Chapter 012: A Righteous King
"Sir, is your hand saw okay?"
"No, it will run out soon. I'll send it over then."
Liu Chang couldn't understand what they said. What they said sounded a little sharp, and the tone was always upward. Liu Chang could hear a few words, but that was all. However, Liu Heng could communicate with these people normally and even chat with them using their accents.
If you don’t know, you would never be able to tell that the person speaking with this accent is actually the fourth son of Liu Bang.
For some reason, Liu Chang suddenly felt a sense of admiration for Liu Heng. This guy is really awesome.
Liu Heng was chatting with them cordially. Liu Chang had hardly ever seen Liu Heng like this. Usually, Liu Heng was always silent, had a stern face and was very serious. But in front of these people, Liu Heng behaved very cordially. It was not deliberate enthusiasm, but a kind of closeness as when chatting with good friends.
Liu Chang tugged at Liu Heng's sleeve, and Liu Heng then remembered his little brother.
"This is my seventh brother, Young Master Chang."
Liu Heng introduced Liu Chang to them.
The faces of these craftsmen changed drastically, their smiles disappeared instantly, and they looked at Liu Chang with fear in their eyes. Their behavior also began to become restrained. Several craftsmen directly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Liu Chang. Liu Chang was stunned. This kind of respect, which was different from Liu Heng, did not make him happy.
They seemed to respect him so much, but after seeing their attitude towards Liu Heng just now, Liu Chang felt that this was just fake respect. Real respect might be like what they did to Liu Heng just now, talking and laughing, treating the other party as a friend they were willing to be close to, rather than a condescending master.
People rarely stab their friends, but too many masters have died at the hands of their slaves.
Liu Chang got the tools he needed as he wished, including ruler, plane and file. Although he didn't have an axe, he was able to start making things.
However, after leaving here, Liu Chang was not that happy, but felt a little heavy.
"Brother...is father a benevolent and righteous emperor?"
"yes."
"Then why did he treat those people like this? They were naked...why didn't he give them a carriage?"
"Do you know how many craftsmen built Changle Palace?"
"have no idea."
"Tens of thousands of people."
"Father didn't let them starve. He gave them time to rest. They only had to work hard for a few months after the busy farming season. This was already a great blessing."
“Is this considered a gift?”
"Of course. Do you know how many people built the Great Wall?"
“It should be a lot…”
"Most of them had to provide their own food, and had little time to rest... During the reign of Qin II, they were under construction all year round, and could not go home during the busy farming season. The farmland was abandoned, and when the food ran out, they could only get a little bit of food every day, and they had to make do with inferior food. They wore shackles and lived in the wild, and the soldiers could kill the people who could not work at any time... Now think about it, is my father a benevolent and righteous emperor?"
"yes."
This time, Liu Chang finally did not hesitate. Compared with the past, Liu Bang was indeed a rare benevolent and righteous emperor. When building a palace for himself, he only mobilized tens of thousands of people for labor service, provided them with food and drink, and was punctual for the work. He would rather miss work than delay the busy farming season, and would not kill people indiscriminately.
"But... I still think they are having a hard time."
“They are not the only ones who are having a hard time.”
Liu Heng did not discuss this with Liu Chang any more. He said goodbye to him calmly. But before leaving, Liu Heng stared into his eyes and said solemnly, "When you become a prince in the future, don't forget what you saw today."
Liu Chang stood there in a daze, watching Liu Heng walking away.
He suddenly felt that perhaps this brother was more suitable to be the emperor than Liu Ying, but it was a pity that his fourth brother was not the eldest son.
After returning to the Jiaofang Palace, Liu Chang, who had all the tools, began to make the spinning wheel. Since he had already made the design drawings, it was much easier to make the parts. He first had to make the heald frame and the frame.
He found the wood he had hidden. Most of the wood were square and Liu Chang didn't even need to do any other processing. He could just use it. Because there were no nails, he could only use mortise and tenon joints to stabilize the frame.
Mortise and tenon joints are easy to say, but it is really difficult to make them for people who don't know how to work with wood. Liu Chang had never made mortise and tenon joints in his previous life. The previous assembly failed due to measurement and wood problems, and they fell apart. Because there were no advanced machines, Liu Chang had to do everything himself. It took Liu Chang a long time just to make the mortise and tenon joints.
He worked harder than before, probably because he had seen what the craftsmen wore and the rags were still vivid in his mind.
