My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 571 It’s true

The public opinion surrounding the eldest son of the emperor, Empress Cao Shu, and the Cao family, maternal relatives, was quickly quelled under Liu Rong's intentional or unintentional guidance.

However, some minor incidents inevitably occurred.

—After Liu Rong clearly stated that in his reign, the Han dynasty would restore the primogeniture system of succession, and that the eldest son would be the heir, the Confucian scholars, who were already restless, began to act presumptuously.

At first, it was just a few Confucian scholars who hadn't even grown up yet spreading rumors in the streets and alleys that Liu Rong himself was the eldest son of a concubine, and the late emperor was also actually the eldest son of a concubine.
Liu Rong is now determined to pass the throne to his legitimate son, which is a slap in the face to the late emperor and to himself.

After discovering that this opinion had little market and little impact, some well-known Confucian scholars stepped forward and began to subtly discuss whether the late emperor was the eldest son of the legitimate wife.

But this carelessness has stirred up a hornet's nest.

Empress Dowager Dou was furious!
What do you mean?
My son isn't the eldest son?
So you pedantic scholars are trying to say, in a roundabout way, that I wasn't Emperor Taizong's principal wife?

OK!

Digging up ancestral temples and the foundations of state altars—isn't that shameful?!
By sheer coincidence, the Confucian school's initial, unintentional probing escalated into an uncontrollable conflict.

Especially after the initial test, Empress Dowager Dou summoned Emperor Liu Rong for the second time.

Although it didn't quite reach the point of pointing fingers and verbally abusing Liu Rong, it was definitely a severe criticism!
He criticized Liu Rong for not knowing how to uphold his father, the late emperor, and for his own undeniable status as the eldest son of a concubine.

This completely escalated the situation.

Even the emperor was scolded and criticized!
In this era where ministers die for their sovereigns and ministers toil for their sovereigns, if the emperor is criticized, how can the officials below him expect to have a good outcome?
joke!

Almost as soon as Liu Rong left Changle Palace, Prime Minister Dou Ying's letter of apology was delivered to the Emperor's desk in the Xuan Room of Weiyang Palace!

Following closely behind were the other two of the Three Dukes: Grand Censor Wei Wan and Grand Minister of Works Han Anguo.

The emperor was scolded, and three officials were publicly reprimanded. The nine ministers even knelt outside the Xuan Shi Hall.

Now, the public opinion has finally calmed down.

No one is saying whether the late emperor was the eldest son of the legitimate wife, or whether Emperor Taizong originally had another wife and had a son with that wife.

Consequently, even Liu Rong, the current emperor, is no longer mentioned as "the current emperor is a commoner".

As time went on, public opinion grew increasingly quiet, and the atmosphere both inside and outside the court became increasingly oppressive.

The most critical point was that Emperor Liu Rong never expressed his opinion on this matter again from beginning to end.

He neither readily accepted Empress Dowager Dou's good advice and followed her lead, unleashing his fury in the Xuan Shi Hall court ceremony, nor did he attempt to downplay the matter.

Like an old man observing from the sidelines, he remained calm and composed, full of interest, but did not interfere.

Knowing that the matter could not be resolved peacefully, and having vaguely sensed Liu Rong's intentions from his attitude of "only paying attention but not doing anything," Chancellor Dou Ying finally approached Emperor Liu Rong alone.

However, this meeting, which was not originally a formal one, and this "trivial matter," which was originally not a big deal, began with Dou Ying disregarding his status as prime minister and kneeling to pay homage to Emperor Liu Rong...

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"What is the reason for Marquis Wei Qi's actions?"

Emperor Liu Rong sat calmly on the imperial couch.

When Chancellor Dou Ying knelt and kowtowed to him, Liu Rong neither showed the proper 'fear' nor did he feign rising to help him up.
After uttering only a casual "Why is that?", Liu Rong turned his gaze away and took a sip of tea from the teacup in front of him.

Below the imperial steps, Prime Minister Dou Ying, sensing Liu Rong's indifferent attitude, felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Logically speaking, this matter is neither a big deal nor a small one.

To put it simply, this was a public opinion event that sparked the wrath of Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace.

The normal procedure would be to either let it cool down and leave it for a while until it passes;
Or perhaps, they would symbolically arrest a few small fry who spread rumors, hand them over to Old Madam Dou to vent her anger and get rid of the matter.

Anyway, the Empress Dowager cares about her reputation and face, so she wouldn't really do anything to them.

At most, they would get a beating, or be sent to the army or exiled.

On a larger scale, this involves the legal principles and legitimacy of the late Emperor Xiaojing, the legitimacy of Empress Dowager Dou as the "Empress Dowager of Han," and the legitimacy of Liu Rong's current line of legitimacy!
If the incident is really characterized in this direction, then the person who spread the rumors will undoubtedly be labeled as having 'ulterior motives'!

