Chapter 350 A Tyrant Who Executes Benevolent Governance
Queen Lu was sitting alone in Changle Palace.
Even though there were many people around her at the moment, crying and comforting her, these voices just made her feel a little annoyed.
Lu Yu cried very sadly. She couldn't help but shed tears after just saying a word. Among the brothers and sisters in the Lu family, Lu Yu was the closest to Lu Shizhi, while Lu Pheasant had the best relationship with her eldest brother Lu Ze.
, of course, this does not mean that Empress Lu disliked Lu Shizhi. The death of Lu Shizhi made her very sad.
In addition to her sister, she also has a daughter. Princess Lu Yuan also loves her biological uncle very much.
There are also people like Da Cao, Xiao Cao, Fan Qing and others.
The most powerful women of the Han Dynasty gathered around Queen Lu. Compared with their crying, Queen Lu seemed a little too calm. Lu Yu said sadly: "My brother has left, and his three sons will be alone from now on."
If they want to live a better life, eldest sister can give them titles respectively so that they will not be bullied in the future."
"No need."
Queen Lu rejected her sister's request immediately.
Lu Yu looked at her blankly and asked in disbelief: "When my elder brother passed away, you made his two sons marquis. After the eldest sister passed away, you also made her son a marquis. Now the second brother
After his death, why are you unwilling to be canonized?"
Queen Lu took a deep breath and waved her hand disdainfully, "Go back."
"Sister! You!"
Empress Lu suddenly turned her head. Under her eyes, Lu Yu didn't dare to say any more. She swallowed all the words. She stood up, her eyes full of sorrow, and walked out tremblingly. When she saw this
Princess Lu Yuan suddenly couldn't bear it and said hurriedly: "Mom! Why is this? My aunt is..."
However, when Empress Lu started to look at her, Liu Le suddenly did not dare to speak.
For a moment, the hall was quiet, and no one dared to speak anymore.
When Lu Wei walked out of the hall sadly and angrily, she happened to meet Liu Chang who was coming here. Lu Wei looked in a daze and almost bumped into Liu Chang. Fortunately, Liu Chang had quick hands and hurriedly helped her, "Aunt? You're not
Are you accompanying grandma? Why are you in such a hurry to go back?"
Seeing Liu Chang, Lu Yu couldn't bear it any longer and burst into tears.
"Sir, my second brother has also made great achievements. He was so busy working on the Queen Mother's affairs. I didn't expect that he would be so unloved by the Queen Mother!"
Immediately, she informed Liu Chang about the Queen Mother's refusal to confer the title of Marquis of Che to her second brother's heir.
Liu Chang listened very carefully and nodded from time to time.
"Auntie is right!"
"How could my mother do this?!"
"My eldest uncle and my eldest aunt's children have all been granted the title of marquis. How come my second uncle is not granted the title?!"
Liu Chang spoke loudly, and Lu Yu's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly took his hand, "Chang, your mother listens to you the most. You can do this."
Liu Chang slapped his chest with his hand, "Don't worry, I will take care of this matter. The children of the uncle's family, the children of the aunt's family, and even the children of my mother's distant relatives are now...
After being granted the title of Marquis, they enjoy the glory and wealth, but we cannot let them enjoy this kind of wealth exclusively!"
Lu Yu was about to nod when suddenly, she remembered something and her face suddenly stiffened.
The eldest brother’s son, Lu Tai, was deposed because of drinking and misbehaving and almost died. The eldest sister’s son, Lu Ping, was directly executed for reselling arms...and among the many Lu family princes, eight out of ten were imprisoned for various things.
Removal, execution, exile...
Lu Yu shivered and suddenly woke up, shaking her head hastily, "Forget it, forget it, forget it!"
"How can this be counted? Don't worry, aunt! I will personally give them a bright future and make them worry-free for the rest of their lives!"
Liu Chang said and walked into the palace. Lu Yu was very anxious.
"I already understand, you still want to be angry with me at this time?!"
"Auntie...then come back with me and stay with my mother."
"But she asked me to go back..."
"Why are you like my second brother? Just go back if I ask you to go back? Let's learn from my father. When my mother told my father to get away, if my father really left, then he wouldn't
You have my second brother, right? My mother is actually just like a child, very easy to talk to. As long as you pester her, she will agree to anything. I have been like this since I was a child..."
Liu Chang talked about his not-so-glorious deeds quite proudly.
Liu Chang took Lu Yu back to the palace.
