Cheng Yu and the others couldn't help but be stunned, they couldn't imagine that these words actually came from Cao Cao's mouth, if they hadn't heard it with their own ears, they wouldn't have dared to believe how Cao Cao, who had always been strong, bowed down to Emperor Han Xian.

In fact, for Cao Cao, he is completely aware of this little trick played by Emperor Han Xian, but he just wants to improve Liu Ze's status as a lord, whether it is a marquis or a prince, there is no practical meaning at all. These princes and kings, not only are they disdainful of the feudal officials who hold the authority in their hands, but even the ministers of the same country with them do not take these princes and kings in their eyes, the princes and kings of the Han Dynasty are just canaries in cages, and their status is transcendent, but they have no power in their hands, not only can they not mobilize and direct their own officials, but they also often suffer from the white eyes and bullying of the officials of the subordinate countries such as the prime minister and the governor, and the so-called princes are nothing more than that.

The decline of the status of the princes and kings has to start from the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, the power of the vassal states in the early Han Dynasty is very large, almost equivalent to the status of the pre-Qin countries, the princes and kings can set up their own officials, have to be endowed, the kingdom belongs to a vast fiefdom, a large population, the princes and kings have the power of military administration and taxation in their hands, as if they are independent and outside the court. During the reign of Emperor Jing, the power of the princes and kings was strong enough to threaten the centralized system, and Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty adopted the method of cutting the feudal domain, and in the second year of Emperor Jing, he began to implement this policy and directly cut the branches and counties of the kingdom. First of all, Changshan County of Zhao State and six counties of Jiaoxi State were captured, and then Chu Donghai County was cut, and it was planned to cut the Huiji and Yan County of Wu State. This measure directly touched the fundamental interests of the princes and kings, so the seven kingdoms headed by Wu Wangbi, Chu, Zhao, Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Zichuan, and Jinan, launched an armed rebellion under the banner of the Qing monarch's side. The rebellion was quickly put down. Emperor Jing took advantage of the situation to seize the branches and counties of the kingdoms, and the border counties were directly under the central government, and cut off the privileges of the princes and kings, and only allowed them to pay taxes and rents for food, clothing. The kingdom was governed by internal history, and its status was downgraded, and it was essentially no different from Han County. Since then, the administrative division of the Western Han Dynasty has implemented a two-level system of counties (countries) and counties, and the kingdom and counties are both first-level administrative divisions.

During the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he implemented the law of Zuoguan and the law of collateral benefits. The Zuoguan Law stipulates that the status of officials in the kingdom is lower than that of officials at the same level in the central government, which prevents the promotion of officials in the kingdom to the central government. The emissaries were reluctant to choose to serve as officials in the kingdom; The collateral benefit law prohibits central government officials from associating themselves with the kingdom. Later, he issued a decree of grace, stipulating that in addition to the eldest son of the kingdom, the other sons could also inherit part of the land and become princes. It is the embodiment of Jia Yi's "building princes and less strength". The ultimatum abolished the titles of more than 100 people, and the remaining kingdoms were left with only the right to enjoy the taxes of the fiefdoms, and the military power was all vested in the central government, completely solving the problem of feudal princes.

By the end of the Han Dynasty, the status of the princes and kings had basically been weakened to the point of dispensability, except for having some ceremonial respect, the princes and kings were almost equal to the same rich family, and their political status was completely lost.

Although it is said that Emperor Xian intends to crown Liu Ze as a prince. Cao Cao didn't particularly care. After all, there are so many princes and kings in the world, no matter how much Liu Ze is not much, the only thing that makes Cao Cao a little jealous is that Liu Ze will be the first prince and king to have military power and administrative power today, and even Cao Cao can't foresee the consequences.

But for Cao Cao. It doesn't matter. How to reconcile with Liu Ze. Relieving oneself of the troubles in the southeast is the most important matter, which is more important. Cao Cao naturally divided it clearly. If Liu Ze was not present today, Cao Cao would not have paid attention to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty at all, but now that Liu Ze was standing in the palace, Cao Cao naturally could not refute Emperor Xian at the risk of breaking with Liu Ze, since Emperor Xian wanted to give Liu Ze the title of king, Cao Cao simply agreed generously.

Cao Cao agreed, and no one raised any objections from the civil and military officials, and Emperor Xian quickly announced that Liu Ze was named King Jing, Liu Ze's wife Cai Yan was named queen, Gan Ping and Mi Lan in the side room were princesses, the eldest son Liu Wei was the son, the eldest daughter Liu Qiong was the princess of Lanling, the second daughter Liu Yao was the princess of Anfeng, and Liu Ze's father Liu Hong was the marquis of Huai, and his grandfather Liu Xiong was the marquis of Yi.

The name of King Jing comes from Liu Ze's ancestor Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan, Liu Sheng's fiefdom is in Zhongshan Kingdom, King Zhongshan is his title, Jing is the nickname, and now Emperor Han Xian named Liu Ze as King Jing, but it is a false seal, because there is no Yasukuni or Jingjun in the world, so Liu Ze, the prince and king, has no fiefdom. Before this, the marquis has a false seal, but the prince is real, there is no example of false seal at all, the former Han Dynasty opened the country when the fiefdom of the vassal state was very large, and spanned several counties, and later the vassal king's fief has been compressed, to the time of Emperor Wu, the vassal state of the fief and the county are the same, the county has become a parallel level of administrative units, subject to the jurisdiction of the state. The title of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty is really a precedent for a generation of false seals.

