"Chao Wrong ······"

"Wrong ·········"

···

"Why didn't you die on the battlefield?"

"If he dies on the battlefield, I would be happy to give him a beautiful burial;"

"How can I go back to Chang'an alive······"

Seeing Zhou Yafu and the others leave, the young son of heaven who was left alone in the Xuanshu Hall couldn't help but slander in secret.

For Chao Cuo, Liu Sheng's personal emotions are really very complicated.

First, Chao Cuo is Liu Sheng's father, the teacher of Emperor Xianxiaojing;

Although the first emperor himself only confessed that he was wrong with this teacher, and in the rebellion of Wu Chu back then, he almost abandoned Chao in court clothes outside the East City, but no matter how he said it, it was also the former emperor.

is the teacher of the first emperor, and theoretically he is Liu Sheng's ancestor and master.

This is also the reason why Liu Sheng has always been angry about Chao Cuo and instructing people to damage the Taimiao Temple back then, but he has never been able to kill him.

- Killing Chao is wrong, first, it will make Liu Sheng suffer the stigma of 'killing the ancestor', and second, it will make Liu Sheng tainted with the stigma of 'narrow-mindedness'.

After all, although the events of the year were suppressed by the first emperor, for the ministers who are now active in the court, it is simply clear what happened back then.

There is no need for Liu Sheng to kill himself, as long as Chao is wrongly dead, no matter what the reason for his death, there will definitely be public opinion that 'Your Majesty is haunted by the events of the year, which led to Chao Mistake's death'.

Moreover, it was the incident back then, no matter how you say it, it can be regarded as a stain on the first emperor;

If it is on the line, it will be said that the first emperor did not respect the ancestors, sat idly by, and even caused Chao to destroy the temples of his ancestors, then there is no problem.

In this way, Liu Sheng, who is sandwiched in the middle, is a little difficult to do.

Killing Chao is equivalent to Liu Sheng admitting himself, and he is obsessed with the things of the year, and even equivalent to admitting that there was indeed such a thing back then.

Since the Son of Heaven admits that there is such a thing, then someone will definitely go down to investigate: Where did you get the courage to make a mistake?

Oh~~~

It was the courage given by the first emperor······

In this way, Liu Sheng's act of killing Chao is equivalent to exposing the black material of the first emperor and damaging his own legal foundation and source of legal system.

But if he didn't kill him, it would be equivalent to Liu Sheng, like the first emperor, who was indifferent to the destruction of his ancestors' temples.

Although this will only be known to the high-ranking officials of the court, for the Son of Heaven who is still young now, the most important thing is the thoughts of these court ministers.

If they know that Liu Sheng is a paper tiger who only knows what to do, but he doesn't even dare to move the thief who destroyed the temple of his ancestors, then he will be crowned and pro-government, and Liu Sheng will suffer from old crimes······

In fact, this is precisely one of the few dilemmas left by the former emperor Liu Qi for Liu Sheng.

And the best result of this incident is actually the wrong horse leather shroud, dying on the battlefield and sacrificing his life for the country;

Then Liu Sheng cried twice, 'The country has lost its pillars', and no matter how beautiful it is, people will only remember that Chao Cuo is a hero, not a thief who damaged the walls of the Taimiao.

-- The emotions of the Chinese people are very simple.

When there is a person who is willing to sacrifice his life for the country, especially on the battlefield, most of the mistakes committed by this person in the past may be forgiven by the Chinese people.

Liu Sheng originally played this abacus.

Accepting Chao Cuo's self-recommendation, Chao Cuo was from the position of the three princes of the Imperial Doctor, and the foreign side was the border gate guard at the level of 2,000 stones, Liu Sheng was in order to get such a result.

But Chao Cuo survived on the battlefield, and even returned to Chang'an alive······

"Whew~"

"In this battle alone, Chao Cuo can be regarded as seeing blood."

"If there is really a next time, if you can't guarantee it, you will really let him build a martial arts, and even make a marquis and worship the prime minister······"

Liu Shengzi was dismissive of Chao Cuo's military talent - Chao Cuo was not a military talent, and he never had the energy to join the army.

But the military talent is likely to be average, but it does not affect Chao Cuo, and he is also a member of this fierce era that advocates martial arts.

- Chao Cuo, is a kendo master.

If there is a suitable opportunity, Chao Cuo Bao may really have a chance, relying on his strong personal force, to set up enough martial arts to be a marquis.

Not much: 500 households, 300 households;

Even if it is a hundred or fifty households, as long as Chao Cuo is allowed to get a lord who is a marquis, all the obstacles that stand in the way between Chao Cuo and the position of Han Xiang will disappear.

Chao mistakenly became the prime minister, and the water will come to fruition.

And this is what Liu Sheng never wants to see······

"Allow him to make meritorious contributions?"

"If you die in battle, you will be buried;"

"If you set up a martial ······"

···

"Hi;"

"If he really wants to set up a martial artist, then it is his destiny to live the addiction of the prime minister."

