Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 123 Secret conversation between father and son
Because Wang Mang was a very frugal person, he only had six servants in his house, and they were old servants.

The Xu family took great efforts to infiltrate, but they were never able to grasp Wang Mang's exact inner thoughts. This man had very few confidants. He did so many things with definitely impure motives, he was just deliberately creating momentum!

"So what father means is that we should help Chunyu Chang take power?" Xu Hua understood his father's deeper meaning.

Wang Shang fell ill some time ago. After Wang Gen's death, the Wang family's control over the imperial guards will further decline. Liu Xin will take the opportunity to support other external relatives to join the group, and there is a great probability that he will overthrow them!
Relatively speaking, Chunyu Chang was easier to deal with. He was a typical arrogant minister with very limited political skills and ability to govern. His only advantage was that he was favored by the Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun.

Other than that, there's not much worth saying.

In this way, perhaps he could weaken the Wang family by supporting Chunyu Chang. Of the five powerful Wang family marquises in the past, only Wang Gen is left who can function normally.

The Wang family cannot produce talented people who can take over the family from generation to generation like the Xu family does. Among the younger generations, there are very few who can compare with Xu Hua and Xu Zhong.

Most of the Xu family's descendants inherited their father's political legacy perfectly. Xu Zhong, Xu Yuan, Xu Min and others were also high-ranking officials at the level of provincial governors. In contrast, the most outstanding person in the Wang family was only one of the Nine Ministers.

The gap was too big, mainly because they did not have the power support of the Confucian forces in the Imperial Academy. It was very troublesome to appoint and dismiss officials, and it often took a long time.

But the Xu family is different. They treat the law school like their own back garden and they can let anyone they want pass. It is of course more convenient without these guys holding them back.

In fact, the most fundamental reason why the Wang family can control the political situation now is the imperial guards at their disposal!

If it weren't for the support of this army, Emperor Liu Xin would have been eaten to the bone long ago. He is now secretly weakening his influence.

To be honest, this new emperor is much stronger than the previous emperor Liu Ao in terms of both ability and courage. At least he has been able to suppress Wang Gen in the past few months and has also regained a certain degree of decision-making power in major events.

For example, regarding the establishment of provincial governors, Wang Gen's attitude was firmly opposed and he wrote many letters to the emperor, but Liu Xin's method was very simple. He played rogue and asked the other party to persuade the doctors of Legalism in the Imperial College. If the majority of the doctors approved the edict and stamped it with their seals, he would agree.

This is of course impossible. The Xu family has long had the final say in that place. Xu Hua, Xu Zhong and others are all doctors of Legalism. There are 19 doctors in total, and they are all their own people.

What could Wang Gen do? He could only wait for the time being. If these governors did not do a good job, there would be grounds for impeachment.

But recently Xu Yuan has made achievements first. The four counties in Longyou have begun to stabilize, and they are continuing to prepare to send troops to the three counties in Hexi.

Liu Xin was very pleased to hear this and praised him highly. He also increased the military funding for Liangzhou and fully supported the campaign to retake the Hexi Corridor. As an emperor, regaining the lost territory was certainly a great achievement, enough to be recorded in history books.

At the same time, Xu Zhong and Zhu Chun's anti-bandit campaign was also going smoothly. Almost all the big bandits in the south of the Yangtze River were killed, Huainan was completely pacified, and most of Jiangdong was also resolved.

It is nothing more than the final mopping-up phase. Although Yangzhou is large in area, the court does not actually control much of it, so it is necessary to slowly send troops to search, which takes time.

Liu Xin also gave verbal praise, promising that after the success, he would be given the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry and be given the title of General of the Imperial Army, and would be allowed to hold the imperial seal and continue to guard Jingxiang for the court.

The situation was so good that even the central government began to feel less nervous. After Xu Zhong became the Grand Marshal, he would be able to legitimately interfere in the military affairs of the imperial guards.

The main reason was that the previous Grand Marshal and General of Chariots and Cavalry, Wang Shang, resigned and the position became vacant.

The Wang family is in a state of transition right now! There aren't many capable young people left, and there are only two who can be of use, namely Wang Mang and Chunyu Chang.

Among them, Chunyu Chang has the greatest advantage. Unless the fact that he had a secret meeting can be exposed, Wang Gen should choose the nephew of Queen Mother Wang Zhengjun.

Although Wang Mang was a frugal person and was very popular among the people, and Wang used violence to intimidate the court, Wang Mang generally convinced the officials. Xu Hua also had a good impression of this guy, but he had a fatal flaw.

That is the lack of political background. He focuses on reputation. For example, he almost never participates in political transactions between court officials. He is very different from Chunyu Chang, who is good at flattery.

