Father Han Gaozu

Chapter 668

"Your Majesty is good at war, please use war as a metaphor!"

You just wanted to talk about murder, didn't you?

Liu Chang's face was a little dark, and he just looked at the little old man in front of him calmly.

Liu Jing didn't care about the change in Liu Chang's expression, he raised his head high, showing no fear of Liu Chang.

Liu Jing has been the Prime Minister of Hexi for many years, and this year he officially resigned from office. He resigned and went home. He originally wanted to return to his own country, but he received a letter from Chao Cuo, and learned that Chao Cuo would vigorously rectify the good people everywhere. Suddenly, Liu Jing's feet didn't hurt anymore, and his waist didn't feel sore anymore. He jumped into the carriage and flew towards Chang'an.

Speaking of it, he, an old man who is almost 80 years old, can still drive all the way from Hexi to Chang'an, which is quite admirable.

But when he came to Chang'an, Chao Cuo had already been imprisoned.

Liu Jing is already very old, and he seems to be holding his last breath. At this age, he is really not afraid of anything, and he is completely open. In a big man who receives special care from the elderly, he is rebellious at this age He will not be executed if he dies, and Liu Chang may not dare to beat him. He is so crumbling that he can't bear a single punch. Liu Jing immediately started the mode of relying on the old and selling the old. After he came to the palace, he found that the emperor did not see his foreign ministers. They were blocked by the gate of the palace, so he chose to charge directly, and he slammed into the spear in the soldier's hand, either get out of the way or kill me.

At that time, Lu Tazhi, the new Lang Zhong who was stationed in the palace, turned pale with fright, and hurriedly asked the soldiers to put away their weapons. If this old man died at the gate of the palace, and died in the hands of the soldiers he led, would it be okay? ?

After Lu Tazhi hurriedly sent someone to report, Liu Chang could only hold his nose and ask him to come in for an interview.

The old man felt that his time was numbered, and he had completely let himself go.

However, the group of officials still follow this routine, and they dare not bear the infamy of killing old officials in vain.

Liu Chang is not afraid to bear any notoriety, but, Liu Chang still likes this old man very much. As he grows older, Liu Chang understands more and more how powerful the mausoleum system proposed by the old man is. They all changed their views, so they can bear his rudeness for the time being.

Liu Jing was sitting in front of Liu Chang carelessly at this moment, pointing fingers at Liu Chang's recent deployment.

Liu Chang reminded him maliciously: "Mr. Liu is old. I heard that your son served as a county captain in Yingchuan. Many people impeached him for his actions. Do you think his character can inherit your title?"

The emperor's threat is very clear, if I can't deal with you, can I also deal with your son?When you are relying on the old to sell the old here, think more about your own children, so as not to implicate them!

Liu Jing obviously didn't panic, he said with a smile: "My son is not good enough, but the talent of the county guard, if His Majesty thinks his virtue is not enough, just dismiss him!"

Liu Chang snorted coldly, "Then please use a war metaphor."

"When the Taiwei fought against Xiang Yu, the Taiwei chose to fight steadily, but Xiang Yu led his army to attack fiercely. One was slow and the other was in a hurry. Xiang Yu lost an army, attacked again, lost another army, attacked again, and attacked three times. After the Taiwei, he found that the army around him was no longer able to attack again, so he was completely wiped out."

"How much more hateful is the behavior of the powerful people in the world than Xiang Ji? The eagerness to fight back is even better than Xiang Ji. Your Majesty is now letting Chao Cuo attack with all his strength. It is very difficult to put them all down with a single attack. The minister thinks that your Majesty should follow the example of the Taiwei, and instead of destroying them all at once, it is better to set up an official in charge of the mausoleum and let them move to various places every year, every month, and every day. There is no need to move hundreds of thousands or even millions of people at a time to guard the mausoleum. This system becomes a common practice. This is called the way of checks and balances, so that there is no prosperity for the powerful.”

Liu Chang understood somewhat. What Liu Jing meant was to stop himself from doing such a sudden large-scale attack, not to take a big action every few years, but to set up a professional department, and then catch a little bit every day, Uninterrupted weakening of their power will neither cause large-scale resistance nor turmoil. If they are eaten up slowly, there is no way for the powerful to completely eradicate them. Then we must find a way to control their scale and continue to harvest.

