A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 301 Unorthodox
The Crown Prince's personal guards moved into Chang Le Palace.

Zhao Chongguo, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, took over the Shenlong Hall.

Armored soldiers stood imposingly in the emperor's hall. Just as Chun Tuo nervously protected the emperor, Liu Che stood in front of the court.

Looking at Zhao Chongguo bowing in greeting, Liu Che keenly noticed something amiss, his gaze finally settling on his ears—they were made of silk floss.

The other guards of the crown prince did the same, stuffing their ears with cotton so they could not hear any outside sounds.

Without the emperor's order, Zhao Chongguo straightened up and asked Chun Tuo to leave the main hall temporarily. As if it had been planned in advance, as soon as Zhao Chongguo opened his mouth, two guards went up the steps and, ignoring Chun Tuo's resistance, knocked him unconscious and dragged him out of the main hall.

As dusk fell and the last rays of sunlight shone down, Liu Ju walked slowly towards Liu Che, who could barely make out his features.

The prince stood in the light.

Liu Ju stopped a few feet away, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Father Emperor."

Are you Ju'er?

"Father, it is I."

"Have we, father and son, come to distrust each other to this extent?" Liu Che sighed softly.

With soldiers guarding the area and people talking from afar, even mortal enemies are no more than this.

Liu Ju stepped forward and said, “Father, family tradition is paramount. We have not seen each other for many years, and there are also villains instigating this. Please allow me to do this.”

Emperor Gaozu was cunning and chivalrous, a trait inherited by his descendants, especially Emperor Xiaojing, the grandfather of Emperor Jing, who was hailed as the Chess Saint of the Han Dynasty, perfectly demonstrating the power of blood ties.

Since the summer of the first year of Yuan Shou, the father and son had not seen each other. The father did not know the son, and the son did not know the father. For their safety, the father would not harm the son, and the son would not harm the father. This was perhaps the best way for them to meet.

With family traditions in place, years of separation, and the instigation of petty people, Liu Che didn't even have a word to refute the Crown Prince; he had already saved face for him.

"why?"

Liu Che looked at Liu Ju, puzzled, and said, "He's just a tutor to the crown prince, why are you so concerned?"

"I don't want to die! I especially don't want to die falsely accused!"

Liu answered frankly.

Liu Che was stunned for a moment, then his anger was evident as he said, "What nonsense are you talking about? When did I ever want to kill you?"

"Father, how can you say that 'the son is not like his father'?"

“Back then, you were close to Guliang and taught me how to govern the country using the words of the Book of Documents. However, your intentions differed from mine. ‘A son is not like his father.’ What wrong have you done?”

“Different aspirations and different paths are intolerable, Father, isn’t that right?”

"No mistake."

"If that's the case, Father, why have you changed the established practice and not appointed the Prime Minister as the Crown Prince's tutor?"

"The Wei family, as relatives of the emperor, is very powerful. If they were to merge with the Prime Minister's residence in the Crown Prince's palace, how could I, the Emperor of the Great Han, ever sleep peacefully?"

"If I heed my father's words and choose Shi Qing and Xu Chang as Grand Tutor and Junior Tutor respectively, what will my father think?"

"Now that I am at peace, I can entrust the Great Han to you in the next life."

"Does Father truly think so?"

"really!"

“Xu Chang is designated by my father as a ‘remnant of Huang-Lao thought.’ Although I study the Gongyang Commentary, my Huang-Lao mindset remains unchanged. Isn’t my father worried that I might go astray?”

"...and Shi Qing is still here."

"In a family with a staggering income, a lack of talent is considered a virtue. What does Father Emperor wish me to learn?"

"I'm teaching you to be filial like the Shi family!" Liu Che's voice suddenly rose.

If the Crown Prince were filial, how could the imperial family have fallen to this state?

Liu Ju smiled faintly, "May I ask, Father Emperor, can someone without talent become the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty?"

"Gah?"

"Is Father deceiving me because I am young and unaware of the affairs of Prince Bo of Linjiang?" Liu Ju asked again.

