"Haha, Mr. Chao~~ It was just a little help before, you don't need to thank me!"
When Chao Cuo returned to his house, there was already a prince of the princes waiting for him carelessly.
But this vassal king was not the Yan King Chao Cuo expected, but the Xia King Liu Ci, who was unable to cut down the vassal vassalage.
Liu Ci was accompanied by a few confidants, who looked very proud, and did not regard Chao Cuo's mansion as belonging to an outsider at all.
Chao Cuo frowned and looked at the servant beside him.
Before the servant could answer, Zhang Tang said, "I brought them in."
Seeing that Chao Cuo was still a little unhappy, Liu Ci said displeasedly: "Don't forget, it was me who helped you with the idea of the Lingyi system. When you were arrested and waiting for the outcome, it was me.
Walking around, I bought you this glimmer of life, now that you are out of prison, do you have to ignore my kindness to you?"
"I would like to thank the King of Xia for your kindness. I wonder what the King of Xia will do when he comes here?"
Chao Cuo's face was very calm, and he was not too rude to Liu Ci.
"Come on, don't be too polite, please sit down!"
Liu Ci resorted to his ancestral tradition of being a guest, and Chao Cuo sat directly on top, "If you have anything to do with your Majesty, please tell me now. I still have a lot of things to do, so don't delay."
"Chao Cuo! If it weren't for me, would you be able to leave the Tingwei Mansion?!"
"cannot."
"Then why are you so rude to me?"
If the person who came to question was King Liu Bi of Yan, Chao Cuo would have asked his servants to come and fetch him. But Liu Ci was different. Firstly, Liu Ci was young, and secondly, Liu Ci was the son of the emperor. He had heard of cutting off the emperor Zhongfu.
With all the brothers, they have never heard of killing the emperor's son. Thirdly, Liu Ci was not all nonsense. Chao Cuo had talked with Wang Tianqi and knew that Liu Ci had contributed a lot to this case. First, he brought
Zhang Tang met Wang Tianqi, helped him convince King Yan, investigated the ranger, etc.
"Your Majesty, forgive me."
Seeing that Chao Cuo was a little resigned, Liu Ci smiled again and said, "I know you have a lot of things on your hands, so I won't delay. I'm just here to get my reward. I've helped you a lot before. What are you going to do?"
How about repaying me?"
"How can your Majesty demand repayment of a favor?"
"The Han Dynasty governs the world with benevolence, righteousness and morality. If the king does this, doesn't he renounce himself from the world?"
Liu Ci was stunned, looked at Dong Zhongshu on the side and winked at him.
The young master is very courageous, but he really doesn't study much. He looks like "I don't study much, so you must try to lie to me." When Chao Cuo said this, he didn't know how to refute, but
Dong Zhongshu was different. After getting Liu Ci's hint, Dong Zhongshu quickly replied: "When Zigong redeemed the Lu people who had become captives, he did not ask for reward. Confucius criticized him for this, saying that he was doing it for his own reputation.
And make more prisoners suffer. My king saved you, which was a benevolent and righteous thing. If he didn't ask for reward, wouldn't he be like Zigong, so that no one in the world would dare to do a benevolent and righteous thing again?
?"
"Besides, my king is doing this to fulfill your reputation of repaying kindness. Isn't this wrong?"
Hearing Dong Zhongshu's answer, Liu Ci smiled even more happily. He is indeed a wise man.
Chao Cuo just glanced at Dong Zhongshu and replied simply: "Then just say whatever the king wants. It's just that I am an honest man. I don't have much money at home and I can't get anything out of it. I still have a few books at home and two books."
I have a servant to take care of me, but apart from that, I don’t even have any land to cultivate.”
"Ah?? In the past few years, your title has been promoted one after another. You are about to become a marquis. How come you don't have land and property?"
Liu Ci didn't quite believe it.
But Zhang Tang said: "There is indeed no money. Chao Gong spent all the rewards he received on doing things, and the family does not have much money."
Chao Cuo pointed at Zhang Tang again and said: "There is also Zhang Tang. If you need it, you can take him to Xia Kingdom. I have nothing to give you."
