Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 394 The End
In the second year of the Later Yuan Dynasty,

In late winter and early spring
The emperor then visited the Wuzuo Palace.

He still lingered in this garden and palace that held the intense passion of his youth.

Beneath the emperor's feet lay snow that had not yet completely melted.
His head was covered in white hair, which complemented his white hair.

"This oak tree may be dying."

"I will be leaving soon too..."

After lingering for a long time, the emperor stroked each of the five huge oak trees beside the palace. When he touched the old and withered one, he suddenly let out a sad sigh.

Huo Guang, who was accompanying him, comforted him, "Your Majesty can rule the world for a long time to come!"

The emperor shook his head and remained silent.

Two days later,
The emperor then fell ill and became bedridden.

Crown Prince Liu Ju, along with his sons and grandsons, hurried to the Wuzuo Palace to visit his father.

The empress, who had not seen the emperor for a long time, also arrived slowly in a carriage.

They gathered around the dying emperor, showing concern for his health, as if their affection for him was profound.

But the emperor understood perfectly well, and even felt a strange sense of desolation—

After experiencing too many twists and turns and arguments,

His wife and children only showed their true feelings when he was nearing the end of his life, becoming a gentle and virtuous empress and a filial and respectful crown prince.

With this in mind,
Everything from the past began to unfold rapidly before the emperor.

He recalled the joy he had spent with his friends when he was young;

I recall the exhilarating feeling I had when we defeated the Xiongnu;
He also recalled the thrill he felt when he first met Wei Zifu, that beautiful woman, and the overwhelming excitement and joy he felt when his eldest son was born after many years of waiting.

Therefore,
Is it his fault that his wife and children have grown distant from him as he has lived this long?
The emperor suddenly turned his head, strained to open his eyes, and reached out his hand toward where Liu Ju was.

Liu Ju obediently leaned forward, placing his face under his father's hand.

My seventy-one-year-old father,

She stroked the face of her forty-one-year-old son.

The aged hand, cool to the touch, slowly brushed across Liu Ju's face, no longer possessing the power it once had when it controlled the world.

Then, in a faint voice, he said, "How will history record me a thousand generations from now?"

He ruled the world for nearly sixty years.

So much has happened and changed over such a long period of time.

The emperor occasionally dreamt of his youth, and even then, he felt that the carefree young man riding a horse was somewhat unfamiliar.

As for how the common people perceived him, there's no need to elaborate further.

Three generations lived under his rule.

The grandfather and grandson may very well have completely different views on this elderly emperor.

How will future generations evaluate his merits and demerits?
Liu Ju prostrated himself on the ground, tears streaming down his face, and said, "Your Majesty's achievements are destined to be recorded in history!"

Don't try to comfort me.

"What's the use of what you're saying?"

The emperor removed his hand from Liu Ju's face and shifted his gaze to his great-grandson beside him.

Four-year-old Liu Xun sensed the heavy atmosphere around him, but he was not afraid at all.

He was curiously observing everything in the Wuzuo Palace, then stared at his great-grandfather with his clear eyes.

A faint smile appeared on the emperor's lips.

He said to his great-grandson, "I can only get a fair assessment of him once this kid ascends the throne."

Liu Ju pulled his eldest grandson into his arms, held him, and wept facing the emperor.

Xiao Liu Xun raised his hand to wipe away his grandfather's tears, and then curiously reached out to touch his great-grandfather's hand.

Those hands gradually lost their warmth, and the fingers, as dry as old trees, loosened.

Liu Xun said, "Your Majesty's hands are cold."

"Can I warm him up?"

Children's bodies are always warm.

However, Liu Xun was often sick before he was three years old, and his body was thinner than other children. His hands and feet would occasionally feel cold.

His mother then took a large gourd, filled it with hot water, and sealed it tightly with a wooden stopper to prevent leakage.

"This is called a hand warmer!"

The mother, who had made the bed warmer by hand, held her child in her arms and kissed his little face, saying, "From now on, you can sleep warmly by yourself!"

Liu Bingyi
It was Liu Xun's nickname.

Just like his great-grandfather was once called "Zhi," beneath that simple and crude name lies the love of his parents.

right now,

Liu Xun decided to be generous and offer up his own hand warmers.

Although he wasn't very familiar with his great-grandfather who was lying in bed,
But his father and grandfather now seem very sad because of him.

Liu Xun didn't want everyone to be so sad. Liu Ju didn't respond to his childish words, but simply stroked Liu Xun's soft hair and said gently:
"Good boy, good boy..."

