Guan Xiuyan walked for only two days, and Liu Bang climbed high to look outside the imperial city, but saw that there was no vitality at the end. Walking in the inner city, standing quietly under the dead trees, listening carefully to the outside of the city, I did not hear the shouts of the people on the street, and it was already winter, and everything was gray everywhere, and there was no greenery, and everything seemed lifeless. There was nothing to do in the palace, Liu Bang returned to the Xuanshu Hall to instruct the confessor, and summoned the prime minister and other ministers.

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Xiao He, Zhou Bo, Yingyin Marquis Guan Ying, and Anguo Marquis Wang Ling were edicted into the Xuanshu Palace. Several people's faces were full of sadness, Xiao He and the others stood below in a regular manner, Liu Bang sat on the couch with frowns, pinching his forehead with one hand and looking at His Highness's people in circles. In addition to these main characters in the palace, there are also the county commanders of Chang'an City and an elderly man whose position is the third elder, who is also ordered to enter the palace, one step earlier than Xiao He, and has been waiting in the Xuanshu Palace. Seeing the real emperor with a long face, if he had the appearance of an emperor, he trembled nervously.

For the arrival of the Chang'an County Order and the three elders, Xiao He and several other colleagues did not expect that today they saw that the emperor had summoned the officials below into the palace, thinking that the emperor was going to ask them about the recent things in Chang'an, and felt that the emperor really did practical things, and felt that the emperor was wise in his heart.

Liu Bang first introduced the two officials of different classes, and they bowed deeply to each other. After getting to know each other, Liu Bang also explained that the reason for summoning them into the palace this time was to hear the real situation in Chang'an reflected by the officials below, and see what they did about the major things that had happened in Guanzhong recently. Xiao He and they knew this very well and admired it from the bottom of their hearts.

Liu Bang sat on the couch and waved his hand, asking everyone to express their views in the past few days, no matter how big or small, they could report it.

When the Chang'an County Commander saw the emperor, he thought about it, and stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, thieves have been rampant in the Guanzhong area recently, repeatedly endangering the township, and the people are unbearable. And he said, "The minister has taken precautions, but he still does not stop, how is it?" ”

Liu Bang didn't say a word, looked at Xiao He and them coldly with a calm face, and then stopped slightly on the Chang'an County Order and the three elders, and the upper and lower lips were tangled together.

"Your Majesty, it's not just as simple as stealing, forcibly seizing people's daughters, and sometimes setting fire to kill people......," the three elders next to the county order continued, and before he finished speaking, his heart lit up and then took a step back and stood back in place, not knowing the emperor's temperament, and he didn't dare to say more when he saw the emperor's frowning and black face.

Liu Bang glanced at the three elders and remained silent, leaning sideways on the edge of the couch, narrowing his eyes, and contemplating. Zhou Bo, who was beside Xiao He, came out again and said, "For serious theft and excavation, the minister also heard that the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang has been repeatedly stolen recently, although His Majesty has been the emperor and has issued an edict to guard the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, but the gold, silver and jade inside the Imperial Mausoleum have always been the desire of thieves, so they are risking their lives to ignore the law." After saying that, Zhou Bo also cautiously glanced at Liu Bang who was seated.

Liu Banghei's face was calm and angry, his face was full of disgust and anger, and his hand squeaked and hammered heavily on the several cases in front of him, shaking the bamboo slips on the case, and reprimanded loudly, "Shaft!" If you dare to deceive the people and not make them fall under the law, how can I thank the people? The reprimand shook the sky, blowing his beard and glaring, and the senior officials, including Xiao He, did not dare to speak, stood respectfully to the side, bowed their heads.

Liu Bang pointed at Xiao He angrily and said, "Prime Minister, what should you do in your decree in this regard?" ”

Xiao He hurriedly took a step forward when he heard this, and waved his hand, "For the punishment of theft and excavation, the punishment is light and severe. ”

"Chop chop, don't chop, what's the point?" As soon as Xiao He's words fell, Liu Bang continued to wave his hand and said, he couldn't hear that someone was making trouble for him, and he felt upset when he heard it. hurriedly waved his hand to Xiao He to do so, and punished those thieves with beheading, regardless of the severity of their theft.

Xiao He looked embarrassed in his heart, and turned his head to look at Wang Ling, Zhou Bo and the baby. Wang Ling immediately understood, glanced at Xiao He and took a step forward, "The emperor thinks twice, the sea has been war-torn for a long time, and the population is only 23 out of 10 since the Warring States Period, which has decreased sharply. Guanzhong is the capital again, but the population is not as good as the Kanto, the north is close to the Xiongnu, the population is insufficient, there is no border guard, Your Majesty has encouraged farming, do not miss the time of farming, encourage marriage and childbirth to increase the number of population, for those who make small mistakes, Your Majesty can always be tolerant and tolerant, and punish with words, the people will not dare to commit a crime. Now the thieves are all over the place is a big mistake, and it is also necessary for Your Majesty to be lenient and discerning, when our dynasty was still cultivating, after the founding of the country, we upheld light punishment and prudent punishment, and the cause of theft and excavation, Your Majesty did not find out, how could you casually issue an edict to kill Li Min. ”

"A thief is a thief, why?" Liu Bang yelled, knocked over a few rolls of bamboo slips stacked on top of several cases with one hand, and the palace maids and eunuchs around him hurriedly sorted them out, and were pushed away by Liu Bang, who was angry, angrily with one hand, and yelled, "Get up." The palace maids and eunuchs respectfully and carefully stepped back and stood by.

