Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 578 Rome and Qin Dynasty

In the first year of Yangjia,

Just as his ancestors had predicted, Liu Bao successively bestowed many official titles upon the eunuchs, wet nurses, and officials who had helped him seize the throne.

Song E followed the example of Wang Shengxian and was granted the title of Lady of Shanyang.

There were as many as nineteen eunuchs, such as Sun Cheng, who were granted the title of marquis.

For a while,
The power of the inner court officials has expanded, showing a trend of surpassing that of Emperor He and Emperor An.

Fortunately, the young emperor did not trust these opportunists at all.

When Song E dragged him out of the West Bell Hall

Liu Bao then realized that in the eyes of these people, he was not the real emperor, but rather a bargaining chip for them to seek wealth and power.

If successful,

If he's doing well, they'll naturally be doing well too.

If it doesn't work
It would be a wonderful thing to drag along a prince or nobleman to be buried with these spineless, lowly eunuchs.

Having just ascended the throne, he is young and has little power. Without bestowing titles and honors upon his loyal followers, it would be difficult to consolidate his position.

Liu Bao had no choice but to endure it.

When he was the crown prince, he had to endure the harassment from his biological father's servants.
Now that he's emperor, he still has to endure the constraints imposed by his servants.

Fortunately, he was indeed young.
He still had plenty of time to deal with them.

"We must first build up our talent pool for future use."

The young emperor recalled his grandmother's instructions before sending him to the academy when he was young, and an idea came to him.

During the days when eunuchs were in power and arrogant
When the officials in the outer court were dissatisfied that these eunuchs held higher positions, wielded greater power, and amassed more wealth than themselves,

The young emperor frequently visited the Yuan Chu Academy to reform the academic atmosphere there and reconnect with his former classmates.

Although Emperor An, after seizing power

He was very dissatisfied with the academy that was named after his reign title but had nothing to do with him.
However, since it was mostly a school for young people, the subjects they learned were mostly things like physics, which were not very popular at the time.
Therefore, Ande did not target it specifically.

Naturally, some would be dissatisfied with the study of things and resent the examination system for hindering their chances of becoming virtuous and upright officials, and would take action to stifle the development of this school.

In just a few years,

It went from being full of vitality when it was first established to being withered and desolate.

When Liu Bao returned to the area and saw the few remaining classmates, he felt a deeper connection to the phrase "when the person dies, the policy ends."

Without firm and sustained implementation,
Even the most beautiful things,

It will also be destroyed by short-sighted carnivores.

Because those guys will never give up the benefits they have.

Liu Bao took a few deep breaths.

My shoulders, which haven't even fully grown yet, are already feeling the heavy pressure.

……

By the second year,
The conflict between powerful eunuchs and their ministers intensified.

Liu Bao wanted to take advantage of the conflict between the two sides to weaken the former's power.

The former emperors in the underworld all eagerly awaited Liu Bao's performance in this turmoil, who was twelve years old by the traditional Chinese age reckoning.

It stands to reason,

The emperor, who always loves watching the excitement and commenting on current affairs, should also join in and witness the glorious moments of the Liu family's descendants.

Unfortunately, a coup occurred in Rome ahead of schedule, attracting He Bo's attention.

"I've had enough fun watching this, why are you getting in here?"

When God suddenly appeared in Rome, the Mediterranean pigeons, who had been observing the war for a long time, flapped their wings at him in displeasure.

Why do we have to be so clear about who's who?

He Bo put on an open and honest demeanor.

"Then I think you can come over here, but you don't need to!"

The pigeon cooed, still trying to defend its territory.

unfortunately,

His efforts were all suppressed by He Bo.

In the end, the pigeon could only perch on the other's head, witnessing the strange scene in Rome—

A man with distinctly Chinese features was crowned and became Rome's new Augustus, surrounded by the Praetorian Guard.

Could the mysterious connection between the Qin and Han dynasties have also influenced Rome?

Watching this scene, He Bo couldn't help but stroke his chin and fall into deep thought.

After Alexius brought Rome to its zenith and his son Constantines maintained its rule for nearly twenty years, Rome naturally began its decline.

After Constantine's death, his successor Augustus was in poor health and died of illness less than two years later.

Before his death, he resolutely rejected other people with the right to inherit the throne and installed his twelve-year-old son as the new ruler.

then,

The empress dowager, who assisted her son and was respectfully called "Augusta," launched an unreasonable attack on the late emperor's brothers and the new emperor's uncles in order to consolidate her son's position.

This made the latter very dissatisfied.

They rallied other forces and began their resistance.

