Chapter 127 Relatives
Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period.

Zhu Yuanzhang was already familiar with the various chaos caused by foreign relatives in history, and Bo Zhao was no exception.

"As for the relatives by marriage, we can only give them wealth and honor, but never give them power. Otherwise, even if they don't have the ability to usurp power, they will disrupt the government and bring disaster to the world."

For example, the marriage rules he set for the descendants of the Zhu family were very good, and could basically eliminate a series of problems in history: the wives of the emperor, princes, concubines, and palace maids must be carefully selected from kind-hearted common people's families.

In this way, even if there are problems, they can be dealt with easily and easily without having to consider the power of the previous dynasty or the power of the mother clan.

He was really thoughtful!
[At the moment he entered the capital, Liu Heng was already prepared to become the emperor, and his various actions and methods after he ascended the throne also fully proved that he was a qualified and excellent emperor.

But Bo Zhao failed to keep up with the changes of his nephew.

Although he became the Marquis of Chen, he still did not fully understand Liu Heng's current nature. He was intoxicated with the glory of being the emperor's relative, and still blindly treated Liu Heng as his nephew, believing that the relationship between relatives would inevitably make Liu Heng favor him.

But is Liu Heng like this now? Obviously not. For Liu Heng now, the most important thing is politics, and then there are aspects such as people's livelihood and economy.

If nothing happened, as Liu Heng's uncle, and an uncle who made great contributions in his ascension to the throne, Bo Zhao would naturally live a comfortable life. But if Bo Zhao crossed the line, there would be nothing that could be done.

Ten years later, Bo Zhao did something big. He killed the imperial envoy. 】

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che smiled and said, "I am the emperor. Emperor Wen is also the emperor."

As the emperor of the Han Dynasty, he was in control of the situation and direction of the entire Han Dynasty. He was no longer like a former vassal king, let alone a civilian relative. Instead, everything had to serve the emperor, and the emperor's words and deeds also had to serve politics and needs.

Liu Che did not think there was anything wrong with this at all, but was rather proud of it: I, and my ancestors, are emperors who are not bound by personal feelings, and are emperors who are responsible for the Han Dynasty!
As for if one day the emperor becomes like ordinary princes or common people and relaxes his control over the world for personal reasons, then the Han Dynasty will truly decline.

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Li Shimin shook his head: "After doing such a thing, how could Bo Zhao survive innocently?" The Han envoy represented the emperor, but you, Bo Zhao, killed him privately. Don't you respect the emperor?

Plus the political situation during Emperor Wen's ten years or so...

It can only be said that Bo Zhao did not understand the situation and did not know what he should do. As a result, he did something too big, and his ability, status and affection were not enough for Liu Heng to insist on protecting him. In the end, he had only one way to go.

[This matter is too big, Liu Heng can't just let it go, but he still wants to give Bo Zhao some dignity, as well as himself.

Therefore, he did not directly order people to capture Bo Zhao and execute him according to the law. Instead, he asked the ministers to accompany Bo Zhao for a drink, trying to hint Bo Zhao to commit suicide. Although Bo Zhao saw it, he was unwilling to do so.

What to do? Liu Heng did something that will be remembered for centuries: he sent his officials to his place in mourning clothes to mourn for him.

Bo Zhao had no choice. He knew he really had to die, so he chose to commit suicide. 】

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che nodded. He had not paid much attention to this point before, but now it seems that this method is really useful.

You don't have to do it yourself, and you can gain a reputation for being sentimental, and the person being hinted at can also retain some dignity, and solve the problem of in-laws. Isn't this killing two birds with one stone? How else can you kill two birds with one stone?
Some of his ministers always have different political views from his own, or some cannot keep up with the times and are gradually becoming outdated. He needs to consider their dignity when doing anything he wants. Now it seems that he doesn't need to think so much, just let them understand decency.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

This time Liu Bang really laughed, and he laughed so hard that he couldn't stop.

"From this perspective, Liu Heng is truly a man of honor!"

Anyway, when faced with such a situation, the "right to choose" should be given to the parties involved.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Regarding the emperors of the Han Dynasty, especially the first few, Zhao Kuangyin had to say: "Every move of the emperor of the Han Dynasty has its political significance. Even if it is not political, it must be related to whether it is useful or not."