Liu Chang was thoughtful, "If you could have come one day earlier, maybe I would have obeyed, but now, I'm afraid I can't."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Some are powerful and lawless. They dare to collude with the ministers to openly harm the three princes. They even involve my elder brother in it. If they don't beat them, I won't be at ease!"

"Liu Gong, I know you are virtuous, but there are too few virtuous people like you in the country. They all have ulterior motives, support the left and right tyrants, and cooperate with the murder of the three lords. Why don't you kill such thieves?! Liu Gong is a veteran of the founding of the country. , I have always respected you very much, don’t you know the current situation in the temple?”

Liu Jing said with a smile: "This matter is entirely due to your fault!"

"What?! Old Dog An dares to insult me?!"

Liu Chang was furious, and he stretched out his hand to pinch Liu Jing. Lu Lu was shocked, and hurried forward, hugging Liu Chang's hand with both hands, "Your Majesty!! No way!!"

Liu Jing was not afraid, he said calmly: "Why did your majesty let Chao Cuo do such a thing? Things will become like this, not because of the audacity, not because the people of the world colluded to be dissatisfied with you, but because of the handling of this matter." The person responsible for the incident is Chao Cuo."

"This man, Chao Cuo, is radical, arrogant, arrogant, and has offended so many people. All the officials in the temple wished to kill him, and the princes of the world wanted to eat his flesh. Want to assassinate him. If His Majesty orders Luan Bu to handle this matter, will it cause such opposition? Will anyone still want to murder the minister? Will Shen Tujia still easily believe the words of the ranger?"

"Hmph, so I don't understand who I employ? If I use Luan Bu to handle this matter, would Luan Bu dare to make such a big move with Chao Cuo? Although he is my confidant, he is a sincere gentleman. There is no such thing as causing thousands of families to relocate their families."

Liu Jing slapped his knee suddenly, and shouted: "Then why not use the old minister?! Isn't the old minister not as good as that Chao Cuo? The old minister has a notoriety like Chao Cuo?! If the old minister is here to handle it, how can there be so many things? !"

Lu Lu's face twitched, is this your original intention? !

Liu Chang looked at the old man in front of him, "Mr. Liu, at your age, do I still dare to appoint you to handle such a big event?"

"Although I don't have the ability to be incorruptible, I have the ambition to be incorruptible. Does your majesty want me to issue military orders?!"

The old man didn't come here to save Chao Cuo at all, on the contrary, he came here to seize power.

No wonder he resigned in a hurry and went straight to Chang'an, co-authoring to take over Chao Cuo? ?

Liu Chang looked at Liu Jing in front of him, was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

"I have known for a long time that you and Chao Cuo are courageous, but I didn't realize that they are so courageous."

The smile on Liu Jing's face froze immediately, "What do you mean, Your Majesty?"

"You had a correspondence with Chao Cuo before, and Chao Cuo told me many times that you and him had a very good conversation, but when you arrived in Chang'an, the first thing you did was to take over Chao Cuo, are you afraid? It was planned long ago, Chao Cuo first did things with great fanfare, learned from that book, and rushed with all his strength, and when the world's powerful and powerful were frightened and opposed everywhere, then you would take over and put an end to Chao Cuo's tyranny on the surface, but in fact But it is necessary to set up a new department to make the mausoleum system an unchangeable policy, and to carry it out year after year, so that the entire Han Dynasty will get used to it. Is this the reason?"

A trace of astonishment flashed in Liu Jing's eyes, as if he knew the emperor in front of him for the first time.

Liu Chang smiled disdainfully, "Mr. Liu, I have always supported you in doing this, so why hide it from me?"

Liu Jing let out a long sigh, "Your Majesty, I planned to meet you with Chao Cuo when I came to Chang'an to discuss this matter, but I didn't expect that Chao Cuo had already been arrested."

"Tell the truth. Chao Cuo's behavior this time is not staged by the two of you here, right? If you two really conspired, you tell me now, and I will spare Chao Cuo's life, if it is discovered afterwards"

Liu Chang's eyes became a little fierce, staring straight at Liu Jing, but Liu Jing was very calm.

