Great Han Empire

Chapter 729
In December, four senior officials, Taifu Ma Rixun, Da Sima, General Li Hong, Da Situ Zhang Wen, and Da Sikong Yang Biao, jointly signed the petition and resigned from the "Shang Li Shang Shu Shi".Considering that the emperor was young and ignorant of political affairs, the four Shanggongs suggested that the eldest princess should take over the affairs of the minister.

The next day, the emperor summoned the four Shanggongs and tried his best to persuade them to stay.The four Shanggongs resolutely resigned.The emperor grants permission.

On the third day, the emperor issued an edict to worship the eldest princess to lead the book and assist him in handling state affairs.

On the fourth day, the emperor continued to drive north.

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In mid-December, the emperor drove into Wuxian County, Taiyuan County, Bingzhou.At this time, the first heavy snow of this winter came roaring.The emperor's car stopped immediately.

Cui Jun, the governor of Bingzhou, Cui Yan, the prefect of Taiyuan County, and Li Li, the order of Jinyang, rushed to the emperor's camp to meet the emperor.The three told the emperor that since this winter came too early, it was difficult for the Jinyang temporary palace to be completed before the end of the year, so they begged the emperor to allow time.The emperor frowned, a little unhappy, "Without a palace, I will celebrate the New Year in the ice and snow."

Shangshu Feng Shuo saw that the emperor was very unhappy, and hurriedly said to the three ministers: "The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and this matter cannot be discussed. Immediately recruit more peasants, add corvees, and rush to work day and night, otherwise, you will bear the consequences."

The three ministers didn't dare to say any more, and had no choice but to back down.

After the emperor decided to live in Jinyang temporarily, General Da Sima urgently told Cui Jun, Cui Yan, and Li Li to repair Jinyang Palace immediately.During the Warring States period, Jinyang served as the capital of Zhao State for 74 years. In this dynasty, Emperor Gaozu named his son Liu Heng as acting king and established Jinyang as his capital. Therefore, there have always been palaces in Jinyang City.Although these palaces have been dilapidated after the war, after ten years of repairs in Northern Xinjiang, a large part of them have been repaired and become the seat of the government offices of the various prefectures in Northern Xinjiang.

When the emperor arrived in Jinyang, of course he could no longer live in a tent under Longshan Mountain like the eldest princess, so General Sima asked to rebuild Jinyang Palace.It is said that the reconstruction of Jinyang Palace is actually to move away the government offices of the various prefectures in northern Xinjiang and the people in the nearby streets, and then build these streets with walls, and then rebuild and expand several main palaces to form a simple palace. That's all.This is a way to save money and effort, but because of the large amount of relocation and the very short time before the Chinese New Year, the construction period is extremely tight.Now that it is snowing heavily, it is even more impossible to finish the project before the end of the year and move the emperor and the court to Jinyang.

Everyone knows the fate of disobeying the imperial decree.The three of them frowned and discussed in low voices.Cui Yan said, should we talk to the general?Only he can save us at this time.Cui Jun hesitated.The emperor dared not refuse to ask the general to come forward, but the emperor must be very disgusted, which is not good for the general.If something big goes wrong because of this little thing, our guilt will be big.Li Li said that Lord Cui's father is now the Zongzheng of the imperial court, directly under the Ministry of Sikong.Master Sikong Yang Biao is an old minister of Chang'an.If Mr. Yang Biao came forward to intercede, there might be a turning point.

Cui Jun, Cui Yan, and Li Li did not follow the emperor's order to go back to Jinyang immediately, but quietly ran to the imperial camp where the Zongzheng Mansion was located.Cui Lie didn't wait for Cui Jun to finish the whole story, and scolded the three of them.If you can't do such a small thing well, you deserve to die.But scolding is scolding, people still need to be saved.Cui Jun is his son, Cui Yan is an offshoot of Cui Clan's clan, and Li Li is his protégé, so we can't help him.

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"Go to the eldest princess, she can solve this matter."

"Princess?" Cui Jun smiled wryly, "She is the elder sister of the emperor, how could she help us?"

"She will definitely help." Cui Lie said with a smile, "If the three of you make the situation more serious, the Eldest Princess will definitely not be able to sit still." Then he told about the matter that the Eldest Princess was in charge of the Shangshu Office and in charge of the Shangshu Desk.