Liu Ci smiled and said: "I'm not here to ask for property. This time everyone in the Yushi Mansion plots to kill you. Except for Zhao Yu, the culprit, everyone else is probably going to be sentenced to exile and other crimes? I want them, can I let them go?
Where is the country of Xia? My country of Xia is poor."
Chao Cuo said seriously: "Zhao Yu is the only criminal in the Yushi Mansion. How to deal with him is decided by the Tingwei. The rest have not committed any crime, so why should they be exiled?"
Liu Ci was shocked, "Can Zhao Yu do such a big thing in the Yushi Mansion alone? Most of the officials in the Yushi Mansion are colluding with him. Do you still want to protect them?"
"It's not bias. Since there is no evidence of crime to prove that they made a mistake, then they are not at fault. Do you want me to exile them because they may be involved in murdering me? There are many important things in the temple, and I still need them to come.
Come on, if your Majesty wants to take advantage of me and ask me to send him to Xia Kingdom, then please come back!"
Liu Ci looked at Dong Zhongshu again, and Dong Zhongshu had no choice but to say, "Chao Gong, please don't blame me. The Xia Kingdom is poor, but it is extremely important. You also know that the Xia Kingdom includes all the grasslands, and it is to be the commander-in-chief.
However, we have never had any experience in this area in the past, so we don’t know what to do. We don’t want anything else this time. We just want Mr. Chao to give us some advice. Is that okay?”
Chao Cuo did not refuse in a hurry this time. Although Chao Cuo was a firm believer in reducing vassal states, his idea was to weaken the vassal states, not to abolish them. He was still very clear about the significance of the existence of vassal states. His Majesty the Emperor wanted to
To govern the area outside the Great Wall, break the antagonistic relationship between the Central Plains and the Great Wall, turn it into his own territory, and gain long-term peace, Chao Cuo did not object. He was silent for a moment, then asked for paper and pen, and began to write.
stand up.
Liu Ci and others stood beside Chao Cuo in astonishment, watching him writing furiously.
Liu Ci tugged on Dong Zhongshu's sleeve, "That's not what I said when I came here. I have been running around and begging for help these days just to let him write an article? What's the use of it?"
"
Dong Zhongshu shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, there is no need to be impatient. You will know later."
Liu Ci did not speak and waited seriously. He waited for more than half an hour. After Chao Cuo finished writing, he revised it again and again. By the time Liu Ci's stomach began to growl with hunger, Chao Cuo continued to revise it again and again.
While screaming, he finally finished writing and handed the things to Liu Ci.
Liu Ci hurriedly took it and looked at it, "Please treat the book outside the Great Wall?"
"Yes, this is the policy I propose to your Majesty. The areas beyond the Great Wall are completely different from those in the Central Plains. If we govern the areas outside the Great Wall according to the methods of the Central Plains, there will definitely be no good results. Fu Qing is a capable minister, but he has no experience in governing the areas outside the Great Wall.
Your Majesty can send this book to him, and he will naturally know what to do."
Dong Zhongshu also popped his head to watch.
Chao Cuo said softly: "To govern outside the Great Wall, we still have to follow the example of Mao Dun. Mo Dun integrated the Great Wall and adopted a differentiation approach. He divided his power into three parts and arranged different grazing areas for different tribes.
District, they are not allowed to go out to prevent them from uniting privately, and then appoint ministers to supervise their situation, adopt the method of intermarriage to appease the leaders, gather the young people of each tribe around them, and learn knowledge so that they do not know their own tribe
But I only know that Daxia changed its customs, made great gifts, organized caravans from various ministries, actively carried out trade with the Central Plains, and opened the door wide to allow merchants from the Central Plains to come. They did not seek to make profits for Daxia, but only wanted to break the barriers.
Make them interoperable.”
"Build cities in places where nomads must pass through, gather people to farm here, and promote agricultural technology. Gradually control the entire area outside the Great Wall from several important points."
"Start the assessment system as soon as possible and recruit local talents through military merit and assessment."
Chao Cuo listed a total of more than 20 policies, most of which imitated the original Maodun, and some were combined with the Han system.
Liu Ci was stunned. He raised his head and looked at Chao Cuo in front of him. He suddenly raised his head and sighed, with a look of annoyance and regret on his face.
"Your Majesty? What's wrong with you?"
"I regret why I took action to save Chao Cuo!!"
