Brother, stop curling up! You're curling up like the founder of the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 188 Strike the snake at its vital point: Liu Bei lures Yuan Shu to declare himself emperor (Seeking subscriptions and monthly votes)
September 30th, the first year of the Chuping era.

Although there was unrest in Henan, it did not affect this year's autumn harvest.

On the contrary, it was a bumper year.

One hundred and eight powerful local tyrants were executed, and their accumulated wealth, grain, land, and houses were confiscated and returned to the national treasury.

Although the seventy-two officials who were arrested were reinstated, all their money and assets were confiscated.

This also made the national treasury full.

Liu Bei then petitioned Liu Xie to exempt the officials of Henan Yin, Hongnong Commandery, Hedong Commandery, Zuo Fengyi, Jingzhao Yin, You Fufeng, and Hanyang Commandery from official duties and taxes this year.

Liu Xie granted all requests.

In response to the government's directive, wealthy and powerful families have also waived rent for their tenants this year.

So that the more than 600,000 registered households and more than 300,000 tenant households in the seven prefectures of Siyong can have a happy and bountiful harvest.

Because of Liu Bei's mercy in sparing his life, the court officials did not cause him any further trouble.

Wang Yun and Yang Biao, who had taken the lead, were completely subdued, and no one dared to provoke Liu Bei again.

Outside of the seven commanderies, including Yu Province, Liu Bei did not interfere.

Apart from these seven counties, the powerful local magnates in other areas have become too strong, making it unrealistic to impose tax exemptions, rent waivers for tenants, or the abolition of slave farmers and laborers.

Liu Bei did not intend to attack the powerful clans in other prefectures and counties at that time.

Only by managing the seven commanderies of Siyong well can we set an example for other prefectures and kingdoms.

We need to attract a certain segment of society first before we can carry out subsequent reforms.

Change will always involve bloodshed; in the end, it will be a fight to the death to determine the winner.

Therefore, only the seven commanderies of Siyong are the most capable in terms of military strength, and only they can truly pacify the world and realize the new world in Liu Bei's mind.

Outside Luoyang City.

A series of rapid spurring sounds rang out.

The guards at the city gate were about to stop him when they saw the rider fall off his horse. Ignoring his injuries, he took out an urgent document from his pocket and shouted, "Urgent report from Hebei! Send it to the General's mansion immediately!"

The city gate captain dared not delay, and hurriedly took the urgent report, spurring his horse straight to the general's mansion.

"Urgent report from Hebei?"

Xu You quickly glanced at the contents of the urgent report, was shocked, and hurriedly went inside to find Liu Bei.

Because the civil and military officials in the court had their own division of labor, Liu Bei basically didn't concern himself with the details, except for major events.

He spent most of his time in the inner courtyard of the General's Mansion, either reading and practicing martial arts, traveling with his wives and concubines, or instructing his students.

When Xu You arrived, Liu Bei was instructing Zhuge Liang on the "Lunheng".

The Lunheng is the representative work of Wang Chong, a famous scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is also an immortal atheistic work. In this era when Confucianism was the dominant ideology, it was also known as "criticizing the false theories of ancient times and mocking the strange books of the Han Dynasty".

In short: This is considered a "banned book" by the general public.

Because Confucianism became dominant and differed from the Confucianism of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Confucianism of the Eastern Han Dynasty incorporated apocryphal and prophetic doctrines, giving it a more mystical character. Confucianism thus became a kind of Confucian art, which could also be called Confucianism mixed with sorcery.

Wang Chong's "Lunheng" was a critique of this kind of Confucianism and mystical prophetic interpretations.

Speaking of this, Liu Bei had to thank Cai Yong.

Because of the atheism of the "Lunheng", people have a lot of prejudice against it.

Cai Yong had always loved collecting rare books, and he happened to see "Lunheng" while he was in Jiangdong. He treasured it and secretly kept it with him.

Some time ago, when Liu Bei was discussing his cosmology with Cai Yong, Cai Yong told Liu Bei that "when heaven and earth combine their energies, things are born naturally," and that "whether they are formed or not, it is all due to chance." This greatly surprised Liu Bei.

It sounds strange to hear an Eastern Han scholar discussing a naturalistic worldview with you, instead of talking about human-human interaction or similar concepts.

