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

Chapter 47: The Enfeoffment Order, Emperor Jingdi’s Death (End of Volume)

Shortly after Liu Rong was deposed, Liu Qi deposed Queen Bo and made Wang Zhi the queen instead. She was the mother of the famous Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che!
At this time, almost everyone in the world could clearly see what His Majesty meant. It seemed that the position of Crown Prince belonged to King Liu Che of Jiaodong. This time, establishing a queen would prove everything. King Liu Wu of Liang was very unwilling, but he did not dare to blame Xu Gong for trying to stop him, so he could only give up.

On this day, Liu Qi summoned Xu Gong and Zhou Yafu to his bedroom.

This time, because of Xu Gong's repeated warnings, Zhou Yafu did not take the lead in the matter of deposing and enthroning the crown prince, and the King of Liang could no longer make slanderous remarks. Now Emperor Jing had almost no fear of him and even relied on him as an important minister.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you." The two men bowed.

Liu Qi stood up and said, "You two can take your seats."

Xu Gong nodded and found a seat. Zhou Yafu glanced at him and did the same.

"Your Majesty, the Prince of Jiaodong is here." The eunuch's sharp voice came.

"Well, let him in."

Soon, the eunuch came with a child who was about seven or eight years old. The child looked much more mature than his peers, and appeared extremely calm even when facing the two high-ranking officials, the Prime Minister and the Grand Marshal.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you." He then bowed to Xu Gong and Zhou Yafu, who were standing beside him, and said, "I have long admired the great names of Prime Minister Xu and General Zhou."

Seeing this, Liu Qi smiled, then walked over, took Liu Che's hand, and looked at Xu Gong: "What do you think of this boy, Prime Minister?"

"King Liu Che of Jiaodong has always been known for his loyalty and filial piety. He has both moral integrity and can be called a virtuous man." Xu Gong praised him verbally. He actually had a good impression of Liu Che.

"Hmm..." Liu Qi looked at Zhou Yafu again: "What do you think, Taiwei?"

"I believe that the King of Jiaodong is virtuous and talented, and is capable of shouldering this great responsibility."

Zhou Yafu has learned his lesson now. Since the Xu family and the emperor are in the same boat, why not just follow them?

Now the Xu family represents the emperor's will, and as long as he takes this as an example, nothing will go wrong.

This is indeed the case. It was Xu Gong who recommended Zhou Yafu to become the Grand Marshal, but in order to do a favor, he announced to the outside world that it was His Majesty who had a keen eye for talent.

Liu Qi nodded and returned to the seat of honor: "In that case, do you think this boy can be the crown prince?"

Xu Gong bowed and said, "The world belongs to the Liu family, it belongs to your Majesty. Since it is a family matter, why do you have to ask about others?"

"As long as Your Majesty is willing and it is reasonable and legal, we, as your subjects, will naturally support you unconditionally to ensure the stability of the Liu family's kingdom."

"I feel the same way." Zhou Yafu echoed.

Upon hearing this, Liu Qi was very happy. This was exactly what he had been waiting for!

"Your loyalty is truly moving! Then I will entrust the crown prince to the two of you. I hope the prime minister can be like the former Grand Tutor Xu!"

After this secret conversation, Liu Qi was sure of the opinions of the two important ministers, especially Xu. With their assistance, there was no need to worry about the future of the new emperor. Even the queen mother's monopoly of power did not need to be worried too much, because Xu Gong's seniority was no lower than that of the queen mother.

The only one who could have been a constraint might have been the Dou family, who lived to the Xin Dynasty.

On the Dingsi day of the same month, Liu Qi officially appointed Jiaodong King Liu Che as the crown prince, and he entered the palace and followed him to listen to government affairs. He also appointed Xu Gong as the crown prince's tutor and Xu Zhou as the crown prince's junior tutor. Xu Gong was responsible for teaching the crown prince Liu Che military theory, while Xu Zhou was responsible for the policy of governing the country. ………

After the Four Kingdoms Rebellion, in which Wu and Chu were completely defeated, the power of the vassal states had been greatly reduced and they could no longer shake the central government. Liu Qi's original policy of reducing the power of the vassal states had to be abandoned due to moral pressure.

