I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 215 Liu Miao is like Emperor Gaozu

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Wen of Jin, Chong'er, personally led his army to fight a major battle against the Chu army at Chengpu.

At that time, the Jin army was weaker than the Chu army. Duke Wen of Jin then asked Hu Yan, "The enemy outnumbers us; how can we achieve victory?"

Hu Yan replied, "Etiquette is never too beautiful, and war is never too deceptive. You can defeat the State of Chu by using the 'stratagem of deception'."

Duke Wen of Jin then told Yong Ji about Hu Yan's plan and sought his opinion. Yong Ji initially disagreed, but having no other choice, he eventually agreed. However, he advised Duke Wen, "If you drain a pond to catch fish, you may get some, but there will be no fish next year; if you burn a forest to hunt, you may get some, but there will be no game next year. The same applies to deceptive schemes. Although they may succeed once in a while, they will not work the next time. This is not a long-term solution."

Duke Wen of Jin adopted Hu Yan's deceptive strategy and indeed achieved a great victory. Upon returning home, when rewards were distributed, Yong Ji was ranked above Hu Yan. Some found this strange, thinking Duke Wen had made a mistake. Duke Wen said, "Yong Ji's words are a model for a hundred generations, while Hu Yan's words are only for a moment's sake. How can a moment's sake outweigh the benefit for a hundred generations?"

In the first year of the Chuping era, Liu Dan rode alone into Jingzhou.

At that time, Sun Jian had just killed Wang Rui, the governor of Jingzhou, and bandits occupied various parts of Jingzhou.

Liu Biao sought advice from Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, Cai Mao, and others.

Kuai Liang then said to Liu Biao, “If the people do not follow you, it is because you lack benevolence; if they follow you but you do not govern them, it is because you lack righteousness. If the way of benevolence and righteousness is practiced, the people will flock to you like water flowing downhill. Why worry about them not following you and asking for military action and strategies?”

Kuai Yue was simple and straightforward: "We can lure those traitors to one place with great rewards, and then kill them!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Biao exclaimed, "Zi Rou's (Kuai Liang's courtesy name) words can be considered the theory of Yong Ji. Yi Du's (Kuai Yue's) plan can be considered the scheme of Jiu Fan."

Subsequently, Liu Biao adopted Kuai Yue's strategy, inviting a total of fifty-five powerful clans and leaders from Jingzhou to a banquet, and then killing them all! This led to the swift pacification of Jingzhou!
……

Liu Biao couldn't help but show a nostalgic expression as he recalled the past.

"Unfortunately, I only knew how to study before and didn't understand these things, so I didn't grasp your deeper meaning."

“Powerful warlords like Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Liu Miao all started by recruiting soldiers and gradually building up their power to control the prefectures and counties.”

"I was too ambitious and foolish at the time. I actually didn't raise troops myself, but instead used a different strategy to deal with those bandit leaders."

"Unfortunately, from then on, I could no longer touch military power and arbitrarily mobilize soldiers."

Kuai Liang flicked his wrist, drawing out half of the sword: "I am asking, my lord, why do you intend to rebel?"

"Rebellion is for self-preservation, and self-preservation inevitably involves offending the root cause."

Liu Biao put down his book and looked at the cold glint in Kuai Liang's hand, but he felt little fear.

“When I was studying at the Imperial Academy, I always discussed current affairs with my teachers and classmates. We either hated Emperor Huan for initiating the Party Prohibitions and causing chaos among virtuous people, or we resented Emperor Ling for selling official positions and ruining scholars.”

"But it wasn't until I became the governor of Jingzhou that I understood why the two emperors did such seemingly absurd things."

Liu Biao lived for an extremely long time, which gave him a wealth of experience.

Many things that puzzled me when I was young have gradually become clear to me now.

"If Emperor Huan had not used eunuchs to punish the partisans, how could the emperor's power have been secure?"

"Moreover, when scholars mention Emperor Xiaohuan nowadays, they often resent him for initiating the disaster of the partisan purge. But they forget that before this incident, Emperor Xiaohuan did not always favor eunuchs. On the contrary, after Emperor Xiaohuan used five eunuchs, Shan Chao, Xu Huang, Ju Yuan, Zuo Guan, and Tang Heng, to eliminate the powerful relative Liang Ji, he heard that they were using their power to exclude dissidents and do whatever they wanted. So he either killed them or exiled them and confiscated all the fiefdoms of their sons and brothers."

"Afterwards, Emperor Xiaohuan established the 'Three Mutual Laws' to prevent local officials from forming cliques and suppress powerful clans; he also appointed Sanming of Liangzhou to quell the Qiang rebellion, to attack the Xianbei and drive them beyond the Great Wall, and to reclaim the kingdoms of Kucha and Wusun in the Western Regions. He also restored diplomatic relations between the Han Dynasty and India and the Roman Empire... Such achievements are probably no less than those of Emperor Xiaohe, who ushered in the Yongyuan era of prosperity."

Looking at history can make many things clearer.

At this moment, Liu Biao seemed like a learned historian and began to talk about Emperor Ling of Han.

"As for Emperor Xiaoling... although his act of selling official positions was absurd, I can now somewhat understand his predicament."

“At the time, I always thought that the emperor, who possessed the wealth of the whole world, could not possibly come up with such a way to make money. But now I understand that even if one sits on that throne, it does not mean that one can control everything.”