"If he is convicted and exiled to Xia Kingdom, why should I go around asking for help??"
Liu Ci took the letter and left Chao Cuo's mansion happily.
Zhang Tang did not leave together. After sending them away, he returned to the study and continued to serve Chao Cuo.
Chao Cuo was currently writing another article on how to deal with powerful people. Zhang Tang read it very carefully. They all said that Chao Cuo had the talents of a state minister and was not weaker than Zhang Cang. Zhang Tang agreed with this.
Chao Cuo's talents are indeed very high and his talent is transcendent. He is one of the top three writers in the country, one of the top three politicians in the country for his strategies, and one of the top three scholars in the country for his study. It is a pity that he is too stubborn and does not do serious things.
, never forgetting the matter of reducing the vassal state, and always felt that the vassal states were the number one threat to the Han Dynasty and had to be eliminated.
According to Chao Cuo's theory, the biggest threat to the Han Dynasty must be the internal vassal states. This is only a matter of time, and it will happen sooner or later.
Chao Cuo hurriedly completed another petition, put it aside, stretched his muscles a bit, raised his head, and met Zhang Tang's eyes.
"what are you doing here?"
"I will call you if something happens, go back and rest!"
Chao Cuo waved his hand, and Zhang Tang had no choice but to reply: "I want to learn something from you."
"Hahaha, what can you learn from this little kid? Go read your book!"
Zhang Tang saluted, turned around and left.
Chao Cuo didn't know what he was thinking of, but he suddenly said: "Wait a minute."
Zhang Tang stopped and turned to look at Chao Cuo.
Chao Cuo looked at Zhang Tang in front of him, his expression seemed a bit complicated. In his eyes, Zhang Tang's image seemed to gradually overlap with that of another person. Chao Cuo looked at him for a long time, and finally said with emotion: "Maybe it really is.
It’s my fault!”
"Chao Gong?"
"Stand over here."
Zhang Tang stood carefully beside Chao Cuo. Chao Cuo pointed to the strategy in front of him and said seriously: "To govern the world with the Yushifu, there are three things to do. Different positions have different ways to govern the world.
, but the truth is common. Especially when Legalists like us govern the world, and people like Zhang Shizhi govern the world, he will prefer to use written laws to maintain order in the world. Therefore, he must constantly target those who can transcend the laws.
People restricted by the law, such as the prince, and people like His Majesty Zhang Buyu, govern the world. His world is only limited to the emperor. If the emperor is not wise enough, it will be a matter of time for the world to collapse. And people like me
Come and govern the world. The world I want is a world for all peoples."
"Why don't I just go on a killing spree and have to find out the evidence of their crimes? Killing is very simple, but the purpose of governing the world is not to kill people. Killing is just a means. If you forget the fundamentals, ignore the law, and despise
If you dominate the world and only use killing as a way to get promoted and get rewards, do things just to fulfill the emperor's orders, and don't care about anything else, or even turn killing into your own goal, then you can't be considered a Legalist, they are just cruel officials.
It’s hard to have a family, but it’s easy to be a cool official.”
"There is a system from top to bottom. The emperor ascends the throne and establishes the system. The so-called system is actually the basis for maintaining the temple. However, cruel officials often despise the system and act beyond the system. Although such behavior can achieve more results in the short term, it can also take a long-term view.
, but it will cause extremely serious damage to the world. It will make the temples have no credibility at all. Legalism cannot govern the world without credibility. If the people in the world no longer believe in officials and temples, it will be very terrible.
Something happened."
Chao Cuo pointed to the various policies he had formulated and explained in detail why he had formulated them in this way.
Zhang Tang was overjoyed and hurriedly lowered his head and listened very carefully. He was afraid that he would not be able to remember it, so he simply picked up paper and pen to record Chao Cuo's words.
After Chao Cuo finished explaining his strategy this time, Zhang Tang saluted him very seriously, "Thank you teacher for your teaching!"
There wasn't much of a smile on Chao Cuo's face, he just had a straight face as always.
Faced with Chao Cuo's sudden teaching, Zhang Tang seemed a little flattered. After following Chao Cuo, Zhang Tang discovered that he was an extremely selfish person. He only had himself in his mind, or in other words, only he had to do something.
