Chapter 18 When Emperor Liu sneezed, the court was shocked.
After returning from Mount Tai, Emperor Liu had settled down a lot and had to settle down. The entire empire had been in turmoil for nearly a year due to various affairs.
Of course, in addition to the self-critical summary of Feng Chan, it is also because it is really immovable and it is not easy to deal with it.
A flood disaster spread widely, causing serious damage to almost the entire Henan and half of Hebei. It will take time to recover slowly.
Immediately afterwards, grain production decreased in the Central Plains, Huainan, and Jiangnan, causing famine in a certain range. Although tens of thousands of people did not starve to death and large-scale refugees appeared, it caused some trouble for the court.
At the same time that Emperor Liu was consecrating Mount Tai, the big man was sick, but even if he just had a cold, he still needed to take good care of himself. Probably because of this consideration, Emperor Liu had to stay quiet.
Although he keeps saying that he pursues governance from the top down, with the prince helping to keep an eye on the country, and Zhao Pu and other prime ministers helping to deal with the affairs of the government, he can live without worries and live in Longting to receive blessings.
And in these years, especially the years after the Second Northern Expedition, Emperor Liu did this. It can be said with certainty that in the twenty-five years of Emperor Liu's reign, the last three years, he was the most He was slack and interfered minimally in government affairs, basically delegating most of the power of government affairs to the political hall.
Even when it came to the matter of Feng Chan, Emperor Liu seemed careless and did not participate too much. Zhao Pu and others would arrange everything below before issuing an edict. At most, after the great disaster in the Central Plains, in the face of Zhao Pu's request for instructions on preparation matters, He expressed his position a little bit.
If it were not for the great disaster that occurred in the tenth year of Kaibao, Emperor Liu's sense of existence might have been even lower, and he would not have been so active in issuing edicts to encourage the officials and the people.
Of course, there will be such a situation. First, the national strategic policy adjustment after the Northern Expedition. Once the general direction is set, Zhao Punagan will be in charge of it. Emperor Liu does not need to spend more time and effort, and can focus on What interests him.
The second, and most important, reason was that Emperor Liu himself was extremely exhausted, both physically and mentally. In addition, his goals were gradually blurred and he had lost his original passion. It was inevitable that he would slack off.
Even though Empress Fu had reminded him and Emperor Liu had warned him from time to time in the past years, this change similar to "degeneration" was still happening quietly.
It is too difficult for an emperor, especially one who has achieved great achievements and established a military career that directly matches the Qin Emperor and Han Dynasty, to always maintain a high-spirited spirit and an attitude of forging ahead.
For Emperor Liu, from the perspective of his imperial career, the ups and downs in the past twenty-five years were indeed a long time. Even if we look at all the emperors in the past, such a reign is not considered short, and it ranks high. of.
During such a long period of time, even Emperor Liu would inevitably be immersed in it and become dull, conservative, numb, stubborn, and depraved.
Not to mention the past three years, even after the opening of the Treasure Year, even if he set a goal of creating a prosperous world, Emperor Liu has already gone far away from the Holy Lord Mingjun in the past.
In fact, Emperor Liu was already restrained. Under his management, the imperial power of the Han Dynasty was already solid, and he actually held the power of life and death for the people of the world, above everything else. It can be said that Emperor Liu wanted to be more indulgent.
You can treat the entire Han Empire as your own back garden and take whatever you want.
It's just that Emperor Liu is really lacking in taste. He doesn't have many things that interest him, and he doesn't have many opportunities to play with things to get bored. In addition, most of his mind is still clear and he knows how to exercise restraint, so he doesn't completely fall into the abyss of depravity.
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Up to now, there is probably only one word that can stir up Emperor Liu's emotions, and that is power. If there are two words, it is imperial power. For Emperor Liu, as long as the imperial power is consolidated, the overall situation can be in his hands and he can suppress everything at any time.
situation, then other people or things will not care so much.
However, maybe he felt his own changes, maybe he was tired of the tedium of retreating behind the scenes, or maybe he was dissatisfied with his laziness. In the summer of the eleventh year of Kaibao, Emperor Liu became much more active.
