Your Majesty, please draw the card

At the beginning of September, some officials suggested that the emperor should choose talents to fill the vacancy of Prime Minister Zuo as soon as possible, but this suggestion was rejected by Prime Minister Right Zhao Wenshan.Within a few days, this person was imprisoned for dereliction of duty and almost died in prison, which made people see Zhao Wenshan's ambition.Soon thereafter, Zhao Wenshan proposed to restore the ancient system, merging the left and right prime ministers, and setting up only one prime minister.The emperor was noncommittal.Later, someone nominated Wang Juchen, the censor doctor, as Prime Minister Zuo.This person was soon dismissed for unwarranted reasons, and Wang Juchen firmly stated that his qualifications were not suitable for such an important position.

The selection of Prime Minister Zuo was dragged on until March of the second year of Jiahe, by which time Zhao Wenshan's domineering behavior was well known to the world.He manages the government in the prime minister's mansion every day. In the early dynasty, the memorials submitted to the emperor by all the officials had to be read by him first, otherwise he would be framed and retaliated against.The appointment, dismissal and promotion of officials are almost all decided by Zhao Wenshan alone. The "Official Evaluation Law" and "Anti-Corruption Law" promulgated in the first year of Jiahe survived in name only. Only Dali Temple Minister Bao Zheng dared to confront Zhao Wenshan face to face. regarded as a thorn in the side.

Zhao Wenshan likes gorgeous clothes, beauties and wine. He even asked people to weave brocade robes for himself using the craft of making dragon robes.After Wang Ting's downfall, his wealth increased at an astonishing rate, and he owned more fields and maidservants than Wang Ting's two sons combined.At that time, Wang Ou and Wang Hu knew how to deceive others, but Zhao Wenshan was obsessed with pleasure and extravagance. Every time he went out, he had to bring more than 200 followers, which was even more powerful than the emperor.

The national treasury managed by Zhao Wenshan not only did not increase in the past six months, but spent less than half of the money confiscated from the Wang family.Zhao Wenshan also claimed that these expenses were for the people, but he did not know that the officials and wealthy businessmen who bribed him, in order to recover the "cost", all exploited the people everywhere more severely than before, and the projects they built were Can't stand the test of time at all!If the emperor hadn't used his secret power to stabilize the situation in various places, there would have been rebels everywhere in Dayan.

Zhao Wenshan's original prestige was wiped out in just half a year. Civil and military officials dared not speak out against him, and the whole country was looking forward to getting rid of this cancer.Only he himself was unaware of all this, but felt that even the emperor was afraid of him, and became even more domineering.

On the third day of March, Zhao Wenshan encloses the land outside Chang'an City, unexpectedly occupying a corner of Shanglin Garden.This matter was put on the emperor's case a few days later, and Liu Xi almost snapped his palms off in a rage!

There is no way, the quality of the imperial case is really good, it is made of high-grade agarwood, the density is comparable to metal, if he slaps it down with his palm, he can only be injured.

"Bold! It's against the sky! Why didn't Zilong come to report this kind of thing?" Liu Xi was going through the second voice change period in two lifetimes at this time, and his voice was hoarse and unpleasant, so he could basically talk less. Speaking, now the anger surged up, but he screamed hoarsely.

"Don't the emperor know about Zilong's temperament?" Zhou Yu smiled, his indifferent attitude calmed the emperor's emotions, "Zilong definitely doesn't want to annoy the emperor, if it's not a last resort, He will definitely not come to trouble the emperor. Since we made a plan to let the two tigers fight first, then praise Zhao Wenshan, and then win him in one fell swoop after he offends the anger of the public, Zilong still came to sue the emperor, isn't that right? Do you intend to embarrass the emperor?"

Liu Xi thought for a while, then sighed, "I know, but I don't want Zilong to be wronged. Shanglinyuan is my place, Zhao Wenshan dares to take it by force, what else can't he do?"

