Chapter 30: The Myriad Nations Pay Homage, the Eternal Yuan

Ban Chao did not remain in Luoyang for long before deciding to return to the Western Regions.

In truth, whether court ministers or Liu Zhao, almost everyone hoped Ban Chao would stay in Luoyang.

Although Dou Xian was dead.

But the influence of the Dou clan across the provinces still needed to be purged.

With Ban Chao, a man of such immense prestige in the military, it was a blessing for all.

Moreover, Ban Chao was truly quite old.

Years of constant warfare, coupled with the vast differences between the Western Regions and the Central Plains.

Had made him appear utterly weathered.

To the entire Han dynasty, Ban Chao was like a pillar holding up the sky.

Leaving aside the ministers, at least Liu Zhao and the Gu clan did not wish any mishap to befall such a minister.

But Ban Chao's resolve was firm.

Before the ministers, he bowed respectfully to Liu Zhao.

"Your Majesty."

"Though the Western Regions have been settled for years, hidden currents have never ceased."

"I must go personally to guard them, so that the hearts of the Western Regions' people toward Great Han may become deeply rooted."

He let out a soft sigh, then continued: "Besides, even my elder brother returned wrapped in horsehide."

"How much more so I?"

"If there is any change in the Western Regions, I will have no face to meet my brother beneath the earth!"

Ban Chao seemed incapable of smiling; his expression was always stern.

Hearing this, Liu Zhao appeared somewhat moved.

"Very well!"

He slowly rose, gazing at Ban Chao with a complex expression: "Marquis Ding Yuan is truly the pillar holding up Great Han."

"Issue an edict to proclaim the brotherly bond between Marquis Heng and Marquis Ding Yuan throughout the realm."

"Let all the people of the realm know this brotherly bond!"

"Also, increase Marquis Ding Yuan's fief by five hundred households."

He intended to seize this opportunity for a large-scale bestowal of rewards.

——This had always been a monarch's finest tool for winning hearts.

Because of the Gu clan's presence.

The Han court was now sharply divided into factions.

Those who had fawned upon power had already been purged; the remainder were almost all ministers opposed to the Dou clan.

Liu Zhao did not stint on rewards, and everyone received sufficient honors.

Even Zheng Zhong, the eunuch, was included.

Titles, fiefs, and rewards were granted according to merit.

Yet Gu Liang received no special reward; Liu Zhao merely promoted him to the position of Minister of the Secretariat.

Logically, such a reward was far too meager compared to his merit.

But no one found it surprising.

The greatest reward the Gu clan received was Gu Xi.

Everyone understood that if this eleven-year-old boy grew up healthy, his future was boundless.

He might very well become another Gu Kang.

This filled everyone with dread, yet left them powerless.

The merit of aiding the ascension lay here.

Who could surpass it?

Liu Zhao made no effort to conceal his favor and trust toward Gu Xi.

He even granted Gu Xi a privilege unimaginable to others;

——the right to enter and leave the imperial palace at will.

Such an honor was beyond imagination.

But perhaps because Gu Xi was still young, the matter stirred no great uproar.

An eleven-year-old Emperor;

An eleven-year-old Attendant-in-Waiting.

Even though both had already demonstrated some skill in eliminating the Dou clan.

It still gave the impression of being childish.

As for the hidden thoughts of others, Liu Zhao and Gu Xi cared nothing.

Perhaps precisely because they were young, they embodied youthful vigor to the fullest.

After the bestowals, their first task was naturally to centralize power.

This was, after all, every emperor's mandatory lesson.

Emperor Ming had done so upon his accession.

Emperor Zhang had done so as well.

Only because of Gu Kang's presence had it not been so obvious.

But Liu Zhao now clearly needed sweeping reforms.

He was a young Son of Heaven, and with the Dou clan's tyranny, he needed to reestablish the Emperor's authority.

Gu Xi was indeed a prodigious youth.

Under the Gu family's unique educational environment.