The hall was suddenly silent and embarrassed, and some did not dare to say anything at this time, for fear of being scolded by the emperor; Some really can't do it in a hurry, and the three elders of Chang'an County, who have never seen this scene, were completely frightened by the emperor's temper, and they didn't dare to say a word more. I had never been in the palace before, and I didn't know the emperor's temper, but now that I finally saw it, I really felt afraid of what I just said, was it because I said these words that the emperor was so angry, and at the same time felt that these high-ranking officials who were working beside the emperor were really hard. The county commander and the three elders glanced at the prime minister standing in front of him, and the prime minister bowed his body and stood under the emperor's roar with a respectful look, and admired the old prime minister's determination in his heart. There was silence in the hall for a long time, Liu Bang sulked, and the ministers did not dare to speak.

"Since the prince said that there is a reason, what is the reason? Explain it to me. Liu Bang's words were mixed with anger, and he called Wang Ling plainly and resentfully.

Wang Ling came out of class, and without much thought, he cautiously waved his hand, "One is for the embarrassment of life, and the other is for the benefits of the future." ”

"The former is forgivable, the latter is unforgivable." Liu Bang said.

"The minister heard that some of the marquis of Guannei were given food by His Majesty in the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, so they pursued luxury and exploited the people within the range of food with their colleagues, and some rich people bought a lot of farmland at low prices, and the people had to sell themselves into slavery, but finally they could not bear their exploitation, so they embarked on the road of theft and excavation. They didn't want to be poor and be deceived, so they stole the tombs of rich families or princes in exchange for gold, silver and jade for their later use. The minister thinks that they are good at guiding their way and will return to the right path, and the minister thinks that they should not be killed. Wang Ling said.

Xiao He and Zhou Bo listened to it, and nodded to each other on the spot.

Liu Bang made a difficulty, those Guannei Marquis were all his direct generals in the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang was very kind to them, stipulating that "those who are above the seven doctors are ordered to eat the city", "those who are not officials and eunuch emperors, the Guannei Marquis are more than 2,000 stones" and other beneficial policies. It's just that profit makes their wisdom faint, and interests make them selfish and inflated to rob the people. Traditionally, the colonists were not to the liking of the rulers, and they were cunning and cunning, and they used gold to annex farmland to inflate their own selfish interests. Liu Bang was heartbroken and angry, and sighed, "The Guannei Marquis who oppressed the people used to be my subordinate soldiers, and they graced them to give them food, but what they have done today makes my heart ache. The ministers below were all embarrassed. Liu Bang felt that Wang Ling's words were reasonable, and after thinking about it for a long time, he straightened his waist and said, "Since this is the case, then someone said that a few channels would be built on the side of Weishui Jingshui to irrigate the farmland in the coming year, and the idea was to catch the thieves and ask them to repair them, so as to subsidize two gold per month." Those who do not cultivate can also defend the border, such as those who settle on the side of the Great Wall, and those who breed horses on a large scale are exempted from forced labor for ten years, and three gold per month. Those who do not obey the order will build the Changling Tomb of Xianyang Plain, with three gold per month and two days off. Those who still don't follow the order ......" Liu Bang's eyes were relative to everyone's eyes for a long time before he spit out one word, "Chop!" ”

After Liu Bang finished speaking, Xiao He took the lead and waved his hand, and everyone praised loudly, "The emperor is sage." ”

Liu Bang smiled disdainfully, leaned on the couch and snorted easily, and said proudly, "In the end, it is an ordinary man, how can he stump the emperor?" He also said, "For the Mausoleum of the Qin Emperor, the two generals of Jiangguan sent more people to guard it, and no one was allowed to enter it casually; For the ancestral tombs of the ancestors of the original six countries, more people were also sent to guard them, and for the guards, they were paid two gold per month and exempted from forced labor. For those who have been repeatedly stolen in recent days, Prime Minister Xiao Cheng will deal with them at his discretion, or exempt from forced labor for two years or exempt from taxes for two years, and for those who have moved to Bashu or Kanto, they do not need to be recalled and according to the situation, and they will be incorporated into local households as much as possible. As for the colonists, they should be properly suppressed and allowed to trade normally. As for the arrogant Marquis of Guannei, they must be made to hand over the people who sold themselves as slaves, otherwise they will go to the title and migrate to Xishu. ”

Everyone bowed down, and the mountain shouted long live.