The court officials insisted on seeing the emperor and refused to leave unless they were allowed to do so.
He has many problems, but his bones are very strong.
Even if threatened with death, he would not compromise.
Liu Zhao had no choice but to compromise, but he only saw Lord Lu.
Lord Lu straightened his official uniform and entered the palace to meet the emperor.
The ministers looked envious.
"Lord Lu is the confidant of two emperors. How remarkable!"
"Your Majesty may be thoughtless, impulsive, and conceited, but he is kind to the courtiers left behind by the late emperor."
Emperor Chengzong Wende and his son Liu Zhao were rare emperors who continued to make use of the court officials left by the previous emperor after ascending the throne.
Lord Lu walked into the Golden Palace and the door closed behind him.
There were only a few candles lit in the hall, the lights flickered and the light was dim.
For a moment, Lord Lu couldn't find the whereabouts of Emperor Liu Zhao.
Until Liu Zhao said, "My dear, please do as you please!"
Lord Lu discovered that Emperor Liu Zhao was sitting on the steps, leaning against the table leg, with no proper sitting posture and no imperial baggage at all.
He was startled and hurried forward to greet him. "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. How is your Majesty?"
"Don't worry! I'm just unhappy. My dear, please sit down!"
There is no place to sit.
The emperor was sitting on the ground, so if Lord Lu wanted to sit, he had to sit on the ground too.
But doing so would be disrespectful and contrary to his character.
Lord Lu has always been a decent person, and his daily life has its own rules.
It was too difficult for him to sit on the ground.
But if he answers while standing, he is taller than Your Majesty, which means Your Majesty has to look up at him, which is extremely disrespectful.
Forget it, forget it. Lord Lu lifted up his clothes and knelt directly in front of Liu Zhao, and all the problems were solved.
Liu Zhao was unmoved, "Why do you want to see me, my dear?"
"I'm worried, Your Majesty."
"I'm fine. A bunch of scoundrels can't do anything to me."
"Long live Your Majesty!" Lord Lu said with a bow.
Liu Zhao said coldly, "My dear minister, you have seen me and know that I am fine. I have also explained to the ministers. Please leave."
It took so much effort to get in, how could I retreat so easily?
Lord Lu looked at Liu Zhao and asked, "Is Your Majesty heartbroken?"
Liu Zhao was furious, his eyes blazing with fire, and he shouted, "How dare you!"
Lord Lu was fearless. "It is clear that Your Majesty is uneasy. If you are uneasy, I cannot leave."
Liu Zhao sneered, "What do you want, my dear?"
Lord Lu pondered, "Everything that happened today was a relief. However, it also serves as a warning to Your Majesty: taking too big a step will backfire. Your Majesty, if you want to reform the system, you should proceed slowly. Rushing into anything is ultimately detrimental to the Great Zhou. If you arouse rebellion among the court officials, even if they know the system is good, they will resolutely oppose the reform just to oppose Your Majesty. Your Majesty can kill one person, ten people, or even a hundred people, but you cannot kill everyone in the world, much less the people's hearts."
Liu Zhao sneered, "My dear, the human heart you speak of is not the heart of the common people, but the heart of the scholars. Scholars each have their own interests involved, and everything they say is for their own benefit, not for the people. Such human hearts are better left alone."
Lord Lu remained unmoved. "Your Majesty, I do not agree with what you say. Everyone has desires. Scholars have their own interests, and so do the common people. If we allow the common people to sit in the court, who can guarantee that they will not bring disaster to the country and the people? Once the common people gain power, they will become even more crazy and will continue to seek profit for a village, a family, or a place, harming the public interest and enriching themselves.
At least scholars have a sense of shame and a bottom line. Do ordinary people have a sense of shame, a bottom line, and a grasp of the broader situation? Simply attacking and denying scholars for the benefit of ordinary people is, in my humble opinion, nothing more than opposition for the sake of opposition, and is unacceptable.
Liu Zhao's face was stern. "According to what you said, my dear minister, if we ignore the demands of the common people and only focus on the demands of the scholars, will the world be at peace?"
Lord Lu shook his head. "No! What I mean is that we should pay attention to the demands of the common people as well as those of the scholars. We are all common people, so we cannot favor one over the other. We should treat them all equally. Scholars spread knowledge and information, influencing the judgment of many common people. Therefore, emperors of all dynasties have always valued the demands of scholars."
Liu Zhao smiled and said, "My dear minister, what you mean is nothing more than that all the scholars in the world are against me. I should learn from today's lesson and stop moving forward."
Lord Lu shook his head repeatedly, "Your Majesty is getting stuck in a rut again. No one, whether scholars or ordinary people, wants to see the court shaken. Frequent unrest in the court will cause instability among the people, and local officials will be panicked and unable to work. If this situation is not changed, the people of the country will want to change, and in order to seek stability, there may be unspeakable disasters, which will be a disaster for Your Majesty!"
"You're just saying that! The common people live a stable and prosperous life, with light taxes and levies. Even if the imperial court is in turmoil, it won't affect the common people's daily meals."
"It will affect local officials and cause panic among the people! If local officials are in turmoil, how can the people under their rule live in peace?"
"Local officials, having nothing better to do, are now intervening in the affairs of the imperial court."
"Your Majesty has never served in a local government and does not understand the thoughts of local officials. As an official, how can you not care about the important affairs of the court? As an official, you must fight."
Lord Lu spoke very frankly and did not cover up for the officialdom.
Liu Zhao frowned.
