One thousand three hundred seventy-eighth Confucianists, available but not credible
It was the sixth day of autumn and seventh month of the sixth year of Yuande (the sixth day of the lunar month).
Liu Jianglu rode a carriage and once again overlooked the gurgling Wei River under the bridge from the magnificent Wei Bridge.
His emotions were very complicated.
"Your Majesty, we will arrive at Weiyang Palace in half an hour..." Liu Jianglu's personal eunuch told him this fact in a low voice.
This made him both uneasy and full of expectation.
"Ah Fu, please go down and rest first..." Liu Jianglu waved his hand and said, "Thank you for your hard work along the way..."
"I dare not..." The eunuch kowtowed and said, "This is what a slave should do..."
Liu Jianglu shook his head and said: "I thought that I have seen all kinds of storms in this life... But... today, I know what it is like to be in the cold world and how warm and cold human relationships are!"
In the words, there is unspeakable sadness and emotion.
In his heart, Liu Jianglu even doubted the world.
Now, he has betrayed all his relatives and separated from his wife and children.
When he was in his prime, he had many wives and concubines and more than a dozen children.
The palace's treasury was filled with gold and copper coins, and the inner treasury's warehouses were filled with grain.
When it comes to wealth, no one in the entire world is richer than him.
When the emperor of Chang'an was reluctant to build even an attic, and the gate of Weiyang Palace had not been repaired for ten consecutive years, he went on a large-scale construction project in Linzi and spent money like water.
Ivory and pearls from South Vietnam, tiger and bear skins from Anton, Long Yanxiang, Bo slaves from southwestern Yi, blond singers from distant foreign countries, all the rare things and treasures that can be found are in his palace.
.
His princes traveled in crowds, and some even once traveled so extravagantly that they paved the road with silk, used gold bowls for eating, ivory chopsticks, and silver knives and forks.
As for the items used by himself and his beloved concubines, they were even more luxurious to the point of being indescribably luxurious.
A piece of exquisite silk clothing that is as light as a thin wing and has no weight at all costs millions of dollars!
But just because his favorite concubine and beauties liked it, he bought more than a dozen pieces from the young master in one go.
It was made of gold strands and was gilded all over. Even the armrests were decorated with gold. A gold chariot cost two thousand gold. He bought three of them, one for his own use, one for his wives and concubines, and one for making.
spare.
At that time, he was very proud and domineering, thinking that his position was as stable as Mount Tai.
The prosperity of industry and commerce and the development of maritime trade have also made Qi's treasury reach a point where it seems that it will never be exhausted.
but……
Everything flourishes and then declines.
In the cycle of yin and yang, heaven never retaliates.
A letter that he thought was nothing, just a normal letter to speak for others, made him and his kingdom fall into the eighteenth level of hell.
Within ten days of submitting the letter, the envoy from Chang'an read out the emperor's edict.
He, the King of Qi, was deposed.
Everything about the kingdom has nothing to do with him from now on.
more importantly……
His ministers and guests, the heroes and celebrities who had surrounded him in the past, all suddenly turned against him.
These people who used to eat, drink, and play with him gave him the most fatal blow.
Even his wives, concubines, and sons also came forward to report him and expose him.
So when he left Linzi, only three or five loyal servants and retainers followed him.
This really made Liu Jianglu sigh and sigh with emotion.
Now, when he looks back and thinks about it, he actually deserves it.
He has been too proud in the past few years.
Especially after the incident involving the Four Kings of Qi and Lu, he claimed to be his current favorite and became more and more unscrupulous.
He also doesn’t have a good look towards the people below.
At that time, he thought that as long as the emperor's favor remained, his status would be as stable as Mount Tai.
But he never thought about what would happen if the emperor one day distrusted or was suspicious of him.
Fortunately, Liu Jianglu knew that he still had one last chance.
"I have given tens of millions of dollars to various Confucian sects every year over the years..." Liu Jianglu thought in his mind: "Now that I am in danger, how dare they not save me?"
Well, if they dare not save themselves or speak for themselves.
So, who will dare to support them with real money in the future?
Without money, Confucianism is like a featherless duck, destined not to be able to jump around for long!
In addition to Confucianism, Liu Jianglu also funded the "educational undertakings" of Qi Huanglao and Qi Legalism.
Although the amount of funding is far less than that of Confucianism, it still amounts to several million dollars a year.
After you get the money, of course you have to help him with things!
Thinking of this, Liu Jianglu felt a little calmer.
"Have the envoys I sent to contact the famous figures in the Imperial Academy come back?" Liu Jianglu opened the curtain of his car and asked the officials who were escorting or monitoring him.
Along the way, Liu Jianglu also figured out the attitude of the person in Weiyang Palace. He didn't seem to prohibit his freedom, just as he said in the edict.
', so 'no one should be hindered or slighted', as in the past, 'treat each other with royal courtesy'.
Since this is the case, he actually still has the right to move freely, write letters and even contact others.
"Your Majesty, you are back..." The official smiled and answered with his hands raised.
