The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 805 Punishment
The dragon would raise its head and look at the majestic city in front of it.

Every time they come to the Central Plains, the Dragon Society is extremely shocked.

Especially this time, the changes in the Central Plains were a bit too great. The flat roads, neat cities, and endless farmland made Long Hui feel a little surprised.

The officials who came to welcome Long Hui were from the Ministry of Rites.

Pei Xiu did not come in person, but sent a palace attendant.

"Sir."

The official saluted with a smile.

Before officially accepting the emperor's enthronement, Long Hui was just a prince and could not be called king.

Although Long Hui didn't like this title a little bit, he didn't dare to show it.

This is not Shazhou.

But Long Hui was not worried that he would not be able to inherit the throne.

The relationship between the father and son and the emperor was quite good. His father often exchanged letters with the emperor and they had a close relationship. As a result, he would receive gifts from the emperor from time to time.

He had a legitimate reason to fight in this civil war.

Long Hui was led into the city by the Langguan, who arranged him to a courtyard in the Ministry of Rites, which was specially used to entertain foreign guests.

Even such a courtyard for receiving guests is much more luxurious than the royal palace of Yanqi Kingdom.

The royal palace of Yanqi Kingdom was relatively small among the many royal palaces in Shazhou. Not to mention compared with the Kingdom of Kucha, it was not even comparable with the Kingdom of Shanshan.

The dragon will look around and exclaim in amazement.

The palace official's surname was Liu, and he wasn't too old. He stood beside Long Hui with a smile on his face. "Mr. Pei will be here to see the Crown Prince later."

"Your Highness, please make preparations first. If anything happens, please send someone to inform me in time."

Long Hui asked, "Can I go out and see Luoyang?"

"Of course you can, but you can't take the crossbow out. Also, it's best to have an official from the government lead the way. There are many prohibitions in Luoyang."

After hearing what the other party said, Long Hui could only give up the idea of going out to play for the time being.

He then waited earnestly for Pei Xiu's arrival in the mansion.

After leaving here, Liu Langguan came directly to Pei Xiu to report the situation.

Pei Xiu was sitting in the upper seat at this moment, with all kinds of documents piled in front of him. These were all information about the kings of Shazhou, including Long Hui. They included detailed analysis of Long Hui's character, personality, his many stories, etc.

Although Pei Xiu has not met Long Hui yet, he is already quite familiar with him.

After Liu Langguan came back, he immediately reported the matter of settling Long Hui.

"When will the Minister of State go?"

Pei Xiu laughed, "No rush."

"This guy has an arrogant personality. He has come to Luoyang without any fear. He thinks that since he is close to His Majesty, he will not be punished."

"We have to make him feel a little uneasy, otherwise it will be difficult to do anything."

Pei Xiu's purpose this time was very simple, which was to promote the direct management of Shazhou. Naturally, these vassal kings of Shazhou, big and small, had to be eliminated one by one. To say that they were eliminated was too much, it should be said that they had to be resettled one by one.

Judging from your Majesty's intention, we will definitely have more trade exchanges with the west in the future. Shazhou, as the first stop, cannot be underestimated.

The existence of the various vassal kings was very disadvantageous to the Shazhou Provincial Government. These people acted independently, were at odds with each other, and had no ability to govern the country. The materials given to them by the court to develop the local area were all swallowed up by them privately. The financial situation was frequently in crisis, and they even had to borrow money and grain from the Chief Secretary's Office.

Although there were many good arable lands, the princes and nobles hardly cared about them. They spent almost all their money on building Buddhist temples, and even mobilized thousands of people to put down their work and build temples.

The governor of Shazhou had submitted several memorials expressing strong dissatisfaction with this group of vassal kings.

The biggest problem is that of Buddhist temples.

In order to worship Buddha, these people dared to mobilize the people to do labor service during the Spring and Autumn Period, and rewarded a large amount of arable land to temples and monks, as well as a large number of pastures and cattle and sheep.

These kings were generally fond of Buddhism. In addition to building Buddhist temples, they also mobilized the people to carve Buddha statues on the stone walls.
Pei Xiu even noticed the problems of Buddhism. There are more and more monks nowadays. These people are familiar with the classics. They combine Buddhist scriptures with current classics and have entered wealthy families.

Many wealthy families would invite these famous monks to banquets, debate scriptures with them, make a name for themselves, etc.

These monks have become a new kind of celebrities.

Everyone is very curious about this.

In order to solve these problems, the best way is to first remove these princes and send a prime minister or someone like him to take over, stop the huge cost of temple construction activities, and not waste people's energy.

If you can convince them with words, that would be the best. If words don't work, then the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice should reason with them.

Pei Xiu still hoped that it would not reach that point.

In the next few days, Pei Xiu paid no attention to the prince who came from afar.

Long Hui became more and more annoyed. He angrily called the clerk in the mansion several times and asked when Pei Xiu would come to see him. The clerk just said that he would pass on the message.