All the wise rulers during the early development and heyday of the Han Dynasty were like this. They were like born political animals, and their very breath was colored by politics.

They would coldly and rationally examine everyone and everything, measure the value of everyone and the significance of everything, and then make a series of actions and decisions based on these. Compared with later dynasties, they were really too rational.

Of course, what Zhao Kuangyin said did not mean that the Han emperors had no emotional factors. They certainly had preferences and aversions, indulgences and vigilance. They would always indulge and favor some people and things.

But all of these are subject to political needs. If they find that these people cannot meet the political needs, or if absolutely excellent candidates appear, these originally favored candidates will be quickly abandoned: if they are better, they will be helped to find a way out; if they are worse, they will be simply ignored.

Is this good? For an emperor, of course, it is good. For his subjects, it is also good... I can't say that. For his subjects, it is good most of the time.

However, an emperor like himself could not guarantee that he would be able to do this. Zhao Kuangyin could not guarantee that he would not be influenced by emotional factors, and he knew his situation very well; and not only he could not do it, but several dynasties before the Song Dynasty, including the emperors of the Han Dynasty, could not do it either - it was too difficult.

[After Bo Zhao died, Liu Heng let his son Bo Rongnu inherit the title of Marquis of Chen.

After Bo Rongnu died, he was posthumously named Yi Hou. His son Bo Liang succeeded him as Chen Hou in the second year of Emperor Wu's Jianyuan reign. In the same year, he was pardoned for his crimes and his country was abolished.

The Bo family’s journey as in-laws ended here.

Of course, Bo Zhao was not the only uncle who was killed by the emperor because he could not see the political situation clearly and did not understand the emperor's intentions, and he made many cross-line moves.

Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Wen.

Liu Heng did not think that there was anything wrong with him killing his uncle Bo Zhao. Just as Tianmu said, it was because Bo Zhao himself had gone too far. What else could I do? The law of the country was in place, and even the uncle of the emperor could not violate it without authorization.

"However, the struggle among the in-laws of the Han Dynasty should be quite intense." He came to this conclusion. There must have been many uncles who were killed during the Han Dynasty.

But is there any problem with this? No.

Liu Heng didn't care, and neither did Crown Prince Liu Qi. The father and son just wanted to hear more about the development of the Han Dynasty.

As for the relatives by marriage, the emperor cannot lose them! At least that was the case in the Han Dynasty. With such a fundamental concept here, the byproducts such as power struggles derived from it are minor details.

[Not to mention the distant past, during the Eastern Han Dynasty alone, in the political environment of fierce struggle, there were many uncles who were killed by the emperor, especially by the eunuchs.

Going back further, famous uncles who were killed because of their fundamental conflicts with the emperor included Zhangsun Wuji in the Tang Dynasty and Longkodo in the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, the reason why there were so many in the Eastern Han Dynasty was that many emperors at that time succeeded to the throne at a young age and needed help from their relatives.

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Li Shimin and Zhangsun Wuji were silent when they saw this, and the others also fell silent. As mentioned earlier, Zhangsun Wuji was unable to see the situation clearly and was killed by Li Zhi.

Changsun Wuji wanted to go to his future self and give him a few slaps in the face to get the water out of his head.

Eastern Han Dynasty, the 17th year of Jianwu.

Liu Xiu's mood was much worse than that of the emperors and ministers during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty.

After all, they were only emotionally hurt and hit, but what about him? His man was truly struck by lightning! This was not some useless emotional issue, but a real impact on the country's political system.

As early as when he heard the first sentence, he had a bad feeling: If it was a normal political struggle, why would so many uncles be sacrificed? If there was to be sacrificed, it should be the court officials. But looking at the switching pictures on the sky screen, the frequency of uncles dying has caught up with the whole family.

Also, Liu Xiu's face twisted for a moment, the eunuch...

When the last sentence came out, Liu Xiu was really in trouble. No wonder he had so many uncles. Of course, it was because there were a lot of little emperors! Little emperors! A lot!
In this situation, what else can be done except for some uncles to come out? And when the emperor grows up, the uncles will naturally have to abdicate.

Not only Liu Xiu's face turned green, but the faces of his trusted ministers also turned green.

