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

Chapter 302 Wild Boar
"Father, I've been a pig for too long and have forgotten who I am."

Liu Ju said softly.

The character 彘 (zhī) means fierce.

They are prone to collisions, causing great destruction, and are extremely stubborn.

This is almost a true reflection of the father emperor, who indiscriminately killed everyone, made a mess of the country's economy and people's livelihood, and was obsessed with power and immortality, unwilling to let go.

As long as Father Emperor is alive, no one else can live.

Following his father's wishes, he accepted Shi Qing and Xu Chang as the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor and Junior Tutor, respectively, and kept his distance from his relatives and in-laws. He even took the insults of being a son who was not like his father as a lesson to heart.

Will it be useful?

will not!

A weak emperor cannot control the powerful ministers of both the Chinese and foreign dynasties.

These are my father's exact words.

A domineering emperor and a weak crown prince only further confirm the fact that "the son is not like his father."

Immortality is impossible to achieve, and even the emperor will eventually grow old. At that time, the question of who will succeed him will be placed before the true dragon.

Some might think that at this time, the emperor would follow Zengzi's advice to Meng Jingzi, a minister of Lu, when Zengzi was seriously ill: "When a bird is about to die, its song is mournful; when a person is about to die, his words are good." He would then abandon his personal ideas and choose the most suitable successor for the empire.

Too naive.

An emperor who has been willful his whole life cannot accept the empire turning in the hands of his successor, much less accept his successor's denial of his rule.

The change in the atmosphere of the court will inevitably lead to the loss of interests of a group of people, which is nothing to be ashamed of, namely the group of cruel officials.

Once the emperor dies, the atmosphere of the court changes, and those who acted cruelly in both the Chinese and foreign dynasties will most likely follow the deceased emperor to the afterlife.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, when the Crown Prince's palace shows signs of weakness, the saying that the son does not resemble his father will cause a great uproar throughout the Han Dynasty.

When the time comes, will the emperor choose to believe the crown prince who holds different political views, or will he choose to believe the minister who is favored by the emperor?
Even if the emperor retains a sliver of reason and is willing to give the crown prince a little more faith, and not completely believe the slander of cruel officials and close ministers, then further isolating the father and son, and trying every means to prevent them from meeting, will eventually lead to a situation where the father does not know the son and the son does not know the father, and the crown prince's filial piety remains unchanged. Will the emperor still be able to maintain his rationality?

How could it possibly stay that way?
An aging wife who has lost her beauty, a son who is no longer loved, powerful relatives who wield immense influence, and a future where he himself is destined for misfortune—these worries are enough to drive an aging emperor to commit massacres.

As for how to depose the crown prince, the aging emperor had already "personally experienced" it.

First, find an excuse to weaken the Crown Prince's maternal clan. Then, claim that the Empress practiced witchcraft and sorcery, imprison her in the cold palace, and undermine the legitimacy of the Crown Prince's succession. Next, depose the Crown Prince and make him a king, and depose the Empress and make her a Queen Dowager. Finally, seize an opportunity to kill the deposed Crown Prince, and the Queen Dowager died in grief and indignation.

This is the wisdom passed down from the Liu family monarchs, with each step interconnected, reasonable, and logical.

All the blame was placed on the cruel officials: the empress was wronged, the crown prince was forced to commit suicide, and meritorious relatives of the empress were wiped out. He himself did not have the story of a chess master with "golden corner, silver edge, and grass belly". He only needed to hold up the Han Dynasty for a few more years, pretend to express remorse, kill all the cruel officials, announce a new beginning for the people, turn the empire around, wait for the new crown prince to grow up, and the Han Dynasty entered the next cycle. With his glorious military achievements and great virtue, whether the Han Dynasty rose or fell, it would not change his name as the emperor of all ages.

In short, those who obey die, those who defy die, and those who neither obey nor defy die. Whether you are a subject or a son, as long as you are in the situation, you cannot possibly not find a perfect way to get through it. And this was precisely his father's rule.

