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

Chapter 75 The Emperor's Attitude
Xu Nan, dressed in a dark official robe, returned to his General of Chariots and Cavalry's residence, exhausted. The traces of tears on his face had disappeared, as if they had been deliberately wiped away.

"Greetings, General." The servants along the way had never seen their master so solemn, and could only dare to salute.

"Yeah." Xu Nan just nodded.

Boom!
The sandalwood door was shut heavily.

"Hey, you guys said the general was in a good mood when he left, why did he suddenly become like this after he came back?"

The servants were whispering to each other and were very gossipy.

"I have a guess."

One of the servants lowered his voice.

"Say it."

"tell me the story."

Everyone gathered around. It turned out that gossip is human nature, and the saying "curiosity kills the cat" is true.

The servant said in a low voice: "I heard that the general specially prepared a lot of precious medicinal herbs when he left, and the direction he was heading was exactly Jinghou Mansion!"

"Considering the old prime minister's physical condition, I don't need to say more..."

"Hiss..." Everyone seemed to be thinking about something.

"Could it be that he failed in the fight for the throne and lost to Lord Xu Yenong?" someone asked boldly.

"Probably."

A clear young voice was heard, and all the servants who had gathered together turned pale because they recognized the owner of the voice.

Xu Chu, dressed in plain clothes, squatted on their left side and eavesdropped with great interest.

No one noticed such a big extra person!

All the servants knelt on the ground and said, "General, please spare my life, please spare my life!"

Talking about the master is a serious crime! Although Xu Nan is a very easy-going person and will not be put to death, he will be punished with a beating. Given the physique of the soldiers who are carrying out the execution, half death is the least of their punishment.

"It's okay, just do what you need to do. Be careful next time, walls have ears!"

"Not everyone is as easy to talk to as this general."

Xu Chu didn't really care. The reason he was squatting here was really out of curiosity. His eldest brother had mentioned before that it seemed like something... Go and get the jade pendant. As a result, the young and ignorant Xu Chu never got the point.

It finally dawned on him that the jade pendant his elder brother was talking about was the jade pendant for the head of the family!

"Brother, can't you compete with Brother Ye? Not really. The General of Chariots and Cavalry is more powerful than the Minister of Agriculture anyway."

"What's more, he is father's eldest son. He belongs to my eldest brother both publicly and privately."

Xu Chu just couldn't figure it out, just like Xu Nan at the beginning, he thought that the family just had to maintain the status quo. Only Xu Gong and Xu Zhou knew that the family could no longer hold on to the military power and had to let go when it was time to do so.

Xu Ye is the first step. Although he is the Minister of Agriculture and has no experience in leading troops, he also made contributions in the construction of Hetao, which is highly appreciated by His Majesty.

In fact, what Liu Che really likes is this kind of officials who pose no threat. He is a little afraid of Wei Qing, Xu Nan, or even Xu Gong. Only officials who are under his control, that is, officials who have no military power, are his favorites.

"Well, let's go and have a look."

Xu Chu knew that his elder brother was obsessed with the position of the head of the family. This loss must have been a big blow to him. As a younger brother, it would be better for him to comfort him.

"Brother, Xu Chu wants to see you. I'm coming in."

crunch.

He pushed open the wooden door and saw Xu Nan kneeling on the ground with a decadent look on his face. He seemed to have lost his soul and was like a walking corpse.

Although his father was very partial to him, he still respected him as always. This breakup took a lot of courage, but he did not regret it. He said he would do what he said, and that was what a gentleman should do. And it would be better to kill Xu Nan than to let him be inferior to Xu Ye.

"...Brother, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?"

Xu Chu called out several times but got no response, and he couldn't help but start to get worried.

"Well...Brother Chu, what do you want from me?" Xu Nan reacted.

"Brother, are you okay?"

"Brother Chu, let me ask you a question." Xu Nan did not rush to answer, but threw out a new one.

"Ask me, I will tell you everything I know." Xu Chu was finally relieved. This guy didn't look crazy.

"If I leave the current Xu family and create a new one on my own, would you be willing to follow me?" Xu Nan's eyes were filled with murderous intent, making people feel a little breathless.

"This... I..." Xu Chu now understood what was going on. It turned out that Big Brother, you are planning to go it alone? You don't have to do this even if you are dissatisfied.

"You don't have to answer so quickly. I won't leave until Xu Ye becomes the head of the family. And I will always be in the General of Chariots and Cavalry's mansion. If you change your mind, you can come anytime."

Xu Nan was not in a hurry. He knew that the Xu clan members were very attached to their family. He could only bring some close confidants with him, but that would be enough.

After all, as long as he holds the position of General of Chariots and Cavalry, there is no need to worry about not being promoted.

A general with an important title can set up his own government.

"Yes, then I'll take my leave first." Xu Chu was a little conflicted. He bowed and left. He didn't know what to do now.

.........

Weiyang Palace.

Liu Che held the wine cup, his deep eyes seemed to contain thousands of stars, making it impossible to see what this emperor was thinking.

"You mean, General Xu Nan and Grand Minister of Agriculture Xu Ye have a rift, and Xu Nan is planning to leave the Xu family and start his own business?"

There was no spy at Xu Gong's residence in Jinghou Mansion, but there was one in the General of Chariots and Cavalry's residence, so the emperor got third-hand information.

The eunuch bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this is most likely true."

The emperor took a sip of wine, wetting his thick beard. He kept deducing in his mind that the Xu family was the most noble family in the Han Dynasty. Their influence involved all aspects. If they stamped their feet, the whole world would tremble. It was difficult for him not to pay attention to them.

After a while, he put down the wine, his eyes were both happy and sad: "Order people to prepare, bring all the palace doctors, tomorrow I will go to Jinghou Mansion to see the teacher."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The eunuch accepted the order.

Liu Che was in a complicated mood at this time. The reason he was worried was that his teacher's mood was going to be bad again, which might cause his condition to worsen, so he went to visit him.

The reason for his joy was that he had found a way to check and balance the Xu family. The best way to defeat a person was to break through from the inside, and use Xu's own people to check and balance the Xu family, so that the court could be under control.

The reason why the Xu family is so powerful is not only because they have military power. In fact, all the founding heroes have military power, but it’s not this great.

More importantly, it was because they were good at politics, military and science! Among the military commanders were Xu Nan and Xu Chu, and in the court were Xu Zhou and Xu Ye. They also opened the Imperial Academy, which won the hearts of the people.

This meant that Liu Che had to be cautious if he wanted to deal with them, as if he made a mistake he would be infamous for eternity.

"Teacher, teacher, you have always told me to handle the Crown Prince's affairs properly, otherwise it will cause chaos."

"As a result, before anything happened to me, you, the old man, lost your integrity in your later years."

Liu Che shook his head with amusement, not because he was gloating, but because he felt it was not worth it for his teacher. Why should he care about the old Grand Marshal Xu Zhao, which ultimately made his son angry.

As for the issue of too much power, Liu Che felt that his teacher was overthinking it. Who would dare to impeach the Xu family with him protecting them?

Well... at least the emperor is on Xu's side now.

(End of this chapter)