The punishment Liu Bei imposed in Liu Bangling Temple today not only surprised all the Han officials, but even Mi Yang, who was a time traveler, couldn't help but secretly give Liu Bei a thumbs up in his heart.

Although from the perspective of later generations, Liu Bei's punishment today is a bit too "cruel".

But no matter how benevolent and righteous Liu Bei is, he is still a feudal emperor.

For a feudal emperor, there was only one way to show his virtue - heavy rewards for meritorious service and heavy punishment for guilty.

When facing some beasts that cannot be called humans, there is no need to worry about whether the methods will be too "cool".

Don't forget that Liu Bei was the emperor of the Han Dynasty. The emperors of the Han Dynasty believed most in the idea of ​​"great revenge".

Even Zhuge Liang did not have any objection to the punishment Liu Bei imposed today.

Maybe put it this way, if Zhuge Liang were to punish Liu Ye and the Cao clan, Zhuge Liang's methods would not be much more tolerant than Liu Bei's.

"My husband is one person, and millions of people are hunched over their shoulders, breathing heavily, and listening with heavy feet. No one dares to look up. This is because of the legal system."

This sentence was one of the main purposes of Zhuge Liang's formulation of "Shu Ke".

Although the specific content of "Shu Ke" has not been passed down to later generations, there is an incident recorded in history, which proves from the side how strict the "Shu Ke" formulated by Zhuge Liang was based on this purpose.

Fazheng was famous in the Three Kingdoms for his unyielding vengeance, but even a person with Fazheng's personality felt that Zhuge Liang was too cruel after reading the content of "Shu Ke"...

To this day, there is a political and clean situation in Shu where people do not close their doors at night and do not pick up lost things on the road. This is not something Zhuge Gong could reason with.

After all the ugly people were dragged out of Liu Bang's temple for the dharma rectification, Liu Bei formally led all the Han ministers to pay three respects to Liu Bang's memorial tablet in the center of the temple.

After the ceremony, Liu Bei and Liu Chan stepped forward and placed the long incense in their hands in the incense burner in front of Liu Bang's memorial tablet.

As Liu Bei and Liu Chan were descendants of the Liu family, and now emperors and princes of the Han Dynasty, it was in line with etiquette for them to offer incense and sacrifice to Liu Bang.

But what Liu Bei said next surprised the ministers in the temple again.

"Yide, Kongming, Zisheng."

After calling out the names of these three people, Liu Bei turned to look at them and continued:

"You also come forward to offer incense to Taizu."

As soon as Liu Bei finished speaking, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and Mi Yang immediately raised their heads and looked at Liu Bei in shock.

In today's world, not just anyone can offer incense to the emperor in the ancestral temple.

Especially in front of the ministers.

The purpose of offering incense is to offer sacrifices, and also to ask for instructions from ancestors.

Liu Bang's status is supreme among the Han Dynasty. According to etiquette, usually the only people in the Han Dynasty who are qualified to appreciate Liu Bang's heroic spirit are Liu Bei and Liu Chan.

As an emperor, it was impossible for Liu Bei not to know about this.

So why does Liu Bei still have this request?

When this doubt emerged in their minds, some ministers who were familiar with history gradually guessed some clues.

For four hundred years in the Han Dynasty, when ministers had a certain special status, they were eligible to offer sacrifices to Liu Bang.

That status is called - Assistant Minister!

Some of the ministers who guessed Liu Bei's intentions looked at Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and Mi Yang with envy.

But envy is envy, but there is no jealousy in the hearts of those ministers.

Because Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and Mi Yang were allowed to serve as assistant ministers after Liu Bei's death, they were convinced.

Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and Mi Yang are not stupid either.

There is no reason why they cannot guess what others can guess.

Therefore, after being shocked, the three of them stepped forward to sue Liu Bang one after another.

When Mi Yang, who was last in line, finished offering sacrifices to Liu Bang, a smile appeared on Liu Bei's face.

With Mi Yang and the three of them here, the Han Dynasty can still prosper for at least several decades, and reunifying the world is something that can be deeply looked forward to.

After Mi Yang returned to the ranks of ministers, Liu Bei turned around and looked at the ministers deep inside the temple. He smiled and said:

"Tonight's New Year's Day banquet, you must be majestic!"

Liu Bei's smile infected all the Han officials in the temple, and the heavy expressions slowly disappeared from the faces of all the Han officials.

Now that the inquiry into guilt has been completed, the next step is naturally to discuss merit.

...

Since they spent a lot of time on the way to Changling, the Han monarchs and ministers did not rest long before night fell.

