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

Chapter 130 Liu Xiu is born and his vision for the future
It's a pity that he can't become the head of the family. Although Xu Zhen is the ancestor of the Xu family and controls the entire family from a distance, he still can't interfere with the position of the heir to the family head based on his preferences.

It is best not to start with this. Why does the throne always follow the system of primogeniture? Because this method is the most stable. What is the emperor? He is the common ruler of the world, supreme, and can kill or give birth in a single thought. Power is the greatest temptation for men, much greater than beauty and money.

What does being an emperor mean? You can collect beauties to fill your harem, not to mention money. Strictly speaking, the whole world belongs to the emperor, so you can have anything you want.

The richest man in a dynasty is always the emperor. No matter how rich he is, can he live in a palace? Can he execute an official with just one word?

Therefore, the history of China for 5,000 years can be summed up in one sentence: the struggle for power! No one can resist the words on the jade seal: "Received the mandate from heaven, long life and prosperity". Yuan Shu, who ruled Huainan and had hundreds of thousands of troops, lost his mind because of this broken jade, rashly proclaimed himself emperor, and ended up with nothing.

Sun Ce, who resisted the temptation of the title of emperor, became the founder of Eastern Wu.

It has to be said that a person’s greatest enemy is himself, or rather, his own desires.

"In the third year of Jianyuan... Liu Xiu was already born. I just don't know if the end of the Western Han Dynasty will still be like the past situation of warlords fighting for power."

Xu Zhen adjusted the screen to Jiyang County, and what came into view was a young child playing in the yard. At this moment, he seemed so carefree and heartless that no one would associate him with Emperor Guangwu of Han, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Liu Xiu was truly a typical monarch who was swept away by the general trend of the times. He did not want to be an emperor in his early years, and his ambition grew step by step. Perhaps before he completely took control of Hebei, his purpose was just to protect himself.

After all, Liu Xuan was pressing very hard and he had managed to escape with great difficulty. If he didn't become stronger, he would be dead.

Similar to this is the famous beggar emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to be an emperor from the beginning. He was just a rebel general and did not even have a place of his own at the beginning.

It was only after he occupied Nanjing that he developed the ambition to seize the throne. There are only two types of people who don't want to be emperor: those who don't have the opportunity and those who are stubborn.

With the real throne in front of them, no one would refuse it.

"The Red Eyebrow Army... the Green Forest Army, it seems that there is no chance of gaining momentum at the moment. If these two peasant uprising groups had not risen, who knows what the situation would have become."

"Alas... It's getting more and more out of my control. I don't know if I can still hold on to it."

While watching little Liu Xiu playing, Xu Zhen became worried because the Xu family had too much power in the local area and the Green Forest Army originated in Jingzhou.

Where is Jingzhou? The Xu family's base camp has tens of thousands of elite troops stationed there, and Nanyang is the richest county in the world, richer than Yuzhou and Yanzhou, so it is no problem to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people.

Therefore, once the uprising started, it would be quickly suppressed by Xu Zhong, and it was estimated that Emperor Ai Liu Xin would have died by then, and the world would be in complete chaos.

Xu Zhong could take this opportunity to quickly expand his power. If Wang Mang had already usurped the throne, the Green Forest Army would have even less chance, because according to Xu Zhong's character, he would definitely rise up and establish a new king together with Xu Min and Xu Hua, which would require military support. It would be impossible for a mere tens of thousands of people to compete with the central government's 200,000 elite imperial guards.

The Red Eyebrow Army originated in Xuzhou. Although it was not directly controlled by the Xu family, if troops were sent from Jizhou, they would be able to reach Langya within ten days.

By then, it would be easy to pacify the situation, and there would be no soil for development. If the situation was to confront the central government, Hebei would be very important. Of the four states in Hebei, two were controlled by Xu Zhong and Xu's disciple Dong Chong, and it went without saying that Jizhou was the base camp.

Qingzhou would probably surrender as well, and the four prefectures in Hebei would be under our control.

According to Xu Zhen's inference, Wang Mang would use his identity as a Confucian doctor as support and his master Zheng Liangrong as a springboard to step by step sit on the throne of the chief doctor of the Confucian Academy. At that time, he would follow the original history and win over Confucius' descendant, Grand Minister of Agriculture Kong Guang, to completely gain the support of Confucian scholars!

Of course, before that he should choose to resign and maintain his reputation, and then make a strong comeback after controlling Confucianism. The time of his return should be after the death of the short-lived Liu Xin, and he would rely on the super-generational Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun as an excuse to return to the court.

By then, with the support of the central Confucian officials, there will be no more obstacles in his way. The last shortcoming of the Wang family will be successfully made up by him, and he will have the foundation to usurp the throne and establish himself.

When the time was ripe, that is, after defeating Xu Hua in the court, he accepted the abdication and ascended the throne as emperor.

