Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 134 Whose Wisdom
"What do you mean by that, Xuande? Eunuchs in power, corrupt officials committing evil, and powerful figures acting as thieves—what does that have to do with us? We're just banding together to protect ourselves..."

Whether Zhang Bao truly didn't understand or was pretending not to, his expression remained unchanged.

"How do you argue it? By looking at the head or the corpse?"

“Brother Chonghuan, you are not discreet in your actions, you cannot distinguish right from wrong in recruiting people, and you have even believed other people’s nonsense, spouting some kind of proverb that ‘the Blue Heaven is dead and the Yellow Heaven shall rise’…”

"The emperor wants to eliminate hidden dangers, the empress wants to take advantage of the situation to establish an heir, the partisans want to use this to break free from their constraints, and the ministers want to establish a new young ruler... Everyone in the world will say that you are plotting a rebellion, so you must be traitors."

"Those benevolent people who give you rice and grain are all waiting for you to die..."

“I know you think you have the Empress’s protection, I know you have no intention of rebelling, and I even know that Shi Zimiao, who raised the Marquis of Shi, is also your fellow Daoist.”

Liu Bei sighed: "But if someone were to deliver the titles of kings from various states to you alive, would you kill them or not?"

Killing them would be tantamount to rebellion, while not killing them would be tantamount to supporting a new emperor—a more serious offense than rebellion.

"...Who exactly are you?!"

When Zhang Bao heard Liu Bei mention Empress He and Shi Zimiao, his face finally changed color. He stared at Liu Bei for a long time, as if he was making a decision.

"Liu Xuande, didn't Brother Chonghuan say he recognized me?"

Liu Bei felt even heavier, because he knew he had guessed correctly: "Take me to see the Great Teacher of Wisdom. You should know I have no ill intentions."

……

at the same time.

The fifteenth day of the first month of the seventh year of Guanghe.

Lantern Festival.

Every year on the Lantern Festival, it was a day for the emperor, officials, and common people to celebrate together, but it was also a day for Liu Hong to collect money.

Every year during the Lantern Festival, Liu Hong would hold an annual meeting to look forward to the future. Afterwards, he would organize entertainment activities with sales backbone members such as eunuchs and palace maids, host a banquet to entertain senior employees and major clients, announce the business plan for the new year, and then go down to the grassroots level in Luoyang to spend the night with ordinary employees...

While we're at it, let's collect this year's franchise fees.

It is completely consistent with the processes of large companies in later generations.

But this year is different.

During this year's annual meeting, we reviewed the business situation and found that not only were the franchise fees not fully collected, but even the revenue from basic business operations such as tax collection had shrunk.

Many customers even defaulted on their contracts and ran away!

Meanwhile, at the annual meeting, various distributors and customers, along with some employees, urged Mr. Liu to let his son take over the business—many court officials jointly requested Mr. Liu to appoint Prince Liu Bian as the heir apparent, but Liu Bian was only eight years old this year.

This is the worst thing.

You can bring this up when business is good or when there's not much to do, but it's incredibly inconsiderate to ask the boss to designate a successor when business is slow!

Everyone wants to change bosses, right?

It should be noted that Mr. Liu is only thirty years old this year, which is the peak of his life. He is not at the age to write a will.

At thirty, one should be established; this establishment doesn't refer to establishing a crown prince...

On that very day, Liu Hong heard someone say, "The Blue Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise."

For Liu Hong, the Azure Heaven refers to Taiyi, the Heaven of the Emperor.

Liu Hong had also read the Taiping Jing. He knew of the existence of the Taiping Dao and that Huangtian referred to the Central Yellow Taiyi.

For Liu Hong, it didn't really matter which heaven people worshipped, nor did it really matter what the heaven was called...

The problem is that Liu Hong is the emperor.

They say the Azure Heaven is dead and should be replaced by the Yellow Heaven, which is tantamount to changing Liu Hong's father without his consent.

At the same time, and more importantly...

The proverb "The Blue Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise" had another meaning in Liu Hong's eyes.

Liu Bian, the prince who is being petitioned by the court officials to be made crown prince... was raised by a Taoist priest.

……

Some officials said this was a prophecy of rebellion. Others said it was advice on establishing an heir apparent.

In fact, for Liu Hong, this was more like a prophecy of a powerful minister plotting to depose and install an emperor.

In Liu Hong's eyes, rebellion was not a big problem, but the matter of deposing and installing emperors was a completely different story.

There have been countless rebellions over the years, every year. Just send a capable official to quell them.

Liu Hong knew better than anyone which officials were capable and which people should be used in which situations.

