My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 279: Isn’t this a bad deal?
"I, your aunt, will never give up~"

The next morning, Shanglinyuan and Bowangyuan.

Wearing an ordinary robe and a Liu's hat on his head, Liu Rong walked among the fields in Bowang Garden with his hands behind his back. He said this with a smile, and then let out a long sigh.

And beside Liu Rong, Dou Ying, Marquis of Weiqi, who was traveling with the emperor, also had a wry smile on his face and kept shaking his head.

I don’t know when it started, but the entire city of Chang’an seemed to have accepted this objective reality overnight.

——Liu Piao, the Lord of Guantao, insisted on becoming the mother-in-law of the Emperor of Han!
Of course, no matter how crazy Liu Piao was, she would never marry her daughter to her own brother, her daughter's uncle.
Naturally, Liu Piao set her sights on the emperor's younger brother: the son of Emperor Xiaojing Liu Qi, the next Han emperor after Emperor Qi.

Even before the body of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen was cold and the national mourning was over, and Emperor Xianzong Xiaojing had just ascended the throne and hadn't even warmed up his seat on the imperial couch, Liu Piao had the "foresight" to find Li Ji, now Empress Dowager Li.

From that time on, the entire Chang'an city tacitly agreed to two things.

First: At that time, no matter who moved into the Prince's Palace, he would inevitably have to marry the daughter of Marquis Tangyi.

Second: Unless he accepted Liu Piao's invitation for a political marriage, it would be difficult for Liu Rong to successfully ascend to the throne of crown prince, even as the eldest son of the emperor.

Even if he became the crown prince of the Han Dynasty, it would be impossible for him to have smooth sailing and live to see the day when the emperor would leave the palace.

Everything that happened later indirectly confirmed this view.

——After his mother Li Ji sternly rejected Liu Piao, Liu Rong simply came forward to protect his relationship with Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace.

As for his aunt Liu Piao, Liu Rong didn't even let her make empty promises like "my nephew will definitely marry A Jiao" - he didn't even let Liu Piao take advantage of him in terms of some money or other financial gains.

So, Liu Piao began to jump up and down, making trouble again and again, causing a lot of trouble.

In the matter of stabilizing grain prices, they secretly put obstacles in Liu Rong's way~
Openly flirting with the then Qilan Palace, namely the Great King's Beauty: Wang Zhi and the mother and son of the tenth prince Liu Zhi, pretending to support the tenth prince in the fight for the throne~
Even three years after Emperor Xiaojing's death, Crown Prince Liu Rong was regent, and it is unknown how many times he had fought with his aunt.

It can be said that the current Liu Rong - the now sophisticated and mature Tianzi Rong, is 30% of the foresight and foresight of a time traveler;
Sancheng was carefully cultivated by Emperor Xiaojing through his words and deeds;

The remaining 40% were basically trained by Liu Piao, the owner of Guantao, as a 'practice partner' for Liu Rong.

What loopholes and drawbacks might the court's policies have, who might exploit them, and what negative impact would they have on the ancestral temple and the country?
Many of these propositions were demonstrated personally by Liu Piao in the past few years, giving Liu Rong one valuable political lesson after another.

It was indeed as people in Chang'an said seven years ago: If Liu Rong had not married A Jiao, even if he had become the crown prince, he would not have been able to survive until the death of the late Emperor Xiaojing.

Or it should be said that simply rejecting this marriage proposal brought Liu Rong a lot of unnecessary troubles and obstacles, and caused him to lose many political resources that he could have fought for or even directly possessed.

Liu Rong had also heard a lot of rumors about this matter.

Some people say that Liu Rong inherited the glorious tradition of the Han emperors and had a sexual orientation that was different from that of the general public.
Some people also say that Liu Rong is simply young and ignorant, unable to see through the seriousness of this situation, and that his youthful recklessness has led to his illness, so he can only grit his teeth and swallow his anger, paying for the mistakes he made when he was young.

Some people even regarded Liu Piao's beloved daughter, Princess A Jiao, as the descendant of a living female devil who was two meters tall, had a strong back and waist, and a red face and fangs...

But anyone who has a little bit of brains and knows Liu Rong a little knows that the real trait Liu Rong inherited from his father and grandfather is to shoot without a target and to release the eagle without a rabbit.

——There are only two situations that can make Liu Rong accept such a huge loss of political resources, as well as such serious political hidden dangers and risks, and refuse this marriage.

First: Accepting this marriage would bring greater losses and hidden dangers to Liu Rong!
Therefore, Liu Rong followed the natural law of "choose the lesser of two evils" and chose the one that was relatively less bad, with relatively less loss and relatively easier to accept from two very bad options.

