Chapter 117 Stabilizing the Throne
The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang snorted and laughed: "He's quite cunning." He was not referring to Liu Heng, but to Taiwei Zhou Bo and others.

Want a private meeting? Why do you want a private meeting? Is there anything that cannot be said directly in public? You are a minister, and the person in front of you is the chosen emperor. Wanting a private meeting is nothing more than trying to control him.

Judging from Zhou Bo's subsequent behavior of kneeling and presenting the seal, he might have wanted to present the seal privately - and the seal is a key item, and there is a big difference between presenting it in public and doing it in private.

He had a lot of ideas, but his mistake was that he didn't understand what kind of person Liu Heng was.

Liu Bang began to recall this son. Hmm, what was this son like in normal times? He couldn't remember.

No matter what, he is indeed the son of Naigong, he is so outstanding! It is all because of Naigong's good seed!

Lu Zhi rolled her eyes. As soon as she saw Liu Bang, she knew what this man was thinking. Liu Heng is indeed good, but is that because of you? You can't even remember what he looks like.

The reason why he has such a personality is probably because of Bo Ji - Bo Ji. She narrowed her eyes. She didn't have any negative impression of this woman, because she didn't have many impressions of her. But she was as cautious as Liu Heng.

As for what happened to Zhou Bo and others? Lü Zhi could only laugh at them and gloat over their misfortunes. She really had no negative impression of Liu Heng. After all, Liu Heng had not caused any trouble in these years, and he ascended the throne in the Tianmu because Liu Ying and herself were both dead. But Zhou Bo and others were different.

She was indeed aware that after her death, the Lu family would not have a good ending, but she also could not have any good opinions about the people who took the lead in doing these things.

Ming Dynasty, Yongle period.

Emperor Yongle Zhu Di could not help but recall the process of his ascension to the throne: Indeed, even if a vassal king rebelled and ascended the throne, there was already a complete set of perfect procedures. There was no need to worry too much about it. Everyone knew what to do, and the ascension process was quickly handled to perfection.

As for other ways of ascending the throne, there are also complete methods. What the prospective emperor should do, what the ministers should do first and what should they do next when meeting him... the routine is very clear.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di couldn't help but sigh: "Emperor Wen of Han is truly a man of heaven's talent!"

Faced with the unprecedented tactics of ministers and without any reference of his own, he took the most correct path, avoided all the pitfalls, and ascended the throne cleanly. If this is not a genius, then what else could be a genius?

The crown prince Zhu Zhanji suddenly felt like joking and said with a smile: "We have to thank the Tang Dynasty for the perfection of this process."

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Li Shimin sneezed and trembled all over.

[Since Liu Heng said so, the ministers followed Liu Heng's carriage to the Dai Wang residence in Chang'an.

Later, Prime Minister Chen Ping, Grand Marshal Zhou Bo, General Chen Wu, Imperial Censor Zhang Cang and others knelt down again and suggested that Liu Heng should inherit the throne. This was the result of their joint consultation with the princes, clan members, and ministers with an official rank of more than 2,000 stones.

Liu Heng continued to decline, and finally he declined three times facing west and twice facing south. Chen Ping and others continued to persuade him.

Finally, Liu Heng said, "I dare not resign" and succeeded to the throne as the emperor.

Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period.

The princes gathered together again for a small meeting. After all, this was the history they knew, and at this time they were more interested in exchanging views and complaining.

Zhu Bo said, "Did Chen Ping and others say so much at that time just to prove to Emperor Wen the legitimacy of his succession to the throne?" He always felt that there was something more.

Zhu Chong shook his head: "How is that possible? It's clearly a warning to Emperor Wen." He touched his chin, "or in other words, a display of strength."

Zhu Di and others nodded.

There is one thing that Tianmu did not say, and that is that when these people knelt and made their suggestions, they also said that the Shao Emperor and his men were not the sons of Hui Emperor. And when this is added to the royal family, kings, marquises, and ministers with more than 2,000 stones behind them, isn't it saying that their side has gained a lot of support and is powerful?

You see, so many forces are supporting you now, so just feel free to ascend the throne, there won't be any problem!

But, with so much power, who actually controls it now? Are they yours?

[Since Liu Heng succeeded to the throne, all treatment would naturally change.

The ministers followed the etiquette and arranged themselves in order of their rank, and used the emperor's standards and etiquette to welcome Liu Heng at the Prince of Dai's official residence. That evening, Liu Heng moved into the Weiyang Palace.

However, Liu Heng did not rest immediately after moving into the Weiyang Palace.

