As soon as Liu Bei said this, Lu Zhi instantly forgot what he wanted to say next.

He frowned at first, puzzled, then suddenly realized, understood everything, and then, shocked.

He was not a political amateur, and he quickly understood most of the meaning of Liu Bei's words.

It's just that there are still some minor doubts.

"Xuande, what do you mean when you say you once thought about being an emperor?"

"It's literal, I used to think that if we want to change the status quo of the decline of the Han Dynasty, only by letting me be the emperor and vigorously promoting various policies can we successfully solve these problems, and after all, I am a member of the Han family, even if I am the emperor, it is not a big deal."

Liu Bei smiled and said: "But soon I found out that in fact, there is no need to be an emperor, it is better to do something practical than to fight for power and profit, and the first emperor does trust me very much, I don't want to live up to his trust, so I plan to support his son to be the emperor."

I am a general, I am in power, I can change everything I want to change, I can also make the Han better and more powerful than in the past, so from the sixth year of Zhongping to now, I have never thought about being an emperor, this is true. ”

"I believe that you will not deceive me."

Lu Zhi nodded solemnly: "But now? ”

"I can't help but be an emperor."

Liu Bei smiled bitterly: "Teacher, Zheng Tai is a complete fool, but as long as he can be a little more rational and take a good look at the current situation, he will not spread this kind of rumor, so that the whole Luoyang will know that this rumor is not hurting me, but today."

My power is too great, there are too many people who follow me, and there are too many people who rely on my powerful position to be officials and exist, they are all watching me and serving me, they are actually my courtiers, not the courtiers of the Son of Heaven.

Teacher, if one day, I return to the Son of Heaven, then if I don't talk about anyone else, let's just say that the army, the Son of Heaven Association, has the prestige and ability to command the 300,000 troops I have trained to be loyal to him? Does he himself want to believe that this army will be loyal to him? ”

Lu Zhi's body trembled slightly.

He pursed his lips and couldn't speak for a long time.

Liu Bei doesn't need to say more problems, just this one problem, Lu Zhi knows that this is a problem that the Son of Heaven can't solve, but Liu Bei can solve this problem very well as the emperor.

The Son of Heaven Association has no prestige to lead this strong army in a hundred battles, this army obeys and only obeys Liu Bei alone, and it is impossible for anyone else to completely unify this army.

Not that prestige.

The Son of Heaven will only trust the army that belongs to him completely, and everything in this army is built by Liu Bei, officers, soldiers, are all trained and recruited by Liu Bei, and they will only be loyal to Liu Bei.

So when the time comes, how can this be solved?

Is it to rebuild an army?

What about the original army?

What about the original generals?

Will they accept dismissal, suspicion, and possibly execution?

Or will they believe in the promise of the Son of Heaven to properly settle them and preserve their interests?

Whenever there is a small problem in this link, it will trigger a round of war, and the generals will lead their troops to rush into the city, rush into the palace, and do everything they can to destroy everything and smash everything.

The chaotic situation in the world that Liu Bei did his best to save may appear again.

Lu Zhi is a sane man, he has excellent intellect, he knows what the consequences of all this will be, and he can draw the best conclusions from this.

It's just that in addition to reason, there are some emotional problems, and if you can't convince yourself, you can't cross this hurdle.

"Xuande, if you want to be the emperor, I believe you can do it, you can do it now, but...... The Emperor has a lot of trust in you. ”

Lu Zhi looked at Liu Bei and wanted to see what Liu Bei thought.

In his opinion, no matter from which point of view, Liu Hong trusted Liu Bei very much and gave him the greatest trust and support, so he thought that Liu Bei should not take away his son's throne.

"I know that the first emperor trusted me, so I dispelled such thoughts for a while."

Liu Bei looked at Lu Zhi, shook his head and said: "It's just that now that Zheng Tai is doing this, I have found that the best way to solve the problem is the method that I am most reluctant to use, teacher, do you have a better way to solve the problem?"

If there is, if there is a way not to make the Han fall apart, I am willing to try, but if not, I have no way, compared to disappointing the first emperor, what I can't accept is that the situation I worked so hard to create was ruined.

Furthermore, if I do nothing and let the situation go on like this, then teacher, do you think that in the future, the Son of Heaven will be able to save his life? If he had a conflict with the generals, who would have a better chance of surviving? 、

If I become an emperor, I can restrain the generals and the army, I can control the situation, and I can make Xie live a rich life without worrying about food and clothing, but if I don't become an emperor, how long can he live? ”

Lu Zhi hesitated for a long time and was speechless.

