Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 543, Fourth Year of Jianchu
In the fourth year of the Jianchu era of the Han Dynasty,
Dou's belly still showed no signs of pregnancy.

However, the Empress Dowager, who was bedridden, kept urging the Emperor to appoint a Crown Prince as soon as possible.

The emperor could no longer delay, so he issued an imperial edict to organize the investiture ceremony and adorned the two-year-old Liu Qing with the crown prince's robes.

This infuriated Lady Dou, who frequently complained to the emperor.

The emperor felt sorry for her, but after hearing so many cries, he also became somewhat unhappy.

Although he doted on Lady Dou, he was not like Emperor Cheng or Emperor Ai, who disregarded the country and its people for the sake of a beautiful woman.

The Han Dynasty ruled the world with loyalty and filial piety.
Even the seriously ill Empress Dowager held his hand and said, "I cannot close my eyes without seeing the Crown Prince." What else could he do?
Moreover, this spring,
He was busy with his ministers discussing classics and scriptures at the White Tiger Hall, and could no longer act as a nice gentleman to comfort and pamper Dou as before.

Dou was not a stupid person.

After discovering that her usual tears were no longer effective, she became gentle and considerate, calming the emperor's growing irritation and restoring their former intimacy.

But in private...

Dou said to her mother, "Men are really unreliable!"

Not to mention that in the previous dynasty, the Dou family members enjoyed the ultimate honor and privilege.

Even in the imperial harem, they wouldn't allow you to give birth to a legitimate son!
No wonder my mother used to complain about the late emperor's lineage at home.

Princess Biyang frowned and sighed to her daughter.

She said:
“I recently consulted many renowned doctors, one of whom told me that couples who are closely related may have more difficulty conceiving than other couples.”

"No wonder Empress Chen of the Former Han Dynasty had been in the palace for more than ten years without ever conceiving."

From a historical perspective,

Although Empress Chen was deposed for being childless, she still enjoyed a life of luxury and often lived a carefree life in Changmen Palace. Even her family maintained a certain status. Emperor Wu, who was still relatively young, showed his cousin rare tenderness.

Princess Biyang, however, did not want her daughter to become a second Empress Chen!

She was destined to be the maternal grandmother of the next emperor.
She wanted to wield absolute power and prove herself!
Moreover,
No matter how good wealth and status are, they still need the support of power!
With power, you can have everything!
Princess Biyang thought for a moment and said to her daughter, who looked troubled, "Consort Liang in the palace is about to give birth. If she gives birth to a boy, you should bring him over and raise him yourself."

Dou raised her eyebrows and said unhappily, "Why should I raise someone else's child?"

Princess Biyang then told her daughter the famous sayings that the late emperor had used to comfort Empress Dowager Ma from his bedside, advising her to "put the big picture first."

As for why this private statement was circulated?

Considering the late emperor's personality, and the fact that he has already rotted into a pool of sewage in his tomb,
That could only be Mrs. Ma, the widow.

When Ma was young, her parents sent her to the palace to serve Yin Lihua and become close to Emperor Ming.

In some ways, besides being Emperor Ming's wife, she could also be considered his student.

Therefore, Ma was very dependent on and admired Emperor Ming. After his death, she often missed him. So much so that she took over the responsibility of the historian and wrote "The Daily Record of Emperor Ming" herself. She frankly wrote down their private discussions about the court and the heirs to show her selflessness.

I imagine that if a chubby kid from the State of Qi knew this, he would marvel at the existence of such a kindred spirit in the world.

Unfortunately, Dou could not understand Ma's nobility and only felt that this woman was hindering her in every way.

But after her mother's repeated persuasion, and seeing her son become the crown prince and Consort Song beaming with joy, Lady Dou finally agreed to the suggestion.

Just one month after the new crown prince was appointed.

Consort Liang gave birth to a boy at night.

The child was taken away by Dou's men before the warmth from his mother's womb had faded.

When Consort Liang, who had lost consciousness, woke up and asked where her child was, the people around her even congratulated her.

After all, being raised by the Empress herself meant he was practically a legitimate son.

As long as the empress does not have a biological son, given the emperor's favor towards Lady Dou, he might very well do what Emperor Jing and Emperor Guangwu did and make that young child his heir.

But Consort Liang was not happy about this at all.

After regaining some strength and using heavy makeup to conceal her weakness and paleness, she went to the emperor and asked to see her child and hold him.

As parents,

She knew perfectly well that having the child raised by the Queen was the best option.

A woman can carry a child for ten months and give birth in one day.
She hadn't yet seen her child's undeveloped face, hadn't touched his tiny hands and feet, and hadn't let him nurse...

How could she accept this?

But after a long silence, the emperor still refused her.

He recalled the joyful and carefree look on Lady Dou's face when she held the child in front of him, and he no longer felt any pity for the haggard and sorrowful Consort Liang.

Who can blame them when the emperor's heart is biased?

"Rest assured, the Empress regards Zhao'er as her own son and will never let him suffer any injustice!"