At night, he first appointed Song Chang as General Wei to pacify the northern and southern armies; and then appointed Zhang Wu as Langzhong Ling to patrol the palace.

Afterwards, he went to the front hall and issued an edict, first thanking the generals, marquises, royal family members, and ministers for exterminating the Lu family and supporting the Han Dynasty; he also said that after he ascended the throne, he would grant amnesty to the people, grant the people one level of nobility, and provide cattle and wine for 100 households of women, and allow people to gather and feast for five days.

On October 2, Liu Heng ascended the throne and paid homage to the temple of Emperor Gaozu.

Afterwards, he changed Chen Ping to the position of left prime minister, Taiwei Zhou Bo to the position of right prime minister, and General Guan Ying to the position of Taiwei, and returned the old lands of Qi and Chu that had been seized by the Lü family to the two countries; then, he conferred titles on the ministers and marquises who had contributed to the extermination of the Lü family, including Zhou Bo, Chen Ping, Guan Ying, Liu Zhang, etc., and obtained varying amounts of food and gold.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang nodded with satisfaction, being a clear-headed son indeed. "The most crucial thing, of course, is to hold your personal safety in your own hands. Chang'an and the palace must be in the hands of the emperor." Other things can be put on hold, but this matter must not be put off.

Moreover, Liu Heng did the following things perfectly. Thank you for the extermination of the Lu family - it expressed his attitude, gave these people reassurance, and also covered them with their glorious cloak; amnesty was also an attitude, and at the same time declared his own existence.

The personnel transfers and rewards after he officially ascended the throne were also a form of favor and enticement.

Lu Zhi watched every step Liu Heng took and sighed in her heart. If Liu Ying had this or that, she would have to worry less.

Besides, she didn't think that since she was not optimistic about the future of the Lu family, she would not leave the Lu family something to save their lives - military power! Liu Heng knew that he must first take Chang'an into his hands. Would those people in the Lu family give up their military power?
Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed: "Emperor Wen meant well. He wanted to thank these people for supporting the country and being loyal to the Han Dynasty. But," he shook his head as if with regret, "these people did not appreciate the grace of heaven. They thought they had helped them ascend the throne and had the merit of following the dragon, so they began to become arrogant!" Emperor Wen, on the other hand, gave them a decent ending in the end.

He is indeed a benevolent and wise king!
Although Zhu Yuanzhang would not take the same approach, he still felt that he could empathize with Liu Heng - the ministers were a little too careless and could not understand the emperor's good intentions. This was such a sad thing! And under his command, there were also ministers who could not understand the good intentions and only thought that their achievements were overwhelming.

The civil officials and military officers present all had their eyelids twitched, and they carefully controlled their expressions, changing them to expressions of "Ah, yes, yes, yes, your Majesty is right" and "These people are ignorant and don't understand your kindness." After Zhu Yuanzhang finished expressing his inner feelings, his eyes swept over them, and then returned to the sky, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The small group of princes on the side rallied closely behind their eldest brother Zhu Biao, silently watching the interaction between their father and the ministers.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Dezhao said: "The next step is to appoint a crown prince." By appointing a crown prince, the stability of the throne can also be guaranteed.

[Next, Liu Heng faced a new task: appointing a crown prince.

For an emperor or a dynasty, appointing a crown prince is a very important matter, at least most of the time.

The Han Dynasty at this time was no exception. For both Liu Heng himself and his ministers, having a crown prince represented the stability of this generation of the dynasty.

So, the ministers began to advise Liu Heng to appoint a crown prince, but Liu Heng did not agree immediately.

He first said that this matter was very important, so it should be done slowly and not lightly; then he brought up the King of Wu, the King of Huainan, and other princes and ministers, saying that they were all wise men; after the ministers persuaded him again and cited the examples of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and Liu Bang passing the throne to his sons, Liu Heng agreed.

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng came to the conclusion: "These ministers are simply unable to control Liu Heng. In a few years, the government will fall into Liu Heng's hands." It became something that Liu Heng could control.

Of course, this does not mean that the group of meritorious officials will lose their place in the court. This is impossible. However, it is true that more power will be controlled by Liu Heng, and he can implement the policies and systems he wants.

Just like the matter of appointing a crown prince this time, Liu Heng still needed the ministers to persuade him many times before making the decision. Is this true? He may not want to appoint a crown prince too early and want to observe his son, but later he pulled out the King of Wu, the King of Huainan and others as examples of "wise men", which is definitely not the meaning.

Later, he asked the ministers to give examples of inheritance again and again...

Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Wen.

Liu Heng and Crown Prince Liu Qi looked at each other with indifferent expressions.