Liu Biao pointed to one of his lampstands: "This lamp is one I brought from my old home in Gaoping, and I've been using it ever since."

"Guests often ask me why I put such a broken lamp here. I tell them that it was something that accompanied me when I was young, and I can't bear to throw it away."

"Actually, this light goes out after only a short while each time, and sometimes it even emits black smoke that stings people's eyes. I have thought about smashing it and throwing it away many times."

"But if we throw it away, we'll have to buy a new one."

"The money for the purchases will either come from my private treasury salary, or it will go through the public accounts, with the prefect's office handling the procurement." "The former... perhaps replacing one lamp wouldn't be a problem, but what about a hundred? A thousand? Especially as a prefect, if I want to do something, the money and grain needed will be far more than ten million. How could my own salary of two thousand shi be enough?"

"The latter... uses public funds for procurement, and who knows how many shady dealings are involved. It is supposed to be to buy an oil lamp, but the final expenditure may be to rebuild a house, and in the end, you will be criticized for 'extorting and levying taxes without regard for the people's labor'. That's why I have tolerated this lampstand day after day."

Liu Biao looked dejected: "It's laughable that I used to mock Emperor Xiaoling, thinking that he would do such a disgraceful thing as the emperor."

"Emperor Xiaoling could have easily avoided selling official positions and titles. He could have simply ruled by doing nothing and not ended up with the infamous posthumous title of 'Ling' (meaning 'spirited')."

"But Emperor Xiaoling, unable to bear the loneliness, insisted on executing powerful eunuchs like Hou Lan and Wang Fu, establishing the 'Court of Attendants' to check the Secretariat, and sending troops to conquer Goguryeo, incorporating it into the Han Dynasty. He also had the 'Xiping Stone Classics' engraved, using standardized texts as the unified standard for examinations to prevent cheating. He founded the 'Hongdu Gate Academy,' using it to recruit students from humble backgrounds to compete with powerful clans..."

Liu Biao sighed, "The Liu emperors are all terrifying."

"Compared to them, my Liu bloodline seems somewhat unworthy of the name."

The shouts of battle outside grew louder and closer.

After listening quietly to Liu Biao's words, Kuai Liang asked Liu Biao, "Does my lord wish to become a figure like Huan or Ling?"

Liu Biao shook his head: "My talents are far inferior to those of the two emperors. How can I accomplish what they could not?"

"If I had seen this clearly when I was young, I might have had the courage to do something while my passion was still burning."

"But now I am old and frail, and I have no desire to fight for anything. I only wish to protect the people of this region for the rest of my life, so that they may be spared from the turmoil of war."

Liu Biao heard the shouts of battle outside getting closer and closer, and knew that his time was running out.

"At first I thought that no one in the world could do what those two emperors could not do."

"So I thought, since I can't do it, I might as well not do it. I'll just wait until Lord Yuan or someone else unifies the north in the future, and then I'll do a favor and hand over Jingzhou to him."

"But ever since Lu Su from Jiangdong was sent as an envoy to the emperor and came to Jingzhou to talk to me about Liu Miao, I have realized that there are indeed people in this world who can do what the two emperors of the Han Dynasty could not do."

Kuai Liang frowned: "Liu Miao? What merits does he possess?"

“He does the same things as the emperor, and he is even smarter than the emperor.”

When Liu Biao spoke of Liu Miao, although they had never met, there was a sense of familiarity in his words.

"At that time, Emperor Xiaoling established the Hongdu Gate Academy, which seemed to mainly teach useless subjects such as poetry and calligraphy. In fact, he wanted to bypass the promotion path controlled by the families of Confucian scholars, cultivate lower-class literati and scholars, appoint them as attendants in the palace, participate in decision-making, and go out to the provinces to consolidate power."

"Actually, I was inspired by Emperor Xiaoling to establish schools in Jingzhou... but I didn't expect that the powerful clans in Jingzhou would grow so strong that they wouldn't give me any room to maneuver."

"Moreover, this method has a fatal weakness, which is that it is too slow."

"It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person. Even if this plan succeeds, I myself definitely won't be able to hold on until that day."

"But Liu Miao, ha, that kid is smarter than me and Emperor Xiaoling."

Liu Biao was genuinely happy when he mentioned Liu Miao.

"He didn't adopt our clumsy approach of slowly cultivating talented individuals to compete with the powerful families. Instead, he simply and brutally killed people with a single blow and then distributed the land to the lower-class scholars and commoners."

"He's a strange person. He seems to have no fear of powerful families at all. Even Emperor Xiaoling only dared to use the pretext of 'selling official positions' to slowly extract money from these families, but he dared to go up and beat them to death with a stick, then shamelessly took everything for himself, and then used these things to take in poor people and commoners who were displaced by war..."

"Zirou, I have searched through the entire history books and have only seen one person do you think has ever done such a thing. Can you guess who it is?"

Kuai Liang thought about it and finally gave up.

"I am not as well-versed in literature as you are, my lord. I do not know who you are referring to."

"Emperor Taizu Gao."

Liu Biao laughed and said, "Back then, Emperor Gao first gathered those who were dissatisfied with the tyrannical Qin Dynasty to overthrow it, and then used those who were dissatisfied with the nobles of the six states to overthrow Xiang Yu."

"People like them are always able to go with the flow and turn it into their own advantage."

“You can never win against him.”

(End of this chapter)