For them, this situation was obviously the worst. They not only had to worry about the future of the Han Dynasty, but also the future of their own family. They were all young emperors, which meant that the emperor changed frequently, which would naturally lead to political instability. In such an environment, any family would have to work hard, and there might not be a good result.

"Why do my descendants not live long?!" Liu Xiu almost squeezed out these words from between his teeth.

The ministers who heard this also felt their scalps tighten. What His Majesty meant...

Was this caused by humans, or was it God's will? If it was caused by humans, then a cleansing and reorganization was inevitable; if it was God's will, if it was God's will... then it would be even more terrifying.

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

Longkodo knelt down with a thud and pleaded guilty to Emperor Kangxi: "Your Majesty, I am guilty..."

Just last year, Longkodo was awarded the title of first-class guard by Emperor Kangxi, promoted to Imperial Envoy, and concurrently served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Zhenglan Banner Mongolian Army. It can be said that he was highly trusted by Emperor Kangxi and was a rising star in the court.

Now, he is naturally among the people who will watch the miracle together with the emperor.

Kangxi ignored him for the time being, and thought about another question: Will Baocheng be the next emperor? Why did Baocheng kill Longkodo? Was it really because Longkodo's behavior was beyond the rules and violated the emperor's will?
This explanation is fine, but another question is, would Baocheng call Longkodo uncle?

[The Han Dynasty had relatives by marriage throughout the entire dynasty. This was not a favor given by a certain emperor to the mother's or wife's family, but a form of institutionalization.

"Since ancient times, the emperors who have been appointed as successors and rulers who have upheld the throne and upheld culture have not only great virtues within themselves, but also the help of their relatives outside the palace."

Relatives by marriage are not the source of troubles in the world, but important assistants to the emperor in governing the world and consolidating his rule.

Emperors trusted their relatives by marriage far more than other court officials or princes of the same clan with the same surname.

During the period when the state system was still functioning normally, the imperial relatives did not disappoint the emperor's trust. Even though they did not have extraordinary talents and could not expand the territory for the emperor, they still fulfilled their duties and contributed to the emperor's efforts to stabilize his rule and fight against other power groups.

Han Dynasty, during the first year before Emperor Wen.

Liu Heng nodded. This was true. The emperor's relatives by marriage were naturally more worthy of his trust.

As for the ministers and princes of the same surname, needless to say, their interests are not consistent with the emperor's interests. It is easy for them to ignore the emperor's interests for their own interests. What's more, they and the emperor are no more than monarch and minister. If they are powerful, wouldn't they arbitrarily change the throne or even change the dynasty?

As for the princes with the same surname, that's even more unnecessary. We are all of royal blood. If we have the power, why can't we be the emperor ourselves, but let you be the emperor? He is now enfeoffing princes with the same surname, but it is only because of the situation that he has no choice but to do so.

But even though he did so, his private vigilance against the princes of the same surname never diminished.

These are not as good as the relatives by marriage, especially when the empress dowager has only one son. At the very least, the relatives by marriage must ensure that the emperor is still the emperor.

Isn't that what Emperor Gao chose? They did not deny that Empress Lü maintained the transition of the Han Dynasty.

Qi'er is old enough that he doesn't have to worry about such things. Otherwise, he would have to make some plans for this.

——Of course, as I said before, the national system can still function normally. If the system collapses, the relatives by marriage may not be reliable.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che expressed his deep agreement with this statement.

Apart from anything else, he thoroughly enjoyed the benefits brought by his in-laws: Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were the best representatives.

Of course, are there any annoying relatives by marriage? Yes, there are. The Dou family was annoying back then, but it was just annoying. It was not very difficult to deal with it.

But, that was all in the past. Now, his great general and Marquis of Champion are still the best!

He did not deny that he had a keen eye and used people in an unconventional way, but at the same time, if Wei Zifu had not stood out from the crowd, it would have taken him a longer time to find Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. After a long time, countless manpower and material resources would have been wasted, and his plan to attack the Xiongnu would have been delayed.

Eastern Han Dynasty, the 17th year of Jianwu.

Liu Xiu's face turned even uglier. Although having foreign relatives was good, he felt that Tianmu's last words, "the national system is functioning normally," were directed at a series of little emperors who came after him in his Han Dynasty!
(End of this chapter)