This statement was widely recognized both inside and outside the court.

Most people believe that the reason why Liu Rong rejected this marriage was to avoid the emergence of a woman of high generation, great power, and the ability to do whatever the Han emperor wants after Empress Dowager Lü.

Especially considering that Liu Piao was not a foreigner but a relative of the Liu clan, the importance of this hidden danger seemed to be greater than offending Liu Piao.

Furthermore, as a female politician living in the feudal era, Liu Piao's political status was almost entirely derived from her blood relationship with Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace, as well as her supreme status in Empress Dowager Dou's heart and her close relationship with her.

In other words: What really worried Liu Rong was not that Liu Piao would become another powerful woman who would bring disaster to the Han Dynasty by relying on the queen's daughter;
Rather, it was the ties between Liu Piao, Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace, and the entire Dou clan of relatives by marriage that probably led to the already large and powerful Dou clan of relatives by marriage forming a close political alliance with Queen Ajiao because of Liu Piao's existence.

As everyone knows, the emperor of the Han Dynasty would never accept the appearance of a second empress dowager in the same family.

The late Empress Bo, the original wife of Emperor Xiaojing and now living in Gui Palace, is strong evidence of this fact.

Naturally, the Han emperor, who did not allow "two queens from one family", would never allow a family of in-laws who already had a queen dowager to get too close to a second woman who might become a queen dowager, such as the empress or the crown princess.

It was obvious that Princess A Jiao and Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace were too close, both in terms of kinship and affection;
Therefore, in order to suppress the Dou family's in-laws, which were already powerful enough - even too powerful, and to prevent the Dou family from having a relationship with a future empress dowager after Empress Dowager Dou, it was foreseeable that Liu Rong was unwilling to marry Princess A Jiao.

This set of arguments was well-reasoned and logically rigorous, and almost became a consensus inside and outside the court.

Of course, there are also a very small number of people who prefer the second possibility.

That is: In Liu Rong's view, the benefits brought to him by marrying Princess A Jiao were not as great as the benefits brought to him by rejecting Princess A Jiao.

Therefore, in order to pursue greater political interests, Liu Rong chose to reject this marriage.

This is a win-win situation, choose the greater one.

Compared with the "lesser of two evils" that most people agree with, this statement seems somewhat unconvincing.

——What benefits can Liu Rong get by rejecting this marriage?
Especially since this benefit is even greater than a political marriage with Princess Guantao, which would stabilize the Empress Dowager Donggong?
How is it possible~
For a young emperor who is in his prime but has a shallow foundation, what could be more important than stabilizing the Empress Dowager of the Eastern Palace?
What could be more important and have a higher priority than building good relations with the Eastern Palace and securing one's throne?
At this point, some people are beginning to get closer to the final truth.

——Your Majesty must have found someone else!

Marrying this person can bring greater benefits to Your Majesty than marrying Princess A Jiao!
But it is precisely this view that makes the entire "choose the greater of two benefits" argument lose its only persuasiveness.

impossible!
There is no such woman in the Han family today!
In the world today, there is absolutely no candidate for queen who can bring greater benefits to Your Majesty than Princess Gillian!
Especially after Liu Rong's final descendants were confirmed to be the long-deceased Pingyang Marquis family, people inside and outside the court became even more convinced that rejecting Princess A Jiao was just Liu Rong choosing a plan with less losses and fewer hidden dangers, rather than a plan with greater benefits.

But no one knows: it is precisely the possibility that everyone thinks is impossible - absolutely impossible, that is Liu Rong's real focus of consideration.

——The Pingyang Marquis Family is really a better choice than the Guantao Princess. It can bring greater benefits to Liu Rong and bring greater benefits to the Han ancestral temple and the country!

And it's not just a little bit better, but it's a huge benefit that has surpassed Liu Piao, the Lord of Guantao, and even Empress Dowager Dou in the Eastern Palace behind A Jiao... Of course, even though he has made up his mind, Liu Rong still has to admit: If he wants his aunt Liu Piao to give up, he has to make a human heart stop beating in the physical sense.

Or maybe the Empress Dowager of the Eastern Palace passed away, causing Liu Piao to lose her biggest and only supporter, thus losing her ability to move around;

Or, Gillian died unexpectedly, leaving Liu Piao without the tools to commit the crime.

Or...

"I'm afraid that until the day she dies, the Grand Princess will not be able to rest in peace because she was unable to marry her daughter to Your Majesty..."

After further contact with Liu Piao, Dou Ying has basically concluded that Liu Piao's evil heart will only disappear along with her body.