He really didn't dote on this son too much at the beginning. He made this son the heir apparent because of the needs of the current situation and because he was the eldest son at the time. However, after observing him over the years, Liu Heng was quite pleasantly surprised by Liu Qi's talent and ability: this is a good seedling!
Moreover, he had a good grandson, Emperor Wu, and the glory of the three generations of the Han Dynasty was foreseeable.

In that case, what else is he dissatisfied with?
Liu Qi was also very calm like his father, he already knew the origin of his position as the crown prince. But what was the problem?
Anyway, he was the crown prince, and he would remain firmly on the throne until he ascended the throne and became emperor. Liu Qi was very confident, which was quite similar to his good son. He also knew that as long as he was capable enough, his father would never change the crown prince and the future emperor.

That's what they are like.

Qing Dynasty, the 28th year of Kangxi's reign.

Kangxi was puzzled. Of course, his appointment of a crown prince was a top priority in the dynasty! What was there to argue about?
He began to recall the many dynasties in history. Which dynasty and emperor treated the appointment of a crown prince as a joke?
[So, who is this crown prince?]
He was Liu Qi, the second son of Liu Heng, and Emperor Jing of Han during the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing; his mother was Dou Ji, who later became Empress Dou, Empress Dowager, and Grand Empress Dowager.

Why didn't the eldest son or the firstborn son be made the heir? Because they were all dead.

Before Liu Heng came to Beijing, Queen Dai and her three or four sons had all passed away - yes, Queen Dai. As for her name, family, or date of birth and death, no one knows. There is no record of the birth and death dates of her sons. Also unknown is the location of their tombs.

After Liu Qi was made crown prince, Liu Heng made the crown prince's mother, Dou, the empress, and made General Bo Zhao the Marquis of Chen.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang didn't care about this at all. Liu Heng was the crown prince anyway, and this crown prince still looked good - whether it was the rule of Wen and Jing or the posthumous title "Jing", both were good.

As for the matter of the substitute queen and offspring, it is obvious that it is a conspiracy. There is nothing wrong with the death of the queen and offspring, which is not surprising, but the problem is that there is no record of her and her offspring after their death.

But it doesn't matter, and what does it have to do with him?

Liu Bang, feeling happy to see his son had a good grandson, picked up the cup and drank happily.

Lü Zhi also saw the possible conspiracy. Moreover, who else could have such a woman who was not even mentioned in the history books? It could only be the Lü family.

But what else could she do in that situation? She shook her head. The method of letting the kings marry Lu was actually just to win over as many forces as possible. If she really expected that the kings of the Liu family could play a positive role after she died, that would be impossible.

Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Wen.

Liu Heng didn't care about his past, but he was a little surprised by the content about Empress Dou: "How could the Empress live so long?"

The queen is a no-brainer, the queen mother is also fine, but the grand queen mother...

He began to think, was the Queen able to become the Grand Empress Dowager because of her long life, or because he, the Crown Prince, and the future Emperor Jing all had short lifespans?

It would be fine if the queen herself lived a long life, but if she and the prince died too young, the situation would not be very optimistic.

Who was the last person to die too young? It was Liu Ying. Once Liu Ying died, even though Empress Lü had outstanding vision and means, she could not save the country from collapse.

[Liu Heng has officially ascended the throne and announced it to the world. Now the crown prince has been appointed, the queen has been canonized, and the northern and southern armies in Chang'an are also in his hands. So, some things should be done.

In fact, the one who took the first move was not Liu Heng, or rather, not only Liu Heng, but also Chen Ping.

Chen Ping was famous for his wisdom and was recorded in history for his ability to plan for his own future. At this time, he did not live up to this characteristic.

Compared with other colleagues who were proud of getting rid of the Lu family and were somewhat arrogant for supporting Liu Heng to succeed the throne, although Chen Ping was also one of the people who chose Liu Heng to succeed the throne, from Liu Heng's various behaviors since he came to Chang'an from Dai, Chen Ping had discovered one thing: Liu Heng was not what they imagined.

Therefore, when Liu Heng ascended the throne and rewarded his meritorious officials, Chen Ping gave the position of right prime minister to Zhou Bo because of Zhou Bo's great contributions, and retreated to the second-ranking position of left prime minister.

Liu Heng was of course satisfied with Chen Ping's behavior. It was good to have a minister who knew how to understand his intentions and was not arrogant and conceited.

However, once Liu Heng had stabilized the basic situation, he would need to deal with these groups of meritorious officials who were too powerful to be removed. Since Chen Ping had given in, the first person to bear the brunt would naturally be Zhou Bo. 】

(End of this chapter)