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

Chapter 44 Slaying Ze
Unlike the bustling atmosphere of the marquises.

The royal family, however, never managed to liven up the atmosphere.

Because members of the imperial clan, young and old, could not even see the Minister of the Imperial Clan Court. No matter how many people went to pay their respects or when, the elders of the Imperial Clan Court would always coldly reply, "The Minister of the Imperial Clan Court is unwell and cannot receive guests."

The members of the imperial clan, young and old, left dejectedly. They looked at each other, shook their heads and sighed, and remained silent for several days.

However, even the emperor has people he cannot help meeting, let alone the Minister of the Imperial Clan.

When Liu Piqiang, grandson of King Chu Yuan Liu Jiao, son of Marquis Hongyi Liu Fu, and grand-nephew of Emperor Gaozu of Han Liu Bang, was appointed as a member of the imperial clan and ranked first among the imperial clan members in discussions on matters concerning officials with a salary of two thousand shi, Liu Piqiang paid a visit to the emperor. Liu Shou, the Minister of the Imperial Clan Court, personally welcomed him into the mansion without showing any sign of displeasure.

During the polite greetings and the servants serving tea, Liu Piqiang remained calm, and Liu Shou remained even more calm, never mentioning the white deer skin.

But no matter how much they talked, there was always an end to it. When the topic of the New Year's gathering of the imperial clan came up, Liu Shou said helplessly, "Shaoqing (Liu Piqiang's courtesy name), I have never met with my relatives and ministers at home. You should know that."

“Other times are fine, but this time, I'm afraid the Minister of the Imperial Clan can't escape it,” Liu Piqiang said with a faint smile.

"It's not that I can't escape it, it's that the royal family can't escape it," Liu Shou corrected.

The Minister of the Imperial Clan and the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices are completely different. No matter how harsh His Majesty is on the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, who is a marquis, he is still an outsider of the imperial family. But the Minister of the Imperial Clan is different. They are all blood relatives of the Liu imperial family, and many of them are even His Majesty's uncles or elders.

Killing outsiders can be ruthless, but killing blood relatives is too cruel and heartless.

The phrase "harsh and ungrateful" has always been taboo for emperors throughout history, because this is a true story.

All the emperors of the Liu family were like this.

"There is no difference. Without members of the royal family, whose clan head is the Minister of the Imperial Clan, and whose minister is he?" Liu Piqiang got straight to the point.

Not long after its founding, the issue of the Han imperial family was relatively simple. During the reigns of Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Hui, Empress Lü, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Jing, a system of parallel prefectures and kingdoms was implemented, with the vassal kings directly controlling the military and political power of their fiefdoms.

During His Majesty's reign, an edict of grace was issued to divide fiefdoms, requiring princes and brothers of the vassal states to share the right of inheritance equally.

However, unlike the imagined equal distribution among feudal states, from a purely institutional perspective, the Edict of Grace was a genius-level design. It would be difficult for anyone other than extremely clever and ruthless to devise such a near-perfect scheme.

"In ancient times, the territory possessed by the feudal lords was only a hundred miles in circumference. Compared with the central government, the difference in strength was very obvious, and they were easy to control."

Today's larger vassal states consist of dozens of cities and span thousands of miles.

If we are lenient with them, they become arrogant and extravagant; if we are strict with them, they develop rebellious intentions. The root cause is that their power is still too great.

The princes now have many brothers and sons, but according to Han law, only the eldest son can inherit the throne. The other sons, although related by blood, do not receive any land or rewards.

"I hope Your Majesty will use this issue to persuade the vassal kings to extend their benevolence to all their sons, so that everyone can receive the title of marquis and the land of a kingdom. The sons of the vassal kings will be eternally grateful for Your Majesty's kindness, and the vassal kingdoms will naturally weaken and be divided without the need for central government intervention."

This was the advice that Zhu Fuyan gave to Liu Che back then.

In fact, Zhu Fuyan was not the originator of the Enfeoffment Edict. The prototype of this strategy was thanks to another genius, Jia Yi.

During Emperor Xiaowen's reign, the power and influence of the vassal states far surpassed that of today. Even Emperor Xiaowen's ascension to the throne was due to a palace coup orchestrated by the vassal states and founding heroes.

Jia Yi astutely observed that the powerful vassal states, capable of challenging the central government, constituted one of the main contradictions facing the Han Dynasty. He likened the court to the human body and the vassal states to its limbs, arguing that the limbs had swollen beyond the body's control, the situation was critical, and it was time to "weep" in despair. Jia Yi's suggestion, in a nutshell, was: "Establish many vassal states to weaken their power."

Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, the last King of Qi, Liu Cichang, committed suicide without an heir, dividing the Qi state into six. After the death of King Li of Huainan, the Huainan state was divided into three, and the two powerful vassal states were immediately broken up.

When Emperor Xiaojing ascended the throne, he could have adopted the same strategy when facing the strongest state of Wu. After all, the King of Wu was already over sixty years old at that time. Perhaps he was worried or afraid. As the great chess master of the Han Dynasty who killed someone's son, he ultimately chose to join Chao Cuo in his eagerness for quick success and instant benefits, and openly reduced the power of the vassal states, eliminating the counties of Wu. This forced a group of apprehensive vassal kings to rebel, triggering the Rebellion of the Seven States.

Fortunately, even if the process was entirely wrong, the result was right. After Emperors Xiaowen and Xiaojing's repeated schemes, the strength of the vassal states was far less than it had been at the beginning of their existence.

The two biggest changes were that in the early Han Dynasty, there were often large states that controlled three or four or even seven commanderies. However, by the late reign of Emperor Jing of Han, almost all the vassal states had been reduced to just one commandery. The vassal kings lost even the power to govern their states and could only enjoy tax revenue. They became idle people who were supported by the government. The internal affairs of the vassal states were taken over by officials dispatched by the central government.

Zhu Fuyan deliberately ignored the changes in the vassal states over the past seventy years in his advice, in order to further weaken the vassal kings, or rather, to eliminate all the vassal kings and complete the centralization of power.

On the surface, the logic behind the Enfeoffment Edict was to ensure equal distribution of wealth and power, meaning that when a feudal lord died, all his children should receive the throne and the land of the kingdom.

In this way, while the vassal king was alive, he would have to give a portion of the counties in his kingdom as fiefs to his sons and brothers who were not originally eligible to succeed him.

According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, only those with the rank of Marquis could enjoy a fief. In such cases, the emperor would grant them special favor and approve them to become "Prince Marquises".

It seemed that everyone benefited, but beneath this appearance lay a harsh reality: the fiefs acquired by the princes and marquises, which originally belonged to the counties of their respective kingdoms, were incorporated into the nearby prefectures directly under the imperial court, just like the fiefdoms of marquises.

If the princes and marquises were stripped of their titles or died without an heir, their fiefs would belong to the imperial court. Therefore, behind the seemingly happy facade, the territories of the vassal kingdoms were being plundered by the imperial court under the guise of bestowing favors.

Whether a prince or a marquis was a prince or a marquis depended on which status was more beneficial to the court.

Before the Edict of Grace, most of the imperial clan members who were not eligible to inherit the throne went to live in Chang'an, which is what we now call imperial clan ministers.

Take Liu Piqiang, for example. His father, Liu Fu, was the fourth son of Liu Jiao, the King of Chu. He was originally enfeoffed as the Marquis of Xiu. When Liu Wu, the King of Chu, rebelled, Liu Fu fled to the capital Chang'an and was implicated and stripped of his marquisate.

Later, Emperor Jing learned that Liu Fu had repeatedly advised against Liu Wu's rebellion and had rendered meritorious service, so he changed Liu Fu's title to Marquis of Hong. Liu Fu died in the sixth year of Emperor Jing's reign and was posthumously named Marquis Hongyi.

Liu Fu had five sons. His eldest son, Liu Deng, succeeded him as the Marquis of Honghuai. His second son, Liu Piqiang, and his three younger brothers stayed in Chang'an and served in the Han court in order to support their grandmother, Lady Chu Yuanwang.

In short, all the current members of the imperial family, whether they are princes, dukes, or ministers, are within the scope of the Bailu coins' plundering.

If things don't go smoothly, the Han dynasty will decline, and there will be no one to oversee the imperial clan; this is not just empty talk.

“Mencius said: ‘The blessings of a virtuous man last for five generations, and the blessings of a petty man also last for five generations.’ Shaoqing, the imperial clan has now passed through three generations from you and me, and by the time of my children and grandchildren, it will be five generations. The imperial clan is growing larger and larger, and the court’s supplies are becoming unsustainable. If you know what’s good for you, then you should withdraw from the clan.” Liu Shou sighed.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozu, the Liu family was small, but they were very prolific. In just a few generations, they had countless branches and leaves. Although I don't want to name names, Your Majesty's half-brother, the Prince of Zhongshan, is a reflection of the Han Dynasty.

If one cannot produce the White Deer Coins, one should withdraw from the clan. This would exempt one from the annual sacrificial offerings and, at the same time, the court would no longer support idle people.

"Minister of the Imperial Clan Court, is this acceptable?"

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)