So Liu Bei deliberately claimed that Cai Yong was talking nonsense. Cai Yong got anxious and directly took out the "Lunheng: Wushi" chapter to prove that he was not talking nonsense.

Only then did Liu Bei realize that Cai Yong even possessed such a remarkable book as "Lunheng". Seeing that Liu Bei was reading it with great interest, Cai Yong repeatedly urged Liu Bei, "This book can only be read by you and me together, and you must never spread it to others."

Although Cai Yong enjoyed reading "Lunheng," he dared not promote it widely. He could circulate it privately, but he still wanted to maintain his reputation as a renowned Confucian scholar.

Liu Bei was worried about not having suitable books to broaden Zhuge Liang's horizons, so he immediately sent people to move all of the "Lunheng" into the General's mansion, which made Cai Yong so angry that he jumped up and down.

Liu Bei, however, had a perfectly valid reason: "You have no son, and a son-in-law is half a son. If you don't pass these books on to me, who else would you pass them on to? Your books are also my books." Cai Yong wanted to refute him, but he couldn't find a reason to do so.

Fearing that Liu Bei would come to take the books again, Cai Yong would stop talking about scholarship whenever he saw Liu Bei and instead talk about romantic gossip, for fear that Liu Bei would take away the collection of books again.

For Cai Yong, collecting books was his greatest hobby; he wouldn't even give them to his daughter, let alone his son-in-law.

Liu Bei wasn't greedy. He had to annotate the "Lunheng" for quite a while, and he also needed to verify the scientific issues it covered, such as the workings of the universe, the origin of infectious diseases, and the origin of agricultural pests. He didn't have much energy left to move more books.

"General."

Xu You walked up to Liu Bei and called out softly.

Seeing Xu You's solemn expression, Liu Bei let Zhuge Liang read it himself, and then led Xu You into a side pavilion.

"Liu Yu has declared himself emperor!"

Xu You handed the urgent report to Liu Bei, his tone grave.

"I expected this." Liu Bei chuckled lightly, unconcerned. "If he doesn't declare himself emperor, Yuan Shao will be furious. After all, the Prince of Hongnong is dead, and His Majesty sees Yuan Shao as a traitor."

Xu You hesitated, then sighed and remained silent.

Liu Bei felt slightly puzzled. He then unfolded the urgent report. When he saw "Liu Yu annihilated Gongsun Zan at Yuyang," Liu Bei's aura instantly turned violent, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

a long time.

Liu Bei took a deep breath, suppressing his murderous intent, and sighed, "Life is unpredictable, and things rarely go as planned. Is there any news of Xu Shu and the others?"

Xu You shook his head: "No."

After a pause, Xu You added, "Perhaps Xu Shu and the others have not yet arrived in Yuyang. They have the armor and weapons given to them by the General, so they should be fine."

"At present, Liu Yu has declared himself emperor and issued a proclamation calling on the world to jointly attack Your Majesty and the Grand General. With the assistance of Yuan Shao, the world has been divided into two forces. Yuan Shao's disciples and former officials are all over the world. If they hear that Liu Yu has declared himself emperor, they will surely rush to respond."

Liu Bei snorted coldly: "A bunch of chickens and dogs. Even if they respond to Liu Yu, they'll only live a few more years."

Xu You said with concern, "In terms of military prowess, with the Grand General's abilities, no one in the world can rival him. What I worry about is that after Liu Yu becomes emperor, the power of the world will be divided in two. Then Liu Yan of Yizhou, Liu Biao of Jingzhou, and Liu Dai of Yangzhou may not necessarily support the Grand General's new policies." "In the past, Wang Mang's reforms were overthrown because he offended too many forces. Although Emperor Guangwu pacified the world, it was actually because the powerful families and clans of the world were dissatisfied with Wang Mang's new policies and sided with Guangwu instead of Wang Mang."

"Although the General's new policies are more efficient than Wang Mang's in implementation, they are limited to the Siyong region, and even in Yuzhou there are very few supporters of the new policies."

"If Liu Yu sent envoys to persuade Liu Yan, Liu Biao, Liu Dai and others, and promised not to touch their fields, houses and slaves, Liu Yan and others might respond to Liu Yu."

Xu You was well aware that the biggest losers from Liu Bei's new policies were the powerful and influential families in various prefectures and counties.

While it is necessary for the imperial power to weaken powerful clans, these clans can also support a new regime to resist it.