"Your Majesty, I have discussed this matter with Chao Cuo, but I am completely unaware of the false accusation. This is purely because Chao Cuo has offended too many people, and the whole world wants him to die. Therefore, Even a minister like Shen Tujia will believe what you say."

"He may not know that this is a false accusation, but he would rather believe that there is such a thing, even if it is a one-for-one exchange, he will kill Chao Cuo."

"It's not that the ministers have the guts to protect the powerful, but they really hate Chao Cuo so much that they want to kill Chao Cuo even if it angers His Majesty."

"Hao Qiang is not because he has the guts to fight against His Majesty. If there were not so many people who wanted to kill Chao Cuo, they might not have dared to do it. When Emperor Gao first implemented the protection of the mausoleum, I was asked to take charge of it. The old man moved all at once. 28 people, and no one has come to assassinate Chao Cuo, what is this?"

Liu Chang squinted his eyes, "Are there so many people who want to kill Chao Cuo?"

"Your Majesty. Since Shang Zi, is there any Legalist in the world who has a good death?"

"Chao Cuo is His Majesty's sharp blade. In just a few years, he has rectified the administration of officials, so that the officials of the world dare not bully the people. Everyone is in danger, and the tyrannical voice is silenced. The outer kings are terrified. This is his political achievement, but it is also his fault. "

Liu Jing suddenly expressed emotion.

Liu Chang is still very satisfied with Chao Cuo's achievements over the years. When Chao Cuo took office, he never looked at face, friendship, and tried his best to rectify according to Liu Chang's edict. Liu Chang dare not say that there are no officials bullying the people. , but compared to the beginning, at least they have restrained a lot, and they dare not act blatantly, and dare not act recklessly just because they have a second father or something in the temple, because there is a ruthless person in the temple who doesn't value their elders at all.

The Great Han is a new empire with a new system and everything is new. It is the first time for everyone to do this. Qin has not left much experience. The problem of official management has troubled the Great Han for a long time. The military merit system can be used to fight wars, but when it comes to governing the people, it is a bit in history. After the great man was in Wenjing, treacherous officials ran rampant, persecuted the people, deceived the superior and the inferior, the tyrannical prevailed, and controlled massive wealth. It ushered in an era exclusive to the great Han, and later generations called it the era of cruel officials.

Wen Jing's governance has made the people rich and the country peaceful, but it has become a hotbed for tyrants. Officials are becoming more and more miserable, colluding with tyrants, accumulating wealth and deceiving others, and committing all kinds of evil.

Emperor Wu of the Han was furious, and he used cruel officials to kill people. Whoever kills the most can become the biggest official. These cruel officials served as county guards in various places. Chao Cuo was not a cruel official at all after killing him for more than ten years. Although Chao Cuo was radical, he still acted according to the law, including this migration. There is really no clear regulation on who should migrate. Chao Cuo just added a standard and measured it with land property.

When dealing with ministers, he also handles them according to the law. People will not say that he fabricated crimes, but that he is unreasonable, and he will give big punishments for small crimes.

But those people later on, especially those like Zhang Tang, Ning Cheng, Yi Zong, etc., are the real cruel officials. They don’t read any laws at all, and it’s good to fabricate crimes, usually like robbers, Kill them directly, without looking for any reason. Among them, like Yi Zong, they are pure lunatics, murderers and demons. Chao Cuo kills people to rule the country. Killing, including the people at the bottom, like the cruel officials of the older generation, Zhidu, Zhao Yu, Zhang Tang, etc., took good care of the people at the bottom, especially Zhidu, his ruthlessness was only aimed at the powerful and ministers.

But the ruthless officials who were used by Emperor Wu were more cruel than the other, and they were the ones who could not punish the five clans too much. They would even plunder the people and were more cruel than the robbers.
Many people criticize Emperor Wu's reuse of cruel officials, but the reason why Emperor Wu is like this is because of the issue of officialdom and tyranny.