“But I want to be a human being, not a pig,” Liu Ju said with a smile.

As his anger subsided, Liu Che slumped onto his throne, staring blankly at the Crown Prince standing in the hall, his lips trembling, "So, you knew everything from beginning to end?"

"Yes."

Liu Ju's smile remained unchanged as he said with a sigh, "I know that my son is not like his father, and I know what people in the court and the public are saying. I know everything."

"So, things have come to this point, you killed the King of Qi, killed your brother, murdered Lady Wang, imprisoned the King of Yan, the King of Guangling, and Consort Li, imprisoned the King of Changyi and Lady Li, and now you're even going after the infants and the unborn, ignoring Lady Mei, Lady Bai, and all the other women, all for the sake of getting my position?"

“Father, I didn’t kill Prince Qi, you did.”

Liu Ju said earnestly, "The King of Qi was scared to death!"

King Liu Hong of Qi was born weak and prone to overthinking. Such a person, caught in the struggle for the throne, was filled with daily fear and anxiety. In addition, his wife, Lady Wang, was often ill, and out of filial piety, he served her at her bedside for a long time. Furthermore, their young child was susceptible to illness. Under the combined burden of mental and physical ailments, it was foreseeable that he would die young.

The death of the King of Qi was due to "disharmony within the imperial family".

The discord within the imperial family stemmed from the palace intrigues deliberately orchestrated by the father, the struggle for the throne deliberately created by the father, and the discord among the brothers deliberately created by the father… Prince Qi died at the hands of his father.

It wasn't him who killed his brother, but the emperor who killed his son!
Liu Che was struck dumb as if by lightning.

"If King Qi had not died, Lady Wang, or rather the Queen Mother of Qi, would not have died from excessive grief. Therefore, Lady Wang also died at the hands of the Emperor."

"Li Ji, the Prince of Yan, the Prince of Guangling and his mother, Lady Li, the Prince of Changyi and his son, Lady Mei, Lady Bai and their unborn child, including the women who have been favored by the Emperor, will not die. The Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace will provide them with the salaries of the ladies and concubines on time, and will also provide them with the fiefs of princes and princesses, ensuring the Emperor's daughters a life of wealth and honor."

"Father, rest assured, I will not treat them as kindly as you have treated my mother and me. Given time, they may one day face their own demise, but not as princes or princesses."

The location of the lost property was reported.

Li Ji subtly altered her two sons' memories, rejecting the luxurious mansion, fine clothes, and gourmet food. Instead, she moved into a small courtyard in the countryside, changed into coarse linen clothes, ate simple meals, and farmed the land, living like a peasant woman, taking care of her children and managing household chores.

The Prince of Yan and the Prince of Guangling were young and did not understand what royalty meant. They only knew that their lives had changed and they were still making a fuss about the luxurious clothes and food they had before. However, Consort Li was good at educating her sons. A series of loving slaps quickly corrected their crying and resistance, and helped the two princes of the Han Dynasty adapt to ordinary life.

Because of their young age, the Prince of Yan and the Prince of Guangling integrated into the local life. The Prince of Guangling even became the king of the children, chasing chickens and dogs all day long. At such a young age, he already showed the nature of a hooligan. Even if he were properly educated in the future, he would most likely still be a hooligan.

After everything was in order, Lady Li refused all rewards, salaries, and fiefs, and took the initiative to express her wish to be allowed by the court to give up her status as an imperial princess and the status of her two sons as princes, and return to the life of ordinary people. This was not granted, and at Lady Li's request, all her belongings were temporarily sealed away.

The world is vast, and if that day ever comes, the Prince of Yan and the Prince of Guangling might appear somewhere in the world as commoners.

As for the children of the King of Changyi, Lady Mei, and Lady Bai, only heaven knows.

(End of this chapter)