As soon as Liu Bei said these words, Lu Zhi instantly forgot what he wanted to say next.
He frowned and felt confused at first, then suddenly realized and understood everything, and then he was shocked.
He was not a political amateur, so he quickly understood most of Liu Bei's words.
I just have some little doubts.
"What do you mean when you say you once wanted to be an emperor?"
"It literally means that if we want to change the current situation of the decline of the Han Dynasty, we can only successfully solve these problems by letting me be the emperor and vigorously promote various policies. And after all, I am a member of the Han Dynasty, even if I am the emperor,
It’s no big deal.”
Liu Bei smiled and said: "But I soon discovered that there is no need to be an emperor. It is better to do something practical than to fight for power. Moreover, the late emperor really trusted me. I don't want to betray his trust, so I plan to support him."
His son became emperor.
If I become a general and I come to govern, I can still change everything I want to change. I can also make the Han better and stronger than before. So from the sixth year of Zhongping to the present, I have never thought about becoming an emperor.
,This is real."
"I believe you will not deceive me."
Lu Zhi nodded seriously: "But what now?"
"I can't stop being emperor."
Liu Bei smiled bitterly and said: "Teacher, Zheng Tai is a complete fool. If only he could be more sensible and take a good look at the current situation, he would not spread such rumors and let the whole Luoyang know that this rumor is not hurting me.
, it’s today.
My power is too great, and there are too many people who follow me. There are too many people who rely on my power and position to be an official and to exist. They are all looking at me and working for me. They are actually me.
The ministers of the emperor, not the ministers of the emperor.
Teacher, if one day I return the government to the emperor, let’s not talk about other people, let’s talk about the army, the Emperor’s Association, has the prestige and ability to command the 300,000 troops I have trained to be loyal to him? Is he willing to believe this?
Will an army be loyal to him?"
Lu Zhi's body trembled slightly.
He pursed his lips and could not speak for a long time.
Liu Bei didn't need to talk about more problems. With just this one question, Lu Zhi knew that this was a problem that the emperor could not solve, but Liu Bei could solve it very well as emperor.
Tianzi Xie did not have the prestige to command this powerful army. This army obeyed only Liu Bei. No one else could completely unify this army.
It doesn't have that prestige.
The emperor will only trust an army that belongs entirely to him, and everything in this army was built by Liu Bei. The officers and soldiers were all trained and recruited by Liu Bei. They will only be loyal to Liu Bei.
So when the time comes, how to solve this problem?
Are you going to rebuild an army?
What to do with the original army?
How to deal with the original generals?
Will they accept being dismissed, suspected, or even executed?
Or will they believe that the emperor can properly arrange them and protect their interests?
If any small link goes wrong, it will trigger a round of war. The generals will lead their troops to rush into Luoyang and the palace, doing their best to destroy everything and smash everything.
The chaos in the world that Liu Bei tried his best to save may happen again.
Lu Zhi is a rational person, he has excellent reason, he knows what consequences all this will cause, and he can draw the best conclusion from it.
It's just that besides reason, there are also some emotional issues. If you can't convince yourself, you won't be able to get over this hurdle.
"If you want to be emperor, I believe you can do it. You can do it now, but... the late emperor has great trust in you."
Lu Zhi looked at Liu Bei, wanting to know what Liu Bei was thinking.
In his opinion, no matter from any angle, Liu Hong trusted Liu Bei and gave him the greatest trust and support, so he believed that Liu Bei should not take the throne from his son.
"I know that the late emperor trusted me very much, so I gave up such an idea for a while."
Liu Bei looked at Lu Zhi, shook his head and said: "But now that Zheng Tai is doing this, I find that the best way to solve the problem is the one I am least willing to use. Teacher, do you have a better way to solve the problem?
If there is, if there is a way that will not cause the Han Dynasty to fall apart, I am willing to try it, but if not, I have no choice. Compared with disappointing the late emperor, what I cannot accept is the situation I worked so hard to create.
Destroyed once.
Furthermore, if I do nothing and let the situation continue like this, teacher, do you think the emperor will be able to save his own life in the future? If he conflicts with the generals, who is more likely to survive?
If I become the emperor, I can restrain the generals and the army, I can control the situation, and I can make Xie live a prosperous life without worrying about food and clothing, but if I don't become the emperor, how long can he live?"
Lu Zhi hesitated for a long time and was speechless.
He can't find a better way, he doesn't know what the better way is, and what he can do is extremely limited.