Seeing this, the conservative forces in Rome also joined in, hoping to take the opportunity to correct the mistakes that had continued since the time of Emperor Alexius.

After all, from the perspective of the Roman eagle banner,

Octavian, the "High Emperor," made the sacred position of Augustus his own, and they had already endured a great deal of hardship.

Later, Alexius passed the throne to his son, completely imitating the "father dies, son succeeds" system of the Xia dynasty. They, of course...

I endured it.

After all, if you can't beat them, you really can't beat them.

The same applies to Constantine, who follows.

But right now,
The late emperor has passed away, and his son is still very young. His wife clearly lacks the necessary capabilities.
This gave them the opportunity to "set things right"!

In fact, there were quite a few people in Rome who held such views.

Tacitus, who lived under Alexius's rule and was entrusted with important responsibilities by Constantine, but inwardly opposed centralized autocracy and longed for a republic, is a typical example.

"Tsk, it seems that 'Confucian scholars' everywhere all have a deep-seated reverence for antiquity."

He Bo glanced at the remnants of the Republic who were taking advantage of the chaos and said something with a sneer.

The pigeon warmed God's head with its generous heart and cooed in reply, "There are only so many people left, otherwise, it wouldn't be necessary to take such a risk."

More than a hundred years have passed since Octavian was given the name "Augustus".

If, after such a long period of time, the fact that those who yearn for the "previous dynasty" cannot be largely eliminated shows that the First Roman Empire truly lacked strength.

Therefore,
Don't be fooled by Tacitus's stubbornness; you could use that stubbornness to dig up Pompeii, buried under volcanic ash.
But when Augustus summoned him to serve as an official, he was still very efficient.

A wise person can bend and stretch!
all in all,
When the West also faced a period of uncertainty and stagnation,
Rome was facing its greatest upheaval since the founding of the empire.

Empress Dowager

And Augustus, who was growing up,
In this process, they all expressed their approval of the experience of the various states of China in seizing the throne, believing that the root of the problem lay with these unwilling relatives.

But for the latter...

The practice of fathers succeeding sons was not a Roman tradition.

The preceding Augusti all selected their successors broadly within their families.

If passing it down from father to son becomes a custom...

Then the distance between these members of the royal family and the throne will only grow further and further! Previously, Constantine was capable and an adult...

His brothers, Roman subjects, though somewhat critical, accepted it.

right now,

Could a child of ten years old really bypass this barrier and become the most honored person in Rome?
This time, they absolutely will not accept it!
Although the unrest was eventually quelled, its lingering effects were far-reaching.

The barbarians, who had been widely introduced to Rome since the time of Constantine and were discovered by the nobles during the internal strife to be "useful and cheap, and could be captured to form mercenaries to fight for power," were able to expand their influence in Rome.

Voices advocating for the barbarians, hoping to loosen existing controls over them, and even to further introduce "outside talent" frequently appeared in the Senate.

As Augustus grew up, he expanded his Praetorian Guard, giving them much power and authority to suppress the provinces that harbored barbarian mercenaries.

The plan was executed very successfully.

Some provinces suddenly went from being "openly blatant" to being "restless," no longer daring to directly confront the central government.

then,

Augustus died young.

The bloated Praetorian Guard hailed his young son as the new ruler and used the young emperor's name to secure even more privileges for himself.

A few years later,

The young master also passed away.

Having tasted the power of "relatives of the emperor and eunuchs," the imperial guards were reluctant to let go and instead supported the former's brother.

As a result, a few days ago,
This man also died of illness, directly causing the extinction of the paternal lineage of Emperor Xuan, Alexius.

After all, Old Ah Sheng only had three sons and one daughter.
The eldest son, Constantine, became monarch, but the line ended with his grandson.

The remaining two sons were all killed by his good nephew, leaving not a trace of his bloodline.

Fortunately,

Roman law preserved the right of daughters and their descendants to succeed to the throne in times of crisis.

then,

Following the precedent set by the second Augustus, Tiberius, who passed the throne to Octavian's grandson,
The Praetorian Guards dug out the son of the Northern Qin prince who had been forced into marriage with the Roman princess and elected him as the new Augustus.

In this regard,

That's how today's drama unfolded.

"This guy has been pretending to be stupid for half his life, who would have thought that something like this would happen today?"

The pigeon looked at the middle-aged man, who, even with the crown on his head, still appeared timid and cowardly, and couldn't help but sigh for him.

This man, of Qin and Roman blood, knew the awkwardness of his identity from the time he could remember.

So, like his father, he lived a low-key life in Rome, simply enjoying the wealth and peace his mother brought to the family.