As for the people behind the scenes who secretly instigated and encouraged this, they have ulterior motives and there's no way to deny it.

The most critical issue is Liu Rong's current attitude.

—It seems like a hands-off approach, letting things develop on their own;
But in this kind of matter, having no stance is itself a stance.

Liu Rong is letting the situation escalate!
Liu Rong's attitude clearly indicates that he wants this incident, which falls somewhere between a 'public opinion event' and a 'political event,' to snowball and continue to expand.

From the initial gossip and rumors to the current political events following Empress Dowager Dou's thunderous wrath;
What happens next?

If we dig deeper, from the person who initially spread the rumors to the mastermind instigated by the Empress Dowager—if we keep digging, we'll eventually reach the source of the whole incident: Confucianism!

This is why Dou Ying came alone today, and disregarded his status as prime minister, directly kneeling before Emperor Liu Rong.

—As the most capable Confucian politician of today, with the situation becoming increasingly out of control and Liu Rong clearly intending to put pressure on Confucianism, Chancellor Dou Ying is the one who is most capable and should step forward to handle this matter.

Of course, if he were just an ordinary prime minister from a purely Confucian background, the person Dou Ying should have sought out at that moment would have been the Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace.

After all, the one who tied the knot must untie it.

The situation began with Empress Dowager Dou's furious outburst, so it was necessary to quell her anger before there was any chance to calm things down.

But the awkward part is that Dou Ying's surname is Dou.

The Empress Dowager Dou, who was furious, was a true relative and elder of Dou Ying.

Even Dou Ying's position as prime minister was at least half due to the influence of Empress Dowager Dou and her maternal relatives.

This made the situation incredibly awkward.

As the highest representative of Confucianism in the imperial court, only Dou Ying could resolve this matter.

But Dou Ying was not only a 'Confucian prime minister', but also a 'prime minister from the Dou family'.

Before Empress Dowager Dou, even if Dou Ying had become prime minister—or even if he had usurped the Han throne and become emperor—he would still have to respectfully address her as "Aunt."

When he was in front of Empress Dowager Dou, Dou Ying had no say in "planning for the survival of Confucianism" or "planning for the ancestral temples and the state."

Dou Ying could only say things like, "In my opinion, this matter should be handled in this way or that way," and "I only hope that my aunt can do this or that way."

Take this incident as an example.

If Dou Ying were to actually go to the Eastern Palace to find the Empress Dowager, he wouldn't be able to resolve the matter at all—instead, he would have to explain to the Empress Dowager Dou, as her nephew, why a discussion about the legal principles and legitimacy of the late emperor and the Empress Dowager Dou had suddenly arisen in the court and beyond.

If he angered Empress Dowager Dou and she uttered a few words like, "What kind of prime minister are you?" or "What kind of prime minister are you?", it would be nothing more than a casual remark, something done on a whim. Clearly, Dou Ying was acutely aware of this.

Knowing that he would not get any favors from Empress Dowager Dou and might even be scolded, Dou Ying had no choice but to change his approach and find another person to blame: Emperor Liu Rong.

—This incident appears to have been caused by Empress Dowager Dou's fury, which led to the sudden escalation of the situation.
But everyone inside and outside the court knew that if Emperor Liu Rong hadn't let things escalate to this point, the situation would never have developed to this extent.

In other words, Empress Dowager Dou's anger was merely the fuse that escalated the situation.

The one who truly used this trigger to fuel the flames and escalate the situation was Emperor Liu Rong.

No wonder Dou Ying knelt and kowtowed as soon as he entered the Xuan Shi Hall, disregarding the dignity of a prime minister.

As the 'instigator' who had not yet achieved his goal, Liu Rong naturally did not place the Han Dynasty's prime minister in a position not much lower than his own, as he usually did.
Instead, much like the Ming and Qing dynasties of later times, they turned a blind eye to the 'disrespectful' act of their subjects—especially the heads of all officials—kneeling and kowtowing.

Liu Rong's intention to put Dou Ying in a bad light was quite obvious.

But right now, the Confucian school, which truly deserves a wake-up call, has not yet been addressed.

At this moment, Dou Ying no longer cared about his reputation with Liu Rong.

"I implore Your Majesty to save my Confucianism..."

Just as Liu Rong had predicted.

Before Liu Rong could even begin to play the game of imperial strategy, Dou Ying had already revealed his true intentions.

—Dou Ying came to the palace this time to ask Liu Rong for help.

He said he wanted Liu Rong to "save the Confucianists," but in reality, he wanted Liu Rong to let the Confucianists go.

Unfortunately, this reprimand was a major decision and a firm resolve made by Liu Rong.

