Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 615 Deposing the Historian and Establishing a Shepherd
"Is Liu Hong dumping the government's liabilities again?"

"He truly hasn't forgotten his original aspirations!"

The Chu Kingdom of Taixi Continent,

Having fulfilled his previous promise, God sent a group of dead men from the Central Plains who yearned for the "romantic Spring and Autumn Period" to be reincarnated here. Looking towards the distant East, he began to gossip again.

The white deer from the Reina River, which he had forcibly dragged out of the Black Forest, was now curled up beside him, gazing at the farmers working nearby.

He casually echoed God's words.

"fine."

"On this path, the Romans have long since far surpassed the Han emperor."

Just as Liu Hong took over and began to transform all the negative assets into warm money,
After a brief period of revival, Rome, once again embroiled in internal strife, was already auctioning off official positions.

Neither Augustus nor his successor was able to control those arrogant warriors, which led to the reinstatement of the "Law of Succession of the Praetorian Guard".

And this time,
The latter was even more arrogant.

What's so bad about selling official positions?

"Only a true businessman would dare to sell the throne along with it!"

Even Lü Buwei, who had been dead for many years, was astonished for a long time when he saw the Roman Praetorian Guards openly auctioning off Augustus's throne.

Ironically, those warriors, after acquiring the money, happily said:
"I've heard of a very wise merchant from the East who once said: 'Establishing a monarch for a country can bring immeasurable wealth!'"

"I tried it myself now, and it really works!"

The people of the Eastern Xia were truly experienced!

"That's none of my business!"

"They're slandering my innocence!"

When the gazes of the Roman emperors slowly focused on Lü Buwei as he spoke these words, the latter had no choice but to wave his hands repeatedly to show his innocence.

Reading too few books

The principles are distorted.
How can we blame those who came before us who wrote and established these theories?

And when this unique commodity economy is further developed,

The Julio-Claudian dynasty of Rome naturally came to an end.

This dynasty, which inherited Caesar's unfinished ambitions, brought Rome fully into the imperial era, achieved unprecedented centralization in Roman history, and whose monarchs were a collection of the best of several schools of thought, ended its mission amidst great chaos in the central government.

Subsequently,

The once vast empire that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea became mired in civil war from which it could not extricate itself.

Due to its unique geography, Rome currently has three self-proclaimed emperors in the southeast, northwest, and southwest, each attempting to replicate the glorious example of Emperor Octavian's unification of Rome during the civil war.

This infuriated Octavian, who left Rome and traveled thousands of miles to settle in New Zealand.

He did not want to remain in Ctesi, where he would witness the decline and chaos of Rome, and the rising power of the Xia states to the north.
They also didn't want to travel to the Western Sea to witness the Song people's celebration of the recovery of their lost territory.

They were even less willing to see an emperor from the Central Plains who, if placed in Rome, a country that valued commerce, would not feel out of place at all.
So he could only stay in Xinxia.

However, the good news is...

Rome descended into chaos earlier than other places.
Now, ambitious and resourceful rulers are rising up, and it seems that in a few years, peace will be restored.

"In a few years, the Mediterranean will be calm, but storms will rise elsewhere."

The white deer twitched its ears, its gaze sweeping across the farmland before settling on the nearby towns.

That was the new capital of Chu, Ying.

It's unclear whether this is related to the curse inherent in the name of the state, "Chu."

The Liu family's Chu state, established in the west, also embarked on a path of constantly relocating its capital.

They first migrated from the original valleys to the plains near the main stream of the Reina River.
Then they moved from the plains to a place backed by mountains and facing water, and built a new city.

After being impacted by the westward migration of the Germanic tribes,
Several more places in the State of Chu could be called "Yingdu".

It can only be said that the classic practices of the Zhou Dynasty predecessors have been earnestly replicated by later generations.

But such migration is not necessarily a bad thing.

Through repeated migrations, the Chinese people gained a deeper understanding of the land beneath their feet and developed it in a more meticulous manner.

Their territory expanded continuously with the relocation of their capital.

"I was just lucky."

"The Romans were busy with internal strife, and the lands west of the Reina River that they had developed fell into the hands of the Chinese."

This significantly reduced the damage caused by the Germanic invasion.

He Bo pulled a radish from the farmland from a distance and forcibly fed it to the white deer, silencing him from explaining the situation.

"Luck is also part of strength!"

"As long as it doesn't get taken away by the barbarians."

The struggle between civilizations
Even if you keep trying, you can still make progress.

therefore,

When the powerful Rome of yesteryear conquered and destroyed two small states of China in its northern expeditions,

He Bo didn't interfere much.

"Let's go!"

"The pigeon said it has prepared a special high-class Western communion for us, and the bowls and chopsticks are already set out!"