Everyone is just a tool for him to do things. He doesn't care at all what these people think, nor does he care whether these people understand him. This is the first time he has expressed concern for someone other than himself.
"Be a legalist. Don't be a cruel official."
Chao Cuo said softly, with a dim light flashing in his eyes.
"Hahaha, Father! After much thought, I personally formulated more than 20 strategies for managing beyond the Great Wall. Come and take a look, what do you think of what I wrote?!"
Liu Ci stood in front of Liu Chang very proudly and took out the letter.
In Houde Hall, Liu Chang and Liu An looked at him in shock. Liu An also held a petition in his hand. Seeing his brother's appearance, he couldn't help but joked: "Ci actually started to submit a petition too?"
Liu Ci glanced at the paper in Liu An's hand and couldn't help but said: "Is it true that only the eldest brother can submit a letter? In fact, my talent is not weaker than others, it's just because you all look down on me, so you ignore it. If it's the elder brother,
If you don’t believe me, you can compare with me to see which of our petitions is better?”
If other princes and kings said this, it would probably be a bit suspected of usurping the legitimate son, but Liu Ci was fine.
Liu An didn't say anything, but Liu Ci said again: "What? Brother, don't you dare to compete? Let my father come and see whose petition is better! The loser has to sacrifice three horses!!"
Liu An laughed and nodded immediately.
Liu Ci couldn't wait to hand his petition to Liu Chang, and urged Liu An to hand the petition to Liu Chang as well.
Liu Chang took the letter and said without even reading it, "An wins the battle."
Liu Ci was stunned for a moment, then jumped up angrily, "Father! Why do you prefer elder brother so much? You didn't even look!"
"I don't even need to read it to know that An won. What are you writing?"
"Just take a look!"
Liu Chang lowered his head and glanced, "Your eldest brother still wins."
"How is this possible? This was written by Chao Cuo!! No matter how powerful the eldest brother is, can he still beat Chao Cuo?"
Liu Chang immediately scolded: "You have the nerve to say that! I am an upright person. I have never been greedy for other people's achievements. I have always done it myself. How could I have a son like you? I copied Chao Cuo's strategy and didn't even bother to copy it.
, do you think I can’t read Chao Cuo’s handwriting?!”
Liu Ci lowered his head aggrievedly, "I don't know how to write."
Liu Chang looked at Liu Ci's strategy again, looked at it for a long time, and then nodded, "Chao Cuo is pretty good. His ideas coincide with mine. That's what I originally thought."
Liu Ci asked: "Can it be implemented?"
"Well, of course you can, but how come you have an article about Chao Cuo?"
Liu Ci hurriedly explained, "He scolded me for trying to repay a favor. I was angry at that time, so I used the allusion of Zigong to kidnap a prisoner and then not pay him to satirize him!"
Liu An only felt a slight pain in his forehead.
Liu Chang was furious, "Zhuzi! If you don't know how to use allusions, don't talk nonsense! That's Zilu!"
Liu An only felt a little pain in his forehead.
How virtuous and capable I am, to be born in such a cultural family!
"Father, you'd better read my letter."
Liu An couldn't help but interrupt the father and son, and then Liu Chang picked up Liu An's letter. Liu An explained seriously: "After reading through "Yu Gong", "Zhi Fang" and other books, I suddenly had something
After some thoughts, the territory of the Han Dynasty today is vast, which is unmatched in the past, and it is difficult to effectively exercise the power of supervision by setting up supervisors and censors in counties. I think that if we can follow the books of Yu Gong, we can establish prefectures and add prefectures to the world.
The governor, above Ling and the county officials, supervises the ranks of the state ministers. He does not grant real power and has direct access to Tianque. He checks the power of the powerful clan and the right, the land and houses exceed the control, the strong bullies the weak, and the masses bully the few."
When Liu Chang heard this, he felt a little dazed for a moment.
"state?"
"Yes, I have already thought about it. We will turn the world into a state and add state governors. There are Yan, Qing, Ji, and Xu."
Liu Chang looked at Liu An and asked suspiciously: "Is this all your own imagination?"
Liu An was a little helpless. Didn’t I think it was Chao Cuo who copied Chao Cuo?
You two are good at doing this kind of thing, but I'm not.