My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 593 Be Prepared
As for his own desires—whether it was to denigrate Empress Lü, elevate his birth mother Empress Dowager Bo, or use his own excellence to highlight the correctness of his succession to the throne—Emperor Taizong was not in a hurry.

Emperor Taizong left the judgment of Empress Lü's merits and demerits to history.
Emperor Taizong proved his excellence through his own life.

After Emperor Taizong passed away a century later, and Emperor Xiaojing died, the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing had blossomed into a glorious era for the Han Dynasty, bearing abundant fruit. As a result, the political characterization of that incident from back then seemed less important.

—The Lü clan may have made mistakes;
—Most of the meritorious officials had made contributions;

Emperor Taizong should perhaps not have been enthroned in the first place.

But today, when people recall those days, they only say: It was fortunate that Emperor Taizong was enthroned, which led to the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing, and to this prosperous era where people live and work in peace and contentment.

If Liu Rong were to make any moves on the Korean Peninsula today, he would first need to define the nature of Wiman's overthrow of the Mustard See Joseon regime, which is essentially the same principle.

What specific characterization it is, in a thousand years or even a few decades, will no longer matter to anyone.

Especially after Liu Rong pushed the Han people to control the Korean Peninsula and successfully brought it into the embrace of Chinese civilization, no one cared about Liu Rong's political characterization of Wiman's overthrow of Mustard Seed Joseon.

But it is obvious that this is all done after the fact, looking back at the process from the result.

However, if we start from the beginning and look at this political characterization from the perspective of the situation about to begin, the situation is completely different.

—The Mustard Seed Joseon Dynasty has long since perished, and the Mahan regime established by the last monarch of Mustard Seed Joseon has also returned to the control of the Mahan people themselves.

Therefore, Liu Rong's political characterization did not require consideration of the Mustard See Joseon regime's position.

To put it bluntly, it means that we don't need to consider the feelings of the Mustard Seed Joseon regime.

After all, the dead cannot speak, their feelings are not worth caring about, and they do not need to be given any explanation.

The same applies to regimes.

A fallen regime, like a dead person, cannot speak, cannot vindicate itself, cannot defend itself, and does not need anyone to give it an explanation.

On the contrary, Wiman Joseon, after overthrowing Mustard Joseon and usurping its power, has not only continued to this day, but has also become one of the most powerful forces on the Korean Peninsula.

Today, the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, which is connected to the Asian continent, is almost entirely under the control of Wiman Joseon and exists as Wiman Joseon territory.

The remaining southern peninsula, as well as the area where the southern and northern peninsulas meet, and the area where the peninsula connects with the Yan region of the Han Dynasty, were divided up by various large and small regimes such as Jinhan, Mahan, Jinbeon, and Goguryeo.

Therefore, before making this political characterization, Liu Rong had to think clearly about how to define the Wiman Joseon regime.

Is this to directly classify Wiman Joseon as a remnant of the rebel king Zang Tu, and to overthrow the illegitimate regime established by Mustard See Joseon?
Or, from the perspective of practical interests, should the establishment process of the Wiman Joseon regime be embellished to a certain extent, and its legitimacy be acknowledged and recognized to a certain extent?
These two choices will lead to the Han Dynasty adopting two completely different attitudes toward the Korean Peninsula in the future.

If Liu Rong chooses the former, the image of the Han people as 'righteous' will undoubtedly make the other regimes in Korea feel a greater sense of identification with the Han people.

They would think that the Han people were reasonable and willing to uphold justice.

However, this choice will directly push Wiman Joseon, which now occupies half of the Korean Peninsula, into the absolute opposition to the Han Dynasty, making a medium-scale and intense war inevitable.

If Liu Rong chooses the latter, it would be the complete opposite.

—The image of the Han people in the minds of various regimes on the Korean Peninsula will gradually move towards a negative direction of 'disregarding facts and only caring about their own interests'. The Han people will inevitably encounter many invisible obstacles when carrying out their work on the Korean Peninsula in the future.

Without the recognition of these regimes, especially the indigenous regimes, the process of Han Chinese control over the Korean Peninsula will inevitably be greatly slowed down.

Even Wiman Joseon, which benefited from the Han Chinese's overtures, might not necessarily appreciate them.

Instead, they would most likely think: Everyone says that the Han people are so powerful, so awesome, so righteous, and have a just cause for war;
In the end, didn't they still kneel before Wiman Korea?
The Han dynasty was powerful? That's just bragging, isn't it?