There was no one before, but now there is Liu Yu.

When Liu Yu declared himself emperor in Yuyang, he deliberately mirrored Liu Xiu's declaration of himself emperor in Haocheng, both having the support of powerful clans and wealthy families. This was very attractive to the powerful clans and wealthy families in various prefectures and counties.

"It is indeed troublesome to fight against many alone." Liu Bei looked out at the sky, his face showing no panic despite the impact of Liu Yu's ascension to the throne; instead, it showed contempt.

"Admittedly, the powerful families and clans in these various prefectures and counties are dissatisfied with my new policies, believing that they will harm their interests. But in this world today, how many others besides Liu Yu aspire to be kings or emperors?"

"If too many people claim to be kings or emperors, then it's not a matter of harming interests, but whether they can even survive. Yuan Shao thinks he can rally the people of the world to attack Your Majesty and me by issuing a proclamation, but how can the people of the world submit to Yuan Shao?"

"The reason I pursued Yuan Shu but did not kill him is that now is the time to use him."

"Recently, there was a man in Luoyang named Zhang Jiong, who was quite skilled in divination and prophecy. I sent him to Shouchun to deliver a prophecy to Yuan Shu, saying that the Yuan family originated from the Chen dynasty, and that Chen was a descendant of Shun, with earth supporting fire, thus fulfilling the destiny of the dynasty. There was also a prophecy that said: 'The one who will replace the Han dynasty is Gao of Dangtu.'"

Xu You's eyes lit up: "General, do you mean to lure Yuan Shu into declaring himself emperor? Brilliant! Yuan Shao just supported Liu Yu to become emperor, and Yuan Shu is declaring himself emperor in Shouchun. This is a slap in the face to both Yuan Shao and Liu Yu."

“Yuan Shu is far away in Shouchun, and Liu Yu can’t reach him. He can only watch Yuan Shu declare himself emperor. As soon as he declared himself emperor, there were people who were dissatisfied, and it was Yuan Shu, who came from the Yuan family, a family that had held high office for four generations, who was dissatisfied. Liu Yu had no way to punish him.”

"Then Liu Yu's so-called legitimate succession based on the Luoshui Xuangui Talisman is not very convincing."

"Not only that, we can also take this opportunity to test the reactions of Liu Biao and Liu Dai. If the two are willing to attack Yuan Shu, then they will not be of one mind with Liu Yu. Even if they do not support the General, they will still have the intention of establishing their own kingdom."

"If that's the case, this group is just a disorganized mess, and the general can defeat them one by one."

The more powerful forces there are, the less united they become.

This point was already demonstrated when Liu Bei decisively defeated the rebel forces in three provinces.

Since they all command armies and hold considerable power, who would be willing to serve as a subordinate to someone else?
If they truly worked together, even if Liu Bei had a large and elite army, it would be difficult for them to withstand an army of hundreds of thousands.

And the situation is similar now.

Yuan Shao believed that by supporting Liu Yu, he could command the world, but this command would inevitably provoke the dissatisfaction of Yuan Shu.

If Yuan Shu also supports Liu Yu, then from now on he will have to obey Yuan Shao's orders.

Given Yuan Shu's personality, making him obey the orders of a maidservant would be more unbearable than killing him.

Since Yuan Shu could no longer support Liu Xie, there was only one path left for him: to declare himself emperor!
Liu Xie's ascension to the throne was preceded by a secret edict.

Liu Yu declared himself emperor because he believed that Liu Xie was not qualified to be emperor.

Since both of them share the surname Liu, legally speaking, as long as the matter isn't seriously investigated, everyone tacitly accepts it.

But when Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, things were different.

We are all surnamed Liu and are heirs of the Han dynasty, yet you, Yuan Shu, want to rebel against the Han and establish your own independent regime.
If we don't beat you, who is the rightful heir?
Having received Liu Bei's order, Xu You hurriedly left the General's Mansion to find Zhang Jiong.

Liu Bei then unfolded the urgent document again, and the scene of studying literature and practicing martial arts with Gongsun Zan in the past came to mind.

However, Liu Bei was too cunning, and Gongsun Zan, like Qian Zhao and Jian Yong, lied about wanting to study and then fled to distant lands.