The historian beside him did not succumb to the grief of the royal family.

He calmly picked up his notebook and wrote down:
"On the day of Dingmao in the second month, the Emperor passed away at the Wuzuo Palace in Chang'an."

Shortly thereafter, he was laid to rest in the front hall of Weiyang Palace.

After unanimous discussion among the ministers, the emperor was given the posthumous title of "Wu" (武).

The strong and upright are called martial arts.

A powerful and virtuous force is called martial prowess.

Boasting of ambition and poverty is called martial arts...

Crown Prince Liu Ju ascended the throne and, in accordance with the late emperor's will, heavily relied on Huo Guang, Huo Shan, Jin Midi, and others as his assistants in correcting the late emperor's mistakes.

quickly,

Liu Ju then issued his first edict:
"When the late emperor was alive, he often reflected on the mistakes he made in governing the country."

“Now that I have inherited his will and become the monarch of the country, I should continue his ideals to demonstrate filial piety as a son and benevolence as a monarch.”

"I am determined to abolish the previous harsh decrees, follow the old system, and implement measures to reduce taxes and corvée labor, so as to appease the people and consolidate the foundation of our ancestors!"

The elusive and outspoken messengers among the common people spread the imperial edict far and wide, and many clapped their hands and said:
"If the new emperor keeps his word, our lives will be much easier."

In his later years, the late emperor became very stubborn and domineering, revealing various flaws.

To satisfy his desire to build palaces and tour the world, the people lived a very hard life.

Therefore, they hope that the burden on their shoulders can be lightened.

just,

After the initial excitement of the new emperor subsided...

They couldn't help but miss the late emperor.

Nearly sixty years of rule,
The people naturally loved and hated this monarch.

When he was alive,
The people can freely curse his inappropriate actions, making their lives difficult and miserable.

But after his death,
The emotions and pride that the late emperor had once brought to the entire country welled up in their hearts again.

Some people began to shed tears and lament the passing of this era.

……

"The principle of respecting the dead is applicable in many situations."

"Moreover, given the inherent gentleness of the Chinese people, unless someone goes too far, they will not hold a grudge against them for long."

At the Huzi River,
He Bo pointed to the clear, narrow river and said, "When the waves are high, naturally mud and sand are carried along!"

"Once the flood recedes and the water flow stabilizes, many things will be self-evident."

Gourd water,
It was formed when He Bo drove the Yellow River southward and launched a fierce attack on the weak points of the Huai River, breaking through the dikes to create a completely new river.

Liu Che of that year,
It was in this place that he directed tens of thousands of people to soothe and correct the unruly flow of water.

They repaired the riverbanks and dug new channels, thus restraining the turbulent waters of the Yellow River.

Looking at the gourd juice in front of him, Ximen Bao sighed and said:
"Emperor Wu's reputation will be passed down to future generations."

"The foundation he laid will likely make a significant contribution to the unification of the various Chinese states later on!"

The world of the Chinese was already quite vast.

That small tribe, which originated thousands of years ago along the banks of the Yellow River, the turbulent mother river, expanded and grew stronger in all directions through alliances, absorption, and conquest.

Despite enduring the unpredictable and powerful blows of the Mother River, they toiled tirelessly, cultivating fertile farmland after fertile land.

Today,

Northern deserts and the South China Sea;
East China Sea, Western Regions;
Sindhu, the Western Sea...

The footprints of this nation are found all over the world.

The vibrant scene of all things thriving looked reminiscent of the Zhou Dynasty when the emperor enfeoffed feudal lords and scattered people everywhere.

And through this point, it is foreseeable that many years later,
The various Xia states, scattered in different places, were bound to face a period of unification.

Whether it's common to respect the emperor of the Central Plains as the Son of Heaven of all nations or not...
It doesn't matter if it's directly annexed by the Central Plains dynasty.
Ultimately, it must be "fixed on one".

As for Emperor Wu's actions,
This provided a precedent and gave them confidence for that long and arduous raid.

"Maybe!"

He Bo thought about the situation outside the region and felt that it was still a very distant thing for the glory of the Central Kingdom to spread to the Western Sea and even the Western Regions.

"Let the war between Qin and Rome end first!"

Just as Emperor Wu's era came to an end,
The sun, belonging to the western lands, is rising slowly.

The last vestiges of the Roman Republic were powerless to suppress the dawn of a new era.

just,

The darkness before the transition from the old to the new is always the most intense and the hardest for people of the old era to accept.

(End of this chapter)