Zhou Yu said with a smile: "The emperor underestimated Zilong too much. He will definitely not take this matter to heart. I heard that Zilong left Gyeonggi yesterday with 5000 troops. Since August last year, he has wiped out all All the banditry around Chang'an, this time the place is farther away. Zilong is so focused on training soldiers for the emperor, how could he care about such trivial matters?"

Liu Xi thought for a while, and felt that what the male god said made sense, but he couldn't swallow his breath: "Anyway, Zhao Wenshan is bullying too much if he provokes Zilong! Gongjin, how long will I have to endure it?"

Uncle can bear it and sister-in-law can't bear it, not to mention some facts that Zhao Wenshan has done too much.

"Lin Yan died in prison a few days ago. He had no crime at all. He was framed and imprisoned just because he boldly impeached Zhao Wenshan. He said that he was collaborating with the enemy and traitorous country. Zhao Wenshan could speak out! My spokesperson has not resigned. He died in prison. It took three days for me to find out. How can I explain this to his family? I remember that he had a son who was called a little prodigy. He fell into the water and died shortly after he was released from prison, and he died very badly. Strange. If it weren't for this, Lin Yan wouldn't have survived even half a month. These are human lives! I wonder every day whether it is because of my appeasement that I killed them."

"Your Majesty..." Zhou Yu looked into Liu Xi's eyes and said seriously, "If there is any mistake, it is also the fault of the subject, and the Emperor does not need to blame himself!"

Liu Xi frowned: "Gongjin?"

"With my resourcefulness, I can't think of any other strategy to deal with Zhao Wenshan. I can only suggest that the emperor wait for him to commit a heinous crime, and then kill him with one blow. I did not consider the emperor's mood. It is my negligence. However, the emperor should also take the overall situation into consideration. The most important thing is to let go of the benevolence of women for the time being."

"You say I am a woman's benevolence?"

"That's right." Zhou Yu said solemnly, "There is great benevolence and small benevolence. For example, if a country has tigers and wolves at its side, it is great benevolence to decisively sacrifice part of its soldiers to protect the people. If 10 lives are sacrificed, the country will be guaranteed ten years. If you don’t care about the survival of the country, you only care about whether the beggars on the street will starve to death, and worry about whether the old people at the door will be taken care of, that is the benevolence of a woman. Women can have women's benevolence, but those in power must not put women's benevolence first. The emperor will not let the world understand the disaster of foreign relatives, so even if Zhao Wenshan is driven away today, there will be Liu Wenshan tomorrow , Fang Wenshan appears, then the sacrifice will not be just Lin Yan."

Liu Xi took a deep breath, and his eyes became firm: "You are right. When Gongjin asked me what kind of morality I wanted to do, I should have prepared myself for this, instead of regretting it at this time. Since If you choose a path, you should bear all the possible things that may happen on this path."

When Zhao Wenshan became Prime Minister You, Zhou Yu once asked Liu Xi whether he wanted to practice the way of the overlord or the way of the king.If you follow the way of the overlord, you should rely on Shang Linwei's force to clean up the court, kill Zhao Wenshan, expel the Cao family, and replace all the important positions with your own people.The Wang Ting, the most powerful of the foreign relatives, fell. If the emperor made a swift move, no one in the court would be able to stop it.If you practice the way of the king, you must act within the scope permitted by the law, and you must gently resolve the disasters of your relatives, so that people in the world can feel the emperor's benevolence and support the emperor's decision from the bottom of their hearts.

Liu Xi finally chose the way of the king.

The one who pretends to be benevolent with strength is the king, and the one who acts benevolent with virtue is the king.

The struggle between kingship and hegemony has run through almost the entire Chinese history. The most obvious difference between the two is whether to conquer people with virtue or control people with strength.Wangdao thought believes that human nature is good, and pays attention to the promotion of moral cultivation to regulate human behavior.Hegemonic thinking believes that human nature is inherently evil, and everyone must be restricted by violent power.However, even domineering ideas often need to be under the banner of justice, so they are said to be "fake" benevolence by force.