For example, when the barbarians in Jiujiang and other places rebelled, Lu Zhi was appointed as the governor of Jiujiang, and the rebellion was quelled within a few months.

For example, when the Wuhu barbarians of Hepu in Jiaozhi rebelled, Zhu Jun was appointed as the governor of Jiaozhou, and the rebellion was quelled within a few months.

However, while these people are capable and prestigious enough to lead troops to quell rebellions, they cannot be allowed to maintain control of the military indefinitely.

Because talented people are more likely to develop other ideas if they hold power for too long.

Therefore, after suppressing the rebellion, Lu Zhi was allowed to return to the capital to serve as Minister, and Zhu Jun was allowed to return to the capital to serve as Grand Counselor. Those who were sent to serve as governors in other places had to be mediocre, like Liu Wei.

Otherwise, they might very well go from being capable ministers to powerful ministers, constantly scheming to change their boss.

At the same time, we must not allow people with family backgrounds and reputations to become in-laws...

Therefore, Liu Hong deposed Empress Song because her family was too powerful. Her father, Song Feng, was a descendant of Song Chang, a founding hero of the Han Dynasty. Her family also had marriage alliances with princes such as the Prince of Qinghe and the Prince of Bohai, making Liu Hong feel very insecure.

Moreover, Song Feng's younger sister, who was also Empress Song's aunt, was the principal wife of Liu Kui, the Prince of Bohai—the same Prince of Bohai who was falsely accused of treason by Wang Fu and died in prison.

Therefore, Liu Hong chose Empress He. The He family was a butcher family, and He Jin had neither family background nor reputation, nor outstanding ability.

Empress He was originally just a palace maid, whose only advantage was her beauty.

Liu Hong originally thought that the He family was someone he could trust. He even allowed He Jin to control five battalions of the Northern Army during the Luoyang famine, handing over military power to the He family.

but……

The Han Dynasty has its own traditions.

The maternal relatives always liked to learn from Liang Ji or imitate Dou Wu... They always felt that a young emperor was a good emperor.

For several generations of emperors, the emperors were all minors 'selected' from the imperial clan by their maternal relatives. Liu Hong himself was one of them. It was like a talent show for happy boys, purely a competition to see who was easier to control. Whoever was the weakest and youngest member of the imperial clan was chosen.

Liang Ji successively supported Emperor Chong, Emperor Zhi, and Emperor Huan.

Emperor Chong ascended the throne at the age of one and a half, which was a normal succession from father to son, but he died less than half a year after his accession... at the age of two.

Subsequently, Liang Ji selected the 8-year-old Emperor Zhi, Liu Zuan, through a selection of imperial relatives. However, the following year, Emperor Zhi accused Liang Ji of being arrogant and was subsequently poisoned. Emperor Zhi's original name was Liu Xu, and his reign title was 'Benchu'.

After poisoning Emperor Zhi, Liang Ji continued to select candidates and installed the 14-year-old Emperor Huan, Liu Zhi.

Liu Zhi served as a puppet for over a decade, and at the age of 28, he finally managed to kill Liang Ji with the help of a eunuch. He died at the young age of 36, which can be considered a long life.

Emperor Huan had many sons, but none of them survived; they all died young. His daughters, however, did survive a few years.

Liu Hong was the same; at the age of 12, he was chosen by Dou Wu to become emperor. The following year, the eunuchs removed Dou Wu, and Liu Hong did not remain a stamping machine for long.

However, like Emperor Huan, none of Liu Hong's early children survived; they either miscarried or died young.

After Lady He, a concubine of the Imperial Concubine, gave birth to Liu Bian, Liu Bian worried that he would not be able to raise the child. Lady He then said that she knew a Taoist priest who knew magic and could protect Liu Bian with his magic.

So they took Liu Bian in the care of a Taoist priest named Shi Zimiao outside the palace, and instead of calling him by his real name, they called him "Lord Shi," which finally allowed Liu Bian to survive.

That Taoist priest, Shi Zimiao, was not famous.

But since then, Taiping Dao has suddenly become very famous.

In recent years, the world has been in turmoil, and the Way of Peace has developed rapidly. It openly gathers people to preach, with hundreds of thousands of followers, including many in the palace.

But the imperial court did not intervene at all.

The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Annals of the Empresses:
The He family were originally butchers, and she was selected to enter the imperial harem. She was seven feet one inch tall. She gave birth to Prince Bian, who was raised in the household of the Shi family and was called Marquis Shi.

Introduction: Shi Daoren was Shi Zimiao, a Taoist practitioner who later wished to use his skills to protect the prince.

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(End of this chapter)