162 Chapter 162
◎ Seize the title and supervise the country. ◎
His Majesty the Emperor couldn't let go of his little grandson. If the child wasn't so young, he would have taken him back to Xuanshi Hall and raised him himself.
Liu Ju pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "Aunt, you don't love your son anymore now that you have a grandson."
Liu Che was surprised and said, "I love your son, and you are not happy? You little brat, why are you so difficult to please?"
Liu Ju pursed his lips and asked, "Aunt, do you love your grandson or your son more?"
Liu Che was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: "My prince is really regressing as he grows older. You are such a grown man, yet you still act like a child!"
Liu Ju said confidently, "I am the old man's son."
"Hahahaha..." Liu Che laughed so hard that he couldn't breathe. Without him waving, the prince came over and hit him.
"I'm giving you a back massage right now." Liu Ju snorted.
Liu Che laughed enough and then pressed the man's head: "Your son wants to honor me, but does he have the ability to do so now?"
"Alas," Liu Ju said, "Aunt, you only see the laughter of the new and don't hear the tears of the old."
Liu Che rubbed his temples and said with a stern face: "My stomach hurts from laughing. Please don't make me laugh."
Liu Ju smiled and said, "Early this morning I noticed a hint of worry between your brows, so I thought of trying to make you smile."
Liu Che smiled again. "In August, we will offer sacrifices to Emperor Gaozu's temple. The tributes from the princes and dukes are being inspected by the Shaofu."
This was a system established during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen. Every August, when offering sacrifices to the Gaozu Temple, the princes and marquises had to offer sufficient amounts of zhujin according to the population of their fiefdoms.
The so-called chujin, chu is a kind of wine, and jin is naturally gold.
After the Shaofu has inspected the quality, His Majesty the Emperor will come in person to receive the gold.
This has been an old practice for many years, and we should just stick to the rules. However, Liu Che specifically brought up this matter at this time, which obviously had other intentions.
This time, it was not the Emperor who first attacked the princes, but the princes once again showed Liu Che why no matter who became the emperor, they would not be tolerated.
This story has to start with the conquest of Nanyue. Although there was Marquis Guanjun leading the troops, soldiers still had to be recruited to fight the war, and the soldiers still had to be recruited from the people.
This was another appearance of the Han army after the Battle of Mobei. Considering the countries Zhang Qian met after his mission, Liu Che intended to take this opportunity to show the majesty of the Han army.
But the princes chose to make trouble for Liu Che at this time. The conscription in their fiefdoms was not going smoothly. Although it did not hinder the overall situation, this incident still reminded His Majesty the Emperor that there were still people under his control who could act recklessly.
On this point, Liu Ju understood his father very well. The feudal emperor wanted to be the only one in power. No matter how respectful these princes were in front of him, they would always show their claws from time to time behind his back. It would be strange if his father didn't feel like a thorn in his throat.
As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. His father disliked the princes, so the princes should bear most of the responsibility.
Liu Ju said, "I know what Aung wants to do. What are you worried about?"
The quality of the zhu gold was insufficient, the princes were stripped of their counties, and the marquises were stripped of their titles. Thanks to the Enfeoffment Order, the Han Dynasty now has a group of marquises with the surname Liu in addition to those who were awarded for military merit.
It was obvious that what Liu Che wanted to deal with this time was not only the princes and marquises with the surname Liu, but also other marquises - those who inherited their ancestors' merits and those who were awarded titles based on military merits.
Liu Che pondered and said, "I am wondering if one hundred and eight people are too few. Do we need to add two more to make it an even number?"
Liu Ju: “…”
One hundred and eight is a good number, but Chang'an City is too far away from Liangshan, and the marquises probably can't gather together one hundred and eight generals.
"How about..." Liu Ju said, "adding Marquis Changping and Marquis Guanjun?"
His Majesty the Emperor looked at him quietly.
Liu Ju touched his nose and said, "Isn't it funny to tell a joke to amuse Grandpa?"
"If I were to take away the titles of Marquis of Changping and Marquis of Guanjun, no one in the Han Dynasty would be worthy of the titles." Liu Che said solemnly.
"I understand, old man." Liu Ju said seriously.
"However, I have added the names of Wei Kang and the other three." Liu Che said again.
Liu Ju said, "My uncle won't object."
Liu Che smiled and said, "Not only does he not object, your uncle is in complete agreement. He told me that you told him that one's ability determines his position, and that those without ability who still want to be high officials will only bring trouble to the family. He thinks you are absolutely right."
Liu Ju thought for a moment and said, "A long time ago, my uncle and I were talking about Gongsun Jingsheng, and I happened to say this casually. I didn't expect him to remember it so much."
Liu Che smiled and said, "This is because your uncle loves you."
Liu Ju blinked and asked sincerely, "Ah Weng, do you think I should go show off to my cousin?"
Liu Che nodded seriously and said, "Then I must first issue an imperial decree to pardon the Marquis of Guanjun from the crime of assaulting the Crown Prince."
Liu Ju's eyes widened: "Shouldn't there be an imperial decree forbidding my cousin from hitting me?"
Liu Che laughed and said, "If you insist on causing trouble, I will not clean up your mess."
Liu Ju said sadly, "My father-in-law really doesn't love me anymore."
Liu Che said bitterly, "Put aside this behavior. I will give you something good."
"What?" Liu Ju immediately became interested. He knew how picky his father was. Anything that his father said was good must be very rare.