"Why did the general do this? What good does it do him?" Cui Jun asked suspiciously, "If the eldest princess takes the side of the emperor, Hebei will be in trouble."

"How can the eldest princess stand on the side of the emperor?" Cui Lie sneered, "If the outer dynasty wants to get back all the power in a safe and secure way, the eldest princess must deeply feel the harm of the excessive imperial power to the country. For example Today's matter..."

Cui Yan was startled, and blurted out: "If the Son of Heaven turns against the Eldest Princess, then the government..."

"Reckless about the consequences, the general pushed the eldest princess to the court. His purpose was to use the special status of the eldest princess to balance and ease the power struggle between the emperor and the outer dynasty, but his mind was too simple. He thought that the eldest princess would listen. He, how is this possible? The eldest princess and the emperor are a family. When the power of the foreign court seriously threatens the emperor's imperial power, she will not hesitate to help the emperor deal with the foreign court. At that time, the harem and foreign relatives will be repeated in the court. The clan and clan took turns interfering in the government affairs." Cui Lie shook his head and sighed, "The general is too confused. In order to restore Hebei's strength as soon as possible so that he can conquer the world as soon as possible, he did not hesitate to retreat again and again in order to obtain the check and balance of power in the court. He Not only retreating by himself, but also forcing us to advance and retreat with him, this is simply asking for defeat. He wants to die, but we don't want to die. We have finally found a way to rejuvenate the big man, how can we give up so easily?"

"So, we must try our best to let the emperor and the eldest princess fight first." Cui Lie looked at the three of them and continued, "The struggle for power in the court is directly related to the survival of the country. When the country is in danger, Whether it's the eldest princess or the emperor, they won't cherish that bit of family affection any more."

"If things get serious, the general will definitely come forward to stop it." Cui Yan said worriedly, "It's about the danger of Hebei and the prosperity of the Han Dynasty. The general will not ignore it and stand by. Without the full support of the general, the eldest princess will be very nervous." Difficult to continue..."

"Then you are wrong." Cui Lie waved his hand and interrupted him, "If the big man wants to rejuvenate, it is very important to ensure the correctness of the national policy, and to do this, the foreign court must obtain absolute power. However, at the critical moment of the implementation of the new official system, the emperor made trouble, and the general shrank his head and hid behind the scenes, which made us very passive."

"Today, in order to ensure the integrity of the Prime Minister and the long-term correctness of the national policy, we have only two ways. One is to do our best to help the eldest princess, and try to let the eldest princess form a powerful force in the shortest possible time. The prime minister and part of the imperial power are firmly in our hands. The rise of the eldest princess is very important to the rejuvenation of the great man. In the future, the world will be stable, and the power of the generals and warriors will be very large. If we want to effectively contain and weaken the power of the warriors, we can only Join hands with the Son of Heaven and the Eldest Princess."

"The eldest princess is very powerful, so we can use her power to smoothly control the emperor and the imperial power. Behind the eldest princess, there are generals and a group of warriors, and we are a group of scholars. Is the emperor her opponent? This is ours. The second method is to make the emperor and the eldest princess turn against each other first, and then let the eldest princess control the emperor."

Cui Lie coughed lightly, looked at the three people sitting there in a daze, and continued, "The matter is getting serious, the general will definitely come forward, but it's too late, the eldest princess has become powerful, even if she doesn't have the general With our support, with our help, we can compete head-on with the general.”

"The general learned the lessons of rebellion and defeat from Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, etc. He dared not come forward to control the power publicly, so as not to take the responsibility of taking the emperor to order the world. He let the eldest princess take charge of the minister, and let the northern Xinjiang warriors enter the court as ministers, In fact, the purpose is to indirectly control the authority through the eldest princess and his subordinates. His strategy is not bad, it can completely avoid the disaster caused by him publicly holding the emperor hostage, but it is a pity that his hand is too long."

"Whether it is for the country or for our own survival, we must control the power of the general within an acceptable range. To put it bluntly, it is to prevent the general from taking power alone and endangering the country. The general uses the eldest princess to control power , we will do whatever we can, and instead use the Eldest Princess to help the Great General, and let him bind himself in a cocoon."

"My lord, so far, the general has not done any harm to the country, on the contrary..." Li Li was a little dissatisfied.