Almost all Gu family disciples held their own views on the current court situation.

He had clearly pondered this question many times before, and immediately proposed several solutions to Liu Zhao.

——First, extend benevolence to all under heaven.

Since the revival of the Han.

Through Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Ming, and Emperor Zhang.

All three virtuous rulers held high esteem in the hearts of the people, and each had enacted policies benefiting the common folk.

Liu Zhao was indeed still young.

But precisely because of this, if he enacted policies benefiting the people, his prestige among the populace would rise swiftly.

Second, within the court.

Gu Xi pointed out the flaws in the current recommendation system.

In fact, this was already a very obvious problem in the Han at the time.

Since Gu Kang's emergence, the Han's national strength had continuously increased, and its population naturally grew rapidly.

Population levels across the provinces and commanderies had never been equal.

Under this rapid growth,

the policy of recommending two filial and upright men per commandery each year had become grossly unfair; he proposed reforming the recommendation system.

This matter was indeed a major one.

After a brief moment of reflection, Liu Zhao immediately summoned his ministers.

Due to the prior purges, the current Han court's quality far exceeded anyone's imagination.

A string of renowned ministers: Gu Liang, Yuan An, Ding Hong, Liu Fang, and others.

For such an obvious issue, they had all long recognized it and voiced their support.

This was a matter beneficial to everyone.

Moreover, the ministers made even more refined adjustments.

They even addressed the sparsely populated frontier regions, crafting a more comprehensive reform.

Though everything seemed unchanged on the surface, it had in fact transformed completely.

This may have been due to the influence of the Gu family.

It had advanced Liu Zhao's seizure of power by two full years and preserved more renowned ministers.

And Gu Kang's ideas had now spread throughout the entire Han.

Most scholars under heaven pursued Gu Kang's pragmatic spirit, greatly increasing the Han's administrative efficiency beyond measure.

And the current Han was far more powerful than it had been in its original history.

Under these circumstances,

when the entire court began returning to order, and the Son of Heaven intended to continue benefiting the people,

the entire Han would enter a period of rapid expansion.

"Your Majesty has the style of Emperor Ming."

This was the ministers' assessment of Liu Zhao after the court returned to order.

He had fully inherited Liu Zhuang's diligence.

He was even more diligent than Liu Zhuang.

He personally reviewed memorials.

He reformed the Minister Tai, establishing the "Six Departments of the Minister Tai," refining central administrative divisions and further increasing efficiency.

He also improved the evaluation system initiated under Emperor Ming.

He not only ordered ministers to recommend virtuous talents and personally examined them, but also placed immense importance on the abilities of those who made recommendations.

Liu Zhao and Gu Xi were like templates of Liu Zhuang and Gu Kang.

And both men precisely shared the goal of surpassing their predecessors.

Building upon Emperor Zhang's tolerant governance,

they placed greater emphasis on official discipline, dispatching imperial censors to inspect the regions and severely punishing corrupt officials.

This gradually changed the atmosphere throughout the court.

The increased administrative speed completely swept away the stale, decaying air that had slowly settled in the Han court since Gu Kang's death.

Of course, struggles within the court would not be lacking.

——With Yuan An's death in Yongyuan Fifth Year,

the Gu family's highest-ranking ally in court having passed away, Gu Liang faced numerous attacks.

Gu Liang had served as an official for many years.

The ministers all knew what manner of man he was, and none wished to see the Gu family return to the manner of Emperor Guangwu and Emperor Ming.

But they had ultimately underestimated Gu Xi.

At this age, even Gu Kang might not surpass Gu Xi, let alone others.

And most crucially, unlike Gu Liang's desire for stability, Gu Xi had edges.

Perhaps due to youthful ardor,

Gu Xi's sharpness was even keener than Gu Kang's had been when he first entered court.

Gu Kang would hold back.

But he would not.

And Gu Xi's political tactics were equally extraordinary.

