My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 454 Old Years
"Your Majesty is making such a big fuss, as if you want to tell someone: My Han family is going to make another big plan?"

The three old friends walked into Xuanshi together, but they heard the voice of Quzhou Hou Li Ji who had not arrived yet - that highly recognizable and heroic voice came from a long distance.

Since the Zhu Lu Rebellion that shocked the whole world more than 30 years ago, Li Ji, the Marquis of Quzhou, who was a "sell-out friend for fame", has rarely had such a spirited and heroic moment.

——It was true that the incident was such a huge blow to Li Ji back then, and it hurt Li Ji’s feelings too much.

To be honest, Li Ji was also a founding father!
Emperor Taizu Gao conferred the title of Marquis of Quzhou on Li Shang, and he recognized more than just the first marquis Li Shang’s military exploits and achievements.

Instead, the achievements of Li Shang and his son Li Ji were combined and they were collectively granted the title of Marquis of Quzhou, with the father Li Shang as the marquis and the son Li Ji as the heir apparent.

Although it is hard to say who has made greater contributions and who has made less contributions between the father and son - the family was granted the title of Marquis of Quzhou, who is the MVP and who is the easy winner;

But there is no doubt that Li Ji had a share in and made a contribution to the title of Marquis of Quzhou that was exchanged for the Li family.

Saying that it is half may be a bit of an exaggeration, but at least 20 to 30 percent is probably close to the facts.

At the age of twenty, Li Ji followed his father, a general, in battles across the country, against Qin and Chu. He had his own pride.

——A hero father has a hero son, which was extremely rare in the Han Dynasty at that time, especially among the founding fathers!

What is more common is that the father is a hero but the son is a coward.

This was the case for the 18 founding marquises, and for the first 147 marquises of the founding heroes - even the Emperor Taizu Gao himself was the same.

How could Li Ji not be proud and proud of this?

But with that great change, all of Li Ji's pride was almost trampled to pieces.

In the 27th year of the Han Dynasty, that is, the 15th year after the death of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, Empress Dowager Lü passed away.

At that time, the princes and nobles of the Lü clan, headed by Lü Chan and Lü Lu, knew that their family's actions over the past decade would inevitably be unacceptable to the heroes and nobles inside and outside the court of Chang'an.

So he decided: to strike first, launch a coup, and truly take control of the Han family's power into his own hands!
Unfortunately, Li Ji was a close friend of the chief of the Lü clan's rebels: King Lü Lu of Zhao.

There's nothing surprising about this.

At least from Li Ji's perspective, there is nothing strange about this.

——Li Ji, a quasi-hero and second-generation marquis who made great contributions to the country and worked together with his father to build the foundation of the country;

Lu Lu was also the second generation nephew of Lu's in-laws. Although he had made no contributions to the country, he held a high position of power because of Empress Dowager Lu.

We are all of the same age in the circle of "nobles and nobles". What's so strange about getting along better and getting closer to each other?

But the bad thing was that Lü Lu, this "noble relative", happened to be the one who aroused the passion of "the people of the world" at that time. Not only was he the nephew and niece of the Lü family and the princes of the Lü family, he also happened to be the person in charge of the Lü family at that time.

As a result, after the death of Empress Dowager Lu, the Lu family decided to launch a coup, and Li Ji, the friend of "Lü Lu", was thus unknowingly dragged into it.

At that time, the meritorious officials in the court and the princes outside the Great Wall joined forces and decided to attack on both fronts, destroying the three traitors headed by Lu Chan and Lu Lu in one fell swoop.

The prince who responded outside the Pass was Liu Xiang, the richest and most powerful King of Qi in Guandong at that time.

In the court, the heroes and meritorious officials who were responsible for launching the mutiny in Chang'an were mainly Chen Ping and Zhou Bo.

Speaking of these two people, they can be considered old acquaintances and good friends who went through life and death with Li Shang and Li Ji, father and son, and together they founded the foundation of the Han Dynasty.

The meritorious ministers jointly exterminated the Lü clan, and for both moral and logical reasons, they dared to bring along the father and son of the Li family, who were also founding heroes.

As a result, when it came time to take action, Zhou Bo, Marquis of Jiang, who intended to steal the military token from Lü Lu in order to gain control of the Northern Army, turned his attention to the father and son of the Li family.

——Until Li Ji and Lu Lu became good friends and were extremely filial to his father Li Shang, Zhou Bo arrested Li Shang without saying a word.

Then, he called the filial son Li Ji and threatened Li Shang's life, saying: Your father's life is in my hands;

If you don't want to lose your father, you'd better do as I say.

What can Li Ji do?
Even if he was not a filial son, under the universal values ​​of the current Han Dynasty and this era, as the son of a marquis, Li Ji could not possibly ignore the life and death of his father Li Shang.