Liu Che said, "Stretch out your hand."
Liu Ju quickly spread out his hands, palms facing up, and stretched them in front of his father. Then he saw his father put the jade seal he had just used into his palms.
It was a bit heavy. Liu Ju hadn't expected it to be something like this and nearly dropped it. He hurriedly exerted some strength and said, "Ah Weng?"
In addition to the imperial seal engraved by Qin Shihuang, the emperor also had six square seals, and the one in Liu Ju's hand was one of them.
Liu Che smiled and said, "I plan to tour the counties and kingdoms. All affairs of Chang'an City and Weiyang Palace are now fully entrusted to you."
no……
In his previous life, his father had toured the counties and states and had him supervise the country's affairs, but he had never given him such great power, let alone personally placing the imperial seal in his hands.
Liu Ju was not overjoyed or flattered, he was devastated.
His father went away to enjoy himself, leaving all the government affairs to him!
There is no such thing in the world!
But the arm cannot twist the thigh. After His Majesty the Emperor happily seized the titles of 108 marquises, he announced to the world that starting from the spring of the fifth year of Yuanding, His Majesty the Emperor would tour the counties and kingdoms, and the Crown Prince would be left in Chang'an to govern the country.
In addition, when His Majesty the Emperor traveled, he was ridden by the Marquis of Changping, while the Marquis of Guanjun stayed in the court to assist the Crown Prince.
Liu Ju: “…”
Huo Qubing: "..."
The two "left-behind children" looked at each other in silence.
After a while, Huo Qubing said, "Ju'er, when the big ship is built, I will take you out to sea."
Liu Ju nodded fiercely: "We won't come back for eight or ten years!"
Huo Qubing said, "Yes."
…
"A few days ago, when I went to a banquet, Marquis Lecheng suddenly came to talk to me. He mentioned the Taoist priest Luan Da and wanted to introduce Luan Da to Your Highness through me," said Cao Xiang.
"Luan Da?"
It's really strange to hear this name coming from Cao Xiang's mouth, Liu Ju thought.
Cao Xiang asked curiously, "From your tone, Your Highness, do you know this person?"
Liu Ju shook his head, of course: "No, I just think this name is quite... special."
Cao Xiang nodded and said, "Marquis Lecheng said this man has many supernatural powers, but I don't believe it. However, since this happened, I thought I had to report it to His Highness."
Liu Ju laughed and said, "Since he has supernatural powers, why doesn't he become a god himself?"
Cao Xiang also smiled and said, "That's exactly what Your Highness said."
"The fact that I don't like alchemists should be known to everyone in Chang'an. If Ding Yi wants to please me, he should find another way." Liu Ju felt quite strange.
A few years ago, the alchemists who defected to His Majesty the Emperor were captured by Liu Ju and secretly made allicin. Because they had not appeared in public for many years, there were many rumors at that time. Some said that the prince secretly executed these people, which was considered relatively friendly. Some even said that the prince was using extremely cruel means to torture these alchemists who dared to deceive His Majesty the Emperor.
After that, no alchemists dared to approach the Weiyang Palace. There were occasional scammers in Bowang Garden, but they did not dare to appear in front of the prince in the name of alchemists.
However, just because the emperor and the crown prince disliked alchemists did not mean that they had no employment opportunities. There were still many princes, dukes, and nobles who were eager to be deceived, so alchemists did not disappear.
In his previous life, Luan Da was recommended by Lecheng Hou Dingyi to come before his father and became his elder sister's second husband.
Thinking of this, Liu Ju looked at Cao Xiang with strange eyes again.
Cao Xiang was confused: "This... I don't understand either. Your Highness, why are you looking at me like that?"
Liu Ju smiled and said, "Since you don't know, let's go check it out."
Cao Xiang had no choice but to say, "As you wish."
Cao Xiang left in confusion. Because he was thinking about other things, he almost bumped into Huo Qubing when turning a corner. Fortunately, the other party dodged quickly.
"Marquis Pingyang?" Huo Qubing helped him up.
Cao Xiang hurriedly said: "Sorry..."
Huo Qubing said, "That's fine."
Of course, it cannot be said that the two of them are not familiar with each other, but if they are very familiar with each other, it is not a relationship that can be casually chatted with, so they soon walked away.
Huo Qubing entered the palace and finished discussing serious matters with Liu Ju before saying, "I wonder what the Marquis of Pingyang is thinking about. He seems so absent-minded."
Liu Ju twirled his brush and said, "I'll ask him to check on Luan Da, an alchemist who works for the Prince of Jiaodong. Ding Yi wants to recommend him to me through Cao Xiang."
Huo Qubing asked, "Give you an alchemist? Has Ding Yi lived long enough?"
Liu Ju smiled and said, "Cousin, please don't make me sound so scary."
As he spoke, Liu Ju wrote the last line with two minds at once. After putting down his pen, he clapped his hands and said, "Today's work is over!"
Huo Qubing pointed to his right and said, "There are also these."
Liu Ju said, "I picked these out specially and planned to give them to my grandfather to take a look."
Huo Qubing asked curiously, "What is it?"
Liu Ju laughed and said, "I've only been regent for a few days, and they're already praising me to the heavens and the earth, as if Emperor Taizu, Emperor Xiaowen, Emperor Xiaojing, and even my grandfather combined couldn't compare to me. Cousin, tell me, shouldn't I show my grandfather some respect?"
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