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

Chapter 46 Xu Gong is appointed Prime Minister, Liu Rong is deposed

Xu Gong left the Heroic Spirit Space and found himself still running in the heavy rain. After asking his relatives next to him, he realized that the time his father saw him was only a moment in reality.

"Father is truly a god! No wonder he was able to help my eldest brother repel hundreds of thousands of rebels."

He sighed sincerely and then quickened his pace to rush back.

.........

Under the city of Chang'an, Xu Zhou, Xu Gong and others were waiting anxiously. They had learned the news of the assassination of King Liu Bi of Wu through their planted spies.

Unexpectedly, Xu Gong actually succeeded! That was the enemy's capital, with nearly 10,000 garrisons stationed there, but he still couldn't stop them. Now the power of the vassal states was no longer a concern. Without Liu Bi's command, they simply couldn't work together.

Soon, they finally saw the figure they had been waiting for. Xu Gong returned to Chang'an safely with his entourage, and he killed the King of Wu in one fell swoop!

"Please wait here, brother. I'm back." Xu Gong dismounted silently and spread his hands to indicate the things he was carrying behind him.

"This is?"

"The head of the traitor Liu Bi."

"hiss…"

Xu Zhou was a little surprised but it was understandable. Having followed Xu Gong for many years, he knew very well how good his uncle's martial arts were. He was probably no worse than that of Xiang Yu, the King of Chu.

Because they had access to the correspondence between the King of Wu and other princes, they were not afraid of being questioned by the people of the world.

What's more, Liu Bi's intention has already been made, and everyone knows it!
It was no secret that he was going to rebel; the news had already spread everywhere, and even the people of Wu knew about it.

Xu Gong returned to Chang'an, first took off his bloodstained clothes and close-fitting armor, and after washing up, he went to Liu Qi's bedroom.

He was acting on his own this time, and it would be inappropriate if he didn't inform others.

"Your Majesty, General Xu requests to see you."

"Please come in." Upon hearing the eunuch's words, Liu Qi quickly stood up and prepared to greet him.

Xu Gong walked into the palace and knelt on the ground: "I beg your pardon!"

"What crime has the commander committed? I have seen all of Xu's loyalty to the Han Dynasty."

Then, Xu Gong did not say anything, but took off the bag from behind and presented the letter he had received in advance.

Liu Qi opened the bundle out of curiosity, but the moment he saw it he was so frightened that he threw it away immediately. After a while he picked it up again to check.

"This... Is this the head of the King of Wu? Hasn't this guy been hiding in Wu all this time?"

He read the letters again, his expression becoming more and more ugly. He knew that Liu Bi was plotting a rebellion, but he didn't expect this man to be so rampant! He contacted the princes to rebel in front of him.

Xu Gong bowed and said, "I accidentally intercepted these letters. Emperor Gao gave him the title of prince because of his blood relationship, but he was ungrateful and plotted a rebellion! His crime is simply unforgivable."

"So I was blinded by anger and went to Wudu to kill him privately, so I came to Your Majesty to apologize."

Liu Qi was very surprised. He had heard that Xu Gong was the bravest among the three armies and had killed hundreds of Huns alone on the battlefield. His courage was unmatched by ten thousand men.

But what I didn’t expect was that it was so exaggerated that they could kill the monarch of the enemy in the enemy’s capital and escape unscathed. It was too scary. Is this really something a human can accomplish?
Besides being shocked, he couldn't help but feel a little scared and fortunate. Fortunately, Xu Gong was his subject and came from the Xu family, which had been loyal for generations. Otherwise, his life would not be guaranteed. As long as he got close to him, he would almost certainly die. At most, one life for another. It was really stressful to be with such a person.

If it weren't for Xu's loyalty over the years, Liu Qi would have gotten rid of him at all costs.

"The commander is right. Liu Bi is heartless and ungrateful. He intends to rebel. He deserves to be killed! Not only will I not blame him, but I will reward him. If the State of Wu rebels, it will surely cost the people a lot of money and trouble. It goes against the national policy left by the late emperor. Commander Xu has maintained the stability of our Han Dynasty." Liu Qi did not blame him, but praised him lavishly. He had long wanted to kill these princes who intended to rebel. Now, he got rid of the rebels without having to bear the infamy of killing his relatives.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your forgiveness." Xu Gong bowed in thanks.

Although King Liu Bi of Wu was gone afterwards, the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms still occurred.