However, according to the current situation, the new empire can at most incorporate Bashu, Hanzhong, Guanzhong and Luoyang areas into its territory, and at most add Liangzhou, which is surrounded and within easy reach. Although Yongliang is poor, it is a precious horse farm and cannot be given up.

Xu Zhong of Jingxiang will join forces with Zhu Chun, the governor of Yangzhou, to immediately raise the banner of supporting the king, and there will be no resistance from these two places.

The Xu and Zhu armies would directly occupy Runan, Yingchuan, or the Yuzhou area. Yu, Yan, Xu in the Central Plains and Qingzhou in Hebei would probably still obey the orders of Wang Mang's court, and Wang Mang would also strive for the strategic location of the Central Plains.

Xu Min of Youzhou then raised an army and joined forces with Dong Chong of Bingzhou and Xu Yuan, the governor of Liangzhou who had been defeated, to attack Jizhou. However, Jizhou did not put up a decent resistance, and the four states of Ji, You, Bing and Qing were taken over by the Xu family.

After that, the two sides will attack the Central Plains from both sides, and Wang Mang will not be able to stop them, and the situation will enter a new Warring States Period.

The Xin Dynasty was located in the old Qin territory, while the Han Dynasty revived by the Xu family was located in the former territory of the six kingdoms in Guandong.

Xu Zhong and Xu Min, the two new powerful figures, would certainly not proclaim themselves emperors, but would support the descendants of the Liu family. However, no matter how you look at it, it would not be the turn of Liu Xiu, a member of the impoverished royal family.

That’s even harder to say…

"It's getting more and more interesting." Xu Zhen became interested when he thought about it. He guessed that Liu Xiu would stand out and then be suspected by the new Han monarch, and then get rid of the entanglement and go to the local area to develop his power.

If Liu Xiu wanted to unify the world as he did before, he had to win over Xu Zhong and Xu Min, the two new powerful figures.

The most they can do is to let neither side help the other, otherwise there will be no hope. Jingxiang and Hebei are the Xu family's base camps, and they have no foothold at all. The only thing they can fight for is the Central Plains, which is Henan area.

However, the Central Plains is located in an area surrounded by wars and cannot become a place for the rise of a country. It is too difficult to start a business here.

"It's a bit dangerous." If he followed Xu Zhen's plan, how would he deal with it? Even if Liu Xiu was carefree, he would never let others take control of the place.

Fortunately, it was Liu Xiu. As long as he handed over power in time and did not resist, there would be no problem. If it was Zhu Yuanzhang, he would probably have lost ten heads, unless he rebelled and became emperor himself.

"Phew, this is when I'm useful."

Xu Zhen took a deep breath, cheered up, and planned to use props to "artificially" interfere and help Liu Xiu gain a foothold. The place is still located in Hebei, which is really suitable as a place to start. Xu Min has a good ending, just a dream will do, he still listens to the words of his ancestors.

It was not difficult to protect Liu Xiu. Xu Zhong and Xu Min expressed their views in unison. What qualifications did the puppet emperor with little real power have to resist, not to mention that he was just a poor relative.

Liu Xiu was the ninth-generation grandson of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, and a descendant of Liu Fa, King Ding of Changsha. A person with such a background was worth at least 80,000 yuan in the Han Dynasty, if not 100,000 yuan, and was not worth anything at all. Only those who were close to Emperor Yuan, Emperor Li, and the then Emperor Liu Xin were eligible to compete for the throne.

But in the end, the ones who had the final say were Xu Zhong and Xu Min. After all, in troubled times, whoever has the military power has the final say. Of course, if Xu Hua were alive, he would also have a lot of weight, even if he had no direct territory.

.........

“Father…Father…”

In front of the ancestral hall, Xu Zhong knelt on the ground and cried. He didn't want to lose his composure like this, but when he saw the coffin, he could no longer control himself.

The impression his father gave him was always one of being doting and kind, yet also strict.

Xu Zhong had complicated feelings towards his father Xu Bo. On the one hand, he wanted to be recognized, and on the other hand, he wanted to be with his father. After careful consideration, he chose to take the initiative to volunteer to go to Nanyang for development.

Since childhood he was not as good as his elder brother. The shadow of Xu Hua loomed over this Xu Cheqi. He learned to read at the age of three, wrote poems at the age of five, could recite the Confucian and Legalist classics at the age of seven, and wrote the first commentary on classics at the age of fifteen. His solid knowledge shocked the entire Confucian and Legal circles and he was regarded as the hope of the Imperial College.

At the age of 23, he became a double doctor of the Law School and the Confucian College, which was a common practice for the eldest son of the Xu family in Henan. However, his age broke the record set by Xu Ru at the age of 25!

He was the youngest doctor in history, and had the power to approve documents. Later, with the help of Xu Bo, he had a successful career. At the age of 29, he was promoted to Taifu, one of the Nine Ministers. The following year, he was transferred to Da Si Nong. Two years later, he was transferred to Taichang, thus becoming the head of the Nine Ministers!
The so-called genius supported by the Wang family was hung up and beaten. His political level of 90 made him almost without any rivals. Xu Hua's political limit was 93, which was very high. His control over people was also at 89, and his future limit was 91.