Of course, absolute domineering and overbearing do not exist.A country is surrounded by other countries, and blindly trying to convince others with virtue will undoubtedly only invite disaster.But if we blindly enslave the people with hegemony, the voice of the people may be suppressed for a while, but it cannot be suppressed forever.A society where only the strong prey on the weak and no moral restraints is unstable, anyone can overthrow the ruler with a stronger force.Therefore, all the emperors throughout the ages have adopted either kingly or domineering as their ruling program, but they will not completely give up the other side.

Zhou Yu told Liu Xi that the most famous examples of domineering and domineering are Guan Zhong and Shang Yang.Guan Zhong used the kingly way to achieve the hegemony of Duke Huan of Qi. In Liu Xi's view, his approach is somewhat similar to the United States of later generations.Guan Zhong set prices in Qi State, making the prices of other countries equal to Qi State, and using economic influence to defeat others without fighting. This is a typical big country politics.Shang Yang is just the opposite. He advocates dominance, and his ultimate goal is to conquer by force.He established harsh laws and regulations, which made Qin's strength develop rapidly and laid the foundation for Qin to unify the six countries.But Xiao He defeated Xiao He, and Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising was also because of fear of being held accountable by harsh laws, and Qin finally died in the second generation.

Liu Xi felt that he was more inclined to think of the kingly way. Although the kingly way is time-consuming and laborious, he must consider how he will develop after a hundred years.The feat achieved by the overbearing is too short-lived, and he doesn't want him to fall into war as soon as he travels westward.

However, no matter what kind of ruling platform, Liu Xi believes that the role of "law" must be emphasized.He believed that the failure of feudal society was that it attached too much importance to reason and morality, linking some moral views with a person's behavior and ability.Are filial people free from corruption?Can a person with high moral character be a good official?Liu Xi didn't think so.Therefore, while improving the moral quality of the whole people with kingly ideas, there must be perfect laws to regulate people's behavior.The law does not necessarily need to be harsh. Even Zhu Yuanzhang's flaying laws cannot cure corrupt officials. Only when the law properly reflects the needs of all social classes can the law be accepted and well implemented.

Because Liu Xi chose the kingly way, Zhao Wenshan couldn't be chopped off with a wave of his hand.He must be careful with every step, because he is the emperor and the moral template for everyone in this era.Although it is difficult to accept psychologically, he also understands that the male god is right, and some sacrifices are necessary.

Zhou Yu lost his mind after hearing Liu Xi's words. He had asked Sun Ce the same question before, and the little bully's answer was exactly the opposite of Liu Xi's.The troubled times of the Three Kingdoms was an era when true knowledge emerged from the sword.Sun Ce is a general who can fight well, but he is not a very good ruler. Under his rule, there is only severe suppression. The children of Jiangdong are proud of him, and at the same time, they are in awe of his ferocity.Even Sun Ce's death was related to his insistence on killing Yu Ji, but Yu Ji had no evil deeds, but was loved by the people.

Zhou Yu persuaded Sun Ce more than once, not to exhaust the resources of the people and conscription, and to leave a little incense for Jiangdong's elders.But at that time, the little bully was in high spirits, preparing to lead these Jiangdong children to create a permanent foundation, so he couldn't hear his words.

"I want people all over the world to be afraid of me and submit to me. As for those matters of governing the country, I will leave it to future generations. By the way, I think Zhongmou can do these things when he grows up." Sun Ce rode on the horse. Waving his arms, countless Jiangdong disciples marched northward like ants.

Soon after, the Jiangdong Tigers died at the hands of the assassins.

Zhou Yu blamed himself for this. As a counselor, he failed to foresee possible dangers, but Sun Ce chose this path himself, and blindly opposing the lord will only put him in a bad situation.Now that Liu Xi has chosen a road that looks smooth but is actually more thorny, can he successfully assist Liu Xi to go on?

However, the confusion was only for a moment, but Zhou Lang smiled with his lips open: "Since the emperor has this awareness, Yu should encourage the emperor together."