Luoyang, Beigong, the central institution and political center of the Han Dynasty.

Guangluxun Liu Yu was edicted to see the driver.

The Son of Heaven is stroking the harp. The sound of the piano is mournful and desolate, which makes people feel kinship.

When Liu Yu first entered Beijing to face the king, the Son of Heaven entertained him in the palace and talked very happily. Liu Yu has a vicissitudes of appearance, is knowledgeable, loyal, and has always had a good reputation, and his talent and popularity are the best among the clan bureaucrats. This is probably one of the willingness of the Son of Heaven to be close to him.

Liu Yu stood outside the main hall, silently listening to the poignant sound of the piano, feeling sorry in his heart.

When today's son likes to dictate and play the piano. These two hobbies of the Son of Heaven are exactly the same as those of the first emperor. Although the two are not father and son, they have a striking similarity in hobbies and talents.

Liu Yu stayed in Luoyang, the capital of Beijing, for more than a year, and often met and talked with the Son of Heaven, and his opinion of the Son of Heaven slowly changed.

The intelligence of the Son of Heaven is definitely above that of ordinary people. His comprehension of rhetoric and piano rhyme definitely comes from his innate endowment. However, Liu Yu can't see the calmness and solemnity in the words of the Son of Heaven and the sound of the piano, they always reveal too much glitz and shallowness. The Son of Heaven paid too much attention to appearances, and he always immersed his energy in the technique of rhetoric and rhyme.

Liu Yu knows that on the one hand, this is because the Son of Heaven is young, has lived in the palace for a long time, lives a luxurious life, and does not have too much experience and perception of the joys, sorrows, and sorrows of life. On the other hand, he believed that the Son of Heaven lacked a good teacher, a teacher who was loyal and upright.

Because there is no such teacher to teach the Son of Heaven the ways of sages and sages such as Gewu, Enlightenment, Self-cultivation, Qi Family, Governing the Country, and Leveling the World, the Son of Heaven lacks the cultivation of personality.

As time passed, Liu Yu discovered that the same was true of the Son of Heaven in politics. The Son of Heaven is often able to comprehend the twists and turns and risks in political affairs, and when he is in the performance of the ministers, he can often feel the difficulties of the world and make a more pertinent evaluation of things.

But oddly enough, he lacks decisiveness. He often consulted the officials repeatedly, and there was a blind emotional trust in their opinions, and he added this trust to his power, allowing them to participate in political affairs and giving them great authority.

In recent years, with the rise of rebellions and natural disasters, the Han Dynasty has been crumbling and struggling. And in this difficult situation, the lieutenant officials are even more powerful and arbitrary. arrogance and greed have made the heavens angry and resentful, and the whole country is sad.

The young Son of Heaven was alert, and he began to try to make up his own mind.

However, because of the above two reasons, the pro-government of the Son of Heaven made Liu Yu feel fearful, disappointed, and worried.

The sound of the piano slowed down.

………………

The Son of Heaven was in a very low mood. The expression is melancholy.

He sat behind the piano platform and waved Liu Yu to get up.

"Four years ago, the little prince was born, however. His mother was killed by doves. Aiqing, do you think this murderer should be sentenced to death? The Son of Heaven lowered his head and asked in a low voice.

Liu Yu was startled and suddenly became nervous. He didn't dare to make a sound, let alone talk back.

The Son of Heaven raised his head and gave him a cold look. stood up and asked in a deep voice, "Is Aiqing unwilling to say it or can't say it?" ”

Liu Yu was shocked, the cold hairs on his body stood on end, and he knelt on the ground with a plop.

For what has happened in the palace over the years, how could Liu Yu, as a clan relative, not know? He really knows the grievances and hatreds in this.

Xiping was five years old, and the Son of Heaven was twenty years old. In May of this year, the palace maid of the harem, He, gave birth to a son, which was the only bloodline of the Son of Heaven at that time, because the sons before the Son of Heaven died at birth for various reasons, and now it is not easy to survive one, the Son of Heaven is naturally very happy, and immediately canonized He as a nobleman.

Because he was afraid of the early death of the prince Liu Wei, the son of heaven Liu Hong fostered him in the home of a Taoist priest and called him Shihou.

Two years later, in the first year of Guanghe, Empress Song, the empress of the Son of Heaven, was deposed by Emperor Ling of Han and sent to a violent chamber because she was framed and slandered by Wang Fu, a regular attendant of Zhongchang, and Cheng A, a doctor of Taizhong, and finally died of depression. Two years later, that is, on the fifth day of the twelfth month of the third year of Guanghe (180), Emperor Ling of Han appointed He as empress.

After a year, Wang Meiren in the harem gave birth to another son for the Son of Heaven.

The Son of Heaven held the newborn baby in his hand, no matter how he looked at it, he felt like himself, with a small head and a small cerebellum, extremely cute. The Son of Heaven then named this little prince "Xie" according to this intention.

This was supposed to be a nice thing to add to the cake, but the struggle in the palace was too cruel and bloody, and the happy event became a funeral in the blink of an eye.

Empress He was arrogant and suspicious by nature, and she couldn't tolerate this hidden disaster, so with the help of Zhang Rang and other officials, she quickly killed Wang Meiren. By the time the Son of Heaven came to see the mother, Wang Meiren was already a cold corpse.

