Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong were very surprised, and exclaimed together: "Crown him king? ”

Liu Hong said with great certainty: "Yes, I want to crown him king." ”

Zhao Zhong still did not give up, and said: "Your Majesty, this matter is very inappropriate, although Liu Xin is also a clan relative, his ancestor is only a small marquis of the nest, and now he is rashly named the king, there is no precedent to follow." ”

Although Zhang Rang often helped Liu Xin speak, he didn't want Liu Xin to be crowned king, after all, the status of the prince was too high, no matter how much he was favored in front of the emperor, he had to be more restrained when he saw the prince, let alone reach out to Liu Xin to ask for benefits in the future. But Zhang Rang didn't speak, he didn't need to be this villain at all, even in front of the messenger sent by Liu Xin, Zhao Zhong's attitude was obvious. If Liu Xin didn't succeed in becoming the prince in the end, this revenge would definitely be remembered on Zhao Zhong, and if Liu Xin became the prince, the first person to thank should probably be him Zhang Rang.

In Liu Hong's eyes, no matter how much credit Liu Xin has made in the past, it is not as good as helping him recover the long-lost "surname Fu" this time, no matter what he rewards Liu Xin, it is not too much. What's more, Liu Xin is also a relative of the Han family, and he does not violate the rules of the ancestor "no merit, no merit, no Liu Buwang", besides, what can he do if he is given the position of a prince, so he said undoubtedly: "I have made up my mind, you have to say more!" Proposed edict! Seal Liu Xin as the king of Xiangyang and lead Jingzhou Mu! ”

As soon as he returned to Xiangyang on the front foot, Liu Hong's edict came on the back foot. Hearing that the emperor was going to crown Liu Xin as the king of Xiangyang, the excitement on the faces of Tian Feng, who had just returned from Changsha, was indescribable, and he said hello to Liu Xin repeatedly.

Liu Xin looked calm, he had already set the strategy of "building a high wall, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming king", which was actually a strategy offered by Liu Bowen to Zhu Yuanzhang at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, which was completely copied by Liu Xin. Of course, he did not disclose this strategy, but quietly worked in this direction. Now "building a high wall and accumulating grain" is going very smoothly, in Liu Xin's view, "slow king" can hardly be considered at present, who knows that the emperor suddenly issued an edict to crown him as king at this time.

Facing the congratulations of Fu Zhu and Tian Feng, Liu Xin did not feel the slightest excitement. Because he knows that the prince is not the prince, it is just a false name, and in less than three years, Liu Hong should return to heaven, and who cares if you are a king or a marquis at that time, maybe the prince will die faster. Liu Xin made a decision very quickly, and said to Fu Zhu: "Gonghe, you help me draw up a recital, and ask the emperor to take back the order no matter what." ”

Frustrated and Tian Feng looked at Liu Xin with a surprised face, and said: "Being able to be named the king of Xiangyang is really a great joy in life, and please think twice!" ”

Liu Xin said disdainfully in his heart, it is a great joy in life to be crowned the king of Xiangyang, do you know what my ultimate goal is, I am afraid that I will scare you to death if I say it. Of course, Liu Xin's thoughts in his heart couldn't be told to them, and Liu Hong's death period needed to be kept absolutely secret, so he said with a straight face: "Two gentlemen, high-ranking officials and Houlu, who doesn't yearn for it?" However, people are self-aware! Thinking about Liu's original cloth clothes, how can he de, he has achieved Jingzhou pasture within a few years, and he has been out of hope, how can he get Longwangshu, and he is insatiable. Besides, now, the country is plagued by disasters, the people are suffering and displaced, my generation should be the first to worry about the world, and the world after the world is happy, how can we be greedy for fame! ”

After listening to the famous words that Liu Xin stole from Mr. Fan, Tian Feng was in awe, and praised in unison: "What a good one who worries about the world first, and enjoys the joy of the world after the world, and his subordinates remember the teachings of the lord!" ”

The emperor's edict to crown Liu Xin as the king of Xiangyang spread, and the court seemed to have fried a pot. Liu Hong looked at the piles of concertos like a hill in front of him, and was annoyed, these ministers, even when the Yellow Turban rebelled, were not as diligent as they are now, aren't they just crowned a king? As for this? Liu Hong's good mood just now because of the revival of his majesty is also gone.

In the face of almost unanimous opposition from the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, Liu Hong could not insist on going his own way. However, after Wang Meiren's death, he once wanted to abolish Empress He, but he was strongly opposed by the ministers and lost a game. And the edict has already been issued, if it is withdrawn now, what will Liu Xin think, Liu Hong can't help but consider it.

Liu Hong was so angry in the hall that Zhang Rang hurriedly ran in and said, "The emperor doesn't have to worry, Liu Xin has already taken the initiative to ask the emperor to take back his fate." ”

Liu Xin didn't want to be the king of Xiangyang, which surprised Liu Hong and asked: "I don't want to make him king, what does he want?" He took the initiative to come to the table, it wouldn't be hypocritical, right? ”

Zhang Rang said with a smile: "Your Majesty, now that Liu Xin has taken the initiative to go to the table, it can be regarded as solving the emperor's problem." The emperor withdrew his order and no longer named Liu Xin the king of Xiangyang, not because of the pressure of the courtiers, but because he was sympathetic to Liu Xin's loyalty, regardless of whether he was true or not. ”

Liu Hong had a flash of inspiration in his mind, and said decisively: "No, wait a few days and see." ”

Within half a month, Liu Xin performed five concerts in a row, asking the emperor to retract his order, and the frequency of his recitals was only higher than that of those ministers.