Lord Lu said, "Your Majesty's decision to release the Marquis of Lu's family to the northwest must have had a deeper meaning, and it couldn't be announced publicly until the right time. However, the court officials were unaware of this! They believed Your Majesty was incompetent, breaking ancestral rules and letting go of the bargaining chip that held the Marquis of Lu. This was the act of a tyrant. Therefore, the court was in turmoil, and the court officials were resentful, and then exploited, leading to today's disaster. If Your Majesty had taken it slow, with more patience and time, all this could have been avoided."
Liu Zhao's face was serious. "I understand what you said, my dear minister. But time waits for no one."
"No matter how urgent the time is, no matter how important the matter is, can it be more important than your Majesty's throne? With the court in turmoil and people's hearts uneasy, how can your Majesty's plan proceed smoothly? Since the plan has been delayed, why not use this time to appease the resentful court officials and at least get through the first year of Jingming smoothly?"
After saying this, Lord Lu sighed again.
"When I think of the history books saying that in the first year of Jingming, a certain month and a certain palace was deposed, I feel deeply ashamed!"
Liu Zhao was furious!
He, the person involved, didn't feel ashamed, so how could a court official feel ashamed?
"In the history books, it is I who am disgraced, not you, my dear."
"As the Minister of the Central Secretariat, how can I remain indifferent? A hundred years from now, when the world discusses today's events, neither Your Majesty nor I will be spared and will surely be severely criticized."
Liu Zhao snorted twice, "I never care about these empty names."
Damn, is it too late to care about these reputations now?
It's obviously too late.
His embarrassing incident has been recorded by historians, and what happened today will leave a significant mark in history books.
When future scholars comment on state affairs, they will undoubtedly call Emperor Jingming a fool, lacking any political acumen. A man in his forties, not a young man, could actually make such a childish mistake.
Damn it, the thought of this made Liu Zhao furious. He wanted to be a tyrant and kill all the recorders and clerks.
"Your Majesty, please calm down!" Lord Lu saw that the situation was not good and hurried to persuade.
Liu Zhao chuckled twice, "My dear minister, guess how I plan to govern the northwest."
Lord Lu was stunned. The topic changed so quickly, like a tornado.
He bowed slightly, "I dare not guess!"
"Guess boldly, I'll forgive you."
"I'll venture a guess. It's clear that Your Majesty has no intention of killing the Marquis of Lu, but you also cannot tolerate the Marquis of Lu holding his own troops and the Northwest Army continuing to occupy the northwest. Could Your Majesty's strategy be to drive out the Northwest Army?"
He is worthy of being the Minister of the Central Secretariat.
Liu Zhao remained calm and said, "Keep guessing."
"Since we're trying to drive out the Northwestern Army, we can't advance eastward, we can only go west. West of the Northwest, there's a vast expanse of land, so there's bound to be a place for the Northwestern Army to settle. However, if the Northwestern Army wants to survive, the place they settle in must be relatively fertile and self-sufficient. Could it be Xiliang?"
What a great Minister Lu is.
At this point, Liu Zhao did not hide it, "It is Xiliang!"
Lord Lu was shocked. "Your Majesty, are you really planning such a big project? It will cost tens of millions of taels of silver."
"Yes! The Ministry of Revenue will be under great pressure in the next few years, and I will be under equally great pressure."
After being shocked, Lord Lu was filled with excitement.
"Your Majesty is so bold in thinking and doing. May I participate in this grand event? As long as Your Majesty agrees, I will devote myself to it until my death, and I will have no regrets in this life!"
Lord Lu was extremely excited.
This is a grand plan that has never been seen before and will never be repeated. It is ambitious and grand!
As long as it is accomplished, it will be recorded in history and passed down through the ages.
All the insults are nothing compared to such a grand event.
As long as this is done, any infamy can be washed away.
Lord Lu was so excited that he almost cried.
It is a minister's fortune to meet such a magnanimous emperor who dares to think and act in his lifetime.
Working beside such an emperor, famous ministers and generals will emerge like mushrooms after a rain.
As the saying goes, heroes are made by the times.
The emperor creates the times, the times create heroes, and heroes in turn influence the times.
It's a ring!
One thing leads to another.
Without the right times, even a genius will be mediocre in the end if he does not have the opportunity to display his talents.
With the right timing, even if you are just above average, you still have the opportunity to stand out and go down in history.
For a minister like Lord Lu who is not afraid of anything and dares to take action, this is the best era.
But for the old officials who stick to the old ways, this is the worst time.
"Have you thought it through, my dear?"
"I have no intention of retreating. Your Majesty, please give your orders!"
Liu Zhao pinched his chin, "My dear minister, I said I should slow down my pace, but the arrow is on the string and must be shot."
Lord Lu understood immediately, "Your Majesty has reached an agreement with Marquis Lu, so he sent Marquis Lu's family to the northwest?"
"Exactly!"
"for how long?"
When smart people talk, they save time and effort. There is no need for explanation. Their clever brains can grasp the key points and guess the whole story and the truth.
"I give the Northwest Army a year and a half to prepare!"
Lord Lu's expression changed. "Only a year and a half, time is indeed tight. The court is restless, the officials are hindering it, and your majesty's previous strategy was wrong."
"What's wrong?"
"Your Majesty, how could you possibly act alone on such a significant matter? From the outset, you should have sought counsel from your courtiers and calmed the restive hearts and minds of the people. In this way, perhaps today's disaster could have been avoided. However, there is also a benefit to today's disaster: Your Majesty can use this opportunity to eliminate those who are disloyal."
"My dear minister, your words make sense. Then I'll leave this matter to you, my dear minister!"
"Your humble servant obeys the order!"
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