Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 564 The Manifestation of Decline

Summer of the seventeenth year of Yongyuan,

The emperor felt as if his body, along with the scorching sun, was filled with a strange vitality, and his hands and feet were full of strength.

The concubines who were recuperating in a separate palace also had stable pregnancies, and an experienced midwife said, "It looks like it's a boy."

This pleased the emperor greatly.

then,

He ordered the era name to be changed to Yuanxing, hoping to convey his joy and his secret wish to maintain good health through "celebrating good fortune".

of course,

This also means that the emperor is ready to take action against the local powerful families.

After all, "元" means beginning.
Although the emperor's merits were frequently praised by both the court and the public, and his reign was hailed as "the prosperous Yongyuan era,"

But as the emperor calculated the money and grain he took from the treasury each year for disaster relief, and watched the reports on disasters from various places being sent to the central government, he knew in his heart that his prosperous era would not last long.

The saying "what goes up must come down" is an inherent truth of the world.

How can we immerse ourselves in past glories, become complacent, slow down, and only retain the posthumous title of "ruler of a prosperous era," while leaving the hidden dangers beneath the surface of prosperity and the problems accumulated since the reigns of four generations of emperors to future generations, hoping for their wisdom?
Moreover, with so few offspring, it was impossible to predict how long they would live or how many years they would rule.

The emperor dared not place the entire burden of the empire on the shoulders of his successor, a child.

therefore,

While eagerly anticipating the arrival of his newborn son, he also kept track of the studies of his two children, Liu Sheng and Liu Hu.

But more often than not, he would handle state affairs together with Deng Sui.

Empress Dowagers interfering in politics

This was the ancestral law of the Han Dynasty, and there was no affectation in later generations.

The emperor himself did not develop any additional feelings because of Empress Dowager Dou, who raised him.

He hoped that Deng Sui could learn the essence of governance so that the Han dynasty could be maintained for a longer period of time.

Although this inevitably carries the risk of problems related to maternal relatives,

But that's a matter for the future.

so far,
Deng Sui was very strict with her family members, and the Deng family members were respectful and sincere in their work.

In response to the Empress's call for "frugality," they were among the first officials to reduce household expenditures, streamline servants, and dress simply.

If a family has an unfilial descendant who causes trouble, the elders usually suppress the matter and send the child to the court for punishment.

Unlike Wang Mang, who did things that went so far as to violate the law in order to gain fame.

She looked completely different from Wang and Dou.

The emperor also admired Deng's wise behavior and often asked other relatives of the emperor, such as the Liang family, to learn from him.

By autumn,

The emperor's youngest son was born; he was a baby boy who appeared to be fairly healthy.

The emperor stroked his baby hair and felt his body temperature, thinking that this child's health should be better than that of his eldest son, Liu Sheng.

Thinking of the Han Dynasty,
Thinking of one's own bloodline,
The emperor then named the child "Long," which also means prosperity.

But soon,
The emperor then ordered the child to be taken out of the palace and sent to be raised among the common people.

He had lost so many children in the past that, no matter how much he didn't believe in ghosts and gods, he now had to use folk wisdom to pray for the well-being of his offspring.

Considering that the concubines were resting in separate palaces during their pregnancies and no unexpected incidents had occurred,
The emperor then became even more convinced of certain sayings that "giving a child a humble name can suppress excessive good fortune and prevent the child from attracting evil spirits."

Although the children he sent to the countryside before him did not necessarily survive, there should always be hope.

Feeling the surge of energy within his body, and the recent successful implementation of policies targeting powerful clans,

The emperor was somewhat pleased, thinking that perhaps his luck would turn around after he turned thirty.

But soon,
He didn't have the chance to think that way.

The concubine who gave birth to the prince did not recover well after childbirth and lost too much blood and energy during delivery. No matter how much care she received, she eventually died.

Upon hearing this news, the emperor remained silent for a long time before finally issuing his order:
"She should be given a proper burial."

"Furthermore, register Liu Long under the Empress's name. Once he is strong enough, bring him into the palace and entrust him to the Empress's care."

He suddenly recalled his childhood experiences and was immediately struck by the capriciousness of fate:
The emperor lost his biological mother at a young age and could not bear to let his children also lose their mother's care. Even those who were sent outside the palace to be raised were arranged to have their mothers accompany them.

Unfortunately, all good intentions were in vain.
Without children, one cannot be considered a parent.

Going around,

He was unwilling to do what Emperor Zhang did in dealing with the harem, and Empress Dowager Dou did not have the same temperament, yet he was still forced to repeat the story of that year.

just,

Will Liu Long be the next version of himself?

The emperor pondered this for a moment, then continued dealing with the affairs of state.

He stared intently at the documents, and after reviewing several, he suddenly felt a sense of disorientation.

The thick ink of the words leaped from the white paper, twisting into indescribable shapes before him, lunging at him menacingly.

The emperor immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

He shook his head and looked again, and found that what he was holding was a memorial concerning the powerful clans of Sichuan who were seizing land, occupying people, treating local people as their own servants, and colluding with the southern barbarians of Sichuan to resist the central government's orders.