Under Liu Chang's rule, the great man developed rapidly, and these two hazards appeared much earlier. Fortunately, the elder still had Chao Cuo under his command.

"What Chao Cuo has done is good. The administration of officials is much better than before."

Liu Chang nodded, "Well, then you will take over the matter of Chao Cuo and advance the matter of Lingyi again. However, if he is related to the false accusation, I will not let him go."

"The minister obeys the order!!"

Wang Tianqi looked at the aggrieved Chao Cuo in front of him. Chao Cuo had too many enemies, and it was really troublesome to find out one by one.

However, Pharaoh is an old hand at these things.

Why did Empress Lu deliberately let him serve as a court lieutenant? Isn't it just to use his hands to get rid of some mediocre little princes?

After Wang Tianqi interrogated Shen Tujia and Chao Cuo, he narrowed down the scope of the criminals. First, they had access to Chao Cuo and were familiar with his handwriting; That Tian Zhong who went to die by himself was not an ordinary person, he was a well-known hero, famous for his righteousness and filial piety, not many people could make him go to die.

Wang Tianqi didn't go out in a hurry, but sat in the mansion and meditated.

The official stood beside him, bowing his head.

"Do you think there are any ministers in the court who were born as rangers?"

"Yes. Ji Gong used to be a ranger."

Wang Tianqi glanced at this man, and asked again: "Then is there anyone who is a ranger in Chu?"

"Yes. Ji Gong is the ranger of Chu State."

"Is there anyone who can make a hero die for himself?"

"Yes. Ji Gong can do it."

"Is there anyone who is familiar with Yushifu and can arrange staff there?"

"Yes. Ji Gong is familiar with the Yushifu. He is the former Yushi and can arrange staff."

Wang Tianqi was furious, "You idiot, do you want to say that Ji Gong did this? What kind of person Ji Gong is, how could he do such a thing?"

After Wang Tianqi finished speaking, he quickly realized something was wrong, and he looked at the official quietly.

"No harm, who told you these words?"

This official is his deputy, not a trivial person, his name is Zhao Buhai, his elder father is Xuchang Zhenhou Zhao Yan, his father is the current Xuchanghou Zhao Fu, he is the third generation.

Zhao Buhai was not afraid, but asked calmly: "Chao Cuo is a traitor. Everyone in the world wants to smash him into pieces. Why do you have to save him? You also know that Ji Gong would not do such a thing." With Ji Gong's character, why can't he continue to serve as Yushi? What qualifications does Chao Cuo have to replace him?"

Wang Tianqi pursed his lips, the whole temple almost wanted Chao Cuo to die, this was the biggest difficulty in finding out the truth.

"Chao Cuo can't die yet. I don't think Chao Cuo's virtue surpasses Ji Bu's. It's just that a big man can't live without Chao Cuo now. Chao Cuo is now in the temple, and all the officials hate him. They think his behavior is radical. If he dies Well, the officials acted fiercely again, and the one who replaced Chao Cuo was not someone like Ji Bu. At that time, the imperial censor at that time will make you miss the current Chao Cuo. The anger of the officials, the dissatisfaction with the powerful, if he disappears, hehe, do you think Ji Bu will be able to come back?"

"Why should I intervene in this matter? I just want to spend my old age in peace. If Chao Cuo is still there, as long as I abide by the law, I will not be afraid of getting into any trouble. If he is not here, everyone should be in danger Time."

"This matter must be done well to satisfy His Majesty and appease his anger. Otherwise, the next person who will be the censor will only be more terrifying than Chao Cuo."

Leaning on crutches, Wang Tianqi got up slowly, and deliberately said: "Your Majesty gave me two days to investigate, but I couldn't find anything tomorrow, so I can only go to the palace to plead guilty, and then ask Your Majesty to execute everyone in Yushifu, anyway. The letter was found in Yushi's Mansion, these people must be inseparable, they are all suspected, so maybe I can be exempted from the punishment of being unfavorable."

Zhao Buhai turned pale with shock, "How can you kill so indiscriminately?"

"Anyway, the thieves must be hiding in Yushifu, just take out the armor from their house."

"Go get Xuan Moru over here, I want to discuss the arrest with him!"

(End of this chapter)