He couldn't find a better way, he didn't know what a better way was, and there was only so much he could do.

When it came to the end, he found that he was so fragile and powerless.

He didn't even know how to answer Liu Bei's question.

Liu Bei was asking him for a solution, but he had to question Liu Bei with emotion, which felt as if he was making trouble unreasonably, Lu Zhi couldn't accept this reality, he could only be silent.

The master and apprentice were silent to each other, and after a long time, Liu Bei reached out and held Lu Zhi's hand.

"Teacher, at the moment, the only thing I can promise you is that the Great Han, still the Great Han, the bloodline of the emperor's heir, and the bloodline of the Gaozu will not change."

Lu Zhi looked at Liu Bei and didn't speak.

After a long time, he sighed and turned around and left Liu Bei's Great General's Mansion.

After Lu Zhi left, he did not return to his mansion, but walked a while and came to Zheng Xuan's mansion to visit.

Regarding Lu Zhi's sudden arrival, Zheng Xuan didn't seem to be surprised.

When Lu Zhi arrived, he was still immersed in reading the newly revised "Han Law", continuing to contribute to the "Han Law", and he was very busy, and what happened in the outside world seemed to have nothing to do with him, a Taixue sacrificial wine.

He entertained Lu Zhi to drink peach wine, eat peach wine, and talked and laughed with him, as if he had never been disturbed by everything in the outside world.

Lu Zhi was amazed by this.

"Don't you still know what is going on outside?"

"I know."

Zheng Xuan smiled: "It's just that I won't be bothered by this at all, so I can still live the life I want to live and do what I want to do. ”

"I ......"

Lu Zhi was silent for a moment, and sighed: "I actually know what the best solution is to this matter, but it's just ......"

"It's just that I can't get over that hurdle in my heart, right?"

Zheng Xuan looked at Lu Zhi with a smile, shook his head and said: "You, you are a full general on the battlefield, decisive and wise, so you shouldn't come to the court, you should stay on the battlefield and be a general."

But you also have a hand in handling government affairs, so you are so entangled, you are a person who is indecisive when you leave the battlefield, and when you should make a decision, you look forward and backward, and you can't make a decision.

If you can take half of your decisions on the battlefield into government affairs, you will not be left far behind by your disciples. ”

Lu Zhi's face fell.

"Zheng Gong, I ......"

"Don't say that you don't admit it, how much achievements you Lu Zigan has made in government affairs?"

Zheng Xuan smiled: "How many of these things that Xuande has done, how many things can you, as a teacher, accomplish?" Xuande's status today gives you, can you do what he did? Can you pull up an army of 300,000? Can you straighten out the imperial court? How many innovations can you accomplish? ”

Lu Zhi thought seriously about Zheng Xuan's question.

Then he gave an answer with a wry smile.

"I can't do it, I can't do anything, I can't imagine how he did what Xuande has done so far, but he has succeeded, so I myself think that I, as a teacher, am far inferior to him as a disciple in this regard."

"It's sane."

Zheng Xuan laughed: "So, what are you still struggling with?" Your disciple thinks far more than you think, he can make the best decision for the entire Great Han Kingdom, what do you have to worry about? We are getting older, and we can't do many things anymore, so what can we do if we don't leave them to our disciples to do? ”

When Lu Zhi heard Zheng Xuan say this, he was a little depressed and helpless at first, and felt very depressed, but the more he heard it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

"Gong Zheng, do you really think about it that much?"

"What can't I think of? No matter who is the emperor, the Han or the Han, I am still the Hanchen, the country or the Han family, what is the difference? ”

"Really...... Isn't there a difference? ”

"It's not a big difference."

Zheng Xuan said with a smile: "At least there will be no question of changing the dynasty, at most, it can be regarded as another repetition of Guangwu Zhongxing, what Emperor Guangwu could do back then, Xuande, as a member of the Han family, what can't he do?" It's all Liu's, different branches. ”

Lu Zhi felt that what Zheng Xuan said made sense, but he thought about it left and right, and how he thought about it felt wrong.

"I still don't believe you can think that way, you ...... Didn't you already know that? You...... No, it's only been a few days since this happened, how could you have known about it? ”

Zheng Xuan smiled.

"See? Indeed, I did know it for a long time, but not because of this matter, but because of some other things, so I knew it for a long time, probably when Guanghe was about five years old, and at that time, I knew that Xuande was not a simple character. ”

"Huh?!"

