58Chapter 58 Double comedy, the rebellion of the seven kings
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The sound of carriages and horses continued without pause until they arrived outside the Guandu Marquis Residence. At this moment, the Guandu Marquis Residence was completely dark, as if everyone had already retired for the night.
The Prince of Liang hurried to the residence's entrance and politely asked his attendant to wake the doorkeeper. He then presented a visiting card, hoping to pay his respects to the Guandu Marquis.
The doorkeeper was not overly surprised upon seeing the Prince of Liang's visiting card, as the Guandu Marquis received quite a few visiting cards from princes.
He immediately bowed respectfully and then invited the Prince of Liang to enter and wait.
.... ....
"Clack—"
A chess piece slowly landed. Emperor Jing's eyebrows held a half-smile as he looked at Chen Xi and said, "Chen Xi, aren't you worried about what kind of decision your father will make?"
When the Prince of Liang had sent Emperor Jing back just now, Chen Yun and Chen Xi were watching from the back hall. Before the Prince of Liang had even left the palace, Emperor Jing had given Chen Yun a look, signaling him to return, leaving only Chen Xi.
At this moment, it was Chen Xi's chess game with Emperor Jing.
Chen Xi smiled as he placed a piece, looking at Emperor Jing and saying, "Your Majesty, what other choice can my father make? This is merely a play acted out by you and my father, its purpose being to show the Empress Dowager and the Prince of Liang, so that the Prince of Liang will completely believe in the matter of succession from elder brother to younger brother."
"Whether it is my father or me, we are all members of the Chen clan, and the Chen clan's goal and loyalty have always been to only one person."
"That is Your Majesty."
"Therefore, I do not need to worry."
In fact, this was true. Although Emperor Jing was more narrow-minded than Emperor Wen, he had not casually killed anyone during his reign—not even the very stubborn Zhou Yafu.
The reason Zhou Yafu died was because he wanted to contend for power with the Emperor, and the outcome of contending for power was only one: death.
At that time, Zhou Yafu had already become the Grand Commandant, and could even influence the power of the "Chancellor." How could such a Zhou Yafu not die? If he did not die, it would likely be Emperor Jing who died.
Of course, Zhou Yafu might not have had the courage to kill Emperor Jing, but he would certainly have treated Emperor Jing as a "puppet."
After all... back then, he dared to refuse Emperor Wen entry into Xiliu Camp, turning Xiliu Camp into an impenetrable fortress where orders were strictly followed, so much so that even the Emperor, after revealing his identity, was refused entry by the soldiers.
They only knew the general, but not the Emperor?
How could this be allowed?
What did he, a Grand Commandant, need such absolute loyalty from so many people for?
Thus, Zhou Yafu died.
At this moment, Emperor Jing looked at the calm smile on Chen Xi's face and could not help but sigh, "I truly envy the Guandu Marquis, to have such a wise child as you."
Mentioning this, he thought of his own troublesome children.
In fact, Liu Rong was not too troublesome—at most, he was a bit dull, a bit naive, somewhat timid, and a bit weak. Besides that, he still had some methods.
At this point, he still favored this eldest son more.
After all... succession by the eldest legitimate son, this was the rule, and it was unshakeable.
Chen Xi saw the smile in Emperor Jing's eyes, and the smile on his face became even fainter. He merely said, "How can this subject be compared to the imperial princes? The imperial princes are incredibly intelligent, quite similar to Your Majesty."
This one sentence praised both the Emperor and the princes, which made Emperor Jing's mood improve slightly.
He sighed faintly, "Forget it, you little rascal are just like your father, always saying pleasant words to coax me."
Emperor Jing's gaze turned to the chessboard: "Who do you think is the leader among those who caused this rebellion? And who instigated this matter?"
Chen Xi was silent for a moment, then spoke a name: "The King of Wu."
Emperor Jing's eyebrows twitched: "Do you think it's my fault?"
"If I hadn't killed the King of Wu's heir back then, perhaps today's events wouldn't have happened."
Listening to Emperor Jing's question, Chen Xi merely rolled his eyes faintly.
In his opinion, Emperor Jing's words were like nonsense—would Emperor Jing regret killing the King of Wu's heir? Absolutely not. Even if he did regret it, he would only regret not having acted more decisively back then.
"Your Majesty did nothing wrong."
"Back then, the King of Wu's heir coveted imperial power, and the King of Wu was eyeing it covetously from the side. If Your Majesty had retreated at that time, I fear there would be no flourishing Great Han today."
He sighed deeply: "The Rebellion of the Princes, fundamentally speaking, is the scourge of the enfeoffment system. Everyone desires power, which is why today's bitter fruit has been borne."
Emperor Jing raised an eyebrow. He had not expected Chen Xi to bring up the enfeoffment system. He immediately leaned slightly forward: "You don't support the enfeoffment system? Then what do you support?"
"The commandery and prefecture system?"
Chen Xi nodded slightly: "Yes, this subject supports the commandery and prefecture system—but only the most basic, fundamental commandery and prefecture system, not anything else."
"The current commandery and kingdom system, in a sense, has absorbed the disadvantages of both the enfeoffment system and the commandery and prefecture system, combining the shortcomings of both."
He said with a helpless expression: "The enfeoffed states are like 'maggots on bones' throughout the realm. They affect the empire's development, as most of the enfeoffed states are in prosperous regions."
"Only by eliminating them can the empire continue to develop."
"Otherwise, it will be like the Warring States period back then. The Zhou Dynasty then is the Great Han now, and the Great Han now is the Zhou Dynasty of that time."
Emperor Jing nodded slightly: "But even the commandery and prefecture system is not perfect, is it?"
"There will still be countless problems."
"Local aristocratic and powerful families will still flourish. What is the difference between their existence and that of local vassal kings?"
Chen Xi shook his head slightly: "Of course there's a difference. How can the power of local powerful families compare to that of vassal kings? Vassal kings nominally possess great righteousness. Unless Your Majesty finds a suitable reason, arbitrarily reducing their territories will only cause unrest."
"But local powerful families are different."
"Your Majesty can deal with them... with absolutely no reason needed."
Chen Xi looked at Emperor Jing, knowing what was on his mind, and smiled faintly, saying, "Of course, Your Majesty can also dispatch officials to supervise the commandery and prefecture officials, as well as to supervise the local powerful families."
"It's just... a proper reason is needed."
He smiled slightly: "And now the King of Wu... hasn't he given Your Majesty that reason?"
The rebellion of the princes means the imperial court must dispatch supervisory officials to oversee the localities, to prevent another outbreak like this Rebellion of the Seven Princes. What a perfect reason this is.
.... .....
In the second year of Emperor Jing's reign, eighth month of summer.
The King of Wu raised an army under the pretext of "clearing the emperor's side" and rebelled, while the Emperor refused to kill Chao Cuo, who had proposed reducing the vassal states, leading to a direct confrontation.
The main army... encountered fierce resistance upon reaching the Liang Kingdom.
They could not advance an inch.
.... .....
In the same year, Emperor Jing ordered Chen Qing, a descendant of the Chen clan, and Zhou Yafu, the second son of the Marquis of Jiang, to be the chief commanders. They divided their forces into two routes to suppress the vassal kings.
The Rebellion of the Seven Princes thus erupted.