He seemed to have learned some lessons from Liu Zhao, skilled at winning over the servants within his political rivals' households.

He would dismantle his rivals' attacks from within and deliver fatal blows.

Moreover, Gu Xi's moral boundaries were highly flexible.

He excelled at leveraging the prestige of the Gu clan and the realm, seizing his rivals' weaknesses.

After several such instances.

The entire court gradually fell silent.

Everyone sensed Gu Xi's terrifying nature, and also realized Liu Zhao's high regard for him.

After all, court struggles.

No matter the methods used by either side, only the Emperor made the final judgment.

Imperial favor once again descended upon the Gu clan.

These few struggles had made everyone aware of this fact; naturally, no one would dare invite trouble upon themselves.

Amid this gradually stabilizing court situation.

In the final years of his life, Gu Liang actually felt unprecedented relief.

He never imagined that the beacon fires he had always carefully avoided had been shouldered by his own son.

Under these circumstances, Gu Liang strangely felt at ease.

——Yuan seventh year, eighth month.

Gu Liang passed away.

Compared to the first two generations of the Gu clan, Gu Liang's merits were far too lacking.

Naturally, it would not cause much commotion.

Yet perhaps because Liu Zhao wished to bestow grace upon Gu Xi, or because Gu Liang had repeatedly opposed the Dou clan, Liu Zhao still wished to grant Gu Liang a posthumous title.

Even a neutral one would suffice.

But this matter met not only opposition from the ministers, but even Gu Xi and other Gu clan members opposed it.

The Han Empire had not yet sunk to the point where posthumous titles could be casually assigned.

And the Gu clan members all acted out of Gu Liang's final dying words.

Gu Liang did not wish his own legacy to diminish the Ancestors' Merit of the Gu clan's first two generations.

For this, Liu Zhao was powerless.

Yet he still held a grand funeral for Gu Liang, as a gesture of affirmation for Gu Liang's lifetime.

Since the Emperor had conceded, the ministers naturally no longer opposed.

And compared to Gu Kang in his time.

The ministers' attitude toward Gu Liang was vastly better; they all went to pay their respects.

But after this, Gu Xi became even more diligent.

He seemed to have memorized this event.

He wished to make Gu Liang shine in history under the name of his son.

He, like Gu Kang before him, successively proposed various policies to Liu Zhao and implemented them.

Both of them were deeply influenced by Gu Kang's teachings.

Naturally, governance was the focus.

——Promoting reclamation along the frontier;

Reducing commercial taxes to promote trade between the Central Plains and the Western Regions;

Exempting taxes in disaster-stricken regions;

Continuing to expand the Imperial Academy, even establishing official schools in every region;

Even lending grain and oxen to impoverished households for cultivation;

These policies, one after another, fully awakened the Han Empire's strength; time seemed to truly return to the era of Emperor Ming, with national power surging once more.

The foundation laid by Emperor Zhuang and Gu Kang had been too solid!

By the eleventh year of Yuan.

In just a few short years, the Han population had surpassed fifty million, and cultivated land had exceeded seven million hectares.

It had utterly reached a level unimaginable to previous generations.

Simultaneously, as trade routes flourished, the Han's prestige grew ever higher.

The Dazangyi Qiang, Bailang Kingdom, Loubo, and others successively came to submit.

Liu Zhao granted them all golden seals and purple ribbons.

Tianzhu, Dunrenyi, and others also sent envoys to pay tribute.

Even Liu Zhao dispatched Gan Ying to Da Qin, to see what this Da Qin—only rumored among merchants—was truly like, seeking to expand the empire's foundations further.

Beneath the foundation laid by three virtuous emperors and the Gu clan's first two generations, this golden age surpassed its original historical counterpart.

Though only a few short years had passed, the Han now bore the appearance of ten thousand nations paying homage!

And Gu Xi's official rank rose steadily with this opportunity.

At the age of twenty, he formally entered the Minister Tai.