What made Long Hui even more uneasy was that the knights he brought with him said they would be relocated elsewhere, and he had not seen them since then. He repeatedly asked to see His Majesty the Emperor, but the clerk's answer was the same as before, saying that he would convey the message to the officials.

The people around him changed from time to time, and occasionally there were soldiers guarding him.

They did not restrict Long Hui from going out, but this did not reduce Long Hui's uneasiness. Whenever Long Hui said he wanted to go and take a look at the palace, the people accompanying him would always persuade him to stop.

At this time, Long Hui even felt for a moment: My life is in danger!

This is clearly an attempt to execute me! !
You won't die here without even seeing the emperor, right?

Just when Long Hui began to feel frightened and uneasy, Pei Xiu finally arrived.

On this day, when the soldiers occupied every corner of the courtyard, Long Hui was ready to die, but Pei Xiu led his men in and bowed to him with a smile.

"Meet the Crown Prince!"

Liu Langguan hurriedly introduced Pei Xiu's identity.

Everyone could clearly see Long Hui's relieved expression.

Long Hui saluted Pei Xiu, and then they both sat down. Pei Xiu was not afraid of the other party's trouble, so he asked everyone to leave first.

"The prince has truly done something great."

"Do you know how much trouble the prince has caused me these past few days?"

Hearing Pei Xiu's question, Long Hui was a little confused, "I really don't know."

Pei Xiu then said, "Your Highness, you have dispatched troops without authorization and killed a king. The King of Kucha was enthroned by Your Majesty. Killing such a king is tantamount to treason and will result in the execution of the entire clan!"

Long Hui hurriedly explained, "I have my reasons."

"Everything nowadays must be done according to the law."

"The court is currently drafting new laws, and many of the participants are prominent officials. They've used your case to debate, sparking widespread outcry. I don't know how many people have come to me these days, demanding your execution according to the law!"

"If it weren't for the fact that His Majesty is on good terms with your father and had repeatedly asked me to protect you, I'm afraid you would have been thrown out and executed long ago!"

After hearing these things, Long Hui was a little flustered.

Could it be that even the emperor couldn't protect himself?

Why are the ministers of the Great Wei so powerful?
"Mr. Pei, what should we do?"

"if"

Looking at Long Hui who began to stutter, Pei Xiu said helplessly, "Don't worry, I will do my best to protect you. This matter was indeed started by Bai Shan. How could he humiliate another king like this?"

"But you really shouldn't have just mobilized your troops to kill him."

Pei Xiu pondered for a moment before saying, "The current solution is to apologize to His Majesty and seek a pardon."

"But now the officials in the court are hostile to you because of the legal issues. If Your Majesty does not punish you at all, I'm afraid it will be difficult to convince the people."

"I can help you think of three solutions."

Long Hui quickly straightened his back and said, "I'm all ears."

Pei Xiu said, "The first method is the simplest. You should immediately appear before His Majesty and apologize, then ask for His Majesty's punishment. His Majesty will not punish you severely. At most, he will punish you with a year of reflection, and then you can return to Yanqi State and never appear in the court again."

"Secondly, you can request that your brother be made king and resign on your own initiative. In this way, His Majesty will not punish you at all and may even grant you a good official position, allowing you to remain in the Central Plains."

"The third option is to follow the example of the King of Shanshan and proactively request the appointment of a prime minister or a county. With this merit, you will be fully pardoned, and the ministers will no longer say anything against you. You can then enjoy your life in Luoyang as usual."

After hearing the three methods mentioned by Pei Xiu, Long Hui was very hesitant.

Pei Xiu did not try to induce Long Hui, nor did he force Long Hui. He gave the choice to the guy in front of him.

Based on Pei Xiu's understanding of this person, this is the safest solution.

Long would think about it over and over again, but still couldn't make a decision.

If he chose the first option, he would retain his title, but his life would be difficult from then on, and being hated would be a terrible thing. If he chose the second option, his brothers were not close to him, and they were not legitimate children. If he gave up his title to his brothers, he would become a commoner, and there was no telling what official position the emperor would give him.
If it is the third one.

He was also worried that he would be placed under house arrest in Luoyang, unable to hold an official position as a king and unable to move around freely.

This is also a torture for him.

Long Hui loved going out hunting and playing. Historically, this guy was very brave. He defeated Kucha with weak soldiers, defeated the surrounding coalition forces, and dominated one side. But after he destroyed the Kucha Kingdom, he always went out hunting and playing alone. As a result, he was assassinated by the former subordinates of the King of Kucha. He can be called the Shazhou version of the Little Overlord.

Seeing the hesitation on his face, Pei Xiu asked, "What are you hesitating about, Prince?"

"If I were like the King of Shanshan, would I be able to travel freely?"

Pei Xiu laughed.

"Naturally."

(End of this chapter)