The Son of Heaven broke out the biggest anger in his life, he shouted and shouted to abolish the queen and kill her nine clans, but he couldn't stand the bitter pleading of the officials, and he was really a little afraid of the future brothers and the tragedy of the palace for the imperial power, so he was angry for a while, and he gave up the idea of abolishing the queen, but he no longer came to the Empress He, he felt that this woman was too terrible, a ghost with blood on her hands.

The Son of Heaven was afraid that Liu Xie would also kill the queen under an excuse, so he hurriedly took the new prince to his mother, the Empress Dowager Dong, to raise. Empress Dowager Dong and Empress He are like the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of the people, they are also a pair of enemies, and they are often noisy and vindictive. The Queen Mother was worried that her grandson had harmed that cruel woman, and she took great care of this hard-working child. The Son of Heaven was also afraid that this child would not be able to raise him, so he named him "Dong Hou" according to his mother's surname.

Wang Meiren was born in the gate, talented and intelligent, proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and has similar interests with the Son of Heaven, and the relationship between the two has always been good. Wang Meiren is gone, the Son of Heaven misses it day and night, and his heart aches. In order to express his sorrows, he painstakingly wrote a long, sentimental "Chasing Virtue Fu" and "Ode to Lingyi".

When Queen He saw it, she was very angry, feeling that she was not as good as a dead man in the mind of the Son of Heaven, and in anger, she threw the Son of Heaven's big gesture into the brazier, burning the bamboo slips and turning them into ashes.

Aiwu and Wu, the Son of Heaven doted on Liu Xie to the point of incredible, and even his mother felt that he had gone too far.

However, their mother and son have a common idea, that is, to abolish the heir. The Son of Heaven intends to pass on the throne to his favorite son instead of the son born to the murderous woman after a hundred years.

As soon as this idea was born, it immediately spread like an aphrodisiac to the whole body of the Son of Heaven, filling him with trembling and passion.

But he didn't dare to say anything to anyone. Who can he trust now? As long as his idea was slightly leaked, Liu Xie would die immediately. He is very sad, although he is the son of heaven and holds the power of life and death of all the people in the world, he can't protect his son, he can't protect the woman he likes, and he can't even punish a murderer who kills his own woman.

He's going to take it all back, he's going to do whatever he wants. Because he is the Son of Heaven.

The Son of Heaven slowly walked to Liu Yu's side, stretched out his foot and kicked him on the shoulder, and said, "Aiqing should say that it doesn't matter, I forgive you for your innocence." ”

Liu Yu was almost desperate, and said in his heart that he was finally mixed with Jiuqing's official work, and he was about to be killed before he could enjoy it. Can you say that? Say yes, if the queen and the general knew, they would not be able to gain a foothold in Luoyang in the future. Say no, offend the emperor immediately, let alone mix it up.

"This is Your Majesty's family matter, and the minister really can't talk about it." Liu Yu shook a shot, intending to get through in the dark.

The Son of Heaven snorted, stretched out his leg and kicked him again, and said, "Forget it, get up." ”

"I came to you to ask about Xiliang." The Son of Heaven pointed to the mountain of soap sacs (bags used for sparse music) on the desk and said, "There are more and more pieces of impeachment of the former general, and I don't even look at it now. You know why? ”

Liu Yu hurriedly bowed down and said: "The minister guarantees his life, the former general is indeed loyal to His Majesty and to my Han Dynasty, and he has no two hearts. Your Majesty this is trusted by the former general. Your Majesty is not suspicious of employing people, and you don't need to be suspicious, Your Majesty is sage. ”

The Son of Heaven waved his hand casually and said, "Do you know why I trust Li Aiqing? ”

Liu Yu didn't dare to talk nonsense, and bowed down to wait for teaching.

"For so many years, only Li Aiqing sent money to me alone, and she didn't ask for anything." The Son of Heaven exclaimed, "It's a very simple reason. ”

He asked Liu Yu again: "Does Aiqing know how much money Li Aiqing earned for me in this quelling rebellion in Liaodong?" ”

Liu Yu shook his head. He wanted to know too.

"Ten billion dollars." The Son of Heaven opened a pair of small eyes and said angrily, "For so many years, they have almost stolen two years of taxes from my big man, these shameless people. ”

Liu Yu said in surprise: "It's amazing." If the wind and rain are smooth, the best year will be 6 billion dollars in taxes. Your Majesty has copied so many ...... in just a few months."

"What's so strange about that?" The Son of Heaven interrupted him and said angrily, "I haven't caught the big guy yet." Big guys like Zhang Yan, Cui Lie and Xu Xiang, they can easily take out tens of millions of dollars to buy officials and buy the lives of their protégés and former officials, you can imagine how rich they are. If this kind of big guy catches dozens of him, I can at least make another 10 billion dollars. If you think about it, the first emperor led a group of lieutenant officials to hunt down and kill the general Liang Ji and confiscate more than 3 billion yuan of his family's property, so you can imagine how rich the ministers of the court and the central government are now. ”

Liu Yu shuddered, and cold sweat broke out involuntarily, the Son of Heaven wouldn't really take a third-level official like Zhang Yan to open the knife, right?

"Li Aiqing is not a loyal minister, so who is a loyal minister? Hmph......" The Son of Heaven said with a sneer, "Impeachment? Ha...... Impeach? I didn't see anyone who took the initiative to ask to go to Liaodong to quell the rebellion. They impeached? All right. I plan to promote Li Aiqing to be a hussar general and supervise the military and political affairs of Hebei, what do you think? (To be continued.) )