"No, no, this is an internal affair of their Wang family. Chun Yuchang's dirty deeds are not absolutely confidential. People who know about it don't know about my Xu family."

"So even if we help him cover up, it's useless. A bamboo tube can't contain fire. Instead, it will only make us dirty. So we just do nothing and wait and see what happens."

Xu Bo still holds the same conservative view as before. Perhaps Chunyu Chang is easier to deal with, but this is risky after all.

As the head of a large family, he really dislikes gambling. This kind of thing of risking a small amount for a big gain is not worth it.

Even if they won the bet, it would only be a temporary prosperity. It's not like they haven't had it before. Back then, Xu Zhen and Xu Gong were both in their prime. When Xu Zhen started his career, he was gambling, betting that Emperor Taizu Gaohuangdi Liu Bang would win!
In the end, they won, completing the transformation from a commoner to the first meritorious marquis. In other words, their family had long passed the time when they needed to gamble. No matter how powerful and prosperous they were, what would it matter? Could they be more powerful than their ancestor Xu Zhen in the past?

That was the supreme authority that could depose and enthrone an emperor! A moment of prosperity could even lead to the demise of a family.

The real way of dealing with the world for the two Xus is actually moderation! Just stand as the emperor and remain neutral to the struggles of various parties in the court, so that you can be invincible.

Unfortunately, sometimes one really has no choice. After the Wang family came to power, they quickly defeated other foreign relatives, took control of the central imperial guards, and became the real dominant force in the court. Wang Feng and the five marquises' followers controlled the entire country, and even Emperor Li Liu Ao had to make concessions.

In this situation, the Xu family had almost no choice. The Wang family was the only powerful family, and they had to step in to check and balance them. If they did not intervene decisively, it would likely lead to a change of dynasty.

If the Xu family had not taken control of the place first, the emperor's situation would probably be much more serious now.

In the end, Xu Ming was defeated and lost his position as Imperial Censor. He was forced to resign and return to his hometown in Qinghe. Only Xu Bo was left to support the family.

In the end, the ugly daughter-in-law became a mother-in-law. The powerful general Wang Feng died of illness. Although Wang Gen inherited all his brother's political legacy.

But he is not young anymore, and his younger generations generally have no prestige in the Imperial Guards. It is still unclear who will control the foundation on which the family depends for survival.

This time is hope! Liu Xin is an ambitious emperor who wants to regain power and change the current situation of national decline in one fell swoop. He wants to follow the example of Emperor Kang to reorganize the imperial authority. In fact, the approach he chose is to support a new foreign relative group. Eunuchs are no longer useful at this time. As long as the Ding family and the Fu family are supported to gradually infiltrate the imperial army, it is possible to take back control. Without the support of the army, the Wang family, the so-called top family, is a lamb to be slaughtered and can be easily manipulated.

There is still a lot of room for maneuver. As expected, all the power tactics and conspiracies are nothing in the face of absolute violence.

The reason why Wang Feng was able to seize power was not because his political level was much higher than Xu Ming's, but mainly because he had the support of the previous emperor Liu Ao, with whose tacit approval he gradually gained control of the hundreds of thousands of northern and southern troops in Chang'an.

He also wrote to the emperor many times to put pressure on him, and annexed nearly 100,000 border troops stationed in Xiliang, Youyan and Bingzhou. His power expanded rapidly, and he completely controlled Chang'an and the secondary capital Luoyang. This was the most basic condition for supporting his factions.

Without the command of these 200,000 troops, how could he force Liu Ao to confer titles of nobility on the five Wang clans? Wang Si and Shi Xian did not dare to do so, because Emperor Yuan could really send troops to confiscate their property if he was angry.

Of course, the premise is to ignore the consequences.

"Alas... I have always believed that the amount of say you have in the court depends on the emperor's trust and the number of ministers who are close to you."

"But after several years of fighting openly and secretly with Wang Feng, I found that what really determines victory or defeat is not these, or it is not in essence." Xu Bo's old face looked extremely vicissitudes of life. Unknowingly, the young man with high spirits in the past has also become an old man.

"Essentially, it's about the ownership of this army. Back then, Emperor Gao was a cavalry emperor. Since he started his army in Pei County, he has personally led the charge into battle every time there was a war. With just one sentence, he can deprive Han Xin, the Marquis of Huaiyin, of his military power and concentrate the power in his own hands."

"He was an emperor who held real power. Emperor Wu also relied on his great achievements in expanding territory to control the government. In essence, he was also a military leader."

After many years, he finally realized that wealth, official position and fame are nothing in the face of absolute force. Those who use force at will may be sanctioned later, but you will not live to see that time.

