Chapter 004 How to be a qualified prince
Liu Chang returned to the palace in frustration. The princes of the Western Han Dynasty had to go through a series of excellent education. Because Liu Bang wanted his sons to be stronger so that they could "protect" the emperor in the future, he cultivated his sons carefully.
The vassal kings of the Western Han Dynasty were not the same as the vassal kings of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The vassal kings of the Western Han Dynasty must have the ability to govern the country.
This education is divided into two types. The first type is enlightenment education. When the princes are a little older, they will be gathered together to start enlightenment education with the aim of being able to read and write. Of course, the crown prince is not among them. The crown prince has a crown prince tutor who specifically teaches him education and he does not mix with other princes.
When the princes are a little older and are crowned kings, the emperor will arrange for them to have tutors. Tutors will teach these princes more profound things, from etiquette to governing a country. If you meet a more powerful tutor, he can even teach you how to fight, how to entertain yourself, and so on.
Because of the wisdom Liu Chang showed when he was young, Liu Bang found someone to teach him, and now, he is finally going to study with his other brothers.
Thinking of those unreliable brothers, Liu Chang sighed helplessly.
The four people who are still receiving elementary education are Liu Ruyi, Liu Heng, Liu Hui and Liu You. The difference in their ages is not that big, only one or two years, and none of them have been crowned kings. The eldest son Liu Fei, who has already been crowned king, has already been sent to his own fiefdom.
The youngest, Liu Jian, is not yet old enough to receive elementary education.
The next day, he got up early, and after reluctantly washing up, he was taken by seven or eight eunuchs to Tianlu Pavilion, which was the royal library of the Han Dynasty, located in the north of the imperial palace. It was also the place where the princes received their enlightenment.
When Liu Chang pouted and walked into Tianlu Pavilion reluctantly, everyone had already arrived, but classes had not started yet and everyone was waiting for him. It seemed that everyone had known for a long time that Liu Chang was going to study here.
The one who enlightened them was a white-haired old man, who knelt in front of them, not looking sideways, not even looking at Liu Chang. Seeing the old man's appearance, Liu Chang's heart sank. What was the difference between this and the past?
Several young boys sat in the front, and their performances were different.
The boy sitting in the middle raised his head proudly, and looked almost like a photocopy of Liu Bang. Although it was normal for a child to look like his father, they were too similar. It was as if Liu Bang's face was printed on a child's head, except that he had no beard and even the moles at the corners of his eyes were exactly the same.
Not only the appearance, but also the expression, that free and easy look, this is a miniature version of the emperor.
He is Liu Ruyi. The relationship between Liu Ruyi and Liu Chang cannot be said to be as close as brothers, but it can also be said to be sworn enemies. The two started fighting since they were young, and they were the most cheerful ones, so they were often beaten by Liu Bang.
When Liu Ruyi grew up a little, he didn't want to bother with this little thing anymore, and the two of them didn't cause any big trouble.
Sitting on his right was Liu Hui, a chubby-looking guy, a typical fat boy. He was grinning foolishly at Liu Chang at the moment, and he didn't look very smart. This guy had an honest and kind personality. He had helped Liu Chang steal beef at a banquet in the past and took good care of his younger brother Liu Chang.
The one sitting on the far right is Liu You. Liu You has been weak and sickly since childhood and is thin. He also doesn't look like Liu Bang. The others can more or less have some resemblance to Liu Bang, but this one looks almost exactly like his mother.
His status in the palace was not very high, and his presence was not strong. He always kept a low profile, followed his brother Liu Hui all day, and was not talkative.
Then there is the person sitting on Liu Ruyi’s right.
After Liu Chang walked in, this woman didn't even look at Liu Chang. His name was Liu Heng, and he was Liu Bang's fifth son. Logically speaking, Liu Heng's mother was not liked by Liu Bang at all. Her status was similar to that of Liu You. No one loved her, no one cared about her, and even Liu Bang rarely paid attention to her.
But he was really different in the palace. He didn't act like a child at all. He couldn't play with the other princes and didn't fit in with this group of children.
Liu Chang often bullied his other brothers in the palace. He even dared to bully Crown Prince Liu Ying. The only person he didn't dare to bully was Liu Heng.
Liu Chang had always disliked Liu Heng. He thought that this guy was pretentious and loved to show off, a little kid pretending to be an old man. However, in Liu Chang's memory, he had taken the initiative to provoke this brother several times, but he had never gained the upper hand and was always pressed and rubbed by the other party in various areas.
The other brothers, after being bullied by Liu Chang, often went to their parents crying and complaining, but Liu Heng was different. He not only avoided Liu Chang's attacks, but also dragged him in front of the queen and talked to her. The queen did not like any prince other than Liu Ying and Liu Chang, but had a good impression of Liu Heng. Therefore, Liu Chang was naturally the one who suffered the most.
After Liu Chang became Liu Chang, he still had a trace of fear towards Liu Heng in his heart.
