Wang Zhengjun and Zhao Feiyan faced off for more than a year, but finally relented. The reason is just to continue the incense of the royal family. Wang Zhengjun prevented Zhao Feiyan from being named queen, in order to have a grandson; she acquiesced, also in order to have a grandson. Since the Zhao sisters were unwilling to give up, Wang Zhengjun decided to give them a chance and give himself a chance.
In the fourth year of Yuanyan of Emperor Cheng (9 BC), the princes and kings came to Chang'an to worship. The people who came were not special, but the day was very special. The frail Liu Ao was forty-four years old. He gave up having a son and wanted to choose one of the two kings to be crowned prince. These two people who don't seem special but are actually very special are Liu Xing, King of Zhongshan and Liu Xin, King of Dingtao.
Liu Xing is Liu Ao's brother, and Liu Xin is Liu Ao's nephew. These two people are the closest people to Liu Ao. Liu Xin's fathers, Liu Kang and Liu Ao, were very good friends. Unfortunately, after they were separated by Wang Feng, it was difficult to see each other. In the end, they went their separate ways. Liu Xin was well-behaved and smart. After Liu Kang's death, Liu Xin won Liu Ao's favor.
Details determine success or failure, and every detail cannot be ignored. During the court meeting, Liu Ao secretly inspected the talents of Liu Xing and Liu Xin. Liu Xin is like a strictly trained soldier. No matter big or small, everything he says and does is deeply in line with Liu Ao's heart. Liu Xin could memorize Liu Ao's favorite "Book of Songs" backwards and forwards, but Liu Xing was an ordinary person who didn't understand anything. To choose a country's crown prince, one does not necessarily have to be a talented person, but it cannot be an ordinary person either. In the first game, Liu Xing lost.
The second round was the most ordinary, better than eating. When Liu Xin ate, he was polite and behaved appropriately, but Liu Xing devoured his food like a starving ghost in his previous life. When leaving the table, Liu Xin knew how to let Liu Ao go first, but Liu Xing rushed straight in like a cannonball soaring into the sky. What made Liu Ao even more angry was that Liu Xing's garter was loose and most of it fell out, like a beggar. After reading it, Liu Ao felt that Liu Xing did not have the air of an emperor, or even the temperament of a nobleman. So between Liu Xing and Liu Xin, Liu Ao chose the latter.
The most helpless choice in the world is to choose one of the two. However, the choice that Liu Ao faced was very satisfying. Because Fu Zhaoyi had fought with Wang Zhengjun for his son's throne. Wang Zhengjun was superior, so Fu Zhaoyi could only follow Liu Kang and squat in Dingtao. After the war, Wang Zhengjun, Liu Ao and Liu Kang all forgot about the battle, but Fu Zhaoyi remembered it the most. Fu Zhaoyi was very arrogant. If his son could not become emperor, he would train his grandson. The reason why Liu Xin was able to memorize the "Book of Songs" so well was the result of decades of continuous upbringing by Fu Zhaoyi.
After Liu Ao chose Liu Xin as his prime minister, he convened a meeting of courtiers to discuss the matter of establishing a crown prince. A year has passed by this time. In the first year of Emperor Suihe's reign (8 BC), when the court officials again discussed the matter of establishing a prince, some people actually proposed that Liu Xing be the prince. The most prominent representative was Kong Guang, the imperial censor. Kong Guang believed that according to the rules of etiquette, the person closest to Liu Ao should be selected, that is, the crown prince should be selected according to the pattern of brother-in-law succession.
Kong Guang, courtesy name Zixia, was the fourteenth generation grandson of Confucius. Kong Guang did not like being an official. However, he read many ancient books and could not think of becoming an official. When Kong Guang looked at problems, he always used ancient books as the standard and ignored the needs of real people, which could easily lead to failure. Prime Minister Zhai Fangjin looked at the problem from a different perspective than Kong Guang. He started from the needs of real people and knew how to make changes. Liu Ao liked Liu Xin, and Zhai Fangjin proposed that Liu Xin be the crown prince.
Zhai Fangjin, named Ziwei, was also a man from a poor background. When he was young, Zhai Fangjin worked in the local county magistrate's office. Not only was he tired and exhausted, but he still saw no hope in life and wanted to quit. By chance, a fortune teller told Zhai Fangjin that as long as he studied hard, he would definitely become a high official in the future. Zhai Fangjin is convinced of this. So he told his stepmother that he was going to Chang'an to study. The stepmother took pity on Zhai Fangjin and accompanied him to Chang'an. After arriving in Chang'an, Zhai Fangjin's stepmother made a living by weaving shoes, and Zhai Fangjin devoted himself to studying "Spring and Autumn". After completing his studies, Zhai Fangjin began to serve as an official in the court. After decades of walking on thin ice, Zhai Fangjin became prime minister.