Liu Bei also knew that Gongsun Zan was different from Jian Yong and Qian Zhao. The former two were from impoverished families, while Gongsun Zan was a nobleman from Liaoxi and had become the son-in-law of the former Marquis and Prefect of Zhuojun. His starting point was much higher than Liu Bei's.

While Liu Bei was still serving as the county magistrate of Anxi County, Gongsun Zan had already been recommended as a filial and incorruptible official and had successively served as the chief administrator of Liaodong Dependent State, the magistrate of Zhuojun County, and the cavalry commandant.

Gongsun Zan had a strong sense of brotherhood. If Liu Bei were willing to be Gongsun Zan's subordinate, Gongsun Zan would be very happy to do so. However, Gongsun Zan felt it would be a loss of face to follow Liu Bei.

When Liu Bei sent Xu Shu and others to deliver the seal of the Governor of Youzhou to Gongsun Zan, he actually wanted Gongsun Zan to know: Brother, I've made it big now. If you can't make it in Youzhou, come find me in Luoyang.

Given Gongsun Zan's abilities, if he were to flee with his cavalry, even if Liu Yu, Yuan Shao, Han Fu, and Qiu Liju joined forces, they would not be able to stop him.

However, the truth is that Liu Yu destroyed Gongsun Zan at Yuyang.

Liu Bei knew that this was Gongsun Zan's pride.

Even if they die on the battlefield, they will never bow down to their former brothers.

Subsequently, Liu Bei lied that he had caught a cold and was recuperating at the General's Mansion, only sending the urgent report of Liu Yu's ascension to the throne to the Ministry of Personnel.

After receiving the urgent report, Jia Xu forwarded it to Liu Xie.

Upon seeing Liu Yu declare himself emperor, Liu Xie was completely stunned.

During this period, Liu Xie had been considering how to get along with Liu Bei.

Although Liu Hong's will instructed Liu Xie that "he may not trust anyone, but he must trust Liu Bei. As long as Liu Bei is alive, the Han Dynasty will remain. Even if there are villains who want to overthrow the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei will definitely help my son to defeat them," Liu Xie was, after all, the emperor, and emperors want to hold onto power.

However, Liu Xie now has self-awareness and knows that he is too young to understand politics and military affairs. Therefore, he spends most of his time reading reports and affixing seals, while the specific decisions are made by the court officials.

One thing at a time, Liu Xie was also thinking every day about how he should be an emperor if he were to decide the affairs of state in the future.

Before he could figure things out, Liu Yu declared himself emperor.

If Liu Yu became emperor, then what was he, the emperor who succeeded to the throne by secret edict?
"How dare the traitor Liu Yu betray the late emperor's trust!"

Liu Xie was furious. Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou, was appointed by Liu Hong. Why should he try to seize the throne?
With Liu Xie's limited understanding, he couldn't comprehend that being in Liu Yu's position wasn't a matter of whether he wanted to or not, but rather a matter of being forced to do so by the circumstances.

When Liu Yu responded to Yuan Shao's proclamation, arguing that Liu Bei and Dong Zhuo were forging an imperial edict, there was no turning back.

After Liu Bian died, Liu Yu either became emperor himself or installed a member of the imperial clan as emperor; he could not recognize Liu Xie as emperor.

Rather than supporting a member of the imperial clan to become emperor, Liu Yu preferred to become emperor himself. From Liu Yu's perspective, he also wanted to restore the Han dynasty. This was a conflict of stances, not a matter of right or wrong.

"Summon the Great General immediately!"

After thinking for a long time, Liu Xie could only think of Liu Bei.

Liu Xie was increasingly understanding Liu Hong's words, "As long as Liu Bei is still alive, the Han Dynasty will still exist." Although he was still unconvinced, Liu Xie had no one else to rely on at this moment.

　The commentary by Li Xian in the "Biography of Wang Chong" in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty quotes the "Book of Yuan Shansong": "Wang Chong's work, 'Lunheng,' had not been circulated in the Central Plains. Cai Yong obtained it when he went to Wu and always kept it secret to aid his conversations. Later, when Wang Lang became the governor of Kuaiji, he also obtained the book. When he returned to Xuchang, people praised his talent. Some said that if one does not encounter an extraordinary person, one should obtain an extraordinary book. When asked, he said that it was indeed because of the benefits of 'Lunheng,' and thus it became circulated."

　　
　
(End of this chapter)