Especially at that time, Li Shang, the old Duke of Quzhou, was still old and sick!
Therefore, Li Ji could only ask for what he wanted and told Zhou Bo: I will do anything as long as you can release my father.

Li Ji really thought so back then!

As long as he can ensure his father's safety, Li Ji would rather die!

But Zhou Bo obviously would not let Li Ji die so easily.

Zhou Bo told Li Ji: You and Lü Lu are friends. Now Lü Lu wants to use the military power in his hands to gather the strength of all the Lüs to launch a coup and overthrow the ancestral temple and the country of the Han Dynasty.

If I want to stop him, I must seize the military power from him.

Therefore, I need you to trick the military token out of Lu Lu's hand and give it to me. In this way, your father will be safe.

What can Li Ji do?
His father's life was in Zhou Bo's hands, so how could Li Ji not obey his orders?
In desperation, Li Ji could only follow Zhou Bo's instructions and find his friend Lu Lu.

——Li Ji told Lü Lu: Emperor Taizu Gao and Empress Dowager Lü jointly pacified the world, first establishing nine members of the Liu family as vassal states, and then establishing three members of the Lü family as princes;
This was all discussed and agreed upon by the ministers in the court and publicly announced to the princes of the world. The princes all thought that this was the way it should be, and no one thought there was anything wrong with it.

Now Empress Dowager Lü has passed away, the emperor is young, the ruler is young and the country is in doubt;
——You, Lu Lu, wear the seal of King Zhao, but instead of returning to your fiefdom immediately to guard the border wall, you were appointed as the general by the Queen Mother Lu and commanded a large number of troops in the capital!
It is already very enviable that you, Lu Lu, are a king despite having a different surname. Now you are in charge of the army and power in Chang'an. How can you not be slandered and defamed?

Even the princes of Guandong may misunderstand your move, Lu Lu, because they are too far away, and think that you want to gain power in the court and bully the young emperor!

We are friends, so I will naturally not harm you or tell you something from my heart.

If you ask me, the best thing for you to do now is to hang the general's seal in the main hall and hand over the military power to General Zhou.

Then let King Lu Chan of Liang return the seal of the Prime Minister to Prime Minister Chen Ping.

You two are both unofficial and pose no threat to the young emperor's power or troops. If you just go back to your respective fiefdoms honestly, won't others be able to attack you?
King Liu Xiang of Qi started a rebellion under the banner of "annihilating the traitorous Lü clan".

As long as you do this, won't the King of Qi's sinister intentions be known to the world, and your loyalty will also be known to the world, right?

In desperation, King Liu Xiang of Qi, who had no reason to raise an army, had to lead his troops to retreat.

You can go back to your fiefdom without any worries and become the ruler of a country with a radius of thousands of miles. This is the important matter of seeking welfare for your descendants and laying a foundation for your career!!!
……

...

Perhaps no one knows how good the relationship between Lu Lu and Li Ji was, and how much Lu Lu trusted his good friend Li Ji at that time.

But what the world knows is that Lü Lu believed Li Ji's persuasion, which was obviously full of evil intentions and was clearly intended to murder Lü Lu and Lü's relatives. He believed every word of it.

According to Li Ji's "suggestion", he took off the general seal from his waist and hung it in the main hall of the general's mansion;
He then took out the military order to mobilize the Northern Army and entrusted Li Ji to hand it over to the Grand Commandant Zhou Bo.

When members of the Lu family tried to stop him, Lu Lu became even more furious: My friend will not lie to me!

At least Li Ji won’t!!!

It can only be said that this past event not only hurt Li Ji badly, but also made Li Ji suffer for so many years.

Li Ji thought that even if he didn't owe anything to the Lu family, he at least owed something to his good friend Lu Lu.

But Li Ji didn't think he had done anything wrong.

——On one side is his seriously ill and elderly father Li Shang, and on the other side is his friend Lu Lu, who was indeed wrong but had a close personal relationship with him.

On one side is filial piety, on the other side is righteousness.

No matter what choice Li Ji makes, it will be wrong, so no matter what choice he makes, he should not be criticized.

Especially in the context of universal values ​​of this era, Li Ji, who ultimately chose "filial piety", should not be despised by the world.

But things in the world often go against one's wishes...

With the help of Li Ji as a chess piece, the heroes and meritorious nobles led by Chen Ping and Zhou Bo easily solved one of the only two major problems facing the Lü clan's foreign relatives: King Lü Lu of Zhao.

Among the two imperial guards in Chang'an, the latter also immediately obtained the military power.

In addition, before this, King Liu Xiang of Qi sent troops westward from outside the Great Wall and forced the Hangu Pass, forcing King Lu Chan of Liang to send out nearly half of the southern army, and also took Guan Ying, Marquis of Yingyin, who was also a meritorious marquis, to Xingyang.

On the surface, they were going to confront the "rebels" of King Liu Xiang of Qi, but in reality, they were using this opportunity to disperse half of the military forces controlled by the Lu family in the Chang'an area to outside the Great Wall.