This positivity is not reflected in personal life, but is once again concerned about government affairs. Unlike in the past few years, when the prime minister passively waited for the prime minister, the ministers took the initiative to meet and report, or the cabinet reported important official documents.
It's not the same as deleting, sorting, and presenting the files before him.
Emperor Liu began to take the initiative to inquire about military and political affairs, and wanted to give direct approval. When encountering problems, he would directly ask relevant officials. In one day, Emperor Liu spent about three hours reading memorials and handling state affairs.
, Emperor Liu began to show concern even for some specific and trivial matters.
Such changes also brought quite a shock to the imperial court. For ordinary bureaucrats who are hard-working and dedicated to their duties, there is not much reaction. They are even happy that His Majesty the Emperor is working diligently again. After all, the Prime Minister Zhao Pu
, it is difficult to serve, although Emperor Liu is also difficult to serve, but at least he is the emperor.
In the imperial court, there was never a shortage of "agile" people, let alone people who speculated on the Sacred Heart, and the gaze focused on Emperor Liu never moved away.
Within the imperial court, the change in people's hearts began. Many people inevitably speculated whether Emperor Liu's behavior was to regain the decentralized governance power. If it goes further, would it mean that Emperor Liu was dissatisfied with Zhao Pu? The imperial court
Will the central power structure change?
After many people thought about it, we came to the conclusion that this is very possible!
During the years when Zhao Pu was in power, the Han Dynasty made a lot of achievements. Externally, it defeated the Liao Kingdom and drove it to Mobei. Its territory expanded again, almost to the point of bursting. Internally, it led a series of
Political and economic reforms paid for the expansion of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Liu's martial arts.
But at the same time, there have been many problems, such as financial crisis, border instability, catastrophes, etc. The most important thing is that he has played a pioneering role in restraining the powerful, which has offended too many people.
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Since the heavy rains in the Central Plains last year, there have been a lot of criticisms against Zhao Pu. At that time, it was Emperor Liu who firmly supported Zhao Pu and suppressed those dissenting voices.
But who can be sure that Emperor Liu was completely at ease with Zhao Pu and trusted him to the extent that he had no reservations? No one who knows Emperor Liu even slightly would think so.
As a result, rumors started to spread in the court again. It seemed that this thing could never be banned. A slight disturbance at the top could lead to a storm in the city below.
For Zhao Pu, it was indeed a bit embarrassing, because he didn't even know what Emperor Liu meant. Was he afraid of his own power? Or was he dissatisfied with himself?
But what is confusing is that after carefully recalling my performance in recent times, there is nothing out of the ordinary. I often go to Emperor Liu to pay respects. If you are dissatisfied, you can be personally appointed by Emperor Liu to offer sacrifices when you are enshrined.
, what an honor that is.
If it’s not the recent past, then we have to go back a little longer, and then there are more, more complicated, and more brain-burning things worth considering. But no matter how he thinks about it, Zhao Pu can’t figure it out. As for trying to ask Emperor Liu, Zhao Pu doesn’t dare to
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Therefore, in the summer of the eleventh year of Kaibao, in the Tokyo court, Zhao Pu suddenly felt that "the power was on the side". Many bureaucrats in the lower departments began to bypass him and even the prince, and reported directly to Emperor Liu.
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There is nothing unusual about this in itself. Ministers also have the power to address the emperor, but it is just a little different from the normal situation in the past when Zhao Pu was the core of the imperial court. It was just that in the past, when the ministers found Emperor Liu, unless there were special circumstances,
, Emperor Liu’s reply was usually to the prince or Zhao Pu.
Rumors in the court inevitably reached Emperor Liu's ears. After hearing about it, Emperor Liu was a little speechless. He suddenly intervened in the government affairs, not because he was targeting Zhao Pu, or because he wanted to take away all the power to handle government affairs. After all, he was unable to do what he wanted.
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Such a change is just an adjustment based on one's own state. How could one imagine that the people below, including Zhao Pu, would have so many associations.
Emperor Liu didn't think too much about it at first, but after learning about the rumors, he began to think about whether Zhao Pu gained more people in the court or lost more people. If he really wanted to take back the decentralized governance power, those ministers hoped