With the support of his ministers, Crown Prince Liu Ziju of Wu proclaimed himself king again and sent people to Chu to seek an alliance with the King of Chu. Since Liu Bi was already dead and there was no hope for rebellion, he should not have agreed, but for some reason Liu Wu still followed Wu.

Among the original vassal states, except for the King of Jibei and the King of Jiaodong, the other princes did not respond, and the Rebellion of the Four Kingdoms broke out.

However, due to the death of Liu Bi, the new king did not have enough prestige and could not recruit all men between the ages of 14 and 62 in the country as in the original history. He only gathered nearly 100,000 people, and the strength of the rebellion was greatly reduced.

The rebels' momentum was still very strong in the early days. They captured Huai'an and other countries, marched into the Huai River, went north to capture several countries, and assembled a large army to attack Liang State.

This time, Liu Qi was not in a hurry. He ordered Xu Gong to be the commander-in-chief and Zhou Yafu to be his deputy, and led 150,000 troops to Liang State to quell the rebellion.

The Han army was unstoppable and defeated the rebels in just five months, recovering Wu, Chu and other areas. Without Liu Bi, they would have been useless.

The power of the vassal states was greatly weakened, and their strength was far inferior to that of the central government. This also created conditions for the future Enfeoffment Order. Strength is the foundation of everything.

Xu Gong was appointed as prime minister by Liu Qi for his military exploits, Zhou Yafu succeeded him as the Grand Commandant, and Xu Gong was promoted to General of the Guard for his meritorious service in the campaign. Thus, the Xu family once again climbed to the top of the court! He became the second prime minister after the ancestor Xu Zhen.

.........

Shortly after the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms was quelled, Emperor Jing appointed his own son Liu Rong as the crown prince, which gradually aroused Liu Wu's dissatisfaction, but unfortunately it was of no use. Even if Empress Dowager Dou wanted him to succeed to the throne, she had no reason to do so.

But Liu Rong's mother, Li Ji, was indeed immoral, which aroused Liu Qi's disgust. One day, he fell seriously ill and wanted to test her.

"Li Ji, a hundred years from now, Rong'er will inherit the throne. The prince is brave and I am very satisfied. You should also treat my concubines and their children well and be more like a queen mother!"

As a result, Li Ji did not appreciate it at all, and said coldly: "Forgive me, I cannot do it. Those bitches have deceived Your Majesty and brought disaster to the country and the people. I will get rid of them one by one! In order to rectify the government, just like Empress Dowager Lu did in the past."

Hearing this outrageous statement, Liu Qi was out of breath, but his years of imperial mentality prevented him from getting angry: "Well, you can go down."

Li Ji responded and left, while Liu Qi, who was standing next to her, was so angry that he almost recovered from his illness. He was completely disappointed with this former favorite concubine, and even the Crown Prince Liu Rong was put on the blacklist.

A month later, he deposed the current crown prince Liu Rong, which gave Queen Mother Dou an opportunity to let Prince Liang succeed to the throne.

"Your Majesty, I wonder if King Liang Liu Wu can be the crown prince? The succession of the elder brother to the younger brother has been a tradition since ancient times, and King Liang has a lot of talent and virtue, so he will definitely be able to govern the world."

Empress Dowager Dou brought it up directly, and considering his mother's feelings, Liu Qi did not refute it openly, because he knew there was no need for him to speak.

Before the tough Yuan Ang could speak, Xu Gong, the prime minister, stepped forward and said, "The Queen Mother's 'brother succeeds brother' is not in accordance with Zhou Li. Our Han Dynasty does not have such a tradition. The eldest son inheritance system is the best solution."

When Empress Dowager Dou saw Xu Gong speaking, she immediately lost her temper. First of all, she didn't want to hear him anyway, and secondly, Xu Gong's influence in the court was too terrifying, so she could only give up.

When King Liu Wu of Liang learned about this, he was very angry, but after hearing that it was Xu Gong, he could only grit his teeth and admit it. He had long heard of Xu Gong's deeds of entering Wu alone, and it would be unwise for him to become his enemy.

And everyone knew that this was Liu Qi's own idea. Xu Gong was of the same mind as the emperor, and he would have no objection as long as His Majesty was willing to speak up.

.........

"When King Wu Bi died, his son Ju succeeded him and joined forces with Chu to rebel against Han. Gong accepted the order to go to war and defeated them. He killed the King of Chu in battle and terrified the princes." - Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Emperor Jing

(End of this chapter)