Sure enough, just as Liu Chang said, Queen Lu did not question her sister again about why she still didn't leave. Liu Chang was very experienced in how to treat her mother. As long as she didn't contradict her, she would light up whatever she said.
If you look up, smile cheekily, and hold her arms like a baby, then everything must be fine.
Of course, this method is limited to relatives of the Queen Mother, and it is not recommended for outsiders who have a poor drinking tolerance to try it.
When Liu Chang arrived, Cao Shu led these people to a separate hall to rest and let the mother and son chat alone for a while.
"Mom... uncle's affairs have been arranged. Do you really want to send him to Shanfu County for burial?"
"This is your uncle's last wish."
Liu Chang nodded, and then said: "My uncle died a good death, so my mother doesn't need to be too sentimental... There is one thing that I don't know how to tell my mother."
Seeing Liu Chang's hesitant look, Queen Lu was very unhappy and said, "Do you want to kill the Supreme Emperor?"
"Ah? Of course not."
"Then why are you so coy?"
Liu Chang was silent for a long time, and then said: "My uncle is going to be transported to Shan father for burial. I found... Lu Lu and others prepared a lot of funeral objects for my uncle, including several carriages of gold, silk, armor, ordnance, and even war horses.
, all kinds of jades, bronzes, irons, even the jade clothes with gold threads worn when buried... Sigh... Grandma, this is too much."
"I know it's not nice to say this at this time...but this is not an uncommon situation."
"The Han Dynasty had a tradition of lavish burials. Even many poor families were reluctant to bear food and clothing during their lifetimes, so they had to enjoy them as funerary objects after death... Those like Chehou were even more outrageous. When my brother was buried, his children
In order to show their filial piety, they make armors of gold as burial objects..."
"This kind of trend can no longer be tolerated."
"A lot of supplies were buried in the soil...it was such a waste."
Liu Chang said his thoughts, glanced at his mother secretly, and said: "I know that my mother loves my uncle very much, but if we want to ban this matter, we can only start with my close relatives. If I don't object this time
, if we order a ban in the future, they will rely on their own status and my love to despise the law of thin burial..."
"I am going to issue an order prohibiting grand burials... Starting from my uncle, I will never carry too many burial objects with me after my death... I will set an example."
Listening to Liu Chang's words, Empress Lu slowly glanced at him.
"Your uncle has passed away. Everyone is sad about this, but you are thinking about the heavy burial?"
"Ah...that's it."
Unexpectedly, after Liu Chang admitted it, Queen Lu was not angry at all, and her somewhat lonely eyes suddenly became gentle. She looked quite pleased, "You should have ascended the throne earlier."
"You finally started to look at the surroundings with the eyes of an emperor... You are right, the wind of heavy burial is inappropriate... You have thought about it for a long time, and I have never thought of this... You just
Give an order to prohibit it. If there are objections from your uncle's side, I will persuade them to accept it."
Empress Lu was so happy that she didn't even notice the grand burial.
It seems that the children from home have finally grown up. As Liu Chang said, the trend of lavish burials is becoming more and more popular nowadays. The lavish burials of the Western Han Dynasty are something that later generations would not dare to imagine. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the country was so poor that the temples
There are six horses of the same color that cannot be found here, so where can we find six horses of the same color? They can be found underground.
People don't have iron tools to make farm tools, so where can they find iron tools? They can be found underground.
The lavish burials in the Western Han Dynasty once reached an outrageous level. Just tons and tons of gold were buried. As a result, gold was no longer enough, and gold turned from gold to brass.
Emperor Wen in history could not stand the practice of thick burials and set an example. However, Emperor Wen never ordered light burials. He only advocated light burials through his own actions. Emperor Wen's charm sustained two generations. By the time of his grandson, after thick burials,
The wind jumped up and became even more exaggerated... This trend continued until the end of the Han Dynasty. A certain housewife who did not want to be named ordered a ban on grand burials. His son also inherited this from his father. After they
Only with great efforts have improvements been achieved.
Therefore, when Liu Chang clearly proposed a thin burial, Empress Lu immediately thought of a lot, and her original sadness because of Marquis Jiancheng improved a lot.
Her son has a promising future, and she has nothing to worry about in the world of big men.
Liu Chang grinned, and Empress Lu also put forward some good suggestions in response to Liu Chang's ideas.
When Liu Chang completed the discussion with her and walked out of Changle Palace triumphantly, Zhang Shizhi was waiting for him.
