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

Chapter 14 Liu Ying succeeds to the throne, Lu Wan defected

When Liu Bang passed away, his ministers agreed to give him the posthumous title of Gao and the temple name of Taizu. He was known in history as the Emperor Taizu Gao of Han.

According to the will, Jinghou Xu Zhen acted as regent in the name of the Grand Tutor, and all major affairs of the world had to be discussed with him. Xiao He was the prime minister and actually handled the government affairs of the court.

After the previous emperor was buried, Crown Prince Liu Ying officially inherited the throne and became Emperor Hui of Han.

All the princes and meritorious officials in the world were watching the sixteen-year-old emperor. Everyone knew that the era of Empress Dowager Lu was about to come.

However, Lu Zhi herself was not so happy. On the contrary, she was in a very bad mood. Before his death, Liu Bang appointed Xu Zhen as the Grand Tutor to assist in the regent. The purpose was to check and balance the external relatives. With this "powerful minister" watching over it, it was difficult for the Lu family to do whatever they wanted.

The first thing Xu Zhen did after coming to power was to go to the palace to look for Empress Lu.

No matter how powerful he is, he is just a minister and needs to consult the Emperor and the Empress Dowager on everything.

"I pay my respects to Your Majesty, Queen Mother."

"Grand Master, please stand up quickly." Liu Ying did not put on airs in front of this important minister who was entrusted with the care of the emperor's young son. He helped him up very respectfully.

"I don't know what we should do next, Grand Master."

Lu Zhi was far from being as calm as one might imagine. She had been a little nervous these days, fearing that she would not be able to control the meritorious officials in the court.

"Don't panic, Queen Mother. The most urgent thing is to hold the morning court as usual. No one dares to cause trouble with me here." There was a hint of ruthlessness in Xu Zhen's somewhat cloudy eyes.

Now is the time for power transfer and there will be absolutely no room for any mistakes. If anyone is dissatisfied, he will definitely not show mercy.

"But I don't feel at ease." Lu Zhi looked very anxious.

Previously, she wanted to keep the death a secret and kill all the heroes in one fell swoop, but she did not do so due to the deterrent effect of the Grand Tutor on the court.

"The central army is under the control of the Queen Mother. Even if those old ministers are dissatisfied, what can they do? It's nothing more than killing a few people. I want to see who wants to be the unlucky guy." Xu Zhen had a faint smile on his face. In history, no one had caused trouble. Who would dare to disobey him this time when he was here?

"Yes, Queen Mother, please relax." Shen Yiji, Lu Zhi's confidant next to her, also comforted her.

"In this case, my mother and I will rely on the Grand Tutor's help." Upon hearing this, Lu Zhi calmed down. After all, the most important army was in their hands!
As long as there is a knife, no one can turn the tables.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Liu Ying and Lu Zhi went to court accompanied by eunuchs and guards. The ministers and princes had been waiting for a while.

As soon as the two appeared, everyone quickly stood up and saluted, and did not return to their seats until Grand Tutor Xu Zhen took his seat.

After kneeling before the late emperor, it was time to discuss state affairs as normal. The princes also reported on the taxation and population situation of each country, telling almost everything they knew, while the court officials mostly discussed the next plan for governing the country.

At this moment, Chen Ping rushed in rashly, knelt beside Liu Bang's spirit tablet and burst into tears: "Your Majesty, you said that you wanted me to execute Fan Kuai, but he is a prince after all. I am just a lowly person, how dare I execute him!? Today, I have already escorted Fan Kuai here, but you took the lead..."

Lü Zhi, who was behind the curtain, was obviously relieved when she heard this, and then she said, "Qu Ni Hou, please stand up quickly. I believe that your majesty's previous words about killing Fan Kuai were also impulsive. You don't need to blame yourself. You can release Fan Kuai first. If he really has the intention of disloyalty, it will not be too late to kill him later."