The emperor said words that broke Consort Liang's heart, and then ordered her to be taken back.

Consort Liang was depressed as a result, and her body did not recover well after childbirth. She quickly became emaciated and on the verge of death.

When Dou heard about this, she felt no remorse at all; she simply breathed a sigh of relief.

"If this woman were to die, it would put my mind at ease."

Dou was still unwilling to raise a child born to someone else.

However, the doctors and sorcerers invited by Princess Biyang were of no use to the Empress, while the Emperor's children with other women took root one after another.

This made Dou feel guilty about her health.

So she compromised and agreed to have someone else's child registered under her name, but then worried that the power of bloodline would make the mother and child of her own kind feel the same way, making all her efforts futile.

If Consort Liang were gone...

The prince had grown up by her side since childhood, and then she ordered the palace servants to silence him...

Then I can be a "mother" with more peace of mind.

"Even while she was ill, Consort Liang kept saying she wanted to see the prince."

The palace servant who came to deliver the message knelt on the ground and spoke to the Empress.

Dou said indifferently, "We're about to die, why are you still thinking about this?"

"Aren't you afraid of spreading illness to your young child, so that mother and child can reunite in the underworld!"

She refused Consort Liang's request again.

then,

Until her death, Consort Liang was unable to see her child.

With her hair disheveled, she gazed in the direction of the Queen's palace, comforting herself:
That's fine too.

The Empress will definitely take good care of him.

His Majesty might even make him his ultimate successor...

She shouldn't ruin her child's bright future because of that unnecessary emotion.

Shortly thereafter,

Empress Dowager Ma, who had been seriously ill for many days, also died.

The harem thus fell entirely into the hands of the Dou family.

Holding her growing child, whose features bore the marks of his birth mother, she began a new struggle at her mother's urging.

……

"Therefore, excessive power will erode humanity."

How many people in this world can resist temptation and preserve their good intentions?

Taixi Continent,
Guangye City, which had already been built by the virtuous men of the Xia people into a bustling metropolis in the eyes of the locals,

He Bo stirred the scalding hot medicine while sighing.

Because of his old age, the wise teacher Jesus was unfortunately caught in the chill of the changing seasons and fell ill in bed. Although he did not know what God was referring to in His words, he knew in his heart that God had fallen into a sudden trance.

He simply extended his aged hand in silence, wanting to take the medicine and drink it.

"No!"

He Bo raised his hand, placing the bowl out of Yege'er's reach, and said in a voice full of fatherly love, "I'm going to feed you!" Then,

He scooped up the bitter, dark liquid with a spoon and brought it to Yggdrasil's lips.

Yege'er was speechless for a while.

"Is this meant to torture me?"

The bitterness of herbs,
No matter where you are, you can get people drunk to the point of making a grimacing, broken expression.

So when a normal person is sick and needs to take medicine, they usually have to muster up their courage, pinch their nose, and drink it all in one gulp.

No matter how bitter or difficult,

If it can be over soon, then it's okay.

But if God wants to feed us spoonful by spoonful...

Even a great and wise teacher can harbor rebellious thoughts.

"Take a sip and I'll give you a sweet date!"

"Why would someone my age want to eat something so sweet!"

The great teacher struggled to lift his body slightly and drank the medicine in one gulp.

He then let out a sigh that carried the scent of grass and trees.

"Should we go back to Rome?"

"Augustus is eagerly awaiting your arrival, saint!"

He pulled over a small stool made from a tree stump and sat down. He picked up a parchment letter from the table and asked Yege'er a question.

As time goes by,
The Way of Peace spread more and more widely in the West.

Those Roman envoys who felt they needed to stay in the East longer to broaden their horizons due to the long journey finally returned to their country a month ago.

They brought back many precious items:
For example, a large quantity of fine jade.
Large quantities of silk,
Some Chinese classics, blocked by the war-torn Western Sea, could no longer be easily transmitted to Rome as before.

And his own observations and experiences in various parts of the Central Plains.

The elderly Augustus marveled at their harvest.

After bestowing great rewards upon the envoy, he told his ministers, "Rome needs more profound changes."

"The Chinese in the East have already surpassed us by a great deal."

The perspectives of a subject and a monarch are different.

When the envoys were in the Central Plains, they were able to develop confidence that "if the Han Dynasty can do it, so can I," due to the strength and prosperity of their own country, and they overlooked some of the malpractices that existed within Rome.

But for Augustus, this was far from enough.

Rome may have been prosperous, but how many generations could it have remained prosperous?
Rome may be powerful, but could it be powerful enough to retain its present territory forever?

The people of the Central Plains have already experienced numerous periods of chaos.

The expelled Qin dynasty fled to the Western Sea and became its overlord.

The Han Dynasty, which replaced the Qin Dynasty, also died once and was reborn, remaining powerful.