"Your Majesty, does the Queen Mother agree to my proposal?"
"Originally she didn't agree. After I argued hard and put forward many of my own ideas, she finally agreed to our proposal."
Zhang Shizhi was silent for a moment. Throughout the ages, I have never heard of a king competing with his ministers for credit. Even Xia Jie and Shang Zhou, although they did all kinds of evil, they have never heard of a king taking the credit of his ministers as his own. You can
It is said that in some aspects, the king has reached a level that makes Jie and Zhou of Xia and Shang ashamed. In the Jie and Zhou imitation competition, they could only get second place.
However, it’s not bad. Apart from being a little greedy for merit, the king is a little ostentatious, a little cruel, a little fond of wine and meat, a little unreasonable, a little arrogant, a little flattering, a little .............
There are no shortcomings except...
Despite this, Zhang Shizhi still doesn't mind the king's shortcomings. After all, the advantage of his king is that he can listen to any useful suggestions, such as his suggestion of a thin burial. That is, his king can listen to it and change it to another one.
When the emperor comes, he either refuses or encourages his own ideas, but does not actually execute the orders.
Because the trend of thick burials is prevalent, almost all the princes, including the princes of Che, are like this. To stop them from being buried lightly is to blatantly challenge all the powerful people in the world. Without a certain degree of majesty and real power, this matter cannot be done at all. The king's
The amount of power has something to do with the system, but it also has a lot to do with the king himself.
Liu Ying might not be able to implement the same system, and Emperor Wen in history might have been reluctant, but Liu Chang could do it. This is not to say that Liu Chang's methods were stronger than Emperor Wen's, but mainly because Liu Chang was stupid enough and had nothing wrong with him.
Whatever you dare to do, don't think about the consequences.
Zhang Shizhi still likes such a king. As long as he can realize his ambitions, what if all the credit is given to the king?
"Your Majesty! When will we implement it?"
"I will implement it today and help me find Sangong!"
"only!"
Zhang Shizhi likes the king's vigorous and resolute style. He will never delay and do whatever comes to his mind.
Liu Chang sat in the Hall of Houde, with a pile of meat in front of him, and ate happily.
Zhou Chang suddenly frowned, "Your Majesty, Marquis Jiancheng has passed away... As a junior... Even if you don't observe filial piety... you shouldn't..."
Liu Chang didn't care about this. He waved his hand and said, "My uncle loves me the most. He might be more happy to see me eating meat than me kneeling in front of his grave and crying! I didn't ask you to come here just to eat meat.
The thing is, there are other more important things.”
Zhou Chang was helpless, Zhao Ping, and Zhang Buyi also sat down one after another. Liu Chang glanced at them and felt that there were still not enough people, so he asked Zhang Shizhi to take Chen Ping, Chai Wu, Liu Jing, Feng Jing, and good brothers
, Shu Suntong, Wang Tianqi and others called over, mainly the three princes and nine ministers gathered together.
After everyone arrived one after another, Liu Changfang expressed his thoughts.
"Mozi said: The things that serve the people are the rules of mediocrity."
"Han Zi said: Wear winter clothes in winter and summer clothes in summer, and have a three-inch coffin of tung trees, and you will be mourning for two days."
"Today's people care about death but not life. Today's heirs do not care for their elders while they are still alive, but when they are gone, they have to compete with each other to get funeral objects and fulfill their filial piety."
"I really don't want to, and I really can't bear it."
Liu Chang suddenly quoted the words of Mo Zi and Han Zi, and showed his disdain for the current trend of generous burials. He looked like a wise king, which stunned the three ministers and ministers. How come the king is different after he becomes the emperor? The king suddenly
The ministers are really unable to adapt to such a wise man. This is not something that the king can say at all.
Zhou Chang was very pleased. If he had known that the king would become so wise after he ascended the throne, he would not be so opposed to the king's ascension to the throne.
"Your Majesty is right! It should be like this! Bury lightly but raise well! You are truly benevolent!"
Zhou Chang was the first to agree, while the other ministers had different expressions. For example, Chai Wu felt that there was no need to prohibit it, "Your Majesty, those who are capable will be buried well. This is a family matter, so there is no need to interfere."
There are also staunch supporters like Zhang Buyi, "Whatever your Majesty says will be whatever it is! Your Majesty talks about a light burial, who dares to mention a thick burial?!"