"You are right. I also believe in the loyalty of the general now, but what about the future? When the world is settled in the future, can he continue to maintain his loyalty like now? If the emperor intends to kill him in the future, he will rise up and resist." , or tie them with their hands? Even if the general is willing to be tied with his hands, what about his subordinates? Iron cavalry in the desert, fierce soldiers in the northern border, are they all willing to be tied with their hands?" Cui Lie asked loudly, "You know why we Want to modify the official system? The purpose of modifying the official system is to effectively check and balance power, so that people with great achievements like the general can have a good death. Power can rule the country, but it can kill people even more. It can turn a loyal minister into a rebel thief."

"Do you understand now?" Cui Lie calmed down a little and asked, pointing at the three of them.

The three nodded.

"It's good if you understand it." Cui Lie said, "Go see the eldest princess. How should I say it, don't you need me to teach you?"

=

The Son of Heaven saw the Eldest Princess walking into the big tent covered in snow, and rushed to greet her, "Sister, it's snowing so hard, why are you here? It's too cold, come and warm yourself by the fire."

The emperor is in a good mood recently.The ministers succumbed, and the general bowed his head. Although the eldest princess was in charge of the minister, this was enough to show the power of the emperor.In fact, the eldest princess is in charge of the minister, but she still has the final say.

The eldest princess was full of anger and said nothing.When the emperor came to the side, she rushed up suddenly, grabbed the emperor's arm, and dragged him out of the tent with all her strength.

"Sister, what are you doing? It's snowing outside, it's cold." The emperor cried out in panic, not knowing why the princess was angry.The emperor is thin and has little strength.The eldest princess has been practicing martial arts in northern Xinjiang for the past few years. She is proficient in bow and horse and has great strength.Pulled by her, the Son of Heaven staggered out of the big tent.

Several ministers, servants, and ministers who served the emperor did not dare to stop, but followed behind in fear.

Outside the tent, the north wind was howling, heavy snow was flying, and it was extremely cold.

"Sister, it's cold outside, go back." The emperor begged pitifully with his head shrunk.

"You know it's cold too?" the eldest princess screamed. "Aren't those peasants who built your palace cold? Aren't those coachmen who transported stones and wood to your palace cold? Those soldiers who guarded your frontier in the heavy snow Isn’t it cold? Go to Jizhou to see how many victims have no food to eat and no clothes to wear. In such a cold day, they can only wrap a layer of grass on their bodies to keep out the cold. Do you know? I haven't learned it, but I have learned it in a decent way."

The eldest princess became angrier as she spoke, and stretched out her hand to tear off the fur cloak from the emperor, "Take it off for me, stand here and think about it, are you doing right? Here you want the palace and the people to die, how can you rejuvenate the great man like this?"

"Sister, sister..." The emperor saw the eldest princess's almond eyes wide open, her face livid, and she was furious, and her voice was almost hoarse. At that time, she was so frightened that she burst into tears, "It's cold, sister, I don't want the palace anymore, don't It's..."

Huangmen servant Feng Shuo turned over and knelt down, begging loudly: "Your Highness, Your Highness, this is all my fault, you should punish me. Your Majesty is not in good health, please don't let him freeze to death."

"Get lost." The eldest princess raised her leg and kicked, "The emperor's incompetence is all because of you treacherous ministers. Get lost."

Feng Shuo's eyes darkened, and nosebleeds spurted out immediately.Jia Xu, Yang Qi and the others were shocked, knelt on the ground and kowtowed, begging bitterly.

The Son of Heaven was weak, and the fur cloak was pulled off by the eldest princess three or two times, "Take off your boots for me, take them off... Do you know how many people in this world have never worn shoes in their entire lives? Today I want you to taste what it's like to be without shoes. Take them off for me."

The emperor hugged the eldest princess, "Sister, sister, I don't want a palace anymore, I live in a tent with my sister..."

"You don't know the suffering of the people, how can you be a good emperor?" The eldest princess trembled all over, and pushed the emperor to the ground, "If you don't take it off, I will take it off for you."

Jia Xu and Yang Qi scrambled and scrambled, supporting the emperor from left to right, "Your Highness, the emperor is young and ignorant, it is all the fault of the ministers, and the ministers are willing to be punished."

"Get out of here..." the eldest princess pressed the hilt of the sword at her waist, pointing at the two of them and shouted angrily.