When the last light in the sky disappeared, a new light instantly appeared inside and outside Changling.

The torches that had been prepared long ago were lit in the hands of the busy chamberlain.

Lanterns filled with joy were held high in the hands of the palace maids passing by.

When countless torches and lanterns are gathered together, the light they emit together is enough to illuminate the entire Changling Tomb as if it were daylight.

A high platform with a height of more than ten feet stands quietly outside Liu Bang's cemetery.

The high platform is located between Liu Bang's cemetery and the tombs of the heroes of the previous Han Dynasty.

If they really have spirits in the sky, then with the help of the firelight as bright as the scorching sun, they will be able to clearly see everything happening on the high platform.

All the Han ministers, who had changed into their regular clothes long ago, had already arrived under the high platform as soon as night fell.

Since the banquet has not officially started yet, a group of Han ministers are gathering together in twos and threes to talk loudly.

Perhaps they were talking about something happy, or they were remembering the sincere blessings given to the Han Dynasty by the people of Chang'an during the white period today, and many Han officials kept laughing happily.

As for Mi Yang, a great general of the Han Dynasty, few people gathered around him.

It's not that Mi Yang is not popular, it's that Mi Yang's current status is not on the same level as many ministers.

After the incident of proclaiming Guan Yu king, many Han officials felt more in awe of Mi Yang.

Even many of Mi Yang's direct subordinates would rather stay together by themselves than take the initiative to move closer to Mi Yang to avoid being constrained.

However, it was not just Mi Yang who received this "cold reception", Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang were in similar situations to him.

But compared to Mi Yang and Zhuge Liang, who have a calmer temperament, Zhang Fei's character is much more direct.

Since others don't take the initiative to look for him, then he will take the initiative to find others.

Zhang Fei was seen holding a wine bottle in one hand and holding the helpless Zhao Yun with the other hand, constantly shuttling among the crowd of twos and threes.

Behind the two of them was Mi Zhong, who was pulling a cart of fine wine.

Whenever he comes to a place where people gather, Mr. Zhang will first laugh a few times and then start to persuade people to drink for various reasons.

Many ministers really didn't expect that Mr. Zhang would take such initiative.

But in the face of Zhang Fei's persuasion to drink, even Mi Yang had to drink it, let alone them?

While Zhang Fei kept going back and forth, many Hanchens already had drunkenness on their faces.

Fortunately, Zhao Yun was holding Zhang Fei by the side, otherwise some of the Han officials would have been drunk by Zhang Fei before Liu Bei arrived.

When she saw Zhang Fei blowing his beard and glaring, competing with Wei Yan in drinking capacity, Mi Yang turned her attention back to her side.

Beside him were his wife and son.

After seeing Mi Yang's gaze returning, Guan Yan said, either jokingly or complaining: "I thought your husband had forgotten that Cheng'er and I were together."

After hearing Guan Yan's words, a look of guilt inevitably appeared on Mi Yang's face.

In recent years, he has been busy with military affairs and rarely has time to spend with his wife.

To be honest, it was only after Mi Yang regained Chang'an that he realized that his son could actually do so.

As a general, Mi Yang felt that he was worthy of the great man.

But as a husband and father, Mi Yang did not dare to ask herself this question.

Mi Yang did not respond directly to Guan Yan's words. He just directly picked up little Mi Cheng from Guan Yan's arms.

Xiao Micheng was born in the second year of Zhangwu. In terms of age, Xiao Micheng is nearly five years old this year.

Perhaps it was because he hadn't seen Mi Yang for a year, so when little Mi Cheng fell into Mi Yang's arms, he seemed a little restrained.

But after Mi Yang teased him for a while, Xiao Mi Cheng quickly became familiar with Mi Yang due to their blood connection.

Sounds of laughter like silver bells kept coming from Xiao Mi Cheng's mouth, and hearing these laughs made Mi Yang's heart almost melt.

Seeing the joy between Mi Yang and Xiao Mi Cheng, the brightest smile appeared on Guan Yan's face.

While Mi Yang was enjoying family happiness, Guan Yan seemed to mention something inadvertently:

"As Cheng'er has grown up, there have been many greeting cards in the house recently.

Most of those greetings were sent by Confucian scholars."

The first time he heard about this, Mi Yang couldn't help but be stunned.

Everyone in the world knows that he is not at home all year round, so those invitations from Su Confucius cannot be sent to visit him.

As for if it hadn't been for him, his father Mi Fang and brother Mi Zhong would not have been favored by those old scholars.
To be continued...