Then, she looked at Xu Zhen below and asked, "Grand Master, do you think this is appropriate?" "Fan Kuai has made great contributions. It would be inappropriate to kill him so easily. I believe that executing Fan Kuai is not your majesty's original intention."

Fan Kuai is Lu Zhi's brother-in-law and a very important relative. He will not die no matter what, so it is better to give her some face. It is not appropriate to have a head-on conflict with Lu Zhi now.

"Thank you, Queen Mother, thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Grand Tutor. I will die for the Han Dynasty!" Chen Ping kowtowed while crying, and his acting skills were at their best.

"Well... dying for the Han is not something you can do just by saying it. The position of Langzhongling is vacant, and Your Majesty is also in need of a loyal minister to guard the palace. I'll trouble Marquis Qu Ni to take on the role."

Lu Zhi did not treat the sensible Chen Ping badly and gave him a position as one of the Nine Ministers to win people's hearts. However, she would never have imagined that Chen Ping contributed to the downfall of her own Lu family.

Then, important court affairs were led by Liu Ying, and it was difficult for Lu Zhi to get a say. At this time, Emperor Hui was still the common ruler of the world, and the situation where the empress dowager could act as regent could only be realized after the emperor gave up.

Xu Zhen did not influence Liu Ying's decision too much. He just gave appropriate suggestions, corrected his mistakes, and intimidated those disobedient old ministers. That was all.

He had a clear understanding of his own position. Although Liu Bang gave him power beyond his imagination, he could not just become arrogant. The rise and fall of a country applies not only to the country, but also to the family.

This is what happened to Huo Guang before, and he and his entire family were eventually massacred by Emperor Xuan of Han. Once a minister abuses power, there are only two outcomes: either the family is exterminated or the throne is usurped.

But Xu Zhen doesn't want to be emperor yet. The emperor route will not allow the family to continue for a thousand years no matter what. It will be over in four or five hundred years at most. If it were a feudal dynasty like the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, he might be able to give it a try.

"I heard that Lu Wan fled to Donghu?" Xu Zhen looked at Zhou Bo who had just returned. He had not received any news from Lu Wan since he went to court.

Fan Kuai's purpose of this trip was to attack the State of Yan, which had an ambiguous attitude.

"Yes, Grand Tutor. I heard that Lu Wan originally wanted to go to the capital to apologize, but for some reason he suddenly changed his mind and fled to Donghu with his family." Zhou Bo answered truthfully.

"Is that so... Never mind. After all, he is your Majesty's close friend. Let him go." Xu Zhen didn't intend to dwell on it any longer.

It seems that Lu Wan still doesn't trust Lu Zhi and himself. Liu Bang can only scold him and continue to be a marquis. Others have bad things to say about him, especially Lu Zhi, who doesn't have a good impression of Fengpei's heroes.

Since the Grand Tutor had spoken, Lu Zhi could not make things difficult any more. It was really not worth going to war with the Donghu just because of Lu Wan. The Han Dynasty needed to rest and could not fight any more wars.

This first morning court session, which was full of undercurrents, went so smoothly. With the remaining power of Emperor Gaozu and the terrifying prestige of the Grand Tutor, no minister dared to offend them. They were all trembling with fear. Even if Xu Zhen wanted to kill someone, he couldn't find a reason. These people were too well-behaved and didn't even make such a small mistake in etiquette.

Liu Ying was worthy of being the crown prince who had been trained for many years. He learned government affairs very quickly. With the help of Xu Zhen, it only took him a few months to seize all the power of the Han Dynasty.

At this time, Lu Zhi's power was greatly reduced due to the suppression of Xu Zhen, and she became the third most important person in the Han Dynasty.

But even so, it was not difficult to kill a few concubines. As soon as the country stabilized, she launched revenge on the palace maids who were favored by Liu Bang before, and almost all of them were executed. If she was in a bad mood today, she would change to more cruel tortures such as lingchi and chariot dismemberment.

Of course, the one who suffered the most was her arch-enemy, Madam Qi.

(End of this chapter)