Is it some paper tiger that even I can expose?

Even if it doesn't reach that level, Wiman Joseon would hardly feel any closeness to the Han people—and even the existing hostility might not lessen much.

There's nothing we can do; this is purely a legacy of history.

Wiman Joseon's background as a "general under King Zang Tu of Yan and a remnant of a rebellion" naturally made it hostile towards the Han Chinese, who were the protagonists.

Even if the Han dynasty extends goodwill, and even if they know they have no right to refuse, Wiman Joseon will most likely be hypocritical, outwardly fraternizing with the Han dynasty while secretly harboring malicious intentions.

Neither of these two choices is absolutely better or necessarily worse.

The former is beneficial to the Han people in the long run, but it will plunge the Han people into a war on the Korean Peninsula in the short term.

The latter could prevent such a war in the short term, but in the long run, it would create many hidden dangers for the Han people.

If the Han dynasty is still the same Han dynasty as before—the same Han dynasty that used every means possible to avoid fighting the Xiongnu and couldn't care about anything else—then the best choice would undoubtedly be to stand with the border guards of Korea.

The specific operation is also very simple;
To attribute the downfall of Mustard See Joseon to its own fault for harboring the remnants of King Zang Tu of Yan and for its outward compliance with the suzerain state of Han while harboring treacherous intentions is simply a matter of divine retribution.

As for Wiman Joseon, one can make a few statements like "they already know they were wrong" or "the sins of their ancestors should not be borne by their descendants" to separate the present-day Wiman Joseon from the Wiman remnants who belonged to King Zang Tu of Yan.

After saying some polite words about Wiman Joseon's obedience to the Han Dynasty, the political characterization of this matter was settled.

Unfortunately, these are all just "ifs".

If the Han dynasty were still the weak and impoverished one it once was, if the Han dynasty were still busy pacifying the Xiongnu and secretly developing its strength, Liu Rong might have made such a choice.

But the truth is: the Han dynasty is now stronger than ever before, more assertive than ever before in the face of the Xiongnu, and its concern about this external threat is virtually zero.

The Han dynasty is now able to spare the resources to deal with all external problems, including the Xiongnu, even at the cost of a war.

To put it in the simplest terms, the Han Dynasty is not even afraid of fighting the Xiongnu, so why would it be afraid of Wiman Joseon?

For the Han dynasty and for Emperor Liu Rong, the real concern about fighting a war on the Korean Peninsula was not the war itself.

The real question is whether this war will give the Xiongnu an opportunity to exploit the situation, putting the Han Dynasty in a predicament of fighting on two fronts—even with Lingnan getting involved, leaving the Han Dynasty vulnerable on three sides. This is similar to the later rivalry between Brother Long and Bald Eagle, where neither side fears the other nor is unwilling to engage in a battle.
However, both sides are worried that if the two sides fight to the death, it may ultimately benefit the likes of the Russian bear and John Bull.

The situation between the Han and Xiongnu today is actually the same.

—At least the Han people did not resist at all, and even hoped that the Xiongnu would not run away and would fight a battle with the Han people.

Although the Xiongnu resisted, they were by no means afraid.

As for the war between the Han and the Xiongnu, the Han people were not worried at all that the Korean Peninsula or the Baiyue people in Lingnan would take the opportunity to cause trouble.

On the contrary, if the Han dynasty were to wage war in these areas, it might give the Xiongnu a chance to stab them in the back, or at the very least, give them a chance to catch their breath.

Liu Rong dislikes making choices.

But whether it was Liu Rong's own experience or the earnest teachings of the late emperor, they all told Liu Rong: being an emperor is actually about making choices for the rest of your life.

The officials below would not directly confront the emperor with their problems and ask him what to do;
Even if officials did do that, the emperor could not, and should not, personally try to find a solution.

Professional tasks should be left to professionals.

What the emperor needed to do was to choose the option that was relatively cost-effective and more conducive to stability from among the many choices given by the officials.

However, this kind of thinking only works for ordinary, or rather, native emperors.

For a transmigrated emperor like Liu Rong, simply making choices is clearly impossible.

The things that a time-traveling emperor wants to do, is capable of doing, and should do cannot be sent to him by native officials from the feudal era for selection.

Therefore, time-traveling emperors often have no choice but to break the unspoken rule that "emperors only make choices" and personally take the lead in discovering and solving problems.