Liu Hong finally smiled and said, "The edict is played by Liu Xin." ”

Zhang Rang asked puzzledly: "Why didn't the emperor allow him to play from the beginning, so as to calm down the ministers' discussions earlier?" ”

Liu Hong said proudly: "If I don't do this, how can I see if Liu Xin is sincere." Now it seems that Liu Xin's loyalty to me is beyond doubt, Jingzhou is the southern gate of Luoyang, and I can rest assured that I will hand it over to him. ”

The uproarious Liu Xin crowned the king finally came to an end, and then around Liu Xin's initiative to resign from the table, endless debates began in the court. This time, the ministers were no longer in line of thought and were clearly divided into several factions. A group of people led by Situ Cuiyan believe that Liu Xin is doing this completely to sell his reputation and reputation, and he is sacrificing profit for fame. A group of people led by Taiwei Yang Ci believed that Liu Xin was forced to do this under pressure from the government and the opposition, not out of his own intentions, and was not worth mentioning. There are also middle- and lower-level officials headed by Xun Yu who believe that it is not easy for Liu Xin to be able to do this, and his high style and bright festival are really a model for young people to learn.

Although there was a lot of quarrel outside for Liu Xin's affairs, Cao Ying did not participate in these discussions, he just went back and forth between the military camp and his home on time every day, it seemed that Liu Xin had never heard of Liu Xin's kingship.

Recently, the most talked about in the capital is the matter of Liu Xin being crowned king, and Cao Ying's original wife Ding Lin has also heard of it. On this day, when she saw Cao Ying coming back from the barracks, she casually asked, "Master, didn't you also have a relationship with Lord Mu Liu of Jingzhou?" Why did you say that he resigned and was named the king of Xiangyang? ”

Cao Ying laughed and said: "The world is stupid, where do you understand Liu Xin's hard work." Xu Shao said that people are capable ministers who govern the world and annihilate heroes in troubled times, I think this sentence is more appropriate to use on Liu Xin! ”

When Ding Lin turned to leave, Cao Ying said to himself: "Liu Xin is not simple! It is said that he will be my fierce rival in the future, and this person must be guarded against! ”

Liu Xin stipulated that he should submit a recital every three days until the emperor withdrew his order. Then, he put this matter behind him and went to Jingzhou step by step, as if the discussions of the government and the opposition had nothing to do with him.

Although his culture is not high, he still understands the truth that people regard food as the sky, and Liu Xin's primary development is naturally agriculture. At that time, the population had not exceeded the carrying capacity of the land, and the main problem was that the yield was relatively low, and the main reason was that agricultural production at this time was mainly dependent on the weather. In recent years, Jingzhou has had good weather and agricultural production has achieved a bumper harvest. But taking precautions, Liu Xin has already set his sights on building water conservancy.

At that time, the minds of ordinary people were still imprisoned in their own acres and thirds of land, and there were very few people who were willing to come out to work. In addition to the more than 10,000 former Yellow Turban prisoners who had obtained free status, the engineering team in Jingzhou also had thousands of Jiangxia prisoners, less than 20,000, more than half the original size of more than 40,000. It was the busy farming season, and it was impossible to recruit a large number of people, so in order to build water conservancy, we had to suspend the renovation of most of the roads. Liu Xin sometimes even wonders if it is time to form a professional engineering unit.

In order to ensure the steady development of the local economy, a stable environment is also very important, especially in the newly recovered Jingnan area, where there are still many bandits and bandits. In addition to the Fourth and Fifth Army Corps that remained there, Liu Xin also ordered Zhang He's Third Army to be transferred to Jiangnan to spare no effort to crack down on bandits in various places.

After Liu Xin's repeated adjustments to local power, Taishou's position was no longer so important, so he decisively transferred Tian Feng back from Changsha and let him be in charge of water conservancy construction in various places. The huge casualties caused by the attack on Jiangxia City made Liu Xin learn from the pain, and the research and development of large siege equipment such as trebuchets was urgent. During Kong Wen's tenure as the director of the research institute, many research and development work did not progress quickly, and Liu Xin did not hesitate to transfer Xiang Lang back to take charge of the research institute again.

Xiangyang City is still prosperous as always, the city gates on all sides have not been closed once even during Liu Xin's use of troops in Jiangxia and Wuling, and the status of this place as the commercial center of the central and southern regions has not been shaken, and the merchants who come from the south to the north all night every day, are endless, and the business of the inns in the city is also extremely hot.

It was already past dusk, and if it was in other cities, the city gates would have been closed, and there were still people coming in and out of each gate in Xiangyang, and all kinds of vehicles passed through the city from time to time.

A small carriage galloped straight to the east gate of Xiangyang, and the coachman said without looking back: "Master, the front is in Xiangyang." ”