When Liu Chang sat down, the old man began to teach. As the saying goes, the Qin Dynasty planted trees, and the Han Dynasty enjoyed the shade Qin Dynasty, the textbook used by the princes was actually "Cangjie Pian" written by Li Si, the prime minister of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, which was the standard textbook for learning small seal script.
The Qin Dynasty unified the writing system, and the Han Dynasty perfectly inherited the small seal script. Some people proposed to restore the original writing system when the country was founded, but Liu Bang disagreed and made it clear that small seal script would be the only writing system of the Han Dynasty.
This enlightenment teacher had no intention of taking care of Liu Chang at all, and continued talking directly from where he had left off. Fortunately, this did not have much impact on Liu Chang. After all, he had received professional education not long ago, so he had no problem recognizing these words.
Liu Chang soon began to feel bored. He held his chin with one hand, his thoughts already drifting far away.
The teacher ignored Liu Chang. This teacher was a Taoist and was extremely indulgent towards his students. He only cared about disciplining them and didn't care whether they learned or not. Liu Chang just muddled through the class.
"younger brother!"
Suddenly someone interrupted Liu Chang's fantasy. When Liu Chang woke up and looked forward, he found that Crown Prince Liu Ying had appeared in front of him.
" How is it, are you used to it?"
Liu Ying asked with a smile.
Liu Ying came specially to visit Liu Chang.
Liu Chang knew clearly that this guy came to Tianlu Pavilion not to mock him or to take revenge on him, he just came to fulfill his duty as an elder brother.
At first, when Liu Ying kept persuading him to study hard, Liu Chang even doubted him, wondering if he was scheming and deliberately trying to be courteous to the wise and respectful to the humble, and to live in harmony with the brothers?
But after getting to know him for a long time, Liu Chang discovered that this man was a true gentleman.
He was kind to everyone, with almost no other intentions, and he was very caring towards his brothers. He knew that Liu Ruyi liked swordsmanship, so he gave the gift sword given to him by the emperor to this brother who was competing with him for the throne. He knew that Liu Hui was honest, so he often sent people to call him to his side and asked if anyone around him looked down on him.
He knew that Liu You was not valued, so he would pull Liu You to sit next to him at every banquet.
He knew that Liu Heng liked reading history books, so he found a way to collect a complete set of pre-Qin history books for him.
He knew that Liu Chang liked to eat meat, so he would share some of his meat with his younger brother at every banquet.
This was a gentle and benevolent king. To be honest, when Liu Chang first came, he was so bored that he fantasized about competing for the throne. However, after getting to know his brother better, he no longer had this idea. There was a reason why the Han Dynasty could become a powerful country.
In Liu Chang's opinion, this brother is definitely a qualified crown prince. He is far inferior to him in terms of personal morality and ability.
After Liu Ying arrived, the princes stood up one after another. Even Liu Ruyi, who was determined to compete with him for the throne, stood up and stood aside, showing great respect for his elder brother.
Only Liu Chang was still lazily sitting in his seat. "What can I do if I'm not used to it? I'm just waiting for the day when I'll be crowned king."
Liu Ying chuckled and said, "This is for your own good. You are going to be a prince in the future. As a prince, if you don't even have the ability to govern a place, how can you let the people under your rule live a good life?"
"After you are crowned king, you may not be able to live as comfortably as you do now. It is not easy to be a prince..."
"You need to understand household registration, agriculture, water conservancy, and warfare..."
"The household registration matter..."
Liu Ying began to preach. He spoke more and more and became more and more excited. The old teacher nodded with satisfaction. This was how a prince should act. The other princes also acted as if they were learning. The four old men who had been following Liu Ying couldn't help but applaud.
In fact, the nobles of the pre-Qin period liked to play this trick. They would find a person with shortcomings, and then preach some great principles to convince the other person, preferably to make the other person suddenly realize and change his ways. Then they would record this incident in history... In the future, this would become an elegant thing among the literati.
But Liu Chang obviously didn't like this.
His eyes widened. How come the prince said more than those old gentlemen?
Liu Ying began to quote from classics, telling various stories about reading and learning, and telling stories of heroic figures who turned prodigal sons. However, what he said was too complicated and too long-winded. Liu Chang's ears began to ring, and his expression changed from helplessness to astonishment, from astonishment to anger, and finally to despair.
"Okay, brother, I was wrong. I will study hard... and become an excellent prince!!"
Liu Chang really couldn't bear it anymore, he hurriedly interrupted Liu Ying. If it were the original Liu Chang, he might really take action. He finally understood why the original body was so annoyed with his brother. This man had a good character, but he talked too much, and his words were full of big truths. In the end, he was saying the same thing, which was extremely annoying.
Liu Ying made a teachable expression and nodded with a smile.
"Very good, I will come to see you again in a few days. I hope you can study hard."
"No...I can just study!"
Liu Ying left. Liu Chang looked at his back in fear, then hurriedly looked at the old gentleman and asked, "Sir, can I still study alone like before?"