Now Xu Hua is 35 years old and has become the only prime minister of the Han Dynasty. He is Liu Xin's most valued minister, no doubt about it.

He is definitely the most dazzling star in the Han Dynasty at present, and he has made the once ambitious Xu Min breathless.

Xu Bo has always treated everyone equally in terms of resource allocation, and has helped Xu Zhong a lot, but he has never been able to climb up. The title of double doctorate from Imperial College has brought Xu Hua too many conveniences, and there is no one to hinder his promotion.

The Confucian Academy has always been very fair. They will not approve your application nor his. If you offer bribes, we will feel embarrassed to just stamp "no".

All they look at is so-called virtue.

Xu Zhongshi had no other choice but was anxious to prove himself, so he chose to go to Nanyang to serve as prefect, a safe retirement position because it would be difficult to move unless something unexpected happened. The position of prefect was basically the end of his career, and the Xu family's main battlefield was still Chang'an.

Law school is not a bottleneck.

But no one could have imagined that Xu Zhong would overtake him! Wang Tong's rebellion was accidental. The reason was the severe drought in Yuzhou, which resulted in a total crop failure. However, the imperial court was still unaware of this and continued to collect heavy taxes as usual. The people who could not survive responded to Wang Tong one after another.

The incident happened suddenly, and it was too late to send troops from Chang'an. Wang Feng was also happy to see the rebels destroy Nanyang at the time. On the grounds of defending Chang'an, he refused to send troops and only strengthened the defense in Luoyang area.

He wanted to wait until Nanyang was almost destroyed before going there as a savior to quell the rebellion and gain both fame and fortune.

Of course Liu Xin heard the clacking of the abacus, but fortunately he didn't have to take the risk of using Xu Zhong, who had no experience in leading troops at the time. The army in Nanyang was not large, while Wang Tong had 200,000 to 300,000 people, and the army was still growing at a snowball rate.

At this critical juncture, Yanzhou’s “Thousands of Elite Troops” also rebelled, captured dozens of counties, and looted the local treasury. The people of Chang’an were in a panic, and everyone began to wonder whether the Han Dynasty was going to perish.
Of course, these few people could not shake the century-old foundation of the Han Dynasty, but the Qin Dynasty had a precedent. After Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were pacified, what happened next? The whole country was in rebellion, and everyone could not help but worry. After more than 200 years, it had already entered its twilight years.

Xu Zhong demonstrated his terrifying military talent. He pacified Wang Tong of Yingchuan in a lightning speed and then went north to capture Zhang Ning, the general of the "Thousand Rui Army", alive.

After suppressing the peasant uprising, one can imagine how Liu Xin felt. He gave Wang Feng a slap in the face and felt extremely happy. He was not stingy with rewards, and when he later established the governor of the province, the first person he thought of was Xu Zhong, this "treasure minister".

Realize curve overtaking.

"Alas... Wenyuan, please accept my condolences." Xu Hua walked over and patted his brother's shoulder, suppressing the sadness in his heart. He wanted to establish the prestige of the head of the family.

Wenyuan is Xu Zhong's pen name.

Now that you have taken over the baton, you must continue to run well!

"Brother! I am unfilial. I couldn't be with our father when he died!" Xu Zhong hugged his brother, and all the grief in his heart burst out all at once.

He has been like this since he was a child, relying on his brother.

"It's okay, it's okay. Before his death, my father was still praising you. The little son who once had no opinion of his own has transformed himself into a general of chariots and cavalry and the governor of a state."

"Father is very satisfied with you. He said himself that you are better than me." Xu Hua comforted his brother.

In fact, Xu Bo never said that Xu Zhong was better than him. In the eyes of a father, aren't all his children equally excellent? None has ever been worse than the others. How can one talk about surpassing or not? The reason he didn't succeed before was simply because he was not standing in the right place.

Didn't he start to be respected immediately after he became the governor? Now he has become the second most important person in the Xu family, doing better than his uncles.

"Did my father really say that?" Xu Zhong's expression was dull for a moment.

"Yes, I did."

"So that's how it is..." Although Xu Zhong had a blank expression on his face, he was delighted in his heart. He had been working hard all his life just to wait for these words!
It doesn't matter whether he is the head of the family or not. Is there any difference between him and the head of the family in Jingzhou? Anyone who doesn't listen to him has almost absolute right to speak.

In Chang'an, Xu Zhong had to fight with the Wang family and other cunning people. He asked himself if he was interested. This kind of nonsense was a waste of time.
It would be better to use this time to eliminate two more bandits. He only needs to be responsible for charging into battle and can't do anything else.

The water in Chang'an is very deep, and countless people are watching here.

(End of this chapter)