After returning from Mount Tai, Emperor Liu felt much more at peace, and had to settle down. The entire empire had been in turmoil for nearly a year due to various affairs.
Of course, in addition to the factors of self-criticism and summary of Feng Chan, it is also because it is really immovable and not easy to deal with.
A flood disaster spread widely, causing serious damage to almost the entire Henan and half of Hebei. It will take time to slowly recover.
Immediately afterwards, grain production in the Central Plains, Huainan, and Jiangnan was reduced, causing famine within a certain range. Although tens of thousands of people did not starve to death and large-scale refugees appeared, it caused some trouble for the court.
At the same time that Emperor Liu consecrated Mount Tai, the big man was sick, but even if it was just a cold, he still needed to take good care of himself. Probably out of this consideration, Emperor Liu had to stay quiet.
Although he keeps saying that he pursues governance from the top down, with the prince helping to keep an eye on the country, and Zhao Pu and other prime ministers helping to handle the government, he can live without worries and live in Longting to receive blessings.
And in these years, especially the years after the Second Northern Expedition, Emperor Liu did this. It can be safely said that during the twenty-five years of Emperor Liu's reign, including the last three years, he was the most slack and interfered the least in government affairs. He basically delegated most of the power of government affairs to the political affairs hall.
Even when it came to the matter of Feng Chan, Emperor Liu seemed careless and did not get too involved. Zhao Pu and others would arrange everything below before issuing the edict. At least after the great disaster in the Central Plains, he expressed his position slightly when faced with Zhao Pu's request for instructions on preparation matters.
If it were not for the catastrophic disaster in Kaibao ten years ago, Emperor Liu's sense of existence might have been even lower, and he would not have been so active in issuing edicts to encourage the officials and the people.
Of course, there will be such a situation. First, the national strategic policy adjustment after the Northern Expedition. Once the general direction is set, Zhao Punagan will be in charge of it. Emperor Liu does not need to spend more time and effort, and can focus on What interests him.
The second, and most important, reason was that Emperor Liu himself was extremely exhausted, both physically and mentally. In addition, as his goals gradually became blurred and he lost his original passion, it was inevitable that he would slack off.
Even though Empress Fu had reminded him and Emperor Liu had warned him from time to time in the past years, this change similar to "degeneration" was still happening quietly.
It is too difficult for an emperor, especially one who has achieved great achievements and established a martial arts career that directly matches the Qin Emperor and Han Dynasty, to always maintain a high-spirited spirit and an attitude of forging ahead.
For Emperor Liu, from the perspective of his imperial career, the ups and downs in the past twenty-five years were indeed a long time. Even if we look at the emperors of all generations, this kind of reign is not short, and it is ranked high. of.
During such a long period of time, even Emperor Liu would inevitably be immersed in it, become dull, conservative, numb, stubborn, and corrupted.
Not to mention the past three years, even after the opening of the Treasure Year, even if he set a goal of creating a prosperous world, Emperor Liu has gone far away from the Holy Lord Mingjun in the past.
In fact, Emperor Liu was already restrained. Under his management, the imperial power of the Han Dynasty was already solid, and he truly held the power of life and death for the people of the world, above everything else. It can be said that if Emperor Liu wanted to be more indulgent, he could treat the entire Han Empire as his own back garden and take whatever he wanted.
It's just that Emperor Liu is really lacking in taste. He doesn't have many things that interest him, and he doesn't have many opportunities to play with things to get bored. In addition, most of his mind is still clear and he knows how to exercise restraint, so he doesn't completely fall into the abyss of depravity. .
Up to now, there is probably only one word that can arouse Emperor Liu's emotions, and that is power. If there are two words, it is imperial power. For Emperor Liu, as long as the imperial power was consolidated, the overall situation could be controlled in his hands, and he could suppress all situations at any time, then other people or things would not be that concerned.
However, maybe he felt his own changes, maybe he was tired of the tedium of retreating behind the scenes, or maybe he was dissatisfied with his laziness. In the summer of the eleventh year of Kaibao, Emperor Liu became much more active.