When things came to a close, he discovered that he was so fragile and powerless.
He didn't even know how to answer Liu Bei's questions.
Liu Bei was asking him for a solution, but he had to use his emotions to question Liu Bei. It felt like he was making trouble unreasonably. Lu Zhi couldn't accept this reality, so he could only remain silent.
The master and apprentice looked at each other in silence. After a long time, Liu Bei reached out and took Lu Zhi's hand.
"Teacher, at this moment, the only thing I can promise you is that the great man is still the great man, and the blood of the emperor is still the blood of the great ancestor. This will not change."
Lu Zhi looked at Liu Bei but said nothing.
After a long time, he sighed, turned around and left Liu Bei's general's residence.
After Lu Zhi left, he did not return to his own house, but walked a short distance to visit Zheng Xuan's house.
Zheng Xuan didn't seem surprised by Lu Zhi's sudden arrival.
When Lu Zhi arrived, he was still immersed in reading the newly revised "Han Code" and continued to add bricks and tiles to the "Han Code". He was very busy. What happened in the outside world seemed to have nothing to do with him as an imperial scholar.
.
He entertained Lu Zhi to drink rose apple wine and eat rose fruits, chatting and laughing with him, as if he was not disturbed by anything outside at all.
Lu Zhi was surprised by this.
"Don't you still know what's going on outside?"
"I know."
Zheng Xuan smiled: "It's just that I won't be troubled by this at all, so I can still live the life I want and do the things I want to do. Why, Zigan, will you still be troubled by this?"
"I……"
Lu Zhi was silent for a moment and sighed: "I actually know the best solution to this matter, but..."
"It's just that you can't get over the hurdle in your heart, right?"
Zheng Xuan looked at Lu Zhi with a smile, shook his head and said: "You are a full-fledged general on the battlefield, decisive and wise, so you should not come to the court, you should stay on the battlefield and be a general.
But you are also good at handling government affairs, so you are so entangled. Ziqian, after leaving the battlefield, you are an indecisive person. When it is time to make a decision, you look forward and backward and cannot make a decision.
When you shouldn't make decisions, you can make some decisions that are not so correct. If you can use half of your decisiveness on the battlefield in government affairs, you won't be left far behind by your disciples."
Lu Zhi's face fell.
"Mr. Zheng, I..."
"Don't say you don't admit it, how much achievements has you, Lu Ziqian, made in government affairs?"
Zheng Xuan smiled and said: "As a teacher, how many of these things can you accomplish? Given your status today, can you do what he did? Can you raise an army of three hundred thousand people?
Can you reorganize the imperial court? Can you complete so many reforms?"
Lu Zhi thought carefully about Zheng Xuan's question.
Then he gave an answer with a wry smile.
"I can't do it. I can't do anything. I can't imagine how he did it so far. But he succeeded. So I also think that as a teacher, I can't do it.
This aspect is far inferior to that of his disciple."
"Quite sane."
Zheng Xuan laughed: "So, what are you still struggling with? Your disciple thinks far more than you think. He can make the best decision for the entire Han Dynasty, so what do you have to worry about?
We are getting older, and we can no longer do many things. If we don’t leave them to the disciples, what else can we do?"
When Lu Zhi heard what Zheng Xuan said, he was a little depressed and helpless at first, and felt very low. But the more he heard about it, the more he felt something was wrong.
"Mr. Zheng, are you really that open-minded?"
"What can't I think about? No matter who becomes the emperor, a big Han or a Han, I am still a Han minister, and the country is still the Han Dynasty. What's the difference?"
"Really...is there no difference?"
"Not much difference."
Zheng Xuan smiled and said: "At least there will be no problem of changing dynasties. At most, it can be regarded as the Guangwu Zhongxing again. What could Emperor Guangwu do back then? As a clan member of the Han Dynasty, what can't he do? It's all the Liu family.
Just different branches.”
Lu Zhi felt that what Zheng Xuan said made sense, but after thinking about it, he felt something was wrong.
"I still don't believe you can think so clearly. Did you...have known about it for a long time? You...that's not right. This thing only happened a few days ago. How could you have known about it a long time ago?"
Zheng Xuan chuckled.
"Did you see it? Indeed, I did know it a long time ago, but it was not because of this matter, but because of other things. So I knew it very early, probably around the fifth year of Guanghe's reign. At that time,
I knew he was not a simple person."
"ah?!"
Lu Zhi was shocked: "Five years of Guanghe? At that time... when was that time? At that time..."