Between ruler and minister, a true image of Emperor Ming and Wen Cheng gradually emerged.

Yet even under such a golden age, shadows remained.

Since assuming power, Liu Zhao had remained without an heir.

No, one could not say he had no heir.

Liu Zhao had a son, his eldest son Liu Sheng.

But Liu Sheng suffered from epileptic illness and was unfit to serve the ancestral temples.

As for other offspring, they died in infancy one after another.

In fact, such things were common in this era—any newborn had a high probability of dying before reaching ten years of age.

But for the Emperor, this was no trivial matter.

The imperial family brooks no private affairs.

As the Han Empire grew ever stronger, the ministers grew increasingly anxious about this matter and repeatedly urged Liu Zhao to sire more heirs on the court.

Even Gu Xi was concerned about this.

Liu Zhao's health was poor.

Yes, although Liu Zhao was still young, his body had already developed numerous ailments.

Even now, they did not yet threaten his life, and the imperial physicians were constantly monitoring him.

But it remained an extremely unstable situation.

He was the Emperor.

An Emperor without a Crown Prince, and suffering from illness.

How could this possibly stabilize the realm?

In this feudal age, the implications of this matter were beyond others' imagination.

Even though the Han had flourished to this day, the atmosphere throughout the court had grown heavy because of this.

Gu Yi had been watching Liu Zhao closely.

He too was deeply concerned about this matter.

Of course, he was not surprised by Liu Zhao's illness—in the original history, Liu Zhao had died young from illness.

What he truly cared about was whether, as the Han's power continued to rise, Liu Zhao would repeat the situation that had occurred during Liu Zhuang's reign.

The entire Han Empire moved forward under these conditions.

Liu Zhao's illness grew worse.

Since the thirteenth year of Yongyuan, he had even been unable to handle state affairs due to his illness.

When this happened, the entire court fell into chaos.

The ministers submitted memorials in droves, urging Liu Zhao to set aside state affairs, rest and recover his imperial health, and sire heirs.

At the very least, he should adopt an heir from among the feudal princes.

Gu Xi also held this view and urged Liu Zhao to rest and recover his imperial health.

This time, Liu Zhao did not refuse.

He appointed the Grand Eunuch Zheng Zhong as Marquis of Chuanxiang and ordered Zhou Zhang, Xu Fang, and others to assist Gu Xi in governing the court.

This could be called immense trust.

In the past, the ministers would have argued endlessly over such a matter.

After all, although Gu Xi had gradually revealed his talent and accumulated numerous merits over the years, he still paled in comparison to Gu Kang's unquestionable authority of old.

But under Liu Zhao's current condition, the ministers dared not speak out.

At least now, no one wanted any problem to arise in the Han, which was flourishing so brightly.

Moreover, Liu Zhao was not granting Gu Xi absolute power.

Whether Zheng Zhong, Zhou Zhang, Xu Fang, or others—all could check and balance one another.

Yet the ministers still keenly noticed one detail.

At this moment, Gu Xi had taken on the appearance of a Chancellor.

The Three Excellencies and the Secretariat assisted in governing the state.

Was this not the power of a Chancellor?

But the ministers did not pay it much heed, for this was merely a temporary measure.

Besides, the office of Chancellor had been abolished by Emperor Guangwu in days of old.

The Han governed by filial piety.

The ancestral laws were ironclad!!!

This transition is too abrupt.

I thought long and hard, and decided not to focus heavily on Emperor He, because the original plan for this arc never centered on him.

But I had to write it, since this is the dividing line of the entire Eastern Han.

After thinking it over, rather than dragging out two chapters with filler, I'll just push the plot forward.

I beg all brothers for your support.

Kneeling and begging for recommendation votes, kneeling and begging for monthly votes!!!

One more thing!! When the novel goes premium, I'll burst with updates! First day: massive update! Subsequent daily updates will not fall below twelve thousand characters!



(End of Chapter)