Chapter 406 Liu Bei: The Emperor is not as comfortable as the King of Han

After ascending the throne in the eastern suburbs of Chang’an, Liu Bei and many ministers took a short rest in Chang’an City, and set out for Yunyang Palace on Ganquan Mountain the next morning.

Some officials were left behind to properly arrange the common people who were preparing to return to their hometowns, and they were dismissed in the order of those far away first and those near later, making sure that no chaos occurred.

As for the sons of the gentry and wealthy families who have come here, if they are willing to stay in Chang’an for a while, they can stay there for now to avoid being crowded with the common people.

Liu Bei sat in the shaking carriage. Although he wore the twelve-tiara emperor’s crown and gorgeous clothes, looking very majestic, he did not feel very comfortable.

Even though Xu Chu and Dian Wei took turns driving outside, knowing that His Majesty did not like the bumpy ride in the carriage and deliberately slowed down the speed, Liu Bei still felt dizzy.

He hadn’t traveled in a carriage for a long time, and he was a little uncomfortable with it.

Thanks to Tuo Liuhou’s assassination of the Emperor of Qin at Bolingsha, from then on the emperor’s carriage escort became extremely strict. Not only did the scale of the procession become larger, the carriages had to be sealed layer by layer, and various flags were used as ceremonial guards to demonstrate the spectacular momentum in order to achieve a deterrent effect.

In addition, they also had to bring many chariots, such as the leading “elephant chariot”, which carried the Nine Dragon Flag and walked at the front of the team. This elephant chariot was much larger than ordinary chariots. It was made of tamed elephants donated from southern Yizhou and ridden by several barbarians.

When the elephant arrived in Chang’an, it attracted thousands of people to watch.

In addition to the elephant chariot, the imperial procession also included the evil-repelling chariot for exorcising evil spirits, the drum chariot for playing drums and music, and then the emperor’s golden chariot and the auxiliary chariot next to it. The huge convoy was guarded by the Huben cavalry on the front, back, left and right sides.

He arrived at Yunyang Palace with many ministers. The city gates and palaces were taken over by the soldiers of Ruichong Camp. Weiwei Temple was placed inside the Yunyang Palace, responsible for the safety of the palace gates. The barracks were built under the inner wall of the palace to facilitate the soldiers to guard and patrol the palace gates.

When the carriage arrived in front of Yingfeng Palace, many palace maids came out in a hurry to greet him. Liu Bei selected the servants and maids from the former royal palace who were willing to enter the palace and made them palace maids. He asked them to go to Yunyang Palace City in advance to clean the renovated Yingfeng Palace and wipe off the dust carefully.

Since his eldest relative in the family had passed away, Liu Bei did not need to go to other palaces to pay a visit to him. Therefore, he only rested for an hour in Yingfeng Palace and then summoned all the officials to the palace.

“Pass on the emperor’s oral order and summon all officials to the palace to attend the court!” A loud voice rang out from outside the side hall door, and Xu Chu came and shouted through the door as he received the order.

All the ministers immediately stood up, straightened their clothes, and walked into the court under the guidance of the palace servants.

As the three silent whips sounded, everyone found their previously rehearsed positions, bowed and knelt before Liu Bei, who was sitting high on the throne, and cried out, “May the emperor live forever, and the Han Dynasty enjoy eternal happiness!”

Even though Liu Bei was sitting at the top with the twelve tassels hanging from his crown slightly blocking his view, he could still see the expressions of the many ministers present.

Seeing that all the ministers were bowing down in submission, no one dared to show the slightest unhappiness because of their standing position.

Liu Bei then raised his hand and said with a smile: “Everyone, please stand up!”

After seeing all the officials stand up, he smiled and said, “Although my grandfather and father served in the prefectures and counties, they did not move away from their mulberry trees, so I was left alone at a young age to sell shoes and weave mats with my mother. If it were not for the support of my two uncles, I would not have grown up.”

“As the ancients said: A favor received from someone will never be forgotten for a hundred generations. He will be posthumously named the King of Anping and the King of Bohai, and the Minister of Rites and the Imperial Clan will jointly discuss the posthumous title.”

Upon hearing the news, Taichang Kong Rong and Zongzheng Liu He immediately stepped out of the crowd and bowed to receive the order.