Perhaps it is true that religious sects hold a greater appeal for people from outside the region than they do for the gentlemen of the Chinese lands.
Those Semu people who were converted by the Taiping Dao in the West had a fervent pursuit of the principles mentioned in the scriptures and the deeds of their ancestors, hoping to emulate them.

Yes,

When the Way of Peace adapted to local conditions and developed a set of rituals specific to the West,

This led to rituals such as "Day of Worship," "Baptism," and "Holy Communion," which helped to unite people and bring together believers who were oddly shaped and had different hair and eye colors.

Influenced by the preaching saint, Jesus Christ.

The so-called "holy meal" in the West consists of three foods: coconut flakes, coconut crisps, and coconut juice.
It is used to commemorate the Virgin Mary's loving care for her infants, the saints' kindness in reforming the barbarians, and the sweat that fell when the saints and the people worked together in the early days of development.

but,

Furthermore, because Taixi is located in a more northern part of the land, with a milder climate, coconuts cannot grow there, making it extremely difficult to gather enough people for such a communion.

So the believers looked through the history books again and found the story of "Saint Jesus feeding dozens of people with five loaves and two fish", and simplified the Holy Communion to just two things: bread and fish soup.

"Actually, I suspect this is a copy of the old Qin people's way of eating mutton stew."

"But sheep can't be slaughtered indiscriminately; they need to be kept to give birth and be sheared, so we can only eat fish now!"

The pigeon standing on the dining table said this with great conviction.

"After all, apart from not being mutton soup, the way to eat it is exactly the same as mutton stew!"

"How can it be!"

The black bird of the West Sea immediately retorted, "This appearance is obviously not worthy of the name!"

"Don't try to ruin the reputation of our Qin people's traditional cuisine with a bowl of porridge!"

They had all seen the magical bread made by God himself.

If you break off a piece of that thing and throw it into a water tank, it will expand and fill the tank completely.

If something accidentally flows into an irrigation ditch, the ditch can be used as new farmland, completely erasing any trace of the ditch.

Moreover, it is brown in color and becomes sticky and lumpy after soaking, so it doesn't look like paomo at all!

It's more like some kind of indescribable thing!
Blackbird is determined to defend the innocence of paomo!
"They're both hot spring baths, what's the difference?"

The pigeons don't care about any of that!
He Bo was also unhappy as he listened to the two birds arguing about his cooking skills.

He picked up a bowl of coconut flakes and said, "Don't talk about disgusting things while we're eating." Although he had indeed put a lot of effort into making the concentrated flatbread.

However, its appearance after cooking is not very attractive.

Fortunately, it wasn't for God to eat.

Furthermore,

That stuff is meant to be eaten in an emergency to stave off hunger. It's enough to fill your stomach and provide nutrition, so why would you be picky about its color and taste?

The two plump birds then preened each other's feathers with their claws, and then ceased their fighting, each pecking at a piece of coconut brittle.

After eating, the bird's body became even rounder.
The pigeon furthest from the Central Plains curiously inquired about the true form:
"Why did Liu Hong take the initiative to cripple Shi Limu?"

"He should be very clear about the consequences of doing this."

Under the influence of Shi Daoren

Liu Hong has a good understanding of some things.

After all, setting aside the Taiping Dao's ability to communicate with spirits and the extremely wide reach of its influence,
The records of worldly affairs since the emergence of the Way of Great Peace, and the reflections of many virtuous individuals on these records, are all relevant to this understanding.
This alone is enough to make it a substantial "treasure" of knowledge.

Those who aspire to govern a country can always glean some governing tips from it if they see it.

Liu Hong has a certain talent and has held power for twenty years; he is not an ignorant child.

For this,

He Bo simply chewed on the sweet coconut flakes and said:
"he knows."

"But the same principle applies—"

"There's no point in keeping negative assets; it's better to sell them off."

Just like Liu Hong sold off all the useless workshops of the imperial court back then.
Now, those states and counties that have lost control due to the constant uprisings,

In the eyes of the emperor who ruled the Central Plains, it had lost all practical value except for nominally still belonging to the Han Dynasty.

He was unwilling to "spend real money on empty fame".

After all, this suppression of the rebellion, which lasted for several years, had already consumed too much of the central government's accumulated resources.

No matter how extravagant Liu Hong was in selling official positions, even auctioning off the positions of the Three Dukes,
None of them could fill this huge pit that was enough to shake the four-hundred-year-old Han Dynasty.

"He really couldn't bear to part with so much money."

most of the time,
Early childhood experiences shape the foundation of a person's life.

As a child, Liu Hong was often told by his mother, Lady Dong, about the family's decline, which clearly prevented him from having the same detached and carefree attitude towards money as Emperor Taizu of Han.