To put it in a phrase often used by later generations: Even if I, Liu Piao, die or jump off the Beique, I will never give up on letting my daughter A Jiao become the mistress of the Han family's pepper room!
Moreover, it is highly unlikely that Liu Piao would abide by the law of "true fragrance", and it is impossible for Liu Rong to find a new direction for this disgusting aunt that would make Liu Piao exclaim "true fragrance".

"I hope the princess won't do anything stupid because of her unsatisfied desires..."

Dou Ying sighed softly, but Liu Rong only grinned and shook his head with a relaxed look.

"will not."

"Grandmother, I will not allow Aunt Guantao to do whatever she wants."

"——Previously, the King of Yan presented a memorial to me, hoping that I could examine the virtues and personalities of the King of Yan's sons and select one with both virtue and character to be the King of Yan's crown prince."

"The Empress Dowager sent someone to tell me that I had just been crowned and was in charge of government affairs, and that I was afraid that I would be too busy with government affairs to take care of such a small matter.

"I will just go with the flow and ask the Empress Dowager to take the trouble to worry about this matter for me..."

As soon as these words were spoken, Dou Ying raised his head instantly and looked at Liu Rong in disbelief!

But Liu Rong shook his head and smiled again, and continued: "A few days ago, the King of Dai, the King of Liang, and the sons of the late emperor, such as Jiangdu and Hejian, successively requested to make memorials;"

"Those who have heirs should follow the example of the King of Yan and ask me to examine the conduct of the princes. Those who do not have heirs should also hope that I can tour Guandong in the future to meet the princes of each family."

"——I have sent all those memorials to the Imperial Grandmother and will leave it to her to decide."

"If everything goes well, from now on, my Han family's Eastern Palace Queen Mother will have the power to 'inspect the conduct of the princes and appoint a crown prince', and even to depose and appoint a crown prince."

"And all this is based on the premise that I am crowned and in charge of state affairs, and have no time to care about other things;"

"We can only leave these 'trivial matters' to the East Palace..."

After saying this, Liu Rong turned his head with a half-smile and looked at Dou Ying with a look that was full of intrigue.

Dou Ying frowned and pondered for a long time, and finally said worriedly under Liu Rong's amused gaze: "If this happens, the future Empress Dowager of Han will be able to do whatever she wants to the clan members and princes."

"——For the continuation of the Kingdom's ancestral temple, the clan members and princes will certainly compete to beg for mercy in front of the East Palace;"

"It even happened that 'the clan members and princes knew the empress dowager but not the emperor'. In extreme cases, they even sent troops to Guandong in the name of the empress dowager and attacked the emperor in the name of being unfilial..."

Before Dou Ying finished speaking, Liu Rong waved his hand nonchalantly, and then smiled and put his hand on Dou Ying's shoulder;

He patted it lightly, but said in a very relaxed tone: "Anyway, these princes and vassals will be weakened sooner or later."

"——The previous emperor's Wu-Chu rebellion had already removed most of the obstacles to reducing the power of the feudal lords."

"The rest is just slow work, to gradually weaken and dismember the princes and vassal kings, and eventually make them nobles who are only nobler than the Marquis in name, but in reality there is not much difference."

···
"In this operation, the Queen Mother is certainly in control of the lifeline of the clan princes, and through this, she controls the clan princes."

"But what does it matter?"

"In the future, it will be impossible for our Han Dynasty to have powerful vassals like King Wu Liu Bi and King Liang Xiao Liu Wu."

“——Even the current kings of Hejian and Jiangdu will be seen as extremely large and powerful countries in the eyes of future generations!”

"Hand over the relatives and princes who will inevitably be weakened, dismembered, and even destroyed, in exchange for the support of the East Palace for me to be crowned and rule the country;"

"Isn't this a very good deal?"

These words made Dou Ying fall into deep thought.

Of course Dou Ying understood what Liu Rong said.

There was no need to even think about it - as soon as Liu Rong said it, Dou Ying had already figured out the seriousness of it.

It was just that Dou Ying was thinking: such a far-sighted perspective, such sophisticated means;
Is Liu Rong really just a young emperor who has just been crowned and is only in his early twenties?

You have to know that at this age, Emperor Xian Xiaojing had just passed the stage of being young and frivolous, and was trapped in philosophical thinking about "how to make my father beat me less"...

"Let's go;"

"At least he will become the Imperial Censor and the Prime Minister of Han."

"Follow me and take a good look at how powerful our Han family is."

"——Lest I raise an army in anger in the future and take Junchen's dog head to appease the Tai and Gao temples, but my cousin does not understand my intention;"

"Instead, they proposed to stop the war, which only caused suspicion between the emperor and his subjects, and alienation between uncles and nephews..."

(End of this chapter)