Jicheng. This name may be unfamiliar to later generations, or be thought of as Ji County near Tianjin Wei in later generations. However, in this era, this name refers to the famous Beijing City in later generations.
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