After Xu Zhong, Xu Yuan and others became local governors and took control of the military and political power in a place, the Wang family immediately restrained themselves a lot. They were also wary of these provincial governors scattered across the country.

Moreover, the impact of Wang Feng's death was far greater than imagined. With the death of this old general, the Wang family's control over the imperial guards declined fundamentally. Without sufficient military support, it was difficult to gain the support of the officers.

The successive deaths of the five marquises of the Wang family accelerated the process of the collapse of authority. There were simply not enough young talents to fill the positions, or there were no opportunities for training.

All along, except for Wang Feng, no one else cared much about military experience and was obsessed with power struggles. This was of course important, but the prerequisite was to maintain the basic base.

Every family in history has to face a serious problem, that is, the younger generations are inferior to the previous one, and there is a lack of successors, which leads to a significant reduction in the power inheritance.

The Wang family is of course equally indispensable, but they are very lacking in mainstays like the Five Marquises. At least for now, the only one Xu Bo can take a fancy to is Wang Mang, who has too big ambitions.

Xu Hua's expression was a little subtle, and he asked in a low voice: "Then father, should we..."

"No, that's not necessary." As a father, Xu Bo immediately understood the meaning.

It's nothing more than asking whether his family should directly control the army on behalf of the emperor. This might ensure the long-term stability of the family. Now that the local area has achieved a complete victory, the five governors are all his own people.

Although the Xu family's influence is spread across counties and prefectures, the role they actually play is not even as good as that of a provincial governor. They are too constrained.

It is impossible for a state to be populated entirely by members of the Xu family. It can only be said that there is a general tendency, but they will not choose to help when faced with special circumstances. The county magistrates inside and the provincial governors and other prefects outside have been restraining each other, making it impossible for the Xu family to completely control the local area.

All of this was the plan of the former emperor, and was also the result of the Wang family's deliberate efforts to maintain a delicate balance.

However, the three provincial governors with the surname Xu established by Liu Xin broke this balance.

The three border states are all ruled by the Xu family faction. Dong Chong is an old man in the law school. He previously served as the prefect of Shangdang. He was promoted to this position almost entirely by the support of Xu Ming's father, the old patriarch of the Qinghe Xu family, the general Xu Ning.

Dong Chong was a typical grassroots person with no background, so he was very grateful to the Xu family for being his mentor and often confronted the Wang family for this.

This time when he became the governor of Bingzhou, he was basically still of the same mind as Xu Min of Youzhou and Xu Yuan of Liangzhou. With greater power, he was more capable of guarding against the Huns.

He was highly praised by Emperor Liu Xin, and was conferred the title of Guannei Hou a few days ago, bringing honor to his family and completing a great class leap. Being a marquis and the governor of a state is definitely inspiring enough.

The same goes for Zhu Chun of Yangzhou. He is closer to Xu Zhong of Henan, who was promoted by Xu Zhong. He was previously the prefect of Danyang, and it was this man who proposed to depose Shi and establish Mu.

Now, with the help of the Jingzhou Army, he has gained a firm foothold in Jiangdong and Huainan, becoming the de facto King of Yangzhou. His attitude is to follow the pace of Big Brother, to clearly define his own position, and to control the largest army among the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty, a full 90,000! The standing army has been increased to 50,000!
It can be said to be an exceptional promotion. You know, even in Bingzhou, where the war was most severe, the army including the temporary army to deal with the invasion had less than 50,000 troops, and 30,000 standing troops.

This number is quite scary, but it is normal, because Bingzhou has cavalry! A troop that can fight ten times as many as infantry would cost, and the Xiongnu had already been defeated and could not break in. Eight thousand Bingzhou wolf cavalry could beat them so badly that they would not recognize their parents.

Relatively speaking, the situation in Yangzhou is more serious. The thieves are scattered and have greater destructive power, so more troops are needed.

In addition, Yangzhou is rich, so of course it can afford it. To be more precise, Huainan is rich. Most of the land in Jiangdong has not been developed, and there are a large number of indigenous people such as the Shanyue.

It was very difficult for the imperial court to farm and collect taxes.

"Well... I understand, father." Xu Hua nodded. He had asked tentatively.

Every emperor is very sensitive about the ownership of the army. After all, it concerns his life and property, as well as whether he can control the government.

For example, the Wang family now controls the imperial guards and has become a thorn in the emperor's side, so he tries every means to discipline them.

This was quite unnecessary for the Xu family, who were staunch members of the imperial party. Being hated by the emperor would undoubtedly be a calamity, and it was not in line with the family's traditional rules.

(End of this chapter)