Seeing the two men bow and return to the officials, Liu Bei sorted out his thoughts and continued, “I was born in a humble family, but I was able to wield a three-foot sword, turn back the tide, support the building when it was about to collapse, and prevent China from being torn apart and losing the mandate of heaven. This is also due to the dedication of the soldiers and the hardworking officials.”

“The Guangming Palace in Chang’an was built by Emperor Xiaowu. It was originally a place for worshipping gods. Due to the rebellion of Dong Ze, it was divided into two. Now the split palace has been renovated and divided into the north and south palaces.” “The Guangming North Palace still worships gods, while the side hall of the South Palace will carve the names of soldiers who died for helping the Han Dynasty in times of crisis on the walls. The portraits of the heroes who have made great contributions to the Han Dynasty in the past 400 years have been hung in the palace for worship after their death.”

“The Liu family will rule the country together with the wise officials and the common people, and will also leave a legacy for the great Han heroes, both during their lifetime and after their death, so that the world can sing about it.”

As soon as the emperor said this, the palace fell silent and many ministers’ eyes suddenly brightened. They had vaguely felt that something was wrong when they heard it before, but after hearing the latter part, they couldn’t help but want to slap their thighs excitedly.

There’s something wrong with this, it’s clearly very right!
It has been many years since we have seen such a wise and enlightened Han emperor. He really knows what his ministers want to pursue. When they are already satisfied with their power and status, don’t they just want to do something to leave their names in history?

Don’t think that only Cao Mengde wanted to engrave “Tomb of General Cao Hou” on the stele. If there was a choice to hang the portrait in the palace, do you think he would be willing to just engrave his title on the stele?
He would inevitably change his goal and aspire to hang his portrait together with the portrait of his ancestor Cao Shen in the palace, attracting the envy of countless people.

This is the highest pursuit of being a Han minister, to enjoy fame during lifetime and after death.

As for the common people and soldiers who came with the emperor, they had become insignificant at this moment.

“Your Majesty’s order, we will obey it!”

In the Yingfeng Palace, the sound of ministers kneeling again could be heard.

Even Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Xun You, Xun Yu and Lu Zhi could not help but smile. No matter what, they must have a part in this matter.

As a founding hero, what he pursued first was to be granted a title of nobility or prime minister, to have his wife and children blessed with titles, and then to have his name recorded in history and be remembered forever.

What could be more exhilarating than hanging the portrait in Guangming South Palace? If officials could go in at this moment, they would be willing to do so even if they had to kick their feet immediately.

From now on, stepping into the Guangming Palace and enjoying the sacrifices will become the highest standard for meritorious officials.

Seeing that all his ministers and officials were overjoyed, Liu Bei couldn’t help but smile. Don’t worry, everyone. We have everything we need.

First offering honors and then setting strict restrictions will surely attract many ministers and can also indirectly guide the values ​​of scholars all over the world. Why not do it?

Liu Bei raised his hand to stop the noise in the palace, and then said: “The Han Dynasty has been selecting filial and honest officials for 333 years. During the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling, there was a children’s song that said: The selected scholar does not know how to read, the father of the filial and honest official lives separately, and his poverty and purity are muddy. It can be seen that it is difficult for the filial and honest officials to continue, so I ordered each state to follow the Zuo Gong policy of that year to select good officials.”

“However, the number of candidates admitted is too small, which makes the local officials overworked. Now that the emperor has decided, you can issue an imperial edict to inform all prefectures and counties to start the provincial examination in early February of the second year of Jianxing, the county examination in late March, and the county examination in May. After the county examination, the examination will be held in Luoyang in August. The prefecture examination will be temporarily suspended.”

“Instruct local officials to strictly investigate fraud. If there is a report or the Luoyang Supervisory Commission finds out, the local governors and county magistrates will be dismissed, and the Ministry of Personnel will check their names and never appoint them again.”

“The world must remember that I appoint virtuous officials as officials and clerks to govern the people. I seek those who are both virtuous and talented. Those who are less talented than virtuous are second, and those who are neither talented nor virtuous are not sought.”

“Besides, the princes have been at war for ten years, and many people have fled. The land tax has not yet been determined. On the day the edict is issued, it is ordered that the land in Yan and Yu provinces be fully measured, and Yi, Jing, and Yang provinces will be postponed for the time being.”

“Send envoys to Jiaozhou and Yongzhou and order their officials to come to Guanzhong immediately. If anyone disobeys orders, the envoys will record their names and exterminate their entire clans as soon as the Han army enters!”

(End of this chapter)