Along the way, Zhai Fang looked in all directions and listened in all directions, striving to master the most accurate information and making accurate judgments. After learning that Liu Ao intended to make Liu Xin the crown prince, Zhai Fangjin firmly supported Liu Xin and won Liu Ao's love. There were very few people who agreed with Kong Guang's selection of Liu Xing, and most of them agreed with the selection of Liu Xin. Finally, Liu Ao appointed Liu Xin as the crown prince. At the same time, in order to comfort Liu Xing, Liu Ao gave him an additional 30,000 fiefs.
According to the regulations of the Han Dynasty, after Liu Xin was adopted by Liu Ao, she could no longer have any contact with her original relatives. However, Liu Xin was recommended by Fu Zhaoyi. Wang Zhengjun and Liu Ao discussed and asked Fu Zhaoyi to see Liu Xin every ten days.
After being tortured to the point of going crazy, Liu Ao made Liu Xin the crown prince. The successor was finalized, and Liu Ao breathed a deep sigh of relief. A few months later, Liu Xing, the king of Zhongshan, died.
Liu Xing was once one of the best candidates for the crown prince. After the crown prince's position was confirmed, he died suddenly, which was really unusual. Liu Ao poured all his emotions into his male favorite and was very indifferent to other things. He only felt that it was right to choose Liu Xin, otherwise he would have to do it again. When choosing a prince, not only did the prince fight to death, regardless of brotherhood, but the emperor was also exhausted.
As a person who is afraid of making choices, Liu Ao likes to obey the instructions of others, especially those of the Zhao sisters. Just when Liu Ao was pleased with the appointment of Liu Xin, suddenly news came that the Grand Sima Quyanghou Wanggen was seriously ill and asked the emperor to choose his successor. Although Liu Ao had a lot of headaches over the selection of the crown prince, he was overjoyed when he heard that the Grand Sima would be selected. This must be attributed to the power of love.
Because Wang Gen was seriously ill, Liu Ao wanted to give the position of Grand Sima to Chun Yuchang. Since the post of Grand Sima has been held, most of the posts have been held by relatives. Liu Ao wanted to appoint Chunyu Chang, which undoubtedly broke the rules. Liu Ao felt that it was okay to break the rules, because Wang Feng broke the rules first, and he just followed in his footsteps and made slight changes. Liu Ao's move offended his cousin Wang's group, and there happened to be a man who was very powerful at playing tricks lurking in the Wang group that he offended. For the sake of love, Liu Ao, who was not smart at all, became even more blind, and unknowingly introduced trouble into the royal family.
At that time, most of the candidates for Da Sima were from the Wang family. Among them are Anyanghou Wangyin, Ping'ahou Wangtan, Chengduhou Wangshang, Hongyanghou Wangli, Quyanghou Wanggen, and Gaopinghou Wangfengshi. These were all granted the title of marquis because of their status as relatives. They had no great achievements and could not be selected based on merit. Since you can't select people based on merit, selecting people based on age is a good way. But Wang Feng broke this rule. Wang Feng's breaking of rules is like breaking a window. His move provides Liu Ao with two ways to enter the room: jumping out of the window and walking through the door.
During Wang Feng's tenure as Chief Sima, Wang Yin was very good at pleasing and obedient, and was deeply loved by Wang Feng. In order to support his cousin Wang Yin, Wang Feng suppressed his other half-brothers and invited Wang Yin to be chosen, bypassing the age order. Wang Tan and others were helpless and could only stare. Wang Feng's move was like trying to enter a room, but instead of passing through the door, he broke the window and jumped in. Liu Ao was addicted to women, like a walking corpse, and he was completely at the mercy of Wang Feng. He didn't care who was the Grand Sima, and felt that Wang Tan could become the Great Sima sooner or later, so there was no need to worry.
However, Wang Tan's fate was not good and he died earlier than Wang Yin. Liu Ao had no emotional entanglement with the Wang brothers and treated them equally. After Wang Yin's death, Liu Ao selected Wang Shang as the Grand Sima and Wang Li as the Special Administrative Officer in order of eldest and youngest. Tejin is a special term for official positions in the Han Dynasty, which means candidate for Grand Sima. Liu Ao treated everyone equally, and these useless guys were very happy. Wang Shang and Wang Li were once extremely corrupt and almost beheaded. Now they are so proud of their high position. During the reign of Wenjing, both Liu Heng and Liu Qi were unwilling to punish their ministers out of benevolence, but Liu Ao was unwilling to punish his ministers out of cowardice. The Wang brothers are incompetent and Liu Ao is cowardly, but they get along very well with each other. This is how birds of a feather flock together.