"Who let me make this cheap ······ back then?"

Thinking like this, Liu Sheng laughed at himself, sighed and shook his head.

Back then, if Liu Sheng didn't make a move, Chao Cuo would actually die.

On that day, the first emperor had even set up a banquet for Chao Cuo!

It's just that at that time, the old prime minister Shen Tujia, who was not angry because of Liu Sheng's butterfly, and Liu Sheng agreed that Chao Cuo at that time must not die, and once he died, it would definitely boost the arrogance of the Wu Chu rebels led by Liu Wei and Liu Wu;

Liu Sheng still clearly remembers that at that time, his original words to answer the first emperor were: Destroy my ancestral ancestral hall, Chao Cuo must die!

But the national crisis is at hand, and Chao Cuo must not die now.

At that time, a certain young emperor who was still just 'Gongzi Sheng' simply thought: The matter of killing Chao is wrong, wait for the rebellion of Wu Chu to calm down.

But Liu Sheng never expected it at that time, or what he didn't want to think of: At that time, maybe it was himself or the first emperor, the only time that he could barely justifiably kill Chao wrong······

"Hi~"

"Xu is not destined to die."

"That's it for now;"

"Let's do it first······"

Saying this, Liu Sheng endured all the reluctance in his heart and put aside the wrong thing for the time being;

After a while, he naturally 'floated' to the couch and lay down.

"Minister of the DPRK and China, what is your opinion on Zhou Yafu's proposal?"

With a few indifferent words, between the curtains behind the imperial couch, a figure appeared in response to the sound - it was now written as Lang Zhongling, and read as the embroidered clothes commander Zhou Ren, the Marquis of Ru Tomb, who was undoubtedly there.

As for Liu Sheng's question, it is the most controversial and divisive issue about the invasion of the Huns in the court today······

"Your Majesty."

"For that year, the first emperor withdrew nearly half of his troops from the north wall to prevent the princes and vassal kings, and the ministers of the court and the central government had their own opinions."

"——At the time of the first emperor, Liu She obeyed the orders of the first emperor and had no complaints about this matter."

"And now, Liu She seems to be ignorant of His Majesty's intentions, so he is a little forward-looking and backward, and he doesn't know what position to hold."

"and Zuo Xiangwei Xuan, privately seems to think that the arrangement of the first emperor is slightly inappropriate, but he has not talked to others about his opinion."

"This may be because of Wei Juan, remembering the grace of the first emperor, and the friendship between teachers and students with His Majesty······"

···

"Among the Jiuqing, Tingwei Zhao Yu, Fengchang Dou Pengzu, Zongzheng Liu Biqiang, and Wei Wei did not hesitate to say a word, and the servant Yuan Ang seemed to be waiting."

"Daxing Gongsun wanted to support the first emperor, but then he thought that he was also a 'Hu person', so he began to struggle."

"——Because Gongsun is mixed with evil and supports the first emperor, there will be a suspicion of 'bragging for the barbarians', and if you oppose the first emperor, you will be suspected of living up to the kindness of the first emperor."

"The only one who clearly said 'this matter should be changed' is Uncle Uchishida······"

Hearing the report brought back by Zhou Ren, Liu Sheng only let out a long sigh leisurely, twisted his back again, and adjusted a more comfortable posture.

The 'this matter' that Liu Sheng asked and Zhou Ren answered was actually the core reason why the Huns were able to go south this time and kill all the way from outside the border wall to Xiao Pass, and even break through Xiao Pass and enter the pass.

——In the third year of Emperor Xiaojing, the princes of the clan led by Liu Bi, the king of Wu, and Liu Wu, the king of Chu, brazenly raised troops to rebel in the eastern part of the country!

Although this rebellion was successfully quelled in only three months in the Chang'an court, and only a brief record of 'Wu Chu's rebellion in the third year of filial piety, and Zhou Yafu's rebellion in March and the rebellion in three months' was left in the history books, this rebellion had a great impact and impact on the Han dynasty and even the political ecology of the central Chang'an.

In that year, I don't know how many officials sent by the court to the local counties were killed and exiled because of the crime of 'being a thief' or even 'failing to persuade the emperor to abide by his duty';

And in this era when anyone who wants to be an official has almost to be recommended by officials of 2,000 stone and above, the package of county officials in Kanto who were dismissed due to the Wu Chu Rebellion also pulled a large number of county officials of 2,000 stone and even courtiers and high-ranking officials to dismount.

So, the problem arises.

- Both the vassal states of the Kwantung region and the counties directly under the jurisdiction of Chang'an lost most of their middle and high-level officials due to the political turmoil caused by the Wuchu Rebellion;

More than half of the original county and county leadership groups were dismissed, and the new leadership groups could not be organized for a while, so in desperation, the first emperor could only take the most simple and crude measures: use the army to maintain law and order in the Kanto region, and prevent the vassal kings from rebelling again.