How should the emperor deal with King Qi?
No one knows now.
And the example of King Li of Huainan is such that no one dares to be disrespectful in the slightest. If King Qi is wronged and cannot think about it, then his whole family, old and young, may die unjustly.
"Excuse me, please call me to the chariot..." Looking at the official's attitude, Liu Jianglu took reassurance. Now, these officials are still respectful, which shows that the emperor does not necessarily want to kill himself.
Thoughts of death.
As long as you live, there is hope!
Even if the emperor doesn't care, there are still the empress dowager and empress dowager.
Liu Jianglu didn't believe it anymore. He would never regain his throne.
…………………………
"Your Majesty, I have contacted the Confucian elders and Legalists, Mr. Huang's elders..."
"But, except for Hu Zi and Dong Zi who met the slave, everyone else refused to meet..."
"Even Huzi and Dong Zi, after hearing the slave's request, shook their heads repeatedly and said, 'This is something we cannot do...'"
The envoy knelt in front of Liu Jianglu and reported what he had seen.
After Liu Jianglu heard this, he was like a basin of cold water being poured from head to toe.
There was even more anger burning in his chest.
"You took my money and refused to help me!" Liu Jianglu gritted his teeth and cursed, "It's so shameless! I want to impeach them against the emperor!"
In Liu Jianglu's eyes, his financial dealings with these schools of thought were actually just a business.
He used money to "subsidize education," while various schools of thought took advantage of the public opinion online to cover up and whitewash it for him.
In Liu Jianglu's eyes, these schools of thought were probably the same as the rangers in Linzi City.
He is the big merchant in Linzi City, and each school is the ranger of Linzi.
He uses money to support these people just to make them shut up and do things.
But now, these guys actually shirk it?
There is simply no faith!
Among the people, if a ranger takes money from a businessman, but cannot help the businessman settle things.
Then this ranger will commit suicide to apologize!
If the ranger is unwilling to die, other rangers will help him 'make up his mind'.
Because these are the rules of the game.
Take people's money and eliminate disasters for them.
If you take money, fail to accomplish something, and refuse to die, then you are ruining everyone's jobs.
Therefore, in the streets of Linzi, the rangers will defend their territory to the death. If they encounter other rangers or foreign dragons crossing the river, even if they cannot defeat them, they will fight to the death.
But now, hundreds of schools of thought and various schools have used practical actions to tell Liu Jianglu and others that these scholars are not even as good as knights.
The knights still talk about faith, but these people regard faith as a piece of paper to wipe their butts.
But he had no choice but to watch.
"Your Majesty, calm down..." The envoy bowed, "Although the Confucian and Legalist factions have betrayed their faith, I heard that they seemed to have no choice but to..."
"What's the last resort?" Liu Jianglu was furious.
He spends more than 20 million and 5 baht a year to support these schools of thought, but at the end of the day, these guys tell him they are sorry!
Even raising a dog would probably be better than these guys!
"I heard from the thief captain Dao Gong... The relatives of the princes in Chang'an are very angry, thinking that the king wants to interrupt their promotion path..." The envoy replied tremblingly: "Some princes even said: If
If anyone dares to give advice to your Majesty, don’t blame him for being rude..."
"Hmm..." Liu Jianglu was suddenly surprised: "When did I ever offend the relatives of the princes of Chang'an?"
"Your Majesty..." The envoy bowed, "The memorial you submitted to request peace with the Xiongnu... is just like this in the eyes of the nobles and nobles of Chang'an..."
…………………………………………
An hour later, Liu Jianglu finally realized how bad his reputation had become in Chang'an.
After entering the core of Chang'an City from Baqiao, countless rotten eggs and rotten vegetable leaves flew onto his carriage.
Even if the local officials and the troops who protected him tried their best, they could not stop the enthusiasm of the people.
"National traitor!"
"silverfish!"
"The King of Darkness!"
Outside the carriage, thousands of people yelled and cursed.
"It's just a memorial..." Liu Jianglu was puzzled: "How come I have such a bad reputation?"
"Your Majesty..." Liu Jianglu's envoy sighed and said: "I didn't know this before, but in the past few days in Chang'an, I have found out... This Guanzhong and even the entire northern county
The scholar-bureaucrats, nobles, and common people were all like seedlings in a long drought, hoping that the king would drive out the Xiongnu, expand the north, and everyone would be granted a kingdom and established a state... But the king asked for peace at that time... It would be like taking millet from the fire...
…”
"How come no one has told me before?" Liu Jianglu was dumbfounded. In the colorful world of Qi State, how could he have thought about the thoughts of the nobles, landlords, and scholar-bureaucrats in the north?
"Most of the king's former guests and ministers were Confucian officials..." the envoy said, "How could they be willing to tell the king these things?"
"Furu! Furu!" Liu Jianglu sighed and shook his head: "I regret not listening to the words of the late king..."
When his elder brother Liu Zhang, King of Qi Ai, was still alive, he once taught him whether Confucian scholars should be trusted.