They finally managed to raise the board high, and it looked like it was about to hit them;

Even if in the end the paddle isn't used, but is instead raised high and then gently lowered, it shouldn't be that easy.

The necessary procedures still need to be followed.

"Lord Wei Qi, what makes you say that?"

The question, still uttered indifferently, caused Dou Ying's face to contort in distress once more.

He already knew in his heart that Liu Rong did not intend to let the Confucianists off easily this time.

In fact, even as someone in charge, Dou Ying was well aware that over the past few years, or even the past hundred years, Confucianism had been like a spoiled child, failing to learn its lessons.

After Qin Shi Huang unified the country, Confucian scholars flocked to Chang'an one after another, hoping to receive a share of the Qin salary.

Later, the First Emperor, ambitious and feeling that his lifespan was insufficient to bring peace to the world, became obsessed with seeking immortality and elixirs. In the end, he killed several alchemists and practitioners who had deceived the emperor and embezzled his funds for seeking immortality.

Incidentally, a group of arrogant scholars who disrespected the First Emperor and boasted that they would teach him "how to be an emperor" were executed.

What was originally just an isolated case was embellished by Confucianists into the story of Qin Shi Huang, representing a systematic persecution of the entire Confucian school.

Now, in the Han dynasty, there was the incident of Emperor Gaozu and Li Shiqi's "Gaoyang Drunkard" incident, making it seem as if Confucian scholars were not well-liked by the Han dynasty.

How is the result?

Ah!
In other words, they simply cannot become officials, or even just find it difficult to become officials!

Didn't you see how Shusun Tong, a proper Confucian scholar who was taught the "Rites of Zhou" by Xunzi, still became a favorite minister of Emperor Taizu?
As for other Confucian scholars, they were not entirely incapable of becoming officials.

More often than not, they are officials who are unwilling to accept grassroots positions or take on responsibilities.

Even the founding emperor had something to say!

—You, a Confucian scholar in your early twenties, claim to be full of knowledge, yet you haven't even read the complete version of the Book of Poetry!

Since you can write and recognize characters, I'll give you an official position with a salary of two hundred bushels of grain, so you can assist the county magistrate and collect taxes. Is that too much to ask of you?

What kind of person is he to want to be a doctor with a salary of two thousand koku?
Do you really think the grain stipends of my Han people come from the song of the Great Wind?

—And you!

—He's over seventy years old, and he doesn't have many teeth left. Even with two people supporting him from both sides, he can't walk.
Even if you are truly knowledgeable, what can you do at this age?
If I were to actually appoint you to a high-ranking official position with a salary of two thousand shi, I'm afraid you'd be terrified on your way to court!
And what happened? You didn't even want to be the Crown Prince's tutor, but insisted on becoming the Emperor's tutor...

I'm the founding emperor of a nation!

Don't I have any pride?!
Do you think I need you to teach me how to be an emperor?!
...

And so, Confucianism became what it called "difficult to enter officialdom and politics".

It's as if the Han dynasty had a law that forbade Confucian scholars from becoming officials or getting promoted, or as if there was some unspoken rule of 'not employing Confucian scholars'.

However, the truth is that Confucian scholars had a high opinion of themselves, but their actual abilities were far from matching their self-perception, which led to their unanimous dislike from those in power, from the emperor to the entire official system.

Apart from that, the lives of the Confucian scholars remained completely unaffected.

Those who should "pass down the family tradition of farming" should do so, and those who should live in seclusion in the mountains should do so.

Debate with people if you want, lecture on stage if you want.

Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the number and quality of great sages and masters from the Confucian school have far surpassed those of other schools of thought—including the ruling school since the Han Dynasty: Huang-Lao thought.

Perhaps it was because of this unrestrained, seemingly restricted yet incredibly free life that Confucianism developed some unwarranted misconceptions.

In their view, after the First Emperor unified the world, the Confucian scholars pointed out the flaws in the country and taught the First Emperor how to be an emperor, but in the end, it was just a few individuals who were sacrificed.

After the fall of Qin and the rise of Han, despite Emperor Taizu Liu Bang's open dislike and malice, Confucianism was merely disgraced and lost face, but it did not actually suffer any real harm.

Furthermore, the fact that individuals within the Confucian community still live idealistic lives where they can say whatever they want and do whatever they want inevitably leads these spoiled, overgrown children to develop some inappropriate thoughts.

Just as they tried to teach Qin Shi Huang "how to be an emperor" back then, this time, Confucianism has once again jumped out to try and interfere with the succession of the Han dynasty's throne.

Unfortunately, Confucianism mentioned steel plates.

And it's an epic steel plate that no one could have imagined.

—Transmigrated, Emperor's Glory.

(End of this chapter)