This positivity is not reflected in personal life, but is once again concerned about government affairs. It was different from the past few years when he passively waited for the prime minister and ministers to take the initiative to see the report, or when the cabinet deleted and sorted out important official documents and presented them to him.
Emperor Liu began to take the initiative to inquire about military and political affairs, and asked for direct approval. When encountering problems, he directly asked relevant officials. Emperor Liu spent about three hours a day reading memorials and dealing with state affairs. Even for some specific and trivial matters, Emperor Liu began to show concern.
Such changes also brought considerable shock to the court. For ordinary bureaucrats who are pragmatic and conscientious, there is not much reaction. They are even happy that His Majesty the Emperor is working diligently again. After all, Prime Minister Zhao Pu is not easy to serve. Although Emperor Liu is also difficult to serve, but At least he is the emperor.
In the imperial court, there was never a shortage of "agile" people, let alone people who speculated on the Sacred Heart, and the gaze focused on Emperor Liu never moved away.
Within the imperial court, the change in people's hearts began. Many people inevitably speculated that Emperor Liu's behavior was to regain the decentralized governance power. If it goes further, would it mean that Emperor Liu was dissatisfied with Zhao Pu? Will the central power structure of the imperial court change?
After many people thought about it, we came to the conclusion that this is very possible!
During the years when Zhao Pu was in power, the Han Dynasty made a lot of achievements, defeated the Liao Kingdom externally, drove it to Mobei, and expanded its territory again, almost to the point where its belly was about to burst. Internally, he led a series of political and economic reforms to pay for the expansion of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Liu's martial arts.
But at the same time, there have been many problems, such as financial crisis, border instability, catastrophes, etc. The most important thing is that he has played a pioneering role in restraining the powerful, which has offended too many people. .
Since the heavy rains in the Central Plains last year, there have been many criticisms against Zhao Pu. At that time, Emperor Liu firmly supported Zhao Pu and suppressed those dissenting voices.
But who can be sure that Emperor Liu was completely relieved of Zhao Pu and trusted him to the extent that he had no reservations? On this point, no one who knows Emperor Liu even slightly would think so.
As a result, rumors started to spread in the court again. It seemed that this thing could never be banned. A slight disturbance at the top could lead to a storm in the city below.
For Zhao Pu, it was indeed a bit embarrassing, because he didn't even know what Emperor Liu meant. Are you afraid of your own power? Or are you dissatisfied with yourself?
But what is confusing is that after careful review of his recent performance, there is nothing out of the ordinary, and he often goes to Emperor Liu to pay his respects. If you are dissatisfied, you can be selected by Emperor Liu to offer sacrifices when you are consecrated to Zen. What an honor that would be.
If it's not the recent past, then it has to go back further, and there are more, more complicated, and more brain-burning things worth considering. But no matter how he thought about it, Zhao Pu could not find an answer. As for trying to ask Emperor Liu, Zhao Pu did not dare to test it.
Therefore, in the summer of the 11th year of Kaibao, Zhao Pu suddenly felt that "the power has fallen by the wayside" in the Tokyo court. Many bureaucrats in the lower departments began to bypass him and even the prince and directly report to Emperor Liu. .
There is nothing unusual about this in itself. Ministers also have the power to speak to the emperor, but it is just a little different from the past normal situation where Zhao Pu was the core of the imperial court. It's just that in the past, when ministers approached Emperor Liu, unless there were special circumstances, Emperor Liu's reply was usually to the prince or Zhao Pu.
Rumors in the court inevitably reached Emperor Liu's ears. After hearing about it, Emperor Liu was speechless. He suddenly intervened in the government affairs, not because he was targeting Zhao Pu, or because he wanted to take away all the power to handle government affairs. After all, he was unable to do what he wanted. .
Such a change is just an adjustment based on one's own state. How could one imagine that the people below, including Zhao Pu, would have so many associations.
Emperor Liu didn't think much about it at first, but after learning about the rumors, he began to think about whether Zhao Pu gained more people or lost more people in the court. If they really want to take back the decentralized governance power, do those ministers hope it or not?