Just as Liu Chang made the frame and began to assemble the internal parts, Liu Bang prepared the gift of apprenticeship.
In this era, the gift for apprenticeship was called "Shuxiu", which usually consisted of ten pieces of dried meat. In order to show respect, Liu Bang also specially prepared some other things. When sending Liu Chang to deliver him, Liu Bang still told Liu Chang: This is for your teacher! You boy, don't eat it secretly! !
Liu Chang was very dissatisfied. Am I that kind of person?
Liu Chang finally left the palace. This was his first time leaving the palace. He also became the fourth prince to leave the palace after Liu Fei, Liu Ying, and Liu Ruyi. Sitting in the carriage, Liu Chang was curious about everything. Unfortunately, the situation outside the palace was no different from that inside the palace.
Everywhere was desolate, with no one in sight. The gray and white buildings isolated everything, and Han Xin's residence was too close to the imperial palace. Liu Chang had arrived at Han Xin's residence before he even saw anyone. Han Xin had already learned the news and sent servants to welcome the prince.
The ceremony of becoming a disciple was not as complicated as Liu Chang had thought.
It's just a simple kneeling ceremony, offering a gift of tuition, and the teacher nods, and that's it.
Liu Chang was very curious about his teacher. In the past, he admired Han Xin more, but after what Lu Hou said, he was a little afraid of Han Xin. He did have only a vague understanding of the future, but even so, he knew that Liu Bang had killed his meritorious officials.
It seems that Han Xin was executed by Liu Bang.
Liu Chang didn't know what Han Xin had done, but he knew that his father was not a person who liked to kill people indiscriminately. From other people's mouths, Liu Chang had learned a lot about Han Xin. Han Xin was indeed very famous in the Han Dynasty, and his brothers knew him well.
However, they half admired and half despised Han Xin.
Liu Ruyi once told Liu Chang in person that Han Xin was just a failed rebel.
Liu Chang just learned from Liu Ruyi that Han Xin was actually the King of Chu. This was incredible to the blind historian Liu Chang. Wasn't the King of Chu Xiang Yu? Han Xin didn't stay as the King of Chu for too long. After he became the King of Chu, he began to train his army, store food, and make friends...
Liu Bang suddenly couldn't sit still because Han Xin had a criminal record.
When Liu Bang was fighting with Xiang Yu, he was beaten and fled everywhere. At that time, Han Xin was in Qi and won victory after victory. So Liu Bang asked Han Xin for help and ordered him to come to the rescue quickly. Han Xin sent an envoy.
Han Xin's messenger told Liu Bang that it was okay to let Han Xin come to the rescue, but he had to appoint Han Xin as the fake king.
Liu Bang was furious. In front of Han Xin's envoy, he cursed: "Han Xin, you bastard, I am trapped here, and he doesn't save me. How dare he become a fake king?"
When Chen Ping heard this, he immediately kicked Liu Bang hard with his toes.
Liu Bang quickly changed his words and cursed: "Han Xin is such a coward! A real man should be a real king to pacify the princes. Why be a fake king?!"
This incident always bothered Liu Bang. Later, when Liu Bang ascended the throne and appointed Han Xin as King of Chu, he soon realized that Han Xin had evil thoughts. Therefore, Liu Bang asked Chen Ping for advice and asked whether he should send troops to attack Han Xin.
Liu Chang thought that Chen Ping must have wanted to scold him at that time: "Crusade against Han Xin? Your Majesty, do you have any idea in your mind?"
However, Chen Ping still did not curse, he just asked calmly: "Is your army stronger than Han Xin's?"
"Who among your generals can defeat Han Xin?"
Then Liu Bang shut up and started asking if there was any safe way.
Chen Ping gave him the Yunmengze plan, asking Liu Bang to pretend to travel to Yunmengze and meet various princes in Chenzhou. Chenzhou was on the western border of Chu. When Han Xin heard that the emperor was traveling and came to his territory, he came to see him. When he met Liu Bang, Liu Bang directly sent people to tie him up and took him back.
In this way, without losing a single soldier, Liu Bang captured Han Xin, removed him from his title of King of Chu on the charge of treason, and changed his title to Marquis of Huaiyin.
Even so, Liu Bang did not kill him, which would have created future troubles. To be honest, Liu Bang was not a bloodthirsty person. Any other king would probably have killed Han Xin for his behavior.
Therefore, Liu Chang felt that Han Xin was executed by Liu Bang because he must have done something big afterwards that led to Liu Bang's killing.