Although the Wang brothers have no ability or ability themselves and rely on Wang Zhengjun to hold high positions, they are very good at fighting secretly. Wang Feng supports Wang Yin, but Wang Tan is jealous. Wang Tan was jealous because he could not get the title of Grand Sima. He did not dare to hate Wang Feng, so he could only pour his hatred on Wang Yin. After Wang Feng died, the tree fell and the hozens scattered. The flatterer he raised, Gu Yong, turned to Wang Tan and pointed the finger directly at Wang Yin. By going against Da Sima, Gu Yong was simply seeking death. Gu Yong didn't use much ability. Wang Yin frowned, and Gu Yong was demoted to the local governor.
Power is like the devil, it can make people have the evil intention to harm others. The Wang brothers are incompetent and are often bullied by others. After reaching a high position, they also want to punish others, take revenge, and have a taste of how it feels to bully others. Wang Shang was once ignored by Wang Feng and also by Wang Yin. While he was being frozen by Wang Feng and Wang Yin, Chen Tang became more and more popular, so red that he was about to spontaneously combust, and Wang Shang felt jealous. Villains, especially incompetent villains, their jealousy is like tumors and difficult to cure.
Wang Shang learned from Kuang Heng's failure to get rid of Chen Tang, and took advantage of his position to collect evidence of Chen Tang's crimes on a large scale. He had to kill Chen Tang. Wang Shang happily handed over the lethal materials to Liu Ao. Liu Ao was cowardly. He missed Chen Tang's contribution to killing Zhizhi Shanyu, demoted Chen Tang to a commoner, and exiled him to Dunhuang.
For a villain, even if he is spared, he is still a villain; for an incompetent person, no matter how he is taught, he is still an incompetent person. Wang Li was once scolded by Liu Ao for corruption and almost beheaded. After being promoted to Tejin, he became equally corrupt. Wang Li had a big appetite and courage, and he even blackmailed the country. The world belongs to Liu Ao, and blackmailing the country is equivalent to blackmailing Liu Ao. In anger, Liu Ao deprived Wang Li of his right to take over as Grand Sima.
During his tenure as a special agent, Wang Li took aim at hundreds of hectares of wasteland in Zhongnan County. The government encouraged reclamation and distributed land to the people. Wang Li is like a hungry dog, he eats fat meat whenever he sees it, regardless of whether it is poisonous or not. He colluded with the governor of Nanjun to seize people's land and pretended to send people to cultivate it. Soon, he reported to the court that the land had been reclaimed and could be recovered. Whether hundreds of hectares of land has been cultivated and to what extent it has been cultivated cannot be hidden from everyone's eyes. Wang Li defrauded the court of a large amount of money without cultivating the land, and other money-loving people were naturally jealous.
When the Han Dynasty was first established, a bunch of kings with different surnames appeared who were not afraid of death; when the Han Dynasty reached the middle point of its life, a bunch of villains appeared who regarded money as life. Chen Tang loves money, Wang Li loves money, and Chun Yuchang also loves money. Similar characters appeared together, and the Han Dynasty was really a dynasty with frequent miracles. During the period when Wang Li was defrauding the country, Chun Yuchang was in full swing, and he would not sit idly by.
The money Wang Li had defrauded had not yet been cleaned up, and the court sent people to investigate him. This man was incompetent and brainless, but something happened just when he was about to take over as Chief Sima. Liu Ao couldn't be softer even if he wanted to, not to mention that Liu Ao, who had fallen in love, would not be softhearted to anyone who stood in the way of Chun Yuchang, the man who dotes on him. Liu Ao loved Chun Yuchang and was completely obedient to him. If Chun Yuchang wanted to unseat anyone, Liu Ao would support him with both hands. It can be said that the two of them are of the same mind, and they are as powerful as gold.
After Wang Shang's death, Wang Gen overtook Wang Li and took over the post of Grand Sima. Since Liu Ao doted on Chunyu Chang, he was restless and had no continuity in his affairs. According to the procedure, Wang Gen took over the post of Chief Sima, and Wang Feng was promoted at the right time, but Liu Ao did not make any comment. Wang Fengshi was born stupid and was not the material to play politics. God wanted him to die before Wang Gen. Wang Gen was critically ill and the post of Tejin was vacant. He asked Liu Ao to appoint someone to replace Da Sikong. Liu Ao and Chun Yuchang had an endless honeymoon. He had a thought in his heart and planned to give Da Sikong to Chun Yuchang. If you are in a high position, you can corrupt yourself to make money, and Chun Yuchang is naturally willing to do so.
Hearing that he was about to take over as Grand Sikong, Chunyu Changliang showed his shamelessness and sweet talk, and rushed to Liu Ao and Wang Gen every day. It was really hard work to do two things at once; for money, Chunyu Chang even wore out the soles of his shoes.
Look how hard they work!