Lu Zhi suddenly paused and suddenly remembered what Liu Bei had said to him before.
Liu Bei had earlier had the idea of becoming emperor and changing everything, so... it was at that time that Zheng Xuan noticed?
"It was at that time, I was still very young at that time."
Zheng Xuan showed a trace of reminiscence: "At that time, I took a fancy to his talent in Confucian classics. I thought he could definitely make great achievements in academics, so I asked him if he wanted to embark on the path of a master.
, respected by future generations.
But he didn't agree with me. He said that he couldn't see the way forward clearly. He felt that the world was shrouded in black fog and the sky was dark. He couldn't accept being a grandmaster in such a world.
At that time, the chaos in the world had not yet appeared, and I really thought that I was going to do something terrible. However, I later realized that he might have discovered something in advance, so I did not intend to do this.
You know what happened after that. I once thought that he was going to do something big when he returned to Luoyang. But after that, I found that his work style was much softer and not as sharp as before. I thought at that time that he had changed himself.
idea.
But now I have discovered that everything is not as simple as I thought. The higher the status, the greater the power, and the more subordinates, the less able you are to follow your own will. To this day, I think, I have no choice.
Already."
In front of Zheng Xuan, Lu Zhi was silent for a long time.
Then, he raised his head and stared at Zheng Xuan.
"Mr. Zheng, do you think this is acceptable?"
"A big man is still a big man, and the royal family is still of the blood of the great ancestor, so what is unacceptable? I think this is good."
Zheng Xuan smiled and said: "There are so many bloodlines of Emperor Gaozu. Logically speaking, everyone is qualified to be emperor. However, some people are wise and capable, and some are stupid and incompetent. It is better to let some stupid and incompetent people be the emperor.
Isn't it good for a capable person to be the emperor?"
Zheng Xuan's words left Lu Zhi speechless.
Finally, Lu Zhi let out a long sigh.
"Zheng Tai, Zheng Tai, how stupid are you?"
Zheng Xuan chuckled.
"Not to mention how stupid he is, Ziqian, wouldn't you, the future emperor's master, be happy? That is your disciple, the emperor you taught with your own hands. You will definitely leave a very special mark in the history books of the future.
An important reputation, maybe more famous than me, aren't you happy?"
"I can't be happy."
Lu Zhi sighed: "Maybe waiting for things to come to an end, resigning and going into seclusion is my best choice. I...that's all, let's deal with Du Tian first. If Du Tian is not solved, won't all the years of hard work be in vain?"
Already?"
"That's true."
Zheng Xuan smiled and said: "Anyway, I still feel that there are some things to do. Once these things are sorted out and the dust has settled, I will prepare a report for him to completely end the practice of prison judgment in the Spring and Autumn Period and return the "Han Code"
He will definitely be happy to have the orthodox status at that time."
"this……"
Lu Zhi looked at Zheng Xuan in surprise: "Mr. Zheng, aren't you worried about anyone talking about this?"
"What are you talking about? Are you talking about me being a Confucian traitor and a legalist?"
Zheng Xuan laughed and said: "If someone wants to say it, just say it. I never think that I must be a scholar of any school. I will respect whichever school is right. No one's theory is always right, but always
One of them is right. If the "Han Code" is completed, it will be better than the Spring and Autumn Period.
And this matter, as long as you two, master and disciple, agree, we will definitely be able to solve it. Ziqian, don’t tell me that you are very greedy for the position of the leader of the clan. I tell you, this is not your ambition. If you persist,
You two, master and disciple, will definitely have conflicts in the future."
"I……"
Just as Lu Zhi thought of something, he suddenly came back to his senses and hurriedly asked: "Mr. Zheng, is it because you have anticipated something a long time ago that you are still unwilling to let the Zheng family become the family of Yue?"
"No, I simply don't want to get involved in this kind of thing."
Zheng Xuan smiled and said: "It's just that sometimes, if people's luck gets better, it will always get better. In other words, if you don't have desires, you will be strong. I don't want anything, so I won't commit those things caused by greed."
mistake."
Looking at Zheng Xuan's proud expression, Lu Zhi suddenly felt that this old man really seemed to have seen through everything.
I can see much more clearly than myself.
As for you, do you want to pursue too many things that are too complicated?
If you cannot become a pure person, how can you maintain yourself and stick to your original ideals in such a chaotic world?
Lu Zhi sighed deeply and thought deeply, but still could not show the free and easy smile like Zheng Xuan.