Before the Wuchu Rebellion, the ratio of the strength of the Han army to the population of the common people had reached an extremely high level.

Counting the more than 200,000 northern border troops, plus about 5,000 county soldiers in each county, as well as the standing field armies directly under the central Chang'an such as Thornmen, Bashang, Xiliu, and Flying Fox, the strength of the Han army has reached nearly 500,000!

On the other hand, the population is only more than 2,000 and less than 30 million, and the military-civilian ratio has reached a staggering 1:40 to 1:60.

One soldier for every forty to sixty men does not sound like an exaggeration.

But considering that half of these forty to sixty men were women, it became 'one out of every twenty to thirty men, who were making up soldiers'.

Excluding the old and the young, the ratio of school-age men in the Han family, that is, men in the prime of life, is likely to reach a terrifying 1:10!

One out of every ten men in the prime of life is—not once, but now in the army!

Such a high proportion naturally leads to a very common problem in the feudal era: the ratio of military and civilian support.

For every ten men in the prime of life, one is a soldier;

And those who can contribute taxes and support the army are basically young and strong laborers.

This means that this ratio of 10 to 10 is not only 'one out of every ten people of the right age is in the army', but also means that the Han family at that time, on average, was in the army, but only ten people contributed taxes to support.

This is really scary.

Because the cost of providing for a soldier is only calculated according to two stones of food and rice per month, and one hundred yuan of money, and the cost of ordnance maintenance is about 1,000 yuan per year, which is 2,000 yuan.

And the two thousand dollars were divided among the ten people, which was two hundred dollars each.

In other words: in order to support the army of the Han family, every middle-aged man in the Han family needs to spend four stone of grain per year.

It may not sound like much;

However, you must know that the agricultural tax of the Han Dynasty today is only 30 taxes and 1, and according to the calculation of 100 acres of land under the jurisdiction of the common people and the average yield of 3 stones per mu, the agricultural tax that a peasant household has to pay every year is only 10 stones of grain.

Of course, the Han family did not have a 'military tax', and the peasant households did not need to pay the four stones of grain for the soldiers alone.

This means that in the past, at least forty percent of the Han family's agricultural tax revenue had to be spent on the maintenance and support of the army.

- You must know that the 2,000 money only counts the cost of military rations and ordnance maintenance, not counting the meat and money of the border troops, as well as the consumption of various materials of the troops in wartime!

Combined with the above reasons, the rebellion of Wu and Chu was quelled, but the Kwantung region needed a strong force to garrison, and the first emperor could not levy a standing army on the existing basis, but could only transfer back a part of the border army on the northern border wall to maintain local security in the Kwantung region, and by the way, guard the vassal kings.

To be precise: nearly forty percent of the 200,000 border guards were transferred back to Kwantung by the first emperor······

"Liu She is the person who knows how to observe words and feelings, and if I don't show my attitude, he will always ride the wall."

"Wei Wan~"

"An honest person, plus a 'gentleman', thinking of the kindness of the first emperor, as well as the friendship between master and apprentice, there is a high probability that he will not express his position."

"—Unless I make a very ridiculous mistake, it is unlikely that Wei Juan will stand up."

···

"Zhao Yu and Yuan Ang are both smart people, they know what they should say, but they don't want to be the first bird;"

"Dou Pengzu and Liu Biqiang, a relative, a clan relative, will not say anything that is suspected of opposing or criticizing the emperor."

"—but the fact that they didn't stand up for the first emperor is enough to tell."

"As for the straightforward and unsuspecting, Gongsun is evil, the former has always cherished feathers, but I'm afraid he doesn't want to wade into this troubled water at all."

"The latter, on the other hand, does not care about what is right and what is wrong, but only cares about how to do it, which is in their best interest······"

···

"Whew~"

"That's six;"

"Counting the only upright Uncle Tian and the vacant Shaofu, the rest is Qing?"

As soon as Liu Sheng said this, he saw Zhou Ren arching his hand without thinking: "The first emperor once said: In the government, ministers have the privilege of not expressing their opinions. ”

"Courageously, I beg Your Majesty to grant you this privilege as well······"

Hearing this, Liu Sheng thought about it for a while, and then smashed his mouth, which was regarded as acquiescing to Zhou Ren's request.

——As the first embroidered commander of the Han Dynasty, and even probably the first spy leader in Huaxia and even human history, Zhou Ren should indeed enjoy the privilege of 'only investigating the objective truth and not expressing subjective opinions'.

Zhou Renneng took the initiative to ask for this privilege, and Liu Shengzi was also happy to do so.

"I see."

"Qing doesn't have to worry about this matter anymore."

"After going down, explore the ministers of the DPRK and the central government, and the reaction to the examination."

···

"It's been a few days since I released the wind of the examination~"

"Now that spring ploughing is imminent, if you want to take the examination this year, no later than summer and May, you should set a charter."

"-Examination, it's time to put it on the agenda······"

(End of chapter)