Chapter 021 What strange thing sneaked in
Liu Bang sat on the throne with a solemn expression. At this moment, he looked more like the ruler of an empire than ever before.
The princes and royal relatives sat on his left, from Liu Ying, Liu Jiao, Liu Jia, Liu Fei, Liu Ruyi, to Zhang Ao, Liu Xi, Fan Kuai, Lu Shizhi and so on.
Hmm, there seems to be something mixed in there?
That’s right, there was a man named Fan Kuai who sneaked in. Fan Kuai was the brother-in-law of Empress Lu and was also a relative of Liu Bang.
You ask Liu Ruyi? Oh, he is the King of Zhao, although only in name and has not yet been to his own fiefdom, but he is indeed the King of Zhao.
The founding heroes sat on the right, headed by Xiao He. After the worship, Liu Bang called all of them together for this unusual court meeting.
"Chen Xi said he was dying, his lower body was rotten and he couldn't come!"
When Liu Bang said this, several ministers below almost laughed out loud, but they could not laugh because the emperor had just passed away. Laughing at this moment was a serious crime. Liu Bang did not laugh either. He said seriously: "I think he should be replaced by someone else as the prime minister. Let Zhou Chang take on the concurrent post."
Originally, Liu Bang appointed Liu Ruyi as the King of Zhao, Zhou Chang as the Prime Minister of Zhao, and Chen Xi as the administrator of Dai. However, Zhao State did not have a king because Liu Ruyi was young and not old enough to leave the palace.
Chen Xi was a veteran general under Liu Bang. In the second year of the reign of Qin II, he joined Liu Bang's uprising army. In the first year of the reign of Qin King Ziying, he was granted the title of marquis for his military merits. His title was real, because those who were granted the title of marquis with him at that time were Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo, Cao Shen, Xiahou Ying, Jin Xu, and Zhou Wei.
Even if people don't know this name, after seeing these names listed alongside him, they will know what kind of person this guy is. He is definitely one of the first batch of tough guys in the founding of the country. He may not be as good as Han Xin, but he is definitely first-rate.
It is worth mentioning that Chen Xi was Han Xin's subordinate for a long time, and he participated in many battles with Han Xin.
When Chen Xi was mentioned, the princes did not think anything of it, but the ministers looked strange. The princes did not know that Zhou Chang was a very upright and resolute person. He had seen Chen Xi's carriages when he went to Zhao State. Chen Xi's entourage had more than a thousand carriages, and the guests could fill all the official residences in Handan.
Chen Xi treated his guests in the same way that ordinary people interact with each other. He was always humble and respectful, and condescending to others.
After seeing this scene, Zhou Chang returned to the capital and told Liu Bang: There are changes in Dai!
Liu Bang ordered several ministers to investigate the Dai incident and found that many of Chen Xi's guests had violated laws and disciplines, many of which implicated Chen Xi. However, Liu Bang did not take the guests' behavior as his host and did not pursue the matter further. He just wrote a letter to Chen Xi, asking him to take good care of his guests.
Therefore, when they heard that Chen Xi was unwilling to come, the expressions of these uninformed princes and the informed ministers were completely different.
"King Liang and King Huainan also wrote to the emperor. King Liang said he was busy dealing with the bandits who were blocking the roads in his territory, and King Huainan said he was ill..."
"I really don't understand. Back then, the Second Emperor of Qin was so evil that the people of the world had to become bandits and rob people on the road. But now, why are there still bandits everywhere?"
"How come those generals who could charge ten times into the enemy's formation when they were young are so prone to illness when they get old?"
After Liu Bang said this, the princes seemed to be thinking about something, and the ministers lowered their heads one after another, and no one dared to speak.
"Your Majesty, the bandits today are no longer the same as they were before. Your Majesty is exercising benevolent governance, the people are prosperous, the bandits have good food, and the weapons they use are better. Naturally, they are more powerful than before." The person who said this was Liu Jiao. Of course, he was the only one who could say such "treasonous" words in front of Liu Bang.
This time, Liu Bang almost laughed out loud.
He pointed at Liu Jiao and cursed helplessly: "You, you, you have really learned stupidity from those Confucian scholars!"
With Liu Jiao's interruption, Liu Bang temporarily skipped the matters of the princes. In fact, there was still one prince who did not come, Prince Lu Wan of Yan.