Is this an omen?
Was it God trying to tell him how much resistance his decrees would encounter?
The emperor slammed his fist on the table, his face contorted with rage, and tried to rise, but his limbs felt weak and he quickly fainted amidst the terrified cries of the eunuchs around him.

He fell ill again.

Springtime growth
The intensity of summer and autumn will eventually fade with time.

What followed was only the harsh winter.

All things must lie prostrate in the cold wind, waiting in the dark underground for the next cycle of seasons.

But plants can regenerate.
How could a person be like that?

"I'm afraid I won't be able to get up again."

On his sickbed, the emperor said to Deng Sui, who was taking care of him, "In the end, I will have to rely on you to handle the affairs of state."

Deng Sui tried to comfort him, saying, "Everything will be alright."

But the emperor waved his hand, stopping her from speaking.

This illness, brought with it the chill of the wind, came on fiercely.

Even though everyone around him was praying for the emperor, hoping that the miracle brought by Empress Yin could be repeated, the emperor himself knew the truth.

"I haven't dreamed about my mother for many days."

Perhaps it was God's mercy,
Perhaps it's the bond between mother and child.
Even though the emperor was separated from his birth mother at birth and they were separated by death, they could occasionally meet in his dreams.

But since the beginning of winter, his mother, Liang, has completely disappeared from his dreams.

It seems that she felt that with the reunion of mother and child imminent, there was no need to rely on dreams to get closer.

then,

The emperor could only seize the last moments to tell Deng Sui his arrangements for political affairs.

He spoke of the affairs of the officials and powerful figures.

After discussing the relationship between the imperial relatives and eunuchs,
I mentioned using the Imperial Examination to select officials, bypassing the recommendation system...

Deng Sui listened quietly, then asked him sadly, "Who will succeed to the throne?"

The emperor fell silent.

If Liu Long had not been born, he would have adopted Liu Hu as his heir.

After all, compared to Liu Sheng, who still suffers from convulsions, this nephew is clearly more capable of shouldering the burden of the Han Dynasty.

The emperor and his brothers grew up together and had a very loving relationship.

In his plot to seize power from the Dou family, in addition to employing the power of eunuchs, his elder brothers Liu Kang and Liu Qing provided considerable assistance.

Moreover, a wise ruler has the magnanimity to choose a weak, sickly, foolish, and incompetent heir in order to lock the throne into his own lineage.

Do it this way,
The old emperor was pleased, but the world would pay an immeasurable price. And then, Liu Long was born.

Is he likely to have a long lifespan?
Could he possess a rather intelligent mind?
Will he continue his policies and rectify the shadows cast over the prosperous Han Dynasty?
Everything is unknown.

Unfortunately, he happens to be his own son.

Deng Sui noticed the emperor's hesitation, so she took the initiative to speak:
"With a father like you, I will certainly do my best to assist him in the future and will definitely nurture him into a successful person."

The emperor laughed at this, "Are you trying to be a female Duke of Zhou (the Duke of Zhou in Chinese mythology)?"

He then took Deng Sui's hand and slowly instructed her, "If that child also dies young like his elder brother... then let Liu Hu succeed to the throne."

There's no need to keep going on like this.

Otherwise, with emperors changing every so often, the cost of building mausoleums and tombs would be unimaginable, and the people would face an increase in corvée labor.

Deng Sui nodded silently.

Shortly thereafter,

The winter snow, carried by the wind, drifted to Luoyang, melting into cold rain before it even hit the ground, disappearing into the fields that had toiled all year and desperately needed nourishment, as well as the fields where the winter cold had killed off the insects and snakes inside.

The emperor died during this time of year, ending his seventeen-year reign.

He ascended the throne at the age of ten.

He seized power and took personal control of the government at the age of fourteen.
Liu Zhao, who implemented policies that suited the national conditions, appointed virtuous and capable people, and brought the Han Dynasty to its peak, died at the age of twenty-seven.

He, along with Duke Dao of Jin hundreds of years ago, stopped before reaching this age.

Liu Long, who was only four months old, was held in Deng Sui's arms and wrapped in thick swaddling clothes. He became the fifth emperor of the Han Dynasty.

The child cried bitterly when the crown of an emperor pressed down on his baby hair.

God, who was wandering along the Yangtze River, heard the baby's dissatisfied cries and began to murmur to himself:
Why burden children with this responsibility?

"This must be so upsetting for him!"

“That’s how a family-run empire works,” said Sun En, who was standing next to him.

Emperor Wu of Han, who was following behind, immediately retorted, "Then what about your concept of 'public ownership of the world'?"

"It seems to have died a little too quickly, didn't it?"

Sun En frowned, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he remained silent.

The second-generation Duke of Yan, whose posthumous title was "An," spoke up for his teacher, saying, "The Liu family's rule won't last much longer!"

From a more mystical perspective, such as "destiny,"

The emperor's offspring are dwindling and his death is occurring at increasingly younger ages, which is certainly not a good sign.

During the reign of Emperor Zhang of Han, there were Emperor Guangwu, who lived past sixty, and Emperor Ming, who was close to fifty.