Therefore, after taking full control of the Northern Army by claiming that "Liu favors the left", Taiwei Zhou Bo no longer had to worry about anything.

He led the Northern Army into Chang'an, and fought against the Southern Army, which had only half of its troops left in Lu Chan's hands, inside and outside the walls and gates of the Weiyang Palace.

Half of the Southern Army defeated the entire Northern Army, and the outcome was obvious.

——The young men of the Southern Army, who were once famous and had fought with Emperor Taizu Gao in many battles and had made countless contributions, became the burial objects of the "traitors Zhu Lu".

Since then, the Northern Army has become the Han Dynasty's unique ace force.

Regardless of his combat power, he has made great contributions!

Moreover, it is the counterintuitive achievement of "Liu's favoritism"!
Later, of course, the Southern Army was almost slaughtered and annihilated;

Although the Northern Army also suffered heavy casualties, everyone was naked and bare-chested as they walked into the gate of the Weiyang Palace.

The Lü clan surrendered and no one survived.

All the rebels who had "close contacts" with the Lu clan members, both inside and outside the court and in the palace, could not escape the butchery of Chen Ping, Zhou Bo and other officials who were responsible for killing Lu's heroes.

——Even the later Emperor Shao Liu Hong, and Emperor Xiaohui's sons, were identified by Chen Ping and Zhou Bo as "not the sons of Emperor Xiaohui, but bastards born from the harem of Emperor Lü who was executed", and they could not escape death either.

It was not until King Dai Liu Heng was brought to Chang'an and personally escorted into the Weiyang Palace by Zhou Bo that this great change finally came to an end.

Li Ji finally met his father Li Shang again after several months.

The story should have ended here.

Li Ji might have felt guilty towards Lu Lu, or he might have been praised by the people of the world for "abandoning You for his father" and even "killing his relatives for the sake of justice" and "restoring order out of chaos".

But the fact is: Li Ji, the son of Marquis of Quzhou, became the only clown who won after the Lü Rebellion was quelled.

——Selling friends for fame.

Li Ji made the decision out of helplessness for the sake of comforting his father and under the coercion of Zhou Bo, but was judged by the world as: for the sake of fame and wealth, he stabbed his long-time friend Lu Lu in the back, which led to his death, the destruction of his clan, and the breakdown of his family.

The four words "selling out friends for fame" have become the perfect negative example for people all over the world to teach their children and younger generations.

No one dares to say that Li Ji should not have listened to Zhou Bo or cared about his father's safety, but should have helped his good friend Lu Lu to deal with Chen Ping and Zhou Bo.

But similarly, no one acknowledges the objective fact that Li Ji "abandoned his friends to save his father" rather than "sell out his friends for fame".

Today, things have changed dramatically.

Back then, I was a young man who followed Emperor Taizu Gao with my father to chase the lost deer of Qin in the land of China.
That year, a middle-aged man persecuted his best friend for the sake of his father's safety.

Today, he has become a military general who has been branded as "selling out friends for fame" for more than 30 years. He has even been denied the opportunity to become a prime minister at least three times because of this four words "selling out friends for fame".

People in later generations often say that you should not advise others to do good without experiencing their suffering.

What kind of life Li Ji, Marquis of Quzhou, has lived over the past few years - the past thirty-six years, only Li Ji himself knows.

Others may not even be able to sympathize.

So, Li Ji, have you let it go?

I'm afraid not.

As the only one among the founding heroes and meritorious marquises who was a "marquis's son" rather than a "marquis", Li Ji must have been proud.

As the only outstanding second-generation descendant of a founding father who lived up to the title of "son of a general", Li Ji's political ambitions and aspirations must have been ambitious.

As a warrior who was able to make friends with the descendants of the Lu family in those days, Li Ji must have felt guilty towards his deceased good friend Lu Lu.

It was clearly a painful decision he made in order to save his father, but people who did not know the truth considered it as "selling out friends for fame and fortune" - Li Ji must have felt wronged and in pain over the past few years, and at the same time, he had no way to complain and could only endure it in secret.

In the three or at least three competitions for the position of Prime Minister, despite having crushed his opponents in terms of qualifications, ability and other aspects, he still failed because of the four words "selling out friends for fame";
Li Ji must also be conservative and frustrated.

Nowadays, he can still participate in and command the national war between the Han and the Xiongnu as a military general, and is summoned by Liu Rong to the Xuanshi Hall to practice martial arts and discuss matters. Naturally, Li Ji is also tenacious.

It was just this heroic and hearty voice - as if there had been nothing but smooth sailing in life and the clear voice had never experienced any setbacks - that made even Li Ji himself feel a little dazed.

Li Ji seemed to hear the hearty smile that appeared when he was drinking and chatting happily with Lu Lu in the Zhao Wang Mansion in Shangguanli, Chang'an...

(End of this chapter)