King of Liang Peng Yue, together with Han Xin and Ying Bu, is known as one of the three famous generals of the early Han Dynasty. He is also a ceiling-level player who can fight back and forth with Xiang Yu. However, he was a latecomer and his relationship with Liu Bang was more like a dependent one. He was not like Chen Xi who followed Liu Bang very early.
He was originally a "various vassal" who established his own kingdom and participated in the war to destroy Qin. When Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought, he stood firmly on Liu Bang's side. Because of his military achievements, he was named King of Liang after the destruction of Chu.
Ying Bu, King of Huainan, is known as one of the three famous generals in the early Han Dynasty, along with Peng Yue and Han Xin. Well, his military record is not bad. If Peng Yue was a leader of his own, then Ying Bu was simply a defector. He was originally a general under Xiang Yu, played a huge role in the war to destroy Qin, and was named King of Jiujiang by Xiang Yu.
During the Chu-Han War, after being fooled by Liu Bang, he betrayed the Chu State and surrendered to Liu Bang. After the Chu State was destroyed, Liu Bang named him King of Huainan.
These two people were not too close to Liu Bang, but Lu Wan, the Prince of Yan, was different. Lu Wan and Liu Bang were born on the same day of the same month of the same year. They grew up together and were close friends. Lu Wan followed Liu Bang since he was a child and was closer to him than his brothers. He could enter and leave the palace at will, meet Liu Bang's family, and call Liu Chang and others his adopted sons.
This time Lu Wan didn't come either, but it wasn't his problem, it was Liu Bang's problem. Liu Bang wrote him a letter specifically asking him not to come and to prepare for battle. He was the only one who could be told about secret things like this. It was obvious that he was the only person Liu Bang trusted, and Liu Jiao and Liu Fei didn't know about it...
Liu Bang no longer talked about the affairs of the princes. He glanced at Xiao He and signaled Xiao He to speak.
Xiao He stood up and said seriously, "You kings may not know this, but just last month, Master Chang made a new spinning wheel. This spinning wheel is different from the previous spinning wheels and is extremely efficient. I roughly calculated that this spinning wheel is eight times more efficient than the previous spinning wheels."
Xiao He said, looking at the eunuchs in the distance. Soon, a close attendant came forward and placed a few rough design drawings in front of Liu Jiao and Liu Jia. Xiao He then continued, "I have ordered the Shaofu to make such machines on a large scale. I plan to use the slaves to operate these machines and weave cloth with all my strength..."
"In addition, I have sent the design drawings to the local areas and ordered them to manufacture spinning wheels and rent them to the people. I hope that the spinning wheels will replace the original spinning wheels and be fully promoted in the Han territory. Within four years, the people in the Han territory will be able to use spinning wheels and encourage them to plant mulberry trees and raise silkworms..."
"We must gradually ban the use of cloth as currency for transactions..."
Liu Bang's first reaction after seeing the spinning wheel was to brag to everyone, "This is what my most useless kid made. What do you think?" His second reaction was to give it to Xiao He, asking him to make the best use of it.
Xiao He did not disappoint Liu Bang. He had four directions for the spinning wheel: official large-scale production, promotion among the people, encouragement of raw materials, and finally market circulation.
After all, cloth in this era is equivalent to money. If the people can print money on a large scale... well, think about what the consequences will be. Although the cloth itself is valuable, it will still cause chaos in the market. It seems that Xiao He's thinking is still very thoughtful.
After talking about the general direction, Xiao He gradually talked about the specific implementation methods.
"I hope that after you return, you can learn from my methods and implement them in your country..."
Xiao He's words were very polite, but in fact he was asking them to follow his example and implement it in the country as soon as possible. Although Liu Jiao, Liu Jia, and Liu Fei were all powerful princes, they did not dare to disobey the advice of the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty. They stood up politely to express their gratitude. Even a small fry like Liu Ruyi stood up to return the greeting.
Liu Ruyi felt very proud to be involved in such a big event. He tried hard to suppress the silly smile on his face and reminded himself again and again, Liu Ruyi! You are still in mourning! You can't laugh! This expression made him look silly, just like Liu.
Liu Bang then started talking to them about things in their fiefdoms, mainly asking about the situation within their borders, military strength and the like.
Liu Ruyi naturally had no chance to interrupt. He had never been to the fiefdom, so he just listened to his uncles and brothers answering his father's questions. He listened very seriously. After all, this was his first time participating in government affairs, and it was also something he could brag about in Tianlu Pavilion later.