Therefore, his untimely death can be considered an accident.

but now,
Liu Zhao, who was given the posthumous title "He" (和), meaning that during his reign he was "neither too rigid nor too yielding, and the world was in harmony," was not even thirty years old.

Whether his two sons will be able to produce grandchildren for him remains to be seen.

Looking back at the current situation of the imperial relatives and nobles, the old ministers couldn't help but recall the events of the late Former Han Dynasty.

Just right,

From the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Former Han Dynasty onwards, the imperial family's offspring gradually dwindled, and later emperors had no offspring at all.

The decline of the nation's power also began with Emperor Yuan.

Is it possible that the current Han dynasty's mandate of heaven is not as long-lasting as that of the former Han dynasty?

Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the practice of using divination and prophecy has been prevalent, and some people have indeed paid attention to these matters.

After realizing that "the emperor's mandate may be declining," they became uneasy.

Judging from the situations they witnessed during their previous travels, the problems of the Former Han Dynasty have indeed been replicated in the present Han Dynasty, and have manifested prematurely.

After the fall of the Yan state
Liu Xiu often came to visit Sun En to reminisce.

After all, past grievances are not recorded in history, and future generations will make their own judgments on the entanglement between the two parties. Naturally, the two parties involved can sit down together and have a good talk.

They were all educated, and their behavior was not rude. Their tempers were considered mild among those in power in a country.

Therefore, they lacked the passion of some of the late emperors who would quarrel and argue upon meeting, wishing they could beat the other person to a pulp.

Xiuer simply sat opposite Sun En, and they each talked about their initial thoughts and their understanding of the world.

This time, a truly friendly exchange took place.
It's just that a consensus has not yet been reached.

Before they parted on bad terms, He Bo, who had been listening in, promptly intervened and advised them to stop:
"Don't make a sound! Don't make a sound!"

"Why not have a fight? No one's going to die anyway."

Both sides cast friendly glances at each other.

He Bo laughed for a while, then said to the two old ghosts, "It's definitely better to vent your anger!"

"If you keep it bottled up every day, it'll explode sooner or later."

"in addition!"

"Xiuer has witnessed the rise and fall of the Yan Kingdom for a long time."

"The Han Dynasty has been built for eighty years now."

"The inherent diseases of the world have already been revealed. You can't get enough of arguing, so why don't you go and see the world?"

Sun En naturally agreed.

Emperor Guangwu refused.

He was originally a ruler who restored order from a chaotic era, and after becoming emperor, he also implemented land surveys.

Don't you understand the ways of local powerful families?
He just sighed, "Sometimes I think, if the Xiongnu were still strong, would they have been better to the Han Dynasty?"

After dying,
Living next to me is an old ghost who has witnessed countless tragedies of human life from countless years ago.

Emperor Guangwu's vision and perception naturally grew further.

He gained a deeper understanding of the principle that "a country will perish if it has no external threats."

Eighty years after the founding of the Former Han Dynasty,
During Emperor Wu's reign,
The great war between the Han and the Xiongnu was reaching its peak.

to this end,

With everyone of one mind and the ruler and his ministers working together, there will be no laziness, negligence, or indulgence in pleasure.

And it is precisely because of this great war that concerns the prosperity of civilization and the flourishing of ethnic groups,
Emperor Wu was able to govern everyone harshly with a clear conscience.

Those wealthy and powerful families who had accumulated wealth over generations were even less likely to escape his exploitation.

After all, how much profit can be squeezed out of ordinary people?
If you're going to make money, make it from the big players!
For this,

The wealthy households dared not speak out against their anger.

Because the urgency of war weighed heavily on them.
No matter how harsh Emperor Wu was, he still treated soldiers who had earned military merits well.

After several years of fighting between the Han and the Xiongnu, a group of "veterans" who were extremely supportive of the emperor arose in the country, just as the Qin state abolished hereditary nobility and promoted meritocracy in the past.

The ordinary people, seeing the princes and nobles who had swaggered around so brightly just two days ago now wrapped in burlap and mingling with them under the emperor's shrewd hand, felt their anger at the harsh treatment subside considerably.

Therefore, many problems accumulated over the eighty years of the Former Han Dynasty were released and cleared up through massive warfare.

But the Han dynasty is no longer viable.

The Han Dynasty is too powerful.

He has no suitable rivals around him.

As a result, many people, both high and low, became complacent and negligent, indulging in pleasure and living like the emperors Wu and Xuan of the Former Han Dynasty, who stood at the pinnacle of the world and had no other worries.

This caused Emperor He of Han to die...
In terms of the lifespan of the dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Former Han Dynasty, who was his contemporary, did not pay much attention to him, but Emperor Yuan of the Former Han Dynasty was very close to and fond of him.

Grandparents and grandchildren have a close bond.

He Bo watched Xiu'er leave with a mixture of relief and disappointment. Then, following his advice, he took Sun En and Emperor Wu, who was secretly admiring Zhao Yu's heroic campaigns in the Western Sea, and traveled to the Central Plains. They followed the Yangtze River eastward from Sichuan to observe the landscape of the world.

(End of this chapter)