In previous years, he relied on being in his prime...
Thinking that he would have a chance to recoup his losses after the rebellion was quelled,
Liu Hong gritted his teeth and loosened his grip.

As a result, spending money did not yield the desired outcome.
I even fell ill a while ago because of the news of the defeat at the front.

Liu Hong's years-long struggle to recover has come to an end.

The ailing emperor pondered for a long time.

I thought of the emperors of the Han Dynasty.
I remembered my original aspirations.

Finally, he ripped off the damp towel he had been using to cool his forehead and threw it away.
"To be a wise ruler?"

"What the hell!"

"After me, who cares about the deluge!"

Life is so short.
Why endure so much suffering?
Just enjoy yourself to the fullest!
Reflecting on his actions over the past few years, Liu Hong even felt a pang of regret, believing that he had asked the wrong question to Shi Daoren and had been cursed by Emperor Huan, causing his brain to become waterlogged and his judgment to be impaired.

If it were like before,
They focused their minds on accumulating wealth and indulging in pleasure.

How could he possibly endure the pain he's in right now?

thinking about it,

It's all Emperor Huan's fault!
"Of course!"

"It's also possible that he was provoked by the powerful local families."

In times of peace,

It's one thing for powerful families to seize land, conceal population, collude with officials, and usurp power in the local area.

Why is it that even now, with bandits rising up everywhere, aristocratic families are still unwilling to sacrifice their assets to contribute to the stability of the Han Dynasty?

Faced with the surging tide of traitors,
They even befriended the rebels in order to protect their own property!
After all, the emperor was reluctant to spend the money to quell the rebellion.
Do you think the powerful families would be willing to give that up?
This is clearly the responsibility of the imperial court!
The Han Dynasty collected so much tax revenue, amassed so much wealth, and wielded so much power.

Their safety should be guaranteed!

Therefore,
When the aristocratic families failed to receive the imperial army and were surrounded by the rebel forces, they could not be blamed for choosing to "play along."

Who told the big man to wrong them first?
"It's ridiculous."

Bai Lu, who had only drunk a little coconut juice, suddenly let out a soft laugh.

"When the foundation of the nation was being eroded, no one thought that the court also had the responsibility to govern the country and maintain peace."

"To protest and oppose policies issued by the monarch that alleviate the grievances of the people."

"They might even ostracize and verbally abuse officials who diligently protect the borders and people and curb land annexation."

"When swords and spears fall upon them, instead of reflecting on their past actions, they still blame the court for its negligence."

"But isn't it precisely because of them that the imperial court failed in its duty?"

A nation is built by people.
What does the person who manages it look like?
This will determine what the country and its policies will look like.

In a time when powerful families dominate the court, and those from humble backgrounds are marginalized and find it difficult to even get a chance to rise in society.

How could a powerful family reap all the benefits without paying a price?

"correct."

"So even Liu Hong couldn't hold back anymore!"

He Bo smiled as he recalled the events of the past few years.

At the beginning of the rebellion,

The powerful families in various regions did not care, thinking that the matter could be quelled quickly.

They turned their attention to the governor sent by the emperor, trying to get rid of this lowly but powerful official who was directly under the emperor's command.
He wanted himself, and those prefects who were on good terms with him, to be able to hold their heads high, to be proud and dignified, and to no longer be subject to surveillance.

As for the impact of the governor's sudden death?
Ugh,
There were rebels in the local areas, and the governor set an example by leading the army to quell the rebellion. In the end, he unfortunately sacrificed his life for the country. Isn't that normal?

Later on,

The rebel army's power grew stronger and stronger than the aristocratic families had anticipated, which made them anxious.

Memorials were sent to Luoyang one after another, requesting the royal army to come to their side as soon as possible.

Some scions of powerful families who held positions in the central government even argued in front of the emperor about the crucial question of "where the imperial army should go first to quell the rebellion, and whose hometown and clansmen should be rescued."

In every family's heart
I am obviously the most important person.

If a general leading an army considers the strategic layout and abandons supporting the territory of a certain powerful family in order to advance on other places first, he will also attract constant impeachments from that family.

Lu Zhi, the first commander-in-chief to quell the rebellion, was forced to step down for this reason.

"No matter how many times this rebellion is quelled, it never satisfies the powerful families."

"It would be better to just let them handle it themselves!"

He Bo shrugged.

"What if Zhang Jiao's 'Heavenly Fire Meteor' replica in Nanyang burns away all our confidence?"

The Black Bird of the Western Sea chimed in, recounting the war situation in the Central Plains that it had learned from its brothers, such as the Marmot in the River and the Egret of the Yarlung Tsangpo River.

"That's certainly possible!"

He Bo agreed to Xuan Niao's request.

(End of this chapter)