Although the titles of the princes and kings are false, the reward given to Liu Ze by the emperor is real, 10,000 catties of gold, 20,000 catties of silver, 100,000 pieces of money, 5,000 pieces of brocade, and others such as pearls, jade, amber, agate, night pearls, etc.

Was Emperor Han Xian rich? Of course not, escaped from Guanzhong, Emperor Han Xian had no food and clothing, poverty, to Xudu, the power of the court was controlled by Cao Cao, and the taxes collected from all over the Emperor Xian were not visible to a son, and the various expenses in the palace were also allocated by the Sikong Mansion.

Now that Emperor Han Xian's mouth is open, it is just a generous Cao Cao, Cao Cao heard it below, and he couldn't help but feel a pain in his flesh, and the muscles on his face were a little distorted. This is really not Cao Cao's stinginess, the military disasters in the land of Yanyu have been rampant in recent years, ten rooms and nine emptiness, many people are scattered, the fields are barren, and the shortage of grain and grass in the army is undoubtedly the most headache for Cao Cao, and even Cao Cao did not hesitate to play the trick of using a small bucket to borrow the head of the warehouse grain officer to appease the army. As for the taxes of the states in the world, Cao Cao didn't dare to think about it, in addition to paying some taxes to the court symbolically to Liu Ze and Liu Biao, other princes such as Yuan Shao, Liu Zhang, Zhang Lu, Han Sui, Sun Ce, etc., did not even give a copper plate to the court. Now Cao Cao is not crying poor or really poor, Emperor Han Xian is not a family and does not know the price of firewood and rice, as soon as he opens his mouth, he will reward Liu Ze with 100 million catties of gold and hundreds of millions of copper coins, so that Cao Cao's face is green.

Liu Ze looked at it in his eyes, laughed secretly, took the initiative to stand up, and said: "Qi Xià, now the world is in chaos, and the people are unbearable, the minister implores His Majesty to withdraw the reward to his subordinates, the taxes of the world are taken from the people, and they should be used for the people, please take these rewards to help the refugees in the world." ”

Cao Cao's face softened a little, and he secretly wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead. Although Emperor Han Xian did not necessarily become the emperor, but his opening fell into Cao Cao's injustice, and if Cao Cao openly refused to pay, he would undoubtedly have a grudge with Liu Ze. Cao Cao is now in a difficult period, he wants to break every penny in half and spend so much money at once, how much money he has to feed less, and it is strange if he is not distressed. Fortunately, Liu Ze took the initiative to stand up and return the reward, which made Cao Cao feel a lot more at ease.

This reward worth hundreds of millions of dollars Emperor Han Xian is somewhat spoofed, usually in Cao Cao's hands aggrieved, now Liu Ze is coming to the court, Cao Cao seems to be very jealous of Liu Ze, which makes Emperor Xian very happy, so he has repeatedly made inches, not only to Liu Ze to be crowned the king, but also to open his mouth to give a lot of rewards. However, Emperor Xian also knew in his heart that Cao Cao was unwilling to pay for his plan now, and since Liu Ze took the initiative to put it forward, Emperor Xian also said along the water: "King Jing's high wind and bright festival, focusing on the world's Li Shu, I am very relieved." However, King Jing has made immortal contributions to Sheji, if I don't reward him, won't I chill the hearts of the heroes of the world, so let's do not have to pay the taxes of Xu Yang and the two states in the future, and I will be the lord of King Jing. ”

In a word, the symbolic taxes that Xuzhou pays to the court every year are also exempted. When the world was peaceful, a state's taxes were less than a billion to billions of dollars, although they were paid to the court, but after the turmoil, the population taxes in various places dropped sharply, and they could not be compared with the Lingdi Dynasty, and now Xuzhou's annual tribute to the court is only tens of millions of dollars, but this is far more than other princes, many princes have not even handed over a copper plate to the court under the pretext that the roads are blocked and the people are not happy.

Ant legs are also meat, Cao Cao heard that Emperor Xian exempted Xuzhou's tax money and grain, and he was somewhat distressed, but in an instant he was relieved again, anyway, the money was given by Liu Ze, even if the emperor was unavoidable, if Liu Ze didn't give it, could it be that he could still ask for it back? So Cao Cao didn't have any more ideas.

In the end, Emperor Xian asked who beheaded Yuan Shu and snatched back the jade seal of the country, Liu Ze played clearly Guan Yu, and Emperor Xian named Guan Yu as the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion. When he retired from the dynasty, Emperor Xian ordered Huangmen to set up a banquet in the side hall, and he wanted to feast King Liu Ze alone.

Cheng Yu looked at Cao Cao with his eyes, Cao Cao was unmoved, walked to Liu Ze's side, and said with a smile: "Brother Runde is promoted to the throne of King Jing, congratulations!" ”

Liu Ze smiled and bowed his hand and said: "With the favor of the saint, Zecai is shallow, and he is ashamed, ashamed, ashamed." ”

Cao Cao laughed and said: "Brother Runde doesn't have to be polite, with the merits of Brother Runde, he deserves this knighthood." The foolish brother will buy wine in the garden tomorrow to celebrate the virtuous brother, and hope that the virtuous brother can come. ”

Liu Ze said: "Certainly, definitely." ”

"Brother Fool will go first, farewell." Cao Cao retreated, and the civil and military officials also left one after another.

Liu Ze didn't leave because he still had a banquet to offer the emperor, and the Huangmen waiter came over, respectfully gave Liu Ze a salute, and led Liu Ze straight to the side hall. (To be continued......)