Can Rome do it?
Not to mention being reborn from the ashes like the Black Bird,
The descendants of the Qin dynasty have been in disarray for so long that they have managed to remain and establish themselves in some places.
Could Rome really mobilize hundreds of thousands of people just to build a river?
Augustus stood before the map of Rome's territory that he had commissioned numerous scholars to draw, pondering the various aspects of the country's situation, and recalling the infamy and skepticism he had endured for dispersing tens of thousands of people from Pompeii.

Before Augustus could arrive at a conclusion,

The volcano that was once prophesied by the saints has finally erupted.

The earth trembled because of it.
The seawater became turbid because of it.
Dust was propelled into the sky by it.

finally,
As dust settled and boulders rolled, they buried the nearby city of Pompeii underground.

This must have caused considerable casualties.

After all, Augustus did not disperse all the population of the nearby cities during those ten years or so.

Actually,
Even though he ignored the locals' doubtful curses and the objections of the nobles who loved to visit Pompeii, and forcibly emptied the place,
Over the years, there will always be people who find loopholes and return to the city.

Fortunately, this outcome is much better than the original trajectory.

Subsequently,

Augustus's reputation was unusually good.
He transformed from a "tyrannical ruler" into a wise and far-sighted monarch who received divine inspiration and saved humanity.

And everything he went through at that time
That is what allowed many people in Pompeii to escape this inevitable death.
As the people praised the monarch, the news spread rapidly, sparking a surge of people seeking Taoist priests to enlighten and baptize them.

Hearing the cheers and jubilation, Augustus had some ideas. He sent a special messenger across the Reina River to welcome Jeremiah, the great teacher of the Way of Peace, to Rome to be treated as a "national advisor".

"He even halted the war with the State of Chu in order to invite you."

The Xia Dynasty in the West
Over the past few decades, they have accomplished quite well.

Why is it that the Chinese people have ancestors in the afterlife who help them improve their technology and transmit information, while the surrounding barbarians and Celtic people do not have such conditions?

Moreover, the gap in civilization is right before our eyes.
As long as the brain doesn't shrink.
Everyone wants to wear prettier clothes, eat more delicious food, and enjoy a more comfortable life.

To know,
The Germans east of the Rina River are truly barbaric.

He spends all his time wandering in and out of the forest, living like a wild man.

When they ran far away and met up with people from other tribes, they couldn't communicate verbally and could only make noises and gesture with their fingers.

Where can we compare to the Xia dynasty, which recognized the importance of blockchain technology as early as the Western Zhou dynasty?
Therefore,

In recent years, Rome's goal has shifted from attacking the barbarians in the north to attacking the Chinese tribes in the north.

Among the latter, the Chu Kingdom, which was the strongest and occupied the plains and valleys of the middle and upper reaches of the Reina River, was the main target of the Roman Gallic legions.

"National conflicts are no match for ethnic conflicts..."

Having recovered from the bitterness, the wise teacher said, "Losing the ancestral temple is only a matter for one family and one clan, but losing the state is a betrayal of one's bloodline and clan."

"The rise of Rome came a little too late."

Looking around the Mediterranean Sea,
Before Rome, many ancient civilizations flourished.

When Rome ventured out of the peninsula and conquered this region, the Qin people had already come to establish their own kingdom, demonstrating how many version changes they missed.

Therefore, their ethnic group rose to prominence later in life.
However, due to tradition and national policy, they could not be as ruthless as the Qin dynasty, which built human-shaped structures in the conquered territories and then had children born to fill them.

After all, although the Romans also valued family, they could seamlessly connect with the gentlemen of the Chinese states in many aspects of interpersonal relationships.

But they really couldn't handle the patriarchal system of rites and music.

Moreover, with its territory surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and lacking fertile plains, Rome was able to establish an absolute central hub and nurture an absolute core ethnic group.

This meant that even as Rome entered its golden age, it was often troubled and entangled by the other ethnic groups under its rule.

"So this monarch invited you because he wanted to use sectarianism to unify the thoughts of various peoples."

He Bo picked up where Yege'er left off, rolling up the parchment in his hand again and again.

"Only by first bringing our ideas together can we bring people closer together."

Thousands of years ago,

The alliance between the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor on the banks of the Yellow River laid the foundation for the descendants of Yan and Huang today. Isn't this the same principle?

Unfortunately, it's too late.

Rome could no longer unite people's hearts through blood ties and ancestry.

The barbarians of the West also had very diverse appearances, and they could not be easily accepted by the Romans like the Donghu, Xirong, Beidi, and Nanman, who also had black hair and black eyes, and were assimilated into the Chinese.

Therefore,
He can only rely on the power of the sect.

"Want to go?"

He Bo inquired about the elderly and wise teacher again.

Yege stroked his beard, thought for a moment, then rubbed his slightly limp hands and feet, and finally said:
"A nation without external enemies will perish."

"Rome was a great friend and a great adversary, far more useful than the Huns."

"Besides, Augustus invited me to retire in Rome, so I wouldn't have to endure the wind and snow here. Why should I refuse?"

(End of this chapter)