Lu Zhi was shocked: "Light and five years? At that time...... When was that? At that time, Xuande ......"

Lu Zhi suddenly paused, and suddenly remembered what Liu Bei had said to him before.

Liu Bei had the idea of wanting to be the emperor and change everything earlier, so he ...... It was at that time that Zheng Xuan noticed?

"That's that time, Xuande at that time was still very young."

Zheng Xuan showed a look of reminiscence: "At that time, I took a fancy to Xuande's talent in scripture, and I thought he would definitely be able to make great achievements in academics, so I asked him if he wanted to embark on a path of grandmaster and be admired by future generations."

But Xuande didn't promise me, he said that he couldn't see the road ahead clearly, and felt that the world was shrouded in a black fog, and he couldn't accept being a grandmaster in such a world.

At that time, the chaos in the world had not yet appeared, and I really thought that Xuande was going to do something terrible, but then I realized that he might have discovered something in advance, so I was not here.

You also know what happened after that, I once thought that Xuande was going to do something big when he returned to Luoyang, but after that, I found that his style of doing things was much softer, not as sharp as back then, and I thought he had changed his mind.

But now I find that everything is not as simple as I thought, the higher Xuande's status, the greater the power, the more subordinates, the more unable to follow his own wishes, and today, I think, Xuande has no choice. ”

In front of Zheng Xuan, Lu Zhi was silent for a long time.

Then, he raised his head and looked at Zheng Xuan.

"Zheng Gong, do you think this is acceptable?"

"The Great Han is still the Great Han, the royal family is still the blood of the ancestors, what is not acceptable? I think that's nice. ”

Zheng Xuan smiled and said: "There are so many ancestors in blood, it stands to reason that everyone is qualified to be the emperor, but some people are virtuous and capable, and some people are mediocre and incompetent, so it is better to let some mediocre and capable people be emperors, isn't it good?" ”

Zheng Xuan's words left Lu Zhi speechless.

Finally, Lu Zhi let out a long sigh.

"Zheng Tai, Zheng Tai, how stupid are you?"

Zheng Xuan smiled.

"Not to mention how stupid he is, Zigan, won't you, the future emperor, be happy? That's your disciple, the emperor you taught single-handedly, in the future history books, you will definitely leave a very important reputation, maybe more famous than me, aren't you happy? ”

"I can't be happy."

Lu Zhi sighed: "Maybe when this happens, resigning and going into hiding is my best choice, I ...... Let's just solve Dutian first, if Dutian doesn't solve it, won't all the years of work be in vain? ”

"That's just as well."

Zheng Xuan smiled: "Anyway, I still feel that there are some things to do, and when Xuande straightens out these things and the dust settles, I am ready to give it to him, completely end the practice of breaking prison in the Spring and Autumn Period, and return the "Han Law" to its orthodox status, and at that time, he will definitely be happy." ”

"This ......"

Lu Zhi looked at Zheng Xuan unexpectedly: "Gong Zheng, aren't you worried about someone talking about it?" ”

"What are you talking about? Talking about me as a Confucian traitor and a Legalist? ”

Zheng Xuan laughed and said: "If someone is willing to say it, just say it, I never think that I must be a scholar of any family, which one is right, I will respect which one, no one is always right, but there will always be one that will be right, if the "Han Law" is successful, it is better than the Spring and Autumn Period."

And this matter, as long as you master and apprentice agree, it will definitely be solved, Zigan, don't tell me that you are very greedy for the status of the lord of the lord, let me tell you, Xuan Dezhi is not here, if you insist, you master and apprentice will definitely have conflicts in the future. ”

"I ......"

As soon as Lu Zhi thought of something, he suddenly came back to his senses and said busily: "Gong Zheng, is it because you have expected something a long time ago, so you are not willing to let the Zheng family become the home of the valve reading so far?" ”

"No, I just don't want to be a part of it."

Zheng Xuan smiled: "It's just that sometimes, if people's luck gets better, then it will really always get better, or in other words, if there is no desire, I don't want anything, and I won't make those mistakes caused by greed." ”

Looking at Zheng Xuan's smug expression, Lu Zhi suddenly felt that this old man seemed to have really seen everything through.

I can see it much more thoroughly than I do.

And yourself, do you want to pursue too many things that are too complicated?

If you can't become a pure person, how can you sustain yourself in such a chaotic world and stick to your original ideas?

Lu Zhi sighed deeply and thought deeply, but he was never able to show a free and easy smile like Zheng Xuan.

(End of chapter)