"Your Highness..."

"Huh..." The long sword came out of its sheath and slashed at Yang Qi.Yang Qi was shocked, and instinctively let go of his hand.The eldest princess kicked him away, and the long sword went straight to Jia Xu.Jia Xu screamed, got up and ran.

"Take off." The eldest princess pointed her sword at the emperor, gritted her teeth and roared, "Take off."

Sitting on the icy snow, the Son of Heaven wailed and took off his boots in a hurry.

"Stand up for me." The eldest princess pulled him up, "You are a man, the emperor of a big man, a 14-year-old man. In the Northern Xinjiang Army, many soldiers of your age have already rushed forward with swords. The battlefield is here. What about you? What did you do? Apart from playing chess, apart from crying, apart from letting the people die, what else did you do? Don’t you even have the courage to stand barefoot in the snow?”

"Sister..." Tianzi shivered from the cold, his lips were black and purple, and he was staggering and frightened.

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"What did you say?" Li Hong jumped up, "The eldest princess beat the emperor?"

"General, hurry up and rescue Your Majesty." Jia Xu was out of breath, and said, "Princess Princess is mad and lost her mind."

Li Hong pulled him up and rushed out of the big tent, "Quickly, tell the three ministers urgently to go to the Tianzi camp."

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Ma Rixun, Zhang Wen, Li Hong, Yang Biao, and the ministers of Jiuqing rushed into the Tianzi camp one after another, and a large number of them fell to their knees.

"Your Highness, why are you doing this?" Li Hong was so angry that he almost vomited blood, "Your Highness, that is the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven of a big man."

The Son of Heaven was miserable, with bare feet, shrinking neck, mud on his clothes, and his fur cloak had been cut into pieces by a long sword, standing in the snow with a face of pain.

The eldest princess held the long sword in her hand, tears streaming down her face, "The big man has no hope, no hope. Do you remember the thousands of refugees who froze to death on the embankment of the Yellow River? Do you remember the hundreds of thousands of people who were swallowed by the flood? This What did the emperor do? He thinks his palace is more important than the lives of the people. Is this also the emperor of the big man?"

Li Hong understood, and so did the ministers.The eldest princess was angry about the Jinyang Palace.

"You all go back." The eldest princess pointed to the ministers kneeling on the snow, "I will stand with the emperor until he admits his mistake."

"Your Highness..." Ma Rizun threw himself on the ground regardless of the mud, and begged loudly, "Your Highness, this is all due to the incompetence of the ministers, and has nothing to do with Your Majesty..."

"The Son of Heaven wants to live in Jinyang Palace immediately, and he ordered Taiyuan County to increase the collection of civilian husbands and corvees. Do you know this?" The eldest princess said angrily, "I have lived in a tent in Longshan for six years. In the past six years, I I haven't worn new clothes, I haven't put on makeup, I read scriptures and history every day, ride horses and shoot, what am I for?" The eldest princess pointed at the emperor and cried out sadly, "It's all for saving him, for his recovery The big man, what did he do in order to keep this country and society? He needs power and a palace before he arrives in Jinyang, so will he have to ruin this great country in the future?"

"Your Highness..." Ma Rixun wanted to persuade him again, but when he saw the flash of the sword light and the long sword shot towards him, he was so scared that he closed his eyes and dared not make a sound.

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The [-]-mile fast rider came galloping.

Not long after, Sima Yi, head of the general's mansion, ran into the Tianzi camp with an urgent book in hand.

"General, Du Liao General Yan Rou urgently reported that Yu Fuluo, the Hun's great Shan, has died."

Li Hong was taken aback, "Where is Liu Bao?"

"In autumn, when Budugeng and Tuobatao fought, Liu Bao led his army into the desert and helped two generals, Pang De and Yan Wuwei, suppress the Xianbei people. They are still in Jinxueyuan." Sima Yi said anxiously, "Now The mountain was blocked by heavy snow, King Zuo Xian could not return to Shan Yuting in time to succeed the Great Shan Yu, the situation became complicated."

"Is there any movement in Huchuquan in Meiji?"

"Yes." Sima Yi said, "General Yan Rou asked, should General Yang Ming lead his troops to Meiji immediately?"

Li Hong didn't speak. He took the emergency book in Sima Yi's hand and held it up high, "Your Highness..."

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(End of this chapter)