A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

The King of Liang was a thorn in Emperor Jing of Han's side. If he could take this opportunity to get rid of the King of Liang, it would be worth it to lose Chao Cuo and some imperial guards!

Emperor Jing of Han thought to himself.

"Your Majesty, I thank you!"

When Chao Cuo heard that Emperor Jing of Han would assign him imperial guards for protection and thoughtfully arranged for the Marquis of Wu'an, son of the King of Loyalty and Martial Arts and a contemporary military genius, to personally select them, he was extremely grateful.

This further strengthened their belief in helping Emperor Jing of Han to completely eliminate the vassal kings and seize control of the entire empire!

After assigning tasks to the various ministers, the Edict of Grace was transmitted to all parts of the Han Dynasty at an extremely fast pace.

However, the most powerful vassal kings of Wu and Chu committed suicide and died in battle, and the imperial army is still in Wu and Chu. The King of Zhao was captured for plotting a rebellion, and the King of Qi suffered heavy losses for resisting the four states. The four states in Qi were defeated and lost many soldiers. The only one in the whole world capable of resisting the imperial court is the King of Liang.

However, the Liang King's army is no longer in his hands; it is now firmly controlled by the Marquis of Wu'an of the imperial court.

They certainly didn't want to divide their territory among their brothers, but they were powerless against the imperial court's hegemony, and they were furious with Wei Qing for proposing this policy.

Tragically, they were no match for Emperor Jing of Han, or even Wei Qing.

With the power accumulated by the Wei family over the years, and Wei Yu, the terrifying military god who inherited part of the Zhongwu King's combat strength, crushing them would be no difficult task.

When the several feudal lords met, they chose non-violent non-cooperation.

They did not rebel, and the imperial court could not simply send a large army to suppress them in order to forcefully implement the Edict of Grace. If the emperor did not want to leave a bad name in history for forcing his brothers and nephews to their deaths, he would not do so.

It's not worth it.

So when the court officials arrived in the vassal states, this was the scene they encountered.

I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling well and cannot receive guests.

You asked when I would get better? I don't know. I won't get better before you leave.

Relying on his hard work during the Rebellion of the Seven States and his guilt over the court taking away his military power, King Liang stayed in Chang'an for a long time, trying to regain his military power.

For this reason, he was the first among the feudal lords to receive news of the Edict of Grace.

Upon receiving this news, King Liu Wu of Liang was so angry that he smashed everything in the room to pieces.

His Liang Kingdom had a total of 48 counties, most of which were large counties, with 93 households and a population of 441 million.

According to the Edict of Grace, wouldn't his Liang Kingdom be divided into five?

That won't do!

Liang Guoke was his life's work!

More importantly, he discovered that the King of Wu and the King of Chu might not be acting as him, but his good brother was.

These days, whenever he mentions the topic of brotherhood, that what's yours is mine, and what's mine is yours, Emperor Jing of Han just laughs it off.

He suspected that what Emperor Jing of Han thought of his was Emperor Jing's, but what Emperor Jing thought of was not his.

What kind of succession is this, from brother to brother? There's not even a hair on it.

Do you have hair?

What a joke the King of Liang is!

He was already in such a terrible state, yet Emperor Jing of Han still wanted to get rid of him!

He also wants to divide his Liang Kingdom!

The person who came to Liang was Chao Cuo!

Who was Chao Cuo?

Chao Cuo was Emperor Jing of Han's most trusted henchman.

As long as Emperor Jing of Han gave the order, he could even kill his own father and mother.

He didn't even frown!

King Liu Wu of Liang is now in a dilemma. If he returns to Liang, his contributions to the Rebellion of the Seven States will be forfeited. If he wants to return to the capital, it will be difficult.

If he doesn't return to Liang, there's no one in Liang who can deal with Chao Cuo, who holds great power. Only he can barely manage to deal with Chao Cuo based on his merits.

He quickly sought out his advisors Han Anguo, Gongsun Gui, and Yang Sheng.

What plan should we devise?

Liu Wu asked anxiously.

Han Anguo had already learned about the contents of the Edict of Grace on his way here, and had already drafted it in his mind.

However, this is an open conspiracy, and we cannot confront it head-on; we can only choose to preserve one of them.

"Your Majesty, the Edict of Grace can no longer be stopped. Now Your Majesty has two choices."

Which two?

"First option: Based on the King's merits in the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, and following the example of King Chungmu, we request Your Majesty to enfeoff the King's other four sons as kings and grant them fiefdoms in other territories."

"In this way, the Liang Kingdom can be preserved, but Your Majesty's achievements will be wasted, and you will no longer be able to stay in the capital to plan great things."

"What's the second option?"

The King of Liang was somewhat unwilling. If he could obtain the throne, what did it matter if the Liang Kingdom didn't want it?

Compared to the vast empire of the Han Dynasty, the mere Liang Kingdom is utterly insignificant!

"The second option: The court is now very powerful, and the Edict of Grace cannot be stopped. If Your Majesty can take the initiative to cooperate and assist in the implementation of the Edict of Grace, it will be a great achievement and will increase Your Majesty's bargaining power."

Han Anguo genuinely believed that the Prince of Liang could not possibly inherit the throne.

Unlike Emperor Hui of Han, who had no sons, why should he pass the throne to a brother with whom he has only a casual relationship?

Do you think your son will be more filial and perform more ancestral rites for him than his son?!

I'm afraid your descendants might settle scores and cause our family line to end!

This is something that the Han people find utterly intolerable!

During the Han Dynasty, the greatest worry of nobles and officials who had no descendants was the lack of incense offerings after their death. There are even records of people shedding blood tears after their deaths, lamenting that they had become lonely ghosts.

In the days to come, no one will remember them anymore. There will be no incense, no offerings, no sacrifices. They will suffer endless torment day and night.

It's obvious even to a fool that the Prince of Liang could never become emperor!

It would only be possible if all of Emperor Jing's sons died suddenly and he himself could no longer have children.

But that's completely unrealistic!

But since the King of Liang had been kind to him, he was already marked by the King of Liang and couldn't change his allegiance!

Which one to choose?

King Liang was torn; he wanted it all, to retain his merits, but also not to divide the Liang kingdom.

In the end, King Liang still couldn't make up his mind, so he decided to wait. He was in the capital, and without his consent, Chao Cuo couldn't force the division of the Liang Kingdom.

Perhaps the other vassal kings blocked the imperial decree of bestowing favors, then he wouldn't need to be chosen.

Moreover, he felt that he treated all his sons equally, just like Empress Dowager Dou treated him and Emperor Jing of Han. With the five brothers united, what could Chao Cuo possibly do?

When Han Anguo learned of the King of Liang's choice, he felt a wave of dizziness. How did he end up with such a powerful king?

Ambitious but unlucky, and completely clueless.

They will definitely face retribution from Emperor Jing of Han or the next emperor.

However, once King Liu Wu of Liang made up his mind, he would not listen to their advice and instead chose to go to the palace to continue to whisper in the Empress Dowager's ear.

......

Meanwhile, Chao Cuo had already rushed to the Liang Kingdom, and his spies in the capital had relayed all of the Liang King's movements to him.

Chao Cuo smiled sarcastically. The King of Liang was truly useless. If the King of Liang returned to the Liang Kingdom, he would be a real problem for him, given his recent achievements. After all, Emperor Jing of Han also had his pride.

But since the King of Liang chose to stay in the capital, Chao Cuo accepted the credit!