Liu Che was speechless.

If it weren't for Prince Liu Rong of Linjiang being too filial and unable to get rid of his mother, the great physician Consort Li, and her relatives, why would the late emperor have deposed the crown prince?
How could he stubbornly drag his ailing body along for ten years, just to wait for him to grow up?
In order to prevent the recurrence of the Dai King incident and eliminate future troubles, he even found a pretext to have Cangying Zhidu force Liu Rong to commit suicide.

The Liu family monarchs were always good at learning from their fathers and grandfathers and interpreting filial piety and parental love in their own way.

"On one hand, there is the virtue of being incompetent; on the other hand, there is the error of going astray. In my father's heart, what should I do to take over the Han Dynasty from his hands?"

Liu asked three questions.

Liu Che, bewildered and annoyed, retorted, "With the Wei clan as your maternal relatives, what are you afraid of?"

Wei Qing was the foremost military leader of the Han Dynasty in his time, and Huo Qubing was the next foremost military leader of the Han Dynasty. With the support of the Wei family, who could possibly challenge the position of Crown Prince, regardless of his talent, virtue, or whether he had gone astray?

"What I'm worried about is that the Wei clan, the imperial relatives, will die before my father, or at his hands."

"How could this happen?"

Liu Che instinctively took a step back.

Liu Ju's smile widened. "All the people say that Father Emperor will live as long as Great-Grandfather and Grandfather, but I think Father Emperor will live as long as Empress Dowager Dou. I suppose Father Emperor thinks so too?"

"..."

"Generals on the battlefield, though they may not have external wounds, may have hidden illnesses. Even if they don't die on the battlefield, they will die of old age and illness. Father, are you confident that you can outlive your uncle and elder brother?"

Before Liu Che could answer, Liu Ju continued, "Father has been supporting other maternal relatives, such as the Wang and Li families, and even the Mei and Bai families..."

At this point, Liu Ju paused, but the unspoken words pierced the emperor's heart even more than the spoken ones. The unspoken meaning was nothing more than, "Father, don't you really find it dirty?"

"Father, what do you want to do?"

"Find someone who can replace your uncle and elder brother, and then strip the Han military from the hands of the Wei clan, the imperial relatives, and from the Crown Prince's palace, right?"

"Father is fortunate to have made Mother Empress, and her dowry included two brothers, an uncle and an elder brother, which is like gaining the twin treasures of the empire. Does he think that all imperial relatives in the world are like this?"

"hehe."

Liu Ju's laughter mercilessly mocked the Han emperor's delusional fantasies. He believed that a momentary fortune could become a permanent one. Throughout history, there have been many monarchs who thought this way, but every one of them was an immoral and incompetent ruler.

Are the maternal relatives of the Wang, Li, Mei, and Bai families even worthy of being compared to an uncle or elder brother?
Emperor Wu's expression changed several times, clearly indicating that his thoughts had been exposed and he was extremely embarrassed.

"If my uncle and elder brother had not died on the battlefield, and Father could not find anyone to replace them in the Han military, is it possible that many years later, Father might have harbored evil intentions?"

"absurd!"

Liu Che could no longer contain himself and said angrily, "If Wei Qing and Huo Qubing are loyal to the emperor and the country, why should I kill them?"
Malicious intent? Has the Crown Prince not heard that when the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die; when the father commands the son to die, the son has no choice but to die?
If a ruler wants to kill his subject, how can that be considered "evil intent"?
The Crown Prince is well-versed in poetry and literature; how could he not know the stories of Lord Wu'an and Marquis of Huaiyin?

Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were so accomplished that the Emperor of Han was bound to be wary of them. If the day truly came when things were beyond his control, he would definitely kill them without hesitation.

Just as King Zhaoxiang of Qin ordered the death of Bai Qi and Empress Lü executed the Marquis of Huaiyin, there was nothing else to reward them with, so they had to do this.

How can this be considered malicious?

"So, in Father's heart, am I called the Son of Death? And my uncle and elder brother are subjects destined to die, right?"

(End of this chapter)