The ministers discussed based on Liu Chang's proposal. A thin burial was not in line with Confucian tradition, but for a great Confucian like Shusun Tong, Confucianism had no tradition. It all depended on the king's preferences. What the king liked,
So what kind of tradition does Confucianism have?
"Your Majesty said that he will be buried lightly to reduce the pressure on those filial heirs and to pity them so that they will not be burdened by false fame..."
"Your Majesty's words of kindness are to enable the younger generation to serve their elders better... It is to fulfill the principle of filial piety! Your Majesty is so benevolent!"
Shusun Tong's words determined the nature of Liu Chang's proposal. Everyone's expressions were complicated. Logically speaking, shouldn't you Confucians strongly oppose it? Why did you agree so quickly?
Liu Chang looked at the discussion among the ministers and continued to maintain his compassionate expression. He sighed and continued: "What Uncle Sungong said makes sense."
"Nowadays, sons don't show filial piety to their parents. They wait until they die before burying them with gorgeous things. How can such a son be said to be filial? And how can such an old man be said to have lived a happy life?
What’s better? Wouldn’t it be better to give these things for burial to them while they were still alive?”
Everyone nodded. Since His Majesty wanted to propose a small burial, they had nothing else to say and just agreed.
Liu Chang continued: "I am a benevolent and righteous king. I cannot see the suffering of the people. Such extravagance and waste are of no use to living people... How can I do it? I have thought about it. I will not allow big men to be buried in lavish funerals in the future.
Young people should serve their parents well, elders should love their children well, and filial piety can no longer be judged by burial objects... If there are any violators, all the living ones will be beheaded and fed to the dogs!!! The dead ones will be dug up
Use the tomb to hang on top of the city!!!"
At that moment, the officials were stunned.
His Majesty's words jumped from a gentle and benevolent monarch to another extreme. The first words were fine, but as soon as the latter words came out, the whole paragraph suddenly changed.
"No! Your Majesty!"
Zhao Ping said heartbrokenly: "Your Majesty's previous words were the words of a benevolent king, but the following order, oh, your Majesty, let me handle this matter."
Zhaoping has always been very concerned about Liu Chang's reputation. As soon as the last sentence came out, His Majesty's image changed from a virtuous king to a tyrant. He couldn't tolerate this. It was obviously such a good thing, so he had to arrange it properly.
, how could you dig someone's grave just because they had a generous burial? Neither Xia Jie nor Shang Zhou dared to do this.
But Liu Chang's attitude was very clear. He said angrily: "Don't think wrong! I am not kind-hearted to remind them that they should be buried sparingly and raised well. I am giving an order! If there is no punishment, how can they obey my order?
?Just follow my wishes...I want to see who dares to disobey my orders again!"
"Your Majesty! This matter must be slowed down first, and cannot be given directly!"
"I just gave the order directly, what can you do?"
Liu Chang suddenly became extremely vicious, and his amiable demeanor was nowhere to be seen.
"Zhang Shizhi, you take care of this matter!"
"At the same time, I also want to give an order that after my death, I will not be buried in a luxurious way! Just prepare a set of ordinary armor for me, and don't need anything else. If the future minister dares to object, he will beheaded! Kill him.
The three tribes!! No, punish his five tribes!! I won’t give him a grand burial, let’s see who else dares to give him a grand burial. The same is true for the prince Chehou. If there is a grand burial, he will be executed directly for trespassing!”
"Also, this matter of keeping filial piety is really too cumbersome. When you are alive, you don't go there once a year, but after you die, you have to keep it for several months to show your filial piety? Fart! From now on, the filial piety period will be changed to three days!
The leave is seven days! No one is allowed to resign from office and observe mourning for two or three years because of the death of their parents!"
"Starting from me, after I die, let them observe mourning for three days. Anyone who dares to observe mourning for one more day will be beheaded and fed like a dog!"
The ministers just looked at the king quietly. No matter how benevolent the policy was, it would immediately turn into harsh policies when it came out of the king's mouth.
The virtues of the great king are too numerous to be described in words, and the political power of the great king is as fierce as that of a tiger.
ps: Brothers, I'm really sorry. My child has been having a fever recently, and he got meningitis because of the high fever... I'm quite an optimistic person, but I can't bear it lately. I was restless yesterday and couldn't do it.
Update... It's not good to always post single chapters to tell you about this. I don't like to always tell others about my difficulties... I can only hope that everyone can understand me. As long as I have the opportunity, I will definitely update.