In this process, it is inevitable that the bureaucratic system will feel uncomfortable, and may even criticize the time-traveling emperor as a tyrant or even a despot.

Liu Rong did not want to be a tyrant, much less a despot.

It wasn't because Liu Rong cared about his posthumous reputation or historical evaluation;
Liu Rong believed that only when his reputation was good enough and his historical status was high enough would the plans and paths he laid out for Chinese civilization be followed more firmly by future generations.

The reforms of a tyrant cannot be adopted by future generations;
The laws of a tyrant are unlikely to be upheld by future generations.

Only a 'living saint' like Emperor Taizong could make his descendants willingly—or even unwillingly—follow and insist on the policies he set.

Liu Rong was not afraid of becoming a tyrant in the eyes of historians or a despot in the eyes of the people.
However, Liu Rong worried that if he became a tyrant, all his achievements would become the policies of a tyrant and the decrees of a despot, and thus history would correct him back to his original trajectory.

For these reasons, Liu Rong always paid extra attention to his surroundings.

Even if Liu Rong was determined to do something, he would try his best to embellish it as if "an official accidentally discovered it, and I had no choice but to deal with it."

At present, Liu Rong is making an effort to target the Korean Peninsula almost without warning and without any need, and his first move is to define the political nature of Wiman Joseon and Mustard Joseon.
This matter is directly related to Emperor Gaozu of Han—after all, when Wiman overthrew Mustard See Joseon, it happened right under Emperor Gaozu's nose, yet the Han dynasty did not intervene at all.

Liu Rong was unsure whether his actions would gain the understanding and support of the times, as well as those within and outside the court.

It was only the instinct of a time traveler—the instinct that a time traveler 'must do something to change the course of Chinese civilization and prevent it from taking a wrong turn'—that made Liu Rong finally make up his mind despite the difficulty.

"Draft an imperial edict."

"The king of Wiman Joseon, Wie U-gu, the crown prince Wi Geon, and the prime minister and chief minister of Wiman Joseon, etc., entered Chang'an to pay homage."

"The officials in charge of the Imperial Academy and the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, in accordance with the etiquette for receiving foreign dignitaries, went ten li outside Chang'an to welcome them."

"The kings of Jinbeon, Mahan, Jinhan, Byeonhan, Goguryeo and other kingdoms all paid homage to Chang'an."

As soon as he finished speaking, the court official beside the imperial couch quickly wrote down Liu Rong's edict and put it on a piece of paper.

He blew the ink off the paper, then presented it to Liu Rong for inspection. After Liu Rong nodded slightly, the official took the paper with both hands and hurried towards the palace gate—running towards the Prime Minister's residence in Shangguan Lane outside the palace.

On the imperial couch in the Xuan Shi Hall, Liu Rong slowly stood up, looked at the sky outside the hall, and let out a long sigh.

Liu Rong's move appears to be an intentional attempt to get closer to Wiman Joseon and to politically characterize the events of that year as 'Mustard Joseon brought this upon itself, while Wiman Joseon did not deserve to die.'

But those familiar with Liu Rong know that this is Liu Rong, who doesn't like making choices, throwing the question out there.

—This time, it wasn't just Wiman Joseon that was summoned by Liu Rong;

There were also the rulers of other regimes on the Korean Peninsula that were more or less hostile to Wiman Joseon.

Having been accustomed to running rampant on the Korean Peninsula and having been far removed from the Central Plains of China for many years, it was inevitable that some trouble would arise.

For example, if there is a disagreement, a king of a certain regime on the Korean Peninsula might be killed, or, as in the past few decades, roads might be blocked to prevent the kings and delegations of these regimes from going to Chang'an for an audience.

How to do it?
Can you hold back?

No matter how hostile they were to the Han Dynasty, could Wiman Joseon completely bury their hostility towards the Han Dynasty deep in their hearts and try their best not to show it?
If possible, Liu Rong wouldn't mind providing any support to the Wiman Joseon regime, this 'illegitimate regime'—for example, recognizing its legitimacy.

After all, no matter what, Wiman Joseon was still a 'Chinese' regime, making it easier for them to use or destroy it than for outsiders.

As for Wiman Joseon refusing to accept this favor and continuing to act as it pleased, treating the Han dynasty as nothing, it was tantamount to handing Liu Rong a knife, making it easier for Liu Rong to kill them.

Liu Rong had prepared for both possibilities.

The rest depends on Wiman Joseon—on how that so-called 'King of Joseon' Wi U-gu will choose...

(End of this chapter)