But everyone knows that the princes are now like fish on the chopping board! They are basically at the mercy of others.

After comprehensive consideration, Xu Zhou came up with a suitable strategy to reduce the power of the princes, which would take into account the moral aspect and prevent the princes from becoming desperate. So he gave the strategy to his uncle who was the prime minister, and he presented it to the emperor.

After learning about this strategy, Xu Gong also agreed with it and hurried to the palace.

Liu Qi was already very old at this time and was frequently ill, but even so he remained diligent in government affairs, practiced frugality, and hoped to leave a strong country to the crown prince.

"Prime Minister, what do you want to teach me?" Liu Qi put down the memorial in his hand, raised his head and spoke.

Xu Gong bowed and asked: "Your Majesty, is this matter of the princes a great disaster for the world?"

Liu Qi frowned slightly: "Prime Minister Xu, it's not that I don't want to touch them, but the rumors from the outside world are really not nice. After all, they are my relatives. Moreover, if it is too radical, it may cause resistance from the kings, just like Zhao and Wu and Chu."

"You should understand why I am indifferent."

"Of course I know your Majesty's difficulties, but my nephew Xu Zhou has been thinking hard for three months and has come up with a brilliant plan. We can deal with the princes in a more gentle way. This way, we can achieve our goal, and people in the world will have no complaints and may even praise your Majesty's kindness and grace." Xu Gong said as he handed over the bamboo slips in his hand.

"Oh, there is such a strategy? Then I'd better take a closer look." Liu Qi was a little curious when he heard this. If it was true about the princes, the matter would be easily solved.

He became more and more fascinated, and after a long time he exclaimed: "This strategy is very good, this Zhou is really a talent for assisting the king, with this, the kings can solve the big things from the root."

"I like this favor."

That’s right, after taking into account the general situation in the world, Xu Zhou actually proposed the Enfeoffment Order ahead of time.

In fact, for the Enfeoffment Order to work, the power of the princes must be of little concern, and the authority of the court must be greatly enhanced so that the local governments dare not disobey. Otherwise, even if it is implemented, it will be insincere, and it is not impossible for the local governments to directly launch an uprising and change the dynasty.

It just so happens that the situation is just right now. Xu Gong killed King Liu Bi of Wu, which prevented the rebels from gaining momentum, and the imperial court put down the rebellion without spending much cost. This led to a significant weakening of local power, but the central government remained unchanged, and its authority even increased significantly.

This has laid the foundation for the implementation of the Enfeoffment Order.

In the 14th year of Emperor Jingdi's reign, Liu Qi adopted Xu Zhou's strategy and forced all the princes in the world to carry out the Enfeoffment Order, that is, the country could be divided into small pieces and distributed to other sons. This avoided the embarrassment of attacking relatives, and those princes who were not the eldest sons would strongly support it.

Because of the previous examples of the rebels in Zhao, Wu and Chu, other small princes had no choice but to do the same.

At this point, the weakening of the princes had already begun during the reign of Emperor Jing, and because the losses from the Rebellion of the Four Kingdoms were not great, the country remained prosperous, and the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing reached its peak, creating a foundation for the future Northern Expedition against the Huns.

In August of the sixteenth year of Emperor Jingdi's reign, Liu Qi, despite being seriously ill, completed the crowning ceremony for the crown prince and then died in the Weiyang Palace at the age of forty-eight.

His life was also a model for emperors because he did not kill Zhou Yafu, Chao Cuo and others, and the losses from the rebellion of the princes were minimized. The impression of him as being mean and ungrateful in later generations has also greatly changed.

The ministers discussed the posthumous title and named it Emperor Xiaojing. Before his death, he appointed Xu Gong and Zhou Yafu as ministers to assist the new emperor in handling state affairs.

(End of this chapter)