To better reassure my maternal grandfather and uncle,
This person even changed his surname, no longer calling himself "Ying," but instead adopting the name of the "Claudie" family.

Anyway, his father was an adopted son-in-law, he "married" into Rome.

"If you marry a dog, follow the dog." Why can't he be a proper Roman?
As for daily interactions with people
This person also tends to remain silent.

Realizing that the turmoil caused by the royal family was too intense, he feigned madness in order to avoid being swept away by the vortex.

However, given his status,

The term "cowardly fool" also better suited the Praetorian Guard's conditions for using Augustus to control the Mediterranean.

"I wonder how far this person will go in the future."

He Bo could tell from the pigeons that...
This mixed-race new Augustus was not truly incompetent.

His behavior from childhood to adulthood has proven that he has a keen sense of national politics and political situations.

In private, he also learned the wisdom of the Chinese people from his father.

Pretending to be stupid

This was not something the Romans, who valued showing off their unique characteristics, would like to do.

"I'm almost fifty. It would be best if I could achieve something, but it's normal if I can't."

The pigeon didn't have high expectations of it. "This First Empire has lasted for a hundred years and has a territory surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. It is time for it to decline."

“Octavian and the others have been sighing and complaining all these years. After sighing for so long, they’ve almost given up on it.”

"It is because they have recently taken to cursing Gan Ying, saying that he used Eastern witchcraft to curse himself, that Rome has been in chaos for four generations of monarchs."

"Why?" He Bo rolled his eyes and tried to cast a curious glance at the white doves overhead.

The pigeon then explained:
After falling into the underworld

The level of Chinese culture among the Roman dead naturally surged along with the changing environment.

Not to mention that the Mediterranean Sea borders the Western Sea.
It wasn't difficult for the dead from Rome to come into contact with the dead from Western Qin.

therefore,

Of all the branches of the Chinese civilization, Rome was most familiar with the history of the Qin people.

After learning about some of God's experiences in his youth, Octavian, who deeply understood the importance of progress, went back in time and even learned about many ancient tribes of the Chinese civilization.

They would naturally not overlook the four generations of political turmoil that occurred in the Qin state before Duke Xian of Qin ascended the throne.

"It's alright, it's not shameful to resemble the Qin Dynasty more."

Upon hearing this, He Bo burst into laughter.

The pigeons clucked along, laughing, "Anyway, Octavian and the others have already applied to me that once Gan Ying dies, he can continue his 'mission' to Rome and be influenced by the former Roman emperors."

Speaking so powerfully,

If it weren't for Xiuer still staying in the underworld of the Central Plains beating her descendants,
He was starting to suspect that there was some strange connection between Gan Ying and Guangwu!

The latter's words summoned the spirits of his descendants.

The former's single sentence immediately haunted Rome with the specter of "Qin," and classic scenes from several later versions were recreated...

God couldn't help but gasp in amazement again.

……

Having seen the fun in Rome,

Since we're already here...
He Bo then traveled to the land in the west, far from the ocean, to visit the several Xia states that had been enfeoffed there.

The pigeons herded him all the way to the northern border of Rome, whereupon the white deer wandering in the Black Forest of the West received God.

When the three parties met at the border, Pigeon, unusually, looked downcast and sighed as he gazed at the barbarians wandering along the border.

"Building this Great Wall is a waste of time."

"Who would have thought that the barbarians we painstakingly resisted back then would now be welcomed in by nobles within Rome, who would help them fight against their fellow Romans?"

Rome also built a wall, extending all the way to Britannia, across the ocean.

After all, there were nomadic barbarians to the north of Rome, and later countless Chinese gentlemen emerged.

Ugh,
That's why they say Rome "is like the Chinese!"

This internal strife is quite characteristic of the Chinese civilization!

He Bo laughed and said, "We need to solve the immediate problem first!"

The Romans, influenced by the Chinese, knew the importance of "killing the whole family".

This naturally escalated the intensity of the conflict.

In order to preserve their family's wealth and status, and to seek greater power and position...
What's wrong with introducing some barbarian tribes?
Anyway, these guys were recruited to be henchmen and mercenaries for the big shots.

Can they really turn the world upside down?
"Besides, if this really causes problems, can we expect the wisdom of future generations?"

A white deer from the Black Forest floated in lightly on the drifting clouds, offering a light rebuttal to God's words:
"It's truly unexpected that the saying 'those who eat meat are despicable' can reveal such magnanimity when phrased differently."

He Bo didn't feel that he was being mocked at all, and just waved his hand and said, "Anyway, it won't be me who suffers the 'Five Husbands' in Rome' when things get chaotic."

(End of this chapter)